| "That cocky smirk she knew so well lay plastered over his face, a mask of triumph. But tears streamed from his eyes... By the rules of this twisted spirit, Kavik believed the worst moment of his life was when he betrayed the Avatar." |
| — Avatar Yangchen witnessing Kavik being engulfed by the Fog of Lost Souls.[1] |
Kavik was a Northern Water Tribe errand runner and informant, the son of Ujurak and Tapeesa, and the younger brother of Kalyaan. Born a waterbender in the Long Stretch region of the Northern Water Tribe, he migrated to the shang city of Bin-Er with his family, who were seeking a better life. After leaving his position as junior clerk, Kavik became an independent errand runner, landing jobs to collect highly valuable pieces of information within the "city of spies".
After he attempted to steal a piece of information from Avatar Yangchen, the young airbender tracked him down and investigated him, eventually recruiting him as her personal informant. Yangchen roped him into her investigation of the shangs and the mysterious Unanimity project they were planning in order to seize power. Kavik was sent into the shang city of Jonduri, joining Zongdu Chaisee's association of errand runners, and conducted a raid on a warehouse where Unanimity was believed to be located. While he partially succeeded to find information, he was reunited with his estranged brother Kalyaan, and reluctantly agreed to betray Yangchen by giving her false information on Unanimity. Seeking to rectify his mistake, he sent a letter confessing his betrayal to Yangchen, and helped put an end to the three combustionbenders who made up Unanimity. When Yangchen learned what he had done, a part of her knew that he was genuinely trying to be loyal to her, but could no longer trust him, and no longer deemed Kavik to be one of her companions.
Quick Answers
Who are Kavik's parents and where was he born?
What was Kavik's job in the city of Bin-Er?
What is the significance of Kavik's waterbending abilities?
How did Kavik's affiliation with Avatar Yangchen end?
History
Early life
Kavik was the second son of Ujurak and Tapeesa, and the younger brother of Kalyaan. He was named for his mother's grandfather, and lived in the Long Stretch region of the Northern Water Tribe, west of Agna Qel'a.[5][6] When he was eight, he and Kalyaan were separated from the others during a hunt, and Kavik was convinced that he had cursed it in some way. He was comforted by his older brother, who made a shelter for the two to stay in as the snowdrifts became overwhelming. With Kavik beginning to lack enough energy to walk, Kalyaan cut strips from his mitten and chewed the hide until Kavik could swallow them. They returned to the camp after nearly a month, nearly having been mourned for dead. Kalyaan ended up losing two fingers to frostbite for what he did for Kavik, though told his brother not to worry about it, as other nations considered eight a lucky number. The adults who could not find them suspected that the two brothers getting lost was potentially caused by spirits.[7] Kavik came to believe he may have angered the spirits by not paying a greater price like his brother had, and that the curse caused a series of bad things to happen later in the family's lives.
Four years later, the family migrated to the shang city of Bin-Er after hunts started souring across the regions, encouraged by distant relations who had already made the move.[8] He was nervous about stepping onto the Earth Kingdom continent, but Kalyaan told him that the spirits would protect him if the family all jumped off the umiak together. They all jumped out the boat on the count of three, and after they cheered, Kavik thought that the new land they lived in would not be so bad.[9]
After they moved to Bin-Er, the family began to work at Nuqingaq and Partners, an all-Water Tribe shop which had extremely limited involvement in the espionage or shady deals that were going on in the rest of the city. Kavik became a junior clerk and marveled at how steady the wages were. However, Kalyaan left work after less than six months, showing little to no signs of dissatisfaction. He did not talk about his new job, although it clearly paid a lot more, and he gifted the family a new house closer to the International Quarter. After the store had their most critical customers poached by someone with an intimate knowledge of the client list, the family became social pariahs in the Water Tribe community, as many knew that Kalyaan was responsible. While many employees lost their jobs, Kavik's family stayed on, though he voluntarily left to become an errand runner, wanting to find Kalyaan and drag him back home so that the family could leave the city together.[9] His social circle became rather small other than his social circle of miscreants, with one exception being Mama Ayunerak, who provided free meals to workers without work.[9][10] He dated Meihua during this time, but they later broke up.[10]
Becoming Yangchen's companion
By year 17 of the era of Yangchen, Kavik told his parents that he had a string of odd jobs as he worked as an independent errand runner under his broker, Qiu.[10] As tensions came to a head between Shang Teiin and his workers, Kavik broke into the Gidu Shrine and made a copy of its private reservations so that the workers could find and confront Teiin on the anniversary of his grandfather's death. After seeing a confrontation between Teiin and his workers break out a week later, Kavik prepared for his next job, preparing to break into the Blue Manse. He had to wriggle his way through the ice that made up the walls of the estate, turning it into water and trying to make his way up before he could succumb to frostbite. Though he realized that the job was a lot more risky than seizing information from a visiting bureaucrat with little security, he managed to make his way up and entered an empty room. Just as he found the information he was looking for, an Air Nomad girl entered the room, and Kavik panicked as he realized that he was stealing from Avatar Yangchen herself. After handing the scroll back to her, the Avatar made an airbending-powered scream to alert her guards.[4]
A pair of guards came running into the room. Yangchen and her guards acted with caution at first, as he was a waterbender inside a house of ice. Realizing he could not back down from this, he splashed through the floor and made his way halfway through to the level below, where he fought and almost defeated two Water Tribesmen before other guards arrived at the scene and apprehended him.[11] Though Yangchen instructed them not to hurt him, they started beating him to a pulp in the basement, until the Avatar arrived and fired all her guards for going against her orders. Yangchen took pity on Kavik, and healed him of his injuries, before she politely questioned him about what he was doing. He confessed that he was an errand runner, clarifying that he was independent and did not work for any particular shang. He also lied that his parents were dead, and that he was trying to support himself day to day. Yangchen gave him money so that he could support himself and change his ways. Confused at simply being let go, he stopped at Ayunerak's and donated the money to her in thanks for what she had done, suggesting she get out of Bin-Er.[10]
Kavik returned home to eat with his family, though the conversation at the dinner table was quite tense, as his parents started catching on to the lies about his string of odd jobs. They deduced that he was an informant, and simply asked to know who he was working for. He did not answer, but clarified he was working to get back Kalyaan, which made his parents more heartbroken. Just at that moment, there was a knock at the door, and Yangchen entered, having followed Kavik to his home on her glider.[12] Kavik's parents were overwhelmed, but she treated it as a visit of alms, and said that she was there to listen to the problems of ordinary people in the city. With Yangchen subtly teasing Kavik about what he had done, she listened to his parents talk about the issues in the city, before asking if they knew what Kavik had done. While his parents were tense at first, bracing for shame, Yangchen said that he had heroically stopped a thief, and asked to speak with him alone. Calling out Kavik for his lies at the Blue Manse, she questioned his motivation for being an errand runner, and tried to recruit him to the Avatar's cause.[8] She clarified that she needed to be informed in order to make the right decisions and be an effective Avatar, and thus someone like Kavik was necessary, pointing out his lack of connections to other parties, and that he was highly skilled, making him a perfect candidate. He denied her at first, but she noted that he owed her for forgiving his theft of intelligence. However, concluding that a positive attitude was better than blackmail, she went to his parents and announced that she was giving him an opportunity to become her companion in recognition of his bravery, which delighted them so much that he had no choice but to accept.[5]
Some time later, he met up with Qiu at the Golden Cloudberry teahouse. After complaining about the dangerous assignment that his broker had given him, Kavik gave Qiu an envelope that he and Yangchen had agreed to. In exchange, he requested if there was any information on Kalyaan. Qiu told him that his contact found a description of a Water Tribe man with eight fingers being approved for an exit pass out of Bin-Er around the time he went missing. Qiu apologized for the news, and said he would be heading to Taku after getting in touch with agents looking for an overseas buyer.[9] A disguised Yangchen then arrived on the scene, smoothing things over with the curmudgeonly owner of the tea shop. Yangchen told him that the correspondence that Qiu was given was garbage she used to track chains of leaks, and then Kavik directed the conversation to Yangchen's offer, telling her he would accept if he knew what he was getting into. She told him she had reason to believe the shangs of Bin-Er and Jonduri were planning to get their hands on an asset that would give them unlimited leverage over their cities and the four nations, and that this project was codenamed Unanimity. With Kavik asking a few more questions, he told her that he had a price, and that he wanted passes to get his family out of Bin-Er. Yangchen was uncomfortable, wanting to agree immediately but with both knowing that attention would be drawn to Kavik if his family got out. They then agreed that the passes would be given once Unanimity was disposed of. Finally, before Yangchen made it official, she gripped his wrist, asking who he gave the money to. Kavik clarified that it was Ayunerak and he explained what she did. After being absolutely sure that he was not a plant for Zongdu Henshe or any shang, Yangchen let go, and the pair toasted to a successful partnership.[13]
Leaving Bin-Er
After introducing Kavik to key people, such as her guardian Boma, Yangchen helped him get out of the city by having him pose as "Jingli", who was approved to join an alms mission heading to the Northern Air Temple. He traveled with a quiet group of volunteers by wagon for five days, until finally reaching a village in a valley beneath the temple. A young Air Nomad boy told Kavik that Yangchen was in the village hospital, and he reunited with her there after looking at the many injured people who had made the dangerous trek from Bin-Er to the temple. Abbot Sonam disapproved of the presence of Yangchen's spy, though changed his mind after Kavik helped encase a patient in water so that Yangchen could heal her and break her fever.[2] Leaving the hospital after a search party was sent for the patient's son, Kavik marveled at the experience of riding on a flying bison for the first time, as Yangchen took him on Nujian to reach the top of the temple. As Yangchen acted with laughter and kindness to the young boys and visiting Eastern nuns, Kavik noted that she seemed more inspiring and heroic in the temple than the shang cities. They spoke of Yangchen's sister, Jetsun, and she explained to him that after she had been rejected by so many while trying to resettle the people of Tienhaishi, she had no choice but to learn the political game that everyone played so that she could best help others. Yangchen realized that she was beginning to trust Kavik more after his firm stance that they should help the suffering people of Bin-Er, though at that moment, Kavik was introduced to her pet lemurs, Pik and Pak. Angry after Yangchen had left them at the temple for so long, the lemurs collided with his face, and he threw Pik out of the tower while Yangchen unhooked Pak's claws from him, earning Yangchen's disapproval when he admitted that he did so without knowing that the lemurs could glide. After he came around to Yangchen's animal companions, he tried to sleep, though had difficulty doing so, instead watching Yangchen train on the airball court and seeing how she could not let go of her failures.[14]
Mission in Jonduri
Kavik and Yangchen next made their way to Jonduri on Nujian, with Kavik taking the bison's reins for part of the way. Since she could not bring her informant into the city without compromising her investigation - and also wanting to get back at him for her lemurs - she dropped him into the warm waters of the Baizhi Sea, where he was picked up by Tayagum, one of Yangchen's contacts within the city. Recognizing the man as a fellow water tribesman, Kavik was happy to see a friendly face at first, though partway through the journey, Tayagum looped a rope around his neck like a garotte. Kavik repeated his passphrases, with Tayagum berating him for not being more careful around a pickup that may have been compromised. As they approached the shore, Tayagum explained that they could not survive landing on any of the dangerous beaches, and the only way in was through the harbor, where he expected that a new and incompetent junior agent would let Kavik through for having the same appearance as Tayagum's assistant. As they approached though, they saw that another official was on duty, and that he had a good chance of knowing something was off. Verifying that he had the same height, build, and hair as the assistant, Kavik bashed his face into a railing in order to bloody it and make him unrecognizable. Once he got to shore, Lee let Tayagum quickly take an injured Kavik off the pier.[6] Brought to an inn, he was left with Akuudan as Tayagum went to the docks to smooth things over. Akuudan helped heal him by setting his bones, with Kavik left in blinding pain. After he woke up from a nap, he got to know Tayagum and Akuudan. He deduced that they were married, and he learned about how they were loyal to Yangchen after she had negotiated amnesty for them following their capture in the Platinum Affair. In addition, he told them that someone should break the nose of the real assistant.[15]
Although Yangchen was due to meet up with them, she had not arrived after three days. They realized that something was off, and the innkeepers told Kavik that there was an opening to get him in with Zongdu Chaisee's organized association of errand runners, but that it would be closing that night. Kavik took on the risky endeavor, knowing Yangchen would do the same, and went to the large building where people were being recruited, discovering it to be a gambling den of sorts. Guessing that the gambling den was a way for the association to vet its applicants, Kavik engaged in a game at the Pai Sho tables, deliberately dragging it out to avoid losing money. He was layer approached by the floor manager, Tael, who told him that the "boss-boss" said he should go to the back. There he learned that he had been approved to join the organization, as he could play dumb and avoid being noticed. He was told that he would take on a job at sunrise, and that others were competing to be his partner. He learned that it would be Jujinta, who wounded his opponent, Shigoro, by stabbing him in his throwing shoulder.[16]
An hour after sunrise, Kavik was taken to the back of the building, and was horrified to learn that the job would be to dispose of the dead bodies of Qiu and an Earth Sage. He was told that the job was intended to tie him to the organization's crimes, and that the authorities would be told that Kavik and Jujinta were responsible for the deaths if they asked. Though he was in shock, Jujinta guided him through the process of disposing of the two bodies after they rowed out to sea, getting him to encase the bodies in sea ice so that the remains could not be identified before the currents would drag them far away. After completing the job, he staggered back to the safe house, still in shock when he met back up with Yangchen and the others.[17] After five minutes, he was able to tell them what had happened, and the Avatar blanched. Unsure what to do, she panicked and was overwhelmed by her past lives, and fled the inn. Akuudan muttered that they would not find her, but Kavik had a hunch that she would be at the loudest beach on the island. Finding Yangchen, she asked about the body other than Qiu, and learned that it was Sidao, her advisor. Despairing at how dangerous the mission had become, Yangchen considered pulling out, but Kavik insisted it was an opportunity to strike while Chaisee thought she had caught the Avatar's spies. Yangchen did not want to lose any more friends, but Kavik pushed her to consider it later on. As they made their way up the treacherous beach, Yangchen formed an air spout to lift Kavik upward, and performed a mourning lament to remember Sidao, while offering Kavik words of comfort that Qiu would be remembered through the memories of future Avatars.[18]
At some point following his joining of Chaisee's association, Kavik learned the rules for Sparrowbones before going on to humiliate the game's champion within the association.[19] He eventually get a job from Tael to help raid a warehouse whose employees had become defiant of Chaisee. Yangchen encouraged him to accept the job, noting that Unanimity was likely inside the facility. She briefed him on the dangers of the mission and the situation in the city, and gave him a bison whistle keyed to Nujian if he needed someone to help him escape. Afterward, Kavik met up with Jujinta, managing to learn about his partner's dark and mysterious past before they joined up with the rest of the group raiding the warehouse, its leader an association member named Pang. Once they entered, they realized that the group was much larger than they had been anticipating.
As the fighting started and the association members found themselves getting overwhelmed by the workers, Kavik zigzagged through the warehouse to look for the logbook, but eventually chose to save Jujinta from a group of workers who had overpowered him. Making a giant watery limb from water he had bought along in advance, and wielding a bunch of planks as if it were a great club, he was able to scare off the workers. He brought Jujinta to the top of a crate tower and splashed him with water to wake him up, as they stood off against the workers. While Pang's team had retrieved the logbook, the crew leader was unwilling to back down, and started to use his firebending to burn the highly flammable wooden crates. Kavik spotted a water tank nearby, and after Jujinta used his throwing knives to pierce an opening within it, Kavik was able to bend the water inside, putting out the flames and defeating the workers, but damaging much of the cargo in the process.[20]
Following the confrontation, Kavik and Tael went through the list of cargo, confirming that around half of it was damaged from Kavik's waterbending. Kavik and Pang were told they would both account for it, and Pang as group leader pleaded with Tael, openly mentioning Chaisee. Because of this, he was killed by Tael. Kavik was then brought to see the "boss-boss", with Jujinta trying to stand up for his partner, though Kavik and Tael were escorted to a cottage via carriage, with told to keep the logbook on him.[21] Kavik was shocked and furious to see that the "boss-boss" was actually Kalyaan, and lunged himself at his brother, until Kalyaan proved himself more than capable of fighting back. Kalyaan explained what he had been doing as a leader of Chaisee's association since coming to Jonduri, and told Kavik that he had been protecting him as informant. He noted that he had been put in a difficult spot by Kavik, as he needed Unanimity to be moved smoothly to Bin-Er or Henshe would tell Chaisee that he was a double agent, which would threaten his life. After Kavik hurt Kalyaan by speaking about Tayagum and Akuudan being replacements, he said that Kavik "owed" his family, encouraging him to delay the Avatar just enough to stop Unanimity. After Kalyaan admitted he would still want Kavik to be Yangchen's companion so that he could have an informant from the inside, Kavik broke, and capitulated to his brother. He agreed to tell Yangchen that they had been wrong about Unanimity, and that it was still on the Sunbeam, a ship heading from Port Tuugaq. With Yangchen heading on a solo mission, he told Kavik to keep his cover at the association. As Kalyaan had instructed, he spent the next few days at the association building, but gave Nujian's bison whistle to Jujinta before he left, hoping to get a message to Yangchen.[22]
Stopping the Bin-Er demonstration
Per Kalyaan's orders, Kavik left with Unanimity on the Queen of Omashu. He noted that three tight-lipped Fire Nation guards never left the boxes Unanimity was in. When they docked at Bin-Er, Kavik saw the crate destroyed when one of the guards, Yingsu, fired, revealing that the crates were merely full of chop seal blanks. Seeing that the guards had gotten away, he realized that Unanimity was not an object, but rather the firebenders themselves (actually combustionbenders) whose terrible power meant they could be used as human weapons.[23] With Bin-Er gearing up for some confrontation, Kavik realized he still had time to set things right, and decided to get a bird to Port Tuugaq. Finding Boma, Kavik did not tell Yangchen's guardian what he had done, but sent a written confession to the Avatar. He stayed at the inn for the next few days, until the display of combustionbending began. Fearing what could happen, Kavik went to his parents, who were relieved to see him, and told that the Avatar would be there soon. After staying at his family home for as much as possible, he heard a faint knock at the door, and answered to Jujinta, who told him that everyone was looking for him.[24]
Meeting up at the inn, Yangchen coordinated a plan with Kavik, Tayagum, Akuudan, and Jujinta. Kavik had tailed the firebenders and noted Thapa's location, making it possible for Yangchen to conduct quick raids on him and Xiaoyun. However, after Thapa was taken out, Yingsu deduced that something had happened to her fellow benders, and went to the city gathering hall as a secondary fallback location. Kavik went to track her down in a hurry, but was spotted by Yingsu, and was within the range of her bending. Yangchen lobbed a huge chunk at the street at Yingsu, but Kavik was still in range of her blasts. The two sides came to a stalemate, and Kavik was pinned, though he was calm and unafraid. Yangchen eventually rushed at Yingsu and got her to bend at her, rushing away in time for Jujinta to fire at her, neutralizing the threat to Kavik. When Yangchen healed Yingsu and got her to surrender, Unanimity was brought to an end.[25]
Aftermath
After all members of the plot in Bin-Er were apprehended, Yangchen spoke to Kavik about what he had done. The Avatar told him that the bird reached Port Tuugaq after she had left, but it returned to Bin-Er and she had read the message. He asked her to tell the others the truth, and she went on to tell him that he had created the worst sort of ripple possible by taking away the chance to stop Unanimity from reaching Bin-Er, and the world itself might combust from the consequences. She said that a part of her knew that his confession was uncompelled, but told him that his word could no longer be taken at face value, as it could all be part of a plot to free Kalyaan from Chaisee's association. She did not know what would be done with him, saying that he was more valuable than ever with the information he had and his connections. Yangchen concluded that he was no longer her companion, but could be one of her assets.[26]
After things began to calm down, Kavik saw things in Bin-Er improve. One night though, he found himself being tailed by a man from the Northern Water Tribe. Unsuccessfully attempting to escape his tracker, Kavik prepared for a lethal fight with waterbending, before the man was knocked out from behind by Ayunerak. Kavik was perplexed to see her there, and asked to know what was going on. She told him that the man was a Thin Claw, a scout loyal only to Chief Oyaluk, and that the truth about Unanimity was dangerously close to reaching the light of day, as proven by Kavik having a tracker sent after him. Kavik was shocked how she knew about the codename, but she said it was the responsibility of her and her "friends" to know many things, and that it was high time he joined them.[27] Kavik accepted Ayunerak's offer and subsequently aligned himself with the Order of the White Lotus.[7]
An agent of the White Lotus
In addition to keeping Kavik hidden from those searching for him, Ayunerak - an Executor within the White Lotus - arranged for his parents to leave Bin-Er and return to Long Stretch, where they were put under the White Lotus's protection. She also agreed to try and extract Kalyaan from Chaisee's organization. In order to obtain these terms however, Kavik was forced to tell Ayunerak everything he knew about Unanimity, with the Executor subsequently deciding that the three combustionbenders could not be allowed to remain in Yangchen's care.[28]
Six months after he and Yangchen parted ways in Bin-Er, Kavik was hiding and training with Ayunerak within a secret basement beneath Gidu Shrine when the two of them were visited by Do, a fellow White Lotus member with whom Kavik was on unfriendly terms. After using his bending to trip Do on the stairs, Kavik watched him speak to Ayunerak, who declared afterward that she was taking Kavik back to the North Pole, before warning him that he was still a wanted man.[7]
Before they departed, Ayunerak explained to Kavik that she wanted him to become a companion of Yangchen — who had traveled to Agna Qel'a — for a second time in order to learn where she was keeping Unanimity. Kavik expressed doubt that such a plan would work, claiming that Yangchen was not the type to forgive easily, but Ayunerak replied that she was aware of such, and that her plan was to use persistence. They would admit to Yangchen upfront that the White Lotus wanted Kavik to be their liason with her; assuming they could convince her to take him back, they would then wait for her to inevitably make a mistake and let slip the necessary information. The young man continued to be hesitant, causing Ayunerak to insist that Yangchen's youth and impetuousness meant she could not be trusted with Unanimity, to which Kavik silently remarked that she was relying on someone Yangchen's age to steal it. Ayunerak reminded him that the White Lotus would only help Kalyaan once they had Unanimity, and suggested that he would have more of the Avatar's forgiveness than he might expect if she took him back, since she would not expect him to betray her twice.[28]
Prior to leaving for Agna Qel'a, Kavik and Ayunerak discussed the possibility that Yangchen was holding the combustionbenders at the Northern Air Temple, Ayunerak pointing out that the Avatar had the most control and influence within Air Nomad territory, and the northern temple was the closest one to Bin-Er. Kavik suggested she could be keeping them at the Western Air Temple, where she had grown up, but Ayunerak admitted to letting slip to Yangchen that the White Lotus had a source of information there, making it unlikely she would want to make use of it as a hiding place. Kavik then asked if Yangchen could have had the combustionbenders killed, but Ayunerak replied that the Avatar would not squander her assets in such a way, while also claiming that punishment and retribution were for amateurs.[29]
Reunion with the Avatar
Through Ayunerak's White Lotus connections, Kavik was able to depart Bin-Er with her upon a ship to Agna Qel'a, though they were forced to infiltrate the northern capital via an underwater tunnel within the ice walls surrounding the city, using an umiak and their waterbending as a crude submersible. Ayunerak briefly struggled to keep the umiak steady, but Kavik was able to get them into the tunnel safely, and the pair of them entered a cavern built into the ice walls. There they were met by Ivalu, another White Lotus member, who informed them that Yangchen had met with Oyaluk earlier, but had disappeared from the city a day ago after heading to the Spirit Oasis. Fearing that the Avatar had been lost to the Spirit World, Kavik, Ayunerak and Ivalu raced there, the former two arriving just in time to witness Yangchen return whilst entwined with part of the Fog of Lost Souls. Attempting to free her from the spirit, Kavik bent water from the oasis's central pond onto the pair, which forced the spirit to relinquish its hold and disappear.[30]
Following the confrontation at the oasis, Kavik, Yangchen, and Ayunerak gathered in a safehouse near one of the city's branch canals. With neither of the other two wanting to speak, Kavik asked about the fog he had seen, and Yangchen told him what she knew about it, before explaining that she had been looking for someone trapped within. She then commented with hostility on Kavik's association with the White Lotus, with Kavik explaining his reasons for doing so and revealing that he had told them about Unanimity. Yangchen admitted that she could not blame him for doing so, saying that she too had once given her secrets to the White Lotus, in the belief they could be trusted to keep them for the good of the world. She then accused the White Lotus of leaking information about Unanimity to the Earth King, citing how he was mobilizing his troops to go to war as if in fear of it, a claim Ayunerak denied. After listening to the Executor's argument, Yangchen coldly thanked her and Kavik for saving her life, before announcing her intention to leave in order to try and find a solution to the problems caused by Unanimity, insinuating that Kavik was responsible for most of them.
Before Yangchen could depart, Kavik urged her to let them speak to her, with Ayunerak telling her to take him back as an Avatar's companion. She claimed to be offering a trade: In return for one of their own being allowed to travel alongside Yangchen, the White Lotus would help her fulfill her goal of bringing an end to the Platinum Affair and the strife it had caused across the four nations. Yangchen retorted that ending the Platinum Affair was no longer her goal, and that right now she would be lucky to have a collection of ruined and divided cities left over once things came to an end. The exchange caused Kavik to realize that, far from simply wanting to treat the problems within Bin-Er, the Avatar sought to solve the dilemma at its source: the leaders of the four nations. Ayunerak insisted that their two factions could still work together to ensure peace, but Yangchen was skeptical, having come to believe that the White Lotus's influence on the world leaders had set the events of the Platinum Affair in motion.
Sensing that Ayunerak's methods were not working, Kavik convinced her and Yangchen to let him speak with the Avatar in private, claiming that he just wanted to catch up with her. Once Ayunerak had left the room — leaving Kavik and Yangchen alone for the first time in six months — Kavik apologized for allowing the combustionbenders to escape before, as well as for sneaking up on her in the oasis. However, he could not verbally admit to betraying her, so he revealed that the White Lotus intended to have him spy on her for them, a fact Yangchen had already deduced for herself. Kavik questioned whether it was really so bad to have someone helping her, citing the incident at the Spirit Oasis, but Yangchen, in a mockery of Kavik, replied that she valued her freedom. Deciding to drop the matter, Kavik asked about Tayagum, Akuudan, and Jujinta, with Yangchen assuring him that the three of them were okay, but they were all having to lie low thanks to Kavik's betrayal, with Tayagum and Akuudan in particular being forced to abandon the life they had built in Jonduri. Remembering the hurt Kalyaan had caused by disappearing on their family, Kavik argued that Tayagum, Akuudan, and Jujinta deserved a chance to call him out on what he had done, dismissing Yangchen's offer to give him a blessing of forgiveness on their behalf.
Before Yangchen could reply, Ayunerak re-entered the hideout, having narrowly avoided a guard patrol. She insisted that Yangchen needed the influence of the White Lotus to mediate the brewing conflict, before revealing that she did not have a means of extracting Kavik from Agna Qel'a, forcing the Avatar to smuggle him out herself in order to keep him and his knowledge about Unanimity from falling into Oyaluk's grasp. As both Kavik and Yangchen realized that Ayunerak had deliberately arranged things this way to make sure the former two would leave Agna Qel'a together, Kavik reacted with indignation at the discovery that Ayunerak had bought him into a hostile location without considering an escape route.[28]
Traveling with the Avatar
Yangchen smuggled Kavik out of the city by having him rolled up in a carpet gifted to her by Oyaluk, and then flying him out on Nujian. Once they had left Agna Qel'a, he got himself out of the carpet and attempted to engage Yangchen in banter about being able to meet famous people, but the Avatar made clear that she was only tolerating his presence for the time being, and he could not simply go back to how things had once been with them. She then asked about Kalyaan, a move Kavik knew was intended to remind him of his betrayal, but Kavik admitted he did not know his brother's status or location. He told her that Ayunerak had agreed to help search for Kalyaan, to which Yangchen warned him that he would likely not receive that help until the next era, claiming that if nothing else, the White Lotus was good at waiting. Kavik silently agreed, thinking how Yangchen would never have delayed once she had offered her help.
As they flew on, Kavik learned that Yangchen intended to drop off Oyaluk's gifts at the Northern Air Temple, where they would be used to support the village and hospital. As night fell and Yangchen got increasingly tired, Kavik convinced her to land Nujian and rest. Shortly after they set up camp and ate, he witnessed Yangchen address someone known as Mesose, and realized that she had slipped into a memory of a previous Avatar, Ayunerak having told him about this habit of hers. As he listened, Yangchen complained that humanity always squandered her help while resenting her for not doing more, before questioning why they they had been blessed with an Avatar. Trying to play the role of Mesose, Kavik admitted he could not answer her question, before urging her to believe humanity was nevertheless worthy of a protector. This answer failed to satisfy Yangchen's past life, who went into mad laughter over the notion that she was expected to have blind faith in humanity being able to change, prompting a fearful Kavik to bend a mass of water onto the camp's stove, shocking the Avatar out of her trance with the sound of hissing steam. He lied to Yangchen about what her past life had done and helped her into her tent, whereupon she fell asleep.[29] Kavik struggled to sleep that night, aware as he now was of how at least one Avatar had been ready to give up on humanity, while also fearing that it could have been Yangchen herself who had expressed such sentiments.
As the two of them approached the Northern Air Temple, Kavik spotted the village he and Yangchen had traveled to on their last visit. He commented on how it had expanded since they were last there, but Yangchen retorted that it was gradually becoming too overpopulated to sustain itself on the surrounding land. She then used airbending to launch him out of Nujian's saddle and into some bushes, not wanting him to be seen by the villagers who would assemble to greet her as she landed. Left to his own devices, Kavik explored the village, where he saw the signs of impending hardship Yangchen had told him about, before running into the woman he and Yangchen had previously saved from fever. Not wanting to be recognized, Kavik ducked into a closed teahouse, only to find it occupied by Tayagum, Akuudan, and Jujinta.[31] The former Yuyan attempted to kill him with encouragement from Tayagum, forcing Kavik to fend him off until Akuudan intervened, having guessed that Kavik had been brought here by Yangchen.
Reunited with his former allies, Kavik tried to break the ice with a joke about their present circumstances, only for Tayagum to rebuke him for acting so flippant after what his betrayal had cost them. Kavik replied that he never revealed their connections to Yangchen, and argued that the message he left with Jujinta saved their lives, but Jujinta replied that Kavik had manipulated him in order to have him deliver that message. The waterbender claimed he had only acted the way he did to protect his brother, a motivation that Akuudan unexpectedly sympathized with, before informing Jujinta of his suspicions regarding Kalyaan's whereabouts. Tayagum continued to remain suspicious of Kavik, who claimed he was in the teahouse with Yangchen's blessing as Akuudan had guessed, before smugly suggesting they wait for her to arrive and clear things up, not wanting to appear desperate to get back in their good graces. This generated looks of outrage from the other three, and Kavik considered that Yangchen had intended to have them keep an eye on him while they were in the mountains. As he considered how else he could try to outplay his former comrades, the four of them were interrupted by the sound of the combustionbenders' technique being used outside.[32]
Conflict at the Northern Air Temple
Kavik and the other three left the teahouse to witness Yangchen and Nujian keeping back a rockslide caused by the explosions. After her fellow Air Nomads arrived to back her up, allowing her to access the Avatar State and halt the rockslide permanently, Yangchen came to the four of them and gave them instructions. When she told Jujinta to check a room of the temple's guest quarters, Kavik realized that Yangchen had been keeping Henshe — who had disappeared from Bin-Er following the first battle with the combustionbenders — at the temple ever since their last meeting, with Yangchen promptly telling him to accompany Jujinta before departing.[33] The two of them subsequently raced to the temple's guest quarters, where they encountered a group of five men whom Kavik quickly deduced to be villagers who had been bribed to delay them from reaching Henshe. The leader of the group tried to run, but was taken out by Jujinta, and Kavik convinced the others to surrender before he and Jujinta continued on to Henshe's room. When they arrived there however, they found Henshe dead, and Kavik deduced from the scene that Kalyaan was responsible.[34]
With Henshe dead, Kavik and Jujinta waited for Yangchen in the village hospital. The Avatar eventually showed up long after the explosions had stopped, bringing with her a monk who had been injured during the fight with the combustionbenders. Kavik assisted her in saving the man's life, before informing her of the events within the guest quarters as she continued to treat their patient . Shortly after he was done, he spotted two teams of stretcher-bearers carrying bodies he recognized as Xiaoyun and Yingsu, and concluded that two members of Unanimity were now dead. Moments later, the village captain and a group of villagers came up to Yangchen and demanded to know what had happened to the gifts Oyaluk had given her. As Kavik tried to keep the captain away from her, Yangchen replied that she had been forced to cut the gifts loose while continuing to treat her patient. The captain continued to protest, to which Yangchen responded by using airbending to launch him out of the hospital, forcing Kavik to catch him using his own bending and a refuse pile. The enraged captain subsequently stormed off, leaving Kavik to wonder if he had really saved Yangchen any trouble in the long run.
Kavik and the rest of Yangchen's team later met with her in a ceremonial chamber of the air temple to be debriefed. Yangchen assured them that Mingyur - the monk she and Kavik had treated - would survive, though he would likely remain permanently deaf as a result of his injuries, and that they could continue to conceal the truth about Unanimity from the villagers. She then told them of how Thapa - who had now disappeared from the region - had managed to get a coded letter delivered to Jonduri, which she suspected had enabled Chaisee to discover his location and arrange his rescue, before betraying and murdering his fellow combustionbenders, deducing that he had done so to make himself the last of their kind and thus drive up his own value. Kavik then explained his theory that Kalyaan had murdered Henshe, guessing that he had switched his loyalty to Chaisee and thus silenced a figure who could have testified about her involvement with Unanimity.
Yangchen then told the group that she had learned from Yingsu that Chaisee had planned to use Unanimity within Taku, where Oyaluk, Earth King Feishan, and Fire Lord Gonryu would be gathered for the yearly convocation of the heads of state and zongdus of the Shang cities. With Thapa free and thus able to enact Chaisee's plan, Yangchen stated that the five of them — being the only ones she could trust who knew what he looked like — would have to go to Taku themselves and deal with him. When Tayagum expressed an eagerness to go back into the field, Kavik reminded him that he and his husband had been quartermasters, having long concluded that the two men were not fighters.
Yangchen then dismissed everyone except Kavik from the chamber before asking him if he had enough failures on her part to report to the White Lotus and vindicate Ayunerak's opinion on her. Guessing that she wanted to be castigated with her mistakes, Kavik replied that Ayunerak should look at her own work before grading Yangchen's, and that his own opinion was of no worth under the current circumstances. He reminded Yangchen that the White Lotus had also tasked him with helping her, momentarily surprising her, before Abbot Sonam — the leader of the Northern Air Temple — entered the room. After being thanked by Sonam for his actions in the hospital, Kavik witnessed the abbot request that Yangchen gather four nonexistent objects after leaving the temple, with Yangchen agreeing not to return until she had them. Realizing the impossible instruction meant that Yangchen had been banished from the temple, Kavik became outraged and urged her to defy it, but Yangchen refused, not wanting to undermine Sonam's authority, and also wanting to be held accountable for her actions.
Five days after Thapa's escape and Henshe's murder, Yangchen asked Kavik to request the help of the White Lotus in keeping the leaders of the four nations away from Taku, where they would be vulnerable to Thapa's power and Chaisee's machinations. Kavik snuck out of the teahouse that night to meet with Do, who had set himself up within the village outskirts, and after telling the older man of everything that had transpired — and enduring a denegrating remark about Yangchen from him — he passed on Yangchen's plea for help. Do replied that if the White Lotus aided Yangchen in the way she requested, it would tip off Chaisee that something was amiss and keep her from deploying Thapa, thereby depriving the secret society of their chance to capture him. Unable to believe what he was hearing after all his time with Yangchen, Kavik asked if the White Lotus was seriously willing to gamble the fates of the four nations, but Do insisted that whatever the cost, Thapa and his power could not be left in the hands of anyone besides them. Kavik then asked what would happen if things did degenerate into war from within Taku, with Do replying that the White Lotus would simply wait for the crisis to play out and then pick up the pieces in the aftermath, as it had done for generations.
As the conversation drew to a close, Do instructed Kavik to remain by Yangchen's side and inform the White Lotus of any leads she found on Thapa. Kavik called him out for spying on the supposed ally of the White Lotus instead of their enemy, but Do justified it on the basis that the White Lotus had no agents within Chaisee's faction. He assured Kavik that he would pass Yangchen's message onto Ayunerak — though he did not expect she would change her strategy — before dismissing him. Returning to the teahouse, Kavik thought to himself on how working for the White Lotus — and being expected to blindly defer to those older than him — had so far been no different than living with Kalyaan.[35]
Taku
Soon after Kavik's meeting with Do, he, Yangchen and the rest of her team flew on Nujian to Taku. With the exception of Yangchen, who was provided a mansion in which to stay within the city, the team secretly took up residence in a safehouse, with monks who had accompanied them from the Northern Air Temple screening them from observers as a last favor from Sonam. Shortly after arriving in the safehouse, Kavik heard an immensely loud clash of brass, which Yangchen explained was the great gong of Taku, the city's means of indicating the time. Yangchen then left to take a bath, leaving Kavik alone with his former comrades. Kavik remarked that she was taking things well, indirectly referencing her banishment, only for Tayagum to indicate that Yangchen had not told them about it.
Tayagum and Akuudan then left to make dinner, and Kavik decided to ask Jujinta how he was doing. He expressed approval when Jujinta replied that he enjoyed serving the Avatar, but the Yuyan made clear that he did not consider this newfound happiness worth the consequences of Kavik's betrayal. Aware of Kavik's past job as an accountant, Jujinta claimed that every person had two sides of the ledger, and that Kavik should only feel happy with himself once his existence could be considered a net gain. Kavik thought about how he was getting philosophy lessons from his former partner, before remarking that a lecture was preferable to threats, only for Jujinta to reply that he was simply getting around to them.
Jujinta revealed that he was aware of Kavik's earlier meeting with Do, and warned him that the only reason he had not tried to kill either of the two over it was because Yangchen had ordered against such a thing when he brought it to her attention. He then made clear that he would happily end Kavik's life if he wronged her or her team again, or if his death would aid her in some way. Kavik remarked that Yangchen would likely not approve if Jujinta tried to kill him, but Jujinta replied that he would simply make it look to her like Kavik had disappeared, comparing it to how the two of them had once disposed of Qiu's body. Feeling slighted by this remark, Kavik suggested that Jujinta might one day be able to look his brother in the eye if he continued on his current path, causing Jujinta to express disgust at how he had once touched a bow for Kavik's sake. Before either of them could say anything else, Akuudan requested that one of them come and help clean the kitchen, with Jujinta accepting and leaving Kavik alone.[36]
The night before the start of the convocation, Kavik, Yangchen and her team gathered within the safehouse to work out their plan. With Taku being too big and unfamiliar a location for them to find Thapa before the world leaders arrived, Yangchen proposed that they steal records from Iwashi - the zongdu of the city - in order to narrow down the area they would need to search, explaining that Chaisee would likely use him as an unwitting intermediary for her preparations. She further explained that sailing was one of Iwashi's passions, with the zongdu preferring to sleep and handle his business affairs onboard his pleasure ship, the Bliss Eternal, during windy periods, and that she planned to distract Iwashi with a game of Sparrowbones - another of his passions - after the convocation adjourned for the day tomorrow, providing the rest of her team with a window in which to raid the ship. As the best Sparrowbones player of the group, Kavik was chosen to participate in the game with her, leaving Tayagum, Akuudan, and Jujinta to hit the ship.
With the team's plan worked out, Yangchen and Kavik stealthily returned to the mansion for the night, the two of them posing as lovers as they did so. After Kavik had checked the room for hiding places, Yangchen asked him if he was certain that Chaisee would not recognize him tomorrow; she had asked him earlier, but wanted to give him an opportunity to tell the truth without the others being present. Kavik guessed that she wanted to know whether or not Kalyaan might have betrayed him by now, and expressed doubt of this, claiming that Kalyaan would have nothing to gain from it, and that his older brother would not risk his life the way she would. Kavik then advised her to go to sleep first, so that he could talk to her if she slipped into one of her past lives, and began looking through some figures before eventually falling asleep at the bedroom's desk.
The next morning, a maid discovered both Yangchen and Kavik asleep in the same room; though only Yangchen had been using the room's bed, the sight nevertheless reinforced their cover story of being lovers. Once they had eaten, the two of them headed to the council hall of Taku for the convocation, Kavik attending as Master Lio, a fictional grandson of Boma. At Yangchen's prompting, he gave her a grandiose introduction that played up her past accomplishments, before encouraging her to enjoy the adulation her deeds granted her. He briefly panicked when the pair greeted Chaisee and Iwashi, fearing that Kalyaan may indeed have betrayed him to the former, before relaxing after Chaisee showed no signs of recognizing him.
As part of her plan, Yangchen and Kavik sought to entice Iwashi into a game of Sparrowbones while the convocation was in session. Not wanting to be uncertain about whether or not they had succeeded at the end of the day, Yangchen told Kavik to be more aggressive in doing so, while making it look natural. Kavik argued that these were completely opposite cues, but Yangchen demonstrated otherwise by blowing into his ear, seemingly flirting with him and embarrassing him in front of the other attendants. Kavik then spoke up a few moments later to remind Zongdu Ashoona of some calculations he had lost track of during the discussions, having kept track of them in his head, while also using a Sparrowbones term to draw Iwashi's attention. Just as they had hoped, Iwashi invited the two of them to a private Sparrowbones game after the convocation finished for the day, with Chaisee selected as the fourth player.[3] Prior to the game, Yangchen nearly reacted with outrage upon seeing that Iwashi's table had been carved out of the heart of an ancient purple rosewood tree from the Foggy Swamp, but calmed herself down after Kavik bumped into her. Kavik himself became angry after seeing Iwashi wager Yangchen's glider - the Avatar having auctioned it off to raise funds for Bin-Er - but Yangchen convinced him to calm down. He later watched as Chaisee wagered a night abalone, a valuable she claimed could only be found upon the island she had grown up on.[19]
As the game got underway, Kavik soon discovered that Iwashi was using sleight-of-hand in order to get winning combinations of tiles. He kept silent at first, letting the zongdu believe his cheating was going unnoticed and allowing the distraction to be dragged out, but eventually revealed what was happening to Yangchen, and asked her to help him get Iwashi to raise the stakes as high as possible. Yangchen protested this course of action, wanting to force Iwashi to return the money he had cheated out of them, but Kavik replied that merely getting caught would not bother Iwashi, and he did not want to let the zongdu get away with effectively robbing Bin-Er, reminding the Avatar of her belief that they had to fight for complete strangers as much as they did friends.
With Yangchen convinced, the pair returned to the table, staging an argument about Kavik costing them with his recklessness. Yangchen claimed to Iwashi that she wanted to withdraw from the game, prompting the zongdu to offer to pay out gold to their silver to keep her and Kavik at the table. As the game restarted and the players began gathering tiles for the round, Kavik used his bending to freeze some of them together with his sweat and some water vapor, causing Iwashi to fumble his attempt to get a loaded draw and subsequently get penalized with doubled losses for that round. The gathering was then resumed, and Kavik found himself in a discussion with Chaisee about The Lost Slipper; he questioned why the audience should be satisfied with seeing a villainous minister punished with mere humiliation for a murder he had arranged, to which Chaisee replied that it was simply the nature of power to sustain itself. This prompted Kavik to commend Sparrowbones for having its players start out on equal footing, before revealing his own loaded draw and winning the round, much to Chaisee's surprise and Iwashi's frustration. Kavik would continue to use his waterbending to shut down Iwashi's cheating and manipulate the tiles to his and Yangchen's benefit, with the pair soon recouping their losses and making a large profit by the time Tayagum, Akuudan, and Jujinta completed their part of the mission.[37]
With the game over, Kavik made a show of returning Yangchen's glider to her, and offered to do the same with the night abalone that Chaisee had wagered, only for the zongdu to turn him down. Once they had returned to the safehouse - Yangchen relishing the recovery of her glider - the Avatar and Kavik jubilantly celebrated their victory, with the rest of the team joining them shortly afterward with ledgers taken from the Bliss Eternal. After Jujinta took issue with the jovial mood, Yangchen tried to foster camaraderie between him and Kavik, only for Kavik to provoke Jujinta by making a sarcastic comment about her words.
As the pair returned to their official lodgings afterward, Yangchen told Kavik he needed to get along with Jujinta, but Kavik curtly reminded her that he was not part of the team, causing Yangchen to get angry as she recalled how she had put this aside during the Sparrowbones game. She coldly told him to give her endorsement of his abilities to Ayunerak, to which Kavik retorted that he was always happy to help the next time she nearly ruined a city with her plans. The two of them continued the rest of their journey in a bitter silence until they came to Yangchen's room in the mansion, where she offered to talk things out with him, only for the pair to discover Kalyaan waiting for them in the room.
The presence of his brother caused Kavik to utterly lose his nerve, and he was effectively pushed to the side as Kalyaan and Yangchen talked, with Kalyaan advising the Avatar to leave Chaisee alone and warning her to stop manipulating his brother, unaware as he was about Kavik's involvement with the White Lotus. During the conversation, Kalyaan pointed out the presence of a disguised Feishan, who had come to Taku in order to investigate supposed plots against him. After Kalyaan left, Kavik told Yangchen there was no point trying to pursue him, as he was too skilled to be caught without his consent. Bitterly claiming that Kalyaan would always be better than him, Kavik punched the wall out of frustration, forcing Yangchen to intervene in order to keep him from permanently damaging his hands.[38]
Traveling to the island
Yangchen spent the rest of the night looking over the materials stolen from the Bliss Eternal, before calling Kavik and the rest of her team together for a meeting shortly after dawn. She and Kavik informed the others about Kalyaan's visit; after Tayagum responded that Kavik's family could rot in a pit with Feishan, Kavik felt they had handled the news well, before remarking that his parents at least were very nice. He then proceeded to listen to Yangchen's briefing, though his guilt and embarrassment over how his outburst had kept her from being able to pursue Kalyaan sapped his concentration.
After noticing Kavik was not paying attention and drawing his focus back to her, Yangchen told her team that she had been able to narrow down the number of possible hiding places for Thapa, and had also discovered that Chaisee was ferrying supplies to an unknown destination through Iwashi's ships. Kavik suggested that Iwashi could've just been trading on the side to avoid paying customs dues, but Yangchen replied that the ships in question had been transporting cheap provisions rather than expensive tradable goods, and theorized that they had been supplying a secret location where Chaisee had trained the Unanimity firebenders, likely an uncharted island within her territory that was located away from shipping lanes and Air Nomad flight routes. Kavik expressed skepticism, claiming that even if such a location existed, they would have to leave Taku and search for it manually,[39] while also privately doubting the wisdom of drawing conclusions in such a manner.[40]
In response to his doubts, Yangchen replied that she needed to confirm whether or not there were other combustionbenders within the world. Jujinta voiced his approval of the plan, prompting Kavik to retort that he always agreed with her, comparing the Yuyan to an iguana-parrot before Akuudan intervened to keep things from escalating between the pair. The bigger man then asked Yangchen how they could find the time to search for the island while she was needed in Taku, with Yangchen replying that Iwashi had called for a temporary adjournment of the convocation in order to give himself time to recover following yesterday's events, prompting Tayagum to commend Kavik on breaking the zongdu's spirit to such an extent. Yangchen proposed to take Kavik and Jujinta with her to look for the island on Nujian, while Tayagum and Akuudan remained in Taku to search for Thapa.
The trio began making plans to leave soon after the meeting, Yangchen not wanting to give Kavik an opportunity to pass on information to the White Lotus. As they made their preparations, Kavik noticed her overworking herself and tried to persuade her to take time to rest, but Yangchen retorted that enemies in real life did not take turns with each other, and that others had already suffered due to a lack of action on her part. Kavik felt she was blaming herself unfairly and subsequently pushing herself to an unhealthy degree, but he also believed it far too late to express such concerns, while also thinking that he could've spoken up if he was still one of her companions. After Yangchen left to check on the others, Kavik discovered she had been lacing her tea with a dangerous amount of stimulants in order to maintain her current level of energy. He was tempted to report this to the rest of the team in the hope they would stage an intervention, but held off on doing so once he realized Yangchen would almost certainly refuse to let him continue working with her if he impeded her in such a way.[39]
Once the preparations were complete, Kavik headed for Nujian, whereupon he witnessed Jujinta deliberately use an apple to draw the bison's attention away from him. He protested this as cheating, before Yangchen scolded the pair for wasting time and warned that she could turn Nujian against them both with a single word, prompting Kavik and Jujinta to climb into the saddle without further drama. Later on, while the trio were searching the region of ocean the secret island was thought to be located, Kavik criticized Jujinta for repeatedly checking the same patch of water, claiming he would not spot something if he had missed it on his initial look. Jujinta replied that only a fool trusted his first glance, and that a number of factors could interfere with one's vision, suggesting that Kavik could have already failed to spot the island as they went past it. Giving a roll of his eyes, Kavik resumed his own search, while continuing to silently express doubt in Yangchen's plan.
As they continued to fly, Kavik watched as Jujinta attempted to gauge the island's location by reading the ocean currents, the sight making him think about how Tayagum, being the team's most experienced sailor, would likely have been useful on the mission. He then asked Jujinta about his knowledge of wayfinding, with the Yuyan admitting he grew up on an island, before making a remark about having an affinity for water that he cut himself off from finishing. Kavik guessed that Jujinta had been about to compare his own affinity for water to that of a waterbender, and teased him for his lack of wit, claiming Iwashi would have had an easy time of it if he had played the Yuyan at Sparrowbones. He assumed Jujinta would give a retort, but the Yuyan instead withdrew into himself, his demeanor becoming similar to when Kavik had first met him in Jonduri. Kavik then spotted Yangchen glaring at him, and accepted he could not needle Jujinta as he did the Avatar.
Changing the topic of conversation, Kavik remarked that Jujinta had never before spoken of where he grew up, to which Jujinta replied that his people did not share secrets with outsiders. Kavik argued the two of them were hardly outsiders at this point, and that Jujinta already knew about the worst part of his past, meaning it was only fair for him to share some details of his own. Yangchen then joined the pair in the saddle with her own words of encouragement, but Jujinta responded only by claiming there was no point in him talking about his home, since he could never return there. Kavik and Yangchen were both unconvinced of this, Kavik arguing that any notoriety Jujinta had earned would eventually fade, but Jujinta angrily retorted that the past could never be changed, before disparaging Kavik for seemingly rejoining Yangchen's team without a care while thinking he could talk his way out of any situation. He then claimed Yangchen had no idea what it was like to be severed from her past and culture, causing her to go pale, and Kavik recalled that Jujinta had no idea that Yangchen had been banished from the Northern Air Temple, nor did he know that Kavik would be pursued by Oyaluk if he traveled to Bin-Er or Agna Qel'a. He thought about how the three of them could've bonded over their similar circumstances if they had been able to share the truth, before Nujian grunted and alerted him to a flock of seabirds up ahead, indicating the island they were searching for was close by.[40]
Exploring the island
After discovering the island, the trio briefly discussed scouting it from the air before landing, but ultimately deciding against it, Yangchen warning that the place could be occupied by any number of combustionbenders. Instead they approached at a low altitude, Nujian weaving as he flew, with the motion seemingly causing Kavik to become unwell until he realized he had been holding his breath and waiting for a combustionbender to attack him, Unanimity having awoken a terror within him that he was still not over. They eventually landed on a narrow stretch of beach located on the edge of a forest, where Yangchen ordered Nujian to remain, and Kavik took the opportunity to fill up a waterskin from the ocean. He felt like the three of them were encroaching on a spirit's domain, but Yangchen assured him this was not the case when he voiced that feeling, and the group headed into the forest. As the three of them proceeded through the trees, Kavik noticed a pair of birds following Yangchen closely; after they flew away, he assured the Avatar that he would not tell her lemurs about it.
The trio eventually came to a came to a clearing housing an abandoned compound. Investigating the buildings, they discovered the place to have been capable of housing a a hundred people; Kavik balked at the possibility of that many combustionbenders existing in the world, fearing the leaders of the four nations would lose their minds over it, but Yangchen suggested they keep searching before coming to such a conclusion. The trio then investigated a larger building that had been dedicated to martial arts training, where Kavik found a mass of discarded jars once used to contain dit da jow, or "hit medicine", a substance used to numb and toughen injured knuckles. He came to see the building as being more akin to a factory than a place of learning, before Jujinta pointed out part of an old Air Nomad acupuncture map that had been left on the wall. Yangchen claimed Chaisee should never have been able to obtain such a thing, and Kavik pointed out the zongdu's hobby of collecting rare books, only for Yangchen to continue to insist on her previous claim.
The trio then left the building, whereupon Kavik noticed Jujinta was uncharacteristically nervous. He asked the Yuyan what was wrong, and Jujinta claimed the place was cursed and they should not have come to it. Kavik reminded him of Yangchen's assurance that there were no spirits around, but Jujinta replied that he was worried about the echoes of people, causing Kavik himself to become increasingly uneasy. A signal from Yangchen then made him jump, before the Avatar chided the pair for not staying close, and directed their attention to a footpath she had discovered. Following it, the trio came to a large temple made from cooled lava, the sight of which filled Kavik with a sense of foreboding.
Looking for an entrance, the trio came to a low tunnel, prompting Kavik to ask why such a place did not have a door. Jujinta replied that the temple's builders had not wanted things like sound or people to be able to escape it, prompting Kavik to joke about how Yangchen should use her earthbending to upend the temple and shake out its contents in an attempt to dispel his negative feelings. The trio then crawled through the tunnel and into the building, where they discovered a heap of different-sized iron rings, as well as a chair in which occupants had been forcibly held. The sight caused Kavik to retch, and Yangchen ordered him to leave, whereupon he promptly fled the temple. He was later joined outside by Jujinta and Yangchen, whereupon the latter buried the temple underground with her earthbending. Despite his feelings regarding the place, Kavik initially wanted to protest the concealment of such evidence against Chaisee, before he realized there was no-one they could present it to. He then watched her utter a prayer for the spirits to never come to this place, and silently agreed that some evils should be buried and never disturbed.[41]
With the temple gone, Kavik and the others followed another trail to a seemingly undisturbed cove. Noting that the trail's presence meant the place had played a role in Chaisee's plans, he and Jujinta wondered what that role had been, before Yangchen called out to a pair of children she had noticed hiding behind a nearby bush. The children - a boy and a girl - stepped out from behind the bush; ignoring a warning from Jujinta, Kavik attempted to approach them, only for the girl to strike him in the hand with a blow that numbed both his arms and caused him to collapse onto the beach. As the two children ran off with Kavik's waterskin, Yangchen came over to examine him, and Kavik noticed that his waterbending had been severly weakened by the attack. Aware that the trio might lose their chance to pursue the children if Yangchen gave him further aid, Kavik told her he would walk off what had happened, though he privately did not want to consider the possibility that the effects of the blow could be permanent.
The trio then followed the pair of children to a grotto where they had evidently resided for a while, discovering them in the process of climbing a rock face in an attempt to get away. Kavik and Yangchen attempted to talk to the pair, but while the children came back down to the ground, they remained silent in response to the other group's words, and Kavik admitted to himself that silence was the best course of action when faced with three complete strangers. He then watched as Yangchen prepared to reveal herself as the Avatar in order to gain the pair's trust, only for Jujinta to prevent her from doing so before stepping forward to negotiate with the two children himself. Recalling how Jujinta had once stabbed a fellow errand runner in order to take his place on an assignment, Kavik shouted for him to stop, but the Yuyan had already drawn three knives by the time he finished speaking. Instead of attacking the children though, Jujinta threw the knives at a nearby piece of driftwood, juggling it into the air and giving it a crude tripod to stand on, before revealing he had grown up on an island much like the one they were all standing on, and thus had a good idea of what the two children had been through. Kavik then watched Jujinta use his past experiences to talk the two children into standing down and co-operating, and considered it one of the cruellest displays of manipulation he had ever seen.
The boy and girl - who gave their names as Raitei and Hsien, respectively - explained that they and many others had come to the island's compound from the Natsuo Island chain, having joined up with Unanimity due to a lack of available work. They revealed that the non-benders among the recruits had been trained to use the technique Hsien had performed on Kavik, while the earthbenders had been grouped and taken somewhere close to the island's volcanic interior, and a randomly selected group had been taken to the island's leeward side to learn "herbalism". In both cases, no-one from the latter two groups was seen again, and those among the non-benders who failed to keep up with the others disappeared in a similar manner, ostensibly being sent home with less pay. Raitei then revealed that several months ago - around the time Henshe had deployed Unanimity within Bin-Er - the people in charge of the compound had abandoned it, with the shipping of recruits and supplies to the island coming to an end. By that point there were only two dozen trainees still alive, including Raitei and Hsien; when they realized the island had been abandoned, the other survivors scavenged longboats in an attempt to escape - abandoning the two children due to a lack of space - only to be hit by a storm and killed.
Raitei told the trio that he was one of the firebenders, and led them to the beach where Yangchen, Kavik and Jujinta had first landed, in order to show them how his group had been trained. There he whispered something to Yangchen, who turned pale and used her waterbending to expose and investigate an area of the seabed, discovering a chain anchored to the shore. Raitei explained that the goal had been for the firebenders to use the force of their bending to push back against the water, with the chains intended to keep them beneath the surface and serve as additional motivation. Enraged by all she had learned, Yangchen stormed back onto the beach, prompting Raitei to panic and reveal that three of the firebenders had departed the island on a ship prior to the compound's abandonment. Kavik provided descriptions of Thapa, Xiaoyun and Yingsu, and Raitei confirmed that they were the ones he spoke of, and that none of the other firebenders had left in a similar manner. With the number of surviving combustionbenders confirmed, Yangchen announced her intention to leave the island, before tossing something to Kavik, who recognized the object as a night abalone.[42]
Return to Taku
Kavik and the others departed the island on Nujian. After Raitei and Hsien fell asleep during the journey, Kavik heard Yangchen speak about how Unanimity had merely been Chaisee's biggest success in her goal to create and mass-produce weapons through the sacrifice of others, before the Avatar resolved to make the zongdu pay for all she had done. He then listened as Yangchen and Jujinta discussed what to do about the two children they had found, with the pair mentioning that Chaisee might try to come after them, particularly since Raitei would be her best shot at obtaining another combustionbender if she lost Thapa. Yangchen ended the conversation by remarking that hiding the two children until the heat died down would likely be the safest move, causing Kavik to recall how she had tried and failed to do the same with Unanimity. He wondered how Hsien and Raitei might handle being isolated from the world a second time, remembering how Thapa and Henshe had handled their respective imprisonments at the Northern Air Temple.
The group landed on the outskirts of Taku and disembarked from Nujian, whereupon Yangchen assured Hsien that she and her companions would help the two children, before confirming with Raitei that she intended to take down Chaisee and the people who ran the compound. Raitei's expression changed in response to this, causing Kavik to realize the boy had feigned sleep and overheard the conversation on Nujian's saddle, and was now planning to defect to Chaisee in the belief that the rewards she would grant a combustionbender would outweigh the pain she had caused him through the island. With Yangchen's desire to bring down Chaisee an obstacle to this plan, Raitei prepared to blast her with his bending, prompting Kavik to dive at Yangchen and Hsien in the hope of tackling them to the ground. Immediately after doing so however, he realized he had inadvertently drawn Yangchen's focus away from the boy now trying to kill her.
Before Raitei could attack however, Nujian flew in and rammed him, taking the blast intended for Yangchen. Having never mastered the combustionbending technique, Raitei died from his attempt to use it, but not before inflicting fatal internal damage to Nujian, who collapsed lifeless moments later. Kavik then watched as Yangchen attempted in vain to use her healing on her bison, before slumping to the ground in shock as the Avatar began weeping into Nujian's fur.[43]
Meeting with the White Lotus
Following Nujian's death, Hsien was sent to stay at the Western Air Temple. At some point after she had left, Kavik met with Do and Ayunerak - the latter having come to Taku with the approach of the convocation's end - within a dumpling house in the city, and reported the events on the island to the pair. He left Hsien out of his report, not wanting her to continue being treated as an asset, while also believing her skills would not seriously affect the balance of power within the world.
After listening to Kavik's report, Do berated him and Yangchen for allowing the only known Unanimity firebender besides Thapa to die, prompting Kavik to express disgust at how he saw Raitei as no more than an asset of strategic value. Ayunerak claimed Raitei's fate was indeed a tragedy, but nevertheless stated that he could have been swayed to the cause of the White Lotus and aided in mastering his ability if he were still alive. Incredulous that Ayunerak would speak of utilising combustionbending despite being told of the cruelties involved in its development, Kavik asked whether she was trying to stop or control Unanimity. Ayunerak replied that she wanted to do both, claiming the world was best controlled by a neutral party, and the White Lotus was the faction best suited for such a role.
Kavik scoffed at Ayunerak's argument, and Do guessed that he would've preferred to see Yangchen in control of the world. Kavik assumed the older man would go on to insult the Avatar again, but Do instead warned that unlike the White Lotus, a lone individual like the Avatar had only a single form capable of being affected on a personal level by their experiences, citing Yangchen's loss of Nujian as an example of such. Thus, he argued, a lone individual could never be truly neutral or rational, while also being constrained by their form.
Do went on to inform Kavik that the White Lotus had so far been unable to locate Thapa, and warned him that they were to be the ones who would ultimately apprehend and imprison the combustionbender. Kavik then asked about Feishan, with Ayunerak replying that Chaisee had so far allowed him to roam Taku unmolested, and would no doubt continue to do so until Oyaluk and Gonryu arrived in the city for the end of the convocation, since having the three national leaders together gathered together would allow her to make the best possible use of Thapa. Kavik then mentioned Kalyaan, and Ayunerak said that the White Lotus had been unable to find him as well, causing the younger waterbender to laugh at his older brother's seemingly impeccable fortune.
With the meeting coming to a close, Ayunerak asked Kavik how Yangchen was holding up, a question he considered unfair given the recent loss of Nujian. He claimed to have no idea, secretly fearing that Yangchen would slip into one of her past lives as a coping mechanism for her grief.
Planning an attack
Following his meeting with Do and Ayunerak, Kavik returned to the safehouse being used by Yangchen's team, where he was met by a waiting Akuudan. The bigger man told Kavik that Yangchen wanted to see him, and directed him to the Avatar's quarters of the safehouse. Aware that the location in question would have no exits, and that he bore a degree of responsibility for the events that had led to Nujian's death, Kavik was apprehensive about entering it, but nevertheless did so, where he found Tayagum, Jujinta and a still grieving Yangchen waiting for him.
Yangchen - still her current self - spoke to him of how Kalyaan had previously encouraged her to let Chaisee win, before asking Kavik if his brother had used the same line to convince him to betray her in Jonduri. Kavik recalled Kalyaan's ultimately false claim that Yangchen's attempts to stop Unanimity would be of no consequence, but was unable to give a response to the question. He then noted the fury of the others in the room, and admitted to himself that even if Yangchen had not told the rest of her team about the White Lotus, they all had reasons to hate him, each one of them having lost something dear beforehand. He then looked into Yangchen's eyes to try and gauge her thoughts, but was unable to glean anything besides a certainty that he would soon have to pay a similar price to the others.[44]
Much to his surprise though, Yangchen then stated that Chaisee had already won, and that the team's goal was now to keep Gonryu and Oyaluk from entering the city while the zongdu of Jonduri had control of Thapa. As the others discussed possible tactics, Kavik struggled to comprehend that he had not been permanently banished from Yangchen's presence, before he eventually spoke up and urged the others not to give in. Yangchen replied that Chaisee had beaten them, but Kavik claimed they had so far only tried to stop the zongdu's plans, and had not considered trying to attack her directly, recalling how he and Yangchen had only beaten Iwashi during the Sparrowbones game after they began actively seeking to ruin him. He proposed that he be used to target Chaisee through Kalyaan, her chief henchman within Taku, to which Tayagum asked why they should expect him to remain on their side after he had betrayed them for Kalyaan back in Jonduri. Kavik replied that he intended to lure Kalyaan out of hiding and threaten to reveal his past as Henshe's plant to Chaisee - a move he believed would effectively condemn himto an agonizing death at the zongdu's hands - unless his older brother defected to Yangchen's side and revealed the location of Thapa.
After considering the plan for a moment, Yangchen dismissed everyone except Kavik from the room, before asking him if his scheme was intended to aid the White Lotus. Kavik replied that he intended to keep them uninvolved; besides their desire to take control of Thapa, he suspected they would use Kalyaan to train more combustionbenders for their own ends if they captured him. Yangchen angrily questioned why he was willing to help her now following his previous betrayal, to which Kavik urged her to trust him, just like she had when they went up against Iwashi. Yangchen laughed and retorted that they had competed with Iwashi over money, but they were now acting for the sake of the world, while also letting slip that she sought something else. Kavik thought that she could have been referring to her reputation, legacy, spirit, conscience or ability to sleep, and wished he could tell her that he considered all of them worthy causes.
Instead though, Kavik told her of what Jujinta had said in regards to balancing the books - i.e. atoning for his past betrayal - and claimed that doing so was all that mattered, breaking Yangchen's resolve. Capitulating, Yangchen admitted she was unable to tell when Kavik was lying, and that she had already made a grave mistake trusting him once before, but nevertheless silently agreed to his plan. Kavik knew she had only done so because she had no other options, but thought little of it, believing that everyone needed to be carried home at some point in their lives.
Yangchen then questioned what they should do if Kalyaan refused to bow to Kavik's threat. Having already considered such a possibility, Kavik proposed that Akuudan and Tayagum pretend to torture him in front of Kalyaan in order to force his co-operation, confident that his brother still loved him and would do anything to protect him in spite of all he had done. Yangchen balked at the idea, claiming that it would be no better than actual torture, to which Kavik replied that she could atone for her involvement in it by spending the rest of her life working to bring balance to the world, and continue to do so after her death. As Yangchen reacted with disbelief at his impudence, Kavik taunted her by asking if she had had other plans for her next life, prompting her to thrown her blankets at him and storm out to organize the rest of her team. As he listened to her work, he smiled and remarked to himself how he was glad to be of service.
As part of his strategem, Kavik agreed to be stabbed non-lethally by Jujinta prior to Kalyaan's questioning. Jujinta warned him that such a thing would legitimately hurt him.[45]
Stopping Unanimity
The morning after the team had made their plan, Kavik went to a small park within Taku and sat down on a bench, knowing that Kalyaan would be able to find him easily enough. As he waited, he noticed a banner advertising a future komodo-chicken restaurant hanging over the sign of another such restaurant that had failed, and noted how people tended to hope even when it seemed unwarranted, thinking of how he was about to take on a man who had always been superior to him.
About half an hour after Kavik had sat down, Kalyaan arrived and sat next to him, before encouraging him to catch up on sleep if necessary. Kavik asked his older brother if he was able to sleep in spite of everything he had been party to, revealing his awareness of Chaisee's island and how Unanimity had been developed there. Kalyaan initially feigned ignorance, before remarking that he was not obligated to provide a confession just because Kavik had discovered a few things, and that the people who had served as test subjects on the island had chosen to travel there of their own accord. Enraged, Kavik tried to punch his older brother, but discovered that Kalyaan had used his waterbending to freeze his wrist to the bench, preventing him from doing so. The restraint made Kavik think of the chair he had seen on the island, and his subsequent agitation caused Kalyaan to let go of him with his bending, before asking what had gotten into him. Kavik suggested it was the discovery that he was related to a "monster", to which Kalyaan replied that Chaisee did not tell him all the details of her operations, before chiding Kavik and Yangchen for not following such a practice themselves.
Kavik then told Kalyaan of the plan to reveal his past to Chaisee unless he helped them find Thapa, claiming the inability of Yangchen and her agents to do so themselves had forced their hands. Kalyaan questioned if Yangchen would really sell him out to Chaisee with knowledge of what would subsequently happen to him, claiming such a thing would go against her Air Nomad principles, but Kavik replied that he and Chaisee had cost Yangchen more than they would ever know, and the Avatar now wanted to make him suffer. Kalyaan then asked if Kavik wanted the same, remarking that his younger brother would have to reveal the truth to Chaisee himself if Yangchen's scheme was to work, effectively making him responsible for Kalyaan's fate. Kavik stilled his face, recognizing that Kalyaan would be able to spot such a thing, and stated that he would be happy to see his older brother get what he deserved. Hearing this, Kalyaan remarked on what he thought was Yangchen's manipulative hold over Kavik, claiming she would have him make a decision that would haunt him until he died without a care.
Kalyaan then claimed that the reason Kavik could not compete with him was because he constantly sought validation from others, and thus was incapable of making decisions for himself. Much to Kavik's shock, Kalyaan then revealed he had admitted his original role as Henshe's agent to Chaisee and been forgiven for it - thereby depriving Yangchen and her team of their leverage over him - while also revealing Kavik's role as Yangchen's agent. Kavik claimed he was lying, believing Chaisee would never have allowed Kalyaan to live in such a scenario, but Kalyaan replied that he had fathered a child with the zongdu, citing that as the reason for her uncharacteristic leniency. As Kavik reeled from the news, Kalyaan assured him that Chaisee wanted the two brothers to be together, and then told him that he intended to take Kavik from Taku, retrieve their parents, and then their entire family would be completely untouchable to the rest of the world. Kavik declared his brother mad, but Kalyaan replied that he simply had faith in the woman he loved, adding that Chaisee would soon be dealing with Yangchen over at the Taku convocation hall.
The news caused Kavik to try and run to the hall, but Kalyaan stopped him from doing so, before calling out Tael and six other members of Chaisee's association from a nearby restaurant. The sight of them made Kavik realize he had underestimated his own value, recalling his knowledge of Chaisee's island and his association with Hsien, information the zongdu would want to have under her control. As the association members surrounded the bench, Tael greeted Kavik as an old friend, but Kavik responded by spitting on his foot, remembering how the other man had once forced him to dispose of Qiu's body and later murdered Pang. He then stated his refusal to accompany the association members, and asked Kalyaan if his older brother planned to have him imprisoned until he changed his mind. Kalyaan replied that "prisoner" was a relative term, and that he would set his brother up with a comfortable room, much like Henshe had enjoyed prior to his death.
Before Kavik or any other member of the gathering could take action however, they were confronted by Do and six other agents of the Order of the White Lotus, whom Kavik realized had secretly tailed him to the park. Kavik wondered why they had not informed him of their presence earlier, before figuring out that the White Lotus had given up on stopping Thapa, and were now hoping to find and capture Kalyaan in order to acquire his knowledge on combustionbending. With the brothers trapped between the two groups of fighters, Kalyaan instructed Kavik to stay still for his own safety.[46]
Rather than obey his brother, Kavik opted to initiate the fight on the side of the White Lotus, vaulting over the bench and using his bending to pull at a waterskin being carried by a waterbender among the association members. He hoped to pull the water out of its container for his own use, but instead ended up yanking its owner across the street, and was tackled to the ground by Kalyaan a few moments later. While fighting off his brother, Kavik managed to use the waterskin and his bending to choke his opponent unconscious, before Kalyaan hauled him out of the way of a small arrow fired at him by an association member using a wrist-mounted bow mechanism. Kavik's attack prompted the others to start fighting; in the midst of the chaos, Kalyaan partially immobilized him with Hsien's technique and attempted to drag him away from the battleground.
The pair came across Do and Tael, with the latter mortally wounding the former after a short exchange. Do gave Kavik one last glare in his dying moments, before using firebending to sear Kalyaan's arm and allow the younger waterbender to escape. He managed to get into a nearby alley, but was grabbed and pinned up against a wall by Tael moments later, and he guessed the association man intended to kill him irrespective of Kalyaan's wishes. Before Tael could do so though, Kavik used his waterbending to spit shards of frozen saliva into his eyes, blinding him and causing him to back away with a scream, and Kavik took the opportunity to escape, feeling his way along the alley wall in the hope of getting back to the public area of the city. He ended up stumbling into an alcove where Jujinta was waiting; the former Yuyan stabbed him in the side and accused him of betraying Yangchen, before withdrawing the blade and departing the scene.[47]
Following his stabbing, Kavik was found by Kalyaan, who lifted him up onto his shoulders and carried him away upon noticing his wound. The two brothers ended up in the waiting room of a currently closed apothecary, where Kalyaan placed Kavik down upon a bench and prepared to look for supplies to treat his injury, at which point Akuudan and Tayagum entered the room. Kavik initially panicked, believing the pair of former innkeepers would be no match for the younger Kalyaan, but his brother attacked them before he could shout a warning. Much to his surprise though, Akuudan and Tayagum reacted almost immediately, and Kavik remembered that the couple had once been entrusted with the protection of a valuable platinum shipment traveling in the midst of Earth Kingdom forces, a job that would have necessitated having formidable fighting prowess. Tayagum redirected Kalyaan's attack with his own bending, and Akuudan tackled the younger man into the wall with a shield of ice, revealing himself to be a waterbender just like his husband. The couple then trapped Kalyaan with rawhide bindings concealed within Akuudan's ice shield, depriving him of the ability to bend and leaving him helpless.
With Kalyaan restrained, Kavik claimed Jujinta had abandoned their plan by attacking him, but Akuudan - maintaining the charade in front of their captive - replied that the stabbing had in fact been a part of it. The one-armed man then pretended to torture Kavik by aggravating the wound - while also using bloodlacquer to make it look more severe than it really was - throwing Kalyaan into distress, while Tayagum demanded answers from the older brother. At one point, Kavik shouted that Yangchen would never allow them to do such a thing, but Tayagum replied that the Avatar would not necessarily know everything that happened during the chaos of a mission, while Akuudan indicated that Yangchen had implicitly permitted the torture. Thanks to Kavik's supposed suffering, Kalyaan ultimately reached his breaking point just as his younger brother had predicted; he admitted that he did not know where Thapa was - Chaisee having kept such information to herself - but he did reveal that striking the great gong of Taku three times at an incorrect hour would signal Thapa to attack the convocation hall with his ability. Jujinta - who had listened in on the scene - left to relay the information to Yangchen, and Akuudan started to treat Kavik's wound, while telling the younger waterbender that he envied him having a brother who would choose his family over a mission.[48]
Following Kalyaan's capitulation, Kavik listened as his older brother threatened to gruesomely murder Akuudan and Tayagum after what they had done, only to become distraught when Tayagum responded with a threat to torture Kavik again. Not wanting to let his older brother continue to suffer, Kavik dropped the act and revealed that his torture had been staged. As Kalyaan realized he had been fooled, Kavik in turn took in the fact that he had beaten his older brother for the first time in his life, but derived no joy from it, knowing he had won by exploiting Kalyaan's feelings for him. Nevertheless, he was willing to make the same choice again if necessary.
Jujinta then returned to the apothecary, having passed on Kalyaan's information. With his injury now starting to play up, Kavik questioned if Jujinta had really needed to stab him so deeply, to which Jujinta merely reiterated his earlier warning. Kavik conceded to himself that the former Yuyan had played his role in the deception well, while trying not to think about how exactly he had learned to deal a convincing yet non-lethal stab wound.
Following Jujinta's return, Kavik and the others in the apothecary heard the city's gong sound twice, prompting Kalyaan to burst into laughter and claim the Avatar had doomed them all. Kavik used some soaked bandages to gag his brother, before hearing the gong sound for a third time. Akuudan became despondent, believing their side to have lost, but Kavik got off the bed and urged him to have faith in Yangchen, before gathering the rest of Yangchen's agents into a huddle to await the consequences. Despite the apparent signal to Thapa, no explosions were heard after it, and Tayagum eventually concluded that Yangchen had defeated Chaisee and her combustionbender.
With Chaisee's scheme foiled, Kavik asked if things were square between him and the others, only to be met with cold looks from them. He immediately protested, before Jujinta burst out laughing, and Tayagum and Akuudan started ruffling his hair and grinning, indicating he was indeed forgiven. Unhappy about being fooled, Kavik grumbled that he hated the other three.[45]
Resolving matters
Following the events in Taku, Kavik and the rest of Yangchen's team extracted Kalyaan from the city. They later allowed him to go into hiding with Chaisee and their son, Yangchen intending to have them act as a lure for Feishan and keep him from making trouble with the other nations, knowing the scheming Earth King would seek to obtain Chaisee's knowledge on Unanimity for his own ends. Yangchen personally swore to Kavik that she would let no harm come to his nephew. At roughly the same time, Kavik learned from Ayunerak that he was no longer being hunted by Oyaluk over Unanimity, and decided to take the opportunity to leave the errand runner's life, asking the White Lotus to set him up with a job as a healer's assistant back at the North Pole.
Some time after the end of the convocation, Kavik, Yangchen, and Ayunerak gathered within the Agna Qel'a safehouse where they had all met previously, with Kavik serving as the lookout as Yangchen explained the events in Taku to the older woman. During the discussion, Kavik learned that Yangchen had essentially taken control of all the shang cities and made Chaisee dependent on her, with the latter step effectively granting her access to the former zongdu's still extensive resources. After Ayunerak questioned Yangchen's willingness to allow Chaisee's deeds to go unpunished, Kavik reminded the Executor of her previous claim that retribution was for amateurs.
After the meeting with Ayunerak, Kavik and Yangchen left for the Spirit Oasis, Yangchen wanting to search for Jetsun within the Spirit World. As the two of them traveled the streets of Agna Qel'a, Kavik thanked Yangchen for stopping Kalyaan, believing his older brother would have eventually pushed his luck too far and gotten himself killed were it not for her. Yangchen made little response, and Kavik remarked at how the Avatar had become "the zongdu of everywhere", with Yangchen replying that she would now be able to use the shang cities' resources to fix the problems there, as well as in other parts of the world. She claimed that she would own the Platinum Affair, having failed to end it, but Kavik assured her that she did not have to convince him, and that he trusted in her to do the right thing.
The pair then arrived at the entrance to the Spirit Oasis, where Yangchen warned Kavik that what they were attempting could be dangerous, to which Kavik reminded her that he had been the one to save her from the Fog of Lost Souls during her previous journey there. Yangchen then assured him that he had done more than enough to atone for his betrayal of her back in Jonduri, and thus he was under no obligation to help her here if he did not want to, but Kavik leaned towards her and replied that he was not acting out of any form of compulsion. The Avatar was unconvinced of his sincerity, however, prompting Kavik to get annoyed and emphatically state that he was helping Yangchen because she deserved it, before asking if he would have to tattoo the message across her skull. With that, Yangchen relented, and the two of them sat down facing other in the Spirit Oasis, Kavik keeping watch over Yangchen as she meditated into the Spirit World.
While Yangchen was out of her body, the Fog of Lost Souls passed through her and enveloped Kavik, causing him to recall his betrayal of Yangchen in Jonduri. Yangchen soon returned to her body and freed him by bending water from the Spirit Oasis, just as he had previously done for her. After he had recovered, the two of them lay down on the grass of the oasis together, with Yangchen telling him that she had found Jetsun, and that her sister would be fine. She then revealed that the mission to raid the Bliss Eternal back in Taku had been part of a ruse; Kavik forgave the deception of him, but he insisted she apologize to Jujinta and the others. Yangchen then added that she had set up the ruse to protect Yingsu, prompting Kavik to realize that the Avatar had faked the female combustionbender's death. He asked if Yingsu was going to join up with Yangchen's network, but the Avatar replied that she was not sure.
Yangchen then asked about Kavik's plans going forward, and Kavik revealed his plan to leave the world of espionage, adding that he might go home to see his parents. Yangchen however urged him to stay with her, claiming there was so much work to do, and that she wanted him by her side for it all. Recalling the circumstances behind his original recruitment into Yangchen's network, Kavik burst out laughing and told her that he would consider it.[1]
Personality
Kavik could be a somewhat sarcastic and sardonic person.[14] He often wondered if he had been cursed by spirits. He was an adept liar, to the point even Yangchen struggled to read him.
He looked up to his brother and desperately tried to copy his mannerisms. Kalyaan had conditioned him to consider himself lesser in every way since childhood and Kavik could easily be rendered weak and unresponsive by him, even allowing Kalyaan to be violent toward him without flinching.[38] Kalyaan accused him of always looking for approval and being incapable of making decisions for himself. He would eventually outplay his brother by exploiting his care toward his younger brother, which made him feel guilty.
Though he could be very deceptive by nature of him being an informant, he still highly regarded the Water Tribe customs of generosity and unconditional respect, unlike his brother Kalyaan.[22] He was deeply discontented to see suffering caused by negligence and greed, even though he had work for those with selfish interests.[14] He grew to genuinely care about Yangchen, despite their sarcastic teasing and his betrayal, and was worried about all the stress she suffered from him, wanting to help her because she deserved it instead of any obligation.
Abilities
Kavik was a strong waterbender, and was able to defeat several professional guards that were tasked with protecting the Avatar.[11] His bending was often creative and versatile, such as creating a watery limb to wield a bunch of planks like a club while fighting in a Jonduri warehouse.[20] However, he was not knowledgeable of certain extremely skilled techniques, such as being able to move through solid ice, and knew nothing of healing.[20]
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| Kavik |
| Kalyaan |
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Appearances
Chronicles of the AvatarThe Dawn of Yangchen
The Legacy of Yangchen
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Trivia
- In the Inupiaq language, "Kavik" means wolverine.
References
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