milliways_bar: Home

[forge_fire]

It's merely a hallways they step into, one carved out of rock but pleasant enough. It is not lit by lamps or by torches, but instead by the hot molten lava of the mountain shimmering through a sheet of crystal that refracts the light in dancing traces of color against a wall. He smiles to Zuko a moment as he watches the beauty of his underground

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[princeinexile]

It's like Avatar Roku's temple, really.

Zuko looks left, looks right, and falls into a quiet sort of reverance for the place, his eyes here, there -- tracing veins of heat as they dart over the walls in the ever-shifting flow of the molten core.

But he follows! Very obediently! For he doesn't want to miss anything.

[forge_fire]

And he won't.

"What would you like to see first? Your room?"

[princeinexile]

A blink is given. He's got a guest room now? Already? ...Gods work fast.

"Certainly." He's not going to gainsay his host. At least it'll give him a place to put his bag, right?

[forge_fire]

There is always and forever rooms in the mountain for guests. He got them so rarely, as so few people wanted to actually spend TIME with him, that he tended to treat them exceedingly well. He nods to Zuko and continues to walk.

They pass, first, the kitchen. It is...actually rather modern. The gods do not necessarily obey the laws of anachronism. Sam Raimi got that right at least.

[princeinexile]

...to Zuko? It's a god's kitchen. He doesn't know a modern one from a scullery, honestly. For all he knows, it's how it's meant to be here. But he takes awee in as they go by. Nice and shiny!

But... all this for one god? That would get ... lonely.

But he said, no family, no children... And his wife... was he estranged?

Overthoughtful, he follows, before he says, "I cannot say I've seen anything quite like this."

[forge_fire]

"Few take the time." He answers with a small, sad smile. He continues to lead, past the bathroom and beyond, to the rooms. There are only a few doors here, but Hephaestos takes him to the last one to the right and opens the door.

It is...not opulent, not in the least, but it is large and warm. Lava shifts and sparkles behind another sheet of crystal, though this time there is a curtain held to the side by a sash for him to cover it with when he wishes to sleep. the bed is basic, but rich; small, but the sheets are egyptian cotton and the duvet is of red silk. There are a few hangings on the wall, gifts from Athena at different times when she was bored, and a few clockwork mechanisms. A sword hangs over the fireplace on the far wall.

He gestures for Zuko to walk in.

[princeinexile]

Palatial standards are one thing, but one will not not sneeze at a god's guest accomodations. But Zuko enters with a sense of awe, not comparison. At home, the walls were heavy, black, iron-- curtained in ebony and crimson, and the occasional accent of gold.

This is beautiful in a way his home couldn't ever match. Still, it feels like the Fire Nation; the heat beneath his feet, within the walls, the flow of lava...

He glances over tapestry, and then to the blade. "One of yours?" Whose else would it belong to?

[forge_fire]

He shakes his head.

"An apprentice's work."

The work of a treasured friend.

[princeinexile]

"Well crafted, all the same," Zuko says, looking over the blade. "Different from our style..."

[forge_fire]

"Yes." he qgrees quietly. He missed that apprentice, to be sure.

[princeinexile]

"Has that student moved on?" Zuko asks, turning to look back at his host.

[forge_fire]

"He was killed," he says quietly. "Some rulers...do not wish for others to share in another's talents. And make sure they will not."

[princeinexile]

Zuko frowns a little. "... I know that very well." IT's not as if it's not a tactic his father has not employed. He knows very well what will happen to, say, the Machinist in the North, or... others.

"A sad thing," he says. "I hope he was properly avenged."

[forge_fire]

"Few avenge a craftsman."

And he leaves it at that.

[princeinexile]

Zuko frowns a little. "A pity."

And then he turns a little, and says, "Where too next?" Away from bad memoriese, one hopes.

[forge_fire]

"Would you care to see the workshop?"