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She was wide-awake and already dressed when a servant came to rouse her. Nor was she surprised to hear that Rangi and Hei-Ran were also up and waiting to speak with her.
The servant guided her to a balcony on an upper floor, set with a small table for breakfast. The sunrise view was marred by the gray wall that ringed the palace, but they were high up enough to see light peeking over the edges of the caldera. The Fire Nation capital residing in a dormant volcano was common knowledge, but Kyoshi had never considered what the view would be like from inside the sunken depression. She could have been sitting on the palm of a giant, its stone fingers threatening to close around her.
Rangi and Hei-Ran were already wolfing down their breakfast of bland gruel and salted vegetables. The blazing spices and oils that had slathered the party food now lay to the side of the table in small pots, to be added to taste. Even Fire Nationals took a break from hot flavors first thing in the morning.
Kyoshi was always amused by how swiftly Rangi plowed through her meals, her delicate features at odds with her voracious consumption. Her mother was no different. They’d probably developed a habit in the barracks of eating as fast as possible to avoid wasting time.
“Sit and eat first,” Hei-Ran said to Kyoshi, pointing at the food with her chopsticks. “We’re going to need our energy and I hear you’re in the habit of skipping meals.”
Rangi watched Kyoshi’s every bite, a fresh humiliation brought on by Jinpa’s tattling. The Avatar was no longer trusted to feed herself properly. I am going to get you back for this, monk, Kyoshi thought as she chewed and swallowed under Rangi’s scrutiny. Somehow, someday.
Once they finished, Hei-Ran leaned back in her chair and let silence fall over the table. She watched the light extend its reach across the grounds.
“So,” she said. “Yun wants to kill me.”
The sound of Rangi’s knuckles tightening could be heard in the morning stillness. But Hei-Ran stated it dryly, like she was noting the color of their napkins. A detail in an official report.
“He escaped not only the palace, but a full lockdown of the caldera,” she went on. “All ports in the capital have been closed.
The festivities in Harbor City are on hold while the search continues house to house. No luck yet though.”
Kyoshi was both impressed and disturbed by how efficiently the Fire Nation could conduct a manhunt. “Maybe there’s another angle that could help us find him.” She told them her conclusion that had germinated in the gallery and taken full root overnight.
She’d discussed the possibility with Rangi, but Hei-Ran was hearing it for the first time. “You think the spirit that identified you as the Avatar has possessed Yun,” Hei-Ran said.
Kyoshi nodded. “Jianzhu called it ‘Father Glowworm.’ He said it fought with Kuruk in the past. This spirit could be controlling him, or maybe it altered his mind.” She noticed Rangi frown deeply but put it aside for now.
“I’ve never heard the name,” Hei-Ran said. “During the time our group spent together, spiritual excursions were never Kuruk’s focus, to say the least.”
Kyoshi sorely wished people would stop dancing around Kuruk’s tenure as the Avatar with euphemisms. She didn’t see what her predecessor had done to earn the favor. “Back in Yokoya I pulled apart Jianzhu’s libraries, searching for mentions of a spirit fitting the description, but found nothing. I was hoping you would have some recollection.”
“Better to ask Kuruk himself.” Kyoshi thought Hei-Ran was brushing her off until she remembered she was supposed to be able to commune with her past lives. The statement was meant literally.
It would have been foolish to hide her spiritual troubles any further, so she gritted her teeth and confessed. “I can’t,” she said. “I can’t fully reach Kuruk or any other Avatar.”
To her surprise, they weren’t upset. “Communing with their past lives is one of the most difficult and complex feats an Avatar can perform,” Hei-Ran said. “Successful methods and experiences have been known to vary between generations. I wouldn’t advertise your problem, but I wouldn’t beat yourself up about it either.”
Kyoshi was relieved down to the bone. In one matter regarding her broken, rocky Avatarhood, at least one matter, she wasn’t at fault. What a difference it made having someone older and wiser to give her advice.
Hei-Ran stared over the edge of the balcony and drummed her fingers against the table.
“I have an idea,” she said. “I know a friend of Kuruk’s who spent more time with him after our original group went its separate ways. He used to be a Fire Sage stationed in the capital, but these days he maintains a small shrine in North Chung-Ling. He’s an expert in spiritual matters. If anyone could give us answers, it’s him.”
“North Chung-Ling?” The town name held some meaning that Rangi disapproved of. “We couldn’t go to the real Fire Sages?”
“They’re in the pocket of the Saowon clan,” Hei-Ran said. “The High Sage is Chaejin’s maternal great-uncle. But my contact might know more about this Father Glowworm creature, especially if it has a link to Kuruk. If the Avatar successfully fought it in the past, perhaps it can be defeated again now.”
The idea of her predecessor being useful to Kyoshi was a new one, but it filled her with hope. Kuruk’s friend could teach her how to break the spell Yun was under. She could save him. This was her edge, the one she’d been missing in the Earth Kingdom. “We have to go to North Chung-Ling,” she said.
Rangi slammed her fists on the table, clattering the empty dishes. The frustration building inside her since the beginning of the discussion had finally boiled over. “Are the two of you listening to yourselves?” she shouted. “The palace was attacked, and you want to go on a wild spirit chase?”
Kyoshi’s optimism was too fragile to withstand any debate. She needed Rangi completely behind her, not throwing up resistance. “How else are we going to get the old Yun back?” she snapped.
“Kyoshi, he killed four people and defiled the palace. After what he did, there is no more ‘old Yun.’”
She couldn’t believe this. “I’m telling you he is possessed!”
Rangi’s chair screeched as she rose to her feet. “And a day ago, you weren’t even sure of that!”
