Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter 28 of Sparks Ignite! So at this point, I have decided to do this story a little differently. Instead of making sequels to Sparks Ignite, I will be dividing the story into different Books. At the end of this book, a new one will begin but it will still be in Sparks Ignite. I think for this style of story, it works better then several different sequels. So currently, we are in Book 1: Acceptance. The next book will be announced when the chapter is released. Thank you all so much for reading. As always, I do not own Avatar or its characters. Onto the story!
Fate and Destiny are a funny thing. They are so permanent, but yet can be changed by the smallest thing. It can cause the moon and the sun to collide. Or the most opposite Sparks to Ignite.
Chapter 28: The Trap Door
Appa landed just outside of the village of Hira'a. It was a small village, unlike the city from where they came from. The homes and buildings were small wooden huts with accents of red and gold in the wood.
They landed in the woods, surrounded by tall trees covering the ground. But as they landed, they could see a beach on the other side of town. Katara imagined it would be a great place to grow up.
"Stay here buddy…" Katara said, patting his head. Appa grunted and laid down, content just to rest for a while after flying for a few hours. Toph and Katara started walking towards the village, Katara took a deep breath as they did so. This was their only shot. If they turned away empty handed, they wouldn't know where to go next. They would be lost, and Zuko would…
She couldn't think like that. They would find Ursa. And then everything would be okay.
When they walked in the town center, children bustled through the streets, running and playing. Two kids were flying a kite, with its streamers flowing through the wind. Another few kids were chasing each other, playing tag. The town was full of life and light.
"Why would anybody ever want to leave this place?" Toph asked, even she could feel the vibrations of the children's laughter and their feet running in all sorts of directions. "I don't think she did… which is why she might have came back" Katara sighed, sadly.
They walked down the main street, which wasn't much of a street at all, just a path for people to pass through between homes. Shopkeepers stood outside of their homes, selling their wares for people to flick through. Some sold fruit and other food, some sold homemade goods. Everyone had their purpose, as if it were the most perfect little town.
Katara stopped and turned to Toph, "We need to find Ikem, or somebody who may have known him… That's our first and honestly hope of finding out where Ursa may have gone after she was banished…"
Toph nodded, "Let's split up, we'll have better luck if we go separate", to which Katara agreed. They said they would meet back at the center square in 1 hour with what they find. Katara began to make her way down the cobbled street, looking for a way to possibly speak to one of the locals. She didn't want to draw suspicion to herself, if the wrong person found out that she was looking for Ursa, she could be in trouble.
Katara stopped at a food stand and looked down at the fruit. Two women stood at the stand next to her and were gossiping to themselves, as if they had nothing better to do. She rolled her eyes, Katara hated caddy women. But they were a great way to get information. She took a step towards them to listen.
"That boy is a cutie now isn't he?" the woman in the dark red sundress spoke. The woman next to her, wearing a brown wrapped dress, with her hair up on top of her head nodded, excitedly, "He is! I can't wait to watch him in the performance tonight… He is just so dreamy"
Performance? Katara frowned and kept walking, after realizing all the women wanted to talk about was this boy's figure. But as Katara kept walking, she heard more whispers and words about this play, and it seemed like the whole town would be there. If Katara had any shot of finding Ikem, it would be at this performance.
Katara made her way back to the town center, eager to tell Toph what their next move would be. Toph came up also bearing news. Ikem was now married, to a healer.
"So that could be Ursa?" Katara asked her, excited. Toph shrugged, "The woman said his wives name was Noriko, but there is no saying that she didn't change her name in order to not be found"
Katara smiled wide, "We're so close… I can feel it…"
The two walked back to the town center that night, wearing red cloaks to hide their identities. They were worried that the wrong person would see them and make sure they never got to Ursa. Or maybe Ursa would see them and run, not knowing her son's fate. Whatever it was, they didn't want to draw a lot of attention to themselves.
People gathered at the town center. Where there used to be shopkeepers, was a now a stage, with townspeople gathered around, eager to hear the new performance. From what it seemed; this was a big deal for this small little town. People whispered about what they thought tonight's show was going to be and what the one might be after that. Kids giggled with excitement to see the fun colors erupt on stage.
A man walked out onto the stage and the whole crowd hushed into silence. He spoke with a booming voice, "Tonights performance would be of Love Amongst the Dragons, with our two leads being played by Noriko and Ikem"
Katara and Toph exchanged a look underneath their hoods but turned their heads back to the play. The two danced on stage, no words were spoken, only using the power of their movements to convey the message. When the dark water spirit came onto the stage, Katara immediately recognized the mask. It was Zuko's Blue Spirit Mask. She remembered him saying that this was his mother's favorite play, but she didn't see the connection until now.
But all of a sudden, another figure walked onto the stage. Katara furrowed her brow and leaned in to whisper in Toph's ear, "I don't think this is part of the show…"
It was clear from the two performers puzzled looks that this man didn't belong on stage. The man was in a dark red cloak and paid no real attention to the performers. All of a sudden, he raised his fist to the sky and shouted
"Long Live Fire Lord Ozai!"
With this, chaos ensued.
People began to drop from roof tops and work their way through the crowd. They didn't firebend. They weren't looking to hurt anybody, but only look for something. Or someone.
Katara quickly grabbed Toph's hand and started running. It didn't look too out of place with everybody from the town desperate to get out of the square. But Katara didn't want to doddle. She had a strong feeling of what exactly they were looking for.
Katara didn't know where she was going. She only wanted to get them away from the crowd so they could get back to Appa and fly somewhere far away enough where they could get the rebels off of their tail. But her sense of direction landed them to a dead end. She could see the rebels at the other end, looking around for glimpses of tanned skin and blue eyes, or even a blue cloak if they were that naive, thankfully they weren't.
"Now what?!" Toph asked her. Bending would be too obvious and draw them right to their spot. Katara wasn't sure what they should do.
"In here!" a man's voice whisper yelled over to them. The two girls turned to the voice that called from the trap door below them. They exchanged a look, not knowing if they should trust the voice.
But at this point, they didn't have any other options.
Dun DUN DUUUNNNN! Who is the man in the trap door? Will they escape the rebels? Find out next chapter! Until next time!