Chapter 12

Kyoshi sat in a meditative position in the most serene location in the Spirit World she could think of. It was an old valley that Spirits often had no interest in spending their time in. It was the perfect place for Kyoshi to think, and after the demands of Roku were brought to her attention, she felt she really needed to.

She never understood why spirits couldn't just remain dormant in the Spirit World where they belonged and leave the mortals alone until they were called upon. Spirits should leave the mortal world in peace until a mortal needed their insight. Other than that everyone should just mind their own business. The only reason the mortals seemed to be on the verge of killing each other was because of those few problematic spirits who feel the need to intervene. It was beyond stressful when the Avatars had to go and talk some sense into them. Of course, there was always one exception.

It wasn't that no one was allowed to go and confront him, it was simply the fact that nobody wanted to. Most were simply scared. One mention of the Face Stealer and the spirits would go running. And the other spirits who had the decency and the back bone to confront the spirit would always fail in the attempts to make him listen to reason. He would do whatever he pleased and would do whatever it was he needed to do in order to satisfy himself, and it annoyed Kyoshi to no end. Many reports of people who were attacked in Koh's brainless attempts to satisfy himself were mentioned to Kyoshi and the other Avatars, but the rebel spirit would never seem to stop at his attempts at attacking mortals, despite the Avatars' demnds. Now that she thought it through, Kyoshi never even knew why on Earth he found joy in seeking out the power from those unfortunate maidens. Everyone put it off that he was simply power hungry. Even Roku volunteered that information to her. But in her honest opinion, it didn't seem to make sense.

A spirit wouldn't ask for power just to have it. There has to be a reason why he was collecting it. Power meant nothing while you were in the spirit world. If anything, spirits were always stable and only mildly dangerous to each other. Of course if a mortal happened to run into an angry spirit in the Spirit world, that was a different story. Everyone knew who would win that fight. But other than that, spirits couldn't do much here to put that power to use. The only conclusion Kyoshi could come up with was that he needed the power to do something in the Mortal world. But what could that possibly be? she thought. Koh wasn't evil. He wouldn't kill just for the sake of killing, even though nearly the whole world thought that. He has helped people in the past. He more than willingly gave help to the young Avatar Aang those many years ago when he came to seek it. If Koh were truly evil, he wouldn't have thought twice about refusing his services and simply killing him on the spot. So if all of this was true, she couldn't help but wonder about the spirit's motives.

The plan had to be big. Koh's murders were successful in giving him the unimaginable powers of several young women. If he gained enough, Koh could possibly use that power to change the entire outcome of the world. He could mold the world into his image of what was ideal to him and what was useful according to his standards. But was this what he wanted to do? And if it was, would it be a better or a worse place for the mortals? Kyoshi had no way of knowing and it was this that annoyed her the most.

"Excuse me, Avatar Kyoshi."

Kyoshi turned her head to meet the eyes of Avatar Roku. "Yes, what is it?"

"Forgive me for bringing attention to the matter again so soon, but I must stress the fact that we are running out of time. Koh is gaining more ground and I need to know if you are going to help Miss Bei Fong in her training," he stated.

There he goes again, she thought. "Avatar Roku, I fully respect you and your views, but I must say that you are slowly but surely becoming a thorn in my side."

Roku sighed. "I know, and I apologize. But we cannot allow these killings to continue. We have to stop this spirit by any means necessary and keep as many people safe as possible. This is the girl's only defense."

"I am aware, but even more people will be hurt if she happens to completely disregard my teachings and lose control of such a difficult form of bending. Watching her for the past few years, she is one to have no regard for anyone's opinions." Kyoshi moved her face closer. "And I do not take attitude like that kindly."

Roku rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I doubt she would take a matter this serious as a joke. Will you please—?"

"Enough," she replied.

Kyoshi got up and strode off. Roku never liked Kyoshi's stubbornness. It was a rather frustrating characteristic of hers. She wouldn't even stop to consider what good would come of teaching Toph advanced bending. In fact, there would be no real threat at all. He too had paid extremely close attention to the earth bending prodigy and found her to have extreme control over her element. It was clear through her training of the Avatar that she had completely mastered the art of waiting, listening, and looking for the right moment to strike. Why was it such a problem to teach her?

"If you don't help her the chances of her dying is high."

Kyoshi stopped for a moment, standing tall and proud as usual. She turned with a stone face and looked Roku straight in the eye. It was never possible to see what Kyoshi was thinking or feeling. The serious disposition she always carried around was well exhibited and her emotions were never used against her. It was one of her stronger qualities, he had to admit. But he was firm in what he said as well. He was not about to see another innocent person die.

"I am not about to let this girl die in the hands of a spirit who kills for the sake of killing," Roku stated.

Kyoshi shook her head. "Roku, I thought you would have seen it by now."

Roku was confused. "What do you mean?"

Kyoshi walked closer to him. "Do you remember the spirit that lived on the opposite side of this field?"

"Yes," Roku replied. "She disappeared a few hundred years ago, I heard. Ji Muo was her name?"

"Yes, Ji Muo. She didn't just disappear however. If you recall, there was large panic in the Mortal World during the time Ji Muo was alive. Little children would be playing on their own and all of a sudden would be snatched without a single trace. The spirits knew that Ji Muo was behind it all. She had recently mastered the art of manifesting herself into the Mortal World. But they had no idea of her motives. They assumed that she was simply taking joy in abducting the children. A child that was very close to one of the past Avatars was taken. The Avatar was greatly angered and did away with the spirit. Of course none of the other spirits stopped him for they thought that Ji Muo deserved it. However, all of the children were unharmed, completely untouched. As the Avatar asked the child he knew if he was okay, the boy told the Avatar that Ji Muo was never dangerous. She treated them kindly and only wished to make friends. Though she wasn't good about keeping them fed, she tried. It turned out that she had never had family or friends and took the children for company. She had no intentions of harming any of them."

"I think it's obvious that Koh is killing people, Kyoshi," Roku countered.

"Clearly I am aware of this. But you're missing the point I'm trying to make. Perhaps Koh isn't killing for the enjoyment. Perhaps there is something deeper towards what he is doing."

"So, evil actions, but a not-so-evil cause?" Roku reasoned.

"It's just an assumption, but that is what I think. I thought that you would like to know that maybe he is not as heartless as you might make him to be," she explained.

"So you're defending him?"

Kyoshi scowled. "Never. No matter what killing is never a positive thing. But at least it isn't for evil reasons. But as I told you, I'm only making a guess."

"Either way, we need to stop him from hurting anyone else. Good intentions or not he is still a threat. There has to be something I can tell you to consider the situation," Roku pleaded.

Kyoshi sighed. She had to admit she hadn't given extreme thought to the matter. She heard the words "special training" and immediately denied the offer. But training this girl was going to be problematic. She was not fond of people who didn't listen and did what they wanted. It was highly annoying and she didn't like dealing with it. But Roku was a very persistent person…

"Are you sure that she will be able to learn this without a word of defiance?" Kyoshi asked.

Roku grinned. "Oh, yes. I realize that she is not the easiest person to teach but I'm sure that she will hold her tongue if the situation is severe enough," he reassured. "However we do have a problem."

"And what might that be?" Kyoshi gritting her teeth.

"The Face Stealer is extremely close to finding Miss Bei Fong and I'm afraid he is only days away from tracking her. We need to find a way to safely train her without Koh finding her."

"If I were to go train this girl, and I'm most certainly am not saying that I am, there is a way that I could hide her from him."

"Explain," he stated.

"Benders give off a special type of energy. It is something that is easily recognizable by Spirits, as you already know. It can tell the capacity of a bender's power. If I must admit, she does have a rather high bending energy. Levels like that only belong to either the Avatar or his soul mate. This is how Koh is finding her. When he first encountered her, he familiarized himself with her energy by engaging her in a fight. The fact that she accidently unleashed her power was further proof for him. I can conceal her bending energy, but only for a maximum of three days."

"Three days!? That isn't nearly enough time for her to—"

"I know," she assured. "But if I were to train her, which I am not saying that I will, I believe that with all of the things you have told me about her and everything that I have observed, she does indeed have the potential to learn quickly. Whether her attitude will keep her from learning or not is yet to be seen."

"Three days," Roku repeated. "I have never known anyone to learn so quickly. It takes at least several months to at least a year to fully master it. Are you sure this is possible?"

Kyoshi looked across the old valley over at the Face Stealer's lair. She had encountered him once before. She stood in silence as he had shuffled through his vast collection when she had stupidly asked him to do so. She was curious when she was young and when she had sought out help from the spirit, curiosity had gotten the best of her. People of all different shapes and sizes were among the faces. Some were en that looked like warriors. Brave warriors and soldiers that thought they could battle a spirit. Some were women who looked so fragile that they had no chance against a spirit. There were some animals dotted around in his collection, but not at all that many. He had reached the point in his collection where he had the faces of children and teenagers. Some looked to be about four years old. Some younger. The oldest she saw was a boy who looked about sixteen. It had horrified her that he would take all of these faces of all of these people. There were a little over a hundred faces in his collection. She couldn't possibly know what he would need them for.

As he got farther, the children became less frequent. The last face he showed her was that of a beautiful water tribe girl with long, dark, flowing hair with a smile that would turn a thousand ships toward it. She didn't know whose face it was until years later, when Avatar Kuruk had told her. She remembered the hurt and defeat as he explained that he failed as an Avatar. She would never forget the conversation she had had with him. Kyoshi couldn't deny the strength and determination in Toph Bei Fong and seeing her face as a part of the collection was something Kyoshi had never thought she would ever see. And seeing such a care free soul such as Avatar Aang be broken just like Kuruk was depressing. As Roku's point began to reach her, she turned toward Roku and started him straight n the eye.

"Toph Bei Fong deserves a better fate than in the hands of a spirit. I can see her do great things alongside the Avatar. They've both already ended a hundred year old war and who's to say they can't do something more? Though it is against the contract to teach this bending, I suppose I can make an exception."

Roku was dumbfounded. "Th-thank you Kyoshi! I don't know what to say. I'm deeply appreciative of your offer."

"But keep this in mind," she emphasized. "After three days, her bending energy will be easily detectable, if not more so from her new training. Also, I will no longer to be able to teach her after three days. Koh will most certainly be on the girl's trail if he senses her training the power. What she learns in that time is all that I can offer. How much she is taught is entirely up to her. I won't teach her anymore after that time has elapsed. However, if there is the off-chance that she masters enough of the bending a bit before that, maybe she can seek advice from her past lives. I do believe you had mentioned that to them?"

"Yes," Roku acknowledged, nodding. "I can't thank you enough for taking this into consideration, Kyoshi."

Kyoshi held up her hand. "Please, enough with the thanks. I may be regretting this later. Though I cannot see Miss Bei Fong a victim of all of this, I know how she can be. She's going to be an even bigger annoyance than you are."