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Rangi is strong.
It’s one of the things about her that had first drawn Kyoshi’s attention, actually. Yun was always all charming smiles and pretty words, and while he certainly wasn’t lacking in physical strength, he never oozed authority the way Rangi does. Rangi’s presence commands respect—in the way she stands, in the way she speaks, in the way she carries herself in everything she does, confident and sure.
This is the girl that got up and fought for her honor, the girl whose ideal solution to bullying was to locate and beat the snot out of their leader, the girl who would trample over anything and anyone who ever got in her way. Rangi is an unstoppable force, a volcano ready to erupt, passionate and fiery and fierce. As Kyoshi blinks open her eyes and looks down at the girl wrapped up in her arms, she’s distinctly aware of how lucky she is that—out of all people, she had been the one Rangi chose. Avatar or not, Rangi is hopelessly, miserably out of Kyoshi’s league, and Kyoshi knows it.
Some days it still doesn’t feel real. The servant girl who ended up the Avatar and the Avatar’s bodyguard who ended up as her lover—it almost sounds like something out of a play, or one of those old wives’ tales Auntie Mui and the others used to tell around the kitchen, a romance both unlikely and charming.
Kyoshi is not scared of many things anymore. She has faced down lightning, she has faced down spirits and armies and friends and still came out alive. The one fear she can never quite overcome, she finds, is the fear that one day she’ll wake up in the morning without a human furnace by her side.
“You’re thinking too much. Go back to sleep, Kyoshi.”
Rangi’s voice drags Kyoshi’s eyes downward, and bronze eyes stare into her soul, wide awake.
“Sorry,” Kyoshi says. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t wake me,” Rangi assures her, but Kyoshi knows that’s a lie. Rangi is a light sleeper. The slightest twitch or the faintest sound is more than enough to wake her. Military training, Kyoshi knows. Perhaps she had let her hands unconsciously wander, or maybe she had taken a little too deep a breath—
“You’re doing it again.” Rangi’s hand makes its way out from under the tangle of limbs and wanders to Kyoshi’s face, fingers lightly trailing their way along her cheekbone. “What’s got you so worked up?”
You, would be the truthful answer. Kyoshi chooses not to answer truthfully.
“Nothing.”
Unfortunately, subtlety has never been one of Kyoshi’s strong points, and Rangi can read her like a Pai Sho board—easily and several steps ahead.
“Then go back to sleep. We have lots of ground to cover tomorrow. You’ll need your rest.”
“I could say the same to you,” Kyoshi counters. “Being the Avatar’s bodyguard is a tiring job. You’ll need your energy.”
“Trust me, I’m aware.” Rangi chuckles and her breath is like sunlight on Kyoshi’s skin, warm, familiar, calming. “The Avatar is quite a handful, you know. Always getting herself into trouble.”
“Oh, is she?” Kyoshi raises her eyebrows. “And who told you this?”
“I have my sources.” Rangi’s hands move to run along Kyoshi’s shoulders and a teasing smile makes its way upon her lips. “Some people even say she has a bad habit of overthinking things and keeping herself awake.”
“And what else do they say?” Kyoshi melts into Rangi’s touch like clay, letting calloused hands gently squeeze the tension out of her muscles. “Do these people ever mention anything about the Avatar’s bodyguard? I’ve heard she has a bad habit of working herself too hard and getting into fights.”
“That’s something the Avatar and her bodyguard must share, then.” Rangi pulls her hands back and lets her arms work their way around Kyoshi’s neck for a loose, lazy embrace. Her tone softens. “We should go back to sleep, Kyoshi. Whatever it is that’s got you all up in your own head, it can wait until tomorrow, okay? You need your rest. Traveling on no sleep never ends well.”
“Okay.”
They fall quiet for a few, sweet moments, the room silent but for the sound of quiet breaths and the creaking of the wind against the walls.
“Rangi?” Kyoshi asks, letting her eyes drift shut.
Rangi’s response is quiet, giving away her fatigue. “Mmm?”
“I love you.” They are three words that are not enough to express the way that she feels for this girl, but they are a start.
“I know you do.” The arms around her tighten slightly, as if to say I’m here, I’m real. “I love you too. Now go to sleep.”
Kyoshi knows an order when she hears one. “Yes ma’am. Good night.”
“Good night.”
Kyoshi is led into the dark by warm breath on her skin and a campfire in her arms. It’s some of the best sleep she’s had in weeks.
Kyoshi is strong.
Rangi knows this just as she knows the sun rises in the east in the morning, an irrevocable fact. It’s one of the things about Kyoshi that had first caught Rangi’s attention.
Kyoshi was always tall, even as a child. She was thin and gangly, looking like an unkempt scarecrow who had been stuffed with far too little filling, but she had a firm look in her eye as if she could take anything that came her way. That determination, that iron will never once left Kyoshi’s eyes even when she let herself be pushed around by girls she likely could have curb stomped through brute force alone.
Kyoshi is strong. She is so strong that she struggles to be precise, she is so strong that she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders and never once complains, she is so strong that she works tirelessly to do what she thinks is right—so much so that she rarely thinks about herself. These days it is always what is good for the world, what is good for the spirits, what is good for the group. Never is it what is good for Kyoshi.
Kyoshi is the Avatar, and Rangi is but a girl. She has her honor and her fire, the armor on her back, and the generations of teachers and craftsmen and soldiers in her blood. Rangi is not good enough for the Avatar, she knows, not a nobleman or a queen or someone of extreme importance, but she is good enough for Kyoshi. Kyoshi, the girl who grumbles about being forced to stay in Horse stance for too long, the girl who thinks her hands are too big to be pretty, the girl who looks at Rangi as if she were responsible for putting the sun in the sky. She is good enough for Kyoshi, Rangi knows, and that is enough. She is honor-bound to serve the Avatar, but Rangi would like to think that even if she wasn’t, she would follow this girl to the ends of the earth.
As Rangi finishes packing their things in the early light of the dawn and turns to watch Kyoshi sleep, she’s distinctly aware of how lucky she is that—out of all people, she had been the one Kyoshi chose.
“C’mon,” she says, as she nudges Kyoshi awake. “The others will be awake soon, and I’ve already packed our things. I left you out a fresh set of clothes.”
Kyoshi blinks a few times, still bleary and clearly not fully awake, but lets her lips fall into a rare, dopey grin. “Thanks. You’re the best, Rangi.”
Rangi is by no means the best there is, but she knows for a fact that she is pretty damn good, so she decides she’s fine with rounding up for today. If the Avatar says it, after all, it must be true.