We sat there for a few more minutes after I had placed my mask on, just to soak in the moment. I couldn't talk even if I wanted to, and I think she wanted me to have this moment. I thank her for that, because after what had happened to me I needed it. Eventually the woman got up and walked into the kitchen where she began to make something that we would eat for lunch.
She called me into the kitchen, where at the table sat two plates, I can't remember what was on them, but we each sat down and ate, I remember it was delicious. After we finished eating, her and I cleaned up the plates and then began to do some other household chores, her house was very tidy as it was, so the chores weren't laborious nor did they take long, I remember thinking how much easier this work was than the labor I was used to on the farm.
In the middle of the chores there was loud beating knock on the woman's front door, I looked over at her as she looked nervously at the door, I could tell she wasn't expecting guests, but I couldn't tell why she seemed so nervous about someone knocking on her door. She walked over to the door and opened it, this revealed the person beating on the door was a Fire Nation guard, he had a partner with him.
The woman very politely greeted the men "Oh, hello officers, is there anything I can help you with today?" She asked calmly, the guards however were not so calm themselves, they spoke with stern threatening voices, "Ma'am, we have reason to believe you are harboring a fugitive, we are going to need to enter the premises." I didn't understand, she seemed like a very nice lady, why would the guards think she was hiding a criminal in her home?
It was easy to tell that the woman had nothing to hide, based on how easily she cooperated with the officials, "Oh sure, come right on in and look around," she said, presumably with a smile, then she asked them "Would either of you officers like a cup of tea?" The two men shook their heads, almost simultaneously, when they walked in they glanced around, I was standing right there, obviously in sight when the guard asked "Who is this ma'am?" She replied "Oh, that's my nephew." I wasn't sure why she would lie and tell the guards I was her nephew, but I wasn't about to tell them she lied, I knew how nasty these guys were. "Alright ma'am, but why is he wearing a mask?" They asked, "Well that's a personal issue, don't you think?" She told them, "That may be the case, but we're going to have to have him remove the mask." They said. The woman snapped back "He's not comfortable showing his face officers! How can you make him do this?!" The guards looked at her, "Look ma'am, we understand, but we have no choice, so he can either remove the mask or we'll have to do it." They said, looking back at me after they finished their sentence. The woman sighed and nodded at me, I didn't understand what the big deal was, I didn't want to show off my burns, but if it meant the officials were going to leave us alone, I would just do it so we could move on.
I put my hands on the mask and slowly took it off of my face, once completely removed I looked at the guards, their faces were not the one of horror I had expected. One of the guards hastily moved over to me and grabbed my shoulder, while the other spoke: "This is the fugitive ma'am, you have some explaining to do." The woman looked at me, than him, "What is he guilty of doing, officer?" She asked. "The officer said "He attacked a citizen who was forced to retaliate, he described these exact scars to us when he described the attack." The woman told the officer "That's ridiculous, how do you know he didn't just attack the kid and then report it as a cover up?!" The woman shouted. "Lower your voice ma'am. If that were the case than the child would have came and reported him, besides, he's a kid, you can't believe anything they say." The officer said to her. I knew what was about to happen, and I wasn't going to stand around and wait for it, mask in hand I pulled my arm backwards effectively elbowing the guard with his hand on my shoulder in the crotch, he let out a scream, but not before I was already running over to the other guard, where he got a headbutt in the same location.
The guards were down for now, but I knew it wouldn't last, so I put my mask back on looked up at the woman and told her I was sorry and ran out of her front door, I proceeded to run, out of the city and to a hill, over looking the city, once I got there I collapsed, I was breathing heavily, sitting there over looking the city, I wasn't sure what house was the woman's or if I'd ever see her again. For the second time it felt like I had lost my family. I'm not sure exactly what happened in that house when I left, but moments later I was able to spot the woman's house from the hill. I'm sure it was hers, because even though all of the houses around hers were all identical, hers had one very distinct feature, barreling smoke rising from it.