feckyeslife

Pausing in the hall, Zuko ran a hand gingerly along Li’s handiwork on his hair. Not a single wisp was out of place and the golden flame stood proudly at the base of his topknot. He considered adjusting it to make sure it was facing straight, but too many memories of Lo’s bamboo fan across his knuckles stayed his hand.

He shouldn’t be worrying this much about his own appearance. It was ridiculous that anyone else was so overly concerned for the prince’s hair and attire. What did it matter what he looked like today? It was a political affair. The only thing that mattered was that he did not offend the opposing family and learn to live with his bride to be. Simple.

He peered around the doorframe to try and check who had already arrived. The wide dining hall of the Fire Lord was packed with bodies. A sea of burgundy, gold, and red filled one half of the hall. The Fire Lord’s family might not have been large, but the extended court of the nation would have wormed their way into the festivities to try and prove their favor with the reigning Fire Lord. Zuko made a face as he spotted familiar scribes and local - as well as not so local - governors all who certainly couldn’t care less about the prince’s nuptials.

What was of greater interest was the left-hand side of the room. Here, Zuko raked his eyes over unfamiliar regalia and the heavy, embellished attire of his bride’s attendants. The crisp blues, whites, and blacks did not blend into the background of the room like much of the Fire Nation side did. The thick furs especially stood out, especially given the sweltering heat that would come in a few short hours at midday.

Stamets placed a hand on her shoulder, sending Tilly skyrocketing from surprise. "Sir!" she yelped before pushing her hair back behind her ears. Getting pulled out from her little zone of focus was always distracting.

Her superior officer arched an eyebrow before looking down at her screen. "Still working on the intermix project? I would have thought you would be out the door right at seventeen hundred," he commented.

Tilly frowned, caught between wanting to pick his brain on whether or not she should really include temperatures above fifteen hundred in her parameter list and trying to remember why she would be bolting out right at the end of her shift. She brought the previous models into focus on her screen. "Yeah, I wanted to give it a proper deep dive that it needs," she replied. Her swiping brought up the previous notifications back on screen as well. She hadn't read them at the time, knowing that they would just be her usual reminders that you need to eat to keep from getting hangry, Tills.

Stamets cocked his head. "Sure," he said slowly as Tilly finally absorbed the words on the screen in front of her. "But didn't you still have plans-?"

"Oh shit! I mean, oh no. I mean, yes," Tilly stammered as she frantically moved to close down her work with all the grace of a chicken on rollerskates.

Minutes ticked by on Rey's chrono. It was taking too long. Transport to the comms station had been clocked at sixteen minutes. Rey was approaching eighteen. The nagging sensation of wrongness thrummed with every check of the chrono. Eighteen point three five.

Rey didn't wait for the speeder to decelerate all the way, jumping and rolling from the craft to absorb the shock along her back rather than her side. Her auto-pilot would finish the decel. She had two point six eight minutes to make up.

A few wires cut loose from a security panel on the maintenance entrance granted her access to the comms building. Her chrono buzzed softly to let her know it had just hit twenty minutes. Late, late, late.

“You said this would be worth it?” Zuko asked.

She wanted to believe it. She has been fighting to trust her decision down in the catacombs of the palace. Gazing at the ocean and knowing their bow will soon be pointed directly for the heart of the Fire Nation once more, Zuko gripped the railing ahead of her.

Azula’s face twisted in a way the two never shared before - a smile. “Of course it will be, sister,” she insisted. “Father will be honored by what you’ve done here.”