Welcome to YuTen Week, an event dedicated to the rare pair of Lu Ten and Yue. This event will run from April 24th-30th.
How do I participate? All you have to do is tag your post with #yutenweek or tag the blog directly! As long as it is properly tagged, it will be reblogged.
Are mature/NSFW works allowed? Yes, but for any sexual content, all characters must be aged up/above 18. Works posted to Ao3 must be properly tagged and rated. Posts must follow Tumblr’s guidelines and be appropriately tagged, and NSFW content placed under cuts. If your work does not follow these guidelines, it will not be reblogged by the blog. All NSFW content must be consensual. No rape/non-con is allowed in this event.
Can there be other pairings? Yes, so long as YuTen is the main pairing. Feel free to include any other pairings you want!
Late submissions will be accepted through the end of May. If you don’t see your post(s) being reblogged, feel free to poke us or submit your post directly to the blog just in case we missed it. If it wasn’t reblogged because it wasn’t properly tagged/rated, we will let you know and will reblog it once the tagging/rating is fixed.
There will be no prompt voting/polling for this event. Prompts will be released February 1st, 2022 to allow plenty of time for creators to make content. We’re looking forward to seeing all of the wonderful fics and art!
Hey so I’m going on vacation for two days starting on Thursday so I might be late reblogging content and stuff, but don’t worry, I’ll get to it as soon as I can!
For my very first ever time participating in an event, I decided to give a go for @yuten-week . This is the Spirit World prompt. There's art and a flash fic to go with it which may be the strangest thing I've ever written but just go with it, it's fine
Summary: Yue makes her sacrifice for the world. Instead of serving her role as the moon spirit, Yue wakes up on the Spirit World side of the oasis as a fish...and she isn't alone.
Let's get to it! (The rest of the fic and art are under the cut)
Adrift Together
It was cold.
She was born in the cold.
By all logic she shouldn’t remember that, but Yue did.
Yue remembered the chill nestled in the swaddle with her. How it seeped through the furs into her skin and settled somewhere deep into her bones. Frigid air compressing her tiny lungs until she could barely take a breath, let alone cry out.
It was dark too.
She couldn’t force her eyelids to open.
Yue shouldn’t have remembered that either, but she did.
More than the cold and dark, she remembered the brilliant light that followed. A glowing blue sunrise framed through her eyelids. A rushing flood of warmth washed over her. It banished the cold away. Yue was surrounded by warmth and light, the sensations of life itself coursed through her veins to warm her from the inside out. She breathed.
Choruses of breathy whispers cooed in her ears as her eyelashes fluttered, promising she’d never be alone. Even before a pair arms had lifted her from the furs to cradle her close, and her eyes opened.
The same sweet whispers rang in her ears again that night, a guiding light had called her as if she hadn’t already known what to do. Glances of ghostly fingers brushed her tears away. Even as she rose up and Sokka’s blurred face faded from her view, Yue again heard the promises all around her that she’d never be alone.
But the spirits lied.
Her eyes opened in darkness, murky and deep. The light was gone, the warmth too. If there were voices, they were drowned in Yue’s ears. She was alone. If her tears fell, they were lost to the ripples of water around her. The same water that weighed down her lungs–but they weren’t lungs at all–not anymore. Gills. Yue had gills, and cold didn’t seep through the gaps in her bedfurs any longer, instead it intruded between the layers of her scales.
Silver-white as her hair had once been, Yue’s scales almost glowed as she drifted. It was as if she was the only source of light in the murk–or so she thought.
Something flashed in the corner of her eye. The cool water rippled, disturbing the stillness that lingered around her. Though she couldn’t quite make out what it was through the murky depths, she found herself drawn to it.
Yue knew it was dark. Grey or black. She caught a fluttering hint of red, with glints of amber as it
sliced through the water. The thing turned. It rounded a clump of dark, bulbous kelp. With that movement, Yue’s presence was no longer a secret. Eyes, wide and wild, locked with hers. Yue froze. But the wild eyes softened and the dark fish flexed its scarlet fins against the water. The movement propelled it gently toward her. She stayed still, letting it–No, him. Letting him continue his approach, until they were together in the water.
His scales touched hers. A gentle caress, like lips that brushed on the back of a hand when a suitor came to call. His fins waved as if to say it was nice to meet her. She waved back, or as close as she could manage with her newfound fins.
“Yue,” she mouthed through a stream of bubbles.
He bobbed as if he understood, though Yue didn’t know how he could have. The other fish mouthed something back. She had no idea what he’d said. He nuzzled his head against hers and suddenly it didn’t seem so important. She nuzzled him back, warmth blossoming through her scales where they touched and suddenly Yue knew exactly who he was. At least in the ways that mattered.
While she was water and ice, he was fire and ash.
While he was darkness, she was the light.
They were two sides of the same tile. Complete opposites. But opposites that completed each other. Two parts of the same history. He and Yue shared an intertwined fate. Two young lives lost for their nations, lost forever, who woke up alone in the Spirit World.
Until they’d drifted together.
He splashed her with a flip of his tail fins, stirring her from the depth of her thoughts with a foamy spray. Yue bristled, but it wasn’t as if she could complain. Even if she could, he’d rocketed off through the murk before she had a chance. She caught glimpses of his eyes darting back behind him. Light from her scales reflected in his eyes. Something mirthful danced there. They urged her to follow him. To join the game.
Yue pumped her fins. She took off as quickly as she could to catch him before he could vanish in the murk. As she swam after him Yue swore, even through the rippling echoes of the water around her, she could make out the chorus of whispering spirits. The ones who gave her life and knew her fate long before she did. As they’d done before, they made promises.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: G
Pairing: Lu Ten/Yue
Summary:
During a diplomatic visit to the Fire Nation, Princess Yue befriended Prince Lu Ten. She wrote as soon as she was back in the North, hoping to keep that friendship alive.
Prince Lu Ten, however, seems determined for it to bloom into something else.
This fic will have a chapter for each day of the @yuten-week. Thanks for organizing the event, I love this ship!
(Long post, so I’m putting the rest of the ficlet under a cut)
Fateful Encounter
Yue swirled her fingers in the pond, bored out of her mind. She didn’t realize becoming the moon spirit would be so…empty. Time passed slowly but also quickly somehow, and she had less duties now than she did as a Princess. There was just a lot of sitting around as a spirit.
She sighed and laid down on the soft grass, staring into the water. Sometimes she would use this portal to look into the mortal world, checking in on her loved ones. She could be there to help them when they needed it.
But now with the war over, things were peaceful. Yue watched as their lives went on without her. It was a different kind of torment.
She watched as they grew older, and yet her reflection never changed. She was forever sixteen. Sometimes, it was hard to watch. She almost didn’t want to look. But she was lonely here.
Yue gasped as another reflection appeared in the pond.
She spun around, sitting up quickly. The stranger held out his arms peacefully, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
He looked to be around her age (as far as she could tell, maybe he was also frozen at sixteen). He was handsome, with sharp and strong features, golden eyes and long black silken hair. He wore long robes of red and gold, looking almost regal.
“Who are you?” Yue asked, her brows furrowing. She thought she had met all the other spirits.
“I’m Lu Ten.” He smiled kindly at her. “And who are you?”
“Princess—or well—I’m not a Princess anymore. I’m Yue, the new moon goddess.”
He nodded in understanding. “Ah, yes. I heard about that. Very admirable of you, Lady Yue.”
“Thank you.” Her cheeks burned for some reason at his praise.
“I was a Prince, too, once.” He trailed off, looking at the pond by her feet.
Yue felt herself perk up. So he was like her?
“Are you a spirit now, too?” She questioned.
Lu Ten shook his head. “No—well, not yet. I’ve been chosen to be the next sun god, so I’m just…wandering around really. Until I’m needed.”
Yue blinked. “Chosen?”
“Yes, my family was blessed by Agni once, we have to return the favor.”
She nodded. “Tui saved my life as a baby, I was giving it back.”
“May I sit with you?” He gestured to the bank. She nodded, watching as he folded himself next to her.
“Thank you for your sacrifice, I’m so glad the war is over. I must apologize for my family’s actions, up here I’ve come to see just how very wrong we were.”
Yue glanced at him sharply. “Your family?”
“I was the Fire Nation Prince, heir to the throne. Before I was killed in the war.”
Yue felt herself gapping a bit. She shook her head. “My tribe was in the wrong as well. Instead of defending and helping others, we simply hid away and did nothing.”
“You were only protecting yourselves from the terror we inflicted on everyone.” He sighed sadly, “I wish I could say if I had lived I would have changed things, but…I don’t know if I would have.”
“Death changes perspectives a bit.” Yue joked, pleased when he chuckled—it was a lovely deep sound.
He sighed and looked into the pond. “I like to come here sometimes, and watch my father. And my cousins.”
She vaguely remembered another Fire Nation Prince with golden eyes and marred features, angrily challenging Katara to a fight. “I met a Fire Nation Prince. He wasn’t very nice.”
Lu Ten laughed loudly. “No, we aren’t known for being nice. My cousin, Zuko, has quite the temper.”
He touched the pond, it shimmered for a moment before focusing on said boy—a man now. His features looked far less angry, and there was even a smile on his face as he reached out to someone.
“Wait—that’s my friend!” Yue gasped, leaning closer to the pond. “Katara. They were fighting against each other at the North Pole, at this same portal.”
Lu Ten grinned, “Well, it seems they’ve both had a change of heart.”
They watched as the two kissed, and Yue noticed a crown perched in Katara’s hair. “Oh, they’re married!”
“Yes, I watched their wedding. It was quite an ordeal.”
Yue smiled, happy for her old friend. What a good queen Katara would make. She’d have to try to visit her soon, before time slipped away from her again.
She giggled suddenly, “You know, if we were still alive, we probably would have met there.”
“Maybe fate led us to meeting anyway.” Lu Ten smiled charmingly at her as she flushed.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances (aka me being a procrastinator as usual and my muses being flighty bitches) I did not get through prompt 1 of YuTen week so instead I'm just gonna write this little drabble I might expand on later. Placing it below the cut
Her stomach felt like a weighted ball of lead as she watched the plume of black smoke come ever closer across the blue expanse of the sea. Outwardly, Yue knew that she looked every inch the diplomatic princess her parents had raised her to be, but inwardly, she was the scared little girl who hid under her furs during storms.
Her soon-to-be husband was almost here.
Yue had always known that her marriage would have to benefit her tribe in some way, but she had always expected to marry someone from her tribe—the heir of an old bloodline, a strong warrior, something. She did not expect this.
Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe was not marrying the son of a respected elder, nor was she marrying the bravest man in her village. She would not raise her children in the ice palace where she grew up under the moon's watchful eye.
No, for the first time in over a century, a Water Tribe princess was marrying out of her own country. Princess Yue was marrying Prince Lu Ten of the Fire Nation.
In three days.
There was no choice in the matter, at least no choice with any decent outcome. The Northern Water Tribe was going broke. A hundred years of limited trade with the Earth Kingdom had made the tribe's coffers suffer. And this was her father's solution. It made sense, she supposed.
But no amount of rationale eased her anxiety. All she could do was wait and watch as the Fire Navy cruiser grew steadily bigger on the horizon. At least, until a servant fetched her to go down to the main canal to greet the Fire Nation procession.
Seeing the ship enter the city was nearly frightening. The dark steel of the hull cut a stark contrast against the bluish-white of the ice ad snow. The rumble of its engines could be felt underfoot, and Yue could scarcely breathe.
With a great hiss, it came to a stop, the smokestacks spitting out final clouds of black soot. And then, they descended: a dozen men and women dressed in black, red, and gold, their expressions stoic, their hair combed back neatly. Yet Yue knew who her betrothed was, even before he stepped away from the crowd and approached where she stood with her parents.
His eyes were like honey; his hair was sable combed back into a topknot with a gleaming gold flame. He wore a black cloak trimmed in fur over gleaming armor. He looked like a Fire Nation soldier, except his eyes were kind.
He greeted her parents first, offering first his forearm to shake before he bowed low, formally, in the way of his people. Then he turned towards her and bowed again before the corner of his lips turned up into a charming smile.
"Princess Yue, I am Prince Lu Ten," he greeted her, and his voice was low, smooth. "It is an honor to meet you."
YuTen is by the truest definition a rare pair. A dive into Fanfiction.Net shows few works featuring the pairing, including the incomplete "Stella of the North" by Nuit Songuer, published in October of 2010, “The Martyr and the Moon”, which was published in 2012 by Miss Faber, and "The Palace" by LittleMartian, a Zutara fic with YuTen as a side pairing. Originally published in 2013, this fic is 50 chapters long and was last updated in 2020. The author (username mango_jelly) had begun transporting it to Archive of Our Own in 2018, but only posted 3 chapters.
On Ao3, there are 46 works tagged Lu Ten/Yue, the oldest of which was posted in April 2018 ("The Palace"). After that, there are no tagged works appearing until 2021. 19 of them have Lu Ten/Yue listed as a side pairing or otherwise non-main pairing. Several other fics appear to be one-shot or drabble collections by various writers.
The top YuTen contributors are @badlucksav (14 fics), @authorjoydragon (6 fics), @lone-star-ranger (6 fics), @asajjvxntress (2 fics), and @kaylee4821 (2 fics).
The stories cover a variety of ratings, from G to E, with most falling between the T and M rating. There is plenty of fluff and quite a few modern AUs for this pairing as well.
The fic with the highest kudos on Ao3 featuring Yue and Lu Ten as the main pairing is “The light comes from your halo” by @heavensenthearty with 57 kudos!
We're excited to see what new content the event brings!
