Dragon At Heart

Chapter 32

"I could, but it is often better to start from the beginning. The story will make more sense, and be more believable, if I first tell you how I came by this information."

Just because Zuko's hunch told him Nakki had a hidden agenda in telling him all this, didn't necessarily mean the information would be false. You could sort of rely on unreliable people to have a hidden motivation, and after you learned what it was, you could look at the information they had given to you from that angle, and then draw your own conclusions on how much of it might be true.

Zuko figured he would loose little by hearing out Nakki's tale, so he nodded.

"This is a story of spirits, secrets, and, most of all, callousness. The story began a long time ago. After the first humans had learned to waterbend, the Moon and the Ocean decided to leave the Spirit Realm, and come live in the physical world instead. Don't ask me why they did it, for I do not know. No one does. An interesting aspect of this relocation is that almost none, human and spirit alike, know where the Moon and the Ocean went, or what shape they took, and nothing has been heard of them since, so their current whereabouts are a mystery to date."

"When you say you start from the beginning, you really mean it, don't you?" Zuko crossed his arms and huffed.

"Every waterbender has heard this story, but since you are not from around, I did not want to presume you had. But, on with the story: there is one spirit old enough to remember what became of the Moon and the Ocean. His name is Koh the Face Stealer, and as one of the oldest and most knowledgeable spirits, Koh is more or less the go-to guy on long forgotten secrets. It is a commonly acknowledged presumption among spirits that he alone knows the true location of the Ocean and the Moon.

"During the millennia, many have ventured into Koh's cave in the roots of a dying tree, looking for answers to some profound questions in life, but although Koh is bound by oath to answer their questions, not many have walked away with precious knowledge. The Face Stealer, like his name suggests, will steal any face that shows any emotion in his presence, and thus many secrets are safe with him."

Zuko felt like pinching the bridge of his nose, but he didn't want to let Nakki out of his sight. The practiced way in which the spirit was telling his story made Zuko suspect there was a storytelling culture, a routine, behind the words. The telling was consistent, but also calculated. Although this kind of information on the spirit world (if it was true) could turn out to be useful to Zuko later, the Prince tried to look as unimpressed as possible to make Nakki hurry with the story, and possibly tell the tale differently, and reveal more than the spirit had originally intended. It was a long shot, sure, but it never hurt to try.

"Let me guess: you have such a phenomenal poker face that you decided to go and face the Face Stealer, and returned victorious. I still don't see what all this has to do with Zhao, though."

If Nakki was angered by Zuko's dubious attitude, it didn't show. Quite possibly, the spirit was used to people disbelieving his tales.

"Koh and I have met. Once. I think he thought us carved out of the same wood, since we both like riddles, change faces like others change shirts, and are somewhat... amoral. Though, from a human point of view, most spirits lack a sense of right and wrong. However, although Koh and I have both taken an unusually great interest in the affairs of the physical world, we soon realized we didn't really see eye to eye on anything else, and parted ways quickly."

"Us not getting along might have had something to do with him seeing me as a potential lackey, whereas I, well, let's just say I have problems with authorities. The most important reason for our distaste for one another was, undoubtedly, our fundamental differences in opinion, for the difference between him and me is as great as the difference between stealing faces and borrowing them."