#it‘s sage right

[cindybanksteam]

6 of the Most Popular Interior Design Styles

There are so many different interior design styles that it can quickly become overwhelming to figure out what’s right for you. Whether you’re redesigning your current home or planning to buy a new one, how do you know what your style is?

For some people, there isn’t one particular design style that fits their lifestyle and aesthetic, but at least by understanding some of the basics, you’re prepared to start designing your home.

The following are six of the most popular and loved design styles for interiors right now.

1. Transitional

Transitional interior design is arguably the most popular because it brings together things people love about traditional and modern styles. It doesn’t go too far in either direction. Transitional style can give a homeowner a sense of elegance that we tend to associate with traditional style, but you can also combine more modern, contemporary lines and textures.

The primary focus of transitional design is on the furniture itself and your textiles, rather than having a lot of accessories.

There’s also a good balance between masculine and feminine in transitional design.

2. Modern

Modern is not the same as contemporary. Modern design is a particular time period, but when we’re talking about contemporary design, it’s always evolving.

Modern design first rose to significance in the mid-20th century.

In modern design, the furnishings have clean lines, and the surfaces are smooth and sleek. The décor is minimal, and if you are going to accessorize, it’s typically through art. For example, a bold piece of art might hang in an otherwise neutral room.

3. Contemporary

Contemporary design style is a term that can refer to anything that’s current. As a result, this design style is very fluid, and it‘s always changing and evolving.

Typically, in contemporary design, the spaces are simple and sleek. The rooms are light, and airy and usually have neutral color palettes.

4. Mid-Century Modern

Mid-century interiors came from post-war America in the 1950s and 60s. The design industry was moving beyond the traditional at this time and forging ahead into a new modern era. The design style remains popular today.

Mid-century modern design focuses on flow and the use of rich natural woods like teak and walnut.

Color palettes include greens and yellows in many cases.

There’s also seamlessness between indoor and outdoor living in the mid-century modern design we see today.

5. Modern Farmhouse

Joanna Gaines of Fixer Upper fame might be the person to credit with the massive popularity of the modern farmhouse style right now. Modern farmhouse style takes traditional farm style and mixes it with modern, unexpected elements.

There’s often a focus on using mixed metals, raw wood elements, and greenery. The color palettes are usually neutral, and when color is introduced, it’s often inspired by nature. For example, you might see shades of navy or sage green in modern farmhouse designs.

6. Scandinavian

Finally, the Scandinavian design is airy, organic, and light. The wood tones are ashy, the spaces are relaxed and inviting, and fairly minimal.

You feel cozy in a Scandinavian space, which is one of the things that can set it apart a bit from other modern or minimalist design concepts.

The walls are often white, and the textiles and inviting.

There’s also the Danish concept of hygge that’s important. That includes layered fabrics, clean lines, and, again, wonderful textures.

[halfwayup]

i’m sitting at the kitchen table in the house that I grew up in.

time isn’t moving right, but I wonder, has it ever?

i’ve been waiting for something to happen the last few months. or has it been years? i can‘t recall. it‘s like waiting for a bomb to drop. for all the stars to align. i‘ve been feeling it for a while now. it’s something big. something heavy. i hope that i will be able to bear the weight of it. a realisation to have. a discovery made. so then everything will finally, relievingly, fall into place.

i still think about you, all the time. i haven’t burnt the white sage that i bought because i am afraid it will draw out the lad but of you that’s there. it’s insanity. absurdity. i am ashamed to long for you, still.

my lacy bras fill up the cupboards, unused for years. there is no one to see them.

i hide the one that i bought just for you. it’s embarrassing. i can’t wear it anymore.

i know this has to stop. i know. i know. i know.

i can feel the disappointment in my friends eyes when i bring you up again. they thought that i‘ve been over it. maybe i will never be. but time has moved on and stretched it thin.

i don’t think you can go back to people once you wrote sad poetry about them. it doesn’t work like that.

but i have tried manifestation and burning leafs. tried journaling and working out and having a drink with friends. went on dates with other people. worked on myself. for whom? for whom. obviously for myself, but it feels almost pointless when it never yields anything.

maybe the big thing i am waiting for is just for you to come back. or for someone who will fill that hole that you left. which is painstakingly horrible, because it won’t happen. but i sit here, and wait, feeling it’s arrival.

[epsilontauri]

dealing with grief is so fucking wild.

one moment i‘m ok and packing my things into neat little moving boxes, and one second later i‘ll remember how she always greeted me in a sing-songy voice and immediately offered me food, tea or coffee when i walked in.

and then i weep because she’ll never do that again.

i when i‘m somewhat ok again, i‘m telling people around me who never got to meet her who she was, how she was, hoping to make her immortal by planting little parts of her in the knowledge and memory of other people.

like, the way she planted mint in the garden and instead of taking over, it barley grew— she was always so frustrated about it! how does the mint not grow at all?! she just wanted to make fresh mint tea. or the way she managed to keep a huge pot of sage alive without doing anything. how she was concerned every winter for the fern that she planted outside of her kitchen window. how she scribbled into all of her cooking books, especially when she liked a recipe. how she collected and build her own library, but kept mixing classics with fantasy and children’s books.

she wrote poems and short stories. i hope she wrote them all down somewhere and we‘ll manage to find them. she wanted to color her hair in a hot pink once the white hairs were more prominent. she asked her youngest son in the morning how many books she should take with her to read in the hospital after the surgery. she asked her second oldest son what kind of cake he wanted next week for his 33rd birthday. she always let her husband trim her long hair. she wasn’t crafty at all and couldn’t sew to safe her life (it was her husband who would fix everything with the sewing machine) but after she spent one summer looking after her grandmother as a teen, she learned how to knit socks and kept doing that.

she believed that magic is found in nature, and she showed me where to look for it. she was always making sure that everyone is treated fair. she accepted immediately that i‘m non-binary’s without any fuss and called me ain from then on. she even understood how i felt about womanhood and related to it, and she told me she’s probably nonbinary too, and i was almost crying in relief, bc my own mother was just crushed and weeping as if i just died in front of her. one time she was more excited to see me that her 3rd son (my ex), despite haven’t seen him in a long time too, bc i wasn’t around as often after i broke up with him after my outing. she loved harry potter but no longer wanted to read it after i told her about jkr’s transphobia.

and she loved halloween so much! she decorated the house in fake spider webs and was always a bit disappointed that no kids came over for candy, mostly due to the fact that her house is on the very end of a steep road up the hill. she loved moomin. i hesitated taking the mug with moomin-papa bc it was her favourite, but i took it bc she also knew that i liked it a lot. the coffee tasted less bitter in it.

i once tried to embroider her medieval dress and only managed to finish one side, but she was excited nonetheless about my work and proudly announced that it’s my work whenever someone pointed it out. i still have the rings that she gave me as a gift, and she wanted me to inherit a beautiful hand-painted wardrobe from 17-something, just because it was a wedding gift of the girl who happened to share my deadname and she still thought i was meant to have it, even if my name is a different one now.

gods, i miss her so much. she was less like a second mother and more of a friend to me. this shouldn’t have happened. she should be around and complain about the heat and how she gets tired more quickly while reading. she would tell me how this time, she would refuse to do the math exercises during recovery, even if it‘s important to monitor her brain function, and eventually admit that she would do them, but still has the right to complain about it bc of her dyscalculia, and i would send her pictures and videos of my cats to cheer her up.

i wanted to tell her that i found my person and that i‘m engaged and we’re planning to get married. i wanted her to meet my fiancé and see them both talk about movies and art and board games. i looked forward to see her excited smile and feel her crushing hug and her breathless „…but oh ain, that is so wonderful!“ i wanted to share my special interest in danmei with her and give her one of the books to read.

i just want her back. i want her to be around happy and healthy and enjoying retirement with her husband.

but she won’t. she’s gone.

[anantaru]

ARCHON QUEST SPOILERS:

okay guys so i finished the archon quest and hmmmmmm 🧍🏻‍♀️🧍🏻‍♀️🧍🏻‍♀️ so in comparision to inazuma it‘s like a complete 180 because as of now, not a lot happened. I mean i get it!! i‘m 100% sure everything that happened in the archon quest will lead to something way bigger we will certainly see in the next patches! Honestly when it comes to the lore surrounding sumeru i‘m so hooked 🤭 istg the way no one appreciates kusanali is really sad and how she doesn‘t see herself worthy either😭, like i seriously want to adopt her she‘s adorable and the sages have no right to practically keep her under house arrest in her own nation wtf 🧍🏻‍♀️

also nilou is my wife and i want to suck alhaitham off okay that‘s all /hj

i don‘t trust alhaitham he‘s sussy as hell!!!!! HE LIED TO US BUT BUT but i‘d still fuck him wait what who said that right now no okay so anyways 🤭 i feel like it‘s really sad how the people still mourn the passing of the greater lord but still, the sages kinda have to let go and worship their new diety and not treat her like some thing you can just lock in a tower. I know this sounds anti-climatic but i hope the fatui will get the dendro gnosis LMAOOAO no because the sages are fucking weirdos like leave sumeru people alone challenge don‘t spy on them !!!!! they took such advantage of the gnosis and i hope someone whoops their asses! What i really loved too is that the traveller had some voice lines that made me so happy! all in all i liked the archon quest, of course it‘s completely different then the inazuma one but those shouldn‘t be compared anyways since every nation faces different problems. I just know that this was merely the build up and hoyo won‘t disappoint us i have faith!! 💗

[witchy-cardreader]

Sage 🌿❤️

i know nobody asked, but here‘s a video of me bundling and hanging up my sage! i grow it in my backyard, hang it with twine, and wait for a few days before i bind the whole thing together into a stick. i like to keep a candle lit during the binding, mostly for atmosphere but because it helps me feel at peace.

after, i hang them by my window. it‘s a temporary spot until i get the twine on my wall hung, but it works just the same. from left to right, you can see the sage i just bundled, one that‘s been drying for about 4 days, and then 2 leaf bundles that have been there for about a week.

tips for bundling and drying sage 🌿

✨ don‘t oven or microwave it! this essentially strips the sage of its natural oils and it loses its properties

✨ if you‘re lucky enough to have a plant growing nearby, try not to take individual leaves too often! if you trim the whole branch (like i‘ve done in the 3 bundles), it‘s better for the plant and helps it regrow healthy

✨ sage doesn‘t dry immediately. if you think you might need it in the future and you want to dry it yourself, leave at least a week, if not more, for your sage to dry. the shortest time i‘ve had to wait was a week, the longest was about 2.

✨ wait a few days before gathering the leaves all the together in a stick. if you let them dry open, it‘ll speed up the process and add a little more decoration. wait 3-4 days before gathering them all tightly.

uses of sage 🌿

✨ brings good luck. feeling down on your luck? burn sage, place a leaf under your pillow, or use it in your cooking!

✨ cleansing a room or a thing. i use sage to cleanse my tarot cards, my bedroom, and sometimes my whole house!

✨ immortality. well, not really, but an old myth did suggest that those who ate sage leaves every day in the month of may would be granted immortality. anyone wanna try it out?

[breannathesimblr]

Even though it‘s fall in Bridgeport, the sun is still shining bright. The school year is going by pretty fast which is great news for Rochelle. Even though Rochelle hate being at Bridgeport Academy, she loved being around her best friends, Ezlyn and Aoife. She love being around them so much that she let them talk her into joining the newspaper club with them. She wasn’t going to do it but her friends had made a good point that they barely see each other at school so why not joining the newspaper club to spend more time together. It sounded good at the time to Rochelle but now that she’s in it, it’s nothing but more work for her. On the bright side, all three of them got partner up to do a column on the latest news about the school. All three of the friends came over to Rochelle’s house to finish up their column for the newspaper. “Okay, did you take the photos of the football team?” Rochelle asked Aoife. Aoife was the photographer of their group. Aoife nodded. “Yes, I even got a photo of the coach.” “Dope. Should I edit them or you’re going to do that?” “I’ll do it and sending them to you so that you can arrange them and put them in format and send them to the editor.” “Okay, I record the interview for you Ezlyn, I know that’s way easier for you.” Rochelle said giving Ezlyn the record video. Rochelle was the interviewer in their group. It was pretty easy for her to get a interview with people because either they like her or their scare of her. Ezlyn was the writer in their group. Ezlyn love writing and she was the main person who made Rochelle join. “Awesome, I start on it now.” Just then, there was a knock on the door. “Come in!” Rochelle yelled. It was Rochelle’s dad, Tristan. “How was school?” “It was okay. I don’t know what you expect.” Rochelle shrugged. Aoife laughed. “We had a good day Dr. Gibson.” “I thought it was just Aoife staying the night. Ezlyn you’re staying the night too?” Ezlyn shook her head. “No sir, Sage is going to pick me up after his football practice.” “Well since that’s not until another hour, you guys want me to order you guys pizza?” “Yes!” The three girls yelled at the same time. Tristan chuckled. “Well I’ll get right on it.”

The Beginning | Previous | Next 

[vicbartons]

Ohhh and for the prompt I sent could you maybe make it hurt comfort if that’s ok? Xox

#62 “please shut up. just shut up.”

They should have never let Cain talk them into this.

There are thousands of thoughts rushing through Robert‘s head a mile a minute, but that is the loudest one. A screeching alarm bell going off in the depths of his brain, overloading his senses.

Because they were supposed to be this sensible, grown-up couple these days, weren‘t they?

No more dodgy deals, no more lies and schemes. 

Just an average married couple, happy and loved-up. With nothing more to worry about than where to spend their weekly date night or whose job it was to pick up toilet paper from the shop this time around.

Only sensible grown-ups didn‘t run through the wad of cash they had made in what was supposed to be their very last heist within a year and a wedding. They didn‘t have to move into their little sister‘s spare room out in the middle of nowhere once their London rent had gotten too steep. Sensible grown-ups didn’t get turned down when asking for a loan, because neither one of them had a single steady employment to show for over the past ten years that was legal enough to mention on a CV. Sensible grown-ups didn‘t have rap sheets as long as their arms, clinging to them like a persistent rash and keeping them from ever making it through any landlord‘s rigorous vetting process without reverting to old tricks. Let alone the doors of an adoption agency.

Sensible grown-ups also probably didn‘t find themselves bend over their bed  midday on the regular, instead of out shopping for food at the local Tesco or job-hunting.

So maybe they weren‘t really ready for the whole responsible adult thing just yet anyway. If ever.

Still, they shouldn‘t have let Cain talk them into this.

Because they have only been married for ten months and there is still so much left that they want to do. So much more life to live together.

Only now Aaron is bleeding out on him on the linoleum floors of a nondescript corridor somewhere in the depths of the Tate‘s ridiculously massive headquarters and should and shouldn‘t haves suddenly aren‘t worth a damn thing anymore.

“Robert-” Aaron‘s voice is already far too small for his body and something in Robert threatens to break at the sound.

Robert has got his right hand on his left, holding them steady even with his trembling fingers as he presses hard against Aaron‘s middle. He tries to stop the blood from spilling, but Aaron‘s tight black t-shirt keeps growing impossibly darker despite his efforts, the edges of the fabric curling upwards around the wound in wetness right where the bullet cut through it. 

Cain had dubbed the bit of theft a no-brainer. A quick job; revenge and a big pay day all rolled up in one the way the older Dingle always likes it best. Well that and none of them had counted on Kim‘s bulldogged henchmen actually being willing to pull guns on them. Or catching them at all for that matter. They were RobertandAaron after all. They didn‘t get caught, did they? 

In retrospect, that way of thinking had been incredibly short-sighted. Naive even. 

But hindsight doesn‘t really help them now.

Robert‘s eyes keep flicking back and forth between his husband‘s face and the wound on his stomach and he can feel himself drowning in the impossibility of it all until Aaron speaks up again, his voice enough to drag him back to the surface. “Robert,” he whispers, but there‘s a strength to it Robert wasn‘t sure he had in him anymore with his lips as white as they are already. “You know that I-”

And Robert wants to hear him speak, because as long as he‘s speaking Robert can be sure he hasn‘t lost him yet, but he can‘t hear that. Doesn‘t want it.

“Please Aaron, shut up!” The words are loud and sharp and echo through the halls. Booming enough to make Aaron‘s eyes go wide and take even Robert by surprise. It makes him press his hands down a little harder on Aaron‘s abdomen and take a breath. Long and deep, hoping it will right whatever‘s trying to come undone inside of him at the sight of his husband in pain. “Just shut the hell up,” Robert says under his breath. “Will ya?” It‘s a plea more than anything else. 

“No.” Aaron has always been the more stubborn one out of the two and that‘s saying something. There‘s a shake of his head that makes him hiss in pain, but he keeps going anyway. ”I need you to know -”

And of course Robert knows, knows it deep in his bones.

In all his life, one spun out of lies and schemes and make-believe, there has never been anything more true to him than how he feels about Aaron. Or that Aaron feels the same for him in return. It had scared him to the core, the first time they‘d met. When Robert had walked into the Woolpack for a drop-off in search of Charity a little over six years ago now and found her sort-of-nephew with the permanent scowl etched on his face instead. The tug he had felt in the pit of his stomach the moment their eyes met had never disappeared again from there on out, no matter how much of a sour git the younger man had been.  

Want at first sight, they sometimes call it. 

And then so much more after that. 

“I know, okay? Of course I know,” Robert presses out between clenched teeth and he wishes that this stupid game of theirs didn‘t suddenly carry so much weight, “but I need to stop you from dying on me right now and get us out of here and that will work a whole lot better, if you stop trying to say goodbye to me, you muppet.” 

Aaron actually manages to smile a little at the all too familiar nickname and Robert can‘t help but mirror it, all be it a little crooked with his lips bitten and his eyes red raw from trying to keep the tears at bay.

“Bossy,” Aaron mutters between shallow breaths.

“You love it.”

Somehow Aaron gets his eyes to focus on Robert then. “Yeah, I do,” he whispers like he always does when Robert teases him like this, but it‘s lacking its usual levity. “Robert, if-”

The dismay on Aaron‘s face makes Robert lean down until their foreheads are touching and his full weight is pressing onto the wound with him almost lying on top of his husband.

“Shush,” he breathes out and his nose rubs along Aaron‘s with the slight shake of his head. “I‘m gonna get you out of here and then we‘re gonna drop half the cash at Cain‘s and drive right off to Paris with the other half like we planned to. And then we‘ll make a real go of it, all above board, right?” And Aaron just closes his eyes and nods, breathes his husband in. 

Feeling his shallow breaths against his cheeks as reassurance finally gives Robert a chance to think.

He only has a vague idea of where they are. The corridors underneath the building complex that were starting to bear a scary resemblance to an unsolvable maze, with their never ending white blank walls and headache-inducing neon lights had managed to disorientate him once he had gone rogue and just made a dash for the first exit in sight. Usually Robert was a by the book guy, as far as criminals go - always sticking to carefully mastered plans - but the reflex to get his husband to safety at any cost had overruled all that. 

It‘s how he‘d gotten them lost.

“Ace job, Robert,” he thinks to himself. “So much for criminal mastermind.”

He has seen them before though, the corridors, of course he has. In the back of Cain‘s garage on a blueprint spread across the hood of an old Chevy, a system of tunnels spreading across the entirety of the property like a spiderweb. It was too bad that with all of Robert‘s skills, a photographic memory had never been one of them. 

There is one thing he remembers though. It‘s the way all those endless corners end in a clean circle on the outer edge, connecting all the tunnels. Some sort of aesthetic choice on Kim‘s part apparently - the older woman enarmored by the symmetry - but all Robert can see in it is the system‘s fatal flaw. A weakness to be exploited. 

He is a conman after all.

“I know how to get us out of here,” Robert splutters and rights himself. He runs his hand through Aaron‘s dark curls once before busying himself with trying to untie his tie one-handed, determination finally making his fingers stop shaking.

His other hand never leaves its place on Aaron‘s stomach.

“Knew I didn‘t just marry ya for your looks, Dingle,” Aaron mumbles with his eyes still closed and Robert tries his hardest to ignore how every syllable keeps being cut short by haggard breaths.

His stomach grows warm with the epithet nonetheless.

“Then off into the sunset,” Aaron coughs hard and opens his eyes slowly. Looks up at Robert through this lashes, “like that old-timey movie?”

Robert softens at the age-old argument. Indulges it to stop the air around them from growing so heavy.

“I‘ll have you know that The Getaway is a classic.” 

They had watched it one night in the early days, curling up on Robert‘s sofa for what one could almost call a proper first date. Robert had fallen hard and fast for the story and also maybe Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw. 

Aaron on the other hand? Not so much. 

The fact alone that they have still made a habit of watching it at least once a year with only a minimal amount of grumbling from his better half makes Robert love Aaron all the more. ”But yes,” Robert adds on, his eyes no longer just watery, but a tear making its way down his cheek, “exactly like that. Because you‘re going to be just fine, Sugden.”

Aaron just breathes and it‘s all that Robert needs from him right now.

“So you‘re gonna hold on for me now, ey?” He asks anyway, more for himself than because he actually expects a response.

But Aaron has always been good at giving Robert more than he needs.

“Yes, boss,” he‘s barely opening his mouth now, but he‘s still there and that‘s everything. 

Robert presses one last kiss onto Aaron‘s forehead and then he gets on with it: Rips a strip of his dress shirt and ties it around Aaron‘s middle with the sage green necktie his husband hates so much, pulls him off the ground, throws an arm around his shoulder and just keeps walking until he notices a slight curve in the walls indicating that they‘ve actually reached the outer edge of the premises and his earplug crackles and shrieks as the connection builds back up, Cain barking at him through it soon after. Robert just keeps running and praying to whoever up there is willing to listen that they‘ll be okay.

(It‘s the last time the two of them get hands-on with a dodgy job. Not because Aaron doesn‘t make it. He does. Barely, but he makes it. No, it‘s because Robert makes it clear that the gashing scar on Aaron‘s abdomen that matches the one on his husband‘s chest all too much is the last one he‘s willing to bear. And the tired look on his face as he says it, the way his eyes go hollow like the thought alone is making him lose the will to live, is haunting enough that Aaron doesn‘t want to disagree.

Yet, Robert‘s still runs the odd con job out of the basement on the side even seven years later - with their little daughter perched on his lap - and Aaron might find himself laying out a classic thievery trick on deep web forums every now and again.

But that is all it is. Desk jobs, really. 

Aaron and Robert have grown sensible after all.)

[aint-nodenying]

album talk

summary: y/n tlaks about her album, but she can’t help but talk about her boyfriend.

word count: 2,186

to request or ask me anything, ask here: x

requests are: open

and my masterlist is here: x

You waved to all of the camera crew, walking into the interview set and sitting on your designated chair. Placing your Starbucks tea onto the ground next to the chair, you smoothed out your skirt before jumping onto the tall chair. You played on your phone a little bit before hearing the door open, indicating someone coming into the room. You put your phone under your leg before smiling warmly at the stranger and standing to shake her hand.

“Hello, Y/N! I’m Amanda with E! News and I’m here to interview you today, how have you been?” the woman asked before turning her head to watch her footing to her chair. You smiled enthusiastically back before clapping happily.

“I’m so, so great today! How’re you doing? I’m Y/N L/N, nice to meet you.” the woman giggled nervously before tucking her hair behind her hair.

“I know who you are, I love your music so much. Your new album is so fantastic,” she breathed out. You blushed before slapping your hands onto your cheeks to cover the warmth. 

“You’re a right babe, aren’t you? Just here to make my cheeks burn off.” the cameraman cleared his throat, grabbing both of your attentions and gave the all-clear to begin the interview. You both adjusted yourselves one last time before starting.

“Hi there, I’m Amanda Hoffman here with Y/N L/N to talk about her new album, Snap Back. How are you doing today, Y/N?” you smiled before clasping your hands together to hang over your knees loosely.

“I’m doing so good, how are you?” you swung your legs back and forth, completely relaxed.

“I’m doing great, thank you. Anyways, your new album, Snap Back is a huge hit in forty-three countries, and at number one on Billboard Top 40’s, your new song, Bad Ideas. How do you feel?” you sucked in air through your teeth before nodding slowly.

“You know, it all feels a bit surreal. I mean in no way have I ever expected me to be this successful, especially with a song that I’ve had half-written for the past three years. But yeah, it feels great, I’m proud of me, my family is proud, all of the loved ones are just overjoyed, really.” Amanda gleamed with pride at your words and glanced down at her questions.

“Yes, obviously we know who it’s written about, and you said that it’s been written since 2016? Is that when-” you nodded interrupting her.

“Yeah, when I met Tom? Yeah, when I first starting seeing Tom - Tom Holland, by the way, for anyone who didn’t know - when I started seeing him romantically, hell even before then, I just knew that he was it for me so I just started writing. But I’ll admit, life did get a little chaotic, what with his new movies and with me helping other artists with their music, so I had to put the song aside for a while, but I just got into the groove again a couple of months again so I just finished it along with a couple of other songs.”

“Yes, so could you tell us about the other songs as well?” you nodded and leaned down to grasp your drink in your hands before rattling off the songs.

“Yeah, the first song is obviously Bad Ideas, it’s about me being so in love with my boyfriend that it might seem a bit disrespectful to others, it’s that disgusting. It‘s just a song really about all of my feelings towards him and how I just love him so much that I’d really do things that would embarrass me or him just to show him my feelings,” you take a sip out of your cup before placing it on your knee.

“The second song isn’t me singing, it’s actually my dear friend, Andrew John Hozier-Byrne, and it’s called To Noise Making - and in parentheses, Sing. I was backing him in vocals but I helped him write it. It’s just basically about how singing is just a safe place for us, about how it’s kind of medicine in our worst times, and how we encourage you, ‘hey, even if you can’t sing, it’s bound to make you feel better - just sing.’” Amanda nodded, leaning on her arm chair causing it to creak obnoxiously.

“And how was it to work with Hozier?” you shrugged, taking another sip of your drink, clearing your throat.

“I mean, I really love him, he’s one of my best friends and he thinks of lyrics so gracefully, and much different than how most artists come up with lyrics. It’s really amazing to see him work and to work with him.” you nodded before furrowing your brows and fluttering your lips.

“Let’s see, third song, third song. Oh, yes, my third song was also not completely mine - my main goal with this album was to showcase talent so of course most of my songs were collaborations with artists, only about three out of seven songs were totally and completely mine. The third song was written with my beautiful babies, Little Mix. We wrote Joan of Arc together, and it’s really just a kind of feminist song and really body-positive. Honestly, when we heard it in its final cut for the first time, I bawled like a baby. It makes anyone feel good about themselves and it made me proud to listen to them, they’re really independent ladies who know their worth. That’s really rare nowadays, what with media corrupting beauty standards for our youth.” Amanda nodded passionately, and with a furrow in her brow, she smacked her knee.

“Yes, when I listened to that song, obviously it’s exciting and loud, but the lyrics just really make anyone feel like a powerful woman.” you nodded and waved your arms toward her as if to prove a point.

“Exactly, see that’s what we were aiming for. Anyways, the next song is a cover of the Elton John song, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart with the one and only, Taron Egerton. Obviously, it was for the movie Rocketman - which by the way, if you haven’t watched it, have you been living under a rock?” you directed towards the camera. “But let me just say that Tom and I have an apartment in London and in it I have a home studio. All of my collaborations were created in my apartment and honestly, Taron Egerton is the wildest man I have ever had the pleasure of being around. I love the man and he is a gift to this world. Also, the cover was for a movie, but I dedicate it to my boyfriend because I’m a sap and I love him.”

Amanda laughed before glancing back down at her notes. “And the last two songs?”

You nodded sagely, flipping your foot and resting it once more. “Ah yes, my heartbreak song. My one, Lie To Me, is about an old flame that I had a while ago, who cheated on me. Obviously, it was sad and I haven’t thought about it in a long time since I’ve been happy in a relationship, but I don’t think an album is complete without a variety of songs. So I had to dig up some old memories to make a bomb-ass song. 

And my last one is called Hey Look Ma, I Made It. It’s a song about my success in the music industry, and it’s just kind of a childish pride where you’re really proud of something you made so you immediately brag to your mum, and that’s what I wrote a song about. Although, if you listen to the lyrics, it shows a lot of phrases that suit a much older person, especially since I’m a twenty-three-year-old, but that’s because my dear friend Brenden Urie helped me with a few lyrics.” Amanda smiled happily and shuffled her cards. 

“Obviously, you had a busy year, but you work fast. You’ve been writing your album, but you also helped a ton of other artists write their songs as well, is that correct?” you nodded. “Could you name a few?”

Your eyebrows raised and you let out a hefty sigh. “Just this year?” you asked her. She nodded and you shrugged softly. “I mean, I helped a lot with Ariana Grande’s Sweetener album, I helped with some of Machine Gun Kelly’s music, some of Shawn Mendes, Some of Hozier, I’ve helped with quite a few, but songs that I’ve written for artists might be ones that the public may recognize. I wrote successful, sweetener, and R.E.M off of Ariana’s album, I wrote bad guy for Billie Eilish, Short Kings Anthem for blackbear and Cody and Noel - that was incredibly fun. Just to name a few.”

Amanda hissed as well, raising her eyebrows. “Well, you’ve certainly had a busy couple of years. I know that we’re running out of time, and I know that this is about your album, but can we talk about you and Tom Holland?” You sighed out of relief.

“Oh god, yes. You don’t know how many times a day I want to explode talking about him.” Amanda giggled, waving her arms.

“So you’ve been dating for three years,” you nod in response. “How is it still waking up to him every day?” you sigh sadly before uncrossing your legs to cross it the opposite way.

“Yeah, recently he’s been filming so I haven’t seen as much of him as I want to - although he’s here with me today - every day I see him, my heart still beats faster and I still get butterflies in my stomach, same as when we first kissed.” Amanda’s eyes widened and she slapped her hands onto her chair arms.

“Wait, Tom is here right now?” you nod and point towards the door.

“Yeah, he’s hiding outside. Do you want me to bring him in here?” Amanda nods savagely and you pull your phone from under your leg to text him to come into the room.

Minutes later, Tom enters the room in a baseball cap and a t-shirt. He walks towards you looking at his phone, wrapping his arm around your shoulders. You lean up to kiss his cheek and wrap your arms around his middle.

“Hello, handsome. Find your way here alright?” He nodded, looking up from his phone for a minute to smirk at you and to press a quick peck to your lips. Amanda squealed in excitement and stuck out her hand.

“Hello, I’m Amanda, nice to meet you, I love you guys.” Tom smiles and takes her hand, shaking it gently.

“Hello, I’m Tom, it’s good to hear that,” he looks back at you. “Why am I here? Are we going to be spilling tea about our relationship? I hate her everyone, she makes my life a living hell. She refuses to do her laundry!” he yells into your mic that you’re hooked onto. You shake your head and smack his lightly.

“No, you div. We’re here to talk about how happy we are, so make it look like we’re happy. Besides. I may not do laundry but you don’t do the fucking dishes, so fuck off.” he giggles and wraps his other arm around your chest so he could hug you properly. You roll your eyes and allow your arms to go limp. Amanda claps her hands with glee but then pouts afterward.

“Unfortunately, my time here is finished so everyone, go listen to Snap Back, and go watch Avengers: Endgame in theatres! Again, this is Amanda Hoffman, and you’ve been watching with E! News.” She looked away from the camera and looked at you guys with a smile.

“It was a pleasure talking with you, Amanda. Unfortunately, I’ve gotta cut this interaction short so this man-child can go play FIFA with his friends and brothers.” Amanda shook her head frantically and waved her hands as if waving away a fly.

“Not a problem at all, Y/N. It was a real privilege to speak with you.” You glare at her and smack the air.

“Pish posh, don’t speak like I’m the Queen. It’s no privilege to talk to me no more than it is to talk to you,” you look away from here to look at the camera crew. “Anyways, thank you guys so much for what you do, I hope you all have a nice day.” 

You and Tom walk away to the hotel lobby to meet with Harrison and Harry, intertwined hands swinging back and forth between you.

“I heard how you talked about me in there. Are you going to apologize for being so disrespectful?” you shrug and smile slyly at him.

“Not really. What are you gonna do about it?” you ask him as you both slip into the elevator. He smirks and pulls you forcefully into him, one hand on your lower back and the other pulling on the hair at the nape of your neck to pull your head back. He trailed his nock along your throat, placing soft kisses on your collarbones.

“Don’t sass me, baby. Little girls who tease their daddies get in trouble.”

[mothunmuted]

orchid, sage, chamomile

from this ask meme (gonna get long)

-

orchid ⇢ what’s a song you consider to be perfect?

lmao, whenever I get a question like this I immediately forget every song I’ve ever heard, and then I tie myself in knots with questions like “well what would make a song perfect?”

Anyway I’m gonna pull out a Boring Classic and choose Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles. I know it’s kindof a boring choice but I feel like anything “perfect” would almost have to be?

I also find myself feeling like “perfect” will also mean “short”— one of the easiest offenses a song can make is padding itself out and overstaying its welcome.

anyway, it really cuts through the noise in the sense that it can make me feel more in its first 5 seconds than most anything else can in that time, especially if you’re going with the video from Yellow Submarine. it is a Mood, and I can’t think of anything else by any artist(s) that’s doing quite the same thing.

another choice might be ol’ J.S. Bach's “little fugue in g minor” (BWV 578) which has lived rent free in the back of my head since I was like 6 or 7. here’s a decent video of that.

-

sage ⇢ what ‘medium’ of art (poetry, music, fiction, paintings, statues etc.) is the most touching to you? why do you think that is?

I mean it’s gotta be music, anybody who knows me knows it‘s gonna be music, right? (though video games get a significant nod)

like I appreciate other media, they’re great and they can do some wonderful things, but I don't think a painting or sculpture has ever ripped my heart out or started building spiderwebs in my mind quite the same way.

—but maybe that has more to do with exposure than disposition? Maybe the film that would bring me to my knees is out there and I just haven’t quite found it yet! Or maybe I haven’t built the same framework for interpretation of other media that I have with music?

Jacob Geller's video essay “The Future of Talking About Games” touches on that last part. While it is (obviously) primarily about video games, a fair amount of it comes from engaging with them in ways similar to how we engage with other art forms.

(I’ve been watching a lot of Jacob Geller’s videos over the past week or so— I saw “Who’s Afraid of Modern Art: Vandalism, Video Games, and Fascism” years ago and imo it’s the OG classic, but I recently watched his most recent video,“Every Zelda is the Darkest Zelda” and started falling down a rabbit hole. “The Golem and the Jewish Superhero” is pretty good, and “The Game That Won’t Let You See All Of It” has got me thinking about all sorts of stuff.)

anyway this question is a little weird to answer when I’m currently hitting a noted spike in Depression™ and find it hard to feel “touched” by anything in general, oops, but I’m workin’ on it

-

chamomile ⇢ what kind of things do you like receiving as gifts?

in order of preference:

Thoughtful well-considered surprises that I would’ve asked for if I’d thought to, or sometimes if I’d even known such a thing existed

Media that holds meaning to the person giving the gift, that they are sharing with me without necessarily knowing how I’ll like it. Even if it ends up not being My Thing, that kind of connection always feels nice

Things I specifically ask for— historically these have largely been media like CDs (rip 😭), books, games, etc., but occasionally more practical considerations like “socks” will find their way into the list

cash.

I decidedly do not like receiving physical souvenirs, knick-knacks, tchotchkes, etc., in the vein of “I was thinking of you!”— I get paralyzed with not wanting them but also not wanting to get rid of a gift from somebody who cares enough to get me a gift.

[firenationskydominion]

Chapter 19: A Phoenix Rises again

A few days later Azula and Mya camped outside Capital City and prepared to enter at dawn. But how without risking being thrown into the dungeons? Azula got off the horse.

Az:       My whole tush is sore.

 M:       You’ll get used to it. Try this Yoga pose, it shall relax your strained muscles.

 Az:      My father has secret tunnels which lead everywhere in the palace. It might well be that he is in there...

 M:       I know an entry point... but we need a disguise...

  Mya was unknown to the FireNation people. Nobody had seen her from near. But that was different for Azula. Mya went to the city and bought two large hats.

  Ozai woke and was upset. He felt empty. He had no plan. Nothing to do. Nobody to talk to. He was a ghost. He left his chamber and for a brief moment considered facing Zuko in an Agni Kai to demand back the throne. Who had tried to kill him? Zuko? Some General? His enemies were plenty, but did he have friends? He had visited his followers incognito and many really wished for him to return. He thought about Azula, Amon and Elua. He once had been such a sweet boy like Zuko, but Azulon had beaten him into shape. Ozai mourned himself, his sad childhood and his loneliness. He missed Mya, Amon and Azula. But seeing Amon and Azula would remind him constantly of Myas death. Yet the thought hovered over him all the time and no amount of evading it would soften the pain.

  After exiting his bedroom he took the secret passages to a tunnel on the side of the throne room. He peeped through a hole and saw Zuko sitting on the elevated throne. The fire was off. He decided to prank Zuko and flicked his finger. The flames shot up and Ozai smiled.

  Zuko was talking to his Generals when suddenly the flames around him ignited. He was startled and jumped up. The Kiyoshi warriors came in and checked the whole room. No intruders. Zuko had heard the silly stories of Ozais ghost haunting the palace. If he was a ghost, he was dead for good and Zuko had one worry less to fret about. A short while later a congregation of Generals entered the throne room.

  After the attack on Ozai and Mya the Generals had feared that the deal was off, but Amon kept his word and the trade between the worlds had been coordinated by him and Azula. He never mentioned Ozai or Mya though, even upon request.

  In the meantime Earth King Kuei was increasingly dissatisfied with the peace accord. He finally realized that he had been sidelined by the Fire Nation and started assembling ground troops. The Dai Li had always managed trade and Kuei on his own without their counsel was inept to make responsible decisions. Furthermore some secret Dai Li agents were sabotaging his efforts. His people were dissatisfied and he needed a war to keep their minds engaged. There was also turmoil and rumours about Ozais return. The common people iconified and exploited Ozai as a marketing gag for all sorts of products. He was far more popular now than during his reign. People were simpleminded and craved a strong leader. Zuko was seen as weak and doubtful.

   Zuko noticed that the generals were dissatisfied. They asked him to take a stand and to send troops to face the Earth Kingdom offensive. Zuko was torn. He was pondering over what to do when the fires ignited again. Ozai stepped out of the flames like an apparition.

  O:        It’s time to decide son, or the generals will decide for you.

  Zuko jumped up from the throne aghast.

  Z:         Father! You’re alive!

O:        You all seem surprised to see me. Let me assure you, I am not a ghost. I see at least a few happy faces among you. Let me see who is the most shocked of all is most likely the person hiring archers to kill me... Zuko was it you? General Zheng? General Sako? I will find out eventually.

  Zuko was nervous. What did his father want?

  Z:         A strange way to visit me to barge in like this on a counsel meeting...? Tell me, what do you want?

O:       Oh, I was watching you, always wondering if you sent the arrows... patricide runs in our family... You had the wardens torture me before, so why not go a step further. I will not hold this against you. I know how difficult it is to decide wisely as a Firelord and that you lack the confidence that I always had.

 Z:        Do you want to fight me?

 O:       Not unless I must. I would like to spend a few days here. I have some private matters to attend to. Generals, who ever tried to kill me will most probably try again.

   One of the Generals, a young handsome man, with black hair and golden eyes mustered up all his courage:

  G:       Firelord Ozai, please take back the throne! You have many loyal followers who are willing to sacrifice their lives for your victory!

  Ozai smiled. He closed his eyes and paused, before addressing the generals. His voice was menacing and cool:

  O:        And I, what am I to do then? Kill my son and my brother in order to take the throne back? Are you suggesting treason against the acting Firelord Zuko, General Wuhan?

  The Generals face went pale.

  Ozai looked at Zuko measuring him up.

  O: How does Firelord Zuko treat insubordination and attempts at treason? Will he lash out like I used to? Will he fight him in an Agni Kai to gain superiority? Or will he be lenient and in return suffer a hit from a poisoned arrow? Will he toss Wuhan in a cold jail cell to have him tortured like his own father or banish him to the colonies? I don’t fear to fight my son, if need be I’ll die in flames as our greatest heroes have. Whatever you choose, son, it will create bad blood, uprisals and sectarianism... But please, for the sake of our nation, make a choice!

  Z:         Why did you really return?

O:        Mya is dead. This is still my house and I needed a place to stay. As simple as that.

Z:         Mya dead? Was it the poisoned arrow?

   Ozai bitterly said:

  O:        No, a bomb in a city far away in another world. It all seems so distant, now that I am back. Iroh was so adamant that I wanted the throne back, he attacked me.

  Zuko stared at Ozai, shocked.

  O:        Don‘t worry, son. He should be alright. Nothing a cup of tea could not fix. Now please have the servants ready my chamber. I am tired and I want to rest.

  The Generals and Zuko were confused. Ozai looked at their blank faces.

  O:        What are you waiting for?

  Zuko ordered the servants to comply with Ozais wishes. Ozai was vigilant. He was baiting himself out, attempting to draw the culprit out of the shadows.

  Zuko then dismissed all Generals, also Wuhan who was surprised and relieved to get away without any repercussions.

  ****

  Elua was cooking her chicken broth when somebody knocked at her door. She opened only to find two ladies with enormous hats standing in front of her door.

 E: I don’t buy anything and I do not want to hear about your saviour, thanks.

 She prepared to shut the door but Mya told her about their identities and that they needed her help.

   An hour later the broth was eaten and all three women wore Elua's old clothes. Three old ladies. They packed baskets with cookies and wine and left for the gate of Caldera city. At that moment, a few hundred messenger birds left the palace and flew into the sky. Upon arrival at the gate, they pretended to be old alumnae of Master Shinsendos Firebending school who were on their way to their school reunion. The guards were overjoyed and let them in without a hassle. With this story they proceeded further to the stables. Mya checked the loose floor board. Ozais uniform was hidden, his royal clothes were missing, he had been here.

   Ozai was sitting in his room at his desk reading letters from his supporters. They even sent fanmail with pictures of him painted by their kids. He cringed, but his inflated ego forbid him to destroy depictions of himself, so he filed them meticulously. There was a knock on the door. General Wuhan was outside and bid to enter.

  W:        I have come to ask your forgiveness, Mylord. I had in no means intended to offend your feelings. I heard today that the news from the front are bad. Earth Nation smashed our battalion and many died. You, Mylord are popular, and the idea of your formal return to power gains traction with the commonfolk. You are supported by the Fire priests and the council of sages. I know I am risking my life talking to you, please forgive my insubordination. Do with me what you want, but please, I am begging you, do something about our weak defense.

O:       Wuhan, I despise traitors, you should know me better. You are young though and yet a general. How come?

 W:       I fought bravely, but I was also lucky.

 O:       Very modest of you to downplay your role in the siege of BaSingSe. So you are saying they all want me back. You were a boy during my first reign. You never experienced my rule... You show courage, coming to my doorstep unannounced. You remind me of myself in younger years. You are dismissed.

  Wuhan left light heartedly. He had left a lasting impression on Ozai. A courageous young man, with golden eyes and a very delicious looking tush.

  Ozai left hurriedly to the throne room. Zuko was sitting on the throne. Ozai did not want to use the front door like a commoner with requests, nor the side door like a servant. He decided to enter through another side entrance from the entry hall which the Generals usually took.

  O:        Son, can we talk in private?

 Z:        I don’t know what you want to talk about...

 O:       The war... Kuei is gaining traction. I am a bit... worried.

 Z:        A battle lost is not a war lost!

 O:       Let me command the army. I‘ll crush Earth Nation.

 Z:        Kuei has no clue, it‘s the Dai Li who are mourning their loss of importance. I will never allow you to command my troops, you will overthrow me.

 O:       I have no plans to fight you. But Wuhan’s tactic was just a taste of what is about to come.

 Z:        I cannot please everyone.

 O:       You need to please the right people.

 Maybe the people should decide what path they want to take. If they back you, the generals can‘t do much.

Z:        Those bloodthirsty ingrates who whine about cabbage price hikes and who put up that ugly statue of yours.

O:       Very unflattering, I agree with you. They totally missed my perfect cheekbones and abs! But listen, if they vote for you, you’ll be democratically legitimated! The Generals will have no choice. Let’s create a two party system. They can choose your way or my way. They will choose and nobody will be left to blame but themselves if we fail.

 Z:        You would win the election... and I would again be in defeat.

 O:       I always thought you were the leader who cared about the people. Win their hearts. I can give them fancy parades, but you can give them meaning and a future. Let‘s compete and see who wins. The colonies will vote for you, so will all those who lost kin in the war. Some old folks will vote for me out of loyalty. It will confirm your regency.

   Zuko thought about it and finally caved in. They would first let the Generals assemble and appoint them as small parliamentary chamber. The ongoing offensive demanded swift action. They should freely choose whom they vowed to follow and the losers would respect the decision. After that they would prepare for elections in Fire Nation and the colonies to create a parliamentary monarchy with the Fire Lord as Head of State.

  Ozai summoned the generals. They seemed to fear Ozai who was standing next to Zuko, who was seated on the throne and looked small in comparison. Ozai feigned to be absentmindedly and casually flicking fire with his fingers, but everyone who knew him well saw that he was alert. Every inch of his body was ready to strike. Zuko was already sidelined. Suddenly there was a commotion and the guards notified them of turmoil outside the gates of Caldera city. The families of the fallen soldiers of the most recent clash demanded Zuko to step down. They had been notified by birds from the palace about Ozais return. Ozai couldn’t resist a smile. Zuko had to watch helplessly as Ozai summoned the generals and asked them to vote for either his or Zukos leadership. Only a few dared vote for Zuko. Within less than an hour Ozai had taken over the reign again.

[schonseltsam-blog]

Fotosuche in Istanbul

Nach ein paar Tagen Istanbul war es so weit. Vorbereitungen für den Abflug Richtung Vietnam. Wunderbar an Mitreisenden ist, wenn sie sich um alles kümmern. Visaantrag für Vietnam war mehr oder minder erledigt. Der Regen verlangte einen Einkehrschwung und so kam das Gespräch auf das Visum für Vietnam. War ein so genanntes „Visa on arrival“ mit irgendeiner Online-Voranmeldung und bei der Ankunft musste man nur noch den ausgefüllten Zettel abgeben.

Zu meiner Verwunderung brauchte man für den Visaantrag ein Passfoto.

„Ein Passfoto braucht man dafür auch?“

„Ist jetzt nicht dein Ernst? Hab ich dir vor dem Abflug mehrmals gesagt.“

„Kann mich nicht daran erinnern.“

„Ich habe mich um die ganzen Visaanträge gekümmert und du musstest nur ein Foto besorgen.“

„Kein Stress, wir sind in Istanbul. Da wird sich das wohl machen lassen.“

Tiefentspannt habe ich mich dann auf den Weg gemacht, um einen Fotografen zu suchen. Waren ja schließlich noch Stunden bis zum Abflug. Wie sich herausgestellt hat, arbeiten Fotografen an einem Sonntag nicht. Blöd gelaufen. Hat ja sonst auch so ziemlich alles offen. Egal. Wird wohl am Flughafen auch so einen Automaten geben. Gibt es schließlich selbst am Flughafen in Graz.

Entweder war eine Verschwörung im Gange und dieser Automat hat sich am Sonntag auch versteckt oder aber es gab gar keinen. Zumindest haben wir am Flughafen keinen gefunden.

Sicherheitscheck erledigt. Wozu draußen warten, wenn man auch vor den Gates warten kann. Internet angeworfen. Theoretisch kann man auch bei der Ankunft in Vietnam noch Fotos machen.

„Darauf willst du dich verlassen?“

„Was heißt verlassen? Bleibt mir ja nichts anderes übrig.“ antwortete ich mich einem Grinsen der Verzweiflung. Kaum war die Entscheidung getroffen bei der Einreise Fotos zu machen, findet sich so ein kleiner unscheinbarer Laden mit Fotobedarf. Ich denke mir, Fragen kostet nix und siehe da. Er schließt seinen Laden, führt mich in ein Hinterzimmer und macht einige Fotos. Wunderbar mit weißem T-Shirt vor weißem Hintergrund.

Steht einer Reise nach Vietnam nun nichts mehr im Weg. War nur noch ein kleines Hindernis zu überwinden. Die Dame beim Gate war nicht so begeistert von meinem nicht ausgefüllten Visaantrag.

„Where is your visa?“

„Here.“

„It‘s blank.“

„It‘s called visa on arrival. I will fill in the blanks before we arrive.“

„Sir. I need your visa.“

„Here. It‘s called visa on arrival.“

„Please Sir, show me your visa.“

„I can fill in the blanks right now. If you like.“ sage ich und schaue die Dame ganz nett an. Hilft nix, ihr Gesichtsausdruck wird nicht freundlicher. Auch die Leute in der Schlange werden immer ungeduldiger.

„Sir. Show me your visa.“ Ich zeig wieder meinen leeren Antrag her und die junge Dame dreht die Augen über.

„Sir. Please just got“. Und schon war ich im Flieger. Bis zur Ankunft in Vietnam habe ich es dann tatsächlich geschafft den Visaantrag auszufüllen und die Einreise hat ohne Probleme geklappt ;-)

[anotherlifefic]

Chapter 46: A Red Moon Rises

Zelda promised to look into the matter of the apparition when we visited her. Especially my description of the man in the mirror had her concerned, though she tried to assure us that no harm could come to our family while we were in the immediate vicinity of the castle and promised to keep us updated on anything she might find. With our minds slightly eased, we returned home. Link was on the pasture with Gareth, playing with the horses, while I was doing the laundry in a big tub that was located at the back entrance of the house, where I could still watch my husband and son. While I scrubbed one of Link‘s undershirts over the washing board, I caught a glimpse of a reflection on the water‘s surface. Just a hint of something or someone standing behind me. The hair at the back of my neck stood up and I clenched my hands into fists to stop myself from panicking. Tiny spikes of ice started to spread over my hands, the wet fabric, and the water in the tub, until chunks of ice were floating around in it like tiny glaciers. Then, someone touched my shoulders. I immediately flinched and spun around, a dagger made of the frozen washing water in my hand, only to be met with the blue eyes of a very, very startled Malon, with Jalon in her arms. I immediately dropped the make-shift weapon, causing it to melt back into a small puddle of dirty water. „Malon! By the Goddesses! I almost killed you!“ „No kidding“, she said, her eyes still wide with shock. „I just delivered some milk to the castle and thought I‘d drop by and let Jalon and Gareth play for a bit. I didn‘t expect to be greeted like this though.“ I took a deep, calming breath. „Some things happened lately that made me a bit jumpy. Sorry that I startled you.“ „It‘s okay.“ She hugged me lightly, making sure not to crush Jalon in the process. He, adorably, also tried to hug me with his tiny baby arms. I looked at the almost finished laundry. „Just let me hang up the last pieces of laundry and then we can join Link on the pasture.“

Link‘s face lit up with a smile when he saw me enter the pasture with Malon and Jalon in tow. „Malon! So nice of you to visit!“ She hugged him as a greeting. „So nice of you to have me!“ Then she set down Jalon on the ground next to Gareth. „I thought our boys might want to play for a bit.“ The two toddlers eyed each other like curious puppies. For a moment, I was worried. While five months of difference in age didn‘t mean much to adults, for infants, it was a lot, and I feared that Gareth might not understand that and accidentally hurt Jalon. But Gareth crawled away, only to return soon after, excitedly showing Jalon a crushed bug, making the younger boy squeal in delight. I just hoped that Gareth‘s way of showing affection would develop past that eventually. And if it didn‘t… well, there were plenty of bugs on the pasture. Malon and I sat down on the grass, while Link excused himself. „I don‘t want to be in the way of your ladies‘ talk. And someone has to keep an eye on the kids.“ With that, he jogged after the boys, who had taken a keen interest in the water trough. „I still can‘t fully believe it“, Malon said as we were watching them. „So much has changed in such a short amount of time.“ I fully understood where she came from. Our childhood felt so close, as if it had just been yesterday we were running around the marketplace, pretending to be proper princesses searching for their knights in shining armor. And now we were both wives and mothers. I had become a warrior and mage, she had learned how to be the head of her family and run the ranch. „True“, I agreed. „So, how is everyone at the ranch doing?“ Malon chuckled and plucked a daisy out of the grass, rolling the stem of the fragile little flower in between her fingertips. „They‘re all fine. My father adores being a grandpa, and treats Matthias like the son he never had. And Ingo… well, he‘s being Ingo. I don‘t think he will ever change. But I did catch him babytalking to Jalon once.“ „Aw, that‘s adorable“, I commented. Deep down, I had always known that Ingo was a big softie underneath all that grumpiness. „So, care to tell me what makes you so jumpy at the moment?“, she asked. „That‘s a long story, and I don‘t think I should tell you.“ „Since when do you keep secrets from me?“, she asked, pouting at me. I wrapped one arm around her shoulders. „You‘ve got enough on your plate running the ranch and raising your boy. I don‘t want to burden you with my problems.“ „Hmhm… But if you ever need my help, you know that you can rely on me. Right?“ „Of course.“ I kissed her cheek.

Malon‘s visit had done a lot to calm me, and as I saw her ride off on her wagon, I couldn‘t help but smile. Whatever the visions meant, and whatever the future held, Link and I would never have to worry about facing it alone. And with that comforting thought, we returned to our usual schedule.

That comfort lasted precisely until I went to bed that night. As soon as I had drifted off to sleep, the nightmare began. At first I was in an endless void, the kind of blackness that swallows all light and even seems to muffle any kind of sound. Then, in the midst of that darkness, a flame sprung to life. A flame that began to spread, to become bigger and bigger until it shaped something vaguely human. The flames forming the body soon began to dull, leaving behind a soot-like grey-ish black substance, while what would be the hair still burned and danced around in a non-existent breeze like a flame. And within the blackness of the creature‘s face, two eyes like glowing embers opened. This… this man was huge; at least twice the height of a grown man, if not more, and impossibly muscular. He opened his mouth; it was packed with sharp, crooked, black teeth like daggers of obsidian. He stretched out his huge, clawed hand. „My puppet may be free of my grasp now, Glaces. But do not be mistaken. I will rise again. A circle has no end.“ I woke up with a startled yelp, with the man‘s words still echoing in my mind. A circle has no end.

„That‘s what he said?“, Link asked me to confirm what I had just told him. After waking up, he had gotten me out of bed and down to the kitchen, where he brewed some calming tea for me. And now we sat at the table, with me clutching the cup in my hands. „Yes. That‘s what he said.“ Link sighed and rubbed his eyes. „We need to go see Zelda again once the sun it up.“ „We can‘t keep bothering her with this. She said she‘d look into it, and that‘s all we can expect of her right now. Remember that she‘s the sole ruler of Hyrule now. She has more important things to deal with than my paranoia.“ I put the cup down. „It‘s just me having these visions, right? Maybe it‘s really just paranoia, and trauma, and my mind being too weak to deal with everything that has happened.“ „Rebecca.“ Link put his hand on mine. „You are a lot of things. But certainly not weak-minded.“ „Still. We cannot push this on everyone unless there‘s more evid-...“ Link put up his hand, and at first I thought he wanted to insist on telling Zelda again, but then I saw the look on his face. His eyes were wide open in shock, his mouth slightly open. And then I felt it too. A sudden uneasiness, that soon turned into full-blown fear. The hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood up, and then I noticed it. The pale, silvery light of the moon, which was streaming through our windows, suddenly turned red. Blood-red. Link and I jumped up and ran to one of the windows facing the castle. And behind the castle, a red moon rose, with a red aura spreading from it over the sky, like ink in water. „Go upstairs and get Gareth. We‘re going to the castle right now!“, Link ordered, and I didn‘t hesitate. That was the proof I had been waiting for. Something was very, very wrong. Hopefully, Zelda knew something more.

Zelda was already rushing out the gate when we arrived. „Link! Rebecca! I was just about to send a messenger to come get you!“ She threw her arms around both of us and hugged us. „Are you hurt?“ „No, we are alright.“ „Zelda! The moon… what does this mean?“, I asked, voice thin with terror. „It means danger“, another voice said, and my breath hitched in my throat when I saw Ganondorf step out from inside the castle. „YOU!“, I shrieked, blasting a spell from my free hand while holding Gareth with my other arm, but Ganondorf parried it without much trouble, sending it toward a wall instead. „Impressive, considering you barely seem to know what you‘re doing“, Ganondorf said dryly. „But now is not the time for games.“ „Do I look like I‘m playing games?“, I hissed, readying another spell. „Rebecca!“, Zelda cut in. „Enough. Ganondorf knows what is going on, and has offered to help.“ „Help?! For all we know, he is the source of what is going on!“ „We have already confirmed that that is not the case“, Zelda insisted. „Please. And Link, you too.“ Link, who had unsheathed the Master Sword, sheathed it again. „Fine. We will hear him out. But that does not mean that we will trust him.“ „I do not ask that of you. But remember that the Triforce of Wisdom does grant me a certain foresight, and this time, I see no ill intentions in him.“ I let the magic in my hand fizzle out. „...Fine.“

Zelda led us to the throne room, where to my surprise not only the Sages but also Cassandra, Cia and Lana were waiting. Cia was tied up in a rope made of magic. „Link!“, she yelled and tried to lunge for him, but the magic rope crackled with energy and held her in place. Naboru stepped forth first, glaring at Ganondorf before turning her attention to Zelda. „With all due respect, Your Majesty, but it is foolish to even allow him to walk freely inside the castle.“ „Still holding onto old grudges, Naboru?“, Ganondorf asked mockingly. Again, she merely glared at him. Princess Ruto approached. „We should kill him now, while he‘s weakened, and spare ourselves the trouble of having to deal with him later. Besides, pretty much everyone in this room apart from maybe the witches and his little servant still have a bone to pick with him.“ „Wife“, Cassandra corrected her in a deadpan voice. „I‘m his wife.“ „Whatever!“, Ruto snapped. „Point is: Whatever information he has certainly is something we can find out without having to rely on this… this… monster!“ „Enough!“, Zelda yelled, causing everyone to go quiet. „I have already made a decision in the matter. And while I greatly value your counsel, that decision is final. Do not worry. He is under constant surveillance while he is at the castle, and any suspicious behaviour will be reported to me immediately.“ Ruto narrowed her eyes. „Oh please!“, Cia called. „Let the Hero kill him. Oh how I would love to see my hero in action again!“ „Cia!“, Lana hushed her. „Okay, and why is the witch here?“, I asked, nodding in Cia‘s general direction. „For questioning“, Zelda explained. „We have reason to believe that Cia‘s sudden turn to evil and rapidly declining mental state are directly linked to the figure that has appeared to you.“ „Oh?“ I settled down a little, but still found myself eyeing both Ganondorf and Cia warily.

[ueber131]

07.06.2019 Über die Kurische Nehrung. Russland: Kaliningrad – Rybachy

Wie würden wir aus Kaliningrad heraus kommen, fragten wir uns etwas bange. Aber kein Problem. Da wir erst mitten durch eine große einspurige Autobahnbaustelle aus der Stadt heraus mussten, verpassten wir die rechtzeitige Abfahrt auf eine Landstraße nach Selenogradsk. So fanden wir uns eben auf der Autobahn wieder, und siehe da: niemand beschwerte sich; die Polizei registrierte uns nur aus dem Augenwinkel und so rasten wir auf dem breiten Standstreifen der neu gebauten Strecke  an die Küste. So schnell waren wir noch nie auf dieser Reise.

In Selenogradsk fielen uns unglaublich viele große mondäne Großbauten und Großbaustellen auf. Es ist die Nachbarstadt von Pioniersky und dort haben die russischen Regierenden ihre Sommerdomizile. Klein Miami, sage ich nur.

Direkt aus Selenogradsk heraus geht es dann auf die Nehrung; 100 Kilometer Wald- und Dünenlandschaft. Die Landzunge ist zwischen 300 und 1.300 Meter breit.

Auf einer verkehrsarmen Straße fuhren wir durch Wald, Wald, Wald. Nadelwald, Laubwald, Mischwald. Große Bäume, kleine Bäume, Heidewald, Sumpfwald. Mal links die Ostsee, mal rechts der Binnensee. Es roch fantastisch nach Sommer; die Warnschilder am Straßenrand warnten vor Wildschweinen, Füchsen, Dachsen und Elchen. Wir sind keinem lebendem Tier begegnet, nur ab und an sahen wir Kadaver am Rand liegen.

Wir kamen durch Lesnoi, einem Badeort, fanden ihn aber irgendwie trostlos. Abends übernachteten wir in Rybachy, dem früheren Rossitten. Ein Ort, der unter Segelfliegern bekannt ist für die Pioniere des Segelfluges, die auf der großen Düne ihre Segelflugzeuge per Gummizugstart in die Luft brachten.

Rybachy ist leer, eine kleine Kirche ist nach dem Krieg wieder in Betrieb genommen worden. Wir übernachteten in einer Pension im ehemaligen Schulhaus. Die Zeit schien stehen geblieben zu sein.

Wir hatten noch ein paar Rubel übrig und gingen im Dorflokal essen. Es war ein Ausflugslokal und die Spezialität war Fisch.

Ein buntes Gemisch aus russischer und deutscher Sprache zeigte sich an den Bildern und Tafeln an den Wänden. Die ehemalige deutsche Vergangenheit ist noch spürbar.

How would we get out of Kaliningrad? This was a question that we asked ourselves. But it was no problem. Since we had to pass a huge highway construction site we missed the right way to a smaller road. So we had to cycle on the motorway and away we went. The policemen didn‘t even care and everybody else was fine with us. We flew on the highway at our highest speed for now in the direction to the coast..

We reached Selenogradsk and we noticed an awful lot of big construction works and house building sites. It‘s the neighbour town of Pioniersky and that is the place where many Russian rulers are residing during the summer holidays. I tell you, it looks like Little Miami.

Straight out of the town we found ourselves on the small road on the Curonian Spit. 100 kilometers forests and dunes. The spit is between 300 and 1.300 meters wide. Coniferous forest, deciduous forest, mixed forest. Big trees, small trees, heath forest, swamp forest. To the left side the Baltic sea, to the right side the lake. We smelled the summer. The warning signs at the side of the road gave warnings of wild boars, foxes, badgers and elks. We didn’t see any living wild animal but we saw a carcass every now and then.

We passed through Lesnoi, a coastal village, but we found it somewhat dreary. In the evening we stayed in Rybachy, the former (German) Rossitten. It is known for the early pioneers of gliding. Trying to fly along the great dunes.

Rybachy is empty, a small church where there are services again after the long war. We stayed in the old schoolhouse over night. It seemed like times were standing still.

We had some rubels left and went for dinner at the small local restaurat. It was good for fresh fish. A mixture of Russian and German signs was a reminder of former German times.

[firenationskydominion]

Chapter 12: The Essence of Ozai

Ozai sat next to her. He remembered her making love to him the previous night. The thought of her made him smile. She held his hand and he felt loved. He felt weird looking at the throne room where he spent so much time. How lonely he had been. First during the audiences with his father. He shuddered. An then as a firelord himself. He was sad and yet somehow detached. So much had happened in the meantime, his time as Firelord seemed like a distant dream. He had suffered and mourned his loss of status, his sadness and pain were etched in his heart and yet the wounds had healed and so had the scars. And he felt loved and at home. He was over it. He watched the footage. Something was not right.

 O:        Stop! Go back!

 M:        This is not a movie, Ozai! I‘ll summon the spiders.

 The spiders went backwards.

 O:        Stop now! Look! There should be a large doorway here where this ugly curtain is.

 M: .      ..OK... Let‘s see if the spiders find a loophole.

The spiders scattered all over. Finally they saw a footage of one spider which crept through a tiny gap in the wooden doorframe. The picture came clear.

Several people were positioned around a table. They were all neither alive nor dead but in a state of suspended animation. As if time had stopped. Zuko was there, but no Azula or Amon.

 M:        This is creepy! We must rescue them. Azula would not be able to do this, but Amon... And we must find out where Amon is! As they are suspended in time they will not notice if five minutes or fifteen days have passed, but after a week their brain will start to deteriorate.

O:        This is a trap, they want us off the ship. I know Azula. She played Amon to get us to leave the ship. She knows that only you can rescue them. Once you’re down they‘ll attack us and take over your ship. Ten thousand men and laser guns will destroy the Earth kingdom and will only leave ash... she wants to end what I had started.

M:        We must break our own patterns. Do the unexpected. Azula still sees you as the Firelord who wants to rule at any price. I am convinced she is doing this for you.

O:        Azula sees herself as heir to the Fire throne. She expects you to defend the weak, to rush in and rescue Zuko and the Fire council.

M:        So are we supposed to just leave?

O:        That would be unexpected. I have told Azula that my interest in the Fire Kingdom is gone. What good is a firelord who can’t fight an AgniKai? I am a realist, I don‘t follow childish dreams.

Ozai sounded disappointed, but he had his feelings under control.

O:        I would rather explore new worlds with you. I want to move forward, not dwell in the past like her.

M:        What are you implying?

O:        Look, she thinks you‘re my plaything, she does not know that we are betrothed. She thinks my loyalty is with her. Once you go down to rescue Zuko, she‘ll capture the ship with Amon and she‘ll get rid of you.

M:        She might well try...

O:        What would the most outrageous thing be that I could do?

M:        Forgive Ursa and Ikem?

O:        No, that will never happen...

M:        You're not the only one in the world who had a nasty divorce, love. You have to learn to get over it. If this is not an option, you could maybe team up with Aang?

O:        I could try to... He has nothing to fear from me.

M:        If we could only move the whole table party without waking them...

O:        We cannot ask the Earthbenders. Firenation is at war with the Earth king. That would be treason. I may have given up on my royal ambitions but I am not a traitor to my people.

M:        Good. The avatar then. First we‘ll hide the ship. Then we‘ll fly to the northern air temple.    

Mya summoned Eternity and told her to navigate the ship to the other dimension by herself. She gave the command to the second officer Rhea Brume. Eternity would return in a fortnight would then try to summon Mya, Ozai or Amon. If none would be responsive, Rhea would take up command with Eternity and leave for Earth. 

Ozai and Mya boarded one of the bigger pods and set direction towards the northern air temple. This time they used their stealth mode. After seven hours of flight they reached the northern air temple where they were welcomed by ten combat ready airbenders led by Aang. 

Mya:     Avatar Aang! We‘re here in peace, please listen to us, Zuko is in danger! Azula and Amon have frozen him in time and they want to steal my ship. I have hidden my ship but I need your help to rescue Zuko.

Aang:   Why should I believe you? You‘re sheltering a fugitive.

Mya:     He is not a fugitive. We had an agreement which Zuko broke. Ozai redeemed himself with his sacrifices on the asteroid which Zuko acknowledged and yet he imprisoned and even tortured him. His own father! I admit, Ozai here was a jerk of a father as Firelord, yet Zuko almost killed him.

Aang:   Is that true?

Ozai:    Yes. You took away my bending. In combat I am as weak as a newborn batkitten. I can fight as a man but I stand no chance against benders of any kind.

Aang:   I did take away your bending powers to save other people. If you have truly changed your powers will return.

Ozai:    They have returned if I need to rescue someone or need to bend fire for peaceful reasons, but not to defend myself.

Aang:   Hm... Maybe you should talk to the Lion Turtle? Show me, can you bend fire now?

Ozai:    Why would I?

A:         Because you‘re a firebender, that‘s kind of what you do? You need a reason? You really have changed...

Ozai smiled and closed his eyes and tried his best. He produced a little flame. Then he looked around and saw Mya‘s shining eyes. His flames increased. Finally he focused on a rock and threw a lightning.

 O:        See that works fine, but if you‘d attack me I couldn‘t use it against you.

 Aang was thoughtful.

 A:         What do you expect me to do?

 Mya:     We need to rescue Zuko. For this we need to give Azula a surprise she didn‘t expect. If Toph and Bumi rescued him, it might end the war! But Ozai as former Firelord cannot partake in it. Toph will not listen to us, but to you. If you request it it will be an impartial request and we can stay out of it. 

Aang agreed to meet with Toph and Bumi. We took the pod to the border of the fire nation where we were supposed to meet with Iroh and June. We approached the remote hamlet Iroh had suggested we meet at.  

O:        By the Firesages, I know this place! I have been here as a child!

M:        What place is this?

O:        My mothers ancestors came from here. It has been long abandoned. She hailed from the fire sages. There was a place here we were never allowed to go... 

Ozai ran forward past the houses to the woods in which we found the entry to a cave. Ozai lit a fireball and entered the cave. 

O:        I have wondered about this all my life. 

M:        Shouldn‘t we meet Iroh first? 

O:        I am certain he is waiting in here! This is the cave of the fire sages.  

We walked through a narrow tunnel which led us to a hall. Ozai lit a lantern on the wall. All lanterns were connected by oiled ropes and the whole room lit up. Ozai was in awe and so was I. The hall was lined by huge statues of former fire sages and in the center there was a fire pit. Human remains lay in the pit. 

Ozai stumbled back, his voice broke. 

O:        They sacrificed humans. Blood sacrifice! That‘s dark magic, it‘s the biggest sin. 

Ozai was pale as a ghost and surprisingly disgusted. I had seen worse on my travels in space and once more I realized how sheltered this world was from the real atrocities in space. 

M:        I wonder when this happened. 

A voice came out of the dark: 

„This abomination was Zozins doing. He was the one who started the sacrifices of the sacred children. Azulon carried on the tradition. He killed all the airbenders here.“

 Iroh emerged from the dark followed by June and Nyla. 

Ozais voice was frail. 

O:        Brother, why didn‘t you ever tell me. This would have changed everything.

I:          Are you sure it would have, Ozai, my overambitious and ruthless brother? Are you sure you would not have continued the tradition of our family?

O:        I...

I:          When you told me to go to exile with Zuko I felt that you cared about him and wanted him safe by my side and out of the palace. You did not want him to become YOU. And yet look where we are now. He IS your blood, not that man’s son.

O:        I have changed. I will make things right. And if it’s the last thing that I do. Sacrificing blood at such a sacred site is an abomination. We are cursed. I need to break this cycle.

I:          You would have used it and you would have told Azula, which would have been even worse.

O:        We need to break this blood magic. But how?

M:        How did this place look before the blood sacrificing started?

I:          The statues of the fire sages and the center court. But not the altar or the remains. But I am not sure...

M:        Aang would know. He could summon Avatar Roku and he would know more about all this. 

Ozai ran out of the cave, Iroh followed him. In the meantime June and I investigated the cave. The statues of the fire sages were old, there were remains of about a hundred people scattered all around them, half of them children. It broke my heart. I had seen many things, but this was heart-breaking. Behind the statues, there were wooden crates and rusty old weapons. Ozai and Iroh returned three hours later with shovels and a cart. We started to clear the center of the cave by moving the remains and ashes into the crates. 

At this moment we heard a loud thud outside. We all hid behind the statues, combat ready. People were approaching. Nyla started wagging her tail. Friends?

 Aang and Toph entered the cave. 

M:        Aang! What are you doing here?

Aa:       I felt a grave imbalance in the spirit world and Avatar Roku spoke to me. He told me that Ozai needed my help.

O:        You came for me?

Aa:       I am the avatar for everyone. Even for you and foremost you. You needed my help most, always. The avatar snd the Fire Nation always had a special bond. I wish I had been there to guide you when you were a child.

O:        I am glad you are here. We found this here... 

Ozai pointed at the center and he was unable to explain himself, so Iroh took over. He told Aang and Toph about Zozin and Azulons crimes and the horrific sacrifices they had done - including the slaughtering of the air nomads. Aang was appalled, tears ran down his face. 

O:        I cannot change what my grandfather did, but I need your help to prevent that it ever happens again.  

Toph:   Let me do this, I’ll wreck this place for good!

O:        No, Beifong! This was a sacred place for centuries before Azulon desecrated it. We need to clear it.

Aang:   I will ask Avatar Roku for guidance. 

Aang sat down and meditated. We all sat on the ground around him. 

Roku:   This is why I fought Azulon, he committed heinous crimes and destabilized the spirit world.

Aang:   How can Ozai fix this?

Roku:   You need to give the victims their proper burial by dispersing their ash in the air, the altar must be destroyed, the temple cleaned by fire by both Firelord Ozai and General Iroh.

Aang:   Firelord Ozai?

Roku:   Yes, he is now wise enough to rule Firenation as the king he should always have been. He is the Firelord appointed by the Fire Gods, blessed by the fire spirits. Zuko will fail because he is not Fire incarnate. 

Aang:   Ozai doesn’t want the throne. And he cannot fight his Agni Kais. 

Roku:   You have the power to return what you took. To mend the broken link, to help him find his connection to his element. 

Roku vanished and left Aang back confused. 

M:        What did you see?

Aang:   I now know what we must do.  

Aang ordered us to take all remains outside. He then asked Toph to smash all the remains to dust and break the altar into rubble. He then went into the Avatar state and airbent high into the sky creating a wind tunnel which sucked all the ashes up and dispersed them high up in the stratosphere. In the meantime Iroh and Ozai burnt the cave until there was no oxygen left. They ran out gasping for air and collapsed outside. 

I held Ozai who was deeply moved.

O:        I want to leave with you, my love. Far away. Really far far away from this place.

M:        I love you, Ozai. No matter where we are. You are not alone in this.

Aang descended and his face was wet with tears. I hugged him. Ozai apologized and Aang looked at him with a strange look in his eyes.

Aang:   You feel my pain. I feel your suffering. Since that day when I took your bending power we are connected.

Ozai:    I wish I had known you when I was younger. We might have become friends. I needed a friend like you.

Aang:   Will you leave this world when all this is over?

Ozai:    Yes, once Zuko is established as Firelord again, I‘ll leave with Mya for the stars! 

Aang looked at him with a very sad face, walked up to him and hugged him. 

Aang:   I am sorry, Ozai, you have another fate. He went into the Avatar state and put his thumb on his forehead on his third eye. I screamed.

 M:        Noooo! Don‘t kill him!

Aang returned to normal and Ozai stumbled away. I ran to Ozai and held him. He was alive.

 M:        What did you do??

Aang:   I gave him back his powers. Now it‘s all up to him. If he has truly changed, our world will find peace. If he hasn‘t we will all die. Toph and I are going to the Firenation capital to rescue Zuko.

June:    Before you leave! Nyla has found out about the whereabouts of Amon. He is being held in the Temple of Fire on Ember Island.

Mya:     We will get Amon out. Only I can fight him, if he has turned.

Ozai:    Toph, Aang, move Zuko and the others to Ember island, my house has a boat house where you can hide them and do hide the entrance to this cave. This shall remain our secret, so that my children never get tempted to use this place. Aang and Toph earthbent the entrance shut for good.  

Aang and Toph left on Appa to pick up Bumi in Omashu. They arrived in the middle of rebuilding efforts which Bumi was coordinating.  

Bumi:   Look, the asteroid destroyed the merchant quarter. It landed on the cabbage shop and whole Omashu stank of burnt cabbage for a week.

Aa:       What happened to the merchant?

Bumi:   He got insurance money and left for the Fire Nation.

Aang and Toph explained Zukos situation to Bumi, but he declined to help. 

Bumi:   We are at war. Helping him would be treason. But kidnapping him would be a heroic feat, dear Toph. And as you are technically „stealing“ him, you should bring him to Omashu instead. 

[anotherlifefic]

Chapter 45: The Man in the Mirror

When I awoke, it was still dark outside, and for a moment I was confused. Why was I awake? I looked over to Link who also raised his head, obviously still half-asleep and just as confused as I was. But then someone gently touch my shoulder.

It was Zelda, standing next to the bed, fully dressed again. „I‘m sorry, but I have to leave. My chambermaid will come to my chambers to wake me in an hour, and the whole castle will be in a panic if I‘m not there then.“

„Oh. Okay. Goodbye, Zelda“, I mumbled gently.

„Goodbye, Zelda“, Link said with a soft yawn.

Zelda smiled, and in the light of the moon through the window her eyes seemed to be a bit teary. „I hope I will see you again soon, my loves.“

I fell asleep again after Zelda left and awoke a few hours later. It took a moment for me to realize that I was alone in the bed. But from the door leading out to the roof terrace I heart horses whinny and Link talking, though I couldn‘t quite understand what he was saying.

I put on a dressing gown and a pair of fur-lined slippers and stepped outside onto the terrace, looking down to the pasture, where Link had just let the horses outside for the day. And in his arms, he carried Gareth, talking to him about Epona and Glory and how he could have a horse of his very own when he was older. I leaned against the balustrade and watched the exchange with a smile. Then Gareth looked up and spotted me, stretching out his tiny arms squealing:„Mommy! Mommy!“

Link turned and used his free hand to wave at me. „Good morning, sweetheart! Care to come down and join us? We‘ll have breakfast on the pasture!“

„Coming!“, I called down to them and then returned inside to get dressed and gather up some food for breakfast.

A little while later, Link and I were sitting on a blanket in the middle of the pasture, keeping an eye on Gareth, who was crawling around in the grass hunting bugs.

The perfect time of the year for picnics was long over, but Link and Gareth were bundled up in their warmest clothes and I… well, I didn‘t feel the cold anymore. So I could watch them and enjoy the warmth that spread in my chest when I had them around me. My perfect little family.

„Mommy! Mommy!“ Gareth came crawling up to me, trying but failing to stand up and walk a bit of the way, and excitedly showed me the remains of an unfortunately crushed bug in his hand.

„That‘s… nice, sweety“, I said, taking out a hankerchief and wiping the dead insect from my son‘s hand. „Why don‘t you try to catch a living one?“

He giggled and scampered off again.

„He‘s growing so fast“, Link commented. „It feels like it was just yesterday that he was born.“

„Indeed.“ I watched as Gareth was again trying and failing to stand up and walk.

Link took my hand in his and kissed my knuckles. „So… about what happened last night...“

„What about it? We all wanted it, didn‘t we?“, I asked.

„That‘s true, but still I can‘t help but feel like it was… wrong, somehow.“ He stroked the back of my hand with his thumb. „When we got married, I vowed to be faithful to you. And even with your consent and participation, I broke that vow last night. I desired another woman.“

„Not any woman“, I reminded him. „You desired Zelda. Our friend and Queen and lover. You desired her, and so did I. I for one regret nothing.“

He placed his arm around me and planted gentle kisses onto my jaw. „I just want you to know that it doesn‘t change anything between us. You are still my wife, the one I vowed to love until the day I die.“

„I know that. And I will also love you until the day the Goddesses reclaim my soul.“

He did not answer for a moment, but we continued exchanging short, sweet kisses while still keeping an eye on Gareth.

A few minutes later, a messenger from the castle approached us. „Master Link, Mistress Rebecca, Her Majesty requests your presence in the council room. Immediately.“

Link and I looked at each other, somewhat horrified. What was going on?

We snatched Gareth, who began wailing because his playtime had been interrupted, and made our way to the castle while trying to calm him down.

The council room was a huge hall with a table that occupied the majority of it, as it had to accommodate all of Hyrule‘s dignitaries at times, though that was rare. Right now, the only people in the room were Zelda, the Sages, Link, Gareth and I.

Ruto‘s eyes widened for a moment when she saw me with Gareth in my arms, but then she turned her head in a dismissive gesture.

„There you are“, Zelda said calmly. „My apologies for interrupting your morning, but I fear that I have troubling news. Have a seat.“

We sat down next to Naboru, who nodded at us with a smile before returning her attention to the Queen.

„As you may remember, Link and Rebecca killed Ganondorf not too long ago, and I felt it prudent to swiftly return to the city to make sure Link gets the medical attention he needed at the moment. However, shortly after that, I sent a troup of soldiers to retrieve Ganondorf‘s body. Both to properly bury him, and to make sure he was truly dead.“ She let her eyes wander from person to person. „And it pains me to say this but… he was gone. There was no body.“

Shocked silence. Then, whispers.

„Gone? What does she mean by gone? Does that mean he is still alive and out there?“, Saria asked thinly, clearly terrified and thinking about what happened to Kokiri Forest in that other future.

„This can‘t be“, Ruto whispered. Her usually vibrant scales seemed to lose all colour from the shock, and she seemed to be close to a panic attack. „It has to be some kind of mistake.“

„This guy is as persistent as a cockroach, and twice as pesky. I have no trouble believing that he defeated death yet again just so he could continue making life difficult for us“, Naboru mumbled. „Try to stay calm“, Zelda said with a slightly raised voice. „We have no exact proof that Ganondorf is still alive. There were animals living around the fortress, no? That could be another possible explanation. I called you here to make sure you know what is going on, and to make sure you could prepare for the worst case scenario.“

„And we appreciate that, Your Majesty“, Darunia replied. „Whatever may happen, the Gorons will be ready!“

„All of Hyrule will be“, Impa added. „There aren‘t a lot of warriors in Kakariko, but I will mobilize whatever forces I can.“

While everyone was busy planning their defenses, Link and I looked at each other with wide eyes and pale faces. We had spent the past months in the blissful illusion that the nightmare was over.

But suddenly, I remembered what Lana had told me.

„There are powers at work that far exceed the greed of a single man.“

I had a terrible feeling that her words would prove woefully true…

„You may leave now and prepare your people“, Zelda finally said and got up from her seat. „All of you… except for Link and Rebecca.“

Ruto looked at me for a split second, and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. But then she followed the rest of the sages out of the room.

Once it was just us, Zelda stepped closer, smiling at Gareth and stroking his cheek while talking to us.

„I‘m sorry that this has to happen now. Just when we thought things could finally settle down a bit.“

„It‘s not your fault.“ I took her hand into both of mine and gave it an encouraging squeeze. „Let‘s just hope that his body was just dragged off by wild animals or collected by some of his goons to be buried.“

„I‘m sure that‘s the case“, Link said, trying really hard to sound confident. „Don‘t worry too much, okay?“

„I‘m the Queen. Making hard decisions and worrying is what I‘m here for“, Zelda joked, but she sounded too nervous for the joke to really land. „However, now I‘m happier than ever to have you closer to me. Having quick access to the Hero of Time will be a huge advantage should the worst come to pass.“ She kissed both of us on the mouth and Gareth on the forehead. „You may return home now, my loves. I will send someone to you if there are any new developments.“

Link and I returned home, and Link took Gareth inside to prepare dinner while I mucked out the stable. It was good, familiar work, hard as it was now that I was so out of practice. Once I was done, I returned inside to find Link already setting the table. A delicious scent of beef stew hung in the air, and Gareth was happily playing with his favourite toy, a wooden figure of a horse, while sitting in the playpen.

Link looked up once the last bit of dinnerware was at its place. „Ah! There you are. The stew needs a few more minutes.“

„That‘s fine“, I replied and walked over to him for a hug and kiss. After the brief contact, his lips hovered over mine for a second, and he smiled. „You smell so good, love.“

„I highly doubt that“, I replied with a chuckle. I was sweaty and dirty from mucking out the stable. „Let me wash up before we eat, okay?“

There wasn‘t enough time for a bath, so I just filled the basin in the bathroom with water and cleaned myself up with a washrag and a bit of soap. I bent over the basin to wash my face, and when I looked up into the mirror again, there was a huge man with burning red eyes behind me. He had long red hair that seemed to dance around like flames, and a glowing, x-shaped scar on his forehead.

I whirled around, letting out a short, ear-piercing shriek and blasting the spot where the man would have been with a spell, but there was nobody there.

The door was thrust open violently, and Link came rushing in. „Rebecca?! I heard you scream! What‘s going on?!“

I looked at him, but needed a moment to get my vocal cords back under control before replying. „I… I saw something in the mirror. But there was nothing. I must have imagined it.“

Link looked at the spot on the floor that was now covered in thin icicles. Then he breathed a sigh of relief. „Thank the Goddesses. I thought Ganondorf might be here and trying to hurt you.“

„He‘s dead, Link“, I said, as if to try and convince both of us. „He won‘t come back.“

Link ran up to me and threw his arms around me, kissing me wildly. „I‘m just glad you aren‘t hurt or in danger. I have put you in danger far too many times already, and I would never forgive myself if something actually happened to you.“

I kissed him back at first, but then stopped him. „Come on… our dinner is getting cold and I don‘t want to leave Gareth alone for too long.“

Gareth looked up at us when we returned to the dining area. He still had the small wooden horse in his hand and let it walk along the edge of the playpen.

His dark blue eyes followed our movement as we filled the stew into our bowls and sat down at the table.

He really has his father‘s eyes, I thought to myself and returned my attention to Link, who took my hand over the table.

„Link, I won‘t be able to eat like that“, I protested, but the chuckle that came along with it made it clear that I actually didn‘t mind too much.

We ate, and while we did so, my mind wandered back to the man in the mirror. He had looked a lot like Ganondorf, but not the same. Ganondorf, huge and intimidating as he was, was still undeniably human. But the vision I had seen had looked more like pure darkness given humanoid form. And those piercing, red eyes… eyes like flames, much like the man‘s hair. Fire…

„We should tell Zelda about what just happened“, Link said while scooping the last bit of stew out of his bowl.

„What? No. She has enough on her plate already. We don‘t have to bother her with this… hallucination.“

„But what if it isn‘t a hallucination?“, Link asked. „What if what you saw is connected to Ganondorf somehow?“

I stared at my now empty bowl. „...They do look similar…“

„See? This has to mean something. And the consequences of ignoring it if it does far outweigh any inconvenience it might cause if it doesn‘t!“

I sighed. „Yes, you‘re right.“

[anotherlifefic]

Chapter 37: Back to Life as it was

I took Link along on Glory, since Epona was still in the city stable, and together, he, Zelda and I made our way back to Hyrule. I took a long, deep breath of the fresh air as we rode along the shore of Lake Hylia. It felt so good to see the lush, green grass again. And the sun! How I had missed the sun! I looked across the lake and saw a family of Zora play in the water. If Link hadn‘t been in such poor shape after his imprisonment, I would have stopped to nap in the grass and maybe take a dip in the lake. Just enjoy all of the things Ganondorf had destroyed in the future. But Link needed to see a healer, and I wanted to see Gareth again. My sweet, darling son.

We only took occasional breaks, but it still took us two days until we finally stood in front of the castle again. We stopped when we noticed the group of people standing in front of the gate. Naboru was the first to notice us. „There are our heroes!“, she called out, waving at us with a wide grin. „You‘re all back!“, Zelda exclaimed. Her eyes darted to Impa, who gave er a motherly smile. „You‘ve done great, Princess.“ „You‘ve all done great!“, Darunia shouted in his booming voice. „Too bad nobody but us remembers!“ I shook my head. „I think it‘s better that way.“ Princess Ruto looked at me, still some hostility in her eyes. Then she turned away. „You did okay, I guess.“ I smiled at her. Princess Ruto and I would probably never be friends. But I was okay with that. „Memory or no memory, how about we celebrate our victory before everyone returns home?“, Saria asked. Zelda rubbed her chin. „I think I could arrange something. But all of you should return home, first. And I will prepare a celebration of all of your return.“ Then she turned to Link and me. „Would you mind staying in the castle for a while? Link probably needs a lot of supervision from a doctor during his recovery, and...“ She paused for a moment. „...I just really want have the two of you close to me right now.“ I leaned over on Glory, making sure not to lose balance, and hugged her. „Of course we‘ll stay, Zelda.“

I brought Link to the royal doctor‘s office. And while Dr. Tori was taking care of him, I took his hand. „Darling, can I leave for a moment? I want to go pick Gareth up.“ Link gave me a weak smile and stroked the back of my hand with his thumb. „Yes, please. I want to see him, too.“ Just then, Zelda entered the room. „That won‘t be necessary. I just told a servant to go fetch the woman who cared for him while we were gone.“

A few minutes passed, during which I almost cried from the anticipation. I had missed my little boy so much, and now I would finally be able to hold him again. I jumped up as soon as the door opened and the gardener stepped in with Gareth in her arms. This was it. I was just a few steps away from holding my baby again. „There you go, mistress“, the woman said as she handed him over to me. I had to take a few deep breaths before I could tell her:„Thank you so much for taking care of him.“ „Oh it was nothing. Your boy is such a sweetheart!“ I held Gareth a little closer. „Yes. Yes he is.“ Then I returned to Link‘s bedside and asked:„Do you think you can hold him, Link?“ Link held out his arms, and his eyes became watery once I had passed Gareth over to him. „Sorry that I‘ve been gone for so long“, he mumbled, gently rocking the sleeping baby. „I swear that won‘t happen again.“ Zelda joined us by the other side of Link‘s bed, and gently put her hand under Gareth‘s head to help support it. „Your son is blessed to have the two of you.“ Then she looked up, smiling at both Link and me. „And so am I.“ „Aw, Zelda. I‘m already sentimental enough as it is.“ Too late, there were a few tiny tears running down my face. I was just happy to have my beautiful little family all in one place again.

The days after our return were incredibly busy. All of the races in Hyrule were in an uproar about their beloved leaders returning. I helped Zelda with the preparations for the ball the was to be held in celebration for the sages while Link was still recovering from his imprisonment. And finally, the day had come. The most important people of Hyrule were gathered in the ballroom of the castle; ministers and priests and nobles. I was wearing my green silk-dress and Link his silk-tunic. It was pleasant callback to first days of our relationship. And we stood among the guests as Zelda welcomed each of the sages. First was Princess Ruto, wrapped into a shawl of sheer, deep blue fabric that made her look almost ethereal. Upon her head she wore a golden headdress with amethysts worked into it that had the same hue as her eyes. Then came Impa, dressed in an exquisite purple kimono with black cranes embroidered onto it. Darunia, without any ceremonial armor or clothing. He let his mere presence speak for itself. Little Saria, in a lovely green dress and a flowercrown upon her head. Naboru in her pink bedlam, but with a crown-like headpiece worked around the jewel on her forehead that let everyone know that she was the queen of the Gerudo. And finally, Rauru, now in his human form, wearing his usual clerical garb. Once they had all taken their place in front of Zelda, she softly cleared her throat before raising her voice: „My dear friends. Words cannot express the kind of joy I feel about your return. Your disappearance had left a hole in all of our hearts, and now, it is like each race of Hyrule has regained a piece that has been sorely missing. So let me say, in the name of all of Hyrule: Welcome home.“ „Welcome home!“, all of the guests said in unison; some bowed, among them Link and I. Zelda lifted her hands to gain the attention of all attendees once more. „And now, let us be merry in honor of those that returned… and those who now watch over us from the great beyond.“

As the music began to play, Link and I retreated to the sidelines, where Zelda stood, talking to Impa. The Shiekah turned to us and smiled. „The Hero of Time and his wife. Finally, we can meet in person.“ I curtsied. „It‘s an honor, Lady Impa.“ „It‘s good to know that you‘re back, Impa“, Link said cheerfully. „Well.. it‘s good to know that everyone is back. But I‘m sure Zelda will need you to watch her back for her while she‘s busy being Queen.“ „I‘m sure she will. I trust that you will attend her coronation as well?“ „Wouldn‘t miss it for the world“, I replied, smoothing down my skirt. The crowd parted slightly, and Princess Ruto came up to us, giving me a sour look and then turning to Link. „Link, would you please dance with me?“ „Uhm… I‘m not sure it would be appropriate, since I‘m married and-“ „I think it‘s a great idea. I was just about to ask Princess Zelda for a dance, anyway.“ I smiled. Princess Ruto let go of his arm and glared at me. „Link doesn‘t NEED your permission!“ „You‘re right, he doesn‘t. I‘m just saying that he doesn‘t need to worry about me being jealous.“ Link shrugged. „Okay, then I don‘t see why not.“ Ruto gave me one last withering glare before tucking her arm into Link‘s and leading him off onto the dancefloor. I bowed to Zelda. „May I ask for this dance, Your Highness?“ Zelda chuckled. „Happily.“

She was a fantastic dancer, and managed to even out all of my small mistakes. While we were twirling on the floor, we passed Link and Princess Ruto, just as it was time to swap partners. „Do you want to dance with Link now?“, I asked Zelda. She smiled and her cheeks flushed a little. „I‘d love to, but then who will you dance with?“ Before I could answer, the uncomfortably familiar feeling of scales burying into my skin interrupted my train of thought and Princess Ruto dragged me off, leaving a slightly befuddled Zelda and Link behind. Ruto wasn‘t as gracious a dancepartner as Zelda had been. Her movements were absolutely perfect, but she made no attempt at concealing my lack of skill. „Just so you know, I still hate that you and Link are married. And I still hate you. He deserves better.“ Her amethyst eyes bore into mine. Then she sighed. „But I also know when I am beaten.“ „Oh?“, I asked. „Where does that change of attitude come from?“ She huffed. „It‘s not like I can change the way he feels. The whole time we were dancing, he kept looking at you. He thought I didn‘t notice, but I did.“ Now she let go of me and disappeared into the crowd, leaving me standing awkwardly in the middle of the dancefloor, until I quietly slipped to the sidelines again, where Saria stood. „What‘s with the sad face?“, she asked kindly and motioned for me to bend down. Then she plucked a white moonflower out of her flowercrown and tucked it behind my ear. „Today is a joyful day! You should be smiling!“ I bit my lip, not wanting to unload my emotional baggage onto her. She had already seen and lived through enough. „Uhm. I don‘t know. Maybe it‘s just the stress catching up to me. There wasn‘t much time to unwind with everything going on right now.“ „Oh, that‘s understandable. Do you want to go out onto the balcony? Get some fresh air?“ I sighed. „I‘d love to.“

The sun was slowly setting, and I took a deep, relieved breath. „Ah… this is much better.“ Saria out onto the cityscape and then back to me. „And now, won‘t you tell me what is bothering you? I can tell it‘s not just the stress.“ „Well… it kinda is. And I‘m sure that what I just lived through plays a big part in it. But mostly… I‘m not sure where to go from here. I can‘t just go back to being the person I was before all of this started. I spent the entire journey doubting myself and wishing to turn back time and just be a farmhand or even a wife and mother again. But now, going back to that would feel like regressing. And another thing is… So many things happened in that other future that brought Link and I closer. And all of those things were erased now, and he doesn‘t remember.“ „Maybe he doesn‘t remember, but I‘m sure he still feels it.“ She took my hand and gave me a kind smile. „He loves you. I can feel it. Don‘t you feel it, too? It wasn‘t too long ago that this love was sown in his heart, but it took root and now it is on its way to becoming a beautiful tree.“ She closed her eyes. „Speak of the devil. There he comes. I‘ll leave you two alone.“ She walked off, and I turned my head towards the horizon again. I didn‘t have to see or hear him. I felt that he was there, his gaze lingering on me, before he came to stand next to me. „Are you enjoying the party?“, he asked gently. My lips twitched into a half-smile. „It‘s… overwhelming. How about you?“ „Way too many women want to dance with me“, he said, wiping some sweat from his brow. „I passed Saria on the way here and promised to dance with her later. But first, I wanted to spend some time with you.“ He took my hand and kissed it. „Come on. Dance with me.“ And before I could answer, he pulled me to his chest and led me into a slow waltz. I leaned my head onto his shoulder, taking in his scent, and just followed his movement. I was glad that nobody would look at us out here on the balcony. This was a private moment; other people would have just made it less intimate. This way, I could just bask in the perfection of the moment. Together, at last.