Disclaimer: two words DON'T OWN
Sorry for the lateness, blame it on my maths exam, and holidays.
The memory now is like the picture was then
When the papers crumbled up it can't be perfect again
Forgotten, Linkin Park
Chapter 12: Remembering the Forgotten.
She sat in stifling silence, her eyes gazing into the blaring fire, the blanket wrapped loosely round her shoulders fluttered in the draught coming from the door. Her knees were drawn close to her frail frame, she perched on the chair like a gull nesting on a sheer cliff, the wind howling at it and the waves circling down below, waiting for one careless slip. She watched as the swirling flame engulfed the wood, destroying, scorching it in the flames searing heat. Reducing the once living to a pile of worthless.
Her gaze shifted for a second to the body occupying the empty seat across from her. His tawny eyes were fixed on the twirling amber flames, dancing in the hearth. He flicked his finger making the centre flame gush up, making it sway to an imaginary beat. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to escape from the smothering silence of the room. But finding no sanctuary he opened them. Letting the sparks light up his traditionally stormy face. He glanced cautiously over at the silent guest in the seat facing him.
She seemed smaller than he remembered, more vulnerable like a glass ornament. Maybe it was because she had drawn her self up, sitting on her feet. Her face seemed thinner, her dimpled cheeks seemed more hollow, her eyes had lost the glint of… he wasn't exactly sure. She seemed more inanimate, as if she was a doll or as if an Avraxyn had stolen her soul. She was lifeless; spiritless she may as well be dead.
The door creaked open, the girl and the prince both jumped in their seats, his reaction sent the fire roar up, sending hot cinders everywhere. A dark daunting figure stood in the shadows. A cold draft blew through the room, dampening the blaring fire slightly. But it was only Iroh.
The old man pushed a silver tea trolley stacked with various bowls of rice and the centre piece: a huge steaming pot of tea with matching cups. Each marked with an identical red flower design. Brilliant flowers painted a striking red slowly fading into orange then to a warm yellow, like a sunset in summer.
"Here eat this" Iroh handed Araic a blue china bowl filled with tiny grains of pearly rice. The rice was mounded up like a collection of snow. " I just need to talk to the prince for a few seconds"
Iroh got up and made his way to the door, then sprinted back and grabbed Zuko's sleeve who was still being mesmerised by the twirl of the flames in the hearth.
"Don't leave me," Araic cried, holding on to Zuko's hand.
Her hand felt so frail and delicate, as if it were a doll's hand not a human, as if it were an old lady's arthritic shaking hand not a warrior of the Earth. He looked down at her as he got to his feet.
"I will be outside the door, I won't leave you" Zuko said, his dull tone absent of any emotion.
She slowly lowered her shaking hand and let him walk away.
Outside the door a cold silent draft rushed down the corridor. An eerie silence had descended on this hallway. Every guard was instructed that the corridor was out of bounds and any man caught would be sent to the cells for the remainder of the voyage, which could be years.
"I've instructed all the men to search for Mirrac, but still nothing" Iroh informed
"Are we any closer to the Avatar?" Zuko asked keeping his voice in an inanimate manner.
"No we stopped so we could search for Mirrac, but I hardly think that…"
"Capturing the Avatar is more important than capturing an idiot like Mirrac. Tell the crew to resume making progress after the Avatar." Zuko fizzled slightly, his eyes glinting menacingly.
"But Zuko" Iroh was astounded by his nephews inconsiderate thoughtless words. But anger quickly swallowed his astonishment. Iroh could feel his hands warming; he would give Zuko another scar to match the one on his left eye, if he wasn't careful. "What an uncaring, selfish asshole." Iroh thundered in his mind
"Very well Zuko but she will remain in you room. Under your care" Iroh added the last sentence with a special emphasis smirking as his nephew exploded.
"What! Why do I have to? We have an avatar to catch" Zuko erupted in a childish fit.
"Either we get the full crew looking for Mirrac or half the crew looks for him, the rest work the ship and she stays with you. Your choice" Iroh explained. Barely covering the enormous grin that was trying to appear on his wrinkled face.
"Fine" Zuko hissed through gritted teeth. He threw the door open and stormed in.
She sat gazing into the strong fire her bowl of rice sat in her lap untouched.
"You should eat something" Zuko muttered returning to his seat.
She ignored him
"If you don't eat anything you'll die, you'll waste away into nothing" Zuko said harshly "Not that I'm complaining"
Still no response
"Emm… do you want to talk about it" Zuko tried really hard to sound sympathetic, he really did.
"I always thought the fire nation was full of nice, caring people. No matter what any traveller said I never believed them. I always believed they were good people. I remember coming to the village when I was young and people asking my name, I would never speak to them when I found out they were earth benders. I hated them for what they were. They killed my parents; every single one of them killed my parents. So they called me Wolfchild, for the wolves I lived with, for the wolves they found me with. They thought I was some forest spirit cast out, they thought I was magic so they were afraid of me. Only Meva took me in, only Meva knew what I really was but Meva's dead. Dead like everything I have ever befriended. Dead like my parents, like Meva's husband like everyone I have ever loved." Her voice was scratchy and cracked, a flood of tears threatening to overwhelm her. She looked over to him her swimming eyes boring into him like the sun in a dark room. " Zuko, if you want to live, abandon me at the next port or better drown me now so I can never kill again. I am cursed, Zuko, I don't want to loose another friend. I don't want to kill you. Just let me go"
She turned back to the fire. Zuko sat stunned for several seconds. Another friend. Does that mean that she counts me as a friend. I don't want to loose my friend too. I can't let her go. She's mine, she's my friend, and she belongs to me.
Zuko got up and in two strides he was standing over her.
"I don't want to loose my friend either" He murmured a small smile appeared. She returned a watery smile, then unexpectedly burst into an emotional wave of fresh salty tears. Zuko was completely bewildered, his eyes searched round the room for someone to tell him what to do. A fleeting memory engulfed him
"I failed mother"
A small boy, his black hair tied back into a short ponytail, was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. Tears pricked his eyes making them warm and itchy. A lump in his throat was choking him, like his father's hand.
"No, no Zuko. I enjoyed watching you Zuko" A cool soothing hand touched his shoulder, then the soft warm embrace of his mothers nurturing arms around him
"Bu-but I-I f-failed" the boy stuttered in between fitful bursts of tears
"No Zuko that's who you are…a fighter. You're a fighter Zuko, never give up" His mother soothed, smothering him in her soft, motherly hug.
Zuko crouched beside the weeping girl, gently he put and arm over her shaking shoulders.
"I m-miss h…her s-so m-mu-ch-ch" The girl weeped. " I w…want…t m…my m…mummy"
"Sshh, I miss my mum too" Zuko soothed " I miss her everyday, but their never really gone as long as we remember. They live on in our hearts" He stroked her tangled hair, trying to stop the pain inside her.
"What was your mum like?" Araic raised her salt-washed eyes to his, Zuko looked away. "It's OK I understand" She looked away.
"My mother was the kindest, gentlest, considerate person I have ever known. She was there for me, for everyone. She believed there was a little good in everyone. She was the exact opposite from my father. He was… I can't put it into words. He did this to me, he did this" Zuko pointed to the red mark that circled his eye. "She was so full of life and good. She was always there for me" Zuko's voice rose his eyes shown but as suddenly as the sun had come out a cloud had covered it. The temperature dropped, his eyes turned to slits " but one day she wasn't there. I looked everywhere for her. I searched every garden, field, corridor, square, hall, chamber, kitchen, and stable. I checked everywhere in the palace but I never found her, he killed her. HE KILLED HER! HE MURDERED MY MOTHER!"
The flames rose in the hearth.
"I'm sorry" Araic sympathised
"Why? You weren't there" Zuko replied coldly
"How did they meet? I mean your parents sound so different…" Araic started
"Arranged Marriages" Zuko grumbled " Why couldn't my father have killed me instead?" Zuko asked the fire.
"My mother worked on her family's farm. The farm grew mainly fruits like apples and stuff. The whole family were earth benders and could trace the family line for over 5 centuries, all earth benders. The war started so most of the family joined the troops apart from my mother, her sister Lorsi and her brothers Matao and Lothro. Then one day the fire nation attacked the town. They enslaved the Earth benders, this included the remainder of my mother's family, they shipped them off to some distant country either as house slaves or to work on the ship building platforms. My mother managed to escape in to the mountain forests and joined a Rebel force, known as the Thorns. They took her away to train, when she returned she was skilled in 5 types of unarmed combat, 8 types of armed combat, she had mastered all aspects of earth-bending and was code-named Thistle. She returned to her home village after liberating 6 other villages from the fire nation's hold. She returned to set her home free." Araic stopped and sipped her steaming cup of tea.
"She was working under the captain "Nettle" of the third division of Thorn. She was in charge of ambushing supply carts to the fire nation. The idea was to starve the fire nation into leaving but Nettle claimed it would take too long and had orders from the chief to rid the valley of the fire nation forever. My mother thought the idea was brilliant and that the fire nation had been there too long. The plan was to create an avalanche on the snow smothered hills. Only my mother raised the point about the village being completely destroyed. (((In the Italics 'Niamh' will be known as 'thistle')))
"What about the village?"
"It will be destroyed along with the fire leeches"
"What about the ordinary people who live there"
"I will send a messenger to warn the people during the night so that they will leave and only the fire armies will suffer."
"He lied, there was no messenger to warn the village. My mother only found out 10 minutes before the avalanche was scheduled"
"HEY! I can still see people down there. Who was supposed to warn them""Thistle, if we want to make sure the fire nation will never come back we need to destroy the village."
"B…but the people"
"Are a sacrifice I am willing to make"
"My mother couldn't believe it""If you leave Thistle you will die like the rest of them"
"That's a sacrifice I am willing to make"
"Traitor! You are no better than the fire nation"
My mother surfed down the mountainside on a slab of rock.
"You have to believe me. We are all going to die. Get everyone to high ground. There is going to be an avalanche""Why should we believe you?" the fire nation soldier began
"Because she's one of the Thorns, thistle right "Thistle nodded "And if anyone knows about what they're planning it's her" The soldier that interrupted seemed higher ranked than the other but younger
"They are planning to start an avalanche, to bury the town an kill everyone," Thistle shouted
"Why should we believe you?" the lower ranked asked suspiciously
"Because this is my village I would rather see it fire nation than dead." Thistle blurted
"Niamh? Is that you" a passing women exclaimed "I thought you were captured or dead"
"Excuse me but did this woman belong to this village," The higher ranked soldier asked
"Yes, her family were captured but she must have escaped. Why didn't you come back earlier, Niamh?"
"Lieutenant, order every one to get up the side of the southern mountain" (((Village was sandwiched between 2 mountains)))
"My mother seen a little girl wandering the streets and rushed in to get her."
As the flakes of snow fell the saved villagers and fire nation soldiers looked out at the smooth blanket that had smothered their town.
"Is everyone here?" the fire nation soldiers began to count.
"MY BABY! WHERE IS SHE! JUNG! JUNG WHERE ARE YOU! JUNG"
The distraught mother began to scrabble and dig into the snow. Screaming like a banshee as her nails ripped through the snow like a child on their birthday rips through rapping paper. Grabbing huge chunks and throwing them unceremoniously behind her.
The fire nation counted that a few of their own soldiers had been buried and began to dig as well. Eventually the whole village (the ones that had survived) were digging like rabbits. The once smooth blanket now looked like the surface of the moon with craters and tunnels burrowed in.
"It was Commander Zaire that found my mother. She was crouched under the snow holding on to the little girl. He pulled her out of the hole. And that's it. They fell in love and got married but people seen this as an act of betrayal so she left to stay with her brother. My father said he'd come and live with us soon."
The fire crackled and the awkward silence resumed.
Zuko got up. Araic's eyes switched from the graceful sway of the flames to Zuko's towering form.
"I'm going to bed, you can sleep on the chair" Zuko said bluntly leaving Araic perched on the seat.
He climbed into the soft luxurious bed he clapped his hands and the blazing fire shrank to a shadow of it former self.
Immediately a silence furled out like fog coming in from sea. Lying thick and steady, warping everything, isolating everything.
Araic sat listening to the sound of Zuko's breathing. He was asleep, muffled, deep breaths sounded like a fanfare of trumpets. Every sound seemed amplified to extraordinary sound levels. The snores sounded like a dragon's roar and every creak from Araic's chair sounded like an earthquake or an eruption of lightning. Araic could here the deafening ringing in her ears, like cathedral bells on a Sunday morning. Literally shaking people from there bed. These weren't the bells of the morning; these were the bells of the night. Calling demons from there lairs. Welcoming them to feast on the foolish mortal that dared to stray into their realm.
The shadow. Over there it moved. It did. Look again. Ohh God, what is it.
Araic sat paralyticaly still. Eyes transfixed on the shadow in the corner of the room but the more she stared the more distorted and warped the shadow became. Was that an eye, or a fang, or a talon. Memories and tales of a thousand monsters and beasts flooded into her mind. Her breath was too loud in her ears. But when she tried to breathe shallower her lungs would ache for air and her brains and muscles beg for oxygen.
Alight draft trespassed into the room through the crack under the door. The light breeze circled Araic. Blowing on the back of her neck. Then engulfed the glowing embers extinguishing them.
Araic's nails dug into the arm of the chair. She grabbed her feet of the ground. The shadows were everywhere. Circling her like vulture do to a doomed wildebeest. She felt them gently touch her arm, she snatched her hands away from the chair. Her bottom lip began to quiver. There was something out there gently growling at her. All alone, on her own. Lost forever in the darkness. The thing out there.
Araic's eyes strained against the darkness trying to pierce it but the effect was like using a haddock to cut down a tree. A glint of something. An eye, a fang, a claw? She shut her eyes tight trying to screw the thing out but what's the difference. Open or shut the picture was the same complete darkness with the swirl of sinister shapes. Bringing her circle of protection smaller and smaller. The darkness engulfed her like a stormy sea does to a small sailing boat. Then she felt it again a soft touch on her skin.
This time Araic lost all reason and screamed. The growling stopped and the room burst alight.
Zuko was beside "Where is he?" He growled.
"It was here. Here with me. All alone. All alone. Touching me, growling at me. All alone, all alone. Shadows everywhere. Darkness everywhere, all alone." Araic mumbled
"You're not alone I'm here" Zuko put a steady hand on her shaking shoulder.
"What is going on?" Iroh burst through the door
"Nothing she's just afraid of the dark"
"It wasn't the dark! Something touched me!" Araic screamed
As if on cue a dark shadow swooped from the corner above Zuko's head. Araic screamed, the demon answered with a piercing screech. It spread its dark wings and settled itself on Zuko's shoulder. A messenger hawk.
"This your demon" . Zuko laughed holding up the dark brown bird for her inspection
Araic felt her eyes well up. No. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
The messenger hawks amber eyes glanced over at her then gave Zuko a hard peck. Araic gave a spluttered laugh. Iroh roared with laughter and Zuko scowled at them.
"I'll take that" Iroh took the letter from the bird "Now lets go back to sleep" Iroh said cheerfully.
"Fine with me" Zuko muttered and leapt back to his bed.
Araic climbed back into her chair
"What are you doing there?" Iroh's voice had lost its cheerfulness "Zuko?"
But Zuko was already pretending to be asleep.
"Wait here"
Iroh disappeared into the darkness of the doorway.
Zuko sat up. He gazed menacingly at Araic. Araic looked away.
"The fire is going out. I'm not a baby, even if you are. I'm not leaving it on" Zuko hissed then slumped over again.
Araic stood on the cold floor and waited for Iroh to return.
He came back laden with a mattress and another blanket.
"You can get your own room tomorrow." Iroh grumbled. Staring darkly at his nephews 'sleeping' form.
Araic lay in the darkness. She couldn't sleep. Every shadow had come to life again. Swirling round her. Stroking her hair, tickling her feet. She bit her lip, tasting the copper taste of fear. She whimpered a low noise like a wounded dog.
The fire burst into a low flame. Vanquishing the shadows like a white night.
"Now can we get some sleep, peasant " Zuko scowled
"Thank you Zuko"
"Yeah. Whatever."
The fire glowed keeping the shadows at bay. And Araic slipped into her dreams.
Sorry that took soooooooo long but I had a life to get on with next chapter won't take as long. I promise.
I'm not that happy with this chapter I might redo it in the future.
To answer a question THEY DID HAVE MEDICINE. WHY? BECAUSE IT IS MY FANFIC SO I SAY THEY DO. THEY PROBABLY DO HAVE NATURAL MEDICINES BUT IT'S MY FANFIC SO I SAY YES THEY HAVE MEDICINE. BUT IT WAS AN INTERESTING POINT, AT LEAST YOU'RE NOT A RANDOM FLAMER.
