eachdraidh | video, open to both courts (action if you are at the barrel)

[ Alice has been at the Barrel for a few weeks now. No one's asked her to cook and clean, but it's been a bit of an engraved habit brought over from her time in London. It's only through getting children's clothing and interacting with the nearby town that it's been plaguing the back of her mind. Unlike the last time she's popped on the lockets back in December, Alice looks healthier, but she is still pretty thin.

As usual. And as usual, her white rabbit is sitting there beside her, munching away at a bowl of food. She's not good at public speaking. ]

Hello.

These may be strange times to open a dialogue about this subject while both of our courts prepare for another skirmish. There are plenty of natives here of various ages who have been hit the most by war, especially children. I used to be the maidservant of an orphanage back in Whitechapel London.

[ Her face only flashes with a hint of pain when she mentions it. ]

Houndsditch Home for Wayward Youth—if you heard of it. And the children there came from similar backgrounds, that they were all traumatized and lost family either by sickness, death, or murder. These children are often overlooked, sometimes they are swept up by those with ill intentions and treated even worse. But they are still children and they still have pieces of their innocence left.

I may not have the resources nor the... capacity right now to replicate that orphanage, but I still want to help the youngest natives here have the smallest comforts like food or clothing. I've only had a handful of opportunities in Redgate and the Station to make good on my word and clearly I need the additional hands.

In addition to natives being sent away from the path of war, I hope that there can be a way to provide resources for them or find them the appropriate care somewhere down the line. I know that it is silly to think of such a thing when all the adults in this world are preparing for battle, but they are so young and they deserve so much more while they are being guided to safety.

But if I were to oversee these things, I reserve the right to be very picky. The children I cared for weren't even spared from the cruelty of adults, even the proprietor of that orphanage.

Surely my friends will be thrilled if I focused my attention on children rather than them. I know they must tire of my nagging.

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[ There is one thing she is wondering when she hears this. Just how anyone can do that in the first place, wouldn't it better left, as is? It's a small, childish thought and she is sure that Korra had mentioned a similar ability. By now, it's a vague memory since she's been here that long.]

But why manipulate those elements in the first place? What is the purpose of it?

[ zuko opens his mouth — ]

[ and he closes it. he doesn't really know the answer to that one. he hadn't learned that while in school — not the true answer, anyway. ]

I think Aang said something about a turtle lion. [ lion turtle. ] They were the first benders. They protected mankind — which is sort of what a bender is meant to do. But there's so many of us, I ... [ they lost themselves to their art, turning it against those who couldn't bend. at least, that's what the fire nation did. ] Our world is made up of those four elements. It's how we keep the balance.

It's how Toph sees. She's blind, but she can see with her bending. And Katara can heal with her waterbending. Aang stopped my father with his bending. [ why does he firebend? he was told to. but he does so to keep the world afloat. the fire nation may be poisonous, but fire is power and life, just like the sun warriors had said it was. the earth was a home; the air was what they breathed; and water could heal all wounds. it made sense to him, but he could never quite put it into words. ] There's always a purpose, we just have to find it.

[ Balance is unfathomable to someone like her, who has seen many things in such a short amount of time. Not everyone has the best intentions; those who seem that way sometimes are the most monstrous of all. ]

And what if someone possesses that ability and does not have the best intentions or if their desires are distorted?

[ She's just a little cuirious. ]

If they're a firebender, you take them to the Boiling Rock. They have freezers — you can't bend fire if you're almost ice yourself. And it's in a volcano — no one's broken out of the prison until Sokka and I did.

[ that's for prisoners, for people who can be arrested. his father? his father was someone who overrode the warden. he was untouchable, and he knew it. ]

[ it's clear zuko's discomforted by such a question. ]

[ his voice is softer, ] Or you take their bending away.

[ Alice, ever perceptive, sees it. She won't make a comment on it or asks about it further. The power to manipulate elements strikes her as very powerful, even if it sounds so commonplace where he is from. ]

That is rather unfortunate. [ It's her attempt to be compassionate. ] And even more unfortunate that those people exist. Then again, such is life.

Yeah ... [ it's awkward, not wishing to admit anything further. often, he finds himself easily cursing ozai as the worst father of the year, but sometimes he falls victim to remembering him as a man who very rarely showed a softer side toward him. mostly, though, it'd been to azula. ]

[ zuko finds it very unfortunate. if he could go back in time and change something about his life, he'd swap his father for his mother. due to ozai's hands, he's lost too much — but he has gained more than he can ever hope to possibly clutch to his chest on his own. ] But they can be stopped, which is better than nothing. Life doesn't have to be set in stone. You can easily smash it — like a hammer with a rock. [ or an earthbender. ] You just have to be strong enough to do so.

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