Chapter 65

"Avatar Kiyoshi was born to two life long criminals. She was abandoned at an early age only to be taken in by Kelsang who was the previous Avatar, Avatar Kuruk's, Air bending master. At the time Kelsang was traveling with a boy named Yun who was believed to be the avatar. Kiyoshi was only brought along as a servant to Yun. "

"Wait how could they not tell who the avatar was?"

"Neither could bend anything besides their native earth element. Anyway, at the time the 41st Earth King was particularly weak and the Earth Kingdom was instead actually ruled by Jianzhu. He was Avatar Kuruk's earth bending master, and Earth Sage, and politician. He basically held the Earth Kingdom together. Eventually, they couldn't figure out who the avatar was. Neither Kiyoshi nor Yun showed any extra element bending. So, Jianzhu summoned an ancient spirit to test them. Which was a terrible idea. The spirit got angry and decided it wanted to eat them. Jianzhu forcefully separated Kiyoshi and Yun then collapsed the cave sealing the spirit and Yun together. Kelsang showed up at this point injured from a previous battle. Kelsang and Jianzhu fought over who should teach the avatar. While Kelsang started the fight Jianzhu finished it by killing Kelsang. This sent Kiyoshi into a rage-fueled avatar state destroying everything nearby including a village. Jianzhu escaped and returned to ruling. Kiyoshi went into hiding wanting to escape her duties so she joined her parent's criminal enterprise. Years went by as she trained in everything from the other elements to assassination. She had sworn vengeance against Jianzhu and eventually, she was able to kill him."

"She killed him?!" Aang shouted

"Well, she claimed Yun showed and killed him. But he was never seen or heard of again, so it is believed this is her just coming to terms with such a drastic decision."

"But maybe it was Yun" Katara asserted

"Yea you always say that spirits can do weird things!" Aang exclaimed

"Right it could absolutely be spirit stuff. I just believe a life long criminal, who had already killed people, trained to be an assassin, and who vowed to exact vengeance against Jianzhu is the more likely reason. Either way after Jianzhu's death corruption and organized crime spread across the Earth Kingdom. Kiyoshi turned her back on her criminal past and hunted down and destroyed organized crime syndicates all across the Earth Kingdom. However, she did little to combat the corruption spreading in the government. The corruption culminated in the 46th Earth King.

" 46th! You had just said, 41st King." Solka pointed out.

"Yea widespread corruption and civil unrest didn't lend itself well to long reigns. The 46th King was by all accounts terrible. An absolute tyrant and in response do the unpopular King another strong man leader like Jianzhu rose to power, Chin the Conqueror. Chin in direct opposition to the Earth King started to conqueror the Earth Kingdom. Chin eventually came to Kiyoshi's village trying to incorporate it into his territory. seeing the similarities between Chin and Jianzhu, she ended his conquest by destroying the peninsula and killing Chin. Chin's death led to the uncontested rule of the 46th King. At least until the peasant riots started across the country. Kiyoshi sided with the king and put a stop to the riots further cementing his rule. From there she secretly created the Dai-Li of Ba Sing Se in order to control the capital and limit future King's power. Then she returned to her new island and lived for another 100 years."

"That seems kind of unfair. You're taking everything she did and spinning it in a negative way" Katara tells me.

"You've probably already heard the pro-Kiyoshi side. That she held a strict code of Law and Order and fought against criminals, corruption, and tyrants. Which is true to an extent. I just want to tell you about the other perspective"

"But how much of what you told us is true?" Sokka asks

"I mean I summarized nearly a hundred years of complex geo-political history into a couple of minutes. So, a lot was left out including some context"

"What should I do though. You just told me all about how the people of this area hate me and one of my most famous past lives was actually terrible."

" Aang, these people don't have the benefits of education from a knowledge spirit. They just know what their ancestors told them. They don't hate you they have a holiday which hates your past life. Kiyoshi Island has the exact opposite holiday. Accept that no matter what sometimes you can't make everyone happy. Also, stop putting so much pressure on yourself. Your past lives were not perfect and you won't be either. You're allowed to make mistakes just keeping trying to get better and learn from them."

"Thank you, Sifu Silva."

"Sifu? Well since you're buttering me up I guess I have one more lesson. Katara, Aang lets set up camp near water tonight. Its time for your final lesson"

"Final?" They both ask

"Yes, you two are good benders. After this lesson, you won't need my instruction anymore. The two of you will become masters with practice and by helping each other."

"Thank you," Katara says a bit shyly

"Well, I'm looking forward to it. If this is our last lesson its got to be cool."

"Great. Whoop de doo more water magic. Can we hurry up and set up camp? I'm getting seriously hungry"