Kyoshi nearly fell backwards at the sound, only saved by the arms of her father catching her. The scream pierced through her eardrums and reached into her brain, causing sharp pain in her temples. Kyoshi couldn’t think, it was hard to take in anything but the sound and the faint scent of ozone. Something inside her told her to fight it, to ready herself for battle. She didn’t understand it, and it scared her.

Kelsang stood her upright and put his hands over her shoulders, turning her to face him. Kyoshi couldn’t hear him over the cacophony, but she could make out the concern in his eyes. She turned back to the field to see that a chasm had opened in the center of it, unyielding white light pouring through the cracks in the ground. It was screaming her name and her name only. Though she couldn’t make out the individual syllables, she knew it was her name. Just as she was starting to understand it, the light drained back into the chasm like water down a drain. The noise subsided, and once there was nothing left than the crack in the ground, it too, returned to normal, the ground mending itself as quickly as it had broken. Within only moments, the field had returned to the state it had been in when Kyoshi and her friends had arrived.

“What- what was that?” Yun spattered. He didn’t look as distressed as Kyoshi felt, but he made up for it with the pain in his voice.

Jianzhu combed back strands of his hair that had come loose, noticeably calm, given the circumstance. “That- was the skytalon, at least that’s the name you should all call it. It’s a spirit.”

Kyoshi nodded and gathered herself. She had gathered that much from what she had seen, aside from the name.

“Weren’t we supposed to be here to check on unnaturally rotting fields?” Hei-Ran snapped, raising an accusing finger at Jianzhu. “This- don’t tell me you were expecting this.”

“I wasn’t.” Jianzhu deadpanned, looking out onto the field, still decaying. “Though, it’s safe to say we’ve found the root of our problem.”

“How long has this been going on?” Kyoshi asked, turning not to Jianzhu but to her father.

Kelsang could only shrug. “Ever since we arrived here, I assume. Jianzhu, Amak and I came here a few hours ago to investigate the fields. The screams- it happens on an hourly basis as far as we can tell.”

Kyoshi exchanged a glance with Rangi and Yun, who shared her worries. Rangi put her hand over the sword at her hip. “Are we going to have to… fight that thing?”

“You can’t fight spirits!” Yun protested, looking at his hands for an answer. “That’s- you just can’t do that!”

Jianzhu cast a glance at his peers- Kelsang and Hei-Ran and Amak. “We aren’t. I don’t even know how we’d go about fighting something like that.”

The clearing fell silent until Yun spoke. “So, what are we going to do?”

Jianzhu shook his head. “Not we- what you’re going to do, Avatar. You’re the one who can fix this issue.”

“What?” Yun stuttered. He stumbled backward, nearly crashing into Hei-Ran. “I can’t- I don’t know-”

“Then you will learn.” Jianzhu’s brow furrowed. “Tell me, Yun. Do you enjoy robbing the world of its Avatar, sitting in wait for you to decide to perform your duties?”

“No- but-”

“He’s just a boy, Jianzhu.” Kelsang moved to put his hand over Yun’s shoulder. “Give him some time to adjust.”

“Just a boy?” Jianzhu stammered. “He’s the Avatar, Kelsang! He has a responsibility to the world! We can’t keep making these excuses with him!”

Kelsang didn’t make a verbal response, only maintained eye contact with Jianzhu.

“You never made these excuses with Kuruk.” Jianzhu spat, gathering himself up in failed efforts to intimidate the taller man.

“It’s been a while since Kuruk was alive.” Kelsang stated monotonously, pulling Yun towards him, away from the field and Jianzhu. “I’m going to take the children back to the governor’s estate and try and lead Yun through some meditation exercises.”

“We’re leaving?” Kyoshi asked as her father led Yun away from the rest of his mentors. To her surprise, Rangi followed with little hesitation.

Kelsang relaxed his shoulders and sighed. “Yes. We’re leaving.”

Kelsang didn’t seem to relax until they were alone- past both the exterior and interior mansion walls and all the way till they were in one of the quieter rooms of the mansion, free from the gazes of Hilmi’s staff and any other guests. The room was small, on the second floor of the building, and furnished in the same style as the Air Temples. The curtained windows let in a soft noon breeze and warm light that cast a glow across a portion of the floor. The walls were lined with shelves filled with scrolls, making the entire room smell like paper and ink. It reminded Kyoshi of her home, and instantly put her at ease.

“Come, sit down.” Kelsang gestured at an array of cushions at the center of the room, directly in the light of the sun. He hovered over a nearby table, most of the open space taken up by a tea set. “Rangi, would you help me boil some of this water?”

Rangi nodded and rushed over to comply while Yun and Kyoshi sat in the sunlight. Kyoshi put her hand over her friend’s shoulder. “Are you doing alright?”

Yun nodded hesitantly. “Yeah. Just thinking about things, Avatar stuff, you know.”

Kyoshi frowned, and was going to ask Yun to elaborate before they were both handed cups of piping hot tea. “Careful, it’s hot.” Kelsang warned before he sat down across from Yun. Rangi sat next to him and took a sip of her own tea. Kyoshi followed- it was spiced, just the way she liked it.

“Are you alright, Kyoshi?” Rangi asked. “You seemed to be really affected by… whatever happened.”

Two pairs of eyes turned to Kyoshi- Kelsang’s and Yun’s. She put her hand to the back of her neck. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just a little caught off-guard.”

“Are you sure? You looked like you were in pain back there.” Yun’s brow furrowed.

Kyoshi moved her hand to her forehead. If she focused enough, she could still hear the ringing in her ears. “I don’t know… I don’t even know what was happening back there.”

Kelsang sighed. “I think I might. I’m not an expert on the matter, but there have been rumors going around that ever since Yangchen’s death, spirits and humanity haven’t been on the best of terms.”

Kyoshi hesitated to reply. It made sense to her, that the spirits would’ve been angry with humanity after the passing of Great Yangchen, especially considering what she knew about her successor.

“I wasn’t sure how much merit the theory held, up until this morning.” Kelsang continued. “Now, it’s undeniably true that for whatever reason or the next, the spirits are angry with us. Since we don’t know why, it’s going to be even harder to figure out what to do to fix the problem.”

A deafening silence filled the room until Yun cleared his throat. He set his cup of tea down on the wooden floor. “It sounds to me like we’ve got a clear goal, then. We need to find why the spirits are attacking the region.”

“It’s not just the region.” Kelsang continued, putting his hands to his temple. Kyoshi, if anyone, knew him well enough to detect his stress. “Jianzhu won’t like that I’m telling you this, but we’ve been receiving reports all across the nation of similar activities. You were supposed to move onto the others until you fixed this problem, but… I don’t know now.”

“Oh.” Yun whispered, quiet enough not to be heard but loud enough to fill the room. He cast glances at Kyoshi and Rangi, but neither of them could give him an answer. “Is there anything we can do to find out what’s happening?”

Kelsang hesitated. “I’m not sure I would be any help, I’m not exactly the spiritual leader I once was.” He cast Kyoshi a worried, saddened glance she didn’t know how to interpret. “There’s someone else who might be able to help, a retired Fire Sage, but he and I aren’t exactly on good terms, it would be hard getting a hold of him.”

“He sounds like our best bet.” Yun scoffed. “I mean, if we’re going after spirits.”

“Who is this guy, anyways?” Rangi asked. “My mother might know him, she could get in touch.”

Kelsang tensed. “Oh, she definitely does. His name is Nyahitha, he was one of Kuruk’s friends, apart from our group. I’ve only spoken to him once or twice, but-”

“If he was a friend of Kuruk’s, he might be able to help.” Kyoshi offered. “If it’ll help Yun fix the world, don’t you think-” Her sentence was caught off by the sound of the door opening.

Jianzhu, Hei-Ran and Amak all filed into the room, soaking-wet and battle worn. Despite how much she stared at them, Kyoshi couldn’t figure out what, exactly, had happened to the three of them.

“Jianzhu! Hei-Ran” Kelsang exclaimed as he stood up to greet his friends. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Jianzhu brushed his friend off with a simple gesture of his hand. “I have news that everyone should hear, though.”

Kyoshi exchanged a glance with Yun and Rangi before standing up to address Jianzhu.

“We’re going to be heading back to Yokoya soon.” The earthbender stated, his voice dry and monotonous. “Tomorrow, in fact.”

“But, Sifu-” Yun protested, the only one with enough merit to speak. “We just got here, wouldn’t that be impolite?”

“It’s only what’s necessary.” Jianzhu cast a glance at his pupil before continuing. “Believe me, I would rather have it any other way, but the situation is more complicated than previous judgements suggested.”

“Alright.” Yun answered. “If you think that’s what’s right.”

Kyoshi shared a glance with Rangi before nodding, her fear reflected in the other girl’s face. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread as she agreed to something she didn’t fully understand.