Violent Delights, ATLA

chapter twenty five, heart taking root in the body

25
HEART TAKING ROOT IN THE BODY

TO SAY SAN WAS IN high spirts would be an understatement. Pastel pink coloured the skies and the cirrus clouds vaguely formed hearts, the dreamy domain reflecting her lovesick state. Tai Yang was equally fascinated and vexed. He had never experienced love nor thoroughly understood the concept of it. The closest he had to comprehending it was Tui and La — they were yin and yang, push and pull, and they knew love before the mortal themselves knew love.

To say he was completely clueless of the emotion would be false, however, because somewhere deep down in his pearl heart he knew he loved San. She was like, as the mortals would say, his kid. He gave her life, heard her rants, watched her grow up. But he also knew the love she was harbouring for the fire prince right now was different than the love he cherished for her. That kind of love he knew absolutely nothing about.

"You don't know how happy I am." She gushed, burying her face in her hands. "I still can't believe we kissed. He likes me back. He really does. And he—"

"Has such a cute smile." Tai Yang finished for her in a bored tone.

"Sorry." She squeaked, voice muffled. "I talked too much. And I'm sorry if you were really uncomfortable."

"It's fine, I was asleep when it happened." If the dragon could shrug, he would. A moment of silence passed.

"You do like Zuko, right?"

"Yes, yes, he's fine. As long as he makes you happy and doesn't break your heart. Otherwise, I'll cook him with my flames."

Harmless chuckles filled the air, San unable to take him seriously. "If you say so, Tai Yang. And don't worry, you're still my best friend. Oh, hey! It's starting to snow."

The landscapes of her mystical dreams shared with the dragon often changed depending on the dreamer and her mood or simple desires. Her inner child shone the most in this nameless land of unexplainable wonder and in spite of his grumpy attitude most of the time, Tai Yang knew the reason why that was was because she hardly had a childhood.

No, she did- she had bits and pieces of a childhood but not quite a complete one. As much as there were people in her life who brought her down, there were people in her life who genuinely loved her too. Her mother being a prime example, as her words until today resonated in her fair heart. Tai Yang hoped with his whole being she was doing okay after all these years for the sake of San.

"Hey, Tai Yang, I just had an interesting thought." San's voice brought his consciousness back to reality as he listened on intently, "If dragons could, wouldn't they make the biggest snow angels in the world? Think about it. You already have large wings so having the 'angel wings' would be super duper easy for you to replicate on the snow."

"I suppose that's possible." He mused. "I'm never going to attempt the possibility, however. Getting on my back merely to roll around in the snow seems pointless. Besides, it would take much effort."

"You're such a lazy dragon." San poked fun at him, sticking her tongue out to taste the snow. It was tasteless, as expected, considering the snow wasn't real. "I wish you could go out and be beside me in real life instead of being stuck here all the time. I want you to meet Zuko and Uncle Iroh face-to-face, I want to witness their gobsmacked expressions."

"That would require me to have my heart leave your body and if that happens, you'd be in a fragile and dire state." The snow falling gracefully all around them persisted in a rhythm as steady as heartbeats. All was soothingly calm. "That being said, I see most of the world through your eyes already and that is enough for me."