Lihua was a friend of Kiyi and a student of the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. A native of the Fire Nation Capital, she was one of the kidnapping victims of the Fire Warriors during the "Kemurikage" conspiracy of 102 AG.
History
Early life and Kemurikage crisis
Lihua was born into a non-noble family[1] and grew up in the Fire Nation Capital. In 102 AG, she and several other children of the city were kidnapped by the Fire Warriors (disguised as Kemurikage spirits) as part of a plot to undermine Fire Lord Zuko's government. The children were imprisoned under the Garden of Tranquil Souls and cared for by Ukano. As an empathic person and one of the oldest members of the group, Lihua quickly started to care for and reassure the younger kidnapping victims.[4][5]
When a new child, Guri, was brought by the "Kemurikage" to their room and started to cry due to missing his mother, Lihua reassured him. She told him that the place was not so bad and that their parents would soon come and get them, as one of their caretakers -Ukano- was the father of Tom-Tom, one boy among them. Soon after, Ukano arrived and kindly told the group to go to sleep.[4]
One a following day, Lihua was playing with toys alongside Guri when the "Kemurikage" arrived with two new victims, including Kiyi. As the children huddled together in fear of the self-proclaimed dark spirits, Lihua shielded Guri. In contrast, Kiyi struggled against the kidnappers and once put into the room started to defiantly challenge them. Not long afterward, the children were once again playing as Lihua noticed that Tom-Tom appeared to be distracted. As she asked him to join the others, his response resulted in a scuffle with Guri. The group was promptly silenced by Kiyi who was training firebending forms; when Lihua asked the other girl what she was doing, Kiyi responded that she was not sure as she was mirroring what her older brother Zuko often practiced.[6]
Eventually, the children started to hear noises through the steel door of their room. Guri speculated that it sounded like a frog-dog, causing a younger girl to cry as she hated this type of animal. Lihua promptly consoled her. Meanwhile, Kiyi realized that her practice was enabling her to firebend, whereupon she asked everyone to get out of the way. She used her bending to melt a hole in the door. Having wanted to help the children escape, a surprised Ukano promptly helped everyone to get through the hole. The children celebrated Kiyi before they were led toward the exit by Ukano, only to be confronted by two Fire Warriors. Before the latter could harm them, however, Aang unexpectedly appeared. Lihua recognized him as the Avatar, causing the children to cheer. Aang was able to defeat the Fire Warriors after being reinforced by Mai and Kei Lo. All the kidnapped children were subsequently returned to their parents. On a later day, Lihua sat on her father's shoulder as they listened to a speech by Fire Lord Zuko.[6] As result of their shared experience in the Kemurikage crisis, Lihua subsequently befriended Kiyi and the two started to spend time together.[1]
Life as a student
As a result of Fire Lord Zuko's education reforms, Lihua was allowed to attend at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, an institute previously reserved for members of the Fire Nation elite. As they were of a similar age, Lihua and Kiyi enrolled in the Academy together. On their first school day, Lihua happily ran alongside Kiyi onto the school grounds; when her friend challenged her to a race to the local playgrounds, Lihua complained that Kiyi already had a head start. The two played together for some time until the class officially began, whereupon Lihua expressed fear over the new school year due to the older, noble students evidently disliking the new commoner students. Her fears were somewhat diminished when Kiyi declared that she would protect her from any bullies. The two subsequently attended a history class.[1]
During a later school break, the two friends returned to the Academy playgrounds. However, they were challenged by a group of noble students, consisting of Chen, Diu and Qiang. Chen claimed that Kiyi, as a princess, should spend time with them instead of a mere commoner like Lihua. When the latter attempted to avoid a confrontation by urging her friend to just leave, Chen attacked her with a mild firebending move. Infuriated, Kiyi promptly attacked Chen, resulting in a scuffle.[1]
The younger students were subsequently sent to Headmistress Shihan's office, where Lihua was further scrutinized and held responsible for the fight due to her lowly background. As Chen's gang had accused Lihua of lying about the incident, the headmistress opted to believe them. Despite Kiyi's protests, Shihan punished Lihua by ordering her to stay after school and clean the classrooms. Dejected, the girl expressed her belief that she did not fit at the Academy, but Kiyi responded that she remained committed to her previous promise. The princess later informed her brother Zuko of the situation, who responded by appointing his friend Mai as a teacher at the Royal Fire Academy to reinforce the education reforms.[1]
Two days later, Lihua and Kiyi had their first class under Mai. As the latter introduced herself, Lihua discovered a bug on her friend's shoulder. After a short moment of panic, Mai calmed the students and explained that the insect was a cicada beetle. As she retold the small creature's interesting life cycle, the students closely listened. They were thus elated when Mai spontaneously decided to turn the lesson into an outdoor trip to teach them about bugs. Lihua accompanied Kiyi throughout her time at the school in the following days, participating in Mai's classes where she caught insects, learned the basics of tightrope walking, and helped to build a cicada beetle terrarium. One day, she and Kiyi witnessed Mai stopping an Agni Kai between two students, Chen and Diu, before the teacher also confronted Headmistress Shihan about the Academy's traditional values often making its attendees miserable and emotionally scarring them. This event ultimately sparked a true reform of the school, allowing Lihua to grow increasingly comfortable among its students.[1]
Appearances
Graphic novels
Trivia
- In a preview of the comic published on Edelweiss, notes of the creation process were included in one of Ursa's speech bubbles. These reveal that Lihua is meant to be a character previously seen in Smoke and Shadow.[5]