- Yao Li and Azula after her self-inflicted haircut
- alternatively, Yao Li and Iroh interacting
- Amon’s Lieutenant has a run-in with one of the Triads (he can kick ass or get his ass kicked but it feels ripe for whump)
- Asami and Amon have an exchange in a market or somewhere (maybe a swanky clothing store?) where she doesn’t know who he is, but he knows who she is
- we’ve had the Fire Nation Royal Hairdresser, yes, but what about the Equalist’s tailor? Or, the Sato family optician?
Oooh, these are all such good ideas! It was hard to pick just one, so I may come back to the others at some point. Because I love you, have this absolutely morbid take on prompt 2.
Yao Li had never done the hair of a dead man, not unless you counted having no soul as a kind of death, which it was. But this was death death. Ugly death. Agni, half the boy's head was gone.
"Can you do it?" Crown Prince Iroh asked. His voice sounded like he'd done nothing but drink for the six weeks it had taken him to return home with the body. He looked even worse. The vision of a man whom power and privilege had delivered to early middle age without ever having lost anything of great value before.
"Yes, I can do it," said Yao Li crisply. He stared down at pallid, sunken face with a critical eye. He would need new hair for the left half, but with Prince Lu Ten's smooth locks that wouldn't be difficult to find. A simple weaving. Perhaps more than ordinarily to cover the part that had caved in convincingly. Delicate to avoid any more pulling out of the softening skin. It only had to be presentable from the front though. No one wanted to see the back of Prince Lu Ten's head, not even his father.
"Give me three days," said Yao Li. "Your son will look himself, Prince Iroh."
The Crown Prince reached out and grasped his hand. "Thank you," he muttered. "Thank you, thank you."
Yao Li watched for a long time after he'd stumped dejectedly down the hallway. This was no dragon any more. There was no heir. And a man who would grasp the hand of a servant would never succeed Azulon.
Perhaps this was his chance.
