Wild At Heart (Zuko)

Chapter Sixty-Five

The sun is setting when Kali swings down from the tree, a vine wrapped around her wrist to keep her safe and secure. Sokka jumps slightly when she drops down at her side, but he offers her a smile. No harm done. Despite her love for Zuko, Sokka has grown to like her. She's bright and hard to hate. Which he has easily discovered. She's too bubbly to hate. No matter who she loves. They've also come to see her as a great compassion measure. She's morally good. If she wouldn't do it, then they don't do it. Though she and Toph have clashed on a couple of things, but even Toph knows that she means well. Kali wants to protect everyone, even the Fire Nation.

"Don't do that" Sokka scolds weakly as he hands over the food bowl in his hand. Kali chuckles as she takes it.

"I thought you were supposed to be a mighty warrior that could see danger coming from miles away" She teases, repeating words he has said to her. Katara laughs from across the fire, earning a glare from her brother. Aang smiles watching the three of them. It could have been awkward. It could have been. With Kali being loyal to Fire Nation exiles, it could have been a lot harder for them to blend together, but she's sort of a balm. She can be a barrier between clashing personalities that takes some of the tension away from them. Sokka turns that look on Kali but it softens when he sees her smiling softly at her food. It's hard to stay mad at her for anything. He nudges her and she chuckles, showing that she meant no harm in her statement. She never means anything by it. It's just the way that she is. Sokka thinks she is incapable of being mean.

..........

Later, after the sun has set and dinner has been eaten and enjoyed, the small group of teenagers sit in front of the campfire together. Their small tents are set up. Katara pushed them to allow Kali a night off from bending them comforts for a few days, she feels bad when Kali goes out of her way and pushes her bending to give them these elaborate campsites. They don't need them. But maybe they can come up with some happy medium where they are safe and warm and dry but she isn't pushing herself so much. She doesn't need to show off for them. Aang is far too attached to her for them to ever kick her out and he does need a naturebender. Plus they've all grown really fond of her and her cheery personality. They are currently telling ghost stories, though for Kali that's not really a thing she knows. Obviously, she didn't grow up with scary stories, in fact, she was pretty much living her own ghost story.

"Suddenly, they heard something down the hall in the dark" Sokka recounts, leaning forward to appear sinister in the firelight, but it's not really all that scary. "Oooh ... It came into the torchlight ... and they knew the blade of Wing Fung was haunted!" Sokka draws his sword, stands up and points it toward the fire; then yells dramatically. "Ooh-aaah!" It is silent after that, none of them give him the reaction that he wanted. Toph, Kali, Katara, and Aang all look unimpressed and unamused, though Kali's is a little softer. She still liked the story, she just didn't find it scary.

"I think I like "the man with a sword for a hand" better" Aang admits as he leans against Kali's side.

"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink" Toph states causing Sokka to shoot her a dirty look, which goes missed, of course.

"No, wait!" Katara leans up now. "I've got one! And this is a true Southern Water Tribe story" Sokka narrows his eyes as he sits back down at the fire.

"Is this one of those "a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to" stories?"

"No, it happened to Mom" Katara argues. Sokka stiffens slightly at the mention of their mother. "One winter when Mom was a girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, Mom noticed 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!"" Sokka stiffens in fear. "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" Aang uses Momo's ears to cover his face in fear.

"Where'd she go?" Sokka asks, a slight whimper to his tone. Kali has leant forward a little to listen intently to the story.

"No one knows. Nini's house stands empty to this day, but sometimes, people see smoke coming up from the chimney, like little Nini is still trying to get warm" Katara finishes, looking pleased with the reactions around the fire.

"What is the point of these stories?" Kali asks, turning to Katara slightly.

"They are meant to be fun" Katara answers. "Scary fun" Kali frowns at her.

"Oh" She whispers.

"Did you not like them?" Katara inquires. Kali shrugs a little in response, she's not sure how she feels about them. They don't scare her and whilst entertaining, there are better stories that can do that too.

"It was....different" Kali offers softly. "But not bad" She assures Katara who gives her a soft smile. Suddenly, Toph straightens up and places her hands on the ground.

"Wait! Guys, did you hear that?" Toph asks, her hand touching the ground beneath her. "I hear people under the mountain. And they're screaming"

"Pfft! Nice try" Sokka scolds, leaning back on his hands. Kali frowns a little and glances back over her shoulders as the trees shift and move.

"No, I'm serious. I hear something" Toph argues.

"I feel it too" Kali assures her. "But there is something else too....I think we're being watched"

"You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories...." Katara counters, Kali hums but shakes her head. She's sure of it. The trees are unnerved and scared. Too scared to even voice what it is that is actually scaring them. Toph pulls her hand back from the ground.

"It just....stopped" Toph states with a small frown.

"Alright, now I'm getting scared" Aang admits, clutching to Momo who clings back to him, Bing on his back shaking. Ran-Ya seems content to sleep through the whole thing, curled up in Kali's lap.

"Hello, children" A voice from the trees greets them, and given what they were just talking about, it does send them all into a bit of a scared panic. They scream, scrambling to their feet to find the source of the voice. An elderly woman emerges from the shadows of the trees. "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?" She asks them with a small smile that Kali thinks is supposed to be comforting but it reminds her way to much of Raya to give her any level of comfort. It makes her incredibly uncomfortable and unnerved.

"Yes, please" Sokka answers, sheepishly. Kali shakes her head. She doesn't want to go with this woman, but she can't in good faith let them go with her without her. If something is wrong here, if something is off about this woman and they got hurt, she would feel terrible. And with the way nature is reacting to the presence of this woman, something is really wrong here. She turns to glance at the Hama who smiles wider at them before she begins walking away, expecting them to follow her.