I always forget these things...
So I don't forget for the rest of the time I write the story, I'm going to say this once, because it's not going to change.
UNIVERSAL DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar. At all.
Katara woke to the familiar feeling of silk on her body, the fresh scent of her barely-damp hair, and the warm sunshine of Fire Nation summers. She sat up and looked through the gossamer curtains at the rest of the room. Most of the other girls were already awake; most of them had fallen asleep earlier, too. The waterbender in Katara liked staying up long after the sun had sunk into the horizon and staying in bed until the sun was high in the sky.
"Good morning," she said as she walked into the parlor room, tying the loose silk belt of her dressing robe.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Onji said, sitting at the breakfast table in the parlor room, sipping her tea, She had clearly been awake for a while. Her hair and makeup were impeccably done, she was dressed in a pale pink skirt and shirt with flower detailing.
"Good morning, Katara," Rin said. She, too, looked like she had awoken hours before.
The other three girls in our room, whom Katara had not met yet, also sat at the breakfast table, completely ready for the day. The roommates looked very similar; their long, straight black hair, tall slim builds, and even their facial features seemed to all be from a similar mold. They were all terribly beautiful.
"So you're Katara," One of them, who Katara immediately recognized as the leader, said, looking Katara up and down. Katara nodded, smiled, and smoothly sat down at the breakfast table.
"You're half water tribe?" A girl with hair parted severely down the middle and wide, curious eyes asked her.
"Yes," She said, her thoughts more on the rice, soup, and vegetables in front of her. She had half expected to be served peacock-quail eggs and shark-fin soup for breakfast. They were in the palace, after all. This simple breakfast was far more to her liking, much closer to what she was used to.
"I'm Xi Hue," the first girl said. She flipped her hair over her shoulders. "I'm the highest-ranked in this room, so remember to treat me with respect."
"Of course," she said drily. Amused, Katara looked at Rin and Onji, who were both hiding giggles, Rin far more successfully than Onji, who was trying to hide behind her teacup and ended up blowing bubbles in the liquid. "But what makes you higher ranked than the rest of us?" Katara asked.
"I've spent time alone with the Emperor!" She boasted. Katara's heart sank. From everything she had heard, your rank was based on how much the Emperor liked you. Katara needed to be highly ranked, but she didn't want the Emperor to like her.
"This is Ji Ae," Xi Hue said, motioning to the girl with the massive eyes, "And this is Ghost." She waved her hand dismissively towards the third girl, who was so quiet I had barely noticed her.
"Ghost?" I asked, a little perturbed by the nickname.
"Ghost never talks," Xi Hue said around a mouthful of cabbage. "I've never heard her say a single word."
"We think that there must be something wrong with her," Ji Ae said, her big eyes widening even more with excitement.
"She's so pale, and she never talks, so she's like a Ghost!" Xi Hue exclaimed, as if she had said something astounding.
Honestly, the name fit the girl. Katara hated to admit it, but the girl was so forgetful, it was like she was invisible.
Katara finished her breakfast as soon as she could and rushed back into her room to get ready. After carefully and quickly tying the front bits of her hair back into a topknot and applying the barest traces of makeup, she threw on some flowing, comfortable robes and delicate, comfortable shoes.
"Katara, do you want to go for a walk?" Rin said, poking her head around the edge of the curtains.
"Yeah, I'll be there in just a minute." A few quick adjustments later, and they were ready to go.
The three girls spent the entire day wandering around the palace. Although they were not allowed to leave the harem section of the Imperial City, the harem was large enough that it was going to take them longer than a day for them to fully explore. They poked their heads into every single room they could, and saw everything from music rooms filled with every instrument you could possibly imagine, to busy laundry rooms filled with steam and silk. There were countless courtyards and gardens, and even more sparring and physical training rooms.
"There aren't very many rooms meant for practicing with weapons, are there," Katara thought aloud, after they saw their fourth bending arena.
"Of course not," Rin snorted, running the tips of her fingers along the designs on the walls. "Benders are the best fighters. Non-benders would never be able to keep up with them, so why bother?"
"Do they even have any weapons training rooms?" Onji asked. "Even though I don't really like fighting, it is relaxing to spar or practice my bending every occasionally. I'd think that they would at least have a few rooms for non-benders."
"I think that they have one room," Rin said. "With knives and swords and arrows and things."
"I should find that," Katara murmured. "Even if I'm not very good, you're right that it is relaxing to practice combat. Plus, my father would probably like me to at least try to keep up with my training."
"Your father is a famous swords master, isn't he?" Rin asked. Katara nodded. "I bet he'd be interesting to meet. After all, it's not that often that you meet a non-bender who's made such a name for himself. He's trained lots of famous people, hasn't he?"
"Yeah. He trained Prince Zuko years ago, when he was like twelve." Katara brushed her hand across the top of a windowsill. No dust. How did they keep up with this place?
"Really? Prince Zuko knows how to swordfight? I wouldn't have pegged him to be that kind of person," Rin surmised.
"I think it was his uncle's idea."
"I don't think Prince Zuko is the kind of person who you can fit into a box," Onji said. "I mean, first he was banished in dishonor, and then when he killed the Avatar and earned the right to come home, he didn't. He's still fighting on the front lines, four years later, and he's shown no signs of wanting to return. He hasn't come home even once! Six years is a long time to be fighting a war, even if you have been banished for two of them."
"I love hearing the stories about him," Rin sighed. "If I'd had the opportunity, I would've tried to become Prince Zuko's wife, not the Emperor's. He just sounds so heroic and brave. I'd bet he's handsome, too, even if he does have that scar."
"I bet he's ugly," Katara teased her. "He's probably tried to grow some awful, patchy beard. I bet he's shaved all his hair off, and hasn't grown the whole time he's been banished."
"He couldn't be ugly! Not with parents like his," Rin defended him.
"Empress Ursa is beautiful," Katara admitted. "She seems kind too, but also very sad. I wonder why she chose not to have any more children."
Rin and Onji gave Katara funny looks. "You don't know?" Onji said, sounding astounded.
"Know what?"
"Emperor Ozai chose only to have two children. He decided that he wanted to have more control over which child would be his heir and when they would succeed him, so after Lady Kaze had Princess Azula, he chose not to have any more children. None of the Imperial wives are allowed children."
"None of them? But how is that possible?" Katara said, shocked at the information she was hearing.
"Herbs, mostly," Rin said, as if she knew all about this subject. "If you become pregnant, then you're given two choices: kill the baby, or kill yourself."
"What?" Katara nearly shouted. "Ugh, that's sick!"
"I'm surprised you know so little about this," Onji remarked. "Most of the girls know this information long before they come here. They have to resign themselves to lives of childlessness."
"My decision to come here was very… sudden." She snorted internally. She'd barely convinced her father the night before she'd come to the palace. "Plus, my mother wasn't around to teach me a lot of these things. She died when I was seven."
"Oh, Katara, I'm so sorry," Onji said, squeezing Katara's arm gently.
"Don't be. It was years ago," She brushed off her friend's concern with a smile. "Tell me, why did Ozai feel he needed to only have two kids?"
"I think he felt that he could control his succession more easily if he had fewer children. Fewer children means fewer power struggles, both within the harem and within the court, and fewer power struggles means fewer coups. Fewer coups means that Emperor Ozai will get to reign for as long as he wants."
"I suppose that makes sense," Katara admitted, "Considering how he came to power."
"I hope Prince Zuko doesn't need to stage a coup to be able to ascend the throne. It would put such a stain on his reputation," Onji sighed.
"Oh, Onji! Don't tell me that you're in love with Prince Zuko, too!" Katara said in mock horror.
"Stop it, you!" Both Onji and Rin reached out and whacked Katara on either arm.
"Ow!"
"You deserved that," Rin declared.
"Come on," Katara said, deciding to ignore the comment, "let's go find the library!"
As they wandered through the halls, mocking and giggling at every single portrait and tapestry they saw, they came across a long, dark hallway, with no windows, only lit by torches that lined the walls. The ceilings were much taller in this hallway, and the few doors along it were massive and ornate. Covering every spare inch of wall space were tapestries.
The three girls peered down the dark hallway. Although the hallway was dark, the trio were overcome with curiosity, and carefully, quietly tiptoed down to inspect the corridor.
"It's all the former fire lords," Katara realized. Inspecting only the first two had revealed that much, and the wall of red and gold-clad, white-haired men only seemed to back up her theories.
Much more somberly than before, Onji, Rin, and Katara tiptoed past the centuries of monarchs as quietly as possible, as if making too much noise would stir the spirits of the rulers. They barely spoke, and then only in whispers to point out certain famous fire lords.
At the very center of the hallway, there was an alcove with a few benches, across from which stood the grandest tapestry of them all: Emperor Ozai's.
The Emperor stood tall, wreathed in golden flames that matched his cold, fierce eyes. The crown he wore on his head was larger than the ones his predecessors wore. Fitting, as he was the first and only Emperor of the Fire Nation. He was depicted with bloody scenes of war in the background, the Fire Nation armies clearly crushing the other nations. Beneath his feet were mountains and rivers and clouds, and above his head flew a dragon, with a flying bison and a mole badger in its claws and the moon grasped tightly in its teeth.
Katara got goosebumps when she looked at it.
"Do you think the Emperor will summon us any time soon?" Onji asked suddenly.
A beat.
"Probably not," Rin said. "But nothing is impossible."
"I don't want to be summoned by him. Not for a while, at least," Onji said, worry creeping into her voice.
Katara didn't know how to console her. She was facing the same fears herself. How could she tell her that everything was going to be fine when she had absolutely no idea?
Katara grasped her hand tightly, and hoped that she understood everything that she couldn't put to words.
Rin took her other hand, and they stood, looking at this terrifying portrait of the husband that none of them had ever met.
"Onji! Rin! We have to get going or we'll be late," Katara shouted, standing by the door, arms crossed, watching her friends rush around within the gossamer curtains that separated their living spaces from the rest of our room.
"We're coming, Katara!" Onji shouted back. "But we have to look perfect first!"
"We don't want to give the Consorts a bad impression," Rin called over to Katara.
"If we're late, we're going to give them an even worse one!"
"Okay," Rin said, stepping out of her "room." "I'm ready."
"Me too!" Onji said, tripping out of her room, simultaneously shoving shoes on her feet and doing up the last few buttons on her dress.
"Then let's go," Katara said, and the three girls swished out of their room.
"What" Onji said, still hopping along, trying to get her shoe on without stopping, "do you think the Consorts' announcement is?"
"Maybe they've changed their minds and decided that we're all too silly to be Imperial wives." Katara suggested.
Rin glared at her. "They would have told us that after you were caught knee-deep in the garden pond trying to catch goldfish two weeks ago. It has to be something else."
"What if- Oof!" They pulled to a stop as Onji, who was still trying to pull her shoes on, tripped and fell to the ground in a heap of red robes.
"You silly," Katara said, pulling the girl to her feet and kneeling down to tie the shoes. "You should do this before we leave."
"But we were late," Onji protested.
"That doesn't mean that you should hurt yourself." Katara straightened Onji's robes.
They rushed the rest of the way, nothing else interfering with their harried pace. Quickly checking one another over first, they pushed open the doors and slipped into the room. Most of the other lower-ranked Imperial wives were there, but they were not the last. Katara's bossiness had paid off.
They walked past the other girls and slipped into the few remaining spots. Katara sat right next to Xi Hue, who sniffed and scooched away. Xi Hue, who had always been doubtful of Katara because of her background, had decided that Katara was of the worst sort of girl, because she had been "disrespectful" on multiple occasions, correcting Xi Hue when she was wrong about something. She had determined to avoid Katara at all costs, which was quite amusing most of the time, especially when she tried to be subtle about leaving the room faster than a chicken-gecko with its head cut off.
The other girls rushed into the room, took their seats, and a few minutes later, the Imperial Consorts glided into the room. They took their seats, and after they were settled, Lady Kaze lifted her chin and spoke.
"As you all know, Emperor Ozai will be hosting a celebration for the summer solstice with the harem, as he does every year. As per the usual, to let the lower-ranked imperial wives have their chance to shine, you will be performing a dance for the Emperor."
Katara's heart skipped a beat. A celebration! Perhaps her opportunity to complete her mission had come earlier than she'd expected. Murmurings broke out among the wives, but were soon silenced by a glare from Lady Kaze.
"We have chosen the dance "The Great Comet," for you to dance. This is a difficult, fierce war dance, depicting both Fire Lord Sozin's conquering of the savage Air Nomads and Emperor Ozai's great strides towards peace, both of which used the immense power of Sozin's Comet."
Katara's insides turned at the mention of the dance. She knew of it, and had seen it performed once before. It was a beautiful dance, but the slaughter it stood for chilled her to the bone. To have to portray those genocides as glorious victories made her want to be sick, and yet she doubted she would be able to get out of this. She couldn't be noticed as missing if the plan went wrong.
"You will start learning the dance today. We expect you to learn it quickly and to be ready for performance in two weeks. We wish you the best of luck." Lady Kaze stood, Lady Jihyun and Lady Ming mimicking her, and swished out of the room.
The instant they left the room, the girls exploded in a flurry of excitement. Rin and Onji both shot to their feet, grabbing onto one another and squealing. Katara stayed seated, her thoughts whirling, various plans forming and being rejected within her head.
"Not very excited, are you?" A voice next to Katara said. She looked up and saw a eunuch standing next to her in fine clothes, looking at the chaos of the room amusedly.
"I can't dance," She said. It wasn't a lie. "I fear that I'm going to make a fool of myself."
Katara, although her father had ensured that she had all the education in politics and finance and history and literature that she could ever want, had forgotten about many of the more delicate parts of education that noble families usually added to their daughters' educations. She had never been instructed how to paint, or play an instrument, or dance. The only thing she could do that was even close to the "fine feminine arts" was sewing, and even that she only knew how to sew in the Water Tribe style.
"Well, that's an issue," The eunuch remarked dryly. "Why don't you give it a go, at least, and if you are as terrible as you seem to think you are, then we'll figure something out."
Relief flooded Katara. "Thank you," she said earnestly. The eunuch nodded in return.
"My pleasure. Now, if you'll excuse me," he said, walking away as he finished his sentence. He went to the front of the room and cleared his throat.
"Ladies? Ladies, if I could have your attention please?" The girls closest to him quieted down, but those still further away hadn't heard him. The eunuch rolled his eyes, walked over to a large gong on the side of the room, and kicked it with his foot. The loud bang made all those who weren't paying attention nearly jump out of their skin. Quickly, they turned and saw the eunuch at the front of the room and silenced themselves.
"Thank you," He said. "My name is Fang. I will be teaching you this dance. If you wouldn't mind, please stand in a few lines in front of me."
The girls all shuffled into position, and Fang began teaching the dance. He went slowly, bit by bit, walking around the room and correcting them as he went. Katara was grateful that he was going so slowly for her sake, but she felt a little bit offended. Did he think Katara was so stupid that he had to go at a snail's pace? And he only barely corrected her, just stretching her fingers out and angling her arm differently; was I that hopeless? Even if she didn't want to do it, and wasn't nearly trying as hard as she could, he should be trying to make her better.
Two, then three hours passed, with only short breaks for tea and water. Katara was sweating a bit, but only barely. The other girls moan ed and groaned a bit, about the difficulty of the dance, or about the heat of the day, but they all seemed determined enough that they really didn't mind.
By the end of the day, they had learned the entire dance.
"Well done, ladies. Get a good night's rest, and be back and ready for more early tomorrow morning."
Rin, Onji and I raced back to our room as quickly as possible, not even speaking, just trying to get to the bath before Xi Hue and her friends. Xi Hue got to the room just after we did, and the annoyance on her face to have to wait to bathe until we were done was wonderful. It wasn't that we were stopping her from joining us in the bath, she just simply wouldn't allow herself into the bath with me.
"That dance is so difficult," Onji moaned, head back, eyes closed, and hair floating in a dark halo around her head. "I'm never going to be able to remember it all."
"Really," Katara said, surprised. "I felt like he was going really slowly."
"Well, you were doing brilliantly. Honestly, I can't believe you've never danced before," Onji complained. "It's not so easy for the rest of us."
"I'm so sore, I'm going to go to bed and stay in bed for the next three weeks!" Rin declared, swirling the water with her arm.
"You'll miss the performance," Katara teased. "Don't you want to meet the Fire Lord?"
"Well, I'll have to get out of bed for that, at least," Rin said. "But I'm wearing my pajamas!"
Our giggles echoed around the bathroom, and for the time being, the reality of meeting the Fire Lord seemed much farther away.
The next morning, they went back to rehearsal. They would dance all day, and then would be released in the evening to go nurse their aching muscles. The next day was a repeat. And the day after. And the day after that. For two weeks, the Imperial Wives lived and breathed the dance, yearning for the day of the summer solstice celebration.
And during all that time, the only time Katara had to plan her mission was in the dark of her own bed, half asleep.
After much deliberation, she decided that she would slip a light poison into the Emperor's wine- just enough to make him ill and leave the feast. By the time the dance had finished, he would be sick enough to leave the feast. Katara would then slip out, let the rebels into the palace through a rarely-used servants' entrance, and then eliminate the Emperor.
Simple.
Of course, that was if everything went according to plan. That was if nobody could detect the poison in the wine, if the rebels were there in time, if Katara wasn't caught, if the Emperor actually went where she thought he would- only if everything went perfectly would this plan work. And there were a thousand things that could go wrong.
But how else would she be able to complete her mission? This was an opportunity, a sign from the spirits that this was what was meant to happen. She couldn't pass this up.
A week before the summer solstice celebration, Katara wrote to her father. She wrote cryptically, in the code they had pre-set before she had left, just in case the letter-hawk was intercepted.
In the dark of night, Katara sent off the letter.
She knew her father would carry through on his end of the plan. Now, she just had to do everything she could to make sure that this went perfectly.
A.N.
Thank you so much to all of you who have favorited and followed this story! Plus, a huge shout-out to all you guys who reviewed! It is super encouraging. Your responses have been insane! I never would have expected that you guys would like it so much. It is overwhelming and I am extremely grateful.
Please be patient with me and my updates. I am working on the story, but I want to make it all just right, and I'm trying to add a lot to each chapter. Also, I've just started my senior year. I've got a lot of other workload, extracurriculars, and just life in general getting in my way. I'll do my best to update as frequently as possible. If I do not update for a while, feel free to shoot me a message just to remind me!
I feel like I should mention some things about my interpretation of the Avatar universe. I am not taking anything away from the main plot line, nor am I drastically changing anything too much. I have chosen to have the Fire Nation in a position of much more wealth and power, and have decided to make them be in control of far more of the world than they ever got in the show. It is an AU, so there will be deviances from the canon, but I want to make it seem all like things that could have actually happened, should things have gone differently.
My version of the Avatar world is heavily influenced by a) Japanese culture, which I am most familiar with out of all Asian cultures, as it is my own culture, and b) what I have seen from the Chinese historical drama The Empress of China. However, the cultures portrayed in Avatar are only inspired by Asian cultures, not actual representations of them. Please take that into account as you read this.
There will be a lot of OCs in this story, merely because there are not enough pre-existing characters in the Avatar universe that could be easily inserted into my storyline. Thus, most of the Fire Nation nobles and harem girls we will encounter in this story are of my own invention. Onji is an original character from ATLA, but she was only featured in one episode. Most of the OCs will not be playing a major part in the overall storyline, other than to add some meat to the bare bones of the plot.
Again, thank you all so much for your continued love and support of this story. I will do my best to update as soon as I can.
Please remember to review the story! I love seeing what you guys have to say about what I've written, and I love getting constructive criticism! I'll try to reply to all your comments, even if it is just to say thanks!
PS- to the guest reviewer on the last chapter- *wink wink*
XOXOXOXO