[center][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v159/kaligargoyle/rong.jpg[/img][/center]
[hider=Appearance]Saili’s features are all fairly common place among the peoples of the Earth Kingdom. Her skin is a coppery, warm tone that’s pulled over tightly corded muscles and good for hiding the dirt she’s covered in the vast majority of the time. She keeps her hair cut relatively short for easy maintenance and it’s usually pulled back from face in some manner or another, and is an oaken, middling brown color. Her eyes are almond shaped and a vivid green and do an admirable job at ruining any of Saili’s attempts to hide her emotions, especially when her traitorously expressive and mobile eyebrows come into play. Her mouth is thin and is usually set in a crooked, single dimpled smile. She’s taller than your average Earth Kingdom woman by a good few inches, and her clothing is in keeping with the simplistic nature of earthbenders. It’s also important to note that she, like many other skilled earthbenders, does not wear shoes as she is stronger when her feet are in direct contact with the earth.[/hider]
[b][color=1a7b30]Name[/color][/b]: Saili
[b][color=1a7b30]Age[/color]:[/b] 28
[b][color=1a7b30]Personality[/color][/b]: If one were to put Saili next to a rock and compare them, they’d be pretty hard pressed give you more than a handful of differences between the two, including the horribly obvious ones. This close affinity towards her element, however, is one of the largest reasons she makes such a capable earthbender. Her stubbornness cusps on a near legendary level, and it might be more plausible to shift a mountain than to change Saili’s mind from something she’s decided on. Of course, while fighting, people will often refer to this trait as more of an ‘unwavering tenacity and endurance’ than stubbornness. Which might be very true when she’s fighting to protect her homeland or friends, but sounds ridiculously pretentious to her ears for any other occasion. 

A combination of having a quick mind and decisive attitude can make her seem brash, however she is actually quite the patient individual. Being firm and confident is important, as earthbending does not respond to hesitancy well, but knowing when to strike and when to defend is also an important aspect; timing is everything for a neutral jing fighter such as herself. An outgoing woman, Saili is generally friendly to any who haven’t given her a reason not to be and makes for an interesting companion if one doesn’t mind her candid and frank manner of speaking. Her temper is very cool as well, and most insults and raised voices are met with a crooked little grin and a lifted eyebrow. She can be infuriating to more hotheaded people in these instances, as her cavalier attitude seems to stoke their fires more. If she actually manages to get angry she’ll go very quiet and still, every muscle in body tensed… and said anger may or may not be accompanied shortly thereafter by hurling boulders. Nobody wants that. (Note: angry quiet is not to be confused with pensive quiet, where she stares off into space with a bemused look about her, or uncomfortable/frightened quiet, where she furrows her brows and chews the inside of her cheek.)

[b][color=1a7b30]Skills[/color][/b]:[list][*] A master earthbender with many years of service within the Earth Kingdom military, she’s no stranger to the stresses and rigor of war. 
[*]Aside from knowing most of the master level techniques of earthbending, she also is skilled in the use of seismic sense. 
[*]Seeing as earth is the “element of substance,” Saili is physically strong and all ripcord musculature to be able to bend all the bulk. 
[*]She’s pretty good at throwing some random things from the forest into a pot and cooking them together into something edible, and most of the times tasty. That’s to say, she’s a decent cook in or out of civilization.[/list]

[b][color=1a7b30]Weaknesses[/color][/b]: [list][*]Very dependent on her earthbending. 
[*]She’s as decent as any soldier should be at hand-to-hand, but if she has to resort to it it’s probably not going to end well for her. 
[*]She [i]highly[/i] prefers her feet firmly planted on solid ground. Boats, water deeper than what she can stand in, tree houses, even riding animals can make her a little iffy. She’ll avoid these situations if she can at all help it.
[*]In relation to the last, she does not like being unable to work her element. At best it makes her uncomfortable and at worst she reaches an almost phobic level of tension and nervousness, depending on the situation.[/list] 

[b][color=1a7b30]History[/color][/b]: Saili was born and raised in Taku, a coastal city in the northwestern region of the Earth Kingdom. The city was known as a hub for commerce, as its ports handled many of the imports and exports from other nations. Both of Saili’s parents worked in this industry, her father working on a cargo ship as a crewman, and her mother in a warehouse. While her father would be away for varying lengths of time, her mother was still a constant in her young life despite her constant working. Often Saili would find herself trailing after her mother all day until it was that she grew old enough to be left to her own devices. 

Saili and her own devices usually meant running amok through the crowded of streets of Taku, a pack of her friends around her. Like most kids their age, they often played at being heroes of great grandeur, or even the next Avatar knowing full well that the first was nigh impossible, and the second was completely so. Regardless, Saili grew up with the idea that she was meant to be something more than a what her parents had achieved especially when she had first learned that she was an earthbender. 

It was her ticket to adventure in her life, or at least something a bit more interesting. When she was old enough she enlisted into the Earth Kingdom military, bent on expanding her knowledge and determined to master this new facet of herself that she had discovered. Bender recruits were trained separately from their non-bending counterparts, of course, but still her basic training class made up of those from Taku and the areas around was quite large.

Regardless, Saili was better than them all. Impressed, her trainers sent her and several of the other top recruits to Taku’s earthbending masters with the intention of testing their limits and priming them for promising careers. Saili studied hard for years under their tutelage and eventually became a master in her own right and even began to expand upon the militaristic style of earthbending she had been taught and add her own little flair to things. 

Her abilities coupled with a down-and-dirty, lead from the front personality and leadership style meant that she rose quickly to the rank of sergeant, but no further. And she never wanted to be any further either, if it meant sitting in cramped rooms thinking of strategies and plans. She was perfectly happy doing her rounds within the city limits and leading patrols and scouting parties in the areas outside the city limits under their protection. She'd much rather work her body in tandem with her mind, rather than just sitting and thinking all day long.

But everything changed once the Fire Nation attacked… (I’m sorry!)

After Sozin’s comet struck and obliterated the Air Nomads it was Taku that came under siege by the Fire Nation; the first Earth Kingdom city to be attacked. Saili had been on wall duty that notorious day, and although she had not been facing the port, she still remembers the exact moment the first explosion rocked the city to its core. Things after that became somewhat of a blur. She knew she had run to go meet the enemy threat, and that the Earth Kingdom soldiers and benders held onto the city for a few days; only long enough for the civilians to flee out of the inland gates and into the heart of the Empire. The Fire nation’s navy was too large and they decimated Taku’s port before barraging the rest of the city. Saili fought the entire four days before the city fell completely to the Fire Nation. She didn’t think she slept once, and that exhaustion probably resulted in her flighty memory of many of the particulars. Though, it's pretty common that bits and pieces will float up in her dreams at night.

After the last of the bystanders left Taku’s gates, the Earth soldiers abandoned the city to their enemy, Saili among the last groups of fighters to leave as a sort of rear guard. Most of the refugee groups scattered into the winds, going every which way to seek safety within the heart of the largest of the nations. Saili decided to remain in the outskirts of her hometown for some time, keeping watch on the enemy army from afar and scrounging together any lingering refugees and sending them onward towards Ba Sing Se or other settlements inland. 

After a while there was no more point to her presence, as there was nothing more she could do that would be productive so close to this new Fire Nation stronghold. So Saili left to wander the nearby settlements and villages, wanting to link up with her fellow Earth Kingdom soldiers to create some semblance of a fighting force for the area, and hoping that she’d find her mother among the refugees there. Or to hear news of her father’s ship, which had been at sea at the start of the siege, and learn if it had made it away safely. 

Now she fights the good fight, helping the effort against the Fire Nation by helping to establish guerilla forces and resistance fighters from among the willing civilians and scattered military, and teaching Earth Kingdom citizens how to stand against the Fire Nation’s advance. She’s only one woman, but she’ll do whatever she can.