Avatar:History of Yangchen (year 17 of the era of Yangchen)
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| History |
| Early life Disrupting the "Unanimity project" (year 17) |
| Relationships |
| Yangchen's relationships Yangchen's network |
In the 17th year of her era,[1] Avatar Yangchen initiated a covert investigation of the shang merchants as part of her efforts to dismantle the international cold war which had arisen after the Platinum Affair.[2] In the process, she came into contact with an errand runner named Kavik – who became an important friend and ally – and discovered that the shangs were backing the covert "Unanimity project".[3][4]
As she gradually uncovered the secrets of "Unanimity", Yangchen's abilities and character were tested by hard choices, deception, murders, and betrayals.[5][6][7] Ultimately, she managed to stop an attempt to unleash the Unanimity project at Bin-Er, saving the city and disrupting her enemies' plans.[8][9] Realizing that the four nations' leaders would try to take control of "Unanimity", Yangchen mostly covered up the Bin-Er incident as a spirit-related event and arranged to be appointed as the city's new ruler.[10] Despite these successes, her newly forged bond with Kavik was raptured after the young Avatar learnt that he had temporarily betrayed her to the shangs during their investigations.[7]
Investigating the shangs at Bin-Er
When she was 17,[1] Yangchen and Boma began an official tour of the shang cities, starting at Bin-Er and taking up residence in the Blue Manse. Before she began the tour, she left Pik and Pak in the care of the Northern Air Temple.[1] They were joined by Sidao, an Earth Sage and the Minister of Special Territory Relations, who became an increasingly prominent member of her retinue. She was assigned many personal guards, though she did not trust most of those recruited in the "city of spies". For nearly a month, Yangchen scouted the docks of Bin-Er from above on Nujian, noting that the shangs were violating their charter with the Earth Kingdom by failing to control dock traffic within the proper limits.[11]
Just before Yangchen was due to meet with the shangs, the manse was raided by an errand runner named Kavik. After spotting him, she screamed for her guards, though they violently beat him despite her order to leave him unharmed.[12][13] This incident gave her grounds to dismiss all her guards for disobeying her instructions. After Kavik claimed to live in poverty and said his parents were dead, Yangchen let him go and gave him a large sum of coins.[14] Suspicious, she followed him on her glider, arriving at his home and smiling as she met Kavik's mother and father.[15] The couple treated her with great respect, and she claimed she was there to listen to the concerns of Bin-Er's ordinary residents. Pretending that Kavik had saved an important piece of information from a thief, she spoke to him privately, noting that he was far better off than he had claimed and that she had been fooled by his act.[16][17] She offered him a recruitment pitch, explaining that she needed a personal informant who had no debts or allegiances, was low-level enough to avoid notice, also valuing him as a skilled waterbender and spy. Choosing not to blackmail him, she announced proudly to his parents that Kavik would become her official companion in recognition of his supposed bravery.[17]
Yangchen's retinue relocated to an ancient inn after the break-in at the Blue Manse. She was soon due for her first official meeting with the shangs, parading through the streets of Bin-Er on Nujian with Boma beside her. Several troublemakers in the crowd threw rotten fruit, followed by an elderly man striking Boma with a clay jug. Furious, she threw the fruit back into the crowd.[1] After formally introducing herself to the shangs and Zongdu Henshe, she listened as they presented the history of their system. While Sidao praised their model of human accord, Yangchen countered that no system was perfect and that the suffering in the city could not be ignored. When she asked for workers to be paid fairly and for alms to be distributed, Sidao argued that there were no formalities for such reforms, and Shang Noehi told her she had no authority to demand charitable actions from them.[2] Knowing appeals to generosity would fail, she cited the Earth King's concern over treason and revealed she had records proving the shangs were failing to keep dock traffic within limits, hinting at a large unregulated economy.[18] In a private meeting with Henshe, she regretted her delivery but not her message. She asked Boma to impersonate the Avatar and fly off on Nujian, allowing her to sneak into the shangs' buildings through underground flues. Struggling with claustrophobic memories from a past life, she managed to regain control and overheard the shangs discussing a mysterious Unanimity project.[3] She returned to the inn covered in soot and began planning a trip to Jonduri to investigate.[11]
Bonding with Kavik
Yangchen met Kavik at the Golden Cloudberry teahouse, disguising herself in Earth Kingdom winter clothing and a Fire Nation–style wig. They discussed the letter she had instructed him to give his broker, Qiu, revealing it was meaningless bait meant to trace leaks. While charming the teahouse owner, she explained that the shangs sought an asset that would grant them unlimited leverage over their cities and the four nations. Kavik agreed to join the mission only if she secured exit passes for his family; she wanted to help but explained that granting such passes would draw suspicion toward them. Only after verifying he was not a plant for Henshe or the shangs did she formally agree to partner with him.[19]
After leaving the city, Yangchen returned to the Northern Air Temple, meeting Kavik at the village hospital at its base, where she worked to save a woman suffering from a raging fever. With Kavik assisting her waterbending, they broke the fever, though the woman revealed that her child remained missing.[20] While Yangchen deflected Abbot Sonam's protest to her bringing her "spy" into the temple, she continued her work inside the hospital.[21]
On the temple grounds, Yangchen watched Kavik bond with Nujian during their first flight. Once they reached the top of a turret, Kavik asked Yangchen about how much more heroic and inspiring she seemed around the Air Nomads. Yangchen reminisced about her actions at Tienhaishi and explained that witnessing suffering made her determined to learn the arts of politics and intrigue so she could use such tactics to help others. Pik and Pak confronted her for leaving them in the care of the temple for so long. That night, she practiced her bending with frustration on the airball court, unwilling to let go of her failures.[21]
Jonduri operations and saving the Saowon clan
Reaching Jonduri, Yangchen dropped off Kavik to be collected by Tayagum so he could enter the city unnoticed.[22] She continued onward with a formal delegation from the Northern Air Temple, leaving her animals with Monk Samten. Upon meeting Zongdu Chaisee, she was introduced to the works of Guru Shoken. Chaisee promised charitable reforms but hesitated when asked how long they would take, revealing she was insincere. Disgusted by Chaisee's vague threats of making rivals "disappear", Yangchen was summoned to address an urgent situation involving the Saowon on Ma'inka Island.[23]
Forced to divert from her investigation, she flew to Ma'inka and confronted the Saowon for breaking their agreement with the spirits.[24] After learning their children had been cursed into unending sleep, she ventured into a cavern, noting damage caused by the branch houses. Confronted by dark phoenix-eel spirits, she was struck by a vision of Jetsun trapped in a howling mist. Desperate, she begged to renegotiate, claiming she could impose a longer-lasting burden than a single generation of loss. Three days later, she returned with a new agreement: the Saowon would not regrow their hair for fifty years and adopt taboos and quirks that would ruin their reputation and income. Lohi was furious, but she encouraged him to focus on a future where their clan could eventually prosper again. She returned to Jonduri immediately after reading Chaisee's letter claiming the Avatar's spy had been caught.[6]
Yangchen reunited with Kavik at Tayagum and Akuudan's inn. After learning that Sidao and Qiu had been killed by Chaisee's association, she was devastated, feeling responsible, and fled in panic. Kavik found her at the loudest beach in Jonduri, where she contemplated abandoning the mission, but he encouraged her to continue. She performed a mourning lament for Sidao and spoke words of remembrance for Qiu.[5] Kavik prepared to raid a key warehouse believed to house a logbook on Unanimity. Yangchen briefed him on the plan and gave him Nujian's bison whistle for extraction if needed.[4] When he returned, he reported that the warehouse was irrelevant and that Unanimity was instead aboard the Sunbeam, a ship transporting the project from Port Tuugaq to Jonduri. Leaving Tayagum and Akuudan to protect threatened workers, and keeping Kavik in his undercover position, she departed for Port Tuugaq.[25]
Cold trail at Port Tuugaq
She flew to Shimsom Big Island without resting after a nightmare about Jetsun.[26] [27] Exhausted and hungry, she landed Nujian outside the city and used earthbending and airbending to create distractions to slip past the gate into Port Tuugaq. While heading for the docks, she realized she was being tailed toward the eastern district. She defeated two pursuers with earthbending and a third with airbending, revealing herself as the Avatar. Needing a secure place for her captives, she decided to appeal to the Order of the White Lotus, dragging the unconscious bodies by earthbending to a qarmaq she knew they used. She recited recognition codes recalled from a past life to a confused man, who promised to find a higher-ranking Lotus member.[27]
After sleeping and eating stew, she was introduced to "Mama", who immediately realized Yangchen did not personally know the codes. When Mama criticized Yangchen for being too proactive, Yangchen deduced the White Lotus was investigating something significant and offered an information trade. Mama urged her to consider what kind of Avatar she wanted to be, arguing that truth could illuminate more than deception, but inadvertently revealed knowledge of Yangchen's strong past-life connections. Yangchen was shaken upon realizing the White Lotus must have had a contact within her own home, the Western Air Temple. After calming down, she admitted she had sought guidance from her past lives and that none had wished they had been more passive. Mama revealed she was investigating bright lights and noise; Yangchen confessed everything she knew about Unanimity.[28] Mama, surprised, noted that no ship named Sunbeam had docked in the city for two months. Reinvigorated after eating, Yangchen requested to visit the site with Mama of the supposed spiritual disturbance, reaching a large inland hill. Yangchen found no spirits, but Mama noted that there were uneven depressions in the environment. Yangchen cleared a wide swath of snow in the Avatar State, revealing evenly spaced depressions arranged like a target range, damage which Mama noted. Yangchen felt no known machine or bending technique could cause this damage.[29]
Battle at Bin-Er
Concluding that she and Kavik were wrong about the Sunbeam, she flew back to Jonduri.[7] Nearing the city, Nujian flew directly to a meadow where Kavik's partner Jujinta was meditating and blowing the whistle Kavik had given him. Although Kavik was missing, she gathered Tayagum, Akuudan, and Jujinta and flew them to Bin-Er for protection and support.[9] At Boma's inn, Yangchen and her allies learned that Unanimity consisted of three firebenders with an extraordinary ability – later known as combustionbending – being used as human weapons and leverage against the Earth King. They tracked the trio just before their display of power: Thapa fired a warning shot at the Earth Kingdom army, while Xiaoyun and Yingsu intimidated civilians.[8][9] They first raided Xiaoyun's location, with Yangchen removing the air from the room to knock him unconscious. After Tayagum and Akuudan carried him away, they repeated the maneuver with Thapa just before he launched an explosion toward the Water Tribe Quarter, apprehending him and Zongdu Henshe.[8]
The raid on Yingsu proved more difficult. Realizing her comrades were compromised, she retreated to the gathering hall. Kavik, forced to follow her, entered her line of sight. Yangchen thought he would die, and although Jujinta offered to shoot an arrow, there were too many possible angles. Yangchen hurled herself toward Yingsu, bellowing at her to stand down, staying out of the Avatar State in case she died. Yingsu fired an explosion at her, but Yangchen used airbender speed to survive and reached the hall. Instead of removing the air from the room, she chose restraint and healed Yingsu with waterbending, knowing the woman would have died otherwise. By accepting the Avatar's mercy, Yingsu surrendered, and the final member of Unanimity was apprehended.[9]
Unanimity's loose ends
After the incident, the shangs stayed out of sight, and monks from the Northern Air Temple arrived to provide alms and blessings.[10][30] However, she received and read a letter Kavik had sent while believing she was still in Port Tuugaq, confessing he had betrayed her on behalf of his brother Kalyaan by lying about the Sunbeam's location. When she met with Kavik, she told him part of her truly believed his confession, but she could no longer trust him. She deemed he was no longer her companion, though she stated he could still be an asset with all his connections and knowledge.[7]
Yangchen soon left Bin-Er for Ba Sing Se, where she met with Earth King Feishan, both disguised, in a wine shop in the Middle Ring. Having heard reports of fireballs in the sky, Yangchen told the Earth King the city had fallen out of balance due to its greed. Taking a risk, she blamed him for his mismanagement after he complained about losing face and revenue, and asked to take on the city's administration to ease its residents' burden while increasing the king's revenue. This was granted after she lied Avatar Szeto would make all the calls and her involvement would be minimal. The Earth King mentioned he had received a cryptic message from Henshe before the incident, and threatened he might do something terrible if he learned a man had caused what happened, but still toasted to a brighter future with Yangchen.[10]
Following the meeting with Feishan, Yangchen returned to the Northern Air Temple, where the combustionbenders had been confined to hamlets inaccessible without a flying mount, and Henshe confined to a room in the temple. Thapa refused to give up any more information, and Henshe only offered a lead she already knew about; the role of Kalyaan as his plant within Chaisee's organization. After talking with Thapa, Yangchen was met by Abbot Sonam, who expressed disappointment in her for making jailers of the monks, warning they would no longer be Air Nomads if they got a taste for dominating other human beings. Retreating to the Avatar's quarters, Yangchen pondered what it would be like to retreat from the world and become a figurehead, giving her enough time to find Jetsun. However, Sonam arrived and told her the woman she healed had found her son, which reminded Yangchen of her duty to save others, and that she never gave up on people. She promised to visit the woman and her son the following day.[31]
Some time after her conversation with Sonam, Yangchen hid Tayagum, Akuudan, and Jujinta by setting them up with new lives within the village near the Northern Air Temple.[32]