Book one: Fortitude
Chapter one: Unexpected Love
"It's not about strength; think of the fan as an extension of your arm," Elka addressed as Kyoshi swung her fan through the air with too much force, causing it to fling out of her hand, soar out the window, and nail a tree outside. Leaves fluttered to the ground, angering Elka's ostrich horse so that he huffed, shaking his head to rid himself of the unpleasant surprise. Scoffing, Kyoshi stomped outside to retrieved the fan.
"I'm never going to get this right!" she yelled, flailing her arms in exasperation.
"You won't if you think down upon yourself!" Elka's sweet voice called after her.
When Kyoshi reentered the training room, Elka evaluate her, probably deciding if she was worth it to train or not. Kyoshi expected disappointment resulting from her numerous failed attempts, but instead Elka smiled softly and motioned for her to try again.
"Let me revise my explanation," the teacher stated, pondering her next move. With her slender hands held in a defensive position, she demanded, "Strike me."
Kyoshi stared at her for a minute, befuddled. She had only been training with Elka for a little over a week, and that week has been spent learning the forms, breathing exercises, and conditioning. She figured actual sparring would come much later. And besides, earthbending took precedence over fan training any day.
Elka said, "Go on, I'm waiting."
Frowning, Kyoshi re-opened the fan and swiped it directly at her face, but before she could even get close to landing a blow, Elka jammed her own fan into Kyoshi's shoulder. Her stunned arm failed to hold on, resulting in the fan slipping from her hand once more. Elka then jabbed her forearm into Kyoshi's collarbone, causing her to fall the floor with an umpf!
As Kyoshi glared at her, she simply smiled, explaining, "The point is to use your opponent's force against them for your own benefit. Being a woman, you may run into men that are much stronger than you."
Kyoshi growled, "So what if they're men!? I should be able to match them." She clambered onto her feet as quickly as she could, nearly tumbling forward.
Elka chuckled at her mannerisms and stated, "Looks like we need to work on your balance as well."
She huffed, and stalked over to where her fan lay, half open, offended at her own failure.
"We shall continue later," Elka said, knowledge sparkling in her peridot colored eyes.
Kyoshi hastily thanked her and stalked out the door, ready to wear off some steam with earthbending.
"Oh, and Kyoshi?!" she called, "Don't forget to practice on your own time."
Kyoshi waved to show that she heard, but continued making her way down the path to her home. She walked, pondering what Elka had said. Why should men have to be superior? I am just as capable being a fifteen-year-old girl to do whatever I please as any other male could. It displeased her that men were chosen for the harder tasks and protection. It was idiotic really. Intelligence was where true power came from, but if she had to spend every day of her life training to take down any man that tried to rule over her, she would.
As Kyoshi lumbered through the dirt, she heard something rustling in bushes. Opening her fans, and standing in a defense position, she stood still, but nothing appeared. After a few moments, she decided it was just her imagination and moved on.
Finally, she approached her home located on the edge of a small village under fifty miles from Ba Sing Se. Her house sat on a hill, and on a clear day, one could just make out the outer wall cutting through the grey hills. The village was quiet and peaceful, away from the bustle of city imports and high trafficked areas.
Eager to change out of her silk training robe, Kyoshi scurried into the house to the welcoming smell of her mother's Jasmine tea and roasting chicken. Her mother was a wonderful cook who appreciated the culinary arts that hailed from the Earth Kingdom. She grew a beautiful garden full of fruits, vegetables, and exotic tea leaves. They owned quite a few chickens and a pair of ornery ostrich horses. They were not rich, yet well off.
"Smells good mom,"Kyoshi said, flying past her mother into her room. There, she threw on an old, tattered, green tunic and a pair of brown leggings, and tied her brunette hair into a bun. Her light green eyes scanned over herself, and after her own approval, she left her discarded training kimono and fans, and skipped back into the kitchen.
"When will dinner be ready?" she asked before her mother could ask how training went. After all, it was her mother's idea to train with Elka. She thought Kyoshi needed something to balance out earthbending's "strength and force" with something more "calming and lady-like". Kyoshi didn't get it really.
"In about an hour or so," her mother replied, turning the chicken around and around on its roasting stick, flames licking its underside.
"Perfect."
Before her mother could add to the conversation, Kyoshi leapt outside to practice her favorite thing in the world. Under the instruction of her earthbending teacher, Shea Yu, a man that knew only half-a-master's-worth, Kyoshi was suppose to work on stances and breathing exercises for the first quarter of the lesson to establish balance and awareness. Today, she decided to cut it short by a few minutes or so and began to use a sturdy oak for target practice. The deeper the hole in the tree became without widening, the better. She did well for a while, but after another half an hour or so, the growing hole was widening more than boring straight through, and her breathing was becoming a bit raggedy.
Frustrated, Kyoshi made herself a smooth earth-chair and took a break. Beads of sweat made moist paths down the sides of her temples, carving hard work's signature into her face.
Why am I so tired so soon? Maybe I need to train more with increased intensity.
Before Kyoshi could do anything more, she heard her mother calling from the inside of the abode. Kyoshi ran inside to help set the table, and right as she set the last plate in its place, her father walked through the door, returning from his job in the coal mine.
"How are my two girls today?" he called.
"Wonderful!" her mother trilled like a hummingjay as she set the chicken inside the triangle of plates, but Kyoshi didn't respond. Her father wiped the coal dust onto his already filthy pants and sat next to her. Kyoshi didn't make eye contact but listened as her parents rambled on about nothing.
Her mother asked tentatively, "So, how was work, my dear?"
"Alright. I could use some tea right about now," he demanded right as she was about to sit, though well-trained as she was, she forced herself back to her feet and immediately poured him a cup.
Kyoshi hissed, "The kettle was within reach, father."
"What was that?" he growled, bushy eyebrows arching in challenge.
"Nothing," she mumbled.
"Hm?"
"Nothing!"
"Oh good."
Kyoshi looked into her mother's eyes, for a frightened warning tried to silence her daughter. Kyoshi decided to let it go… for now. Her father never used to be this way, but over the years, he became hardened by years of not getting what he wanted: a son. He need not even explain this to her, for his treatment towards Kyoshi spoke louder than a million words. They tried to have another child, but were never blessed with another. Her mother, of course, was to blame for this, for my father thought himself perfect. Kyoshi had wasted years trying to prove to him she was as good as any boy, but he never looked at her with any type of pride. Now he usually spent his time bossing around his wife and mostly ignoring his daughter, except in front of others they were to show no sort of trouble, creating an illusion of the ideal family life. Her father wanted to make it look like he had everything he wanted for the sake of the envy of others.
The rest of their dinner was rather silent save for her father barking at her mother to slice his meat for him because he was too busy buttering a biscuit, and complaining the tea was too flat, meat too dry. Unable to take it anymore, Kyoshi took my plate outside to finish her meal in peace. Kyoshi thought her mother was too gentle to stand up for herself, partly because even she blamed herself for every mistake made in both her and her husband's life. The more Kyoshi said, the more they were both abused, so leaving the situation all together was a better choice.
As Kyoshi chewed her meat angrily, she heard another rustling noise coming from the undergrowth in her mother's garden. Peering into the leaves, a tiny pink nose with wispy tendrils on the tip poked out at her, sniffing. She carefully stood up, clutching her plate. The sniffing became more intense, until an eyeless face appeared. Never having seen such a thing before, Kyoshi tensed, but it seemed unafraid of her and began to lumber forward. It was only about as tall as the middle of her shin with a long, brown body streaked in black markings and a rather fluffy dog-like tail. It hobbled just within kicking distance, and "looked" up at Kyoshi, or whatever it was doing, and continued sniffing loudly. A strange warm feeling in the pit of her stomach caused Kyoshi to offer a piece of chicken to the pathetic looking fluffball; in response, it scratched at its nose with rather large claws and then did something completely unexpected. A long, whip-like tongue lashed out at me and sliced a small cut into Kyoshi's wrist, causing the hunk of meat to fall to the ground. An embarrassing yelp echoed from Kyoshi's mouth and fell onto her rear, literally stunned, for all movement of the chicken-holding arm ceased. It didn't hurt much, but a numbing sensation spread through it and stopped at the shoulder, weakening her arm. Before Kyoshi could react any further, the little brown beast devoured the chicken and waddled over to her, sticking its face under her numb arm, a strange, wimpy growl-purr emanating from its throat.
Hesitant at first, Kyoshi was frozen in place, but since it didn't seem to want to harm her any further, she carefully patted its shoulder with the other hand, causing the purring to intensify. Kyoshi dared to offer it the rest of her meat, and this time it simply snatched it away with razor teeth, then cuddled her some more.
"What are you?" she wondered.
Suddenly, Kyoshi heard a crash come from the kitchen, causing both her and the homely beast to jump.
"Stay here," she commanded, and ran into the house, shutting the door in its eyeless face.
Kyoshi walked in on a broken tea pot shattered all over the floor, her father's hand poised over my mother, ready to strike.
"STOP!" she screamed, slamming herself into him.
They wrestled to the floor, rolling around in the shards of clay and spilt tea. Kyoshi landed on his left side and beat her fists into his back and jaw, hot, molten anger rising in her face and ears. He thrust his hand into her face, alleviating most of the blows, and shoved her off of him. But before he could take the offensive, Kyoshi stumbled onto her feet and stood, hands poised in defense.
A deep, bellowing laugh shook her pride, as he hollered, "Foolish girl, those dance lessons with Elka will get you nowhere. You will never be able to hold your own against a man."
He feinted a blow to the left, and as Kyoshi reached to block it, struck her across the face from the right. Stars fluttered through her vision and she landed hard on the arm that was mostly numb from the toxins the little brown beast had injected into it. Before she could get up again, he jabbed his foot into her ribs, causing something to crack ominously, and through her blurry vision, she watch him turn back to his cowering wife. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, he swung her to the floor, nearly rubbing her nose in the tea.
"Now clean up this mess," he commanded, "before I mop it up with your face!"
He released her, and she began to wipe at it pathetically with her own tattered apron. Turning to Kyoshi, he said, "Challenge me again, and my foot will aim right for the teeth next time. I'm going to bed."
He stalked off casually. As Kyoshi tried to sit up, searing pain shot through her side. Her mother refused to look at her, continuing to clean the floor, barely achieving anything in the process. Kyoshi had had enough. Painfully, she stood, and strode over to the door. But before she reached for the knob, she stated, "I'm leaving, whether you come with or not."
"I can't," her mother sobbed, her tears adding to the liquid on the floor. "He will come after me."
"Well he couldn't care less about me," Kyoshi hissed and left, slamming the door, a spidery crack in the glass mimicking her anger.
Kyoshi began to run, no where in particular, just away. She ran, and ran, and ran, until a fire burned up her damaged rib cage. Finally, she collapsed under a low tree and began to weep for the first time in a very, very long time.
Kyoshi lied like that for hours until a strange noise brought her back to reality. It was the awkward snuffling the little brown beast made as it lumbered over to her, sniffing every twig she had snapped. As it had evidently found her at last, it excitedly wobbled over to her and kept sniffing more intensely. A long tongue slithered slower this time and carefully flickered over her exposed side. Kyoshi was too exhausted to care. Tiny stinging sensations were quickly accompanied by a gentle numbness that eased the pain. She looked at the lame little thing, and whispered a thank you. It stayed with her the rest of the night, the only sense of comfort she had had in a very long time.