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By Kassilon | Genre | Rating | Reviews | Updates |
| More from Kassilon | Action/Adventure/Drama | PG-13 | Here | One-shot |
The Crisis is a one-shot fanfiction about the events of the War of Chin the Conqueror with the added context of the events of The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi.
The Crisis[]
Others would heave and groan under the heavy weight of ice and snow, but Kyoshi's waterbending had been honed for two decades, and then some. Her aptitude for finesse and precision had increased somewhat, but her raw strength was her greatest asset. Tirelessly, she closed up the cavern with a great flurry of snow and ice, and sealed it with frozen earth.
She removed a gloved hand, her scars almost frozen solid by the arctic air, but she had her inner fire to keep her warm, her breath of warm air, her natural ability to melt ice. She was doing much better than Rangi and Jinpa, though they were huddled in great fur cloaks in red and in yellow, not dressed in light greens. Rangi had chided her, as always, for not taking better care of her health.
Kyoshi let qi flow from the outer reaches of the cosmos through her body, up to the crown of her head. Her eyes turned white for an instant as her fingertips reached the cavern, sealing away the rift for good.
"That's the last of them," Rangi stated, unfazed by the ice-cold. Kyoshi did not know how the firebender had been unfazed during that time in Agna Qel'a, or in the icy waters of the Eastern Sea, or here on the icy tundra of the South Pole. The trio hopped onto Yingyong's back, taking off. Startled a little by their arrival, Kyoshi's beloved fox perked up. She began to pet her adorable animal guide, as the group's Fire National stared off to the sky.
"Something's just not right." Jinpa looked around too, silently agreeing with the firebender. Rangi had studied astronomy extensively at the academy, the heavenly bodies of the sun, stars, and comets being of utmost importance in the Fire Nation. Atop the Air Temples, the nomads made records of the stars, too. But even a village peasant like Kyoshi could see what was wrong. In their day of sealing away Father Glowworm's secluded passages, the half-moon in the sky was now full. The only explanation was that Tui itself had turned dark, which Kyoshi could not even consider.
Without a further word, Jinpa sped them over the tundra to Kasigak Village. Clusters of huts and igloos could be seen below, but it was best for them to return to where the elders had first warned them about dark spirit attacks. Kyoshi believed that after Yun, Glowworm's legacy had truly come to an end, but it had stretched further into the future than they anticipated. The southern waters had always been treacherous, but now sailors were carried away by dark spirits. After a great shark-squid spirit had emerged off the shores of Yesso Island, which Kyoshi was forced to take down with raw power instead of her bending, her wife and secretary had joined her on her mission to take down the dark spirits.
When the bison reached the village, all faces were riddled with shock.
"The Avatar lives!" One fisherwoman exclaimed, bowing before Kyoshi and her allies. Puzzlement turned to dread, and the crowd began murmuring among themselves. The elder who sent word to Port Yokoya, Chief Tapisa, emerged from the village center, the great igloo where the minor chieftains and elders of the South would meet to discuss issues concerning the whole Southern tribe.
"Avatar." Tapisa was graceful, but it seemingly took a lot of willpower for her to not allow herself to be shocked. "Your return is... long awaited."
Kyoshi tried to retain her composure. "Honorable chief. As you bid us, I have sealed away the passages to the realm of spirits. Your waters will be peaceful from now on," she promised, measuredly bowing before her.
The chief opened her mouth and closed it again. "Avatar. Near a year has passed since you last came to Kasigak. The world thought you gone, as did the tribe. We sent ships to the dark tundra, but could not find you. Your kingdom..."
Kyoshi just could not understand what was going on, and looked to Jinpa for answers. With some trepidation, he raised a possible answer. "Time in the realm of spirits is more chaotic than in ours. You can spend years on end in the realm of spirits and come out to find seconds have passed. Or spend a minute to find nigh upon a year has passed. Or simply find that a similar amount of time in both worlds has gone by," he cleared his throat, reminding her. Of course. Kyoshi remembered reading a similar tome on the passing of time when she visited the secret Bhanti libraries with Nyahitha some years ago.
Neither she nor Rangi could think of anything to say, so Tapisa spoke up again. "Avatar, we humbly thank you for putting an end to the attacks in our waters. But the tribe has heard dark rumors from your homeland. I assure you, Great Kyoshi... you will be needed in your home nation."
The kingdom. Yokoya. Koko. By the spirits, what had happened?
"Mom! Mama!" Koko raced to them as soon as they pulled in to Yokoya, wrapping her hands around Kyoshi and Rangi both. "I missed you so much," she exclaimed, tears forming in her dark eyes. A minute later, Hei-Ran emerged, stunned to find them both alive.
"Oh, my daughters! You have returned at last," she proclaimed. The headmistress was still a graceful woman, but had let go of some of her strictness after two decades in Yokoya, and now was a generous and loving grandmother. She steeled herself, though, the military training in her now apparent. "And where have you been?"
"Mother, we left to answer the Southern Water Tribe's call for aid against dark spirits. We entered the spirit world in body to seal the rift, but found that time had slipped away before us on returning." Rangi saw no point in mincing her words.
Hei-Ran shook her head. She had no choice but to accept the situation, letting them know of a more pressing issue. "Never mind that. Kyoshi, after a month, we sent search parties, but heard no word of you. The world thought you were gone, another Avatar taken away before her time."
She led them into their large but modest house, having purchased the childless Old Man Hazuki's house after the mansion had fallen apart during their battle with Yun. Auntie Mui, or Grandma Mui as Koko preferred to call her these days, was officially retired, but still kept her old bones busy by cooking and cleaning for the Avatar's family.
"Oh, my girls, you're back. Oh, Jinpa, my dear boy," she blubbered, and made herself fetch some tea and roll out a few light dishes. Kyoshi was determined to discuss what had happened in the kingdom, but Rangi reminded her to keep regular eating habits, even if they had let eleven months just pass by them.
Hei-Ran thanked Mui, and asked her to send word to the Warriors' Lodge that Kyoshi had returned at last. "We never gave up hope. There are signs when an Avatar dies, a spiritual tremor in the fabric of reality. Fire Sages are able to determine the Fire Avatar by way of astrology, and they could find absolutely no signs that your successor had been born yet. Of course, Earth Kingdom civilians are harder to convince, and even some academics believed the old signs had come to an end, like the Earth method had failed after Kuruk died..."
She shook her head. "It began around the time you left. I believe you were going to have a word with the Earth King after he sent privateers to tax the western coast, in his plans to greatly centralize the Kingdom, as Zoryu did to the Fire Nation. Yokoya managed to pay him in the wealth recovered from the old mansion, and my own stipend as a Sei'naka, former headmistress, and retired soldier," Hei-Ran went on.
"Qinchao could not pay the tax, and the ruthless privateers razed it to the ground. The Chin clan went into exile in the north, where the richer cities were growing unruly, thanks to the king's extortion. One man - Chin of Chin, managed to become the most powerful warlord in the northwest when the villagers were exiled to Pohuai."
Kyoshi resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Naming yourself after your clan was an occurrence in some overly proud families, including the Chin clan. There was even an Earth princess Hou-Ting, she heard, the same name as their dynasty. And yet, she steeled herself when Hei-Ran spoke of the chaos and destruction.
"After taking the northwest by storm, he declared that the spirits were displeased with the Earth King, and that the Avatar had abandoned the world. He sent his trusted advisors to campaigns in the east, in the south, outside the walls of Ba Sing Se itself... despite the king's plans, the kingdom was weak enough that they were all taken by storm."
Koko came in, petting the fox she adored. "Grandma, I want to see Mom and Mama again."
"Not now, my dear. The grown-ups are talking." Hei-Ran gave her a great big smile.
"I'll come over and give you a big hug soon, Koko. Why don't you go play with Uncle Jinpa," Rangi suggested. "I'm sure you'll want to catch up with him!
That sated their daughter, and Kyoshi began to ask Hei-Ran more about the situation. "How much of the kingdom does Chin control?" She was not intimidated; she had faced worse men than Chin of Chin, but had to think tactically.
"All of it. Omashu surrendered a month ago, and the weaker Beifongs in Gaoling sent their terms of surrender after that. Our little peninsula is the last holdout beyond the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se... oh, Kyoshi," Hei-Ran could almost laugh, her voice gravelly from her old wound. "You have come at the best and worst of times. He's a day away from Yokoya, and he plans to lead the forces... himself. The Warriors have scouted ahead, but would not act until you personally gave an order."
That seemed right to Kyoshi. Neutral jing. But she feared that the Warriors were perhaps too dependent on her, now. She brought her friends, her loves, and her trusted allies to the Warrior Lodge, surprised to find Wong and Kirima there, too.
"We were pulling a trade in Taku a few months ago, but the Chin cracked down on even the nicest of the... high-risk merchants," Kirima grinned, not wishing to openly speak of their daofei status among Hei-Ran, or the Warriors.
"We'll distract the army while the Avatar confronts Chin," Nozuki, her second-in-command of the Warriors suggested.
"No. I won't have you pulling a suicide mission," Kyoshi shook her head. "I vanished from the world. It's my responsibility to put Chin down. I won't let any of you get hurt."
"I want to fight!" Koko, already learning the ways of the Warriors at a young age, perked up. Kyoshi went over and kissed her on the head.
"I need you if the bad men come to the village, my love. You can be a hero in your own way, and will stand besides the other brave women of this town."
Yokoya had once spurned Kyoshi, cast her out. Over two decades, she had come to love the village, who had nothing but respect for their honored Avatar. Oh, Aoma's bullying had been cruel, but there was a new generation, one who welcomed foreigners and outsiders with open arms, one who appreciated the talents of women instead of having them be homemakers, one that had showered her family with respect and appreciation that she could never repay. Yokoya was special. And she would never let it slip away from her.
She met Chin alone at the edge of Yokoya's traditional territory, where Qinchao had once stood before being rapidly swallowed up by nature again; perhaps intentionally reduced to nothing by the benders among the Earth King's privateers.
Kyoshi remembered her first vacation as a girl, and the great shadow over Qinchao. As she had known when she faced Jianzhu, the shadow would always be her.
The tyrant had only brought a force of some six hundred men, believing he could easily force Yokoya into surrender. Even facing the Avatar did not faze him.
"A false Avatar, raised up by the cowardly women who guard this miserable little peninsula. You will present your immediate surrender, he bellowed, dressed in loose mail, an oddly-shaped hat that made himself appear distinct among the rest of the clan, and bearing a bushy beard and pointed moustache. It was the rivalry between two little villages amplified a hundred times, the master of four elements against the world's greatest conqueror.
It had to end, once and for all.
"I am here now. I shall not sit passively as you take our home."
Chin snarled. "Men, at arms!" As he took his stance, Kyoshi readied her warfans. She had been practicing neutral jing all her life. It had caused Rangi pain to learn of her betrayal back in the Fire Nation, it had allowed bullies to dance over her when she was a girl. No. Not today.
Negative jing rushed forward as a gust of air swept the clothes off Chin's back. Unable to accept humiliation, he growled, as his armies were pushed aside by the strong winds.
Her sheer strength and raw power was amplified one-thousandfold by the power of the universe, of her past lives, of the spirit within. She divided the earth, making sure to take note of the molten slag below -- and the waves themselves became hers to control, carrying Yokoya out to sea.
Chin screamed, and fell down to a watery grave. The isle was swept out to sea, and Kyoshi paused when she reached the familiar current that carried merchant ships from Omashu to Shimsom.
It was done. She released her lives, released her raw power, and realized what had just occurred. She had not spared a thought for Chin. She would have returned to face him another day, but there was Port Yokoya -- Yokoya Island, as it was now -- and she would not let it fall.
She stood on the hill over the island where she had buried Yun, all those years ago, a small shrine standing in place of the island. "This is our island now. I have made it for you, people of Yokoya. The tyrants of the mainland shall never again threaten our home." She kept her stance high, looking proud and mighty over what she had made. The Warriors bowed in deference below, as did the villagers - no, islanders - in blue. She even spotted Suzu, bowed down among the crowd.
Rangi was the first to rise, dressed in Yokoyan hues instead of her regal Fire Nation armor. Her voice rang out: "Kyoshi Island!"
A younger Kyoshi would have been embarassed, but now, she accepted the name, a symbol of her accomplishment. If Yangchen and Szeto had festivals, then Kyoshi could have her island. Yes. Kyoshi Island.
The spirits had stolen almost a year of her life. She would never allow herself to abandon her world, and as long as there was a single fault in the Earth Kingdom that could erupt into a quake, she would be there to leave the kingdom.
When the ceremony was over, Rangi came over, and made the same promise that she had done all those years ago. "I don't know what the future will hold. Only that I'll be there with you."
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