The Only Truth That Sticks [Kinalune]

When Kiyoko was three years old, she wanted to be a dancer.

Aunt Su-Hsing claims that she came into the world swaying to the rhythm, but the fair-skinned waterbender believed it happened the first time she made a puddle splash. Literally. She had been spending part of her better day in the gardens, chasing dragon flies and catching the fluttering plum-blossoms as they fell in the summer breeze. The toddler had somehow lost her balance, but, uncle had saved her from a dastardly fall. The odd thing was that neither of them had fallen into the fountain that they were currently next to, yet Kiyoko's tiny hanbok was soaked to the hem.

When she was five years old, she wanted to be a musician.
Kiyoko, as the servants would fondly chuckle, was most attuned with her "bad habit" whenever it was "danced with" or accompanied by music. Naturally, Kiyoko was able to listen to a song a single time and replicate almost to the tee. It was a habit of hers to greet everyone in song and to put on dances for them, to which everyone delighted. Whenever they weren't spitefully gossiping about her "impurity", they were revering her for her spirit-given talent.

Ever since Kiyoko could understand, she'd always wanted to help others.

With everything she had been given: her limberness for dance, her sparkling waterbending, her knack for music, she'd always found a way to give it back to those who needed it the most. True, while she lived and worked as an esteemed performer from the Nishima house, she never forgot where she came from. If she could help by sparing her earnings, she did and would. If a child needed comforting, her sweet smell and her soothing words were what they remembered most. Should any of her friends need advice, her ear and blunt tongue were a constant. Nothing ever escaped Kiyoko's detailed eyes and ears, and no one...no matter how big or small, should be forgotten.

"Which....." Kiyoko sighed, "Is probably why I'm stuck here now."

The place in question was the loud, somewhat smoggy, striking Fire Fountain City of the Caldera. She'd left in a caravan with five other Geisha to head to the capital, ahead of schedule to be on time for the Firelight festival hosted annually by her highness the Fire Lady. Now Kiyoko, being a punctual person, had pushed the trip along with Lu-Li so that they would arrive on time. But Kiyoko, who's weakness was the need of others, had gotten distracted and ended up separated from the group. So now she stood in the middle of the city square, leaning against the fountain with a book in one hand and a child holding her other.

Why did things like these always happen to her.

"Alright honey, we'll go and find your mommy now, hm? Let's go and see if we can find her baby." The child, who had to be only about four or so, smiled up at Kiyoko and the waterbender gave him a sweet smile in return. Heading for the shopping district, she straightened her posture and gently tugged the toddler along. Despite her current situation Kiyoko really wasn't apprehensive about navigating around the city alone, since she tended to frequent this part of the Fire Nation more than not.

'What part of the Fire Nation haven't I covered anyway?'

Kiyoko was so intune with her thoughts that she failed to register the oncoming passerby walking in her direction. Or was she walking in their's? She couldn't really tell.

Kiyoko managed to avoid most of the "onslaught" but ended up being jostled a step or two. "Oof!" Instinctively she gathered the child in her arms and held him close to her, glaring sharply at whoever she collided with, before softening her features.

"My apologies. I didn't see you, are you alright?"