I Don't Own Avatar: The Last Airbender
Sunflowers
Sunset. The last bit of sun burned between the hills, liquid amber light spreading out to dye the world around it. A warm, spring breeze blew along the pass, dancing playfully with the long, amber grass on the roadside. The tall stalks of wild sunflowers dotted the grass-scape at random intervals. Their striking black and yellow blossoms ensured that, even once the sun finished setting, it would not completely leave the world.
A dark-haired young man, no older than fifteen, stooped to take another sun bloom from the earth. With this boon, his growing bouquet was up to twelve flowers now. That was enough, he decided, No need to overdo it. The youth straightened from his stooped position and brushed any clinging dirt from his coarse pants and tunic. He started down the path again, whistling as he went.
He really hoped she would like them. They were her favorite, after all. Boy, would she ever be surprised! He hadn't been home since…well, since before the winter solstice at least.
Wow. He paused. Had it really only been that long?
It was amazing how much could change in such a short time. So much was so different from five months ago. He had been a scared, young boy then. He had always had to hide himself and his gift, always be ever vigilant against discovery. Always go around with one eye facing forward and two behind, as the saying went. He had been scared of his own shadow.
Of course, better to live and be scared than get caught and be killed. Or worse. That had been his thinking.
Looking back on it now, he was disgusted with himself. He had been a coward then, no matter how he rationalized it. It had seemed better back then not to rock the boat. Safer to just take the lot he was handed and hope for the best, because he had no other hope in sight. Then hope had come marching in.
Or flying in, really.
The coming of the Avatar had resulted in mixed feelings for him at first. Aang and his companions had forced him to face decisions that he had been avoiding for a long time. He had had to decide if he would continue to live his shell of a life, hiding who he was out of fear, or if he would face the enemy head on. They had inspired him. Inspired him to choose to use his gifts openly instead of squirrel them away. They had shown him that, if he was to ever make a difference, he could do no less.
Though it had been a harrowing experience, their visit had given him so much. He had made new friends, something he had been lacking for a long time. And he had regained a father he had never thought he would see again. Even more miraculously, he had regained his self-respect. And this gave him something new. A will to fight.
Now he was part of one of the best-organized and largest rebellions in the Earth Kingdom. He was using his earthbending talents and growing greater in them with the practice. And they were winning, too. With each battle they fought, each raid that was successful, each town that was freed, they came that much closer to driving out the Fire Nation forever!
There was always a cost, though, he thought. To go forward with his newfound liberty and fight for their freedom, he had had to leave someone important to him behind. But this was not a permanent sacrifice and he was finally able to return to see her once again.
He rounded a bend in the road and finally found himself at his destination. His home village had never looked so inviting. He held his bouquet a little tighter as he strode toward the wooden hut that served as the town's produce store. He was the object of many surprised and appraising stares as he walked, but he remained oblivious to them. His mind was centered on the wooden door that held his journey's end.
He pushed the door open, its hinges creaking from the shift in weight. He peered inside to see the shopkeeper huddled over the counter, counting copper and bronze coins with her weathered hands. Her long-grayed hair hung in a curtain about her bent head, her forelocks hanging bundled together over her shoulders just the way he remembered.
"We're closed for the day." She said, not even raising her eyes to see who it was.
This really brought all the changes of the last few months home to the boy. Before, she would have literally jumped at the sound of the shop door opening unexpectedly, afraid that it was their overseers come to take what little they still had to give. But five months of freedom from their occupiers had done wonders for the woman's psyche. Now, she barely batted an eyelash at an unexpected visitor. He could have laughed from the happiness this gave him. Her peace was yet another thing he owed to the Avatar.
When her guest made no move to depart, the woman finally lifted her head to tell him off.
"If you want produce, you are going to have to come back tomorr--" She stopped dead, the words dying on her lips, as she finally got a good look at her visitor. She blinked furiously to remove anything that might be obscuring her vision, anything that might help her old eyes to play tricks on her. But this was no trick.
"Haru…" she gasped, still staring wide-eyed at the young earthbender in the doorway.
She dropped the change she had been holding and, it seemed to her, had her arms around him before the coins even made contact with the floor. Haru laughed as he returned her embrace with vigor, overjoyed to finally see her again. After a few moments, he pushed her to arms' length and presented his hand picked bouquet.
"Hello, mother. Happy Mother's Day." He said softly as he handed the sunflowers to her. She smiled, laughed, and hugged him to her again. Tears of joy streamed down her face at seeing her son alive and well. Haru could feel her tears wet his shoulder. He wasn't surprised.
After all, sunflowers were her favorite.
Alright, that's it. :-) So, it's Mother's Day and this scene just kept niggling at me until I wrote it down. I know that they more than likely don't have an equivalent holiday in the Avaverse, but I hope you can all forgive me for the bending of the canon. So…. how was it for my first ATLA fic? Please review to let me know what you thought. Thanks for reading!