400 word drabble: Uncharted

[attackfish]

Written for avatar_500 prompt #3, Undying.

Summary: The first new moon.

Uncharted

Yue rose early, pale and lusterless in the morning sky.  “Hello Agni,” she greeted, bowing her head.

Beaming, he waved to her as she climbed higher.  Her hands trailed though the air, pulling the ocean waters after them, and La reached his hand up to her, but she didn’t take it.

He wanted Tui.  She couldn’t be Tui.

When she came close enough, Agni took her hands and pulled her into an embrace.  “You feel so thin,” he whispered.

She leaned against him, letting his short, round body bear her weight for a while, her head against his pudgy arm.  “Is something wrong with me?”

He shook his head and tucked her braids behind her ears.  His eyes took on a faraway look.  “Tui always had a hard time just before the new moon too.”

Yue let go abruptly.  “I’m sorry,” she wanted to say.

She hadn’t realized she had spoken it aloud until Agni laid his hand over hers.  “What for?”

“You must miss your sister terribly,” she murmured.

Agni rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.  “Your sister too.”  Smiling sadly, Yue shook her head, and let him keep holding her hand.  After a moment, he let go and stood back, dangling in the air in front of her.  “Do you want me to help you through the sky?”

She felt horribly weak nodding, but her head bobbed without her permission.  He lifted her and her sliver of moon into his arms and carried her through the sky, letting the sun disk drift along behind them.  “Was-”  she stopped talking, and looked away.  “Was Tui your real sister, or was she your sister like I’m your sister?”

His brow furrowed, puzzled.  “You’re my real sister.”

“No, I mean, did you have the same parents?”

“We don’t have parents.”  He closed his eyes as she looked back to him.  “But I’m the Sun, and she was the Moon, so she was my sister.”

Yue wished he would smile. His round face was made for it.  She wished she could make him smile.

“I’ve never missed anyone before.  She’s the first of us to die.  I...”  He closed his eyes again and fought back tears.  “I didn’t even know we could.”

A piece of Yue was circling La in the pool at the spirit oasis, frail, and living, and vulnerable.  She brushed her hand against her brother’s cheek.

Comments

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was lovely! I like that Agni is included in this whole moon-ocean-spirit family. :) I really liked the "you feel so thin" and “Do you want me to help you through the sky?” lines. :) Lovely.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Agni's lucky. He never has that cyclical weakness. If it's night on one side of the planet, it's day on the other, and if it's winter in one hemisphere, it's summer in the other. (I know it annoys some people that there's snow on the ground on Kyoshi Island when it's winter in the nothern hemisphere, and therefore they think this means there's no flipping of the seasons, but Sokka mentions in the first episode, also during winter up north that he probably has midnight sun madness, and Kyoshi Island is far enough south that snow can happen in the early summer... Yeah, you can tell I put too much thought into this.) This all means that when a certain something in season three comes along, it hits Agni over the head. Just because it's happened before doesn't mean he's used to it. I'm developing this weird fascination with writing about the greater spirits in the avatarverse. For some reason, Agni looks kinda like a black haired, goateed Iroh with his short, fat, jolliness.