reina was born in the village of jang hui. by the time she was six the fire nation built a factory for the war and it polluted the river, the place where most of the villagers relied for their income. reina saw her father pass away at the hands of fire nation soldiers and saw her once thriving village turn poverty-ridden. her mother passed later on from an illness that could've easily been cured with the right medicine but there wasn't any available. with both parents gone and being an outcast in her community already reina didn't have anybody. she fled her village to the earth kingdom where she met the freedom fighters and fell in love with their leader jet. after beginning their relationship reina is happier than ever that she finally found a place where she belongs. but the anti fire nation group still doesn't know a big part of her identity, that she's actually from the fire nation and a firebender. she's been hiding her identity for a few months now but after coming across yyn and the avatar crew its unknown how much longer she can hide who she truly is and if she'll lose the people that really matter to her. 

BACKGROUND

 

reina was born in jang hui in 84AG to her father paohu and mother hime. her family's livelihood and the whole village relied on jang hui river. her father was a fisherman and her mother owned a restaurant, mostly seafood of course. ever since young reina was looked down on by her peers because she looked different from the rest. at school she got bullied and every kid in their small communitiy went to the same school so making friends was almost impossible. 90AG was a significant year for her it was the year the factory was built so all the water got polluted quickly. her family and everyone in her community's wellbeing was threatened. instead of eating fresh fish from the river it was rare to find fish or clam to eat. her family lost a bunch of money and no one in the village was doing anything about it, they were okay with the fire nation ruining the river because it was for the war. her father didn't think it was okay though and he stood up to general mung. paohu was the only fire bender so the other villagers were too scared to help him. it was him against military and he lost drastically. reina saw her dad badly injured from the fight but without proper medicine there wasn't much that could be done to help. for the first time reina fire bended out of anger and she accidentally set her neighbors boat on fire. hime made reina hide her fire bending to keep the peace with the other villagers and military.

for the next few years they lived in absolute poverty, nothing got better for them. hime closed her business because there was no money coming in. villagers didn't even have the money to buy fish from the fish market let alone go to a restaurant. as she got older seeing her village only mad her more mad because she remembered how lively it was before and now it was full of poverty and hungry villagers. to make it worse in 96AG her mom fell very ill. she begged to the military to help bring her medicine because the local hospital didn't have any but they never did. for weeks reina prayed for the painted lady to help her out but that never happened either. her mom passed the following year and reina was left alone. reina took her anger out by fire bending.

one day general mung and his soldiers showed up to mess with the villagers, stealing their food etc. reina was tired of seeing everyone cower away whenever they showed up and she's been practicing fire bending enough to finally stand up to them. she firebended at him when he was messing with dock and it resulted in a full on battle. the other soldiers were going to step in but he said "back up, she's mine" and didn't hold back on her at all. she stood her ground for a while but couldn't compare to someone officially trained. the other villagers hid in their homes to watch while she was on the floor struggling to get him and he said "look at you just like your father, you should join the military instead of wasting your time here. pack your stuff, I'll come get you tomorrow. by the way, I won't take it easy on you next time" then he left.

the last thing reina wanted to do was join the military for a nation she didn't even like so she fled that same night. she had nothing to lose anyways since she didn't have friends and her loved ones were gone. the only people that'll probably miss her is xu, dock and bushi. she just no longer wanted to stay in jang hui anymore because she always felt like there was more to life than this. she's been telling her mom they should leave but she didn't want to so she was finally at a place where she could take it into her own hands. she knew there was somewhere she had to fit in and she wanted to find it. she crossed the river to earth kingdom land and started her journey with a fire ferret she named mori that she fed everytime she went there to practice firebending. she didn't have a destination, just looking for a new place to call home. she felt that when she finds it she'll know. she didn't have much to travel with, she was used to going days without food so it wasn't an issue for her if she couldn't find anything to eat.

the first place she came across was makapu village it took her a few days to get there. she was really skinny and local restaurants offered free food to her since she didn't have money and looked underweight like she was about to collapse. she got a fortune reading from aunt wu who told her that "you'll meet the love of your life on your journey, someone with strong eyebrows and a lot of charms. him and his friends will be like family to you and i see your being very happy. but be careful, it has the possibility of ending very badly." reina took her advice and kept going with her journey. instead of having no destination she was looking for anyone with strong eyebrows and charms that'll be her new home. it gave her a sense of hope.

she came across the fire nation colonial village but left as fast as she went in. she never felt a connection to the fire nation because of how much she suffered. if anything she felt detached from them. how can she call it her home when no one cared about her or her village's well being? from the colonial village she went to taku, it was abandoned but she came across a herbalist shop who was nice enough to feed her and mori and teach her a thing or two about herbalism while she was at it. her stay lasted a few days before she went on with her journey. she got supplies from makapu and still had food from the herbalist and taku so she set up camp in a nearby woodlands for the night. as she set up camp she got surrounded by a group of kids who threatened her with weapons. before they attacked her she told them she’s a refugee and that her parents were killed by fire nation, with that they let her join their camp. reina thought it was amazing, so many kids together somehow making it all work out. from the moment she joined them she felt like one of them, the duke got an immediate liking to her and they gave her food. thats when she saw him, the guy with the thick eyebrows that aunt wu was talking about. when he approached her he had a friendly grin and asked her for her story. she basically said her true life story except the part about being from the fire nation and being a firebender. when she learned about their plans and motive she quickly learned that being a firebender would quickly get her in trouble so she didn’t mention it, its not like she liked being a firebender anyways. with that, she decided to stay with the freedom fighters and sabotage the fire nations plans. her feelings towards the fire nation was the same as them anyways and being with them gave her the feeling that aunt wu said she’s feel.

the longer she stayed the more she accepted that jet was her soulmate. he was such an inspirational leader and his thick eyebrows definitely solidified it. he developed a liking towards her after a while and so did she. there weren’t many girls in the freedom fighters, especially their age. jet paid her extra attention and taught her how to fight. she helped him around camp and come up with game plans. being around everyone made her happy, no one to tell them what to do and spent their free time messing with annoying fire nation soldiers. reina and jet had their first kiss in front of the camp fire while they were talking alone at night. jet told her his past story that his village got burned down and reina told him that both her parents died because of the fire nation. it was a sentimental moment for both of them that resulted in reina having her first kiss. from then they started dating. she’s been with the freedom fighters for a few months and has no plans on leaving. she found her new home and she’s completely content. she thinks the rest of aunt wu’s prediction is a lie because nothing bad has happened. but she also left an important part out of her past story, that she’s fire nation.

Likes. summer season. water. accessories. fashion. fish dishes. adventures. the freedom fighters. makeup. clams and squid are her favorite food. shopping. flowers.

Dislikes. fire nation, especially soldiers. being lonely. being in a fire nation town makes her anxious because she feels like they'll recognize her even though thats basically impossible unless they're from jang hui or the domestic forces in charge of the factory back in janghui.

Habits. reina has awkward mannerism for people she isn't comfortable with. she usually has a deadpan expression on her face, but when jet or any of the freedom fighters are around her face lights up and she's suddenly all smiley when she barely smiled before. she's awkward with affection for people she isn't close to but with the freedom fighters she likes giving them affection. they're the only ones she'll initiate it with.

Sleeping habits. she became a light sleeper after her mom became sick because she had to take care of her. she sleeps better when she's cuddling someone and doesn't move much in her sleep.

Hobbies. fishing. swimming. cooking. fighting.  

Fears. her biggest fear is jet finding out her true identity. heights used to make her a little uneasy but she got used to it after living up in the trees for a while. 

Cuisine. she prefers fish over meat, her favorite being clams and squid. there's a lot of food that she hasn't tried due to her previous poverty so she gets blown away with food easily, even basic earth kingdom dishes make her go woaah and the freedom fighters are like ..its just dumpings you know. she enjoys cooking because she likes making new food that she hasn't tried before. she has a habit of eating a lot, jet likes feeding her because she looks so happy with every bite. she has a really high tolerance for spicy food that the freedom fighters don't understand.

Accessories. reina loves finding new accessories to steal. on her past time she likes to make jewelry for the freedom fighters and they all wear it because jet says so since his girlfriend made it. for now they have matching bracelets.

Flowers. reina really loves flowers, probably since jang hui barely had any. she somehow finds a flower to match her outfit and keep it behind her ear. sometimes on missions jet would come back with a flower that he thought was pretty and reminded him of her. cheesy as heck but she loves it.

Tattoo. she got a matching tattoo with jet of 陰陽, it means yin and yang. jet has the yang character and reina yin character because yang is more extroverted while yin is the relaxed one. both on their wrists so when they hold hands the tattoos are together. they got the tattoo to represent that they feel like they complete each other. they got it in gaipan and ran away before they had to pay.     

Name. her birthname reina means wise. she came up with the name ash becuase it was the first thing that came in her head when the freedom fighters asked what it was. since then she's been called ash.

Love. jet is reina's first boyfriend. she had a crush on this kid back in jang hui but when she tried to talk to him he pointed at her face and called her a monster because of her freckles then ran away. so she's really grateful for jet for accepting all of her even the things she used to call flaws. 

Friendships. reina values her friends a lot. she didn't grow up with any so she's really loyal to her friends and cares for them with all her might. she has the tendency to take a motherly role and baby or friends. she considers everyone in the freedom fighters a friend, even cobra.

Firenation. reina can be seen as hypocritical if someone knows her past. she hates the fire nation because they didn't care about her village and hurt innocent people but she's basically doing the same thing with the freedom fighters. she didn't think that far about it.

Mori. mori is a fire ferret that reina used to feed when she went to practice fire bending. when she officially left home she decided to take him with her so she didn't have to travel alone. mori is a loving animal but is protective over reina so anyone new that comes he growls trying to look intimidating but he's a cute animal so its almost impossible until he bites. 

Alcohol. the first time she tried alcohol was when she was with the freedom fighters. they stole it from a fire nation camp. she's a serious light weight. when reina becomes drunk she becomes giggly and clingy saying how much she loves you.

Extras. she always wished she was a waterbender so she could rid the river back home of all the pollution. but now she wishes she was an earthbender.
sometimes she thinks about jang hui and wonders how they're doing. if she can she would want to blow up the factory and get rid of the pollution in the river but she knows its impossible.