ZW 2014 Day 2: Jubilant
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Jewelry
He's annoyed she barely looked at the necklace. She's just happy to marry him.
"Want to get married?"
She can hear the smile in his voice, feels the sun on her back, and she sees the sparkle of the stone and the shine of the ribbon, but none of it is important. Katara throws her arms around his neck and whispers that yes, she does want to get married, and then she's giggling like a crazy person and she really should be more dignified but Zuko's asking her to marry him.
"You didn't even look at it!" He objects, cutting through her thoughts.
She's flustered for a moment-wouldn't he want her to be more excited about him than the jewelry? Katara's eyes flick back to the necklace in the box, her mother's, which he had asked to borrow over a month ago. He'd wanted to replace the ribbon, he said, because it was fraying so badly on the edges. There was a silk merchant he'd hired for something or other who could do it and make it look nice.
"Zuko," she'd protested, "what if I don't want a new ribbon? My mother wore this one."
"Look, I know how important this is to you. But uh-" he had run his finger along the splitting, fuzzing edge. "-it's not going to last much longer. I want you to be able to keep wearing it."
She'd huffed, but after some probably meaningless sniping back and forth had taken it off and handed it to him anyway.
The original blue ribbon is intact, with the snags and stains that have become part of its landscape over the years, but he's had silver and pale gold colored embroidery done along the edges where it had been coming apart. Looking closer, she can see that the silver threads come together like the waves of the ocean. Deep blue threads add dimension to the design, with bits of white on the crests. Dark gold dragons breathing light yellow fire alternate with the spans of waves, all of it glimmering in the afternoon sun. "It's beautiful," she says, stretching up to kiss his jaw. "Thank you."
He shifts awkwardly. "I didn't want to replace it-I know the necklace is special-but I thought maybe it would be nice if I had it repaired a little."
Katara lifts her hair and turns away from him. "Put it on?"
His fingers brush her neck as he fiddles with the clasp. The new embroidery feels foreign on the edges of the ribbon, but it's softer than she thought it would be and the weight of the stone is familiar on her throat. Settling back against his chest, she sighs happily. "I love you."
He pokes his head around from behind her and pecks the side of her head. "You too."
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A/N I've been in a moment mood lately. Maybe the next one will be a real story? Maybe? Thanks for reading and reviewing, people of the Internet.
