Jesa

Jes was a renegade Air Nomad nun, crime boss, and the mother of Avatar Kyoshi. Originally considered a promising airbending master and much respected among her people, Jesa's life changed upon meeting an Earth Kingdom thief named Hark and partaking in one of his heists. Finding enjoyement in a life of violent adventure and crime, she abandoned her monastic existence and founded the "Fyling Opera Company" crime network with Hark whom she eventually married. As her airbending powers weakened upon becoming a criminal, Jesa crafted a pair of metal fans to strengthen her bending.

Over time, Jesa became one of the most renown daofei outlaws in the Earth Kingdom, and along with Hark led her criminal organization to great successes. The two reduced their activities following the birth of their daughter Kyoshi, though they eventually left her in the care of villagers at Yokoya. Jesa eventually died of fever, and Kyoshi would come to use her metal fans to enhance her own bending.

Life
Jesa was born in the Eastern Air Temple, and showed great promise as bender. She earned her arrows and became an airbending master while still young, and was highly regarded among the Air Nomads. All that changed, however, when she met a young earthbender and thief named Hark during a journey through the Earth Kingdom. He convinced Jesa to join him for one of his criminal schemes, and as it turned out, she greatly enjoyed this kind of adventure. After a short time, she went rogue, became a full-time criminal, and fell in love with Hark.

Disavowing the traditional Air Nomad lifestyle, she tattooed snakes over her airbender arrows, quickly became infamous in the underworld, and rose to the de facto head of the Flying Opera Company, a daofei outfit she and Hark had founded. Using her sky bison, Longyan, Jesa and Hark's underground network became very influential and powerful, even able to force Earth Kingdom officials to do their bidding. For her crimes, the Air Nomads considered her one of the greatest disgraces to their culture in recent memory. Over time, Jesa's airbending powers weakened; she believed that this was related to her abandoning a spiritual lifestyle and turning to a materialistic existence full of violence and greed. To compensate, she crafted a pair of metal fans to enhance her lessening airbending abilities.

In 312 BG, she gave birth to a daughter, Kyoshi. Jesa and Hark consequently decided to mostly quit their large-scale criminal activities; they did not explain the reason for this decision to their associates. The small family consequently travelled through the entire Earth Kingdom, never staying at one place for a long time. When Kyoshi was about five or six, however, Jesa and Hark left her in the village of Yokoya in the care of a local villager. Jesa gave her daughter her fans as well as a journal she had written before departing.

In their last years, Jesa and Hark came across a young orphaned Si Wong Desert tribesman named Lek in the Misty Palms Oasis. They saved him from death, and made him their disciple; he consequently came to greatly adore them. Jesa and Hark eventually died of a fever in 299 BG.

Legacy
Jesa and Hark's deaths were mourned by their remaining companions, most importantly Lek, who continued to hold them in high regard for their capabilities and great loyalty to their group.

After being left behind by her parents, Kyoshi was quickly abandoned by the villagers of Yokoya. They left her to die on the streets, and she barely survived for a year in near-constant starvation. As result, Kyoshi came to despise her parents and criminals in general, and regarded Jesa in particular as "disgrace". She was eventually rescued by the Air Nomad master Kelsang who became her de facto adoptive parent. Kyoshi never told Kelsang of her mother, believing it to be a too-touchy subject for an Air Nomad. When learning of her parents' death, Kyoshi first reaction was relief and even satisfaction.

After the revelation that she was the Avatar, Kyoshi used the knowledge from Jesa's journal to find the remnants of the Flying Opera Company, joining them to prepare for a showdown with Jianzhu. Kyoshi's low opinion of her parents resulted in tensions between her and Lek.

Novels

 * The Rise of Kyoshi

Trivia

 * Kyoshi inherited her freckles from Jesa.