Yu Dao gleamed like a gold coin that had been polished until the markings had started to wear away, but Zuko barely noticed it. The bandage on his face stuck to the burn underneath, rubbing painfully against it with every move he made. He could barely feel it. He could barely feel the ship's gangway underneath his feet, or his own nails biting into the flesh of his palms.
In the breeze, the banners waved, and ribbons and garlands hung from windows and doors. The soldiers his father had sent with him to escort him, or guard him, or confine him and make sure he went where his father wanted him to, or look impressive behind him as he walked into this colonial backwater, filed out of the ship behind him, shattering his momentary impulse to run back into the ship and somehow force the helmsman away from the wheel and sail them all away from here. The town mayor stood with his wife in front of the small crowd, a hand on his daughter's shoulder. Zuko swallowed and marched up to her.
The mayor, his soon to be father in law, bowed to him as his wife and daughter watched Zuko speculatively. "You honor us with your presence, Prince Zuko."
Don't make fun of me, Zuko wanted to say, not that saying that had ever worked. His father wasn't honoring them. He was disgracing Zuko. And everybody knew it. "Thank you," he said awkwardly, instead.
The mayor's daughter, Zuko's bride, looked at him like she was trying to decide just how stupid he was. Zuko turned back to her, glowering a challenge at her out of his good eye. Her hands balled into fists.
She was an earthbender. His father was making him marry an earthbender.
Instead of Mai. Zuko's foul temper deepened.
The crowd, the whole town probably, he thought, with a horrified jolt, stilled. The mayor's wife pasted on a smile. "Come, Prince Zuko, you must be tired from your long journey." She put a hand on his shoulder, and Zuko went rigid with the effort of not shaking it off.
"Yes, um, thank you," He mumbled, trying to remember if anybody had told him these people's names, except for the girl he was supposed to marry, Kori Morishita. He was going to need to learn their names, Zuko realized with dread, if he was going to marry their daughter. "Yeah, I'm... I guess I'm tired."
He would be married, the morning after tomorrow, at dawn. His father had decreed it, and as late as the ship that brought him was, he was lucky it wasn't later. He would be married to a gawky earthbending girl with a hard mouth and angry eyes in a little colony town. There was going to be a ceremony. It wasn't going to be any more than a peasant festival.
He should probably wonder what his bride-to-be felt about him, but he couldn't make himself care.
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branchandroot
Ozai marries his son off into an insultingly low-ranked colonial noble family. Zuko/Kori Pt 1/2
Date: 2012-12-26 03:46 am (UTC)In the breeze, the banners waved, and ribbons and garlands hung from windows and doors. The soldiers his father had sent with him to escort him, or guard him, or confine him and make sure he went where his father wanted him to, or look impressive behind him as he walked into this colonial backwater, filed out of the ship behind him, shattering his momentary impulse to run back into the ship and somehow force the helmsman away from the wheel and sail them all away from here. The town mayor stood with his wife in front of the small crowd, a hand on his daughter's shoulder. Zuko swallowed and marched up to her.
The mayor, his soon to be father in law, bowed to him as his wife and daughter watched Zuko speculatively. "You honor us with your presence, Prince Zuko."
Don't make fun of me, Zuko wanted to say, not that saying that had ever worked. His father wasn't honoring them. He was disgracing Zuko. And everybody knew it. "Thank you," he said awkwardly, instead.
The mayor's daughter, Zuko's bride, looked at him like she was trying to decide just how stupid he was. Zuko turned back to her, glowering a challenge at her out of his good eye. Her hands balled into fists.
She was an earthbender. His father was making him marry an earthbender.
Instead of Mai. Zuko's foul temper deepened.
The crowd, the whole town probably, he thought, with a horrified jolt, stilled. The mayor's wife pasted on a smile. "Come, Prince Zuko, you must be tired from your long journey." She put a hand on his shoulder, and Zuko went rigid with the effort of not shaking it off.
"Yes, um, thank you," He mumbled, trying to remember if anybody had told him these people's names, except for the girl he was supposed to marry, Kori Morishita. He was going to need to learn their names, Zuko realized with dread, if he was going to marry their daughter. "Yeah, I'm... I guess I'm tired."
He would be married, the morning after tomorrow, at dawn. His father had decreed it, and as late as the ship that brought him was, he was lucky it wasn't later. He would be married to a gawky earthbending girl with a hard mouth and angry eyes in a little colony town. There was going to be a ceremony. It wasn't going to be any more than a peasant festival.
He should probably wonder what his bride-to-be felt about him, but he couldn't make himself care.
"I'm very tired," he whispered.
~*~