Just a quick note!: I do/ maybe will refer to people and places from the LoK but the time is not of the LoK's.. Think of this as maybe 35 years after the 100 Year War.
Chapter One: Realization
Looking into the elegant mirror in front of her, June saw her reflection staring back. Her long mahogany hair was draped to the side and lay in a big braid over her right shoulder. People in the Northern and Southern Water tribes called this braid a herring bone braid. Many servants in the Earth Kingdom palace hailed from either the Fire Nation or the Water Tribes, in an attempt to keep the separate nations friends. Still, there were not many Air Nomads left after the genocide, so the current nomads remain on Air Temple Island. Being of a docile nature, no one has to worry about problems with the nomads anyway. They were a very kind and peace- loving people. After the Hundred Year War, the last thing Fire Lord Zuko and the late Avatar Aang wanted was another uprising between nations.
The stories of their travels were very intriguing. They had met so many different kinds of people! June loved to read their stories. She had no trouble at all finding the books in the Earth Kingdom royal library. The designs and architecture of the library were inspired by Wan Shi Tong's library that was lost in the Si Wong Desert. Tall spires shot upward to the ceiling, which curved to form a huge dome. Intricate designs made the ceiling look full. There were many floors which were all connected by spiral staircases. All of the bookcases were so sky high that Knowledge Seekers were brought in to scale the cases if someone was in search of a book at the very top.
June tied her bandana around her head, being careful not to mess up her hair. Her mother disliked that bandana because it was not very formal looking even though the mark of the royal Sun family was sewn onto the very front of it. To June, the bandana symbolized her underlying desire to be of the middle class. Its relaxed look gave a sense of normality to June but the crest still reminded her of her heritage.
Her heritage.
Her responsibility. Even though June is the younger of the two Sun sisters, she was heir to her father's throne as Earth King, or Queen in this case. Her older sister, Jan, refused the position. Being a mother of three and happily married, Jan had decided she did not want to attract any more attention to her family than it already owned. Back when the 47th Earth King ruled, this would not be acceptable but together, Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko created a list of rules that would protect the people's rights and respect their wishes. The laws were called the "Respect Laws."
On the dresser, a note from Earth King Sun, June's father, rested peacefully next to a Southern Water Tribe hairbrush, given to June by a late servant. The note read:
My dearest daughter,
It is your eighteenth birthday today. To celebrate, I wish for you to dine with your mother and me in the main dining hall. We will have dishes from all four nations. It will be marvelous. This is not only a special day because you are now of inheriting age. Your mother and I have a most joyous surprise for you. I expect for you to wear the robes hanging in your closet. Your mother and I look forward to dinner.
All our love,
Earth King Sun and Lady Linn
Opening her closet, June laid her eyes upon the robes her father had mentioned in the note. A tight waist caused for the rest of the layers of the dress to fall in a cascading style. It was the most beautiful dress June had ever seen. The top layers were a dark emerald green and the under layers got lighter as you went. The dress was sleeveless, which was very uncommon in formal gowns.
June slipped into it effortlessly, as she was very used to dressing formally, much to her dismay. She sauntered back over to her dresser where she sat at the vanity to apply her makeup. Brown eyeliner framed her jade colored eyes and did a good job of making her very few freckles stand out. She coated her lips in her favorite lychee berry lip gloss. Of course, the lip gloss was not made from the lychee berries you would find in the woods of the Earth Kingdom. The lychee berries used to make this lip gloss, which was extremely popular among royal daughters of all nations, was found on Hibiscus Island in the Fire Nation. The island was named for its remarkable assortment of flowers, primarily hibiscuses, It was formed by an overload of sand deposit but the "Dragon of the West" decided to mark it as a sign of the Fire Nation's newly revived, loving nature. The island is an indication of peace and harmony in the nation.
"Miss June!" A servant popped her head in the door. "It is time to meet your mother and father for dinner!" The servant grabbed June by her hand and dragged her down the hall.
"Let go of my hand, servant. I will walk to the main dining hall, at a normal pace. Would you please go and tell my father that I will be there in a short amount of time."
"Y-yes, my lady. I'm sorry, my lady." With not even a second to spare, the servant was at the end of the hall and turning the corner. June did not like to be so bossy to the servants, they were there to help after all, but she found that being bossy was the only way to get them to stop and listen.
Figuring she should start making her way to the main dining hall, June started walking. She ran her fingers over the designs on the wall. Tons of little Earth Kingdom symbols made a home on the wall. The cold marble floors that rubbed against her feet caused her to shiver. There were shoes in her closet and they were beautiful but they were high heeled. High heels gave June the creeps. She supposed her mother put them in there.
June had finally made it to the main dining hall and Basca, her father's giant bear, ran up to her, licking her wildly.
"Ah June! You've made it" The Earth King sat high and proud in his seat.
"June, why aren't you wearing the shoes I put in your closet?" Lady Linn always appreciated fashion, unlike June.
"Mother, I'm an earthbender. I need my feet to the floor, not high enough as to where I can pick flying hog-monkeys out of trees."
"Oh, come now. You're being dramatic, sweetheart."
"June. Sit down in your chair. We have a realization for you." The Earth King waved away two servants who had been standing by the door.
"Realization?"
"You are not only an earthbender, my sweet. You are the avatar."
"I'm the WHAT?" June felt her face flush. The avatar? The avatar? The monarchs most certainly went over the duties of being the avatar to June but she didn't hear a word of it. She did not know how to feel. She was excited: not only could she bend earth but she could bend fire, water, and air! The Water Tribes had always interested her and she always admired the intenseness of the Fire Nation. And learning air bending would be wonderful! But, on the other hand, she would someday soon have to run the entire Earth Kingdom, by herself. How could she do that if she was busy trying to keep peace between the nations?
What if people started to only like her because of her noble status? Because she was the avatar? June wanted people to like her for her. Her entire life was changing.
A/N:
OK! So yes, this was the first chapter! I hoped you liked it! Shoot me a review!
Rock on little turtle- crabs! \m/
