WARNING! SENSITIVE TOPICS ARE MENTIONED HERE!
By the time we arrived at the healing center, I had pulled myself together, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted from both my shoulders and my heart. Katara was right: holding in my emotions was only hurting me. Now that I had released everything that had been weighing me down, I felt my energy moving a lot more smoothly. I felt as if I could take on the world again, fresh and ready. Instead of taking on the world, however, I would be putting this energy into healing, which is just as good.
The moment we stepped inside, I knew it was a good thing that I had come along. Besides the obvious wounds and illnesses that would be expected here, there were dark spirits feeding off of the pain and weakness of the patients. They were just lowly spirits, so I could chase them out subtly. There was one that looked like it might be a little troublesome, but I'd get to him later. First I'll heal some people to get more positive energy in here, then I'd shoo away the lowly spirits, and then I would deal with the troublesome dark spirit.
Katara tossed me a couple of water skins. "If you want to get started, you can go right in. Tell the head nurse that you're with me," she called.
I nodded and went in, quickly mentioning Katara's name to the nurse before beginning on the nearest soldier. He looked barely conscious, but as I began to heal him, his eyes fluttered open.
"Who…are you?" he rasped, trying his best to focus on my face.
"That's not important. Just relax and let me heal you," I murmured in response, using my spare hand to brush his black hair away from the iconic Fire Nation amber eyes that looked hazily at me.
"Please. I need to know," he insisted. "I need to know who to thank."
I remained silent, still running my fingers through his hair. I knew this soldier. Several years ago, before the war had ended, I had killed his father right in front of him. He was fairly young then, no more than ten years old. Of course, it was out of self-defense, but it must have been traumatizing for him. If I spoke too much, he may recognize my voice, and that wouldn't be good, especially if he tried to get revenge. That would be disastrous.
A warm hand wrapped around the one healing, causing me to jump slightly.
"I need to know who you are."
He was persistent! I sighed, giving in to those pleading amber eyes.
"Sorami," I said, gently prying my hand away.
"Sorami," he repeated, tasting my name for the first time. "Beautiful sky."
I jumped again, startled that he knew the meaning of my name.
"My name is Eshan, which means passion of the sun."
I wasn't sure if he was just babbling because of the wounds and infection he was suffering or if he was trying to make conversation. Either way, I wasn't going to respond. I couldn't risk him recognizing me.
Suddenly his eyes took on a whole new look; one of fear and awe. He must have noticed my eyes. I suppose it wasn't too smart to not bring my cloak.
"Your eyes look like the moon," he murmured, now reaching up to touch my cheek. "Are…are you a spirit?"
I pursed my lips and shook my head, wishing that he would quit trying to get me to talk. He had other ideas.
"Please talk to me. I haven't had any human interaction in so long. Well, other than the nurses, but they don't talk to me much as it is."
If I hadn't killed your father, I would talk to you. I would tell you stories of the moon that my eyes mirror so well. I would spin stories from the stars. I would sing the song of the ocean. But I can't. It would break him.
I was nearly done healing him, infection and all, when Katara came in.
"You know Katara?" Eshan asked when I glanced over at her and smiled. I nodded, finishing up his healing. He stretched, sighing happily. "Thank you Sorami. You are one of the best healers I've ever seen."
"You're welcome," I replied softly, still trying to hide my voice. Unfortunately this time he caught it.
A look of confusion crossed his features as he studied me closer, and then it morphed to recognition. "I know you!"
I flinched, retreating into myself to avoid any pain he could throw at me.
"You were the one who killed my father."
I bit my lip, waiting.
"I forgive you."
Wait, what? I looked up in shock, expecting a tirade at least, a full blown physical attack at most. No, he was sincere. There was no anger in his eyes whatsoever.
"You…but…why?" I sputtered.
"I saw him attack you. In fact, I saw him try to rape you."
I whimpered softly, hugging myself as the memory invaded my mind.
"I may be his son, but I see no honor or redemption in trying to defile a woman. He deserved what he received. I just don't know how to make up for his wrong doings. I don't know how to get you to forgive me."
Wait, what? "Why would you need to be forgiven? You didn't do anything!"
"That's exactly it. I didn't do anything. I didn't try to stop him. I didn't try to defend you. I was brought up to protect women, but I did nothing to protect you."
I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he forgave me. Now he was asking me for forgiveness. He couldn't say anything that could surprise me more.
"You were ten! You couldn't have done anything," I insisted, trying to get the guilt out of his eyes.
"I could have tried," he whispered. "For Mother, I could have tried."
I was confused. "What do you mean?"
He took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to keep composed, though I felt the anger simmering just under the surface. "He murdered my mother, just like he was going to try to murder you. He must have seen something in you that reminded him of her and he wanted to extinguish that flame."
Guess I was wrong about him not surprising me more. Since I couldn't think of anything to say, I hugged him instead. Then Katara's words returned to me.
"Don't bottle up your feelings. They'll only hurt you more. Let out your anger. Let out your pain. You will be freed if you do," I murmured, giving him a small squeeze. He pulled away.
"If I let my emotions out, someone will get hurt, and it won't be me."
I stood. "Come with me."
He tilted his head, confused. I grabbed his arm and practically pulled him out the door, giving Katara an "I'll explain later" look.
"Hit me."
His eyes flew wide. "Excuse me?"
I bounced around on the balls of my feet like a rabbit. "Hit me!"
He took a step back, holding his hands up. "I'm not going to hit you Sorami."
I sighed. "Let me rephrase then. Spar with me."
He still looked skeptical, so I created a water whip and struck at him.
"I'll make you spar with me Eshan," I warned, drawing the water around my arms. "I'm persistent."
He pursed his lips. "I don't want to hurt you."
I rolled my eyes. "You won't hurt me. I doubt you'll even land a hit."
Eshan still looked hesitant, but he got into the ready stance anyway, immediately having to duck my water whip.
"You're pretty good," he admitted, creating a whip of his own with fire.
"Comes with practice," I replied with a smirk.
Ditching the whip, I began to use the water as tentacles, trying to grab his leg to trip him. He resorted to the martial arts skills he had to avoid my water, drawing a smile from me. We began to move in a type of dance, dodging each other's fists and feet.
He introduced Firebending once again, and I, being too caught up in the dance, used my own as well, absorbing his fiery attacks before retaliating. He must have been too caught up as well, for he didn't notice the change in my bending.
I ducked his kick and lashed out with a well-aimed punch, catching him in the gut. With the air knocked out of him, I managed to get him on the ground, my flame-coated fist held above his face and a smug look on mine.
"I win."
Eshan's eyes grew wide. "H—how are you bending fire? You're a Waterbender!"
I gasped, instantly releasing the flames and skittering away from him, fear clutching my stomach as I realized what I had done. He sat up, his eyes still wide. I backed up a few more steps.
"Wait! Don't go! I won't tell anyone."
A few more steps. He stood, mirroring my steps so no ground was lost between us.
"Please don't go."
I shook my head, backing away a few more steps, which he only canceled out by coming forward.
"You can trust me Sorami. Please. Give me a chance."
He looked so sincere…
"I have no one left."
That did it. This time, instead of stepping backwards, I took a step forward. He smiled, still playing the copycat game. When we were just a foot apart, he wrapped his arms around my waist in a hug.
"I won't let you down. Not again."
I looked up into his warm amber eyes, feeling myself melt inside. "You never did let me down. You forgave me after I killed your father. That's more than I could ever ask for," I murmured.
After our tender moment, we returned to the healing center so I could continue my previous task of helping Katara. Oh, and getting rid of those lowly dark spirits too. Eshan hung around to help as well, comforting the patients that were waiting for their turn, his words soothing them like healing water. At one point I had paused to watch him, mesmerized by how effortless it was for him to ease someone's pain by just speaking. His face had also taken on a serene, almost angelic expression. It was beautiful.
And then he looked over at me with a knowing smile. I jumped, turned a deep scarlet, and hurried on to the next patient, embarrassed that I had been caught staring; I could have sworn I heard him laughing as I hurried away.
This chapter took me a few tries to get just right. I still feel like it's a bit rushed, but that's ok. I think it's time to start getting the story moving a little now. So I hope you enjoy this chapter!