[I forgot completely to mention we are in the bookshop but we are in the bookshop. She'll carefully close the one she'd been looking through, pulling it to her chest.]
Did your dad really send you away just for speaking your mind? What you said wasn't wrong...
[ i refuse to specify locations bc im terrible so thank you ]
Yeah... for three long years. He sent me to capture the Avatar, someone who hadn't been seen in a hundred years. Only then could I return with my honor.
[ honor!!! ]
The fact that the Avatar actually showed up... well, no one really expected that.
Why does honor matter? To find someone who hasn't existed in so long, just because you said something that made your dad upset at you, that made him hurt you like that...
What kind of honor is there in hurting your own child because of what mattered to their heart?
[ a few months ago he would have flew off the handle at this, but zuko sighs tiredly and pinches the bridge of his nose ]
I know that now. I didn't, then. I spent those years chasing after his love, thinking it was for my honor. It took me a lot to realize how cruel and wrong it was... but I did.
Mmn... I don't think that's all that wrong. [Her tone stays quiet, relaxed.] If you care about someone... you want them to care back, and it hurts to think they won't.
...
Sometimes... mistakes are the only way we can learn things like that, though. Even if we didn't ask for it, or didn't know any better...
Did... you come to a decision that your heart could agree with, Zuko-kun?
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Sorry. These things are so annoying.
[ it's fine when it was a joke, but he wouldn't want to inflict such a painful memory on anyone. ]
Yeah. Well, not anymore. It's complicated.
[ hm ]
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[I forgot completely to mention we are in the bookshop but we are in the bookshop. She'll carefully close the one she'd been looking through, pulling it to her chest.]
Did your dad really send you away just for speaking your mind? What you said wasn't wrong...
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Yeah... for three long years. He sent me to capture the Avatar, someone who hadn't been seen in a hundred years. Only then could I return with my honor.
[ honor!!! ]
The fact that the Avatar actually showed up... well, no one really expected that.
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What kind of honor is there in hurting your own child because of what mattered to their heart?
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I know that now. I didn't, then. I spent those years chasing after his love, thinking it was for my honor. It took me a lot to realize how cruel and wrong it was... but I did.
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...
Sometimes... mistakes are the only way we can learn things like that, though. Even if we didn't ask for it, or didn't know any better...
Did... you come to a decision that your heart could agree with, Zuko-kun?
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[ a resounding yeah to both these things, as zuko remembers how hard he pined for ozai's love and acceptance while lashing out at iroh continuously. ]
[ he has so many regrets ]
I did. It took a long time... but I think I'm finally seeing things clearly.