This is my first fanfic EVAR, so be gentle, you guys! It's about Prince Zuko and an original character of mine, plus some other familiar faces! Kind of romantic and angsty, and I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender or any of these reeeeally awesome characters so don't sue: )
Chapter 1: Broken Wings
If their circumstances had been different, Leelee thought, maybe she wouldn't have had to find herself in such a compromising and unfortunate situation. Her body was covered in gold, bedecked in pearls that reflected the light that she so naturally emanated, but she was miserable. A prisoner of the man she thought she loved…. she thought loved her. Now, instead of finding comfort in his arms, she found only more and more reasons to shed tears every night. Instead of a vessel of love, her body was now simply property of the firelord's son, the sovereign prince of his nation…. the one she once thought she loved…
"Zuko," she whispered into the luscious silk sheets and pillows she retreated to alone every night. Tearstains were beginning to mar them. She would be scolded for that soon. Be called ungrateful. No one would dare touch her though. Not this body, not this skin which His Highness found so much pleasure in. Damaging her body would be the same as damaging the prince's own property, and that could carry over as a capital offense in the Fire Nation. No, no one dared touch her. In fact people have gone out of their way to avoid her altogether now, just to be safe. That is, unless they outranked her. And seeing the affections so lavishly showered upon her by the prince, simply because his desire could no longer be requited on her part, made the ladies of court and Fire Nation aristocracy jealous. Especially Lady Mai…
An eligible, and most handsome man of royal upbringing, Zuko found himself the focus of attention for many a beautiful lady in the realm. The most eligible of them all being Lady Mai, the pale-skinned, ebony-haired beauty of a daughter of a powerful Fire Nation governor, and the most promising prospect to marry the young prince. All the other ladies fumed at the way Zuko would call upon her for afternoon tea, and afterwards would return her to the palace with a grand procession. They fumed even more at the young lady's disposition towards her seemingly stricken lover.
Always one to remain aloof and emotionally distant, as it was taught a true lady of aristocratic blood should be, Mai never seemed to return Zuko's constant affections. She always received him with a coy smile and an exchange of kind and hinting words that would keep the prince coming back again and again in hopes of somehow breaking through the blue-blooded shell she had formed around her persona. He seemed to fail miserably every time. Mai found this futile struggle amusing.
Truth be told, she loved Zuko, more than her upbringing could ever allow her to express, but she knew that as long as the prince remained eligible, the certainty of her taking the side of the throne that would be his was still under question. Not that she was marrying for the power and possibility of becoming the next Fire Lady, but it was a wonderful perk, she had to admit. More importantly, however, was the question of who would win the prince's heart…or at least his utmost affections, and the answer to that question was one Mai found very troubling at the present moment.
Though, officially, the prince had only one suitor in status, Mai knew that within the palace walls were a throng of women who were vying for his heart's attentions, and that was the prize she held most important.
The ladies of court, ambassadors from far off lands, of course there weren't too many of them in the Fire Nation for the past 5 years during which time the war with the other nations had worsened, and also the courtesans of the Prince's own harem. One would think a glorified whore wouldn't cause Lady Mai to blink twice, but there was one girl which tried her patience and her stability time and time again. That girl…that prisoner from the lands of the Light. Leelee was her name. Zuko liked to address her as his "most rare and precious flower," indulging himself in the sight of her gorgeous burnt-copper skin, curly, fragrant, jet-black hair, and deep, bottomless brown eyes. Mai despised her with all her might. Why? Because even though Mai held Zuko's attention and respect as a fellow child of stock and substance, Leelee was the one who held Zuko's love. Though he never spoke to confirm it, Mai could see it, his love for Leelee, always burning in his eyes. When the girl walked past, bedecked in jewels, her hips swaying seductively, Mai could sense Zuko burn for her, even if he was in her own presence. He would find her in the late afternoons and sit with her near the turtle-duck ponds, exchanging sparse and sweet words with her, despite the girl's hesitancy to comfortably receive the prince's advances.
But what made Mai burn with fury the most was the fact that Leelee, that gilded wench, had known Zuko. She knew it and it ate away at ever fiber of her being, the fact that her prince had probably touched, had probably found passion and desire in the girl's body over and over again, while due to her status, it was a given that Mai, herself, was forbidden to commit to such dangerous and consequential acts as casual lovemaking, especially with the heir to the Fire Nation's throne. She knew there was nothing that she could do about the situation, at least not until she and Zuko were wed. Then, by Agni, she would have that Light Bender killed. Tortured for every night of lovemaking she had enjoyed with her Zuko and then executed. Until that splendid day arrived, however, Mai had to settle for simply making the girl's life miserable in every way she possibly could.
…And she did. Leelee found only lament in her predicament. Some nights she would have to surrender herself unwillingly to the man she once loved and who once knew what love for her meant, and some days she would have to surrender herself unwillingly to the vicious jealousy of Lady Mai.
Leelee touched the bruised spot on her shoulder and winced at the pain. Lady Mai had dug her long sharp fingernails into that flesh earlier that day. She witnessed Leelee receiving a gorgeous new necklace, compliments of the prince for a "night's-worth of "good work," as he called it and demanded that she be allowed to place such a perfect treasure on to such a fortunate creature as Leelee. Having done so she immediately dug her nails into the poor girl's flesh and bent low to whisper into her ear.
"Though you may be fortunate enough to receive the prince's affections for being…under him, never forget who will be the one by his side when his time truly comes." She had drawn blood by the end of her cold sentence, and without another word, turned face and swept silently out of Leelee's chamber.
And here she found herself weeping tonight, both her flesh and pride bruised, again. Far away from the sweet young man she once knew. Far away from the home she once loved and the people who understood her most, surrounded by cold silks and satins of dark red and wine colours. Isolated to a large, heavily decorated and accommodating chamber. Zuko demanded she be given her own quarters, for, as he liked to say,
"She is not a courtesan, nor a prisoner like any other. Though she will not be allowed to leave the palace grounds, she is allowed to roam wherever she pleases upon this land. Treat her with the utmost respect, for although she is a prisoner, she is still my close companion. Anyone who disrespects her will have to answer to me."
"Ha," Leelee scoffed. What a joke. What was respect worth if she couldn't even get it from the one who meant the most to her? And of course everyone knew just what type of "companion," Zuko meant by only a week after she had arrived. Soon they began to look at her like a… a…
Leelee sighed and shook her head free of the thoughts. She closed her eyes and forced herself to go back, back in time. Past the moment when she had first met Zuko in disguise while she worked in Ba Sing Se as a seamstress' apprentice. Past her wanderings across the four nations of this realm. Back to when she first left her own lands, the lands of the People of the Light. She was innocent then, and hearing about the war, so far distanced from it, something had screamed inside of her to leave her home and find a way to help cease the carnage. She had heard rumors of an Avatar, an earthbound medium between this world and the spirit world that was supposed to bring peace to all the lands, and she wanted to find him or her. She remembered how the Earth, Water, and Fire nations had seemed so far away then, almost a fairytale that the Air nomads who were passing through her lands used to tell her when she was small. Things never really became clear and solid for her until she had set foot upon the soil of the Earth Kingdom, dragging herself wretched and hungry onto the shore from her elaborate, Lightlands boat before finally passing out. When she came to, she was lying by a healthy flame in the hearth of a small but comfortable Earth Kingdom home while a few distant voices excitedly discussed the fact that a rare Lightlands inhabitant had washed up upon their shore of all places.
A middle-aged man and woman with genuine smiles and hearts to match made sure she had plenty to eat that evening and the morning after. After hearing the reason for her almost impossible journey, the man and woman decided that Leelee would do more good by offering her services where they were needed, helping the wife of the house with her small seamstress service within the outer ring of Ba Sing Se. Leelee had agreed to help her until she figured out a true mission for herself and had been working there ever since…until the day she met him…
Leelee shook her head free of the thought again and found her hands accidentally glowing. She shook them until they dimmed back down to nothing and sighed heavily to herself. She had been forbidden to use her ability to bend light on palace premises unless it was used for one of her performances of which the royal courts were so fond. She intended to uphold that order as much as she could, even though sometimes she found it torture to not be allowed to interact with her own element, her own source of life energy. She allowed herself to break the rules a few times a week, usually in the dark of her chambers when she knew no one else was around. She would sit with her legs crossed upon her bed and meditate within her light, finding comfort in the warm memories of her past until she felt she could cope for a few more days without them. Then when the cravings became too much for her to bear later on in the week, she would meditate once more.
Tonight was not a good night for meditation. Not with her shoulder in such pain. There were too many distractions floating through her head and she simply wanted to fall asleep. She closed her eyes once more and unwillingly drifted into the past again. A tear rolled down her face as she began to recall, again, the series of events that led her to this place, to become His Highness Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation's personal prisoner and servant, a bird crying for freedom from within a gilded cage.
Welp! That's the end of the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! And you best believe there'll be more soon! Leave comments n'…stuff!
