Chaisee's island

An unnamed island is located in the southern Mo Ce Sea, close to the Natsuo Island chain. During the youth of Zongdu Chaisee, the island was home to a community of nonbenders who made a living diving for shellfish, cucumber sponges, and other goods of the sea.
The island was considered Fire Nation territory during the reign of Fire Lord Gonryu, but this was considered to be a mere technicality by the inhabitants, as the island lay outside the official Fire Nation archipelago.
== History ==
The people of the island had no clan traditions, and there were no benders of any sort in Chaisee's family, with her ancestry being somewhat of a mystery to herself.
Without the aid of waterbending, the villagers trained their bodies to accept the pressure of deep waters as they dove for cucumber sponges, which were extremely valuable once killed and dried. Many nobles wished to wash their faces with the creatures' cured exteriors, as they had the softest touch known in the four nations. The endeavor was often fatal, but Chaisee and the other inhabitants willingly took on the endeavor so they might eat for another season.
Pearls and dried shellfish meat were also sold to haulers, with Chaisee eventually taking over the negotiations from her father. She would control market prices by spying on other suppliers while using uncharted islands as stashes.
Eventually, a ship bearing ambassadors from both the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom arrived, declaring that the island's inhabitants would no longer be able to produce goods of the sea, as by a rare agreement between the Earth King and the Fire Lord, the exclusive rights had been granted to a faraway merchant in a landlocked city. Chaisee's father protested the decision, and offered to entertain the officials that night, and talk of bargains the morning after.
While the villagers shared food and drink with the sailors around the fire in the square, Chaisee bore witness to one of the outsiders picking up a torch and flinging it into the largest hut, which was the building used to store drying cucumber sponges. With the sea creatures' bodies being extremely flammable, the roof blew out and spewed flame all over the adjacent huts, and half the village was already ablaze before the screaming started. The ambassadors rolled their eyes, snorted in contempt, and calmly departed, with Chaisee's father too occupied with fighting the fire to prevent the outsiders reaching their longboats and leaving the island unimpeded. The islanders tried to desperately carry water to the fire in buckets, gourds, and cupped hands, wailing as their futures dissolved into smoke, but the village was ruined.
Following the arson attack, Chaisee left her home island, finding work closer to the official Fire Nation archipelago, until she eventually rose to become the Zongdu in Jonduri.
== Notable figures ==
* Chaisee
* Chaisee's father
== Trivia ==
* Chaisee's home island and the island where the experiments of the Unanimity project were later conducted were possibly the same location, as both harbored night abalones which produced unique black pearls on extremely rare occasions.
* It is likely that Noehi's father was the merchant to whom the exclusive rights to goods of the sea was given: It is confirmed that Noehi held the exclusive rights to the pearl trade, and that she had inherited it from her father who had obtained the monopoly before the shang system was established.
== Notes ==
== References ==
Category:A to Z
Category:Fire Nation
Category:Islands
Category:Locations
Category:Yangchen novels