𝐈 𝐀𝐌 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃!

the sorceress's presence was a cool bloom that spread throught the vale. aang is almost surprised by it, as it radiated from elsa's person. a powerful spirit. a sacred sage. it almost feels like familiarity, as their eyes meet, cloudy grey eyes struck by her piercing blue ones. 

aang looked away, at bruni, and then back at her, smiling amicably. "it's alright! sounds like a lot like my friend, momo. he's a flying lemur. i'm used to it." he reached into his satchel, prepared to offer bruni another treat, another firecracker bun to sate their hunger. 

aang radiated kindness. peace. a permeable light that matched her own. he wondered if she could sense it, too, this great kinship between them, this swirling energy that encompassed all the elements of the earth. 

"i have some arctic hen, too, if they prefer meat. i'm partial to the puffin-duck myself, but those went extinct about a hundred years ago,"   he grins, sheepishly, but his honesty is true. true to him. true to his very soul. he feels like a child, again, staring at something wondrous.

"are you a spirit? i mean. i don't mean to be rude. i know how the spirit world can be tricky with the rules over there. but, well, you seem... familiar. in a funny way."

Elsa smiled despite herself when Bruni perked up at the mention of more food and stretched toward Aang expectantly. The fire spirit chirped, entirely unapologetic. Elsa shook her head fondly before her attention returned to Aang, and when their eyes met again, that strange feeling returned. It wasn't unlike the pull she felt toward Ahtohallan; that sense of being called toward something she couldn't yet understand again, but this was less like a distant voice and more like standing before a door she hadn't realized she'd been searching for. It unsettled her and yet, she couldn't bring herself to look away as he asked if she was a spirit.

"I don't know," she replied quietly. The answer surprised her. For years, she would have answered immediately. No. Human. Different, perhaps, but human. Now she wasn't certain.

Her gaze drifted toward the forest around them, "I used to think I knew exactly what I was." Her fingers absently stroked Bruni's back as the little salamander continued working through the bun. "I'm called the Fifth Spirit." The title sounded almost detached when she said it aloud. "The other spirits embody the elements. Fire, water, earth, and air. The Fifth Spirit is supposed to be a bridge between them and humanity. At least, that's what I was told. When I was first told about it, I thought it meant I was supposed to find some other being chosen to connect two worlds, but then I went to the glacier, Ahtohallan, the river of memory and the source of the spiritual energy that flows through this world. I needed to find the truth about the terrible things my grandfather had done, and I went too far. I froze to death. I still remember the cold stillness and the feeling of becoming part of something much larger than myself."

The memory lingered in her eyes for only a moment before she continued. "But ever since I Ahtohallan brough me back, I haven't been entirely sure what I am. I still look human. I still feel human." She laughed softly. "Most days, anyway." Her gaze wandered to the the trees. "But I feel things I didn't before… the spirits seem less like companions and more like... a part of me." Bruni chirped around a mouthful of bun. "Even when they're causing trouble."

Her smile retuned again as she looked back at Aang, a thoughtful crease formed between her brows. "I've don’t believe the Fifth Spirit is meant to be only one person. A bridge has two sides. Two points connected between something greater than themselves. I think there was another half. Someone lost, maybe.” The strange pull she'd felt since stepping into the clearing tightened in her chest.

"I don't know if they're gone or if they were simply forgotten by history." A breath escaped her. "But whatever happened, the balance between humanity and spirits broken and the spirits withdrew and the world changed without them.” And yet here she stood, staring at a man she'd never met, feeling an impossible sense of recognition as though some part of her had known him long before today, and that realization should have frightened her, but instead she relief.

"You asked if I was a spirit because I felt familiar, and the truth is, when I looked at you, I wondered the same thing. You feel..." Elsa searched for the right word and failed. “As if I've been looking for something my entire life and only just realized it when I saw you standing here. Or maybe I'm reading far too much into this." The confession hung awkwardly in the air until Bruni chose that exact moment to reach for Aang's satchel again and Elsa laughed softly, grateful for the interruption.

Surely a baby bird has to count!

@wintersovereign said: good thing you’re not some guy, right, or this would be really, really awkward …

“Pretty sure I’m more than just some guy,” Zuko replied with a bit of a laugh in his voice. This would have definitely been incredibly awkward if they were strangers, which they weren’t: much. Zuko and Elsa were getting to know each other, as it were, he just didn’t expect to find himself in her bed in the morning. He must’ve drank too much last night, but then, he knew that was wrong too because he’d been thinking about doing this for awhile now, from the moment he’d laid eyes on her really. Which wasn’t like himself at all. Sure, he was still awkward and clumsy around the foreign dignitary, but there was something about her that had just brought out some sort of spark in him.

Elsa’s breath caught softly when his fingers brushed that loose strand of hair back behind her ear. The warmth in his touch sent another flutter through her chest, one she was quickly learning only he seemed capable of stirring in her. Her lips curved into a small smile at the color rising in his cheeks, finding his shyness endearing for someone who carried himself with such fire and intensity everywhere else.

“No,” she murmured, her voice still thick with sleep as she shifted closer beneath the blankets. “I don’t think I could send you away even if I tried.” There was teasing hidden in her words, but the sincerity beneath them lingered plainly in her eyes. The awkwardness she might have expected after last night never truly came. Instead there was something warm and quiet settling between them.

At his question, Elsa let out a soft laugh under her breath and lifted a hand to rest lightly against his chest. “I believe you’ve made it very clear you’re more than just some guy.” Before he could reply, she leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips, lingering there for a moment. When she finally pulled back, her forehead rested briefly against his.

“No second thoughts,” she whispered. “Not about this and not about you.”

@wintersovereign asked: I'LL GO

Elsa’s expression softened almost immediately at the fear beneath his words and for a moment, the fire in her cooled and the tightness in her shoulders eased as she looked at him. Her hand lifted to rest against his cheek, thumb brushing lightly along the sharp line of his jaw. “I’m not trying to throw myself into a reckless fight, Zuko. I know what these people are capable of. I know they won’t hesitate to hurt me if they know it would hurt you worse.” A faint, bitter breath left her.

“That’s exactly why I can’t stand by and pretend this doesn’t concern me. You’re my husband. Your burdens became mine the moment I chose you. And whether these usurpers accept it or not, I am Fire Lady. If there are people conspiring against the throne, against peace, against you…” Her jaw tightened slightly. “Then they’re threatening my family.”

@wintersovereign asked: SHOWER

Elsa paused just outside the curtain, one brow lifting at his teasing while her fingers moved to the ties of her robe. “A chill?” she echoed with a soft laugh. “You do remember who you married, don’t you?” The robe slipped from her shoulders, left abandoned on the floor as she stepped through the curtain into the cloud of steam. Warm water cascaded over her skin, turning the loose strands of her pale hair damp against her neck. For a moment, she looked at him through the haze, blue eyes bright with affection. “Though,” she murmured, moving closer until the spray touched them both, “I can appreciate the concern.”

Her hands slid slowly up his chest, feeling the heat of him beneath her palms while droplets traced along his skin. The contrast always fascinated her; his warmth against her cool touch, fire and ice mingled together in their eternal dance. Elsa tilted her head back slightly to meet his gaze, lips curving when she caught the way he was looking at her.

“You’re staring,” she whispered, though the teasing in her voice made it clear she enjoyed every second of it as she leaned in, kissing him slowly and deeply beneath the cascading water, one hand drifting to the back of his neck while the other remained against his chest. The steam wrapped around them, the outside world fading entirely until there was only the way her body fit so perfectly against his.

  ❝𝓘 don't need a rodent to tell me when my job needs to stop.❞ At least for the northern hemisphere. The little gopher had it too good for too long.