Twelfth Day of Christmas
Title: Caretaker
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender: Lightning at Sea
Characters: Ozai, Ursa, assorted unnamed Fire Nation extras
Rating: PG-13
Word Count:
Warnings: There is some bad stuff heavily implied here. So please be careful reading.
Summary: Ursa doesn't understand why it's put about that the Second Prince is sickly.
Author's Notes: This takes place in the Lightning at Sea/Water Tribe-as-aggressors AU. It also hinges on knowing some of what's going on with Ozai, which I've mostly not written down yet. ('Cause he doesn't show up until S2 as a major player.) However, this bit from Lu Ten's pov years on gives you a good taste.
Caretaker
***
The Second Prince is sickly. Everyone knows that, all the world knows that Azulon's second son is weak and delicate. He can't even firebend, and he's not a soldier like his brother. Not anything, just someone kept in the dark and away from the danger of the Water Tribe.
Ursa meets him when one of his nurses falls ill and dies suddenly. It is a position with a good bit of pay, and she has some repute as a dangerous firebender not to be crossed. The prince's guards investigate her thoroughly, but in the end, she is presented to the prince.
Ozai does not look sickly. He is tall and broad, corded with muscles that the linen of his clothes does not hide. He is pale, as if he does not get enough sun, and there is something wrong with the way his eyes look at her.
***
Ursa is supposed to take care of Ozai. After three days, she's not actually sure what he needs her for. He seems able to take care of himself, for the most part, though he's got no idea how to handle hair. But he keeps it short, so it's not as if she really needs to do more than run a comb through his hair every other day.
Prince Ozai spars with his guard captain three times a day and spars by himself twice a day. He takes his meals regularly, he goes to sleep at the same time every night and awakens the same time every morning. He reads when he has nothing else to do, though sometimes he simply holds a book open with one hand while his gold eyes watch her.
He doesn't speak much, and she wonders if he's slow. At least until she gets a look at the treatise on philosophy he's reading, asks a question, and he proceeds to explain some of the most complicated, head-breaking ideas she has ever heard in her life. But he explains them well and neatly, and she actually understands when he's done talking.
She doesn't understand why it's put about that the Second Prince is sickly.
***
There are bruises on Ozai's wrist. Finger-shaped bruises as if someone had grabbed and held on far too tightly. They look new, and none of his sparring yesterday should have caused them.
"Where did these come from?" Ursa asks, lowering the comb to tap the unbruised skin.
Ozai goes tense under her hands, and his breathing comes more rapidly.
"Prince Ozai," she says firmly, bringing the comb back up to work through his hair again. Gentle pressure on the side of his jaw makes him obediently turn his head. "It's all right. You can tell me."
It's probably a lover, she thinks. Almost certainly a lover. He is a handsome man and a prince, and there has never been any talk of marriage for him. Surely he has a lover, at least one, if not half a dozen.
She's not really sure when he'd have time for even one, considering how busy he is every day.
"I'm not supposed to say," Ozai says, and something in his tone sends a chill down her spine.
"Why not, Prince Ozai?" Ursa runs the comb through his hair, working out the tiny tangles in the short black spikes his hair always falls into between washings.
"He told me not to." A pause, then Ozai speaks as if he's correcting himself, "He told me Captain Li must not find out, that I must not tell anyone who would tell the captain."
"Is that so?" Ursa respects Captain Li Kazan; he loves the prince, he cares for his men, he is a good officer. Like all good officers, he is nothing less than vengeance when someone threatens his charge.
Ozai nods.
"Why doesn't this person want Captain Li to know?"
"I don't know."
"Well, what do you do with him?"
Ozai's shoulders lift in a shrug. "He has sex with me."
Ursa only barely keeps the comb from tumbling out of her hand. 'He has sex with me.' Not 'we have sex', not 'I have sex with him'. And Ozai always does what she asks, always does what Captain Li asks, always does what anyone asks.
"Ozai," she says quietly, her breath feeling tight and hot in her chest. "Do you want to have sex with him?"
There is a long moment of silence.
"What does it matter what I want?" He finally asks.
Impulsively, she wraps her arms around him, and he stiffens again. Then he slowly relaxes, and she just rests her cheek against his back and listens to the beating of his heart. "What's his name? I promise I won't tell Captain Li."
***
The door splinters under her first kick, then bursts into flame when her firebending lashes out with the next one. She pushes through the blue-burning fire, snarling.
Her eyes land on the man she's come seeking, and the fire roars higher. "You! Agni Kai!"
-End-
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender: Lightning at Sea
Characters: Ozai, Ursa, assorted unnamed Fire Nation extras
Rating: PG-13
Word Count:
Warnings: There is some bad stuff heavily implied here. So please be careful reading.
Summary: Ursa doesn't understand why it's put about that the Second Prince is sickly.
Author's Notes: This takes place in the Lightning at Sea/Water Tribe-as-aggressors AU. It also hinges on knowing some of what's going on with Ozai, which I've mostly not written down yet. ('Cause he doesn't show up until S2 as a major player.) However, this bit from Lu Ten's pov years on gives you a good taste.
Caretaker
***
The Second Prince is sickly. Everyone knows that, all the world knows that Azulon's second son is weak and delicate. He can't even firebend, and he's not a soldier like his brother. Not anything, just someone kept in the dark and away from the danger of the Water Tribe.
Ursa meets him when one of his nurses falls ill and dies suddenly. It is a position with a good bit of pay, and she has some repute as a dangerous firebender not to be crossed. The prince's guards investigate her thoroughly, but in the end, she is presented to the prince.
Ozai does not look sickly. He is tall and broad, corded with muscles that the linen of his clothes does not hide. He is pale, as if he does not get enough sun, and there is something wrong with the way his eyes look at her.
***
Ursa is supposed to take care of Ozai. After three days, she's not actually sure what he needs her for. He seems able to take care of himself, for the most part, though he's got no idea how to handle hair. But he keeps it short, so it's not as if she really needs to do more than run a comb through his hair every other day.
Prince Ozai spars with his guard captain three times a day and spars by himself twice a day. He takes his meals regularly, he goes to sleep at the same time every night and awakens the same time every morning. He reads when he has nothing else to do, though sometimes he simply holds a book open with one hand while his gold eyes watch her.
He doesn't speak much, and she wonders if he's slow. At least until she gets a look at the treatise on philosophy he's reading, asks a question, and he proceeds to explain some of the most complicated, head-breaking ideas she has ever heard in her life. But he explains them well and neatly, and she actually understands when he's done talking.
She doesn't understand why it's put about that the Second Prince is sickly.
***
There are bruises on Ozai's wrist. Finger-shaped bruises as if someone had grabbed and held on far too tightly. They look new, and none of his sparring yesterday should have caused them.
"Where did these come from?" Ursa asks, lowering the comb to tap the unbruised skin.
Ozai goes tense under her hands, and his breathing comes more rapidly.
"Prince Ozai," she says firmly, bringing the comb back up to work through his hair again. Gentle pressure on the side of his jaw makes him obediently turn his head. "It's all right. You can tell me."
It's probably a lover, she thinks. Almost certainly a lover. He is a handsome man and a prince, and there has never been any talk of marriage for him. Surely he has a lover, at least one, if not half a dozen.
She's not really sure when he'd have time for even one, considering how busy he is every day.
"I'm not supposed to say," Ozai says, and something in his tone sends a chill down her spine.
"Why not, Prince Ozai?" Ursa runs the comb through his hair, working out the tiny tangles in the short black spikes his hair always falls into between washings.
"He told me not to." A pause, then Ozai speaks as if he's correcting himself, "He told me Captain Li must not find out, that I must not tell anyone who would tell the captain."
"Is that so?" Ursa respects Captain Li Kazan; he loves the prince, he cares for his men, he is a good officer. Like all good officers, he is nothing less than vengeance when someone threatens his charge.
Ozai nods.
"Why doesn't this person want Captain Li to know?"
"I don't know."
"Well, what do you do with him?"
Ozai's shoulders lift in a shrug. "He has sex with me."
Ursa only barely keeps the comb from tumbling out of her hand. 'He has sex with me.' Not 'we have sex', not 'I have sex with him'. And Ozai always does what she asks, always does what Captain Li asks, always does what anyone asks.
"Ozai," she says quietly, her breath feeling tight and hot in her chest. "Do you want to have sex with him?"
There is a long moment of silence.
"What does it matter what I want?" He finally asks.
Impulsively, she wraps her arms around him, and he stiffens again. Then he slowly relaxes, and she just rests her cheek against his back and listens to the beating of his heart. "What's his name? I promise I won't tell Captain Li."
***
The door splinters under her first kick, then bursts into flame when her firebending lashes out with the next one. She pushes through the blue-burning fire, snarling.
Her eyes land on the man she's come seeking, and the fire roars higher. "You! Agni Kai!"
-End-