[FIC] Avatar TLA; worldbuilding; haku_kaen
Title: Sanctuary
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Request: World or Character Building, here, by haku_kaen.
Rating: G.
Warnings: Original character and abuse of Japanese mythology, kind of.
=
There was no war in Ba Sing Se.
However, there was certainly commerce within its walls - artisans, beauty parlors, tea shops, sellers of Pai Sho sets. And where there was commerce there could be seen little shrines to Iné, the spirit of fortune and wealth, watching over the transactions. Sometimes there'd be little statues of spirit foxes, too. Xue liked those.
Spirit foxes were knowledge-seekers; but knowledge-seekers did not have to remain in libraries. They were nimble, and quick, and with the right knowledge, any man in Ba Sing Se could make a name for himself.
There was no war in Ba Sing Se, but there were a lot of men trying to make new names for themselves.
She was just a girl, though. A little girl who didn't quite belong anywhere. Her eyes were blue, her hair dark - she knew her mommy was from the far north, and her father from somewhere in the Kingdom. Her father had been the one that wrote the letter to the University's headmaster, pleading with him to take her into the University, that there was sanctuary in Ba Sing Se.
Ba Sing Se was orderly, was peaceful.
Those without a home, tried to find one.
She tried to find a home in the university library - stacks of books, aisles of shelves, little stone corridors when the University was afraid, so afraid, that the Dragon of the West would come and with his fire breath destroy all of the books inside, destroy decades' worth of knowledge -
But she had gone outside, and it was starting to snow, and the university library seemed so far away now.
So far away.
So Xue ducked under the nearest stone thing she could find. She couldn't make her own, after all - earth was not something she could work with.
"Kii?" A pair of dark, not-human eyes peered at her.
Xue blinked, looking around, trying to figure out who in the whiteness and darkness was looking at her. But there was another soft sound, and then a muzzle gently poking at her, and she realized there was a white fox trying to get her attention.
"A- Aiee, sorry, I didn't mean to intrude, Mr Fox."
The fox peered at her again, this time flicking its tail, causing flakes of snow to scatter.
"Er... Miss Fox?"
The fox nudged her, but Xue thought this was more of a 'good, you're smart after all' than anything else.
"Do pardon me, Miss Fox, but may I have the honor of staying here until I can get back to the university?"
The fox barked, and set to circling at her feet, warily looking out the shrine entrance as if to look out for Dai Li agents.
"..thank you for honoring me so, Miss Fox." Xue gave a proper Earth Kingdom bow to the fox, as she supposed spirits liked people to be courteous.
It kept snowing.
Xue didn't mind.
After all, she had found a sanctuary in Ba Sing Se.
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Request: World or Character Building, here, by haku_kaen.
Rating: G.
Warnings: Original character and abuse of Japanese mythology, kind of.
=
There was no war in Ba Sing Se.
However, there was certainly commerce within its walls - artisans, beauty parlors, tea shops, sellers of Pai Sho sets. And where there was commerce there could be seen little shrines to Iné, the spirit of fortune and wealth, watching over the transactions. Sometimes there'd be little statues of spirit foxes, too. Xue liked those.
Spirit foxes were knowledge-seekers; but knowledge-seekers did not have to remain in libraries. They were nimble, and quick, and with the right knowledge, any man in Ba Sing Se could make a name for himself.
There was no war in Ba Sing Se, but there were a lot of men trying to make new names for themselves.
She was just a girl, though. A little girl who didn't quite belong anywhere. Her eyes were blue, her hair dark - she knew her mommy was from the far north, and her father from somewhere in the Kingdom. Her father had been the one that wrote the letter to the University's headmaster, pleading with him to take her into the University, that there was sanctuary in Ba Sing Se.
Ba Sing Se was orderly, was peaceful.
Those without a home, tried to find one.
She tried to find a home in the university library - stacks of books, aisles of shelves, little stone corridors when the University was afraid, so afraid, that the Dragon of the West would come and with his fire breath destroy all of the books inside, destroy decades' worth of knowledge -
But she had gone outside, and it was starting to snow, and the university library seemed so far away now.
So far away.
So Xue ducked under the nearest stone thing she could find. She couldn't make her own, after all - earth was not something she could work with.
"Kii?" A pair of dark, not-human eyes peered at her.
Xue blinked, looking around, trying to figure out who in the whiteness and darkness was looking at her. But there was another soft sound, and then a muzzle gently poking at her, and she realized there was a white fox trying to get her attention.
"A- Aiee, sorry, I didn't mean to intrude, Mr Fox."
The fox peered at her again, this time flicking its tail, causing flakes of snow to scatter.
"Er... Miss Fox?"
The fox nudged her, but Xue thought this was more of a 'good, you're smart after all' than anything else.
"Do pardon me, Miss Fox, but may I have the honor of staying here until I can get back to the university?"
The fox barked, and set to circling at her feet, warily looking out the shrine entrance as if to look out for Dai Li agents.
"..thank you for honoring me so, Miss Fox." Xue gave a proper Earth Kingdom bow to the fox, as she supposed spirits liked people to be courteous.
It kept snowing.
Xue didn't mind.
After all, she had found a sanctuary in Ba Sing Se.