It took only the rest of the time in the day for Hei-Ran to learn of the truth, and when she did, it was if she was threatening to light the very world aflame with only her willpower.

“You let him live?” The headmistress spat, gesturing at Yun as he sat as casually as he could across the wooden bench. Kyoshi had called a meeting of all the people currently inhabiting the house, up unto and including what minimal staff remained, Kyoshi’s daofei companions, Rangi, Atuat, the still-recovering airbender Jinpa, and Headmistress Hei-Ran of Clan Sei’naka herself.

Hei-Ran hadn’t changed much from the last time he had seen her, other than the fact she had made a full recovery from the injuries he had caused. She stood tall and proud once again, mustering enough strength to confront the Avatar about her mistakes.

“Hei-Ran, I can explain.” Kyoshi jumped to defend herself but kept a respectful decorum ill-fitting of Hei-Ran’s dishonored status. “I believe-”

“She thinks I get a second chance.” Yun smiled, putting extra effort to make his voice sound infuriatingly oblivious. “Isn’t that great?”

Hei-Ran shot him a poignant glare- he, apparently, still qualified to be reprimanded as he student- before looking up at Kyoshi. “I- you changed your plan?”

“I did.” Kyoshi stated, forcing the strength into her voice. She looked over the small crowd that had gathered. “Yun will be taken to a remote, secondary location to be tried for his crimes in a fair, just environment. A special tribunal will judge his fate and decide a worthy punishment. Whether he lives or dies will be decided under a court of law.”

“You’re putting a lot of faith in a law system you’ve sworn your life against.” The woman whom Yun now knew as Kirima, said. She leaned back on the bookshelf she was standing by as she said it. “Are you sure this is the right path to go down?”

“It isn’t. This isn’t the right choice.” Rangi interrupted and shook her head. “Kyoshi, you have to make finite decisions! It’s not characteristic of the Avatar to go back-and-forth or leave it up to someone else.”

“I think it’s the right choice.” Jinpa piped up, raising his uninjured arm to be heard. “Sparing lives is nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes, it’s the right decision to make.”

Wong cleared his throat to speak. “And sometimes, it isn't. We also have to consider that this isn’t just a normal person we’re talking about. We have to consider who he is and what he’s done. If we’re taking this kid’s life into our hands, we have to make sure we’re making the right decision.”

“I wasn’t expecting a daofei to care so much about the wellbeing of society,” Hei-Ran said. While her voice could be read as surprised or curious on the surface, it didn’t take much dissecting to discover the passive-aggressive undertones in her words.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that, exactly. I do care not to get murdered in my sleep by him.” Wong gestured to Yun. He returned the man's glare with one of his own.

“I say we should let Kyoshi live with her decision.” Atuat professed. “Not only is she a grown woman who can make her own choices, but she’s the Avatar and we should all respect those choices.”

“Yes, but being the Avatar doesn’t excuse her from making wrong decisions!” Rangi stressed her words and ran her hands through her hair. “And if she makes a wrong decision, we should call her out on it!”

Yun drew his hand over his eyes to block out the light and try to quell his emotion. It didn’t help. “Is anyone going to ask me how I feel about any of this?” He outburst, looking between the people inhabiting the room. They all stared at him with blank, wide-eyed faces. “It’s my life that you’re tossing around like a sack of rice, don’t I get a say in my own fate?”

The room fell silent as Yun glanced over each pair of eyes boring into eyes. None showed any emotion but shock- they couldn’t believe he had the nerve to speak. He turned to Kyoshi- the only one with moral obligation to respond. The very fact he was alive was because of her choices, she was forced to have an answer.

Kyoshi hesitated, her hands hovering in front of her. “I-”

“No, you don’t.” Rangi snapped. “The accused don’t decide their own fates.”

The jab hurt more than Yun was expecting. Rangi had never spoken to him like that before.

Kyoshi let the moment pass before changing the subject. “It doesn’t matter right now, anyways. We have a plan, and we’re going to go through with it. We’re awaiting word from the village leaders in Makapu, once they accept our request, a small entourage and I will accompany Yun to stand trial there. His fate will be decided, and whatever decision is made, we will live by.” Except for him, if they chose execution.

“You’re trying me… in Makapu?” Yun sputtered.

“It’s your birthplace, is it not?” Kyoshi asked the question genuinely. She had forgotten.

“It- it is, but isn’t it a little far?”

“Actually, that’s the point,” Hei-Ran stated slowly and cautiously, teaching him as if he was still her student. “Makapu is distanced enough from Yokoya that those judging you will not know of your crimes, and can judge you more fairly.” The places where Yun had killed were so widespread and numerous that it didn’t really matter, but the old woman had a point. He hadn’t even gone back to his hometown since he left it- on Avatar duty or as part of his quest for vengeance. It was the one place he wanted no ties to anymore- the people there he held grudges against were already dead.

Yun put his hand to his temple, then his chin, then over his mouth. His lips were dry and chapped, like the surface of the ground in drought. “Oh. I guess that does make sense.”

“It will only take a few weeks, hopefully.” Kyoshi turned back to her audience, her back to Yun. “In the meantime, we’ll heal up and get ready. It’ll be a long trip.”

From what Yun could tell, the general consensus was positive, but he couldn’t truly tell without tearing his eyes from the ground below him. It was as if he would fall right through it. He hoped he would.

“But for now, I wish to speak to Yun. Alone.” Kyoshi announced. Her presence and words commanded order, respect. She was the pillar of authority and reason here- everything he, now, was not. It took a moment for everyone to file out of the room, but they eventually did, leaving only Yun, Kyoshi and Rangi.

“I thought you said ‘alone’.” Yun scoffed as he lifted his head from the ground to see Kyoshi taking a seat across from him and Rangi pacing by the window. “‘Alone’ implies that it would be just you and me, not you and me and Rangi.”

“Forgive me for my misuse of the word, then.” Kyoshi sighed and leaned back, her confident mask slipping. “I thought-”

“Do you not want me here, Yun?” Rangi turned to face him.

Yun straightened his posture. “No, I can’t say that I do. You’ve made it very clear that you want me dead.”

“I want you to pay for everything you’ve done.”

“Then we’re on the same page because that’s what I want from everyone who wronged me!”

“It’s- it’s not the same!” Rangi crossed her arms.

“We aren’t here to debate this now.” Kyoshi sighed, interrupting both of them. “The time for this conversation will come, we just have to wait a while. For now, Yun is staying alive.”

“Wow, thanks.” Yun sent a wry smile at both his friends. “How lucky am I to be at the mercy of the Avatar.”

Rangi answered him with a glare and leaned forward to speak to him. Just as she was about to lecture him for his disobedience like her mother used to, she was silenced by a look from Kyoshi. The taller of the two girls approached the other, and the two shared a low, hushed conversation Yun didn’t care to overhear. Within moments, Rangi had steadied herself and exited the library, closing the door behind her. The firebender’s sudden absence left Yun alone with Kyoshi and Kyoshi alone with him. The Avatar and… him. It was the first time they had been alone together in quite some time.

After watching her companion leave, Kyoshi turned to Yun. After looking him over checking him for a threat- she took a seat next to him. Yun moved as far as he could away from her to avoid the possibility of them touching. Kyoshi didn’t object.

“I thought it would be easier than this…” Kyoshi drew her hand over her eyes, pantomiming wiping away tears that Yun knew didn’t exist. “I thought- I thought you would be grateful. Do you- are you not happier to be alive? Don’t you want this chance?”

“You know what I want, Kyoshi.” Yun crossed his arms. “And you’ve taken every opportunity I have at it.”

“Then why?” Kyoshi pleaded. “I haven’t taken your opportunity. You’re one of the strongest benders alive right now- you’re a trained assassin. If you wanted to, you could eliminate every being in this mansion- in this town. You could continue your crusade without a second thought, and yet… you’re staying. For the most part, you’re complying with what I ask and what I say. Why? What’s changed?”

It was the question Yun was dreading the most because it was the one he didn’t have an answer to. He didn’t even have a lie. “I- I don’t know.” He was tired.

Tired of what, Yun? The voice in his head asked him. It sounded like Kyoshi’s, but it couldn’t be her. She hadn’t moved- a statue of marble, like the ones of her predecessors standing in the Southern Air Temple. What do you tire of, fighting? Caring? Living with the pain?

He didn’t have any answers, even to the questions he asked himself.

“Are you… ok with this?” Kyoshi- the real Kyoshi- asked. Her voice was weak, uncharacteristically. She wasn’t supposed to be this weak anymore. She was the Avatar.

Yun inhaled, drinking in the still, tense air like water. It couldn’t fill him enough. “Do I really get a choice?”