Ficlet: "Parrando's Paradox" [Zuko, Azula, PG-13]
For 7_chakras
Title: Parrando's Paradox
Author: sporkyadrasteia
Claim: Zuko
Challenge: Dim
Chakra: Light (Ajna)
Prompt: Finding myself; Lost
A/N: This ficlet is a bit layered in meaning, but it's meant to take place shortly after the previous drabble, Cave of Lies. Here's a bit of info on the meaning of the title: Parrando's paradox. And, you can imagine, Krishna and Azula do not exactly mean the same thing in their individual discourses.
"Zuko, you need to stop this," Azula whispers, snapping him out of his reverie.
"St-stop what?" Zuko asks, righting himself to face his sister. "I'm sorry, Azula, but did you need something from me?"
Azula ghosts her fingers up his neck, inducing goosebumps all over his body, before reaching his head and playfully tugging on a lock of hair.
"This pretending business does not suit you. Stop telling me that you're content with all of this. I know how you really feel."
"Do you?"
A smirk plays on Azula's lips. "Stop looking as if you aren't angry, Zuko."
Zuko knits his brows. "What are you--"
"--Oh, please. We both know that you are more that just chagrined that Father did not choose to restore your honor as you had hoped."
"I really don't care about the throne now," Zuko replies, shifting out of his silk sheets.
"For Agni's sake, please stop lying to me, as well as yourself," Azula retorts with an eyeroll as she dropped her hands from his hair. "Both of us know the truth well enough. No one changes so quickly, surely not during a journey from Ba Sing Se to the royal gates."
Zuko slowly and purposefully stands up to face his sister. "Okay, what do you want?"
Azula smiles slyly once again, thankful that he finally reaches her point. "I want a race."
Zuko lets out a dry laugh. "We're not nine-years-old anymore-"
"No. But Father has yet to name his successor. You have your little thing there too now"- she jerks her head in the direction of his reinstated crown-"but it won't be enough. I want to know that I won't just have the title handed to me due to some instance of serendipity… I want to know that I earned it."
"So you want me to fight for it?"
Azula pokes him in the chest. "I don't want the competition to be disappointing. In the event that he chooses you, I want the people of this great nation to be assured that you cherish the position."
"And what if I don't want it?" He blurts out the nagging thought before he could stop himself.
Azula raises an eyebrow. "Zuko, this is the destiny you were groomed for since day one. Don't you dare try to trivialize all that because you are still lost in the waters. If you give up now, you will be cursed forever for failing to perform your duties as a strong and determined Son of the Fire Nation. You can't afford to not fight."
Zuko just stares at her as she nonchalantly exits his bedroom, once again leaving bait for her ongoing game of cat-and-mouse.
Can I afford to lose?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
People will ever recount your infamy. To the honoured, infamy is surely worse than death.
- Krishna (Bhagavad Gita, verse 2.34)
[All Light (Ajna) entries for 7_chakras]
Title: Parrando's Paradox
Author: sporkyadrasteia
Claim: Zuko
Challenge: Dim
Chakra: Light (Ajna)
Prompt: Finding myself; Lost
A/N: This ficlet is a bit layered in meaning, but it's meant to take place shortly after the previous drabble, Cave of Lies. Here's a bit of info on the meaning of the title: Parrando's paradox. And, you can imagine, Krishna and Azula do not exactly mean the same thing in their individual discourses.
"Zuko, you need to stop this," Azula whispers, snapping him out of his reverie.
"St-stop what?" Zuko asks, righting himself to face his sister. "I'm sorry, Azula, but did you need something from me?"
Azula ghosts her fingers up his neck, inducing goosebumps all over his body, before reaching his head and playfully tugging on a lock of hair.
"This pretending business does not suit you. Stop telling me that you're content with all of this. I know how you really feel."
"Do you?"
A smirk plays on Azula's lips. "Stop looking as if you aren't angry, Zuko."
Zuko knits his brows. "What are you--"
"--Oh, please. We both know that you are more that just chagrined that Father did not choose to restore your honor as you had hoped."
"I really don't care about the throne now," Zuko replies, shifting out of his silk sheets.
"For Agni's sake, please stop lying to me, as well as yourself," Azula retorts with an eyeroll as she dropped her hands from his hair. "Both of us know the truth well enough. No one changes so quickly, surely not during a journey from Ba Sing Se to the royal gates."
Zuko slowly and purposefully stands up to face his sister. "Okay, what do you want?"
Azula smiles slyly once again, thankful that he finally reaches her point. "I want a race."
Zuko lets out a dry laugh. "We're not nine-years-old anymore-"
"No. But Father has yet to name his successor. You have your little thing there too now"- she jerks her head in the direction of his reinstated crown-"but it won't be enough. I want to know that I won't just have the title handed to me due to some instance of serendipity… I want to know that I earned it."
"So you want me to fight for it?"
Azula pokes him in the chest. "I don't want the competition to be disappointing. In the event that he chooses you, I want the people of this great nation to be assured that you cherish the position."
"And what if I don't want it?" He blurts out the nagging thought before he could stop himself.
Azula raises an eyebrow. "Zuko, this is the destiny you were groomed for since day one. Don't you dare try to trivialize all that because you are still lost in the waters. If you give up now, you will be cursed forever for failing to perform your duties as a strong and determined Son of the Fire Nation. You can't afford to not fight."
Zuko just stares at her as she nonchalantly exits his bedroom, once again leaving bait for her ongoing game of cat-and-mouse.
Can I afford to lose?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
People will ever recount your infamy. To the honoured, infamy is surely worse than death.
- Krishna (Bhagavad Gita, verse 2.34)
[All Light (Ajna) entries for 7_chakras]