The drive to town is peaceful, it always is. With the music playing on the radio and Aurora shutting up for once in her life it's basically heaven on earth.
But then you get into the town.
Don't get me wrong you love living so close to the capitol of the Fire Nation, the dense variety of people, the fresh food, the festivals, and just the culture in general, but it can get a bit chaotic at times. It's a very bustling place. People always seem to have somewhere they need to be immediately.
Today seems like a chiller day, the weather is perfect and people seem to be calmer than usual. There are only a couple of people that you can see from your line of vision, an older couple, a mom and two children, and an old man walking with a cane.
You park on the side of the street and pull your keys out of the car. You gather up all your stuff and place it in a tote bag you brought. You step out of the car and close the door behind you, walking over to Aurora.
"Where do you want to go first?" She asks while slinging a bag over her shoulder.
"We should go to the boutique," You respond. We can't exactly afford it but it's fun to see.
"Ok!" she responds eagerly and starts skipping towards the boutique, she's always loved the town and is practically begging you to take her every day, and we do end up going most days.
You pick up your pace to catch up to Aurora who is about a block ahead of you now and we come to a stop. You look up to see the familiar swoopy letters spelling out boutique in fancy cursive on the sign above the shop. Aurora walks into the shop and the bell dings above us as the door swings open. "Welcome in you two!" the shopkeeper says as Aurora briskly walks from dress to dress examining every single one with care, "Good morning Miriam," You wave at the older woman who runs the shop. She has gray thinning hair and a bony frame but somehow is still glowing in her old age.
"Any new shipments?" You ask while leaning against the front desk. Miriam has gotten used to our visits at this point and doesn't seem to mind when we don't buy anything.
"I got some new dresses for some of the girls to wear during the prince's choosing of his spouse." She shakes her head, "About half the girls in the city are going to be dressed up for him, the other half couldn't care less!" she lets out a small laugh at this. "I wouldn't either, I already told Aurora but being forced into a marriage isn't exactly as glamorous as the books make it out to be," You look back at Aurora who is now trying on different hats in the mirror. A smile spreads onto your face before you turn back to Miriam, "There's just so many factors that could go wrong. Not liking them, them being abusive, cheating. It's too much to even think about,"
"You're always looking on the darker side of things when it comes to a relationship Y/n, you're always such a bubbly person but when it comes to relationships you only think of the worst-case scenario, why?" She leans against the other side of the counter giving you a look that says even if you don't tell me I'm going to find out, she always does.
"Honestly I'm not completely sure, I've heard so many horror stories about guys who have done crazy things in relationships. One time a girl told me her ex snuck into her house and lived under her room in her basement for a whole month before they found him!" a hint of worry flashes across your face even thinking about that.
"You do know that those things don't happen as often as you think right? People tend to focus on the bad things and lose the good along the way." She looks into your eyes before walking around the counter and placing her hands on your shoulders, "I'm sure that whoever you end up with will be great." She says with a reassuring look on her face.
You nod your head slightly and look up at her, "Thank you, Miriam." You say a small smile on your lips.
She lets go of your shoulders and turns to Aurora and walks over there to start talking to her. You tune out their conversation and go over to some of the dresses on the rack. You're flipping through them when a pearly white dress catches your eye. It's floor-length with bits of see-through fabric flowing down from the side and sleeves of the same material.
The dress:
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
(If you don't like it imagine something different.)
You pull the dress from the rack and walk over to the mirror holding it in front of your body. It is perfect, everything about it. It's the perfect length, color, fabric, everything. You do a spin still holding the dress to your body and the fabric flows like something from a storybook. You run your hands over the silky fabric before placing it back on the rack where you found it, sighing.
You turn away from the array of dresses and to Aurora and Miriam, Miriam holding a dark red dress in front of Aurora and looking deep in thought. A slight giggle comes out of your mouth at the scene when you see Aurora reaching for a completely different dress than is held in front of her. You make your way over to them and just stand to the side to watch the scene play out.
"No no no," Miriam scolds Aurora "this one will go better with your color palette." She knocks Aurora's arm back to her side but she raises it up again.
Aurora starts whining "But Miriammm, that one is prettier!" She points to a light blue dress and reaches out for it. "No, not for you." Miriam slaps her hand away again. You walk behind Aurora and put your hands on her shoulders, "She's right you know? That dress would look better on you." You peek out from behind her to look in the mirror. "Fine! Fine..." She mumbles begrudgingly.
After a couple more dresses are shoved in front of Aurora we tidy up the place and say our goodbye to Miriam, exiting the shop. You follow Aurora into an old antique store where we look around for a bit at different trinkets and other things. While we are in the shop you hear some girls talking about something that catches your attention.
"Who do you think the prince will choose to be his wife?" The girl on the left asks, she has long blonde hair and brown eyes and is wearing a gown.
Probably from Miriam's.
"Probably one of those stuck-up rich girls that go to school with us." The girl next to her says while rolling her eyes, they both look about 17. Too young to even get picked by Prince Zuko.
Before you can hear the rest of their conversation Aurora grabs you by the arm and drags you out of the store, mumbling something about the shop owner. You're not paying attention until she taps you on the shoulder aggressively obviously trying to get your attention.
"What?" You ask, whipping your head around to face her.
Oh god...
~~~~~~~~~~~♕♔~~~~~~~~~~~
Word count: 1295
Question of the chapter: What age did you start watching Alta?
𝐀/𝐍: Little cliffhanger, I just wanted to get the second chapter out, The next chapter will be out soon!
Pls remember to vote, add to your library if you like it, and follow for updates :)
