What It Means to Be...
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Rating: K+ or PG
Genre: General
Characters/Pairings: Toph, Kuei, Ty Lee, Suki, Katara/Aang, Sokka
Warning: Mild spoilers for the series
Disclaimer: Avatar: the Last Airbender and all associated characters and settings are property of their creators and Nickelodeon/Viacom. I do not profit off of this story.
Summary: Written for prompt 28: Free, for the avatar_500 community. Five drabbles on the different meanings of freedom. Was not strict with word count this time.
“You don't have to go. You don't have to get married. You can compete in the tournaments.”
Toph turns to her parents one last time. Tears are in her sightless eyes, but so is resolve.
“Yes, I do. That isn't enough for me anymore.”
*-*-*-*
The new Secretariat, of the same age as the last one but otherwise everything that he was not, finds Kuei juggling swords for a crowd of laughing children. Swords, of all things.
“We would like you to come home,” she tells him.
He looks her over. His costume's glitter does not hide the holes. She feels discomfited in her fine silk robes.
“You seem to be doing just fine without me,” he replies, and pulls out a yueqin*. His bear lumbers to his feet and they begin to dance.
*-*-*-*
They forsake the fancy red cloaks with the gold embroidery for plain rough-spun ones. To go underneath, they choose unremarkable outfits in drab colors.
Between a boring childhood left mostly to her own devices, and being the niece of a prison warden, Mai has perfected finding escape routes to a fine art.
The last servant bows and leaves. They change quickly, Zuko takes her hand, and they flee the palace.
*-*-*-*
“I'm sorry. You guys have done so much for me. I feel guilty for leaving like this...”
Suki squeezes Ty Lee's hand. They had worn the makeup so long that she had almost forgotten what the acrobat looked like without it. Her clean face glows. It suits her.
“It's okay,” she tells her. “You have to do what's right for you.”
As Ty Lee waves from the bow of the ship, Suki suddenly wishes she was going too.
*-*-*-*
Aang spends more and more time with Appa. Brushing his coat for the hundredth time. Piling more seaweed on the already huge pile-which is funny, because Appa clearly hates seaweed and only eats it when there's nothing else. Fussing with the straps of the saddle. The Avatar's eyes keep drifting towards the horizon.
Katara doesn't know how to explain to him that constant travel is as much of a prison as a cell with bars and locks.
How do you tell a nomad that you need to have a home?
*-*-*-*
He's flown to every corner of the world, literally. He hasn't had to answer to anyone since that fateful day the iceberg cracked open in a burst of light.
But as Sokka paddles his canoe through the ice floes, he realizes that it's only in these quiet moments--following the customs of his tribe, in the waters of his ancestors--that he feels the most free.
The paradox amuses him.
-------------------------------
*A yuequin is a lute-like instrument. Chong the nomad plays it in the series.
Rating: K+ or PG
Genre: General
Characters/Pairings: Toph, Kuei, Ty Lee, Suki, Katara/Aang, Sokka
Warning: Mild spoilers for the series
Disclaimer: Avatar: the Last Airbender and all associated characters and settings are property of their creators and Nickelodeon/Viacom. I do not profit off of this story.
Summary: Written for prompt 28: Free, for the avatar_500 community. Five drabbles on the different meanings of freedom. Was not strict with word count this time.
“You don't have to go. You don't have to get married. You can compete in the tournaments.”
Toph turns to her parents one last time. Tears are in her sightless eyes, but so is resolve.
“Yes, I do. That isn't enough for me anymore.”
*-*-*-*
The new Secretariat, of the same age as the last one but otherwise everything that he was not, finds Kuei juggling swords for a crowd of laughing children. Swords, of all things.
“We would like you to come home,” she tells him.
He looks her over. His costume's glitter does not hide the holes. She feels discomfited in her fine silk robes.
“You seem to be doing just fine without me,” he replies, and pulls out a yueqin*. His bear lumbers to his feet and they begin to dance.
*-*-*-*
They forsake the fancy red cloaks with the gold embroidery for plain rough-spun ones. To go underneath, they choose unremarkable outfits in drab colors.
Between a boring childhood left mostly to her own devices, and being the niece of a prison warden, Mai has perfected finding escape routes to a fine art.
The last servant bows and leaves. They change quickly, Zuko takes her hand, and they flee the palace.
*-*-*-*
“I'm sorry. You guys have done so much for me. I feel guilty for leaving like this...”
Suki squeezes Ty Lee's hand. They had worn the makeup so long that she had almost forgotten what the acrobat looked like without it. Her clean face glows. It suits her.
“It's okay,” she tells her. “You have to do what's right for you.”
As Ty Lee waves from the bow of the ship, Suki suddenly wishes she was going too.
*-*-*-*
Aang spends more and more time with Appa. Brushing his coat for the hundredth time. Piling more seaweed on the already huge pile-which is funny, because Appa clearly hates seaweed and only eats it when there's nothing else. Fussing with the straps of the saddle. The Avatar's eyes keep drifting towards the horizon.
Katara doesn't know how to explain to him that constant travel is as much of a prison as a cell with bars and locks.
How do you tell a nomad that you need to have a home?
*-*-*-*
He's flown to every corner of the world, literally. He hasn't had to answer to anyone since that fateful day the iceberg cracked open in a burst of light.
But as Sokka paddles his canoe through the ice floes, he realizes that it's only in these quiet moments--following the customs of his tribe, in the waters of his ancestors--that he feels the most free.
The paradox amuses him.
-------------------------------
*A yuequin is a lute-like instrument. Chong the nomad plays it in the series.