storypaint (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
storypaint) wrote2015-02-16 10:36 am
storypaint) wrote2015-02-16 10:36 am
Entry tags:
[Avatar: The Last Airbender] say you'll see me again even if it's just pretend (Ta Min/Roku)
Title: say you'll see me again even if it's just pretend
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Length: 401 words
Prompt: fic_promptly: Avatar, Ta Min, when people talk about the Avatar, she still thinks of her husband
Pairing: Ta Min/Roku
Other: Set pre-canon.
Excerpt: An old friend, a woman who is related to the Fire Lord in some way, although Ta Min can't remember how, mentions it over tea. "I've heard that they've found the Avatar," she says casually.
When the new Avatar is found, the news races secretly across the Fire Nation at the speed of the fastest hawks. Ta Min isn't informed intentionally. She has been staying in the palace since the loss of her home, a statement of courtesy from the Fire Lord.
She remembers a time when she and Roku would have had the apartments of honor, right next to Sozin's. Instead she is tucked far away from the main compound, near the lesser cousins and those not currently in favor. She doesn't really mind; she's too old and sad and tired to want the stress of a full life at court.
An old friend, a woman who is related to the Fire Lord in some way, although Ta Min can't remember how, mentions it over tea. "I've heard that they've found the Avatar," she says casually.
(She's taken by one of Sozin's purges, later, for her big mouth.)
Ta Min's heart leaps impossibly and then sinks, because if they've found anything, they've found her husband's bones. She could at least give him a proper burial, after all these years--
But then she realizes. She swallows, her mouth dry.
"The new Avatar," she says.
Her acquaintance nods. "An Air Nomad of course." She sniffs a little. "It was better when the Avatar was one of us. He'd calm down the Earth Kingdom whiners quickly enough. Keep the peace."
"The Air Nation is supposed to be very peaceful," Ta Min says, because she has been a politician's wife, and she is an expert at small talk.
"Well, so they say," the woman answers, and the conversation shifts to an upcoming local festival.
Later that night, Ta Min lies in her empty bed and shuts her eyes, trying to picture the new Avatar, the new child with her husband's memories, his new life. How much would he remember about Ta Min? Would he want to remember? Or would he be focused on his own concerns? What did he look like? Who was raising him, who was keeping him safe?
Ta Min knows that she'll never get an answer to these questions, not until the Avatar is grown and emerges into the world. Perhaps he will want to meet her, then. She probably wouldn't recognize him in the new man's face.
But it is comforting to know that some part of him lives on, no matter how far away.
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Length: 401 words
Prompt: fic_promptly: Avatar, Ta Min, when people talk about the Avatar, she still thinks of her husband
Pairing: Ta Min/Roku
Other: Set pre-canon.
Excerpt: An old friend, a woman who is related to the Fire Lord in some way, although Ta Min can't remember how, mentions it over tea. "I've heard that they've found the Avatar," she says casually.
When the new Avatar is found, the news races secretly across the Fire Nation at the speed of the fastest hawks. Ta Min isn't informed intentionally. She has been staying in the palace since the loss of her home, a statement of courtesy from the Fire Lord.
She remembers a time when she and Roku would have had the apartments of honor, right next to Sozin's. Instead she is tucked far away from the main compound, near the lesser cousins and those not currently in favor. She doesn't really mind; she's too old and sad and tired to want the stress of a full life at court.
An old friend, a woman who is related to the Fire Lord in some way, although Ta Min can't remember how, mentions it over tea. "I've heard that they've found the Avatar," she says casually.
(She's taken by one of Sozin's purges, later, for her big mouth.)
Ta Min's heart leaps impossibly and then sinks, because if they've found anything, they've found her husband's bones. She could at least give him a proper burial, after all these years--
But then she realizes. She swallows, her mouth dry.
"The new Avatar," she says.
Her acquaintance nods. "An Air Nomad of course." She sniffs a little. "It was better when the Avatar was one of us. He'd calm down the Earth Kingdom whiners quickly enough. Keep the peace."
"The Air Nation is supposed to be very peaceful," Ta Min says, because she has been a politician's wife, and she is an expert at small talk.
"Well, so they say," the woman answers, and the conversation shifts to an upcoming local festival.
Later that night, Ta Min lies in her empty bed and shuts her eyes, trying to picture the new Avatar, the new child with her husband's memories, his new life. How much would he remember about Ta Min? Would he want to remember? Or would he be focused on his own concerns? What did he look like? Who was raising him, who was keeping him safe?
Ta Min knows that she'll never get an answer to these questions, not until the Avatar is grown and emerges into the world. Perhaps he will want to meet her, then. She probably wouldn't recognize him in the new man's face.
But it is comforting to know that some part of him lives on, no matter how far away.