Poem: Prompt: Velvet silk feathers fur, for kink_bingo

[terajk]

Title: 袂
Rating: G
Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Ships: Mai/Zuko, Katara/Mai, and some Azula/Mai might have gotten in here.
Content notes: For some of this, Mai is underage.
Note: 袂 (Mèi) means "sleeve of a robe."


Metal against skin,

slicing against the little hairs

(Sit straight for the Firelord, Mai),

her power makes her small.

​

Small makes her power,

robes the color of old blood

(Azula across the table, Ozai's right hand),

listening as adults talk.

​

Adults would say she is good

with knives, the shuriken, if they knew

(Azula in the gardens, her left hand),

but they don't; the power is hers, still.

​

The power is hers,

Flashing cold brightness,

(How could Azula forget?)

Blue fire of her own.

​

She doesn't need it always, now.

​

Before the mirror,

robes the color of rubies

(Zuko doesn't know how much they cost),

the hairs lie flat.

​

The hairs lie flat,

warm in their lining

(Soft like Katara's furs, or her hair),

a thrill stands them up.

​

The warm thrill,

coursing through blood

(Azula's lightning, her fire)

is her power now.

​

Her power is warmth,

forearms cradled in life

(Azula, drinking steeped herbs across the hall),

her husband's flame.

​

Her husband's flame

is in his hands, in the hallway, and

(The loyalists, the taxes, the pirates, Lady Mai),

he is her right hand.

Comments

[eruthros]

This is lovely!

[terajk]

Thank you!