Avatar: The Adventures of Kyoshi

1: An Orphan in Yokoya

Yokoya Port hadn't changed much since Kyoshi had first arrived there, dumped by her daofai parents almost 15 years before. The people of the small town focused heartily on their fishing and farming, as they had for generations. The ground gave way to the families that cultivated it, neither caring about the changes in the world around it. The few logs that sat in the ground as a semblance of a shrine to the spirits hadn't been replaced in all the years Kyoshi had known the town, and the people went on with their lives and crops without paying any mind to them. Like they always had.

One thing had changed though, Kyoshi thought. She looked down at her Firebender, the one person who had been by her side through everything.

"What are you staring at?" Rangi smiled at Kyoshi. She reached down and pushed a stray hair back behind Rangi's ear.

"Something beautiful."

Rangi nuzzled closer to Kyoshi's side, gripping her arm tighter as they strolled down the packed dirt path that led into town. Rangi wasn't usually one to show so much affection outside of their room in the Mansion, but the firebender had been in an unusually happy mood the past few days.

They walked arm in arm through the trees and fields, pulling themselves apart only when they reached the point where the town really became a town, with packed in houses that were mismatched in an almost uniform way, sprouting roofs in various states of washed out green providing patches of cool shade from the harsh summer heat.

Yokoya was strangely busy today, with a loud commotion coming from the crowd that had packed themselves in the middle of the market stalls. The faint sound of fist pounding flesh made the pair exchange a concerned look before pushing their way through to the center.

"Aoma!" she pulled the woman off of whatever poor sap had annoyed her enough to incur the type of beating that had once been reserved for Kyoshi. The woman swung at her before her eyes widened and her fist went limp. Even her childhood bully had the sense not to come to blows with the Avatar.

Rangi had the unconcious girl draped over her shoulders, sensing before Kyoshi had that her injures needed a proper healer, something that Kyoshi wasn't necessarily amazing at, despite her time spent surrounded by and learning from numerous master healers during. "I'm taking her to Atuat." she said before turning and making a bee line for the mansion.

The crowd knew to part for the Avatar's bodyguard. Those who didn't backed away quickly when Rangi shot them daggers from her bronze eyes.

Kyoshi watched her leave before turning her attention on the bully who still occupied left hand. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Kyoshi!" Aoma attempted to hide her disappointment, but the disdain in her voice gave her away. Despite her title, Kyoshi was still despised by the others her age. "Avatar, that girl was caught stealing the crops that I had brought to sell. She needed to be punished!"

Everyone who had stuck around nodded their heads furiously. A voice peaked above the diminishing crowd. "She's a freeloader!"

"She doesn't belong here!" Someone else shouted.

More grumbled from the stalls around them, and Kyoshi felt her face grow hot. She didn't have her makeup to hide the physical reaction her anger imposed. She ought to handle this quickly.

But unlike when she was younger, Kyoshi now had a grasp on the other elements. That meant that when her emotions raged, her second element boiled to the top. She exhaled a short puff of smoke - Rangi would have her doing hot squats until sundown if she found out - before stamping her foot on the ground and creating a small platform of earth. She already towered above the townspeople. This made her the absolute center of attention.

"Quiet." Kyoshi boomed. "Have you forgotten how this situation turned out for you before? Did you not learn from your past mistakes? The last child you left to starve on these streets became the Avatar standing in front of you. Would you have scorned me then, if you had known my identity?"

The people before her shrunk, and their answer hung as silence in the air. Of course not. We would have never dared treat the Avatar in that way.

But they had. They'd left the Avatar helpless on the streets, turned a blind eye to . And they hadn't learned. Kyoshi stepped down from her personal stage, and began the trek towards the mansion.

* * *

The green eyed spirit fox met Kyoshi at the gate of the newly rebuilt mansion. She had tasked Auntie Mui with the reconstruction while she and Rangi had been recovering in the North Pole. She did an amazing job, and it barely put a dent in Kyoshi's inheritance.

Whilst Kyoshi didn't care much for managing a large estate, Hei Ran and Auntie Mui had advised her that having a well maintained home base would be beneficial. Plus, the Flying Opera Company had taken to using it frequently. While their oaths kept them from holding legitimate jobs, they said nothing about mooching off of one of their wealthy and prominent sisters.

Being an Avatar with a fully manned mansion also had the benefit of employing one of the best healers in the four nations. Which was good in moments like these, when the Yokoyans chose to raze up against an innocent child. Kyoshi walked in to the large bath room where Atuat had the young girl almost fully submerged in glowing, rippling water.

The air was heavy with steam. Kyoshi knew it was likely a reaction from the two fuming firebenders that stood watch. 

"How is she?" Kyoshi knelt down next to Rangi on the side of the pool.

"She's going to be fine. A little bruised up, maybe." Atuat said firmly, never stopping the movement of her arms that bent the water. "But they don't call me the best healer in the world for nothing. She'll be good as new in less than a weeks time."

Hei Ran pursed her lips tighter from across the pool. "What has gotten in to those people. Beating a child in the street."

"They claimed she was stealing food from a stall." Kyoshi all but snarled. She knew the girl likely was rejected by the townspeople. She held all the signs of neglect in her small body. Her clothes hung off of her like dusty rags, her eyes sunken into their sockets. Kyoshi wondered how old the girl was.

"Stealing." Auntie Mui scoffed as she entered the room with a tea pot and an assortment of cups. "Starving is a more accurate description of what the child looks like. She's almost as bad as Kyoshi was when she came to us."

The party stilled. Kyoshi's time before the mansion wasn't brought up often. It was still somewhat of a sore spot for the group. They sat there for a while in silence, watching as the water smoothed over the girls injuries, Atuat concentrating rather fiercely on the task of healing her.

Eventually, the girls breathing hitched and her eyes blinked open. They were the color of the waters surrounding the peninsula, a clear blue-green with years packed behind them. There was a hint of confusion on her face as she took in her surroundings and pulled herself into a sitting position.

"Hello." The eldest firebender leaned in to greet the girl. "We found you in the middle of town, being accosted by the townsfolk. I'm Hei Ran. What's your name?"

The girl stared at her for a moment before folding in on herself, elbows mingling with scrawny knees in an awkward arrangement of limbs and she began to sniffle. "I didn't think they would notice it. They usually throw away the old rice, I didn't know they were planning on saving any this time."

"They weren't." Kyoshi said gruffly. She softened her face and reminded herself that she was speaking to a child. "This town isn't kind to lone children. You did nothing wrong."

"Where are your parents?" Rangi interjected.

The girl winced. Kyoshi felt Rangi shrink beside her, scorning herself for asking such an obvious question.

"They died." She shrugged, trying to seem apathetic and failing. "Pa caught elephant koi and his boat went down. Mom died with my baby brother a couple months later."

"Oh, you poor thing," Aunti Mui tutted, reaching down into the tub to pull the girl to her feet. "Come, we'll get you cleaned up and fed in no time!"

"Wait, you never told us your name." Kyoshi said.

"Oh," the girl paused in the doorway, her hand clasped in Auntie Mui's. "I'm Kami."