╸three : the threshold

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❝ the threshold ❞

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     DROPLETS OF WATER from a warm washcloth roll down Nari's temples, pooling behind her ears. Underneath her is a soft, silken cloth. 

     Sheets. Pillows. A thin blanket. The smell of patchouli incense being burned.

     Her bed. Nari's in her bed. 

     It's quiet. Very quiet. Nari's locked in the safety of her room, but not alone. Rai sits down on the bed's edge, a frail hand pushing her daughter down when Nari tries to sit up and fight. It's instinct, even with her muscles being tired and sore, because the last memory in her mind was a Agni Kai that she was losing.

     It takes Nari an embarrassingly long time to realize she's not  battling Akio in the middle of her family's training grounds. She clutches her hands against Rai's, trying to pull the strange hand from her shoulders, until reality settles in. 

     "Mother?"

     The older woman had spent these last few hours chasing after explanations she'd never catch up to. Pulling at threads trying to grasp each event of the night, what went wrong and what could have been prevented. The weariness of it all currently cuts sleepless lines into Rai's face. "Nari, my dear," Her voice shakes. She'd been crying... "You're awake, finally."

     Nari pauses every voluntary part of her body trying to get a read on the situation. She doesn't move, doesn't breathe, doesn't even blink. It's as if everything in her world has shifted, has been moved to the left by a small inch. "What... What is going on?"

     Her mother's black eyes are rimmed with mist, red and puffy. That's the second give-away that tells Nari things are amiss. The first was the painfully loud silence.

     Rai never cries. She never shows emotion. The compassionate touch of a mothers hand, how soft her voice travels through the unbearable still air– it's all weird enough to take Nari's mind off of the night's events. For a moment, her mother's strangeness distracts her.

     "You need rest, Nari." Rai hushes. Her sudden care is something Nari finds confusion in, not comfort. "You're injured. Lay back down, dear."

     Nari does not lie down. She wants to do the exact opposite, despite her protesting bones. "What happened?" She scratches her head as if she could itch answers out of her scalp. Nothing but empty thoughts pull up. "The last thing I remember is..."

     What is the last thing she remembers? There's not an exact end, no complete memory. Everything just circles back to Akio's nasty grin...

     With each beat of her rapid heart, Nari feels more disgusted. By herself, by Akio, she doesn't know. But she hates the feeling.

     Rai's cold fingertips pressed against the back of Nari's hand. There is hesitation in the mother's every movement. "You're a very strong bender, you know?"

     Nari slowly nods— she doesn't feel the need to emphasize 'very', or to dwell on her mother's compliment.

     "Your fire was white, dear. And you bent lightning. Nobody knew you could do that." Rai dances around the topic, still managing to answer just enough to clear her daughter's brain-fog. "You struck Akio with it."

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