Chapter 53

Before they knew it they had been searching for months following the trail Chin had scattered behind him. Some of the towns were in worse condition than others. Villages that had shown more rest and had inevitably suffered more than the others.

Jinpa had headed out a few weeks ago to take care of some other matters as the two of them continued on the search. It didn’t feel worth it to drag them all around the earth kingdom.

“Do you think he’s actually real at this point?” Kyoshi asked one night as she stared intensity at the campfire one night.

“Of course he’s real, he’s just a fucking coward” Rangi’s replied wrapping a blanket tighter around herself.

“I bet he’s short, like a rat.” Kyoshi replied. “Only a rat would scurry around this much.”

“You’re comparing the uprising dictator of the earth kingdom to a rat?” Rangi laughed as she leaned onto Kyoshi’s shoulder.

“It’s easier to think about that way”

Rangi took hold of Kyoshi’s hand, before lifting it to tug off her glove, now holding it once again. “Then we’ll continue the rat hunt tomorrow.”

They had continued to settle into the evening as a hawk landed beside them, wearing a fire nation seal. 

Kyoshi let out a sigh as she went to grab it. “Should we make a bet on who it’s from?” She asked.

“My bets on the fire lord I bet he thought up another chore he could persuade you to do for him” Rangi suggested.

“Spirits I hope not” She laughed.

As Kyoshi went to untie the scroll, her face changed, a look that Rangi couldn’t quite comprehend. “So who’s it from? It’s not actually the fire lord is it?”

But she shook her head. “It’s for you actually.” Kyoshi replied as she handed the scroll over.

Rangi raised an eyebrow, she hardly ever got mail, unless it was from Kyoshi or her mother.

As she unraveled it the contents of it brought an odd assortment of emotions to her chest.

“Rangi what is it?”

“It’s- it’s from the fire nation’s army. The Fire lord is on this new kick about strengthening his army. They’re calling me back to help train a new bunch of upper level recruits.” She explained.

Kyoshis’ face had gone blank at the statement, but said nothing.

“I’m not going.” Rangi declared as she went to crumple the paper.

Kyoshi frowned, “You can just do that?”

“It’s doesn’t matter really”

Kyoshi didn’t really know for herself where Rangi stood in terms of the fire nation’s army, she had known Rangi had made lieutenant, but on paper Rangi technically worked as Kyoshi’s bodyguard, so was she still a part of the army?

“Will anything happen if you don’t go?” She pressed further.

An odd look crossed Rangi’s face. “I’d probably lose my ranking, but that doesn’t matter”

Kyoshi scoffed, actually scoffed at her statement. “Rangi you worked your whole life for that title, how long is this anyways?”

“A month, maybe two,” Rangi admitted.

“I can manage the chase for a little while longer plus, a month? This isn’t worth all that work you put in, and you know it”

“So you want me, your wife to leave?” Rangi asked dramatically.

“Of course not, but checking this last area should only take a week at most. The chances are that I don’t even find anything, and when that happens how about we take a break. Yokoya isn’t far from there so we could meet there for a bit.”

“I could agree to those terms.”

“A month, two tops,” Kyoshi offered.

“Fine, you have yourself a deal avatar” Rangi smiled, draping her arms around Kyoshi’s neck as they lips met.

Rangi left the following morning back to the fire nation while Kyoshi continued her mission to find this so-called Chin the conqueror.

It had taken longer to trek to the next town than Kyoshi thought. There was continuous rain that didn’t seem to let up. On her way out she stumbled upon this little town that was almost overrun but not so overrun that she could still enter freely.

There were some of Chin’s soldiers stationed around the place but they didn’t seem to be paying enough attention to see her enter.

Maybe I should just let myself get captured. She thought to herself as she wandered down the street. I wonder if then they would take me to him?

She had whipped off her makeup and tucked her fans and headdress in her bag to try and wander less disturbed for the day.

While staying there she ran into a soldier’s wife, who was part of Chin’s army. With that she found out the location of where Chin’s capital would be, right next to Yokoya.

The woman’s husband insisted that they move out there immediately. “I guess we’re heading in the same direction then.” Kyoshi sighed.

Of course the one town that I go to without Rangi would be the place of Chin’s choosing.

But on the other hand she was done chasing the man around the earth kingdom, it was time they met face to face.

So she would travel one last leg of the trip. She sent a letter out to Rangi letting her know if she finished with the training camp first where she would be.

The last bit of the trip was all rain, but she went on. Mostly fueled by how pissed she was that she had tracked this idiot all the way around the earth kingdom by now and he was still hiding she pressed on.

When the town comes into view it looks like Kyoshi actually smiled. The town’s perimeters were surrounded by soldiers all in the same uniform. Banners with Chin’s titles flew all around.

In that moment all Kyohsi wanted to do was storm right in through his door. But she stopped for a moment, taking a seat on a fallen tree. Once she had stopped for a minute a heavy feeling had returned to her head, her throat felt like it had been drying out in the desert for days.

She had hoped last night when all that started that it would pass with sleep. But it didn’t. She knew the reason of course, she had been trekking through the rain for days now to get out here.

But where was she to go? There was no way that she was going to head into the town tonight, because she was sure that once she made it in those gates there would be no stopping her from a fight she wouldn’t be able to resist.

“Of all the times to get sick” She grumbled to herself. The words almost hurt as they left her throat.

But that had settled it. There was no way she was going to confront Chin for making her chase him all across the nation if she couldn’t yell at him properly.

That still didn’t help her though, so there she sat on the log with the rain that made it through the tree branches dripping on her shoulders. When she saw a figure move through some bushes. Or at least that’s what she thought she saw.

When the figure didn’t reappear for some time, Kyoshi was sure it was a hallucination.

But that’s when the rustling started again, from another direction. She caught sight of what looked like brown hair, though the figure was shorter than she anticipated.

“I know you’re there,” She called out. When she heard the little high pitched gasp she knew that it had been a child that had found her.

She saw the child dash to another spot, almost circling her.

“I won’t hurt you, are you out here all alone?” Kyoshi asked.

Eventually the child stepped out of the bushes. She was dirty, no shoes on her feet. For a second it felt like Kyoshi was looking into a mirror of her past, almost convincing her that this whole thing was a hallucination after all.

“Hello” Kyoshi called out softly as the rain continued to beat down on the two of them. The girl took a step back at the sound of her voice.

“I won’t hurt you” Kyoshi spoke again, as she looked down she caught sight of her appearance in a puddle. The makeup had sort of smeared by now and had run all other directions, looked pretty bad, probably scaring the small child.

“I’m Kyoshi” She continued to talk as she took her sleeve and began to rub the makeup off as if to prove she was human. 

This time the child took a step closer then another and another. Kyoshi didn’t dare to move. Soon the child was no more than a foot in front of her.

“Do you live in the town?” Kyoshi asked, pointing to the direction of the seemingly overrun town.

But the girl shook her head.

“Then where do you live, somewhere else around?”

Instead of answering, the girl stepped forward grabbing Kyoshi’s gloved hand and began to walk in the other direction toward where Kyoshi could have sworn was in the way of Yokoya.

They soon arrived at what  looked like a camp, the girl dropped her hand. It didn’t take Kyoshi long to figure out that this was a refugee camp, people who had fled from Chin’s rule.

“So you live here?” Kyoshi turned to ask the girl, but she had vanished.

It was mostly women in the camp, dozens of them turning their heads as Kyoshi entered.

“Have you seen a little girl around here?” She calls out, though it sounded more like a croak.

An older woman stands, taking Kyoshi’s hands. “No my dear”

Spirits. They probably think I’ve lost my mind.

“Why don’t you sit down and have some tea?” She offered. Nodding, Kyoshi followed the woman under a tent.

Eventually after she settled in her spot, Kyoshi was given a rag for the makeup that was smudged on her face from earlier.

All of the women she met were so warm, so kind. A few of the older ones remind her of Auntie from the mansion. But that had given her an idea.

The camp was cramped, and the conditions were less than ideal, especially with the rainy season.

“How do you think everyone would feel about taking a trip to Yokoya?” She asked as she sipped her tea. But the room all gave her a collective confused look.

“Because if we can all make the trip, I know a place where you can all stay” She replied to herself with a smile, she would have a lot to write to Rangi about.

Sprinkle, sprinkle we’re onto the next adventure. Let the Chin the conqueror arc officially began…