Avatar:The Invitation

"It's an invitation to visit the Fire Nation."

— Kyoshi informs Jinpa, after reading a letter from Fire Lord Zoryu.

Template:Chapter infobox"The Invitation" is the second chapter of The Shadow of Kyoshi.

Overview

Kyoshi travels to the Middle Ring through drainage canals. In her Ba Sing Se apartment, she removes her war paint and tends to her injuries. Kyoshi and Jinpa discuss her recent mail. Kyoshi receives an invitation to go to the Fire Nation so that she can assist the Fire Lord and finally visit Rangi.

Synopsis

Kyoshi waterbends up the drainage canals that lead to the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se. It is dark out by the time that she travels from the Lower Ring to her modest two-story apartment in the Middle Ring. She unbuckles her bracers and throws them on her bed. She places the stolen headbands on her desk and collapses into a nearby seat. Kyoshi carefully takes off her headdress and then organizes the stack of headbands. She considers making an example of Li and whoever bribed him from in the Middle Ring. She catches herself, realizing that Jianzhu would have approved of her thoughts. She shudders as she remembers that she suffocated Li's men with the same technique that Jianzhu had once done to her. Kyoshi slams her hands on the desk in frustration then begins to wipe off her makeup. She decides that she needs to do what Kelsang would have done, rather than following in Jianzhu's example; she needs to help the misfortunate in the Lower Ring, instead of using violence as the solution.

A knock comes from outside of her apartment and she tells the person outside to come in. Monk Jinpa walks inside and asks Kyoshi if she is alright, explaining that he heard a loud bang. Using airbending, Kyoshi blows the stack of letters from his hands and swirls them around him. Jinpa catches the letters and apologizes to the Avatar for walking in as she is taking off her war paint. With her makeup still smeared across her face, she tells him that it is alright. Jinpa worryingly tells Kyoshi that her neck is bleeding. Kyoshi casually pulls out a war fan and bends the glass from her neck wound. She bends a small amount of water out from a nearby pitcher and wraps it around her injury. Jinpa is horrified by Kyoshi's botched form of first-aid and asks if healing water usually glows. Kyoshi explains that she does not know how to heal properly before pouring the water back into the pitcher and running a finger over her wound.

Kyoshi asks her secretary for an update, so he takes a seat and opens the first letter addressed to the Avatar. Jinpa reads a report from Governor Te Sihung that the citizens of Zigan Village are now being properly cared for. Her secretary is puzzled by Te's actions and wonders why he is suddenly acting so generously. Kyoshi does not reveal to Jinpa that she is the reason that the Zigan villagers are now being treated fairly and instead asks Jinpa to read the next letter. He informs Kyoshi that the rest of the letters are invitations from nobles that she has already declined or ignored. Kyoshi is infuriated by the Earth Kingdom nobles' persistent demand for the Avatar to grant them more power and money. She tells Jinpa that the messages can wait, prompting him to argue that she cannot decline from leading the Earth Kingdom forever. He tells her that as the Avatar, she needs to be more than just a powerful bender that constantly risks her life to take down criminals, she needs to be a leader. Kyoshi explains to Jinpa that bending is what is familiar to her, unlike partaking in high society. Jinpa says that, eventually, Kyoshi will have to "stand upon a greater stage". Kyoshi asks Jinpa if what he said is something that his secret friends say, but he simply shrugs in response.

Kyoshi begins to ask if any of the letters had information regarding Yun, but before she finishes her question, Jinpa responds with a no. Kyoshi exhales in frustration and suggests raising the reward another time. Jinpa explains that increasing the reward likely will not do anything since most nobles, in an effort to save face, are trying to pretend that Yun's era as the assumed Avatar never happened at all. Jinpa mentions that Lu Beifong forbids anyone to mention Jianzhu or Yun in his household. Kyoshi is irritated as she thinks of Lu Beifong, believing him to be as guilty as Jianzhu in the misidentification of the Avatar. Kyoshi remembers how she begged Lu Beifong in person to help her find Yun, to which the Earth Sage refused by stating that Yun is dead according to Jianzhu's letter despite Kyoshi providing a testimony of the events in Qinchao. Jinpa begins to tell Kyoshi that no one is trying to stop her search for the "false Avatar", but she interrupts the Air Nomad and yells at him for calling Yun the "false Avatar" as she is irritated by how easily Yun had been abandoned by Jianzhu and the rest of the Earth Kingdom. Jinpa lowers his head and nervously wiggles his foot. After a moment of awkward silence, he tells Kyoshi that he will send a description of Yun to every possible passport-checking waystation. Kyoshi thinks that it is a good idea and feels sorry for lashing out at Jinpa. She tells him to make it happen and he nods in agreement.

Jinpa tells Kyoshi that there is a particularly special letter among the pile that he chose not to open. He withdraws a sturdy metal message tube end-capped with gilded flames from his robes and gently passes it over, telling her that it looks like it is from Fire Lord Zoryu himself. Kyoshi cautiously unfurls the scroll and reads that the Fire Lord needs her assistance in an important national matter; he invites her to visit the royal palace during the Festival of Szeto so that he can explain it to her in person. Jinpa asks what the letter says and she nervously answers that it is an invitation from Fire Lord Zoryu. Jinpa notices her hesitation to make her debut on the world stage and begs Kyoshi not to decline the Fire Lord. Kyoshi decides that a change of scenery might be good for her and decides to go. Jinpa jokes that Kyoshi might even have fun during the Fire Nation holiday festival. Kyoshi asks Jinpa to write back to the Fire Lord, accepting his invitation. She tells him that they will start packing tomorrow and that she cannot handle any more business today. Jinpa formally bows to the Avatar and advises her to get some sleep, before leaving her room.

Alone, Kyoshi stares at the portion of the scroll that she failed to tell Jinpa about: Hei-Ran and Rangi have returned from the Northern Water Tribe and wish to see her in the Fire Nation. Kyoshi's heart races as she thinks about finally seeing Rangi again. Kyoshi carefully folds the letter and tucks it in a pocket closest to her heart. Kyoshi realizes that despite Jinpa's request, she will not be sleeping well tonight.

Production notes

Series continuity

• While exploiting the drainage canals with waterbending as a shortcut to move quickly through Ba Sing Se, Kyoshi recalls the complaints people have voiced about how long travel takes in the city, a problem Earth King Yi Ming solves shortly thereafter by tasking his royal engineers to develop what would become known as the monorail.
• Kyoshi resolves to hide the newest scar on her neck with more makeup and a higher collar, a plan she commits to, as seen in her appearances throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender.
• Jinpa counsels Kyoshi that her duties as the Avatar extend beyond being a powerful bender, similar to Tenzin's advice to Korra in "A Leaf in the Wind" that being the Avatar means more than just fighting.
• Kyoshi notes the typicality of Jinpa, as an Air Nomad, resorting to fun as his last argument to get her involved in worldly affairs, the same sentiment Aang falls back on in "The Boy in the Iceberg" and "The Avatar Returns" when Sokka admonishes his approach to dealing with the Hundred Year War.

Character revelations

• Kyoshi is capable of glassbending and limited healing.
• Jinpa was appointed as Kyoshi's secretary after "Hauntings".