The ride back to the fire nation city felt to have lasted an eternity to the fire bender, although they were unsure of their next move when they would finally arrive.
When Rangi finally dismounts, swinging her small bag over her shoulder, she doesn't even want to think about meeting her mother right now. She knows what the first question will be. Where's Kyoshi?
She instead walks into a great hall where the soldiers and guards meet. If she wasn't going to talk to her mother she might as well finish up the paperwork for the soldiers she had come with on her very unsuccessful mission.
"Oh lieutenant back so soon?" A guard called as he approached her. "Yes, things didn't exactly go as planned but the paperwork still needs to be turned on does it not?" She said not looking up from the papers.
"Well you know the boss is in right now, so I'm sure you could just go talk to him. Save yourself some time." He offered.
"Of course, thank you" Rangi bit her lip as she left the forms on the desk and proceeded to the head of security's office. Not looking forward to revealing the deals of the trip that had ended in failure. "Great I have to make my failure public"
She mumbled.
"Here to give your report I presume." The man called as he entered his office. Rangi nodded as she went to take the seat in front of him. She began to explain the travel logistics of the trip, like how they got, when they left, boring stuff like that. She was trying to steer away from the purpose of the trip.
"You know I was quite surprised when I saw your request." He said clasping his hands together. "Yes well it was expected that we might have been greeted with a group of an unknown size."
"Who was the group"
"Just some people who want to start another fifth nation."
"So did you deal with them then, are there any injuries I should take into account."
"No nothing to note"
"So then it was successful?"
"No, we going after the Avatar in hopes to aid her from the time she had spent with the group"
"So my men really let them get away, that's shameful. I trained them better"
"It wasn't their fault, we- we never found them"
He raised an eyebrow. "Did you get the location wrong then"
Of course it was my fault, Rangi thought to herself. "No things just changed."
"Well, is the Avatar back then at least, I'd like to speak with her about the trip."
Rangi bit her tongue. "No she wasn't there either. Like I said it was unsuccessful" Rangi said looking down. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some other work to do if that's all you need for the report."
"Of course,"
Rangi nodded as she headed for the door. "Just make sure you know more about your missions first from now on, like whether or not people will be there" He called.
"It wasn't all my fault. She was supposed to be there" Rangi said before shutting the door.
"She was there though," Rangi muttered to herself.
As she continued to walk she only encountered more people asking about the outing, to which she tried to give the same blunt answer.
"It wasn't really your fault, I mean like she is the Avatar she's fine. I'm sure there is nothing we even need to worry about." Someone from the mission as Rangi joined them, alongside Jinpa.
It seemed to be another meeting, with all of the people who had come on the short trip. And most didn't seem too happy with the outcome. While some seemed interested in the next move.
"We will work on finding her next, whether you want to help or not it's up to you. I want to thank everyone who helped on the first attempt but don't expect you to offer anything else. Especially your time." Rangi explained.
"She's fine she's the Avatar after all, I mean I'm still not even sure that we were at the right place. Have you ever stopped to consider that she gave the wrong place, or maybe led us there on purpose?" A man asked.
"And why would she do that?" Rangi asked harshly. "I dunno, maybe to keep us out of the way" He suggested.
The suggestion felt like it had staked through Rangi's insides.
"As far as I'm concerned she is missing, do you hear me? She wouldn't lead us astray like that for no reason, something happened." Rangi shot. "I don't care what any you all think, but it's my say on this matter"
"Well I think that we should set out as soon as possible. I mean who else is going to get things set straight around here". Another man called. Rangi's ears perked up, although she wasn't exactly sure how she felt about his statement.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked.
"I mean like we need the Avatar, she welds all the elements for Rava's sake. Who else will so the grunt work for the nations." Even though Rangi couldn't be sure what the man meant exactly. The feeling that he thought of Kyohis as just someone to do the grunt work of the nations, and nothing more really started to irritate her as well. These men were idiots.
"This isn't about finding the Avatar, wheelder of the four elements, this is about finding a fucking person, a human being that would put her life on the line again and again for anyone. She would stop at nothing to make sure we were all safe, so I'll do the same."
"A waste of time" the other conflicting man called. "What no, we need her" the other called. "She's the Avatar, she can handle herself."
She comments countied to fill the room. "ENOUGH," Rangi yelled, gaining the room's attention. "As I said before I thank you for coming with me on the first way around but none of your help will be required in the future"
"Really you're going to do this all on your own" Someone called almost mockingly.
"You're dismissed." She said shortly. "Let it be known that if anyone dares to stand in my way they will be removed, permanently." Rangi said as she left the room, Jinpa jogging behind her.
"Setting fire everywhere we go now are we?" He asked as he caught up.
"I don't care." Rangi commented looking down. "You were never one to be reckless but this whole thing with Kyoshi really has you all over the place." He said calmly.
Rangi didn't need to reply, she knew she was a mess. But it was all her fault. From the night before she knew that something was off but she didn't do anything, and then Kyohis left without warning. And now she's Rava only knows where after leaving one of her fans in a bed of rock. She knew that something was wrong, but didn't know how to proceed.
"Do we still have the man from the palace attack in containment?" Jinpa asked. "Yeah I think so"
"Maybe he has a clue where they could have gone"
"That not actually a bad idea" Rangi replied
They head back to the cell, but Rangi stops Jinpa before they enter the cell. "No, I want to do this alone." She said looking ahead.
"Alright, I'll be here if you need anything." He gave her a small smile before she went inside.
She sat down in front of him like any other time she had gone to speak with him only with one very distinctive question in mind. "Where is your group, and what do they want with Kyoshi"
This conversation proved to be too much like any other conversation with him before. After an hour of talking in circles and respecting questions Rangi was on the brink of giving up for the day. "This is pointless. '' She said quietly as she began to stand.
"You know it's your fault right?" Rangi remained facing the door as he spoke. Now he decided to be talkative?
"If you hadn't come down here and lost your little head about things I never would have found out she told you anything." Rangi was confused, what did that have to do with anything, he was here the whole time. There is no way that anything he found out here could have helped the rest of his group. It just wasn't possible.
"How do you know that?" The firebender asked.
"I can communicate with them you know, when people link to the same spirit it creates a hive mind. I have been able to keep him updated from the comfort of this very cell. Wren fed me the rest of the assumptions about you two" He replied ignoring her first question.
"When you didn't seem surprised about the very vital information about the invitation, I figured she had already told you in some way. Even though she was told explicitly not to." He continued.
Rangi then remembered what Kyoshi had written in the letter, she hadn't given it ample thought before but it made much more sense now. But Rangi please I beg of you don't try and follow, by even sharing this much with you this whole plan might already be in jeopardy. The words felt like they were burned into her brain.
Why did she have to be right? Rangi thought to herself.
"There's no way she'll get out of it now, the fifth nation is way out of her league" He spoke.
"Where is she?"Rangi demanded, raising her voice.
"Can't say," He replied calmly.
"You will tell me where she is even if it's the last thing you do. " Rangi said as she walked back over to the table.
"No I don't think I will" He seemed cocky.
"I beg to differ" Rangi approached him, lifting the man by the front of his shirt. It was then that she felt the buzz of energy. He started to mumble something.
"Yeah boss, I'm done with things here. I wish to return for good this time" He said calmly. Something else seemed to come alive in his body when he fell silent, going limp. He was a dead weight as he slumped back into his seat.
"No, you fucking bastard! You just don't get to call it quits" Rangi yelled, shaking his body. But that was it. He was gone.
She released the man's shirt walking quickly out of the door. "He's gone, call the morgue" She said to the guards bluntly, not giving the cell a second glance.
"I'm going with he didn't say anything, " Jinpa said, approaching the firebender. "He fucking killed himself before he revealed anything important." She fumed, although there was a sense of sorrow in her words.
"Wait, how did he do that, he didn't use any bending did he?"
"He didn't. I don't know what happened, all I know is that he was connected to the same spirit as some other guys, and he could talk with them. He was talking to someone before, and then he said he wished to return for good and he was gone." Rangi explained, dropping her head.
"Did he say anything else?"
"That it was my fault, that I had let it slip that I knew too much, he probably told them not to trust Kyoshi too closely. Probably just placated into her plan to go to the meditation spot to make her feel like she had some sort of control"
"But now I have absolutely nothing. She could be anywhere, she could be in danger and I would never know" Rangi sobbed stiffly.
"Let's just go back inside, maybe your mother will help" he offered.
"It's all my fault Jinpa, I turned out to be the worst thing that ever happened to her"
"You and I both know that's not true, you're tired and just got back. Just give yourself some slack." He said calmly.
"I should have protected her better, she deserves more," Rangi commented.
"She knew what she was getting herself into from the start. She knew the potential risks. Otherwise she would have never left the fan" He explained.
"I guess"
"And there was nothing you could have done to stop her. I mean think about it, does she ever not do something after she's set her mind on it?" He asked as they pushed the front doors open.
"No"
"Like when?" He asked. "I know what you are doing." Rangi said. "You're trying to distract me."
He just shrugged. "Whatever causes the least amount of collateral damage"
"Back to the question."
Rangi thought for a moment, countless examples came to mind. "Well there was replacing the clay turtle duck. I mean I wasn't opposed to that, but once she remembered she had to go, it didn't matter what else was going on. "
"And then of course there was when she became a Dao Foi, I mean like she seriously was not going to leave without becoming a part of that group"
"And the makeup from the Dao Foi, she wears it everywhere, she didn't even remember to clean it up before she left."
"So that's where it's from?" Jinpa asked intrigued.
"Yeah, ever since our first mission with the flying opera company she has stuck with it" Rangi explained.
Then an idea flashed through the firebender's mind. "Rangi, you have- where's Kyoshi?" Hei Ran asked as she approached the two.
"Excuse me, I have to go send a letter." Rangi replied walking swiftly by her mother who gave Jinpa a confused look.
"Things didn't exactly go as planned" He began to explain.
When Rangi returned the two had sat down, a set of tea between them. "What was that about?" Hei Ran asked as she offered some tea to her daughter.
"I figured out who would be able to help," She said, taking seat.
No less than two days later there was an announcement that someone was at the door, to which Rangi rushed to quickly.
"Topknot, it's been a while"
The firebender gave a faint smile, although she really did hate the nickname. "So you think you guys can help right?" She asked as she entered.
"Of course criminals know criminals right?" Wong said with a grin.
Thank you so much for reading, I hope everyone has a happy halloween! Also something I want to include is Jinpa just absolutely losing his shit. I think it would be funny. What do you guys think? Or if he and Rangi just absolutely lost it together in like a fight, also a potential option. Let me know what you think!