A/N: I am in the middle of planning a rather long Ursa/Hakoda story, and while I've been working on that, I ended up writing fifty sentences about the two of them. It helped me in figuring things out with this chaptered fic I'm working on, so I guess that's one good point for getting distracted with these. ;)
This is for my friend Rachel, who set me onto this pairing a year ago, even though it took my muse a year to do anything about it.
Disclaimer: Avatar does not belong to me. Obviously.
1: warm
She had been born in a place that was always hot, but she never felt warmer than when she moved to the South Pole to be with him.
2: contradiction
She's gentle and compassionate, and as stubborn as an earthbender, but it's the times he witnesses her sharp tongue or a rare flare of temper that he's reminded she's irrevocably Fire Nation at heart.
3: soft
It's been a long since she had the soft hands of nobility; years of hard work put calluses on her fingers but she doesn't care, because she has discovered the pleasures of a hardworking life-and a life with a man whose hands are just as callused as hers.
4: resolution
When she goes to see Ozai in prison to try to make peace—if not with him, then with herself—Hakoda waits for her right outside the prison and hopes this will make some of her nightmares go away.
5: dangerous
The first time he takes her ice dodging, she watches the icebergs whipping past with a mix of fear and exhilaration, realizing that it wouldn't take very much to send their boat smashing into one.
6: safe
She lies in his arms and listens to his slow, steady breathing, and does not remember the last time she ever felt so safe.
7: jewelry
The betrothal necklace he carves for her is the most beautiful and precious piece of jewelry she has ever owned, and she loves the way his eyes fill with such light when she accepts it.
8: market
There are some things she misses living at the South Pole—green grass, temperatures above freezing, and for reasons she doesn't quite know how to explain to Hakoda, the bustle, smells, and excitement of the markets she grew so used to during her years in the Earth Kingdom.
9: silk
She trades her silks for the warm furs of the Water Tribe, but sometimes it's hard to feel attractive while wearing the bulky skins of dead animals.
10: blanket
He always tells her she looks fantastic no matter what she's wearing, and in fact, he might prefer it if she decides not to wear anything and just climbs under the blankets with him.
11: lock
There are some disadvantages to not having proper doors on the igloos and tents of the Water Tribe—such as her stepson deciding on a surprise visit and bursting through the doors without warning—and isn't sure whether to laugh or be mortified when she hears Suki's voice from outside say, "I told you not to just run in there; don't you remember what we were like when we didn't have kids to worry about?"
12: corner
She can talk him into a corner and he never quite knows how he got there, but really, she grew up in a court full of politics, so what else was expected?
13: beautiful
He doesn't have to tell her he thinks she's beautiful, because she sees it in his eyes every time he looks at her, but he tells her anyway.
14: cook
He comes in to find smoke filling the igloo, the source of it his very irritated wife stabbing a spoon into a pot of burning sea prunes, and he puts his arms around her, kissing her temple with a cheerful, "I think they're done."
15: anger
There occurs a rare flare of temper which involves her wishing curses on her pot and on all sea prunes and waving a not-so-threatening spoon at Hakoda.
16. willing
When she calms down, she sighs and tells him that she'll figure out how to make the sea prunes sooner or later, to which he says, "I know," and he grabs the burned sea prunes and eats them without complaint.
17: belief
She realizes, not for the first time, that it is his faith in people and his willingness to trust that carried him with such resolve through everything he's suffered in his life—and makes her wonder if she'll ever be so trusting.
18: anything
She goes to her daughter to see if she can do anything to help her, and when she sees the state Azula is in, her heart hurts so fiercely she can hardly breathe.
19: caretaker
Though Aang and Katara usually bring their children with them when they travel, every once in a while they'll leave them with Hakoda and Ursa, and she discovers that being a grandmother to a passel of children when some of them are airbenders or waterbenders is ten times more chaotic than being mother to two firebenders.
20: absolute
"I know the animal pelts are normal here and I appreciate the fur keeps me warm, Hakoda, but if I have to wake up one more morning with that dead polar bear staring at me I will not be responsible for what might happen to it!"
21: listen
It doesn't take him long to discover that she's a great storyteller, maybe (just maybe) better than he is, and he loves listening to her weave her tales to the captivated children who sit outside their igloo with her.
22: strength
She is a strong woman and has held herself up through a lot, and he knows that she prides herself on that, but when she insists she's fine, he can always tell when she's lying.
23: weakness
After seeing Ozai and Azula, she makes it all the way until he's sleeping before the tears finally come, and when he wakes up to find her weeping into her pillow, he holds her and lets her cry for her broken pieces.
24: lie
He tells her he'll never lie to her, and he means it, but he knows that with all the deception she's suffered in her life, it will take a while before she can ever believe it.
25: memory
As Hakoda blesses Katara and her new husband, the youth of the bride and groom and Katara's resemblance to her mother bring back memories of his marriage to Kya.
26: new
And as he looks into the front row to see Ursa beaming at the bride and groom, he is more grateful than ever to have found a new love that is still making memories.
27: journey
The first time they make the journey to Kyoshi Island together to visit Sokka and Suki, they get a ride on Appa; Hakoda has done it before and thinks nothing of it, but Ursa can't stop staring over the side in fascination.
28: better
"Some things," Hakoda says, holding Ursa close under their blankets as they both take deep breaths, "just get better every time," and she definitely can't argue with that.
29: friends
She loves the people of the Water Tribe, so welcoming and with the most solid sense of community she had ever seen.
30: family
His favorite time during the year is when their family gets together and the air is full of talk, laughter, and the shrieks of numerous grandchildren as he chases them.
31: promise
The first promises made to her by a man she loved were shattered beyond recognition, and so sometimes she still finds herself surprised that she can trust Hakoda's promises to her—but she does, and she's never been disappointed.
32: good
When her past sins and failures rear their heads, she wonders why this man, so light and good and caring, could have possibly decided to spend the rest of his life with her.
33: ghost
He always seems to know when her ghosts are taunting her, and he folds his arms tightly around her, reminding her that everyday is new and that he's so thankful to have her in his life.
34: expressions
He will never forget the expressions on their children's faces when they announced their engagement, or the sudden explosion of noise, shouts, and chaos that immediately followed.
35: lost
He's out fishing during the sudden onset of her first blizzard, and the world is such a blinding swirl of white that she's terrified he won't be able to see enough to find his way home.
36: found
She sags against the doorway in relief when he finally appears out of the blizzard, diving into their home and shaking snow off, and resists the urge to throttle him for making her worry.
37: stuck
"This is in no way funny," she informs him as, chuckling, he helps pry her out of the snow that holds her pinned up to her waist.
38: tease
He bursts out laughing at her horror when he comes home and finds that she burned a hole in their igloo, and he teases her about it forever after.
39: laugh
His sense of humor has her shaking her head and commiserating with Bato's dry pokes at it, but he never fails to surprise laughs out of her.
40: cry
The first time she ever sees him cry is when he meets his first granddaughter, and she swallows a lump in her throat when she sees him cradle the tiny bundle in his arms.
41: chance
She keeps trying with Azula, desperate to do something, but after she comes from the sixth meeting with her robes singed and a burn on her leg, she's not sure she ever really has a chance of helping her wayward daughter—but she'll never stop trying.
42: breath
He takes her breath away the first time he kisses her, and every time afterward.
43: brace
No matter how long she lives at the South Pole, she has to brace herself every time she steps outside for the cold that steals the air from her lungs, and she takes comfort in the fact that later she can curl up with a hot drink and a very warm husband.
44: visit
Every time they visit the Fire Nation, she notices more changes being implemented as her son does his best to set their country to rights, and it brings her such happiness to see what Zuko has become (but it never takes away her grief over Azula).
45: love
She had forgotten what it was like to love someone so fully and so deeply.
46: hate
She hates that it took so much tragedy to allow them to be together.
47: full
He's always telling her to grab life with both hands and ride it like an angry arctic hippo, and it is through him that she learns to do more than live her life with tenacity and determination, but to live it with joy to its fullest.
48: play
She steps out of the igloo one morning to find two snowmen facing her, and laughs when she sees that they're modeled after her and Hakoda; she laughs harder when she sees the note written in the snow that reads, 'you make me shiver.'
49: sick
She gets a lot of colds while her body is struggling to adjust to the frigid temperatures of the South Pole, and he has to continually chase her away from chores and try to convince her to rest, a task more difficult than trying to lasso an arctic hippo.
50: hide
She spends so many years hiding so much about herself, and she expects that when he finds out who (what) she really is, he'll never even want to look at her again—instead, she learns that she doesn't have to hide anymore.