A lovers burn

Chapter Fourteen: the dual-bender

"Who are you?" Esme asked, throwing her hands up defensively. The woman didn't move. Her tan skin glistened under the moonlight, and her brown hair placed into a braided bun. Her eyes were the color of grass, swaying through the wind. She wore a traditional water tribe gown that hugged her waist and flowed down to her feet. In every meaning of the word, she was beautiful.

"You don't know me? I'm you."Esme's hands dropped, her mouth falling open slightly.

"Aiyana. How is this possible? Where's Sokka at?" Esme wasn't going to lie and say she never tried to reach out to Aiyana. Before she left her brother, she tried every night. Then at the air temple, being drawn into that trance, even in the small moments she was alone. She tried and tried again. She thought she was going crazy, hell maybe she was right now.

"Your friend is ok, the avatar will save him. We need to speak, come with me." Aiyana started walking away. Esme looked at the woman, confused before chasing after her.

"Go where? I can't just leave Aang and my friends." Aiyana didn't stop walking. "Can you just hold up a second, spirits sake?" Aiyana snapped her head around. "Right, sorry, you are a spirit, aren't you?" Esme rambled.

"You sure are talkative. I would expect nothing less from my predecessor. I'd like you to meet Shi." A polar bear dog jumped in front of the two women.

"What the shit!" Esme jumped.

"You have a mouth on you," Aiayana laughed, "hop on. We don't have a lot of time." Aiyana jumped onto her spirit guide, offering Esme a hand. Esme took it, jumping onto the polar bear dog. She petted him. "Hang on tight," Aiyana smirked. Shi took off in a mad dash.

"Ahh!" She grabbed the spirit's fur. She slowly calmed down, losing her grip and even petting Shi. "Why did you reach out to me?"

"Because it's time you understand where we came from and our importance." ]

"I know our importance, it's to protect the Avatar. I've been trying. I know that I haven't been doing the greatest job but, I've been trying." Esme felt disheartened. How should she be as good as Aiyana?

"Not that. We need to start back at my beginning for you to understand." The setting transformed into a snowy village. "This is Wolf Cove, back when I was a child." Esme stared in awe at the beautiful landmark. The palace stayed in the middle of the city, the snow resting on top of it. The houses and businesses looked magnificent, the. "It was my home. I grew up happy."

The snow cleared and it revealed a preteen girl, running around the the village with two other kids. "These were my childhood friends before I met Miki and Kammi. They were also water benders. We would go to lessons together every day. And at night, we would dance away at celebrations." The trio and the rest of the tribe danced around a large fire. "That was till my earth bending revealed itself."

The trio laughed happily, waterbending a perfect ring around them. That's when the earth began to rumble, and the water dropped. "What's happening!?" Kana screamed. Aiyana went to grab her but the ground beneath them cracked. Guys, help me!"

"We didn't know that she was on ice. She fell through." Aiyana didn't show what happened. "I was crushed. I was emotional...I couldn't control my bending and I earth bent." The scene showed Aiyana falling to the ground, and her other friend crying, she was terrified. "I terrified Lee. I terrified myself." Spikes lifted out of the ground, surrounding Aiyana. "He never spoke to me after that day." They moved to Aiyana's childhood room.

"I never left my house, my mother was terrified of me. At that point, Kozue had already been discovered, everyone knew he was the avatar. No one had heard of the dual-bender, not yet. They were all scared of me. I was waiting on the day to be excommunicated." Aiyana laid in her bed, her tears stained her face. It mimicked Esme's current tears.