They loaded up Pengpeng the following morning with the sun barely visible over the horizon. Kyoshi had woken up a tad bit earlier than usual to ensure that she had enough time to do her makeup just the way she wanted. It helped take her mind off the note, and people demanded she stayed away.
They flew through the peachy colored clouds. The only sound was Pengpeng's breathing. Her fur was blowing in the wind, as they continued their travels.
Rangi's face lit up a bit as the fire nation came into view. Although she was nervous to see her mother again, part of her was relieved to be back in the fire nation, somewhere she knew. Somewhere that was truly familiar.
The thought of her mother seeing her in these conditions still weighed heavily on her. What would she think when she told her, if she told her. Maybe that wasn't such a bad idea. If she just waits until she finds a way to get her bending to where it once was. Then I could probably avoid it all together. She thought to herself.
As they landed on solid ground Rangi was immediately comforted by laying foot on her home nation's ground. She was back in her element. Far away from the ice and snow, which she secretly and deeply despised.
Plus the change in climate was a bonus, the sunshine felt soothing on her skin as she dismounted the bison, followed by Kyoshi.
They were greeted as soon as their feet touched the soil. One guard had taken Pengpeng to the stables and received proper care, while a couple others had gotten their luggage before they could even think about unloading it.
"Greetings Avatar Kyoshi, Lieutenant Rangi, Brother Jinpa" The official announced bowing. "The Fire Lord only wished that he could be here today to greet you but he was pulled away unexpectedly" The an explained.
That made Kyoshi's head spin. The Fire Lord wanted to meet them at their arrival in person. She was actually relieved that he was pulled away, she felt like she needed a bit of a break to try and plan out how she was going to deal with this whole thing. She had to have some sort of plan before meeting with him again.
She couldn't let him sense any sort of weakness in her strategies. She wouldn't let any of this rattle her. At least not on the surface.
The guard turned to Rangi. "Lieutenant Rangi your mother has requested both your and Avatar Kyoshi's precence at dinner tonight"
"Of course" Rangi replied with slight bow. "Come on" She said turning to Kyoshi.
"I want to show you around town a bit"
This made Kyoshi smile. Not just because it ment spending more time with Rangi, but because of how it happy it seemed to make her.
The streets were filled with all sorts of types of markets and sales people. A couple of semester's had stopped them offering to make Kyoshi a new tunic. She turned them all down respectfully, liking the old tunic that she continued to keep mending. As they turned a bend a group of about 5 men now stood in their path. "You're Avatar Kyoshi right?" A man called.
Kyoshi turned her head looking at Rangi who gave her the is he stupid look. She was clearly not from the fire nation with her green attire. Not to mention her height was always an immediate give away. The makeup wasn't discrete either. "Can we help you with something?" Rangi asked coldly.
"We don't need you, we need her," He said, pointing to Kyoshi as if he were accusing of something treacherous. They looked at each other once more, sharing a look. "Sorry to say but she's a part of the deal" Kyoshi replied calmly.
The man in the center took a step forward. "This doesn't concern her." He tried his best to ignore Rangi.
"Again, is there something we can help you with?" Kyoshi responded, narrowing her eyes. "How about you stay the hell out of our nation for one!" A man further back in the formation called. The ringleader of the group shot him a look, which caused him to fall silent.
"We don't mean to seem ungrateful for you taking the time to visit our honorable nation, but your presence is not required. So if you would just like to climb back on whatever you came here on and stay out of our hair there won't be any problems." He flashed a fake smile.
"I am here to help ease some of the issues with the dark spirits." Kyoshi said, looking down at the shorter man. "So she really is a spirit junkie." A man said quietly from the back.
"What did you call her?" Rangi asked, taking a step closer. "A spirit junky? Come on you really can't believe in all this can you? It's nothing but people hiding behind some make-believe shit to justify their actions after being caught, that's all." He explained.
"Spirit junky or not, we have some business to attend to, and don't plan on leaving anytime soon."
They had taken that as a que to attack the leader sending a flame forth, Kyoshi took out one of her fans using air bending to redirect the flames. As they continued to advance Kyoshi stood her ground, these were simple thugs she thought. No use in making a bigger scene.
One charged at Kyoshi directly with a dagger of fire, taking a couple swipes at her. Noticing a barrel of water Kyoshi bent the water out pushing the man to the side with ease.
As he hit the ground two more men charged, both with smaller weapons. Rangi had tried to march up to stop them but Kyoshi stopped her, pushing her back a couple paces as she sent one of the men flying backwards with a gust of wind.
"Kyoshi?!" Rangi snapped. Kyoshi turned her head. "Rangi I can handle them-"
She couldn't finish her sentence, the other man had managed to slash her shoulder with a dagger of sorts. Tearing through the fabric of her tunic she regretted not wearing her chainmail for the trip over.
Kyoshi dropped one of her fans to put her hand over the open wound. Blood trickled down her arm. Using the other arm she sent the other man flying backwards back like the one before.
When the leader of the group approached Kyoshi stopped him in his tracks, using earth bending to sink him down to nearly his hips. Leaving him stuck in the ground.
"I don't need any story or reasoning for your little stunt. You can share it with the officials when they come to collect you" She called as she picked up her other fan.
"Oh you think we were easy aye Avatar?" He called as an officer restrained him. "You haven't seen anything yet." He scoffed, almost giving a laugh as he was walked out of sight.
As Kyoshi turned abound she witnessed an enraged Rangi staring back at her. "Rangi I-" But she held up her hand, silencing her. Kyoshi hung her head as she followed Rangi back to their quarters.
This evoked more fear in Kyoshi than dealing with the thugs. She knew that pissed off Rangi, but everything inside of her just moved. Everything inside of her wanted to protect her, especially knowing that her fire bending was weaker than it used to be.
When they got back they stayed silent as they walked through the hallways. "I'm just gonna try and find Jinpa"
"No, you're not"
"Why not-" Kyoshi tried to ask. "You're joking right?" Rangi asked duly. "Your shoulder is still bleeding from your stupid little stunt eairlier" She explained dragged her into the room.
Rangi started to dig through a closet until she found a small box containing medical supplies. As Kyoshi looked around the room she noticed pictures of Rangi and her Mom. Some seemed a bit more recent, while others appeared to be from Rangi's childhood. This was Rangi's room before she left to live in the mansion with Kyoshi and Yun.
"We're in your house?" Kyoshi questioned, still looking around. "My mother insisted that we stayed here, sorry if that's weird. I think she's just a bit on edge with all this spirit stuff that has been going on." She explained.
Kyoshi nodded as Rangi set the kit down. But as Kyoshi reached for her hand was swatted away. "Hold still"
"Rangi I can take care this myself"
"Was I asking? Just hold still" She said again, taking out a jar of ointment, and a rag.
"I could probably heal this myself you know"
"You don't where that daggers been, so just let me do this"
Kyoshi sat there in defeat with her single shoulder now exposed as Rangi began to clean her cut.
"You're an idiot, you know that?"
"I've been told once or twicccee" Kyoshi whimpered when the ointment made contact with the open wound.
"And for the record I was trying to protect you," Kyoshi protested. "Oh and what a great job you did" She responded sarcastically.
"What about yourself, you let your guard down and look what happened."
"Just another for the collection I guess" Kyoshi laughed awkwardly. "Right like all the others" Rangi replied duly taking out the bandages.
"Why did you do it, I know you would protect anyone you care about, even people you didn't know. But to push me out of a fight... it wasn't even anything serious. What was that Kyoshi?"
"I didn't even have to think about it, it just happened. I saw the guys lunge and I guess everything inside of me just moved." She explained sheepishly.
"I don't need protection, I'm the one who's supposed to be protecting you, remember?"
"I know I just don't want to see you get hurt, especially since-" She stopped mid sentence, realizing her mistake. "Since my fire bending isn't where it should be? I know"
"I know" Rangi repeated, as she finished bandaging Kyoshi's shoulder. "But I'll be fine, whether I can hold my own fire bending or not. I beat that one guy in the fight hand to hand, and he had 3 time the stregth of any of those guys."
"That was one of the hardest things for me to watch," Kyoshi admitted quietly. "That was the point. Don't think it did much though, I'd say you've barely changed."
Kyoshi looked down at the scars that spread across her hands. She didn't care about the scars, or the pain. She wasn't going to stop trying to protect Rangi, she wasn't sure she knew how to stop anyway.
"Do you have a another tunic you can wear?" Rangi asked getting up. "Yeah, but is that really necessary?"
"Yours now has a gaping hole in it, garnished with blood." Rangi replied, gesturing towards her shoulder. "Right I guess I forgot about that"
"Already, that must be some sort of record."
"Maybe" Kyoshi responded with a dumb grin. "Let's if you can focus a bit longer" Rangi whispered in Kyoshi's ear.
She took Kyoshi's hand, laying genial kisses all the way up her forearm. Kyoshi cupped Rangi's face in her palms as their lips collided.
They both slowly fell to the bed in each other's arms. Rangi sat on Kyoshi's lap as they melted into another kiss. When Rangi suddenly grabbed the collar of Kyoshi tunic, flipping her onto the bed. Being careful to avoid her hurt shoulder. She watched as Kyoshi's face lit up.
The door suddenly rattled before swinging open. It was Hei-Ran.
"Rangi was wondering if-" she looked to Rangi then back at Kyoshi then back at Rangi. Both of them stayed petrified, an awkward silence lingering throughout the room. "I guess we can discuss it later at dinner." Hei-Ran finished. Rangi managed to stand up to bow to her mother.
"And Rangi, you might want to wash up before dinner" She said as she shut the door.
"The hell?" Rangi whispered as she walked over to the mirror. "Oh hell, for the love of Rava! Kyoshi your stupid makeup is all over my face!"
"And who's fault is that?" Kyoshi replied with the same dumb grin as before. "Yours... mostly"
"So you take partial credit?" Kyoshi asked smugly. "This time" Rangi said jokingly as she walked off into the other room to get some wet rags.
By the time she came back, Kyoshi had changed into a cleaner, less bloody tunic.
"Here," She said, tossing Kyoshi a rag. Rangi wanted as Kyshi started to remove the remainder of her makeup. She couldn't take her eyes off her.
Rangi loved Kyoshi's freckles that covered her face, like stars spread across the night sky. She wished she didn't wear the make up as often but it made Kyoshi happy as far as Rangi understood. So she would just have to take in the time she had without it.
As they sat at the table Kyoshi stared at her plate, not knowing what to talk about exactly. She wasn't sure if she would bring up Rangi's bending or the little scene at the market, or the bedroom thing, or well anything. She figured that she should let them strike up a conversation of their choosing.
"Kyoshi, Rangi told me you visited the air temples after your trip to the North Pole, how was it?" Hei Ran asked, sipping some tea. "It was great, I enjoyed being able to visit there once again, and showing Rangi around," Kyohsi explained. Wait, Kyoshi thought to herself did that sound weird? Was she giving her the wrong idea? She didn't want to put Rangi in a situation she wasn't comfortable with, not that she hadn't put her in one already.
"I mean umm" Kyoshi bit her lip. "She said she had never been there before, and I had so I was able to show her the sights and sorts" Kyoshi laughed awkwardly. "She knew what you meant." Rangi replied without so much as giving Kyoshi a glance at first.
"Right, sorry" Kyoshi said, rubbing the back of her neck. "So how have things been around here then?"
"Interesting to say the least," Hei Ran began to explain. "You basically have two sides of the Fire Nation now: those who believe in the spirits and what they're doing and those who don't." She said simply.
"We experienced a bit of that ourselves earlier in the market." Rangi started. "There was this small group of thugs that tried to confront Kyoshi earlier."
"Did they give you much trouble?"
Rangi looked at Kyoshi, then slightly down at her shoulder then back up again. "Not at all"
Another hawk landed on the window. Without even giving someone else the chance to get it Kyoshi snagged it from the bird. A worried expression crossed her face as she opened it.
"Not another" Rangi said, shaking her head, as Kyoshi nodded, continuing to read the letter. But Rangi grabbed it before she could finish, burning it in the palm of her hand.
"Rangi!" Kyoshi exclaimed. "What? That letter was nothing but rubbish" Rangi exclaimed.
"You just burned that letter to a crisp without thinking about it" Kyoshi's eyes lit up as she spoke.
"Ya so"
"So this progress"
"What do you mean progress?" Hei Ran asked, looking back and forth between the two Kyoshi had almost forgotten that Hei Ran was there. She gave Rangi a slight nod, trying to signal to her to tell her. That it would all be fine.
"It's nothing." Rangi said, looking down. "Rangi tell her," Kyoshi whispered.
Rangi's brain felt like a blizzard of thoughts. She knew she should tell her mother but it just felt so scary and so daunting. "It's okay," Kyshoi mouthed.
Rangi took a deep breath as she started to explain what Atuat had said at the northern water tribe, and how her firebending had weakened... immensely.
"I see," Hei Ran began. "So then that was progress, going off of all you told me" Rangi hung her head in shame.
Hei Ran sat there a minute taking in all the information that she was just told, also considering how she has had to recover in the past.
"These things take time," She began. "I'm sure if you just keep at it, it will resolve itself"
Kyoshi gave Rangi a reassuring smile. One that told her that everything was really going to be okay. That there was no use in worrying about it, it would all be fine.
As they got up to leave, Hei Rang pulled Rangi aside as they left the dining room. "I'll meet you up there," Rangi said with soft eyes.
She waited until Kyoshi was out of sight before she turned back to face her mother. "You know this isn't good right?" She said coldly.
Rangi held her breath, she knew all that was a play. "You need to find a fix to this fast, you can't continue to serve as the Avatar's body guard if you can't properly fulfill your tasks." Rangi hung her head.
"So that was all a lie then, for Kyoshi right? All that stuff about it being fine, and time will heal all." She crossed her arms.
"I just wanted to tell you myself without you feeling any added pressure, because what I said isn't necessarily wrong, but..." She paused.
"But I can't stay like this"
Hei Rang nodded. "I know I told you both at dinner that time would surely resolve it all"
Rangi felt herself hold her breath again as she waited for her mother to continue. "But I believe that there may be another possible problem. The cause of this is most likely your energy paths have been slightly altered while you were healed, so the energy is having trouble making clear paths again."
"So what am I supposed to do about that then?" Rangi asked sharply. Hei Ran tapped her chin. "I'm far from what you would refer to as an expert on chakras, however I believe if you can clear them, and allow them to travel like they did before then things should resume shortly."
"Just great," Rangi scoffed.
"Kyoshi might have some knowledge here, being the avatar and all," Her mother suggested.
"I'm not getting Kyoshi involved."
"Dear she really might have some useful information on the matter"
"I said I'm not getting Kyoshi involved."
"I suggest you watch your tone." Hei Ran said coldly. "Sorry... but Kyoshi stays out of this. She has enough she's going through. The last thing she needs is to go worrying about me." More than she already is. Rangi thought. She knew that if she told Kyoshi then it would just be another thing on her shoulders.
"So then what is your plan, your going to risk your own power, your own life even to protect her what? Feelings? Rangishe will be fine. This is nothing major in comparison to anything frankly."
"I know you think I'm being stupid, and irrational, and maybe I am. Maybe you're right. But I'll figure this out on my own as well as continue my position as the Avatar's body guard with or without my bending." Rangi stated, getting ready to leave.
"Well then, I guess you've made your own choices"
Okay so this chapter is actually kinda long its just over 3k words, wow... anyway hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading. Let me know if you have any suggestions or requests in the comments❤️