Urzai week: Wedding tradition -day 7
A/n this started as a fanfic but because the format so unique and met Urzai week I decided to put it here
Enjoy it hate it read it,
The royal gardens were outside the palace ground but sealed away, cut off from the public. A safe place for royalty to enjoy without being seen by the public, and it was the perfect place to hold discreet conversations.
The flowers in the royal gardens were so rare and unlike anything her mother had gathered for her humble greenhouse, she could not help but observe a very rare flower with enthusiasm as she sniffled in its sweet scent and almost forgot the reason for her being in the screen gardens.
A face beside her looking on coldly, his face neutral as it had been since their first meeting, and his piercing eyes looking into her own, and she withdrew from her ideal bliss she had lost herself in.
The day was bright; in the distance she saw her cage and looked to the prince with a small bow of her head.
“My apologies; you asked me here to talk, and I am blissfully getting lost in my own world.”
He did not respond as he straightened up and put his hands behind his back.
“I did not want this, Ursa.”
His strong voice was unusually low and calm. “However, you must know the Fire-Lord’s will is absolute, and even I, a fire prince, cannot refuse his will. Therefore, here I am playing the part of a good son obeying his whims.”
He mocked a bow to her, and his eyes never left her, watching her every reaction. She held a flower he allowed her to pick close to her chest, stiff as he looked over the former peasant girl who had been plucked like the flower she held to be HIS.
She opened her mouth, but no words came; words caught in her throat. It was hard for Ursa to talk to Ozai, never mind face him in such a casual manner then.
‘I could barely comprehend the fate based upon me, the reality of what my life was to become still echoing with me. I was a peasant girl ushered away to the shadows of Hira through no fault of my own. My family thought we would be safe there, shadows of a traitor.
It was written into law that I become the second-born prince, Ozai, betrothed. To become one with the royal son and be his wife.
I had no say; I was a woman, a peasant, an idea, a Fire Nation citizen. I was loyal, and so I obeyed.
Can you fathom my dilemma? All because of my lineage, that bloodline that was tied to the all-powerful yet traitorous avatar Roku.
“Do you still believe that lie, Mother?"
Her imperialism, her pride in her nation – that's all she'd known.
“He did attack Sozin. Anyway."
It was like a weight on my throat. Ozai was anything any woman could ask for, really, but I saw nothing other than the ambitious nature of the union.
Arranged marriages, Zuko, are like that.
The truth behind our union, of our fates becoming ties, was simply that of my connection to Roku and of his connection to Sozin.
My connection was an advantage that needed to be seized. I had no power, but it was with my line; an unspeakable complication was my lack of fire.
“The avatar who descended has something useful inside her.”
Fire Lord Azulon's words about me being emotionless and devoid of care were calculated, and it told me so much when I laid eyes upon our former mighty fire lord.
I'm in a private moment with no witness other than Ozai and the sages who had spoken of the prophecy.
“Anything useful to the royal family, to me, must be explored and exploited."
So Father was cold and cruel from the start.
You're making me digress. I didn't say that that day in the gardens your father was blunt. Yes, not good at expressing himself, of course, but still.
Ozai stepped in close, noticing something off; he placed a hand on her head.
The weight of his words echoed in my head as he tilted his head.
“You look ill; I will have the royal physician ensure you are in good health.”
“After all. I am to be your husband; I must ensure you are well cared for and looked after.
A husband must care for his wife and tend to her. That is my role.”
It was his way, you see, to tell him if he looked well after, of assuring me your father, with his faults, didn't want me. I dreaded so much.
I am a vessel to strengthen his and his father's mighty Fire Lord lineage.
Mother, I want to know it all. I remember we were happy once, weren’t we? In such an arrangement?
That is to come, Zuko, it's a complicated story.
“You’re so cold, though.”
Yes, she was cold, a rare thing; even as a non-bender, she was unusually cold when something upset her so.
He has warmth in his skin; it has been spoken that he is known to get a strong firebender. she knew not to whatShe extent, as she has not seen his gifts. Yet she felt it, the warmth of his inner fire, oh angi gifts.
On her skin, it sent shivers for a while for a different reason; he seemed unamused despite his efforts, and she shivered.
Ozai breathed more around her neck.
The shadow of the palace looming as the sun began to set around us, my cage or so. It seemed… I had the gardens, then at the start of my solace, I had no idea about my other suites or what I could and couldn't do.
“I will instruct a warm bath and an animal-skinned heating pad placed near you as you rest tonight. Tomorrow your instruction begins.
Although wedding preparations will be made for us, and they will take priority. Adjusting to royal life takes certain knowledge of our unique etiquette, our history and our politics.
He drew in closer to her neck, blowing warm air down her kimono.
“You will learn to perform the duties expected of you.”
He noticed her dissatisfaction with his words.
Words finally left her mouth.
“So my husband-to-be is telling me that I shall be cared for yet not loved. He thinks I am some idiot who was not educated in etiquette and our history. Yes, I know little of politics.
Just because I was forced to live in my village does not mean I was not moulded towards becoming a fine wife for someone some day. I did not ask fate for you, nor did I know it would be you. I know my duty to you, my prince.”
Soreness and uneasiness, some bitterness, yet what could she expect? Arranged marriages didn't mean love had to be involved; they were offensive political tools.
I spoke up to your father, and you know what he did.
He listened. He even laughed a little.
"I did not say you were stupid. I just said royal etiquette is quite different from the one you learnt. I'm sure you are a fine woman anyone who would kill to be with “
“Anyone but you, my prince.”
"Again, I did not say that. I just said I did not want this.
I always knew I was having an arranged marriage, and I would be sitting in unique circumstances around it. But I did not expect you. But you are breathtaking, and I plan to be a good husband. Please allow me that at least."
"I'm not asking you to love me. It's enough to know that you, at least, will care for me. It's enough for any woman after all. I know my duty as a woman. I was raised to expect this. We are told as women that on the night of our marriage we were there with our husbands and bore their children. That is my duty as a woman. I will be a good wife to you all fronts.
I thought our marriage was a business arrangement where we would not love each other but simply care for each other and perform our duties. "
Yet I was wrong. so very wrong
"It is getting very late. Let us return to the palace, and I will have everything arranged in your guest quarters to have you warmed up. "
"We will go in the palanquin back, as the people cannot see you as of yet, as our arrangement has not even been announced yet, and you cannot be seen until certain circumstances have been met. These are the traditions we must meet. I do not hide you in shame. I have too
Once we are wed, we shall share chambers.'
Little did I know that our relationship would bloom.
Returning to the palanquin with the curtain closed tightly so no one could see us together, I sat and breathed for what felt like the first time.
“I understand there are some traditions we must follow; our distance ensures dignity to the throne."
She must be pure till marriage so an heir would be declared as his; an outsider like her even knew that much.
I found myself wondering how my marriage would work; without fulfilling a basic contract.
Little did I know Ozai was thinking too about exceeding such a basic necessity.
“Yes, the traditions are old but demanded, and they do serve a purpose, and you know it already, don’t you, Ursa?”
"Such is tradition, my Prince. "
"I want to burn tradition away," Ozai mumbled.
His hand, no, his finger taking one of my own that night;, took a perfect prince who took me to my quarter and ordered me to warm up.