#once again playing it very fast and loose with punctuation and grammar but it's *technically* 5 sentences

[moonsugar-and-spice]

Ehhh, you know what? I’m going to subject you to my OTP and challenge you to a serving of Fried Fish, while we’re at it. 😈

Prompt: panic

(no pressure, of course)

The admiral knew that the best way to keep a prisoner from trying to escape was to make sure they never felt like a prisoner – not that he had any real fear of the young princess attempting to flee; Yue had proposed the arrangement of her own accord, after all, in exchange for the moon spirit’s life and halting of the siege on her people – but Zhao had nevertheless done his best to make his betrothed’s acclimation to the Fire Nation as comfortable as possible, allowing her free and unshackled rein of his estate, with supervision.

His betrothed – Zhao threw back another long drink and massaged his temples; if one thing were certain, it was that the reluctance she exuded was mutual.

But in the morning, he did not find Yue in her quarters; he did not find her in the garden, nor taking her morning meal, nor visiting the stables as she had grown fond of doing, and panic was burgeoning in his chest now as he stalked the halls, the grounds, in search of his captive – his soon-to-be wife – readying himself to sound the alarm when a duet of laughter reached him from somewhere nearby, one note light and feminine and the other deeper, with a jaunty, familiar lilt.

Rounding the corner, Zhao stopped short to see his Water Tribe princess in the courtyard sitting across a pai sho board from General Iroh, giggling at some asinine joke he made about a koala sheep as the older man’s eyes skated toward him: “Ah, Admiral Zhao, you may be pleased to hear you have quite the pai sho player on your hands; Yue is a very challenging opponent.”

That earned another laugh from her – a sound like the peeking sunlight in dappled woodland, bright and playful – and even as the breath rushed out of his chest in a gust, his hands scrubbing his face in exasperation, he felt something inside him soften.

Send me a prompt and I'll write you a 5-sentence fic.

(So, I had two "fics" spawn from the same opening as I tinkered with this, and couldn't decide which to post, so figured I'd throw it under the cut for whoever's interested.)

The admiral knew that the best way to keep a prisoner from trying to escape was to make sure they never felt like a prisoner – not that he had any real fear of the young princess hurling herself overboard; Yue had proposed the arrangement of her own accord, after all, in exchange for the moon spirit’s life and halting of the siege on her people – but Zhao had nevertheless done his best to make his betrothed’s transit to the Fire Nation as comfortable as possible, allowing her free and unshackled rein of the ship, with supervision.

His betrothed – Zhao threw back another long drink and massaged his temples; if one thing were certain, it was that the reluctance she exuded was mutual.

The ship rocked gently that night, but his sleep was shallow, fitful, and the air that stirred nearby might have been an accompaniment to the vessel’s swaying were it not for the scent that stirred with it, and the admiral cracked his eyes to see a face, beautiful but wraith-like in the darkness, hovering just out of reach of his.

Panic shot through him and Zhao surged back with an undignified noise as the figure gasped in turn, a choked quality of amusement to the soft sound, to see that it was no wraith that stood before him but the Water Tribe princess, as her quiet voice rippled the air: “I can’t sleep.”

The breath rushed from his lungs in a single gust and he scrubbed his hands over his face, rising at last to practically dwarf her with his height, and met Yue’s ocean eyes again as he half turned toward the door: “Neither can I,” he admitted, extending a hand to her awkwardly in invitation, “so if you are unopposed to some company, perhaps join me for a stroll in the night air?”

#thank you! #prompt ask #avatar the last airbender #atla #admiral zhao #princess yue #zhayu #fried fish #captive!yue #once again playing it very fast and loose with punctuation and grammar but it's *technically* 5 sentences #really not sure about this and sorry if it's disappointing in terms of imagination #i've never written them before #i had other ideas that might have explored a bit further in their relationship but didn't think i could do it properly within that limit #maybe i'll just have to climb aboard the s.s. zhayu and write a mini-fic ;-)) #crookedmouth-mountainbones #moonsugar writes #atla fanfiction