Chapter Text
Rangi didn’t stay in the old shack for long. Even though she felt sluggish and had a dull throb on the side of her head, there was a restless energy that made her want to be on the move. Also, staying put was not the smartest tactical decision she could make.
As she had predicted, they had placed her about twenty minutes from the village. Not nearly enough time to ponder about what had just transpired. Should she help San and her group? Rangi was a disgraced former Fire Army officer, there wasn’t a lot she could offer them in terms of resources or respectability. And to add insult to injury, she was severely out of shape. Rangi hadn’t trained properly since that fateful night in the mansion; sure, she kept up with her katas every now and then, but she hadn’t seriously worked the way she used to. Instead, she had been wasting her clan’s honor by becoming a peasant.
It wasn’t only that the work was not worthy of her station (though it weighed heavily on her conscience), but that it had changed her. Rangi felt her body more solid, more resilient, but not as agile as she once was. She hadn’t been able to dodge a poorly thrown punch, for Yangchen's sake!
How was she useful to anyone?
Her thoughts were allowed to fester for way too long before reaching the outer limits of the village. Everyone seemed to have gone to bed long ago. Layi and her son must have probably gone home already, and her husband was nowhere in sight. Slowly, she made her way to the farm she had been working on. Rangi was so immersed in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice the giant shadow that almost knocked her down.
Rangi had a brief moment of panic before recognizing she was being hugged. Those big, strong arms wrapped around her, keeping her grounded. The clean smell of the woman she loved. Rangi felt safe, she felt comforted like she hadn’t in a long time.
Rangi cried in Kyoshi’s chest and it felt good.
That wasn’t what a Fire Army Captain would do. Hell, it wasn’t what a Fire Nation noble woman would do. Back home, discipline was what was valued above everything else, no space for shameful emotional outbursts. At most, anger was tolerated because it could be used, directed towards a cause (or sometimes an innocent Royal Palace table), but never tears. Tears were a sign of weakness that the Officers could not allow themselves.
But how could it be a weakness when she felt so protected while breaking down. Maybe she wasn’t a Fire Army Captain anymore. And maybe that was alright.
It took Rangi a few moments to calm down and notice that Kyoshi had also been crying while trying to discreetly assess for any injuries. Realizing that Kyoshi had been probably going crazy with worry, she whispered: “I’m OK, nothing happened to me, I was just a bit overwhelmed.”
Kyoshi looked skeptical and didn’t stop her hands from checking for hidden wounds on her scalp. “Are you sure?”
Rangi gave her a watery chuckle and playfully swatted her hands away, “Yeah, I’m sure, you big Oaf.”
“Thank the Spirits”, Kyoshi finally relaxed and placed a lingering kiss on the top of Rangi’s head. She had missed those dearly.
Only once they separated did Rangi notice that they had an audience. Kirima, Wong, Jinpa and Sheza were looking haggard but relieved that she was unharmed. Sheza also seemed slightly awkward at the very blatant display of head touching they were presenting. Rangi internally chuckled at that. She still has so much to get used to. Rangi herself had gone through quite a bit of cultural shock early on thanks to both her best friends being raised as Earth Kingdom peasants and later on when she became a sworn sister of the Flying Opera Company. It was only in hindsight that she could see how much she had grown.
Rangi smiled at her family and let herself be led towards a small, but surprisingly well stocked campfire. After Rangi assured everyone that her disappearance was merely some misunderstanding, everyone was eager to hear about her stories, and even if at the beginning Rangi thought she didn’t have anything worth telling, that was very quickly proven wrong. Rangi told them about the times she had slipped and fallen on her butt while harvesting rice, the time she had eaten vegetables past their due date and had to run towards the the nearest latrine and how she had started to collect Yingyong’s errand chunks of hair to fashion herself a new pillow. All those moments, at the time, had made Rangi feel inadequate, like she should have been able to prevent them, after all, preparedness carries the day, right?
However, when the whole campfire erupted in laughter, Rangi only felt warm. Her family lightly teased her, but never judged her. They were genuinely interested in her wellbeing but not afraid to keep her pride in check. And maybe, if the right people are next to you, not reaching some of your standards is also alright.
“Wait a second” Kyoshi said, suddenly stopping midlaugh. “You knew we were tailing you all along?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Sheza moving her arms indignantly, while Rangi smiled in a playfully condescending way and patted her girlfriend’s shoulder like a child “Love, no offense, but even Li and Oren were able to spot you”.
Kyoshi pouted while a new round of laughter started back again, and to add insult to injury, Kirima said “To be fair, we weren’t really trying that hard”.
“What do you mean?” Kyoshi asked, bewildered.
“We figured, we’d give Rangi a chance of losing us in case she wanted” Kirima winked at Sheza conspiratorially. “Do you really think you can pull off jobs on a flying bison without being able to keep stealthy?”.
“You played the Avatar! That’s gotta be like some spiritual crime!”
“Nah, that doesn’t apply when she’s being an ass,” Wong replied, taking a big swing at his plum wine.
“I need to find new companions” Kyoshi whined while another round of laughter died down, then she got quiet for a few moments and took Rangi’s hand and lightly squeezed it. Rangi swallowed the sudden lump in her throat and placed a butterfly kiss on Kyoshi’s knuckles. Everyone else took that as a sign to get some rest, and after some hugs and telling Rangi they were happy she was alive, they left the campfire, giving them as much privacy as the site would allow.
The girlfriends stayed by the comfort of the fire, momentarily just basking in each others presence, until Kyoshi broke the silence, not looking at her eyes, focused on playing with Rangi’s fingers “I am very sorry Rangi, I should have trusted you” There was some trembling in her voice but her sincerity shone through “I can see that you’re so much better now than when you left and I’m sorry that I endangered that”.
“I’m glad you came to your senses you big oaf” Rangi chuckled, gently lifting Kyoshi’s face to look into her eyes “But I understand why you did, I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same… I think I even did the same after you found out you were the Avatar”. Rangi placed a gentle kiss on Kyoshi’s lips before continuing. “And I can’t say that I didn’t feel safe knowing that you were out there” Rangi leaned her body on Kyoshi and looked at the fire longingly “I felt so powerless and weak that having you as a safety net really gave me the confidence I needed to continue”.
“You’re not weak, you’re smart and capable and have come so far after losing so much” Kyoshi hugged her harder “I didn’t do that nor did the Fire Army, that’s all on you”.
“Thank you, Kyoshi.”
“Sometimes I have more than just rocks for brains.”
The comfortable silence continued for a few more minutes. Rangi was already starting to drift off to sleep when she heard a small whisper coming from Kyoshi “What’s going to happen tomorrow?”
Rangi’s heart squeezed painfully, but she did what she knew she had to “I still have some work to do here, but I promise you, it won’t take me long, we’ll go back to our life together soon”.
“I understand” Kyoshi sounded so vulnerable that Rangi almost dropped everything to go back to Yokoya with her, however, the underlying pride in her voice stopped her “and I won’t force my presence anymore. If Kirima is my voice of reason, Spirits know that I need some self reflection". She grew quiet, but Rangi could tell that there was something else in her mind, so waited patiently “... Just, don’t leave in the morning without saying goodbye”.
Tears welled in Rangi’s eyes, “I am so sorry I did that, it will never happen again”.
And with that, they went to sleep cuddled up, keeping warm with each other, as the embers faded.
*******
Rangi walked towards the Yangchen Bust at what could generously be called the center of the town. It was already mid-morning; her plan was originally to leave her message to San at the crack of dawn, but the comfort of their bedroll and the tearful goodbyes with her family had taken more time than she had expected. Rangi didn’t regret it though, being a little late wasn’t the end of the world.
Rangi left a note with directions on how to reach a far corner of the surrounding woods that she had scouted as a good battlefield the first week after her arrival at the town; she certainly didn’t want Oren and Li to be in any danger thanks to her proximity. After that, she left towards the elderly couple who had been so kind to give her food and shelter to let them know she would be leaving to continue her journey. The harvest had already ended and Rangi was mostly a burden during the Summer months to them. Besides, regardless of how the meeting with San went, it would probably be safer for them to be far away from Rangi. She sneakily left them the few gold pieces that Kyoshi had given her before they parted.
And with that, Rangi climbed up a tall tree and waited for San from her vantage point.
It was already past noon when Rangi spotted a scout searching the area an hour before their meeting was supposed to happen. Rangi was impressed they had thought about sending a scout, but only an hour was too little time to counteract any possible traps she could have prepared. The scout also had terrible stealth, that could have fooled an untrained farmer, but never a soldier. She did a decent job of checking the ground, but completely missed Rangi perched on the tree. They would have so much work to do.
When the time came, San was accompanied by two other women flanking her, all three looking rather anxious about the meeting. San tried to maintain her cool but when she couldn’t see Rangi immediately, she started to pace around.
Rangi finally took pity on them and let herself land right in front of San, “Glad you could come”.
All three of them got startled and the woman farthest on the right stumbled down, “Did you have to be so dramatic?”
Rangi smiled, in another time it would have been defiant, now it was just fond. “San mentioned you needed training, I wanted to see what you’re working with”.
“Don’t look down on us, we’ve come far”, San said furiously, after she regained her composure.
“Believe me, I don’t doubt that, you seem very well organized”, Rangi conceded, trying for a more conciliatory tone, “however, you still got a lot to learn, I could have killed your scout in seconds, and I almost did the same to San when I woke up in that cabin”.
“What?! You never told us that!” The woman on the right angrily slapped San’s arm.
San went completely red and dismissed her worry, “It wasn’t that serious, Bo.”
“Look, I’m not here to shame anyone”, Rangi cut them off, “I know how hard the lives of peasants and servants can be.” There was a pang in her chest when she remembered Kyoshi and Yun, and how their lives had been before the Avatar, “I can help you, but I need to know what you need”.
The three women looked at each other and then Rangi, trying to assess whether she was worthy of trust. Reluctantly, they gave Sun permission to talk, “We don’t have much, just a field where we try and teach each other how to hit back, and a few shacks like the one you saw where we place women who need to disappear”.
“How do you get resources to keep everything running?”
“We have some people who know about what we do and give us what they can spare.” Sun seemed burdened by her responsibilities. “But mostly, we just make due with what we can forage and… sometimes steal”.
She seemed so hesitant to admit to stealing, but she had no way of knowing who Rangi’s sword brothers and sisters were. “I can help you, I can train you for now and, in the future we can talk about how else I could help you.” She still had to be careful with who she trusted when it came to Kyoshi.
“How do we know you won’t sell us off?” asked Bo, still not too keen on Rangi after her encounter with San.
“I will not sell you off, I swear it on my-” Rangi hesitated before saying honor, she didn’t feel honorable in the way she had been brought up to be, she had run away, left her duties and disgraced her family. But she had also owned up to her mistakes, worked on herself and was going to help make these women’s lives better, maybe that was honorable enough. “I swear it on my honor”.
“Are you Fire Nation or something being all honor and shit?” Bo asked, slightly sneering.
“I used to be someone different and traveled quite a bit around the four nations, but honor is what remains. I can’t offer you anything else, only that I have been running away from others, but you’ve given me a chance to make a small change again.” Rangi hadn’t intended to get so earnest, but she just realized that this meant more to her than they probably knew.
San stopped Bo from speaking again, with a motion of her hand, “we’re all running away from something, I am not going to ask.” She was silent for a few seconds before continuing, “I am going to take a chance with you, I sincerely hope I’m not mistaken.”
“I will do my best to not let you down.” After all, that was all Rangi could offer.
So Rangi moved into one of the shacks San had mentioned and started her own version of the Fire Academy for Girls. Only with less Agni Kais, less noble scheming and more laughter between training sessions. Rangi felt a lot of unexpected joy at helping make the world a better place, not from the big digantaries standpoint, but with the people she didn’t use to spare a thought on until the universe had humbled her. Even after having fallen in love with Kyoshi, it was very easy to forget her past with all her Avatar duties.
There was only one drawback.
“You two, stop snickering and give me twenty push ups, what we do when no one is watching determines who we are!” Rangi shouted during their drills and froze immediately after.
She had turned into her mother back when she was the Headmistress.
The first time that realization had hit, Rangi picked up the well worn ink pot the women had given her and wrote Kyoshi a long letter complaining about how she was only a few gray hairs away from becoming Hei-Ran. It wasn’t the first letter she had sent Kyoshi or the other members of her family since they reunited all those weeks ago, but it was the first time the answer took longer than a day. Poor Kyoshi had not known how to answer and had only settled on sending Rangi some flowers from the mansion. Kirima had later informed her in another letter that Kyoshi was having trouble looking Hei-Ran in the face.
The group Rangi was teaching had 28 members, all women and those who didn’t fit neatly into other categories; not all of them lived in the shacks, some of them were the head of their household or trying to make it on their own. They had been working for a few months already and the results were admirable. At the beginning, Rangi had no hope of them becoming an elite force, but with the constant training, she was sure they could have gone toe to toe with the Fire Nation Cadets.
San, Bo and the others had taken some time to warm up to Rangi, but eventually they had started to trust her with tactical decisions, budgeting and general managing tasks. Rangi had wanted them to start armed fighting, but they were having trouble getting weapons for everyone.
“Chen Yi should be coming around in a few days, maybe we could ask him if he can spare some things for us?” San suggested, overwhelmed by the amount of women interested in joining Rangi’s boot camp.
Rangi stopped what she was going to say, distracted by the name Chen Yi. She had been hearing about him for some time but didn’t know exactly who he was.
“I doubt it, he’s so fucking stingy”, Bo added crassly, “Remember that time he had came to town with a whole bag of fire flakes and didn’t give any to anyone?”
San just lightly smacked the back of Bo’s head.
“Who is this Cheng Yi?” Rangi asked.
“He’s a weird guy that travels around, and helps here whenever he can”, San hesitated and then confided, “He’s the one who gave us the Shirshu venom.”
Rangi’s mouth twisted. “I’d like to meet him then.” She didn’t think it was a good idea for just any guy giving free Shirshu venom to just anyone.
“Don’t do anything to him, alright? He’s the only person currently helping us out.”
Rangi looked the other way with slight shame. She had been carefully trying to figure out how to tell her new companions that she knew a lot of very influential people who could help them with the resources they desperately needed, it just never seemed like the right time. Maybe once she had a talk with this guy (or more than a talk if necessary), she could breach the idea of maybe being under the Avatar’s protection.
So, one cold winter night San, Rangi, Bo and Rangi’s top two students went to meet the mysterious man helping them. Rangi was certainly not prepared to see him. Cheng Yi was dressed in very light clothes for the freezing weather, shirtless, with light red pants and a yellow sash draping from the middle of his waist. He had two red lines painted on either side of his nose. But the most striking feature, that stopped her heart for a second, was the topknot on a shaved head. Rangi had read about them during school, but as far as she knew, the Sun Warriors were hermits, rarely seen outside their island. What is he doing here?
Cheng Yi was jovial and friendly, gave Bo a small bag of fire flakes and talked to San about what they could possibly do about the weapons. All the while, he sent quick glances at Rangi out of the corner of his eye.
“Well, I’m very glad you’ve found such a great master”, Cheng Yi commented, finally looking at Rangi square in the face.
“It’s the students who have done most of the work.”
“I’d still say that you’re doing the spirits’ work.”
“That’s the Avatar’s territory, not mine.”
“Indeed”, Cheng Yi agreed with a knowing smile. “Ladies, could you let me talk to Master Rangi over here about what kinds of weapons she thinks would be best to teach her students?”
San looked worriedly at Rangi, but she gave her a reassuring smile; San shouldn't worry about her, after all, she had seen Rangi fight before. With a last flick of her worried eyes, the others left them. Rangi waited a few minutes until she shouted. “NO PEEKING, BO!” A yelp was heard and then some quick steps walking away.
“Please sit.” Cheng Yi crossed his legs and sat down on the grass. “I was certainly not expecting to find you here, Captain Rangi of the Sei’naka clan.”
“How do you know about me?” Rangi sat down too, but left her legs tucked underneath her, ready to spring at any moment.
“Despite popular belief we keep up with the events of the world.” He chuckled at her distrust. “Despite the secrecy, we knew that the famed Avatar companion had suddenly lost her Fire Bending and was not currently traveling with her to diplomatic missions.” Rangi expected the familiar shame, but was surprised at finding none of that, she had stepped away because she needed it. “It wasn’t too hard to put two and two together when I see a Fire National who just won’t Fire Bend, teaching military strategy in the middle of nowhere to a group of peasants”.
“Don’t refer to them like that, they’re much more than just peasants.”
“I mean that with the utmost respect, peasants are the ones who have treated me with more warmth than fire nobles ever did.”
“I am sorry about that, your culture should be cherished,” Rangi said, remembering the high born whispers about savages.
“Don’t be, I don’t really care about nobles, but you are an interesting case”, Cheng Yi said looking at Rangi curiously, like she was a puzzle. “Why are you here and not by your beloved?”
“When I lost my Fire Bending I couldn’t face Kyoshi, so I went where I could be of service to others.” Rangi gave him the very abridged version of events, after all he seemed to know just as much.
“But child, you’ve always been able to Fire Bend.”
Rangi was so taken aback by his confidence that she needed some time to properly process. “No, I can’t, I couldn’t, I was hit in the head and just couldn’t Fire Bend anymore.”
“Child, tell me, if bending comes from your spirit, why would a physical wound take it away from you?” Cheng Yi waited but Rangi had no answer. “I can feel your spirit, it’s burdened but honestly not by much at the moment, I expected it to be so much worse.”
“I’ve been working on myself”, Rangi said, dumbfounded.
“You’ve done a much better job at it than I would expect from a Fire National.” Cheng Yi smiled genuinely. “You people have always had the weirdest ideas about Fire Bending, powered by anger and honor”, he shook his head in disgust, “My guess is that once you fell, your already burdened spirit couldn’t take this last instance of failure and blocked you from ever being able to even try again.”
“But that makes no sense, I still felt like a failure afterwards”, Rangi couldn’t just accept that the explanation was so easy, maybe all her suffering could have been avoided. Or maybe this would have still happened regardless.
“As much as Fire Nationals like to ignore it, we’re not always rational.” He looked at her with a lot more sympathy than before, sensing her hurt, “I am sorry you had to go through it, but, by the looks of it, it seems that you’ve found a new place in the world.”
“I miss my family so much though”, Rangi admitted her secret. She felt vulnerable and small.
“You don’t have to keep those two parts of yourself separate, Child”, Cheng Yi said softly, “You can continue helping these people and keep your Avatar safe, you’re more than your station but it is also alright to have comfort in your life.”
Tears were streaming down Rangi’s face, silent and liberating. “Thank you.”
Cheng Yi smiled at her. “Tell you what, if you ever feel like your spirit could handle it, and you’d like your Fire Bending back, pay me a visit on the Island, I’m sure my masters could help you out.”
Rangi didn’t know what to say, nor what that meant for her. This was what she had been so desperately looking for just a few months before but now, it felt… detached. “I have to think about that”
“That was the right answer”, he stood up, “Let’s call the girls back!”
Rangi stood up in autopilot and didn’t even register when they rejoined the group. Bo immediately side-hugged her and glared at Cheng Yi, “What did you do to her?”
“Nothing, we just had a conversation about the place we both come from”, he said cheerfully.
“Is she like this over the Shirshu thing?” San asked, confused.
“Shirshu?” It was Cheng Yi’s time to be confused.
“Oh, right”, Rangi snapped out of her thoughts, “The Shirshu venom is incredibly dangerous in untrained hands, I had a very dear brother die because of it, you shouldn’t be giving it away to just anyone.”
“I’m sorry about your brother, I assure you I don’t just give it to anyone.” He was serious and Rangi could feel his sincerity, “in fact, I only gave it to San as a last resort, but with you training them, I don’t think they’ll be needing it again.”
“But-”, Bo wanted to reply but Rangi silenced her with a glance.
“And about the weapons…”, San inquired hesitantly.
“Oh! Yes, I have no means of getting you any weapons”, Cheng Yi said, animatedly, only to turn and wink at Rangi, “but after talking with Rangi, we realized that she actually has the means of getting funding if you’d be willing to work with the Avatar.”
“YOU KNOW THE AVATAR?” Everything then turned into chaos, there were questions and shouts and fainting (Bo was very dramatic), that Cheng Yi slipped into the night undiscovered. Rangi wanted to strangle him, but was also very grateful for their conversation. As it stood, she just made a crude hand gesture towards the place he had left. Rangi was sure she could hear laughter in the distance.
They discussed all night about who Rangi used to be, her former position as Fire Army Captain, companion of the Avatar, Kyoshi’s girlfriend and what brought her to town originally. They decided to send Kyoshi a messenger hawk to see if she could help them and what that would entail.
Kyoshi’s answer was quick, she was able to give them as much money as they needed and even shyly suggested they could train at the mansion in Yokoya with the implements they already had at their disposal. She would personally seek to relocate, find houses and jobs to the people who needed it. She also mentioned that everyone at the Mansion had offered to help out with the lessons.
A surprising amount of her students were willing to make the trip with her, because they had nothing else to lose. Rangi was glad to see that Layi and her son were joining them too. The excitement felt palpable with all the preparations in place.
“This is so cool!”, Bo said aloud the night before they left town, “And to think that when I first saw you I thought you had murdered someone, and that’s why you were hiding.”
“Well… it’s not like I haven’t taken lives before.”
“What? That's even cooler! Was it when you were an Avatar warrior?” And before Rangi could correct her, Bo opened her eyes like she was having an epiphany “Are we going to be the Avatar’s warriors?”
“No, there is no such a thing as the Avatar’s warriors”, Rangi corrected her before she could go any further, “Besides, she’s much more than just the Avatar, she’s Kyoshi.”
Rangi couldn’t keep the warmth and love from seeping into her voice, at which, San arched an eyebrow - she was going to ask, but Bo interrupted her. “Then, we’ll be the Kyoshi warriors.”
Rangi would pinch the bridge of her nose so many times whenever she heard that name, that it was permanently red during the whole trip.
The large move to Yokoya was a logistical nightmare, moving around forty people, including elderly and children was not a fun experience. Thankfully, they had enough food and bedrolls for everyone, and Rangi’s students were advanced enough to defend the group against any thieves trying to take advantage of them.
It was dusk when they finally reached the Avatar’s Mansion in Yokoya. If San and the others had any doubts about the nature of Rangi and Kyoshi’s relationship, those were dispelled when Kyoshi picked her up and soundly kissed on the lips. Rangi, under normal circumstances, would have been embarrassed and annoyed at the blatant display of affection, but she had missed her so much that she didn’t care. There were plenty of relationships like hers within her students, after all.
Before Kyoshi put her down, Rangi could hear a wolf whistle, which was promptly silenced by a slap on the back of someone's head. After that, Kyoshi seemed to remember they were in a public place and put her girlfriend down. Rangi then saw her mother, and was about to bow but was cut off by arms wrapping around her.
“I’m so proud of you”, Hei-Ran whispered in her ear. Rangi had told her everything in her letters, but she never thought her mother would react in quite a strong way.
Then came Jinpa, Kirima and Wong, the latter of which was openly crying at having her sister back. Rangi could hear a mortified San almost shaking, “Oh shit, we kidnapped her from the Avatar’s companions!”
At that, Rangi turned back and brought San forward. “It’s alright, you thought you were doing the right thing. This is San, the leader of the group.”
“I am so sorry, Avatar and companions, I made a horrible mistake by confusing you with daofei”, San bowed in submission.
The Flying Opera Company looked at each other and then burst out laughing. “First impressions are usually right,” Kirima said, winking at San, who blushed but also seemed terribly confused.
Rangi then turned to Sheza and internally chucked when she saluted in her full ceremonial Fire Army regalia. “At ease Lieutenant.” Maybe she wasn’t officially a Captain anymore, but she was learning to embrace it.
“Welcome back, Captain”, Sheza said with a smile.
“Status report?”
“The weak points of the Mansion have been fixed, we reinforced the lower service tunnels, have extended the training grounds and the Avatar hasn’t eaten anything today, according to her, because she was too excited to eat”, Sheza continued keeping a straight face.
“Tattletail”, Kyoshi glared at Sheza, who ever so slightly smirked.
“Thank you, Sheza”, Rangi said, patting her on the back. She would have gone for a hug like with the others, but the simple gesture had already made her almost combust, so Rangi thought it best to ease her into it. She would get used to the Earth Kingdom ways eventually, after all, so had Rangi.
And with that, the group set up camp in their designated area, children and the elderly were allowed to stay in the Mansion. The next morning they would sort everything out, direct them to their new accomodations and give out tasks. Until then, Rangi retired to her shared room with Kyoshi and basked in the warmth they had both missed so dearly. Rangi had grown on her trip, she had changed but so had Kyoshi, and they hoped to be able to continue growing together.
*******
Rangi wiped the sweat off her brow, it was a grueling summer day and the warriors were desperate for a break from their training. Rangi had refused to let them off early, but reminded them to take usual breaks for hydration. Once their last katá was done, she let them off and walked up to where Kyoshi and Sheza were both looking at her with a similar dreamy expression.
She called them both to attention with the snap of her fingers. Sheza scurried off to teach her sword lesson while Kyoshi only smiled sheepishly. She approached her girlfriend and kissed her on the top of her head, fumbling slightly with her topknot. Rangi had reached the conclusion that her topknot had a different meaning to her now, no longer a status symbol of honor, but rather a part of herself, of her connection to the Fire Nation, the good and the bad, to her mother and her island.
“Do you have anything to do this afternoon?” Rangi asked, hoping to get some alone time with her, maybe swimming a little in the nearby creek.
“I was supposed to go and check on a few daofei raids in the next village over, but Jinpa and the Kyoshi warriors are going to take care of it.” Kyoshi said, wiggling her eyebrows. The warriors who chose to, were advanced enough to go on solo missions now, while the others were free to leave and travel throughout the four nations, knowing they would always have a home at the Avatar’s Mansion.
“Why did that name stick?” Rangi cursed Bo, not for the first time. Kirima had almost burst a lung laughing at Kyoshi when she had first heard the name.
“If it had been up to me, they would have been the Rangi warriors.”
“That’s the only worse option.” But then again, maybe that's how history would remember her Avatar, empowering those who don’t have enough. Who knew what the future held for them, maybe she would get her Fire Bending back, maybe this was enough for her. All she knew at the moment was that she was content with herself and her family, and would enjoy the nice summer day with the love of her life.