Lu-Ten
The earth and grass was still damp from the night rain as Lu-Ten picked his way through it, spear in hand. The air was cool, the sun had not yet penetrated the thick tree canopy. Lu-Ten figured it would be a pleasant day, an auspicious day. He felt it in his blood and in his bones.
He had awakened just as the sun rose, and to the Sun People that was a good sign.
"If we don't hurry, you'll throw off everyone's timing," Lallo said from behind him, his shorter legs working to keep pace. "Do you even remember the words, Lu-Ten?"
Lu-Ten looked back at him and scoffed. "Of course I remember the words, Lallo. What do you take me for?" He chuckled and Lallo raised his brows, a look of pure skepticism. "I mean it, I remember the words."
Lallo grunted. "Don't give my sister a bad face, Lu-Ten," he said, "you know she's been waiting to marry you since she was a little girl. And I agreed, because I know that you will be good to Yaretzi. Odd girl that she is."
Their engagement had been solidified when Lu-Ten had trapped the leopon, some few weeks ago. Lu-Ten had imagined it to just be by chance, the beast had simply miscalculated. Tuwa had called it a sign and Tonatiuh had declared it to be a good omen. Immediately after, the preparations for the wedding had begun. The leopon had been skinned and turned into a cloak, and its remains had been set alight to release its spirit.
Lu-Ten had learned that women took more pride in weddings than men. Yaretzi had been continously bathed and showered with various sweet scents, her hair brushed until it shimmered. She had been fitted for new clothes that were sewn by the older women of the city, and covered in red ink tattoos from her feet to her forehead. She had told him, in the few times that she had been allowed to speak to him, that she had been ordered to sleep on the temple steps for two nights in a row, to become more like Citlali the Mother.
As a man, Lu-Ten's only day of preparation was the day of the actual wedding. He was headed to small, clear pond to join Tonatiuh, the leader of the Sun People, and the rest of the men, where they would dip him in the water. It would wash him of any impurities, so that Citlali and Tenochizun, and Agni would recognize him as a new man.
He stepped through the undergrowth, hearing the ripple of the water and dim murmur of voices. As he entered the clearing, he met the gaze of Tonatiuh. "Ah, there he is," Tonatiuh grinned. As the chief, he oversaw many of the people's events, like weddings and funerals, the birth of the first child.
Lu-Ten smiled softly and shed his vest, passing it to Lallo. The smaller man folded it neatly as Lu-Ten stood before Tonatiuh, dipping his head. Tonatiuh gestured for him to open his hand and Lu-Ten complied, watching as the Sun Warrior created a small, golden flame. He transfered it to Lu-Ten's hands and the younger man felt his energy stir to life, keeping the flame anchored.
Fire was life, Tuwa had taught him, it gave and it took away.
"Before us and before the spirits is a man waiting to cross into the next phase of his life," Tonatiuh looked up, beyond the trees to where the sun was climbing up into the sky. "And before our witness, he will wash himself of the old and come out anew." He put his hands on Lu-Ten's shoulders, nodding for him to step in the pond.
Lu-Ten held the flame and dipped head first into the crystalline water, closing his eyes. He held his breath.
A dragon flew by him, coiling its tail around his neck. Its golden eyes searched his and Lu-Ten tried to pull away, but it wrapped its cerulean wings around him. Lu-Ten flailed his arms. "You mustn't forget," the dragon growled, "you will not forget." It blew a breath and Lu-Ten saw sparks of fire fall from its nostrils, drifting to the bottom of the pond.
He burst back through to the surface, gasping for breath. The others watched him curiously as he waded back to the earth and laid his head on the dirt. He looked up at Tonatiuh's face as the bigger man stood over him, offering his hand. Lu-Ten accepted it, standing. As he did so, Lallo stepped closer to him. "Are you alright?"
Lu-Ten considered it for a moment. He had experienced recurring dreams lately. In some, he was sitting before Tenochizun and Citlali, and the dragon was coiled on his shoulder. In others, he was alone in a great red room where blue and gold fire licked at the walls. The room seemed very familiar, and Lu-Ten figured that it was some fragment of a very distant, very faded memory. Both of the dreams had unnerved him, but he didn't understand why. "Yes," he said finally, "I'm alright."
"Good," Tonatiuh said, interrupting them, "now it's time to get you back in time to get married." He clapped Lu-Ten on the shoulder, as he often did.
Lu-Ten did not love Yaretzi, at least not in the way that a man would love his bride. She was lovely and interesting, a girl both beautiful and odd, but Lu-Ten did not feel the fiery, passionate love that he had witnessed in other couples. Tonatiuh had told him that he did not love his wife at first, but the spirits had kindled a fire between them. They would do the same for him. He found that he was nervous, more nervous than he had expected.
They fell into line back to the secluded city. Tonatiuh paused and jerked his head, "You walk in front today, Lu-Ten, you're going to be a new man. A married man."
Lu-Ten nodded and moved to the front. Water still trickled down his nose and soaked his hair, which had been closely shaven. He had witnessed countless weddings, but had never realized the effort that went into the preparations.
As they entered the village-city, Lu-Ten saw Lallo's mother, Tuwa waiting for them. She stood impatiently and Lu-Ten realized that she was stretched thin between preparing both Lu-Ten and his bride. She was Yaretzi's mother and had taken part in raising Lu-Ten as a child, she had tended to his mishaps and answered his questions. She was the closest thing to a mother that he had known.
"Come with me," she said to him as he approached, and wasted no time taking his hand. Her grip was warm and firm. She dragged him after her, across the dirt and stone village enter. The city of the Sun Warriors was hidden in a valley, protected by a vast jungle. The Sun Warriors were a cryptic people.
"What's the rush for?" Lu-Ten asked and Tuwa looked over her shoulder at him.
She released his hand and Lu-Ten saw that she had led him to another woman's home. It was the home of a widow, whose name evaded him but Lu-Ten remembered that the woman made jewelry from precious stones and other odd materials, tempered by her firebending. Tuwa smiled. "I asked her for a favor," she said. Sun People did not buy things with currency for the most part, they had no need for it. Instead, they gave others what they had in exchange for what they wanted. "Go ahead."
Lu-Ten stepped inside of the stone structure, finding it dim but not unpleasant. He cleared his throat loudly.
"I am here," a feminine voice called from further inside the abode and Lu-Ten followed it to its source, to a room lit by firebending. In it sat the widow, on the floor with her legs crossed and her hands tangled in a ball of string. "You're the Fire Nation boy, yes?" She did not look up at him and her voice was quiet, but she did not seem terribly old. "Their prince."
"I'm more of a Sun Warrior than a Fire Nationer," Lu-Ten said and resisted rolling his eyes. He had been raised amongst the Sun People since he was three years old, they were the only nation that Lu-Ten had known and had cared to think about. "I have been for twenty years, if you haven't noticed."
The widow withdrew her hands from the ball of string. "You cannot deny what you are," she said plainly and raised her head. Her eyes were the richest brown Lu-Ten had ever seen. Her olive skin was just beginning to age, fine wrinkles appearing near her eyes and mouth. "But take no offense. Tuwa wanted me to craft something for your wedding." She reached behind her and beckoned for Lu-Ten to open his hands.
In it, she laid a necklace and a bracelet. Lu-Ten examined them. The necklace had been bound by gold thread and was adorned with red and black stones and a smooth, odd stone in the center. The bracelet had been made the same way. Lu-Ten ran his finger over the odd blue stone. "What is this?"
"Dragon scale," the widow told him. "A gift for you and your bride," she said. "They came from the foot of the Twin Caves."
There had been talk that the dragons were stirring from their dormancy in the Twin Caves and would emerge to go on a great hunt. They could be heard roaring sometimes, or occasional streams of brilliant colored flame would appear at the mouth of the cave. Lu-Ten didn't find it surprising that their scales would find themselves on the ground below.
"Thank you," he said and dipped his head. "Yaretzi will be very grateful as well." He knew that to be true. Yaretzi was a girl amused by jewelry and trinkets, as interested in them as she was in stories and myths.
The widow's deep brown eyes twinkled. Sun People had eyes that were brown and black, or amber. Lu-Ten's eyes were pure gold, Fire Nation eyes. "You're a lucky boy," she said suddenly, "I remember when you were brought here, twenty years ago. Everyone does."
Lu-Ten sighed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I suppose I've become a foreigner over night to some people. Do I look any different?"
She laughed. "No," she said and patted the stone floor, urging him to sit. "But you have come a long way from then. You were a scared little boy, only three years old. You had scratches and bruises, and you did not stop crying. Now," she continued, "you are a man, soon to be a married man, and a respected Sun Warrior. What else could you ask for? What more could you want?"
Lu-Ten thought about the experience in the temple, where he had come face to face with Tenochizun and Citlali, and the dragon. They had told him that he was to make the world for the gods again, that he was destined to be the Lord of the Fire Nation. "Nothing," he said. "Nothing."
The older woman waved her hand. "Yes," she said and Lu-Ten found that he didn't understand. He furrowed his brow as the widow dismissed him with an absent-minded wave.
He pushed himself to his feet and made his way through the dark house, back to the entrance. Tuwa was leaning against the side of the house and looked up as he appeared, grinning. "Do you like them?" She asked, gesturing to the necklace and bracelet.
Lu-Ten opened his fist and nodded. "I think Yaretzi will as well." He paused, "can I see her?"
Tuwa looked torn. "You aren't supposed to," she said, "and she hasn't been allowed to see you since preparations began in earnest...just not for too long, alright?"
He followed her, back to her own home. The stone house had windows cut and was one of the larger homes on this side of the village-city, closest to the jungle. Lu-Ten remembered days from his childhood when he thought the house was too small for all of them. There were two siblings between Lallo and Yaretzi, though Lu-Ten had never gotten along with them as well as Lallo.
Tuwa's youngest was playing in the dirt with her twelve year old son and seven year old daughter, who paused when Lu-Ten approached. The boy wrinkled his nose in accusation, "we can't go inside because you and Yaretzi are getting /married/," he said, "and all the girls smell like flowers."
"I like flowers," the seven year old girl said and her brother rolled his eyes. "Will Yaretzi still live with us after you're...married?"
Lu-Ten smiled lightly, "No," he said, "we'll live together." There wouldn't be much difference, he thought. Though Lu-Ten had his own modest home, he spent much of his time at Tuwa's. She was a much better cook. "There'll be more space."
Tuwa's twelve year old boy sighed in relief. "Mother will let me have Yaretzi's room," he said, as though this had already been determined. "I'll be the oldest in the house." He was one of the middle children, with four older siblings and two younger.
"That means you'll have to take on the responsibilities of being the oldest in the house," Lu-Ten patted the boy's bald head and entered the house. He was struck with an odd sense of nostalgia. Tuwa's house was sparsely decorated, due to having several rambunctious children living in it, but placed high on the walls were various artifacts that she had been collecting since she herself was a child. He spotted a worn down arrowhead, and a feathered bracelet, remnants of Tuwa's adventures as a youth. His favorite decoration, though, was the painting.
On the left wall of the house's main room was a large painting detailing the steps of a firebending kata. It looked more like a dance to Lu-Ten, each figure moving fluidly into the next, as if it was endless.
He heard talking coming from one of the sleeping rooms on the right side of the house. Lu-Ten drifted towards the source of the noise and stopped before the entrance of the room. He peeked inside.
Tuwa's eldest girl, Yaretzi's older sister, and several other women were standing around Yaretzi, their hands working on different things at once. One was brushing Yaretzi's hair and another was coloring in the tattoos on her hands. Still another was fixing the hem on her dress.
Lu-Ten coughed lightly.
All of the women turned towards him in unison and shrieked. Yaretzi's sister clapped her hand over his eyes and spun him around. "You can't see her!"
"You can't see me!" Yaretzi shouted from inside the room.
Moema, Yaretzi's sister, shoved him. "You know it's against the rules, Lu-Ten, don't give her a bad face." She glared at him, as she had often done when they were children. "You have to leave."
Lu-Ten blinked. "Tuwa said I could see her, but just a few moments," he told her and Moema deflated. "I already promised Lallo I wouldn't give her a bad face."
Moema had fought Lu-Ten just as much as she had fought Lallo when they were younger. They were only a year apart, and Tuwa's second oldest son would've been nineteen summers had he not passed away as a child. "You better not," she grumbled and stepped aside. "Or I'll strangle you, as sure as the sun rises I'll strangle you."
Yaretzi sat with her hands in her lap, eyes downcast. Lu-Ten could see her biting her lip to withhold her smile though. He took a moment to take in her appearance, and Lu-Ten thought that he had never seen a woman become such a beautiful bride.
Her skin seemed more supple, and soft to the touch, and her dark hair was pulled into a high tail bound by a red ribbon. A gold ring had been place on her upper arm and from her temples and downward were spiraling red tattoos. She seemed to be eternal, Citlali personified as every bride was meant to be.
"The world isn't going to end if you look at me, Yaretzi," Lu-Ten said and her head snapped up. Her eyes, which were wide and brown, sparkled. "How are we supposed to stay married if you can't even look at me right now?"
Yaretzi grinned nervously. "What if something happens and then we can't get married because I looked at you?" She asked and Lu-Ten looked incredulously at her, exchanging glances with Moema. Yaretzi had a way with odd theories, that only she could understand.
She took his hand and stepped closer to him, so close that he could see the quiet desperation in her eyes. "Do you still want to marry me?" She asked and her grip tightened.
Lu-Ten suppressed a sigh. "Yaretzi," he said slowly, "you don't have to ask this. I promised you. I promised Lallo, and this evening I'm going to promise the spirits." He looked down at her, her searching eyes boring into him.
"Do you lo-" she broke off and shook her head quickly, releasing his hand as if he had burned her. "I'm sorry," she said and stepped away from him.
Lu-Ten flinched. He had no answer for her. He did not love Yaretzi in the way that she loved him, in the way that he hoped would come to him. He had found that he didn't have the same love for her and she had for him, the same precocious infatuation. He met her gaze and hoped she would understand, hoped that she would find some reassurance and that she would understand.
He left the room with Moema's sharp gaze on him. She had not heard their exchange, but Moema knew them both. She did not take slights lightly.
When he exited the house, the twelve year old boy was waiting for him. "You grown ups are weird," he said and opened his hands, letting a small red flame hover between them.
"I don't wanna grow up," his seven year old sister said and the boy groaned in exasperation. "Do we have to grow up, Lu-Ten? And get married?"
He shook his head, "You don't have to get married, but you do have to grow up." He knelt to her level. He didn't interact with the younger children very much, and he scarcely knew the baby. "But you have a long way to go." The little girl took his hand. She would grow up to look like Yaretzi, he could see that already. But perhaps she wouldn't be so peculiar. He opened his palms, revealing a golden flame. The three children were drawn to it. "Fire is life," he said, "it gives and it takes away."
Tuwa took the cloak made from the leopon and draped it across Lu-Ten's shoulders. She turned him to face her and adjusted it, appraising him. "Very nice," she said after a moment's pause.
Lu-Ten couldn't stop his chest from rising with pride. It was a fine robe, that much was obvious. A robe won by chance, and too valuable to neglect. Tuwa smiled at him. "Are you ready?"
The people of the village-city were already gathered, some of them using their firebending as the sun began to set. There was the sound of drums beating, a rhythm that reminded Lu-Ten of a slow pounding heart. "I'm ready," he answered and Tuwa nodded.
She led him out of his home, which would not seem so empty, and to the center of the city. Lallo seemed to appear from nowhere, coming to Lu-Ten's side with a chuckle.
The crowd of people separated and Lu-Ten saw Tonatiuh standing at the head of them, face painted in the bold red markings of the chief. He wore the chief's headdress, making him seem even taller than he was, as if he was Agni in the flesh. Eyes drew to him like moths to flame.
Beside him stood Yaretzi, fidgeting ever so slightly. She wrung her hands, her eyes flickering back and forth but Lu-Ten thought she looked even prettier than she had earlier that day. The dress she wore was deep red and gold, shimmering in the sunset.
"Don't forget the words," Lallo whispered as Lu-Ten stepped away from them, pulling the bracelet and necklace from a pocket in his vest. He stood before Yaretzi, feeling countless brown and amber gazes on his back.
Yaretzi's eyes did not leave his as he clasped the necklace around her throat, the dragon scale settling just below her neck. Lu-Ten smiled encouragingly and she opened her hands, cradling a ball of fire between them. Lu-Ten took a half step back and raised his voice, "I, Lu-Ten of the Sun Warriors, take this woman as my wife- if she accepts me, and before the gods and spirits I promise to value and to keep her."
His bride froze, as if she did not quite believe that he was real, as if she thought that he would've left her on the day of their wedding. "I accept," she said finally, quietly, "and before the spirits and the gods, I will value and keep him."
"Before the watchful eyes of the Sun People and the gods and the spirits, this man and this woman will be joined in marriage," Tonatiuh said and took Yaretzi's left hand and Lu-Ten's right. "They will be Tenochizun and Citlali in the flesh, joined until the great spirit-god Agni closes his eye for eternity." He joined their hands.
The ball of fire Yaretzi had been holding was joined between them, sending a jolt through Lu-Ten's arm. He accepted the flame and they raised their arms together, letting the golden sparks balance between them. Tonatiuh took a red string and wound it around their wrists.
And then they were married.
The drums began to beat once more and Lu-Ten grasped Yaretzi's hand as people moved closer to them. They congratulated them and Lu-Ten nodded to each of them.
"You'll be spending the night in the temple," Tonatiuh said to them and Yaretzi stiffened. "Better go on before it gets too dark to see."
Beside him, Yaretzi was petrified. She had not considered that and Lu-Ten admitted that he hadn't either. He had engaged in trysts on occasion, but something told him that it was not the same.
He squeezed her hand and dipped his head so that his mouth was close to her ear. "Yaretzi," he said slowly, firmly, "you know we don't have to, don't you?" She blushed and he went on, "we don't have to." She seemed surprised and Lu-Ten remembered that she was seventeen, still idealistic and ignorant at the same time. He cursed Moema for making her believe she had to do something she didn't want to do.
Yaretzi smiled, an odd smile that Lu-Ten didn't quite understand. She pulled him forward and led the way across the village, towards the temple. She used her bending to light the way and they did not speak. Lu-Ten understood that there was no need to.
She led him to the temple and stopped before they reached the first step. The light from the fire cast shadows across her face, illuminating her brown eyes. "You first," she said and Lu-Ten complied, removing his shoes as he ascended the stone steps of the temple.
They entered the main chamber together and Lu-Ten moved to light the wickers on the statues. Citlali and the dragon bathed the chamber in a dim, warm glow, their fierce eyes set on Lu-Ten and his new wife.
Lu-Ten sat.
Just behind him, just out of sight, he heard the stone dragon roar. The sound reverberated through his skin, causing the hair on his neck and arms to rise. Lu-Ten clenched his teeth and looked towards Yaretzi, wondering if she could sense his discomfort. He wondered if she had heard the dragon, too.
"They won't leave you alone," she told him, her legs tucked under her and her hands twitching in her lap. That was her answer, he decided. She had heard it as well. "They aren't going to leave you alone."
"Who?" Lu-Ten asked, although he already knew the answer.
"The gods," Yaretzi answered and waved her hand. "You're important to them...well all of us are important to them, but they already told you what they want you to do. This is their world, Lu-Ten. You can't ignore the gods. You'll have to answer them."
"How?"
Yaretzi spread her fingers and turned her lips up in the beginnings of a thin smile. "I think you already know how," she said, and she seemed saddened, yet somehow coy at the same time. "By doing what they want."
