In the night there is a sound

Whispering taunting me

In the air there is a whistle,

Shrieking haunting thee

In my dreams there is horror and fear inside

So I lay on my pillow sheltered to hide

-Me

"There is a master bedroom upstairs, we ain't got lot a people here, actually you guys is the only ones." He smiled and his yellow teeth seemed to glow in the dark.

He didn't have good speech. Some of his words were slurred and due to missing teeth there was a hissing wind sound when he pronounced S words. And when he talked he just had a bad vocabulary.

"Lemme show ya'll upstairs to your room, there is a bed a bathroom and the finest aged wine you'll find all throughout these parts." He began to walk up the stairs, and Katara began to follow, but Zuko stayed at the entrance by the old dusty desk.

He cleared his throat and the inn keeper turned around, "Are there any other rooms?" Zuko penitently asked. The inn keeper gave him a quizzical look and leaned over the unstable railing.

"Ya'll two ain't together?" He pointed a finger between Katara and Zuko, and Katara silently shook her round caramel head.

A bright crack of lightening struck through the crisp air outside, it lit the whole Eastward inn like a Christmas tree.

"Well, ya of course we's do, Follow me boy," He continued up the poorly structured steps.

With each step of their foot a shrill creak would inch its way from the staircase to their ears. It sounded like the stairs would give in any moment. Some of the steps dipped in toward the middle of themselves from the weight applied on it. All together it didn't feel secure.

At the top of the steps was a row of rooms, the inn keeper pulled two keys from his key ring and handed one key to each of them, "Rooms 120 and 121, take your picks." They each pulled a key out of his withered outreached hands.

Katara held her key up and placed her lips to her teeth, "Room 121…" she turned around to search for the room, and it was at the end of the short hallway.

Another loud boom of thunder roared through the sky, "It a bad storm…I boarded up the windows bu' I dunno how much good that'll do ya,"

Zuko looked at the key in his hand, Room 120…it was right by Katara's. He was sure it would be a long day.

The sky was dark, the thick grey clouds covered the sun and not an ounce of light showed through. It felt like night with no moon showing through.

"Der is a place next door that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner," The old man began to walk away but hastily turned back around, "I almost forgot, my name is Yi." He waved his hand in a circular motion goodbye and turned his feeble hunchback to leave.

Zuko and Katara just stood in the hallway staring at their keys and Yi's retreating back. They both listened as the old man walked down the stairs, with each step a piercing squeak echoed through the empty old hallways.

As the squeaks and creaks stopped, the pair faced each other. Katara put her silver rusted key by her eyes, "Well, I better check out my room," she smiled nervously and Zuko nodded.

Katara sat on a chair in her room. The walls were painted white, however they were rotting from time she guessed. The bed had a folded white comforter at the edge on top of the stained white sheets. The stains were yellow, and a rusty brown. They were spotted all over the bed.

She placed her burgundy book on the dust covered desk.

The room didn't look inviting, she felt nauseated. She searched around the room for the bathroom. It was the emaciated oak door by her bed, she opened the door.

The bucket that served as a "waste" basket was filled with brown water. Katara held her thin caramel hand over her mouth. She felt something well up inside of her and she lunged for the water filled bucket. She leaned over it, vomiting, she couldn't even remember the last time she felt this unwell.

When she was finished she held her stomach with both of her slender crossed arms. She coughed repetitively and leaned back over the bucket to vomit again. She held her abdomen and felt a crunch under her touch. She quickly sat up, and pulled the item from her robe.

She examined it, it was a fortune cookie. She thought back in her memory and remembered it was the one Po Chen had given to Zuko, she did not recall holding on to it.

She placed her small fingers on the outside of the wrapper in attempt to open it, but she stopped herself halfway through.

She presumed that she would confer it to Zuko. She thought it would be a good proposal to break the ice between him and her. She knew there was tension between them since that night, but she didn't know why Zuko was that distant. He seemed to avoid her at all cost.

A strike of lightning sliced through the sky and right behind it was a loud clap of thunder.

Katara quickly stood and walked out the bathroom. Her heart sped up and she breathed heavily to relieve the shock. She placed her hand on her chest and squeezed the fortune cookie in the other. She quickly let go as she heard the crunch of the cookie.

Zuko heard a faint knock at his door. He disregarded it and continued to meditate with his brawny legs crossed and his bulky hands placed in between them.

The knock persisted and he still ignored it, but with each knock it became harder and harder neglect.

He heard Katara call his name and say a few words. However the words were incoherent to him, every time he even thought about Katara an uneasy feeling cascaded over him. He then heard a squeak of wood and tiny footsteps and he knew she had left.

He waited a couple moments later, and when he was more then sure she was gone, he returned to meditating. Meditating was the only way he could seem to get his mind off of her, however still meditating was often futile.

Lightning brightened the room for a second and Zuko quickly opened his eyes. His stomach began to grumble and he held it to ease its hunger, but it was pointless.

He walked through the dust filled floor to the door and slightly opened it. He checked around the hallway to make sure Katara wasn't there, she was nowhere to be seen so he stepped out of the door and heard a loud crunch under his foot, he jumped back to see what he had stepped on.

There on the ground was a smashed fortune cookie, he suspiciously picked it up. He wasn't sure if Katara left it there or if this was Zhy's doing, or maybe both. He opened the packet and loose cookie pieces poured onto the floor. He dusted the remaining crumbs off of the slip of paper.

It read: Forgive and forget is the key to success.

A smiley face was at the end of the sentence.

Zuko ripped the piece of paper and quickly walked away as the paper pieces slowly and simply floated down to the floor.

He walked down the stairs and with the creaks loud bangs of thunder reverberated through the empty inn. He reached the bottom and saw Yi, he was at a dusty desk in the corner reading a small parchment with a shard of glass to enlarge it. The dust didn't seem to bother the white haired man.

Zuko approached his desk, "You told me there was a place where I could get something to eat, where is it?" Yi looked up at Zuko with his grey, baggy eyes and his Adams apple seemed to strain when he talked, "A course, seems the lady beat ya to it,"

Zuko tried to think of another possibility, "Is there more then one place to eat here?"

Yi shook his head in response, "Nope, just the bar." He headed to open the door waiting for Zuko to follow, Zuko stood still thinking of another option.

He couldn't find any.

"I'm actually not that hungry, I'll probably be down later though," Yi looked at him confusedly, "Alright if that's what ya wants," Yi returned to his desk and began to read the parchment again.

Zuko's stomach moaned and protested to his decision, and Zuko clutched it for relief, "On second thought…" he looked sideways to the floor and opened his palms, "I am kinda hungry."

Yi laughed, "Here, a cloak is all I gots ta shelter yous from the rain," He pulled a dusty black wool cloak from out of his closet and held it to Zuko's face. Zuko coughed and waved away the dust particles.

"I'll be fine without a cloak," he closed his eyes so the filth wouldn't enter in them.

"Alright," Yi looked at Zuko as if to say, "It's your loss,"

"It's next door," he said as he put the cloak back into the closet.

Zuko wondered outside and the pouring rain soaked him instantly. A crack of lightning and thunder sent him jogging into the next-door-tavern. He stepped inside and was amazed at how small it was.

There was no way he was going to avoid Katara here. He looked around the small place and it was just as run down and dirty as all the other places.

If Zuko wasn't so hungry he wouldn't dare eat there. He scanned his eyes over the place some more and Katara was sitting in the corner on a chair talking to an old man with wiry grey hair and thick long eyebrows.

The old man snapped his head up as he heard footsteps. Katara looked up with him, but she quickly averted her gaze to the menu in the palm of her hands when she saw it was Zuko.

"Hello, sir," the old man bowed to Zuko, "Do you mind sharing a table with this sweet girl?" His long wrinkled bony finger pointed to Katara who was growing uneasy, she didn't even know why, it was just Zuko.

Zuko opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. The old man answered the question that was floating in his head like he had mind reading abilities,

"There are no other seats at the moment, I would offer you a beautiful seat on the outside, but the weather wouldn't agree. And sorry but we don't get another shipment of tables and chairs till we get the money to pay for it," The old man placed a hand on Zuko's back and pushed him toward the table. Once he reached the table he yanked on Zuko's broad shoulders causing him to sit down.

"I'll be back in a few minutes with tea," The old man shuffled across the dusty floor, and into the back of the bar.

Katara sat agitatedly, her small round head was behind a menu. She acted like she was reading the food choices even though her food was on the way.

She placed her hand on the table and began to tap her fingers. Katara then looked to the ceiling, she was unsure of what to say, but she knew he wasn't going to avoid her any longer and she knew that this was her chance.

She pulled the menu away from her face, and carefully placed it on the table.

Katara looked at Zuko, he was sitting faced the opposite way of her. She began to speak,

"Look Zuko," she fidgeted with her fingers a bit, "I don't know what the big deal is!" As the words escaped her lips she started to feel anger because he was taking the escapade so seriously.

Zuko turned around to face her, his expression was unreadable. He inhaled sharply and retorted, "It is a big deal!" He turned his body all the way around to meet the table.

Katara didn't mean to yell and come off too strong, but now he was being ridiculous, "Zuko, we screwed up…it happens! I know what we did was uncalled for, but we have a mystery to solve and so much more other things to do! It was one night," she held her finger in the air and paused for a second, "and we both know it won't happen again,"

"You don't understand! We did so much more than screw up!" Zuko placed both of his hands on the table and it caused their chopsticks to rattle.

Katara's mood drastically changed, "Okay," she sniffled, "I didn't know I was so repulsive to you," Katara's voice was chocked and it sounded like her words were struggling to make it pass her throat.

She violently stood up and rushed to the door of the tavern. Zuko opened his mouth and held his hand lowly in the air, "Katara," she turned around at the call of her name.

"You don't understand," Zuko balled his fist and gritted his teeth, he was holding back what he really wanted to say.

Katara squinted and two tears dropped from her eyes,

"No, I don't understand." She turned her head and her lips tugged down at the corners of her mouth.

She viciously pushed through the worn-down doors, almost taking them off of its hinges.

Zuko stared at the doors as they closed,

"She doesn't understand," he placed his hands on his mouth and let them fall slowly to his sides. He was exhausted, every time he thought about the situation a battle ignited in his head.

"Excuse me?" the old man crept behind Zuko, "Where did the young lady go?"

A strike of lightning lit up the poorly lighted bar.

"Zuko, tell her" Zhy looked at his face and it seemed to plea to him

Zuko began to breath heavily and his chest moved up and down rapidly, "I…I can't."

Zhy looked mad for the first time Zuko could recall, "This wasn't supposed to happen."

She shook her head and rubbed her temples

"It's her fault."

"No, it's both of you guys fault, but even more importantly its his fault, Zuko…he doesn't want you to figure this thing out."

"Who is he?"

Katara lay on her bed and thick rays of sun beamed through the window above her head. She sat up in her bed with her eyes closed and stretched her hands and arms to the air like she was holding up the spirit world. A deep bellowing yawn blew through her mouth.

She opened her eyes and rubbed them, to her surprise the walls looked soft and newly painted. They were nothing like the ones she saw yesterday, they were fully restored. The waterbender rubbed her eyes again to make sure she was really seeing what she thought she saw.

She furrowed her eyebrows in thought and she stepped onto the floor, it was clean.

The floor looked well mopped and swept. Katara cocked her head in confusion, the ordinarily dust covered table was well oiled and the burgundy book was gone.

Katara jumped off of the bed and looked around the table and under the bed for the book, it was nowhere is sight.

She looked at the bed sheets and they were pure white, not a stain anywhere. For a reason she couldn't explain a smile graced her lips. The book suddenly wasn't her concern right now.

She rushed to the bathroom to see the improvement. The bucket was rich silver and had crystal clear water poured in it.

Katara brushed her hair up, and grabbed for her key. It was clean and silver. She opened her door and the sweet smell of tea filled her room instead of the mildew smell from yesterday.

She knocked on Zuko's door, not caring about the conflict yesterday. She banged excitedly at the door with a wide grin on her lips.

From inside Zuko rose from his bed unaware of his surroundings. He opened the door and saw Katara grinning broadly at him, he raised one eyebrow.

"Yi must have done a clean sweep last night! Everything is so…fresh!" Katara's giddiness was odder then usual.

Zuko studied his surroundings everything was restored to its original beauty. "He must have done more then cleaning," Zuko mumbled to himself as he pulled his shirt over his head.

He rushed out of the door and Katara followed him down the glowing hallway. They trotted down the steps which didn't make the tiniest squeal when their feet made contact.

Zuko looked to the clean oiled desk in the corner of the lodge. A young man with jet black hair was sitting in the seat behind the desk reading a piece of paper with a well- rounded piece of glass to magnify the words.

The pair approached him and placed a hand on the desk getting the mans attention,

"Um, excuse me, do you know where Yi is?" Katara's voice rang through the air and the man looked at them.

"Why," he asked as he placed the glass on his desk.

Zuko began to grow impatient, "The man runs this place, and we need to speak to him,"

The mans eyes darted for Katara to Zuko and there was silence, he began to laugh.

"Yi!" the man called from over his shoulder.

A scrawny little boy ran from a door in the lobby, with a small toy in his hand, and faced the man, "Yes father?"

The man looked back to Katara and Zuko, "Yi, is my son, and until I die I run this place," he laughed again and smiled ear to ear.

Katara and Zuko looked at him crazily, "But last night…Yi was running this hotel," Zuko nodded in agreement.

The man stood up, and his chingy eyes tilted, "My name is, Yuan," he shook Zuko's pale hand, "How about you take a trip next door and order some calm soothing tea," he began to lead them out the newly painted doors, "I think you two had too much wine last night."

Yuan shoved them out the door, and quickly closed it when they were out. Katara and Zuko stood looking dumbfounded staring at the closed doors.

"Excuse me," an old woman maneuvered pass them and opened the Eastward Inn doors.

Katara glanced toward Zuko, "Since when did other people move here?"

Zuko shrugged his shoulders and they both slowly turned around.

In front of them was a busy street, and newly restored buildings. Everything was back to its original brilliance. It was a very beautiful place when it wasn't so run down, and deserted.

"Wow," was all Katara could pronounce out of her mouth.

Zuko and Katara wondered around the busy city streets, they were amazed.

Zuko looked toward Katara, "Don't you think restoring a whole city by two men is a little far fetched?"

Katara looked to him, she was kinda startled that Zuko was paying her mind she replied,

"That's the only logical explanation…" her eyes wondered back onto the street.

Zuko maneuvered to the side to move out of the way of an ongoing cart, "Nothing here is logical," he whispered as the pair attracted attention.

Everyone they passed seemed to be staring at them. Katara moved closer to Zuko unintentionally. Zuko tensed and slightly scooted away.

Katara noticed but tried to ignore it, "Every one is staring," she covered her small mouth and her whole body seemed to jerk forward.

Zuko eyed her suspiciously

"I think I'm…" she jerked forward again, "Sick," she ran past the ogling people into the nearest building. Zuko tagged along after her.

Inside there was a woman by the door, she smiled and began to talk,

"Welcome to the Eastward Orphanage," she waved vigorously. Zuko slightly waved back.

Katara held her stomach, and shoved past the smiling woman into the door labeled 'Bathroom.'

The woman smiled and spoke through her smiling teeth, "Is she alright?" she turned her head to the bathroom door that was still waving in and out from the force Katara used.

Zuko wanted to scream no, he wanted to scream I'm not okay either, he wanted to leave this deserted place and he wanted to go home.

Zuko simply nodded, "Yeah, just some bad noodles, I guess," he tried his best to keep his composure.

"Oh," the woman continued to beam, "I haven't ever seen a couple like you guys,"