A/N- I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters. This fic is written purely for the shits and giggles of it's author, Fog. This is my first published fanfiction, but it's something I've been ruminating on for a while, so I am very excited about it. Reviews are always appreciated. I will attempt to make updates as often as possible.
The counsel-room had been locked for five hours past the time the meeting was expected to conclude. The Northern Water Tribe's remaining young princess, Rei Lin and a noblewoman were the only inhabitants of the hall outside the counsel-room. Every other inhabitant of the castle had gone out of their way to avoid the area. It seemed everyone knew the truth about what was being discussed in that room except the princess, herself, who was pacing furiously outside the door. The knowledge that one's future was being discussed without one's consent was... disquieting.
The pace of Rei's steps picked up with every passing moment. Her chin raised high in a forced sort of confidence and superiority. Maru, her oldest and closest friend sat on a bench opposite her, transferring between examining Rei and her nails. Maru, had noticed, as had everyone else, that her friend had been unusually distant over the past few weeks. Of course, losing her sister, several good friends, and half of her city's population would have an effect on anyone. It wasn't really surprising, but it was, admittedly a bit was Rei Lin... she had always been the the positive one. Rei was the positive one and Yue was the positive, beautiful, and strong one. Maru was one of the few people that paid Rei much attention when compared to her sister, but even she would have preferred the friendship of the elder princess. Still, when one wanted to be friends with a princess, one took what she could get.
Maru valued Rei's friendship, of course, but she was no Yue. She never did have her sister's intelligence, beauty, grace, or natural talent for what seemed like everything. Nor was she actually a moon spirit. Rei though, never complained of her obvious inferiority to her anyone looking on, the younger princess seemed entirely comfortable in her own imperfect skin. But now that her superior was gone, Rei was acting to everyone as if something was crawling under her skin, and no one could explain it. The change was subtle, but enough to thoroughly bother everyone that was used to her usual friendly and optimistic demeanor.
"Rei, please, stop pacing. You're making me dizzy." Maru complained, throwing her head back. Rei's eyebrows shot up, but she complied. She took a deep breath and tried to find a spot on the wall on which to focus her eyes. "You're nervous."
"Nervous? Hardly." She said with a bright smile and a laugh. She despised people that tried to psycho-analyze her.
"I don't blame you. I was nervous too when my parents arranged my marriage."
"Oh Maru, were you really? You should have come to me. Well, you're certainly lucky you were married to Jiang Li. He's wonderful." Maru looked at her for a moment, then smiled bashfully and went off onto a rambling display of her adoration of him.
Rei smiled proudly. If she had learned anything over nearly sixteen years of living with royalty, it was that the best way to change an uncomfortable topic, was to turn it to a subject regarding the other person. People loved nothing more than talking about themselves, and if the chance arose would gladly seize the opportunity. Was it manipulative? Maybe- but the wonderful part of being an expert in manipulation was that no one knew it. Rei grinned and nodded politely as Maru went on and on about her new husband and how she had really truly grown to care about him. This gave her a chance to think.
After Yue's death- no, she wasn't supposed to call it that- after her Great Sacrifice- talk of marrying off the younger royal daughter had begun. Rei was to turn sixteen in a week, at which point, most women began became marriageable. There was something different about this engagement though, something that caused a good deal of frustration and haste for her father. Even Yue's war-time marriage hadn't been rushed quite so much, but it seemed everyone in a position to think so was just biding time until they could sell her to some wealthy nobleman.
Rei and analyzed the situation from top to bottom. There was no immediate need, as far as she knew, for her to be wed. The only conclusion she could come to about the rush was that her father had been convinced that a royal wedding would raise spirits among his subjects after the slaughter of their people. Politics. Lovely.
It wasn't that Rei was ever really opposed to getting married. She, like any other girl, had fantasized about it any number of times. If Rei was to go in detail with regard to what she must have been feeling, she was more... anxious than nervous. Yes, anxious was an acceptable word. She was not used to being the center of attention in anyway. In fact, Rei had gone out of her way for the past sixteen years to stay out of the spot light, in hopes that her distinctly "less-than-Yue" traits would not be featured too prominently. It seemed now though, that she had little choice in the matter.
As Maru's speech came to an end, luckily a new distraction presented itself. The door to the meeting room opened. Her father, followed by a number of counsel members stepped out into the hall.
"Father...?" Rei asked. The tall, older man walked quickly past her, as if he hadn't seen her at all. From behind him, a younger, slender man that she had seen only at counsel meetings approached her.
"Princess Rei Lin, I apologize deeply for the wait."
"It was no trouble at all."
"You will be thrilled to know that your engagement has been fully planned." He said, with a smile Rei recognized the moment she saw it. It was a well formed and practiced fake. She returned it.
"My excitement is beyond words." Rei replied with enough grace and sweetness to raise the dead.
"I'm sure. Your betrothed is a prince- educated, dignified, etc. I am positive that it will be a perfect match."
"A prince?" Rei asked, humoring him. "How fascinating. I didn't know there were any Water Tribe princes left." The councilman simply laughed and shook his head.
"No, Princess, there would be no point in marrying you to a Water Tribe prince."
"I'm not sure I entirely understand you, sir."
"He is the prince of the Fire Nation, and heir to the throne."
Rei didn't move. She would not allow any trace of horror or disgust to appear on her face. She would not think about what the Fire Nation had done to her- what it had taken from her. She would be the epitome of self-sacrifice and love for her country. Only someone trained in detailed understanding of human reactions would have noticed any change in her expression at all. After a long pause, Rei turned to her friend, and said,
"If you will excuse me, Maru, I must have a word with my father. Councilman." She bowed and hurried off down the hall, in the most ladylike fashion possible, leaving Maru staring dumbly at the wall.
