Chapter 6

Neither one of them slept well that night. They just laid there in silence. Occasionally shifting to see if the other was awake. Yet neither one of them spoke a word.

Every once and a while Kyohsi thought she heard Rangi sniffle, though as much as she wanted to comfort her she didn’t move.

As the sun peeked through the window Kyoshi slowly rose, pulling her simple tunic on leaving the room trying to not make a single sound. Sensing her vacancy in the bed Rangi turned around, but she was already gone.

Carefulling walking down the vast staircase Kyoshi made her way to the yard below. As she was greeted by some of the other monks she joined them in their morning training routine that she had once too performed daily.

Performing the different air bending motions and routines felt somewhat calming to Kyoshi. It reminded her of Kelsang and how he used to show her some airbending tricks when she was little. This whole place deeply reminded her of him. She hoped he would have been happy that she was able to visit and train here.

As Rangi got up she walked out to the balcony to see Kyoshi training below. She watched as Kyoshi shifted from one stance to the next. She looked so calm, even graceful. Like a leaf drifting through the wind.

As Rangi watched from above, she couldn’t help but smile. She was so proud of her, how far she had come. She had known her since she was a servant at the mansion, and now she’s one of the strongest people she knew.

Finally gathering the strength Rangi too walked down the staircase putting her hair up as she walked.

Seeing her in the light of day, Kyoshi felt like she hadn’t seen Rangi in ages.

“Lieutenant Rangi we were just about to begin a morning meditation, would you care to join us?”

She looked at Kyoshi who gave a faint smile. “I would be honored”

As they all sat in the circle, Kyoshi just couldn’t seem to focus. As the time passed reluctantly she opened her eyes, to see Rangi staring right back at her. But this wasn’t her normal intimidating stare. Her eyes were soft, angel like.

Kyoshi raised her eyebrows slightly, tilting her head. Rangi nodded with a slight smile before getting up to follow Kyoshi down a hall. Trying not to make a sound, although the other monks should have been deep in their meditation it shouldn’t really matter, but still.

They felt as if they were little kids running down the hallways, laughing so hard. But they weren’t really sure why. Maybe it was the fact that they had both just ditched the meditation.

“Are you mad at me?” Rangi said, trying to catch her breath. They had stopped in a garden around the back of one of the towers filled with grass and wildflowers.

“I could never truly be mad at you, even if I tried” She tried to give her a reassuring smile.

“Because last night you seemed so upset, and angry” Rangi said as they locked their gazes.

“I was scared Rangi”

“You were scared?” Her eyes widened.

Kyoshi nodded. “I guess I couldn’t stand the thought of being without you either”

A single tear slid down Rangi’s cheek. “Kyoshi I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” Rangi said, burying her face in her hands. All her emotions from last night had once again surfaced. Unable to be pushed down again.

When she opened her eyes she saw Kyoshi sitting on the grass, extending her hand out to her.

Kyoshi pulled her in wrapping her arms around the fire bender. “I’m so sorry I never wanted to make you feel scared”

“It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault”

“It kinda was,” Rangi said, dropping her head. “Even if it was… I still forgive you.”

Those words melted Rangi, a wave of relief washing over her whole body. She had tried to imagine this moment in her head a million times last night. But none of them were like this.

As they laid back in the grass a silence overcame them, but it wasn’t an awkward silence like the night before. It was comfortable, safe.

“The temples are so beautiful” Rangi began. “I’ve never been anywhere like it”

“They really are special,” Kyoshi said, moving a piece of hair out of Rangi’s face. “I think this being here is the closest I’ve felt to Kelsang in a long time.”

Kyoshi almost never spoke of Kelsang, she had kept that part of her more buried, but she didn’t want to hide around Rangi. She didn’t need to.

“Kelsang?” Rangi asked, recalling what the air bending master looked like.

“Yeah, I guess I’ve always sort of wondered what it would be like if he was still here, you know” Rangi turned to look at Kyoshi’s face. She didn’t look upset, sad maybe but not upset. “Would we have had to flee that night, would the world have been in better shape? Would Yun still be here?” She asked.

“You knew him better than I ever had and I’m not sure about Yun or the rest of the world but… I know he would be proud of you”

“You think?” Rangi nodded.

“I know he would be very proud of you Kyoshi, and how far you’ve come”

“That… that means a lot” She responded, fumbling over her words.

“Do you think he would like us?” Rangi asked, her mouth suddenly growing dry. Kyoshi gave her a confused look. “Us?”

“You and me, would he be okay with it”

“I think he would have loved it.” Kyosh responded, taking Rangi’s hand.

“Does my opinion count?” Jinpa said, suddenly appearing behind them. “Spirits Jinpa, how long have you been there?” Kyoshi asked, catching her breath.

“Long enough”

“And for the record, I think it’s great.” He gave a sincere smile.

“It never hurts to have a second set of eyes on her, it’s quite helpful actually” He motioned motioned towards Kyoshi, earning a laugh from the fire bender. “Can we help you Jinpa?” Kyoshi asked, changing the topic.

“Well I was going to invite you two to dinner, we haven’t seen you since you ditched the morning meditation.” His eyes narrowed.

She shrugged as they both got up. “I guess we forgot about that,” Kyosh said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Just try and not ditch the any more sessions”

She nodded as they turned to leave. “Oh Jinpa, one last thing…”

“Can you keep this a… a secret sort of?” Kyoshi asked sheepishly. Rangi suddenly looked towards the ground. “Of course”

As they entered the room where they had planned to eat a sight soon appeared that had surprised them all. None of them moved a step.

Dozens of messenger hawks filled the room, each with their own little letter attached. “Where did all of these come from? We haven’t gotten any messages in at least a month” Kyoshi said, still not moving from where she stood. Jinpa was the first to take a step further, reaching out to one of the hawks unraveling the letter attached.

“It appears, we need to divide our attention more evenly.” Jinpa began.

“These are from all over”

They all sat down and started to sort the stack of letters into the different nations. “Okay what do we have so far?” Kyoshi asked, looking up from the piles of now sorted letters. ” A couple from the water tribe, and a good amount from the earth kingdom, two from the other air temples, and…” he paused, staring at a huge pile below. “What do we still need to sort these?” She asked.

“Nope,” Rangi shook her head.

“These are all from the fire nation.” Kyoshi’s eyes widened. “Well I guess we know our next stop.” She replied with a nervous laugh. Though at the moment the most nervous person in the room was Rangi.

“Alright then, let’s sort these into piles of importance.” Jinpa said, starting to sift through the pile.

“So these are about basic things, robberies, smaller gangs and stuff like that.” Jinpa said, holding up a small pile. “And that pile?” Kyoshi asked, pointing to a larger pile among the stacks. He didn’t respond. She picked one up and opened it carefulling. It spoke of a different attack, but it was unusual, different from the others.

After what happened with Yun, we believe that one of our own once again may be overtaken by a spirit.

She flipped to another letter.

We have come to the conclusion that this is all a spirit’s doing.

She opened another.

This could possibly be the cause of an evil spirit.

And another.

Evil spirits.

“I think the fire nation is twisted with some spirits” Rangi’s eyes grew larger as she explained. “All of these letters, talking about people’s changes in behaviors, strange occurrences, and dark spirits…”

“Any notes from my mother?” Rangi asked, looking down. “No… but I’m sure that’s a good thing right? Because that means that she doesn’t have anything to write about. Which means she probably just fine”
Kyoshi tried to reassure her. “I hope you’re right.”

Rangi took Kyoshi’s hand under the table. “We’ll figure this all out.” We just need a plan.”

“We just need a plan” She repeated trying to reassure herself more than anything.

“But why did it take so long for some of these to get here?” Kyoshi asked.

“I think most of these began the trip up to the northern water tribe, but they turned around and had to go back in the other direction…” Jinpa tried to produce a logical explanation. “That doesn’t matter now. We just need to find a way to start fixing all of this”

Hey everyone hope y’all are having a good day/night. I’m super excited for the upcoming chapters. But let me know if you have any comments or suggestions. Thanks again for reading❤️