[Word count: 5,166]

| chapter seven |

\ the voice thief /

I think I made a mistake.

I have no idea why I thought this was going to go exactly how I planned it. Because so far? It's gone nowhere but downhill. I tried asking Zhao certain questions to get the answers that I wanted out of him, but he either ignored me or played hard-to-get, or adverted the subjected onto something else. And it was getting really annoying.

But I kept trying. I followed him around deck as we were docking by a village, probably to gather supplies or to rest. Perhaps both. It wouldn't be long until the sun would share a kiss with the sea.

"Where is Hoshi?" I demanded an answer, keeping any traces of cracks from my vocals. "Do not lie to me, Zhao."

Zhao gave a side grin as he continued to walk, "Tell me where the Avatar is headed and I'll consider giving you the answer. You have my word."

I knew I couldn't just betray Aang like that, not after I clearly gained their trust. So I did what I had to do... "He's headed to Ba Sing Se, now where's Hoshi?"

He sneered with a chuckle, "You think it's that easy to fool me? Come now, Midori, you know me better than that."

"You gave me your word." I crossed my arms, brows stitched with a slight hint of rage.

"I did." He agreed with a nod. "But only if you told me the truth."

"How-" I was cut off.

"Because Ba Sing Se is more towards the East; they're going North." Zhao opens up the door for the mechanics room, as he turns back to me. "If you're going to lie to me next time, you could at least do it well. Practice more, Midori." He gives a sly smile.

He then notified, "And I thought you should know - since I am in a decent mood tonight, you need new bandages, those ones are getting too old." As he then shut the door in my face.

My face turns red as my blood boils, but then I roll my eyes in defeat and let out a tired sigh. The sun was inches from the sea and my head grew tired. I know I shouldn't let what he says get into my head but I couldn't help it, my insecurities were louder than my self-confidence. And so I gripped the bandages and tapped on my wrist in the rhythm that I normally did for Kaz.

He was right though; they were getting kind of old. Only a little bit though, but I was far too tired to even think of that right now.

I knocked on the metal door. And Zhao responded, "Your reasoning for disrupting me better be good."

"I'm going to sleep early tonight, just wanted you to know, I guess." I mentally shrugged. "Since you're so prominent with wherever I am."

He didn't answer back, so I just assumed he understood as I headed down to the lower deck of the ship. And like Zuko's ship, this one was just has hot as well. But what did I expect? It's a Fire Nation ship, of course it'll feel like I'm living on the surface of the sun.

Kaz cradled his head into his shoulders and nuzzled closer to my neck, I could tell he was uncomfortable with the place. And I couldn't blame him because so was I.

Making our way through the halls of the lower deck I noticed one of the many doors cracked open, and I was confused on why. The doors on Zuko's ship always seemed to be closed no matter the case, it was probably formal to them or something. So it was strange to see one that was cracked open, even though this was Zhao's ship.

And - well, curiosity got the best of me. Kaz and I both looked both ways and seeing as nobody was around down here, I quickly slip through the door and closed it enough to where it was a crack again, so that way if someone were to pass by they didn't think the door changed out of nowhere.

It was a rather dark room, but there was a desk and surrounding it were a few drawers with stuff on them. A few lit candles showed bundles of scrolls by the dozen stacked around and amongst each other.

I pursed my lips at the sight. Should I be in here? Was this yet another mistake? I shouldn't even be surprised, all I make are mistakes, half of the time anyway.

But of course I couldn't help myself as I shift my way to the desk full of scrolls. I grabbed one and read the tiny lettering that was printed at the flap.

"'Property of Wan Shi Tong's library'." I read aloud in a hushed tone. I tilted my head lightly, "Hm," I hummed.

I looked to Kaz as he hopped off of my shoulder and onto the desk, "Kaz, have you heard of this library of Wan Shi Tong before?" I raised a brow.

He looked up to me and proceeded to shrug, as he went back to waddling all over the desk and looking around at other interesting items.

I nodded, "Me neither."

I know I shouldn't be here or even be doing this for that matter, but my curiosity was at its very peek. I needed to know what Zhao was hiding. Who knows, maybe I'll find answers about Hoshi, or why he did what he did in the past.

The makeshift pillow was at my feet as I shuffle through the many scrolls, but as I look through the bunch of them I begin to realize these aren't normal scrolls. There are no answers about Hoshi or any past events, my eyebrows scrunch up in pure confusion and a tad bit of shock.

These are spirits. And now I really feel like I shouldn't be in here...

I came upon a scroll about two fish named 'Tui' and 'La', and it talked about them being the moon spirit, but I was clueless on any of this type of stuff. I had no idea what to think about it.

Kaz squawked and I shushed him, but he continued. "You're gonna get us caught, now hush."

But then he jumped on top of the stack of scrolls in front of me and I flinched a little, he had one in his beak that looked rather old, possibly one of the oldest ones in this room, in fact. He let go of the bottom flap and it rolled open and needless to say... I found it very interesting.

I took the scroll from him and began to look it over, as he cooed and stepped to the side. I pulled the chair out and began to examine it.

This spirit was called 'Yoon'. And it had a sketch of it's face.

And I was in a little bit of shock when I see that it wore a fox mask as coverage for its face, the same exact sly fox mask that I kept from the Fire Festival...

It even had the same markings in the same places, eye slits and the pointed ears. Everything. The only thing that made both of our masks different was the fact that the snout of its was shattered, so it sloped over its nose and looped around its cheek bones. I could see the spirits sly grin mimicking the mask had it been full.

The scroll didn't seem too long, so I decided to read what was written.

>*<

YOON

She is a very intriguing spirit in particular, one who is very tricky and easily aggravated but can often be friendly if it pleases her to do so. She is noted as a very glitchy spirit, its almost like she does not belong in this world or even; realm. Her body buzzes and twitches but she is unmoving, unless she begins to move herself.

Upon further research; it was known that she was an Air Nomad when she was alive. She even earned her tattoos at a fast pace. She was known to be very talented in her bending skills.

She does not have A voice. She has Many voices.

Similar to Koh, the face stealer. Yoon is the thief of voices. her voice box is a radio-like instrument that holds all of the voices she takes and she uses them to lure the victims who are unexpecting.

If you're lost in a dark forest alone and you hear a voice seducing you or asking for help, chances are it's Yoon and you shouldn't be tempted and continue to move along.

She will often use the voice of a child sobbing and feeling lonely, and with the child's voice she will ask you if you know where her parents are and can you help her find them.

She also uses the voice of a desperate woman in trouble and she is begging for help.

And on rare occasions, if your loved one has already had their voice stolen by Yoon. She will use their voice to manipulate you and lure you, because she knows you follow the voice of the one you love the most. She will tell you, in their voice, to follow her and she will happily return the voice.

But do not be fooled. The moment she gets you close enough, she strikes and you just lost your voice forever.

But beware; this is not the only thing this creepy spirit can do. Do not underestimate Yoon, for she also has powerful abilities and is tied at the seams with the-

>*<

"With the..." I scrunched my eyes and shook my head, I did not understand. "With the what?" I did my best to use my indoor voice as I didn't want to give myself away in this room.

I don't understand. That's it. The rest of the scroll looks torn, it was ridged and scratchy. Where was the other half of it? It was like someone tore the bottom half and hid it somewhere, as though they didn't want anyone else knowing the rest of the information about this spirit; Yoon.

But where did they hide it? I wondered. Maybe Zhao didn't notice the other half missing when he took it with the others.

But of course my thoughts were interrupted the moment I heard hefty footsteps against the metal of the ship, stroll down the hallway. They were headed this way.

With sheer panic I roll up Yoon's scroll and tried my best to make the desk look nice and back to normal, like I hadn't just been through it not too long ago. I take Yoon's scroll with me as Kaz jumps into my arms.

And the second the door swings open I disappear behind it, still in the room as the man enters. As I hold Kaz and the scroll tight to my chest. I take a little peak and just as expected, it was Zhao. I hold my breath and hoped he couldn't feel the beat of my heart through the metal as it pounded against the cage of my chest at a rapid pace, I could hear it in my ears.

He moved around the desk and to the drawers next to it, as I looked to his feet and noticed that I had left my makeshift pillow at the floor near his boots. And I mentally cursed myself for that.

Kaz had chosen the worst time as he let out a low coo and I quickly clasped my hands over his beak and forced it shut, holding him and the scroll even tighter to my chest. I saw Zhao's ear twitch at the sound of my messenger hawk, as he tilted his head towards the door where the sound came from. As I buried myself further into the shadows.

I clenched my eyes shut and bit my lip so harsh I almost bled, as I heard his hefty footsteps come closer. It was in this moment I wish I could metal bend, like Iroh had mentioned. But alas, with no practice and no earth anywhere inside this metal room; I was rendered as useless.

Opening my eyes I see his hand grab onto the door and the second he was about to reveal where I was hidden, a voice was heard from above, "Sir!" Zhao paused and listened. "What are the orders for the night shift?" They sounded curious.

Zhao sighed, "I told you numbskulls an hour ago!" He exited the room and closed the door back to the slit like it was before as his footsteps vanished into the distance.

I took in a breath and let it out slowly, I let Kaz climb onto my shoulder as I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

That was close. Too close.

I didn't waste another second, I scooped up my makeshift pillow and got out of the room as soon as possible. I could only assume that this was Zhao's headquarters or higher cabin, or something or the sort. I should've known but I was too foolish with the scrolls to pay much attention.

I'm an idiot.

***

I had been laying in this small bed of mine - more of a guest bed, to be fair - for quite some time and the ship hasn't moved a single wave, so that had me assuming we were still ported. I began to wonder how many supplies Zhao needed before we could sail again.

I was mostly uncomfortable as I had no pillow. I did make Kaz a promise back at Jeong Jeong's, and he won fair and square. So, I gave him the pillow. I guess I could've used the makeshift pillow, but, I decided against it. I saw no point to that.

I don't know what it was about tonight, but I couldn't fall asleep. Every time I closed my eyes they would just open again, again and again. So I was stuck with staring at Yoon's scroll I had placed on the bedside table.

Honestly, for a guest room on a metal ship, this was rather nice. I didn't expect a guy like Zhao would assign me such a room. I wasn't changing my mind about him; I never will. But, it was a nice little gesture, that's all I'm saying.

That's a promise to myself.

But as I laid there in nothing but the sound of the ocean waves crashing against each other, an idea began to stir in my mind.

I needed to escape. Whether I would go search for Aang and his friends or find my way home, I wouldn't know. I'd figure that out later.

But all I know is, I couldn't stay here with Zhao. I feel helpless without my bending and I haven't even started thinking about metal bending like Iroh had mentioned before. I felt very uneasy and unsafe here and it was clear that Zhao wouldn't give me the answers that I wanted. And he likely never will.

So, an idea lit up in my mind like the twist of a rusted light-bulb.

Kaz gave a tiny chirp as I sat up in our bed; I quickly bring my finger to my lips as he silences himself.

I looked through the closet for any sort of clothing that I could use for my plan of escape. Until I found this very long looking cloak. It wasn't like the one that I had worn at the Fire Festival. This one was longer, a little past my knee caps. The only main difference was this cloak didn't seem to have a hood on it.

I then took the fox mask out of the makeshift pillow and began to conjure up more of an idea. I grabbed Yoon's scroll and opened it, I studied the way her mask looked and how her hair was.

Was this theft of an identity? I wasn't completely sure. To be fair, she does steal voices. And seeing as her mask was broken in half, revealing only her mouth and jaw. It actually made a lot of sense, because if there was mask in front of her mouth, how else would she take voices?

As much as I loved the beauty of this mask when it was full, I did it for the escape plan. I slammed the bottom jaw on it against the nightstand that was partly made of metal, like the rest of the ship. And it shattered in a way it almost seemed poetic. But now it was in the shape that I wanted, this was very similar to Yoon's mask, now. Nearly identical.

I flinched at the loud sound it had made, though, when it hit the nightstand. I just hoped nobody heard it and let out a breath to calm myself down.

I wasn't fully satisfied with the wardrobe choice that I picked, but it was a work in progress. I'd have to add to it later when I find and gather more things, down the line.

I put the fox mask on, that was now broken and looked into the mirror, through the slits. I studied how it perfectly covered my face, but revealed my mouth and jaw. Just like how it looked on Yoon's scroll. This was perfect. This would work.

But I had noticed a detail that would more than likely give me away; my hair. Everyone here knew I braided my hair and tied it up into a braided bun with a red ribbon. That red ribbon was given to me by my mother a long time ago, and I always used it in my hair.

My mother used it in her hair too. We are the same.

I pulled my red ribbon from it's bow form as the braid loosened, as I then uncurled the braid and pulled it out of the few tangles so it wouldn't knot. It was almost strange seeing my hair down, I'm so used to having it up in a braided bun that I almost forgot I had long hair.

I looked down at my ribbon and wondered what I'd do with it. But it wasn't long until I figured what I'd do.

I quickly decided that it would make for a nice necklace, as I wrapped it around my throat and tied it into a small bow. Both ends of the ribbon draped down over my chest as the bow hugged my throat like a smooth choker.

I sat on the edge of the bed and looked over the scroll once again. I remembered it saying something about Yoon being an Air Nomad - which reminds me of Aang, come to think of it - and that she had tattoos - which also reminds me of Aang. And so, I looked at her scroll closely, I looked at her. Studying her as much as possible.

With a closer look I was able to see some faint hint of her tattoos right on her head. It was between her mask and her hairline, it was faint, but it was there. The mask hid it, but I was only able to see the lining of the tattoos as much as it showed me in between both her hair and the mask. And I was sure it was just the fact that it was the ink that made her tattoos look black instead of blue. Maybe they ran out of blue.

I set the scroll back onto the bedside table, got up and looked through the drawers that these dressers had, that were around the room. I then found what I was looking for, a small bottle of ink. Black ink, to be exact. I knew Zhao would have ink somewhere in every room, everyone seems to.

But as I stared at the ink, I couldn't help but pause and think for a minute. Was this a good thing to do? Should I really be painting on an arrow under this fox mask and on my hands to mimic Yoon? Or is this offensive? I'm not an Air Nomad... can I really...?

I remember Oka once telling me to not anger the spirits or I will regret it. And so with that I shake my head and put the ink back into the dresser drawer. This was wrong. The fox mask and cloak was enough.

It may not have been the perfect reflection of Yoon, I don't actually know how she looked around her body, considering the scroll only has a painting of her head. But, it was gonna be enough for now.

"Kaz, come." I bring out my arm as he hops on and I take the scroll and hide it in my cloak. "It's time to go."

He then climbs up to my shoulder as I open the door and we both look side-to-side, down both hallway corridors. It was a little hard to see through the slits of the fox mask, but at least it was easy to breathe, considering I broke the snout of it.

We make our way down the hallway as quiet as we can and made it to the top of the deck. I saw that we were still docked, so I figured they planned to stay the night and set sail in the morning. But that was kind of obvious, I guess.

Even it Zhao saw me I was sure that he wouldn't recognize who I was under the mask. As he hasn't seen me with my hair fully down in a very long time now, it's been years in my sixteen years of life, thus far.

I had made it down the ramp and onto the pier rather quickly, I realized how easy that actually was and found it kind of strange. But I didn't let that distract me as I instantly darted into the trees and ducked through the underbrush.

But my escape plan had come to a halt when I heard the sound of yelling. Hiding behind a tree, I took a peak. Only to see a few of the villagers being harassed out of their supplies by a few Fire Nation men. Which I only assumed they worked for Zhao. Most definitely.

I wanted to help. But I knew I couldn't just Earthbend in front of Zhao's men, they would figure out that it was me under Yoon's mask. But I had to do something, I can't just allow these villagers suffer.

Although... there was something I could do. Something I have hidden from Oka and others for a very long time. I've only done this a few times.

For half of my life I have been surrounded by nothing but plants, herbs and poisonous vegetation. And all of that was part of the earth in some weird way. I've hidden this side of my bending for a long time because I was afraid that I would be casted out as a sort of freak, unaccepted and unloved.

But since my identity was concealed I took this as the perfect opportunity to use this other side of my bending, and so I bring my hands up and clenched them tightly. The Fire Nation guards pause in confusion as they looked down, only to see the grass wrap around their feet and slither up their legs halfway as extra leverage. Confusion spread along their faces as they didn't know what was happening nor could they even explain the physics behind it.

I allowed Kaz to fly into the trees as I showed myself as the men and the scared villagers faced me. The men tried breaking free but I made the grass tighten as they tripped to the ground, I brought up a finger and shook it, telling them 'no'. I couldn't use my voice, they'd figure me out.

I only hoped they didn't guess who I was by my lips and jaw, as they were exposed. But, surely they couldn't, because that would be a very specific thing to guess.

I then took control of the tree branches, making them stretch and wrap around the Fire Nation guards, dangling them off the ground. And let them go as they thump to the ground with shared groans. Giving the villagers time to escape. But not for a very long time.

They looked at me, "What is your name?"

I debated on speaking, but since I probably would never see them again I closed in. And with a whisper I say, "Yoon." I didn't use my own, I didn't have the guts to.

The guards groaned some more and started to push themselves onto their feet, I then waved the villagers off before anything else could happen as they ran off.

The guards pointed at me, "Don't let them get out of sight!" And they chased me down as I ran off.

I willed the tree branches to grow from behind me, as the guards mumbled and muffled more groans as they were trying to push through. It felt incredibly weird to use this side of my bending as if I did this every single day. When in reality; I only did this every now and again.

Oka always came into the room right as my practice would go even further, and so I had to force myself to stop because I didn't want her to know what else I could other than just regular Earth.

I began to feel uneasy as I realized they were chasing me back towards Zhao's ship and the angle they had me in forced me up the ramp.

I was severely annoyed, this escape plan was pointless. It was useless, I may as well not have attempted it in the first place had I known this was gonna be how it ended.

Whatever. What matters the most was that I tried. And that's better than not trying.

"Stop them!" The guards hollered, which caused even more to hunt me down.

I spotted Kaz high in the sky as I was glad the men were focused on me and not on him. Because he would've been a dead giveaway to my identity. He swooped low into the lower decks far in front of me as I headed below myself, right after him.

I nearly ran into the wall as I brought my hands upon the metal and pushed myself down the hallway, the guards not too far behind me.

And without a second thought, Kaz flew into the guest room we started in and I pushed myself inside as well, as I slammed the door shut.

I knew I had to be quick, as I stripped myself of the Fire Nation cloak and Yoon's mask, pushing it underneath my bed as far as I could. I untied my ribbon from my neck and did my best to sort of make a bun.

It turned out to be a very messy ponytail, but it would have to do for now. As Kaz and I both jumped into bed and and I covered ourselves with the only blanket. Kaz with the pillow and me without, like it was before.

And it was only seconds when the guards burst the door open and I pretended to be sound asleep.

I faked a jolt and sat up in bed, "What's going on?" I lightly gasp.

The guards were confused. But of course, Zhao eventually made his way inside, "What seems to be the trouble, men? You were all making an awful lot of noise. I was working."

"We chased someone down, they were wearing a mask and a cloak and they ran into this room." They explained. "Sir, they were bending the grass and the trees, it was something we've never seen before. We don't understand." They sounded almost worried.

Zhao looked around the room, and calmly adverted the subject, "Get back to work men,"

"But-"

"Do I have to repeat myself?" He asked, with a raised brow.

"Of course not, sir." They finished as they nervously made their way out of the room.

Zhao lingered for a moment though, as he sniffed the air and continued to look around. Until his eyes made their way to the floor of my bed.

My eyes followed his, and I just about saw the cloth of the cloak and the ear tips of the fox mask right at the edge. My gulp was large as I was practically sweating.

Zhao then looked back at me and we shared a long stare, his eyes slightly squinting. "Sorry for the disruption, Midori. Get some rest. I suppose you'll need it after what's happened tonight. Hm?"

I nodded, "Of course." I tried to sound professional, but I failed.

Zhao was never pleased with me, no matter what I tried to do to earn it.

He left my room and closed the door as I let out a breath. "That was close, Kaz. Again." He cooed lightly in agreement.

I laid there in darkness, and closed my eyes to drift off to sleep as soundly as I could.

I knew Zhao was suspicious of me, I could see it in his eyes. I could be wrong but now I'm just paranoid. But, I tried not to think about it too much, it wasn't good for the mind. Oka always told me how overthinking wasn't healthy, so I tried my very best to just calm down.

Zhao didn't know about me being Yoon.

Zhao did not know about me being Yoon.

It's fine.

I'm fine.

-----

Here's chapter seven! :)

What was your favorite part of this chapter?

How do we feel about Yoon? Keep in mind, that scroll is all you'll get of Yoon for this book, I will say one thing though, there is another half of her scroll. We do NOT find the other half until Legend of Korra, which is in book 2. So, I hope y'all can wait that long. But trust me, it'll be worth the wait. Yoon has a very interesting past, and she has a LOT of Lore to unlock when we reach LOK. Trust me on this one. Yoon quite possible has the most interesting roll in this entire series, I want to tell y'all so bad, but I'll let you guys figure it out soon enough. >:) hehe

ALSO UPDATE: Some of you already know this, lmaoooo. But I'ma say it for the others. I made a little video of me using that filter on snapchat that shows you what you look like as an "anime" character. And I've shown all of my friends. And all of them said that I lowkey look like Mako from LOK. Lmaoooooo, so there's that I guess. Maybe I'll try to figure out how to post the video in another chapter, if I can. We'll see what happens. xD

Either way, I hope y'all enjoy. :>

xoxo <3