Burnt Out - Zuko x OC

It's Lonely At The Top

** MENTIONS OF RAPE, MURDER AND PTSD **

Kai's blinks lasted for what felt like hours. She stood in front of the produce merchant listening to him explain to her why he wouldn't have any bananas until next week, though a simple "we're out" from the man would have sufficed.

She was so tired. After Sokka woke her up late the night before from her night terror, he demanded that she tell him about them. So she did. She told him about the voice of the old man and how he spoke to her in evasive monologues, about how he claimed to love her yet every time she woke up from one of the dreams it felt like she was being driven out of her own skin. She told him about Enya, her mother, and the curse that she'd inflicted upon her own daughter.

Kai didn't hear what else the produce merchant said, something about not being able to risk losing another delivery boy in the woods. She just stared at him stoically until Sokka pulled her away.

"This place reeks of Spirit World shenanigans." Sokka said as he, Kai, Aang and Toph strolled through the market.

"I bet if we take a little walk around town, we'll find out what these people did to the environment to make the spirits mad." Aang said.

As if bad things only happened to people because they willed it on themselves.

Sokka could see Kai's eye roll even from his position beside her. Circles so dark that they looked like bruises had formed above her cheeks. He wondered if she'd gotten anymore sleep after their conversation last night.

They met back up with Hama and Katara at the base of the trail leading up to the inn. The two of them seemed to be getting along swimmingly. Hama told Katara and the rest of them to go ahead without her, that she would catch up to them after grabbing a few more ingredients for dinner. Kai was happy to be leaving the harsh light of summer, it stung her eyes and she wanted to see if sleeping during the daytime hours was any more restful.

"This is a mysterious little town you have here." Sokka said to the woman, seeing if she'd let them in on any more secrets.

"Yeah, they don't even have fucking bananas." Kai said. Toph jabbed her in the side with her elbow, even she knew how inappropriate it was to curse in front of elders.

Hama simply smiled at the group eerily and said, "Mysterious town for mysterious children." and walked back into the market.

Sokka fell behind with Kai as they made their way up the hill. She'd only been trudging along, keeping her eyes cast down toward her feet.

"That Hama seems a little.. strange, don't you think? Like she knows something, or she's hiding something." Sokka said.

"Yeah, because she is." Kai nearly stumbled over an apple that'd fallen from the basket Toph was carrying on top of her head. "She has no heartbeat. Er, I mean, not one that I can feel, anyways."

Sokka looked at her with his brows knitted together. "Meaning...?"

She shrugged. "Probably just that she practices meditation techniques, like, a lot. That or she can control her own blood flow, which I doubt."

They unloaded the groceries in the oversized kitchen. More than anything, Kai just wanted to rest. She wanted to sleep and not have a single dream, good or bad, just a trial run of death. Her head ached and her limbs felt twenty pounds heavier.

"Sokka! Sokka, what are you doing?!" Katara's voice snapped her out of a staring spell. She didn't even notice that Sokka had left her side. "You can't just snoop around someone's house!"