Doctor Mei 3

# # #

Part 3: Warriors of Kyoshi Island

# # #

(Doctor Mei)

En route to the East
Onboard Mei’s Airship
1 week after 

“Master, you must feel the chi inside your body first, to be able to use my new flying technique, for that we will have to open all your seven chakras.” I said as I circulated my chi into Gyatso's body.

The golden energy flowed from his head and his heart, through his meridians, right down to his Elixir Field in his lower abdomen. At the same time, I was helping him with the minor aches of old age. I had offered to create a rejuvenation potion, but he panicked, completely denied it, and made me swear never to reveal to anyone that I could create such a potion.

I promised not to create this particular potion, so I have resorted to using acupuncture and chi healing techniques on my Master. I've been tending to him like this since he got resurrected, and now I'm teaching him how to fly.

“Do you feel that?” I said as I channeled my chi through the needle.

As if keyed by the flowing chi, Master Gyatso sat up straight.  “Yes, it's… warm. But I feel some kind of obstruction. ”

I removed my hand from his naked back. “This sensation that you feel here is your Elixir Field. The energy of your Elixir Field is trying to spread from it and flow into your chakras.”

“That’s what you call it? Not an energy center?”

“It has many names, especially in different cultures. Now, you see that silver needle, Master?”

“Yes… ouch!”

I planted the silver needle at the location of his Elixir Field and channeled my Chi directly into it to forcefully open it. I used this method because Master Gyatso was too old, and this operation would be dangerous without a physician. 

“Do you still feel the same obstruction?” I asked, trying not to laugh at the old man who whined about pain.

Master Gyatso sighed, then his expression cleared and became joyful. “No, my chi is now flowing freely.”

“Good. Now, I am going to do this to all your chakras.” I said as I brandished six other needles.

Gyatso panicked. “Wait-”

With swift and decisive movement, I pierced each of his chakra points, eliciting from him painful screams. “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Can’t you be more delicate with this old man!?”

I giggled. “Don’t be a big baby, Master.”

I heard Master Gyatso groan in pain as I planted the last needle behind his neck. “And done! Now, you can circulate your chi in all your seven chakras and meditate. I will check up on you in another hour, don’t take the needle out, okay?”

“Argh… V-very well.” The old man nodded and began channeling his chi through his body; the airbending tattoos on his skin started to glow softly with a blue hue.

It was like that that I exited the cabin, opening the door, and the sunlight and the frigid wind kissed my body. I used my airbending to auto-regulate my body’s temperature, bringing it to a comfortable warmth.

A wooden deck entered my vision, and I walked until I stopped before the wooden handrails. With the wind billowing, my hair suddenly flew everywhere, and I looked underneath me, seeing the snowy cone top of the mountains of the land attributed to the airbenders.

I was on a skyship… and it was amazing. Don't ask me how I obtained a skyship; it was already inside the Home when I asked Master Gyatso how I would travel this world without a flying bison. Well, I knew that the Sky Bisons were not dead, but I couldn't find any of these animals on the islands around the southern air temple.

But hey, I am not going to look at a gift ostrich-horse in the mouth. We were currently sailing east, and not directly to the south pole because we needed to get information such as the date and time, the state of the war and get some supply that we could trade with the wolf cove tribe.

To realize these objectives, I want to visit Kyoshi Island. Originally a peninsula named Yokoya, which is located off the southern coast of the Earth Kingdom and dotted with many small villages. It was predominantly a fishing port, and from what Master Gyatso told me, this small island in the South Sea was a popular destination among traders and travelers back in his time.

I've read the novel that tells the origin story of the longest-living Avatar, Kyoshi. She was quite simply: a badass. Kyoshi got shit done, and she redeemed the actions of Avatar Kuruk, that dumb water tribe himbo. Let's not talk about her successor, avatar Roku who because of his friendship with Sozin, the equivalent of Masanobu Tsuji in this world. Result? He got killed like a bitch because he couldn't kill him.

That bullshit mercy spread to Aang, I am going to straight this kid out when I get my hand on him. I digress… when I am going to battle, I want to emulate Avatar Kyoshi. But outside that? I will stick to my doctor gig.

# # #

(Monk Gyatso) 

It was night and they had moved from the captain's cabin to the main deck. The Airship was hovering the ocean, motionless. They were flying in a large boat that was working rather mysteriously. His student, Mei, said that it was magic. He believed her. Gyatso would never have thought he would find himself in the position he is in now. His own student was teaching him.

She demonstrated her flight technique by manifesting her chi outward. She was wrapped in golden light and flew up as she said. “Circulate your chi evenly into your body… then will yourself up.”

As her feet left the metallic panel forming the deck. Gyatso followed the same steps, but the difference was that he didn't have as much chi as Mei, so his own personal energies weren't visible to the baked eyes.

“This is quite difficult…” Gyatso remarked, putting his hands behind his back —a gesture he did out of habit since Mei had cured his back problems.

The girl glided toward him. “Not really, I use a method that is antithetical to what you were told about how to use flight: by releasing yourself of all your earthly tethers. Which is totally unfair, in my opinion, because we're human —we feel and think, and we're social creatures. 

My version of flight acknowledges that worldview, as I think happy memories and become one with my own human nature, and accept this duality. The idea that every single human being has good and evil within them.”

What Mei said was very insightful. Gyatso never expected that someone as young as Mei could have such a mature outlook. The girl was very learned and intelligent; no, scratch that, she is a genius! She invented a flight technique that contradicted the legend of Guru Laghima, the first to achieve flight by discovering weightlessness and living untethered for 40 years. 

Many young Airbenders wanted to emulate the stories left by the guru, but here comes his final disciple, who has made a similar contribution to that legendary figure from the Northern Air Temple; she teaches an entirely different approach, more grounded in reality, that everyone can learn.

“You're right, this isn't what we teach our people. Your technique makes you… more balanced.” Gyatso replied as he tried to absorb Mei’s teaching.

Mei put a hand on her master's arm and said decisively, “Just believe in yourself and it'll happen, you've seen it happen, do it.”

Gyatso thought about his life so far, his pain, and loss… but also the good times with his fellow monks, his friendship with Avatar Rokku, and eventually, raising his reincarnation, Aang, and treating him like a son. At that moment, slowly but surely, Gyatso’s feet left the deck as he floated three meters from the ground.

“See, I knew you'd succeed, Master!” Mei exclaimed with joy.

Gyatso started laughing, still in the air and feeling weightless. “It's such a freeing sensation.”

He started moving left and right, learning how to move by shifting his chi toward the direction he desired; it was a rather intuitive technique, but he was far from being able to control it as he had witnessed Mei being rather acrobatic in the sky. She was able to go at speeds that were faster than birds or even a flying bison. Mei created an air sprout around her leg and propulsed herself into the air well over the mast and whooped. She realized a figure in the sky, one that Mei called a barrel roll, and zipped toward the ground, decelerating suddenly, and then appeared right before Gyatso with a grin. 

Gyatso was a bit windswept by Mei, the girl, who was as mischievous as his other students. Remembering all his dead students, the monk began to show a forlorn expression. “Sometimes I wish you'd been brought to us before the war; this technique would have allowed everyone to run away from the Fire Nation.”

Mei’s grin morphed into a thin line and an awkward atmosphere started between Gyatso and his student.  “When you say things like that, I don't know what to tell you, Master.”

She landed abruptly on the deck, bent her knees and jumped. 

Fwoosh! She used her airbending to move away from him further and took on a combat stance. “But I know what to do. Do you want to spar? There’s nothing better than using pressure to get better at something.”

With a ‘come on’ move of her hand, Mei invited Gyatso into a bout. Gyatso laughed, immediately exiting his state of sorrow, and took his own stance. “The flame of youth burns brightly in you, Mei. Then shall we?”

He threw a blast of air toward her, and she dodged by crouching, letting the blast pass over her head. Gyatso threw another blast, causing Mei to jump up and throw her own air blast toward her master. Making circular movements with his hands, the monk created an air vortex in an attempt to trap Mei, but she employed her flight technique to escape. Mei retaliated by making a tight, compact ball of air that she blasted toward Gyatso, whose eyebrows raised as he was forced to fly as well; the ball of compressed air exploded when it crashed where the monk had been standing.

“That’s very underhanded, my student!” Gyatso laughed at Mei's cunning. This was good; she wasn't one to think about fights needing to be fair. It would keep her alive.

“Hey, I forced you up. Now try to catch me!” Mei showed him her tongue and flew away. The moonlight was making her form distinct enough to follow her.

Gyatso used his bending to amplify his voice. “I’ve been bending longer  than you, little one!”

This is how they passed the time that night, learning how to blend attack and mobility while in flight.

# # #

(General PoV)

The next day Mei was on the bridge of her Airship, looking at the map of this world.

Gyatso looked at the super accurate rendition of the map, it even showed the locations of isolated villages or what Gyatso assumed to be the movements of the Fire Nation's Navy. This map was a strategic marvel for any Fire Nation General. He asked himself how it worked.

As for Mei, she was calculating how long it would take to reach their destination, which was Kyoshi Island.

The problem was that she could see many ships moored at Koi harbor, the island's main port. They all looked like wooden ships, and others surrounded the island as if they were stopping people from entering and exiting the island’s surroundings.

“I don't like this, Master. This looks like an encirclement to me.”

Gyatso was seeing the same thing; his experience told him that this island was facing a pirate raid, but why would they? Kyoshi Island was the Home of the Kyoshi Warriors, a force that kept training in the art of combat to honor their idol and founder. “Me neither. We might have to help when we get there. So don't land the Airship in the water. We will just have to use our spirit projection to go see what's going on first.”

This was one of the advantages of being an airbender; they were able to spy ahead to avoid danger.

“Depending on the situation, we might have to fly down and take care of things.” Gyatso added as he touched the map where Yokoya was located.

Mei nodded and replied, “I will bring a tent to make a mobile clinic, just in case...”

Gyatso watched as his student steered the airship directly to the island, and the vessel gained altitude, passing through the cloud layer in the sky. The air became quite hard to breathe because of how high they were in the sky, but it was nothing that a master Airbender couldn't live through. One hour later, they could already see the land; Kyoshi Island was shaped exactly like on the map and seeing it from the sky was a new experience to Gyatso.

Stopping the Airship over the port, Mei and Gyatso projected their spirits and started to take stock of the situation happening in the port and like they feared, the island was indeed under attack. The pirates were besieging the fortified village with a large force composed of firebender deserters and rogue waterbenders. They called themselves the remains of the 5th Nation.

Gyatso explained what the 5th nation was from memory, as it was an ethnically diverse faction of pirates who roamed the Earth Kingdom's southern and eastern seas for generations. They consisted of waterbenders, firebenders, and nonbenders, and claimed to transcend ethnic and social boundaries. They were supposedly to be a disbanded group, because most of them got killed or captured by Avatar Kyoshi long ago.

“However, Master, she didn’t finish the job as it seems that their descendants are seeking revenge right now.” Mei retorted as she pointed her ghostly finger at the men unleashing their depravity on the captured village women, and the men being killed or maimed to the raucous laugh of the pirates.

Gyatso couldn’t avert his eyes as he watched the pirates doing these deeds. “We’re going to help them. However… my student, will you deign to involve yourself in the unpleasantness required to preserve these people? Those who, like yourself, hold life in high regard often find themselves incapable of terminating it.”

When he looked into Mei’s eyes, he didn’t see any hesitation or hangs up. She simply nodded and with a resolute tone, replied, "Be assured, Master, I am not an hypocrite. Extirpation of malignant elements is sometimes requisite to ensure the well-being of the whole organism."

Gyatso sighed, he will still keep an eye on his student. “Let’s return to the ship, lower it as much as you can without us being seen. We shall flank them first from the port.”

“Aye!”

# # #

(Kyoshi Warrior, Suki)

Life on Kyoshi Island was peaceful and fulfilling; since she could walk, Suki spent her time helping her parents in the farm, training in martial arts, and patrolling the island. For centuries it has always been the duty of the Kyoshi warrior to protect their home and keep the worship of Avatar Kyoshi alive. But recently, that peace was shattered when pirates disguised as merchants launched a coordinated attack on her home.

This was all planned out, they came in as merchants three moons ago, they came with crops, iron ore, fabrics and many things which might interest the village folks. They were received with open arms as their prices were rather low; then they repaid goodwill with betrayal.

They surrounded the island so as to not allow the fisher to go warn the nearest settlement about the threat or seek help from King Bumi’s navy. The pirates proceeded to plunder everything in the port and took hostages to force the Kyoshi warriors in Yokoya to surrender. Fortunately, they didn’t and secured the women, children, and elderly who couldn’t defend themselves in the Avatar’s mansion.

Many of the retired Kyoshi warriors took up arms and started fighting against this invasion. Fights were happening all over their home to stop the invaders who were raping and stealing their way all over the island. Suki elected to fight the invaders with guerrilla tactics; she wasn't beyond poisoning and killing these pigs in their sleep. 

That is why Suki and her team entered the occupied port town stealthily, utilizing their knowledge of the area. She and the others have played hide and seek in the port many times before. Suki, Aika, Fume, Jie, Mira, and Rie infiltrated the makeshift camp the pirates made at Koi harbor by creating a fence around the port manager’s house where they had gathered the women and children they’d captured. 

Suki discovered that some of the women that were captive under the tents where they are kept got their legs broken to be unable to run or fight. This was this despicable state of affair that forced Suki to make a plan to take down these pirates in such a cowardly way. She noticed a man was keeping watch in the makeshift building at the entrance of the camp; Suki nocked and shot an arrow, and killed the tan-skinned pirate with an eyepatch.

Fume ran toward the entrance of the building and as expected the man wasn’t alone, she killed the second man with a swift stroke of her katana’s blade on his throat to stop him from screaming.

The others infiltrated the camp by climbing on the buildings and using the roofs as platforms to hide. Aika spotted a man sleeping against a wall with a gourd full of alcohol in his hands. Her fellow Kyoshi Warrior slit the throat of another while he slept.

There were at least ninety pirates on shore, and Suki proceeded to kill at least thirty of them silently when the girls heard a male voice shout coarsely: “We're under attack!!!”

Suki was confused. “Wait, did one of us get detected?!”

“No, someone else is attacking them, look!” The most attentive one, Mira, pointed her finger at something falling from the sky.

Suki focused her eyes and the person falling from the sky was obviously an old man wearing strange clothes and a red colored cloak.

When he landed like a bomb, a huge blast of air detonated and made all the pirates who had gathered in the port fly and slammed into the building or fell into the sea down the wharf.

Fwooosh! The airbender started blasting air at the pirates with circular movements and ran around while dodging arrows or the firebender pirates trying to burn him with fire.

It was shocking to see such an old man demolish the pirates, but he was slowly getting overwhelmed. Suki was about to ask her friends to join her in helping the old man when another airbender fell from the sky and this one came out swinging wind blades at everyone with a sword in hand, cutting with precision their weapon arms. 

A pirate waterbender tried to intercept the female airbender trying to summon water and trap her in it when she used a gust of pressured air from underneath him to raise him ten meters in the air.

Fwoooosh! Slam! Crack! The waterbender landed on his head with a sickening crack.

“He is not alone!” An ugly female pirate shouted, pointing at the other airbender.

“Argh! Ah!” She should have fled as she found herself trapped in a sphere of sharp wind blades that started lacerating her body and drowning her screams with the howling winds.

A carnage started. Suki watched with morbid curiosity as the invading raiders were being cut down and were slow to adapt to the airbenders' style of swift movement, like the wind, and unmatched flexibility.

“Suki? Are those Kyoshi blessed airbenders?!” Mifa asked as she pinched both of her cheeks, getting some makeup on her gloved fingers.

“Am I dreaming?!” Jie was in the same state of shock.

“That’s like totes awesome! Look at them go!” Mira exclaimed with stars in her eyes.

“Let’s help them!” Aika was about to throw herself into the fray.

But Suki stopped her, catching her by putting a hand on her right pauldron. “No wait! Let's use this distraction to free the others!”

And they did just that, they went to attack the tents where their people were being kept; killed the guards with prejudice and teamwork. However seeing everyone with their limbs broken and in a cage was heartbreaking. Some of the women and children were crying or in a state of helplessness. 

Jie recognized one of her cousins and immediately went to them. Suki let her do it while she kept guard over the tent; suddenly, a huge tornado appeared in Koi bay and many wooden buildings were almost toppled down as the rotating column of air sucked in pirates, weapons and pieces of the landscape. Then, some seconds later, the tornado subsided and the sound of fighting stopped.

This worried the Kyoshi warriors and they subconsciously entered into a ready stance, anticipating trouble coming their way.

With his cloak billowing to the wind and a soothing aura, the old airbender walked toward them with an assured and light gait.

In a slight respectful bow, he introduced himself. “Hello, Kyoshi warriors, my name is Gyatso and the girl rounding up the pirates is my student, Mei. We have neutralized the raiders in the bay, and we have come to offer further assistance.”

Suki immediately bowed in greeting. “Master Gyatso, we, Kyoshi Warriors, thank you for your timely help.”

The rest of the girls followed suit, and watched the man in awe. Gyatso nodded his head. “You are welcome.”

*I still can’t believe that Airbenders aren’t extinct. How did these two survive?* Suki asked herself and she also assessed how dangerous the information of these two being on their island could be. The Fire Nation had a deep-seated hatred for everything about the Airbenders.

Master Gyatso looked into the tent and put on a solemn expression. “I see many people in need of help; fortunately, my disciple is a good physician. She will help as much as she can.”

“Really?” Jie, who had just come back from attending to her cousin, heard him. “This would help a lot!”

Mei, who was rounding up the benders and nonbenders, was called by Gyatso. “Mei, come here! You got people to treat!”

“Coming!” The girl was taller than Suki and her friends, with long black hair styled in ox-horns; her eyes were green, a typical color found in people from the Earth Kingdom. Suki asked herself if she was from here as she inspected her outfit. The girl wore a yellow qipao with red stylized dragon patterns decorating it with fingerless glove and black pants.

She didn’t look like an air nomad, but she wore the same color as Master Gyatso. Mei had stacked the prisoners in a cart that she had somehow found and she walked toward them. When she arrived, she handed a bag to master Gyatso. “Give these pills to the prisoner, it should stabilize them for now. Some are dying from bloodloss.”

Suki frowned and walked up to the tall and beautiful airbender. “Why are you helping them?”

Mei looked at her as if she was asked a dumb question. “They must face justice and for that they must live. I’m not going to kill them now that they’ve surrendered or are unable to defend themselves. Question: Do you have a tribunal on this island?”

The council of elders did have one of those, so Suki nodded. “Yes, we do. They’re sure to get the death penalty.”

Mei looked at her hands. “Yes, and my hands will be clean in this manner. I can kill, but I have a code that I follow. The people that they armed will now judge them; that is enough.”

Suki didn’t know what to say about this girl and her way of thinking. Mei then held her hand to Suki and said, “Oh, where are my manners. I am Mei, a student of Master Gyatso and an Air Nomad from the Southern Air Temple.”

Suki reached out and shook Mei’s hand. She frowned, knowing that there was nothing on the island chain where the southern air temple was located. “But there is no one there.”

Mei grinned. “That’s what we wanted people to think.”

Suki and her friends, who were eavesdropping, gasped in surprise. So this is how it was: they hid, and now they were strong enough to brave the world.

Mei cracked her knuckles and said, “Let me see the patients. I will do my best to help them. I also brought some supplies to make a medical clinic.”

Gyatso interrupted with a cough, and the girls looked at him.

“Before that little Mei, we have to do something about the other pirate vessels. While you take care of them, I will help set up your tent clinic.”

Mei jerked a bit at her master, telling her to finish the pirates. Then she tilted her head and contemplated how she would take down the pirate boats. A technique flashed into her mind, the same one that a certain anarchist airbender used to kill a queen. 

Mei smiled and asked Suki, “Oh, I just have the solution, you don’t mind if I take them all down, right?”

The kyoshi warrior waved her hand. “Be my guest.”

Mei looked up and started floating. “I’ll be back, wait for me.”

Suki, her friends, and many of the villagers who were still cognizant gasped.

Aika exuberantly exclaimed,  “Sweet Kyoshi! She can fly!!”