𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 | 𝘢𝘵𝘭𝘢

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘖𝘧 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴

song told them to sit around the table. she sat with them as her mother brought over the roasted duck.

her mother seated herself, "my daughter tells me you're refugees. we were once refugees ourselves."

"when I was a little girl, the fire nation raided our farming village. all the men were taken away," she said sadly. "that was the last time i saw my father."

hana continued to stare at the necklace. she couldn't place it. why couldn't she place it?

"i haven't seen my father in many years," zuko told them.

song looked down sadly, "oh. is he fighting in the war?"

iroh slurped up the noodles in his mouth and looked at zuko, curious as to how he would answer.

"yeah."

"what about you?" song's mother looked to hana.

this drew hana's attention away from the necklace and to the conversation, "my father and brother are fighting in the war as well."

"oh, i'm sorry," song's mother apologized for bringing up the topic.

"it's alright," hana played with the food a bit. "um, if you don't mind me asking, where'd you get that necklace?" hana asked trying figure out how she knew it.

song put her chopsticks down, very clearly saddened by the mention of it, "there was this woman, who had the same name as you. she looked almost exactly like you." she smiled sadly. "her son and husband went to war, trying to liberate the earth kingdom. one day she got news that her husband and son died, fighting. she packed her daughters items up and began their journey to the ba sing se."

iroh's eyes widden, this story, he knew it. it was almost identical to the one hana told him.

hana swallowed. she was hoping and praying that this wasn't the end of her mother's and sister's life. it couldn't be. there was no way.

song continued the story, "her daughter, hana, was taken by the fire nation in order for her and her other daughter to survive and continue their journey. not too long after her youngest daughter, youra, fell ill."

no. no. no. no. no.

"youra sadly passed. yun caught the illness, but she continued. she came across the hospital and i tried treating her. that's when she told me her story," song shook her head, fighting tears. "i couldn't save her and she knew i couldn't so she gave me the necklace. her husband's mother gifted it to her. yun told me, 'if you ever find someone worthy of this or someone you think i'd deem worthy of this, give it to them.' she passed later that night."

that's when it clicked, she knew it was familiar, it was her grandmother's. her grandfather gifted it to her grandmother. it was a sign of their love, their hate, their anger, their sadness, their happiness, and their fear.

though her mother told her a different story as to why they had to leave their village. maybe it was because she wanted to shield her from the pain. it hurt worse now, though. her whole family was gone. she'd never see her father and mother give each other a kiss again, she never feels the pain of her brother flicking rocks at her, and she'd never feel the annoyance of her sister begging to get a ride on her back again.

hana pushed any sign of emotion down and spoke, "wow, i'm so sorry you had to witness that song."

"thank you, it means a lot," song pursed her lips.

the five of them continued to eat silently. there was no conversation to be had after that heart-breaking story.

after they were done iroh and hana helped song's mother clean up and zuko went outside with song. they quickly cleaned the table up and washed up. soon, it was time to leave. it was time to bid their goodbye's