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By Omashu Rocks Part of the Crossfire continuity.
Bolin realizes
Juji's fine. He comes back to life in the end when the doomsday device shifts the polarity of the Earth. Oops. Spoiler. Sorry.
Warning! This page contains spoilers for Crossfire.



Nalia is a reluctant, unwilling assassin of Fire Lord Sozin and the protagonist of Crossfire.

History[]

Born to a revered Fire Nation military general named Kun and his wife, Malva, in 1 BG, Nalia was raised in a financially well-off family along with her timid sister, Ming. Their home was a large estate outside of the Fire Nation capitol city, to which she referred to as "the ranch." There, she attended an elite private school in which most of the students were also the children of high-profile individuals within the Fire Nation government, including her friend Ta Lin, the daughter of War Commissioner Long. After school, she would return home to receive training in martial arts, weaponry, and Firebending from her father in secret. The confidentiality of her training was due primarily to the fact that Nalia bended blue fire, which, at the time, was considered witchcraft by the Fire Nation and was a crime punishable by death. Her father, whose opposition to the government and the war against the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes often inspired lengthy, infuriated rants, saw nothing wrong with his daughter's ability and sought to make her a lethal weapon.

When Nalia was nineteen, years after Malva passed away, her father led her to the hill on which he proposed. The location was special to him, so he decided it would be the perfect place to introduce the concept of lightning generation to his daughter. He would never finish teaching the art, however, because the next day, Nalia and Ming returned from school to see there house intruded by Fire Nation soldiers. Nalia rushed inside to see her father helplessly in the custody of War Commissioner Long, who claimed that the general had committed high treason against the country and revealed that he was aware of Nalia's blue Firebending. After a brief exchange of words, Nalia was arrested and dragged out of her house before it was burned to the ground with Kun still trapped inside.

Nalia and Ming were incarcerated in a cell of an unknown prison, where the former would later meet personally with Fire Lord Sozin. In their discussion, Sozin explained to Nalia the existence of a treacherous group of anti-war members of the military and government known as the Crimson Wolves, as well as the elite warriors meant to eliminate them called the Shepherds. Using the life of Ming as leverage, Sozin forced Nalia to join the secret group of assassins, promising freedom for both girls. He then had Nalia branded with the organization's symbol.

It was Commissioner Long who briefed the unwilling Nalia on her first mission for the Shepherds: to confirm the allegiance of a man named General Chang to the Crimson Wolves and terminate him. With the assistance of her allotted animal transporter, a mongoose dragon named Nightmare, she first had to intercept a letter sent to Chang from another general, and to do so she had to pursue a military courier through a civilian town and kill him while assailed by armed guards. She succeeded, and the letter only offered further proof of Chang's involvement with the traitors. Because of this, Nalia was sent to his base where she infiltrated a private gala, disguised as a maid, and hand delivered him a poisoned meal.

After completing her first task under the tight grip of the Fire Nation Crown, she stumbled upon peculiar small town baring only a handful of run-down buildings and a minuscule population. After interacting with the townspeople, including a mysterious vagabond who warned his unconcerned neighbors of the dangerous of the Fire Lord's secret assassins, Nalia discovered the town was established by the government as a social experiment to test the effect of certain information, ideas, beliefs, and other miscellaneous factions of civilization. It was at the town that Nalia encountered Jirou, a veteran Shepherd tasked with accompanying, training, and guiding Nalia. In exchange for his services to the Fire Lord, Jirou was promised power over the occupied Earth Kingdom city of Taku, where is mother-in-law currently sat as governor, holding his wife against her will.

Together, Nalia and Jirou set out to investigate rumors that the Fire Sages had been harboring the Air Nomad-born Avatar since the destruction of the Air Temples. These claims, however, proved to be false, but the extreme measures Nalia took while executing the mission caused her to question her ethics and motivations. This internal conflict continued as the pair ventured to a Fire Nation military factory, where a local mayor was reportedly hindering production and shipping materials to the enemy as a result of his sympathetic views towards the Earth Kingdom. There, the Shepherds successfully terminated Mayor Wadze and destroyed the factory, but it was during their escape that Jirou betrayed Nalia and left her to perish in the crumbling building. Nalia narrowly survived, and hunted her former partner with the aid of Nightmare. When she caught up with Jirou, the two fought until Nalia forced Jirou to listen to reason. She argued that Jirou would need Nalia as much as she needed him, and she advised him to simply report that she had been killed.

Under the circumstances of their truce, Nalia agreed to complete Jirou's assigned task of executing the Chief of the Sun Warriors, a feat the older Shepherd refused to see through. However, Nalia ultimately showed the Chief a similar mercy to what she had been shown by Jirou, and she too falsely reported a successful assassination. She proceeded to the harbor where she and Jirou were to meet, but when she heard of a voyage sailing to an island off of the Earth Kingdom named after her father for his alleged conquering of foreign lands, she determined to stowaway in secret. She was discovered, but pleaded with the sailors who found her to allow her to work off her debt on the ship, and they complied. She was tasked with duties in the vessel's kitchen, where to her dismay she discovered the captain of the ship was Jirou himself.

Nalia managed to continue her trip without being noticed by Jirou, but before the ship's arrival on Kun Island, she intercepted a message from Fire Nation officials that warned of Water Tribe mines set in the water just off the shore. It was then that she devised a plan to kill Jirou and sink the ship. She planted the barrels of blasting jelly that were stored under the deck outside of Jirou's personal quarters, and she and Nightmare abandoned the ship on a lifeboat hours before the ship finally reached the explosives. She watched it sink, and she knew that her former partner had been eliminated.

Once on Kun Island, Nalia mistakingly believed she had the freedom to explore and learn of her father's true past. However, she was ambushed and abducted by General Zhang, a high-ranking official of the Shepherds. He tasked her with the role Jirou was meant to fill, that of assassinating Governor Uma of Taku. Nalia assumed a feigned Earth Kingdom identity and was relocated in Taku, where she visited an historical museum containing an exhibit honoring her father. She was horrified to see that Kun was portrayed as a hero for the Fire Nation army, one who defeated Earth Kingdom rebels in combat and saw to the full surrender of Taku. Questioning this revisionist history, Nalia was compelled out of anger to steal artifacts that had belonged to her father, a sword and the mask in the shape of a lion's face, and to interrupt a mass-execution of several Water Tribe rebels, those who had planted the mines off of Kun Island. She only managed to save one, a waterbending women named Sentoki, and the two commenced an untrusting and shaky relationship.

Nalia, operating under the name of Tu Lin, began her work as a handmaiden in Uma's palace, where she was immediately tasked with delivering meals to Uma and serving as her personal servant. Through charm, she earned Uma's trust, but she still could not easily poison her with the surrounding guards and extra precautions taken by the paranoid leader.

Personality[]

Nalia doesn't mince words, and she doesn't pull punches. She lets people know exactly what she thinks of them, and she never fails to find a clever way to say it. Always quick-witted, it doesn't take long for her to get her point clearly across, and seldom does she not have anything to say in response to a treat or challenge.

The nineteen-year-old assassin also isn't afraid of getting her hands dirty. Fights don't intimidate her, but rather attract her to a certain situation. She's constantly ready to roll heads and get the job done.

Abilities[]

General Kun trained her daughter well to be an elite fighter, and while his true intentions for Nalia will never be known, her skills are proving to be imperative in her efforts to earn freedom by doing Fire Lord Sozin's dirty work. She's an expert Firebender, has shown proficiency in riding her mongoose dragon through busy streets and over rough terrain, and certainly knows how to handle dangerous weapons.

Although her raw ability may seem flawless, she is far from the perfect assassin. The emotional trauma caused by the death of her father and capture of her sister as well as her strong moral objection to killing the innocent haunt Nalia's thoughts and dreams. Emotional restraint often causes setbacks in her missions.

Relationships[]

Relatives[]

Kun[]

Nalia adored her father, and in a time in which his politics went against the grain and the rest of the nation, she stood by him and ardently defended his beliefs. Almost every life lesson she had learned was imparted to her by Kun, and she claims that avenging his death is her main motivation for killing others.

Malva[]

Not much is known about Nalia's relationship with her deceased mother, but the daughter did reveal that Malva ran a strict house with an iron fist. She appreciated that about her mother, as she believes it made her a tougher person.

Ming[]

Nalia is motivated by her desire to free her sister even more so than to save herself. The thought of Ming rotting alone in a prison cell, or perhaps even being tortured, is unbearable for her and keeps her awake at night. Her main goal is to earn Ming's freedom as quickly as possible.

Allies[]

Nightmare[]

The one and only friend of Nalia is Nightmare, her mongoose dragon and main way of transportation. He's just as fierce as she is, and his speed and brute strength have proven more than helpful in her endeavors.

Enemies[]

Sozin[]

Nalia detests the Fire Lord with every bone in her body. She wishes the worst possible fate upon him, and is eager to one day administer a gruesome punishment of her own creation. Between killing her father and targeting her as a blue Firebender, Sozin has rightfully earned his place as Nalia's number one enemy.

Long[]

War Commissioner Long, father of Nalia's former friend Ta Lin, was the one who personally raided the estate and killed Kun. Nalia's thirsty for his blood and awaits the day she can meet him again face to face so that she can kill him.

Jirou[]

Jirou was at one time her partner, her ally, and her lover, but he betrayed her trust at Mayor Wadze's factory and abandoned her to die. After her escape, they maintained a temporary and unstable alliance to accomplish common interests, but he was ultimately the primary victim of Nalia's sinking of the ship to Kun Island, where she doomed him to an explosive death.

Known Targets[]

  • The courier - killed after intense pursuit to retrieve confidential message between two Fire Nation generals
  • General Chang - confirmed to have been a member of the Crimson Wolves and poisoned during gala event
  • Mayor Wadze - assassinated for shipping weapons produced in his factory to the enemy cause
  • Sun Warrior Chief - shown mercy by Nalia after it was revealed he had a personal friendship with Kun
  • Governess Uma - Fire Nation-installed dictator of Taku and mother-in-law to Jirou rumored to be a member of the Crimson Wolves, who Nalia was tasked with assassinating after Jirou's death
v - e

Fanon Award for Best Main Character (Female)

WinnersNominee List
Lian (2009) - Lian and Mina (2010) (tie) - Seraphine (2011) - Rokan (2012) - Nalia (2013) - Ratana (2015)

See more

For the collective works of the author, go here.


See Also[]

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