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“So your choices had consequences,” Kyoshi said. “That’s not the definition of a raw deal. That’s life. You made your bed with Mok’s, and I made mine with yours. I should be the one complaining.”
She wished she had a spitting habit so she could add the appropriate color to what she was saying. “If he wants us to show up tonight, then we show up tonight. We do whatever he wants us to do. And then we all can get what we came here for.”
She ended her statement a hair’s breadth from shouting. A long silence followed.
“Kyoshi’s got a point,” Kirima said. The wall creaked as she took her shoulder off it. “We have no choice but to take things one step at a time.”
“She didn’t have to be so mean,” Wong muttered.
After Kyoshi’s outburst, Rangi asked the others for a moment alone with her. They filed out like sullen children. The room transformed from too small to too big.
“Don’t yell at me,” Kyoshi said preemptively. “None of this Autumn Bloom nonsense was in the journal.”
“And yet here we are anyway,” Rangi said. She seemed at a loss for what to say. She pointed in different directions to emphasize rants she hadn’t made yet.
Eventually she settled for a question. “Do you know what it’s like, watching you sink deeper into this muck?”
“I’m doing what’s necessary,” Kyoshi said. “If you want me to make faster progress, then let’s go find an isolated spot and practice more firebending.”
“Kyoshi, you’re not listening to me.” Rangi instinctively lowered her voice to protect their secret. “You’re the Avatar.”
“I remember, Rangi.”
“Do you?” she said. “Do you really? Because the last time I checked, the Avatar is supposed to be shaping the world for the good of humans and spirits, not risking their neck to help a bunch of second-story thieves pay off their debts!”
She held back from punching the nearest wall. “Did you know that the Avatar is supposed to be able to commune with their past lives, gaining access to the wisdom of centuries?” she said. “With the right lessons, you could have been asking Yangchen herself for guidance right now. But no! You don’t have that option, because my guess is that spiritual teachers are a little hard to come by in our current social circle!”
Rangi waved her hand around at the room, at Hujiang, at the Taihua Mountains themselves. “To see you here? It kills me. The fact that you’re stuck here, where no one knows who you truly are, makes me die a little inside with each passing moment. You’re meant to have the best of everything and instead you have this.”
She rubbed at the creases in her forehead with her fingers. “A daofei town! A normal Avatar would have been responsible for wiping this encampment off the face of the earth!”
So she was upset about Kyoshi neglecting her duties. And nothing more. Rangi wanted a normal Avatar. Not whatever Kyoshi was.
She’s a true believer. Yun’s words came back like he was standing beside her, whispering in her ear. Rangi couldn’t handle any more disgrace to the office. Kyoshi was poor raw material for an Avatar to begin with, and her selfish choices had only defiled the position further.
“Rangi.” Kyoshi’s heart felt harder than it ever had, dull metal weighing her chest down. “The world waited years for an Avatar. It can wait a little longer. And so can you.”
She thought she heard a little puff of breath come from behind Rangi’s hands. But when the Firebender lowered her arms, she was as calm and stony as the mountain.
“You’re right,” Rangi said. “After all, I’m just your bodyguard. I have to do what you say.”
Nightfall did Hujiang a favor in appearance. Unlike honest folk who went to bed soon after the sun went down, the daofei settlement lit up with torchlight to continue business. The slope of the mountain spread out below the inn looked like it had attracted a cloud of fireflies.
A meal of rice gruel and dried sweet potato did little to help them relax. Before they left the inn, Lek tightened the thongs covering his sleeves with such ferocity that Kyoshi was afraid his hands would go purple.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m worried about Pengpeng, is all,” he said defiantly. “Don’t let it slip that we have her. Mok would probably kill us and try to tame her himself.”
It made more and more sense, the degree to which outlaws coveted a sky bison. Flight was normally a feat restricted to the pure of heart. As an Airbender willing to sully herself with dirty work, Kyoshi’s mother must have been in high demand.
The streets were emptier than during the day. The daofei had gathered inside drinkhouses, and drinkhouses seemed to comprise half the town. Kyoshi could hear laughter and arguments and poorly composed poetry spilling from the windows they passed. She imagined Lao Ge was in one of the taverns, swindling for booze. Or indulging in his other hobby.
They came to a house bigger than the others. A broad, high barn that shook with noise. The shouting inside rose and fell in waves, punctuated with cries of delight or disappointment. Another man wearing a peach flower in his hat greeted them at the door.
“Uncle Mok is waiting for you on the balcony,” he said as he bowed.
Going inside, they were immediately absorbed by a throng of spectators. The center of the floor held a large wooden platform covered with a tightly drawn layer of canvas held down with ropes, giving the structure the appearance of a great drum. Two men circled each other warily on top, stepping through stances, refusing to blink as sweat gathered on their faces.
