heirloom
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He thought he was so much, Zuko thinks, his eyes never leaving the tapestry. He thought he would be remembered for something great.
“When Fire Lord Sozin started the war,” Zuko says, voice surprisingly firm, “he destroyed every piece of history that came before him. He rebuilt the Fire Nation under his image, and by doing that, he rebuilt what qualified as truth. He erased everything he considered weak, everything that could be interpreted as a wrongdoing or a failure. It didn’t fit with his narrative of our country. He thought that by destroying the shame of the past, he’d guarantee the glory of the future. And he was wrong.” Zuko takes a deep breath. “I don’t want to make the same mistake as him.”
Or, what it means to make history. Featuring Toph's enthusiasm for destroying property, Aang being allowed to have negative emotions, and Zuko figuring out life.
Series
- Part 1 of heirloom
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good to see you again, this is a home to me by jublis
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
30 Jun 2020
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That night, with Appa snoring next to them and Katara snuggled against his shoulder, Aang breathed and counted. He raked his mind for very little tradition, every little custom, everything he could remember about Air Nomad culture. Otherwise, it dies with me, he’d thought, suddenly terrified. It dies with me.
At ten, you become responsible for your own air bison. They’re companions for life. At eleven, each airbending child gets the chance to visit the wenwú shí of their Temple. At twelve, the standards become higher; assisting the air nuns and monks is your top priority. Thirteen, the first taste of travel; at the Eastern Air Temple, the Shēnqíng de hú will be the start of your spiritual journey. Fourteen is the age of enlightenment; with the mastering of your element, the arrows start being drawn over your skin.
It’s a long process, and a sacred one. Each age brings with it something new; with each age, something grows.
Needless to say, Aang hasn’t gotten a lot of experience with that.
Or, Aang never really stops grieving. Featuring Air Nomad culture, birthdays, and a conversation on a rooftop.
Series
- Part 2 of heirloom
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it's a summer day, and i want to be wanted by jublis
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
30 Jun 2020
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The rumors start around two months after Zuko’s coronation.
It was only a matter of time before they did, anyways. Zuko is aware of the — unusual situation he’s found himself in, and maybe it’s just a sign that he’s been spending too much time with Sokka, but he finds the entire thing hilarious. So, instead of explaining things and trying to settle down the gossip, he just...doesn’t. He watches the second glances he receives from government officials and generals, and eavesdrops the conversations between servants as they move around the palace, and, as Sokka would put it, “enables it all like a Chaos god watching us all from his golden throne.”
Or, Zuko and Sokka are together. Suki and Sokka are also together, and apparently, that confuses everyone else.Series
- Part 3 of heirloom
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the weight of family and the pull's gravity by jublis
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
04 Jul 2020
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“Good fight,” the brother says, not looking at her. His hand is right behind her, and if he were someone kinder, he’d reach out and place it on her shoulder. If she were someone kinder, she’d let him.
“Good fight,” she murmurs instead, and leaves it at that.
The brother doesn’t say he loves her out loud. But she hears it all the same.
It is the last time.
Or, a study in siblings. Featuring growing closer, growing apart, things that were said, and things that were not.
Series
- Part 4 of heirloom
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what’s so simple in the moonlight by the morning never is by jublis
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
06 Jul 2020
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Zuko hums. He draws a line in the earth with his finger, then another. “We’re at war,” he says. “Long-term isn’t the first thing in people’s minds. You find love wherever you can and rush along with it for as long as it lets you.”
“We were at war,” Sokka says.
Zuko blinks at him. “What?”
“We were at war,” Sokka repeats. He turns to face Zuko fully, and despite the seriousness of his voice, he just looks tired. “You used present tense. We’re not at war anymore, Zuko.”
“Oh,” Zuko says, blinking at his own hands. “I didn’t even notice I said it.”
Sokka smiles ruefully at him. “It’s okay,” he says. “It’s easy to let it slip.”
Or, late night conversations. Featuring what it means to be a hero, that uneasy feeling of hope, and a sky full of stars.
Series
- Part 5 of heirloom
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and love you have given in your lifetime gives you back (i hope i remember to believe that) by jublis
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
11 Jul 2020
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“Do you ever feel,” he hears himself asking, “like you’re standing right at the edge of something so much bigger than yourself, that if you take the wrong step, it’ll swallow you completely? That things are so broken the cracks will eat you up, bit by bit, and when the time comes, you’ll have moved nothing, changed nothing?” Zuko hears the wind swirl around them, and keeps going. “I feel like that. Like I’m both the sad person and the one trying to comfort the sad person. Like I’m standing in front of a three-faced mirror and staring into my face being reflected dozens and dozens of times, trying to see which one of us is going to make the right move. Right at the abyss of history.”
Or, Zuko's coronation day. Featuring turtleducks, Uncle Iroh, the looming idea of Toph burning down a police precinct, and standing at the edge of history.
Series
- Part 6 of heirloom
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like how the night wind felt more changeable than cold and distant stars (like how sometimes it just all still seems so far) by jublis
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
05 Sep 2020
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"You see, for me, it’s like this,” Aang makes a swirling motion with his hand, and Katara can feel a cool breeze running through the three of them. “Air is everywhere, so it’s easier for me to feel when there’s a lack of it, instead of where there is a lot of it. It’s almost like whispering. Like it’s waiting for me. But for waterbending, Gyatso said it was like a wave, lapping at your spirit. Just—”
“Just under your skin,” Katara completes, quietly. She closes her hand into a fist in front of her. “Like humming."
Aang smiles brightly, nodding. “Yeah! You feel it, then? The rain?”
Katara nods. “I just didn’t know it was a waterbending thing. I thought it was a me thing.”
“What’s the difference?” Aang asks.
She opens her mouth. Closes it again. “I don’t know,” she says, finally. “I guess there isn’t.”
Or, Katara lives happily ever after. Or she lives happily. Or she just lives. Featuring sleepless nights, holding history on your shoulders, and Sokka being a good big brother.
Series
- Part 7 of heirloom
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and we will sing to everything the stories of where we have been by jublis
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
12 Jul 2020
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“When I grow up,” Suki tells Vanu, “I’m going to be the best Kyoshi Warrior on this island, and I’m going to stop the war.”
Vanu puts his warm hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. “I know, Suki,” he says, brown eyes downcast. The solemn expression on his face looks like it fits more comfortably into his skin and wrinkles than the kind smile ever did.
He doesn’t ask her why she thinks she’ll be able to stop it all by herself. He doesn’t remind her that the war has been going on for over a hundred years, and that the Avatar is dead. He doesn’t tell her that the most useful thing she can do with her hands while they’re still empty is to hold on.
Vanu moves Suki’s fingers and shows her how to handle the weapon properly.
Or, Suki grows up, falls in love, bleeds, and ends the war. Not necessarily in that order.
Series
- Part 8 of heirloom
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i won't stumble as i follow down this path (cause words that are spoken are just other things to have) by jublis
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
18 Jul 2020
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“Did you know”, he answered, “that Azula’s favorite flowers are fire lilies? Every birthday, she asked for the ballroom to be decorated with them. During our tutoring lessons, she’d doodle them on the inside of her hands so she could hide them quick—dozens and dozens of small flowers, connected to each other by little stems.” Zuko leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. “Of course, she always made a mess. Ink all over her clothes, ink all over her notes. But she got away with it, every time.”
And Suki’s eyes weren’t sad. They were so, so tired. “Why do you hold on to all that, Zuko?”
Zuko shrugged. “Where can I put it down?”
Or, it takes Zuko one year to visit his sister again. Featuring birthday weeks, struggling with your own goodness, and a future.
Series
- Part 9 of heirloom
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we'll grow toward the sun, though sometimes it'll be hard by jublis
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
20 Jul 2020
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There isn’t any shame in relying in others, Zuko had told her, once. Face soft with sleep, curled up on her bedside in the facility, as she painted her nails in an attempt to stop chewing them. I learned it the hard way. Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom to climb your way back up.
And sometimes when you hit rock bottom you break your neck, she’d answered. Why let yourself get that low?
It’s difficult to know which way is up and which way is down sometimes, he’d said. Finger tapping his scar. It isn’t the hitting the ground that gets you. Sometimes it’s the fall.
Or, Azula takes the long way home. Featuring the passage of time, the life-changing aspects of a field trip across the Earth Kingdom, and making a place for yourself.
Series
- Part 10 of heirloom
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Summary
Zuko would watch the water at night, the way the moon cast flashes in the owl-light, and squint his eyes to try and see what they talked about. He would think about Mother. So many days out at sea, but the water never told him. It sealed its blue lips after swallowing her, licked his ankles like a dog. He won’t lie and say that the ocean begged for forgiveness; even now, it still gleams unchanged in the sun. Some things are so big they take and take and remain exactly the same size.
He’s scared Azula won’t come home. He’s tired of people leaving and never coming home.
"Zuko," Aang says. "It's okay to be this scared."
Or, there is home, those who come and go, those who stay, and those who are still on their way back.
Series
- Part 11 of heirloom
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and nothing ever does begin, like nothing ever ends by jublis
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
19 Aug 2020
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Summary
There are many ways for this story to start. There are many ways for it to end, too, though we will try not too linger too much on them. We will look away and practice a smile on the mirror, close our eyes and focus on things when they were swift and beautiful and bright, when a summer’s day was always warm, and the good times were always good, and there was nothing to forgive. We will look at the boy in the iceberg, and the warriors, and the children, and the prince, and we will always be discovering magic for the first time.
Here is a well-known secret: everything ends, and that’s always sad.
Here is a not so well-known fact: everything begins again, and that’s always happy.
Or, there are many ways this story begins and ends. It depends on who you ask.
Series
- Part 12 of heirloom