A/N Happy Halloween, dear readers. I wanted to put out something spooky in honor of Halloween.

Katara arrived at Sonuchia just as the sun was setting over Sukuni Lake. She sat down on a moss-cushioned boulder and removed her shoes. Sonuchia was, after all, a sacred place. The wind played with the ribbons that bound up Katara's hair.
"Don't lose them," Master Hama had said as she wove the ribbons into Katara's braid, something Katara's mother or Gran-Gran might have done back home. Katara tried not to squirm. Master Hama had never been this gentle with her before. "They're inscribed with prayers and spells that will protect you."
"What do I need protecting from?" said Katara. The local whispers painted Sonuchia as the haunt of restless spirits and the setting for the ghost stories that made ladies shiver and fan themselves and suitors pull their sweethearts closer. Her brother, Sokka, might scoff at such tall tales, but you never knew what was out there.
Master Hama shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine but a bender must be prepared for anything."
Katara picked up her lantern and continued down the path into the woods. Her old self would have thought nothing about running barefoot across sticks and stones, but living at court had scraped and soothed away the roughness on the soles of her feet, leaving them soft and tender. Each twig and pebble sliced her feet open like overripe fruit.
A stone lion guarded a bend in the path, with a pile of ashes between its paws, presumably the remains of offerings for safe passage through Sonuchia. Katara lit her pipe using the lantern and placed it between the lion's paws.
"Enjoy." She bowed to the lion. "Keep it safe for me." If all went well, she would return that way and reclaim it. 
The full moon rising over Sukuni Lake made Katara's qi more restless than usual. Gran-Gran had told her legends about how water benders had a special connection to the moon, and their bending was strongest when the moon was full.  Katara longed to use her bending the way someone traveling through a desert might crave something to drink.
A twig snapped under a foot. Fabric rustled against the forest floor. Katara's chest tightened. Was someone behind her?
"Have you seen him?"
Katara turned around and was approached by a young woman, perhaps a few years older than her. The young woman was dressed in white and wore her long, black hair loose. Heavy with a cloying floral scent, the wind rustled Katara's hair, making her ribbons flutter.
"No, I haven't," said Katara. This woman must be lost. She wouldn't be out here this late if she wasn't. "But can I help you?"
The woman gave her a sad smile. "Just let me stay by your lantern for a while." 
Katara nodded. Anyone would want company if they're all alone in the dark in a place with Sonuchia's reputation, even if it's from a stranger. "Of course." She beckoned the woman to come closer. "You'll be safe with me. No one would dare pick a fight with a water bender during a full moon." 
"What about a lone woman in the woods at night?"  The wind whistled and drew the woman to Katara's side.
The water skin Katara had thrown over her shoulder thumped reassuringly against her back as she continued on her way. She could protect them from any threat, spirit, demon, or monster that was out there.
"What's your name?" Katara asked her companion, who hovered around her lantern.
The woman pulled her gauzy white shawl closer. "Gonshina," she said. In the Fire Tongue, Gonshina meant "moth-woman" - a strange name but an appropriate one. "And yours?"
"Katara."
"Katara." Gonshina gave her another sad smile. "That's a lovely name."
The trees waved their branches, beckoning Katara and Gonshina into the woods. Katara helped Gonshina over a pile of stones that must have been part of the foundation of some abandoned house. Sonuchia, according to Prince Zuko, was near what had once been a Sun Warrior settlement. Many of the artifacts he displayed at his party were dug up near there.
Gonshina stopped in her tracks. "Can we rest here a moment?" she said. 
"Of course," said Katara, putting down her shoes and lantern and seated herself atop a mossy stone. Her bare feet were raw and bleeding.
The light from her lantern danced across a crumbling wall that once made up the other side of the house. Gonshina rested her back against this wall. Her fingers traced a rough carving of a woman and a child. She looked Katara in the eyes. "He'll find us here," she said. The wind shook the trees again, and the cloying floral scent returned.
"This way!"
Katara turned around. Three swaying lanterns bobbed toward her. She fingered her braid. One of her ribbons was missing. Her heart pounded, and she reached for her water skin. Had Gonshina been waiting for someone or trying to avoid him?
"Lady Katara?" One of the lanterns illuminated Prince Zuko's face. Two servants accompanied the prince. One held a shovel, and the other carried a small wooden box under his arm.
Katara rose and bowed to them. "Your Highness."  Had Prince Zuko been the Him Gonshina was talking about?
"What are you doing here?" said Prince Zuko. "Alone?"
"Alone?" Katara turned her head. Gonshina was no longer there. 
She told Prince Zuko the whole story about how she was there as part of a test from her water-bending master. Prince Zuko grumbled his disapproval of Master Pakku sending Katara into a place like Sonuchia at night. Katara didn't correct him. What did she care if that pompous old hog monkey got in trouble?  She left out the part about Gonshina. The prince already thought she was odd enough.
Prince Zuko pulled a ribbon from his sleeve. "Is this yours?" he said.
"Yes," said Katara, taking the ribbon from him. It was indeed the one she'd lost. She must have dropped it along the way.
"I found it hanging on a tree branch," said Prince Zuko. "It pointed me here."
The servant with the shovel dug into a spot near the carving of the woman and child. The other servant removed the lid from his box, which contained the vase Katara and Prince Zuko had admired at the party. Prince Zuko lifted the vase from its bed of wood shavings and raw wool. Etched into its side was a similar design to the one on the wall.
With Katara's help, Prince Zuko reburied the vase where it belonged.