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So, my stepmom is (or was she's done with it now) in a symbols, myths and illusions class. She told me about one of their projects being connecting modern media with classic lit or epics. So I started wondering about it, and poof! This is the result. And yes I took a few liberties with Fenris's story so that I could make it work for this.
On with the show!
Disclaimer: …
As she sat listening to the waves crash on the shore the exiled princess remembered a story she'd heard when she was young. There weren't many stories she remembered being told as a child, but this one stood out as it was grimmer than what her mother usually told her. This was the story of the God's guard dog, Fenris.
The story goes that Fenris was a wolf pup, that the gods saw great potential in and so raised him to be their guard dog. He grew large and strong and very cunning over the years, so large in fact that he actually scared most of the gods and soon into his adulthood there was only one god brave enough to approach him to give him his meals. Fenris' size and strength soon frightened the gods; they worried that he would turn on them and destroy the world they worked so hard to create. So to end the threat before it began Agni suggested they chain him to the earth that they believed he would destroy otherwise. They used the wolf's pride in his strength to trick him into allowing heavy iron bonds to be placed upon him. The beast easily snapped the bonds as if he were not chained at all. Next they tried steel chains to bind the monster, but again he snapped them with ease, and laughed at their efforts. In desperation the gods turned to a lesser god who made armor and weaponry and asked his help. With his expertise he made a chain as fine as silk, no thinker then a strand of hair, but strong enough to hold such a beast as Fenris. When he saw the chain Fenris laughed, thinking it a jest, but his cunning mind was still suspicious, and so before allowing them to bind him he ask that as a show of trust one of the gods place a hand in his mouth. Only the god who had feed him since his puppyhood was brave enough to take up the task. They bound him down quickly and the wolf gave a might tug but was unable to break the chains. He tugged again and was still unable to so much as loosen his bonds. In anger he snapped his jaws shut and bit the god's hand off. In retaliation Agni placed his sword length wise in the beast's mouth so he could never close his jaws again. Yet still the god who lost his hand visits the chained monster and feeds him dutifully. It's said that Fenris will remain chained to the earth until the end of the world when he will finally snap his bonds and swallow the sun and Agni with it, before his own throat is cut.
A bitter smile crossed her mouth as she remembered the story, her sympathy falling upon the bound beast. She had once been the guardian of her nation, the hero who'd done more for the Fire Nation than any of the three Fire Lords that had reigned since the hundred years war. She had become the perfect soldier and leader. People had once sang praises of her across the nation, now if a word of her was said it was in whispered disgusted of the beast she had been.
Her eyes shifted over the shore line, a narrow patch of black sand beach ringed by cliff face and ocean, before coming down to empty cold hands. She thought of how she too had been chained. First, they had placed her in prison, chained her to the walls to keep her from escaping and placed no less than one hundred guards in her wing of the prison alone, and still she tore through it with ease. They had then moved her to an asylum, hoping that the coupling of physical restraint and mental therapy would do something for her, but yet again she had torn through the place. Her fingers flexed, and she willed flames to come forth but they didn't come, her new bonds were just as deceitful, if not more so, then the silk spun chains. Her bonds came in the form of a fringed sweet caress, so soft she almost never noticed it, only when the acrobat who administered them pressed slightly too hard into her pressure points and woke her. Her new bonds had been suggested by the avatar, after refusing her brother's request to take her bending, something that Ty Lee had been just as vehement against, and had volunteered for the task if it meant the princess keeping her bending. She remembered the first time her new bonds were introduced to her. Ty Lee had meet her with and enthusiastic hug, which wouldn't have been surprising if it hadn't been for the fact the acrobat hadn't touched her since before the war ended. While the acrobat had made a point of visiting her in whatever short lived holding they had her in, she'd also kept from touching her, despite her overt physical nature she had learned better. She had reacted as she had always done when the acrobat hugged her, catching the other girl more than hugging back and bracing herself to keep from falling, but then soft fingers ran over a spot at the base of her neck and all the heat she usually felt disappeared. In front of the gaang that had been watching the exchange she'd pushed the girl away and slapped her hard enough to draw blood where her nails had bit flesh.
And yet still, she felt strong delicate arms wrap around her neck from behind, and unconsciously lifted a hand to the soft hands that now rested at her collar. Even after her hostile greeting, and all the belittling she'd done, Ty Lee was still on that Agni forsaken island with her. Soft lips brushed her ear as the girl spoke, "Dinner's ready, 'Zula."