Primary Days
Chapter 1: On Ji
"You'll be graduating from the academy soon, isn't that right?"
On Ji's mother was considered a great beauty, from her sleek black hair to her somewhat unfashionably long feet, she could not walk the street without admiration. To On Ji, her mother's face was a thing of comfort, though others prized her as a traditional Fire Nation beauty. She was just as well regarded for her social graces, with a cleverness that often surprised. Xijun was a woman to be feared but also to be loved – the best kind of woman, On Ji thought. Though she greatly admired Xijun, she was known to be of a more reserved nature than her boldly cut mother. She was intelligent, just as her mother, but less assertive and far gentler. More like her father, all told.
With a sigh, Xijun smoothed a loose hair behind her ear and tucked into her braid. On Ji stole a glance at her mother then, an eyebrow raised in question.
"I thought you were excited?" On Ji remarked.
Xijun smiled, quickly brushing her hand across On Ji's cheek.
"Of course, On Ji. It simply," she gestured into the air, "makes one remember."
She knew what her mother was remembering; it was always the same. When one has a past such as her mother, On Ji supposed, you could not help but treasure it.
"Isn't that right, On Ping?"
On Ji glanced up to see the entrance of her father, dressed formally in the red and brown attire of the Fire Lord's lesser advisers.
"Yes, dear," On Ping grinned at On Ji, reaching to tease a piece of Xijun's dark plait. She protested with a small swat, but he ignored it, ducking to brush a kiss across his wife's cheek.
As On Ping settled in beside his wife, fiddling with a loose Pai Sho piece, he said, "And how were things at home today, my dears?"
Xijun and On Ji both confirmed that they were well, and inquired after his day.
On Ji's father grinned, stroking his chin and casting the game piece aside. "My day went well, it was more productive than most."
On Ping's position was one of esteem, one that had led the small family a couple day's travel from the home On Ji had grown up in and into the hills of the Capital City. It had been an adjustment, but as On Ping had promised, the end of the war was a time for change. It was only right to carry on with it, even if he suddenly found himself in a line of work so contrary to that of his previous employ. A librarian, a historian, turned adviser? From preserving history to helping architect it, the scholar in On Ping relished his new found role, however meager, in the Fire Nation's new era.
"Is that so?" Xijun said.
For the small family, evenings were usually spent on two things: Pai Sho and retellings of hearsay and chitchat they had collected through the week. It had become something of a tradition, even if they sounded too much like a gaggle of Fire Nation aunties. They didn't always have any interesting news, but On Ji could tell that tonight her father did.
He had yet to set his end of the Pai Sho board, even as On Ji reached for a piece of Okra and said, "It's you and mama tonight."
From her end of the board, also unset, Xijun said, "Tell us about your productive day, On Ping. And your news."
"Yes, my news," he said, reaching for another tile. "As you know, today was the meeting in order to finalize the plans for the Fan Bridge reconstruction. "
"Yes, you mentioned it," Xijun said.
"Well, it all went along smoothly. The Fire Lord approved the plans, the council agreed, and we drew up the labor contracts and everything."
For the next few minutes, he recited what parts of the contracts he could remember by heart and explained what the reconstruction was projected to cost in terms of both time and money. He even explained the historic importance of the Fan bridge and why it had taken the approval of both the council and Fire Lord to begin construction. They were even seeking to landmark the bridge once it was fully repaired, he said.
"Ping, dear," Xijun interrupted. "It isn't that we don't appreciate bridges–"
"Yes, of course, my news," he said, slapping down a lotus tile. "It happened after the Fan Bridge meeting recessed."
He glanced between On Ji and Xijun, an eyebrow lifted.
"Has your sister been by today, Xi?" He asked. "You may have already heard this. She has ears everywhere, you know."
On Ji snorted, but told her father that they were not due to receive her aunt until tomorrow. Xijun clucked in disapproval, but there was a smile in her eyes. Her sister did have ears everywhere, even if it wasn't polite to say so.
"Good then. Following the meeting, we heard some of the guard – incurable gossips at the best of times – carrying on about our young Fire Lord. Loud as can be, right outside of his own council chambers," said On Ping. "And who should hear but the Fire Lord himself. It was really a pot of bad luck on their sides, and I tell you, we did not know what he would do. He just as often pretends he's heard nothing at all, which is the best way to go about it. You really can't have too thick a skin in his position."
"Well," On Ping continued, flipping the Pai Sho title between his fingers, "next thing, he has a guard, a young one, begging for clemency. Pinned right against the council doors. He was...livid."
Xijun fixed her almond eyes on her husband. "The gossip?"
"We had all heard it. 'He's tumbling Tribe trash this, waterbending whore that,' not that it's a terrible secret these days. Word in the palace does have a way of getting around, and out. It's the first anyone has been boldfaced enough to speak it so close to the Fire Lord, of course."
"What a terrible sentiment," Xijun offered, even if the idea was somewhat shocking. To think, their Fire Lord consorting with a woman of the Tribes. He certainly was not a boring monarch, that was the opinion of both her mother and father, expressed under multiple occasions. On Ji fretted somewhat for him; any pretense at privacy he had was that. A pretense. He probably knew as much.
"Yes, well. The Fire Lord is a young man, and his lack of diligence in finding a suitable young lady from home has bore the brunt of far too much speculation. He has been somewhat careless with his personal image since his split with Lady Mai."
On Ji thought for a moment and asked, "Does it really matter so much, papa?"
"Yes and no. It depends on who you ask."
"What if I'm asking you?"
On Ping smiled and said, "As an adviser, yes, it presents a problem. To become involved with a member of his administration does not sit well with the Fire Lord's peers, prejudice beside. It has long since been the unspoken tradition that the council members would be hecklers of the Fire Lord's private affairs, and it is doubly true when one is...pursuing one's own emissary. But as On Ping, your father the lover of history great and small?" he gestured, a wicked tilt to his grin, "I wish the young boy luck with his summer romance."
"She's an emissary, then. Have you met her?" On Ji asked, nipping at her bit of okra.
"Once or twice, but our duties rarely intersect." He shook his head a moment, adding, "She was, regrettably, present for today's outburst."
Xijun peered at her husband. "Is she lovely?"
On Ping reached to his memory for reference, having cast only a brief glance her way. She stood out from the others, as she naturally would, dressed in blue with tumbling dark hair kept secured behind her head. He nodded as the memory of her pieced together. "Quite. She is remarkably Water Tribe, of course, and it is not always to her benefit. Yet she is incredibly professional, even in light of today's events," he said. He did think her rather striking, and refreshingly competent for one her age. "She is very pretty, like my Xijun. And very bright, like my On Ji."
On Ji smiled. She did not mind, of all things, being bright.
"Marriage is in the air, I do believe."
On Ji, discreetly drying a bowl with a washcloth while she sat in the middle of the kitchen, glanced up to see her mother and her aunt conversing over tea. Her mother, eyes sparkling beneath dark hair, turned her head. On Ji warily followed her gaze.
"Oh? And what makes you say that, sister?"
Sighing and setting the bowl away from her, On Ji folded her hands in her lap and demurely waited for her aunt to extrapolate. Against her better judgement, she was curious.
"The Fire Lord has finally caved. He is to take a bride, for the good of our proud nation and for his proud heart."
On Ji paused. It was just yesterday her father brought news of the Fire Lord's waterbending emissary and paramour. Did news truly evolve so quickly?
"I didn't think it was possible," her aunt continued on wistfully, glancing away from her tea and out the window. "I was absolutely appalled when he and Lady Mai went their separate ways...why, I couldn't even imagine the Fire Lord being able to love after that!"
Xijun received her sister's story quietly, only one eyebrow quirked to betray her interest. "You were terribly distraught."
"Well, the past is the past, Xi," she said, "and if the word is true – and I am rarely wrong, you must admit – the Fire Lord's eyes have fallen abroad."
Xijun, in light of yesterday, did not appear surprised. She clicked her tongue. "Imagine. Fire Nation and Water Tribe. Five years ago, who would have heard of such a thing? How very modern."
"Yes, well, I still find it rather shocking," said her aunt, drawling out her next words. "A foreigner, Xi. A waterbender at that."
"Mm," Xijun murmured against her tea. "It is a very bold move of him. Quite the way to smooth some ruffled feathers in the Poles, isn't it?"
Silently, On Ji nodded in agreement. She did not know much about Fire Lord Zuko, but his friends loved him, and many of his men honored him. She did not bother to give thought to the more vocal conservatives around the city who longed for the days of war. If the Fire Lord truly planned to marry his waterbending emissary, it certainly couldn't hurt matters oversea, her mother was right about that.
"I imagine the Avatar will be invited!" her aunt gushed with overwhelming excitement, as if the thought had only just struck her. The tea sloshed onto the table as her aunt discarded her china, her mouth too full of words to pause for drink. "What a ceremony that will be, don't you agree? If it comes to fruition. The Avatar himself, Xijun. Who..." On Ji felt her skin crawl the moment her aunt's messenger-hawk eyes pierced her to the core. Sitting straighter than she had been, On Ji lifted her chin and watched her aunt turn back to Xijun with a growing look of satisfaction. "...is a very eligible bachelor, might I add."
Her stomach flopped, and her mind filled with images of hand movements, dancing feet, and Kuzon's earth-colored eyes. Kuzon, whose image twisted and warped into a tall, lean-muscled young man with blue tattoos and ceremonial robes. She could feel her cheeks heating, throwing her gaze into her lap in embarrassment.
"Yes, but you are a married woman," Xijun teased, sweeping stray hairs from her dancing eyes. "And you far too meddlesome for such a child. You'd eat the poor thing alive."
Girlish laughter spilled from her aunt's lips. "No, no, not me, of course. If you haven't yet noticed, your daughter is of marrying age." She lowered her voice, but On Ji's burning ears could still pick apart every word spoken. "Do you not agree that such an arrangement would make a powerful couple? Every daughter of well-standing has her eyes on a Fire Nation prize, but that is all very predictable, isn't it?"
Xijun's lips drew a straight line, her keen eyes flashing toward her daughter. She shook her head at On Ji as if to say, Your aunt and her flights of fancy. Such a thing was not uncommon. On Ji merely turned her head away and gazed beyond the windows to the backyard garden. Her aunt's fancies had struck a little too close to her heart today.
Her aunt had married a young man with his eye on a military career. Fifteen years and two sons later, she was the wife of a major general and had no daughters of her own to fuss over. She had far too much influence and agency for a women of her nature, but she always meant well enough. Even when was being ridiculous.
"Well..." Xijun said, stalling as she turned back to her sister. Xijun was kind, even when dismissive. "I can hardly think of parting with my On Ji so soon, even if she is already a young woman," her mother finished. She added for good measure, "And should she marry the Avatar, her home could be very far away."
Her aunt's whims were not to be dismissed so easily. "Yes, but think of the wealth. The notoriety. The prestige, Xijun. The Avatar is no ordinary man. He is a great bender."
Xijun gentle pat her sister's hand across their tea things. "That may be so, but I'm not sure I am ready for grandchildren with such great ears."
On Ji flushed fiercely and shot her aunt and mother an unbelieving glance. Surely she did not seem so invisible. Her face flared, and she pressed her hand in mortification against her eyes, trying to soothe away the feverish emotions that now pulsed within her blood.
A trilling laughter tumbled forth from aunt, as Xijun said, "And there is nothing wrong with the men here. You have two fine sons of your own."
Her aunt did not miss a beat, dismissing the compliment with a wave of her hand, "And there is nothing wrong with following the example of our Fire Lord."
"Not ten minutes ago, you wicked thing, you abhorred the idea of his dalliance with a waterbender. Why, I think your words were–"
"Yes, well. This is the Avatar, isn't it? He only comes around once a lifetime. He is a great young man." There was nothing her aunt liked better than Great Young Men. "If you'll pardon the expression, I'm quite certain the Avatar and your On Ji would make wonderful music together." Tickled by her joke, her aunt laughed.
He does play the Sungi horn, On Ji wanted to interject, but she held her tongue. No doubt her aunt would burst at the seams.
Besides, who was to say that Kuzon really was who she believed he was? All she knew about the master bender was that he was intimate friends with the Fire Lord and had a spirit in his eyes that uncannily reminded her of the mysterious boy from her past. A boy who had shown her how to dance. In the end, he was nothing but a stranger. He was nothing more than speculation.
"My On Ji with the Avatar..." On Ji stiffened at her mother's tone, blooming with interest. Her skin prickling as she lifted beseeching eyes to the Xijun, sitting halfway across the kitchen. Her mother's gaze was elsewhere, however, her lips crooked in thought. "Surely she is far too quiet for such an uproarious marriage." She paused, then said, "You're a terrible influence, you know?"
Her aunt nodded proudly. "Xi, she is a bright girl, our On Ji. She could learn the steps such an alliance would require." Inwardly, On Ji snorted at the irony of her aunt's poetic mood. Perhaps the woman was not too far from the truth. "The Avatar is an airbender, surely a patient teacher. And On Ji is illustriously born."
Illustriously was perhaps a touch too kind for the daughter of a librarian, but her father was rather honorably employed these days. They certainly weren't in want of distinguished acquaintances, and her aunt and uncle had no qualms about hefting their clout On Ji's way. It all made for a great headache.
"I think this is perhaps a bit too ambitious for one afternoon alone," Xijun said. She adjusted the linen at her knee and glanced On Ji's way again. "And seventeen is a very young age."
"Not so young," her aunt said, rising from her seat, gathering her red skirts in a dignified fashion. "And I needn't crow about the Avatar or this delicious idea any longer. His accomplishments speak for themselves, and I have no daughter of my own to shower with attention." Smiling grandly, she pushed the chair toward the table and straightened her shoulders, her chin held proudly in the air.
On Ji cursed Fire Lords and Avatars of past that her aunt had only sired sons. She was fond of her cousins, but they were never enough to divert her aunt's attentions. They could not be coaxed into dresses made of itchy material or into slimming shoes that pinched her feet. They could not be gifted perfumes that, while beautifully bottled, smelled like flowery swamp water. And they weren't her aunt's idea of marriage material for the Avatar.
"Thank you for the tea, Xi. I had a lovely afternoon." On Ji smiled timidly as her aunt tossed her an appraising glance. "You look as lovely as ever, On Ji."
"Thank you," she responded graciously, lowering her eyes to hide her discomfort.
"Nonsense. I'll show you to the door." Xijun immediately rose out of her own seat, and On Ji's aunt made no objection about waiting.
"All I'm saying," her aunt rattled on as the two women swept out of the room, gossip of the Fire Lord and his waterbendering beau forgotten, "is that your daughter would make a fine wife to any man, and yet she is my only niece. And the Avatar, why..."
Sighing, On Ji pursed her lips and dragged the bowl towards her, polishing it passionately in the silence. How she dreaded her aunt's frequent visits.
"Ping?" Xijun brushed back her dark hair, calling towards her husband.
In the midst of folding down the blankets of their bed, On Ping replied mildly,"Yes, Xi?"
Xijun glanced at the mirror before her, shining glass framed by swirling knots of gold-leaf metal and ruby stone. It had been her mother's and her grandmother's before that, and Xijun had admired it for many years as a young girl.
She set her heavy comb aside and turned in her seat, away from the mirror.
"Ping, tell me. What do you think of the Avatar?"
On Ping paused. "The Avatar?"
Xijun nodded, but did not extrapolate. "As On Ping, lover of history great and small."
He grinned at that, but added tentatively, "I've never met him, you understand, Xi. He is not at the beck and call of Fire Nation politicians."
"But you know of him," she supplied, reaching for her brush. "And you have an opinion on everything, I know you have."
On Ping narrowed his eyes, not quite sure this was all about, and said, "Well. Broadly, I think he is the most interesting Avatar since the earthbending Kyoshi, but that is a matter of some debate among historians and scholars. Some say Yangchen, while Fire Nation intellectuals tend to favor Roku. He fascinates me, though, of course. Lost to the world for a century and in the course of one year," he said ruefully, "he brings an end to the Great War and reshuffles an entire dynasty. The boy is only, what, sixteen, seventeen now? Hardly older than our On Ji."
"Does he seem...honorable?" Xijun asked, pressing a clear cream against her cheeks.
"He is the last of his people, Xi. Even as an Avatar, he has set himself apart," Ping said, folding the last of the blankets back. "He shares a complicated history with this nation, but five years has eased so much tension already. I think he will be remembered well, in the end."
A small silence enveloped them, but it sat undisturbed as both On Ping and Xijun considered his last words.
"Why do you ask?" On Ping finally said, peering at his wife suspiciously. He found her eyes in the reflection of her mirror and wasn't sure what to make of that gleam.
With a very small smile, Xijun shook her head, waving her hand. "It's nothing, just idle thinking."
On Ping didn't press the question, but he could surmise two things from his wife's sudden query. First, his sister-in-law had paid the household a visit. Second, and more important, was that he would learn of Xijun's cryptic intentions soon enough. Sooner than he wanted to know, he was sure.
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Re-written 5/13/15.