Chapter 43: Kyoshi Island

Once aboard the ship, the first thing Azula ordered me to do was gather popular rumors. She, in turn, went to contact the commanders of various bases to find out if they knew anything about the Avatar. Fortunately, the supply of messenger hawks had been replenished.

We managed to ascertain roughly the same thing: no one had seen the Avatar yet. But I uncovered some additional information. Prince Zuko and the former General Iroh had arrived at one of the bases, which was, incidentally, once commanded by Captain Zhao. Their ship was damaged and was docked for repairs. Clear signs of battle were visible on it. They clearly hadn't been fighting pirates, as the nature of the damage was different. It seemed Prince Zuko and his crew had encountered some sort of benders—strong benders, Masters of their element, or a very large group of mediocre ones.

Again, based on the appearance of the damage, the attack was not carried out by Earthbenders. And since Prince Zuko arrived from the south, the probability of him being attacked by Waterbenders is also very low. There are no benders there anymore. The Southern Raiders, a special division of the Fire Nation fleet, captured everyone a long time ago. This led to certain thoughts about who Prince Zuko might have actually encountered…

I learned these rumors purely by chance. I overheard a conversation between two mechanics. A friend of one of them was currently repairing Prince Zuko’s ship. The Princess, however, received no information about her brother. This seemed strange to me. But after a while, when I heard the captain’s name, everything fell into place. He was one of Iroh’s former subordinates who held him in high regard. It’s possible the retired General and the base captain agreed not to spread information about Prince Zuko’s damaged ship.

Realizing that her brother might find the Avatar first, Azula abruptly changed her plans. Assembling the operative squad was postponed, as there was a chance it wouldn’t be needed at all.

“Long, order your men to set a course for the nearest base. We need to swap this tub for a faster vessel so we can keep up with my foolish brother’s ship.”

“Princess Azula, you shouldn’t call…” One of Azula’s twin maids started to admonish her, but quickly fell silent, clutching her chest when she saw the Princess’s menacing glare. She was in no mood for any foolish talk right now. Azula wanted to act as effectively as possible. Her goal was in sight…

The captain of the nearest base seemed to not even realize that an entire ship and its crew had been requisitioned from him, and he had been left in charge of a vessel used to transport members of the royal family. Azula, incidentally, very easily got rid of the informants who were on our original ship. She simply gave the logical argument that the new ship would be unfamiliar for the crew to operate. Practicing the skills needed to manage the new vessel would take time, which the Princess didn’t have.

Additionally, the Princess reduced the number of her own servants from six to two people. She claimed there wasn’t enough space for everyone on the new ship. Azula simultaneously wanted me to continue taking care of her body, but she understood how dangerous that could be. So, she simply needed those servants… But at least she got rid of the obvious spies in her retinue. The elderly twin maids had undoubtedly been reporting Azula’s every move to the Fire Lord.

Azula began to scrutinize the map located in the bridge:

“If Zuko’s clash with an unknown bender or an entire group of benders occurred in the southern waters, where might the people who attacked my brother be hiding now?”

“Prince Zuko was attacked?!” The eyes of the lieutenant, who had previously commanded this ship, widened in surprise. “But the Southern Water Tribe is just a small village of frightened, spineless people… I beg your pardon.”

Realizing he had intruded on a private conversation, the lieutenant immediately tried to back away. It seemed he was well-acquainted with the situation in the south… For example, relatively few people knew about the weakness of the Southern Water Tribe. Even its size was unknown to many Fire Nation soldiers. Yet this lieutenant knew that this tribe was just a small village…

“Stop,” I ordered him. The soldier immediately stopped and turned to face me. “Lieutenant, how do you know about the Southern Tribe?”

“I had the honor of serving in the Southern Raiders group when I was a private, Captain!” the soldier immediately replied.

Azula and I exchanged glances.

“So you know quite a bit about the local territories?”

“That is correct!”

“Where does all sorts of scum most often hide, thinking the Fire Nation soldiers won’t reach them?”

“There are a few options,” the lieutenant approached the map. “But typically, fugitives of all kinds like to hide in the Southern Air Temple or on Kyoshi Island. The first option is a hard-to-reach place because of its location. The Temple is high in the mountains and difficult to climb. As for Kyoshi Island… The inhabitants of that island usually don’t like outsiders. Moreover, they genuinely don’t care where you came from. They are equally wary of representatives of the Fire Nation and the people of the Earth Kingdom. They have some old friction with the latter… But I know for a fact that if you pay the elder of any of the villages a little, you can unexpectedly become a native resident of that island. Pay more, and you’ll suddenly turn out to be a long-lost son or grandson.”

“If I’m not mistaken, the Air Nomad Temples are checked at least once every few years?” I asked Azula.

“Yes. Sometimes they deliberately place Airbender relics in the temples to serve as bait. It’s actually a trap. An Airbender will be met either by a well-prepared squad that has been in ambush for a long time, or by some mechanism that will kill them on the spot. That’s how the remaining Air Nomads were eliminated.”

“But it seems he doesn’t like visiting the Temples?” Azula understood who I was referring to. The conversation was about the Avatar.

“If he hasn’t shown up in a hundred years, then he definitely doesn’t like them,” the Princess scoffed. “That was a foolish question, Long.”

“Then only one option remains… Remind me, is Kyoshi Island named after one of the Avatar incarnations who preceded Roku? Lieutenant, do you know how well the Avatar is regarded on that island?”

“He is revered. Even the island’s defenders are named after one of the Avatars.”

The course was set.

…

The inhabitants of Kyoshi Island genuinely believed they had managed to maintain a neutral stance since the start of the war, nearly a hundred years ago. Frankly, I didn't understand why this island hadn't been seized by the Fire Nation yet. If I were one of the many generals and admirals, I would have built a fortified outpost here long ago, through which I would conduct my expansion to the west. Even if they were eventually driven from the mainland, it would be extremely difficult to do so from a well-defended island.

For some reason, the local military primarily desired to capture key cities, like Ba Sing Se or Omashu. There is logic to this… if the conflict hasn't been going on for nearly a century. But at this point, quality should be superseded by quantity. That is, slowly subjugating small towns and even minor settlements. Only a small percentage of the command staff think of this approach and slowly begin to expand the territory of the colonies. That's how the village I was born in was captured, for example.

The Fire Lords have craved world domination for several generations but only turn their attention to large settlements. Again, I understand that the population of Ba Sing Se alone is enormous compared to other cities. One might even think that if you capture that city, the entire Earth Kingdom will bow before you… But it doesn't work that way. The capture of Ba Sing Se would undoubtedly undermine the morale of the Earth Kingdom’s defenders, but it wouldn't completely break it. Other pockets of resistance would not disappear. The war would continue. Perhaps for another hundred years.

By leaving territories like Kyoshi Island unconquered, the Fire Nation is simply handing a mobilization resource to the Earth Kingdom’s defenders. One might assume Kyoshi Island maintains neutrality; its inhabitants don't help either side of the conflict. But that is today. No one knows what will happen tomorrow, for instance. What if they remember their roots…

Speaking of which. Princess Azula enlightened me on how this island was formed. It was one of those instances where the Avatar demonstrated their true power to the world. Initially, there was no island. There was a peninsula that a local tyrant, who had conquered the entire Earth Kingdom except for Ba Sing Se and this peninsula, tried to seize. He arrived with a massive army, and the Avatar… Kyoshi did not want to fight, so she simply detached a huge piece of land from the mainland and literally sailed away with it into the sea. Moreover, she didn’t stop very close to the mainland. She sailed far enough that the island ended up in the middle of the ocean. And the island itself is not small. It has no cities, but several villages. All of this speaks to the Avatar's incredible strength and deep knowledge of bending.

Perhaps I should change sides? I've heard that, throughout almost all eras, it was typical for the Avatar to gather a team of like-minded assistants. I'm not the worst Firebender, and if the Avatar himself trains me…

“What are you thinking about?” Azula came up behind me and placed her palms on my shoulders, then hugged me completely, burying her nose in my back.

It was night now. I don't know what Azula intended to do in the bridge, but I simply couldn't sleep. A feeling of anxiety was tormenting me. I’ve been noticeably more nervous lately. This was uncharacteristic of me. I’m usually more composed. Now, even meditation wasn't entirely helping. I could calm down for a while, but the anxiety soon returned… It seemed to me that I had made many erroneous conclusions recently. But I couldn’t figure out where I’d miscalculated. Only one conclusion was clear: I wanted to drink jasmine tea.

“I remembered when I once drank tea with General Iroh… He brewed it himself. It was unexpectedly delicious. I wanted to taste his tea again.”

“So you’re one of those…” Azula looked at me rather strangely, as if I had confessed to something very bad. “Hmm… Fine, I’ll try to brew you some tea. Although my relationship with my uncle is awful, he once taught me the tea ceremony. What kind of tea do you want to try?”

“The Avatar,” I said.

“I’m not familiar with the composition of such a tea.” Azula shook her head. “Is it from where you are from?”

“The Avatar flew over us.”

Now Azula understood everything. I wanted to hand her the spyglass, but she snatched it from my hands first. The Princess’s gaze went to the night sky. Even at this time of day, the Flying Bison was visible—an animal that was the traditional means of transport for the Air Nomads. And the Avatar’s latest reincarnation occurred precisely among the Air Nomads. And the Bison was flying directly toward Kyoshi Island.

“Rouse the crew, Long!” The care, tenderness, and love in Azula’s voice vanished. In their place came excitement and a predatory smile. “We must catch and capture the Avatar!”