Water Tribe Doll

The Doll

This was inspired by a fanfic I read on Fanfiction.net called "The Water Tribe Doll" by Laundrybender.

   Tucked away under his bed in his room, the 9-year-old Prince Zuko eyed his stolen prize. The little boy stared in wonder and joyful awe at the object in his hands: a doll specially crafted by the Water Tribe.

   For a boy born and raised in the Fire Nation, this was an oddity. Anything and everything he came into contact with that concerned people from outside were made up by the Fire Nation themselves. All of his toys and books were made by Fire Nation writers and toy makers. Not a single possession of his had ever gone near the Water Tribes or the Earth Kingdom.

     Out of the other two nations, the Water Tribes were the least discussed and most reviled. From what he had been told and from what he had seen in books and toys, the Water Tribe people were cavemen-like, savage barbarians. Their skin was grossly swarthy, their hair unruly, and their eyes a strange blue. Zuko wasn't sure whether to believe these or not, but he nevertheless went along with them.

    But that changed when he found this doll.

   The doll was originally supposed to go to Azula as a gift from their Uncle Iroh, but the boy managed to intervene in order to save the poor doll from being mutilated by his sister's sadistic hands. He was not expecting what he found.

    The doll was supposed to be a Water Tribe woman with the traditional dark hair, dark skin, and blue eyes and blue parka. But this doll was much, much different from the propaganda that the prince had grown up with.

     The Water Tribe doll depicted not a barbaric heathen....but the most beautiful maiden the boy had ever seen.

     Her face was dusky, a color that was seen gross and unappealing to the prejudiced Fire Nation nobles, but the young boy saw it differently. The doll's skin reminded him of ground up cocoa that he and Azula loved to sometimes run their hands through when the chefs in the kitchens weren't looking. He thought it was very pretty. It was different from the pasty skin that he saw on the Fire Nation girls at court and it was new, it intrigued him.

    The doll's hair reminded Zuko of the mane of a wild mare's: long, thick, and wild in a fascinating style. The hair was made of wavy locks of rich, chocolate brown that Zuko realized he liked combing his fingers through. The doll's hair was styled in a long braid with hair loopies, a hairstyle Zuko had never seen before.

     The clothes that the doll wore consisted of a pale blue and white parka dress. The dress was heavy with thick, white fur trimming the hood and sleeves and the bottom of the skirt. Despite the thickness of the parka, the doll's shape could still be seen. In the Fire Nation, the typical idea of beauty included a tall, willowy figure; but the doll's figure was petite and somewhat curvy. Such a figure would've been deemed 'inappropriate' and thought to be the body of a whore in the Fire Nation. But the young prince was unaware of this due to still being an innocent child. And he thought the doll's shape was pretty.

      Zuko affectionately caressed the doll's face with his thumb. He liked the doll's face a lot. It consisted of plump, rosy-dark lips that were formed in a loving smile along with a small, pert nose and thick eyebrows. To him, it was a beautiful face. The kind of face that belonged to an angel.

    But the boy's absolute most favorite part of the doll's appearance was its eyes. Wow! It's eyes! Zuko could've stared at the doll's eyes all day and never get bored of them. They were so.....fascinating. The doll's eyes were not the normal almond-shape of the Fire Nation nor were they colored a fiery hue of any kind. Instead, its eyes were round and doe-like and outlined with long, dark eyelashes and were a magnificent blue. Blue eyes were never seen in the Fire Nation. Zuko stared in awe at the doll's blue eyes. They weren't a subtle blue, they were a remarkable and striking blue. They were as blue and deep as the ocean and as bright as the most exquisite sapphires. Unlike the eyes of most Fire Nation noblewomen, those eyes were filled to the brim with spectacular emotion and noticeable expression. Zuko had never in his life seen such eyes and he found himself absolutely in love with them.