The Flames of the past (Avatar: Zuko love story)

Chapter 25: The Swamp

It stinked horridly, and suddenly they heard a terrifying scream. The four immediately group-hugged eachother and looked around. Another scream was heard. It was the scream of a four inch little owl, and it happily flew away again. "Yep, let's make that fire." Sokka said and he started to collect some wood. When the fire was made, the four said quietly around the fire. "Do you also have that feeling of being watched?" Katara asked. "All the time." Mia replied. She did not care.

Eventually, the four fell a deep sleep. Mia woke up a few hours later, for there was quite a bit of itch on her foot. Then a strong feeling around her leg and suddeny she was being stricted in vines. With a loud scream she got yanked into the darkness.

Mia burned the tentacles off her and she started to run through the forest. She climbed in a tree, and made her way over the branches. One vine stricted her foot and Mia slammed on a big branche before she landed in the water. The fog disappeared and she looked around her. "Guys...?" She said quietly, with a shaky voice that Mia had never used before.

~

Mia ran around, around and around, calling her friends' names. Mia searched in her pockets. All she could find was a sharp little knife of Mai (that she threw to her in Omashu), a dead fly and some crumbs. Disappointed Mia sat down on a tree stamp and looked into the distance. Suddenly, a rabbit hopped by. His leg was bleeding and he seemed to be in pain. Mia was hungry and she pitied the rabbit, that had a lot of pain. "I think we both know what the best for both of us is..." Mia said quietly and she threw the knife to the rabbit. It hit it right in his head and he was immediatly dead. Quietly Mia walked up to the rabbit, and the pain seemed to be swept of his little face.

The firs thing she did was to cut of the white rabbit's foot and stopped the bleeding. 'for luck'. She did not eat it immediatly, she kept it for maybe her friends would find her back. Mia continued her journey through the forest. Mia saw a man standing in the distance. "Oh, thank the almighty!" She said relieved and she ran up to the man. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you, I have been walking around here for hours." She laid her hand on the man's shoulder and he turned around. Mia started to shake. "Dad?" She said. The man stared at her, not saying anything. Mia blinked a few times and she was talking to a tree. "It must be the gas." She turned herself around and she saw her father again but then in front her her. Mia stuttered and she shot fire to him. When she stopped and looked, he was gone.

Mia heard noise coming out of a bush, and her fists set on fire, and suddenly, Sokka bumped up to her and they fell in the water. "Sokka!" Mia said and she gave him a little push. "I almost burned you!" She yelled. "How can I know?" He replied. "Well just..." Mia stuttered, "give a sign!" Sokka smiled and she hugged him tight. "Any way, what the hell did you think you were doing? I have been searching for hours!" He replied. "You are not the only one!" Katara and Aang came from the other way. Relieved Mia hugged her friends. "You guys were right... This place has something suprnatural." Mia said.

"I have been chasing some girl." Aang replied. "A girl? What girl?" Mia asked him, with a little smile.

"I don't just a girl in a fancy dress." Aang relied. Mia frowned. "What nice, everyone is having a teaparty here and we weren't invited." Sokka said. "I thought I saw mom..." Katara said quietly.

"I thoght I saw my father." Mia said after that.

"I thought I saw Yue, but that doesn't prove anything. We are all hungry and tired, and our minds are playing tricks with us." Sokka said

"Well all our visions have led us here." Aang said.

"Look at that tree..." Mia said when she pointed to a huge tree, "this must be the center of the swamp."

"Its the heart of the swamp indeed, I knew it was calling." Aang said with a smile.

"I am getting tired of this. There is nothing else than us,"Sokka said, "we are all alone here and there are no such things as-"

Out of the water a huge monster of plants rose up and started to swung around with it's arms. The four yelled and they all put on 'battle mode'. Mia shot fire to it and Katara tried to cut it with water. One of the huge planty arms grabbed Sokka and lifted him up the water. Mia succeeded to free Sokka, but she got thrown away by it herself. She bumped up to a tree and fell with her flat face in the mud. Mia ran back to the vine-monster and she saw a shadow in it. "There's someone in there! He's bending the vines!" She yelled. Aang, savior of the day, came by and he blew all the vines away and there was just a man left.

"Why did you calls us anyway if you wanted to kill us?" Aang asked, when the man was unarmed. "No, wait," the man started, "I did not call you here." He looked a bit like Iroh, but then with short messy hair and only a leaf covering his manly parts. "I heard someone calling." Aang said again. "He's the Avatar, things like that happen a lot." Sokka said with his arms crossed over his chest. "The Avatar?" the man asked suprised, "come with me!" The five walked to the big tree, "so who are you?" Mia asked. "I am just a man protecting his home from folk that want to hurt it. Like this guy," he said pointing to Sokka. "See, just a man protecting is home, nothing mysterical." Sokka replied airy.

"Oh it is mysterical. The tree called me as well. This swamp is hidden you see. This tree is the heart of the swamp, and it's roots spread out for miles and miles. one big organism. Just like the whole world is." The man said. "The whole world?" Aang asked confused. The man nodded. "Do you hink you are different than me? Or your friends? No, if you listen hard enough you can hear all the organisms bretahing together, we are all living together, even if some folk don't act like it. We are all of the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree."

"That's beautiful but," Mia said quietly, "what did our visions mean?"

"The swamp let us see people we have lost, people we love and still love. We are still connected to them, time is an illusion and so is death." He replied. Mia smiled brightly and she started to envy the man. "But the girl I saw... I have never met her." Aang said with a big frown on his forehead. "Time is an illusion," Mia said while she thought about it,"maybe you still have to meet her." The man nodded. "Come, let's have dinner together and let me give you a good night sleep," the man said friendly. "Thank you, but we need to find our animals first." Katara said. "I think I know how to find them. Everything is connected. You go along with him, I will bring them back." Aang said and he went into the swamp again.

Mia, Katara and Sokka followed the man. They went to a small village where the swampfolk lived. Aang returned with Appa, Momo and Aoi, and after that they had a delicious meal (including the rabbit) and they told each other stories and sang songs. It was a nice experience and Mia really had learned a lot from them. Aang kept thinking about the girl and Mia about her father. They all went to bed rigjt after midnight and it had been a while since the four had a good and peaceful night.