Aang buzzes through the corridors, checking door after door for his staff. He’s outrun the soldiers, misdirected them down a different section while he himself has gone further in. The last door he tried had a man snoring away behind it- now he can hear shouting and clanging footsteps in the distance, and slips into one that’s already open, shutting it behind himself to hide.
He comes out of his crouch and turns around to see bright red hangings and gently glowing candles, a hammock and a desk and thick rugs on the metal floor.
In the middle of it all is that Fire Nation girl. She’s seated on a large cushion; her breastplate is off and her tunic pushed aside as the toddler in her arms nurses heartily.
“Whoa,” says Aang, who’s familiar with the basic idea but hasn’t ever seen it this close up before.
Or with someone he’d swear was only a handful of years older than he is.
Her face is bright red and blank with surprise, blushing clear past her scalp- and there’s a lot of that, which is weird. Still, Aang grins sheepishly and is attempting to back out as her face begins to twist into that snarl he saw back in the village.
“Stop.”
The marching that rumbles past the door is a better incentive, but the result is the same- Aang stays still.
The girl-captain rearranges herself slightly- face forward, kid tucked up protectively, chest hidden behind the baby’s coal-black hair. Her expression is grim, and Aang is beginning to wonder just how he’s going to get out of this one.
“You’ve never known a father, have you. Being raised by monks and all.”
“Ah- no…” he replies, back against the wall and eyes flicking to the corner where his staff is leaning. She catches his movement, and glares harder.
“Then you don’t know what it’s like, do you. To want one- or to be in want of one. That’s why there are laws- strict rules about how one behaves when there could be children involved.”
“Uh- I don’t know where this is going, but could I please have my sta-“
“No. You are going to listen to me. I broke the rules- I’ve had to wander the earth trying to find a place for us, where we could be safe-“ loved, her eyes say. “-and I had almost given up hope.”
The littler girl decides she’s had enough and turns to look at him, glittering gold-coin eyes in a round, chubby face like a porcelain doll, a smile gaping. Her mother pulls her closer, never wavering her snake’s-gaze on him.
“You? You’re her ticket to legitimacy. And that’s why you’re not. Going. Anywhere,” she finally growls, and the guards burst in grabbing at his arms and legs-
Aang struggles, but their grip is firm- and later, when Appa has gored through the metal plates and there’s half an iceburg burying the bow of the ship, he thinks that he’s never going to let himself get distracted by a pretty girl again.
He breaks that vow five minutes later, but it’s the thought that counts.
Re: Princess Zuko, Out Of Wedlock
He comes out of his crouch and turns around to see bright red hangings and gently glowing candles, a hammock and a desk and thick rugs on the metal floor.
In the middle of it all is that Fire Nation girl. She’s seated on a large cushion; her breastplate is off and her tunic pushed aside as the toddler in her arms nurses heartily.
“Whoa,” says Aang, who’s familiar with the basic idea but hasn’t ever seen it this close up before.
Or with someone he’d swear was only a handful of years older than he is.
Her face is bright red and blank with surprise, blushing clear past her scalp- and there’s a lot of that, which is weird. Still, Aang grins sheepishly and is attempting to back out as her face begins to twist into that snarl he saw back in the village.
“Stop.”
The marching that rumbles past the door is a better incentive, but the result is the same- Aang stays still.
The girl-captain rearranges herself slightly- face forward, kid tucked up protectively, chest hidden behind the baby’s coal-black hair. Her expression is grim, and Aang is beginning to wonder just how he’s going to get out of this one.
“You’ve never known a father, have you. Being raised by monks and all.”
“Ah- no…” he replies, back against the wall and eyes flicking to the corner where his staff is leaning. She catches his movement, and glares harder.
“Then you don’t know what it’s like, do you. To want one- or to be in want of one. That’s why there are laws- strict rules about how one behaves when there could be children involved.”
“Uh- I don’t know where this is going, but could I please have my sta-“
“No. You are going to listen to me. I broke the rules- I’ve had to wander the earth trying to find a place for us, where we could be safe-“ loved, her eyes say. “-and I had almost given up hope.”
The littler girl decides she’s had enough and turns to look at him, glittering gold-coin eyes in a round, chubby face like a porcelain doll, a smile gaping. Her mother pulls her closer, never wavering her snake’s-gaze on him.
“You? You’re her ticket to legitimacy. And that’s why you’re not. Going. Anywhere,” she finally growls, and the guards burst in grabbing at his arms and legs-
Aang struggles, but their grip is firm- and later, when Appa has gored through the metal plates and there’s half an iceburg burying the bow of the ship, he thinks that he’s never going to let himself get distracted by a pretty girl again.
He breaks that vow five minutes later, but it’s the thought that counts.