ZUTARA WEEK 2009 Day 5: FIREFLIES
Alitaptap: An Enduring Love
Disclaimer: Avatar: the Last Airbender belongs to Bryke, but Zutara week belongs to all Zutarians.
NOTE: My retelling of our local legend of the fireflies. "Alitaptap" is the Filipino word for fireflies. And since the story involves a princess and a prince from a rival tribe, I thought it fit right in. (And this is my attempt at being a little more original. Hope it doesn't fail me.)
It's quite sad though. Hope you still like it. (To better understand the setting and circumstances, I suggest you read the legend online.) Do forgive the rushed quality of this piece. I had high hopes for it but writing it came in between tons of school work, family business, and general physical limitations. But enough of my excuses.
On with the show.
--
"Don't you see how important this is," her father the king urged her to see reason, "your marriage will save our people."
"If that is all that is asked of me," she replied in her calm, cool way, "then I will willingly submit to this arrangement."
The princess looked at her father with that same steady, startling blue gaze that had disarmed legions of princes, and also broken their hearts.
"But there is another thing that is required of me," she continued gravely, "and I'm afraid that it is impossible for me to give."
The king sighed in sadness and frustration. He knew well that she spoke the truth, but he continued to cling to a hope that something would be able to turn the tide.
He sat despondently at his thrown, all of a sudden looking so old and tired. For the first time in her life, the princess thought that her father looked mortal.
He put his face in his hands, pondering their troubles, and the seeming simplicity and yet impossibility of the solution.
The gentle but cold maiden placed a hand on her father's shoulder, trying her best to console him.
"I had never imagined," the king said coldly, "that my own daughter, my beautiful and treasured blossom, would lead to our nation's ruin."
The princess sighed sadly, but no tears fell from her ocean-blue eyes. She could not feel any emotion.
"I am truly sorry, Father," she replied, "but this is my nature, and I cannot go against it, no matter how hard I wish to."
And the king knew she was right, that he had no reason to hope that she would give away a heart that she never had to begin with.
--
He found her in the royal gardens, sitting alone and pensive, as she always was.
The incandescence of the moonlight reflected in the star on her forehead seemed to give her a gentle glow that put all the world's most precious jewels to shame.
Like so many of her admirers, he could not help but stand in awe of her beauty upon first seeing her basked in such celestial light. Seeing her thus truly gave him a sense that she was not of that world, that she belonged somewhere greater than where she was.
But none had ever heard her complain about her fate. On the contrary, she accepted her simple life with gentle resignation.
The prince of the rival tribe was almost afraid to approach her, reluctant to disturb her tranquil reverie.
But he found the courage that so many others lacked, to go near her and speak to her.
He would do so as often as he could be spared from his duties. She would smile at him with that cold but not unkind gaze and nod her head, welcoming him.
He would lay down his sword or spear and shield and they would sit by each other quietly, enjoying the other's company.
It could not be denied that like so many others before him, he had fallen violently in love with the stone-hearted princess of this foreign land.
And like so many before him, he had endured countless struggles and trials in order to win her heart.
Of all her previous suitors, he was by far the most patient and persistent. His was the also most impressive profile, with a great military experience as well as a reputation for courage and honor.
He was the least intimidated by the brave and beautiful princess, and he was the only one she had bothered to speak to (probably because he had bothered to speak to her as an equal and not as an object.)
Everything seemed to have gone smoothly at first.
The king had been most eager to secure a marriage with the two because this would be the one means for their country's salvation.
And everything would have been fine if only marriage in that land was only a political arrangement. Even the princess, whose heart knew no warmth, consented to the arrangement.
But the immortals of their world played by a different set of rules. No marriage between the star princess and any prince (no matter how noble) would be honored if the bride did not give her heart fully to her future husband.
In this case, considering the circumstances, such a condition was the height of injustice.
Everyone knew that the princess had no heart to give. She was incapable of feeling love or hate or sadness.
And so, the time had passed in uncomfortable international tension. The prince's father felt offended by the princess' constant refusal and threatened to destroy her country. After all, he had long wanted to exploit the resources in that land to expand and consolidate his empire.
The only thing standing in the way was the prince himself, who was against such travesties of honor and who was willing to wait, no matter how long, for the princess to be ready.
But many moons had passed and there was still no sign of change in her.
As he sat beside her now, the prince wondered what was behind her unreadable gaze.
"If only my love would be enough for the gods to allow our marriage," he said earnestly, "then you would be spared all this trouble."
She turned to look at him with that small but warmth-less smile of hers.
"We can never go against what the gods have decreed for us," she stated simply, "to even attempt to do so will only lead to great disaster."
He nodded in acknowledgment of her wisdom. She fully understood the gravity of her situation but was also powerless to alter it. Like everyone else on that good earth, even she was at the mercy of the gods.
And her people could never seem to realize that about her.
She was a creature both greatly admired and grossly misunderstood.
And though he would never be able to comprehend her mystery, he was determined to protect her from all harm.
--
But as things turned out, the prince could not have saved the girl from the wrath of her own father.
The king, having reached the breaking point from the accumulated pressure from his people, the rival tribes, and his own conscience, could not contain his frustration with his daughter any longer. So much was at stake, and she was the only way to save them, but she did nothing.
In a fit of irrational rage, he struck the star on her forehead as hard as he could.
And in an instant, the jewel shattered into a million pieces and the princess had dissolved into nothing.
Realizing what he had just done, the repentant father cried in anguish. But he was too late.
The wheels of fate had began turning.
And all that was foretold came to pass. The gods would have their way in the end, as always.
Their land was invaded and destroyed by the prince's tribe.
And this time, the prince himself led the attacks, determined to avenge the one he loved. Driven by his rage and sorrow, he was both the feared and most pitied by all.
In a matter of days, that formerly lush and lovely country had been razed to the ground and the people wandered in a darkness of body and soul.
But during one of these dark nights, some survivors caught sight of small, sparkling flickers of light.
They marveled at this occurrence, struck by the beauty of the flying stars that brought some hope and life back to their despairing hearts.
One wise person said that these glowing insects were pieces of the princess' star and their return was a sign of her forgiveness and atonement.
For the fireflies glowed with all the warmth and love which the princess, during her mortal life, had been unable to give.
--
The weeping warrior looked up in surprise as small balls of light danced before him in the darkness.
He was sitting alone in that bench of the now-destroyed royal gardens where she had frequently sat. There was no way he could bring her back so he clung desperately to whatever memories they had somehow shared together. Even her silences were precious now.
But his constant mourning had been interrupted by the arrival of the strange, glowing orbs.
As more and more of these bright creatures surrounded him, he realized in whose presence he now stood, and the tears that flowed from his eyes were those of complete joy.
And for the first time since the princess' death, the young prince smiled, feeling a great and comforting warmth envelope him, as if to reward him for his patience and suffering.
It was then that he remembered her last words to him before she died.
"If the gods had blessed me with a heart to give, it would have been yours a long time ago."