Risho of the Black Snow (ATLA Fanfiction)

Chapter Seventeen: Shells

Risho found a seat and studied her surroundings as her mother tried in vain to pull herself together. It was a nice house, albeit a little empty, with comfortable furniture, lush red carpets and draped, a polished set of armour on a stand, paintings of landscapes and people- family? on the walls. The shelves and shelves of scrolls amazed Risho the most. Hours and hours and hours of reading. Risho could scarcely imagine the euphoria that would bring.

Xue Lo pulled a handkerchief from her robes and blew her nose and promised that she was almost done. Risho pulled her legs under her and nodded knowingly. The promise didn't do much to convince her. Of course the woman meant well, but she'd said the same thing twice before in the last five minutes.

Two minutes later, her mother looked at her through her sheet of black hair. Her sniffling stopped, but words seemed to stop in her throat. She looked at Risho sadly.

Risho took the liberty herself. "I'm a firebender," she announced  "someone tipped off the navy, but they got the impression I was a waterbender. They tried to kill me- but something's wrong with me and it didn't work. I kept my bending secret and told them I couldn't bend at all. The truth got out in the palace."

"And?" Xue Lo swung her legs over the chair.

She knew how the question would end. She answered, "My papa is fine." But she wasn't sure if she was lying or not. Was it wrong for her to say?

Xue Lo- her mother, drew a heavy sigh. Risho thought it was relief at first, but the raising of the woman's chin seemed to say otherwise. Risho screamed., falling back on the couch, she did her best to distance herself from the woman.

No. No! she thought. It wasn't supposed to be this way!

"Rish-" Risho brought her shaky hands up to point at the woman's neck. Xue Lo looked down, confused. Slowly, realization blossomed on her face. She pulled down the gold-embroidered collar to expose the thing that had caused her daughter so much grief. "-oh."

"Y..you-"

Her mother folded her hands in her lap and pursed her lips. Like she was overreacting. Like there was nothing wrong at all wrong with this picture. Risho didn't fancy herself the emotional type- but this?

She wouldn't cry.

She wouldn't cry. People cried when they were sad. Risho wasn't sad. She was a burning coal- she was a volcano in a hot summer Fire Nation afternoon. She could feel her face growing warm. "This? This isn't what it-"

"That's a betrothal necklace," she seethed, the blood under her skin boiling like water in a kettle. 'you married someone else." The orange charm glinted in the light from Xue Lo's fireplace. It reminded Risho slightly of Prince Azulon's eyes. She despised it just as much. Risho scowled.

"No, no. You don't understand-"

"That is not my papa's necklace. He thinks you're still-" the woman grabbed Risho's wrist with the strength of the soldier she must once have been. She pulled the girl in until their noses almost touched.

"Listen," she ordered. Her voice was quiet, but that's what it was. An order. "I am not a bigamist. I am not married to anyone other then-"

Listening was not something Risho liked to do. She pulled her wrist out of Xue Lo's grasp and rubbed the tingle that her fingers left. She was surprised that no fire escaped her hands. "You got engaged."

Xue Lo's face flushed, drawing a breath that seemed to starve the room of air. "You're not listening to me. You have to let me explain-"

"But-"

The woman put her hands up to silence her. "Let me explain," she untied the blue band around her neck, laying it flat across her palm for Risho to examine. "this," she said "is not real."

"Sounds like your relationship."

She could have sworn that Xue Lo cracked a smile. "Risho," she said "betrothal necklaces are a tradition unique to the Water Tribe. No other civilizations use them. Now, what do you think would have happened if I had worn a Water Tribe betrothal necklace when I told everyone that what happened between your father and I was a mistake?" It made sense. Risho backed down, nodding.

"So-"

"The band is the real thing. But this charm," She flicked the golden clasp and the orange charm fell into Risho's palm. "is an exact replica of the one that Haona gave to me- but this one's orange, of course, so-"

"...So it can pass for regular jewelry." Risho fingered the strange orange charm. It was so subtle...yet so, so clever. She didn't exactly like what it did to her father's image..but what could she do about it? "It's weirdly shaped," she announced "did papa ever tell you what it's supposed to be? He's as bad at art as he is at cooking but it should have some subject-"

Xue Lo let out a strangled gag, trying unsuccessfully to hide it from her daughter. She shook her head in her palm. "His cooking...I'd almost forgotten how awful his stew was...but he was so, so proud of it."

"My otter-penguin likes it."

"Your otter-penguin has one tough stomach." Xue Lo stood up and patted down her pants. They were dusty, with a few holes in the knees, so Risho expected they were only worn around home. She hadn't been expecting company. She went into another room and Risho heard the unmistakable sound of a drawer opening and closing. She returned with a small box. "It's a shell," she said as she opened the clasps that locked the wooden box "the charm is a shell. You can see it better in the original version." She passed the box to Risho. "Go on," she told her.

The inside of the box was lined with fine velvet that grooved in like a trench to frame the box's centerpiece. Fastened to a little wooden bar was a charm that could only have been her father's creation. It was cut delicately from mother-of-pearl and it glistened in the light of the room. A seashell. It really was obvious in the new medium. But why? "It's beautiful," Risho announced "but why shells? We don't have shells like this in the Water Tribe."

Xue Lo laughed. "Shells like the song. Of course, like the song! It's our thing, Risho."

"I'm sorry...What song?"

Her mother choked on nothing.

"What song? My goodness, do I have a word or two for your papa! The song, Risho! Leaves From the Vine?" When the blankness refused to leave Risho's face, the woman began to sing. Her voice was not pretty, but it wasn't ugly either. When Xue Lo sang, she sounded like a little girl- no older than Risho herself. It was amazing. Amazing enough to keep Risho quiet for a minute or two. She finished. "You honestly don't know it...?"

Risho shook her head. "But I take it I will?"

Xue Lo smirked. "Oh yeah." Outside, a clock struck midnight. It sent vibrations throughout the entire house. Her mother jumped. "Gosh, you should be in bed...shouldn't you? You'll have to excuse me, I'm horrible at this...I'll get better, I promise. We'll talk more tomorrow, but for now-" She looked around the house, like someone was going to offer her a suggestion. "You can't sleep in my office...not unless you want to sleep on my desk..." Risho shook her head. "You're in my room, then. Just until I can get a room fixed up for you."

"Okay."

Her mother leaned over and tugged on one of Risho's 'dog-ears', a sad smile flickering on her face. She got back up and turned her back, only to change her mind a few steps later. "Risho?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry," she said. She sniffed. "about all of this. They shouldn't have taken you like that...I'm sorry. I know that can be scary, and make it hard not to slap...or firebend at somebody, but- we'll make it work, okay? We'll make it work."

Risho held onto that promise like her old doll Yating, her worries drifting away across her mother's satin sheets.