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Kyoshi was so enthralled by the story that she forgot to snap at Huazo for being such a demanding hostage. She handed over the water skin and Huazo swigged it until it was empty.
“The millet really dries out your mouth,” she said. “Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. The worst moment of my life. Chaeryu’s ministers—a lot of them being Sei’naka clan, mind you—arranged the whole thing like an assassination. It was at one of those blasted, wretched, miserable garden parties. Chaeryu had already been thinking about ending our relationship, but he wasn’t sure about it. Not until his advisors trotted out Lady Sulan of the Keohso clan before him.”
The woman Chaeryu married, Kyoshi thought. Zoryu’s mother.
“I was watching his face when it happened,” Huazo said. “I saw the exact moment Chaeryu laid eyes on her and thoughts of me vanished from his head. The pieces fell into place for the Fire Lord. He had the excuse, the permission to ‘make the ultimate sacrifice’ and let go of his love for me. I saw how wide his grin grew when he realized he could pursue the lovely young Sulan and be completely blameless in the eyes of our country.”
Huazo smiled with one corner of her mouth and frowned with the other. “He could have fought in his heart a little more. If it was his inevitable and unfortunate duty to cut me loose, he could have done it a little more solemnly, instead of wearing that big, stupid dumbstruck face he used to reserve only for me.”
She remembered an important part of the story and giggled. “It was an unfortunate time to be pregnant with his first son. You can imagine Chaeryu’s embarrassment when I told him.”
Kyoshi wondered if she ever phrased it like that in front of Chaejin, and what her son thought if she did. Parents had ways of offhandedly cutting their children. “So you’ve been taking it out against the Keohso ever since.”
“What? No!” Huazo scoffed. “You make me sound so petty. I dedicated myself to growing the fortunes of the Saowon because that’s what clan leaders do. And I was one of the best in our history. You think the other nobles don’t try to edge their rivals out or dream of having their offspring sitting on the throne? Every single family of sufficient birth has wanted to own this country since Toz. Your precious Sei’naka women would go for it if they had the strength.”
Huazo seemed to enjoy how the Avatar incorrectly dwelled on the level of personal grudges, like a child. “I never hated little Sulan,” she said. “She was too pure for court. If you want to hear a story about what she was like, listen.”
She traced a character on the floor of the saddle with her finger, the elegance in her penmanship clear to see even without ink. She did it upside down too, so Kyoshi could read it right side up, an understated but extremely impressive feat. The character was zo, sometimes pronounced so, and it meant “ancestor.”
“For generations the character for zo has been used for names by the Saowon and only the Saowon,” Huazo explained. “But it’s the same as the one in ‘Zoryu.’ Chaeryu gave another woman’s child my family’s character for his name.”
Kyoshi sucked in her breath sharply. “See?” Huazo said. “Even you, a foreigner, understand. Agni Kais have been fought to the death for lesser insults. But Chaeryu did it because Sulan wanted to, and Sulan wanted to because she thought it sounded pretty. He bowed to her nonsensical whims and in doing so angered an entire clan!”
She threw her shoulders higher. “Me, personally? I was less upset about the insult than I was shocked, completely staggered that Sulan didn’t understand it would be a bad idea. How could the future Fire Lady be so naïve? How much damage was she going to cause with her foolishness?”
Huazo tapped her chest with her hand, her fingers crooked like the claw of a raven eagle. “We could have had a Fire Lady who actually knew how to use power! I could have brought success and prosperity to the rest of the country like I did for the Saowon!”
And I could have had a great mentor in you, Kyoshi couldn’t help but think about this future that had withered on the vine, one where she had no reason to come into conflict with Huazo. The Avatar and the Fire Lady, working together as allies.
“Chaejin is your second chance at the throne,” she said. “He’s nothing more than your way of reclaiming what should have been.”
“Chaejin is my son and I love him,” Huazo snapped indignantly. “But yes, him taking the crown from Sulan’s progeny would rectify a few mistakes of the past.”
“At the cost of plunging the nation into war. You can claim not to hate Zoryu and Sulan all you want, but your actions don’t follow your words.”
The leader of the Saowon smirked. “Maybe you’re right. It’s so hard to keep personal matters out of our duties, isn’t it, Avatar?” The mask slid back over Huazo’s face, hiding the candor she’d shared so openly moments before. “I still don’t know anything about Yan. Or was it Yao? I can’t remember.”
Thank you for making this easier, Kyoshi thought as Capital Island came into view. “Take a left,” she said to Jinpa. “I’ll need to guide you the rest of the way.”
They landed on a rocky coastline, the view of First Lord’s Harbor blocked by jutting promontories. Here, the waters were too dangerous for boats to dock or even linger. Powerful waves slammed into the near-vertical cliffs, creating a deafening hiss. The only sign of human interference was a small hut nestled into a crag. Kyoshi had to rely on a faint memory of a written description to find it.
“I thought we were going to the palace,” Huazo said.
“We will,” Kyoshi replied. “Eventually.”
There were no stairs or pathways to the house from the cliffs above or the waters below. A visitor would need a bison or have to be an extremely skilled bender in order to reach it. Jinpa brought Yingyong down as far as he could, but there wasn’t enough space to land.
Kyoshi earthbent a ramp so Huazo could disembark. “Go inside,” she said. “Make yourself comfortable. There should be more preserved food and fresh water, but I doubt you’ll need it. We’ll be back in less than two hours.”
Huazo sniffed in confusion and disgust at the house. It was covered in a thick layer of seabird droppings. “You’re not going to guard me?”
“Where could you go?” Kyoshi said.
Being ordered inside this strange, unexplained house that existed in defiance of logistics unsettled Huazo for the first time since Kyoshi had met the woman. But she refused to show weakness. “Well, it’s not an Ember Island bungalow, but it’ll do.” She fought past her hesitation and marched across the bridge.
Kyoshi and Jinpa watched her proceed carefully inside, perhaps checking for traps. Once she disappeared from view, he turned to Kyoshi.
“That was an incredible story she
