Drabbles: Leaving the Nest (PG; AtLA)

[jedibuttercup]

PG; Avatar: the Last Airbender. Reaction drabbles #9. Through 3.2 "The Headband".

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If You Love Someone, Set Them Free

Hakoda presses his cheek against his daughter's hair and feels every choked sob against his chest like the thrust of a knife.

He'd missed his children so much while he was gone; his fledgling warrior and waterbender, the hope for the future of their tribe. They're not his babies any longer; they have become adults in his absence, strong and skilled and responsible for the boy who represents hope for the entire world.

They are not his to protect any longer; all he has left to offer is his love.

He is prouder of them than they will ever know.

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If They Come Back, They're Yours

Iroh listens to his nephew rage outside his cell and reflects on the self-division the boy's one-sided arguments expose.

Perhaps he had been wrong about Zuko's crossroads of destiny. Perhaps the crucial decision has yet to be made-- for the lessons Iroh taught him apparently remain, like embers burning in his shuttered heart.

It is a threadbare hope for an old man to cling to; but any advice he might add now will only be discarded in Zuko's anger. All he has left to offer is his silence.

And his patience. That beautiful prince is in him yet. Iroh knows.

Comments

[irisbleufic.livejournal.com]

...oh, no, I was lying. This Iroh one is gorgeous.

[anotherdreamer5.livejournal.com]

Hakoda's reflection on his children as the future of the tribe is lovely, and I like that you juxtaposed that with Iroh thinking, Perhaps he had been wrong about Zuko's crossroads of destiny. Perhaps the crucial decision has yet to be made-- for the lessons Iroh taught him apparently remain, like embers burning in his shuttered heart.. Because suddenly you twisted the ash metsphor that Zuko used for his uncle's silence's effect on his heart. Instead of making something die, Iroh sees something struggling for life. And that's the difference between them that gets resolved. LOVELY.