A/N: Just a short thing that popped into my head. Enjoy!
Many had tried and all of them had failed. How do you explain what the night sky looks like to someone who has never seen it? Who has never seen anything? None of the people that tried seemed to find an answer and they always ended up rambling on and on about things she didn't understand. Colors, shades of colors, light and darkness. Those things were mysteries to her. Somehow people could always describe other things. The night sky remained a secret to her though.
It's like an open sea with no limits, they would say. That part was reasonable. They all said the same. But the hard thing was apparently trying to put into words what stars looked like. That seemed to be the problem. Bright dots in the endless sea. Ok, but what does "bright" mean? What does "bright" look like? Those questions no one could answer. So after all that time she had given up on trying to understand the sky for it would always remain a mystery.
She was lying in her backyard. He was next to her, talking about his day. It had been hot outside and both of them had almost been boiled alive in their metal armors. Summer was just approaching, the weather seemed to think differently though. It was unusually warm in Republic City. Almost 105F. Way to warm for any kind of movement.
And now as the sun had just set he couldn't help but think about the sky's beauty. He stopped talking for a moment to admire the moon and its light. She turned her sightless gaze towards him. Those eyes, he had fallen in love with, were staring in his general direction and he smiled.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, not understanding why he had stopped talking. "Did you swallow a fly or something?" She smiled. He loved that smile from the moment he first saw it.
"No, I was just," he trailed off. "It's beautiful..." He let his gaze drift over to her. Her expression changed and he swore he saw a little sadness behind these pale orbs of hers. Guilt overcame him and he was about to apologize when she shrugged. "Whatever."
The boredom in her voice wasn't very convincing. He hadn't meant to hit a nerve and she hadn't meant to let it get to her. Stupid, they both thought in the same moment, but referring to different things.
How can I explain this to her? He was desperate to make it clear to her what the sky was like. That's it!
"You know...", he trailed off. How do you start such an explanation? There was probably no better way than head on. As an earthbender you always gotta face your problems head on!
"The sky... the night sky, it's like this endless-"
"Ocean? I know, people always put it like that," she interrupted.
"That not what I was gonna say. I believe I've found a better way to describe it. A way you will be able to understand."
"Hm... Go on"
And that he did. "The night sky is like a piece of metal," he started but was interrupted again. "Metal?" she asked. That was a new one.
"Yeah, metal," he continued. "The stars, they're like the small pieces of earth within it. They stand out and form a contrast to the cold metal."
"The earth within," she mumbled. She seemed completely different from the girl, the young woman, he was just lying next to. Shy and unsure of what to say.
"You're the first one!" she said a little louder.
"Huh?"
"The first one to make it clear. What the sky is like."
He took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. "Don't get all mushy on me though", she scolded him. They laughed. They stayed like that for hours to come until they fell asleep under the bright full moon of that blissful night.
~The end~