alesana4ever: Agreed, TyLee deserves some happiness for sure! She's such a sweet lady.
And yeah the hope stone was supposed to be just that, a little glimmer of hope. Azula may not be in a stable place but Seicho is something of a lifeline. And thank you it's really fun to type stories within stories lol.
The hand comes down from the stars, it brushes over her cheeks. It is soft and it is loving. Warm and kind. She brings her own hand up to it and strokes the back of it. The stars overhead shift and swirl and glimmer and wink.
She thinks that they might be singing or humming. It is a sweet sound. A lulling sound. Like the lullabies she had been deprived of.
It is strange, she thinks, to sleep when you're already sleeping. But she finds herself curling up and drifting off as the stars fall around her is teeny twinkling bursts. They shower sparkles over her until her skin is enticingly and richly spangled with them.
She feels celestial. Ethereal.
They dust her lashes and glittery her hair.
She feels pleasantly absent.
And the humming grows. She opens her mouth and the stars flutter onto her tongue. When she swallows them they taste of powdered sugar and passionfruit. She thinks that there is a hint of blueberry.
And somehow she is certain that these are the tastes of the cosmos, truly.
They stars swirl around her and they ask her if she is okay.
She nods.
They tell her that, that is good.
She nods again.
They tell her that it is fine, that she can talk to them.
She says that she doesn't know what to talk about-her voice tastes like blackberry and cherry.
They ask her if she is awake.
She rolls over and rubs the blur out of her eyes. Her lower lip trembles and she can't say why. The rays of the sun cast a light on longing. Longing for what they have stolen from her by falling over her face.
"Are you awake?" Seicho asks.
She sits up a sweep of sleep tangled locks spill over her shoulders.
"Oh good, because I'm hungry and I'm having trouble getting the fire started."
Azula wants to ask her why she doesn't just use her bending but she can't find her parchment.
"Did you sleep well?"
Azula nods.
She smiles, "you didn't wake up in the middle of the night for once. I can tell you a story before bed again if it helps."
She isn't sure that that has anything to do with her ability to stay asleep, neither is she sure that she doesn't want another story.
.oOo.
Her party is small. Small and foreign. Not one of them knows any of the others. And that's where the real excitement lies. They have a whole glimmering glacier to explore, and yet the thrill lies in exploring each other. Navigating each other's brains and auras and personalities until they know them as sure as their own.
TyLee is certain that they don't see it this way. They probably aren't thinking of auras at all. They are thinking of adventure and sightseeing and once in a lifetime views. She is thinking of the very same. But she is anticipating the fireside conversations much more than anything the glaciers and their tunnels will have to offer.
There is something enticing about being one of the first Fire Nationals to embark on a wintery expedition. Much of the trek to the glacier is uneventful, she finds herself fully engrossed in keeping her footing in the snow and not losing sight of her party when the snow begins to fall more intensely. And the weight of her pack isn't so pleasant either, she isn't used to carrying something so heavy for so long.
A quick scan of their faces shows that her companions wouldn't be up for conversation either, even if she had been. Apparently even the seasoned explorers are struggling. She wonders what they must make of her.
Likely they think she is a burden. She wonders if she is slowing them down. If they resent her for it, if they regret bringing her along.
She isn't watching her footing, she stumbles and topples into the snow.
"You alright down there?" The woman extends a hand.
"I'm fine, really cold though." She shivers and shakes the snow out of her hair. "I just can't get the hang of these things." She lifts her snowshoes one after the other.
One of the men laughs, "usually takes more than one trip to get used to them."
"You had to get used to them?"
"I'm from the Earth Kingdom. The part I live in doesn't get much snow."
She readjusts her snowshoes and they continue. She finds the silence to be slightly less uncomfortable. How funny it is that breaking the ice beneath her feet would be a conversational ice breaker.
.oOo.
Azula is growing used to the hike. Growing used to feeling sticky and dirty. She supposes that if she can adjust to the discomforts of a straightjacket then other, lesser, discomforts will be manageable.
"We should be at the ruins tomorrow." Seicho notes as she douses the fire.
'Good' Azula writes. She is running out of parchment, energy, and willpower. More often than not she finds herself distant. She thinks of the stars of their powdered sugar and passionfruit tang. She wonders if that is what the Spirit World is like. She wonders if the Spirit World would be kind to her given her history or if she'd just be swapping one pain for a new kind.
Whatever the case, she finds that she likes sleeping and dreaming more than she enjoys the physical world. And Agni, she had only had one dream. Just a small taste was more than enough to leave her yearning for something kinder.
For a world where there are only twinkling galaxies and sweetly murmuring voices. For a world where her own voice can murmur. For a world where she has nothing to atone for. No one to miss because no one else exists.
She thinks that TyLee would have liked the starry hand…
She stares up at the ceiling of the tent. How many times has she shifted positions now?
She closes her eyes and tries to dream. But her head is cluttered. Cluttered with old arguments on a steady replay and visions of tears. The sound her TyLee's wimpers play in her mind with such clarity that she might as well be next to her.
She rolls over again and grips her hands over her head.
It will be over soon, she promises herself. One way or the other she will have sleep and quiet.
"Hey." Seicho whispers.
Azula inhales sharply and turns to face her.
"Trouble sleeping?"
She wonders what gave her the first clue.
"I can tell you about the time when I found the ruins."
Azula nods and inches a little closer to the woman. She cannot sleep so she will settle for a story. For a lesser escape.
.oOo.
"I thought that we'd have reached the glacier by now." Says the woman who had helped her up. Evidently TyLee has been thinking the same.
"It's a day or so out yet, Tuya." Says the eldest of the group. "We'll make it there by sun down tomorrow. "For now we'll set up camp and make ourselves cozy."
"How do we get cozy and warm in a place like this?" TyLee asks.
It would seem that it is quite simple; the right gear and a well maintained fire are the key elements. A communal tent and a warm meal are important aspects. The Earthbender, Keyhyun, stirs a fine soup. She hasn't tasted it yet but it smells pleasant.
"So, Keyhyun, what brings you from the Earth Kingdom to the poles?" Tuya asks. She points at the eldest man, "Tanak is an archeologist and Natuk makes a hobby of exploring glaciers, what about you?"
Keyhyun shrugs. "Earth Kingdom gets boring after a while. Where I come from it's all rolling grasslands and some hills."
"So you traded plain grasslands for plain snow mounds?" Natuk nudges the man.
"At least snow mounds glitter. Grass just…" he makes a swishing gesture.
They share a laugh.
"What about you?" Tuya asks. "We never get Fire Nationals."
"And I've had too many of them." She tries to laugh.
"Good one." Natuk slaps his knee.
"Glad that we have a least one clever person on this trip." Tuya comments.
TyLee's tummy flutters, the grin that spreads across her face is near involuntary. Clever! Someone thinks that she is clever! Usually clever is Azula's job…
And maybe it isn't that she was never clever. Maybe it was that Azula preferred her to keep silent and let her do all of the planning. Maybe it was that Azula didn't hadn't given her a chance to be clever. Maybe it was that Mai saw her as clueless and she didn't have the will or desire to be anything else. Not when that would set a higher bar. She bites the inside of her cheek; maybe the two of them had been holding her back. And maybe doing so made them feel more secure.
Indeed, she has had too many Fire Nationals. Too many standards and ill tempers and rigid perfection…
"Your soup's ready." Keyhyun announces.
Tanak passes her a bowl. Her smile returns.
.oOo.
She isn't sure at first, what she is seeing. At first she thinks that the woman has eaten something poisonous during their trek. Her silent shudders are haunting. Seicho isn't sure what she will do if the woman stops moving.
Her concern waynes only slightly when it occurs to her that the woman isn't seizing, she is crying. Quietly crying. She doesn't know why she hadn't considered that the woman couldn't even utter a sound to cry.
And somehow it is more haunting than a forlorn wail piercing the night. It is such a silent sorrow. Frankly, she isn't sure that the woman would make a sound even if she could. And she ponders upon whether or not she should approach the woman at all. But Agni does it hurt to see her like this.
"Hey." She finally musters up the courage.
The woman doesn't turn. She wraps her arms more tightly around herself.
Hesitantly, Seicho reaches out and touches the woman's arm. She jerks and tenses. "Sorry." She mutters, feeling the woman relax once more. Relax as far as she can, anyhow. She still shakes slightly beneath her hand. "Do you want to write what's wrong? I can get you your parchment."
The woman doesn't move. Seicho gently rubs her upturned arm. "I can hold you. I'm good at hugging people." It is a stupid thing to offer. Not once during this trip has the woman indicated that she liked being touched, much less held. She doesn't know what else to do. "Do you want to hear another story?"
This time the woman turns to face her.
"Here." She dabs at the woman's wet cheeks. "Do you want to hear more about the Hope Stone or do you want to hear one about a woman who wears a coconut mask?"
The woman points to the little flap on the ceiling and to the stars that shine through.
"Okay, Hope Stone it is."