Chapter 48

Kyoshi sat on the floor surrounded by mail the morning that they had planned to head out to the eastern towns. “Are you ready to go?” Rangi called out as she approached Kyoshi.

“Almost, I was just sorting through the rest of these to see if there was any other business out ea-” Her sentence suddenly stopped short.

“Rangi what is this?” Kyoshi held up a scroll with just her name scribbled at the top which she recognised not only because of the way Rangi always writes her y’s with a little swoop but because it was just her name at the top.

“An invitation”

Sure enough inside the parchment was a wedding invitation to her own wedding. “I knew all those times you said you were doing those reports you were lying. You hate doing reports, you were planning.”

Rangi just laughed. “One of us can save the world, the other can plan the wedding.”

“Can we trade?” They only laughed harder.

“And you’re okay with it being near the Senik’a clan?” Rangi asked. “I didn’t really send out all the invitations yet. I just sent you the first one”

Kyoshi leaned over to kiss the firebender’s forehead. “That’s fine. I’d marry you right here if you wanted.”

“And people? Who do you want there?”

Kyoshi gave her a blank look before responding. “Well I think your mother would kill me if she wasn’t there, and Jinpa deserves an invitation for all the stuff I put him through. Plus I think I would want him there. And I guess well I think we would have to invite…” She started rambling on.

“It’s fine, we can figure that out later. I just wanted to try and make today a little better.” Rangi replied with a smile as she took the invitation and walked over the board with the maps and all their notes and pinned it up along with everything else.

“Come on, let’s get going,” Rangi said as she took Kyoshi’s hand and dragged her out of the room. Kyoshi only looked back to see the invitation on the board, another smile forming on her face.

It took the remainder of that day and part of the next morning to reach the towns out east, they really were out of the way. When they finally got there Kyoshi noticed how the towns were settled in a small valley with a river running through part of the meadow.

The next thing they noticed was the wall. It appeared to split the town in half. For a while Kyoshi was looking for another town, but soon realized that these were the two towns one on each side of the wall. They were so close Kyoshi wondered why they weren’t just one town.

The first of the two towns had the entrance practically guarded with water followed by tons of crops growing from fields beside the bank. Overall it seemed like a nice town, Kyoshi didn’t get any eerie feeling as they began to walk through.

“Greeting Avatar, the Fire Lord had just notified us of your arrival. How may we be of service?” A man called out to Kyoshi. By the look of him and the men who surrounded him they looked to be noble men of sorts.

“Kyoshi is fine,” She assured them. “And I feel as though I should be the one asking you that, Fire Lord Zoryu asked me to come and help with some issues.” Kyoshi tried to explain without letting it slip that this was actually a favor that she had really had no interest in, but wanted her support groups.

Her and Rangi were then led into a hall that was near the wall that seems to be the only dividing factor between the two towns.

It was a fairly empty building, and by that there was nobody there. It appeared to be set up in a fashion so that a council could be held. But it had looked like it had been sometime since that had happened.

Soon they were all seated around the table, nobody spoke. Rangi looked over to Kyoshi who was too focused on the unoccupied chair to glance back.

“Will the other governor be joining us as you said?” Kyoshi asked, hoping that it could move this process along quicker.

But the first governor, Governor Maoho who she was recently introduced to just signed, “Yes he is, but he’s running late. He never is in a hurry to speak to me.”

Kyoshi just gave a simple nod as they continued to wait in the quiet, until the door from the opposing side swung open with a large bang as it hit the wall behind it.

For a second Kyoshi got a glimpse of the other town, but it wasn’t nearly half as similar as the one she had walked to, it looked almost run down. But after she blinked the door had shut and this new man had entered the room.

“Hello Avatar I am Governor Muluh I’m pleased you could make it out here to be with us today”

“She prefers Kyoshi, actually.” Governor Maoho replied. “Really” Governor Muluh called out sarcastically.

There were definitely some issues here. They seemed to already be made at each other, and it is over introductions. Please just another stupid little problem Kyoshi thought to herself.

The meeting started like another Kyoshi had attended, when it was finally her turn to speak.

“So what’s the issue here?”

“You haven’t seen the north side have you?” Governor Muluh called out. “My town has nothing, not a good water source, or fields, or anything and well you saw the other side didn’t you? That’s what good resources can get you, “he explained.

“So there is a division of resources?”

“Yes but-” Governor Maoho tried to cut in.

“No, they are divided Maoho and you know it as well as I do. Why don’t we show her the north side, and let her decide on the matter for herself.”

There was a weird tension in the air, and Kyoshi only felt like she knew how to break it. “I agree, so the town I walked through initially, that’s the south I presume?”

They were all out of their chairs now and started to move towards the north’s doors where Governor Muluh had come out of.

That quick image of the town she had caught before the door shut had quickly crossed her mind. But she surely thought that it wasn’t what she had thought.

As the door opened she discovered that it was much worse, the streets worn down and dirty. None of the polish decorations from the other town were anywhere to be seen, nothing looked like it could even grow if it wanted to.

Standing there, looking out at this beat up town suddenly sent chills down Kyoshi’s spine, it looked so much like how she had seen Yokoya where she had grown up. Or rather how it looked from her perspective. It seemed like the people who were living here would likely be experiencing a similar fate.

“May I ask why the two towns are separated.” Kyoshi asked flatly. “It would be clear to anyone that these resources are not equally shared and the two towns are so close that you are practically on top of each other. They can’t have always been that way.”

“No it’s because of that damn river you hog Maoho” Governor Muluh accused.

“It’s on my side of the town, ” Governor Maoho replied sharply.

“Your side?” Kyoshi cut into the conversation once more.

Governor Muluh sighed. “This was once one town, our father’s actually.” He began to explain. Then going on to tell the whole story in short. This was actually one town to start. But after the previous Governor had died he left the town to his children. His twin sons Maoho and Muluh.

“So instead of sharing the town you split it two.Then how did the sides get so divided.”

“He took the side with the river,” Governor Muluh shouted.

“You can’t blame me, we both agreed on what side we each took, it’s not my fault you never thought about agriculture” Governor Maoho tried to rebuttal.

“So what do you want my town to do now, just die of starvation? The only water we can get is what creeks through holes in the wall and the damn rain!”

Kyoshi took a break from the conversation as the brothers continued to shout at each other to look at Rangi who shrugged. “At least it’s nothing violent”

Kyoshi nodded as she walked a little further from where the Governors argued. There was this larger alleyway that was currently empty next to the wall. This could work.

Satisfied with herself she walked back over to the brothers who had just seemed to notice she was missing.

“I could reroute some of the river to flow through that back alleyway” She suggested pointing to the alleyway behind her.

“No, the resources were split when we put in the wall. I will not have my brother steal from me.” Governor Maoho replied.

That comment had led to the two men to start fighting all over again.

“ENOUGH” Kyoshi slammed one of her boots down to shake the ground that the men stood on. “The people aren’t a part of this family feud, but they need resources too. So if you don’t like the idea of the river branch being expanded from the south to the north, I’d love to hear your solution.” Kyoshi offered, though it was more of a demand..

“I don’t need to have a solution, this isn’t my problem, we split the land fairly. And you have no right to do anything on the land I govern without my permission” Governor Maoho shouted back at Kyoshi.

“This is your problem, and you have made it mine as well so I suggest you get over yourself.” Kyoshi replied, drawing her fans.

“You should listen to her Maoho” Governor Muluh taunted.

Rangi just crossed her arms from behind Kyoshi. This was getting nowhere, except for maybe a fight if they provoked Kyoshi enough. Rangi had a feeling Kyoshi was kinda hoping for a fight after being out for the past month or so. But that again would help no one.

“Would you two stop acting like children for two seconds-” Kyoshi had been in the middle of yelling back when something caught her eye. “Where the fuck did that fire come from!”

They had all spun to see what Kyoshi was talking about. Sure enough on the wall near what looked once was a lamp holder was a fire starting to spread across the dry grass.

“This is what I’m talking about, we don’t have any water, how are we even supposed to put this out. Share the damn water Maoho!” Governor Muluh shouted.

“Spirits shut up for one minute and let me handle this first.” Kyoshi snapped, going to pull the earth up and over the flames. The dust extinguishing the flames as she worked.

“Perhaps we should reconvene later” Governor Maoho said as he headed for the direction that they had come from leading to the town hall between the wall. “But you know as well as I do that father split the land himself, he wouldn’t have made it as uneven as you claim it to be.”

“We will be discussing the river later, these people deserve resources just as much as your own” Kyoshi called out at the man as he continued on his way, just scoffing in return.

“I guess I will be seeing you later” Governor Muluh chimed in as he looked like he was about to go on his way. “Feel free to wait at my estate or the towns hall. I look forward to our next discussion. I’m happy my people are finally getting the resources they deserve.”

As soon as the man was out of sight Kyoshi let out a sigh before turning to Rangi. “So, the fire?”

But the firebender just shrugged. “Pretty good timing if you ask me, I thought you were going to hit the guy.”

“You really think you’re that clever?” Kyoshi asked skeptically.

“Clever enough to fool them,” Rangi replied with a small grin crossing her face.

“Either way I believe your methods are referred to as arson” Kyoshi whispered back to her as they set off for the meeting hall.

“Better than murder which I think was on the table if they continued talking” Kyoshi laughed as they headed back towards the hall. “But seriously what am I going to do Rangi, it’s like he said I can’t really do anything without the Governor’s permission.”

“I’m not sure. But Governor Maoho said something kinda strange as he left, don’t you think?” Rangi asked as she pulled open a door.

“And what was that?” Kyoshi replied though she was hardly hopeful.

“How he claimed that their father split the property evenly. But it doesn’t feel like it’s true, because well I mean we just saw both of the two towns.”

“You think it’s in writing? How the towns were split”

“Probably if it had to do with passing on this much land.”

This idea Kyoshi had hope for. Kyoshi tried to inspect the room, finding other hallways that led to what seemed to be a filing room looking for any papers that had the original property marks, it felt possible that they could have been wrong. She had just started looking over another shelf when someone cleared their throat behind her, and it wasn’t Rangi.

“Kyoshi” He had called, causing her to spin around, nearly taking out a shelf in the process. “Can I help you find something?” Although Governor Maoho was offering, his tone sounded like he would rather do anything but.

“I just want to verify the land, that’s all,” Kyoshi said simply. “Do you have the papers your father left?

“You think I did something, don’t you?” he asked accusingly, but he was right. When Rnagi brought up the fact that the father split the land, one other possibility came across her mind. What if the current property lines didn’t match the will?

“I won’t if I can support that”

The Governor looked offended, “How dare you insist that I did something that low. I may not admire my brother by any means but I would not go against my fathers wishes”

“Then just show me the papers and it will be fine,” Kyoshi said shortly, not entirely buying the story. People have told her far worse sob stories and have been lying all the same.

“I don’t have them”

The governor’s words cause Kyoshi to recoil. But that didn’t make any sense, surely with the way Maoho was acting. It only made sense in her head of course but still.

“What- you don’t. Then who does? You can’t hide them in a situation like this” Kyoshi tossed out there. He could still be lying and have them tucked away somewhere, that would make just as much sense.

“I really don’t have them, they’re at my brother’s estate.” He offered dully.

We’ll see, if he sends me on a goose chase… “You’re just buying time, you have no idea what to do about my whining brother, but he should entertain you the same.”

“We’ll be back” She called as Rangi followed at her heels.

“For spirits sake I just wanna get out of here, if that man is sending me on a wild goose chase for no reason-” Kyoshi mumbled to herself as they took to the north’s streets heading towards what she only assumed was the governor’s estate. It was the largest building on this side of the wall easily by default.

As they reached the front door they were greeted by a maid and led inside, being kindly welcomed.

But when Kyoshi asks to speak to Governor Muluh she insists that he’s busy at the moment. Kyoshi went on to tell the woman of her hope at looking through the estate files; she was more than a little surprised when they were brought into a room that looks like a library. “The files are kept in here, he doesn’t exactly hide them. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you take a look first, but I will notify him that you’re here”

As she leaves Rangi quickly finds the papers, which confirmed that the properties were split evenly. Governor Maoho wasn’t lying, this was exactly how the towns were made to be split by the last governor.

“Spirits that means I have to apologize” Kyoshi sighed as she took another look around the room. Rangi was reading off information from the papers when she noticed something odd.

Though her discovery seemed to be just as odd as Kyosh’s. There was something off about the book case. “Why isn’t this odd? The whole shelf is dusty except for this one spot” Kyoshi said sarcastically as she pulled the book case back. Rangi had squinted at the spot Kyoshi was referring to, but it wasn’t that noticeable to her personally. But Kyoshi had the knack for this sort of thing.

“What is it with people and these damn bookcase doors, if they’re going to do this they have to try and make it convincing.” Kyoshi sighed.

“Kyoshi, wait, maybe we shouldn’t go in there just yet, it might be breaking an entry. Besides there’s something I think you should know before-“

“Might I remind you that we were invited in here, and you basically committed arson an hour ago so no I’m not worried.” Kyoshi rebuttals as she hopped into the passageway.

“Holy fuck” There was a river. It ran through an underground canal.

“So they do have water, why would he keep it a secret?” Rangi asked as she climbed down into the cavern as Kyoshi pointed to some buckets filled with glittering materials.

“Because it doubles as a mine.”

Rangi sighed, “He kept it secret so he could sell this all off himself. And he wanted to mooch off his brother’s agriculture so he wouldn’t have to spend or share a dime damn.”

“This place is weird” Kyoshi committed as they crawled back up to the surface.

“But it makes sense, I mean look, the papers for the will of the land are numbered but the last one only says four out of 5 for page numbers. I bet the last one had the information on the underground river.”

“So it is confirmed, the father knew about the river when he split the land. He knew he wasn’t giving one side an advantage over the other.”

So I really should go and apologize. Kyoshi thought to herself. “So how do we deal with this?” Rangi asked, crossing her arms.

“Well isn’t he basically committing tax fraud, since you know he claims the town has- nothi-ing” Governor Muluh then walked in cutting Kyoshi’s sentence in pieces.

“Those papers mean nothing” He shouted, he had clearly been caught and was bound to start unraveling more by the second.

“Not those but his one, tells of the river underground that you were left with in the town.” Rangi claimed as she held up the 5th sheet of the will that she had found in the passage.

“I’ll burn those papers” He threatens. “Did your brother really never see this?” Kyoshi asked, trying to recall when Rangi could have sounded the fifth sheet, but honestly didn’t really care at this point.

“He had no need and he never will” the man had made a sudden move for the paper in Rnagi’s grasp but as he made its way towards the fire bender Kyoshi slammed her fist down on the top of the governor’s back causing him to fall in front of them.

“Kyoshi-” But Rangi could’t finish her sentence as Kyoshi grabbed her wrist and began to drag her out of the room at a run. They had heard the governor curse and take off behind them.

As they ran it didn’t take Kyoshi long to realize that the place was a maze. It seems to be an endless stream of hallways.

“This place is a damn maze, seriously how did we not know something was wrong sooner, this house is probably fancier than any building on the other side.” Kyoshi called out as they made another turn.

“He definitely wasn’t hiding it well” Rangi called from behind her.

The two continued to run through the house until finding the exit and stumbling out into the sunlight.

Even though Kyoshi could feel her feet starting to drag she couldn’t help but kinda laugh. I really am the worst influence on her. She thought about looking over to Rangi as they ran towards the wall.

They had entered the building so quickly that Kyoshi ran into Governor Maoho, sending him flying and sliding across the floor. “What is the name of spirits?” He had called out as he slowly got to his feet, he’s definitely done dealing with me now.

“Your brother’s a fraud,” Kyoshi shouted out of breath. “Wait- I mean he’s been lying about the water problem- I mean” She struggled to gather her breath. “Rangi can you hand him the paper?”

Governor Maoho snatched the paper from Rnagi hands, his eyes widening. “So he’s been hiding his town’s water source from his people, from me. Making me feel like I had done something wrong?”

His gaze suddenly snapped to Kyoshi, narrowing. “And you almost made me drive the river into his town.”

Kyoshi felt her face flush with embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I was ill informed that was wrong of me”

“It’s not just the river though” Rangi cut in. “There are minerals being mined out of the underground river. I bet more than anything he was really keeping the river a secret so he didn’t have to share the wealth he gained off his finding of the mine”

As if on cue Governor Muluh charged into the room, he looked terribly out of shape, and not really in the best condition.

“You bitch, you can’t just run off with important documents like that without permission. That’s illegal” He huffed

Kyoshi had to stop herself from laughing, this seemed like such a miniscule charge considering everything else. But before she could rebuttal Governor Maolo cut in.

“I asked her to retrieve the papers. So no it wasn’t illegal. I have every right to see them as you do.”

Kyoshi could’t stop herself from grinning even if tried. “Just give up, you got caught withholding resources from innocent citizens and squating on mines for your own benefit. I highly doubt you reported your mines to anyone.”

“You can’t do anything here Avatar, this is a fire nation issue, it doesn’t concern world peace so you don’t need to get involved.”

“So it would only take fire nation authority to stop you” Kyoshi asked almost mockingly.

“Like I said this is a fire nation affair, so yes” The Governor seemed to be very confident in his reasoning. None of which was really true, even if Kyoshi wasn’t the Avatar, she was still sent here by the fire lord. But there was a much more fun way to solve this.

“Fine” Kyoshi stated as she took a step to the side. “Allow me to introduce Lieutenant Rangi of the Fire Nation”

Kyoshi had noticed how neither of them had paid much attention to Rnagi the whole day, she hardly doubted that they even really noticed how she was clearly from the fire nation. Kyoshi watched with pleasure as the color drained from the man’s face. “The bodyguard? She really isn’t. Miss you can’t really act like… she’s too young- and'”

“That’s lieutenant” Rangi cut in. “Graduated early, top of the class and rose ranks faster than you managed to run over here. And as a witness to the scheme you’ve been running you will be arrested here today for your false claims. You can be put in front of a trial for this so you don’t waste anymore of our time.”

With the former Governor Muluh now detained in the south’s facility, Kyoshi asked if Maoho would be willing to help the northern town and distribute the underground resources to which he had agreed. Though Kyoshi still got the sense that he still couldn’t wait for her to leave.

Rangi had sent a messenger hawk to the firelord as they set out on their way as the sun set in the distance. “Spirits all that chaos and only day has passed” Kyoshi laughed as the town grew more and more out of sight.

The two stayed quiet for most of the night as they set up a quick camp, finally settling beside a small fire. “So when do you want to get married?”

“Soon as we have a plan,” Kyoshi replied, resting her head on Rnagi’s. “Then let’s make a plan”

Kyoshi smiled at the firebenders response. “So who do you want to invite?”

That question made Kyoshi freeze for a second before trying to find an answer. “You mother, of course, and Jinpa. And well who else do we need to invite?”

Rangi didn’t really like how she had phrased that last part. “We don’t need to invite anyone if you don’t want to.”

“But it kinda feels like I owe it to some people” She sighed.”Why don’t you just decide I’m good with anyone you want there. Plus those invitations were perfect. Just put the Senik’a clan on there and you’re good to go” There was a worried smile that crossed over Kyoshi’s features though Rnagi didn’t see it.

“If that’s what you want, I can do that. Is there anything else that you want?”

“Noodles,” Kyoshi said simply.

“We didn’t pack noodles for this excursion dummy.” Rangi replied, stifling a laugh.

“Not for tonight, for the wedding. After we get married I think we should have noodles.”

“Fine, may I ask why?” Rangi prodded. “You know why” Kyoshi turned to make a silly face at the firebender. “It reminds me of what a huge softy you are, and you know how much you care”

This time instead of immediately reasoning Rangi pushed Kyoshi backwards slightly. “The only reason I gave you those damn noodles was because you hadn’t eaten in days.”

But Kyoshi only laughed as she propped herself up. “Yeah but after that fight, you didn’t even last five minutes without trying to take care of me. That’s also why I’ll never be fully convinced you can get mad at me”

“You make me mad daily rocks for brains” Rangi shot.

“Hmmm” Kyoshi mummed as she went to kiss the fire bender. “Sure, whatever you say.”

OKaayyy so I fr dug myself the hole of making them venture out to the east. That was my fault, my grave and I had to write in it. Also why this is was all one part. But now that that’s over who’s ready for the wedding plot to start up?