Chapter 1
My heart is throbbing
I opened my eyes, what was I staring at? A ceiling, I was in my room. I tapped my chest slightly, I guess I wandered back into my room and fell asleep. Sometimes I have slight gaps in my memory, no big deal, like it's no big deal I can't remember the first seven years of my life. Or like it's no big deal I can't remember the entirety of my 15th year of living.
My mother said if I forgot something then it wasn't worth remembering...speaking of her I wonder where she could have went.
I lifted myself up from my bed and looked around my room. Nothing really changed since last time, my bed was in the same place as always. I was never really high maintenance nor did I ever concern myself with things. I guess I was just a simple person, I kept trying to think about things I like, but most of it was just simple stuff.
Nothing specific to me, hmm. I guess I could always work on finding something like that, I always ramble in my head about nothing...like right now, I guess I can ramble a bit in my head about something.
I exited my room and was in the main room of the house. Well...I call it the main room, but there were overall only four rooms in the house, which was enough for two people. Though despite this I noticed that my mother wasn't in the room at all, it was annoying to say the least, I wasn't hungry, but I still wanted to tell her that I was going out.
It really didn't matter though, if I wasn't there she would know that I was gone, so me telling her was just a formality. I walked towards the front door, but it opened before I reached it.
The door opened reveling the person I was wondering about. My mother's long black hair and dull gray eyes stared at me, she was a little bit taller than me. Though she was a rather slender woman, someone who could sneak in and out of any place without being detected, well considering what her profession use to be...it made sense.
"Hi~" her voice was in a usually cheery tone as she gave a small solute. "You know, you should really work on your sleeping schedule, it's already noon!"
I rubbed my eyes slightly, I guess I did have a tendency of oversleeping. But I would probably pass out if I didn't sleep, so I sleep so I won't die later.
"Sorry mom, I was just about to go out," I stated as my mother laughed. I guess it was funny, the kind of thing I did every day, despite not buying anything and not having anything I want to buy I went out in town like any normal person was...Well, to be fair, I was the most normal person I know..I didn't know a lot of people.
"Well, that's fine..." despite her cheerful voice, the tone in her voice shifted. Though her expression stayed the same, her tone became much darker.
"The avatar and his friends are in this town... I don't want you talking to them," she was still wearing a smile despite giving such a demand. Thinking about it, was there ever a time my mother wasn't smiling? Hmm, I guess that doesn't matter too much, since there is never a time my mother was never smiling that is the only face she had.
"Okay," she didn't tell me the reason, but I didn't need to know the reason. I was a normal person, so isn't best to treat the entire thing as an event that you didn't notice. The Avatar being on the island is an event that will go unnoticed by me, like air or wind simply passing by. One of the many events that I simply will not notice.
My mother nodded as she stepped to the side, I walked out of my home giving a small wave. Though, there was a question in the back of my head. Why was my mother out in the first place?
It probably didn't matter as I continued on my daily walk, noticing the large crowed of people in the center of town, yeah there was no doubt about it. That was probably the Avatar in the center, of course I could get a clear look at him. Though despite the whispers and cheers, I felt a harsh tapping in my brain, I honestly had no idea what it was.
However, for some reason I wanted to take off my ring...I couldn't see the Avatar. Still, why did I want to take off my ring, I always see terrible things and feel terrible without it on. It was impossible to see past the crowd, but I decided to give into my brain's whims and remove my ring.
"...Ah?"
My brain, it was trying to comprehend what I was seeing, it was...something not human. It was right in front of me, in the middle of the crowd. My brain was processing it as the blood vessels in my head started to twitch. I wasn't sure if I wanted to scream or laugh, but what I was seeing was something that wasn't a human whatsoever, or animal or anything.
My stomach started to curl up, I...I...what did I want to do?
I really wanted to kill that thing, I wanted to cut it up along with whatever was hosting it. I wanted to make it vanish from the world, I wanted to crush it with all my might...yeah. I felt heat rising in my body, as smile crept on my face, I slowly touched my pant pocket. I hand my knife, oh yes...I had my knife. Maybe, if I crept through the crowd unnoticed, maybe if I slithered about...I would be able to.
"...Jiao?" A voice, I heard a voice call my name as I flinched. Whatever trance I was in ended as I quickly put my ring back on.
I turned around to face the voice, it was one of the Kyoshi warriors, it wasn't Suki...but it was someone I had a vague knowledge of. "Saya..." they were difficult to tell apart when they were wearing their make-up. The girl grinned, her brown hair was done in a ponytail before nodding.
"You're getting really good at telling us apart..." there was a small moment of silence, "you don't look so good Jiao, are you okay?"
I probably was still heaving and holding my chest, no matter how hard I tried I can't get the image of what I just saw out of my head. I probably would have tried to do something terrible if she didn't speak to me. Of course that was a probably, I straightened myself out. I fought back the headache and tried to appear as normal as I possibly could.
"No...I'm fine," I smiled as the Kyoshi warrior frowned before letting out a sigh.
"Well, whatever, I guess you already heard about the Avatar. You wouldn't be out here if you didn't," she made a offhanded comment as I scratched the back of my head.
"Actually no, I don't want to get involved with someone like that. I was just going to take a walk in the forest, that's all," I replied truthfully as Saya shrugged.
"Well, alright, but if you need anything, just ask. I probably can't do much, but I will help out," what an odd thing she said to me. We weren't particularly close, I just knew her name casually. Yet, she said she would help me out if I was in trouble, she was probably just being nice, I can't think of one reason why she would say that...
"Well, I'm off, Suki can be a real pain if I'm late for training!" She smiled at me before walking by, for some reason I took note of her completely average brown eyes. I don't know why I decided to focus on those eyes, but I did.
Either way, I needed to get out of town as quickly as possible, I didn't want to see the Avatar and regret what I was going to do if I saw him...still, for some reason I had a horrible feeling.
That tomorrow was going to be even awful.
Author note
A slow chapter, I guess I should hurry up and get to the Zuko romance, since this is probably super boring and you don't care how crazy Jiao is. Also, you probably already have a pretty good idea what Jiao saw.
