The Boy From Makapu

"This is why you are destined to be a great Avatar. You have the insight to think ahead, to see where people are weak and strong. You know which threads of the future to pull. There's not going to be a solution to the Fifth Nation through powerful bending. But there will be a strategy, a line of play that minimizes the suffering they can inflict. And you've spotted it."

— Jianzhu complimenting Yun on his strategic prowess.

"The Boy From Makapu"
Information
Novel	The Rise of Kyoshi
Authors	F. C. Yee Michael Dante DiMartino
Chapter	3/32
Word count	3,091
From page	25
To page	36
Chapter guide
Previous	"Nine Years Later"
Next	"Honest Work"

"The Boy From Makapu" is the third chapter of The Rise of Kyoshi.

Overview

Hei-Ran criticizes Yun for wasting time rather than training. Jianzhu and Yun discuss politics during a game of Pai Sho.

Synopsis

After Yun finishes watching Rangi and Kyoshi, he slides down from the roof only to come face to face with Hei-Ran, his firebending teacher. She seems annoyed because he has wasted his time playing around instead of practicing his firebending exercises or meditating. Then, she compares him to his predecessor, Avatar Kuruk, and remarks about how he always wants to "take things easy". Yun gets upset since he has tirelessly worked on tasks to become the Avatar, such as poring over scholarly analyses of Yangchen's political decisions, memorizing the names of every important political leader living and dead, and using forgotten texts to map the ancient sacred sites of the Air Nomads. They eventually get into a harmless fight until Jianzhu comes and requests Yun to sit with him.

Jianzhu draws a Pai Sho game with a stick in the dirt while they discuss current political matters. Tagaka, a pirate, has agreed to sign a new version of her great-grandfather's treaty, which they had been trying to get her to do for years.

Yun remembers the times when Jianzhu would take him on trips around the world to meet important people for the purpose of developing the Avatar into a diplomat, who does not show bias toward one people or another. Yun remembers the village that had been raided by the Fifth Nation pirates and how the villagers, drums, bells, and gongs had all been taken. Yun comes up with a plan to accept Tagaka's offer and let the Fire Nation handle her, but he feels bad because he is manipulating the nations between which he is supposed to keep peace. Jianzhu is happy because that is exactly what he wanted Yun to say and, in his mind, it proves that he is going to be a great Avatar. The sage also compliments Yun by saying that he is everything that Kuruk was not.

Yun mentions that Hei-Ran thinks that he is too much like Kuruk. Jianzhu explains to him that Hei-Ran had sacrificed her career to teach the Avatar and then decides that if the Avatar is to intimidate the Fifth Nation, then they have to learn at least a little bit of firebending. The sage thinks that Yun is too bonded with the earth and thus cannot learn other elements, so he tells the boy that in order for him to rely on his inner fire, he would weaken Yun's connection to the earth by damaging his feet. Hei-Ran thinks that it is a harsh idea and asks Jianzhu if he is sure about it, but the earthbender insists and earthbends a uniform layer of inch-high, pyramids across the marble floor with the spikes facing upward. He orders Yun to run through the first Sun Gathering form on the spikes. Yun looks at Hei-Ran, who shakes her head and turns away, and he is left in disbelief as Jianzhu tells him to begin.

Production notes

Series continuity

• Hei-Ran is the former headmistress of the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, the same school Princess Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee attended together as children.
• Hei-Ran makes Yun practice hot squats and fire fists, the same exercises Zuko assigns Aang to practice in "The Boiling Rock, Part 1" when he is learning firebending.
• Yun's observation that a moon flower withers in too much sunlight is consistent with Iroh's remark in "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" that the flower grows best in partial shade.
• Jianzhu believes that Yun's inability to rely on his inner fire may be holding him back from producing flame, similar to how Zuko struggled to firebend in "The Firebending Masters" when he lost sight of his own inner fire.

Character revelations

• Yun hails from Makapu Village.
• Rangi is Hei-Ran's daughter.
• Yun has vigorously studied the history of the four nations and past Avatars.
• Tagaka is the leader of the Fifth Nation.
• Kuruk is revealed to have been a genius of the highest caliber when it came to bending and Pai Sho.
• Hei-Ran and Rangi are revealed to have the same face, hair, and eye color.
• Hei-Ran resigned her commission in the Fire Army to teach Kuruk and later resigned from the position of headmistress of the Royal Fire Academy for Girls to teach Yun.

Trivia

• This is the only chapter from The Rise of Kyoshi to be told from Yun's viewpoint.