Age: 13
Position: Water bender
Prompts: Sick, Only one line of dialogue.
Words: 1545
Burning Man's Bay
I'm not supposed to be here. I've been told a thousand times that I am never to go to Burning Man's Bay. There's too much of a spiritual presence, they say but that's exactly why I'm here. I'm pretty sure when I get back Katara will have more than just a few choice words for me. Oh well, I'll deal with that later I've got other things to deal with. I'm the Avatar and as such I need to be able to deal with spirits and to deal with them I have to contact them. A task I have failed at quite spectacularly. Nothing else has worked, so I might as well go to where they are the most active.
I urged Naga on, over another hill, until I see the forgotten city of the South. I stifle a sneeze as I look over the ruins. I've been out in the cold too long and now I think I've managed to give myself a bit of a fever.
I survey the dilapidated metropolis. There, hanging just above it, is a large collection of packed snow. I make a note to not make any noise while I'm in the city; don't want to start an avalanche. Slowly, I approach the city, trying to figure out if any of the stories they tell about it are true or not. Is it really cursed by a man who was wrongfully executed? Is it really cursed? Is it from a by gone civilization? Or a town from the Spirit World that ended up in this one? Is it full of spirits? Or perhaps more accurately ghosts?
I leave Naga at the edge of Burning Man's Bay; I can't chance her barking and causing an avalanche. I walk into the ruins and notice that they don't look like anything I'd seen in the Capital. The buildings are made of small blocks. I wipe the snow off one of the walls to reveal a red stone like material. Was this once a Fire Nation outpost? That would make the name more logical. After all what is more likely a whole place being called "Burning Man's Bay" because of some guy they burned at the stake or a Fire Nation out post with fire benders.
Movement at the corner of my eye distracts me from my thoughts. I turn and find no one there but a stairway leading upward in a narrow alley. I follow the stairs up to another level of the city. Here things are less broken down and even stranger. I walk past buildings with large openings in the front. They kind of remind me of the pictures I've seen of Republic City, with their huge shop windows. I look at one building with a large opening in the frond and wonder if it once had glass there but it's too cold for that here.
Letting curiosity get the best of me, I climb into the building. There's ice and snow covering the ground. The walls look like they had wallpaper that had rotted away long ago. I pass a broken wooden doorframe and wonder how it's possible that it had not completely rotted away. I hear a giggle behind me and turned to see a figure disappearing behind a corner. I scramble out of the building and back onto the street. I try to catch up to the figure but I'm suddenly struck by a coughing fit. I muffle it as best I can, looking up at the looming ice when I'm done to make sure it hasn't started to fall. I'm lucky it hasn't.
I look around trying to figure out where I am. I'm in a new part of the city; it looks residential with a grand manor that looked a lot like the Chief's palace, at the end of the street. The windows are all dark but I see a light flickering in one of the windows. Intrigued I run to the manor. The doors have rotted away and so has part of the roof. Snow softly drifts down past the rotting roof beams and into a pile on the floor. I see what looks to be a fire in one of the rooms on the second floor. Slowly I creep up the stone stairs. The floor boards creek under my feet as I walk towards the light.
It's only when I'm at the half open door I hesitate. What am I going to do once I catch this thing? What do I say? Am I just being some dumb teen too curious for her own good? That last one is very possible. Gently I push open the door and find a man standing by a fire. He looks no different than any other water tribesman I've seen. I give a sigh of relief; this is probably just some recluse who likes to live where he's not…bothered…
The man turned around, his eyes burning. He sends a fireball right at me and I send one back. It passes through him and burns the wall behind him. The man lunges at me and I rush out of the room and down the stairs. Spirits what have I done?! I run to the entrance to find the formally rotted wooden doors now barring my way. I try to open them but they're barred shut. Suddenly the doors lurch towards me and then a feminine hand bursts through the door. Her red nails gleam against white alabaster skin. Panic filling me to the brim; I look up at the second floor to see the man walking out on to the balcony.
Not knowing what to do next, I run into another room. It's a liberty filled with dusty books and crumbling bookcases. I try to hide down one of the cavernous aisles behind a pile of books that had fallen from the shelves. I see a red glow growing larger and hold my breath as the burning man walks slowly by, his eyes faced forward. He passes and suddenly I'm struck by another coughing fit. The man rushes to my hiding spot, his fiery hands setting fire to the dust covered shelves. I bolt from my hiding place and run into the front hall. I trip over a book and slide out in to the pile of snow in the middle of the room. I turn to see the man almost charging at me.
I want to shut my eyes, knowing this is the end. The man is moving ever closer but a great bolt of lightning strikes him. It's so bright I have to shut my eyes for a moment. When I open my eyes, I see the man being held by what looks like shadows. I turn to see a woman with golden eyes standing behind me, a blue flamed lantern in her hand. I watch, speechless, as she bends the shadows to soothe the burning man. He struggled a little, bursting into full flame but the woman hummed a song I didn't know and that soothed him. He became a ball of light and flew into her lantern.
I look at the woman speechless. She was a Lantern Bearer, a Grim Reaper, a collector and protector of human souls. Was she here for me too? The woman looked at me amused as she brushed off her red and yellow kimono. Smirking, she lets go of the lantern and instead of it crashing to the ground like I expect it vanishes. The woman steps up close to me and grabs my chin so her gold eyes look into my blue ones. Then she let's go and takes a necklace from around her neck and places it around mine.
"You're out of your depth here young avatar, run back to Katara like a good girl."
I don't need to be told twice and run out of the manor, past the now broken front doors. I run down the stairs and out of the city to where Naga was waiting for me. We make it back to the compound in a few hours. By then my panic has faded but I'm feverish, very feverish. Katara scolds me as she helps me to change and get into bed. She gives me some hot tea and a very stern order not to leave the bed until she says so.
When I'm alone, I look at the necklace the spirit woman gave me. It's a small but heavy heart with gears on the inside. It takes me a moment but I'm able to make it play. The little gears spin while it plays ever so softly the same melody the woman hummed. I look at the back of the heart and find a name engraved. I have to rub it a little, to make it clear enough to read and only find one letter. It's an 'A'. I sit back and wonder what that could possibly mean. Was it for the woman's first name? Or was it a prophecy for the person I would love in the future? Spirits, after all, were never clear with the gifts they gave you, or at least that's how I think spirit gifts work. I fall asleep listening to the lullaby.