Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, the Last Airbender, or any of its characters, except for the kids I made up. I own them, for sure.
Once again, sorry for the short chapters. I've been having some problems at home and at school and some other places, and I barely have enough time to even think about whats going on in the Fic. I just sorta winged this one, so excuse it if it's not at it's best. OK, on to the chapter.
Chapter 8: Boulder
The sides of Skya's head throbbed like deep wounds that a sword would exert, but the pain was not what was hurting her.
Her sister, sharing only a father, had just defended herself against the village's only Shamer. A Shamer...a Shamer...the only Shamer in the village, and now she had no authority. What more, she had hurt Skya in the process. But what her sister had said made some sense. Maybe the gods really did make a mistake. Who was to know?
Skya rubbed the cloth over the bleeding wound. She feared Mika, her type and her people. The Dragons had something that the Cats did not; pride and strength. And Fire.
She pulled away from the mirror and sighed, pulling the pins that held her hair in the firm bun. Orange and brown strands covered her face and she just stared deeply into the mirror, her face frigid and her thoughts racing. She had tried this before, trying to Shame herself in the mirror. Maybe she would feel the pain that others would feel, right before they fell to their knees and pleaded her no more. Maybe...but it never happened. Always, she had no shame. Always, the reflection stared back like a small child wondering why she seemed so angry.
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"Mama! No!" Mika squinted as she saw the large boulder, weighing tons and looking to be about the size of a village, roll over to the area of the hole and stay in the air. Her mother and her people, all of Dragon decent, helplessly in the earth. They could no longer fly.
"Mika, run. Fly away...free yourself." Her mother's body, lanky and long with a small mouth and a petit nose, white hair that shimmered in the sun now tied back and green scales that covered her ears and now useless wings, emerged from the hole just enough so Mika could see her face.
"I'm not going to leave you..." Mika whispered, watching as the Cat people, all with greedy looks on their faces, lowered the boulder into the hole. She clutched her burning throat, the viens in her neck and chest about to burst. If she was brave like the others, she could save her mother.
The boulder, with a final, swift movement, locked into place of the hole, screams and yells and echos cutting the air. The final and longest scream of pain from their drowing death, Mika recognized as her mothers--
Mika awoke, her body shaking and shivering and trembling, her clothes wet with drool and sweat froze her as the wind kept blowing by her sleeping place. Her heart, now about to burst into pieces, felt as if it were bleeding. And her boulder home, right infront of her people's grave, suddenly gave off steam, the breath of the dead, the essence of her dreams.
Tonight, her and Katara and the others had planned an escape, but it was still only about 10:00 p.m., not nearly time. Mika still had 2 hours to sleep, only she did not want to. She feared her nightmares, her mother's tone as she screamed the leap of crushing pain from the merciless boulders, the Cat Earth Benders lowering the boulder deeper and deeper. They had not killed her. She still didn't know why.