A/N: I know, the chapters pretty short and it's been a while since I updated. Please forgive. I've been really busy (and decided to be suicidal by participating in NaNoWriMo). Anyways, I'm also going to put this with my bingo card, filling the prompt slot "the price you pay."
Warnings: A terrorizing nightmare and May/December
The Moonbeam's Warm Embrace
Chapter Seven: The Realistic Nightmare
By: Nuit Songeur
Late in the night, Kaya briefly awoke and turned on her side, her eyelids drooping heavily as she started to fall back asleep. But then, her ears caught a small shuffling at the entrance of her tent. Kaya froze, instantly alert, and listened further. Then, something nudged the bulge that was her feet. Kaya immediately sat up and saw a small, hunched figure at the foot of her bedroll.
"Who's there?" she demanded, trying to mask the fear in her voice. The figure straightened out slightly and crept closer. It was then that Kaya finally saw the face, the face of a young boy. He had ghostly pale skin and dark hair. His eyes she could easily see as bright blue, similar to hers. But this confused her; what was a boy doing in a war camp?
Then her eyes caught what he was wearing: a thick, woolen parka and whale-skin boots. She knew that he definitely did not belong in the Fire Nation.
"Who are you?" she asked him, completely bewildered. "What are you doing here?" The boy silently contemplated her for a moment and then a smile touched his lips.
"You're dark like Daddy," he said. Dark like Daddy? The comparison seemed familiar to her but only vaguely. She studied the boy with narrowed eyes until Kaya finally remembered something from her childhood.
The Water Tribe, she knew, consisted of people with dark and pale skin alike. She remembered, only vaguely though, that her mother was pale and her father had been darker, like she was. The difference in skin tones did not encourage prejudices in the Tribe, like she'd heard in other places, but merely gave them a diversity of people.
And then there was another scene she remembered. It was after her younger brother had been born, three years before she was captured by the Fire Nation, and her mother was holding the baby boy in her arms. Her father had remarked how her new brother took after his mother in terms of complexion.
Her brother? Did this mean…? Kaya struggled for the name.
"Kohath?" she said after a moment. Recognition flashed through the boy's eyes when she said his name.
"You know my name?" he asked.
"Yes. I'm your sister, Kaya."
"Kaya," he repeated, as if he had heard it before. But, this didn't make any sense. She'd been gone for about seven years and he was three when she'd been taken. He should be about ten now. But, he looked to be about six or seven.
Kohath crept closer to her, slightly hesitating. Kaya felt herself rooted on the spot, her limbs locking her into place. She didn't believe she could move if she even wanted to. Kohath got closer and closer until he could see clearly into her eyes. He stared into them, as if determining something, and it made Kaya shiver. After a moment, his own blue eyes widened.
"Why, Kaya?" he asked feebly, starting to move away from her. "Why are you going to kill Mommy and Daddy?"
"What?" she said, her own eyes widening. "No, wait Kohath. I'm not-" She reached her hand out to him and touched his face. As soon as the tips of her fingers made contact with him, Kohath began screaming. He struggled beneath her touch and tried to push her hand from his face but it stayed and Kaya herself couldn't move it. She tried pulling it back but it seemed as though her skin had permanently attached to his. The more she tried prying it away from him, the more he screamed.
"No, Sissy, no!" he wailed. Kaya stopped moving. Suddenly, fire seemed to erupt between her palm and his cheek. It engulfed them both in intense heat. Kaya couldn't see him any more as a wall of flames blocked him from view but she heard his piercing screams. And, Kaya's own earsplitting screams joined his as she felt herself being consumed and burned by the fire.
"Kaya! Kaya!"
Kaya was being shaken. Her eyes flew open to see Commander Tzko hovering above her, his hand anxiously on her shoulder. She blinked and nervously looked around her tent. No fire. No Kohath. She sighed in relief and propped herself up on an elbow, assessing her current situation. When she sat up, Tzko blushed- a slight change of color in the darkness- and turned his head away. Kaya felt her own cheeks reddening as she hastily pulled a blanket over her nightly-clad torso.
"What are you doing here?" she snapped, embarrassed. "Do you know how… how… inappropriate it is for you to be here?"
"You were screaming in your sleep," he explained, still not looking at her. "Must have awaken the entire camp, if I do say so myself."
"Was I?" she asked, stunned this time. She felt her face burn even more. He nodded. "Well, I'm not screaming anymore so you can leave now," she said more brusquely. The Commander arose and went to the tent's flap. He paused and then turned back around to her. Kaya wrapped her arms securely around herself.
"Who is Kohath, Kaya?" he asked. Kaya's eyes grew slightly but she blinked and turned away from him.
"No one," she answered. He still lingered in the doorway.
"You know, you don't have to go to the North Pole, Kaya." She whipped her head to him and thrust a finger to the exit.
"Leave," she demanded. Tzko finally heeded her words.
Ahh, more development. I hope you enjoyed! Please review!
-NuitSongeur
