Daughter of the Moon - Book Two: Earth

Chapter 21.2: The Crossroads of Destiny

- Elara -

I was fairly certain that I had memorized the correct address when I had held the paper Katara had given me in hand, but once I had made the trip to the front steps of the residence, I had come to two conclusions. One, I had memorized the address incorrectly and had wandered my way to the wrong house, or two, Katara had one too many glasses of cactus juice before stumbling into me at the Jasmine Dragon. There was simply no way that Aang, Sokka, and Katara—the very people I had seen spend many nights sleeping in literal dirt—could possibly find their way to a place this nice.

I gawked at the mansion before me as I tried to figure out how three teenagers—my friends—were able to live in such a place, let alone afford it. The apartment we were gifted by that noble guy was nice and all, but this—this place was on a completely different level. Even the front steps looked expensive. The only indicator that this place even had people living in it was the strange lack of an eastern wall (perhaps my friends were living here after all...).

"Holy Spirits, I hope this is the right place," I wondered out loud as I began my march onto the property.

Unfortunately, I didn't seem to make it very far before something had to go wrong. The moment my foot made contact with the first step, the earth beneath me snaked it's way up around my ankles, holding me captive as I slowly began to sink into the ground. I made an attempt to pull myself out of my earthy grave, but the moment my hands hit the stairs ahead of me, they met the same demise as my poor feet. I was trapped and sinking fast, and I could only hope that whatever fate awaited me would pass quickly.

Just then, my attention was torn away from my predicament as I heard a squeaky voice resonate from somewhere in front of me.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" 

I looked up at the girl that had addressed me, and I was surprised to find...well...a girl. She was a quaint little thing, but she was menacing, and dirty, and had a glare that could kill, at least, that what I thought. It looked like there was something wrong with her eyes. She glanced in my general direction as she spoke, and even though she didn't make eye contact with me, it felt like she was staring right into my soul. Long story short, I was pretty sure I had found the tiny, female version of a younger Zuko (or maybe I just missed him too much).

Fortunately, I wasn't left to these strange thoughts for too long before almost being taken out by a massive blob as it attached itself to me.

"ELARA!" Sokka cheered as he tried to embrace me, stumbling upon quite the obstacle considering that I was halfway in the ground. He then turned to the young girl and shot her a glare that was nothing short of pure annoyance. "Toph, a little help here."

The girl scoffed as she kicked the floor, freeing me from my rocky prison and launching me into Sokka's arms. No sooner had I escaped from my initial bonds than I found myself trapped in the boy's tight embrace—the life literally being squeezed out of me as he struggled to contain his excitement.

"Elara! I can't believe you're here!" he hollered again as he practically carried me back inside the house.

"We've missed you so much!" another voice chimed in, and I could only assume it was Aang (I couldn't really see thanks to Sokka's eagerness).

I awkwardly wiggled my way out of Sokka's grasp (mostly so that I could breathe, but also so that I could see everyone...not to mention the fact that Zuko was the only man allowed to hold me like that), and I almost melted with joy from seeing my friends again. "I've missed you guys too," I admitted bashfully, the only exception being the murder child standing in the corner of the room.