[LaS Fic] Hearth Fire
Reposting a story from the meme of doom that I like enough and can fit comfortably into the Lightning at Sea timeline.
Title: Hearth Fire
Characters: Fire Nation royal family
Word Count: 600+ words
Rating: G
Summary: Three days after Firelord Iroh kills a Water Tribe assassin, he and his family share an evening together.
Author's Notes: This comes between "Tide and Time" and "Volcano". I am going to try not to write between two already posted fics in the future, but this does need to be posted.
---
Hearth Fire
***
Zolena ran a brush through Ozai's hair, working at the tangles his travels with Lu Ten and Ketu put in there. She had no idea why he wore his hair long when he hardly seemed to take care of it, but it was his choice, and Ozai had so few choices in his life.
Someone obviously did take care of his hair, and knowing her son, it wasn't Lu Ten. Which left Ozai's rogue Air Nomad, and she didn't find that surprising. The rogues all styled and treated their hair with great care, even more than the care they showed to the henna patterns on their hands.
Hairbrushing was soothing, and Azula had decided that as a thirteen-year-old princess, she was much too old for her aunt to brush her hair. Her hair should only be done by maids or her own hands. Or her mother's hands, Zolena had thought but did not say when Azula informed her of this.
Right now, Azula was trying to beat her uncle at pai sho and failing badly. Iroh was gentle with her, playing well below the skill he would use against Zolena herself. Yet he was still a grandmaster in skill, and however much Azula struggled to better herself, she would be losing for few more years yet.
Her son was wrestling with her nephew, only half-mindful of the pai sho board in easy kicking range. Both were very mindful of her and Ozai- well, of Ozai more than her. Soothed as he was by the hairbrushing, an errant kick would probably still get the kicker's ankle twisted if not broken.
Lu Ten was not going at all easy on Zuko, but Lu Ten existed under the belief that if he treated Zuko like glass then Zuko wouldn't push himself as hard as he was able to go. Sound theory, yes, but as the boy's aunt, Zolena couldn't help but wince at some of their play.
Zuko had been a difficult birth for Ursa, almost strangled in his birth-cord as he was brought into the world. Zolena was certain that was why his fire was still so weak compared to the usual in Sozin's line and offered to the spirits that he would recover the strength stolen from his first choked-off breaths.
Between that and Azula, losing his mother and gaining his scar, Zuko always struck Zolena as so fragile. Surely, surely, he could only take a few more blows before he cracked entirely.
But he was of Sozin's line, and Sozin's line were ever-burning fires. Sozin's line would light up the world and push back the night the Water Tribes brought.
Zolena worked at a nasty knot in Ozai's hair. It was so good to see everyone in the family for once. This was the first time she'd seen her son in two years, the first time she'd seen her brother-in-law in eight.
It was good, and like all good things, it would not last. Tomorrow, Lu Ten and Ozai would go, and in three days, Zuko would go to marry his bride-to-be, and in four days, Li and Lo would take Azula south to Iroh's old acquaintance Captain Jee.
It would be just her and her husband. If she was lucky, she would not be sent away as well. For her protection and his, because she was a powerful firebender and the last of a great line of daimyos - damn the Water Tribe for killing her brothers - and she could be used against Iroh and Lu Ten both.
But for now, it was good with Ozai's hair under her brush, Azula and Iroh playing pai sho, and Lu Ten explaining to Zuko how to break the lock he was currently caught in.
-End-
Title: Hearth Fire
Characters: Fire Nation royal family
Word Count: 600+ words
Rating: G
Summary: Three days after Firelord Iroh kills a Water Tribe assassin, he and his family share an evening together.
Author's Notes: This comes between "Tide and Time" and "Volcano". I am going to try not to write between two already posted fics in the future, but this does need to be posted.
---
Hearth Fire
***
Zolena ran a brush through Ozai's hair, working at the tangles his travels with Lu Ten and Ketu put in there. She had no idea why he wore his hair long when he hardly seemed to take care of it, but it was his choice, and Ozai had so few choices in his life.
Someone obviously did take care of his hair, and knowing her son, it wasn't Lu Ten. Which left Ozai's rogue Air Nomad, and she didn't find that surprising. The rogues all styled and treated their hair with great care, even more than the care they showed to the henna patterns on their hands.
Hairbrushing was soothing, and Azula had decided that as a thirteen-year-old princess, she was much too old for her aunt to brush her hair. Her hair should only be done by maids or her own hands. Or her mother's hands, Zolena had thought but did not say when Azula informed her of this.
Right now, Azula was trying to beat her uncle at pai sho and failing badly. Iroh was gentle with her, playing well below the skill he would use against Zolena herself. Yet he was still a grandmaster in skill, and however much Azula struggled to better herself, she would be losing for few more years yet.
Her son was wrestling with her nephew, only half-mindful of the pai sho board in easy kicking range. Both were very mindful of her and Ozai- well, of Ozai more than her. Soothed as he was by the hairbrushing, an errant kick would probably still get the kicker's ankle twisted if not broken.
Lu Ten was not going at all easy on Zuko, but Lu Ten existed under the belief that if he treated Zuko like glass then Zuko wouldn't push himself as hard as he was able to go. Sound theory, yes, but as the boy's aunt, Zolena couldn't help but wince at some of their play.
Zuko had been a difficult birth for Ursa, almost strangled in his birth-cord as he was brought into the world. Zolena was certain that was why his fire was still so weak compared to the usual in Sozin's line and offered to the spirits that he would recover the strength stolen from his first choked-off breaths.
Between that and Azula, losing his mother and gaining his scar, Zuko always struck Zolena as so fragile. Surely, surely, he could only take a few more blows before he cracked entirely.
But he was of Sozin's line, and Sozin's line were ever-burning fires. Sozin's line would light up the world and push back the night the Water Tribes brought.
Zolena worked at a nasty knot in Ozai's hair. It was so good to see everyone in the family for once. This was the first time she'd seen her son in two years, the first time she'd seen her brother-in-law in eight.
It was good, and like all good things, it would not last. Tomorrow, Lu Ten and Ozai would go, and in three days, Zuko would go to marry his bride-to-be, and in four days, Li and Lo would take Azula south to Iroh's old acquaintance Captain Jee.
It would be just her and her husband. If she was lucky, she would not be sent away as well. For her protection and his, because she was a powerful firebender and the last of a great line of daimyos - damn the Water Tribe for killing her brothers - and she could be used against Iroh and Lu Ten both.
But for now, it was good with Ozai's hair under her brush, Azula and Iroh playing pai sho, and Lu Ten explaining to Zuko how to break the lock he was currently caught in.
-End-