Poisoning of the Earth Sages

Poisoning of the Earth Sages
General information
Previous	Attack on Governor Te's Palace
Concurrent	Hunt for Avatar Kyoshi Camellia-Peony War
Next	Unknown, eventually the War of Chin the Conqueror
Date	296 BG
Place	Avatar mansion
Outcome	Hui and a group of Earth Sages killed Part of the Avatar household staff killed Hei-Ran poisoned and weakened to a nearly fatal state
Participants	Jianzhu Hui Pan Ryong General Saiyuk Zhang Dakou Hei-Ran Avatar mansion staff
Appearances
First appearance	The Rise of Kyoshi

The Poisoning of the Earth Sages was the successful murder of Chamberlain Hui and a group of Earth Sages by Jianzhu at his estate in Yokoya. Having traveled to the estate to depose Jianzhu as the Avatar's guardian, the sages were given to drink a tea poisoned by Jianzhu, who also consumed the tea himself to cast off suspicion. The poisoning resulted in the deaths of Hui and the sages, as well as some of the household staff who drank the tea. Hei-Ran, who also unknowingly drank the tea, was almost killed by the poison and her body was left significantly weakened.

History

Prelude

In 296 BG, Jianzhu returned to his mansion in Yokoya after he, Saiful, and another guard were attacked by daofei near Hujiang and subsequently scouted the town. The sage later realized that Saiful worked for Chamberlain Hui and sent a message to him, telling him that Jianzhu had lost Yun, falsely identified as the Avatar, who had been captured by outlaws. Hei-Ran told him that Hui was building a case to take the Avatar away from him, to which he lied, saying that he would tell the sages the truth. When the earthbender was alone, he found out from a letter from Te Sihung that Kyoshi was present during the attack on his palace and, from another letter sent by the prefectural captain of Yousheng, that she had killed Xu Ping An. Jianzhu became a little optimistic as he considered that he would have time to find Kyoshi before the other sages called him to answer for his mistakes.

The poisoning

The next morning, Hui came to the Avatar mansion with other Earth Sages who were outside of Jianzhu's sphere of influence and he had paid to support him. These sages included Pan, Ryong, Saiyuk, and Dakou, people from the northwestern coast of the Earth Kingdom.

Jianzhu entered the kitchen before the guests arrived, and helped Mui and the other cooks make tea in order to poison it.

Later, he went to the reception hall, where the sages sat behind the rows of long tables and Hui took Jianzhu's chair, which was reserved for the owner of the house. Hei-Ran looked at Jianzhu wide-eyed, off to his left. As the servants brought the tea, Jianzhu sat down behind the remaining table as Hui told him to ask Kelsang and Yun to join them. Jianzhu waited until everyone had a cup of tea and for the staff to leave until he spoke, saying that the two of them were on a spiritual journey. Hui countered that neither of them had been seen at any of the Air Temples, to which the sage replied that his friend had a rocky relationship with some of the more orthodox Air Nomad leaders, stating that there are places holy to the airbenders around the world. Hui sarcastically asked if there were such places in Taihua, where Yun had been last seen at the hidden daofei town of Hujiang, exclaiming that they had to assume the worst and that Kelsang and Yun might have died. The chamberlain proceeded to add that Jianzhu had neglected his duty to the Avatar, allowing him to get into a dangerous situation that could prove fatal, and that he should be deposed as his master. In anger, Jianzhu asked Hui if he was suitable for that duty since he wanted it only to gain more power, stating that the gathering was not a proper conclave of sages, but only his enemies in the Earth Kingdom leadership who had been bribed to agree with taking off his power. When they started blinking hard and coughing, Jianzhu inquired what Hui had promised them in exchange, and then retched as he felt his insides heave and his vision went blurry from the poison. Jianzhu faked surprise, demanding to know what Hui did to him as the chamberlain tried to get up, but collapsed in his chair with his nose covered in blood. Some of the other sages began vomiting and Jianzhu tried to reach to Hei-Ran before he blacked out.

After Hui and the sages died, Jianzhu, who survived due to Amak's training in resisting poisoning, sat by Hei-Ran's bedside in the infirmary, who was unconscious and had barely survived to the poison since she had great internal strength. He thought about the inevitable outcry from Ba Sing Se, the accusations and investigations from which he would come out innocent since all the sages that were not on his side had been killed. However, Jianzhu again turned his attention to capturing Kyoshi.

Aftermath

The Earth Sages lost their political power and began to mistrust one another after Jianzhu's betrayal. Some sages worked to return to their spiritual roots away from the corruption of politics, while local politicians took the opportunity to seize control in the power vacuum left by the murdered sages who were once de facto rules of certain regions.

Investigators sent by the Earth King were unable to find any records or messages as to why Hui's conclave had convened in Yokoya, and concluded that the poisoning had been committed by daofei as an act of revenge. In Kyoshi's opinion, the authorities had closed the case prematurely, and a year later she learned of Jianzhu's culpability from Hei-Ran during the Festival of Szeto.

Years later, Chin the Conqueror started his conquest in the northwestern Earth Kingdom, which lacked leading figures and sages after the poisoning. This weakened state of the sages also triggered the later event known as the Night of Silenced Sages, which caused the mass purge of the Earth Sages by Earth King Jialun and the Dai Li.

Appearances

Chronicles of the Avatar

• The Rise of Kyoshi