A lovers burn

Chapter Thirteen: The Scar

The group was once again, laid out on Appa. It had been a relatively calm leg of the trip, flying above the clouds. Esme had been joking with the group, making them laugh with her uncle's tea jokes. "Anytime Zuko and I talked his ears off, he would always say, 'Friends who drink a lot of tea each day, would tend to be chat- tea!" She giggled. It was nice talking about her family in a way that didn't terrify her or her friends.

"You're uncle is a funny man, Esme." Aang laughed, wiping the fallen tear from his face. Esme smiled, nodding back as a thank you.

"Yeah, he's pretty great. He always knew how to make us smile." She said, her face relaxing, her body easing. She looked around the group, a warmth filling her.

Katara looked over the saddle, staring at the fluffy clouds below them. Esme scooted over, gripping the side tightly, and looked at the clouds. They looked like the comfiest bed ever. She leaned over, one hand on the saddle, the other trying to reach for the cloud that was just barely out of reach.

"Don't they look like you can just jump in and land on a big, soft, cotton heap?" Katara cooed. Esme nodded in agreement.

"Maybe you two should try it." Sokka mocked. The two girls looked at him, Esme flipping him off.

"I'll try!" Aang jumped up from his spot on Appa's neck and jumped down, turning around and winking at the group. Sokka scrambled to his feet, overlooking the edge where Aang fell from.

"What the hell!" Esme shouted. "He's trying to give me a heart attack." She said, looking at the spot where he vanished. He flew back up not two minutes later, landing and shutting his glider behind them. They all turn around, look of pure shock on their faces, seeing him soak. Aang brought his hands together and airbended the water off of him, resulting in it splashing everyone else.

"Who would've thought clouds were made of water!" He smiled. The rest of the group stared at him, water covering their faces. "Right, sorry." He gave a shit-eating grin. Katara glanced over to her brother and Esme but her attention was grabbed by something else.

"Hey, what's that?" Esme's head turned and she looked down at the clear patch between the clouds...A forest, completely burnt to a crisp. The color drained from Esme's face and her heart rate quickened.

"It's like a scar..." Sokka whispered. Aang jumped to the front of Appa and led him down to the ground. Esme grew silent as they got to the ground.

Ash flew up as they landed on the ground. She could still smell the fire as if it happened just yesterday. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. She just stared at the destruction that the fire nation brought about.

"Listen..." There was nothing. Not even the chirp of a bird. "It's so quiet, there's no life anywhere." Sokka walked around, inspecting the ash. Esme stayed still, feeling as if her body would betray her if she tried to move.

She hadn't noticed the tears that fell down her face. How could they do this? They could've found another path, they could've kept the trees alive. She couldn't imagine how much loss took place here.

"Aang, Esme, are you ok?" Katara asked, her motherly voice lacing her sentence.

Sokka interrupted the two benders from saying anything. "Fire benders! Those evil savages make me sick! They have no respect fo-" Katara cut him off with a quick shhh. It was too late though, Esme heard all of it. And the worst part was, she agreed with everything he said.

Esme felt her feet move beneath her, walking away from the group, the ash covering her shoes. She walked until she was out of earshot and fell to her knees. Her hands ran across the ground, coated in the ash. She gripped the cinders tightly, more tears coating her face and falling down. "Why?" she whispered, her voice betraying her with a sob.