I had a thought today of the Fire Nation and dragons. A nation that believes that within every heart is a dragon, and that dragon hoards the people the person loves. After all, what is a dragon without a hoard?
Zuko's hoard starts out so small, because he has a lot of love to give but isn't great at recognizing it when it's given back. He's been taught through his childhood that a hoard has to look a certain way. High quality jewels and gold coins. Traditional.
But Zuko's hoard winds up full of smaller things. A scarf woven with turtleducks from his mother, a tea-scented scroll of proverbs from Iroh. A golden hairpin sharp enough to kill from Azula. Those were the only things in his hoard when he's banished.
But it grows slowly, full of things no dragon should add to his hoard. A crown of dried flowers and a ball of skybison fur shaped like a poorly made turtleduck. Blue and silver beads and a bone skewer perfect for roasting meat. A moonstone tumbled from a waterfall with all the power within. A lump of obsidian perfectly shaped and powerful, and all the more beautiful for it. A simple fan, both lovely and deadly. A set of throwing knives and a pair of bells.
Yet it doesn't stop there. His hoard fills with tea and letters and drawings from children he's never met because 'dad and mom are home again' and the war is over and the hoard grows taller and taller until one could barely see the walls around it. But Zuko knows where everything is. For a dragon knows each and every piece of their hoard, and in Zuko's heart, there's room for it all.
Azula's hoard, on the other hand, starts small and stays that way. She only wants quality items in her hoard; her love will not be wasted on those unworthy of it. Eventually though, there's nothing left.
A golden crown from her father. (Melted by his own flames because what is the Fire Lord to a Phoenix King?) The dragon-embroidered scarf from her mother. (Ripped to shreds; she always thought Azula a monster). Iroh's scroll, a perfect match to Zuko's. (Burned to a crisp as he always favored Dumdum over her.) Mai's daggers and Ty Lee's bells. (Crushed to powder. They betrayed her, and for Zuzu?!)
In the end, Zuko can bury himself in warmth and love while Azula rages at her emptied hoard, before curling herself around the one remaining treasure to sleep.
A dragon scale, red to black from a burned face. (It's all she has left.)
