Tale Of Two Avatars

The Puppetmaster

Camping out among the trees and amid the dark, tenebrous surroundings in the night, we huddle around a campfire, where Sokka was just finishing telling his ghost story. "Suddenly, they heard something down the hall in the dark. Oooh...It came into the torchlight...and they knew the blade of Wing Fung was haunted!" Sokka draws his sword histrionically, pointing it at the fire dramatically. "Ooh-aaah!"

We look at Sokka unamused and Aang frowns. "I think I like the man with a sword for a hand better."

"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink," Toph remarked and I snort a little at this, which prompts Sokka to shoot me a glare.

Sokka crosses his arms. "Aren't you also from the Water Tribe, Suzume?"

"Well, I was born in the middle of the ocean," I shrugged. "so technically, I don't really belong to any nation, though my mom was from the Water Tribe."

"Which means you still come from the Water Tribe," Sokka pointed out.

"Whatever floats your boat, Sokka," I shrugged. "I guess I am from the Water Tribe but if we were to apply that logic, I should also be from the Air Nation."

"Yay!" Aang cheered, putting his arm around me and smiling. "We air nomads gotta stick together."

"Oh wait! I've got one! And this is a true Southern Water Tribe story," Katara announced in excitement.

Sokka sits back down, looking at Katara unconvinced. "Is this one of those 'a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to' stories?"

"No, it happened to Mom," Katara grimly answered. Her answer got me sitting up, immediately grabbing all our attention.

"One winter when Mom was a girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, Mom noticed she hadn't seen her friend Nini since the storm. So Mom and some others went to check on Nini's family. When they got there, no one was home. Just a fire flickering in the fireplace. While the men went out to search, Mom stayed in the house. When she was alone, she heard a voice. It's so cold and I can't get warm!" I notice Sokka noticeably stiffening in fear. "Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire. She was blue like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help, but when everyone came back, Nini was gone."

I sense Aang's fear and I pat him on the shoulder comfortingly. 'Remember Aang, we're the bridge between humans and spirits. We've got nothing to be afraid of.'

Aang flashes me a small smile as Sokka starts looking in all directions fearfully. "Where'd she go?"

"No one knows. Nini's house stands empty to this day, but sometimes, people see smoke coming up from the chimney like little Nini is still trying to get warm," Katara concluded. 'Okay, that is a little scary.'

Toph suddenly stiffens, placing her hand on the ground. "Wait! Guys, did you hear that?" Sokka, Aang and Katara clutch onto me in fear and I roll my eyes, staring at Toph unconvinced. "Haha, very funny Toph, nice try, but you're not going to scare me that easily."

Toph shakes her head, looking at us seriously. "No, I'm being serious. I hear people under the mountain. And they're screaming."

Sokka releases his grip on me. "Pfft! Nice try."

"No, I'm serious. I hear something," Toph persisted.

Katara waves away her claim dismissively, releasing her grip on me. "You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories."

"It just...stopped," Toph frowned in confusion.

"Hmmm, maybe Toph's right," I considered. "Toph's never wrong about these things, her seismic sense is quite accurate."

Aang hugs me tightly. "All right, now I'm getting scared."