I do not own anything
Something of a drabble I came up with while rereading this fic.
Titled: The Birth of Iroh. Son of the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation. Son of the Future Chief of the Southern Water Tribe.
The heroes of the Hundred Year War stood in the large room with their children. An exhausted woman laid on the bed, smiling as if she had just won the moon. Her husband grinned and held her hand beside her, and her parents stood on the other side of the bed. Her father was holding a tiny bundle of fabric, and everyone else in the room seemed to be jostling to peek into it. A happy, family picture that would become a famous sign of peace and unity amongst the nations.
皇太子
The loud, nasally cries of a child rang out in the birthing room, replacing the screams of a young woman as she fell limp against the bed, her grip loosening on her husband's abused hand. Servants rushed around, cheering as the midwife cleaned the child and wrapped the squalling red bundle before approaching the new mother, beaming.
"Congratulations, your highness. A healthy son." She passed the boy to his mother's reaching arms. Crown Princess Ursa smiled down at her son, dropping a kiss onto his head.
The door burst open as new grandparents, aunts, and uncles came in, chattering happily to see the new baby. A photographer – the lone man who wasn't family or staff who was allowed to see the new royal – eagerly positioned his camera, ready to take the first photograph of the child who would, after his mother, one day be his sovereign.
One of the grandfathers smiled when his daughter offered him the baby, ignoring the shrieks and screams as the boy tried out his new lungs.
"Welcome to the world, Prince Iroh."
Titled: Helping Auntie Lin
An amateur photograph of a pretty young woman giving a shaky smile to a six-year-old boy. There are not many discernible details, because the picture was taken somewhere with poor lighting. The only two copies are the private property of Police Commander Lin Beifong, heiress apparent to the Beifong Estate and the city-state of Omashu, and Prince Iroh, son of the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, son of the Future Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, and (as of this picture,) heir presumptive to the Beifong Estate and Omashu's throne.
皇太子
"Auntie! Wait! Where are you goin'?" Iroh called as he chased after his godmother. Auntie Lin disappeared into a doorway that slammed right after her, but that was okay. It only led to an empty guest room.
He slipped into the room, careful to close the door after him cuz Auntie Lin didn't want the door open, and Mama said it was polite to do what others wanted. He squinted in the dark (they didn't have light bulbs in that room yet, and neither of them could light the candles without matches) and opened the curtains, letting the moonlight stream in before hopping next to his godmother on the platform the led to the bed.
She had her face in her hands, and didn't move when he tugged at her sleeve.
"What's wrong, Auntie?" he asked worriedly. "Why're you cryin'?" She never cried. 'Cept that time when they all said bye to Grandpa Aang, but everyone cried that day, so that was okay.
"It's nothing, Iroh," she said roughly, though he could hear her voice was rough and heavy. "I'm fine. Just – just a little upset."
"Nuh-uh," he declared, wagging a finger at her. "You're cryin'. You never ever cry! Something's gotta be wrong! Please tell me, Auntie?" She finally moved her hands away from her face, turning to face him.
"It's grown up things, Iroh." She shook her head. She hesitated. "You know, Iroh, you're going to have all the things I have one day, just like you'll have all of your parents' things someday."
"Really?" His eyes lit up with excitement. "Like your bendin' suits and stuff?" She nodded, and he jumped up, whooping and laughing. Soon, though, he calmed down as a thought struck him. "But what 'bout your kids, Auntie Lin? Mama said that everyone gives stuff to their kids before anyone else. What'll you give them?"
Her mouth thinned. "I'm not going to have kids, Iroh."
His jaw dropped. "But why not? Gran-Gran said that you're gonna have kids with Uncle Tenzin!"
Her eyes brightened oddly, and he worried he had upset his godmother. "Uncle Tenzin wants to have kids with someone else, Iroh."
"But why?"
"He loves her. He doesn't love me."
"Whaaaat?" He frowned in disapproval, and Auntie made a funny noise. He tried to think of a solution to such a terrible problem, and nodded firmly when he came up with one. He scooted closer to her and wrapped his arms around her as best they could. "I love you, Auntie Lin."
She didn't say anything for a few seconds, but she returned the hug. "Thank you, Iroh. I love you too."
Neither one of them noticed the photographer sneaking out the door.
Titled: The Coronation of Fire Lady Ursa
A magnificent Fire Nation courtyard is filled with dignitaries and courtiers. A woman in her late-thirties is kneeling on the dias, and a Fire Sage holds a five-pronged crown piece ceremoniously above her, the first reigning Fire Lady in two hundred years. Her father, husband, and son were off to the side of the dias, the former wearing a headpiece that signifies his status as the Earth King and the latter two kneeling in deference to the woman. A lesser sage fix a slightly less ornate crown piece into the new Prince Consort's hair while a third carefully transfers the crown piece that once belonged to Avatar Roku from mother to son to show his new status as Crown Prince. The entire family wears white, and none of them are smiling. A powerful portrait based off of a photograph. It now hangs somewhere in the Fire Nation Royal Palace.
皇太子
"All hail Fire Lady Ursa!"
Eighteen-year-old Iroh didn't watch as the masses before him got on their knees, giving a full kowtow bow before his mother. He knelt on one knee, mirroring his father next to him. His grandfather stayed standing, and merely inclined his head – formal acknowledgement from one head of state to another. He could still smell the scent of his great-aunt's ashes lingering in the courtyard. Her funeral had been just that morning, and he was still getting over the shock of it. Her remains were to be sent back to the Earth Kingdom later that week. His grandfather would be accompanying her, leaving the rest of his family to… to…
"Adjust to our new station." He grimaced at the thought. He had thought that he would be coming home for a brief break, smiling and waving a bit for the crowds as they cheered for the safe return of their lieutenant-prince. It had changed so suddenly. He had been woken by a servant screaming a few days ago – the entire palace had. All of a sudden, his father was called home, dignitaries were arriving by the hundreds, and his aunt was dead.
He stilled as a sage stood behind him, securing the Crown Prince's headpiece into his hair with a quiet shink! It had taken the servants a while to fix it into the traditional topknot, and the kind Lady Mao who had been fixing his hair since he was born had scolded him for keeping it so inconveniently short, heedless of the United Forces' protocol. He would have to be promoted before he was allowed to grow it out.
His father, who had probably never gotten a haircut since he was promoted to captain a few years ago, paced a few feet forward before kneeling again and uttering a load of nonsense in High Court about loyalty and servitude and whatnot. Iroh vaguely noted that it had a certain accent to it, despite the fact that he had been speaking it for the past twenty years or so.
He absently fiddled with a ring on his right hand, newly given to him as a future Earth King (and wasn't that scary?) as a ceremonial heirloom that was to be worn at all functions when he represented the Earth Kingdom and blah blah blah. The weight of the crown piece in his hair was uncomfortable, and the gaudy ring felt odd as well. A glance upward reminded him of how bizarre his grandfather looked with the Earth King's crown.
His father stopped speaking and returned to his place, and Iroh recognized that as his signal to make his own vows. He stood and moved until he was a step or so in front of his mother, kneeling again.
"My mind and body I give to my lady, so that I may serve my great country to my dying breath…" He rambled off the rest of the words, spoken in a formal, ancient language that a bare few of his officers would understand before repeating it in a more modern (but no less formal) tongue. When he ran out of oath to speak, he fell silent.
"We accept your pledges to our land. Rise and stand beside me, Crown Prince Iroh," his mother softly responded. He raised his head, and a small voice in the back of his mind remarked how strange his mother looked – the crown piece of the Fire Lord in her hair, the beads of the Earth Kingdom's Crown Princess around her neck, and such a peculiar expression on her face. He gripped his forearms under the heavy ceremonial robes and straightened, taking his place behind his mother and grandfather.
His mother watched over the crowd as a herald called something and a gong started sounding. She looked as if she held the weight of the world on his shoulders, so desolate and empty. It hit him then, and it was only the result of United Forces training that kept him from breaking down from the realization. Here was his destiny, standing before him. Power at the death of a loved one, more and more gained as each family member passed. The Fire Nation with his grandfather, the Earth Kingdom with his mother, the Southern Tribe with his father, and Omashu with his godmother.
"The good days are over now," his father whispered, and the citizens began chanting while their royal family watched on.
"My life I give to my country. With my hands I fight for Fire Lady Ursa and our forefathers before her. With my mind I seek ways to better my country. And with my feet may our March of Civilization continue."
"Nothing's going to be the same."
The concept of High Court is borrowed from "Embers." I personally enjoy the thought of there being a court language that is separate from the official language of a country (primarily French in our world, I think. Latin and French have been used as common trade languages in the past). Embers is a long fanfiction, but I find it a fascinating, realistic, and complicated (I really love complex and layered fics), and spent two weeks trying to read it. (I had to take several breaks due to the intensity). I highly recommend it to those of you who haven't read it.
皇太子 is "Crown Prince" in Chinese. "Pour Être le Dauphin" means "to be the crown prince" in French. (Well, I think that's what it is. May not be grammatically correct. But you probably don't care about that.) I wanted to have some actual text as a primary line break, the secondary line break being the standard one Fanfiction. net gives us, so I looked it up. I have no way of knowing if the Chinese (Mandarin? No idea) is accurate.