XXXV: Forgetful Valley

"Well, this is it, Forgetful Valley." Aang stated. They stood before a beautiful, but somewhat foreboding forest with brilliant plants flourishing.

"What did your Avatar powers tell you that?" Sokka asked.

"It says so on the sign." Aang replied, pointing to the wooden sign.

"Oh." Sokka stated, and then they stepped into the forest's limits. Silence lingered between them, for a few moments, the atmosphere becoming more unnerving, as the forest was truly wild, not even footpaths had been worn into the floor. Just before goosebumps formed on her skin, Katara asked: "So, where do we go from here?"

"I'm not sure, there's not even a clear path." Zuko replied.

"Come on, Zuzu! For a true Firebender, there's always a way!" Azula declared, and with crazy eyes, she blasted away the plants with her Firebending.

"What are you doing!" Katara exclaimed.

"I suppose one of you imbeciles has a better idea on how to proceed?"

"ANY, idea is better than setting fire to the whole forest!" Katara snapped.

"What did I tell you the last time you did something like this? Oh yeah, NATURE HATES YOU!" Sokka told Azula. Mai reached into her sleeves and showed Zuko the shackles and told him: "I'll slap these on her the moment you give the order."

"Not now, Mai, c'mon we need to keep going." Zuko replied.

Team Avatar turned to find Aang sort of hunched over as he called out: "Uh, guys, I'm detecting something with my special Avatar powers again!" He turned to face them to reveal another funny face, one side was scrunched up, while the other was open wide, but both sides had a bit of a frown on him.

"Sweetie, not again with the faces." Katara spoke.

"No, no, I think Aang is onto something, if you look around close enough there's faces all over the place!" Sokka announced. He showed them a leaf and a squirrel-toad, pulling the same faces he saw on them, despite Katara's insistence that he cut it out and saying that he was being a jerk. Then he pointed out a flutter-bat that had markings that looked like the face Aang was making.

"Hold on Mr. Flutter-bat, I thing we're meant to be friends!" Aang called out and he started after the creature, despite Zuko's effort to keep him from running off, but that plea quickly fell on deaf ears as Aang was soon pursuing the flutter-bat into the treetops. He kept following after the creature until he found a beautiful pool of water that rested mirror flat and had formed in a perfect circle.

Aang looked down at it in awe and hopped from his branch to get a closer look, there was something spiritually tranquil about the beautiful pool. So rather than wanting to go for a swim with whatever creatures he might find living in it, he wanted to make sure that nothing touched it.

"AANG!" Katara called out.

"Over here!" He called back, and his friends, and Azula came running.

"Aang – Oh wow, I've never seen water this clear and still before." Katara stated.

"It's like a perfect pane of glass." Zuko added.

"How peaceful it is… It reminds me of Tui and La's pool from the North Pole… Be respectful, everyone, this is a very spiritual place." Aang told them; but as Azula looked into the pool, she found her mother staring back at her.

"You're going the wrong way, Azula, go back and find your true destiny." Ursa told her.

"YOU AGAIN! DON'T YOU EVER SHUT UP!" Azula snarled and she struck lightning into the pool, her face contorted in wrath.

"AZULA NO!" Zuko exclaimed.

"What did I just say about being respectful?!" Aang demanded.

"She told you to lead me here, didn't she?! SO SHE CAN KEEP TORMENTING ME WITH HER LIES!" Azula shouted blasting fire.

"That's enough!" Zuko snapped, blocking her flames and lighting up his eyes.

"You're right, Zuko, it is enough! We've tried to put up with her but she's too dangerous!" Katara called out, and before Zuko could get a word in, Mai and Azula got into their own little duel, which ended up with Azula getting bound to a tree and her shackles slapped back on!

At least that was what Mai was going for when suddenly two throwing stars flew by them, ended up getting planted in the trunk of a tree.

"Those are the prettiest throwing stars I've ever seen!" Aang remarked upon taking a closer look. The throwing stars were beautiful lotus flowers.

"It's like the forest itself is attacking us." Katara stated.

"Because nature hates her." Sokka added as he gestured to Azula.

"Heads up, more incoming!" Zuko called out, and they took up their defenses with bending and weapons, and during the chaos, Mai was finally able to shackle Azula, and managed to parry a flower throwing star with one of her knives. Another flower shattered on Sokka's club.

"I think I understand what's going on here; Sokka did you notice how that flower shattered on your club?" Katara spoke.

"Yeah?"

"It was like ice! Someone is bending the water in these plants!" Katara exclaimed, but then Sokka drew her attention to the vines above their heads as they started to attack as well. Mai and Sokka teamed up to slash at them while Zuko burned through them while Aang cut through them with his Airbending. Azula was left with whatever fire she could breathe or kick. Even amongst all the chaos, Katara managed to clear her mind and took control over the vines and declared: "Whoever you are, you're not the only one who can Waterbend! Show yourself!"

To her surprise an aging woman leading a masked man emerged from the foliage, wearing tattered clothes from the Northern Water Tribe. Things calmed down in an instant, and everyone sat together around the campfire while the aging woman explained herself: "I apologize for attacking ou earlier, my brother and I aren't used to seeing humans around here, we heard a commotion and thought some forest animal was disturbing the pool, it must remain undisturbed."

"That's what I told them, this is a very spiritual place!" Aang declared.

"That's right, Avatar, there are three other pools like this one, all must remain undisturbed." The woman replied.

"Misu, this stew is delicious, it reminds me of…" Sokka started

"The seaweed stew of the Northern Water Tribe?"

"That's right!" Sokka declared.

"Rafa and I make do with what we can find here." Misu replied with a gentle laugh.

"So, how did two people from the Northern Water Tribe end up in a Fire Nation Forest?" Katara asked. Misu took the opportunity to enlighten her with a story:

Growing up, Misu and Rafa were polar opposites, she was quiet and studious while Rafa was loud and brash, she lived by the rulebook, he lived to break the rules. Rafa was known for causing embarrassment to even the most elite members of the Northern Water Tribe, by sneaking off with their possessions, just to prove that he could do it. He would always return their belongings after he had his laugh, and he never really got in trouble for his actions…

… That is until the day his luck ran out.

Misu grew suspicious when Rafa didn't come home in time, and went off to seek him out, only to find that something happened to him that left his face horribly disfigured. The village healers did all they could, but to no avail. So she took to the libraries to seek out another way. She found it, but it would be quite the risky venture.

Before they could even leave the North Pole, she had to spend time practicing Waterbending techniques for fighting, since back then girls only used their Waterbending for healing – Katara interrupted there to let Misu know that things were different now.

Eventually they made it to this forest, and made it their home in the hopes that they would meet the spirit known as the Mother of Faces so that Rafa could finally be healed. A story that was years in the making, and it was a story fit for a ballad or a play. Only the end still had yet to be made. Ever since his accident, Rafa had been living in a state between life and death. He doesn't eat or do much of anything.

"So you've spent most of your life trying to heal your brother?" Aang asked.

"Of course, I'm his sister." Misu replied.

"Of course," Katara spoke taking a glance at her brother. However Zuko and Azula looked away from each other, there's was a relationship where maybe Zuko would try to help but not with such an extreme dedication, and Azula would've likely left him to die.

"Sorry to interrupt your story…"

"Azula, don't be rude!" Zuko hissed.

"… but we're on a mission to find a woman named Ursa."

"I'm sorry, we haven't seen her. The forest was quiet until you arrived." Misu replied. Zuko sighed a breath of both mourning and impatience.

"So, this spirit you're looking for, what's it look like?" Aang asked.

"It is a she. I don't know what she looks like, but when she approaches, the forest tells us. Face-like patterns begin to manifest on the leaves on the trees, the wings of insects and the backs of animals." Misu replied.

"Hey, we saw that, so the spirit must be near!" Sokka declared.

"Then a giant wolf appears, bearing face-like markings on its comes to drink the water from one of the four pools."

"Hey, that's the wolf that puked moth-wasps at us!" Sokka exclaimed.

"So she will be coming soon… Rafa, our journey and wait may soon come to an end!" Misu stated.

Rafa said nothing and didn't move.

Ω £ Ω

Alright, my apologies for the hiatus, but don't worry, I'll make the final chapter worth your wait.

Please review! Reviews are motivating!