“Who’s- who’s Uki?” Yun’s voice wavered as he asked the question.

Hei-Ran took in a breath before responding. “Uki is Kuruk’s younger sister. We haven’t been on good with her terms since her brother’s death, but-”

“Speak for yourself.” Nyahitha scoffed. “You haven’t been on good terms with her.”

“I haven’t been on good terms with her since her brother’s death,” Hei-Ran repeated. “But for the last fifteen years, she’s been trying to solve the mystery of Kuruk’s death. If we need to know what happened to him, she’s the person to ask.”

Rangi nodded. “Alright, that sounds like a good plan. We can find her, explain the situation, and solve the mystery. And then Kyoshi can start learning waterbending.”

Kyoshi flinched at the idea that in the near future she would be learning another element.

“It’s- it’s not that simple.” Hei-Ran sighed. “We don’t know where Uki actually is. She’s been missing for years, we don’t even know if she’s alive.”

“Oh, she’s alive.” Nyahitha said. “At least she was a few months ago. She sends me letters to update me on her... pursuits. The last news I have is that she’s traveling to the Si Wong Desert. Chances are, she’s probably still there.”

“She’s been writing you?!” Hei-Ran jumped to her feet. “And you never told anyone?”

“Excuse me for not telling you everything about my life fifteen years after we stopped talking to each other.” Nyahitha defensively put his hand over his chest. “Uki told me not to tell anyone. I keep my promises. Unlike some people.”

“So, we know where she is.” Yun stated, speaking before Hei-Ran could. “In the desert. We have a plan, we should just go for it. She’s in… the Si Wong desert. It shouldn’t be that hard to find her in… the biggest desert in the world.” The optimism in his voice had faded by the end of his sentence.

“It’s not about finding her, we’re perfectly capable of that.” Nyahitha sighed. “It’s the other things I’m afraid of.”

“Other things like what?” Rangi frowned.

“Other things like I’m afraid she might try to stab your mother.” The sage snapped in response before regaining his composure. “All these years and she’s still got all of her brother’s impulsivity with twice the temper.”

“Are you sure this is the person we should be asking for help?” Kyoshi asked, looking between Hei-Ran and Nyahitha. “If she’s going to react so emotionally, wouldn’t it be better if-”

“No, she’s our only choice.” Nyahitha cut Kyoshi off before she could finish the sentence. “The authorities abandoned Kuruk’s case six months after he died, and once he-” he pointed at Yun, “Was named his successor, nobody thought to think anything of it. Except for Uki. If we’re going to figure out how Kyoshi’s the Avatar, we need to solve Kuruk’s murder. And to do that, we need Uki. She has the… connections we need.”

“Connections?!” Hei-Ran abruptly stood up, leaning over the table. “Care to explain what that means?”

Nyahitha jumped back and raised his hands in the air. “Hei-Ran, I-”

“Don’t-” The headmistress cut him off for a moment, to regain her composure. “Explain, please.”

It took a moment for Nyahitha to gather enough strength to respond. “What I was saying… is that, from what I can tell, Uki has ties to criminal organizations that could be of use to us.”

“She’s a Daofei?!” Hei-Ran cried out. Kyoshi was surprised the room didn’t set itself ablaze, only grow marginally hotter. “Why did you let Kuruk’s sister become a Daofei?!”

“First of all, she’s an adult and can make her own choices.” Nyahitha snapped, his voice raising in volume. “Second, I never said she’s a daofei. I said she had ties.”

“Ties to what?” Hei-Ran slapped the table, punctuating her sentence with a sharp, loud noise. “To criminal organizations?”

The room fell silent, save for the crackle of the fire and Nyahitha’s haggard breaths. “Look.” The sage took in a breath. “Do we want to have an Avatar or not? Because if this is the line, we don’t have to find Uki. We can just live without an Avatar until we all die from falling into spirit chasms!”

Hei-Ran put one hand over her eyes. “Fine. Fine. We’ll find Uki.”

“Good.” Nyahitha gathered his robes and straightened his hair. “It seems we’re all in agreement?”

Kyoshi nodded when she realized a question had been posed. She had more questions, though she suspected no one had an answer to them.

Nyahitha nodded. “Good. Good. I’m going to go find a map of the Si Wong desert. Chances are, we’ll need it.”

The sage had left the room before Kyoshi could ask when they were leaving, so she turned back to the table. Rangi and Hei-Ran were already preparing to leave, so she turned to Yun. When he caught her glance, he buried his face in his hands.

Kyoshi took the seat next to Yun and put her hand over his shoulder, trying to be as supportive as possible. “Yun… I’m…. I’m so sorry.”

Yun wiped the tears from his eyes, only then letting Kyoshi know he had been crying. “I- I just…. None of this makes any sense! It shouldn’t be you! You shouldn’t even have the possibility of it being you!”

“I know.” Was all Kyoshi could say. There was too much wrong about everything. She could only hope that speaking to Uki would bring them all more solace.

“It should’ve been me… it should’ve been me.” Yun repeated, wiping his tears onto his sleeves. Kyoshi almost chided him for staining his fine silk clothes. Almost.

Kyoshi put her hand over her pocket, where the hairpin she bought for Rangi still sat. After all this time, she hadn’t worked up the courage to give it. It would seem like a mockery of everything, a cruel joke about how far they had come. She didn’t want to think about the simplicities of the past, now that the very world had turned on its head. “I’m sorry.” It took all of Kyoshi’s strength to force out the words. She stood up. “I’m- I’m going to go look for my father. I want to check on him before we leave.”

Yun didn’t say anything as she left the room.

The door to Kelsang’s room was cracked slightly open, but Kyoshi still knocked, out of habit. A calm, familiar voice replied, “Come in!”, and Kyoshi did so.

The room was small, and of similar design to the one Kyoshi had woken up in, though the window was kept curtained to preserve heat. Kelsang lay out on the bed, still asleep and being attended to by Atuat. From what Kyoshi could tell, he looked better.

Atuat momentarily paused her healing to look up at her patient’s visitor. “Kyoshi! I assume you’re here to-”

Kyoshi nodded before Atuat could finish her sentence and rushed to her father’s side. She cradled Kelsang’s hand in her own and closed her eyes, biting back tears as she whispered prayers to the spirits. He had to make it out ok. He had to.

“He’s going to be alright.” Atuat whispered, putting her hand over Kyoshi’s shoulder. Both the words and the motion surprised her, she wouldn’t have expected the woman to express such compassion to a stranger.

“Are you- are you sure?” Kyoshi whimpered.

Atuat nodded. “He’s been making a steady recovery, and will be back to normal in a few weeks.”

Kyoshi nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. All she could do was keep nodding. He was going to be alright. If she couldn’t focus on anything, she had to focus on that. Her father’s recovery was a constant, steady thing she could keep track of. He would be alright.

Nyahitha gathered them all in a circle before they fully entered the tavern. “Alright. This is the place Uki said she would meet us at.”

Kyoshi exchanged a glance with Rangi, then looked over the sage’s head to inspect the Misty Palms Cantina. The building itself was shaped from sand-colored mud brick, and had an olive green tapestry hung over the entryway instead of the door. Ever since they landed on the outskirts of the oasis, their group had been garnering stares from the locals- settlers and sandbenders alike. The glares were bearable, though, at least when compared to the sun beating down on them. Kyoshi didn’t know why anyone would choose to live in the desert. Judging from their reactions, neither did her companions. Yun kept pulling out his shirt to keep cool; Rangi held her hand over her eyes shield them from the sun.

“Now,” Nyahitha continued, straightening his robes. The entire week-long journey, he had explained the situation over again at any chance he got. “When we’re in there, we all need to act calm and confident, but not draw any attention to ourselves. Does everybody understand that?”

Kyoshi nodded- by now, she knew Nyahitha’s worried monologue by heart- but her confidence faded when she glanced over their group. It would be hard to lay low when only one of them looked like they were from the same nation.

Hei-Ran huffed in impatience and stepped in front of Nyahtiha, towards the makeshift door. “Let’s just get this over with.”

After watching the headmistress disappear into the tavern, Kyoshi exchanged a glance with Rangi and Yun, then followed.

The moment she stepped into the indoor room, Kyoshi was confronted by the stiff, still air. When they had been outside, it was easy to enjoy the slight breeze that marginally helped relive the heat, but the wind was absent indoors. The air was so still and the room so dust-filled and dense, Kyoshi wondered how anyone could work in it without loosing their breath.

Thankfully, the tavern wasn’t too crowded. Only a few patrons- most dressed in the loose, beige robes characteristic of this part of the Earth Kingdom- graced the bar and the t*ables. They all seemed to notice the foreigners entering the tavern, and muttered to themselves in a language Kyoshi didn’t recognize.

“Do you need anything?” The bartender briefly paused his work to address them. He spoke with a gruff voice and a heavy accent.

“Yes.” Nyahitha straightened his hair and moved to the front of the group. “We’re looking for a woman named Uki, do you know her?”

The bartender looked over Nyahitha, then nonchalantly gestured to the back of the room. His gesture led Kyoshi’s gaze to one of the back tables, where a singular person sat.

“Thank you.” Nyahitha awkwardly waved, then led the group to the table.

Once they had approached her and taken their seats at the table, Kyoshi could fully take in the woman’s appearance. She was a short, well-built woman in her mid-forties, with brown skin and a familiar, square face. Dressed in loose, neutral-toned robes, the only indication of her water tribe origins were her dark blue eyes, the intricate plaits framing her face, and the bone-carved spear leaning on the wall behind her. She didn’t say a word until everyone had been seated.

“Wow. You actually showed up.” Uki leaned back in her seat. “Good for you all.”

Kyoshi glanced at Uki, then to her companions. The woman returned the motion looking them all over. She hesitated over Kyoshi for a moment too long.

“Are you… Kuruk’s sister?” Yun dared to ask. His voice trembled. For a reason Kyoshi couldn’t decipher, he was afraid of her.

Uki paused to take a sip of her drink. “Yeah. You could say that. And you’re…” She looked Yun over, “You’re the kid, right?”

“In a sense.” Nyahitha put his hand over Yun’s shoulder. “Yun isn’t… actually the Avatar.”

It took a moment for Uki to respond, but she eventually did by letting out a laugh. “Ha! Is that why the gravedigger never let me see him?”

“It’s not- wait, gravedigger?” Yun asked.

“Your beloved ‘mentor’ is a mass murderer,” Uki said, making air quotes as she spoke. “He buried, what was it, five thousand people alive.”

“Those people were Daofei.” Hei-Ran seethed.

“They were still people.” Uki’s brow furrowed as she leaned over the table. “I bet he didn’t know one of their names.”

Hei-Ran glanced over Uki. “And you did?”

Uki didn’t respond but relaxed back in her seat. She took another drink.

Hei-Ran drew her hand over her eyes. “Is this really what you’ve been up to for all these years? Associating with daofei?”

“You know the answer to that, headmistress.” Uki spat.

“What would Kuruk think of you? Have you ever considered that you need to move on?”

“What would he think of me? What would he think of me?” Uki’s voice rose in time with her anger. “You should be asking yourself that. You didn’t even show up at his funeral!”

“I was raising my infant daughter!” Hei-Ran seethed. “Of course, you wouldn’t know anything about that, since you left any family you still have.”

Uki instantly glanced to Rangi, as if she was noticing her presence for the first time. Rangi flinched under the woman’s scrutiny and hunkered down as if she might pounce on her. After a moment of still silence, Uki spoke. “I’m doing this for my family. It’s what Kuruk deserves. Now, tell me why you’re here before I make you leave.”

Nyahitha hesitated before replying, hovering his hand over Kyoshi’s shoulder. “We need your help, and are willing to help you in return.”

Uki looked over Nyahitha. From what Kyoshi could tell, he was the only one she viewed free of scrutiny or disdain, only sadness. Her voice lowered in pitch and volume. “What do you need?”

“It’s confidential, but…” Nyahitha glanced over Kyoshi and Yun. “Kyoshi, here, is….” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “She’s Kuruk’s reincarnation.”

“Oh.” It took Uki a moment to register the sentence. “Wait- what?”

“She… waterbent.” Yun whispered. His voice quivered.

Uki looked up at Kyoshi, studying the details of her face. “You- but that’s impossible. The cycle-”

“I know.” Nyahitha sighed. “That’s why we came to you.”

“Why? Why did you come to me? I’m not- I wouldn’t know anything about this.”

“Because I think Kuruk’s death has something to do with this.” Nyahihta lowered his voice. “If we solve Kuruk’s murder, we might solve this.”

Uki let her gaze return to Kyoshi, but hesitated to respond. “Fine. I’ll help you. For Kuruk’s sake.”