L: Lily
Mai's room was her sanctuary. It was a place which provided her with an inner solace, replacing her usual coldness with warmth. It was is if her locked door, nothing but a tenuous layer of wood, separated her world—the one where her real mask fell, shattering into tiny pieces—from the reality, where her stance was distant. Leaning against its frame now, her eyelids closed, she let out a small sigh. Her mother's voice still muttering cholerically from the other side. The raven-haired woman waited for her to leave, before inhaling deeply. The smell of her books—that musty scent of dilapidated, yellow pages, the aroma of fresh or old ink—produced a ghost of a smile on her thin lips. Sighing contently, the fifteen-year-old girl walked towards her bookcase.
Her delicate hand empirically stretched itself towards the second shelf, grasping gently the spine of a burgundy tome. Bringing it out, she adoringly caressed its cover, feeling the labyrinth texture lightly scratch the tips of her fingers, while they dipped in the golden incision of the title; 'Love Amongst the Dragons'. Biting the inside of her cheek, the girl opened the book, pausing on a certain page.
It stood there, trapped between the flat papyruses. Its once-coral petals had now turned into the color of ochre, wrinkled and weathered from the power of the sun. The luscious, vivid stem had turned itself into a green thread. Though its beauty had been greatly diminished, influenced by the passage of time, Mai still believed she hadn't lay her eyes on a more lovely flower than that Fire Lily—a four-year old gift from the Fire Nation prince, Zuko.
Before…
The prince was gone now, banished by his father for a bit more than three years. Most people had long forgotten about his presence but, for Mai, it still was a constant thought in the back of her head, closely resembling the chatter of the birds—she couldn't hear it, because she had grown accustomed to it, but it was still there.
The black-haired girl recalled the blush on the boy's cheeks when he offered it to her, as well as the aversion of his glance. Not reacting, she had reached out, taking it from his warm hand without saying a word. The prince didn't speak either as he retrieved his task of watching the turtle-ducks travelling in their paddle. Mai's fingers had played with the stem in a nonchalant manner, but the beating of her heart had escalated so frantically that she could hear the rush of her blood in her ears.
But that was long ago. Shaking her head, Mai shut the book and closed her eyes tightly in an attempt to shove away the memory. Zuko was gone now. And all that remained from him was that lily—weathered and torn, missing its color. Just like Mai was.
Hope you enjoyed reading. I just noticed there's no dialogue in this one, I sure narrate a lot. :P
Thanks to NinjaKick for editing this and supporting me in general.
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~Dora.