Tanza
For a few tense moments, give or take a second or two, perhaps three, one of the girls looked entirely eager to drop everything and run over to her. Her plans were instantly derailed as a harsh female voice resounded from right behind them.
"Kyiki! What are you doing? Pick your end up!" the late-thirties woman barked out, her green armor and robes rustling as she marched forward with her own heavy trunk.
The girl carrying the other side of the crate looked over at Tanza, offering her a dry, curious look before turning her gaze back to her distracted partner. "Yeah... we can greet the airbender girl after we're done. Just help me here..." she drawled out with a tired huff. While it didn't look like she was completely struggling to lift the weight, she was visibly annoyed that her partner was slacking on her half of the load.
"Oops!" Kyiki cried out in shock and embarrassment.
Tanza quietly took another bite of her hot meal, watching the exchange from her bench.
"Sorry, Nihlo!" Kyiki apologized in a worried rush, quickly hoisting her end of the crate back up. She hastily resumed her trek toward the wooden stage at the far east end of the village square. "Nice meeting you!" she hollered over her shoulder toward Tanza.
The adult only gave Tanza a sharp, passing glance as she strode by, keeping her focus entirely on the tasks ahead.
Right behind her, the third young girl followed closely. She let out a small grunt as she firmly hefted two large bags under her arms. "Hello!" She greeted Tanza with just as much enthusiasm as Kyiki, though she possessed the discipline to keep moving forward. "Pleasure to see an airbender here for the festival!" her voice trailed off as she walked further down the busy street.
"Phew..." Meimei's voice brought Tanza's attention back across the table. The slightly older girl looked as if she had been on the absolute edge of sweating bullets, but she now wore a look of immense relief. "I thought Miss Mu—"
Her sentence was abruptly cut off by the woman's harsh, ringing tone, just as the adult was nearly out of earshot. "MEIMEI! If you're done eating, get back to helping!"
Tanza watched as the woman cast one final, piercing glare back at the table before she resumed marching toward the stage.
Turning her gaze back to Meimei, Tanza watched the trainee let out a heavy sigh. "Jinxed myself," Meimei muttered, looking down at her near-finished meal, which had only one or two bites left.
Mung smiled, lightly elbowing her back. "Better get going, or Captain Mufei will get angrier."
Meimei nodded as a growing, determined look washed over her face. She quickly shoveled the remaining food into her mouth, chewed quickly and swallowed her last bites, and pushed herself up from the wooden table. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Tanza!" she called out, waving as she rushed away. "Have fun when the festival gets into full swing tomarrow!" she hollered back over her shoulder, leaving an empty bowl behind.
Once she was left alone with Mung, Tanza watched him resume enjoying his last packed onigiri. The sight of the rice ball briefly triggered a wave of old memories from her long-forgotten past life.
"That lady must be quite the instructor, from the sounds of it," Tanza observed, judging entirely by Mufei's fierce personality.
Mung nodded vigorously, his mouth completely stuffed with rice. "Yeah, you can say that," he mumbled around his food.
Tanza could only offer him a flat, unimpressed deadpan.
Mung, noticing her deadpan glare, quickly tried to swallow his massive mouthful. The rice ball instantly got stuck somewhere in his chest. He frantically pounded his fist against his sternum a few times before letting out a loud gasp for air.
"Sorry! Bad habit!" he chuckled awkwardly.
Tanza simply shook her head at his table manners and resumed eating the last half of her food. As she chewed her next bite—which still tasted every bit as good as the first—Mung spoke up again.
"So Tanza, what's it like being an airbender? Like, is it fun? Boring? I mean—" He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "We hardly have any benders on this island at all." He tapped a finger against his chin in deep thought. "Actually, I think we had this one guy born on the island who could airbend several years back. I guess he had an airbender mom or dad here before my time. Hard to say... just rumors and all."
Tanza swallowed her food before responding. "A rather... subjective question," she mused, half to herself and half to him. "I suppose anyone without the ability to bend would question what it is like."
She looked back at him, her gaze practical and measured. "Suffice to say, it is indeed 'fun.' Though from my own perspective right now, I find it enjoyable to figure out how many unique ways I can manipulate the wind, if that is a good enough answer for you."
In truth, she realized this was the first time in any of her lives that someone had directly asked her what it felt like to bend an element.
"Though, don't be fooled," she reasoned, earning a curious blink from the boy. "I still have to maintain a proper state of mind, remaining in a focused, relaxed state. But I've been airbending for about as long as I can remember breathing air. So really, it is just second nature to me."
She smiled at her own explanation. Mung gave her a slightly confused tilt of his head at first, but he soon nodded, seeming to understand the core of what she meant.
Inwardly, she questioned herself as to why she had even bothered to answer the boy so freely. Just as quickly, she realized it was simply because this was the first time she had ever been forced to articulate what it felt like to manipulate her element. It truly did feel exactly like the second nature of breathing.
Noticing his thoughtful expression, Tanza swallowed another bite of her dish and decided to clarify. "Though, if you want to be a bit simpler about it, I feel the ability as if it's a literal extension of myself. Does that answer it any better?"
Mung shrugged, considering it. "Sorta? I mean..." He stood up from the wooden bench, stretching his arms high before gathering his empty plate and Meimei's leftover bowl. "An extension of yourself... that sounds a lot like something Captain Mufei of the Kyoshi Warriors would say, actually."
Tanza raised a curious eyebrow at that, pausing to chew on another savory bite of her eel.
Mung tilted his head back in thought. "Yeah, I think it was something along those lines. I heard her say it when I visited the Kyoshi Dojo last year to deliver Meimei's training greaves because she forgot them at home." He scratched his chin. "It was something about how your battle fans are supposed to be like your hands... something, something." he shook his head, "I don't know, it was a year ago, so I can't be too sure of the exact words."
He gave her a friendly nod. "Though, nice meeting ya, and thanks for the chat," he said, turning to walk away and finally leaving Tanza to finish the rest of her meal in peace.
Kelsang
During the time it took for Tanza to chat and eat at the communal kitchen eatery, Kelsang was already halfway up one of the island's small mountains.
The pathway up was neatly paved with stone steps. Fortunately, she didn't need to push all the way to the very peak of the mountain; the Island Governor's estate sat right at the end of her current trek. Reaching the top of the stone stairway, the compound finally came into full view.
The estate consisted of a few distinct wooden buildings. Two medium-sized structures featured traditional thatched roofs, while the main residence at the far back was built with exceptionally sturdy stone and dark, neatly tiled roofing on its second story. It stood in stark contrast to the rest of the surrounding compound.
The ancient stone building had been constructed first, dating all the way back to Kyoshi's era and her time as the island's very first leader. The Avatar had raised the structure herself using her own earthbending, meticulously sculpting the stone to replicate the home she had been familiar with before she broke the peninsula apart from the mainland.
On the stone path that branched out to each building, a girl in simple blue robes who looked to be in her early twenties was busy tidying up. Looking up from her sweeping, she noticed the visitor, blinked in surprise, and smiled.
"Oh, hello!" she greeted cheerfully. "You must be the airbender who came down on that giant bison I saw earlier!"
Kelsang smiled back, continuing her steady pace along the path. "Indeed, that was my bison," she answered.
The young girl quickly finished up her sweeping, setting her broom aside against a nearby wooden post. She walked down the path to meet the monk halfway, approaching her near the entrance of the main compound. The entryway itself was flanked by two stone lampposts, both holding unlit iron braziers.
Once they met at the halfway point, both of them stopped, and Kelsang spoke first. "Though, pardon my intrusion, but I hope it is entirely fine for me to visit. It has been absolute ages since I've last set foot here. In fact, I haven't been up to this estate since I was a child myself," she remarked ruefully.
The girl quickly waved her hands in front of her in polite denial. "Oh, no problem at all!" she reasoned back. "It's always a pleasure to have the visit of an airbender grace this estate!"
Kelsang gave a warm nod. "Good to hear. I am Kelsang. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"Ah, the pleasure's all mine!" the girl replied, patting her own chest. "I'm Kokoa." She then crossed her arms in a relaxed manner, looking at the monk curiously. "So, what can I help you with? Do you need something from my mom, who is the sitting Governor, or did you come for something else? Or just a casual visit?"
Kelsang calmly shifted her weight, leaning forward slightly as her tone became a bit less casual. "Sitting Governor?" she asked, her eyebrows rising. "Is that to say... former Governor Koko is still alive?" Kelsang knew the woman would have to be well past a hundred years old by now. That must mean the woman she once knew as Kiki or her mother Kokoi was now leading the island.
Kokoa let a bittersweet smile cross her features. "Well, Grammy Koko is hanging in there for us. But we don't know how long she has left to be with us..." She shook her head softly before looking back up at Kelsang. "But gee, you must have seen her when she was probably in her late eighties or mid-nineties, if it was that long ago," she mused, brightening up the tone a bit.
Kelsang nodded slowly. "Then your mother is the official governor by name, but you both still view Koko as the true heart of this island," she mused.
Kokoa nodded in agreement. "Yeah. My mom, Kiki, is technically the governor now, but it's just hard to look at Grammy and not see the island's leader," she reasoned with a somber smile and a shrug. "I mean, Granny Kokoi is still around, and she looks after grammy, but well you know…" she shrugged.
Kelsang gave a respectful nod. "Well, I don't want to impose on the family." She shook her head softly, preparing to turn and make her way back down the mountain steps.
"Wait, Miss Kelsang!" Kokoa gasped, quickly rushing forward to place a hand on the monk's shoulder. "If you want to visit Grammy, I bet she'd really love it if an airbender came to see her!" she reasoned, her eyes wide and pleading. "Don't you guys have those traditional chants or blessings that you nomads do for good luck?"
The question caught Kelsang's full attention, prompting her to turn back around to face the young woman.
"Maybe you could give Grammy a bit of peace and good fortune for her remaining time with us!" Kokoa pleaded, her expression morphing into the starry-eyed look of someone who wanted nothing but the absolute best for her aging grandmother.
Kelsang let herself smile warmly. "I can certainly do that," she agreed.
The energetic girl gave an excited nod in return, immediately leading the way toward the main entrance. "Come on, right this way!" she whispered, doing her best to keep her voice steady and avoid being too loud.
As they reached the main manor, Kokoa slid open the heavy wooden door first, stepping inside before gesturing for Kelsang to follow. "Mom?" she called out softly, her voice echoing lightly through the quiet space. Without waiting, Kokoa quickly disappeared into one of the side rooms and out of sight, searching for her mother.
Left alone for the moment, Kelsang stayed in her spot to wait, quietly looking around the foyer. The entryway featured a modest amount of square footage that branched off into the surrounding rooms. To her eyes, it looked almost exactly the same as it did in her foggy childhood memories, save for a few missing decorative plants in the corner vases. That was about the only thing that had changed.
Shortly after, through the same doorway Kokoa had used, the young girl returned. She trailed behind an older woman in her mid-forties or fifties. Kelsang and the woman traded looks, and Kelsang instantly recognized the familiar features. The last time she had seen Kiki, Kelsang was just a child, and Kiki had been a woman in her late twenties or mid-thirties.
Kelsang smiled, and Kiki returned the gesture. "Hello," Kelsang began softly. "As I mentioned to your daughter, please pardon my intrusion. My only reason for coming up here was to see if Koko still leads this island," she explained with a wry smile. "It's always hard to say who lives how long in this world, you know?"
Kiki nodded understandingly. "I can see why you'd wonder. Mom is still kicking death back, though," she giggled somberly.
"Good to hear," Kelsang chuckled, appreciating the grim humor the woman was willing to share.
As the atmosphere lightened, Kokoa gently tugged on her mom's sleeve. "Well, Mom, what do you think? I wanted to bring Miss Kelsang in to see Grammy. Do you think she'd like that?" she asked eagerly.
Kiki placed a reassuring hand on her daughter's shoulder. "I'm sure she would." She then looked back at Kelsang and bowed her head in appreciation. "Kokoa is right. Thank you." Lifting her gaze, she held a single finger to her lips. "Come, but please be very soft and quiet."
Kelsang nodded respectfully, following the mother and daughter as they quietly ascended the wooden stairway in the middle of the foyer.
As they reached the second floor, Kiki led the way toward the first doorway, heralded by the rhythmic, echoing sound of a wicker rocking chair slowly moving back and forth.
Shortly after, stepping through the doorless entrance into the room, Kelsang saw the old, familiar face of Kokai. Her wrinkles were noticeably deeper now as she sat with her eyes rested, gently rocking in her chair.
Nearby, in a modest bed, slept an incredibly old woman covered by a heavy blanket. Her ghostly white hair fanned across the pillow beneath her head, her chest rising and falling as she snored softly in her sleep.
Kokai slowly opened her eyes and noticed the three figures standing at the entrance. She smacked her gums a few times and let out a soft huff. "Hmhhgmgm..." she muttered, before finding a clearer voice. "Who's that there?" she whispered.
Before anyone could utter a single word, the withered old woman in the bed, Koko, slowly cracked her own eyes open. She revealed milky, faded irises. "Heh, whatzit? Who needs what?" she rasped out.
Without waiting for an answer, she glared up at the ceiling. "If it's Death, tell her to hurry her darned feathered ass up! I'm done waiting here! This bed is crap, my bones hurt, and the food I eat is all gummy!" she crankily snapped.
The sudden, cranky alertness of Great-Grammy Koko—a woman Kelsang knew to be a direct child of Avatar Kyoshi in her later twilight years—made Kokoa sputter out and giggle softly. Beside her, Kiki quickly covered her mouth, chuckling fondly at her grandmother's fire, while Kelsang herself couldn't help but grin in amusement.
Inwardly, though, the old woman's specific insult struck a chord with the Air Nomad. Koko must be mistakenly referring to Bou You Va, the massive spirit owl she and Tanza had run afoul of back in the South Pole just a few months ago during the winter solstice.
To hear Kyoshi's daughter aggressively telling the spirit of the night to hurry up and get it over with was as surreal as it was quite the humorous scene for Kelsang to witness.
Tanza
After finishing her lunch, Tanza got up from the table and carried her clay plate to where Mung had gone toward the back of the communal kitchen.
Once there, she found only a wooden bucket of water and nothing else. Before she could head back inside to ask where to properly leave her dish, one of the workers noticed her from the back entrance. He immediately stepped up and offered to take the plate from her, explaining he would place it with the rest of the used clay dishes inside the kitchen.
Thanking him politely, Tanza turned and left the communal kitchen area. Now that her stomach was completely full, she was ready to tour the village on her own with a clear mind.
She soon headed toward the wooden stage, curious to see what these Kyoshi Warrior girls were like in full person.
Just as she rounded a corner of the open dirt pathway, the modest-sized stage came into view. It had clearly been constructed days prior, serving as a solid focal point for the village square.
Now, however, several teenage girls were actively practicing a few specific movements atop the platform. They moved with incredibly rigid, disciplined stances. To an untrained eye, it might have looked like a traditional dance, but Tanza's mind quickly picked up that none of it was purely performative. If anything, the girls were using a specialized variation of fluid combat forms to limber up their muscles and perfect their centers of gravity.
Tanza walked a bit closer, stopping several feet away so as to remain clear of all the ongoing labor and ensure she wasn't in anyone's way.
From her vantage point on the sidelines, she watched as a few adult Kyoshi Warrior women worked at the far back of the platform. They were carefully attaching heavy curtains painted with beautiful landscapes to serve as the stage's background backdrop. Right in front of them, the older teenage girls continued their rigorous limbering process, seamlessly perfecting their rigid martial forms.
Meanwhile, the three young trainees from the dojo, along with about four other girls around their same age, were busy helping out with the surrounding market stalls. They left the heavy-duty construction and staging entirely to the adults, focusing instead on organizing the festive booths lining the dirt street.
She even spotted Meimei right in the middle of helping the adult women, firmly holding the last heavy painted curtain in her arms, waiting for it to be hung up.
Tanza's quiet, curious observance was soon interrupted as the enthusiastic girl from earlier—the one who had been closely following the strict instructor—exited a building right in front of her.
"All done, Mister Kim!" she announced cheerfully, brushing a layer of dust off her hands. She turned to her left to face an elderly man who was working on a small stall, which looked to be a festival game of ring-toss or target-throwing by the looks of it.
The man himself, Mister Kim, offered a smile to the young trainee. "Ah, thank you for the help, Mifei. I've been needing a hand dusting under my shelves for a while now, and this old back of mine just isn't what it used to be," he reasoned in a tired, gentle voice.
With her business completed, Mifei turned to her right, instantly spotting Tanza standing not far away. Her eyes widened in surprise.
"OH!" Her mood brightened immediately, and she let out a little giggle. "Fancy seeing you again!" Mifei turned fully to face Tanza, cocking her wrists against her hips in a confident stance.
Tanza nodded in return, giving the girl a polite and respectful smile. "Don't mind me. I was only curious to see what all the Kyoshi Warriors look like in person," she explained smoothly.
As she spoke, Tanza glanced back toward the platform. The adult women were just finishing hanging the final curtain before disappearing behind the fabric backdrop. Meimei hopped down from the stage to go help someone else nearby.
Tanza turned her gaze back to Mifei. "I've only heard sparse information about this island and its people, with most of it coming from my master's explanations," she followed up. "You all are quite the dedicated workers." She mused.
"Thanks!" Mifei replied with an appreciative smile, crossing her arms over her chest. "I mean, we have to be, or my mom will put us to hard work, or..." She let her eyes wander upward as she thought about it. "...well, harder work than usual. But—" She shrugged, her smile turning proud. "We work hard for our island regardless of my mom's leadership!"
"Mom?" Tanza questioned back, instantly piecing together who this girl was in relation to the strict instructor from earlier. "So that woman you were following... she is your mother?"
Mifei nodded, her smile beaming with pride. "Yup! That's my mom! And the best Kyoshi Warrior around!" she gushed.
The intense praise earned a raised eyebrow of curiosity from Tanza.
Prompted by the silent reaction, Mifei stepped closer, leaning forward in pure excitement. "Like this one time, last year, my mom and the other adult Kyoshi Warriors fought off a whole raiding force of pirates!" She waved her arms dynamically in the air to illustrate the chaos. "I was right there to see it! Well—"
She briefly looked to the side, her enthusiasm dipping for a fraction of a second. "—well, I wasn't right there on the beach, but—" She snapped her gaze back to Tanza with a massive grin. "—I saw it all happen from up at the dojo while peeking out a window! My mom put down ten pirates all by herself with her—"
Mid-explanation, Mifei stepped back into an open space to demonstrate. She launched into a flurry of shadow combat, chopping her arms through the air with sharp precision. "—cool attacks, and swift kicks!"
She finished the performance with a light side-kick, jabbing her foot out through the air while making sure she was completely clear of any nearby market stalls. Satisfied with her demonstration, she dropped back into a relaxed stance to look at Tanza.
Tanza allowed herself to calmly grin at the exuberant way the girl narrated the story about her mother. The trait proved that while Mufei was every bit as strict as Tanza had observed on face value, Mifei still harbored immense pride in what her mother did for the island. She clearly commanded deep respect from the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors.
"Well, you certainly have a lot to live up to. That much is clear," Tanza mused.
Mifei nodded in agreement, shaking her head. "You ain't kidding."
Before Tanza could speak any further with her, the subject of their conversation stepped out from a wooden building across the large dirt clearing. The woman patted her hands against each other to dust them off from her previous work inside the building, her sharp eyes instantly spotting the duo.
"Mifei!" she barked in a commanding voice.
Mifei whirled around instantly, standing ramrod straight at attention with her arms locked at her sides. Tanza turned her head to watch the imposing woman march over to them.
"Yes, ma'am! I just finished my work helping Mister Kim, ma'am!" Mifei hollered back as quickly as she could.
Her mother reached them, coming to a halt with her arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes carried the exact same unyielding strictness as before. "I see. Then if you are done, you will start working on your beginning forms with the rest of your class once the older girls up there are finished in five minutes," she instructed firmly.
As if summoned by her words alone, the other girls from earlier, along with a few new faces, came jogging over in a loose group.
"I'm done, ma'am!"
"Anything else to do?"
"I think we're all done for now."
"Can we get a quick lunch?!"
"Oh hey, it's you! The airbender!"
"Hm..."
While those last two comments came from the crate-carrying duo she had observed earlier, the rest of the trainees crowded tightly around the captain.
Mufei kept her arms crossed over her chest, a slight frown deepening on her face as she turned her head to look at each one of the clamoring girls. Cutting right through the noise, she struck her arm out firmly toward the wooden platform.
"Alright, that's enough clamoring! Everyone on the stage and begin your beginner forms. Lunch will be in one hour, and not a minute before," she barked out in absolute finality.
For Tanza, she had to admit that this woman was after her own heart when it came to sheer strictness. Military-wise, at least, Mufei commanded an impressive leadership role. Not a second after the order was given, every single girl instantly snapped ramrod straight just like Mifei, saluting in unison.
"Yes, ma'am!" they chorused together.
The trainees immediately jogged off toward the platform, leaving Tanza alone with the captain. While the younger girls climbed up and waited for the teenagers to clear enough space for them to begin practicing, Mifei's mother cast an idle glance down at Tanza, slightly raising a brow.
"Hmm... where is your master...?" she mused aloud. Before Tanza could answer, the captain shook her head dismissively. "Forget it. Welcome to Kyoshi Island," she greeted the young monk. "That is if no one else has said it to you yet," she added dryly.
Tanza nodded respectfully, folding her hands neatly behind her back. "My master went on ahead to see someone and left me to tour the village on my own, ma'am," she answered smoothly. "My name is Tanza. It is a pleasure to meet a Kyoshi leader."
The formidable woman gave a brief nod in return. "Hm, I see. Well, you can know me as Mufei," she answered carelessly.
Without wasting another moment, the captain turned on her heel and began marching back toward the wooden stage. "Enjoy your stay on the island, I guess," she hollered back over her shoulder, never once looking back as she focused entirely on her students.
'Hm. Short and succinct. I would have liked to have her in my 203rd Battalion—she'd have been an excellent squad leader,' Tanza mused inwardly to herself.
She stood quietly on the sidelines, watching as the formidable woman immediately began barking out strict orders, instantly correcting a few of the younger girls on their incorrect movements.