#all the daofei

[awfuckward]

thinking about that post asking what yuns story wouldve been like if hed actually been the avatar. and i think itdve been a mix of yangchen and korras story. the political focus and intrigue and probably a pretty similar arena (despite the time between) of yangchen but without her serious issues with the white lotus. having korras willingness to be kinda totally following the white lotus. though we cant know how spiritually connected hed be to his past lives (i think this connection is why yangchen knows to be wary of them, and korra spiritual difficulties + being put in the white lotus compound as a child is why she doesnt really question them) so he might not have that connection that tells them to operate separate of any one groups will. but if he still isnt found as the avatar until pretty late, and grew up struggling, i think hes still be pretty willing to follow whatever jianzhu wanted.

[shellomantic]

Theese designs r not final just messy sketches of my image of them in my head

(shh i know lek has a head wrap instead of just a headband and also more earth kingdom looking outfit but like i said theese r sketches dont judge me 😭)

headcanons

And shit in my head that influenced my designs

I wanted kirima to have a wolfcut because of the "wolf-like features" thing but that isnt exactly possible. Despite living mostly in the earth kingdom, I still do beleive how she does her hair is heavkly influenced by the water tribes

lek's head cover is supposed to look like si-wing tribes type of thing. I didnt plan on making HIS WHOLE OUTFIT based kn si wong but like... i'll make em more earthy in the future i swear-

[kyoshi-era-week-24]

It's my first time participating in a project like this, I have a question. in the story is to use all three instructions, like “Team Avatar || Found Family || Daofei", or do I choose one or two of those and write something based on that? sorry for the silly question

Hi! Thank you for the ask :) Not a silly question at all.

You can use however many you want!

If you want to use only one prompt, that's okay. If you want to mix two or three from the same day, that's okay. If you want to mix multiple from multiple days, that's okay too.

Hope you enjoy the event! :)

[tokyosmega]

finished the rise of kyoshi, here's my word vomit about it:

SPOILERS AHEAD !

• i LOVE how they treated lightning !!! that's probably my favorite part. looking at how lighting is revered in kyoshi vs how its so mundane in korra is just . so cool ???

• the sapphic representation made me eternally happy <3 even though i could have done with more (i'm a romantic at heart) seeing kyoshi and rangi being soft and close was sooo sweet. the lgbt rep in avatar really makes me feel represented and i hope we can see it more on screen

• the worldbuilding around the pre-existing worldbuilding is so cool !!! the si wong tribal traditions, the deep politics of the earth kingdom, the reverence of yangchen and kuruk, i loved it all ! also, loved the little references to the show, like the cabbage jokes + the gan jin vs the zhangs

• the fights were amazing. there were a couple times when i couldn't really comprehend what was going on, but i think that might be because kyoshi's bending is just like that. they went in a direction that was far more graphic and brutal than the show, but i feel like that was completely vindicated because kyoshi lived a graphic and brutal life

• jianzhu was a REALLY interesting villain! the overarching theme of good vs evil within the avatar universe played well with him. he is a man that thinks only of the good that will come while doing evil deeds, and kelsang mirroring him as a man who thinks of the evil he is doing despite knowing it will be good in the end is really great. nice foiling avatar

• kyoshi's element training seemed to go a little fast for me, but that might be because aang took three seasons to master the elements. but i don't know, kyoshi going from being an inept bender to suddenly being proficient in everything with minimal training was a big jump, even though it took like 300 pages

• i LOVED kyoshi's origins !! her parents being daofeis + her mom being an air nomad was super unexpected but a great way for the story to go. it really helped set her avatar journey apart from korra and aang

• i fully subscribe to the theory that lao ge is guru pathik btw . also the fact that they couldn't find the avatar for multiple years and then just pointed at some guy and was like "yeah that's him" is HILARIOUS to me

ok that's all guys thanks for coming to my ted talk

[mah-o-daryaa]

The Cycle Repeats: Part IV

One of the key themes of the ATLA franchise is the concept of the Avatar; master of all 4 elements, the fusion of humanity and Raava, the spirit of light and order, whose sole duty is to bring balance to the world, and be the bridge between both the physical and spiritual realms. Along with this comes the idea of reincarnation, which is the premise of the Avatar Cycle, the idea that the Avatar reincarnates in a cyclic order in any of the four nations (fire, air, water, earth). Another concept related to the Avatar Cycle (although originating from the fandom) is the idea of the Avatar fixing the mistakes of their past life, which is often indicated in differences in both habitual circumstances and personalities between both predecessor and successor, and therefore differences in morality.

But what if I were to tell you that the saying "history repeats itself" is also true among Avatar incarnations? Not exactly going the same way, but rather parallels between the lives, personalities, and accomplishments (and failures) of past lives?

In this series of metas, I will be going over parallels (or in some cases, foils) between certain pairs of Avatars that lived decades, or even centuries apart, and yet could not have ever been more similar.

An Unlikely Analogy II: Avatars Kyoshi and Korra (+ Yun)

"Kyoshi was the Earth Kingdom-born Avatar immediately succeeding Avatar Kuruk of the Northern Water Tribe, and preceding Avatar Roku of the Fire Nation. She died at the age of 230, making her the oldest confirmed human, and was also an exceptionally tall woman, towering over most people. Kyoshi was born to two criminals: Jesa, a renegade Air Nomad nun, and Hark, a thief from an impoverished family of Earth Kingdom actors. She inherited her later signature outfit from her parents, adopting her mother's golden headdress and metal war fans and her father's daofei face paint."

"Korra is the current incarnation of the Avatar and immediate successor of Avatar Aang. Born and raised in the Southern Water Tribe, where she mastered waterbending, earthbending, and firebending, she later relocated to Republic City to attain a similar proficiency with airbending under the tutelage and guidance of Tenzin, as well as to help her overcome her aversion to the spiritual aspects of the bending arts. With the assistance of Aang's spirit, Korra gained the ability to energybend and, after connecting with her past lives, she gained the capacity to enter the Avatar State at will, marking her transition into a fully realized Avatar."

"Yun was the friend of Kyoshi and Rangi and the earthbending pupil of Jianzhu. Talented, charismatic, and handsome, he was misidentified as the new Earth Avatar after a long and difficult search. Following the revelation of Kyoshi's identity as the true Avatar, Yun was betrayed by Jianzhu, who felt the boy's usefulness had been exhausted and allowed Father Glowworm to carry him off in the mountains."

I once again posted the first paragraph of their respective pages, and you might be wondering why I've included Yun. The reason is that, although Yun was misidentified as the Avatar, he still has various parallels with both Korra and Kyoshi during his "journey". On the surface, you might say that they are more balanced; they have both similarities and differences between their morals and personalities. You would be right on this account, so let's dive in!

(WARNING: There will be possible spoilers for both The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi. If you do not wish to be spoiled, I suggest not reading any further and scrolling past this post until you have finished reading both novels. You have been warned.)

First, we have to take account the parallels between Kyoshi and Korra. The problems that arose during their times were rather complex; Kyoshi's predecessor Kuruk left behind a destabilised Earth Kingdom overrun by criminals, while Aang, although he brought the world to peace, had left behind both the Equalists and the Red Lotus for Korra to deal with. In addition, according to the first chapter of both The Rise of Kyoshi and the premier of The Legend of Korra, Welcome to Republic City (Book 1: Episode 1), both Jianzhu and the White Lotus had been looking for the Avatar for years. Jianzhu and Kelsang had been trying to locate the Avatar across the Earth Kingdom, while the White Lotus had searched both the North and South Poles. This is also where Yun comes in.

Initially in Book 1, Korra had similar opinions on violence and control as Kyoshi did (only justice will bring peace), and even befriended a polar bear-dog (Naga) at the age of four. (Polar bear-dogs are considered to be dangerous animals in the Avatarverse.) However, there is a difference between how each Avatar reacted to her status. Kyoshi denied it and ran away (which I have mentioned parallels with Aang), whereas Korra was the one who discovered her status and accepted her fate as the Avatar, saying that there was nothing more she wanted to be, which is a parallel to Yun's false identity as the Avatar. Ironically, Kyoshi (like Aang) ran away from her duties when the world needed the Avatar, while Korra accepted her duties during a time when the world had long since advanced beyond the need of an Avatar.

Both Kyoshi and Korra are also of mixed ancestry; Kyoshi's father was from the Earth Kingdom, while her mother was a rogue Air Nomad. Korra's father, like Kyoshi's mother, was a rogue immigrant to another nation, being a member of the NWT royal family, while her mother was from the SWT, which gained independence from the North after the Water Tribe Civil War. Kyoshi and Korra are also the only two Avatars to master the elements in their home nation, rather than travelling abroad (Kyoshi learned earth-, fire-, and waterbending with the FOC in the Earth Kingdom and mastered air- and waterbending in the Fire Nation, while Korra mastered water-, earth, and fire-bending in the White Lotus Compound in the South Pole and learned airbending at Air Temple Island in Republic City). However, Kyoshi was constantly on the run, living on the streets as a child, whereas Korra lived in comfort, but isolation.

However, their bending affinity are opposites. Kyoshi struggled to earthbend due to her sheer power, to the point that she had trouble bending small amounts of earth, while moving chunks of the seafloor with ease (not how it typically works), and favoring its elemental opposite, air, in combat. Korra, on the other hand, preferred earth- and especially firebending in combat, while struggling to airbend due to its philosophies contradicting with her drive and hot-headedness.

Now, the parallel between Korra and Yun. Korra and Yun's respective upbringings parallel each other; both grew up isolated in compounds, and being taught by the companions of their predecessors, being told that the only thing that mattered was their status as the Avatar. As a result, this caused a serious mental stunt for both of them, especially when it was revealed that Yun wasn't the true Avatar. Korra wasn't taught how to properly handle politics, whereas Yun went all-in and hunted Kyoshi down Tai Lung-style. Ironically, this was originally supposed to be a way to protect the Avatar, issued by their predecessors, Aang and Kuruk respectively, which was apparently misinterpreted by their supposed caretakers (The White Lotus and Kuruk's companions respectively).

Finally, the parallels between Kyoshi and Yun. Both are similar in that they both grew up abandoned in the streets; Kyoshi in Yokoya, and Yun in Makapu; at least until they were moved into Jianzhu's mansion in Yokoya. Both were "cared" for by a former companion of Avatar Kuruk (Kelsang and Jianzhu respectively; note that I put quotation marks on "cared for" because Jianzhu pretty much physically and mentally abused Yun), but this is where the similarities end.

Now, there are a handful of scenes in the Kyoshi novels which particularly stood out to me. The parallels between Yun's ability to bend the tiniest speck of dust vs Kyoshi struggling with the finer movements but easily raising the entire sea floor during her fight with Tagaka. The parallels between Kyoshi almost drowning herself to connect with Kuruk for the first time while forgetting she can waterbend vs Yun returning to the physical world only to be denied access to water.

We have to remember that the element of earth plays a central role in Rise; Kyoshi is a born earthbender, the book takes place in the Earth Kingdom, earth is the only element Yun can bend, earthbending is the only advantage Jianzhu has against Kyoshi, most of the FOC (Kyoshi's daofei gang) are earthbenders,etc, while the element of water is a central theme in Shadow (which is ironic, considering the book takes place in the Fire Nation), as is Avatar Kuruk's legacy as the Water Tribe predecessor of Kyoshi. In the original series, Iroh states that water is the element of change. During the whole novel, water represents the ability to move on, the ability to change. In these two scenes, water represents both Kyoshi feeling overwhelmed by her new duties as the Avatar and Yun's desperation to prove that he is the true Avatar.

Also, during the final battle, Kyoshi kills Yun by freezing his heart and lungs. Her ability to waterbend represents her ability to move on from the past and change, whereas his lack of waterbending represents his inability to grow, to move on from the past, to change. Yun even bends the earth similar to water, but it's a mere imitation of the bending art, not the skill itself.

Generally speaking, most people can easily spot the similarities (and in some cases, differences) between Kyoshi and Korra. From bending to upbringing to the conclusions of their respective histories, one can find some details between both Avatars. What they don't see is their biggest connecting link; their similarities with Yun. The False Avatar acts as the foil to enhance both characters, their histories, and their legacy. In the next part, we'll discuss the similarities between the current Avatar Korra and the Water Tribe Avatar before her, Kuruk.

<- Prev I Next ->

[irenedrawstoo-blog]

Kyoshi: I can’t believe I’m a daofei, this is a disgrace to all my previous past lives

Yangchen: walking around down town, dressing up, hiring new spies for me, threatening people

[swiftsaltsweet]

The Hunt for Kyoshi: Chapter 2

Characters: Rangi and Kyoshi (plus whoever appears in Rok)

Pairing: Rangshi

Summary:  

“What are we going to do?” She asked steely, still not looking up from the ground. She was ready to uphold her duty, or at least, what remained of it. “We need you to capture Kyoshi,” Jianzhu instructed. “Capture?” “Yes, we need to set an example of an Avatar murderer,” Jianzhu responded, oh so matter of factly again.

(Canon Divergent AU- “What if Rangi wasn’t there when Kyoshi ran away, and Rangi had to hunt her down?)

Prev chapter

Other Sites: AO3 and Fanfic.net

A/N: Man….this is actually my 2nd AU for Kyoshi I was working on (the other one I have 6 rough chapters done). But this one took such a hold on me I had to put the other one on hold (now let’s hope that 3 other AUs don’t take ahold of me too). TT0TT Sorry this took so long, I swear I was writing my lil’ heart out for this. TT0TT

Anyway, I found a post where it states that the distance between Roku’s island and Senlin village was about 504 miles (811ish km). Between Yokoya and Chameleon Bay, I’m giving it like….800 miles (1287.48ish km), if you run along the sea. 

_________

It felt like the ground shook around Rangi, maybe it did. Maybe her scream was so powerful it became an earthquake that matched the one in her heart?

Regardless, her scream had alerted her mother and Jianzhu, who came rushing out. 

“Rangi?! What’s the matter?” Her mother yelled.

Rangi whipped her head around, and made the two adults freeze in their tracks, they bore a horrified look on their faces. A faint part of Rangi wondered what expression she was making, but that part died out as quickly as it came into being.

She barreled past them, clutching the little red ledger in her hand. She needed to get out now. She had wasted enough time. 

She practically ripped the stable doors off its hinges, scaring the stablehands inside. They promptly hightailed out of there, as she scanned the room. There was one lone ostrich horse. 

She briefly wondered why there was only one, but figured either the storm or Kyoshi had scared the rest off. It didn’t matter, and she quickly packed what prepackaged supplies she could onto the small creature. 

She made sure to place the ledger into her personal rucksack, threw the bag over her shoulder, and then mounted the animal.

Rangi started taking off, but had to stop right outside the doors, so as not to run over her mother and Jianzhu.

“Rangi! What is going on?!” Hei-Ran she put her hands out, trying to take the reins on the steed herself.

Rangi backed the animal away, and went around the adults slowly. “You were right. You both were right!” Something akin to a sob radiated in her voice. 

“What do you-? Rangi if you’re going to act like this I won’t let you-”

“SHE’S A DAOFEI!” Rangi cut her mother off, hurling the revelation into the adults’ faces. “She was a daofei this whole time! She really did use us!” 

_______

She snapped the reins, and sped past the two. Ignoring their yells to come back. She barreled past the gate, down the road, and soon out of Yokoya. 

Rangi’s eyes focused on the forested area ahead as she tore down the dirt road, ignoring Qinchao Village’s entrance as she passed. Her goal was to get to Gaoling city before nightfall. From there, she was going to avoid the Si Wong desert and snake her way alongside the Eastern Sea.

Her jaw clenched as tightly as she held her reins, she tried to make herself smaller, more streamline so that her steed would go faster.

Now that she was on the road, she was unfortunately left with her thoughts. Kyoshi’s journal weighed heavily on her back, all of Kyoshi’s secrets laid bare. At least, for the pages that weren’t ruined. 

Judging by the info, Kyoshi was a plant, having rooted herself there long ago. Her mother was an ex-Air Nomad, having founded the daofei gang The Flying Opera Company with Kyoshi’s father. 

Bile seeped into Rangi’s mouth. Another renegade Air Nomad? The very idea alone was inconceivable, even when Jianzhu had told her Kelsang was a renegade she had a hard time swallowing it. But now that she found Kyoshi’s journal, the hard pill was finally and fully swallowed. 

And twice in a generation at that! It couldn’t be a coincidence. How often did that happen in the Air Temples? Or was it just that Kyoshi’s mother, Jesa, and Kelsang were outliers. Were they in cahoots together?

Rangi bit her lower lip in deep thought, she deduced the latter seemed the most plausible route. Though, she wasn’t against suggesting to Jianzhu to see what he and the other nations could do about investigating any possible corruption in the Air Temples. 

Pulling her thoughts back to Jesa and Kelsang, she started to formulate the hypothesis in her head. Jesa had dropped Kyoshi off about two years prior to her “official” meeting with Kelsang and Jianzhu. 

Enough time for the child to establish herself in Yokoya, to make it seem like any meeting with her would be a coincidence. To be able to make contact with Kelsang without it seeming too suspicious. All while Kelsang was in Jianzhu’s ear, whispering ideas of setting up shop for the Avatar in Yokoya.

But why Yokoya? Jianzhu had listed his reasons long ago, but what would Kelsang’s be? Surely it involved making infiltrating the Avatar Estate easier. But, again, what was so special about Yokoya? 

Why such a dingy little town? Rangi’s eyes widened in realization. That was it, the size. There weren’t that many people, but most importantly, there weren’t that many orphans. In fact, there had only been one in the past nine years. Kyoshi.

And Kelsang was there to play the role of the benevolent monk who would help the helpless orphan that no one cared about. And the size of the village made it easy to know exactly who everyone was. 

Something gnawed at Rangi, this all seemed like such an overly complicated longcon. Wouldn’t it have just been easier for Kelsang to just ask Jianzhu to hire someone? Wait until Kyoshi was older, and then send a recommendation in?

Rangi absentmindedly tapped a finger on the reins, until the realization hit her.

It had to be overly complicated, because Kelsang knew Jianzhu wouldn’t do that. One of the rumors she heard early on was how hard it was for Kelsang to give Kyoshi a chance as a fourteen year old. And this was after Kelsang had been planting Kyoshi into Jianzhu’s thoughts for the course of nine years. 

The nine years where they searched for the Avatar, where Kelsang would visit the village to “check up” on Kyoshi. Where Jianzhu would visit to make negotiations with the villagers. Jianzhu had known of Kyoshi that entire time, and still almost didn’t hire her. 

Kelsang was aware of his old friend’s overly cautious attitude, and expertly navigated it. 

Rangi grimaced to herself, as the picture was becoming more and more clearer. But she still had one thing that didn’t make any sense. It was Kyoshi’s childhood and her treatment during that time.

Auntie Mui had told Rangi of what Kyoshi’s supposed childhood was like as she grew up in Yokoya. How she’d been mistreated by the local villagers, left abandoned to starve and die. To be treated worse than an animal. Rangi had even recently seen a bout of bullying happen recently to boot!

But with all these revelations, how much of that was true? Did Auntie Mui lie? Was she in on this treachery too? Possibly, but other servants corroborated her story. It was possible that those servants were also in on it. However, it was equally possible of them being lied to as well. And what of the villagers? Was their cruelty also a ploy?

How much could be lied about? A starving child’s body held more truth than any lie could. Had Kyoshi been a victim in all of this too?!

Rangi swallowed the burning lump in her throat and shook her head. No, she would not bleed sympathy for her friend’s murderer. It did not matter what hardships she grew up with, she made her choice. People with far worse had made far better choices. 

She took a deep breath and kept going through the possibilities. Maybe no one lied, maybe her upbringing was that rough. But why put a child through that? Unless….it was an act? 

Kyoshi’s father, Hark, was a man from a long line of actors turned daofei. Maybe Kyoshi was a prodigy actress? Even from such a young age?

Rangi almost laughed at such a silly notion, but she didn’t one hundred percent dismiss it. She moved onto the next, more digestible possibility.

Kyoshi was a child soldier. Of course, a five year old was perhaps pushing it. But Rangi had read about crazier stories in her time at the academy. To be honest, Rangi could see it, she did come from the capital nation of military brats after all.  

Rangi recalled the inhuman feat that Kyoshi displayed against the battle of the Fifth Nation, pulling earth out of sea from two hundred paces. That wasn’t something you just did without special training. 

The recollection of the memory caused Rangi to clench her jaw so hard, her teeth were at risk of cracking. She knew how to bend like that, but acted like a helpless child?!

Kyoshi had kept her ability to bend earth so hush hush, that no one on the compound was really aware of it unless you checked the staff ledger, like Rangi had done. Rangi remembered her trying to encourage Kyoshi into bending, into believing in herself. Unbeknownst that Kyoshi had been giving Rangi the go-around. 

Yet another piece of Rangi’s trust was tarnished. Chewed up and spit out. Desecrated. 

Rangi took multiple breaths to calm herself, lest she set her and her steed on fire with her own breath. 

So Rangi's hypothesis was finally formed. Two renegade Air Nomads dropped Kyoshi off in Yokoya upon seeing it was the best location for their future deeds. After a long con, Kelsang was able to convince Jianzhu to set up a homebase there. They found Yun, and then…… well… killed him. But why wait two years? Opportunity?

Rangi pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment. She’d forgotten to ask Jianzhu about how the incident went down. She needed to get it together. 

She would have to wait until she could send a messenger hawk from Gaoling. 

_________

“Jianzhu informed me we might be expecting you!” Lu Beifong fanned himself. “We’ve prepared a room for you. For some reason he apologized in advance for my floors. Do you….know what he meant by that?”

Rangi glared at the man, she just wanted to get to her room and be left alone.

Lu Beifong gulped, but continued to attempt small talk as he showed his guest to her room. Rangi mostly ignored him, especially when he mentioned something about an upcoming party. “This is where you will be staying. Oh! And one more thing.” He gestured to his servant, who held a messenger scroll. “Jianzhu’s messenger hawk sent this message for you.”

Rangi took the scroll from the servant's hands and walked through her guest room door.

“If there’s anything you nee-” Lu wasn’t able to finish as Rangi promptly shut the door in his face. 

She looked down at the messenger scroll that was for her and frowned. While it appeared closed, it was apparent it had already been opened once. Someone, most likely Lu Beifong, was trying to see what secret Avatar affairs were inside.

She took the message out and unfurled it. A small item fell out, it was Jianzhu’s seal.

The message contained benign pleasantries from Jianzhu addressed to her. Asking her to inform him on her vacation plans and so forth. Absolute bunk. At least, to the person who didn’t have the key. The only thing that wasn’t written in code, was in regards to the seal. He claimed it was in case she needed funds for her trip, and he wasn’t able to send word out ahead of time. She didn’t need a code to read in between the lines on that one.

She read through the contents twice, before deciphering the hidden meaning on her third read-through.

The letter’s real contents contained the story she’d failed to listen to before leaving. Apparently, Jianzhu had taken Yun and Kyoshi to a spirit to help identify which one was the Avatar. The spirit had identified Yun as the Avatar, and that’s when Kyoshi began the attack. She had killed the spirit in the crossfire. 

Rangi grimaced at the sacrilegious act. Kyoshi really held nothing sacred, not spirits nor the Avatar.

Kelsang soon joined the fray, and he and Kyoshi overpowered the two with his surprise ambush. Killing Yun. And Jianzhu was barely able to get a lucky shot in, killing Kelsang, before retreating away from Kyoshi. Kyoshi had taken Kelsang’s bison and was now going to spirits know where.

Rangi tapped her finger on the desk as the final piece of the puzzle fit into place. Kyoshi and Kelsang didn’t enact their plan until two years later because they were waiting for an opportunity. It was no coincidence that Kelsang “revealed” that Kyoshi might be the Avatar when most of the guardsmen and master Amak were taken out by Takaga. 

Between Rangi and her mother being away on business, and taking both Yun and Jianzhu to an isolated location, they must’ve thought their defenses were weak enough to strike. And they were right.

But maybe it wasn’t just about the defenses? Surely they had plenty of opportunities to kill Yun, when he was alone. Unless, Jianzhu was also their target! 

It made sense, Yun was the Avatar, but Jianzhu held a lot of influence and power in the Earth Kingdom in his own right. It would’ve been more beneficial to strike them both down around the same time, so as not to deal with the other’s retaliation. 

Rangi slammed her fist on the table. If only we didn’t go to that delegation! Then Yun could’ve-Yun might’ve-

A cold chill ran down Rangi’s spine. Would she and her mother's presence have been able to dissuade Kelsang and Kyoshi? Would they have still attacked? Would they have killed them too? 

Rangi clawed at the letter on the table, and slowly let it burn away under her finger tips. She accidentally singed the wood underneath it in the process. Once she calmed down enough, so as not to break nor set fire to her brush, she began writing a reply letter to Jianzhu. In code of course. 

She wrote about her hypothesis, who Jianzhu should look into for secret spies and corruption, as well as where she intended to go the next few days, and how she’d planned to communicate going forward. She’d be on the road, but she’d send updates via messenger hawk when she’d be able to. 

Right when she was about to finish, a dark thought entered her mind. She added at the end to see if they could start the search for the new Avatar in the Fire Nation. Rangi may have failed Yun, but maybe she could still help the next Avatar. But that Avatar would need to be safe and secured before that could happen. 

And with an Avatar killer on the run, the urgency of finding the next Avatar was of utmost concern now. 

Once Rangi was done, she left to send the letter. On her way back, she checked her supplies along with her ostrich horse, and then went back to her room.

She rifled through her rucksack, and pulled out the journal. That journal, a coarse reminder of how little she knew about her once friend. But also a dark blessing, as the secrets it told Rangi gave her all the leads she’d ever need, she may not even need a shirshu to find Kyoshi. 

She put the journal aside and checked the rest of the contents to make sure everything was in order. Her fingers brushed against something soft, and she gingerly pulled it out. It was the gold-dyed tassel from Kyoshi’s room. 

Rangi sat silently in the room, and stared at the object.

______________

Rangi held the green tassel in her hand, as it dangled from the Earth Kingdom robe.

“Pretty,” a soothing voice whispered in her right ear. It made Rangi tense up, that voice always made Rangi tense up. She tried and failed to stop a flush running up her right side. Rangi turned to look at the voice, it was from her friend, Kyoshi. “Don’t you think?”

There are prettier things in this room. But Rangi couldn’t say that out loud. So, she just grunted, feigning disinterest. “I’ve seen better made ones.”

“Hm, I dunno, it seems well made to me.” Kyoshi moved her hand to take the tassel out of Rangi’s hand, to inspect it herself. Rangi tried to move her hand out of the way fast enough, at least without it looking like it was fleeing from Kyoshi, but she was too slow and felt their skin just brush past each other.

Kyoshi’s hand was smooth and soft, cool, and pleasant. It also bore the effect of feeling like a hot knife running along Rangi’s skin. Rangi tried to calm her aching heart by listening to Kyoshi ramble on about the object’s quality.

“It’s really soft,” Kyoshi smiled fondly at the tassel, as she flipped it back and forth, causing the fabric to swap and create a small flow of air. Kyoshi’s scent blew towards Rangi, and Rangi fought to keep an even breathing pattern. She smells like morning dew today.

Seeing the green tassel in Kyoshi’s hand, Rangi could see just how well the color worked with Kyoshi’s skin tone, and started to warm up to the object. “I think it’d look good on you.” She blurted out before she could stop herself.

Rangi had a brief moment of panic, before it was quietly tapered by Kyoshi’s snort and roll of her eyes. “Yeah right, it’d look horrible on me! I’d be doing a disservice to this fine cloth.”

No, you wouldn’t. Rangi wanted to protest. You’d look good in anything. But she didn’t dare speak her true thoughts, because she feared her tone would reveal more than she’d want it to. Something she feared that could ruin their relationship.

“What are my two girls looking at?” a cheerful voice came from behind. Rangi thanked the spirits that Avatar Yun had appeared; she was always afraid she’d lose herself around Kyoshi whenever they were alone.

“Aren’t you supposed to be training?” All that being said, she had a schedule to work with, she didn’t want him slacking.

“Yikes! Please I get enough from your mother.” Yun fake wept. “I’m on a break, actually. What do you have there, Kyoshi?”

Kyoshi and Rangi stepped aside, to show off the robe that had come in as a gift. “Oh that is nice, but it seems a little too long for me. You can have it, Kyoshi.”

Rangi looked at Kyoshi, gauging her reaction, but it was exactly as Rangi predicted it would be. “No, I’m good.”

Rangi fought back a small smile. Her friend was ever frugal, and not in want of anything. Almost to a fault.

“No really you can have it! I don’t need it, think of it as a gift from me!” Yun insisted.

“That’s great, but this is actually addressed to Master Jianzhu. So unless you want to take it up with him-“ she cut herself off with a small wave, showing there was nothing more to be explained. Then she went over and flicked Yun on the nose. “Anyway, a gift should be more sincere than that! You shouldn’t give things away willy-nilly because you want to free up space! It won’t feel special!”

“Tell that to the people who send me stuff,” Yun whined.

“Trust me Yun, I’m well aware,” Kyoshi waved her arms around, showing off all the mostly useless trinkets he’s gotten. She rubbed her temple absentmindedly. “Though I guess I should be thankful. As long as these gifts keep coming I still have a job.”

Rangi tensed up at the thought of Kyoshi being here one day and then gone the next. Not being able to follow her because of her duty. She wasn’t sure how she’d manage if that ever did happen.

Yun gave a pat on Kyoshi’s back, laughing. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll make sure you have plenty of work! I swear, as long as I live, I’ll always have a mess for you to clean up.”

Kyoshi rolled her eyes, “Gee, thanks!” Before laughing and giving him a playful shove on the shoulder.

Rangi stared deadpanned at them, before a smile of her own crept up onto her face, softening it. “Ok, ok you two! Enough ostrich horsing around and get back to work.” She started shooing Yun out the door. “I’ll escort you back to your training, Avatar Yun.”

“Aw, but I want to relax for a bit longer! You can go on ahead!” Yun whined, dragging his feet as  Rangi all but pushed him out. To Rangi, the only thing that was worse than her being alone with Kyoshi, was Kyoshi and Yun being alone in a room together. 

Rangi turned back towards Kyoshi as she exited the door. “Kyoshi, I want this done by the end of the day. I’ll be back in a few hours.” 

“Don’t worry I will!” Kyoshi called back to her. Kyoshi could do it. She was always fast and efficient. It was one of the things Rangi liked so much about her. 

“Just five more minutes!” Yun tried to sneak back in, before Rangi pulled him back out into the hallway.

“I told you! Back to training!” Rangi scolded him, giving him another push forward. 

But as she pushed Yun, he crumpled into dust at her touch. She looked forward and saw the hallway was quickly being engulfed into darkness.

Panic shot through Rangi, she turned back to make sure Kyoshi was alright. But as she looked upon her friend, she saw her peaceful smile contorting into a sinister grin.

___________________

Rangi opened her eyes with a jolt, she was laying on the floor, the gold tassel still in her hand. Her chest was aching, and she could feel a stream of wetness sliding down her face. She wiped at her face, it was sweat, or tears, or both. She wasn’t sure, she didn’t care. 

She got back up into a sitting position and grabbed the rucksack, and threw the tassel back into the bag. 

She balled her hands into fist and pressed them into her eyes, trying to calm the shaking that was wrecking her. She cursed the spirits for making her relive that once benign memory. Making her see Yun alive again, making her wish for her old relationships back. Making her want Kyoshi’s comfort. And then twisting it at the end, it was as if it was designed to be overtly cruel. 

After she calmed down, she got up and looked outside, it was still dark. She was only asleep for a handful of hours, maybe even not that. 

She couldn’t go back to sleep. She didn’t want to go back to sleep, afraid she’d be faced with more debauched memories. So she began to pace until the sun rose up. 

A/N:God the mental gymnastics hurt but I think I got through it. TT0TT At least for someone who is not thinking very clearly. Keep weaving your own idea Rangi, love to see an actual Evil!Kelsang sometime tho kfjsdjfa.

Next chapter will be a bit shorter I think, as it’s from Jianzhu’s perspective…...Oh wow actually it is very short….I might need to embellish it a bit. TT0TT

Anyway, the song Lose Control by Teddie Swims fits this fic I think (wasn’t my intention, just happened to find this song recently and realized it). I dunno give it a listen. 8U

[atla-suki]

characters from the kyoshi novels ranked in order from least stinky to most stinky:

1. hei-ran. she’s so fancy and proper, need i explain?

2. rangi. mama raised her right.

3. wong. daofei be damned he’d find a way to smell like roses.

4. zoryu. he’s the firelord c’mon now.

5. kyoshi. pre-rok i think she’d smell a little stinky bc of work. but aside from that she probably washes her hands every 10 mins and smells decent when she’s not cleaning up after yun. in sok and after she definitely smells good.

6. jinpa. i love him sm and he probably smells good BUT he spends heaps of time w his stinky bison so that costs him a little

7. kirima. smells alright.

8. kelsang. again, smells okay but nothing amazing

9. atuat. probably smells like my grandmas couch idk i can’t explain. that kinda musty smell yk but she’s still got decent hygiene.

10. lek. teenage boy smelly sweaty gross. that’s all.

11. jianzhu. ok he doesn’t smell BAD per-se, but he definitely uses too many fragrances to make himself smell good and it’s just too much at once and doesn’t have the desired effect. that counts as smelly in my book

12. tagaka. she probs just doesn’t care tbh

13. kuruk. loml BUT he definitely is a bit stinky

14. yun. see idk i feel like he’d have great hygiene usually but also would go 4 days straight w/out a shower bc he just forgets to. he also loses points bc he spent like 2wks in the spirit world and was ABSOLUTELY smelling rank after that + i feel like once he entered that villain era he just stopped caring. stinky boy.

15. xu ping an. dude was in prison for AGES there’s no way he doesn’t stink.

16. lu beifong. the mustiest man alive. idc if he tries to be presentable he still stinks.

17. lao ge. bro is a million years old. that’s a million years of stink slowly accumulating.

18. uncle mok. certified stinkiest.

[fuzzykidney]

Can you imagine jinpa getting his tattoos and all his daofei and avatar friends being present? Kyoshi tearing up. Atuat having a party with kirima. Wong dancing to their instruments. Rangi and her mom beaming with pride? The monks not knowing how to handle the avatar group but not being able to do anything about it? Jinpa to stand up with his mastery tattoos to see all his friends there for him.

Sounds glorious to me.

Someone should do a fic. I can’t write.

[greatwyrmgold]

I've been thinking about Avatar: The Last Airbender recently. You know what's weird? The Four Nations. They're treated as a collective, a natural way to politically and culturally divide the world of Avatar, four units in balance. But they're not, really. They're too different.

Let's start with the Fire Nation, the closest to what you'd expect the nations to be. It's a nation-state in the most literal sense; a group of people who see themselves united by history, culture, and common descent, ruled over by a polity with a strong central government. (Relative to vassalage or something, not by modern standards.) It's pretty much exactly what you'd expect the Four Nations to be from their name, so the fact that it's the only one with Nation in its name is appropriate.

Then there's the Earth Kingdom. Unlike the Fire Nation, it's not really a unitary state. For the most part, the Earth King does not rule the Earth Kingdom like the Firelord rules the Fire Nation. It was overrun with bandits and warlords during the Kyoshi era, consolidated into warring states by the Roku era, and splintered into warring states again in Korra's era as soon as the queen was killed. The Earth Kingdom was kinda united during the Hundred-Year War, but with powerful lords acting independently of Ba Sing Se and occasionally calling themselves kings. It was united in Aang's adulthood, but that's an anomaly. Still, the Earth Kingdom isn't that different from what we'd expect from one of the Four Nations. It's a nation, just ruled by a polity too decentralized or fragmented to call a state.

We come to trouble with the Water Tribe...or, really, Water Tribes. There were times when the Northern and Southern Water Tribes were united under one chief, but it makes more sense to think of them are separate entities. The Northern Water Tribe has cities and armies and a hereditary chiefdom, with the chief's family basically being treated like royalty; the Southern Water Tribe doesn't seem to have any of those, being little more than a collection of villages with no apparent government.

Even if they were culturally identical, those distinct material conditions would make the two tribes' members very different. And they aren't culturally identical. And that's not getting into the Foggy Swamp Tribe. The Water Tribe isn't a nation. It's a collection of tribes nominally united by history and culture, but actually united by Waterbending.

And then there are the Air Nomads. It's hard to get a read on them; we don't see them in the actual show (damn you, Sozin), and the information we have on them doesn't map as cleanly to any real-world groups. They're nomads whose cultures are centered around fixed temples, with no territory and no apparent method of gathering food. They're a self-reproducing ethnic group whose men and woman are geographically separated. For that matter, they're a coherent culture, distinct from their neighbors, despite being geographically separated.

The Air Nomads are only vaguely sketched out, but they're even less like what you'd expect a "nation" to be. They didn't seem to have any central government (before they were reduced to the Avatar's family and his band of Air Acolytes), they don't have any territory to speak of, they barely have any culture beyond their spiritual beliefs. But they're still a Nation, equal to the other three.

The Four Nations have little in common. Only one and a half can be considered a unitary polity, like "nation" suggests. All except the Air Nomads and maybe Fire Nation show regional variation in culture; rural Earth Kingdom communities have more in common with the Water Tribes than Ba Sing Se, and the Northern Water Tribe arguably has more in common with the smaller, coastal Earth Kingdom states than it does with the other Water Tribes.

And there are plenty of polities, cultures, and ethnic groups that aren't considered one of the Four Nations. There are the daofei, the bandits and warlords I mentioned existing in Kyoshi's time. There are groups like the Shang of Yangchen's era or the Fifth Nation of Kyoshi's, who started as a mixture of different nations and coalesced into having a singular cultural identity (and a stronger governing institutions than most of the Four Nations). There are the sandbending Si Wong tribes, the Bhanti Island sages, and those bands from the Great Divide that nobody likes to acknowledge, but they do exist, unfortunately.

None of these groups, except arguably the United Republic of Nations, are treated as significant. They might be self-governing, with a distinct ethnic identity and spiritual beliefs and so on, and have a population that dwarfs the Air Nomads...but they're not one of the Four Nations, so they're not important. Most don't affect matters outside their immediate neighbors (generally just one of the Four Nations), almost none last more than a couple centuries (compared to the millennia that the Four Nations have been recognized as a thing), and just about all of them arguably fit into one of the Four Nations. The Bhanti sages are kinda independent but also kinda part of the Fire Nation, the various Earth Kingdom tribes are all earthbenders and are made to obey the stronger Earth Kings, even the Fire Nation colonies/Republic City aren't completely independent of the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom.

The Doylist explanation is, of course, that the Four Nations are defined by their elements; one nation per element, one element per nation. But they're recognized as an institution in-universe—why else would the Northern Water Tribe assume leadership over the Southern when they were at the literal opposite end of the world? (They tried this before the spirit portal reopened, mind you.) And it's hard to imagine how that could be the case if it wasn't based purely on the elements in-universe, too.

The Avatar is clearly a central pillar of in-universe culture, particularly spiritual beliefs; that makes sense, since the Avatars have always been world-shaping figures, with supernatural powers beyond what anyone else is capable of. They rotate between four groups of people, each of which has a distinct powersets that each can only be inherited by members of that group.

The Water Tribe is seen as a unitary entity not because of any material reality, or even shared institutions, but because those are the people who can be Waterbenders. The Earth Kingdom constantly falls apart because of the difficulties in governing such a large area, and comes back together because Earthbenders exist. The Fire Nation is united by fire. The Air Nomads aren't put on the same level as the Fire Nation because their nation is politically significant, but because their existence is spiritually significant.

The other tribes, the daofei and the Shang, even the Fifth Nation? They might have territory and people, they might have distinct cultures, they might have political clout while they last. But they don't have their own element, and that makes them lesser. Fragile. As long as there are waterbenders, they will be one Tribe. As long as there are earthbenders, their ruler will be the Earth King. As long as there is a single airbender, the Air Nomads will be among the Four Nations.

[goodolreliablejake]

TTRPG Storytime:

So I ran a Kyoshi Era Avatar Legends game with Jianzhu as the primary antagonist. The PCs were a band of outlaws and outcasts trying to make good in the midst of a corrupt and shortsighted rule. Jianzhu took the role of the black-and-white extremist, casting all outlaws as The Enemy and willing to go to any lengths to hunt them down.

One of the players chose to be an Earth Rumble pro wrestler.

Now, being the Hammer, it only made sense for this player to choose Jianzhu as his adversary. But what was the nature of their beef? Well, it was kind of a footloose thing: Jianzhu had made wrestling illegal. The other players loved the wrestling schtick, though, so it was only a matter of time before we had a session involving a big underground event.

The wrestlers competed for a chance to challenge the reclusive reigning champ. All the while the events mysterious masked patron watched over from the balcony. When the time came for The Hammer to face the champ, he was interrupted by the masked patron revealing himself as Jianzhu, who had organized the whole event as a sting operation to capture the champ, who was secretly Daofei. I tell you, when the match against the Champ was interrupted... Nuclear heat.

Which is all to say... This is the story of how the venerable Earth Sage Jianzhu became the Vince McMahon of the Avatar World.

[a-crack-in-the-universe]

I finished reading Shadow of Kyoshi a few days ago and now I have thoughts about Kuruk and his Team Avatar. 

Spoilers from both The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi under the cut.

First of all - his friends.

In all honesty, his friends sucked, except for the fire sage. They were horrible people except for Kelsang. I think they were kind of shit people to begin with, just that the chaotic time after Kuruk’s death made them worse than they already were.

I mean, Jianzhu was allegedly a good person before Kuruk died and he became so influential in the Earth Kingdom. But, he massacred a shit-ton of people at some point after Kuruk’s death, even if they weren’t innocent, and shows no remorse for it at all. He becomes known as the Gravedigger and is hated and feared by the daofei. He later abuses Yun, turning him into a trained killer, and does unspeakable things in order to possess and control the Avatar. The fact that Yun or Kyoshi was his old friend’s reincarnation didn’t seem to matter to him.

Hei-Ran had the highest number of “accidental” kills in the Fire Academy. And she also played a role in the abuse Yun went through, who again, they all thought was Kuruk’s reincarnation.

Kelsang is the least worst, mostly because he showed remorse for the dirty shit he did to keep peace in the Earth Kingdom, and didn’t take part in abusing Yun (he probably didn’t even know about it). He even tried to protect Kyoshi from Jianzhu and paid for it with his life. He was mostly just a terrible friend. I mean, what kind of close friend reacts to their friend’s love confession poem by making him destroy it? It’s unbelievably cruel. And even if he didn’t mean to cause a massacre through his air-bending, he still is culpable for those deaths and Tagaka was right to hate him for what he did.

Now - their friendship with Kuruk. I don’t think any of them were that close friends with him. Maybe they were true companions to the Avatar, but not true close friends to Kuruk. Hell, the fire sage looked like he was a better friend than the three of them. They stuck with him during the good times, but when he started secretly spiralling (ie. getting drunk, partying, womanizing) they apparently just assumed that he was being lazy and selfish and purposefully not doing his duty as the Avatar. 

At the very end, they view him as a disappointment of an Avatar and think negatively about him. Jianzhu thinks about his death as “the only time he was ever early for anything”. Hei-Ran complains about Kuruk’s fire sage friend ruining him. Kelsang also doesn’t share any positive memories of Kuruk, as far as I can tell--the only memory he shares is the time he yelled at Kuruk and made him destroy the love poem he wrote.  

Contrast this with how Rangi and Kyoshi’s friends thinks about Kyoshi. “You may be the Avatar, but there is only one Kyoshi”. Rangi is focused on Kyoshi becoming the best Avatar she can be, but she clearly cares about her as an individual as well. She and Kyoshi’s other friends care about her well-being, insisting that she look after herself properly. We see the same thing with Aang and his friends, and Korra and her friends. They all love and care about their Avatar as a person first and Avatar second. 

I do not see that in Kuruk’s Team Avatar. To me, it just looks like Kuruk’s friends were mainly focused on training him to be a good Avatar and didn’t know him that well as a person, at least not enough to care unconditionally about him. So when he seemingly started shirking his Avatar duties and doing what they coined “being Kuruk”, they were disappointed and treated him like a failing Avatar first instead of someone who needed help.  

I cannot imagine the Gaang or Korra’s friends treating Aang or Korra the way Kuruk’s friends treat Kuruk.

Finally, Kuruk.

Kuruk is a total sweetheart and his friends didn’t deserve him. Is he flawed? Yes. Did he make mistakes? Hell yes. But he’s also actually a very sweet guy who tried to do his best with the situation he found himself in. 

He loved his friends so much. In his flashback passages, you can clearly see just how much he loves them and it’s so heart-breaking how they end up believing the worst of him. And he chose to keep his spirit hunting secret from them, to protect them from what the dark spirits had done to him.        

They really didn’t deserve him. I do wonder if Kuruk might have been a bit blind to their worse flaws? Or maybe he just loved them anyway. 

And that’s pretty much all I have to say about this right now. I’ll probably write up more of my thoughts later, about Kuruk’s relationship with Kyoshi and Yangchen, why I think Kelsang behaved terribly during the love poem incident, and about Hei-Ran’s reaction when Kuruk is found sleeping with that maid during the severe illness he receives after killing one of the dark spirits.         

[shellomantic]

KIRIMA DESIGN !! my first out of a series where i design characters that hasnt gotten a canon design from rise of kyoshi. (shadow of kyoshi will be done later. theres a lot to unpack) i'll be doing lek after this!

Kirima's design notes / headcanons:

if daofei bad why pretty

her only indication really is the "wolf like fetures" and the earth kingodm tunic things,, there arent many official leads on how she looks like SO i implied a bunch of my own headcanons here

first of all, her hair. i love the idea of wolfcut kirima, but i just know that wolfcuts especially long ones aren't very practical in battle so i made her have wolfcut bangs + a braid.

now why does she have a braid? she has water tribe ancestry, spesifically from southern water tribe's wolf cove (where katara and sokka are from) however she's not 100% water tribe, i'd say around 25-50%

i headcanon when she was young, the water tribe side of her family would teach her things about their culture, mostly the hair and the fighting style. Her parents are probably also criminals, thats why she became a daofei, even after going off-contact from her blood relatives and joining jesa and hark, she still kept the hairstyle and accepted her heritage to be a part of herself.

The face paint is slightly inspired by Sokka's though i couldnt incorporate that too much because it doesnt work well in red

i dont know why i gave her blue eyeliner, it really gives her the menacing vibe to contrast her elegant teasing-ish personality, also she is a criminal so she has to apphear scary.

she definitely has siren eyes.

she is known to have a presice bending style. precision over power type of thing, her fighting style looks a lot more "sharp" and agile compared to the typical flowy movements of a waterbender

[kyoshi-lesbians]

I don't think I've ever seen any meta about Kyoshi's parents, I would dearly love to hear your thoughts on them given how much you love ghosts in the narrative <3

the thing about kyoshi is that her story is a romance partly because its tragedy and fully because she exists in the bildungsroman genre. the intensity of these themes are made possible through her parents absence. 

her story is centered around creating a code of ethics - and based on the rest of avatar canon, we know that she was successful in creating and sticking to a code of justice, stable enough to carve herself into living stone for some 200 years to fulfill her avatar duties fully. 

but in the beginning of her story she doesn't really have an authority figure who guides her moral development, who tells her what is right and what is wrong. 

there's kelsang, but he wasn't able to be around for most of her childhood after he took her in. we learn only in the meeting with tagaka that kyoshi does have similar morals to kelsang −  she would've conjured a fatal storm against pirates to save people, too. but she didn't know that about him until that moment. her feelings on that weren't learned by example. 

and where kelsang feels guilt for betraying his peoples' values, kyoshi didn't have a concept of justice stemming from her culture. she's always been an outsider within her fractured nation; she was considered worthless until she wasn't. kyoshi is guided first by her honed instinct for survival and intense empathy and above all humility shaped intimately by her social position in the lower class. she didn't have the opportunity for anything else.

so her code of morality starts as reactionary - her parents were daofei who abandoned her, so all daofei are heartless honorless filth. jesa and hark are haunting the story for creating the conditions that set the stage for the entire narrative. 

enter: the romance. within every plot point that shapes kyoshi's worldview of right and wrong, kyoshi's relationship with rangi is what truly centers her. arguably the greatest betrayal of her values is kidnapping and threatening Huazo and Chaejin. she left rangi behind for what she viewed  - what she was told, repeatedly - was the dirty work moral duty of the avatar. its when she went where she wouldn't let rangi follow that kyoshi almost loses herself. and it's when rangi is fighting side by side with her that she's able to stop yun from hurting more people and offering mercy by killing him - following the morals that she's chosen.  

kyoshi's worldview up until her avatarhood was based on what she needed for basic survival and resentment at jesa and hark for forcing that upon her. with their absence they exasperated the challenges every avatar must face determining the course of justice.

[fanboyzuko]

Dawn of Yangchen thoughts under cut

So for starters, REALLY enjoyed the story! There were lots of fun twists and the politics felt fresh and intriguing to the Avatar universe. I like how you can easily see the impacts of the shang system, and subsequent dismantling in the undefined future leading to the daofei in Kyoshi's era.

It was also super interesting having Yangchen, an Air Nomad, at the center of a subterfuge plot! I loved the clear struggle of her culture and people weighing against what she needs to do to have any success as an Avatar on this political stage.

That being said, it was really hard suspending my belief that Yangchen was only 17! Like, it's a young adult novel, of course our protagonist will be young... But Kavik was more of the protagonist than Yangchen. I feel like more story beats would have hit better if Yangchen was aged up even to 19/20.

I feel like I missed something, or maybe readers just weren't supposed to question what we know about Avatar training... Like Aang and Kyoshi were irregular for obvious reasons, but Kuruk and Roku spent years training with the elements before entering the world stage. Was Yangchen a bending prodigy and did a speed run through her elemental training ridiculously young since she knew she was the Avatar? But like, look at Korra who knew she was the Avatar at an early age and had been training through the elements still hadn't mastered all of them by 17...

And then not only had Yangchen mastered the elements, but she'd been active as the Avatar for an undefined amount of time by the start of the narrative. Not only had she been active, but she managed to construct a fairly reliable spy ring! I know she had access to past Avatar lives, but knowledge and applying that knowledge are two different things. It would have taken time to get to the point she was at the beginning of the novel.

Either Yangchen was aged up some, or she was still a little inexperienced with her spy craft. She wasn't perfect in the story, but I feel like her confidence and resources lined up more with someone who had been working with her people for several years, particularly with the introduction of Akuudan and Tayagum.

Honestly it's just a nitpick that bugged me while reading but really feel like so much would hit more if Yangchen was just a little older to give her more practical experience, and to give more weight to her jaded view of people in positions of power. At 19/20 she still would be been viewed as young and inexperienced by the shangs and other leaders, but also would have had even more fuel to her frustration and anger...

Alas. Speaking of anger I LOVED Yangchen's temper and struggles with communicating with past lives. So well done and super compelling.

Wish there was more of Yangchen, but Kavik was a fun character and I really enjoyed his narrative.

Anyways 8/10 a fun read, give it a go if you haven't :3

[mah-o-daryaa]

The Cycle Repeats: Part II

One of the key themes of the ATLA franchise is the concept of the Avatar; master of all 4 elements, the fusion of humanity and Raava, the spirit of light and order, whose sole duty is to bring balance to the world, and be the bridge between both the physical and spiritual realms. Along with this comes the idea of reincarnation, which is the premise of the Avatar Cycle, the idea that the Avatar reincarnates in a cyclic order in any of the four nations (fire, air, water, earth). Another concept related to the Avatar Cycle (although originating from the fandom) is the idea of the Avatar fixing the mistakes of their past life, which is often indicated in differences in both habitual circumstances and personalities between both predecessor and successor, and therefore differences in morality.

But what if I were to tell you that the saying "history repeats itself" is also true among Avatar incarnations? Not exactly going the same way, but rather parallels between the lives, personalities, and accomplishments (and failures) of past lives?

In this series of metas, I will be going over parallels (or in some cases, foils) between certain pairs of Avatars that lived decades, or even centuries apart, and yet could not have ever been more similar.

Elemental Foils: Avatars Aang and Kyoshi

"Aang was an Air Nomad born in 12 BG and the Avatar during the Hundred Year War, succeeding Avatar Roku and preceding Avatar Korra. As the Avatar of his time, he was the only person capable of using all four bending arts: airbending, waterbending, earthbending, and firebending. He was also one of a select few Avatars and one of the first in many cycles to learn the ancient art of energybending as well as the first Avatar known to have actively used the technique."

"Kyoshi was the Earth Kingdom-born Avatar immediately succeeding Avatar Kuruk of the Northern Water Tribe, and preceding Avatar Roku of the Fire Nation. She died at the age of 230, making her the oldest confirmed human, and was also an exceptionally tall woman, towering over most people. Kyoshi was born to two criminals: Jesa, a renegade Air Nomad nun, and Hark, a thief from an impoverished family of Earth Kingdom actors. She inherited her later signature outfit from her parents, adopting her mother's golden headdress and metal war fans and her father's daofei face paint."

Similarly to the previous post, I listed the first paragraphs of both Aang and Kyoshi's respective Wiki pages, and you can clearly see foils between them both and balk at the idea of any connection between them whatsoever (aside from Raava, ofc). However, Kyoshi is actually very similar to Aang in terms of their heritage and relationships with other people, second only to her predecessor Kuruk overall in terms of similarities with Aang.

I will first list the differences between the two. Aang is an Air Nomad; Kyoshi is an Earth Kingdom citizen (what is the citizen name for the EK?). Aang's native element is air; Kyoshi's is earth, its natural opposite. Kyoshi believed in absolute justice (which, yes, included murder, although she never killed someone out of boredom--she only killed when necessary); Aang was taught that all life is sacred (which conflicted with his duty to kill Ozai).

Underneath these skin-deep contrasts, however, lie striking similarities between our protagonist and his daofei past life.

(WARNING: There will be possible spoilers for both The Rise of Kyoshi and possibly The Shadow of Kyoshi. If you do not wish to be spoiled, I suggest not reading any further and scrolling past this post until you have finished reading both novels. You have been warned.)

The first point I will make is their heritage. In The Rise of Kyoshi, it is revealed that Kyoshi's mother, Jesa, was a rogue Air Nomad, and a nun at that. Meaning both Aang and Kyoshi have Air Nomad heritage (although Kyoshi's native element was earth, not air, which I will get into later). Both Kyoshi and Aang grew up travelling, without staying in one place for a long time. In Kyoshi's case, her nomadic lifestyle prevented her from being discovered as the Avatar early on. However, like I mentioned earlier, they have opposite native elements; Aang's is air, Kyoshi's is earth.

And yet, they have similar capabilities in both elements. Kyoshi is the only known Avatar to struggle with her native element, and seems to favor airbending in combat (which could be linked to her heritage as a part of both cultures). Likewise, Aang is stated to be an airbending master at just 12, while earthbending was the element he most struggled with (as Aang struggled with learning to face his problems head-on, instead of running away from them). Ironically, although according to the fandom, Kyoshi would despise Aang for running away from his Avatar duties, Kyoshi has also run away from her duties when it became clear that she was Kuruk's successor, not Yun.

The second thing is their relationships with other people. Yes, Kyoshi befriended a group of daofei (The Flying Opera Company) and an immortal assassin who taught her the secret to immortality (Lao Ge/Tieguai), but she has a similar dynamic with the Flying Opera Company that Aang would have with the GAang centuries later: A motley crew of runaway misfits who work together and understand each other as family, and see you as your own person instead of the Avatar. It certainly beats having unsupportive "friends" who consider you the Avatar first, disregarding your own identity (looking at you, Team Kuruk--except Nyahitha, he's approved in my book). Speaking of which, both Kyoshi and Aang's father figures (Kelsang and Gyatso) were Air Nomad monks from the Southern Air Temple (like Aang), who influenced their young proteges' bending affinity. Both Kelsang and Gyatso were also companions to Kyoshi and Aang's predecessors (Kuruk and Roku respectively, completing one Avatar Cycle of each element). Kelsang was killed by Jianzhu (another former companion of Kuruk) and Gyatso took down at least 50 FN soldiers during the Air Nomad Genocide (orchestrated by Firelord Sozin, Avatar Roku's childhood friend) before laying his own life (there's a popular theory that Gyatso used suffocation to suck the air out of the room suicide-style).

Kyoshi and Aang have also hid themselves behind masks. Kyoshi donned her mother's headdress and fans, as well as her father's daofei makeup (to hide her facial expressions and to appear more intimidating to her enemies) as a part of her iconic appearance. Aang, on the other hand, went through two brief masks during the entire series: His stint as the elderly Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis III in The King of Omashu (Book 1: Episode 4) and his stint as Kuzon in The Headband (Book 3: Episode 2).

Another thing they have in common is the fact that they were both struck by lightning (Kyoshi by Xu Ping An; Aang by Azula), which mortally wounded them (Kyoshi has lightning scars all over her hands; Aang has a scar on his back where the lightning entered his body, and an "exit" scar on his foot where it left his body). Ironically, in Kyoshi's case, the lightning helped her enter the Avatar State, while for Aang, it locked his chakras, preventing him from being able to access the Avatar State.

Also, both Kyoshi and Aang's love interests are from the same nation as their successors (Rangi is from the Fire Nation, Katara is from the Southern Water Tribe). Kyoshi, however, had a brief crush on False Avatar Yun, and I prefer to ship Aang with Toph, both being earthbenders. (I also have two separate theories that both Yun and Katara are descendants of Avatar Kuruk, but that's for another time.)

The final similarity between Kyoshi and Aang is their age--more specifically, their age at death. Both Kyoshi and Aang lived to be extremely old, with minimal physical ageing (Kyoshi learned to stop herself from ageing and lived to be 230, while Aang was trapped in the iceberg for 100 years). However, Aang died at a relatively young physical age at 66 due to the heavy toll on his body after freezing himself in the Avatar state for a century (still higher than Kuruk, tho), while his chronological age was a still mighty 165 at death. Roku, by contrast, lived to a relatively normal 70 years old.

In conclusion, despite their differences in morality and overall journey in becoming fully realized, Kyoshi and Aang connect in their shared heritage as Air Nomads, as well as their ability to disguise in unexpected places. This is proof that history doesn't always repeat, but it often rhymes. In the next part, I will explore how their predecessors, Kuruk and Roku, act as foils to each other.

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