Blurred Days [Milliways]
Jan. 24th, 2007 02:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
princeinexileZuko thought, in his more Iroh-induced moments of poetry, that his life was like a piece of calligraphy that had been splashed with water before it dried. The ink of the characters was running down into one another, changing the meanings of the words, rendering some of them utter gibberish--
--rendering him something foreign, unknowable, uncertain.
Prince was dribbling down into pauper, sword became teacup. Firebending was a morass of black, forgotten in this city of Earthbenders who out numbered them a hundred to one. Zuko did not know what the scroll of his life read anymore; he was lost between the lines, in the crude smears and swaths of diluted ink.
***
He did not think about Milliways; he studiously thuoght about anything but. The maps of Ba Sing Se had been imprinted on his mind. The history, too, what scant pieces Bar had been able to provide.
He did not, did not, think about Stephanie.
He thought about home, and about Azula, and about the Avatar. He let his mind roll over plans, discard them as he wiped down tables, slosh them about his skull as he washed dishes.
Daydreaming was normal, wasn't it? Who didn't do it? The proprietor said that he was merely a boy with his head in the clouds-- and he was. Behind his eyes, he was chasing an airbender who raced the sky on bisonback...
***
When the girl started to show up he thought nothing of it. She was a brown-haired girl in a city full of thme. She was in green, in a city that was full of that, too. She was Earth and he was Fire and why would he notice her at all?
It was only after abuot the fifth day in a row that he realized she was watching him, and fear took his heart. Had that scene with Jet gotten him into trouble? Had he been revealed?
He kept his suspicions to himself, and ignored her. He was just an Earth Kingdom boy in an Earth Kingdom teashop. No reason to get nervous. No reason to be suspected as anything but what he appeared to be; a peasant with his head bowed over his work, reluctant to speak to anyone.
She kept coming back.
--rendering him something foreign, unknowable, uncertain.
Prince was dribbling down into pauper, sword became teacup. Firebending was a morass of black, forgotten in this city of Earthbenders who out numbered them a hundred to one. Zuko did not know what the scroll of his life read anymore; he was lost between the lines, in the crude smears and swaths of diluted ink.
***
He did not think about Milliways; he studiously thuoght about anything but. The maps of Ba Sing Se had been imprinted on his mind. The history, too, what scant pieces Bar had been able to provide.
He did not, did not, think about Stephanie.
He thought about home, and about Azula, and about the Avatar. He let his mind roll over plans, discard them as he wiped down tables, slosh them about his skull as he washed dishes.
Daydreaming was normal, wasn't it? Who didn't do it? The proprietor said that he was merely a boy with his head in the clouds-- and he was. Behind his eyes, he was chasing an airbender who raced the sky on bisonback...
***
When the girl started to show up he thought nothing of it. She was a brown-haired girl in a city full of thme. She was in green, in a city that was full of that, too. She was Earth and he was Fire and why would he notice her at all?
It was only after abuot the fifth day in a row that he realized she was watching him, and fear took his heart. Had that scene with Jet gotten him into trouble? Had he been revealed?
He kept his suspicions to himself, and ignored her. He was just an Earth Kingdom boy in an Earth Kingdom teashop. No reason to get nervous. No reason to be suspected as anything but what he appeared to be; a peasant with his head bowed over his work, reluctant to speak to anyone.
She kept coming back.
