| "People like him never changed and should never lead-be it a clan or a nation. She was going to make this tunnel his tomb or die trying." |
| — Malaya's thoughts on Sozin.[1] |
Malaya was a scout for the Lambak clan during the early Era of Roku. Though she was trained to keep her clan safe from any threats, Malaya was not used to hunting outsiders. She was unaware that her responsibilities would involve killing outsiders if she was asked to, and once she was asked to do so, she began to resist the manipulations of Chief Ulo. During the Lambak Island conflict, Malaya tried to get the Western Kingdom Trading Company to leave the island, but had no success. She instead joined up with a young Monk Gyatso, and would later help Avatar Roku in trying to bring an end to the crisis.
As Roku confronted Ulo, Malaya helped free earthbender guards from the trading company, but her village would end up being destroyed by outsiders. Amid her rage and grief, Malaya and Gyatso were to temporarily join up with Prince Sozin and his Fire Nation companions. Adopting a deep mistrust of Sozin, Malaya attempted to kill the heir to the Fire Nation as they made their way to the Sacred Cave alone together. Sozin had anticipated her attack, and quickly gained the upper hand in their brief duel. After her body was found, it was believed that Malaya had died as the cavern collapsed.
History
Early life
Malaya was never close to her parents and learned to do things on her own because she had to.[4] From an early age, she also learned not to question her clan's elders. She picked up on the Lambak clan's deep-seated culture of respect. Though she came to realize there were various inconsistencies in the oral histories that Chief Ulo told her, she came to learn not to question the clan's leader. Nevertheless, Malaya held considerable doubts about what she was told about the outside world. Still, she would mostly come to lock away her skepticism in order to survive life on the island.[5]
Since her parents did not teach her nor take much care of her, she instead asked other villagers of different professions, so she could have the skills to take care of herself. She learned a great deal on hand-to-hand combat and hunting from the clan's best hunter, Mamamaril, and they often sparred together.[6] Malaya also developed a great amount of knowledge of the island's geography, as well as its endemic flora and fauna. She also learned how to fish and make ropes, and how to read the weather through the fog and the seasons by the stars. While she herself was not a bender, she was also taught the qualities and limitations of each element.[4]
As a result of how skilled she was at her young age, Malaya was chosen by Ulo to train as a scout and help keep the island safe from outsiders. Though she had never encountered outsiders before 66 BG, she mastered a range of martial and survival skills. She also had gorilla tarsier mount named Kilat.[4]
She had two younger brothers, but both of them were born after she already had become a scout, so her relationship with them was always distant. They barely acknowledged her at all and did not talk to her whenever they briefly met. She further avoided her parents because they would often nag their daughter about who she planned to marry.[4]
Tracking outsiders
In mid to late 66 BG, a group of guards and researchers from the Western Kingdom Trading Company landed on Lambak Island. Malaya came to sympathize with Yuming and Qixia as they noted their discoveries, but knew that she could not speak to them.[4] After sending reports back to Ulo about the group starting to move inland, the chief ordered her to have them leave. Ulo lectured Malaya on how she should be prepared to protect the island at any cost.[4]
Malaya believed the outsiders could simply be shooed away. She first planned to steal the group's packages and leave them without their provisions, thus forcing them to sail away. However, when she tried the tactic, Amihan failed to constantly cover Malaya with her airbending, which led her to be spotted by the Western Kingdom Trading Company.[7] When Malaya reported her initial failure to Ulo, the chief told her that killing the outsiders was the only way to accomplish her task. As the scout voiced her doubts about taking people's lives, Ulo chose to immediately encase her in ice using his waterbending. After he melted it, Ulo told Malaya not to let her empathy get away with doing what was necessary for the good of the clan, warning her that it was inevitable that any knowledge that outsiders gained would be used against the Lambak. He then told her to join up with Amihan and take out the earthbenders.[5]
Still not wishing to take lives, Malaya decided to go against Ulo's orders, leaving her gorilla tarsier at Amihan's side. She then put basilisk centipede poison on a banana and handed it to Amihan, which led to the airbender being temporarily paralyzed after she ate it. After the younger scout pretended to go get help, Malaya approached Yuming and Qixia, directly asking them to leave the island. She tried to stress the importance of Yungib. However, Yuming repeatedly asked Malaya to serve as the guide for the researchers, wanting to see her clan's leader and make an exchange of information. When Malaya declined, the earthbenders encased the scout with stone and left her stuck to the mountainside.[8]
Meeting Gyatso and Roku
After several hours, Malaya was able to chip away at her restraints and free herself. Just after this, she was shocked to find the island's perpetual fog disappearing before her eyes. She assumed that the Western Kingdom Trading Company had attacked and taken out the waterbenders that were responsible for keeping the island isolated from the rest of the world. Malaya was taken aback once more when she saw an Air Nomad gliding across the sky. As the airbender touched down, Malaya was cautious in her manner. She would learn that the boy, Gyatso, was searching for his traveling companion, Roku. Malaya decided to let Gyatso travel with her as she sought to uncover the mystery, thinking it best for her to keep an eye on another outsider.[3]
While Malaya found Gyatso somewhat annoying to begin with,[9] she would develop a sense of trust him as well. This was in part fueled by him affording her a sense of respect that the earthbenders had not.[9] As Malaya and Gyatso traveled together, the scout learned more about the scope of the conflict brewing on the island, including the Western Kingdom Trading Company's search for a special rock. She also learned that Roku was the Avatar, and that Prince Sozin of the Fire Nation was the one to have requested for him to come to the island.[9]
Eventually, they reached the clan's village, but the earthbenders were not there. She came back to Gyatso with some edible mushrooms as they strategized what to do next. Malaya asked him to wait and watch before making a decisive move.[9] During this time spent together, Malaya began to consider Air Nomad philosophy as Gyatso told her about the outside world. She found out about the Air Nomad belief of "harmonizing vibrations" resonating between individuals,[9] as well as their vegetarian diet. Even though Malaya still found the Air Nomad way of life to be strange, she found herself to also be compelled by their beliefs, and felt somewhat guilty about her own lifestyle.[10]
In the village, Malaya found that Roku had been brought to Ulo's hut. She saw the chief walking the Avatar around the village, deducing that Roku was not being held as a prisoner. However, there was still no sign of the earthbenders, or of Amihan and Kilat. As she and Gyatso began to strategize on what to do, the airbender also began to open up to Malaya about the grief he felt from losing his older sister, Yama.[10] Eventually, Gyatso went into the village, emerging with Roku in tow. As the trio speculated on Ulo's plans, Malaya informed the Avatar about the scouts' responsibilities to kill outsiders. They also discussed their theories on why outsiders may truly be interested in the island, with Roku suggested that they might be seeking the Sacred Cave and its potential for enhanced bending, and not just the special rock. Gyatso also speculated that this may have been why Sozin sent them to the island in the first place. This caused some tension between the two outsiders, but Malaya urged them to reconcile by having Gyatso open up about Yama. Meanwhile, Roku also shared that Ulo had talked about some matters involving a grove on the other side of the valley, allowing the group to figure out the likely location of the earthbenders and Amihan. They also concluded that Ulo's invitation to Roku was likely a setup for him to sacrifice the Avatar to Yungib. The group would come to separated again, with Roku going after Ulo in an attempt to talk him down, while Malaya and Gyatso would search for the grove.[2]
Freeing the earthbenders
As Malaya and Gyatso approached the Greywood grove, the scout spotted the earthbenders and Kilat in bamboo cages up in the canopy. Noticing Mamamaril and Kamao were on patrol, Malaya started devising a plan. She would fire at the ropes holding the cages in place, and have Gyatso get ready to cushion their fall with his bending.[6] While the plan did work, the earthbenders immediately ran away, and a fight broke out between Malaya, Gyatso, and the other islanders. Malaya would climb on Kilat's back and get her mount to ascend the Greywood trees in her search for Amihan.[11]
Noticing Gyatso in the middle of the fight with the other two islanders below, Malaya tried to fire an arrow at Kamao. Her arrow swerved when Amihan intervened with her bending. The airbender quickly attacked Malaya, slashed her shoulder with her bending, while Kilat would be pounced on by Amihan's own gorilla tarsier. Amihan cleared away the branches that Malaya was standing on, and so the younger scout forced Gyatso to help her reach the next tree with a gust of air. Amihan then tried to strike at Malaya with her dagger, but Malaya was able to hold her off. Amihan then sent air streaming across Malaya's knife hand, and her weapon fell. Amihan's bending also chopped away the branch Malaya was standing on, and so Malaya moved to the branch Amihan was standing on.[11]
As they dueled, Malaya learned that Amihan had killed many people for Ulo over the years. With the fight progressing, Malaya dodged another knife attack, which led Amihan getting her weapon stuck in the tree trunk as she missed her opponent. Malaya then kicked Amihan back and seized her blade, before going on the offensive enough that Amihan slipped and fell, though the airbender was caught by her gorilla tarsier. Kilat soon arrived to take Malaya back to Gyatso, and the pair started to head back to the village.[11] When the pair returned to the settlement, they found it destroyed by earthbending attacks. Yuming approached Malaya, apologizing after she explained she could not hold back the earthbenders back from retaliating. She also explained that they had now gone after Ulo. Malaya nearly reached for the dagger on her out of anger, before Gyatso stopped her.[12]
Malaya started to check for people's injuries. After a while, her sense of rage resurfaced, and she was determined to go after the earthbenders and kill them, before Gyatso talked her down once more. Malaya continued to clear away debris and recover the dead and injured. After some time, she encountered Prince Sozin and his companions, Dalisay and Kozaru.[12] Malaya took a disliking to the imperious nature of Sozin and his followers. Nevertheless, she found that she had no alternative other than joining up to their shared effort to go after Roku.[13]
Final confrontations
As the party got closer to the earthbenders and readied for a confrontation, Malaya picked up on the guard's precise location. As soon as Sozin's group approached on eel hounds, the guards asked them to flee. Malaya was particularly incensed when the earthbenders bragged about killing other islanders. As the fight broke out, Malaya ducked to avoid being hit by a chunk of earth. She then got Gyatso to lift her over the earthbenders with airbending, landing her in the best position to stab a mustached guard with a blade coated in basilisk centipede poison. She then made a move on the tallest guard in the party, but the scout's weapon hit an earthen shield. Even though the stone wall crashed into her, Malaya was able to dodge a dozen earth discs in the ensuing fight. She would come her move on the tall guard once more, before accidentally being injured by Dalisay's rope dart.[14]
After recovering from the sting, Dalisay tried to make a move on the guard yet again, but the earthbender's fist struck the scout in the gut. Malaya was then cracked in the face by the woman's knee, before both fighters had to shield themselves from a fire whip clearing the bamboo around the grove. Malaya gripped her blade once more, but was sent off balance by Gyatso's powerful airbending. This sent her knife flying, and so Malaya was forced to use cut bamboo poles as her new melee weapon when next attacking the guard. Malaya managed to fully defeat her opponent, her blows cracking the guard's earthen gauntlet. Malaya's unrelenting strikes eventually led to the guard dropping the earthen glove. Gyatso called for Malaya to stop fighting, being shocked by the extent of her ferocity as Malaya had left her opponent's forearms bruised and bloody. Sozin, meanwhile, was deeply impressed, and suggested he could help find a way to put her talents to use. With the fight over, the party made their way to the Sacred Cave's entrance, though Malaya now had serious doubts about violence after taking note of Gyatso's reaction. Dalisay also offered Malaya her recovered dagger as way of apology for the rope dart accident, but the scout refused, allowing her to keep it.[14]
As the group approached the entrance to the Sacred Cave, Sozin instructed Malaya to show him the way in. Malaya knew not to show the prince into the cavern, but was also aware she could not beat Sozin and his companions in a fight if she were to back out. The prince got his companions to stay behind, and instructed Gyatso to do the same. Gyatso questioned Sozin's reasoning, with the tone between the pair soon becoming hostile. Malaya calmed things by telling the Air Nomad that she was fine staying behind, and asked Gyatso to trust her. The pair started to say their farewells, embracing warmly. They discussed her coming to stay at Southern Air Temple after everything was over. At that moment, a loud noise shook the ground, and the party deduced something had happened with Roku in the Sacred Cave. Malaya and Sozin made their way into the tunnels just seconds later.[1]
Malaya decided she was going to kill Sozin once he was out of sight from the others. She had come to see far too much of Ulo in him, and believed that he would never let a witness live if they might spread word of his unauthorized activities. As she and Sozin jogged through the tunnels together at a brisk pace, the prince lit a flame to guide their way, staying just behind the scout. They eventually came across a wall of rubble. A delay of the sort provided the scout with a best-case scenario for killing the master firebender and covering it up as an accident. Sozin blasted a small opening through the blockage with firebending, but demanded to go first, which complicated Malaya's plans. She decided to attack Sozin from behind as his attention turned to the cavern, and swiped a sharp rock fragment off the ground. As she resolved to kill the prince, Sozin was waiting for her on the other side of the passageway with an angled attack stance. He unleashed a fire kick on her that singed her cheek, causing Malaya to stumble backwards. She tried to spring forward with a shard of rock in her hand, and felt her weapon pierce the prince's stomach. However, he knocked her arm aside and cracked his head against hers. As pain washed over Malaya, she lost her balance, and her vision blurred. She was winded after Sozin punched her in the gut, and fell backwards against the tunnel wall. Malaya tried and failed to get back on her feet, and was then engulfed in flames.[15]
Funeral
Malaya's body was recovered in a collapsed section of the tunnels. Sozin claimed that she had died from falling rubble, and Roku came to believe he had unintentionally taken her life by collapsing the Sacred Cavern.[16] A joint funeral was held for Malaya and the six other islanders who had died during the conflict. Malaya's body was wrapped in a handwoven shroud, and taken to the western hill overlooking the terraced valley. Roku provided a flame for loved ones to light torches and burn pyres during the ceremony. Malaya's parents lit her funeral pyre, before the rest of the mourners prepared to return to the village to feast, dance, and tell stories of the departed.[17]
Physical description
Malaya had short, black hair[5][3] and dark skin.[12] She often wore a tolgè skirt and a sleveless black tunic.[4]
Personality
Malaya had an independent personality, having learned to take care of herself since a young age. She did not crave social interactions and thus did not mind the isolated way the village scouts had to live, considering the few days trips back to the village more than she needed.[4]
She was a very empathetic person.[5] She tried all she could to avoid killing the outsiders from the Western Kingdom Trading Company, even when Ulo ordered her to do so.[5][8] Although Malaya was not a pacifist, she was interested by the Air Nomad way of life. Malaya even felt some sense of guilt about eating meat when she was introduced to the concept of vegetarianism, even though she could not imagine how a human could get enough nutrition from such a diet.[10]
While she tried to avoid killing, she did not hold back on exacting her revenge after the Western Kingdom Trading Company guards attacked her village. However, seeing Gyatso's shocked reaction made her feel ashamed about what she had done. She came to fear that something "feral and brutal" lived inside her, and believed that this might have been who she truly was, instead of being something closer to what the Air Nomads represented.[14] She also reasoned that killing Sozin was her only course of action, not just to protect Gyatso and herself, but also because she feared what type of ruler he might become one day.[1][15]
Malaya was very inquisitive, and never truly put away her doubts about the contradictions in Ulo's stories.[5] Amihan also believed that she asked "too many questions", and that she was not cut out to be a scout for the clan.[11]
Abilities
Malaya was a nonbender[9] and an extremely skilled scout. She was extremely fast and agile, and could beat experienced benders in a one-on-one fight, even in situations where a nonbender would be at a disadvantage.[11][14] She could easily duck, dive, and swerve when earthbending attacks were aimed at her.[7][14] She was a highly precise archer, and could be sure that her arrows would strike specific targets several hundred feet away.[11] Malaya was also generally a quick thinker and made use of her environment as best as she could.[11][14]
She picked up on the best methods of eavesdropping, made easier whenever she used the island's fog to her advantage.[10] Her hearing was much more sensitive compared to the average person, especially outsiders, and she picked up on all the various hints of people having disturbed their surroundings.[14] Through experience, Malaya learned much about the island's endemic flora and fauna, and how she could use poison to her advantage.[8]
Appearances
Chronicles of the AvatarThe Reckoning of Roku
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References
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