«An Agni Kai? Wait, I always thought Fire Nation Royal Academies had special places for training and... Duels,» Kyoshi said, very concerned this time.
«Yes, they do, but it wasn't just a practice fight or instructed strategy of the duel, as it usually is. I was challenged to an Agni Kai. You remember when we were at the Fifth Nation camp Tagaka mentioned my mother's duels results. And when we were in a tent together I told you it wasn't just any opponent, but her cousin,» Rangi sighed deeply. «She had a son. His name was Ikari. He was so frustrated with the fact that his mother was slayed by mine that he challenged me, four years after his mother's death. It was obviously a stupid decision...,» a smirk appeared on firebender's face. «For him. He gave me plenty of time to become an elite soldier with pretty decent fighting skills. Well, probably it was some kind of a strategy, since defeating a child never gives you much credit.»
Rangi walked towards a big area near the cliff and looked at it with saddened expression.
«I was only fifteen and at my closing year in academic studies and he already was a lieutenant in Fire Nation navy for a year or so. He sent me a letter in which he wanted to «set things right» and «get it over with» and the only way he thought would help was to perform an act of a daughter of the slayer and the son of the slayed to fight against each other.»
«And you agreed?», Kyoshi whispered, trying not to show the way her heart was tearing apart. «This is madness!»
«Yes. I was hot tempered. And I saw my mother's honor to be in question. We usually don't preserve blood feud duels, let alone the ones which required a winner's child participation, but it wasn't in my mind at that time.»
Kyoshi didn't know what to say. Knowing that once there was a person who threatened existence of the person who attached her to this world the most almost made her tremble. Rangi didn't notice the change on Kyoshi's face and continued:
«He left precise instructions where exactly the battle was about to happen. He said he found this place when he was exploring Earth Kingdom territory and it was a perfect set to Agni Kai. No forests, dry trees or villagers to witness the scene. I left home without telling anyone, mother probably thought I was off with some mission or training, she didn't follow me anyway.»
***
Ikari and Rangi stood opposite each other with their backs turned. It was decided that for this one they are not going to wear anything to cover their shoulders in order to not spread fire to neighboring terrain with sparks.
As they turned to face each other Rangi shot the first blast of fire directly to his feet, hoping to throw the opponent off balance. Ikari was fast enough to jump forward and send a long thin strip of fire to girl's arm. Rangi dodged a strike and created a ring shaped fire in her arms leading it to Ikari's neck as fast as she could, but he leaned his torso to the ground and jumped back to his feet. Then the man took a deep breath and let a vast powerful flame off his fingertips. It wasn't usual orange color, but something more faded to blue, Rangi had never seen this before. He used extremely hot fire, she was at her early stages of training it with Hei-Ran, so it was hard for the girl to block all those fireballs at once. She knew it was possible to make fire cause more damage, but to change its color was something new. Unexpected technique made Rangi a weaker spot in the game.
One more thing that made her question whether it was right decision to fight or not was understanding his pain. She had so much fight within herself, so it was hard to manage the actual one. After all, wouldn't she do the same thing if her mother was killed like this? Yes, and possibly, she would go even further.
Rangi ended up being on the ground with Ikari's firefist pointing at her.
«No,» she thought to herself, «It can't go on like this.»
«I wish your mother was as weak as you are. Look at you! Pathetic! Didn't precious mistress teach you that Agni Kai is not for chill girls like you? Now I kill you and we're even.»
Rangi didn't do a thing. She was just inhaling and exhaling, as her mother taught her. It took a lot of effort to produce a strike that was powerful enough to knock her opponent off his feet, but she did so, injuring his right ear alongside. The flame that ran off her fingertips almost burned her own clothes. It was so hot and illuminated bright, almost blinding glow that she had to close her eyes. When she opened them she was already on her feet. Rangi came closer to Ikari as she created a medium size fireball in her arms, a normal color this time, and stared at him furiously.
«The mistress taught me well and now I show you how much of a chill girl I am.»
«Come on, do it, let your assassin mother guide you,» Ikari sad struggling with pain in his ear, the damage Rangi's blow cause must have affected his coordination.
If it wasn't for her mother's mentioning she would've killed him. A fifteen year old killer. Nobody would count it as a crime, since he was the one to initiate the fight at first, but her conscience would never be cleared, so she hit the piece of earth near his left ear.
«If you don't want to end up with a matching scar you will be smart enough to get off my way and never, I repeat never, show up again.»
***
«Rangi,» Kyoshi said, taking her hand. «I am so sorry.»
«I told you about it not to make you feel this way for me, for him or for my mother,» firebender said quickly, looking into her lover's eyes.
«Listen, the reason I brought you here and told this story is because everything seems clearer than ever now. I finally figured it out!» Rangi was looking more pensive than a minute or two ago. «I think I can teach you how to bend lightning».
YOU ARE READING
When Limit Hits
FanfictionIt's been almost a year since the battle of Yun and Kyoshi. She is now heading to the sacred places of all Four Nations, but Rangi's got some plans for her...
