It was like the sound of a bell- the kind of noise one only heard when standing underneath such an instrument while it was being rung. Yun had felt such a thing, once, when Jianzhu and Kelsang had taken him to Ba Sing Se for the first time to meet the Earth King. They had gone on a historic, guided tour of the palace, which included a look at the city’s original clock system while it was being rung. Then, the noise had caught Yun off guard. He hadn’t had etiquette or manner drilled into him just yet, so he ended up stumbling back jnto Kelsang’s robes. The kindly airbender had helped him up and covered his ears with his warm hands, but even Kelsang’s iron will couldn’t stop the sound from penetrating deep into Yun’s body, shaking him with all its might.

It was like that, Yun thought. A sound so deep and loud and powerful that he could feel the vibrations from his skin to his bones. He didn’t know, exactly, what it was, if not a simple, pure release of energy. He couldn’t see past his own eyelids, or hear over the ringing in his ears and the beating of his heart.

Something had to have happened- an attack, a disaster. He must’ve been hit in the back of the head and was unconscious. It was the only option. He didn’t know what else could’ve occurred.

A hand hit him across the face, moving so fast he felt warm- or, he guessed, it was Rangi. Yun startled to attention only to find his suspicions confirmed and the firebender standing over him, a look of distaste and anger painted across her features. It took Yun longer to come to his other senses. Only after he realize the ringing in his ears had subsided did he notice he was laying across Kyoshi’s lap. He started to move out of it as quickly as he could, but was stopped by a strong arm.

“Don’t, you’ll hurt yourself even more.” Kyoshi said. Her words were so stilted and stern, they seemed like a threat. That, or they were a reprimation from a teacher to a student.

“Hurt myself- what do you mean?” Yun struggled out of Kyoshi’s grip and tried to reclaim his arm, but her grip around it was too tight. At this rate, she was going to draw blood.

Kyoshi opened her mouth, but hesitated to let anything out. She looked to Rangi for help.

“You broke your leg.” It was only after the firebender said the words then Yun realize their truth, suddenly becoming aware of the searing pain in his leg. It wasn’t the first time he had broken a bone, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less.

“I broke my- how?” Yun stammered, glancing to Kyoshi. “How the fuck did I break my leg?”

Kyoshi looked back at Rangi- she looked away from him, giving Yun just enough time to realize that they were still in the courthouse. The farmers and jurors alike had been cleared away, leaving only the Avatar’s party and… him. Broken and crippled on the floor.

Rangi’s voice came as a surprise when she finally answered his question. “You… don’t remember? You-“ She gestured around herself in lieu of actually describing what he had done, the actual words eluding her. “You-“

“You earthbent.” Kyoshi turned to look him in the eye. It had been a while since Yun had seen her eyes. The color hadn’t changed- the same soft, greenish-gray he remembered from both his dreams and memories. The were the same. It was just that everything else was different.

“It all happened so fast, we can’t be certain.” Kyoshi continued. She must’ve caught Yun’s gaze, because she quickly looked away. “From what I could tell, you encased your leg in stone from the floor and put pressure around it. I… why did you do that?”

“Being injured doesn’t get you out of your trial, you know.” Rangi scoffed. “You’re not buying yourself any time.”

“I…” Yun ran his hand through his hair. His forehead was slick with his own sweat. The courtroom was colder than it should’ve been. “I don’t remember any of that. I think I blacked out.”

Rangi leaned forward. “How do you not-“ she started, before being sent a silencing glance by Kyoshi.

The Avatar turned to him. “We know. But…” Despite the fact Yun had no idea what she was alluding to, Kyoshi left the rest of the sentence unsaid.

“I don’t know….” Yun muttered, then repeated himself. “I don’t know. What-“

“The trial’s been postponed until you’re more healed.” Kyoshi said, quick with an answer and even quicker to remove Yun’s hands from his face. “I can heal you myself, but I’m only an amateur and won’t be able to help you fully recover. We’re taking you to the village herbalist, so she can look at your leg and treat it.”

“Oh.” Yun breathed. He had to force the words through his pain. “You can heal?”

Kyoshi gave a simple answer- a reluctant nod- before turning back to his injury. It was a stupid question, and Yun knew it. She could waterbend. Of course she would know how to heal.

The Avatar’s hand hesitated over his injured leg. Yun could barely see his own injury from his skewed perspective, and the pain was so intense it overpowered all other feeling in his extremities. “Are you… in any pain?” Kyoshi asked.

“What do you think?” Yun scoffed. He didn’t want Kyoshi’s artificial compassion, especially when he knew her endgame plan. It only made the truth hurt more.

Kyoshi frowned, then put her arms underneath him. “I’m going to lift you up.” She warned, but her words couldn’t prepare Yun for the sensation of being lifted and carried. He hadn’t ever been carried by Kyoshi before. It would’ve been plead and almost calming, if it hadn’t been humiliating.

“Are you ready to go?” Kyoshi asked, adjusting the way he sat in her arms. Yun looked away from her scrutinizing gaze- she didn’t deserve to look at him now.

“Alright.” Kyoshi whispered, so softly that Yun could be sure he was the only one she was speaking to. “Let’s go.”

The outside was cooler then Yun had been expecting. He hadn’t been out since the evening of the day before, when their party had arrived in the mountain village of Makapu. Then, the skies had been clear and the air had been warm, a sign of the pleasantness of the summer to come.

It seemed that within the few hours Yun had spent rotting away in a courthouse, the winds had changed and tore a hole through the aly itself.

The rain didn’t stop Kyoshi. Yun wasn’t in any position to let it stop him.

Makapu seemed grayer in the cold, as if the rain and wind and slate-like skies were the one thing powerful enough to dull the town’s mockery of positivity and peace. The fog dulled the gold of the rooftops and the pigments of the flags alike, as if Yun was viewing the entire world through a pane of glass. The weather reminded him of Yokoya.

“It’s raining…” Kyoshi mused, blissfully unaware of how obvious her statement was. If Yun closed his eyes, he could almost imagine it as a memory of the past painted into a dream. They were back in Yokoya, during the monsoon that happened each spring. He had been ignoring his duties to play in the rain and mud with his friends, just like a child. He would get reprimanded by Jianzhu later, especially since he had injured himself, but for now, he could focus on the present. He had slipped and fallen and Kyoshi had offered to take him back to the healers. She held him close to her chest, so he could feel the beat of her heart- soft and rhythmic, a steady presence and reminder of life to assure him his own safety. If he pretended hard enough, nothing had happened. Nothing was wrong.

Kyoshi didn’t speak, because she couldn’t distinguish his tears from the rainwater.