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Girl Worth Fighting For
Rangi’s father dies when she’s thirteen, two days after she and Hei-Ran receive the summons to Yokoya. Hei-Ran’s been asked to train and guard the Avatar, who has finally been found after far too long. Rangi’s father had been fighting an illness for some time beforehand, and Rangi has no doubt that her mother would have denied the summons if nothing had changed, but–
He’s dead now.
On the day he succumbs to his illness, while Hei-Ran sits stone-cold at the foot of his bed, Rangi goes to the dueling area underneath the Royal Fire Academy for Girls and challenges everyone she finds there who’ll accept. In professional circles, there's a limit to how many people one person can challenge in a day, but the rules are looser here; not so much proper duels as they are for letting off steam, and she’s allowed to proceed.
She fights sixteen of her classmates in back-to-back battles, and she wins every single one.
Rangi’s fourteen when she’s introduced to the Avatar, three months after her father’s death. She’d graduated the Academy in record time, two entire years before the average, and in reward, she is allowed to accompany her mother to protect the Avatar, who is her age. Her father’s death had come right before. Her grades hadn’t wavered.
(She’d hated that school, and her hatred had pulled her out of her grief and propelled her out of there as fast as she could manage.)
It'd never been a question, after her father’s death, of where she would go. She’ll follow her mother, accept the honor of guarding the Avatar. And she won't be alone.
She's introduced to (almost) every person of the house the same day she and Hei-Ran move in, and the sheer amount of new faces and names threaten to make her head spin, but she quickly catalogs them in her head into important and less important, as is only logical. Yun, the Avatar, is important, obviously, along with Hei-Ran, Jianzhu, and Kelsang, his bending sifus. “Auntie” Mui is also determined to belong in that category, too, as she is the elder servant and the person to come to if there's an issue. Out of perhaps thirty or forty people, Rangi has narrowed her worldview to five. That's doable.
She doesn't meet Kyoshi that same day, though.
(Truthfully, she's glad about that. She would've made a fool out of herself in front of the entire household.)
/-/-/
Yun is…. not disciplined. Or he is, but in a very unnecessarily confusing way, and his attitude seems to change with the minute. For the first week or so, he's an enigma to Rangi, and for that same time, she doesn't think he likes her much.
He's hardworking, yes, but he's also childish beyond his years, happy to dance around and waste time, while still succeeding at any stance he's put in. And he’ll only ever shirk his training when Jianzhu isn’t around to scold him, the coward. Which, on one hand, is definitely a good thing – an intelligent Avatar is much better than a reckless one – but it also leaves Rangi with a lot less to do, most days. Being a bodyguard isn’t usually very interesting, but she can’t afford to grow soft.
But Yun is genuinely kind and effortlessly funny, and Rangi finds herself warming up to him faster than she’d expected. He’ll be a good Avatar, she thinks proudly, good and strong.
And she’ll be by his side.
Rangi first spots Kyoshi about a week and a half after arriving in Yokoya, across the area outside that could roughly be called a courtyard, and although Kyoshi will later deny it, she’s always been eye-catching.
Kyoshi (though she doesn't yet know her name) is firstly tall, taller than any boy and certainly any girl Rangi’s ever seen. She seems young, too, far younger than her height implies. Her green Earth Kingdom robes are slightly too short for her, but not badly enough that it’s very noticeable. Her hair is long and tied back neatly, and her face is soft, with ridiculously devastating trails of freckles across both cheeks that wind underneath two of the greenest eyes Rangi has ever seen, even for an Earth Kingdom native.
Then the gorgeous, stunning girl takes two steps forward and promptly trips over her own feet.
She manages to stay upright, but has to maneuver her arms in such a way it reminds Rangi of a flightless bird trying desperately to break the laws that bind it to the ground. Finally settled back on her own two feet, the girl takes a glance around to look to see if anyone’s witnessed this spectacular stumble. She doesn't see Rangi. The girl’s shoulders slump in relief and she continues on her way, disappearing around the corner without another sound.
She’s... adorable.
Rangi can't tear her eyes away, but she’s not smitten, not yet.
(…..That comes not much later.)
The Avatar’s estate in Yokoya isn’t small, but it’s not even close to the Fire Lord’s Palace, where you can reside for months and always see new people every day. In Yokoya, Rangi knows, everyone knows everyone, for better or worse. So in the end, she doesn't even have to seek the girl out to introduce herself, because it's only a day or so after seeing her for the first time that she finds her again, with Kyoshi nearly bowling Rangi over while coming around a particularly sharp corner.
“I'm so sorry!” Large hands reach out to steady her, resting on her shoulders. Rangi jerks away from the touch on complete instinct, but she doesn't miss the way her unconscious movement causes more guilt to show on the tall girl's face. “Are you hurt?”
Is she hurt? Does she not know who Rangi is? “I'm fine,” Rangi snaps, perhaps a bit too harshly, judging by the way the girl winces. But then she recognizes just who’s bumped into her, and decides to try and smooth things over. “You are– very quiet,” is what she ends up with.
Which is unhelpful.
The girl’s face is still screwed up in panic, her fists clenching at her sides. “I know, I’m so sorry, I'm used to-” she nearly stops, but goes on bashfully, “I’m used to people getting out of my way.”
Rangi can't blame them. “I can see that. You must be almost as tall as sifu Kelsang!” She’s tall for her age, already closer to six feet than five, and yet this girl still manages to tower over her head.
“Oh!” The girl startles, eyes catching on Rangi’s topknot. “You must be one of the firebenders brought in to train Yun. I’m Kyoshi, one of his servants.” She tries dipping her head in respect, but her shoulders stick out too far and the action is awkward. Rangi might’ve been offended, but she has a feeling that Kyoshi is just awkward in general.
“Rangi,” she says in response, folding her arms cleanly behind her back. “I’m the Avatar’s bodyguard.” After a moment, she adds, “his firebending sifu is my mother.” because it's not a secret.
Kyoshi nods like that makes sense. “You look like her,” she says, “but a little less scary.”
Rangi frowns, unsure if that's a compliment or an insult. She opens her mouth to ask, maybe, or to inquire curiously about Kyoshi’s duties, but she’s cut off by–
“KYOSHI!” That’s Auntie Mui, Rangi thinks, still trying to put voices to names. Hers is one of the very few that can carry throughout the entire estate, a skill that’s likely formed from lots of practice. She doesn't sound upset, but Rangi doesn't know her very well yet, and she doesn't defer to her, either.
“Ah,” Kyoshi says, shifting on her feet. “I’m late.” She gives Rangi a shy smile and steps around her, careful not to touch her this time. “It was nice to meet you, Rangi.” Her name sounds strange in Kyoshi’s voice.
“Yeah,” Rangi says, feeling strangely disjointed. “See you around.”
She’s the first to turn and begin to walk away, and while she doesn't look back, she waits until she's turned the corner and she's sure Kyoshi can't see her anymore before softening her posture, thinking, huh.
/-/-/
Yun likes to talk, she’d figured that out quickly. Even while training; especially while training. Rangi suspects Jianzhu is quick to the point more often than not, so naturally Yun likes to strike up conversations with her instead.
He’ll talk about anything while he's in his stances; the weather, some new gossip involving a servant, what he's currently being taught.
He doesn't seem upset with her short responses, either. Rangi’s never really seen the point of small talk, but she's also not the one being trained day and night, not anymore. It can get boring, so she tolerates his incessant jabber. But one day his topic turns to the servants, and if Rangi’s spoken to them all yet. She probably hasn't, so he offers to introduce her to the ones who she’s somehow managed to avoid, and he begins to slowly make his way through a nonexistent, but efficient list to see who she might’ve missed. There's not many.
“Ah! Have you met Kyoshi yet?” When Yun says her name, his eyes seem softer than usual, though maybe that’s just the way the sun is reflecting off his face. “She's the only one here who’s our age, so I'd recommend meeting her.”
“She ran into me earlier,” replies Rangi. “Literally.”
He lets out a puff of laughter, but somehow, his stance doesn't waver, as solid as it ever is. “Sounds about right. What did you think of her? She's really nice.”
What does she think? Rangi goes quiet to ponder the question for a moment. Kyoshi’s awkward, but kind, and yeah, nice. Green-eyed, solid; shy, probably. Genuine. Pretty. But Rangi can’t say that.
“She's very– tall,” she croaks eventually, which, really, isn’t much better.
Beside her, Yun heaves a sigh that sounds suspiciously understanding. “Yeah,” he agrees quietly. “Tall.”
/-/-/
Kyoshi is also ridiculously strong. Rangi learns that a few months later, when she tries to physically drag Kyoshi back towards the retreating awful teenagers that Yokoya seems to spawn, expecting her to stumble and go along, but Kyoshi doesn’t budge. It takes Rangi a second to realize, and so she tugs a second time, as if the first attempt had been a fluke, but Kyoshi remains as solid as a mountain. What.
“I don’t need to,” Kyoshi tries to continue their previous conversation, as if it’s entirely normal to be stronger than someone who’d been trained to fight for practically her whole life. “I’m fine, see?” She gestures to her face, which bears the clear marks of dust having been bent in her eyes.
Rangi’s brain has ground to a halt, but even someone working at a quarter mental capacity could realize the stupidity in that statement. “How– are you pure muscle?” She can't keep the wonder out of her voice.
Kyoshi flushes, just the tiniest deepening of color that, tragically (or not), shows off her freckles even more than usual. Caught off guard by the sight, Rangi plants her gaze on Kyoshi’s mountain of a shoulder and keeps it there. “I don’t know?” Kyoshi sounds confused. “I mean– you’re not tugging that hard?”
Rangi, who had been tugging with all her might, lets go abruptly. “Huh,” she says. So Kyoshi’s strong. Who knew?
A rustle coming from the direction of the road distracts her, stones still shifting back into place after being stepped on. If Rangi looks, she can still see the backsides of Aoma and her dumb lackeys walking back to town. Ugh. She hates them. Who do they think they are, bothering Kyoshi all the time? If she ever gets her hands on them...
“Those teenagers are dreadful,” Rangi snaps, her earlier fury once again taking precedence over anything else. Kyoshi only sinks further into herself.
“They’re not that bad if I just ignore them,” she says quietly. “They don’t really bother me.”
“Sure.” Rangi snorts disbelievingly. “Neutral jing, right?” At Kyoshi’s nod, she screws her face up, making sure her distaste is showing. Stupid earthbender mumbo-jumbo. “Ridiculous, is what it is. You deserve better.”
But Kyoshi just shrugs, shifting uneasily on her feet. Unwilling to listen. “It’s gotten better, you know,” she says. “I think they’re scared of you.”
That’s... slightly better. Rangi feels her chest puff out in pride. “Good. They could be scared of you, though,” she adds, loath to give it up just yet. “You could be very intimidating if you tried to be.” Especially with this newly-discovered strength she apparently has. Even if Kyoshi just glared at them, she’s sure the cowards would be sent running.
But Kyoshi is kind, far too kind for her own good, and that combined with the Earth Kingdom’s idiotic neutral jing breeds a sense of complacency that makes Rangi’s blood boil. She doesn't mind fighting Kyoshi’s battles for her, but that she has to makes her concerned about the times she can't be there to do so.
This is a distraction, and she knows it, but she can’t bring herself to care that much.
/-/-/
Here’s the thing: Rangi’s not stupid. She's had crushes before, though fleeting ones.
She knows exactly what these feelings are.
Here’s the second thing: Yun is the one who's important. Yun is the one she needs to be focused on. He is literally the most important person in the entire world, and Rangi has one of the most important jobs there is, guarding him.
That still doesn't stop her from breaking into a sprint every time she hears Kyoshi coming.
She can't help it. She gets so few free hours, and far fewer when Kyoshi’s off, too. Rangi settles for spending her days off hanging around Kyoshi and helping out when she can, because she gets fidgety when she’s still for too long. Sometimes Kyoshi asks her about the Fire Nation, and those are Rangi’s favorite days, the hours spent telling Kyoshi about her home while she helps clean up around the estate. She tells her about her clan’s little island, and she tells her about the Capitol and how much bigger it is. She talks about the Royal Fire Academy for Girls and how backbreaking it’d been, how rewarding.
She very pointedly doesn’t tell Kyoshi that she’d hated that school and everyone in it. Kyoshi doesn’t need to be concerned about Rangi’s past.
She knows she’s not very subtle. She doesn’t really care about that, either.
Honestly, the fact that it takes her mother an entire year and a half of living in Yokoya before she confronts Rangi is a miracle in its own right. Rangi never expects her mother to be oblivious, because that would be uncharacteristic of her. Her silence on the matter is almost intimidating, actually, but Rangi would rather walk over hot coals than be the one to initiate that conversation. But one night Hei-Ran corners Rangi in her room, her patience clearly having thinned.
Rangi says, in greeting, “Mother.” They’re both off-duty, otherwise she would've led with her title.
“So. Kyoshi,” Hei-Ran says without preamble. She looks serious.
Rangi won’t deny the concern that strikes with only those two words. “Has something happened?” Is she okay? She begins to get to her feet and go see what’s gone on without her knowledge, but Hei-Ran speaks again.
“She’s fine. It’s you that I’m… concerned for.”
Very serious indeed. Rangi… doesn't know what to say to that.
“Do you plan to court her?” Hei-Ran asks, then, her tone stern. “I don't know how it’s done in the Earth Kingdom, I suppose you’d have to ask Kelsang. Spirits know he’s the closest thing the girl has to a guardian.” She fixes Rangi with a cold stare, a new thought occurring to her. “You do plan to properly court her, yes?”
…...Ah. Rangi pushes back the embarrassment welling in her throat. She’d known her mother knew about her feelings, but she’s not exactly comfortable talking about them. “No,” she answers, finally, stoically. “I do not plan to. My duty is to the Avatar.”
Slowly, Hei-Ran raises one eyebrow. “Really, now.”
“Any feelings will fade with time,” Rangi goes on, unwavering. “My duty is to Avatar Yun.” When her mother doesn't seem to be convinced, she sighs. “What could I even offer her? I have nothing to my name.” Yet, some part of her mind whispers traitorously, but she ignores it.
“But you are her superior, technically.” Hei-Ran is shorter than Rangi, nowadays, and has been since she was fourteen years old, but somehow she still manages to look down her nose at her. “By Fire Nation law, you would be allowed to ask her, if I were to give you permission. And I would.”
Rangi… hadn't expected that. She's touched, somewhat, that her mother seems to be open to letting Rangi choose who and who she doesn't court. Not many noble firebender parents are known for this kind of leniency.
But it doesn't change anything.
“My mind is made up,” she says. “You’re not going to be able to change it.” She’s heard that her stubbornness, while similar to Hei-Ran’s own, comes from her father. She’d never known Junsik to be that kind of man, but in all, she hadn’t known him as long as most. For a moment, neither of them speak. Hei-Ran’s gaze has always been heavy, and Rangi feels the full force of it here, but she refuses to be fazed, meeting her mother’s eyes without flinching.
Then Hei-Ran says, with the slightest tip of her head, “I understand.”
Rangi knows that had been her mother’s way of going I hear what you’re saying, but I’m not sure I agree . She doesn't care. It's her decision, and she knows Hei-Ran won't push her on it.
It's her decision.
“At least you’re not in love with the Avatar,” Hei-Ran says later that night, as if to comfort her. She’s not being cruel, but something old and unfamiliar flits through her eyes. Rangi doesn't pry, though, and she scrunches her nose at the mere thought.
“There’s that,” she agrees quietly.
They don’t speak of it again.
(One day, they’ll be able to appreciate the irony there.)
/-/-/
But not planning on doing anything about Kyoshi doesn’t change anything, for better or worse.
More and more often, Rangi’s fingers itch to hold Kyoshi’s face and pull her in– just to look, really, to study the trails of freckles across her cheeks and shoulders and forearms. She wants to wrap Kyoshi up and protect her from the world, show her how to protect herself for the times Rangi can’t be there, show her that she’s allowed to fight back. She wants Kyoshi to smile at her every day. She wants– she wants —
But she holds back.
Kyoshi is so precious, and she deserves better.
/-/-/
Earthbender, says Kyoshi’s profile. Honestly, Rangi had just assumed she was a nonbender, so this comes as a bit of a surprise, and slightly suspicious, given that there's no additional information after that. She's never seen Kyoshi earthbend, never even seen her try. Perhaps she's behind on her skills; perhaps she hasn't had time to learn.
Rangi’s learning that there are more benders who haven’t had the chance to learn than she’d been led to believe. Maybe that’s just the inferior Earth Kingdom, but somehow, she doubts it.
Kyoshi’s is also the shortest, only rivaled by Yun’s own. While the other servants’ scrolls concisely sum up their lives before coming to work for the Avatar and his sifus , Kyoshi’s before remains entirely blank. That's not too surprising, per say – Rangi knows of her background just like she knows of everyone else’s – but it is... irritating. Unhelpful.
Kyoshi’s smart about it, too; Rangi doesn’t know the details of how she’d lived before Kelsang found her, but she knows it wasn’t good, and Kyoshi goes to great lengths to keep those parts of her childhood hidden. She’s subtle about it, too, always nudging the conversation in a different way if the topic comes up, and Rangi never has the heart to demand answers. Maybe one day, Kyoshi will trust her enough to tell her. Maybe she won’t ever. Rangi can live with that.
(In her weaker moments, she wonders if Yun knows. He probably does.)
/-/-/
Kyoshi is beautiful, inside and out. That’s just a simple fact; Rangi is a firebender, water is wet, and Kyoshi is the most gorgeous person she’s ever seen.
But some people don't seem to agree.
Rangi hears the comments some people make – Aoma and her friends, mostly, but a few of the servants, too – how they snicker at Kyoshi’s awkward height and dark freckles, how they make snide comments whenever she trips or bumps her head on something. Rangi never knows whether or not she should say something, or whether Kyoshi would want her to. So she settles for glaring the guilty party into submission whenever they’re stupid enough to insult Kyoshi with Rangi in earshot, and hopefully that’s enough to make a difference.
But even the people who love Kyoshi aren’t exempt from it. Rangi learns this when she and Yun catch Kyoshi trying to cover up her freckles, a feat that is both near-impossible and also entirely unnecessary. When they stumble upon her, she’s dabbing at her face with something that smells wretched and is clearly not hers. They pull Kyoshi out of her room in an attempt to distract her and also so that she can watch the sun go down with them, and with deft fingers, Yun plucks the container out of Kyoshi’s hand. Once a swindler…
“Who gave you this?” Yun doesn’t bother to hide the disgust in his voice. He sniffs the thing cautiously, and screws his face up at the scent.
Kyoshi twists her mouth in a way that means she's not sure what the issue is, but will probably end up being defensive about it. “It was a gift,” she says, reaching back for it. “From Auntie Mui.”
Of course. Rangi likes the woman well enough, but a few of her opinions are so very Earth Kingdom sometimes.
Yun’s fingers twitch, like he's debating between throwing the powder out into the turtleduck pond, but after a moment, he resists the urge and hands it back to Kyoshi with a sigh. “Plenty of people have freckles, you know.”
And none as endearing as Kyoshi’s. Rangi doesn't understand how Auntie Mui could ever want to change anything about Kyoshi’s face.
“Well, Auntie Mui says I should keep them covered up,” Kyoshi replies with a self-conscious shrug, as if this isn’t the most infuriating thing Rangi’s ever heard. “She’s right, too, I mean–”
“She’s not!” Yun declares passionately, looking about the same amount of offended as Rangi feels. He seeks Kyoshi’s gaze and finds it, giving her a (slightly exaggerated) pleading expression. “I like your freckles, Kyoshi. Don’t cover them up. For me?”
Well that was subtle, Rangi thinks, rather irritably, before chastising herself for it. Flustered, Kyoshi’s too caught off guard to answer him properly, and Rangi quietly watches her fumble for a few more seconds before deciding to add her own two cents.
“Besides,” she says, “Auntie Mui has the fashion sense of a four-hundred year-old earthbending queen. I hardly think she’s an expert on these sorts of things.”
Yun barks a laugh at the image that conjures up, and the tension, having built to a stifling temperature, is gone in a moment. “You’re right!” he crows, “I’ve definitely seen the things she wears in my history books! She looks like Avatar Yangchen’s earthbending sifu.”
Rangi cracks a grin. “See? Who cares what Auntie Mui thinks?” To her delight, Kyoshi’s smile reappears, and her shoulders relax.
“Maybe,” says Kyoshi, because she can't seem to have a bad word about anyone. But she's still smiling, so Rangi takes it as a win.
“You’re way prettier than that old bat, anyways,” Yun adds, and it looks like he means to throw his arm over Kyoshi’s shoulder in his typical bumbling-but-not way, but at the last second, his arm curves so that instead of slinging playfully around her neck, it’s just draped gently over her shoulders. Kyoshi flushes deeply at the touch, and Yun’s smile softens when he meets her eyes, just a tad. The tension is back. Silently, Rangi looks to the sky and connects to the clouds in her head; waits until they’ve broken away from each other to deem it safe to speak again.
Right. There’s also– that.
It’s silly, almost; the Avatar and the Avatar’s bodyguard, both bowled over by a parentless servant girl. But it’s not silly, not really, because this parentless servant girl is Kyoshi, and she deserves the world’s best.
And Kyoshi’s in love with Yun.
This never comes as a shock; Rangi watches it happen over weeks and months and years, and it’s– fine. It's not as if she was planning on trying to court Kyoshi herself, and Yun feels the same way, of course, which is good. Kyoshi deserves the best, and, despite his numerous character flaws, Rangi supposes you can't get much better than the Avatar.
So it's fine.
It's…. less fine when it hinders Yun’s training; sometimes he’ll sneak away from Rangi and when she goes to find him, he’ll be draped around Kyoshi in such an intimate way that Rangi can't bear to interrupt. It's less fine when she has to see it. Honestly, she's not sure why they aren't fully-blown together yet, but she suspects it’s only a matter of time anyways. She’s already decided she’s not going to be upset about it, because that would be unfair to all of them, and she can only hope that she can keep that promise to herself when the time finally comes.
They’re her friends, and she loves them. She’ll do whatever it takes to protect them.
She’ll live.
(Hey. At least she’s not in love with the Avatar, right?)