The Lost Waterbender (Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfiction)

Full Moon

"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink," Toph said.

"Yeah, at least I know one thing I didn't miss out on in the Fire Nation," I muttered.

We were camping out in the woods after a long day of traveling. Somehow, we had begun telling creepy stories. The only problem was, no one really knew any, and Sokka's rendition of "The Blade of Wing-Fun" wasn't exactly bone-chilling.

"No wait," Katara said. "I've got one. And this is a true Southern Water Tribe story."

Sokka rolled his eyes as he sat down. "Is this one of those 'a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to' story?"

Katara looked up from the fire and said with a certain creepiness. "No. It happened to Mom."

I sat up. I hadn't heard about my mother much, other than the fact that she was dead. I wanted to hear this.

Katara began. "One winter, when Mom was a girl, a huge snowstorm buried the entire village for weeks. A month later, mom realized she hadn't seen her friend Nini in weeks. She and some of the other villagers went to check on Nini's family. But when they got there, no one was home--just a fire flickering in the fireplace."

I rubbed the goosebumps off my arms and hugged my leg closer. Katara continued.

"While the men went out to look, Mom stayed the house. Suddenly, she heard a voice." Katara's eyes widened and she spoke in the soft, high-pitched voice of a young girl.

"It's so cold, and I can't get warm." As she said this, Katara looked straight at me, and I resisted the urge to scoot away from her.

"Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire. She was blue, like she was frozen. Mom ran outside and yelled for help, but when they got back, Nini was gone."

Sokka peeked up from behind the tree stump he was hiding behind. "Where did she go?"

Shadows from the fire cast ominous shadows on my sister as she replied. "No one knows. Nini's house stands empty to this day. But sometimes, you can see smoke coming up from the chimney, like little Nini is still trying to get warm."

Toph suddenly gasped, making me jump. "Wait, guys! Did you hear that?"

Sokka, Katara, Aang, and I huddled close together.

"I can hear people under the mountain!" Toph said. "And they're screaming."

Sokka, trying to act all tough, scoffed and waved her off. "Nice try."

"No, really," Toph insisted. "I hear it!" She paused for a second and then frowned. "It just...stopped."

Aang voiced what I was thinking when he said, "Okay, now I'm getting scared."

"Hello, children."

The five of us screamed and ran to the other side of the fire. A woman emerged from the shadows. She wore a long dress and had thick gray hair that hung around her face. She was clearly an older woman, with wrinkles and deep-set eyes. She was smiling, however, and I welcomed a friendly face after the creepy ghost stories.

"Sorry to frighten you," she smiled. "My name is Hama. You children shouldn't be out in the woods alone. I have an inn nearby. Why don't you come for some food and warm beds?"

Sokka grinned weakly. "Yes, please."

Hama led us back to her village. I couldn't see in the dark, but she seemed confident. Soon she had led us indoors sitting around a table while she made us tea.

"Thanks for letting us stay here the night," Katara said. "You have a lovely inn."

"Aren't you sweet?" Hama smiled. She poured each of us some tea before sitting down in an empty chair. "You children should be more careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."