Sea and Sky

Chapter 17: The Sweetness of Truth

Sea and Sky

Chapter 17: The Sweetness of Truth

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There was something different about the woman he was about to marry, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what about her had changed. During their brief time together in Ba Sing Se, Rana had been a meek woman, small in stature and hardly outspoken. It had been her gentle nature and healing touch that had spoken to his soul.

Injured on the battlefield, he'd been taken out by an Earth Bending soldier he hadn't seen. The rock crag had found the center of his chest, knocking the wind from his lungs and shattered a few of his ribs. Nothing life threatening, but had been just enough to put him out of commission. Rana had volunteered as a healing attendant, and they had met in one of the large canvas tents erected to treat soldiers on both sides.

Her family had been part of a small resistance group that had joined the Fire Nation in overtaking the Earth Kingdom capital city. Together with Azula and her Dai Li agents, Rana's father had become part of their group of revolutionaries. During their brief days together, she's spoken many times of wanting to escape her family, most notably her father and his plans to marry her off. Never had she mentioned who her father had planned for her intended husband to be.

"Perhaps azurite, or lapis?" Katara offered absently as she sifted through the gemstones spread over the table top. Spreading the raw minerals over the wooden top of the table, she studied each of the stones in the overhead lighting before looking towards Kilic.

Deep in thought, Kilic held a small fragment of jade in his hands, eyes focused intently on the stone as he turned it over in his fingers in a nervous fashion. It seemed the man was deep in thought and hadn't heard what she'd said.

"Kilic?"

Pulled out of his thoughts, Kilic glanced upward and closed his fingers over the jade fragment.

"Yes?"

Sighing, Katara dropped the stones and moved to sit next to him. Her patience with the man's withdrawn temperament was starting to wear on her nerves.

"The necklace? We've been looking at these stones for two hours, and you haven't picked one out yet. What's on your mind?"

Kilic wasn't sure how to answer her question. He had been the one to pull her into his plans to make Rana a betrothal necklace, and without Katara he wouldn't have had the faintest clue where to beging. Shaking his head, he cleared his mind of the thoughts that plagued him.

"Nothing, I'm alright. But there's so many options here, I'm not sure what would be best."

His knowledge of the Southern Tribe and their traditions was half-formed at best, the only information he did have was second hand provided to him by his mother. Ceren, who was descended of the Sun Warriors, was decidedly not an especially knowledgeable person on Water Tribe Customs.

Eyes focusing back on the stones, Katara was silent for a moment as she assessed the selection before them. Kilic Kha-Tarun and Rana Bai-Sha were not a traditional couple, perhaps a necklace that beckoned to the old way wasn't suited for them. They needed something unique to them, but paid homage to his homeland.

That was it. Pulling a few of the stones, she selected a translucent green piece and an opaque stone the color of fresh moss. Plunking the stones in front of him, she spoke, her tone confident.

"Peridot, for blessings and abundance. Or perhaps malachite, for strength and willpower."

Taking the stones from her, Kilic studied them both. The pair seemed complimentary to each other, the peridot was translucent and glittered lime green and yellow, reminding him of sunlight filtering through the trees of the cypress grove. The malachite, opaque and steady in the colors that it showed, was a deep green the color of Rana's eyes. Bright and vibrant, but not cloying in nature.