A/N: This song was greatly influenced by a couple of fics by Fandomme--namely Stormbenders and Gathering (Part 3 of the Three Chores series). I won't tell you exactly how they influenced me, so as not to spoil anything...but you should read them, after you read this. ;)
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The Minstrel with the mandolin,
She wanders through the world--
You'll listen, when her songs begin,
To wondrous realms unfurled!
A princess of the open road
That lady fair they name--
Yet no royal hall or Lord's abode
As dwelling can she claim.
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And yet there is one Lord,
By all the world abhorred,
Whose name her ears will follow
From the legends she's singing of:
Her family and her home
He took, and she must roam--
Yet they wonder why the sorrow
In her face is mixed with love.
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A glad refrain
Oft follows when she sighs,
With love and pain
In gentle almond eyes...
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Like a melody she lives to stray--
Come watch her dancing fingers play!
She could take a prince's breath away
With the beauty of her art!
Ageless as the earth in spring--
Her laughter like the winds that wing--
Peace like oceantides she'll bring,
With fire in her heart.
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The Minstrel sings of hope long lost,
Reborn from winter ice!
Of peace and victory worth the cost,
Of love and sacrifice:
The precious Child's longed-for birth!--
She smiles at that song--
There's one whose steps have trod the earth,
But his first to her belong.
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She never could regret
The payment of that debt
When the jealous one sought power,
And her darling found her gone--
But the Century-born shall fight,
And she trusts they'll be all right;
And she looks toward the hour
Of a peaceful summer dawn...
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A Wolf, a Stone,
A swirl of southern Sea,
And a Flame Alone
All guide his destiny!
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Like a melody she lives to stray--
Come watch her dancing fingers play!
She could take a prince's breath away
With the beauty of her art!
Ageless as the earth in spring--
Her laughter like the winds that wing--
Peace like oceantides she'll bring,
With fire in her heart...
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A stolen kiss, forbidden dance--
One crimson lily, a lost romance:
To one who reigns, her thoughts may wander--
He haunts her still with a golden glance...
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She saw his hand on their young one's shoulder--
She knows what it changed and burned
(Will I recognize you?)
But all the while, she knew his smile--
The child, to her returned.
(Scars can't disguise you...)
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And that fire in her heart still dwells--
Two princes memory's song enspells:
Ere one was marred
(I know your face)
Ere one was crowned
(On him, have grace)--
Two loves within her bound...
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Like a melody she lives to stray--
Come watch her dancing fingers play!
She could take a prince's breath away
With the beauty of her art!
Ageless as the earth in spring--
Her laughter like the winds that wing--
Peace like oceantides she'll bring,
With fire in her heart...
With fire in her heart.
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A/N: Yep, you guessed it. The minstrel's Ursa. I like the idea (which isn't original to me) of her going around and singing about the gAang's escapades (she seems the musical type), and she'd probably come to realize, like Iroh, that the war isn't all it's cracked up to be. Speaking of the gaang, they were the ones mentioned metaphorically as a "Wolf" (Sokka), a "Stone" (Toph), a "swirl of southern Sea" (Katara), and a "Flame Alone" (Zuko--reference to "Zuko Alone" episode title). Aang, of course, was mentioned a couple times--"hope long lost / Reborn from winter ice," "the precious Child finally found," the "Centuryborn shall fight," etc. (A couple, three times, whatever... lol)
This song kinda reminds me of my re-written Scarborough Fair... I guess you can see why. ;) On a different subject, did you notice I mentioned each element in the chorus? I like the idea of Ursa being "multi-elemental," kind of like Iroh is. But "fire" is in her heart--i. e., she particularly loves certain people from the Fire Nation. coughOzaiandZukocough Speaking of the chorus, in the line "she could take a prince's breath away," I was refering partly to Zuko, meaning when he found her again, but mostly to young Prince Ozai, in the happy days of their romance (when they first started to notice eachother, according to this Urzai shipper's theory of how it all happened)... -
My favorite part by far is the first stanza of the bridge, esp. the first two lines (A stolen kiss, fobidden dance, etc). The "crimson lily" is supposed to reference the fact that I love to use firelilies as a metaphor for Urzai--they're beautiful, but shortlived, and they also have a kind of imperial, Firenation mystery, which I think this ship does. I also have a theory that Ozai, not being a "good little prince," might have disregarded the rules and secretly gotten Ursa to dance with him anyway--hence "forbidden dance." (I'm going to incorporate that into a fanfic someday...) In the line "Two loves within her bound," it partly means that Ursa's husband and son will always be in her heart, but it could also mean that she's remembering and treasuring the time when Ozai and Zuko had a better relationship as father and son, so they're "bound" within her to their former love (or whatever it was) for each other in that sense.
I hope you enjoyed this, and please review. (Here's an idea--Tell me how many of you play the mandolin, but do it as you're reviewing. lol plots evilly I'm afraid i don't play it--yet, that is. lol! )