The Braver Hungry


 * "You loved them all, you love them still." 

"The Braver Hungry" is a sidestory following Rai Kana in the years between the end of Book 2 and the start of Book 3, dealing with Raikana's slow recovery from the emotional impact of the events of Book One and Two, as well as the accidental start of the Tempest Queen legend and her taking on Keidanai as a student. The story ultimately chronicles Raikana's slow recovery from the scars left by the events of her life and her journey towards self acceptance and closure, mainly through the process of raising Keidanai.

The summary of sorts is as follows:

Raikana Watertribe finally closes wounds both old and new, makes peace with herself, and finds purpose in a future that is not hers.

Keidanai Watertribe is caught between the storm brewing under her skin and her own desire to feel like something other than a monster.

The story has two "sub-titles": "the bridge between the girl in the volcano and the girl at the gates of omashu", referring the the story's role as chronicling the gap in the life of Raikana (and later, Keidanai) between the end of Book 2 and the start of Book 3, and "a girl becomes a woman becomes a monster". It is less clear what this second title is referring to.

Part 1: The Process of Healing

 * "You know the price of starting over now, through trial by fire and trial by storm, through inking reminders of the things that brought you to this point into your skin."

(in which raikana remembers who she is, and wounds begin to scar over.)

Part 1 opens with a quote by John Darnielle: "May we all emerge from winter with our strength renewed and any unwanted pieces left under the ice.”

The story begins directly after Kallai's death, with Raikana castigating herself for her emotional involvement with Kallai and for ever thinking that it might end happily, and commenting that it is unlikely that the Lotus Blossoms will ever be together as a family again. Sometime shortly after this, she obtains tattoos of blue lightning covering her limbs, back, and chest.

The in the following scene, Raikana converses with Sulo while on a stopover en route to the Southern Water Tribe. Sulo validates her anger over the fact that although Kallai was the person to speak out against the Monster, it was him that proved her right, that people leave. In addition, Raikana confesses that she knew it was likely Kallai would die. She also tells Sulo that one day he will leave her too, and he replies "Not if you leave first."

Raikana returns to the Southern Water Tribe, where she goes to Reelan's workshop. Struck by the familiarity of it all, Raikana bursts into tears, and Reelan comforts her. She then proceeds to confide in him about the events of the chronicle, and Reelan tells her a story about the first time Raikana ever saw the sea, in the process reminding her of her own reserves of emotional strength and resilience.

During dinner with her family, she is approached by Terhal, who expresses an interest in Tara Lin but is embarassed to admit that he has forgotten her name. Raikana teases him gently for this, then encourages him to ask Tara himself.

Raikana dreams of a ghostly version of Kallai mocking her foolishness in allowing people to hurt her. She tells him she knew the risks and she thought it was worth them, at which point he vanishes and Raikana faces her own monster. The monster explains that she reflects the truth of Raikana as Raikana sees herself, and then explains that Raikana's nature is water and thus mutable. The monster then changes form, telling Raikana that she has been a force for change all along, and Raikana leaves the next day.

She is confronted by Uran, who reminds her that it is her duty to teach the first daughter born to her family is her duty and her inheritance to teach. Raikana replies that she knows this but the fact that everyone expected that daughter to be hers is painful, and she doesn't know if she'll be able to do it. Uran replies that after the death of her mother, he wasn't sure if he would be able to bring himself to teach her either, but that doing so helped him work through his grief.

Raikana also says goodbye to Sulo, who lightheartedly reminds her of his earlier words: "Not if you leave first". He then tells Raikana that she needs to stop feeling selfish for occasionally putting herself first, and promises to look after her family while she is gone.

A few nights later, Raikana arrives at the coast of Omashu, where she ponders the fact that she feels disassociated from herself and her own body. A storm arrives, and Raikana impulsively waterbends herself out to stand out in the middle of it. Unable to bottle up her anger and at Kallai's death any further, addressing the storm as if it were him and venting some of the things that went unsaid when he was alive, as well as her anger over his death. This improves her mood considerably, and she mentions feeling more alive. Shortly after, she is struck by lightning.

The next day, she goes ashore, and inadvertently frightens a group of Earth Kingdom fishermen. She has a series of similar incidents on the way to Omashu, leading to the birth of the Tempest Queen legend.

Eventually she reaches Omashu, where she meets up with Fu Zen, Xian, and Inanna, with all three of them glad to see her again. Xian remarks that even though the Lotus Blossoms have gone their seperate ways, they are still a family, and Inanna gossiping with Raikana about her new position in the Guard and her relationship with Bumi.

Raikana speaks to Kallai in the storm again, telling him she is still angry for the lack of closure she received. She also introspects about the fact that he cannot answer her and the fact that what she wants out of his most is answers, and closure she never got to receive.

She also debates cutting her hair short, then thinks that her initial haircut was foolish, born out of a desire for her recovery from the events of her past to be as simple as cutting her hair off and trying to be braver.

Raikana then attends the scene that was the epilogue of the final game, talking briefly with Sulo, who reminds her again of his earlier words: "Not if you leave first" and "Those who love you never really leave."

Sulo then flies off and does not return, leading to the end of part one.

Part 2: Parallel Rites of Passage

 * "She looks very scared, and very very alone. You can see echoes of yourself, lost and angry and afraid, in her eyes.


 * You make up your mind."

(in which raikana finds solace in a future that is not hers, and a legacy that very much is.)

Part 2 opens with a quote by Susan Stryker: ""Monster" is derived from the Latin noun monstrum, "divine portent," itself formed on the root of the verb monere, "to warn." It came to refer to living things of anomalous shape or structure, or to fabulous creatures like the sphinx who were composed of strikingly incongruous parts, because the ancients considered the appearance of such beings to be a sign of some impending supernatural event. Monsters, like angels, functioned as messengers and heralds of the extraordinary. They served to announce impending revelation, saying, in effect, "Pay attention; something of profound importance is happening." Thematically, this refers to the way Raikana begins to see herself: as paving the way for those who come after her, as an omen for their arrival.

The first scene is Raikana and Ayahsk at an inn. Ayashk inquired as to what was happening with regard to earlier events involving Raikana and Tara, to which Raikana replied that Tara had just given birth and that she had gone out in a storm while in labour on the slim hope of catching Raikana. The two then discuss what little they know of the circumstances surrounding Tara's pregnancy, with Raikana mentioning that the father is no longer in the picture. She also muses on the subject of her family, and ponders aloud going back south to check on them, to which Ayahsk replies that he is sure they would be happy to see her, and then mentions that he has no intention of going back North, as they have been largely ignoring the war. He then offers to accompany Tara and Raikana to Omashu the next day, but Raikana declines, citing that Tara will need rest. The two exchange farewells before they part.

Raikana checks on Tara, and Tara tells her the father of her child is dead. Raikana expresses empathy for the loss of her lover, and then suggests to Tara that the best idea for her and her child is to take them both to Omashu and put them into the care of Inanna, who is becoming more and more prominent in Omashu's guard, and Xian, who is experienced with motherhood. She also extends the offer of travelling south together later that year, and Tara accepts. Raikana also mentions in passing Terhal's interest in Tara, before the scene closes with Tara dubbing her child "Fi".

The next year, Raikana returns to the south, where she encounters her brother Myro and learns that he is married, with a young daughter. She meets the daughter, Keidanai, who is a year old, and Myro's wife, Hahli. Myro mentions that Keidanai may be a bender, and Raikana immediately expresses doubt that she will be able to teach her, as is her duty and Keidanai's birthright. Myro tells her this is fine, as Hahli wishes to teach her until Keidanai exceeds what she is able to teach, and then tells Raikana that her family believes in her even if she doesn't. Raikana becomes emotional at this, and Myro reminds her that she raised him and that she is the only person who lacks faith in her own abilities.

Raikana later has a conversation with Terhal, who expresses frustration over Tara's situation-- although he loves her, she is in love with a dead man, and he disagrees with Seung-gi's actions leading up to his death, stating that he knows what it's like to grow up without a parent and that he should have stepped out of the more dangerous missions in order to be there for Tara and her child, as surely he would have known that sex leads to pregnancy. He states that both Tara and Fi deserve better, and that he isn't sure that that "better" could or should be him, as he doesn't know if he is ready for fatherhood as he is considering passing on his inherited role as head of the family to Myro. He and Raikana joke about Raikana's intimidation of the men in the tribe, and then Kelyss and Tezana arrive, stating that they want to speak to Raikana.

Terhal leaves, and the twins ask Raikana for help with a task: they want to start visually differentiating themselves. Kelyss asks for Raikana's help cutting her hair short. Hahli arrives, humorously scolding the other three for having girl talk without her as she hasn't talked about girl things that weren't childrearing anymore, and suggests they talk about teenage girl things, like hairstyles or nice clothes or boys or advanced waterbending techniques. Raikana agrees, at which point Tezana begins to tease Kelyss about a boy she likes, and Raikana realises this was a terrible idea.

Raikana returns to Omashu, where she has tea with Xian, who is pregnant with twins. They discuss cures for morning sickness, and then discuss Fu Zen, who is searching for a missing Piandao. Xian is worried and expresses a desire to go out and help him, but Raikana reassures her, stating that Fu Zen could take blows that would kill her. Xian humorously points out that Raikana cannot take a hit, and Raikana acknowledges this before remarking that the whole group seem to be having babies. Xian inquires after Sulo, and Raikana confesses that she has no idea, thinking about the emptiness in the connection between them and the fact that she has not seen him since Omashu. After a brief pause in the conversation, Xian remarks that they will be expecting the Tempest Queen soon, and Raikana jokes about it being at her dinner table rather than out with the weather.

A few years after, Raikana goes out in a storm again. She contemplates the fact that she feels more alive like this, and also reminisces about the fact that she used to sing often, but ceased doing so after the death of her mother as singing was something she used to do with her father. She addresses Kallai, stating that she feels she did not know him as well as she would have liked and that they wasted a lot of time skirting around each other. She expresses a wish to start their relationship over, to meet him all over again and not mess things up that time. She then thinks that this is the closest thing she will get to forgiving Kallai or finding closure.

She then encounters a fishing vessel, realising that the weather is creating unsafe conditions for it and there is a child on board, and guides it towards the shore. She realises that that deed will affect her reputation and infamy as The Tempest Queen, and is not sure how she feels about that.

Raikana returns to the Southern Water Tribe, only to find it has been raided and some of its Waterbenders kidnapped, including Hahli, Myro's wife. She heads for Myro's workshop, but not before congratulating Terhal on the birth of his two sons with Tara. When she reaches Myro's workshop she promptly gets lost in the maze of machines, until she is found by Keidanai, who states that Myro sent her because she kept hitting dead ends. Raikana follows Kei, where she finds Myro and his younger daughter, Saetke. Saetke and Keidanai leave, and Myro related to Raikana the circumstances of Hahli's disappearance.

Myro asks if he can ask a favour of Raikana, and Raikana tells him she will do anything within her power. In an obvious state of distress, Myro tells her some of the things he has deduced regarding the invasion-- that they specifically targeted waterbenders, taking just under a fifth of their waterbenders. Agitated, he tells Raikana Kei has begun to bend, and that he cannot sleep at night knowing his defenseless daughter could be one of the next to vanish, with there being nobody within the tribe he can trust to mentor her and keep her safe. There is nobody he can trust to protect her while she learns to fight her own battles-- nobody other than Raikana, one of the strongest living waterbenders, and nobody would think to look for one waterbending child in the immenseness of the Earth Kingdom.

Unable to respond, Raikana departs, running into Reelan. Reelan tells Raikana that Myro is trying to do what is best for his daughter-- as a bender and as a young girl, she needs somebody who can mentor her through both these things. He states Kelyss and Tezana as options but states that their level of natural giftedness with make them ill suited to teaching Keidanai, a late bloomer. Raikana counters by saying the road is no place for a child, and then makes a dig at him via pointing out that Kei has already lost one parent and does not need to lose another. Reelan acknowledges this, but also tells Raikana that Kei needs somebody who can provide the support Myro cannot-- both as a waterbending master and as an adult woman, and just because Raikana was denied that support does not mean she cannot give it to somebody else.

Raikana realises that Reelan is right, and when she reaches the house she finds herself alone with Keidanai. Raikana ponders the fact that Keidanai looks much like her father, Raikana's brother, but also very little like him, and the two converse. Keidanai states she can tell when something is bothering her father she can tell, and that she knows he is grieving the loss of her mother, and Raikana asks if he is trying to hide it from her. Keidanai says he is not, but also she thinks he is worried about her because she can waterbend, and that waterbending must be a bad thing.

Raikana's response is one of knee-jerk horror, and she immediately demonstrates her ability to waterbend, reassuring Kei there is nothing bad about it, and is privately amused by Kei's wonder. At dinner that night, Raikana makes Kei the offer to become her teacher, laying out the pros and cons of becoming her student. Keidanai requests to speak to her and her father outside, where she confesses that she is afraid of waterbending and her own lack of control. Raikana reassures her that she can be taught to manage her power, and then takes her out into open sea.

Raikana then tells Kei about the idea that all water is old water, and that water connects all people, past present and future. Kei seems comforted by this idea, and Raikana relays the words Sulo told her: "Those who love us never truly leave."

The next day, the duo leave. Myro gives Kei two necklaces, one from him and one that belonged to Hahli, and when Saetke hugs Raikana goodbye she speaks for the first time since Raikana's arrival, asking Raikana to bring Keidanai home safe, and Raikana once again promises anything within her power.

Raikana returns to Omashu, where she discovers Fu Zen has been poisoned. Despite her advanced skills, there is nothing she can do. She and Xian converse about Xian's twins, Yasuo and Ayiana, and their understanding of Fu Zen's illness. Fu Zen awakes and despite his wasted state attempts to reassure Raikana and Xian. Xian becomes emotional and Raikana departs.

She then proceeds to confide her concerns about Keidanai to Kallai in a storm-- she feels her student is afraid of herself and her own burgeoning power, and that she knows how that feels. Raikana finds a little humour in the fact that although she could never talk to him about her feelings in life, in death talking about her feelings about her situation is comforting, and then goes on to question if he was as brave as he seemed, as brave as a storybook hero, and to say that although he seemed like he was fearless and sure of himself in retrospect she feels he may have been less secure in that than he seemed to her. She then asks Kallai if he knew he had to die, if he ever had any doubts or second thoughts about sacrificing himself away--"If it had been you unravelling yourself, what would we have found?"

Raikana then repeats her earlier sentiment about wanting to start over with him if he ever gets the chance, stating that the way they left things wounded the both of them and that they got off to a bad start, and that she'd give up a lot of things for the chance for a do-over. She then realises that she has forgiven-- they were both barely more than children and they both messed up. She then queries if she too was "holding the knife", if he had let her in more than she realised, and that if she was she hoped she hadn't hurt him.

She is interrupted by Keidanai, who tells her talking to the sky is weird since it can't talk back. Raikana tells her she used to know a lightningbender, and sometimes it is comforting talking to the lightning because of the thought he might be listening. Keidanai asks if he was good at advice, then tells Raikana that she is good at advice and she should have told him to bend a real element as there are only four. The two have a humorous conversation about bending subtypes.

Keidanai leaves and Raikana addresses Kallai again, telling him he would have liked Keidanai and that she hopes he can forgive her for what the years have made her into, that she feels more like a monster or creature of myth than a woman and perhaps she always did feel that way and is only recognising it now, and jokes about her tale being a cautionary one-- "If you sacrifice yourself for the common good, make sure you die doing it." She thinks wistfully of her former self, commenting in an internal monologue that she could never have returned to mundane life, and she became a living legend because she had no other option once her time as a hero was over. However, Kei's is not, and Raikana can see her student has the potential to be the hero she was not.

For the first anniversary of Raikana tutoring Kei and also for her birthday, Raikana asks Kei what she would like as a gift and Keidanai requests hairclips. Raikana inwardly expresses gratitude that unlike herself, Kei has no issue with allowing herself to have nice things, and the next time they visit Omashu they and Ayiana go on a trip to buy hairclips. When they return to the Taishan home, Fu Zen is awake and in enough pain to cause him to scream, prompting Xian to have to hold him down while Raikana feeds him opium in an attempt to ease his pain. She expresses frustration at being unable to ease his suffering, and Xian tells her she did what she could. In the hallway, Raikana encounters Yasuo, who she has an awkward and stilted conversation with before fleeing to her room.

Raikana and Keidanai return to the Southern Water Tribe, where they are greeted warmly by Myro and Saetke. Raikana and Myro banter about growing pains while Keidanai gifts her younger sister with her stuffed animal. Myro reveals that Saetke is largely mute, sometimes talking to herself at night or rarely to him, and Raikana tells him she must have her reasons for choosing to remain silent. Raikana reminds Saetke of the promise she made, much to Kei and Myro's confusion.

Ailis recieves a visit from Raikana, who confides in her about her worried concerning Kei's bending, and tells her she doesn't know how Ailis can manage normalcy after what they lived through. Ailis tells her she knew her place was in the Southern Water Tribe, and that Raikana took a while to find hers and it wasn't what she hoped for. Raikana tells Ailis that she knows what Raikana hoped for, inferring something similar to Ailis's situation, and then apologises for her own bitterness, telling Ailis she can't just move on from having everything she has ever wanted ans then losing it. Ailis points out that she has moved on-- the redemption she could have found in Kallai she instead found in Keidanai. Raikana tells her she learned to let do and to forgive the people who hurt her, and that having Kei around reminds her of Sulo and Kallai in that it reminds her what's worth fighting for.

Raikana converses with Kei, lecturing her a little on the importance of giving herself a break every now and then, and while Kei goes off to play with Fi Raikana contemplates the idea of numbness and that pain, like all other feelings, needs to be felt. She addresses Sulo, telling him she misses him and that in a way it's harder to forgive him than Kallai, but that she hopes he's happy, since she's happy and maybe some of that will cross the gulf between them.

Keidanai has her first period, and her and Raikana have a discussion about the nature of womanhood. Raikana tells her some women are barren but they are still women, and menstruation no more makes a girl a woman that the posession of a penis makes a boy a man, and that adulthood is less a single threshhold and more a series of them on the long road to adulthood. She tells Keidanai adolescence was an especially rough time because of the lack of female mentor figures for her, so if she has any question no matter how stupid to ask it. Keidanai thinks on this and then asks what kissing's like. Raikana, surprised, tells her it was sort of nice but that she only got to do it once, and the two banter. Raikana reminisces about Myro and Hahli, and about seeing their best qualities in their daughter.

Raikana and Kei visit Omashu again, where they tend to a hallucinating Fu Zen, who believes that Kallai is alive, Keidanai is his daughter with Raikana, and Piandao has not vanished, including matchmaking him and Kei. Later, Keidanai asks who Kallai is, and Raikana relates an abbreviated version of what happened between Kallai and herself. She then tells Kei she would do it over if she could, as if she had been given the choice between goodness and greatness she would have chosen to be the former rather than the latter. Kei thinks about this, then tells her she would not have chosen at all, she would have wanted to be both.

Raikana thinks about it, and comes to the conclusion that there isn't a reason, and tells Kei there isn't one other than her own past mistakes, and that if Kei succeeds in being both good and great she will be proud of her for achieving what she did not. She realises that Reelan was right, and that she was a brave person-- not brave enough, but still brave, and Kei will be braver than she is, daring to reach for things Raikana herself never considered and not being ashamed for wanting those things the way Raikana was.

Fu Zen dies, and after the funeral Keidanai chastises her aunt for feeling guilty over being unable to help Fu Zen. Raikana replies that Fu Zen is dead and nothing can touch him, but that she worries about Xian, Kei agrees, adding that Yasuo and Ayiana worry her as well, and that she doesn't know if there's anything she can do. Raikana tells her they can both be there if the Taishan family need support, and Keidanai points out that you cannot help a person if they think this is what they deserve. Raikana thinks about how Kei could easily be talking about Raikana herself in the past, and that although she has managed to prevent Kei from making her mistakes the other Lotus Progeny are beyond her power, and that she is not to blame for that. She wishes she had known that earlier, as it would have made things easier.

She has a lingering feeling Sulo was at the funeral, and wonders where he is, and that her side of the bond feels like a physical wound, one that matches the one all the other deaths have left. She contemplates the idea of love being handing someone the knife, and realises that Kei has metaphorically given her the knife, and that there are similar chasms in Kei's heart and one day she will leave one.

Later, Keidanai asks if she loved Kallai. and Raikana replies that she loved all her teammates, just Kallai a little differently, Keidanai tells her that wasn't the question, and Raikana tells her she loved Kallai and that was why she was angry at him a lot of the time, because she often worried about losing him, and that they were both stupid about it. Keidanai tells Raikana it bothers her that her memory of her mother is fading and that it feels disrespectful. Raikana tells her this is normal and that her memory of her dead and disappeared loved ones gets hazy with time, as you forget things you are not reminded of. Keidanai asks what she remembers if she does not remember faces, and Raikana tells her about various sensory memories relating to her mother, Sulo, Fu Zen, and Kallai. Keidanai replies that she can live with remembering those things, and they were arguably more important than faces.

Raikana reflects on this, and that those memories were the things that mattered-- the companionship she shared with Sulo, one of the few times she showed genuine affection to Kallai, and Fu Zen's position as an elder brother figure to her. She wonders who Kei will share those close bonds with and how they will leave their mark on her, and that while Kei deserves those close bonds and many other things Raikana cannot give them to her, only the tools to grab them for herself, and that although Raikana was denied many things Reelan was right in saying that should not stop her from giving them to other people. It also occurs to her that it may be time for Keidanai to strike out on her own.

Raikana addresses Sulo, telling her she thinks it's time Keidanai figures things out for herself, She thinks that for the first time Keidanai will be reaching Omashu without her, and from there she will be inducted into the White Lotus and then choose her path for herself, and that Raikana is proud of her. She also thinks it has been a long journey for herself too, but one that will only be over when she dies, a displaced spirit in a new world or a ghost trying to find closure so it can move on. She thinks of herself as a remnant of a past age and an omen for a new one, and accepts that although she fought in the war it was never hers to win.

She tells Sulo she forgives him for leaving, and that she hopes he forgives her for leaving first, and she knows he was right in saying she needed to go away and spent some time in her own company in order for her wounds to heal. She says she hopes his have healed, as hers have, although she has some nasty scars. She reflects on the fact that although she has had much to say to Kallai over the last few years, as she prepares to let Keidanai go it is Sulo she turns to, as he knew her best considering they had shared a mind, and that he knew what she would gradually become-- "less a woman and more a storm contained in the shape of one". She feels than whenever she inhabits the persona of the tempest queen, it serves as a reminder that her greatest enemy was always herself, and that she has won and that the monster is now a part of herself she is thankful for.

It starts to rain, and Raikana tells Kallai that she has said what needs to be said and healed what needs healing, and he can enjoy her tacit company until they meet again. The storm well and truly starts, and Raikana uses her waterbending to zoom around the bay and then upriver, expressing joy at the exhilaration of it and the fact that storms had always made her feel powerful and like a little more of the weight had lifted from her shoulders. She wonders what will be left when all that burden it lifted, who she is underneath it, and decided she is "ahealer and a fighter both even when the former has deserted you, a friend and sister and daughter and would-be lover.

You wonder, idly, if you are brave, and then dismiss it. Bravery is for heroes, and your time to be a hero is gone now.

Kei’s is not. You can only hope now that hers will be a braver hunger."

Epilogue
The epilogue takes the form of a nightmare of Kei's, where water pours uncontrollably from her mouth and despite her efforts to make it cease it cannot be stopped. Raikana is present, and although she is a comforting presence Kei cannot restrain the flood. She manages to ask Raikana what is wrong with her, calling herself a "freak". Raikana tells her she does not know the answer but Kei does in her heart, and that she is not a monster but a girl on the verge of becoming a woman, although sometimes it is hard to tell the difference.

Kei wakes, and describes the flood as "sloshing against her ribs. Waiting."

"Recommended Listening"
The Braver Hungry has a playlist associated with it, found at the end of the google document. It is as follows:

Intro
dog days are over // florence + the machine

Happiness hit her like a bullet to the back, struck from a great height by someone who should know better than that

side a: raikana
things we lost in the fire // bastille

I was the match and you were the rock

Maybe we started this fire We sat apart and watched All we had burned on the pyre

(You said) we were born with nothing And we sure as hell have nothing now

the build up // kimbra

I lost the plot underneath the fire

Of all the dots and lines that took me higher

Away from traffic and smiles of tire

I like the lights but not the tangled wires

landscapes // florence + the machine

Cause she's just like the weather, can't hold her together

Born from dark water, daughter of the rain and snow

Cause it's burning through the bloodline It's cutting down the family tree

<p style="text-align:right;">Growing in the landscape, darling, in between you and me

fear and loathing // marina and the diamonds

<p style="text-align:right;">And when the time comes along and the lights run out,

<p style="text-align:right;">I know where I will belong when they blow me out.

<p style="text-align:right;">And the time is here, baby you don’t have to live your life in fear

<p style="text-align:right;">And the sky is clear, is clear of fear

kill your heroes // awolnation

<p style="text-align:right;">Well, I met an old man dying on a train.

<p style="text-align:right;">No more destination, no more pain.

<p style="text-align:right;">Well he said "One thing, before I graduate

<p style="text-align:right;">Never let your fear decide your fate."

<p style="text-align:right;">I say you kill your heroes and fly, fly, baby don't cry.

<p style="text-align:right;">No need to worry cause everybody will die.

<p style="text-align:right;">Every day we just go, go, baby don't go.

<p style="text-align:right;">Don't you worry, we love you more than you know.

Interlude: the inheritance
lullaby for a stormy night // vienna teng

<p style="text-align:right;">Little child Be not afraid

<p style="text-align:right;">Though thunder explodes

<p style="text-align:right;">And lightning flash

<p style="text-align:right;">Illuminates your tearstained face

<p style="text-align:right;">I am here tonight

<p style="text-align:right;">And someday you'll know

<p style="text-align:right;">That nature is so

<p style="text-align:right;">This same rain that draws you near me

<p style="text-align:right;">Falls on rivers and land

<p style="text-align:right;">And forests and sand

<p style="text-align:right;">Makes the beautiful world that you see

<p style="text-align:right;">In the morning

bad sun (moon version) // the bravery

<p style="text-align:right;">And I don't know where we belong

<p style="text-align:right;">I think we grew under a bad sun

<p style="text-align:right;">I know we're not like everyone

<p style="text-align:right;">You and me we grew, under a bad sun

seeds // brooke fraser

<p style="text-align:right;">child, what will you live to do?

<p style="text-align:right;">what have I made for you?

<p style="text-align:right;">What will we leave behind?

what the water gave me // florence + the machine

<p style="text-align:right;">Time it took us

<p style="text-align:right;">To where the water was

<p style="text-align:right;">That’s what the water gave me

<p style="text-align:right;">And time goes quicker

<p style="text-align:right;">Between the two of us

<p style="text-align:right;">Oh, my love, don’t forsake me

<p style="text-align:right;">Take what the water gave me

side b: keidanai
how to be a heartbreaker // marina and the diamonds

<p style="text-align:right;">girls, we do whatever it will take

<p style="text-align:right;">cause girls don’t want, we don’t want

<p style="text-align:right;">our hearts to break in two

<p style="text-align:right;">so it’s better to be fake

<p style="text-align:right;">can’t risk losing in love again babe

<p style="text-align:right;">this is how to be a heartbreaker

<p style="text-align:right;">boys. they like the smell of danger

exile vilify // the national

<p style="text-align:right;">does it feel like a trial?

<p style="text-align:right;">does it trouble your minds the way you trouble mine?

<p style="text-align:right;">exile, it takes your mind.

<p style="text-align:right;">vilify, don’t even try.

miss y // marina and the diamonds

<p style="text-align:right;">i walked all night long in the dark just to be standing here

<p style="text-align:right;">Only to feel like nobody, I’m Miss Y am I here? a

<p style="text-align:right;">nd the lights, they get stronger the longer that you have to wait,

<p style="text-align:right;">for the honor, the honor, to be great.

rabbit heart // florence + the machine

<p style="text-align:right;">instead of rushing towards the skyline

<p style="text-align:right;">I wish that I could just be brave

<p style="text-align:right;">I must become a lion hearted girl, ready for a fight