7. Tenderness
Ursa threw off the sheets. Even in winter, the palace sweltered, the air sticky. Six months since their wedding, she still wasn't used to her home.
She slipped out of bed and walked to the mirror by her dresser. She brushed her hair in the silent way she'd perfected since the wedding.
A moment later, warm fingertips trailed down her arm.
"You should sleep," Ozai murmured, taking her hand. His eyes were unexpectedly gentle.
Ursa bowed her head. "Of course."
"Ursa?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
Her heart fluttered. Ozai had never said that to her before. "I love you, too."
8. Chopsticks
"A little to the left. Forward. There."
Toph buried the chopsticks in the bowl, teeth clenched.
"Now just take the chopsticks and—"
"I know how to do it!" She tried to grab the noodles. She wanted to hold the chopsticks with her toes—she sensed some things with her feet—but that was bad manners, so she held them with hands as blind as her eyes. She managed to get a hold of a glob of noodles and lift them to her mouth. At the last moment, they dropped into her lap, hot and slimy.
She had never hated her blindness more.
9. Village
Impossible. Jet stared at the crimson splotch painting his mother's kimono. This isn't fair.
The scent of iron choked him. He had to get out of here, had to . . .
His eyes felt funny, stinging, filmed with tears. Embers clung to the walls. The house is burning. "Mom, get up. Mom." Anguish twisted through him when she didn't move.
The heat grew oppressive, nipping at his skin. "Mom!"
She's gone, Jet realized, heat crawling across his skin. I can't stay here.
His knees shook as he stood. Numbness took over his body.
He started running and didn't stop.