she had a habit of shouldering stress, pain, and grief in silence. particularly when there were others around her looking to her for guidance, it was easier to shelf those emotions for a later date. which is why aang was…in irreplaceable friend. he reminded her of her middle son, with a heart so big that it seemed impossible to drown it. she knew within her first conversation with aang that someone could take a bite out of his soul and he’d still reach out to help them. and people like that, she thought, were the strongest. it was easy to be tough, to be bold in the face of danger, to be cold and hateful and angry. it was much, much harder to be kind. especially on a day like this.
because as good as she was, she too could sometimes get lost in the pain. but it only took one look at aang to reset herself. she knew it was hard for him too, to be here, to deal with all of this. it wasn’t easy for anyone, none of this game was. none of this life was. she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezed it gently. “thank you,” she said. she hoped he knew what she was thanking him for—for simply being there. for being who he was.
then she retracted her hand, took a deep breath, and pushed the heels of her palms into the sockets of her eyes. “yes…that’s the next step. to figure out what happened from their point of view.” would she believe them over her own member. no. never. if it was just their word against that boy in there? they’d have a tough time convincing her of anything at all. she shook her head, lips curving into a deep frown. “reckless. that was reckless.” yes, the new floor was unlocked. but at, in her opinion, a rather dangerous cost. trust.
she looked at aang and smoothed her robes over her stomach. “do you want to come?” if he wanted to be there, then she’d like his input. she trusted aang’s intuition as well, and it would be helpful to have him there listening. “if you do, we can leave the head guard in charge.”
the weariness in her voice, her eyes which are lined with worry, the little ways she tries to keep herself seamed together with her hands; aang can see how hard it is for fiona. she carries the same exhaustion in her expression that he used to see on his mother's face on the days when the treatments weren't going her way. in many ways, fiona reminds him of his mother. two women who know how to carry the weight of worlds even when some are crumbling down their shoulders, who even in crisis have the longest stretch of embracing arms to give out kindness.
he does not know why she thanks him, but he can guess rather well. fiona was there to rescue him when he was ready to give everything up, she was patient and understanding when he second-guessed himself for so long about becoming unity's second in command, and she's still the first person he knows he can depend on. aang has so many reasons to thank fiona for, he wonders if it's the same for her. he nods, acknowledging it. “ we'll stand through this together. ”
aang understands very little about the situation other than what the young boy has explained to them because there is still the matter of how the revenants unlocked the new floor, and how it happened to tie together on the same night that their unity member was murdered. did hela, the ex-circus member, go out celebrating and were the two young boys unlucky to find themselves in her path ? or was this the collective work of the entire revenants guild ?
“ yes, i'd like to come with you, ” aang nods, “ i don't trust hercules-- i've lost trust for everyone in that guild. i hope they won't take advantage of us giving them the benefit of the doubt-- at least enough to hear them out, but something tells me i'm being optimistic. ” it's unusual for aang to falter in his optimism, but in this situation, there's barely any strength in the hope to hear the truth from them.
he steps back, beckoning for the head guard to speak to fiona.
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