A Flicker of Light
Disclaimer: Avatar:the Last Airbender duly belongs to Bryke. No profit is made from this story other than the sheer gratification of reviews.
NOTE: Here is a sort of sneak-preview for my next multi-chapter story. This is also a stand alone one-shot, if you are not really interested in the future story, and if you do not like Zutara, which the future story will be.
No exact date for that story yet, I am still struggling through school but I promise that the prologue will be up before the end of September.
This features the large Fire Nation fan girl of Zuko who was seen only in "Nightmares and Daydreams", the one whom two guards had to carry away from Zuko. Somehow, ever since I saw her in that episode, I felt that I could relate to her and that she deserved a story of her own. The most I can come up with is this one-shot.
She will not feature very prominently in the long story (though I'm still debating how much of a part she will have there) but she is the STAR of this one-shot. I had to come up with a name for her so it is Zhiana Liang.
This is set before the "Day of Black Sun."
This is also to "celebrate" 09-09-09. One day. 9 posts (new stories or updates).
I hope you all enjoy this one. Do leave a review, please.
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They were laughing again. They always laughed.
She walked ahead, ignoring the loud snickers from the others who made no effort to conceal their disdain.
It didn't matter. She was used to such treatment.
She knew what they were thinking and how they thought of her. She knew how much her appearance disgusted them so much and she refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing her unnerved by any of their taunts.
No, she was better than that.
So she walked forward resolutely, clutching the precious supplies in her muscled arms, shutting out the snickers and whispers that followed her wake.
She needed to bring all those supplies home so that she and her family could leave the capital before the eclipse. Her father feared that something horrible would take place when the Fire Nation once again experienced a "darkest day" and she believed him. They would temporarily stay with some relatives in the country and wait until the situation grew stable once more.
She trusted her father's judgment for she too had an inexplicable fear of what was to come during the eclipse. She was certain that it was no coincidence that the first eclipse in so many decades would come when there was finally news of the Avatar, although the official statement was that Prince Zuko had killed the last airbender in the Earth Kingdom fortress-city of Ba Sing Se.
They were among those few who believed that the Fire Lord was going too far in his endless military campaign against the rest of the Four Nations. Her father thought that Ozai was a vicious and avaricious tyrant who would do anything it takes to rule the entire world.
But they dared not speak of this openly. Her father had been briefly imprisoned when he had but hinted of his true feelings about the government and he had only just been released. They would not risk any more trouble.
Her mother had died when she was little so she and her father were the only members of their family left.
They would have to take great care in the next few days. But his crime was petty and negligible, easily forgotten. Especially when the Fire Lord was more concerned about the treachery of his own older brother.
Prince Zuko had returned, after years of banishment, and despite her disapproval of the Fire Lord, the young girl could not bring herself to hate his son.
Somehow, she didn't believe that the prince had truly killed the Avatar, although again, she dared not say this out loud. There had always been something about him which had convinced her that he was very different from his father and sister. In the few glimpses she had caught of him when she was younger, just before he was banished, she felt that when he became the Fire Lord, the world would change for the better. Prince Zuko gave her a sense of hope, some light in a dark world.
She had been glad of his return and had taken every opportunity to see him. He did not often go out of the palace, but when he did, he would always smile kindly and wave politely at his subjects.
She had been so excited about seeing him one time that some guards had to lead her away. But she had not minded. It had been well worth all the trouble.
Even with the scar on his face, Prince Zuko was still very handsome, and she had a little crush on him. She was certain that he would change the world somehow.
She had been so engrossed in thinking about the prince that she accidentally bumped into a stranger in a dark cloak, spilling all of her supplies on the ground.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said quickly, bowing politely at the stranger, "I wasn't looking where I was going. It was my fault. Sorry."
Expecting a round of angry comments about her clumsiness, she flinched slightly, but no shouts came. She opened her eyes hesitantly and saw that the stranger had bent down and started to help her pick up her supplies.
"It's all right," the man said calmly, "no harm done."
She blinked at this. No one had ever treated her so kindly before and she could hardly believe her luck.
She thanked him profusely as she retrieved all of her belongings, even dropping some of them again in her agitation. The stranger continued to help her pick them up before standing and readjusting his cloak. But he still did not seem the least bit angry or inconvenienced by her.
The stranger nodded, his face shrouded under the hood of his dark cloak.
But the snickers had begun again, this time louder than before.
"Did you see that?" one of the young girls said contemptuously to her companions.
"What a big, fat klutz!" another added, and they burst into a fit of laughter.
The stranger turned to look at her but she said nothing, her head bowed humbly, clutching her things to her chest in embarrassment.
But the taunting did not stop there.
"Do you know why we're going to have an eclipse?" the first mean girl began.
"Why is that?" her silly friends asked her, looking mischievously at their victim.
"Because Zhizhi is going to stand in front of the sun, of course!" the first tormentor answered, instantly bursting into hysterics, as if amused by her own cleverness.
"She would completely block out all the light!" another one added derisively.
Her companions laughed louder and all continued to point and jeer at the hapless Zhizhi, who stood silent but slightly shaking.
She closed her eyes tight, trying to shut out all their torments, trying to keep her countenance. Her lips were pursed.
The stranger looked at her compassionately and saw that the poor girl was holding back tears.
She did not seem like a weak girl, only one who wanted to keep herself above such lowly behavior.
But vulgarity still had the power to wound and the stranger could see that the girl was hurting.
He could not tolerate such injustice.
So he instantly strode towards the group of haughty lasses, still busily taunting their victim.
"You have no right to speak of her that way," he berated them, "she has done you no harm! You had better apologize."
The laughter ceased.
"And who do you think you are to order us that way?" the first girl answered haughtily.
Zhizhi turned to watch as someone came to her defense. More than ever, she was grateful for the stranger's kindness.
"Yeah, why should we apologize to Ms. Eclipse?" another girl asked, causing some more giggles.
"Because what your doing is wrong," the stranger continued sternly, "and you owe her an apology. And it doesn't matter who is telling you what to do."
"No way," the girls retorted adamantly.
"Mister," Zhizhi said, "thank you for your concern but you really don't have to do this."
"I insist," the stranger answered stubbornly, "I will not have you treated so meanly!"
"Really, I'm used to it," Zhizhi urged, "there's no need to cause any trouble."
"See," the first tormentor added, "even she's telling you to stop."
"Who do you think you are, anyway?" the stranger threw the question back at the pompous wenches, "what gives you the right to treat people like this?"
"Ha!" replied one girl haughtily, "my father is a general and when he hears about this harassment, you'll regret speaking to us this way, mister."
"Right, and my father's a minister in the court of the Fire Lord," another girl threatened, "you'll be sorry when he finds out. You'll be banished from the Fire Nation forever!"
At this the stranger could not help but hide a small smile.
"So position and power are the only ways to get anything through your thick heads, huh?" he asked them enigmatically.
The conceited girls' eyes grew wide in indignation at this. Zhizhi was shocked at his audacity as well and again tried to persuade him to let the matter rest. She was unsuccessful.
"How dare you speak to us that way!" they cried.
"Fine," the stranger muttered, "I can play that game too."
"What are you talking about, you creepy peasant?" one of the girl's cried.
But the moment, the stranger put down his hood, all of them went white with horror and surprise.
"Now, are you ready to follow my orders," Zuko asked them, his face stern and unyielding.
Zhizhi was absolutely shocked. It was him. Here. In the flesh. Speaking to her. Defending her. Helping. Her. Her.
Her mind had become incapable of any coherent thought.
The girls who had been so arrogant and mean spirited now fell to their knees, begging for forgiveness and sobbing pathetically at his feet.
Zuko was not moved by their theatrics. Instead, he repeated his first request.
And this time, they immediately complied, all tearfully apologizing to Zhizhi for their harsh words.
She was too shocked to say anything and she simply nodded at them.
The prince knew that they were not being sincere, that they were merely acting out of fear for his authority. But he was satisfied that they were humbled.
He told them to go home and the girls disappeared into the streets.
He turned to the dazed Zhizhi and gave her a small smile.
Recollecting herself, she immediately bowed down, muttering garbled words of thanks and appreciation. And to her surprise (surprises did not seem to cease that day!), he took her shoulders and helped her up.
"Think nothing of it," he told her gently, "it's the least I can do for a fellow citizen."
She wondered why he did not refer to her as a subject. And for those few moments, she was unable to speak and could only stare at him in utter astonishment.
"I've been remiss in my duties to my people for so long," he continued cryptically, almost more to himself, "but I shall atone for all my mistakes, count on that."
"You are very kind, Prince Zuko," she managed to say, "and I think you will make a great Fire Lord someday."
"Thank you," he replied with a smile, "I did not know that anyone from the Fire Nation could have so much faith in me."
"But you're a truly good person," she said, this time with more passion, some of her confidence returning to her, "and I think that you will save us from whatever trouble the eclipse will bring."
In an instant, she regretted having said those words and her hands covered her mouth in horror. But luckily, Zuko did not seem angry at her. He almost seemed amused although he also seemed to ponder on what she said quite seriously.
It was then that she realized that there was probably more truth to her father's predictions than she had initially thought.
He appreciated her praise and felt her sincerity. And it was a refreshing change to all the flattery and lies he had had to listen to at the palace.
"I will try my best," he said simply, "thank you."
She nodded humbly, touched by the fact that he deigned to respond to her pathetic attempts at conversation.
"I have to go now," he told her, taking his leave, "it was nice meeting you, Miss..?"
"Zhiana," she answered quickly, "Zhiana Liang, your Highness."
"No need for formalities here," he answered, but she looked so scandalized that he almost laughed.
She smiled brightly, unable to look away from him.
"Zhiana," he repeated as he placed his hood over his head again, "you take care of yourself."
"You too, your Highness," she answered earnestly.
He smiled.
"You are one of those rare true things in the Fire Nation nowadays, Zhiana," he told her, trying to mimic his uncle's wisdom somehow, "like a flicker of light in our darkest hour."
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving the girl speechlessly staring after him.
Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined her name and the word "light" being used in the same sentence.