title Twilight
fandom; pairing Avatar; Zuko, Katara
rating PG-13
prompt 029. waiting
an Inspired by the song Honey Honey by Feist. :) Also, sorry for the cliche of a title. All good ideas evade me.
summary The myth of the moon and the sun is explained.
She is waiting for the sun to set. For the earth to swallow her whole so that the moon can shine brighter, brighter than the stars. But the sunset is slow and aching and she cannot see any of those stars.
Aang sees her looking into the distance and he asks her what she's looking for. "I'm just waiting for the sun to set so I can see the moon properly."
"Is it a full moon tonight?" The other boy asks, the boy she does not name.
She nods stiffly and there is a heat at the back of her neck, the kind that arises after any connection with him.
"I was just wondering how she got her scars."
"My uncle used to say that the sun and the moon were enemies," the boys says quietly, deep thoughts settled onto the frown of his forehead.
"Why am I not surprised," she huffed with a monotonous voice.
"They would fight for hours so that the entire earth was covered in brilliant, blinding light. Nothing could grow, nothing could survive. They were jealous of each others beauty, of each others power so they sought to defeat each other," he pauses and his eyes don't meet hers. "They loved each other though."
"What?! That makes no sense! If they loved each other, why would they fight?!"
"The sun had always loved the moon," he says and she fears the sound of confession in his voice. "But she was proud and stubborn and refused to be with him, thinking him below her."
"She was probably right," she huffed and she folded her arms.
"So they fought and then the sun hurt the moons beautiful face. She had dozens of scars on her face and with each cut, a stone would fall out of her. Afraid of whatever this meant, the sun tried to catch each stone and they caught fire and eventually became stars. And since then, the sun was unable to face the moon again so he hides in the day."
"Woah," she says quietly.
"But don't the moon and the sun share the sky sometimes?" Aang asks, cocking his head ever so slightly.
"Yes, because the moon learnt to love him too."
Her throat loosens and she swallows, "You've got an answer to everything, don't you?"
The boy shrugs and his eyes are sharp against hers.
"You know," Sokka pipes up, "a more plausible explanation is that the moons surface was eroded by comets. Lots and lots of comets."
"Right," she says and her eyes are still on him. A breath loosens and with great effort, she cranes her head away to look away again. Above the edges of the horizon, she sees the moon peering out to her, floating above the flames. There is a tumult in her stomach and she looks away.
- khushiyan