A few days later, in one of the inns on the island.
The innkeeper and owner was polishing glasses with a clean cloth while serving drink orders with the help of his waitresses, taking a moment to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
Normally, they enjoyed the privilege of drinking the prestigious local tea at a fraction of the price, and so, it was the most consumed beverage.
They had even developed a traditional tea hour in their daily routine.
But ever since the king's return and his recent display, strong drinks had seen a surge in sales that completely caught the innkeeper off guard. If he hadn't quickly ordered supplies from Kyoshi Island (draining the neighboring island's reserves), he wouldn't have been able to meet the demand.
And all of that would've been money lost!
Of course, among those who drank, two groups did so for completely different reasons. The elders seemed to be celebrating his return with nostalgia, drinking until they fell backward with faces completely red, but with an expression of peace.
Spirits knew how many times he had panicked, thinking their hearts had stopped!
Then there were the reactions of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren… now they had a better understanding of why their parents and grandparents were so excited.
They were also the ones who had consumed the most barrels in recent days, and with good reason!
"Hey, Boke," the innkeeper called as he returned behind the counter and saw a man in his forties with an empty glass, which he refilled with practiced skill. "Are you still shaken?" he asked, noticing the man's trembling hands and vacant gaze.
Boke was a skilled farmer who took pride in his work. The tea from his fields ranked among the island's top three, and his wife was only two months away from giving birth.
"I… I always thought the king's legends were exaggerations," said Boke, focusing his gaze when called and looking at the innkeeper. "I went to the school he himself built on the island, studied everything he did, but still… thinking you know and seeing it are two completely different things."
The innkeeper grimaced and shuddered at the memory of what had happened, quickly pouring himself a glass that he downed in one gulp.
Jin Beifong, the savior of the island in its darkest time and its first king, had returned after decades of disappearance, looking as young as ever. Several attendants who had served food to the royal family overheard the king's conversation with Princess Toph, so naturally, word quickly spread across the island that the reason for his disappearance was Avatar Aang's jealousy.
Neither Jin nor Toph intended to hide the matter deliberately—any confidential issues were only discussed when they were alone. Besides, it might sound petty, but they expected the story to spread across ships and be carried around the world.
That alone had already shocked the younger generations of the island.
A king so capable he made an Avatar jealous?
The next day, the king began distributing black soil just as he had decades ago, helping the people restore the land's fertility after years of harvests that hadn't been as good since their grandparents' time.
In fact, many elders said this black soil was even better than back then!
Boke took a handful of the black soil he received, dumbfounded by such perfect earth for farming, all obtained from lava bending.
But the true shock?
The real cause of the strong drink boom?
That came only two days later… and no one would ever forget it.
Boke and all the villagers were summoned to a high plateau from where most of the island could be seen. They realized they weren't the only ones there—livestock and the famous shirshus had also gathered.
Confused at first, they soon witnessed the king slowly rising into the sky, almost as if mocking the shackles that bound all living beings to the ground.
Yes, their king could apparently fly at will!
That alone set the crowd murmuring with excitement—who hadn't dreamed of soaring through the skies?
Airships weren't needed here; anyone could travel from one end of the island and back in a single day. The most capable even had their own shirshus, one of the highest local honors.
They then saw the king's eyes burst with a brilliant green light along with the strange mark on his forehead. Gritting his teeth, he began to tremble violently—and with him, the entire island. Chi, usually invisible outside the Spirit World, surged around the king in waves like an aurora borealis shaking the heavens.
Then came the roar.
Boke swore he had never been so thrilled and terrified at once. The roar rattled everyone's bones and jolted their hearts like a lightning strike. For some strange reason, Boke almost expected the king's hair to spike up and turn golden. It was an odd premonition…
But his attention was soon drawn to what was happening around them.
The coastal waters began to boil!
Mountain peaks erupted with liquid fire, cascading over the island like a rain of destruction!
The people panicked—their homes and fields lay beneath the death zone!
The king made a firm gesture with his arms, and the deadly rain turned into a blessing for the island, descending like falling stars upon the boiling shores. The hiss of steam and a strange acrid smell spread to them.
And then they noticed.
The island… was expanding!
The same black soil the king had distributed now poured from the mountains' depths and cooled along the shores in a repeating cycle. It was as if an infinite meteor shower rained down in broad daylight. This display of power etched itself deeply into their memories and would be told for countless generations.
Recalling it, Boke drained his glass in one gulp and gestured for the innkeeper to refill it.
"Are you planning to request any of the new land?" the innkeeper asked as he poured. "One of the new plots borders your farm—it'd be ideal if you want to expand."
"Probably…" Boke answered absentmindedly again. "I have to talk it over with my wife. If we expand the farm, we'll need more hands to manage everything."
The innkeeper nodded in understanding. The island's population only provided so many hands.
Everyone had seen from that plateau—now called the King's Plateau—how Jin had expanded the island to three times its original size. Three times.
That meant two-thirds of the island was now made entirely of black soil—a paradise for farmers!
A true blessing for the entire island. There was even a designated area solely as a habitat for the shirshus, though everyone knew the story of the oldest shirshu who had been waiting for the king's return…
A heartbreaking, moving tale.
While everyone excitedly discussed what had happened, Boke's instinct told him more.
It told him the king hadn't done it just for his people, to announce his return with force and deter anyone eyeing the island.
No, his instinct sensed a burning anger in that roar—and also a painful lament of sorrow. His chest tightened, and he felt like crying just remembering it.
He took another drink.
"Come on, that's enough for now." The innkeeper didn't refill the empty glass but took it away. "Mirana will scold me if I let you get drunk like those old men. You still have work today, right?"
Boke sighed and nodded as he stood and paid. Perhaps spending time with his wife would help clear those strange thoughts. He could also bring up the farm expansion.
The innkeeper watched Boke leave and looked around his business.
"Hmm, maybe I should expand the place?" he pondered with commercial suspicion.
With the island's expansion, the population would quickly grow, whether through families or newcomers. A few more rooms, a larger service area…
There was much to consider.
"Maybe I should dust off Grandma Kiguki's recipes," he thought nostalgically. "She always bragged the king himself had taught her. I could make them a local specialty to encourage tourism."
More tourists, more occupied rooms, more food consumed, more tea sold, and so on.
He sighed sadly, missing his grandmother. She had taught him everything he knew about running the inn and worked so hard to let him attend school after his parents disappeared at sea during a storm.
Not because there were fees (school was a free right for every child on the island by royal decree), but to give him free time to study. Even so, he couldn't help sneaking away to help her at the inn when she was overwhelmed during busy hours, always earning himself a loving scolding from her.
"Tonight, I'll go visit her," the innkeeper decided, mentally checking whether he had everything to clean her grave, just as he did every month.
Meanwhile, in the palace, Toph and Jin had spent days catching up.
Jin learned that after his imprisonment, Aang had destroyed his protected reserve of crane fish, where Lady Tienhai still dwelled—all because it was a "sacred site for the Air Nomads."
Needless to say, he soon had a confrontation with the Old General Iron.
The Beifong Medical Center had become the cradle of modern medicine in the world, and according to Toph, it had been a wise choice not to build it in Republic City, as it kept the institution free from politics.
In fact, it was still owned by the Beifong family, who allocated a specific amount of money every year to maintain its operation, provide scholarships for talented but disadvantaged healers, and fund research into new medicines and treatments.
Toph told him about the case of Yakone. The bloodbender had been unable to control Toph to escape, thanks to the blessing of Tui and La that Jin had secured for her as a child. Instead, he had taken hostages to distract her and flee.
Jin shared how he had already met Lin.
He was surprised when Toph told him that his shares in Cabbage Corp were still legitimate, all because of the ancestor of Lau Gan-Lan and Jin's original business partner—the cabbage merchant who had gained his investment.
The accumulated amount was considerable.
As for the rest of Jin's businesses and properties, Toph admitted uncomfortably that she had been unable to maintain that level of operations and had only managed to keep a large part functioning, even with Honu and the others' help.
Now that she was retired, most of the Beifong family's affairs were handled by her daughter Suyin, who was also the leader of Zaofu.
"Suyin's husband, a stiff guy named Baatar, fell in love with the model of the metal city you once made with the Mechanist and ended up using it as reference to build Zaofu," Toph explained.
Jin didn't mind. Zaofu would have been built anyway without his model—he had only made it to try to create the city earlier. If anything, if they really followed his design, Zaofu might even be better planned than the original.
"What do you think I should do?" he asked Toph, seeking her opinion.
His arrival in Zaofu and identity could easily allow him to take control of the current Beifong family, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be resistance.
"Yeah, the situation could get a little complicated," Toph admitted, rubbing her cheek.
While most of her grandchildren would welcome Jin as family, when it came to authority and money, things could turn sour—especially with Baatar Jr.
Huan adored Jin as a metal artist, while Opal was very calm (her secret favorite), unlike the restless Wei and Wing…
"Maybe you could come with me to smooth things over?"
"Not a good idea," Toph shook her head. "You don't know this, but the current Earth Kingdom Queen has had her eye on the island for a long time. With the expansion you made to vent your feelings, she might send some of those Dai Li to try and seize control," she explained. "Although the island has defenders, they won't be able to handle those elites."
"I see…" That selfish old woman wouldn't be a problem after Zaheer's escape. "Now that you mention it, we should consider redesigning the defenses. The current ones might work for the inner ring (the old limits), but the new zones are exposed and unprotected."
"Leave it to me. We'll move faster than if we had the locals do the work," Toph said, patting her bicep. "By the way, before you pass through Republic City again, there's one more stop you should make."
Jin knew what she meant, and in fact, he had intended to ask her about it himself.
"So, where are Mom and Dad's graves?