Kyoshi stumbled backwards when she realized what she had done, accidentally kicking over the small table and everything on it. The washbowl fell to the floor and shattered, creating a mess of ceramic shard and water all across the wooden floor. Kyoshi retracted from it, moving away from the ruins of her destruction as quickly as she could. She had waterbent. She had waterbent. She, an airbender all her life, a tattooed master raised in the temples, had bent water around her hand and healed herself. It was impossible. It wasn’t even the right element in the cycle.

Kyoshi picked herself up, stabilizing herself on the wall. She avoided stepping on the ceramic- the house-shoes she wore were thin and wouldn’t protect her feet. The water itself had created a puddle on the ground, a sight so simple and common it almost taunted her. She could envision herself imitating the movements of the master waterbenders and pulling the liquid upwards into a bubble, with only a simple, fluid movement of her arm. She had seen it a thousand times, a motion so fundamental of a bending art that wasn’t her own. Except- apparently- it was, because she had just done it.

After staring at the water for a moment, Kyoshi gathered herself, brushing the loose strands of her hair out of her face. She pressed her hands to her throbbing temple, hoping the coolness of her palms would calm her down and make things seem more clear. It didn’t help, all she could see was the glow of the blue that had surrounded her hand.

Reluctantly, Kyoshi left the washroom. No matter how much she wanted to lock herself away in it and hide forever, sitting in a cramped space wasn’t doing her any good. After she had closed the door behind her, she stumbled into the empty hall. There weren’t any house-servants in sight, Jianzhu had most likely called a staff meeting to explain the new situation. That was, if even he had a plan for what was going to happen next.

Due to the storm still raging outside, the hallway was dim, lit mostly by oil lanterns and candles instead of open windows like Kyoshi preferred. It seemed like the hallway was going to close in on her and swallow her hole. She might’ve appreciated the gesture- it might be a better fate than having to tell her new secret.

Who was she going to tell? She couldn’t tell Jianzhu or Hei-Ran or Amak. It would only worsen what Yun was going through and Rangi wouldn’t believe her. There was only one person she could really trust with the information- her father.

Kyoshi had assumed that Kelsang was still with Nyahitha and Yun in the parlor-turned-spiritual abode, and she was right. When she stepped inside, Nyahitha was in the process of extinguishing candles and lighting oil lamps in their wake, while Rangi, who apparently had returned after not getting an answer to whatever question she had begged her mother, paced the length of the rug and muttered to herself. Kelsang had pulled out one of the benches to sit on with Yun. He draped his arm over the boy’s shoulder, just like he always did when Kyoshi was scared and alone.

Even though they had been speaking quietly before, Kelsang and Yun’s conversation fell silent once Kyoshi approached them. Once she was closer, she could see the tear lines running across both their faces.

“Kyoshi…” Kelsang asked. “Are you alright?”

Kyoshi hastily nodded and adjusted the fold of her robes. She hadn’t taken into account how haggard she might look. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m fine.” It took all her strength to take in a breath before speaking. “I have… I have something I need to tell you.”

Kelsang’s face went blank. “Oh? What’s wrong?”

By now, both Nyahitha and Rangi had noticed her entrance and were both waiting for Kyoshi’s response.

After a moment of silence, Rangi put her hand over Kyoshi’s shoulder. “Kyoshi, are you alright?” She whispered.

“Did you see the healers?” Yun asked. He must’ve noticed the burn on her hand- or the lack of it.

Kyoshi pulled her hand and held it over her heart, hiding it from everyone else. “I… kind of.”

Kelsang moved over on the bench to allow Kyoshi to sit down. She complied, and buried her face in her hands, only relaxing her shoulders when she felt Kelsang’s arm around her. She leaned into her father’s warm chest, like she did when she was a child. He was warm, and the textured cotton of his robes against her face was like home to her. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend she was still home, at the temple, and nothing had changed.

“Kyoshi…” Kelsang whispered. “What’s wrong?”

“I- I was going to wash up my burn, but-” She sobbed. Kyoshi hadn’t meant for it all to come out all at once, but it did. “I- I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry!”

Kyoshi felt a warm hand over her shoulder- Rangi’s. “Kyoshi…” The girl whispered. “What happened?”

Kyoshi held her breath, scared to say the truth. “I- I think I waterbent. I healed up the burn over my hand.”

“Oh.” Kelsang whispered. “Oh.”

“She- you bent water?” Nyahitha asked. He leaned down so that Kyoshi could see him. “You healed yourself?”

Kyoshi nodded. She could feel the beat of her heart rapidly quickening. “I didn’t- I don’t- I’m an airbender!”

“Are you sure you didn’t…. Heal yourself with airbending?” Yun sputtered.

“Impossible, you can’t heal with air.” Nyahitha declared, turning to Kelsang. “Nobody can.”

Kyoshi’s father nodded slowly. It was affirmation enough. “Kyoshi… are you sure you waterbent?”

“I healed myself!” She lifted her unscathed hand to show everyone. “I- I went to wash up, I didn’t see the healers or anything! I promise!”

“Why didn’t you go to the healers first?” Rangi scoffed.

“I don’t know?!” Kyoshi yelped. “That doesn’t really matter right now!”

“What- what’s going on?” Yun whimpered. “If Kyoshi can waterbend, does that mean-”

“But I’m an airbender.” Kyoshi said. She couldn’t get a statement out of her head. She was an airbender. She was an airbender. The cycle didn’t go air-water-air. It was absurd. There had to be some mistake, an accidental knot woven into the fabric of the world. There had to be.

Kelsang put his hand on Kyoshi’s shoulder- both a gesture of support and a motion to turn her to him. “Kyoshi, please. Look at me.”

Kyoshi nodded and looked at her father.

“We’re going to figure this out, ok? But I need you to stay calm.” He turned to the rest of the group. “I need you to all stay calm. We’re going to go to the Southern Air Temple.”

“All of us?” Yun outburst, looking between Rangi and Nyahitha. “Are you sure?”

“All of us know… whatever we now know, so it’s best if we all go together.” Kelsang replied. “I- I don’t know what else we can do. Maybe the temple abbots will have an answer for us.”

Kyoshi nodded, trying to reassure herself. They were going to go to the temple abbots. The temple abbots would have an answer for them. It would be simple.

“Kelsang.” Nyahitha said, his voice laced with caution. “What’s going to happen to Yun.”

“I don’t know.” Kelsang shook his head. “I don’t know. We’ll have to figure that out later. We’re going to have to figure out a lot of things later.”

“So that’s it? We’re all just going to pack our bags and leave Yokoya?” Rangi’s brow furrowed, her armor clanking against itself as she crossed her arms. “We’re going to abandon everything?”

“We have to.” Nyahitha shook his head. “Kyoshi’s an airbender- an air nomad- so it’s only legal that we go to her nation’s leaders about this, whatever it is.”

“And what is it?” Rangi frowned.

Nyahitha hesitated but gave in when he realized he was the one who had the answers. “Well, that’s a bit of a complicated question. We- we don’t really know. There haven’t been any records of people bending two of the four elements. She could be possessed by some kind of spirit, or it could’ve just been a fluke, or a misunderstanding. There have been a lot of spiritual mishaps happening lately. Or…”

“Or?” Yun raised an eyebrow.

“Or, she’s somehow the Avatar.” Nyahitha shrugged. “That one’s the most unlikely of the three, because we’d have to have both an earth- and a fire- Avatar die extremely young for her to even have a chance at lining up with the cycle. As far as we know, the last Avatar was Kuruk.”

As far as they knew. Kyoshi knew her father and his friends had spent almost fifteen years searching for Kuruk's reincarnation. An entire Avatar could’ve been born, lived, and died a young death in that time period and they wouldn't have even known it. In actuality, they didn’t know anything.

“We’re going to figure this out.” Kelsang said. “I promise. The answer will probably be simpler than everything.” He looked to Kyoshi, as if she might burst into a smile and declare it a joke in that minute. She didn’t.

“And what about Sifu?” Yun asked, referring to Jianzhu. “Are we going to tell him?”

“Or my mother?” Rangi added, though with a hesitancy.

Nyahitha and Kelsang exchanged a glance. “I… I don’t know.” The firebender sighed. “I don’t think it’s in our right interest to tell Jianzhu.” He didn’t mention Hei-Ran.

Before anyone could respond, the heavy door opened, letting Hei-Ran in. She quietly dismissed whoever she had been speaking with before and turned to the occupants of the room- all huddled up around Kyoshi.

“What-” Hei-Ran cut herself off by putting her hand to her forehead before she could complete the sentence. “You’re all still here.”

“Mother!” Rangi called out, though she didn’t have a follow-up to her statement.

Kyoshi forced herself to look up at Hei-Ran. Strands of the headmistress’s dark hair had come loose, framing her face. She seemed tired, and kept her hand positioned over her forehead. “Kelsang, what’s happening here?”

Kelsang gathered himself. “Well, allegedly, Kyoshi bent water and healed a small wound on her hand.”

“I didn’t mean to burn her!” Rangi cried just as Kyoshi was professing her own innocence in the matter.

“She what?” Hei-Ran outburst. “And you believe her?”

“Kyoshi doesn’t lie about things.” Kelsang stated blankly. “I believe her.”

“She’s still a child. And-” Hei-Ran buried her eyes in her hand. “Kelsang, if she did waterbend, what does it mean?”

“I don’t know.” Kelsang replied, speaking softly like his words would wake the spirits. “I’m taking Yun and Kyoshi to the Southern Air Temple for safety. If you’ll allow me, I’d like to take Rangi with me as well.”

Hei-Ran sighed through gritted teeth, producing a hesitant hissing sound. “That’s- that’s probably for the best. It’s not safe for Yun here now, so I doubt it will be for any of them. If Jianzhu hears of this....”

“What’s happening with Jianzhu?” Nyahitha asked.

After glancing at the door she had shut, Hei-Ran answered. “He’s lost his temper. I- I don’t know what to do. I think leaving is the best option right now.”

Nyahitha peered out the window, looking behind the heavy curtain. “It’s still storming heavily out. Do you think it’s safe to leave now?”

“Nyahitha, I heard Jianzhu say he was going to kill Yun.” Hei-Ran whispered. Yun flinched at her words and grabbed onto Kelsang. “I’m pretty sure it’s our best option.”

“Alright.” Kelsang nodded and stood up, bringing both Kyoshi and Yun up with him. “We’ll get going now. If we start travelling soon, we should be able to make it by tomorrow morning. If we’re lucky.”

A silence fell across the room until Rangi broke it by taking hold of Kyoshi’s hand. “We should probably go get packed.”

In the end, they decided on taking both bison to the Southern Air Temple. It would be wrong to leave one of them behind, and they needed the extra space. Kelsang would ride with Hei-Ran and Rangi on Pengpeng, while Kyoshi took Yun and Nyahitha on Huan.

Unfortunately, it meant it took longer for them to get ready.

Jianzhu’s entrance to the stables was applauded by a clap of thunder and painted by a flash of lightning from outside. In the momentary light, Kyoshi could only make out the man’s silhouette, discerning enough of his shape to see how rain-drenched he was, just like the rest of them.

The earth sage held his hands behind his back as he fully entered the light of the inside, a gesture that served both to make him look polite and to conceal any weapon he might be holding. Despite his uptight posture, it was clear the man had been distressed. Strands of his wiry hair had escaped their perfect placement, dark circled shadowed his bloodshot eyes. Despite everything, he looked like he was trying, desperately trying, to maintain composure.

“Where are you going?” Jianzhu’s voice rang across the stables like the tone of Yokoya’s village gong, no less loud and clear from the rain.

Kelsang, who had been halfway through climbing up Pengpeng to secure the final few sacks of supplies onto her saddle, was the first one to respond. “We’re leaving. Without you.”

Kyoshi looked between Jianzhu, her father, and Yun. Of the two bison, hers was closer to Jianzhu. Yun was on top of Huan’s saddle and had been securing parsels. It wasn’t the most unprotected area, but he was still at risk of attack.

“You can’t leave.” Jianzhu’s face remained neutral. “Where are you going, and why are you taking Yun?”

Kyoshi glanced up at her father, who had dismounted his bison and started approaching Jianzhu. Her gaze followed him until he was only a few feet away from Jianzhu and stopped.

“You dare,” Jianzhu snarled. He had to look up to make eye contact with Kelsang. “You defy my will and order, with a matter as delicate as this one.”

“Yun is a child, Jianzhu!” Kelsang’s deep voice boomed in a way Kyoshi had never heard it before. “He’s a boy!”

Jianzhu’s nostrils flared. “He is my ward. You don’t decide what happens to him or not. This isn’t an Air Nomad matter anymore.”

“Jianzhu, please.” Kelsang whispered. The tones of his voice grew softer, more compassionate. “You know this isn’t right. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I know-”

Kelsang’s sentence was cut off by a sickening, flesh like noise, accompanied by the crude, slicing sounds of earthbending. It was only when Jianzhu lowered his hand did Kyoshi notice he had raised it, bringing up a thin, diagonal pillar of earth that pierced through Kelsang’s body. Kyoshi caught her father before he could hit the ground.

All Kyoshi could do was scream and weep. Behind her eyelids she could see flashes of light threatening to take over, voices accompanying her in her pain, until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Through her tears, Kyoshi could make out Nyahitha. The sage had picked up Kelsang and was distributing his weight between the two of them. “Kyoshi. Kyoshi, stay with me.”

Kyoshi looked Nyahitha in the eye and nodded. She couldn’t see where Jianzhu was, or anything behind her immediate sight.

“Good.” Nyahitha said. “I need you to help me get Kelsang onto Huan. Yun, you’re flying.”

Kyoshi could here Yun’s voice faintly, over the echo in her ears. “I am?”

“Yes. For now.” Nyahitha replied as he and Kyoshi climbed up Huan, bringing Kelsang with them. As Kyoshi settled in her bison’s saddle, her vision began to clear and she could see Rangi climbing over Pengpeng’s saddle. She couldn’t make out much more before Yun shouted, “Huan, yip yip!” and she was thrown back from the motion of flight.