[Fic]: Hotaru Koi
Title: Hotaru Koi
Characters: Song, Zuko, Iroh
Summary: Song reflects on fireflies the night before she meets Zuko
Art Link: http://zimmay.deviantart.com/art/Fireflies-37396239
Note: Lyrics come from the song Hotaru Koi. Written for the atlaland A Picture is Worth... challenge. Third-place winner.
atchi no mizu wa nigaizo
Song sighed softly as she looked out into the falling darkness.
She loved the summer evenings, when the fireflies danced in the clearing around her home. Father had loved fireflies, she remembered, so much so that he had wanted to name her Hotaru.
Mother had forbidden it; it would have given Father away to those who knew such words.
Not that it mattered, Song thought bitterly. Father had been discovered anyway.
'Traitor,' they called him, and 'deserter,' never mind that Father had never fought for them.
She clenched her fists in the skirt of her hanbok. That hateful captain! He would have taken her too had she shown any sign of firebending, and he had done his best to force it out of her.
Bright light burst before her eyes; she jerked back, startled.
It was only a firefly.
Song took a deep breath and let the anger flow away like a stream. That was the past. She could do nothing for Father now.
Slowly she moved her hand up, extending one finger to serve as a perch for the tiny insect.
It circled around her hand a few times, then settled down on her finger. She smiled sadly as it winked on and off a few times. She was the only one in the refugee village who could hold fireflies.
Father had been able to hold them too.
She sighed again and gently shook her finger to dislodge the instect. Why was she so melancholy tonight?
She tipped her face to the stars and sighed. Tomorrow would be better, she was sure.
*
kotchi no mizu wa amaizo
Today was better, she thought as she gently chastised an old man for making tea out of White Jade. He was quite kind, if sheepish over his mistake; it was his nephew that drew her interest. Awkward and sulking, a horrible liar, but still worried enough about his uncle that he brought the old man to her.
Both of them had Fire blood.
Father had taught her the signs, Father and nursery rhymes meant to warn children. Golden eyes were difficult to hide, after all, and old Mushi was warm enough to be a firebender himself.
Song wasn't the only person here who knew the signs.
Cheerfully she invited them to dinner, suspecting correctly Mushi wouldn't turn down an offer of free food. His nephew sulked and argued, but capitulated in the end. And flushed when she teased him.
He was burned on the left side of his face; a burn as deliberate as the latticework that climbed her right leg. Had the Fire Nation tried to force 'bending from him as well?
Mother gave her a stern look for her Fire strays, but kidnapped Mushi to help her prepare dinner. Song steered Junior outside to hold the feed bucket while she did her chores.
"Did they have fireflies in your village?" she asked him.
"What?" The question seemed to startle him.
Song giggled. "Fireflies. We get them all the time in the spring and summer here."
He relaxed a little at her answer. "Yeah. We did."
"Did you ever catch them?"
"Yeah," he admitted, and Song felt her heart jump.
ando no hikari o chotto mite koi
Characters: Song, Zuko, Iroh
Summary: Song reflects on fireflies the night before she meets Zuko
Art Link: http://zimmay.deviantart.com/art/Fireflies-37396239
Note: Lyrics come from the song Hotaru Koi. Written for the atlaland A Picture is Worth... challenge. Third-place winner.
atchi no mizu wa nigaizo
Song sighed softly as she looked out into the falling darkness.
She loved the summer evenings, when the fireflies danced in the clearing around her home. Father had loved fireflies, she remembered, so much so that he had wanted to name her Hotaru.
Mother had forbidden it; it would have given Father away to those who knew such words.
Not that it mattered, Song thought bitterly. Father had been discovered anyway.
'Traitor,' they called him, and 'deserter,' never mind that Father had never fought for them.
She clenched her fists in the skirt of her hanbok. That hateful captain! He would have taken her too had she shown any sign of firebending, and he had done his best to force it out of her.
Bright light burst before her eyes; she jerked back, startled.
It was only a firefly.
Song took a deep breath and let the anger flow away like a stream. That was the past. She could do nothing for Father now.
Slowly she moved her hand up, extending one finger to serve as a perch for the tiny insect.
It circled around her hand a few times, then settled down on her finger. She smiled sadly as it winked on and off a few times. She was the only one in the refugee village who could hold fireflies.
Father had been able to hold them too.
She sighed again and gently shook her finger to dislodge the instect. Why was she so melancholy tonight?
She tipped her face to the stars and sighed. Tomorrow would be better, she was sure.
*
kotchi no mizu wa amaizo
Today was better, she thought as she gently chastised an old man for making tea out of White Jade. He was quite kind, if sheepish over his mistake; it was his nephew that drew her interest. Awkward and sulking, a horrible liar, but still worried enough about his uncle that he brought the old man to her.
Both of them had Fire blood.
Father had taught her the signs, Father and nursery rhymes meant to warn children. Golden eyes were difficult to hide, after all, and old Mushi was warm enough to be a firebender himself.
Song wasn't the only person here who knew the signs.
Cheerfully she invited them to dinner, suspecting correctly Mushi wouldn't turn down an offer of free food. His nephew sulked and argued, but capitulated in the end. And flushed when she teased him.
He was burned on the left side of his face; a burn as deliberate as the latticework that climbed her right leg. Had the Fire Nation tried to force 'bending from him as well?
Mother gave her a stern look for her Fire strays, but kidnapped Mushi to help her prepare dinner. Song steered Junior outside to hold the feed bucket while she did her chores.
"Did they have fireflies in your village?" she asked him.
"What?" The question seemed to startle him.
Song giggled. "Fireflies. We get them all the time in the spring and summer here."
He relaxed a little at her answer. "Yeah. We did."
"Did you ever catch them?"
"Yeah," he admitted, and Song felt her heart jump.
ando no hikari o chotto mite koi