Schmoop Bingo - A Harper's Ballad
Title: A Harper's Ballad
Prompt: Drunken Confession of Love
Medium: fic
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sokka/Zuko
Summary: A Hatching is a time to celebrate -- but perhaps not quite to this excess.
Written for avocado_love in her Queen Flight universe, an Avatar: The Last Airbender/Dragonriders of Pern crossover. Part of schmoop_bingo .
With four successful mating flights between Honorath and Aquariath and four successful Hatchings, Z'ko knew that he should have been resigned to yet another Hatching feast. As he sat at the place of honor that evening, he was anything but.
"And once again, they just assume we're a happy weyr couple, the bronze rider and the gold rider as besotted as their dragons." Z'ko swirled the wine in his glass, scowling at it.
"Oh hush," Katara responded. "It's a good show for the holders who have come all the way here to see the fruit of their tithes. It's worth putting up with a little misplaced attention for one evening."
"They seated Sokka with the apprentices. He's my weyrmate - he should be sitting next to me."
"They seated A'ang like he's just another blue rider. Which he is."
Her voice held bitterness Z'ko had never heard, and he looked at her in surprise. Her mouth was pressed in a thin line of annoyance. I should say something, he thought, but then she sighed in disgust.
"Oh by Faranth, that harper has composed a ballad for us."
Z'ko squinted at the man stepping up to the musicians' platform. "How can you tell?"
"I -" Katara stabbed her thumb to her chest in emphasis "- am a queen rider of Benden Weyr. I just know these things."
Zuko snorted.
The harper strummed a few chords on his gitar, then started to sing.
Z'ko and Katara both winced.
"You know what?" Z'ko asked.
"What?"
"I think that now is the time to start drinking."
"I think you're right."
***
Z'ko woke to a vicious headache, the likes to which he had not experienced since Honorath's first flight of Aquariath. He started to stretch, then groaned.
"Decided to rejoin the living, I see." Sokka's voice held far too much cheer considering the pain splitting Z'ko's head in two.
"May the next threadfall leave nothing but your wretched bones when it passes." Z'ko pulled a pillow over his head to shut out the light.
"And good morning to you, too." There came a noise like a book being closed, then footsteps, then the furs next to Z'ko shifted under Sokka's weight. "How's your head? You and Katara seemed determined to drink the whole Harper Hall under the table last night."
"I wasn't that drunk."
"You were singing."
"… how badly?"
"Rather well, actually."
"Oh shard it, I was drunk."
"It gets better."
Z'ko debated kicking Sokka, but decided that the brief satisfaction wouldn't be worth jarring his head. Sokka, unfortunately, took this as invitation to continue.
"After you finished the last chorus - and you and Katara managed a very nice harmony, I might add - the two of you got up on the table to proclaim your love of each other to the whole weyr."
Z'ko groaned again, embarrassment displacing hung-over agony.
"It was really quite touching. You had your arm around her waist and she was leaning against you and I think that was the only way you were both upright by that point. Then you raised your glass to the room and declared quite loudly… let's see. I want to get this right…" He imitated Z'ko's voice, and Z'ko stifled another groan. "You said something like 'I do, surprisingly, love her - as a sister, or perhaps a very dear cousin.'"
"I did not say that."
"You did say that. Luckily, by that time, all the holders had been ferried back to their holds and it was mostly just a few weyrfolk and a very drunk harper."
Z'ko groaned again.
"Wait, it gets better. So you said that, and then Katara sort of pulled herself up and declared -" and here Sokka imitated his sister's voice "- 'he's not really as much of an ass as he seems - and he's not that bad in bed, or maybe that's just his dragon.'"
"Shards."
"That's when A'ang and I decided it was time to get the two of you back to your weyrs. Which, by the way, you owe me for, because getting you back up the stairs was quite a chore, and Honorath refused to fly you. Or at least I assume he refused, because I hollered at him and he pretended to be asleep and I know he was awake because you said so."
Z'ko groaned and wondered if the High Reaches' offer of a transfer still stood. He hated the cold, but maybe it would be worth it to escape Benden after that.
"Oh cheer up, lover. I think it did the weyr some good that the two of you finally admitted your feelings for each other. Besides, the worst that comes of all this is that that harper makes another ballad."
"That," Z'ko groaned, "Is exactly what I'm afraid of."
Prompt: Drunken Confession of Love
Medium: fic
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sokka/Zuko
Summary: A Hatching is a time to celebrate -- but perhaps not quite to this excess.
Written for avocado_love in her Queen Flight universe, an Avatar: The Last Airbender/Dragonriders of Pern crossover. Part of schmoop_bingo .
With four successful mating flights between Honorath and Aquariath and four successful Hatchings, Z'ko knew that he should have been resigned to yet another Hatching feast. As he sat at the place of honor that evening, he was anything but.
"And once again, they just assume we're a happy weyr couple, the bronze rider and the gold rider as besotted as their dragons." Z'ko swirled the wine in his glass, scowling at it.
"Oh hush," Katara responded. "It's a good show for the holders who have come all the way here to see the fruit of their tithes. It's worth putting up with a little misplaced attention for one evening."
"They seated Sokka with the apprentices. He's my weyrmate - he should be sitting next to me."
"They seated A'ang like he's just another blue rider. Which he is."
Her voice held bitterness Z'ko had never heard, and he looked at her in surprise. Her mouth was pressed in a thin line of annoyance. I should say something, he thought, but then she sighed in disgust.
"Oh by Faranth, that harper has composed a ballad for us."
Z'ko squinted at the man stepping up to the musicians' platform. "How can you tell?"
"I -" Katara stabbed her thumb to her chest in emphasis "- am a queen rider of Benden Weyr. I just know these things."
Zuko snorted.
The harper strummed a few chords on his gitar, then started to sing.
Z'ko and Katara both winced.
"You know what?" Z'ko asked.
"What?"
"I think that now is the time to start drinking."
"I think you're right."
***
Z'ko woke to a vicious headache, the likes to which he had not experienced since Honorath's first flight of Aquariath. He started to stretch, then groaned.
"Decided to rejoin the living, I see." Sokka's voice held far too much cheer considering the pain splitting Z'ko's head in two.
"May the next threadfall leave nothing but your wretched bones when it passes." Z'ko pulled a pillow over his head to shut out the light.
"And good morning to you, too." There came a noise like a book being closed, then footsteps, then the furs next to Z'ko shifted under Sokka's weight. "How's your head? You and Katara seemed determined to drink the whole Harper Hall under the table last night."
"I wasn't that drunk."
"You were singing."
"… how badly?"
"Rather well, actually."
"Oh shard it, I was drunk."
"It gets better."
Z'ko debated kicking Sokka, but decided that the brief satisfaction wouldn't be worth jarring his head. Sokka, unfortunately, took this as invitation to continue.
"After you finished the last chorus - and you and Katara managed a very nice harmony, I might add - the two of you got up on the table to proclaim your love of each other to the whole weyr."
Z'ko groaned again, embarrassment displacing hung-over agony.
"It was really quite touching. You had your arm around her waist and she was leaning against you and I think that was the only way you were both upright by that point. Then you raised your glass to the room and declared quite loudly… let's see. I want to get this right…" He imitated Z'ko's voice, and Z'ko stifled another groan. "You said something like 'I do, surprisingly, love her - as a sister, or perhaps a very dear cousin.'"
"I did not say that."
"You did say that. Luckily, by that time, all the holders had been ferried back to their holds and it was mostly just a few weyrfolk and a very drunk harper."
Z'ko groaned again.
"Wait, it gets better. So you said that, and then Katara sort of pulled herself up and declared -" and here Sokka imitated his sister's voice "- 'he's not really as much of an ass as he seems - and he's not that bad in bed, or maybe that's just his dragon.'"
"Shards."
"That's when A'ang and I decided it was time to get the two of you back to your weyrs. Which, by the way, you owe me for, because getting you back up the stairs was quite a chore, and Honorath refused to fly you. Or at least I assume he refused, because I hollered at him and he pretended to be asleep and I know he was awake because you said so."
Z'ko groaned and wondered if the High Reaches' offer of a transfer still stood. He hated the cold, but maybe it would be worth it to escape Benden after that.
"Oh cheer up, lover. I think it did the weyr some good that the two of you finally admitted your feelings for each other. Besides, the worst that comes of all this is that that harper makes another ballad."
"That," Z'ko groaned, "Is exactly what I'm afraid of."