By Katherine Rebekah | Genre | Rating | Reviews | Updates |
More from Katherine Rebekah | Drama | G | None | None |
This is a one shot that retells the events of "The Waterbending Master", "The Siege of the North, Part 1", and "The Siege of the North, Part 2", from the perspective of Yue.
Plot[]
The little girl reached out and gently stroked Yue's braid.
"Your hair is so pretty." She smiled a toothless smile. " I wish I was a princess. Than I could have white hair like you." Yue returned her smile.
"Well, I wish I was a little girl like you."
Because when you're a princess you have responsibilities. Responsibilities to your tribe. To your people.
The girl reached out and pulled at Yue's collar, catching a glimpse of the necklace.
"Oh, pretty." She grabbed the turquoise charm with her tiny hand. "Do you like it?" The she looked up at Yue with expectant sea blue eyes. But Yue couldn't answer, so she lifted the girl from her lap, instructing her to go play with the other children at the orphanage.
No, I don't like it. But I'll wear it for my people. I'll wear it for you.
She sat across the table from him as he stuffed his face with pickled fish. Only pausing to gloat about his superior fighting skills, or worse, about his romantic conquests. Father thought that she would like him once she got to know him, but father had been wrong, so wrong, and Yue felt sick to her stomach.
"You know, Yue, none of the women I've courted have been as fine as you." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"Well, how... kind of you to say so." He doesn't really think that's charming does he? Spirits have mercy on me.
Push and pull. Black and white. Life and death. Yin and Yang.
La and Tui circled around one another in a never ending dance. Yue dipped her finger in the water and swirled it around a bit. Almost hoping that Tui would come and revoke her gift of life, and then scolding herself for thinking like that.
Your people need you. She reminded herself. And you are going to serve them, even if that means being miserable.
At that moment Yue felt a serge of energy and she was frozen there. Guided by an impulse outside of herself she looked up at the silver moon hovering in the sky, and for a moment heard what she thought was a voice, soft and faint.
"Soon the day will come."
Soon the day will come.
Yue had no doubt that the spirit had spoken to her, but what did it mean? She found herself stargazing even more than usual. Pleading with the moon to give her another sign. To make itself clear. But it remained silent and distant, hovering in the black sky. Only serving to amplifying her torture.
Then he arrived. And when she was around him she almost forgot all about the strangling weight of the betrothal necklace. She almost forgot about Tui's cryptic words. She was almost happy. Almost.
Yue stared down at the little carving in his hand as he explained that it was a fish, not a bear.
Now look at what you've done, Yue. He made that for you because he likes you, and you let him believe that he had a chance, and now your going to break his heart.
But it wasn't just his heart that was braking as Yue ran off into the night.
The betrothal necklace now felt ten times heavier than it had before. It was strangling her, and she couldn't breathe, and there was no end in sight. If only she could break away from the customs. If only she had that option.
"Gran Gran wouldn't let your tribe's stupid customs run her life. That's why she left. It must have taken a lot of courage."
Gran Gran wouldn't let your tribe's stupid customs run her life.
Yue couldn't handle it. She couldn't take it anymore. She sprinted off in the other direction, hoping that no one had heard her sobs. Wishing that she had the option of running off, like Katara's grandmother had.
If only I could defy the traditions. If only I could break the rules. If only I could bee free.
She stopped at the bridge, looking out over the icy water, no longer having the strength to hold back her tears, instead of allowing them to roll into the water, creating ripples on its surface. until she heard him coming.
Oh, spirits, anyone but him. Why me? Why him?
He made her listen. Listen to how he understood that she couldn't love some one like him.
"You don't understand."
"I think I do. You're a princess and I'm a Southern peasant."
"No, Sokka."
"It's okay. You don't have to say anything."
Then I won't say anything.
Before Yue knew what she was doing, before she had regained adequate control of her own limbs, she was reaching out, and grabbing his shirt in her fist, and pulling him in, and kissing him. She was kissing him. It lasted only a second. A short second. But it might as well have been a life time, and she could be grateful for that. For that small eternity. For that, if for nothing else.
But now he wanted to know, because he was confused. And so she had no choice but to reveal her betrothal necklace.
I'm sorry, Sokka.
"I'm engaged."
Friendship didn't work.
Every story he told, lame punch line he delivered, and odd facial expression he made, caused her to like him all the more, and not in a friendly way. She tried to tell him that she couldn't do it. But he wouldn't let her leave, instead taking her up into the air, on the most wonderful ride of her life.
It was beautiful up there in the sky, and she felt as if it was were she had always belonged, brushing up against the clouds. She got caught up in the moment, and she almost kissed him, and he almost kissed her. And she felt like a traitor to her people. She had to break it off.
Then the black snow fell.
The tribe was in an uproar.
Everything was about to be thrown into chaos.
And for some reason Yue thought this was a good time to tell him, maybe because she knew he wouldn't have time to contradict her.
"I can't see you anymore." The words hurt as they came out, like breathing fire, which was so wrong for a Water Tribe Princess, and the pain on Sokka's face was unmistakable. She had burned him.
"We're just friends."
But we're not just friends.
"I wish we could be, but I like you too much, and I'm marrying someone else."
"You don't love him do you? You don't even like him."
No, I don't love him. Not at all.
"But I do love my people."
And it's my duty to them.
"But you're not marrying your people."
Something in Yue was crushed as he stepped forward to receive the mark. He was so foolish. Didn't he know that he had willingly accepted the mark of death? Didn't he realize what he could be throwing away?
He looked strait through her before joining his ranks, their eyes locking for only a short moment, but long enough. Yes. He knew. He knew very well what he was doing.
Be safe, Sokka.
Yue bowed her head as a tear rolled down her cheek, hoping no one had noticed.
The chaos of war unfolded before her and there was nothing Yue could do about it. It made her feel small and insignificant. Unable to help her people, many of whom would soon give their life's to protect their icy fortress. But the full moon was out, and that was all the help they could ask for.
Please, Tui, protect us.
And praying was all Yue could do. Until the Avatar needed a place to meditate. A center of spiritual energy. Yue could do something then. She could take him to the Spirit Oasis.
Watching the boys tattoos glow and the life leave his body was unsettling to say the least.
"We should go get some help."
"No." Katara had such and aura of confidence. "He's my friend. I'm perfectly capable of protecting him." She's strong. Stronger then me.
Then the firebender showed up. The scar on his face was unmistakable. it was the Crown Prince Zuko.
Yue went for help.
She found Sokka, but by the time they got back to the oasis it was too late.
Aang was taken captive by Zuko, stolen to a wasteland of ice.
Then, just when they had rescued the Avatar, the moon turned as blood.
The life seemed to be draining from Yue's body.
The Moon Spirit was stifled.
Without it the world would be thrown out of balance. Her people would be left helpless, and the Fire Nation would take control.
I can't let that happen.
Zhao held Tui in a bag, poised to strike the spirit down. Aang pleaded with him to release Tui but Zhao was engulfed in his hunger for power, and refused, until Iroh appeared and made threats on him. He released Tui back into the pool. Yue breathed a sigh of relief but it was only to last a moment.
A grunt of anger.
A flash of orange light.
Then darkness.
Eternal darkness.
The Moon Spirit was dead.
Iroh held the charred, limp Tui in his hands.
"There is no hope now," Yue whispered. "It's over."
Aang united with the Ocean Spirit and wreaked havoc on the Fire Nation. But it wasn't enough. It would never be enough. Tui was dead and her people would never be the same. Nothing could be done about it.
It's over.
"You have been touched by the Moon Spirit." Iroh's voice cut through the shadows. "Some of its life is in you."
"Yes, you're right, it gave me life."
Soon the day will come.
All at once she understood. This was the moment. The moment that her entire life had been leading up to. If she could serve her people, then she had an obligation to do that. Even if it meant giving her own life up.
"Maybe I can give that life back."
Sokka pleaded with her, and that hurt the most, because she loved him, and she didn't want to leave him, but she had no choice. Yue would always choose the good of her people. She would always choose to sacrifice, if that was what was best for them. She remembered the little girl at the orphanage.
I'll wear the necklace. I'll wear it for you.
I'll give my life. I'll give it for you.
This is my destiny.
Yue's fingers slipped from Sokka's. She removed her gloves, and placed her hands on Tui. There was a glow of light, and Yue could feel the life rushing out of her. She expected it to hurt, dying was supposed to hurt, but the only thing she felt was... relief.
She was weightless. Floating in a sea of blue, gray, and black.
"Thank you, Yue." Tui hovered before her, and Yue looked around, realizing she was suspended in an ocean, but she could breathe. She touched her throat.
It's gone.
"Yes, it is." The fish had read her thoughts. "Your duty to your people is fulfilled. You no longer need to carry the weight with you. Your old life is passed away. You must prepare for a new life. You must sever all connections with the physical world, before fully becoming the Moon Spirit."
"The Moon Spirit?"
"I will allow you one more moment with the boy before passing on the rest of my life force to you. Be quick, time is running out."
Tui disappeared and Sokka materialized before her, on his knees, floating in the expanse of black, he seemed to be only a shadow of himself, and she supposed that's how she appeared to him.
She cupped his face with her hand and he felt as real as ever.
"Goodbye Sokka, I will always be with you."
I will always love you.
She pressed her lips against his for one last time. And it seemed for a second as warm and real as on the bridge, but Tui was calling her away, and now it was time to end this life and start anew, and she could feel him slipping from her, until there was nothing left, but an expanse of endless ocean before her.
Tui reappeared and touched her temple, sending all the remaining life force into Yue. She then rose up out of the ocean, ascending to the sky, the Moon Spirit's rightful place. She could see the Fire Nation ships retreating.
From the sky she watched the life she'd known she would leave behind. She said goodbye with a peace of mind. She had given her people life through her sacrifice.
And there she would continue to watch over them for the rest of time. Forever, the protector of her people. The daughter of the moon.
Inspiration[]
This was 100% inspired by the song Daughter of the Moon, by Adriana Figueroa.
This song was written specifically about Yue, and I thought it was so beautiful. You can actually buy it in the iTunes Store (if that interests you).
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For the collective works of the author, go here.