Balance | Old Version

Chapter 94 (The Puppetmaster)

Third Person POV.

Elua sits on Appa's saddle as he flies through the sky, the sun beginning to set. She was obviously meditating, but the rest of the group seemed worried about her.
"Are you sure she's alright?" Sokka asks Aang worriedly.
"She's fine, Sokka," Aang tells him calmly.
"But, she's been like this for days," Sokka states.
"I know. But, it's normal for her to meditate for days on end," Aang informs him.
"Are you sure, Aang?" Katara asks in worry too.
"Of course. She's always had to focus more on the spiritual side of things rather than the physical," Aang explains.

"I won't be surprised if she's like this for weeks," Aang tells everyone, their eyes go wide at his words.
"Weeks!?" They all shout in shock.
"Yeah. There were times no one would see her for weeks, but we all knew she was meditating. She would come out of it to drink water, but other than that she wouldn't come out of her room," Aang explains.
"But, that's so long," Sokka whines as he flops down onto Appa's saddle.
"Well, we'll just have to be patent," Aang tells him. Sokka sighs as he sits back up and looks over to Elua sadly, but he understood and left her alone.

Elua's POV.

I had been in the spirit world for a while now. I'm not sure how long, but I knew it had to have been a few days in the physical world. There wasn't really a reason why I had been here for so long, it was mostly because the spirits had been trying to contact me and I finally just gave in. But, when I got here the spirits that had been trying to contact me ending up just wanting to meet me. Who knew spirits could be so demanding?
"It's been so long since we've been to the human world," One of the spirits tells me as I sit in the grass with several of them.
"How is the human world?" Another asks me curiously.
"Honestly? Right now, it's chaos," I tell them sadly.

"Oh. That's too bad, it was beautiful the last time we were there," A fuzzy-looking spirit tells me. 
"One day, it will be again," I say with a smile. "Well, I should probably get back to my friends," I tell them as I stand up. All the spirits around me make noises of disappointment, I smile at all of them. "Don't worry, I'll come back soon. If I had known so many of you wanted to meet me, I would have come to say hello," I tell them with a small laugh.
"Must you leave so soon?" A spirit asks me sadly.
"I'm afraid so, my friends are probably worried about me," I tell it kindly as I turn around to walk back to where I had entered the spirit world.
"Goodbye! Come back soon!" All the spirits shout from behind me as they wave and I wave back before making my way out of the Spirit World.

Back In The Physical World.

Elua's POV.

I slowly open my eyes the first thing I see is the starry night sky, though trees were blocking my view of them. I sit up as I stretch my stiff arms and rub my eyes. I look over to the campfire and see everyone huddled around it.
"Anyone got some water?" I ask from where I sit. Everyone quickly turns their heads to me and they all smile.
"Elua!" Everyone exclaims as they run over and hug me. 
"We missed you so much," Katara tells me as they all let go of me.
"I missed you too," I say with a small smile. "But really, does anyone have any water?" I ask with a small cough.

"Oh, yeah," Katara says as she hands me a small cup of water and I gladly take it from her.
"So, how long was I out?" I ask everyone.
"Weeks. Weeks, Elua!" Sokka exclaims. "Never leave me alone with them again," He tells me as he hugs me tightly. 
"Oh, okay," I say as I hug him back with a small laugh. "What happened in my absence?" I ask. 
"Well, a few weeks ago a crazy man found us and tried to kill us with some kind of mind firebending," Toph informs me.
"Then Aang went to the spirit world to talk to Roku," Katara tells me.

"Yeah and then Toph and Katara pulled a scam that backfired and, as Sokka has started calling him, 'combustion man' tried to kill us again," Aang finishes explaining.
"Wow. Sounds...interesting," I say in shock.
"It was," Sokka states.
"So, why were you meditating for so long?" Toph asks.
"Oh, it was nothing important. Just a bunch of spirits that wanted to meet and talk to me," I state.
"That's it?" Toph asks with a frown, I nod. "I thought it would have been something more exciting," She states.

"Nope," I say as I shake my head. " I didn't think it had been weeks, but time is a little different in the spirit world," I inform them.
"Well, Sokka tried to replace you with a bird. But, it didn't work out and the bird left," Katara says as they all walk back over to the fire, laughing as they go. I look at them in confusion, what are they talking about?
"I didn't try to replace her!" Sokka exclaims. "It was a messenger hawk, he flew off in the heat of battle," He explains to me. 
"Oh," I say in realization. "How did you afford a messenger hawk?" I ask with a frown of confusion.

"It's a long story..." Sokka trails off. "I'm so glad you're back," He says with a smile as he sits down beside me.
"I would have come back sooner had I known how long it had been," I tell him in an apologetic tone.
"Don't worry about it," Sokka says. "I'm just happy you're okay," He says as he leans down and places a kiss on my lips. "But never leave me alone with them again," He tells me.
"I won't," I say with a laugh.

A Few Nights Later.

It had been a few days since I was in the spirit world and everything had gone back to normal...well, normal for us at least. We were all sitting around the campfire telling scaring stories, though they aren't that scaring in my opinion.
"Suddenly, they heard something down the hall, in the dark. Oooh..." Sokka says in a 'scary' voice. "It came into the torchlight. And they knew the blade of Wing-Fun...was haunted! Aah-ah!" He exclaims as he dramatically pulls his sword out and wails in an attempt to be scary.
"I think I liked 'the man with a sword for a hand' better," Aang says, unimpressed.
"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink," Toph states.
"I'm with Toph," I agree.

"No, wait, I've got one, and this is a true Southern Water Tribe story," Katara tells us.
"Is this one of those 'a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to' stories?" Sokka asks as he flops back to the ground.
"No, it happened to Mom," Katara states, making Sokka sit up taller.
"One winter, when Mom was a girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, Mom realized 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," Katara says seriously.

"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.' 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," Katara says and everyone seems to start to freak out.
"Where'd she go?" Sokka asks.
"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 says.
"Wait. Guys, did you hear that?" Toph gasps as we look over to her. "I hear people under the mountain, and they're screaming," She says as she stands up.
"Pft, nice try," Sokka says as he rolls his eyes.
"No, I'm serious, I hear something," Toph says seriously.

"You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories," Katara tells her.
"It just stopped," Toph states.
"All right, now I'm getting scared," Aang says as he and Katara hug each other in fear.
"Hello, children," We hear someone say from behind us. They all scream as they run over and hug me in fear as we see an old lady standing in front of us.
"Sorry to frighten you. My name is Hama," The old lady says as she comes into the light. "You children shouldn't be out in the forest by yourselves at night. I have an inn nearby, why don't you come back there for some spice tea and warm beds?" Hama asks us with a sweet smile. But, I was skeptical. 

"Yes, please," Sokka says politely. I sigh, maybe I was just being overcautious. Hama smiles as she leads us to a small town and we walk into a big house on top of a hill in the town. Hama walks over to the kitchen and comes back with a pot of tea, pouring it into cups for us.
"Thanks for letting us stay here tonight. You have a lovely inn." Katara says with a kind smile.
"Aren't you sweet?" Hama says with a smile as she sits down at the head of the table. "You know, you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in," She tells us seriously.
"What do you mean, disappearing?" Sokka asks her in confusion.
"When the moon turns full, people walk in, and they don't come out," Hama tells us. "Who wants more tea?" She asks, acting as if she didn't just say people could potentially be dead.

"Don't worry, you'll all be completely safe here. Why don't I show you to your rooms, and you can get a good night's rest."

The Next Day.

We had just gotten back from the market in town, Hama had said some strange things while we were out and it was kind of concerning.
"That Hama seems a little strange. Like she knows something, or she's hiding something," Sokka says as he sets a basket on the counter of the kitchen.
"That's ridiculous. She's a nice woman who took us in and gave us a place to stay. She kind of reminds me of Gran-Gran," Katara tells him as she sets a basket down too.
"But, what did she mean by that comment, 'mysterious children'?" Sokka asks, talking about what something Hama had said back at the market. 
"Gee, I don't know. Maybe because she found five strange kids, camping in the woods at night? Isn't that a little mysterious?" Katara says with a 'duh' tone.

"I'm gonna take a look around," Sokka says as he starts to walk up some stairs.
"Sokka! Sokka, what are you doing?" Katara whisper-shouts from the bottom of the stairs.
"Sokka, You can't just snoop around someone's house," I tell him as we all follow after him. Even if she was a little strange, we couldn't just look around without her permission.
"It'll be fine," Sokka says as he walks around.
"She could be home any minute," Aang states.
"Sokka, you're gonna get us all in trouble, and this is just plain rude," Katara tells him angrily.
"I'm not finished yet. Come on..." Sokka says as he yanks on the handles of a door, it suddenly opens and several puppets fall out.

"Okay, that's pretty creepy," Aang says backing away from the puppets.
"So...she's got a hobby. There's nothing weird about that," Katara says as she closes the door and Sokka continues to snoop. "Sokka, you've looked enough. Hama will be back soon," She says as Sokka makes his way into an attic. I sigh as we follow him. He tries to open a door, but it's locked.
"Just an ordinary, puppet-loving innkeeper, huh?" Sokka says smugly. "Then why does she have a locked door up here?" He asks us.
"Probably to keep people like you from snooping through her stuff," I tell him as I cross my arms.
"We'll see," Sokka says as he looks through the keyhole. "It's empty except for a little chest," He informs us.

"Maybe it's treasure!" Toph says excitedly. Katara, Aang, and I look over to her with looks of annoyance. Sokka draws his sword begins to pick the lock.
"Sokka, what are you doing? You're breaking into a private room," Katara says harshly.
"I have to see what's in there," Sokka states as the door unlocks and slowly swings open.
"We shouldn't be doing this," Aang says as we walk into the room. Sokka grabs the small chest and tries to open it, but it doesn't budge.
"Maybe there's a key somewhere," Sokka says as he looks around.
"Oh, hand it over," Toph says holding out her hand. Sokka hands it to her and she earthbends the space rock Sokka gave her into a key.

"Come on, come on!" Sokka says as Toph tries to open it.
"This isn't as easy it looks," Toph tells him in annoyance.
"Guys, I don't know about this," Aang says nervously.
"This is crazy, I'm leaving," Katara says as she starts to walk away.
"Suit yourself. Do it, Toph," Sokka tells her. The chest clicks and Katara runs back over as Toph goes to open the box.

"I'll tell you what's in the box," We hear Hama say from behind us. Aang, Sokka, and Katara shout in fear as we turn to Hama as she takes the box and opens it, taking out a blue and white comb.
"An old comb?" Sokka asks in disbelief.
"It's my greatest treasure," Hama says with a small smile." It's the last thing I owned from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe," She says as Sokka and Katara look at her shocked. Well, that isn't what I expected.