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500 word Drabble: The Scariest Day
Aug. 11th, 2010 09:06 amWritten for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
avatar_500 prompt #9, Honor.
Summary: Living in hiding takes its toll.
The Scariest Day
The scariest day of his life was the day he told his wife what he was. She was six months pregnant, and he should have told her on their wedding night, but he was a coward. He knew he was a coward. He came from a family of cowards.
That day, she screamed and raged and he waited for the soldiers to come to their door to kill him. But she didn’t tell.
Sometimes, after she let her hair down in the evenings, and before she braided it back up for bed, he bent a breeze to play with it as he ran his fingers through, and she would laugh at him.
They had children together. Ty Hei was only the first. There was honor in keeping his family safe.
The scariest day of his life was the day he told his wife what he was until the scariest day became the day he sent Ty Lee off to school.
The rest of his children he could tutor, but Ty Lee was only a year older than Princess Azula, and people would be suspicious if he didn’t send her hoping they’d become friends and win their family favor. No one could ever be suspicious of them.
It should have been Ty Un, who liked to liked to collect dolls and crack jokes, and could keep her feet on the ground. She would have bored the Princess. Boring was good. Boring was safe, and kept the family safe.
Ty Lee bent like she breathed, and her feet never touched the ground.
But Ty Lee turned out to be the best of anyone at hiding it. She bent and fought at the Princess’ side and no one ever noticed, because she was Ty Lee.
They taught all of their children to fight. Ty Yan even joined the navy. The day she did, he and his wife heaved a sigh of relief. No one would expect to find an airbender in the Fire Navy, any more than they expected to find them among the Fire Nation nobility.
He taught all of his children to hide as he had been taught to hide. He taught them to smile, and laugh, and play stupid, and keep the conversation on everybody else. It kept them safe. It kept them all alive. And he knew how much they must hate it.
His mother’s father’s mother had passed down what she could to her children, who passed it down to theirs. Surrounded by people who wanted them dead, the only way to keep a little bit of their history alive was to keep it secret and teach their children. There was honor in keeping their people alive.
When the war ended, it was hard to remember there was honor in speaking.
The scariest day of his life was the day he sent Ty Lee off to school until the scariest day became the day he told the world what he was and watched his children learn to fly.
avatar_500 prompt #9, Honor.Summary: Living in hiding takes its toll.
The Scariest Day
The scariest day of his life was the day he told his wife what he was. She was six months pregnant, and he should have told her on their wedding night, but he was a coward. He knew he was a coward. He came from a family of cowards.
That day, she screamed and raged and he waited for the soldiers to come to their door to kill him. But she didn’t tell.
Sometimes, after she let her hair down in the evenings, and before she braided it back up for bed, he bent a breeze to play with it as he ran his fingers through, and she would laugh at him.
They had children together. Ty Hei was only the first. There was honor in keeping his family safe.
The scariest day of his life was the day he told his wife what he was until the scariest day became the day he sent Ty Lee off to school.
The rest of his children he could tutor, but Ty Lee was only a year older than Princess Azula, and people would be suspicious if he didn’t send her hoping they’d become friends and win their family favor. No one could ever be suspicious of them.
It should have been Ty Un, who liked to liked to collect dolls and crack jokes, and could keep her feet on the ground. She would have bored the Princess. Boring was good. Boring was safe, and kept the family safe.
Ty Lee bent like she breathed, and her feet never touched the ground.
But Ty Lee turned out to be the best of anyone at hiding it. She bent and fought at the Princess’ side and no one ever noticed, because she was Ty Lee.
They taught all of their children to fight. Ty Yan even joined the navy. The day she did, he and his wife heaved a sigh of relief. No one would expect to find an airbender in the Fire Navy, any more than they expected to find them among the Fire Nation nobility.
He taught all of his children to hide as he had been taught to hide. He taught them to smile, and laugh, and play stupid, and keep the conversation on everybody else. It kept them safe. It kept them all alive. And he knew how much they must hate it.
His mother’s father’s mother had passed down what she could to her children, who passed it down to theirs. Surrounded by people who wanted them dead, the only way to keep a little bit of their history alive was to keep it secret and teach their children. There was honor in keeping their people alive.
When the war ended, it was hard to remember there was honor in speaking.
The scariest day of his life was the day he sent Ty Lee off to school until the scariest day became the day he told the world what he was and watched his children learn to fly.
