“I’ll be fine without you.” She scoffed, but caught herself watching Kasai’s behind as the woman left their shelter.

Avani thought about leaving Kasai to fend for herself when she could not hear her anymore.  It was no more than she deserved, but when she came back with water for her she felt a tinge of guilt for thinking that way. Besides, Avani would be no better off alone at this point than Kasai. 
When she moved to take the canteen from Kasai their hands touched, but Avani forced herself to ignore the warmth she felt and hoped Kasai wouldn’t notice it on her face. “Thanks.” She muttered again.

Avani drank some of the water, then poured a fair bit onto her arm. She groaned in a mixture of pleasure and pain as the cool water hit her damaged arm, and quickly put her left hand over her mouth to cover up the involuntarily noise she’d made.  The silent atmosphere between them was already inspiring these kind of thoughts and actions, she didn’t need to contribute to it herself.

She rose to a sitting position and leaned her back against the rock wall. She sat like that for a long moment, considering what her next course of action should be. She knew Ryuu was dead now, but could Mio be saved from whatever danger she had ended up in? Avani wanted to believe there was a chance she could rescue Mio, but she was weak at the moment and for every hour that passed it would be less likely that Mio was found alive if the spirits were this hostile to humans. 

They hadn’t finished the mission either. She honestly didn’t care whether they did or not. Avani would let Republic City burn if she could get Ryuu back. Such thoughts were meaningless, but it made her feel a little better about their complete and utter failure.

Avani poked at her singed and scarred right arm with the fingers of her left hand. If she did get out of this world alive, back through the portal to Republic City, then she figured she would get a tattoo to cover up the horrible damage. She’d never wanted a tattoo before, but she’d had no reason to ruin her beautiful skin and body. Now it would be a work of art to cover up something worse, something she’d be reminded of every time she looked at it. They could probably make it look like a dragon wrapped around her arm – a dragon devouring a pig.

She glared at Kasai as the last thought passed through her head. “I guess this is the result you get when you refuse to listen to your betters, right Kasai?” Avani whispered through clenched teeth, feeling the anger building within her. She’d sworn to control her anger and emotions better though, so instead of saying anything more she stood up by supporting herself against the wall and walked out of the shelter. 

Avani couldn’t see or sense any more of the corrupted spirits. She sighed in relief. She kind of wanted to turn around and apologize for what she’d just blurted out in anger, but too proud to do that she kept walking. She didn’t get far before she felt the light-headedness return, and staggered, reaching out for something to grab onto but failing to find something she created a rock pillar to balance herself on.