Avatar:History of Jin (100 AG)
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Jin, a refugee of the Hundred Year War, experienced great upheavals in her life in 100 AG. Sixteen at the time, she was living with her sick grandfather Gong-gong in Ba Sing Se's Lower Ring and worked at Wen Bakery; the owners' daughter, Susu Wen, was her best friend. However, the Wen family eventually lost their business, forcing Susu to take an exploitative job in the Upper Ring. Determined to save her friend, Jin subsequently became involved in Ba Sing Se's criminal underground to aid her.
Meanwhile, the Earth Kingdom capital was gradually steering toward a coup and revolution. Amidst the growing unrest, Jin became an errand runner of the revolutionary Silver Fangs network, gradually developing a bond with fellow members Xuan, Smellerbee, and Longshot. Over the course of several missions for the Silver Fangs, Jin honed her skills and began to train earthbending. After the Fire Nation conquest of Ba Sing Se, Jin became a proactive resistance member, rescuing Susu from service to the Dai Li and ultimately assisting in the liberation of Ba Sing Se.
Meeting Zuko and Xuan
By spring 100 AG, Jin was trying to balance school and her part-time job at the Wen Bakery. She was generally happy at the bakery whose owners had begun treating Jin like family after the latter's arrival in Ba Sing Se three years prior. In particular, the young woman admired the family's eldest daughter, Susu Wen, who was also her best friend. As usual, Jin regularly helped to bake food as well as make deliveries throughout Ba Sing Se to places such as Pao Family Tea House and Lady Liang's, often accompanied by Susu.[1][2]
During one delivery to the Pao Family Tea House, Jin had to wait at the shop. The owner, Pao, attempted to find faults with the Wen Bakery products to demand a discount, while part of the delivery was still missing due to Susu being late. As a result, she met the newest employee at the shop, namely Zuko. Noticing the boy's scar, she stared at him, causing him to rudely snap at her. Embarrassed, Jin averted her eyes and quickly left the shop, where she soon discovered Susu. The latter also noticed the new employee at the Pao Family Tea House, teasing Jin about him being cute after realizing that she had developed a small crush on him.[2]
After some banter with Susu, Jin excused herself to go to Hu Yuan Apothecary, intending to pick up Gong-gong's medicine from the head of the store's owner, Doctor Jan. Upon arriving, she was addressed by a similarly-aged boy manning the counter. After requesting her medicinal order, Jin realized that she did not have enough money to pay, realizing in horror that she had lost her coin pouch. Desperate to still get her grandfather's medicine, she offered to make the order now and pay the debt in the future. The boy was reluctant and he was unable to answer, the two were interrupted by his friends. The latter harassed her and teased him over his virginity, suggesting that he should demand a kiss for the medicine. Jin was deeply embarrassed, whereas the boy reacted with anger and loudly declared that he would not hand over medicine without proper payment.[2] As Jin felt tears coming to her eyes out of shame over the situation and worry for her grandfather, she turned around to storm out of the shop.[2][3]
However, she ran into Doctor Jan who quickly realized what had happening. Knowing that Jin quite well as a loyal and abiding customer, she demanded that the boy should hand over the medicine for Gong-gong. As Jin tried to explain that she would try to pay back the debt as soon as possible, Jan dismissed her by explaining that there was no need for hurry. The older woman also apologized for her son Xuan's behavior, whereupon Jin realized the familial similarities of their faces. Humbled, Xuan also bowed and apologized to Jin, whereupon she felt even more embarrassment.[3]
With the medicine, Jin who returned home to Gong-gong to provide him comfort, happy to discover that he was experiencing one of his lucid days. After spending some time managing the household, preparing for school and reading a novel, she went to bed.[3] That night, Susu knocked on Jin's door and asked her to spend some time on the nearby rooftops, offering some cabbage buns by Young Crow as well as Wen Bakery rejects. On the roof, the two ate and talked about rumblings of the Avatar's presence in Ba Sing Se. Inspired by these fantastical stories, they began discussing a better future: Whereas Susu initially mused about fancy dresses she could wear, Jin was more interested in the cuisine of the Middle and Upper Rings. As Susu extolled a better building for her family's shop, Jin imagined a three-room apartment near Ba Sing Se University. Soon after, the two split up and Jin returned to bed.[4]
Plight of the Wen family
A couple of days later, Jin was walking at night near Pao Family Tea House when she witnessed the fight between Zuko and Jet breaking out which concluded with Jet's ultimate arrest by the Dai Li. The event reinforced Jin's disdain for the regular police who had refused to intervene until the Dai Li's arrival. Yet it also unnerved her due to Jet's loud protests about Zuko and Iroh being firebenders, wondering how someone could even identify a Fire National.[5]
On the next day, Jin came to the Wen Bakery to start her shift, only to discover the shop closed.[5] She learned that Susu's father had gambled away the entire bakery, forcing Susu take a contract job in the Upper Ring to pay her family debt.[5][6]
Taking smuggling jobs
Distraught over her friend's fate, Jin became increasingly angry over the injustices of Ba Sing Se. She was determined to make enough money to buy Susu out of her contract. Yet Jin realized that even if she dropped out of her literature school, she would not find a well-paying full-time job.[7][8] A potential solution presented itself when one of her classmates, Xuan –the son of Doctor Jan– offered her a job as an errand runner for some black market associates.[8][9] She successfully delivered the package to Professor Om of the Ba Sing Se University, even chancing upon Susu on the campus. To Jin's distress, however, her friend appeared utterly changed and did not recognize her.[10][11] After some advice by "Mushi" at Pao's tea shop, Jin remained committed to her plan of collecting money to save Susu, reasoning that the latter had just acted like a stranger to deceive some guards.[11][12]
Jin continued to accept job offers by Xuan, and the two gradually developed a friendship,[12] though she initially remained distrustful due to his upper-class background.[13] During one smuggling assignment in the Upper Ring, Jin (using the alias "Huajin") made a positive impression on Madame Macmu-Ling of the Fragrant Blossoms Institute, something none of the other delivery girls before her had managed to do.[13][14] This impressed Xuan and his superiors in the Silver Fangs.[13][15]
Date with Zuko
As this was going on, Jin also kept up many of her old routines such as work at the Wen Bakery and studying.[16][17] Seeking to break out of her constant worrying, she decided to ask "Lee" out on a date.[16] Jin came up to the counter to pay for her tea and to talk to him; after Zuko introduced himself as Lee, Jin finally built up the courage to ask him out on a date, to which Iroh said that Zuko "would love to". Excitedly leaving the shop, she said that she would meet Zuko there at sundown.[18]
When Zuko emerged from the shop, his hair combed and cleaned by his uncle, Jin immediately went through it to get it back to normal, before pulling him along to a restaurant in the Middle Ring of the city. Trying to make conversation during an awkward dinner, she asked some questions about Zuko and Iroh's background; not being able to tell the truth, Zuko blurted out that they traveled the world a lot as part of a traveling circus. Jin guessed that he was a juggler, to which Zuko reluctantly agreed and was forced to give a performance. After Zuko failed miserably at this, Jin took him to the Firelight Fountain, one of her favorite places in the city.[18]
Jin talked excitedly about how beautiful the fountain looked when the light of the lanterns reflected in the water, but was saddened to see that they were not lit when they arrived. Noticing her disappointment, Zuko asked Jin to close her eyes while he carefully used his firebending to light the lanterns. To thank him for lighting the lanterns, Jin turned to Zuko to give him a kiss, but Zuko interrupted her by holding a coupon for a free cup of tea in front of his face, to which she replied how sweet he was. She proceeded to say that she had something for Zuko as well for which he also needed to close his eyes. Obeying her request, Jin softly kissed Zuko on the lips; a gesture he hesitantly returned, before backing away. When she asked what was wrong, he excused himself by saying that it was "complicated" and that he had to go, leaving her standing alone.[18]
Though Jin had enjoyed the date and subsequently felt more at ease, she realized that they were not meant for each other.[19][20]
Deepening involvement with the Silver Fangs
Having gained greater confidence, Jin subsequently sought to become part of the Silver Fangs to ease her efforts to help Susu. With Xuan's assistance,[20] she was granted a meeting with Silver Fangs co-leader Sumi and passed some initial assessments, also learning that the network was using its black market activities as a cover for revolutionary work. Having become disillusioned with Ba Sing Se's government, this revelation only strengthened Jin's determination.[15][21] Afterward, she began training earthbending with Xuan and was assigned to a team of Silver Fangs initiates consisting of Smellerbee and Longshot. For their first mission, the trainee trio was ordered to steal an object from Lady Mei in the entertainment district.[17][22][23] To her own surprise, Jin was able to work well with Smellerbee and Longshot, succeeding in the mission which was revealed to be an entry test. The trio was officially welcomed into the Silver Fangs by Patron Wu.[23][24]
Over the next weeks, Jin befriended Smellerbee and Longshot, while continuing to carry out Silver Fangs missions.[24][25] After one assignment, the trio encountered Susu. Smellerbee and Longshot informed Jin that her friend had probably been brainwashed by the Dai Li into becoming a "Joo Dee".[25][26] Realizing that her quest was far more complex than anticipated, Jin hoped that the Silver Fangs network might aid her. At the same time, however, the Coup of Ba Sing Se took place and the Earth Kingdom government was overthrown. The Silver Fangs ordered their associates to scatter, knowing that the new regime would seek to ruthlessly eliminate opposition groups.[26][27][28]
Fall of Ba Sing Se
Jin retreated to her home and cared for her ailing grandfather as the Fire Army marched into Ba Sing Se, resulting in vicious street fighting.[28][29] Gong-gong suffered a heart attack during the Fire Nation conquest, whereupon Jin ventured through the war-torn city to seek aid from Doctor Jan's family. She managed to reach Xuan who tried to help her grandfather,[30][31][32] but the old man passed away in his sleep, devastating Jin.[33]
Lake Laogai mission and aftermath
After mourning for Gong-gong, Jin continued her efforts to rescue Susu with the help of her friends. Based on intel by Smellerbee and Longshot, Jin's group decided to infiltrate the Dai Li's Lake Laogai base.[33][34] They rescued several prisoners –including General Sung and a few Joo Dees-in-training– and flooded the complex, but Susu had already been relocated to the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace to serve as one of the new collaborationist "Supreme Bureaucratic Administrators".[35][36] At some point after Ba Sing Se's fall, Jin once again visited Pao's tea shop as a Fire Army parade marched by.[37]
Shortly after her mission to Lake Laogai, Jin walked through the streets of the Lower Ring when she noticed Zuko with Mai. Addressing him as Lee, she asked who Mai was and was told that she was a friend from the circus, where she was a knife thrower. Joining the charade, Mai offered to teach Jin to throw knives and had Zuko stand in front of a fountain with a fish from a nearby market on his head. Mai explained that the trick was in the wrist, and she accurately hit the fish with an icicle. Amazed by the show of marksmanship, Jin tried as well, though when she threw the icicle, she barely missed Zuko's head, making him fall into the fountain.[38]
Rescuing Susu
Using the Silver Fangs' old criminal links, Jin and Xuan subsequently secured menial jobs at the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace, spending weeks to scout the location.[36][39] When the Day of Black Sun eventually rendered the firebending guards in the palace powerless, the two disguised themselves as Dai Li agents and managed to enter the Supreme Bureaucratic Administrators' private rooms.[39][40] However, they were ambushed by a true Dai Li patrol and thrown into the palace's prison, deemed to be rebel assassins. Facing potential death, Jin and Xuan continued to bond in their cell and eventually realized that they had fallen in love.[41][42] Sharing a kiss, they were grateful to still have each other. Yet their hopeless situation was interrupted by an unexpected visit of Susu; despite being brainwashed, she had decided to visit their cell out of curiosity and subconscious recognition. Jin was overjoyed by Susu's presence and sought to revive her memories by using techniques she had learned from Smellerbee and Longshot. This worked, and Susu gradually regained her true self.[42][43]
Eventually, Jin and Xuan were taken away for judgement. To their surprise, the judge turned out to be Sumi who revealed that she was a ranking Dai Li member who had gathered pro-Earth Kingdom loyalists within the secret police. Jin learned that the Silver Fangs remained active, covertly preparing a mass uprising in Ba Sing Se.[44][45] Sumi agreed to arrange an escape route for Jin and Xuan, provided that they would resume their work for the revolutionary network. Thanks to this aid, the two successfully escaped and even managed to save Susu as well, before returning to the Lower Ring.[45][46][47]
From this point onward, Jin alongside Xuan, Smellerbee, and Longshot helped to prepare the Silver Fangs' planned rebellion. Using the Wen Bakery, they spread coded messages by the insurgent leadership around the Lower and Middle Rings. The revolution was triggered on the day of Sozin's Comet,[48][49] with rebel cells across Ba Sing Se rising up even as the Fire Army prepared to destroy the city on Fire Lord Ozai's orders. Jin's cell joined the battle, clashing with regular Fire Nation troops and the Rough Rhinos.[49][50][51] Though the battle was hard-fought, the insurgents were reinforced by the Order of the White Lotus and ultimately liberated the capital.[51] With the Hundred Year War concluded, Jin and her comrades were officially honored as war heroes by the restored Earth Kingdom government. Having entered a relationship with Xuan and being reunited with Susu, Jin concluded that Ba Sing Se finally felt like home.[52]