The next couple days of travel were quiet. One night, just before the full moon, they decided to camp out like normal kids camped out. Including telling ghost stories.  This did not make Kouji a happy camper, and he'd climbed up the tree the others were under to avoid the stories.  Did that make him a possum-chicken?  Most likely.  But he didn't care.

Fortunately, at least Sokka's turn wasn't all that scary, despite his best efforts. "...Suddenly, they heard something down the hall in the dark. Oooooooo....It came into the torchlight, and they knew: the blade of Wikpa was haunted!" He made another silly noise.

"...I think I liked 'The Man with a Sword for a Hand better," Aang said.

Kouji shook his head and sighed, stretching out full-length along the branch over Sokka's head and wrapping his arms around it to maintain his balance.  It wasn't really necessary, but the colonist was not going to admit how badly he needed to cling to something.

"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink," Toph agreed with Aang.

"No, wait, I've got one," Katara said. "And this is a true Southern Water Tribe story."

"Is this one of those 'a friend of my cousin knew some guy this happened to' stories?" Sokka asked.

"No," Katara said, quietly. "It happened to Mom."

That seemed to attract the others' interest, and Kouji considered climbing higher.

"One winter, when Mom was a girl," she continued, "a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, Mom realized she hadn't seen her friend Nini since the storm, so Mom and some others went to check on Nini's family. When they got there, no one was home, just a fire, flickering in the fireplace. While the men went out to search, Mom stayed in the house. When she was alone, she heard a voice. 'It's so cold, and I can't get warm...' Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire. She was blue, like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help, but, when everyone came back, Nini was gone."

"Wh-where'd she go?" Sokka asked.

"No one knows. But Nini's house stands empty to this day. And sometimes, people see smoke coming up from the chimney, like little Nini is still trying to get warm. "

Kouji clung tighter to the tree branch.  Being unable to get warm?  That was hell for his people, and his being an earthbender didn't change that fact.  And if the story was true…  the boy shuddered.

Toph suddenly sat up straighter. "Guys, did you hear that? There's people, under the mountain! And they're screaming!"

"…please tell me you're joking," whimpered Kouji.

Sokka seemed to think she was. "Nice try."

"No, I'm serious," the earthbender insisted. "I hear something!"

"You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories," Katara said.

"...It just stopped..." Toph said.

Relieved, Kouji relaxed completely, letting go of the branch.  He had a feeling he was going to be up all night now.

Aang, on the other hand, wasn't comforted. "All right, now I'm getting scared."

"Hello, children," an unfamiliar voice said from the shadows.

Kouji joined in on the mass scream, falling from the tree as the others ran from the voice.  Only barely was the youngest of them able to twist enough to land in a crouch.

On the other side of the fire, in shadow, was an old woman, smiling. She came into the light. "Sorry to frighten you," she said. "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?"

Kouji just stared, his eyes wide and his body trembling.  Definitely going to be up all night, he managed to think.

"Yes, please," Sokka answered for the group, high-pitched.

Hama smiled again and led them to a nearby town and up a hill to her inn. Inside, it was warm and pleasant.

"Thanks for letting us stay here tonight," Katara said, as the old woman was pouring them tea. "You have a lovely inn."

"Aren't you sweet," Hama said. "You know, you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."

Kouji let out a quiet whimper, cringing down in his chair.

"What do you mean, disappearing?" Sokka asked.

"When the moon turns full, people walk in… and they don't come out," Hama answered. Her tone then brightened. "Who wants more tea?"

I'd rather hide under the table, Kouji thought, not realising he was shaking again.

"Don't worry," the old woman said, smiling, when all the others just stared at her. "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?"

Kouji nearly balked when given a room to himself — being alone was the very last thing he wanted — but he went in and tried to get some sleep.

And failed miserably.  The inn creaked in the wind, and the boy could swear he could hear every time somebody moved.  Finally, thoroughly freaked out, Kouji huddled in the middle of the bed, clinging to his wakizashi and shaking.

The next morning, Toph came to collect him. "We're going shopping. Did you sleep at all?"

He peeked out at her from under the blankets.  "No…"

Toph nodded. "You wanna stay behind and try and sleep now, or come shopping?"

"Is anyone else staying?" Kouji asked, cursing mentally at the tremor in his voice.

"Don't think so."

"Th-then I'm going too," he declared.  There was no way he was being left alone right now.

"Okay, then." She led him down to the main room, where the others were waiting.

Katara and Hama seemed to handle most of the shopping, with Toph just tagging along and Kouji and the other boys serving as pack mules.  Out in the sunlight and around people, Kouji relaxed considerably, though he couldn't stop yawning.  "You okay?" Aang asked him

"Couldn' sleep," the younger boy answered.  "Too scared.  Better in the sun."

"Okay."

"You won't have any ash bananas until next week?" a dismayed patron was asking one of the food sellers nearby.

"Well, I have to send the boy to Hing Wa Island to get them, and it's a two-day trip."

"Oh, right. Tomorrow's the full moon."

"Exactly. I can't lose another delivery boy in the woods."

"….when we leave, can we leave during the day?" Kouji asked Aang.

"Well, we don't really travel at night anyway," Aang pointed out, and then Sokka cut in.

"People disappearing in the woods? Weird stuff during full moons? This just reeks of Spirit World shenanigans."

"I bet if we take a little walk around town, we'll find out what these people did to the environment to make the spirits mad," Aang said, thoughtfully.

"And then you can sew up this little mystery lickety-split, Avatar style!" Sokka concluded delightedly.

"Helping people," Aang said, a little pleased with himself. "That's what I do."

"Could we not mention the whole Avatar thing in public?" Kouji wanted to know.

Before Aang could answer, Hama called back to them. "Why don't you all take those things back to the inn? I just have to run a couple more errands. I'll be back in a little while."

"This is a mysterious little town you have here," Sokka said, staring right into the old woman's eyes.

Hama smiled at him. "Mysterious town for mysterious children." She turned and walked away.

"…that was unnecessarily creepy," said Kouji.

"Come on, let's go back to the inn," Toph said, hefting the giant basket she was carrying.

"Yes.  I'm definitely for that," the boy agreed.

None of the others objected, and they went back to the inn and stowed the food.

"That Hama seems a little strange," Sokka said, thoughtfully, once they were safe within the walls. "Like she knows something, or she's hiding something."

"That's ridiculous," Katara said. "She's a nice woman who took us in and gave us a place to stay. She kinda reminds me of Gran-Gran."

"But what did she mean by that comment 'mysterious children'?" Sokka persisted.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe because she found five strange kids camping in the woods at night? Isn't that a little mysterious?"

"It isn't like it's a common thing for five kids to run around without an adult," Kouji added.

"I'm gonna take a look around," Sokka said, then started off before anyone else could comment. The others followed.

"If you stay, put the food away," Toph told Kouji before following.

"I am not staying anywhere alone!"  Kouji followed as well.

"Sokka!" Katara called after her brother, outraged. "Sokka, what are you doing? You can't just snoop around someone's house!"

"It'll be fine," Sokka insisted.

"She could be home any minute!" Aang protested.

"Sokka, you're gonna get us all in trouble," Katara added. "And this is just plain rude!"

"I'm not finished yet," he replied, fighting with a locked cabinet. "Come on..." He finally jerked it open and a handful of puppets spilled out.  Kouji let out a somewhat girly shriek and hid behind Toph.

"Okay," Aang said, staring at the puppets. "That's pretty creepy."

"So she's got a hobby," Katara said, shutting the cabinet. "There's nothing weird about that." Despite this, she did sound a little less certain than she had before. Catching sight of her brother moving on, she regained her high horse. "Sokka, you've looked enough. Hama will be back soon!"

Sokka had gotten up to a locked door in the attic. "Just an ordinary puppet-loving innkeeper, huh? Then why does she have a locked door up here?"

"Probably to keep people like you from snooping through her stuff!"

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

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

"Maybe it has souls," Kouji retorted.

"Souls don't fit in boxes, stupid," she said, punching his arm.

"Remind me to tell you some legends sometime," he told her.

"Sokka, what are you doing?" Katara yelped, as her brother tried to jimmy the door open with his sword. "You're breaking into a private room!"

"I have to see what's in there!" he retorted, then got the door open.

"…yeah, I'm gonna wait in the hall," Kouji said.

"Possum-chicken," Toph said derisively as she followed the others in.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Aang said, as Sokka picked up the box and started fiddling with it.

"Maybe there's a key here somewhere..." the older boy said, looking around.

"Oh! Hand it over," Toph said, then took off her space-earth bracelet and shaped it into a key.

"Come on, come on!" Sokka said, hovering.

"This isn't as easy as it looks," she shot back.

"Guys, I don't know about this..." Aang protested again.

Current Location: my bed
Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Gasoline - Enter the Haggis
Tags: au, avatar, fanfic, sf gaangline, small flame