A/N Ok so I am writing this chapter before the next episode comes out but I don't think it will drift from cannon all that much. Please read and review and as always I hope you enjoy.
Oh also there will be a part where Korra and Iroh are speaking in two different places but it will switch back and forth between the two so there won't be any marking to divide sections as you'll see.
The Woman in White
~Chapter 2~
"It's not enough to make the tears run dry"
It was all most too dark to see when team Avatar stopped to rest after tracking the Red Lotus all day. Korra was exhausted from the trek but the day's journey had kept her mind off of the vision she had had two days ago. It did not take too long for the group to be huddled around a raging campfire. Bolin stretched and smiled.
"Man this must be just like what the prior Avatar and his team did. Under the stars, out in the open, a fire! It's just like their journeys! Hey I have an idea we should tell ghost stories!"
Asami frowned. "I don't remember ghost stories being apart of Avatar Aang's journey."
Bolin crossed his arms, "Well they might not have, but it's like the perfect night for one. Besides it will get our minds off of the long, fruitless day we had tracking Zaheer and co."
Mako rolled his eyes. "We better indulge him or tomorrow he'll be pouty."
"I will not be pouty!" Bolin yelled before starting to pout.
Korra smiled, "I think a bit of distraction would be good for us. Who's going to start off?"
Mako raised a hand and began a less then original scary story that involved a man with a hook and a full moon. Asami's story didn't seem to be all that scary either. Bolin's, well Bolin's story was what one expected Bolin's ghost story to be like.
"…and all that was left was a lemur in a small clown hat." Bolin said finishing his story to a less then riveted audience.
Asami leaned back. "That story was…uh, nice."
Mako patted his brother on the back. "Well it was scarier then the story about the thirty foot tall fire ferret."
Korra chucked remembering that particular story. "Ok, guys I have a good story for you. It's an old water tribe legend that Kattara told me when I was little scared me silly for a week."
.o.
Iroh was still a little shaken by his dreams but once he had reached the Air Temple with Tenzin the dreams had (thankfully) stopped for the moment. Iroh however, was still wary that they might return the next time he slept. It was night and he, Tenzin, Bumi, and many of the older new Air Benders, were sitting around talking. Somehow they had stumbled upon the topic of different legends. One of the Air benders asked Tenzin if there were any scary Air Bender Legends to which Tenzin confessed that he didn't really remember any scary stories.
Iroh smirked even though some of the others looked a little let down. "Look on the bright side at least you don't have any stories that will keep you up at night like the Fire Nation. One of the oldest stories in the fire nation can been terrifying if told right…. Told wrong and you'll wish for a rendition of the boy in the iceberg." He added a moment after for humor.
Bumi slapped the prince on the back. "Well then why don't you enlighten us General, tell us this scary Fire Nation story of which you speak and correctly please I've seen that show before and even the beauties of Omashu can't fix it."
Iroh took a deep breath, "Fine, keep in mind this is a very old story so many of the details have been forgotten over time but the bare bones of the story-"
.o.
"Are completely true" Korra smiled seeing that her intro to the story had gotten her friends back into the right mood for a scary ghost story. "Long ago when the Southern Water tribe was just being established."
"The Fire Nation was still small and was wary that a stronger nation would obliterated it."
"The chief's eldest son went out in a boat to fish and was lost in a storm."
"The Fire Lord's daughter's ship was caught in a storm and shipwrecked on a island. She was the lone survivor of her ship but was not alone."
"On the island he found a young Fire Nation girl who had been ship wrecked too. She was all alone and scared."
"There was a water tribe man also on the island who helped her and cared for her."
"The two fell in love."
"But their love was a star-crossed one. Once the Fire Nation ships found the island they took the princess away from the island."
"The young girl reveled that she was the princess and commanded that the Chief's son be given a boat as a reward for taking care of her so well."
"She begged the Captain to let the water tribesmen come with them back to the main land, but she was denied. The two nations were now at war and the best that could be done was to give the man a boat."
"So the Chief's son returned to his country to find it at war with the Fire Nation,"
"Once at home she begged her father to stop the war but he did not. The princess so distraught cried day and night because she would never see her water tribesman again. She begged to the moon to bring him to her."
"The chief's son could not sway his father's mind about the war. He thought if he told his father about how kind the princess of the Fire Nation was then his father would relent but before he went into his father's tent to ask him he made a request to the sun that one day he would see his princess again."
"As a last resort the princess asked for an audience with her father, for support she asked her two older bothers to accompany her. In the hall she reviled to her father that she was pregnant with the water tribesmen's child."
"He reviled that he was in love with the princess of the Fire Nation-"
"The Fire Lord was appalled at this revelation."
"The counsel reeled at the news and the chief's son was put in chains and led away."
"The Fire Lord turned his back on his daughter and told her to leave his sight forever. Heart broken the princess fled from the room fallowed by her brothers."
"The counsel chose the punishment of Chief's son with heavy hearts and the next day led him to the middle of the square the plaque "fire lover" around his neck."
"Her bother's found her crying by the pound in the garden and feared the punishment that their father would bring upon her."
"In the square they tied him to a poll and lit a fire under him burning the Chief's son alive."
"They drowned her in the pond hoping that was a kinder fate then what the Fire Lord would demand."
"After the Chief's son's death peace did not come to the village. A ghost made up of fire roamed through the streets; burning buildings and stoke piles of supplies. It's said it was so bad that they left the village and never came back to this day the aria is called the Fire Man's Bay and is a forbidden place. Not even during the hundred year war did my tribe dare seek shelter in the forsaken city."
"Her figure was seen regularly walking through the halls of the old palace and grounds. The Fire Lord was so distraught by the sight of her blue ghost walking around the palace he ordered the capital moved to where it is now. Even though hundreds of years have passed the old palace ruins can be found clinging to the side of a mountain."
"Some of the houses made of ice still stand and its said that if you go there and you don't see the man of fire it's because he has been reincarnated to find his love but as he always returns to the forgotten city."
"To this day she wanders the ruins and when she's not there that means she has been reincarnated to live her tragic tail over again. In fact I think she might be of flesh and blood again as the last time I wandered the ruins I could not find her."
"I went there once with Master Kattara and the phantom wasn't there so it is very likely he walks among us even now looking for his princess."
"But I did see her once almost twenty years ago walking about the ruins holding a fire in each hand possibly to light her way in the night" Iroh produced a flame in both hands to mimic what he had just said.
Bumi crossed his arms, "That wasn't very scary squirt, tragic yes, but scary?"
Iroh smirked, "Yeah I guess it really isn't except I wasn't lying about seeing her all those years ago. Mom almost killed dad for taking us to the ruins."
.o.
Korra looked about to see only Bolin seemed scared. "Oh come on guys, this story is totally true! Master Katarra even told me that she and the rest of her original Team Avatar explored the ruins and the Man in Red was totally there! Aang even tried to talk to him but got ignored." Korra crossed her arms. "Well I thought is was scary."
After all of them had gone to bed Korra looked up at the stars. Was that burning man she had seen before the Red Man? She wondered. Is he trying to reach out to me?
.o.
Iroh looked out at the stars. "Am I dreaming of that Princess?" he mused aloud. "Is she asking me for help?" He looked up at the moon. "Or is she giving me a warning?"
A/N ok so what do you guys think? Please feel free to give your honest opinions on the chapter because if you don't tell me I can't address the problems. Thanks for reading and I'll give a new update as soon as I can but you know life might cause a delay.