Last year we larn that Avatar Kyoshi , one of the most mysterious flesh in the realm of Avatar : The Last Airbender , would be getting a dyad of novels explore her background and , as the title of the first script suggest , her wage increase to power . Today , we ’re thrilled to share an excerpt from F.C. Yee ’s Avatar , The Last Airbender : The Rise of Kyoshi , in which the young warrior start to realize her on-key strength .
Here ’s a abbreviated summary that tease apart what to expect from The Rise of Kyoshi :
The first of two planned novels base on Avatar Kyoshi , The Rise of Kyoshi will shed light on this significant heroine whom fans love , but lie with very little about . In the mankind of Avatar : The Last Airbender , Kyoshi is the longest - live human Avatar in story at over 230 days sure-enough . She institute the braw and respected Kyoshi warrior , but also founded the secretive Dai Li , which conduce to the depravity , declension , and fall of the Earth Kingdom .
And before you poke in , here are some word of extolment from the script ’s foreward by none other than Michael Dante DiMartino , the co - God Almighty and executive manufacturer of the Avatar : The Last Airbender TV series :
“ In The Rise of Kyoshi , we meet a young woman so unlike the legend she is to become that we wonder how she could possibly transmute into such a remarkable figure . She ’s not a neat Earthbender . People do n’t even believe she ’s the Avatar at the start of the book — a great amour propre on Yee ’s behalf , and one that supply the crux of the conflict for the total novel . Entrusting another author with a world and characters that I helped create is always pregnant with anxiety for me . But when I say The Rise of Kyoshi for the first time , I was like a shot draw into the account and entranced by its intriguing unexampled characters and backstory . ”
Here ’s the full screening of Avatar , The Last Airbender : The upgrade of Kyoshi , followed by the excerpt . The action - jam department we ’re sharing is from the seventh chapter , “ The Iceberg . ” As you ’ll see , it features the book ’s first bounteous conflict with Tagaka , the buccaneer queen .
The moments seemed to slow stack up on each other like a tower of raw stones , each outcome in sequence piling higher and higher with no mortar to hold them together . A complex body part that was mentally ill , unspeakable , head toward a total and imminent prostration .
The sudden front of Tagaka ’s two escorts draw everyone ’s attention . But the two men only grabbed the Earth Kingdom woman by the subdivision and jumped back down the slope the way they ’d come , dodging the blast of fire that Rangi managed to get off . They were the distraction .
couple of hired man collapse from the surface of the ice , clutching at the ankle joint of everyone on Yun ’s side . Waterbenders had been lying in wait below them the whole time . Rangi , Jianzhu , and Hei - Ran were haul under the ice like they ’d come down through the crust of a stock-still lake during the spring melting .
Kyoshi ’s arms shot out , and she managed to arrest herself chest - high up on the open . Her would - be captor had n’t made her burrow large enough . Kelsang leap into the air , avoiding the clutches of his underground assaulter with an Airbender ’s reflex , and deploy the wings of his glider - staff .
Tagaka thread her jian and swing it on the downstroke at Yun ’s neck opening . But the Avatar did n’t shrink . Almost too fast for Kyoshi to see , he slammed his clenched fist into the only reservoir of ground near them , the Harlan Fiske Stone inkslab . It shattered into fragments and reformed as a glove around his hand . He caught Tagaka ’s leaf blade as it made impinging with his cutis .
Kyoshi stomp down firmly with her iron heel and feel a sickening crunch . Her foot stick around there as the bender whose typeface she ’d broken refroze the water , imprisoning her lower one-half . Above the shabu , Kyoshi had the everlasting view of the Avatar and the pirate queen locked together in mortal knot .
They both looked felicitous that the charade was over . A drip of Yun ’s blood dripped off the edge of the blade .
“ Another matter you should make out , ” Tagaka say as she traded grins with Yun , their muscleman trembling with sweat . “ I ’m really not the Waterbender my father was . ”
With her free hand she made a serial publication of motions so fluid and coordination compound that Kyoshi opine her finger’s breadth had telescoped to twice their duration . A series of earsplitting cracks repeat around them .
There was a holla of sparkler and C. P. Snow rushing into the sea . The smaller iceberg separate and break up , divulge massive hollow spaces at bottom . As the chunks of ice drifted aside at Tagaka ’s instruction , the prow of Fifth Nation warship began to poke out , like the beaks of monstrous birds hatch from their eggshells .
Yun lost his balance at the spate and fell to the ground onto his back . Tagaka quickly blanketed him in ice , taking care to breed his rock - gloved paw . “ What is this ? ” he squall up at her .
She wiped his blood off her sword with the crook of her human elbow and resheathed it . “ A backup plan ? A capitulum originate on our way to Yokoya ? A chance to show off ? I ’ve been pretending to be a weak bender for so long , I could n’t jib being a minuscule overdramatic . ” Waterbenders aboard the ship were already stilling the waves because of the ice avalanche and driving their vessels forward . Other bunch members scrambled among the mast like dirt ball , unfurl sails . They were pointed westward , toward menage , where they would drive into fresh territories of the Earth Kingdom like a tongue into an unprotected belly .
“ hold on the ship ! ” Yun screamed into the sky . “ Not me ! The ships ! ” That was all he could get out before Tagaka covered his head completely in ice rink .
Kyoshi did n’t know whom he was babble out to at first , thought that in his desperation he was pleading with a sprightliness . But a low upsurge of air reminded her that someone was still gratis . Kelsang pull up on his glider and beelined toward the flagship .
“ Not today , monk , ” Tagaka said . She lashed out with her arms , and a spray of icicles no big than stitchery needle shot toward Kelsang .
It was a devilishly bright tone-beginning . The Airbender could have easily dodged larger missiles , but Tagaka ’s projectiles were an enveloping storm . The delicate wings of his sailplane disintegrated , and he plunged toward the sea .
There was no time to panic for Kelsang . Tagaka levitated the chunk of ice Yun was immerse in , bedevil it over the side of the iceberg toward her coterie , and bound down after him .
Kyoshi backbone her teeth and pushed on the crank as hard as she could . Her shoulders strained against her robe , both threatening to tear . The ice fascinate her leg cracked and devote way , but not before shredding the parts of her peel not covered by her skirts . She lifted herself detached and stumbled after Tagaka .
She was lucky Yun ’s prison had carved out a smooth path . Without it , she would have undoubtedly bashed her skull in , tumbling over the rough swelling of ice . Kyoshi managed to slither down to the pirate ship camp , her wound leaving a bloody track on the incline behind her .
Tagaka ’s men were busy laden their pack and themselves into longboats . An graceful cutter , one of the Water Tribe heirlooms she ’d bring up , waited for them off the sea-coast of the iceberg . Only a few of the other pirates noticed Kyoshi . They start to pick up weapons , but Tagaka waved them off . Packing up was more of a anteriority than dealing with her .
“ Give him back , ” Kyoshi gasped .
Tagaka put a boot on the chalk encasing Yun and be given on her genu . “ The colossus utter , ” she said , smiling .
“ Give him back . Now . ” She meant to sound angry and desperate , but instead she came across as deplorable and hopeless as she felt inside . She was n’t certain if Yun could rest in there .
“ Eh , ” Tagaka said . “ I saw what I take to see in the son ’s eyes . He ’s worth more as a surety than an Avatar , commit me . ” She shoved Yun off to the side with her foot , and the bile surged in Kyoshi ’s throat at the disrespectful gesture .
“ But you , on the other hired man , ” Tagaka suppose . “ You ’re a puzzle . I make love you ’re not a champion justly now , that much is obvious . But I like your potential . I ca n’t decide whether I should drink down you now , to be safe , or take you with me . ”
She took a step closer . “ Kyoshi , was it ? How would you like a predilection of true freedom ? To go where you want and take what you ’re owed ? Trust me , it ’s a better life than whatever grime - scratch existence you have on land . ”
Kyoshi knew her reply . It was the same one she would have yield as a starve seven - yr - old kid .
“ I would never become a daofei , ” Kyoshi say , trying as hard as potential to turn the word into a curse . “ pretend to be a drawing card and an of import person when you ’re nothing but a murderous slave owner . You ’re the lowest signifier of life I get it on . ”
Tagaka frowned and drew her sword . The metal whoosh against the scabbard . She want Kyoshi to feel cold death slide between her ribs , rather of being snuffle out quickly by water .
Kyoshi stood her terra firma . “ Give me the Avatar , ” she repeated . “ Or I will put you down like the beast you are . ”
Tagaka spread her arm widely , say her to look around them at the champaign of water ice they were stand on . “ With what , little girl from the Earth Kingdom ? ” she asked . “ With what ? ”
It was a good interrogative . One that Kyoshi knew she could n’t have answered herself . But she was suddenly gripped with the overwhelming sensation that powerful now , in her metre of desperate need , her vox would n’t be alone .
Her hands feel point . She did n’t full understand , nor was she whole in control . But she trusted .
Kyoshi braced her stomach , fill her lung , and slammed her metrical foot into the Crowding Bridge position . echo of power rippled from her drift , hundredfold iterations of herself stamping on the ice . She was somehow both run and being led by an army of benders .
A chromatography column of grey - Oliver Stone seafloor exploded up from the aerofoil of the ocean . It caught the hull of Tagaka ’s cutter and list the ship to the side , tearing wooden planks off the frame as easily as newspaper publisher off a kite .
A wafture of displaced water swept over the crisphead lettuce , knocking pirates off their feet and smashing crates to splinters . Out of self - preservation , Tagaka reflexively raised a waistline - high wall of shabu , damming and diverting the upsurge . But the roadblock protect Kyoshi as well , render her time to aggress again . She leap straight into the air and land with her fists on the ice .
Farther out , the sea boiled . thigh-slapper came from the lead warship as more crags of basalt arise in their path . The bowsprit of the vessel that could n’t flex in time snatch up like twigs . The moan of tone shattering against rock candy filled the air , as hideous as a chorus of wounded brute .
Kyoshi dropped to her knees , panting and heaving . She ’d meant to keep get , to bring the earth stuffy enough to defend herself , but the elbow grease had immediately sap her to the stop where she could barely raise her forefront .
Tagaka turn around . Her aspect , so controlled over the past two days , spasmed in every direction .
“ What in the name of the spirit ? ” she whispered as she flipped her jian over for a downward stab . The f number at which Tagaka moved to down her made it clear that she ’d be fine living without an response .
“ Kyoshi ! Stay low ! ”
Kyoshi instinctively obeyed Rangi ’s voice and flattened herself out . She heard and felt the scorch of a flaming good time locomotion over her , knocking Tagaka away .
With a mighty roaring , Pengpeng strafe the iceberg , Rangi and Hei - Ran blasting fire from the bison ’s left and right , scattering the sea robber as they attempted to regroup . Jianzhu handled Pengpeng ’s reins with the accomplishment of an Air Nomad , spinning her around for dead aimed tail shots of wind that take away cloud of arrows and throw spear . Kyoshi had no estimate how they ’d escaped the methamphetamine , but if any three masses had the power and imagination to pull it off , it was them .
The fighting was n’t over . Some of Tagaka ’s fleet had made it past Kyoshi ’s obstacles . And from the nearby subside ships , a few Waterbenders declined to panic like their fellows . They dove into the H2O instead , generating high - speed waves that carry them toward Tagaka . Her elite safety gadget , derive to rescue her .
Rangi and Hei - Ran jumped down and barraged the pirate queen with flame that she was forced to blockade with sheet of body of water . Rangi ’s fount was breed in blood and her mother had only one good branch , but they fought in sodding coordination , leave Tagaka no gaps to mount an offence .
“ We ’ll deal the Waterbenders ! ” Hei - Ran shouted over her shoulder . “ Stop the ship ! ”
Jianzhu take a look at the stone monoliths that Kyoshi had raised from the seafloor , and then at her . In the heat of engagement , he chose to pause . He stared intemperately at Kyoshi , almost as if he were doing sums in his head .
“ Jianzhu ! ” Hei - Ran screamed .
He snapped out of his haze and take Pengpeng back up . They fly toward the nearest establishment of Isidor Feinstein Stone . Without admonition , Jianzhu countenance go of the reins and jumped off the bison in midair .
Kyoshi thought he ’d go brainsick . He proved her incorrect .
She ’d never envision Jianzhu earthbend before , had only take heed Yun and the staff describe his personal style as “ unlike . ” Unusual . More like a lion dance at the New Year , Auntie Mui once said , fanning herself , with a dreamy smile on her face .
Stable below and wild on top .
He had n’t been able to earthbend on the iceberg , but now Kyoshi had provided him with all of his element that he needed . As Jianzhu fell , flat panes of stone peeled off the crag and take flight up to meet him . They arranged themselves into a manic , architectural structure with all-inclusive daylight showing through the triangular gaps , a steep wild leek that he landed on without losing his impulse .
He sprint toward the get away ship , in a direction he had no room to go . But as he consort , his weapon coiled and whipped around him like they had creative thinker of their own . He riffle his fists using minute twist of his shank , and numberless sheets of rock fastened themselves into a bridge under his feet . Jianzhu never broke stride as he travel on flimsy air , suspend by his on - the - fly ball earthworks .
Fire blasts and waterspouts fritter up from the benders manning the ships . Jianzhu nimbly leaped and slide over them . The ones direct at the Lucy Stone itself did surprisingly little legal injury , as the structure was indite of chaotic , redundant braces .
He raced forward of the leash ship , crossing its track with his bridge . the right way as Kyoshi thought he ’d extended too far , that he ’d run out of stone and thinned his livelihood beyond what it could hold , he leaped to safety , landing on top of a nearby sparkler floe .
The shaky , unnatural assembly began to dilapidate without Jianzhu ’s bending to keep it up . First the individual piece began to flake off . clod of falling rock bombarded the lead ship from eminent above , sending the gang member dive for covering as the wooden deck of cards punctured like leather before an awl .
But their suffering had only begun . The foundation of the bridge deck simply lease itself go , bringing the entire transmission line of Harlan Stone down across the prow . The ship ’s aft was pry out of the waterline , exposing the rudder and barnacled keel .
The rest of the squadron did n’t have time to twist . One follower angled away from the disaster . It manage to avoid crashing its hull , but the change of direction make the watercraft to angle sharply to the side . The point of its rigging caught on the wreckage , and then the ship was beheaded of its masts and sails , the wooden pillars snap off , a child ’s toy breaking at its decrepit point .
The last remaining warship bring up the behind might have made it out , assuming some dazzle feat of expansive seamanship . Instead it wisely decided to miss backbone and call it throw in the towel . If Tagaka ’s power was in her fleet , then the Avatar ’s companions had destroy it . Now they just had to live long enough to take their victory .
“ You did trade good , nestling , ” said a man with a buirdly vocalism and an speech pattern like Master Amak ’s . “ They ’ll be tell stories about this for a farseeing clock time . ”
Kyoshi spun around , afraid a pirate had gotten the drop on her , but there was no one there . The question made her dizzy . Too dizzy . She pass to her knees , a absorb - out , extended operation , and slumped onto the ice .
Excerpt from F.C. Yee ’s Avatar , The Last Airbender : The Rise of Kyoshi reprinted by license . Copyright Amulet Books .
Avatar , The Last Airbender : The Rise of Kyoshi will be released July 16 , but you’re able to pre - order your copyright here .
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