One of the most beautiful things about Kyoshi and Rangi’s relationship is that Rangi is one of the few people who consistently separates Kyoshi from the Avatar.
Throughout The Rise of Kyoshi, Kyoshi convinces herself that her value lies in what she can endure for everyone else. In one of her most vulnerable moments, she immediately replies with, “Yun would have been much better,” because she still sees herself as a replacement. A substitute. Someone who took the life that should have belonged to someone better.
Rangi won’t let her think that way.
She doesn’t comfort the Avatar. She comforts Kyoshi.
“You, Kyoshi! Not the Avatar, but you!”
That line gets me every time because it cuts straight through Kyoshi’s self hatred. To Kyoshi, the Avatar is what matters. To Rangi, it isn’t. She doesn’t love the title or the power. She loves the awkward servant girl she grew up with.
But then, the line that completely reframes their relationship:
“The Avatar can be reborn. But you can’t. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”
The world needs the Avatar. Rangi needs Kyoshi.
I also love that the emotional climax of this scene isn’t actually their first kiss. It’s everything that comes before it. Rangi spends pages trying to dismantle Kyoshi’s belief that she only exists to suffer. That peace and happiness are things meant for everyone except her.
And ultimately tells Kyoshi that she deserves peace. A home. Teachers. Protection. To be loved. And when Kyoshi brushes those things off, Rangi’s response is essentially, I wish I’d done a better job, because you should have only ever known love.
That’s why the kiss hits so hard. It doesn’t happen because they’ve finally admitted they’re attracted to each other. It happens after Kyoshi finally says:
For perhaps the first time in her life, Kyoshi allows herself to believe that she is worthy of love simply because she is Kyoshi, not because she is the Avatar.
In a franchise where so many relationships revolve around what the Avatar owes the world, Kyoshi and Rangi’s relationship is built on something much quieter and far more intimate. The reminder that before she was the Avatar, she was a person. And to Rangi, that person was always enough.
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