Avatar Zero
Chapter 21: Tay's Tale
"So?" Niwan asked absentmindedly. "What is it you wanted to tell me?"
The man behind him was staring at the back of Niwan's head sternly. Niwan was sitting in a large room facing a balcony. There was large door behind the man.
"We have finished treating Kunju," the man explained. "His wounds were serious."
"And?" Niwan asked. "You treated him. He will recover."
"Yes but . . ." the man tried to argue.
"Do not concern yourself with Kunju's wellbeing," he said. "Out of all of my personal minions, he is the greatest. He is the only one you don't need to worry about."
"But your son . . ." he started again.
"Will be fine," Niwan insisted, looking at the man angrily.
The man flinched. He lowered his head. Then he bowed and left the room. Niwan sat there alone in silence for a moment.
"He is the only one he doesn't need to worry about, huh?" a voice asked.
A man jumped down onto the balcony. He was wearing a black cloak with a hood. It was pulled over his face, concealing it.
"Speaking of my personal minions," Niwan stated. "Welcome back, Kensu."
The man, Kensu, pulled his hood back, revealing his face. He was a skinny man with sharp cheekbones. He had dark eyes and hair. He had three black stripes painted on his forehead and another stripe beneath each eye.
"Did you find they're hiding place?" Niwan asked.
"Of course," he nodded. "It was harder than I expected with that earthbending master with them, but I was able to follow them undetected. They have a ship one mile from Shinglo City."
"Are they taking the bait?" he asked.
"So it seems," he said. "They did not set sail as of yet. Last night they decided to discuss the situation before doing anything."
"Mm, good," Niwan smiled slyly.
"Are you sure this boy even knows where the jewel is?" Kensu inquired.
Niwan smiled.
"I know that he doesn't," he said. "But if I'm right, and I always am, we'll find the Eye of the Phoenix very soon."
Back on the ship . . .
"Can someone please tell me," Tay grumbled angrily, "how I ended up sharing a room with her?"
Tay pointed angrily across the table at Sukasin. Sukasin was looking back at her, looking just as agitated as Tay.
"You're the only two girls on board," Soshi pointed out. "We thought it would be better if you shared a room."
"You thought wrong!" both girls said in unison.
It was the next morning. Tay and Sukasin had slept in the same room the night before, but did so willingly at the time. They knew the arrangements were made at the last minute and they were too tired to do anything about it at the time. But now they were sitting across from each other at the breakfast table and now had the strength to complain.
Sukuso came into the kitchen. Both girls looked up at him.
"Sukuso!" they cheered, both standing up.
They went up to his sides and each took an arm.
"Come sit by me!" they both said.
"Uh . . ." Sukuso uttered.
"He's sitting by me!" the girls said together once again. "No he's not!"
"Um . . ." Sukuso managed.
"He's my friend," Tay said, tugging Sukuso closer to her.
"Mine too!" Sukasin argued, tugging him away from Tay.
"I'm further away from home, so I need him more!" Tay insisted.
"At least you can go back!" Sukasin pointed out. "I can't! So I need him more!"
"No you don't!" Tay defended.
"Yes I do!" Sukasin said.
"I know we had a rough night last night," Sukuso interjected, "but there's no need for it to go to your heads. I'll just sit in the middle."
Tay and Sukasin looked at each other. They thought about it.
"Fine," they said.
"You both seem on edge," Sukuso noted as they lead him towards the table. "Didn't you sleep well last night?"
"No," Tay muttered. "They put us in the same room."
"So?" Sukuso asked, not getting it.
"We hardly know each other," Tay tried to justify.
Tay sat down at the end of the table. Sukasin stood near her stubbornly.
"And you try sleeping in the room with a masked weirdo," she stated. "Do you have to sleep with that thing on?"
"Yes," Tay snapped.
"Don't worry about her mask, Sukasin," Sukuso said solemnly. He knew it was his fault she wore the mask, and why she hid her face.
"How can I not?" Sukasin persisted. "It felt like she was watching me all night! And I couldn't tell if she really was or not because of that dumb mask."
"My mask isn't dumb!" Tay barked.
"Oh, it's dumb," Sukasin chuckled. She reached for it. "What are you hiding under there anyway?"
Before Tay could do anything, Sukasin snatched the mask away from her face. Her scared face was now visible. The room fell deadly silent.
Sukasin looked at her and her eyes widened. She went pale. She gasped weakly and dropped the mask.
Tay caught it before it hit the floor. She put it back over her face. She stood up forcefully.
"Besides myself," she said firmly, "Sukuso is the only one who can remove this mask."
Tay walked away angrily. She went out into the hallway. Sukuso hurried after her.
"Wait, Tay!" he cried.
Sukasin stood there, unable to move. She hadn't realized what Tay wore the mask for, but now knew what it's purpose was.
"Her face . . ." she uttered, "what happened?"
Soshi sighed softly.
"Sukuso accidentally burned her," he said. "That's one reason he left our home."
Sukasin wasn't sure what to do. She didn't mean to hurt Tay.
But she knew that she had.
Tay walked past Bojin while heading to her room. Bojin had been heading to the kitchen. He stopped and looked at her.
"Tay?" he asked. "What's wrong?"
Sukuso was a ways behind her. Bojin looked at him.
"Something happen?" he asked.
"Sukasin took Tay's mask off," Sukuso said, still heading after Tay.
"Oh," Bojin nodded.
Tay went into her room. She sat on the bed and folded her arms. Her room was mostly empty besides the bed. There was a cot that Sukasin had been sleeping on and Tay's pack in the corner, but nothing else.
Sukuso came into the room slowly. He looked at Tay.
"I'm sorry, Tay," he apologized. "She didn't know."
"I know," she puffed.
"And I . . ." Sukuso started.
"It's not like I'm ashamed of my scar," she interrupted. "I'm don't feel bad that my face is like this. I just . . . don't like how people react to it."
Sukuso went up to her and sat next to her.
"They think they need to feel sorry for me or apologize," she said. "It's not their fault I look like this."
"It's mine," Sukuso stated.
"No, that's not what I meant," she insisted, looking at him. "I wear a mask to hide my scar so that people don't feel like they need to treat me differently. It's to make them feel more comfortable around me."
Bojin came into the room silently. He carefully shut the door. Tay looked away from Sukuso again.
"That's what happened at Zuki Village after you left," she explained. "Everyone thought they had to be careful around me. They'd try so hard not to stare at me so I wouldn't feel uncomfortable, but they stopped looking at me completely. That's what made me uneasy."
Tay felt the mask.
"I wear this so they don't stare at my face or think they shouldn't stare," she said. "And new people that I meet don't have to know and feel bad about it. I don't want them to feel sorry for me. That's why I wear it."
"So much changed after that day," Sukuso sighed. "You used to be able to smile at everyone. Now you have to hide your smile."
"A lot did change," Bojin agreed, "but some of it was for the better."
"What all happened after I left?" Sukuso asked.
"That's right," Tay remembered, "we haven't gotten a chance to tell you yet."
"Now is as good as time as any," Bojin said, sitting on the cot that Sukasin had slept on.
"Yes, tell me everything," Sukuso agreed.
"Okay," Tay nodded. "I guess we'll start the day after you left . . ."
Author's Note: Sorry for the interruption! All of the flashbacks will be in first person to help make it a little less confusing when it switches back to the story. Either Bojin or Tay will be narrating. Now back to our regularly written fan fiction.
The day after Sukuso left Zuki Village . . .
"Sukuso's gone?" I asked.
My mother nodded at me sadly. I was sitting in a bed which was in a hastily built shelter. Because all the huts had been burned down, they built a large shelter for the injured to sleep under until homes could be built.
I had been sleeping most of the day before, but didn't sleep well. My injury to the face burned badly and kept me in almost constant pain. They had wrapped my face in bandages which helped soothe the pain at least a little.
"Why did he go?" I asked.
"He felt like he had to," my mother shrugged. "Zazai said he had to go. Most of the villagers agreed. And I'm sure he felt so bad about all the damage he caused . . . he probably wanted to get away."
I looked away from her.
"How . . . could he leave me like this?" I asked.
My mother moved to my side and sat next to me. She wrapped her arms around me.
"I don't think he knew what else to do," she sighed.
I wanted to cry, but had to fight it back. Tears made my burn hurt even more.
Sukuso, I thought, you didn't have to go. You should have stayed . . .
Someone walked up to us. My mother and I looked up. It was Bojin. He looked tired and like he was in some sort of daze. His clothes were dirty and torn a little.
"What happened?" my mother asked, standing up.
Bojin stumbled forward a little. My mother helped him sit down on the cot she had been sitting on before moving to my side.
"I . . . went looking . . . for him," Bojin stammered. "I couldn't . . . find him . . ."
"Bojin," my mother said sadly.
"If only they had let me go sooner," he uttered, his voice cracking. "But mother . . . she had them watch me . . . I couldn't go until . . . I looked all night but . . . He's gone . . . he's really gone."
Bojin covered his face and sobbed.
"Sukuso's gone!" he cried.
My mother tried to comfort him. I looked away from the both of them.
I couldn't fight the tears anymore, no matter how much they hurt.
Sukuso sighed.
"I didn't mean to hurt either of you so badly," he admitted. "I just . . . couldn't stay. I thought you'd be better off without me."
"You can never be better off without someone you care about," Bojin pointed out.
"And we didn't just miss you," Tay added. "We were worried about you. We had no idea where you were or where you were going or even if you were safe. We didn't know what had happened to you."
"I don't remember a whole lot after I left," Sukuso recalled. "I wandered around for two weeks or so, that much I know. I didn't want to eat anything. After everything that had happened and since I didn't eat, I was pretty weak. It's all pretty fuzzy until I reached Sanyun City and Miss Jinko took care of me." Sukuso rubbed the back of his head. "But I guess hearing it now wouldn't have helped you back then."
"No," Bojin agreed. "All we could do is wait around for any news about your whereabouts and worry until we did."
"I'm sorry," Sukuso apologized.
"Don't worry about it," Tay said. "It's in the past now."
Tay leaned back a and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully.
"But you know," she said, "it felt like an eternity waiting for any news. And the village was so different after you were gone. It didn't feel much like home anymore."
Master Soshi was removing the bandages from my face carefully. Over the last several weeks, they had been changed periodically to be kept clean. Soshi said they probably weren't needed anymore.
"But I don't think the scar will ever go away," he added carefully.
He finished with the bandages and sighed as he looked at me. I felt my face. It didn't feel the same.
I looked at my reflection in a pale of water next to us. This wasn't the first time I looked at myself. I had a few weeks earlier before they applied new bandages.
Some of the red gone away, and the swelling had gone down a bit, but the disfiguration was pretty much the same.
I didn't look like the same Tay anymore.
It was a strange feeling to look at my reflection and to see a complete stranger but know it was me. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about that, so I tried to just feel nothing.
"Will you be okay?" he asked me.
I leaned back.
"I will be," I promised. I smiled softly. "I just wish . . . Sukuso was here."
Soshi sighed again.
"As do I," he said. "I hope that someday . . . he is able to return."
He looked up at some of the villagers, going about their business. Zuki Village had been rebuilt in the time that had passed, and life was beginning to return to normal.
"But a lot must change before then," he said. "If Sukuso ever does return, it will be hard to continue this charade of him being the Avatar. But if the lie is revealed . . . I'm not sure what is going to happen anymore."
"I don't care," I said, determined. "I don't care about how everyone sees Sukuso or Zazai . . . I just want Sukuso back."
Soshi smiled.
"Let us hope we'll be reunited under perfect circumstances," he said.
Soshi got up and carried the bandages away. I looked around for a moment. I had seen how my face had changed, as had Soshi or my mother while treating me . . . but no one else in the village had.
What would . . . they do when they saw?
I wasn't sure. I also didn't want to know the answer.
I tried to get used to the stares.
It didn't work.
In the week that followed removing the bandages, I felt like people were constantly staring at me. Most of the time, this was true. Other times, I think I was just being paranoid.
I walked through Zuki Village, trying to act like everything was normal. The villagers didn't play along, however, and some of them were watching me as I tried to go about my business.
A woman and her child were in front of me a ways, watching me as I approached. As I neared, the woman took the child by the hand and pulled him out of the way. Far out of the way. It was like they thought I needed a lot of room to walk. They didn't actually even need to move. There was plenty of room with them standing there. But they still moved out of my way.
Many people did that. How much room do they think I need to walk?
I tried to ignore it. The stares continued.
I noticed three boys from our earthbending class, watching me from afar. I waved to them as I would have normally.
"Hi!" I called to them.
They hesitated. They waved and then looked away from me, trying to pretend they hadn't really been paying attention.
"Hey, Tay," they said dully.
This was another thing that been happening a lot. They would stare, I'd acknowledge them, and they'd try to act like they hadn't been staring. They didn't do a very good job.
Finally frustrated with the people of the village, I wandered out into the forest.
These people. They would stare at me when they thought I didn't notice. Then when I would try to talk to them, they wouldn't look me in the eye. They'd try to look somewhere else.
I wanted things to be back to the way they were before, but I knew that couldn't happen. Not as long as the people acted the way about my face. Not as long as I had this scar.
Not as long as Sukuso was gone.
If only Sukuso was here, I thought. If only I had his support . . . this would be so much easier.
But I had no idea where Sukuso was. I had no way of knowing if he was okay. I had no way of knowing if and when he'd be back.
I leaned against a boulder. I couldn't take the stares anymore. I had to do something to make it better. To make things easier.
I pulled my right arm back. I forced my fingers into the rock. I did the same with the left. Then I pulled back. A chuck of the rock broke away.
The next step was shaping and smoothing it out. I hit away pieces of it. I then started turning some of it to sand to wear away the finer details.
The last step was cutting two slits. I forced two fingers through it to create them. Then I held it out and examined the mask I had created. It was plain, but it didn't need to be fancy to do what I needed it to.
I placed the mask over my face. It would hide the scar for me.
At least until the stares stopped.
Author's Note: The next few chapters will continue to explain what happened after Sukuso left Zuki Village and how Tay and Bojin arrived in the fire nation. Then we'll get back to the problem with saving Sukasin's parents. Just so you know.