avatar fic: parting (Arnook, Yue)
parting
Summary: Even in death, she was beautiful.
Characters: Arnook, Yue (mentions of Katara, Sokka, Aang, Pakku)
Word Count: 300
Prompt: avatar_contest ; 052. Gorgeous // Challenge
When the princess died, there was no body to mourn over.
--
Instead it was an empty kayak filled with her clothes, heavy furs arranged in a way to resemble the princess; layers of blue in contrast of the hard wood, its patterns reminiscent of a lotus.
It was also not the Imperial Guards who carried the kayak to the highest canal for the final farewell, but instead the Avatar himself, his bison’s saddle traded for the wooden boat for one day, and the people of North Pole watched as he sailed overhead, clutching candles in their hand, weeping in silence, honoring their princess who fell to save the world.
Aang didn’t meet either Katara’s or Sokka’s eyes as they laid each of their candles inside the empty vessel, but he heard their prayers (Katara’s) and oaths (Sokka’s) and whispered his own, low and quiet, swallowed by the wind.
It was time, and Pakku stepped forward with Katara; their hands gracefully pushed the tides of the canals forward slowly, until it reached the final gates, where the Chief of the North Pole waited alone for his daughter.
--
I’m so sorry, Arnook remembered how Sokka found him in the middle of the battlefield, I’m terribly sorry-
-but I can’t do this, father- the warrior’s voice turned into his daughter’s, and Arnook couldn’t forget how her eyes watered as he put their people and their city into her hands, selfish and unthinking-
“Yue-“ grief overcoming him, the chief fell to the ground, “My beloved daughter-“
I am sorry.
I love you.
The tides pushed and the kayak was gone, and through his misty eyes he thought he saw his daughter, beautiful and unearthly and free, a soft smile on her face as she mouthed her own farewell.
--
I will always be with you.