A/N: Man….this is actually my 2nd AU for Kyoshi I was working on (the other one I have 6 rough chapters done). But this one took such a hold on me I had to put the other one on hold (now let's hope that 3 other AUs don't take ahold of me too). TT0TT Sorry this took so long, I swear I was writing my lil' heart out for this. TT0TT

Anyway, I found a post where it states that the distance between Roku's island and Senlin village was about 504 miles (811ish km). Between Yokoya and Chameleon Bay, I'm giving it like….800 miles (1287.48ish km), if you run along the sea.

It felt like the ground shook around Rangi, maybe it did. Maybe her scream was so powerful it became an earthquake that matched the one in her heart?

Regardless, her scream had alerted her mother and Jianzhu, who came rushing out.

"Rangi?! What's the matter?" Her mother yelled.

Rangi whipped her head around, and made the two adults freeze in their tracks, they bore a horrified look on their faces. A faint part of Rangi wondered what expression she was making, but that part died out as quickly as it came into being.

She barreled past them, clutching the little red ledger in her hand. She needed to get out now. She had wasted enough time.

She practically ripped the stable doors off its hinges, scaring the stablehands inside. They promptly hightailed out of there, as she scanned the room. There was one lone ostrich horse.

She briefly wondered why there was only one, but figured either the storm or Kyoshi had scared the rest off. It didn't matter, and she quickly packed what prepackaged supplies she could onto the small creature.

She made sure to place the ledger into her personal rucksack, threw the bag over her shoulder, and then mounted the animal.

Rangi started taking off, but had to stop right outside the doors, so as not to run over her mother and Jianzhu.

"Rangi! What is going on?!" Hei-Ran she put her hands out, trying to take the reins on the steed herself.

Rangi backed the animal away, and went around the adults slowly. "You were right. You both were right!" Something akin to a sob radiated in her voice.

"What do you-? Rangi if you're going to act like this I won't let you-"

"SHE'S A DAOFEI!" Rangi cut her mother off, hurling the revelation into the adults' faces. "She was a daofei this whole time! She really did use us!"

She snapped the reins, and sped past the two. Ignoring their yells to come back. She barreled past the gate, down the road, and soon out of Yokoya.

Rangi's eyes focused on the forested area ahead as she tore down the dirt road, ignoring Qinchao Village's entrance as she passed. Her goal was to get to Gaoling city before nightfall. From there, she was going to avoid the Si Wong desert and snake her way alongside the Eastern Sea.

Her jaw clenched as tightly as she held her reins, she tried to make herself smaller, more streamline so that her steed would go faster.

Now that she was on the road, she was unfortunately left with her thoughts. Kyoshi's journal weighed heavily on her back, all of Kyoshi's secrets laid bare. At least, for the pages that weren't ruined.

Judging by the info, Kyoshi was a plant, having rooted herself there long ago. Her mother was an ex-Air Nomad, having founded the daofei gang The Flying Opera Company with Kyoshi's father.

Bile seeped into Rangi's mouth. Another renegade Air Nomad? The very idea alone was inconceivable, even when Jianzhu had told her Kelsang was a renegade she had a hard time swallowing it. But now that she found Kyoshi's journal, the hard pill was finally and fully swallowed.

And twice in a generation at that! It couldn't be a coincidence. How often did that happen in the Air Temples? Or was it just that Kyoshi's mother, Jesa, and Kelsang were outliers. Were they in cahoots together?

Rangi bit her lower lip in deep thought, she deduced the latter seemed the most plausible route. Though, she wasn't against suggesting to Jianzhu to see what he and the other nations could do about investigating any possible corruption in the Air Temples.

Pulling her thoughts back to Jesa and Kelsang, she started to formulate the hypothesis in her head. Jesa had dropped Kyoshi off about two years prior to her "official" meeting with Kelsang and Jianzhu.

Enough time for the child to establish herself in Yokoya, to make it seem like any meeting with her would be a coincidence. To be able to make contact with Kelsang without it seeming too suspicious. All while Kelsang was in Jianzhu's ear, whispering ideas of setting up shop for the Avatar in Yokoya.

But why Yokoya? Jianzhu had listed his reasons long ago, but what would Kelsang's be? Surely it involved making infiltrating the Avatar Estate easier. But, again, what was so special about Yokoya?

Why such a dingy little town? Rangi's eyes widened in realization. That was it, the size. There weren't that many people, but most importantly, there weren't that many orphans. In fact, there had only been one in the past nine years. Kyoshi.

And Kelsang was there to play the role of the benevolent monk who would help the helpless orphan that no one cared about. And the size of the village made it easy to know exactly who everyone was.

Something gnawed at Rangi, this all seemed like such an overly complicated longcon. Wouldn't it have just been easier for Kelsang to just ask Jianzhu to hire someone? Wait until Kyoshi was older, and then send a recommendation in?

Rangi absentmindedly tapped a finger on the reins, until the realization hit her.

It had to be overly complicated, because Kelsang knew Jianzhu wouldn't do that. One of the rumors she heard early on was how hard it was for Kelsang to give Kyoshi a chance as a fourteen year old. And this was after Kelsang had been planting Kyoshi into Jianzhu's thoughts for the course of nine years.

The nine years where they searched for the Avatar, where Kelsang would visit the village to "check up" on Kyoshi. Where Jianzhu would visit to make negotiations with the villagers. Jianzhu had known of Kyoshi that entire time, and still almost didn't hire her.

Kelsang was aware of his old friend's overly cautious attitude, and expertly navigated it.

Rangi grimaced to herself, as the picture was becoming more and more clearer. But she still had one thing that didn't make any sense. It was Kyoshi's childhood and her treatment during that time.

Auntie Mui had told Rangi of what Kyoshi's supposed childhood was like as she grew up in Yokoya. How she'd been mistreated by the local villagers, left abandoned to starve and die. To be treated worse than an animal. Rangi had even recently seen a bout of bullying happen recently to boot!

But with all these revelations, how much of that was true? Did Auntie Mui lie? Was she in on this treachery too? Possibly, but other servants corroborated her story. It was possible that those servants were also in on it. However, it was equally possible of them being lied to as well. And what of the villagers? Was their cruelty also a ploy?

How much could be lied about? A starving child's body held more truth than any lie could. Had Kyoshi been a victim in all of this too?!

Rangi swallowed the burning lump in her throat and shook her head. No, she would not bleed sympathy for her friend's murderer. It did not matter what hardships she grew up with, she made her choice. People with far worse had made far better choices.

She took a deep breath and kept going through the possibilities. Maybe no one lied, maybe her upbringing was that rough. But why put a child through that? Unless….it was an act?

Kyoshi's father, Hark, was a man from a long line of actors turned daofei. Maybe Kyoshi was a prodigy actress? Even from such a young age?

Rangi almost laughed at such a silly notion, but she didn't one hundred percent dismiss it. She moved onto the next, more digestible possibility.

Kyoshi was a child soldier. Of course, a five year old was perhaps pushing it. But Rangi had read about crazier stories in her time at the academy. To be honest, Rangi could see it, she did come from the capital nation of military brats after all.

Rangi recalled the inhuman feat that Kyoshi displayed against the battle of the Fifth Nation, pulling earth out of sea from two hundred paces. That wasn't something you just did without special training.

The recollection of the memory caused Rangi to clench her jaw so hard, her teeth were at risk of cracking. She knew how to bend like that, but acted like a helpless child?!

Kyoshi had kept her ability to bend earth so hush hush, that no one on the compound was really aware of it unless you checked the staff ledger, like Rangi had done. Rangi remembered her trying to encourage Kyoshi into bending, into believing in herself. Unbeknownst that Kyoshi had been giving Rangi the go-around.

Yet another piece of Rangi's trust was tarnished. Chewed up and spit out. Desecrated.

Rangi took multiple breaths to calm herself, lest she set her and her steed on fire with her own breath.

So Rangi's hypothesis was finally formed. Two renegade Air Nomads dropped Kyoshi off in Yokoya upon seeing it was the best location for their future deeds. After a long con, Kelsang was able to convince Jianzhu to set up a homebase there. They found Yun, and then… well… killed him. But why wait two years? Opportunity?

Rangi pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment. She'd forgotten to ask Jianzhu about how the incident went down. She needed to get it together.

She would have to wait until she could send a messenger hawk from Gaoling.

"Jianzhu informed me we might be expecting you!" Lu Beifong fanned himself. "We've prepared a room for you. For some reason he apologized in advance for my floors. Do you….know what he meant by that?"

Rangi glared at the man, she just wanted to get to her room and be left alone.

Lu Beifong gulped, but continued to attempt small talk as he showed his guest to her room. Rangi mostly ignored him, especially when he mentioned something about an upcoming party. "This is where you will be staying. Oh! And one more thing." He gestured to his servant, who held a messenger scroll. "Jianzhu's messenger hawk sent this message for you."

Rangi took the scroll from the servant's hands and walked through her guest room door.

"If there's anything you nee-" Lu wasn't able to finish as Rangi promptly shut the door in his face.

She looked down at the messenger scroll that was for her and frowned. While it appeared closed, it was apparent it had already been opened once. Someone, most likely Lu Beifong, was trying to see what secret Avatar affairs were inside.

She took the message out and unfurled it. A small item fell out, it was Jianzhu's seal.

The message contained benign pleasantries from Jianzhu addressed to her. Asking her to inform him on her vacation plans and so forth. Absolute bunk. At least, to the person who didn't have the key. The only thing that wasn't written in code, was in regards to the seal. He claimed it was in case she needed funds for her trip, and he wasn't able to send word out ahead of time. She didn't need a code to read in between the lines on that one.

She read through the contents twice, before deciphering the hidden meaning on her third read-through.

The letter's real contents contained the story she'd failed to listen to before leaving. Apparently, Jianzhu had taken Yun and Kyoshi to a spirit to help identify which one was the Avatar. The spirit had identified Yun as the Avatar, and that's when Kyoshi began the attack. She had killed the spirit in the crossfire.

Rangi grimaced at the sacrilegious act. Kyoshi really held nothing sacred, not spirits nor the Avatar.

Kelsang soon joined the fray, and he and Kyoshi overpowered the two with his surprise ambush. Killing Yun. And Jianzhu was barely able to get a lucky shot in, killing Kelsang, before retreating away from Kyoshi. Kyoshi had taken Kelsang's bison and was now going to spirits know where.

Rangi tapped her finger on the desk as the final piece of the puzzle fit into place. Kyoshi and Kelsang didn't enact their plan until two years later because they were waiting for an opportunity. It was no coincidence that Kelsang "revealed" that Kyoshi might be the Avatar when most of the guardsmen and master Amak were taken out by Takaga.

Between Rangi and her mother being away on business, and taking both Yun and Jianzhu to an isolated location, they must've thought their defenses were weak enough to strike. And they were right.

But maybe it wasn't just about the defenses? Surely they had plenty of opportunities to kill Yun, when he was alone. Unless, Jianzhu was also their target!

It made sense, Yun was the Avatar, but Jianzhu held a lot of influence and power in the Earth Kingdom in his own right. It would've been more beneficial to strike them both down around the same time, so as not to deal with the other's retaliation.

Rangi slammed her fist on the table. If only we didn't go to that delegation! Then Yun could've-Yun might've-

A cold chill ran down Rangi's spine. Would she and her mother's presence have been able to dissuade Kelsang and Kyoshi? Would they have still attacked? Would they have killed them too?

Rangi clawed at the letter on the table, and slowly let it burn away under her finger tips. She accidentally singed the wood underneath it in the process. Once she calmed down enough, so as not to break nor set fire to her brush, she began writing a reply letter to Jianzhu. In code of course.

She wrote about her hypothesis, who Jianzhu should look into for secret spies and corruption, as well as where she intended to go the next few days, and how she'd planned to communicate going forward. She'd be on the road, but she'd send updates via messenger hawk when she'd be able to.

Right when she was about to finish, a dark thought entered her mind. She added at the end to see if they could start the search for the new Avatar in the Fire Nation. Rangi may have failed Yun, but maybe she could still help the next Avatar. But that Avatar would need to be safe and secured before that could happen.

And with an Avatar killer on the run, the urgency of finding the next Avatar was of utmost concern now.

Once Rangi was done, she left to send the letter. On her way back, she checked her supplies along with her ostrich horse, and then went back to her room.

She rifled through her rucksack, and pulled out the journal. That journal, a coarse reminder of how little she knew about her once friend. But also a dark blessing, as the secrets it told Rangi gave her all the leads she'd ever need, she may not even need a shirshu to find Kyoshi.

She put the journal aside and checked the rest of the contents to make sure everything was in order. Her fingers brushed against something soft, and she gingerly pulled it out. It was the gold-dyed tassel from Kyoshi's room.

Rangi sat silently in the room, and stared at the object.

Rangi held the green tassel in her hand, as it dangled from the Earth Kingdom robe.

"Pretty," a soothing voice whispered in her right ear. It made Rangi tense up, that voice always made Rangi tense up. She tried and failed to stop a flush running up her right side. Rangi turned to look at the voice, it was from her friend, Kyoshi. "Don't you think?"

There are prettier things in this room. But Rangi couldn't say that out loud. So, she just grunted, feigning disinterest. "I've seen better made ones."

"Hm, I dunno, it seems well made to me." Kyoshi moved her hand to take the tassel out of Rangi's hand, to inspect it herself. Rangi tried to move her hand out of the way fast enough, at least without it looking like it was fleeing from Kyoshi, but she was too slow and felt their skin just brush past each other.

Kyoshi's hand was smooth and soft, cool, and pleasant. It also bore the effect of feeling like a hot knife running along Rangi's skin. Rangi tried to calm her aching heart by listening to Kyoshi ramble on about the object's quality.

"It's really soft," Kyoshi smiled fondly at the tassel, as she flipped it back and forth, causing the fabric to swap and create a small flow of air. Kyoshi's scent blew towards Rangi, and Rangi fought to keep an even breathing pattern. She smells like morning dew today.

Seeing the green tassel in Kyoshi's hand, Rangi could see just how well the color worked with Kyoshi's skin tone, and started to warm up to the object. "I think it'd look good on you." She blurted out before she could stop herself.

Rangi had a brief moment of panic, before it was quietly tapered by Kyoshi's snort and roll of her eyes. "Yeah right, it'd look horrible on me! I'd be doing a disservice to this fine cloth."

No, you wouldn't. Rangi wanted to protest. You'd look good in anything. But she didn't dare speak her true thoughts, because she feared her tone would reveal more than she'd want it to. Something she feared that could ruin their relationship.

"What are my two girls looking at?" a cheerful voice came from behind. Rangi thanked the spirits that Avatar Yun had appeared; she was always afraid she'd lose herself around Kyoshi whenever they were alone.

"Aren't you supposed to be training?" All that being said, she had a schedule to work with, she didn't want him slacking.

"Yikes! Please I get enough from your mother." Yun fake wept. "I'm on a break, actually. What do you have there, Kyoshi?"

Kyoshi and Rangi stepped aside, to show off the robe that had come in as a gift. "Oh that is nice, but it seems a little too long for me. You can have it, Kyoshi."

Rangi looked at Kyoshi, gauging her reaction, but it was exactly as Rangi predicted it would be. "No, I'm good."

Rangi fought back a small smile. Her friend was ever frugal, and not in want of anything. Almost to a fault.

"No really you can have it! I don't need it, think of it as a gift from me!" Yun insisted.

"That's great, but this is actually addressed to Master Jianzhu. So unless you want to take it up with him-" she cut herself off with a small wave, showing there was nothing more to be explained. Then she went over and flicked Yun on the nose. "Anyway, a gift should be more sincere than that! You shouldn't give things away willy-nilly because you want to free up space! It won't feel special!"

"Tell that to the people who send me stuff," Yun whined.

"Trust me Yun, I'm well aware," Kyoshi waved her arms around, showing off all the mostly useless trinkets he's gotten. She rubbed her temple absentmindedly. "Though I guess I should be thankful. As long as these gifts keep coming I still have a job."

Rangi tensed up at the thought of Kyoshi being here one day and then gone the next. Not being able to follow her because of her duty. She wasn't sure how she'd manage if that ever did happen.

Yun gave a pat on Kyoshi's back, laughing. "Don't worry about it, I'll make sure you have plenty of work! I swear, as long as I live, I'll always have a mess for you to clean up."

Kyoshi rolled her eyes, "Gee, thanks!" Before laughing and giving him a playful shove on the shoulder.

Rangi stared deadpanned at them, before a smile of her own crept up onto her face, softening it. "Ok, ok you two! Enough ostrich horsing around and get back to work." She started shooing Yun out the door. "I'll escort you back to your training, Avatar Yun."

"Aw, but I want to relax for a bit longer! You can go on ahead!" Yun whined, dragging his feet as Rangi all but pushed him out. To Rangi, the only thing that was worse than her being alone with Kyoshi, was Kyoshi and Yun being alone in a room together.

Rangi turned back towards Kyoshi as she exited the door. "Kyoshi, I want this done by the end of the day. I'll be back in a few hours."

"Don't worry I will!" Kyoshi called back to her. Kyoshi could do it. She was always fast and efficient. It was one of the things Rangi liked so much about her.

"Just five more minutes!" Yun tried to sneak back in, before Rangi pulled him back out into the hallway.

"I told you! Back to training!" Rangi scolded him, giving him another push forward.

But as she pushed Yun, he crumpled into dust at her touch. She looked forward and saw the hallway was quickly being engulfed into darkness.

Panic shot through Rangi, she turned back to make sure Kyoshi was alright. But as she looked upon her friend, she saw her peaceful smile contorting into a sinister grin.

Rangi opened her eyes with a jolt, she was laying on the floor, the gold tassel still in her hand. Her chest was aching, and she could feel a stream of wetness sliding down her face. She wiped at her face, it was sweat, or tears, or both. She wasn't sure, she didn't care.

She got back up into a sitting position and grabbed the rucksack, and threw the tassel back into the bag.

She balled her hands into fist and pressed them into her eyes, trying to calm the shaking that was wrecking her. She cursed the spirits for making her relive that once benign memory. Making her see Yun alive again, making her wish for her old relationships back. Making her want Kyoshi's comfort. And then twisting it at the end, it was as if it was designed to be overtly cruel.

After she calmed down, she got up and looked outside, it was still dark. She was only asleep for a handful of hours, maybe even not that.

She couldn't go back to sleep. She didn't want to go back to sleep, afraid she'd be faced with more debauched memories. So she began to pace until the sun rose up.

A/N:God the mental gymnastics hurt but I think I got through it. TT0TT At least for someone who is not thinking very clearly. Keep weaving your own idea Rangi, love to see an actual Evil!Kelsang sometime tho kfjsdjfa.

Next chapter will be a bit shorter I think, as it's from Jianzhu's perspective…...Oh wow actually it is very short….I might need to embellish it a bit. TT0TT

Anyway, the song Lose Control by Teddie Swims fits this fic I think (wasn't my intention, just happened to find this song recently and realized it). I dunno give it a listen. 8U