MAI

[fulselden]

MAI

50 sentences on Mai for theme set delta at 1character; I hope it's ok to put them up here before they go up over there.

#01 - Blend

The red glaze pools at the bottom of the cup, rusty under green tea.

 

#02 – Stain

She knows better than to tell them that it was the princess.

 

#03 – Island

She grows up with salt at the back of her teeth, soot on her tongue.

 

#04 - Apple

She cuts the slices thin enough that light comes through, sweet and diffuse.

#05 – Paper

As a girl, she learns when it should fold, when it will cut.

 

#06 – Relax

“Come on, Ty Lee,” she says: “it’s your sort of thing, I suppose.”

 

#07 – Leaves

They fall with the weight of the rain in the wet season, red underfoot; Ty Lee kicks them up in great slurping arcs.

 

#08 – Proof

She does not think she needs to offer it until she sees his surprise.

 

#09 – Ugly

“A pity,” says Azula: “you would have made such a pretty couple.”

 

#10 – Book

She watches as he buries himself in them, his lips soft and open (perhaps they remind him of his mother).

 

#11 – Brood

For some days, she refuses to so much as cut the tie on the letter.

 

#12 – Mesh

Her mother’s servants close up the pieces of her court costume around her; she does not permit them to remove her knives.

 

 #13 – Soft

Azula laughs, slack and boneless in the corner: “Please, tell me,” she says.

 

#14 – Shelf

At least the princess sees her as something to be used.

 

#15 – Alone

Her brother waves his hands at her; she catches his wrists.

 

#16 – Fall

She smoothes her robes; the brocade is weighted at the hem.

 

#17 – Knot

He tugs at it, frowning: “How does this work again?”

 

#18 – Crowd

“I fail to see the appeal, Ty Lee.”

 

#19 – Denial

“Of course, Azula,” she says: “it was getting boring, anyway.”

 

#20 – Train

They ride together into Ba Sing Se, their faces stiff with white powder, going faster than they’ve ever gone before.

 

#21 – Fur

“Doesn’t it smell after a while?” she asks; Katara sniffs.

 

#22 – Chrome

She slides off her false nails; they litter the table like wing-casings.

 

#23 – Heart

She finds it on the beach: obsidian, she knows, rock burnt to glass.

 

#24 - Intention

“I knew she would never have hurt you, not really,” he says; she wonders which truth will hurt him more.

 

#25 – Push

“Look,” says her uncle flatly, “try it again until you get it right.”

 

#26 – Look

Her mother arranges the girl in the mirror before them; every fold precise.

 

#27 – Weight

They stand together before his ancestors; she takes her hand from his shoulder.

 

#28 – Spider

“Sorry, Aang,” she says: “under normal circumstances, I would never disrespect your principles in front of you like this.”

 

#29 – Robe

“Well,” she tells her daughters, “it’s something I learned to appreciate.”

 

#30 – Umbrella

“You know,” she says, “I’m perfectly capable of holding it myself.”

 

#31 – Surface

The past, she discovers, coils under everything in the palace, stiff and forcible as lava.

 

#32 – Idea

“Well,” she tells him as he wrings out his robes, “it worked fine from where I’m standing.”

 

#33 – Diamond

“You need earthbenders to feel out the flaws,” says her father; “it’s a problem.”

 

#34 – Blind

“Really?” she says: “I thought you could feel metal.”

 

#35 – Flow

She feels for the snarl of scar on his chest, the curve and tug of old lightning.

 

#36 – Movement

She ducks; her knives unfold through the air around her.

 

#37 – More

“I don’t see why not,” she tells her brother: “just don’t let mother know.”

 

#38 – Honey

Azula’s eyes are like burnt sugar.

 

#39 – Weather

In the still air of Omashu, steel is flat and gritty on her skin.

 

#40 – Blue

She lies in her knives on her bed, tracing the veins on her breasts like lines on a map.

 

#41 – Double

“Really, daughter?” asks prince Ozai, “just these two?”

 

#42 – Braid

“Well, how did it go?” he asks.

 

#43 – Thread

It rasps under her fingers on the day of her wedding, thick warm whorls of gold.

 

#44 – Angles

She has never had a problem seeing them; she has simply become accustomed to them closing her in.

 

#45 – Daydream

After Zuko leaves, she lets them fold in on themselves like old paper lanterns.

 

#46 – Nightmare

"Your mother’s daughter," says her father softly, his smile full of pride.

 

#47 – Honour

He thinks it is something like a rock or a knife, she realizes, something you can hold on to.

 

#48 – Palm

Hands to floor behind the princess, rice powder under her nails.

 

#49 – Screen

She watches him undress, his shadow sharp on the pale paper.

 

#50 – Warmth

The sun falls across them, light solid enough to cut.

Comments

[lettered]

Here via white_lotus. These were incandescent. 45-47 were particularly affecting; the way you used "shelf" was so sad.

I don't have a computer right now; I'm friending so I can remember who you are and read your other stuff when I finally can.

[fulselden]

Thanks so much! Someone
Who starts a haiku fest is
Good to have on board!

Friending back: hope that's ok! And thanks again: I have to admit these are the things I've spent most time fiddling with out of everything that's up here.