While Pashi went after Vonna, Zirin explained to Fenang, Tanni and Shiki what had happened while they were asleep. She told them about her past and Pashi's as well.
"How on earth did we sleep through all that talking you 3 have been doing?" Tanni asked.
Zirin shrugged "I have no idea myself Tanni; my best guess is you guys are heavy sleepers."
Fenang, like she always seems to do, brought them back to their original topic by asking "How come Vonna was crying?"
"I really don't know Fenang, but it-it must have something I said when trying to convince Pashi to see her parents again."
"I... might know what made Vonna upset..." came Shiki's quiet voice. No one expected Vonna to have shared her past with anyone. Vonna hardly shared anything with them at all; she was the only one of them besides Azula to not even give a fake story on why she was committed;but the difference beween Azula and Vonna is that Azula told her story whereas Vonna didn't share even the slightest of detail. The princess herself had admitted that Vonna was even more hostile and untrusting to people than she was. But Vonna did seem to have a soft spot for Shiki. The others believed it was because Shiki was only 13 and still technically a child and that Vonna believed she could trust Shiki to not betray her words to even her new allies. Also, the 2 of them were both in the maximum security wing in the asylum, so they most likely bonded in there. Shiki continued "... but it depends on what it is you said."
Zirin went over what she said, not missing out any details that could be vital for Shiki to figure out why Vonna became so upset "I said if I could see my family again for a moment, I would; no one wants to believe their family's dead especially regarding a parent who thinks their child has been dead for years."
Shiki suddenly sat down with closed-mouth horror as she said "Oh."
"What is it? Do you not know?"
"I do, but I can't exactly tell you; Vonna swore me to secrecy. Also, it should be her who tells you."
"No, it's okay. You're right Shiki; it should be Vonna who confesses." Zirin said putting a hand on her shoulder. If Vonna was to heal, then she had to be the one to admit it, but they wouldn't push her to confess; they'd wait until she was ready. Fenang had an idea "Did Vonna at least tell you a fake story about being committed before the real reason?"
"Well yeah, but it's obviously fake." Shiki said.
"Why? What did she tell you?" Tanni asked. The 3 tall girls sat down around the smallest and youngest of their group. She sat down with them and told them "Okay well, Vonna at first told me that every time there's a half moon out at night, she's possessed by a spirit named Erip Mav."
"Erip Mav?" the 3 girls asked at the same time.
Shiki just continued "Yeah, doesn't get much lamer than that. Only it does; Vonna says that Erip Mav is a spirit who possesses the scariest person in his home village so he can quench his eternal thirst for human blood. And the scariest person in his village in this case was Vonna. But I don't know the whole story on it; only Vonna does."
"Okay, even I know that there is no such thing as a spirit named Erip Mav." Tanni said.
"Yeah, do we even have to degrade ourselves by saying what Erip Mav is backwards for?" Fenang asked.
Shiki shook her head "Nah, it's pretty obvious once you take the time to think about it."
Zirin agreed "Yeah... but maybe there is some truth in her fake story; maybe she felt feared by her village or something."
"Guess that would explain how she came up with that story so quickly." Shiki said. When Vonna first told her the fake story, she knew that Erip Mav wasn't a real spirit. But other than that, everything sounded true after she said she was the most feared person in her village. Now Shiki knew why she was close to believing it. Fenang then asked her a question "Hey Shiki, how come you know Vonna's real reason for being committed anyway?"
"She... told me after I told her my reason for being in the asylum, I didn't even bother trying to hide it. Don't know why though."
"Really?" Zirin asked, surprised at this as she figured that everyone of them had exaggerated the truth in some way like Pashi, Vonna and herself had done so far... unless Shiki had indeed told Vonna the truth, but had left out some vital parts out as she feared something that would happen if someone knew.
"You sure you didn't keep anything out?"
Shiki then gave a light blush "Oh... you worked that out."
Zirin further asked the youngest member of their group "Do you think you'd be able to tell us your reason, including the parts you didn't tell Vonna?"
Shiki didn't answer. Zirin was starting to see Vonna in the child; both of them seemed to poorly distract themselves when they didn't want to talk about something. Tanni decided to step in and give Zirin a break "How about for now, you tell us exactly what you told Vonna?"
Shiki sighed, thinking the girls would continue to push until they got an answer. But she did like Tanni suggesting to say the story she had told Vonna, so she nodded to her and said "Alright, I'll confess what I can, but not what I can't... at least not yet anyway."
4 years ago:
"Shiki!" called a strict woman's voice. She was a tall woman named Eris who looked to be in her early 40's. She had her dark grey hair in a tight high bun, a long-sleeved dark grey tunic with red hems and was carrying a long thin stick in her hand. She continued to walk past the 2 lines of small girls at her sides who were trying to remain standing straight and not whimper in fear. One small face however didn't whimper. In fact, this face didn't show any emotion ever or even make a single sound at all since being in the orphanage or her previous orphanages. That face belonged to 9 year old Shiki, who stepped out of line when Eris called her name. The woman came up to the 9 year old and forced her to look up with her stick when the child's head remained looking at nothing in particular on the ground. She then spoke "Do you know that the fruit tarts from the kitchen for grown-ups are missing?"
Shiki nodded her head to say "Yes" to the question.
"And was it you who ate them?"
Shiki shook her head to say "No". Not that it would matter; Eris would ask her to bend over so she could punish her for taking fruit tarts that were actually stolen by the older kids at the orphanage. But none of the other kids said anything because they didn't want to get beaten up by the older kids when the grown ups weren't looking and Shiki didn't speak because... well no one knew why; she had never made a single sound in her life. Her first orphanage said she must have been born mute and the others said she was a trouble maker. They claimed she took extra food, made messes on purpose and started fights. So of course Eris would assume she is the culprit. She said "I don't believe you; bend over your bed."
Shiki walked over to her bed with Eris following her and bent over it without showing any defiance in doing so. The other kids watched as the woman raised the stick high in the air and then brought it down with full force until it made contact with Shiki's bottom. She repeated this action 19 more times. Every time the stick made contact, the other children jumped and shut their eyes; some having to cover their eyes with their hands until it was over. But Shiki didn't; she just stared out a window and watched the drizzly rain fall down from the starless sky, not even flinching a little from the surprise of being hit with a stick that stung worse than a moth wasp. After she had finished, Eris then said outloud "Light's out!"
The children rushed to their beds with the same thought in their heads; how does Shiki not cry out every time she gets punished? The 9 year old knew that they thought this and she didn't blame them. The beatings did in fact hurt her just like they hurt everyone else who had recieved the stick. But Shiki didn't cry even once. She had never even tried to speak and she wasn't sure if she could. But she didn't want to speak. As she lay on top of her bed covers with her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling, she recalled many main events from her life.
When she was old enough to understand speech, she was told that as a baby, she had been abandoned by her parents and that she had been very silent and only made noise when she was upset. After learning she was abandoned by her own parents who didn't even get to know her, Shiki never made any noises and never attempted to, not even when she was alone. Starting from around being in her 4th orphanage when she was 3, counsellers were brought in to see if they could coax words from her mouth, but they were unsuccessful as Shiki refused to engage with any of them no matter what tactics they used and she was too clever for any of their ways of tricking her into talking. She would only react when they told her the session was over and all she did was get up from her seat and go to her bed and lie exactly how she was currently lying on her bed. In her 7th orphanage at the age of 5, older kids began to torment and bully Shiki anyway they could as they found her strange for refusing to speak and whenever they stole extra food or made a mess, they were able to pin it on the girl who never speaks. One day a girl named Lyza, who 6 year old Shiki detested more than anyone else, pushed her to the hard wooden ground and said "You're a weirdo; no wonder you haven't been adopted. And you never will be." In response, Shiki got up and stared up at her with cross eyebrows. But Lyza didn't take her for a threat. She would find that to be a mistake along with Lyza calling her friends over as when they did, Shiki aimed her tiny fist for Lyza's jaw. She cried out in pain and her friends became afraid too when they saw blood coming out of her mouth. Shiki was proud of that punch and the fear she had put in those other girls who backed away from her and huddled together for protection. As she looked at them and then back at Lyza who was still in pain and crying, a victorious smile grew on her face. It was worth no meals for the rest of the day after the girls told the head of the orphanage everything other than the real reason why Shiki lashed out. Shiki didn't even feel hungry that evening. The next day, she was sent to her 8th orphanage and then 3 orphanages later, she ended up in the one she was currently in right now. It was a strict girl's only home and the last orphanage left in the fire nation for Shiki. She had been in it for only a month and had gotten more beatings than she could count, but she put up with them for if this one couldn't handle her, then she will have been to and kicked out of all 11 orphanages in the Fire Nation and what will happen to her next; she wasn't sure. After thinking about her whole life so far, she finally shut her eyes in attempt to sleep.
The next day, it was after breakfast was served and Shiki had gone back up to her bed to read her favourite storybook "The Ugly Turtle-duckling." It was a book from her second orphanage and she loved the book so much, she decided to "liberate" it with her every time she moved to a new orphanage. As she saw the picure of the ugly turtle-duckling, who was actually revealed to be an eel swan in the end, with his eel swan family, she began to think about the one question that had tormented her her entire life; Why did my parents abandon me? She desperately wanted to know the reason why 2 people would give away their own child as a baby. At the time of her early youth, she had hoped that they would come back for her, but no one came who claimed that they had left a baby girl at the orphanage. She hoped that there was a reason that didn't make them sound like the heartless turtle-ducks in the fairytale, but eventually, she accepted the cold harsh reality that they just didn't want her and that was it. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if there was a family out in the Fire Nation that would happily accept an ugly turtle-duckling who didn't try to pretend to be an eel swan like other orphans do.
"I somehow knew you'd still be in an orphanage bedroom somewhere." came a voice that interrupted Shiki's thoughts and filled her with anger as she recognised it from orphanage number 7. She lifted her head while hoping that there was something wrong with either her ears or the memory part of her brain, but both were spot on. Standing in the doorway with a smirk was the now 13 year old Lyza and a group of 5 other girls around her age, 2 of them who Shiki recognised as the actual thieves of the fruit tarts from last night. Lyza seemed taller than Shiki last remembered, but that didn't change that she could easily be beaten down. Only if she did, she would be reported and she would be sent to who knows where if Eris found out. So she'd have to try to resist the tempting urge to break something in Lyza for now so the girls couldn't make anything up. Lyza continued talking "But seeing you in this orphanage is just a bonus for me."
Shiki raised an eyebrow. Why on earth is that a bonus for her? She figured she was just trying to big herself up to the 5 girls with her, so Shiki turned her head away back to her book and turned it back to the beginning. Lyza continued "I feel that this is the perfect opportunity to get revenge for what you did to me." Shiki continued to read her book. Lyza's threats were empty and she was just trying to coax her into doing something that she'd regret. Lyza was getting furious that Shiki wasn't paying her any attention, so she then said the one thing that she knew would get on the nerves of any orphan "And I thought I'd start off by looking in your personal file. Shiki looked up to see Lyza waving a brown file in the air. She shouldn't be allowed access to that; she must have somehow found a way to have taken it from Eris' office. She opened it and read outloud to the girls "And after all this time, I finally get why you're so weird; you were abandoned by your own parents as a newborn baby."
The girls laughed with her at Shiki. She wanted to hit not just Lyza, but all of them in the face until she saw blood, but she would get a harsher punishment from Eris if she did. All she could do was turn her head back to her book and clench the front and back cover tightly in order to channel her anger. The girls then walked up to her bed and started saying that they were Shiki and saying that she was a parentless weirdo, but Shiki continued to read without looking at them. What finally did it was when Lyza pushed the book out of her tight grasp and to the floor. Another girl picked it up and went "Ha, you read baby books!"
"HA HA! YOU READ BABY BOOKS! YOU READ BABY BOOKS!" they all chanted in a song. But they were going to regret that. Lyza had brought her own downfall by pushing that book out of Shiki's hands. That was all she had to control her anger. Now, it began to boil again and flow from her tiny fists to hre arms, then her mind and back down to her stomach. It was in her; the firey rage of vengance was literally in her. She felt it. It was warm and becoming burning hot. She couldn't take the insults no more. She brought her flaming fist to Lyza's left temple and after she saw it was red on the screaming girl, she looked at her fist and saw fire. She then smiled and began throwing punches at the girls who were running away. Fire shot from her fists and soared to the bullies like mini comets. Shiki then knew that she was no weirdo. She was a firebender.
Then, her smile vanished when a woman came rushing to see what had happened. It was Eris. She put out the flames and then shouted at the top of her voice "SHIKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
"Eris then recommended that I be put in an asylum's maximum security wing after that. None of the other orphanages would take me back and my first one had been torn down a while ago to make that statue of Ozai in Fire Fountain City."
"I can't believe that woman put you in an asylum just for you firebending for the first time in your life!" Tanni exclaimed while crossing her arms.
"Yeah, especially after she was able to put the flames out." Fenang said in agreement.
Shiki looked away from their faces and wondered how she could tell them what else had happened. She didn't know. But she did know the longer she put it off, the worse it would be when she confessed the one detail she was leaving out of her past. Zirin saw her face and guessed that she must have actually done something bad; otherwise she wouldn't keep it to herself, but she didn't say anything about that to Fenang and Tanni as the girls would probably push her to confess and the trust would be gone between them all. Before silence could last for longer, the door opened and Pashi and Vonna walked in. Pashi looked mortified. Zirin stood up and placed her hands on Pashi's shoulders while Vonna went and sat down next to Shiki.
"Pashi, you look like you've seen a ghost, what's wrong?" Zirin asked.
"I told her my story." came Vonna's low voice that that apparantley dropped the arrogance. Zirin was surprised that Vonna had told Pashi whatever reason she had for being in the asylum and turned her head to face her; the 31 year old had dried-up tear stains on her cheeks and wiped them away with her cloak as quick as she could when she saw that Zirin had spotted them. She then said "I hate to admit this Zirin darling, but you were right... it helped a little to talk about my past with someone other than a complete stranger who insists you be a in straitjacket for the full session."
Zirin resisted the urge to sarcastically sigh at Vonna and then said "Sorry I upset you before."
"It's okay darling, you didn't know..." She then looked to the 3 other faces who didn't know "... none of you did as a matter of fact."
"If you want to wait a while to tell us, you can do." Zirin said with guilt still in her mind.
"No, if I hold it in for too long, it'll only get worse. It's best if I confess now." Vonna said unaware that her words had just ridden Shiki with guilt and worry.
After what she had heard from Kei Lo, Azula now had more and more to tell Zuko and she would find that she would have more to say when she was on the roof of Mai's Aunt Mura's flower shop. She saw in the window Mai sat beside a sleeping Tom-Tom. Azula wondered where was this protective big sister back in Omashu? Then again, that was when they were 'friends' and before Mai betrayed her for Zuko. As she continued to observe, she saw that Mai was looking at a picture in her hand and appeared as if she was about to cry, but no tears shed from her eyes. She began to fall asleep and Azula had to know what the image was, so she snuck in to investigate.
"Azula!" came Michi's voice.
You're probably wondering why I'm skipping over the Azula side story. Well, if you recall from the first chapter, I said that there would be a sequel to this story. The sequel will cover what Azula was doing while the remaining Fire Warriors bond over their pasts and overcome their issues together.
