eachdraidh | 4 ☼ VIDEO / UNSEELIE

[ if you know zuko, his hair is always hanging in his eyes. pulling his bangs up, it's almost as if he's run a hair straightener through it to keep it raised above his head before it thinks to deflate and droop down over his scar. he's as exasperated as he feels, as defeated as he's always been; a little girl with short, dark hair and red feathers braided into it sits beside him in a red coat, threading together blades of grass. ]

[ with his knees pulled up to his chest, zuko holds his hands out, fingers curling into fists, as his voice is a little sharp and exasperated despite his attempts to calm down. his communicator happens to be leaning against a rock in the grass. he's thought this over pretty well. ]

Ugh! [ he almost smacks his forehead. almost. his knuckles turn white for a moment. ] How do you talk to animals? All they do is eat your food and grumble!

[ the little girl beside him laughs, a tinkling sort of sound, as she continues to thread her grass together. sokka leaving has left a rather big void in zuko's life. he's had to turn to his dragon to brainstorm things sokka would readily help him with — and druk sucks at brainstorming. (zuko thinks he's pretty selfish; he's run out of apples to feed him.) ]

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[ katsa's still laughing at this girl and her excitement and poor zuko's grumpiness. there's a sudden pang in her heart for another girl she hasn't seen in years. bitterblue—how katsa can't help but think of bitterblue. ]

No, but I have towers, and you must be careful on them for if you fall you would fall directly on the cliffs and the sea below. They're made of stone, which is lucky, for Zuko can't set them on fire. I would have been likely to set them on fire, when I was still his student.

[ jia gasps, eyes going wide. ] You were his student? [ she looks between the two of them, head moving so fast zuko thinks it'll fall off. he looks at her with his eyebrow arched, a silent challenge for her to say what she will inevitably insult him with. ] But ... He's Zuko! He knows nothing!

[ zuko shoves her shoulder. she teeters back and forth with a laugh. ]

He knows plenty more than I do about some things. Particularly about firebending. I have other skills that he might not, but in a fight, that's something he can do that I can't.

[ she smiles briefly at zuko instead of jia this time. ]

Give him some credit. How did you two meet?

[ zuko blushes. ]

He scared a spirit away! [ she turns to zuko. ] Boo! [ she looks proudly to katsa, even though zuko doesn't jump in fright at all. ] Like that. And then he stayed.

[ zuko shrugs. ] She lives in Azure. [ with a laugh: ] She won't let me leave!

[ jia rests her head on his shoulder. ] Nope. He's my shardbearer now. You can't have him, Katsa Middluns! I will fight you. I'm really good at throwing snow. You could've asked Sokka, but he left to be with Suki. [ she makes kissing noises as quickly as she says sokka's girlfriend's name. ]

A spirit?

[ katsa completely misses the blushing, luckily for zuko. but jia sure is a charmer. katsa claps a hand over her grin. ]

I don't know who either of those people are. But I bet you're a good fighter. I'll fight you someday too, Jia. Perhaps Zuko needs a rescue.

[ jia puffs up her cheeks, as though she'll look tough when zuko thinks she looks funny. with her preoccupied in trying to make her small frame look bigger, zuko finally finds he has a chance to talk to katsa. ]

There was a spirit haunting their village. Some people were killed by it, so I helped them out. [ he shrugs his shoulders. ] They're nice people in Azure. You should come by again sometime.

[ jia lets the air out of her cheeks and doesn't inhale, sounding slightly winded, ] You can stay with me! I make good tea. Zuko even said so!

Don't forget to breathe, child. [ said absentmindedly. ] I'd like to hear that story.

I'll return soon if I can, and you know you're always welcome to visit Srathmarbh whether I'm there or not, so that Jia can see the ocean.

[ there's a note in her voice that she tries not to let slip through, for jia's sake: a note of worry that the ocean may not still be there, of the void that she's been watching from her towers and knows grows closer day by day. ]

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