Zuko and Child Shopping for Groceries
Zuko: Okay, now Daddy has to buy groceries so we have something to eat tonight! (thinks to self: I'm a Fire Lord, and yet I have to do my own shopping! Katara and this whole field training thing...)
Kid (bored): Daddy, I want candy.
Zuko: But Daddy's busy!
Kid: But the candy stand is just right there!
Zuko: Well, Mommy would kill me for doing this, but okay, you can go, here's a coin. Go buy yourself a piece of candy. Oh, and watch out for any crazy foaming guys or old cabbage vendors trying to sell you his cabbages.
Kid: Okay, Daddy...
(a few minutes later, after Zuko finishes with the groceries and loads his ostrich-horse)
Zuko: Okay, Daddy's done! (glances at candy stand, stand is empty, no kid there; Zuko looks around, and finally spots kid through crowd)
Kid (on tall creature's back): Yay! Yah, horsie!
Zuko (puzzled): What's a horsie? (sighs, and goes over to kid to pull him off and take him home)
Life
He paced back and forth along the panel that separated him from his beloved. Though he could not see her, he could hear her wails of pain. How he wished he could be with her, to help her, as she had helped him so many times.
Her cries kept on getting louder, louder, until finally! She gave one last wail, and an exhausted grunt, and then there was silence.
He stopped in front of the panel. Now, he could hear the soft wail of a new voice. Their newborn's voice.
"Alright, you can come in now," one of the physicians said, as he lifted up a corner of the panel.
He slowly paced in, and peered around the room. His beloved lay on the bed, exhausted, resting her eyes, and her body. Drops of sweat were seen all over her otherwise pure and perfect face.
He shifted his attention to the source of the new wail. A doctor wrapped the baby in a cloth, and handed him his child. He glanced down at the warm bundle in his arms, overjoyed at this little blessing the spirits had brought.
She weakly opened her eyes, and looked up at him with love. He smiled, and silently walked over to her. He kneeled, showing her their new bundle of joy.
Together, they had done what others had considered the impossible. Together, they wrought new life.
Completion
Like yin and yang, the two, whose companions believed a relationship would never work between them, had come together, to form a whole. He was fiery and temperamental. She was calm and serene. They were both passionate, but with their differences, they were able to bend each other, just as they had their element, and improve each other, to better their lives, to bring two pieces to a whole, to achieve completion.
Hair
As they embraced, he felt the love burn in his heart. It was a burn, and yet it did not inflict pain. He breathed in a relieving breath of air, and with it, a scent. He traced the scent to her hair. How it reminded him of that flower shop, that day he and his uncle had to flee, for those two earthbenders were in pursuit of them. He did not know who they were, and yet they kept on watching him and his uncle, as if they knew of the dark past he and his uncle were hiding.
But that was then.
The fragrance in her hair was so aromatic, it had such a calming effect on him. He had smelled it in the flower shop, and he had smelled it once before. But where had he smelt it?
His thoughts turned abruptly to his mother. When he was young, his mother loved to embrace him in her arms. He would hug her back, but he did not know why. When she left that dark night, he understood it was love. Yes, he recalled, it was his mother, who had worn the same fragrance.
His attention shifted back to the woman he now loved, the woman in his arms. He gave her a tight little squeeze.
