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junipernight · 9 months ago

Text

Excerpt from Accompaniment

I'm writing an Avatar Yangchen story, but I am a verrrryyy slowww writer, and I am so so impatient to share what i have written with people, and what I have written so far is three variations on a chapter that will take place somewhere in the middle.

Read on if you like: past lives, sleepy kisses, or characters who protect each others secrets.

*******************************************

Context: The team has just left Taku on a ship and is en route to the North Pole. They’re sitting around a stove belowdecks after a difficult day of sailing, and Jujinta has just said something funny.

The rest of the team immediately howled with laughter. It was true, and it was so unexpected, coming from Jujinta, that the observation was suddenly ten times funnier. Akuudan slapped him on the back like a proud uncle whose favorite nephew had just passed his ice dodging ceremony; he nearly knocked him off the bench with his strength, but Jujinta didn’t seem to mind. Kavik had never seen Juji look so pleased with himself.

When she could speak again around the laughter still in her throat, Yangchen breathed, “Good one, Ju Dee.”

Jujinta paused. “... My name’s Jujinta,” he said, sounding hurt.

“Hmm?” The Avatar hummed.

Kavik looked at Yangchen, really looked at her. She sat drooped in her seat, curled around her teacup, staring into the coals with shining, half-lidded eyes.

Or at least, someone was staring into the coals through her soft gray eyes.

“O-kay, I think it’s time for bed,” Kavik said, gently taking the teacup from her hands. He wrapped an arm under her shoulders, and hoisted her to her feet, immediately provoking an uproar from their companions.

“Hey!”

“What are you-”

“You can’t just-”

Apparently, being forgiven for his betrayal in Bin-Er didn’t mean he was absolved from what the rest of the team perceived as Slights Against the Avatar. Kavik hastily stepped away from her and held his hands up placatingly.

The yelling seemed to snap Yangchen out of whatever trance she’d been in; she clapped her palms over her ears.

“Chattering hog monkeys, what’s all the fuss about?”

“He needs to show you more respect,” complained Tayagum, though the Avatar’s apparent dismissiveness towards the situation took the wind out of his sails.

She yawned—a big, air nomad yawn—and turned away from the fire.

“I’m going to bed,” she announced.

Kavik took one look at the glares he was receiving and decided to follow her out,

He caught up to her outside the captain’s quarters—another thing not usually found on water tribe ships.

“Wait!” he called. “Are you okay? Are you... you?” he asked quietly

Yangchen exhaled. “I’m me, alright. Was I somebody else earlier?”

“You called Jujinta by the wrong name.”

She winced.

“You didn’t say anything else though!” he hastened to add. “It was nothing obvious, I don’t think the others would ever guess, unless you’ve told them about your…”

“Blessing?” she supplied wryly.

“That,” said Kavik. “... have you told them?”

“No,” Yangchen frowned. “And I don’t want to, because… because…well, I just don't."

Kavik understood. She didn’t need to explain any further.

“Your secret’s safe with me,” he said. He began to turn away. “Goodnight, Av-”

Suddenly, Yangchen closed the distance between them and kissed him on the cheek. “Goodnight, Kavik.”

Kavik could only gape as she gently closed the door in his face.

***********************************

“... O-kay, I think it’s time for bed,” Kavik said, gently taking the teacup from her hands. He wrapped an arm under her shoulders, and hoisted her to her feet.

“Good night,” he said to the rest of the team. Tayagum glared at him, presumably for daring to touch the Avatar, but Akuudan merely looked thoughtful. Jujinta was still staring hard into his cup, the poor guy.

He escorted her back to the captain's quarters—another thing not commonly found on water tribe ships. Yangchen leaned on his shoulders the whole way, walking with the shuffling steps of the very old.

They stopped outside her door.

“Are you good from here?” he asked.

Yangchen didn’t answer.

“Avatar?” He asked.

She was looking at him. Studying his facial features….which seemed like something Yangchen would do. She had probably come back to herself during their short walk, and was now watching his pupils to see if they would dilate when she asked him some extremely important question assessing his loyalty.

Instead, she cupped his face in her hand, and kissed him on the cheek.

“Goodnight,” she breathed, before stepping into her room and closing the door.

Kavik stood in the hallway in shock. His hand flew up to where her lips had brushed across his skin moments before. So much for checking his pupils.

Had she…? Yes. Or maybe not? She’d definitely kissed him, but had she kissed him? The gesture had seemed almost grandmotherly, like his gran-gran greeting him with a kunik.

As far as he knew, only watertribesmen did kunik. Everywhere else, a kiss was well… a kiss.

His stomach fluttered, as he realized how much he hoped that Yangchen had been herself when she kissed him, and that she hadn’t meant it in a familial way.

Most of all, he really hoped she’d do it again.

**********************************************

…Or at least, someone was staring into the coals with her soft gray eyes.

If it had been just the two of them, Kavik wouldn’t have hesitated to wrap an arm around Yangchen’s willowy shoulders and guide her to bed. But that would look strange to the others. Plus, the three older men didn’t like the casual way he and Yanchen often acted around each other, and he’d just gotten back into their good books.

Kavik was tired of being shunned.

So instead he said, very cautiously, “Avatar? You seem tired. Maybe you should go to bed.”

The Avatar rose from her seat, but made no move to leave.

“Tired?” She snorted. “What gave you that idea?”

“Then rest,” said Akuudan. “Tomorrow we’ll be in reach of the Northern Water Tribe, and we’ll need to be sharp.”

Yangchen scoffed. “Even the sharpest blade cannot slice open a river.”

The others blinked at her in confusion. It was a variation of a common enough proverb, but it was unclear how it applied in this context.

“What do you mean?” asked Tayagum.

“I mean that Chief Ha-”

Kavik choked very suddenly and very loudly on the rice wine he’d been sipping. Tayagum slapped him hard on the back repeatedly, which made his fake coughs turn into very real gasps for air. He hoped that between the commotion and the alcohol, no one would notice the Avatar strategizing against a long-dead chief.

“Thanks,” he said to the older man, sarcastically

“Anytime,” said Tayagum brightly.

The Avatar was the only one who hadn’t reacted to his coughing fit. She was still standing in front of the stove, the reflection of embers sparkling in her eyes.

Embers. In the weeks they had been traveling together, Kavik had met at least two more of Yangchen’s past lives. Neither of them had been as alarming as the first one he’d met - the Avatar on the brink, the one called to the forefront by fire and exhaustion, the one whose friend was called Mesose.

If that was who he was dealing with, Kavik couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer.

“You look dead on your feet,” he said. He rose to his own feet, and gently took her elbow, the way he had a dozen times in Taku. “Come on,” he said, tugging on her arm. “Even you can’t stay awake forever.”

To his relief, Yangchen’s feet began to move.

“Good night!” He called over his shoulder, as they left the others behind.

Kavik led her down the hall to the captain’s quarters. He hesitated at the door, but one look at her slack expression made him turn the knob and step inside.

The room was dark. Kavik could just make out a bed, a small desk, and several bundles of white fluff. A backstrap loom had been tied to the bedpost, and a half finished white cloth was stretched out upon it.

Kavik finally knew what Yangchen had been doing in her room all these days; she’d been weaving mourning robes.

Kavik let out a heavy sigh, and guided her to the bed. He shifted the loom and the half woven garment to the desk, unlaced her boots, and was about to tuck her in when her hand caught his.

”You’re not mad at me for what I said earlier, are you Sese?”

Sese! So this was the same past life. They seemed…. less resentful than the first time they’d met. Maybe the real Mesose had done a better job at convincing the Avatar that humanity was worth saving. Or maybe Yangchen had been remembering a bad day.

Once again, Kavik stepped into the role of Mesose. “I could never stay mad at you,” he replied.

“Never?”

“Yeah, I think you’re only temporarily infuriating.”

The Avatar batted her eyes at him. “Does that mean I get a goodnight kiss?”

Spirits help him. Kavik gulped, and glanced at the open door, and then back at the Avatar’s expectant upturned gaze.

…. He just had to play along. Just for a little bit, until she went to sleep. It wasn’t like he hadn’t pretended to be the Avatar’s lover before.

He hesitantly knelt by the bed and leaned forward, bypassing her mockingly puckered lips to press a chaste kiss to her forehead, right on the tip of her arrow.

Yangchen made a contented noise, and nestled into the covers, apparently, finally, ready to go to sleep. On an impulse, Kavik brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

“Goodnight, Yangchen,” he said, and left the room

-Fin-

#no beta we die like...#actually no I dont wanna make that joke #too soon #Yangchen #Yangvik #Chronicles of the Avatar #fanfiction #avatar novels #legacy of yangchen

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