175 word drabble: The Dust and the Silence

Written for avatar_500 prompt #15, Defeat.

Summary: Ba Sing Se keeps falling.

The Dust and the Silence

The water sloshed over the edge of the bucket as Jin drew it carefully out of the public well.  High apartment walls rose up around her, hemming her in.  The well stood in a patch of sunlight between the shadows, and the summer heat beat down, bringing sweat up to bead on her forehead and under her robe.  The cloth stuck to her body and her hair sank low and wet into her eyes.

An arm dropped itself around over her shoulders.  The fingers attached to it swept down across her breasts.  She dropped the bucket.  “Hey, baby, come with...”

Jin couldn’t even hear the words.  The water splashed over her arms and stomach.  The cold only made the arm around her burn more.  She flinched away from both.

She lowered her bucket on its rope back into the well, ducking the Fire Nation Soldier’s arm.

She had to say yes.

There were still Dai Li hiding just behind the roof beams.

She never would have thought that defeat would taste the same as peace.