Thanks for staying in till Chappie 6. I hope that it is getting better cause the insanity is just getting started. Well thank you for puting the story on alert or favs. the mysterious person that starts with a 'k'. I am too lazy, lol, to go and check you penname but if you dropby a review, which both Meow and I would love I would like you so much. Please just send in a review. It doesn't take too long and even if it is just a few words just please do one. Well without further adieu, here is the rest of the dance.
Scene 6: Dance of the Dragon Maiden Part 3: Blackmail
Zuko's POV
From the moment that Lau stalked out my eyes were glued to her. She was in a different light than how I had always seen her. I had only seen her perform a few times, but that was almost always with music and alone, eavesdropping on her when she didn't realize it. But she seemed almost another person. Lau looked like she was lost in the music, if something had possessed her and made her dance in that way. I would have never thought that the Lau that always wore men's armor and the one that could cuss just as much as any man could be like that.
Her costume was exotic with a visible theme of gold and burgundy – which were the ancient colors of the Dragon keepers. Her hair was pulled halfway back, with a few strands falling in her face freely. It was the first time I had ever seen her wear anything on her face or so fancy and nice, except for that one day, which no one dare spoke of to her unless they wanted to get killed where they stood. Her face was paler, maybe only a little bit. She had on golden eye color, brightening her normally dark grey eyes. A burgundy traced an outline of her eye on the inside. Her lashes were curled too, as I could see.
Just below her shoulders were two metal bands. They were gold with a burgundy swirl on them. A ruby-looking gem sparkled in the firelight on each one, with another tear shaped gem dangling.
Her top seemed to consist of a metal outline with burgundy cloth where it was needed. The neckline was of a 'V', ending at the middle of her bust – the low cut causing a lot of her bust to be seen, but not too much that she would be uncomfortable, because if she was uncomfortable in something, she would make a deal out of it and not wear it or change it. She had more of a bust than I had thought as I did know that she bound her chest and so she was always flat and you could never tell through all the armor. At the bottom of it, in the bronze, were another gem and a dangling tear shaped one.
Her bottom was gold material with a burgundy streak through it. Connected to it was a mesh-type material, which happened to also be burgundy. The skirt part reached down to her knees, tracing the curves of her hips, which were usually hidden by armor and clothing. And the cloth was split on the sides, allowing movement.
On her wrists were similar bands to the ones on her upper arms. They were also made of bronze with a burgundy swirl, but on the bottom, which was the bottom of her wrist, were two diagonal burgundy lines, meeting where a gem was at. Connected to the bands at the top part, opposite of the gem, was more burgundy mesh fabric, which hung down to her ankles. The bottom of the transparent material was a strip of gold material, lining the bottom hem. Connected to the bottom part of her wrist bands, nearest to her palm, was another piece of burgundy mesh but it was connected to a bronze ring on her middle finger, same on both hands.
On her ankles were another set of bands, the same as the ones on her upper arms. They had the same design and gems. And I noticed that on one of her toes, she wore a ring, bronze like the other one. I could see that she spent a lot of time making the costume and it showed too.
Lau looked stunning. She looked great, which was awkward for me to admit to myself. As she did her spins, I could see her muscles flex, the muscles she got after working hard on the ship and even back on Azon, even though she may have thought that I didn't know how she lived there, I knew that she did a lot of work around her aunt's estate. I closed my eyes and shut out the few thoughts from my head, which I knew did not belong there. She was my friend, nothing more – she would never be nothing more than that and I would make sure of it.
She twirled into the middle of the room, stealing a flame from the pit and she bended it into a thin stream of fire. She circled her hands, causing the fire to swirl around her body. She leapt and raised a wall of fire from the pit. She twirled again and sang as she bended the fire into the ancient form that was used to ward away bad spirits.
Sin erid na that túr in úrgarnenMi naurah Oroin Boe hedi ii Vín
Han i vangad i mow ben túr in úgarnen
Sin eriol cili ẃar
Boe min mebi Boe min bango
She formed a small stream of fire and threw it back into the giant flames which suddenly grew, as if it was angered by her words and her motions. Lau made flames in her hands, but spread it over her palms and the back of her hand. I sat in amazement of her skill – I was not even that far. She spun around, drawing her arms up, crossing them over her chest. When she stopped spinning, I noticed that the flames had grown stronger, pulsing with the beat, which I assumed she controlled.
Sin eriol na ûm beleg úganenÚ cilith ẃar
Boe min mebi Boe min bango
Boe hedi i Vín
She kicked her leg up, her ankle reaching near her head, causing the fire to rise dramatically. She turned and faced the pit with the flames in it. Once again, she drew out a stream, but this time, she guided it over and around her body, letting it linger on her flesh, but did not let it burn her.
Sin eriol ûm beleg úgannenSí na vethed bain i wilith úria
I ardhon ban lacha
Nu da naid bain úe rin
Le regi erin le na thi úeri o nin gwahno
Lau kicked out and landed on the ground in a lunge, her left leg out, and whipped out with the stream of fire in front of her. She quickly got back up and spun and twirled quickly, twirling the flame around her again.
Orthannen im vi ôl Coll e dûOr hiriath naur Na rovail mae sui
Man prestant i ardhon
Cerithar aen dim úthenin
The music's pace quickened, I knew there was another word for it, but I didn't really care for music and I could really care less about its technical vocabulary, and it got spookier with every beat. Lau dropped the flame back into the pit, and danced without flames. She quickly twirled and landed, all those years of dance had finally paid off for her I guess. She then did an aerial spin and landed on both feet squarely. She kicked up her foot and brought I back down, causing herself to spin. As she stopped, her right hand half covered her face, her finger apart, her hand inches away from her face. She started to sing again, she wanted to bend naturally, but had to control herself – I could just see it in her. She sang again and I knew it was getting to the last verse.
An i lu na cu An i naun lui
She spun around and stopped, facing the pit and the table where I was sitting at. She looked at the fire as she continued to sing, continued to encourage the Fire Spirits to watch over us, over the sacred dragon.
A na naun annen An naun nann cu an
Lau circled her hands and separated them, causing a wall of fire to form and it split through its center, splitting each part to the side. She held it there and the music and the song continued. The meaning of the last line was haunting and the way it was sung was even more haunting.
Annen ne pe nann perónen A
Suddenly, as Lau sang the last word, she dropped to the deck onto her knees punched her hand discreetly, which I caught, causing the two forms of the fire wall to come together and clash, sending the whole flame height to the ceiling, then died away, back down. As the giant flame died away, Lau locked her gaze with mine hauntingly.
The crew rose to their feet and cheered her on in excitement. They clapped and cheered to her, which she absorbed. Lau had done good job – I suppose. I was never one for dancing, even though I was forced to learn. Lau stood up and bowed greatly, her face beamed with pride which had been absent from her face for so long. I don't think that I had seen her smile like that ever since we were little kids. I clapped lightly from where I sat and just watched her.
Lau's POV
During the whole dance, I could feel Zuko's gaze burn on me. He was sizing me up, which made me smirk with pride that I could do that to our prince. The wall of fire was split and I had sung my last line, all I had to do was the last move, one of the hardest of them all but all of the moves were very hard. I fell to my knees and I punched my hand into my fist hiddenly, trying not to let them see me do it, and I had to control the flame's movement with my mind. I raised it to the ceiling and let it die down back into the pit where I kept it low with my mind. I locked my gaze with his through the small fire still burning. His eyes showed all that I needed to know about my performance. I was really excited on how well it had gone but there was still the sadness of performing again, it was truly a bittersweet moment.
The men cheered and clapped for me, and I even saw Zuko clap lightly, keeping his normal aloof air. I really missed the audience applauding for you and cheering, showing their approval of your show. I stood up slowly, and bowed to Zuko, showing my respect that I was formally supposed to do. If it had not been so formal, I would have just walked away, wanting to get out of what little they considered clothing. I hastily left, itching to get out of the clothes. My room was very close, thank Agni.
As I walked into my room, I looked at my reflection in the small mirror that I owned. Sweat beaded my forehead, face, and neck, causing my skin to glitter in the firelight. I was exhausted and ready for a well deserved rest. I looked towards my mat where my normal armor and clothes were waiting for me and I longed to get out of that costume and into them.
I took off all of my bands which were a total of six. I picked dup my white cloth strips and wrapped my arm from my wrist to my elbow quickly, wanting to feel my skin covered up. I took of the chafing bronze and silk top. My advice for making a top was not to use solid materials for the outline. I quickly picked up my wide white cloth which I used to bind my chest, and wrapped it from my abdomen, just above my navel, to over my bust. I slipped on my grey long-sleeved shirt and my forearm bracers over the sleeve. I slipped off my skirt-like thing and pulled on my undergarments. I pulled on my pair of grey pants and clasped my calve bracers around my leg. I slipped my armor over my head and fastened it on, tying straps on both sides and a few buckles that were hidden. I tied on my leg armor and buckled my belt. I picked up my black silk sash and hastily tied it over my belt, and folded it over the knot neatly. I quickly put my shoes on and I made sure my costume was in a close-to-neat pile on my mat.
I looked at myself in the mirror again. That was the Lau I was used to seeing, armor clad and tough…minus one part though… I picked up a rag that I had laying around and I wiped my face off, leaving my normal face there. I then was normal, my normal self. I smiled lightly and then extinguished the lamps which were still lighting my room.
Zuko's POV
Lau walked back in the galley again, but she was back in her full armor. The soldiers applauded her once more, and she bowed again and sat down next to me. We didn't say anything for awhile, neither of us wanting to talk, but then I decided to be a man and break it.
"Lau – you were – you were-" I stuttered, stumbling over my words. Oh that was great, I tried to talk by my tongue was tied. I was a genius.
"Thanks, Zuko." Lau replied quietly, not turning her head to look at me. "I know what you mean." Great, her saying that made me sound even more like and idiot.
"I can't believe you did all of that in a week alone." I commented shortly, not wanting to stumble again and embarrass myself again in front of her. I shouldn't have been nervous about being embarrassed, I was a prince and I shouldn't have to worry about stupid things like that.
"Neither can I really. I think that even though my mom is not here on the ship, her spirit helped me – encouraged me when I wanted to quit and wanted to condemn it unsuitable for me." She responded. "Zuko, I want to thank you for telling me to do it for my mom. When everyone applauded for me, I felt so great. I had almost completely forgotten what being in the spotlight felt like." She smiled. It had been the only time I had seen her smile for years.
She hadn't smiled on board for the past two years and the times that I saw her at Azon she wasn't the happiest of all children, but when we were very young, when she still had lived in the palace with the rest of her family, she had smiled all the time, she was a very happy child. But I assumed all that happiness left as soon as she realized what was happening in the world, what the Fire Nation was really doing. If you tell a child that there is a war, they won't think anything of it as it doesn't affect them and they can't comprehend it. But as you grow up you realize what it all truly means. Then some things didn't go too well for her family either… It was almost like if she had no reason to smile then and still didn't want to have a reason.
"Does that mean that you will perform more? You sang very well." I asked slyly, not really expecting an answer from her. It reminded me of the days that we would play together, when we were still able to at least.
"No. Don't go over your head or get your hopes up. I never said that." She laughed, seeing some humor in it somewhere unknown to me. "I wish that Kai could have seen me. She would have been proud of me."
We sat there, no one talking, just calmly watching the other performers. I was just looking absentmindedly out as my mind was somewhere else. Lau dancing really messed with my mind. I was in so much more awe of her than I showed. I knew that she could dance – we all knew how to dance, but I never knew that she could move that well. Dancing was never too much to her liking but there, then, it truly looked as if she was enjoying it.
"Zeilau, you were excellent!" Iroh exclaimed from behind us which caught us both off guard, Lau a little less than me.
"Thanks…I want to thank you for making me go up there. It really brought back my love for the stage and performing." Lau thanked him, smiling again. I probably would never see her smile again that big. It took someone real special to her to make her smile and I knew that Iroh was very close to her after what had happened eight years ago. And it took a special person to get really close to her. She wasn't the most stable of all people, emotionally. Iroh walked away with a grin, leaving us to our peace again.
"Lau, you sing great. You should sing for us more often." I said, smirking smugly. "Then, I wouldn't have to listen through your door anymore." The look on her face was priceless. I knew that I was going to get hell from her but I wanted to see her react to it which made it the most fun as she reacted to everything.
"You've been what?" Lau exclaimed and slapped my shoulder hard which hurt her more as she hit my armor. That was the exact response I was looking for and I secretly enjoyed too. I enjoyed pissing Lau off.
"But seriously, you were great. Just remember that now the whole crew has blackmail on you; especially because you danced in a skimpy outfit." I declared victoriously. She probably never thought of that one – blackmail, serious blackmail.
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