Watch it Burn

Chapter 27

"Thank you for letting us spend the night with you," Katara said to the old woman, "you have a lovely inn."

"Aren't you sweet?" the woman said as she placed a cup of spiced tea in front of me, "people have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."

My ears perked up at that. Was this in any way connected to what Toph heard 'under the mountain' earlier?

"What do you mean, disappearing?" I asked the old lady.

"When the moon turns full people walk in and they don't come out," she explained gravely, her face turned down towards the table.

"Who wants more tea!?" she suddenly quipped, the somber mood from a moment ago not evident in her voice. There was something..... off about this woman and this rapid change of emotion didn't change anything. I might as well be used to it with Zuko though.

I quietly sipped my tea, trying to think of any spirits associated with the moon that would be angered enough to kill someone. Almost all of the spirits I thought of either don't need the moon, don't associate with humans, or aren't powerful enough. I knew for a fact that Yue would NEVER kill anyone.

"Let me show you to your rooms." The old woman told us after a while. She showed each of us to our rooms until I was the only one left.

"So this spirit........" I said, "Has anyone actually seen it?"

"No my dear I'm afraid not." She opened the door to my room.

"Thank you." I said and smiled.

She smiled warmly back before it turned into a frown.

"The people here have angered the spirit world. Trust no one." She said slowly and shut my door.

I stood there, like an idiot, taken aback by her words. I sighed and fell onto my bed. It was soft and comfortable. I was able to fall asleep relatively fast.

I dreamt of golden eyes and a hot temper.

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It was as if every fiber in my being was being pulled and broken, crushed and destroyed. It was painful and felt like every bone and nerve in my body was being snapped.

The worst part was when I was being forced to fight Katara, Aang, and Sokka. I ended up getting shot against a tree which immediately shot pain all throughout my back. Thankfully, in a twisted turn of events, the ice that was used to free me against the tree kinda thumbed my body a little.

I saw Katara force herself to blood bend against the old woman and be forced to hear her shrill laughs. I saw tears pour from her face as the hag told her about blood bending.

The villagers that were saved by Toph grabbed her and dragged the bitch away. I immediately ran over and grabbed hold of katara, putting her in my embrace. She grabbed ahold of me, shaking and sobbing into my shoulder as I tried to comfort her.

"Shhhh" I soothed, "It's going to be ok, you're going to be ok."

"I've become a monster." She cried.

"No no," I said, "You never have to use your powers to hurt others. You never have to blood bend ever."

She sniffed as Toph, Sokka, and Aang joined the hug.

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Zuko's POV: