The Shadow of Kyoshi (Avatar, The Last Airbender)

Zoryu shook his head. “I don’t think he realizes it himself. Consider his deeds, Kyoshi, not his words. Who has he been causing the most pain?

“For starters, me. By my reckoning, he’s angry with me for daring to rule my country without his help. He’s also furious with the lieutenant for having her mother’s unconditional love. What Jianzhu gave him wasn’t anything of the sort. And then there’s you, Kyoshi.”

And then there was her.

“Yun has never been able to let go of the fact that he’s not the Avatar,” Zoryu said. “To this day he agonizes over what should have been. He grieves for his lost destiny and that grief has turned into blame.” He nudged the fan aside, expecting her to lose control of her emotions any second. “Jianzhu and the others might have lied about his Avatarhood, Kyoshi, but only one person truly stole it from him. You.”

Seeing he’d rendered her incapable of response, he sidestepped out of her grasp and went back to his map table. “He’s punishing us, Kyoshi, for moving on from him and having the things he doesn’t. And unless you accept the truth, sooner or later he is going to punish you in a way I can’t even imagine.”

Kyoshi swallowed the buildup in her throat. She had no way of disproving any of Zoryu’s insights other than her own stubborn faith that she knew Yun better. “I suppose you can tell all this because you played him in Pai Sho,” she said hoarsely.

“No. I can tell because I’m not blinded by the past, like the two of you are. Maybe he truly is possessed by a spirit. It doesn’t change what needs to be done.”

He waved at the door. “Now, please, leave me. You have work to do, and I have the future of my country to plan.”

SECOND CHANCES

Kyoshi needed to arrange some travel for herself. She couldn’t bear having to explain another half-baked plan to Jinpa, nor did she want him present when she carried it out. So, she went to a palace minister with her request for a ship and kept the whole arrangement from her secretary.

The next morning, upon learning a vessel waited for her at the harbor, she left the palace by herself. Guards opened the many doors and gates without her needing to ask, or even break stride. It made her feel like a farm animal being guided out of its pen.

She got into a carriage, which took her through Caldera City, down the volcano’s slope, and through Harbor City. News of the Saowon’s heinous acts had spread overnight through the capital and the streets were mostly empty, the Festival of Szeto abandoned mid-swing in the face of such treachery. Parade floats remained in side alleys, covered in tarps. Lanterns bobbed in the breeze, unlit. Kyoshi nearly marveled at the speed of court rumors before realizing Zoryu had probably spread the information throughout the island himself.

Like most of the major clans, the Saowon would have had a normal, everyday presence in the capital. Businesses and family homes. That was no longer the case. Primed to look for them, Kyoshi saw signs everywhere of a swift, efficient purge. A lone shop in a commerce street might be closed and dark while its neighbors were still open. A luxurious apartment, most certainly belonging to a noble, had no clan banner on its flagpole. Wisps of black smoke rose in the distance, clustered too near each other to be a coincidence.

She had to fight to keep the sourness in her stomach down. Better than open war was not a standard to live by. And yet people seemed content with it.

She reached the docks and found her ship. It was a well-made sloop with a deep keel, a speedy ocean traveler with no need to hug coasts and rivers like squat Earth Kingdom transports. But she winced when she saw the name on the side.

Sulan’s Smile. The late Lord Chaeryu might have commissioned it for his wife’s personal use before the two of them passed. It looked barely used.

Kyoshi decided Huazo had the right measure of it. Zoryu’s mother had no blame in recent events, or at least the same amount of blame as everyone else in this whole affair. Kyoshi boarded the boat and did her best to ignore the neighboring cargo hauler having its stone camellia decorations scraped off by a team of Fire Navy sailors, red paint falling in flakes to the water’s surface like clotted blood.

The crew of Sulan’s Smile left her alone as they sailed in the direction she’d ordered. As she stood on the deck she could feel the water dragging on the hull like fingers, gripping the vessel, slowing it down more than the thin air ever did to Yingyong or Pengpeng. Compared to flying, every method of travel was a slog. She supposed she could have tried to speed them along with waterbending, but she’d heard it was possible to damage and capsize a vessel that way if the Waterbender didn’t know what they were doing.

They came to the dark patch below the waves she was looking for. Kyoshi ordered the ship to drop anchor. Captain Joonho, a man with whiskers like spruce needles, stood at the head of his crew of hardy, weather-beaten sailors, waiting for her next command.

“Stay here until I return,” Kyoshi told him. “Do not try to come after me, no matter what happens.”

“I don’t understand, Avatar,” Joonho said. “Return from where? There’s nothing here.”

Kyoshi hoisted herself onto the railing of the ship. “There used to be.” She plunged into the water.

She could hear shouting from above the surface. Some of the men might have been inclined to dive in and rescue her, but her orders had been clear.

They would have had difficulty catching her anyway. Kyoshi had worn her full complement of armor so she could sink faster. She kicked downward, swimming for the ruins of Yangchen’s island. As before, it took her an embarrassingly long time for her to remember she was a Waterbender. With a flap of her arms, she surged faster than an elephant koi.

Her sight became blackness. The only reminder she was swimming through water was the burning of her lungs as she ran out of air. She fought through the knives in her chest to keep going, but her bravery bought her only a few more kicks.

Her mouth opened and she swallowed to fullness. A cloud of bubbles escaped her throat before the seawater rushed into her body, violating every space she had left. She was drowning.

She’d come here with a crew of strangers because none of her companions would have let her take this risk. Kyoshi fought for as long as she could, wanting to bring her consciousness to the very edge. With her last reserves of thought, she sent out her message.

Kuruk. Get out here now before I die, or I will cross over to the other side and come after you there.

“Kid. You can open your eyes.”

Kyoshi blinked awake. It was warm and bright. The scent of grass tickled her nose.