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swiftsaltsweet · 7 months ago

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Thief in the Avatar's Estate: Chapter 1-Intruder

Characters: Rangi and Kyoshi and Yun (plus whoever appears in Rok)

Pairing: Rangshi

Summary:

Yun decides to head off to bed after his travels from fighting with the Fifth Nation. But as he does, he and his bodyguard, Rangi, hear strange noises coming from Kelsang's room. When they go to investigate, they are surprised by what they find.

(Canon divergent AU-What if Kyoshi was raised by her parents?)

Other Sites: AO3 and Fanfic.net

A/N: This is an AU of the Rise/Shadow of Kyoshi novels. I’m assuming you are a fan of/have read those.

I’m used to slow-ass burns (absolute crock pot behavior), so this one is going to be a bit more speedier than other stuff I’ve done (both published and unpublished).

____

Yun heaved a great sigh of relief as the healing water washed over his frostbitten feet.

He looked around at the other survivors on the ship. All wounded, but thankfully, not dead. The mission had been a success. Well, at least Plan B had been.

The original plan had been to peacefully talk things out with the daofei leader of the “Fifth Nation,” Tagaka. Strike a deal, free the hostages. It didn’t need to get bloody.

Tagaka, however, had other ideas. She already had plans for betraying Yun, the Avatar, as well as his team.

She had laid an ambush for them, at the icy mountain top where they would be signing a treaty. Far away from earth and rock. Cutting off the key resource for him and his master, Jianzhu, and the majority of their entourage.

It was supposed to weaken them, not having their element to defend themselves with. They were also not having any waterbenders to protect themselves around terrain that was advantageous for waterbenders. They were only allowed to have two firebenders for any real protection without jeopardizing the negotiations.

It would’ve worked too, if not for Yun’s quick thinking ploy. They had snuck his waterbending master into their group, a man named Amak. They dressed him in Earth Kingdom robes and had him put spidersnake droplets into his eyes so that it’d temporarily change to the color green. Hiding the last remnants of his Water Tribe origin.

The next misstep for Takaga was not checking their gear properly. Small batches of sand were sewn into tiny folds of their clothing. Their snow boots, thick for the snow, were hollowed out in the middle and filled with perfectly bended rocks.

It was certainly not enough to fight a whole army, at least for a typical bender. But between Avatar Yun and his master Jianzhu, it would be easy enough.

The last, and most crucial key ingredient, to the backup plan was Yun’s airbending master, Kelsang. He had the hardest task, as he had to follow and oversee everything from the air. All without rest alongside him and his flying Bison. The most difficult part was actively bending without rest for over twenty-four hours, but he said he was up to the task.

This was all so that if anything went south, Kelsang could air drop the real ammunition for the earthbenders from his beasts’ saddle. Giant boulders of earth.

From there the stage was set, and Tagaka played her role well. She attempted to kill Amak, but was not fast enough. Yun saw the ice spike ready to piece the man just in time to bend him out of the way with the earth contraband hidden in his clothes.

From there, it all went right. They were able to take out most of Tagaka’s men, with Jianzhu taking out all of her ships.

Yun fought Tagaka one on one, his first real fight against an opponent who truly wanted to kill him. He attempted to just disarm her, which was hard considering she had unlimited ammo on the terrain.

The duel finally ended in a fatal blow, a stone spike to her heart. Yun had run up to catch the dying woman, and as she died in his arms she whispered one last attack to him.

“What’s the matter, Avatar?” she coughed out blood. “Is earth all you can bend?”

The words pierced him harder than any blows she had been able to land.

She just had to hit me right in the complex huh? Yun laughed bitterly to himself.

Yun was the Avatar. Master of all four elements. But so far, for the past two years, he’d only been able to master one. His birth element, earth. But this was a secret, one that only he and his earth, fire, air, and waterbending masters knew.

He made up for his lack of bending prowess with his diplomatic wits and studies. But even he knew that could only get him so far.

He shoved the negative thoughts to the side, and looked across the room to the two firebenders that braved the journey with him. His firebending master, Hei-Ran, and her daughter and his bodyguard, Rangi.

Rangi turned to him with a fierce look in her eye, and a sullen pout on her lips. She wasn’t exactly a fan of her shoes being blown off in the smack dab middle of a snowstorm. She and her mother, however, could keep themselves warm a lot more than the other members of the expedition. All thanks to their firebending.

She pressed a thumb to one side of her nose, and blew out a blotch of blood. It seemed like one of the waterbenders got a solid hit to her face.

Yun gave her a friendly smile and wave, to which Rangi glared at him harder and then looked away. Yun chuckled to himself.

This whole thing was reckless. You’re too reckless! And what was that stance you used earlier? It’s making the spirits weep! I’m going to give you a crash course in fire academy training when we get back! Yun imitated Rangi’s voice in his head. He knew exactly what his friend was thinking.

And while he appreciated her concern, he was not looking forward to the “training” she was about to put him through.

_____

“-and why did you put your foot there of all places?!” Rangi chastised him for the uptheenth time. It’d been like this their whole trip home, ever since they finished receiving healing from the healers. Yun was honestly surprised she was able to keep an eye on him during such a haphazard battle.

“Rangi,” Yun attempted to sound stern, but some mirth still slipped into his tone, “You aren’t my firebending master. You’re my bodyguard.”

“I can still point out imperfections,” Rangi continued, undisturbed, “especially if they are glaringly painful!”

They were marching through the mansion, and she was going to give him a piece of her mind all the way up until his head hit the pillow.

She may have idolized the Avatar and Avatar-hood as a whole, but she was not going to let him slack off in any way.

Yun laughed. Having a pretty girl yell at you wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Even if she was the one girl on the estate who didn’t fall for his charms. Or the fact that she looked exactly like her mother. The same person who made Yun’s life a living hell with her training.

“Quit laughing, this isn’t funny! You could’ve been killed! And then what? Wh-”

Yun was about to laugh again when he felt something shift in the ground ahead of him. A place where no one should be at this time of night. Especially since most of the occupants were still located in the forefront of the mansion.

Yun quickly clamped his palm over Rangi’s mouth, quieting her.

“Shhh” he whispered when she gave a muffled protest. “Listen.”

There was only silence, but it couldn’t fool Yun. The Earth loved him, and it was warning him someone was up ahead.

The two slowly crept through the mansion, until they came by a room. Muffled sounds were coming from it.

It was Kelsang’s room. Yun and Rangi crouched on either side of the door.

Yun poked his forefinger into his mouth to wet it, and then poked two holes in the white paper covering the shoji door.

Rangi and Yun peered through the holes, and sure enough someone was there.

For a moment, they both thought it might’ve been Kelsang, as the figure in the room was almost as big as him. But this figure, though tall, was less broad than the Air Nomad.

An intruder! Rangi’s eyes bored into Yun’s. Her thoughts feed right into his own.

Let’s ambush him on three! Yun glared back at her with determination.

One! The duo stood up.

Two! Yun lightly hugged the wall next to the door frame, preparing to ram it.

Thre-! The wall gave out near Yun, causing his hand to slip and for him to lose balance.

He fell through the sliding door, with Rangi following after him as she tripped over his legs.

It was something so disgraceful, they blanched at the thought of having to ever think or talk about it.

They scrambled, attempting to unlock their limbs from each other and face their intruder.

When they looked up, they were met with a large, ghostly woman, towering over them in the pale moonlight.

____

A/N: Who likes Yun? I like Yun! Yun’s such a good boy. *pats Yun on head* :D Very upset we never really got Yun and Rangi interactions in the novels. u_u

#kyoshi #rangi #rangshi #yun #rise of kyoshi #rise of kyoshi au #rangi sei'naka #rangi seinaka

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a-chuffed-floating-panda · 3 months ago

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A love in the eye of the hurricane ch28 (unedited)

(Originally posted 22 November 2022 sleep deprived period. Slightly better edited chapter)

On the late nights she couldn’t sleep, Gawa went out and trained. The burn of her muscles helped calm her anxiety, which had been in overdrive for the last week and a couple of days.

Her friends were okay, but they almost died. Jamyang was healing and Tora was up and walking with the help of Deki and was theorizing what the notes they found meant; Aya-la had her theories and mentioned sensing an unrest among the civilians in the outer rings of Ba Sing Se. If it festered, someone could use it to their advantage and the results would be lethal, going by the rinpoche’s visions of heads being strung along the walls.

She let herself fall from the handstand she was in, taking a weird satisfaction of how the breath got knocked out from her lungs when she landed.

Prince Feishan was unpopular among the civilians, but liked by the nobles. Those two rarely mixed well. He came across as a paranoid bastard that cared, but didn’t care that much whenever she had to travel there for missions. Stringing heads along the walls of his future city wasn’t something she’d put past him. Senior nuns from Kushi temple shared her sentiment on that.

Gawa closed her eyes and sighed, sat up and slowly got up to her feet and dusted herself off. She looked down at her bruised hands and then up at the sky. Cloudy. Dark clouds. A possibility for rain. No one would question a strike of lightning then. One more time’s okay before she went back to Aya-la’s hideout.

She lowered into a horse stance, let out a heavy breath, calmed her mind, and moved her right hand. It always started as something small, she noticed, a tickle on the skin of her forearm. The hairs on her neck stood up when she changed it to her left hand and when she circled it back to her right, the sparks started hissing and crackling.

A prickling sensation spread over her forearms as the lightning grew stronger. Calm mind, even breaths; the lightning thundered around her.

She watched with fascination as blue lines climbed up her arms, clinging to her skin when she altered hands. It didn’t burn or anything, just tickled. Not the first thing she associated with ruthless fire.

Gawa shot it, not aiming at a particular spot in the sky. The rush as it shot out of her fingers left her winded and her chi thrummed through her chi paths satisfied. The feeling was oddly refreshing. Lightning spread over the sky like blue spidersnake webs, and the resounding boom echoed in the surrounding area.

“Hm, not bad.” She startled at the voice that had snuck up on her and turned around with a readied fist. Aya-la gave her an amused look, the tip of a fang peeking out when she smirked. Gawa quickly recomposed herself and bowed. “I apologise.”

“Oh, it’s no problem.” Her stance changed, and she gave her a once over. “Your reaction time is good.” Gawa bowed her head at the praise.

“You’re not the first non firebender I’ve met that can generate lightning.” She looked up at that mention. “I’ve met waterbenders who only could bend ice, but were masters of air. Earthbenders who only could bend mud, but were great firebending masters. I’ve even met an airbender who needed help from the heat in the air to float.” Gawa did that too sometimes. She’d win the glider races with Anzan because she used the humidity in the air to her advantage. “You’re certainly not the first I’ve met who could do this.” She said, “You have a strong affinity for it, but few have managed to generate it like you did after first discovering their ability for it.” Aya-la’s eyes sharpened and her look took a more intrigued turn.

“You learnt that.” She pointed to the lightning still dancing throughout the sky out to the horizon. “From a druk, didn’t you?” Nail on the head. Straight on the head. Gawa clamped up, the blanket snatched out from beneath her.

“I… uh…”

“Don’t lie to me. I know what a druk’s lightning looks like. It echoes and thunders violently in the sky and stretches out into the horizon. Humans don’t do that on their first try.”

“… yes.” Gawa admitted after a minute of silence. “Yes, I learnt it from a druk. I didn’t know that I could do this back then, but I did learn it from a druk and I’ve seen their lightning first hand while riding one.” The look in Aya-la’s eyes changed again.

“Who was it? I know of a few.”

“Xie, she lives in an old throne room under Mt. Gyerongsan. There’s more that live there, but I haven’t met all of them yet.” She’d come to learn that they had an annoyingly playful nature to them.

‘Well, you have to explore more to find more, don’t you?’ Xie always winked after she said that. Raiju, mostly because of Jamyang’s good influences, was kind enough to give her hints as he flew about in the room. Xie’s other children only twirled around in the air and giggled when she asked for hints.

“Throne room?”

“Yeah, it was supposedly a master healer’s room?” The greatest healers of the old would be enshrined there, according to texts that were still intact enough. Untouched by time and cared for whoever pushed the wind at her back; that’s only her theory though. With the amount of spiritual activity and the density of the energy there, she wouldn’t be surprised if the authors of the texts themselves were the ones to care for them. “I’m not really sure yet, but the pools of healing water are at the sides of the room and the walls are covered in murals of dual bending animals.”

“Ah! That room.” Aya-la’s eyes lit up with familiarity and she grinned. “It’s still intact after these years?”

“Barely.” She answered. “There're remnants of humans having lived there, damaged cloth, old bowls and utensils. That kind of stuff.”

Aya-la smirked and crossed her arms. “Interesting.” Gawa looked at her, clueless to what she’s remembering.

“There’s a room behind the healer’s room,”

“What?”

“When I last visited, many druks lived there. And there’s a tunnel- there was a tunnel at least behind the mural of a red Buddha that led to a warm pool of water that many were fond of putting their eggs in-,”

“Wait!” She frantically searched her pockets for that one notebook she carried for situations like these. “Let me get something to write with!” She wasn’t going to let something like this go.

Words from someone who’s been there when all the texts she’s been deciphering were being written were priceless.

A feeling settled in her gut when Dölma sat down beside her in the middle of carving Asahi. “So Jamyang, huh?”

“What about her?”

“The famous Jamyang from your letters,” she nudged her shoulder. “the one of your dreams, she’s the one you like.” Gawa’s face warmed, her stomach twisted into ugly knots and she bit back the retort on her tongue. Nope, she’s better than that. No lashing out.

She put her knife and wood down. “What do you want, Dölma?”

“Nothing.” she held her hand up in surrender. “I just want to know how long? You’ve not expressed much interest in anyone besides Keiko and Channarong.” Channarong excelled with the dao and shéng biāo, and they gave good advice on how she could improve. They built a friendship based on their interests in weapons. That’s normal. Completely normal. That’s how friendships start. The fact that they were attractive wasn’t the topic. “I know you. You don’t deal with this well.”

The corner of her mouth twitched and Gawa opened her mouth and ultimately closed it after four seconds because she couldn’t come up with anything to say. Swallowing hard, she answered. “I don’t know.”

Her mouth was dry, and she wet her lips. “I don’t know.” She repeated and picked up the half finished carving of Asahi and shrugged her shoulders. “A while, I guess?”

Dölma didn’t answer, opting to watch her intently for any reactions. Damn her eyes that could catch the smallest of facial twitches. She was being honest this time!

After a minute of complete silence, except for the wood she was carving, Dölma broke it. “Dearest Jamyang let it slip that blue was her favourite colour when I was checking her ribs.”

“Many like the colour blue.”

“It’s not just any blue,” and she reached up and pointed to her own eyes, “but this shade of blue.” She knew that.

“She even admitted to staring at you while you’re working because she enjoyed seeing the ways your eyes would light up and make them even more beautiful. Her words, not mine.” Gawa swallowed. She’d noticed that recently, too. “She found it upsetting that you’d brush off her compliments about your eyes.”

“They’re not special. Many others have the colour, just like you do.”

“But those words come from her. That makes them special, doesn’t it?” Gawa didn’t answer. She didn’t trust herself in the current moment to answer properly.

“She’d smile whenever she’d get her hands on a sketchbook and you were the subject she was drawing.” Gawa wasn’t going to say anything about that. She’d be a hypocrite if she did. She’d filled out a book and a half with just paintings of Jamyang. Anzan and Aden had caught her smiling many times.

“What are you trying to say?”

“… I’m trying to say,” dramatic pause, such a cousin’s thing to do. Eye roll. “That I will not live through another romance novel. I’ve had enough dealing with my classmates and their love stories.” The one with little desire for relationships was the go between for those that wanted them. Apa had laughed loudly when she’d asked him to read the letter for her.

With her older eyes, she knew that Dölma probably shouldn’t have vented her frustrations to a ten year old with their six-year age gap, but she understood why she did it.

“I will make the seven hells a reality if you even so much dare to make me a go between you and her.”

“I know your safety limit, so I don’t worry.” Two and a half times. She could ask her to be a go between two and a half times before her threat pushed through.

The petulant glare she gave her made her feel a little better.

Yutso slid the door open to Jamyang’s room while carrying a plate of food in her other hand.

She stopped and stared mid action at the scene she walked in on. There on the bed laid her daughter with her face nuzzled into her hair and arm around Gawa’s back, asleep. Gawa was cuddled up to her chest, and a hand gripped absently at her outer robes.

This…. this was adorable.

She’s not going to say anything about this. Her lips will forever be sealed. She might or might’ve not cuddled with Rinzen in the same way once, too. (He had muscles at the prime of his health and his hugs always made her feel protected.)

The motherly urge to separate the two because Jamyang was still experiencing some sight problems was strong. But she wasn’t about to do that. She snuck into her room and put the plate of food on the nightstand, it’s enough food so they could share.

Leaning over them, she touched her hand to her temple and soothed the slight irritation she felt.

Jamyang’s brows furrowed and her eyes blinked drowsily up at her. “Ama?” Her voice husked with sleep. Yutso retracted her hand after brushing through her hair once. “Sleep Jamyang, you need all the rest you can get.”

Her daughter didn’t need more encouragement and fell back asleep.

Yutso slowly backed out of the room and slid the door closed behind her. She had to bite her lip to not break out into a grin.

Jetsun, who stayed for longer than she’d thought, eventually asked her what was up when she got to the main room where the others were.

“Nothing,” she shrugged her shoulders, ignoring how her voice pitched and how it was a total giveaway. “It’s nothing.”

First thing Gawa noticed when she came to was that she was comfortable. Really comfortable. And well rested. It felt nice.

… there’s a hand in her hair.… Why was there a hand in her hair? Was there an arm around her, too? There was another person in the bed with her. What had happened?

The grip’s tight, no amount of squirming could get her out and it only held her tighter the more she moved.

“Stop moving.” ?! Gawa froze at the voice. “Ja-Jamyang?”

“Hmm?” Her morning voice was just so- she stopped that train of thought immediately. Her thoughts were already racing a hundred miles an hour. If she thought more about her morning voice, then her braid would short circuit. “Why are we in bed?” Getting the biggest questions out of the way first, smart thinking.

Jamyang shifted and loosened the grip around her. “You fell asleep when I was telling you a story, so I picked you up and placed you on the bed. And then I decided to get a nap in as well because I like to sleep.”

Sleeping was nice, Gawa agreed with that. But like this? With Jamyang’s arm around her and her steady heartbeat in her ear? That was something different.

Jamyang rolled away from her and rubbed her face. Gawa immediately missed the warmth.

“I think ama came in at one point, but I don’t know if I dreamt that or not.” She saw?! Gawa cringed at the possibility. Jamyang sat up and stretched her back and eyes did not follow the arch of her back. No, it did not. Whoever said that was lying.

But it did send tingles down to her stomach.

“I haven’t slept this good in a while.”

“No?” Gawa sat up with her and glanced in the smell's direction of bibimbap; a plate of bibimbap, medicine and a cup of tea sat neatly on a tray on the nightstand. Yutso saw.

“No, I haven’t.” She shook her head. “I always sleep better when I sleep with someone.”

Silence.

Gawa blinked at her, half mortified and half amused.

Her blush reached all the way down to her neck. “That’s- that’s not- I don’t mean it in that way. I meant like having another person in bed with me and just sleeping. Nothing else! Just like we did, y’know.” It’s easier to focus on Jamyang’s embarrassment over her fumble than to focus on her own feelings about this situation.

She ducked her head and swallowed hard. “Good to know that I’m nice to sleep with.” That was okay to say, right? She glanced up at her.

“You are.” Jamyang’s look was a little tentative, but also interested. “You’re small enough so you sorta just fit, you know?” What. What did that mean?

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds and Gawa’s acutely aware of the light tint of pink on Jamyang’s cheeks. She’s not going to read into that. Regardless of what Dölma said or not, she had cousin privileges, and her cousin privileges were rarely wrong. That didn’t count.

“Uh, um,” she looked away and grabbed the tray from the nightstand. “Yutso brought you this.” Jamyang’s smile at the bibimbap was adorable. “So I didn’t imagine it.” She drank the cup of medicine, grimacing at the taste.

“What did she do to wake you up?”

“I don’t know.” She mixed everything in the bowl with a pair of chopsticks. Someone made those out of black walnut wood, a nice wood to carve with.

“I woke up with her standing over me. She brushed my hair and urged me to go back to sleep.” She took a bite of the meal and smiled at the taste. “I think she checked my eyes.”

“You’re still experiencing sight problems?”

“Only some headaches and double vision, but that’s it.” She took another bite of the meal and then scooped up some rice and held it out in front of her. “Want some?”

This time, her brain does short circuit. That’s an indirect kiss. And an indirect kiss with- “I promise it’s delicious, Sister Jetsun mixed some of her spices into this.” Did she think while she acted? No. No, she absolutely did not.

It was delicious. Jamyang was right about that. The spice added a light kick to the rice.

She did not think about how intently they stared at each other when she accepted her spoonful of rice. Gawa tried to look away, but got caught in the depth of her eyes.

Did her pupils just dilate?

Jamyang looked away before she could confirm the observation and smiled to herself.

“It’s good, right?”

Gawa nodded, chewing slowly. “Yeah, it is.”

“Do you want more?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

Aya-la’s arms crossed, and she gave Sister Jetsun the side eye as Jamyang and Tora came walking into the main room of her hideout.

“See? I told you I could do it in two weeks.”

Sister Jetsun sighed. “I guess you were right.”

Gawa’s eyes were as large as saucers when Aya-la gave her old journals and scrolls about the tunnels at Mt. Gyerongsan.

“I included some techniques I’ve seen people use with their lightning generation for you, and I might visit soon if that’s alright if you.”

Gawa gaped. “Uh, uh, of course. Of course it is! Thank you!” She beamed under the fingers, ruffling her hair.

Uma grumbled when she jumped over into her saddle.

Uma’s grumble also made Jamyang look up from whatever she was sketching, smile and make some room for her to sit.

“What are you focusing so hard on?”

“Oh,” she looked down at the sketch. “Just something I saw while visiting the panda village.” She showed her the sketch.

“You saw a lóng?”

“No,” she laughed. “The Guru Panda said it was a lōng. Lōng. Flat tone.”

Gawa frowned. “I’ve never heard of that before. Is it like a cousin or sibling to the lóng?”

“I think so,” Jamyang nodded. “The one I saw didn’t look any different from the lóng in the murals and the texts, just smaller maybe? I couldn’t tell. He was up in the sky performing a sacred dance to bless those living in the village.”

“A dance?”

“Guru Panda said he does it to repay a debt that’s already paid. He also said that the dance is the predecessor of the sword style of the sun.”

“The predecessor of-?! Jamyang, why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“It didn’t come up?”

She whipped out her notebook. “Tell me everything you saw.”

They landed at the western temple at dusk.

Uma nudged her when she twirled off of her. Jamyang hugged her. “I know. I’m happy to be home, too.”

She heard a ‘woosh!’ A mass of weight landed on her chest and her world turned upside down. “Where were you?!” Pushing past a mop of brown hair revealed Yara’s scrunched-up face. “You’re late!”

“I uh, got injured? And it took two weeks to recover.”

“You got injured?! But they said you’d be sa-?!”

“I also found a red panda village.” The fury fell from her face immediately.

“A village of red pandas?”

“Yup.”

“All red pandas?”

“Yeah.”

“… all red pandas?”

“Yes, everyone was a red panda. I even got to hug one.”

And just like that, she’d diverted her sister’s attention to something cute and adorable instead of her almost dying.

Jaya ran at her, picked her up and spun her around.

“You’re back.” She gasped into her shoulder. “I was so worried.”

“I’m here, I’m here.” She patted her back. Jaya pulled away, and it was only then she noticed the blue arrow on her forehead and her lack of hair. “You-you got your arrows?”

Jaya laughed brightly. “I did. I planned it so that you’d be here, but then Sister Jetsun left in a hurry and I couldn’t delay it anymore.” Jamyang stared at her with her mouth open and took her turn in picking Jaya up and spinning her around.

“I’m sorry for not being there.”

“It’s okay. I heard through the whispers that you got really injured and healing priorities over boring ceremonies.”

“You shouldn’t call them boring.”

“I know, but they were. Good thing is that all of us are tattooed now.”

“All our classmates?”

“Yeah, all of them.” Around 70% of her class had been tattooed before she left. “Dolkar, Norbu, Dölma and Sangye took the ceremony with me and the last group got impatient during the wait and went and got them done at other temples.”

“What?” She pulled back. “No way!”

“They did!” Jaya laughed. “You inspired them.”

“… me?!”

Jamyang side eyed the arrowed monk that stood beside her friend.

Soten, from Karbandi, mainly a non-combatant temple, who also studied at Kinkaku-ji and Senso-ji. He studied many fighting styles from his childhood, but refrained from fighting until they had given every option a chance.

Hm.

Was this the best friend instincts she’s read so much about taking over?

He appeared to be nice and had an attractive face, too. He’d certainly charmed Jaya.

Hmm.

She grabbed her opportunity when Gawa grabbed Jaya by the shoulders. “You were bald before your arrows?”

“Yeah, I was.”

Jamyang hunted him down and cornered him in an empty hallway. “Jamya-,” she grabbed the collar of his robe and held him up to the wall. “Wha-what-,”

“If you ever hurt her,” she held a senbon dipped in poison up to his neck. “I will break all the Vinaya rules, throw away the noble truths and eight precepts, hunt you down and I will personally, make the seven hells your reality. Do you understand?”

He nodded frantically. “Yes, yes, I understand. I wouldn’t dream of ever hurting her.”

“Good.” She let go of him. “Now, let me check if I actually punctured your skin or not.”

“Oh,” he brushed his robes, still shaken up by her threat. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“I dipped these in poison.”

A messenger hawk sat and waited for her on the desk in her room. It had made friends with Jampo. It perked up when she entered her room later that night.

“Now who sent you, huh?” She wasn’t expecting anything from anyone. The royal fire emblem stood proudly on the letter tube, Shaohao.

Now, she had received two letters from Fire lord Yosor, one from his younger brother Prince Gonryu and one from Avatar Szeto; it was technically for Sister Tsering, but she got caught up in teaching a class. But this was from Shaohao. The others were rare anomalies that few ever experienced in their lifetimes.

Screwing the lid open, she fished the letter up and unfolded it.

The front of her brows tilted up the more she scanned the letter contents.

“… I’m scared. My father is sick and the healers say it’s bad this time…”

Jamyang put her outer robe on, grabbed her bag, her pocket of money, her staff and Jampo. “We’re going on a visit.” She tied a headband around her head and picked a pair of black gloves, a gift from Palden. “You can fly with us, right?” The hawk chirped. “We’re going to make a stop on their way there, though. Find somewhere to hide, okay?” The hawk chirped again.

She teleported out to the plaza and landed on unsteady feet -it’s been a while since she’s done that- and took off on her glider with Jampo peeking out of her bag and the hawk soaring beside her.

The hawk flew up to the rooftops. Jampo hid in her bag and she collapsed her staff down before she entered a shop.

Jamyang picked her two choices and grabbed two cups while she was at it.

“That will be 3,500 yen.” She handed the woman behind the desk the money and put her newly bought items in her bag.

Jampo made a surprised squeak, but the sound was muffled enough so she didn’t hear him.

Jamyang secured her newly bought items in the bag thrown over her shoulders, made sure that Jampo was comfortable and took off on her glider.

The hawk flew in her peripheral vision.

Using the cloudy weather to her advantage, she traveled in one until she reached the Fire nation royal palace, dropping on Shaohao’s veranda.

“Hey,” He yelped and fell off his bed. Jamyang ignored the fact that others could see this as treason and climbed through the window. “I brought alcohol.” The hawk landed on the windowsill with a scratch scratch.

His hair was down from its usual bun, and he was in his sleep wear. His eyes shined in the dark as frowned at her over the side of his bed. “You’re a nun. You’re not supposed to drink alcohol.”

“I’m not,” she pulled out the bottle of sake and shochu out of her bag. “But here I am with two bottles of alcohol.” She went and sat down beside him. “We’re going to drink. You’re going to talk about your feelings and I will keep you company.”

His stunned expression was hard to make sense of. “But what about your precepts-?”

“It’s okay, I’ll deal with it.” He didn’t look reassured. “I’ve drunk alcohol before.”

“You have?”

“I have, although chang isn’t like sake or shochu from what I’ve heard.” She popped the sake bottle open and poured him a cup. “Sake is more dry and smooth in taste while chang is more bitter, like ciders with a sweet tint to it.”

He took the shot, and Jamyang poured herself a cup. “Sounds interesting. I’m surprised that I haven’t tasted it before.”

“Many visitors are surprised that we have alcohol, but they’re put off by the texture.” She drank her glass and winced at the taste. Stronger than she’s used to.

“What’s the texture like?” He poured himself another glass.

“It sort of looks like fermented horse milk at first glance,” he made a face. “But it’s made of fermented barley.”

He took another shot. “Maybe I could taste it sometime?”

“Bodhi day is coming up at the end of the year. The whole temple smells of fermented barley up toward the day. You can come, if you want. It’s the celebration of Buddha’s enlightenment.”

Shaohao leaned against her shoulder, nodding. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Two bottles of alcohol, many tears and a knocked out Shaohao later.

Moving him up to his bed and tucking him in, Jamyang stumbled on her feet as she cleaned up the bottles and cups. Before she left, she wrote a scribbled note in her drunken haze and placed it underneath his pillow; the corner sticking out.

Jampo stood on his hind legs in her bag and quaked softly at her as she pulled her staff out. “I know I shouldn’t be flying Jampo, but I can’t get caught here.”

If she’s lucky, she could get back in time before the temple woke up. Jamyang took off from his window and flew straight into the nearest cloud. She couldn’t play risky as if she was sober. That was the quickest way to get into trouble.

Jamyang stumbled and promptly face planted when she landed on the temple plaza. It was so tempting to just lay there, but that meant getting herself into trouble.

Dragging herself up at Jampo’s concerned whine, she stumbled into the temple and crashed into someone. So much for trying to stay out of trouble.

“Jamyang?” Arms tightened around her because her legs apparently failed to work and this person was the only reason she was still standing.

“Mmh?” She blinked when the person pulled back to look at her. Ama?

She sniffed at her. “Have you been drinking?” Jamyang laid her head against her shoulder and nodded. That wasn’t the alcohol speaking, that was Jamyang speaking. Lying to ama was just bad, she wouldn’t do that.

“How much?”

“One sake bottle an’ one shochu bottle.”

“Alone?” Were they moving? She couldn’t tell. She shook her head. “No, it was with Shaohao.” Ama went quiet for a couple of seconds. “You snuckinto the royal palace to drink with him?” Jamyang nodded again. “He was sh-sad an’ I thought ‘why not?’ Drinking and talking is good medicine sometimes.”

Ama laid her down on something soft. “That was reckless. You’re still suffering side effects from your injuries, you know. And you flew back in this condition, too?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“What if you got caught, hm?” Ama fussed around her. “What do you do then?”

Jamyang blinked and waved a hand at her. “They haven’t caught me the other times I’ve snuck out and snuck back in.”

“… They haven’t?” Should she have said that?

She shook her head. “I even got poisoned once, and no one caught it.” It wasn’t a pleasant time trying to drag herself back to her room after getting hit with a paralytic senbon.

“Why have you snuck out before?” That’s a trick question, wasn’t it? She shouldn’t answer that. “To train, visit friends and I’ve also visited Gawa whenever she was nearby on her little study trips for the texts she was studying m, but it was mostly to train.”

Ama went quiet again. “… do you like Gawa?” She didn’t know the answer that made sense. These feelings were still confusing. She wouldn’t ask for more if Gawa didn’t want to give it to her and it was okay if they remained as friends.

“Yeah,” a bushy tail touched her jawline. “A lot.” Ama didn’t answer, but she pulled the duvet up to her chin and kissed her forehead.

“I’ll tell the others that you got sick. Sleep well Jamyang.”

“You too, ama.”

Notes:

Heyo, sup. There is an actual admission of feelings here and some tension (I think? I'm still new at writing this) Jamyang sneaks out to drink and does the horrible thing of *Gasp* flying home drunk. How dare she? She then proceeded to do the very stereotypical thing of confessing that she's snuck out other times too and haven't gotten caught. She then confesses to, yes, liking Gawa a lot. I think I'm going to add the idiots to lovers tag on this one, because they are going to be idiots until the confession in later chapters. I think I might add extra scenes because the chapters aren't going to end up even now that I think about it. Jaya's boyfriend is introduced and ahh, I had fun writing that shovel talk scene. Jamyang did in fact puncture skin with that senbon and she spent the next fifteen minutes extracting the poison that had gotten into his bloodstream. Soten didn't mind and they shook hands afterwards. Soten wouldn't be stupid and hurt her friend= Not vengeful Jamyang. All is good. Words: shéng biāo: Chinese word for rope dart Chang: Tibetan beer Bodhi day: A celebration of Buddhas enlightenment, can be any day from late December to early January

#a love in the eye of the hurricane #Aliteoth original chapters #oc fanfiction #atla oc fanfiction #oc centric #airbenders & airbending #pre yangchen era #oc jamyang #stories from people at ordinary temples #stories from people at ordinary temples series #ao3fic #unedited fic chapter

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