Maiko Month Prompt: Fire and Steel.
Warnings: none
AN: Maiko Month day Twenty..something. I forget what number this was…this is short, and shit, by shit, I mean it's literal shit.
Mom took away her knives today, she says it'll make her better, but it ruins her. If she isn't in the palace, there's a void, and it's only filled when the sharp metal sticks in the wood of her wall. It's nice really, comforting, is what she'd call it, if anything. Mai thinks it'll make her useful, since she isn't to her parents, it's good to know the knives think so.
She's fifteen, and Zuko's only been back a week. She had left after sparring, and came home with her clothes singed, she should have guessed looking that unruly it would come with a punishment.
"All of them."
"I thought you used to hide a few under your pillow?"
"She found those ages ago, Zuko." she sighs, pulling her knees to her chest. It isn't fair, being reprimanded for such things, especially if their stealing away something that belongs to her, and only her.
"It's stupid, she steals that part of me and thinks it'll help. It's like your fire, no one can take that from you, why should they be able to do that to me?"
It's the second time she's collapsed around him, normally the walls are strong, but again, he notices, they can't hold up. "I.." he hates it, not being able to comfort her, the way the knives do. She's sharp and collected like them—precise, things he can't seem to wrap his head around, but he tries. He guesses they just understand better than he can.
"It's stupid, I know."
"It isn't."
"It is, I shouldn't whine."
"You have a right to."
He still doesn't understand, maybe he never will, he can get the parents part. Controlling. The weapon that they had stripped her of, was her own form of the word, something she could manipulate on her own, without their interference. He thought it was amazing, but he also thought she was.
"Fire is a part f me, you're right, but I don't always have control."
"You wouldn't hurt me."
"Never on purpose."
Her eyes say it, that she trusts him. He doesn't think she should, but he couldn't stop her if he tried. There's a safety about her, although dangerous, she has no intention of really hurting anyone. She makes choices on her own, all for the cause of protecting herself—and now him. The steely exterior is nothing compared to the softened interior that only Zuko gets to see. A trait melted and reformed through heat. She's a barrier, made of reinforced metal, and she only let's those walls down for him.
Unfortunately, even the trust that's swirls in the pale gold of her eyes isn't enough to get him to trust himself. He's unpredictable, destructive, and never chooses a clear path. Indecision clouds his intentions, and he tends take the course that could potentially end in ashes. He is fire, and she is steel.
No one, can take that from either of them.