Shila Garkan is easily described in two words: utterly loyal. A former Dai Li member, she would lay down her life in a heartbeat for the Phoenix Kingdom and its ideals. Cheerful, friendly even, Shila also lacks any sense of what most people would call morals. She would kill a child in a heartbeat if she deemed it was necessary. Victory at any cost that was what was embedded into her while she was being taught by her master in the Dai Li. Anyone and anything can be killed to ensure victory and thus survival. Because of this, people outside of the Dai Li (indeed, a few inside of the organization as well), find her cruel, ruthless, and cold. She notices the plight of the other nations, but deems it a necessary evil to preserve order. In her opinion, the lack of the Phoenix Kingdom was what brought about the Hundred Year war, and its destruction would result in more chaos and death than could ever be achieved by its remaining in power.

She believes that the Phoenix King Ozai has betrayed the ideals the Kingdom was founded upon (order, stability, peace), to prevent the knowledge of the Avatar’s death from escaping to the general populace, and to try and crush the Rising. She was witness to the King ordering a Police force soldier, one of the most loyal men she knew, executed to protect the secret that the Avatar had died. Her only thought was of how long before she was eliminated. While more of an ally of than an actual member of the Rising, she will fight alongside them to be rid of the current Phoenix King. If she survives long enough to see that happen, then things might get interesting.

Rather than using anger, hate, and general ‘burning’ emotions to power her firebending, Shila uses the old techniques of gaining power from the sun and other sufficiently hot heat sources. As such, she has much more control over herself and her bending than most modern Firebenders. Her degree of fine control over her flames is superb. Her endurance is also solid, and she’s able to outlast most Firebenders in an extended fight.

Shila, at one point, could bend lightning. However, since she is now a rebel and is going against the Kingdom she had sworn utterly loyalty to, the Kingdom she had sworn to protect, and she’s killing her former comrades and those others who still support Ozai, the emotionally conflict inside of her makes using it impossible.

Since firebending has few defensive moves, and she isn’t a very powerful straight up fighter, Shila uses a more…fluid style of combat, as opposed to the option of aggressive ‘offense is the best defense’ most Firebenders use. She uses her natural agility and speed (increased by years of training and practice), with her almost unnatural flexibility (gained by years of training and practice), to avoid most attacks, using her bending when necessary to gain extra height or speed, and to deflect what attacks she can.

Once apart of the Dai Li. As such, she was a personal guard to the Royal Family at times.

Shila was born in the city of Ba Sing Se, to two Firebender parents who were as patriotic as only ex-soldiers who fought in the name of their country can be. Loyalty to the Phoenix Kingdom was being instilled into her even before the masters of the Dai Li got a hold of her.. As soon as she was old enough, she was sent to be a member of the bodyguards of the royal family. The training was brutal. Many of the initial recruits dropped. Some even died. But she stayed on, for one simple reason. She wanted to protect and serve the Phoenix Kingdom. Thus, she stayed on. No matter how many times it felt like her body was going to fail her, or how many bruises, burns, cuts, and general injuries she earned. She would stay on, and gain the safety of being a part of the organization that did the raiding. As she entered the final stage of training, she was given to a Firebending master to polish her off. It was during this time period that most of her skills with Firebending were created and honed, and her own moral compass and code was formed.

The master believed heavily in the old way of Firebending, as his master had before him, and his before that, and so on. The first thing he did was remove any idea that she had to power her bending with anger, or hate. That particular learning process was painful and seemingly unbearably long, and will always stick out in her memory. Once she had unlearned that habit, she was taught how to control herself, in various aspects. From her emotions, to her breathing she was taught control. ‘If you lose control you lose the fight’. Her master pounded that saying into her skull, so that it would stick with her no matter where she went, or what she did. What few morals she had were grinded away. She was going to give her body and soul to the Phoenix Kingdom. She would do anything required of her by the royal family, at once and without question. If they wanted her to destroy a cabbage merchant’s cart, or kill a child, she would do it without hesitation. She would do it without remorse.

When she finally became a full member of the Dai Li, everything was fine. At first All she did was the secret police side of the work. Investigation and apprehension of suspected traitors and rebels, occasionally going with the regular police to bloodily and permanently end a rebellion (typically Earthbenders) that would have sown chaos throughout the land. As her almost unnatural loyalty began to become more and more apparent, she was put more and more to be the bodyguard of the Royal family, until it practically became her only job. So of course, she was there when the Avatar died.

It was supposed to be a simple, calm night. Just mind numbing guard duty. So she was surprised when a police grunt came running to her, breathlessly telling her that the Avatar had died, before running onto the royal family. For a moment, Shila just stood there, stunned. Sure, she had seen a medical officer head in the direction of the Avatar’s rooms, but she hadn’t thought that the Avatar herself would have needed it! The king came swiftly out of his chambers, ordering her, a few other Dai Li, and the grunt to follow. They arrived at the Avatar’s rooms quickly. There was no doubt about it, she was dead. For a while, no one said anything. Then, the King gave one simple order. No one was to speak of this. The grunt gaped at him in shock, and then began to say something about how the people should know. That’s when the King ordered him killed on the spot.

Shila watched as he was killed, very quickly and very efficiently by one of her comrades. She was very careful to keep her face a stoic mask, and simply nodded with the rest when ordered by the king to keep the Avatar’s death a secret. However, she was far from that loyal. The king had just betrayed the Kingdom’s ideals. She wasn’t going to just stand by and watch as he killed, murdered, and generally sowed chaos to keep control. She left that night, before anyone could worry about what should be done about all those supposedly loyal witnesses.

Everywhere she went she spoke of the Avatar’s death. It was inevitable that pursuit should be given, and unfortunately they weren’t stupid enough to send the police force after her. It was her former comrades they sent, and the resulting fight destroyed a small village. Shila herself nearly died several times. But eventually she simply outlasted her comrades, and decided that she should perhaps be a bit more subtle.
Later she joined up with the Rising for one reason; to take down Ozai. And that’s as far as she’s willing to go. The destruction of the Phoenix Kingdom would only bring more chaos, as far as she’s concerned, and she isn’t willing to risk that.