The woods were dark, vines creating eerie shadows that Sokka was taking full advangtage by telling horrible ghost stories. "Suddenly, they heard something down the hall, in the dark. Oooh... It came into the torchlight. And they knew the blade of Wing - Fun was haunted! Aah-ah..." The water tribe boy draws his sword and wails in an attempt to sound crazy.
"I think I liked "the man with a sword for a hand" better," Aang murmurs, awkwardly scratching his cheek.
Toph scoffs. "Water Tribe slumber parties must stink."
"Did you ever have sleepovers, Lia?" Aang asks suddenly.
Rezalia tilts her head. "Well, I snuck into Zuko's room a lot so yes, but no. We never told stupid stories or braided one anothers hair or have pillow fights- well except that one time but that was mostly because I pissed him off but that's not the point. Yes I slept over but we didn't do typical sleepover things."
"Oh," Katara mutters.
"I do know a story, though," Rezalia offers. The others perk up. "In the heart of the biggest volcano in the Fire Nation, there lies a demon. Trapped away for thousands of years, shackled to the Earth's core, and yearning for a way out. So it crafted a human of molten rock and fire to set him free. Only, the demon had been in that volcano for so long and no longer remembered what a grown human looked like. So it crafted a baby, a child it could mold to it's very whim. However, as the demon layed the the child on the volcano's edge to cool, the nation's bravest warrior saw the child."
"The warrior did not know what the child had been crafted for, what the child was. So, he did what any good man would do and took the child into his home to raise as his own. The warrior's wife was overjoyed to finally have the daughter she had always wished for and the people were happy that their finest warrior would have an heir. On the child's second night among humans, it's true nature was shown."
"Flames the color of the purest snow raged against the stone house, trapping the wife inside and burning her alive. The warrior had not been inside the house at the time of his wife's death but he did return in time to cease the spread of the fire, saving the rest of the town. But he was too late to save the woman he loved. And yet he kept the child, determined to raise it properly and turn it into the greatest fighter to ever grace Fire Nation soil. The people could not understand the warrior's wishes but they respected him and thus respected his wishes."
"The child trained day in and day out, but for years could not control its horrid flames. It burnt down training facility after training facility and yet the warrior continued to train it anyway. For years the child was trained, discipline crafted into its very core. But it was still unstable. The child had been crafted with a purpose. One it could never forget. So, the child stole into the heart of the kingdom and used its twisted words to bend the innocent prince to its will. The great Fire Lord could not save his poor son and was forced to banish him, taking the child along with him so that the demon could never be freed from its prison."
"The child went on a rampage, killing all that it encountered. Nations far and wide came to know of the Fire Nation's greatest shame. A child they could not control, a devil they could not tame. The child still roams the world, searching for a way to gain access back to it's creator and killing all that stand in its path. When the wind howls in the night, it is the pained cries of a not-human child yearning for its maker. When the embers in your campfire burn just a tad too bright, it is a sign that the child is near. When the air grows too still it is a sign that the child is near and it has killed all that breathes around it."
At the end of Rezalia's story, the group was barely breathing. "Lia," Sokka says slowly. "Was that story...about you?"
"Kinda," Rezalia shrugs. "That's the ghost story parents tell their kids to scare them into behaving but it is technically about me. Hardly anything about it is true, though."
"I...see," Katara mutters. "Lia, I mean this as respectfully as possible, that's horrifying."
Rezalia snorts. "Yeah, that's kind of the whole point."
"I think she meant that there are ghost stories about you," Toph interjects. "And that they literally dehumanize you."
The fire bender shrugs. "It's whatever. They've been doing that shit since I was a kid, I really don't care anymore." Rezalia's words did not seem to calm them down.
Toph suddenly lurches forward, pressing a hand to the ground and successfully taking the heat off of Rezalia. "Wait. Guys, did you hear that? I hear people under the mountain, and they're screaming."
"Pft, nice try," Sokka scoffs.
Toph glares in his general direction. "No, I'm serious, I hear something." Rezalia examines her closely. She wasn't lying. Subtly, the fire nation girl reaches under the folds of her skirt and rests her hand on her dagger. Thumbing at the leather handle, she glances around the forest idly.
"You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories," Katara reasons.
Toph frowns. "It just stopped."
"All right, now I'm getting scared," Aang whispers. Rezalia whips her knife out and spins around.
"Hello, children." The others scream at the sudden appearence of the elderly woman. Rezalia's eyes narrow. "Sorry to frighten you, my name is Hama. You children shouldn't be out in the forest by yourselves at night. I have an inn nearby, why don't you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds?"
Sokka nods, face still pale from earlier fright. "Yes, please." Rezalia frowns but sheathes her dagger without protest. Hama leads them through the woods and into a little inn, setteling them down with some tea. Rezalia smiles polietly and sets the cup aside. "Thanks for letting us stay here tonight. You have a lovely inn."
Hama coos. "Aren't you sweet? You know, you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."
"Dissapearing?" Rezalia parrots, eyeing the woman out of the corner of her eye. Hama seemed to be sizing the teen up in much the same way.
"When the moon turns full, people walk in, and they don't come out. Who wants more tea?" She frowns when nobody answers. "Don't worry, you'll all be completely safe here. Why don't I show you to your rooms, and you can get a good night's rest?"
The next morning, Hama drags them all out to shop with her. Rezalia keeps her head low, bangs brushing her eyebrows, in an effort to remain unnoticed. The others chat idly as Rezalia sticks to Sokka's side, his boisterous manner drawing attention away from her lack of prescence. Hama passes her things to Katara and sends them off to the inn. "This is a mysterious little town you have here," Sokka comments, narrowing his eyes at Hama.
"Mysterious town for mysterious children," Hama returns easily, smiling just a bit too wide. Sokka and Rezalia exchange looks.
"That Hama seems a little strange. Like she knows something, or she's hiding something," Sokka remarks as he places the groceries in the cupboards.
Katara scowls at him. "That's ridiculous. She's a nice woman who took us in and gave us a place to stay. She kind of reminds me of Gran-Gran."
"But what did she mean by that comment, 'mysterious children'?"
"Gee, I don't know. Maybe because she found four strange kids, camping in the woods at night? Isn't that a little mysterious?"
"I don't trust that woman as far as I can throw her," Rezalia says firmly, closing the door to the pantry.
Toph smirks. "You could probably throw her pretty far, sparky."
"It's an expression," Rezalia answers, rolling her eyes though she knew Toph couldn't see it.
Sokka ignores them all. "I'm going to take a look around."
Katara whirls around to scold him. "Sokka! Sokka, what are you doing? You can't just snoop around someone's house."
Sokka waves her off as he continues up the stairs. "It'll be fine." He pokes around a bit, though the old woman's house was sparsley decorated. Aang and Katara voice their concerns, anxiously fidgeting as they watch Sokka open various doors. Eventually he comes to a cabniet in the wall that refuses to open.
Rezalia jams her dagger between the panels and pries them open, jumping back when a small group of marionette dolls spring foward. "Ok, that's pretty creepy," Aang admits.
Katara awkwardly closes the doors. "So... she's got a hobby. There's nothing weird about that. Sokka, you've looked enough. Hama will be back soon."
Sokka ignores her once more and copies Rezalia's technique to open a locked room with his sword. Inside lie only a sinlge ornate box. The water tribe boy picks it up and turns it over a few times before surrendering it to Toph who begins to mold her meteroite bracelet into the shape of the lock. Sokka urges her to hurry, both of them ignoring the worried hissing of Aang and Katara. Rezalia makes her way to the single window and gazes out, eyeing the dip in the side of the mountain thoughtfully.
Toph finally manages to open the box, only just beginning to lift the lid when Hama's voice rings out. "I'll tell you what's in the box."
Sokka attempts to hide the box behind his back for a moment before relinqueshing it and watching with bated breath as Hama pulls out the treasure painstakingly slow. In the end, it is revealed to be nothing more than a simple comb. " It's my greatest treasure. It's the last thing I owned from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe."
Hama's words cause Rezalia to whip her head to the side, eyeing the woman with renewed interest.