Accidental Avatar 3.5: The Burn Book

Where dem bandages at???

The older three sighed heavily and shrugged, following at a more leisurely pace and letting the two swordsmen do all the looking. Eventually, Mangetsu seemed to pick a different direction, and the others lost track of him while following Sokka up into a dark attic. He tried the door, only to find it locked.

"Just an ordinary, puppet-loving innkeeper, huh?" Sokka commented. "Then why does she have a locked door up here?"

"Probably to keep people like you from snooping through her stuff," Katara retorted.

"She's got you there, mate," Mogui shrugged.

"We'll see," Sokka peered through the keyhole. "It's empty except for a little chest."

"Maybe it's treasure," Toph said excitedly.

"Depends on your definition of treasure," Jin said.

"True, not all treasure is silver and gold, mate," Mogui grinned.

"Steady on there, Jack," Muteki chuckled.

"Um... Captain Jack, thank you," Mogui said with mock indignance.

Sokka then drew his sword and tried to use it to pick the lock.

"That makes no sense," Jin said, pulling a pin from her hair. "Use this, you nitwit."

"Sokka!" Katara then blinked as the pin passed into her brother's hand. "Jin!!! What are you doing? This is breaking into a private room!"

"I have to see what's in there!" Sokka retorted.

"I gotta admit, I'm curious," Jin shrugged.

There was a click, and the group filed in behind Sokka as he approached the chest.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Aang whispered anxiously.

"Hey, squirt, tell Aang to man - hey, where'd Mangetsu go?" Mogui blinked comically at the sudden realization that Mangetsu was missing. Again.

Jin sighed heavily while Muteki made a comical expression of mock horror.

"THIS time, the old woman ate him!"

"Muteki, stop," Jin sighed again.

Sokka, meanwhile, was looking for a key while Toph was trying to metal bend her bracelet into a key. Unsuccessfully.

"Oh, come on," Jin grumbled, taking her hairpin back from Sokka and immediately trying to pick the lock.

Sokka and Toph leaned over Jin, both barely keeping from bouncing from their excitement.

"Come on, come on," Sokka was practically pulling out his hair.

"Dude, don't rush me," Jin muttered, chewing her lip.

"She'll be back any minute," Toph reminded, also wringing her hands with barely contained anxiety-excitement.

"Yeah, no pressure or anything," Mogui added.

"Not helping!" Jin growled.

"Guys, I don't know about this," Aang said nervously.

"This is crazy; I'm leaving," Katara turned to leave.

"Suit yourself," Sokka called back. "Do it, Jin."

A click and Jin held it up triumphantly. The kids all crammed to see inside, while Jin abandoned the chest to back up away from the overly excited kids and avoid injury. The lid was almost completely open as Sokka opened it agonizingly slow.

"I'll tell you what's in the box."

The sudden voice startled all of them as they all jumped in surprise with a yelp. They all turned to see Hama standing in the doorway and Mangetsu appearing not long after, looking a little put-out.

"There you lot are, did you find bandages? Because Hama found bandages," he held up his rewrapped arm.

"Uh..." Mogui blinked as they all realized that Mangetsu had actually been looking for bandages and wasn't snooping.

Sokka held the box up to the old woman, who smiled sweetly to Mangetsu, then returned to a solemn expression as she reached inside the box and slowly pulled out...

"An old comb?" Sokka questioned in disbelief.

"That's a pretty neat comb," Mangetsu commented, earning another 'dazzling' smiled from the old woman.

"It's my greatest treasure," she said. "It's the last thing I owned from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe."

"Oh yeah, also she's a waterbender," Mangetsu added nonchalantly.

"Dude..." Muteki shook his head at the boy.