Chapter 1 - Part 1
Catcalls and raucous shouts erupted all at once, echoing like an avalanche off the icy walls of the Northern Water Tribe's Common Hall. The couple on the makeshift dance floor responded to the crowd's encouragement and deepened their passionate kiss. Nami plastered on her best smile and applauded the newlyweds, though what she really wanted to do was take off one of her mukluks and hurl it at them both.
Not that her foul mood was Kita and Hakoda's fault. Well, not really.
Nami was thrilled one of her childhood friends had finally found a man to grow old with. One who clearly loved her with every fiber in his being. Like Nami and so many other women in this city, Kita never thought she'd be lucky enough to find a husband. To see her in the arms of the leader of their southern sister tribe was nothing short of a dream come true. As Kita put it—Chief Hakoda was a miracle.
Still, the urge to throw something grew more overwhelming by the second as Nami watched their kiss go on and on. And since her preferred target, her betrothed, was nowhere to be found, the happy couple was the next best thing to lash out against—even if her actions only managed to stop them from kissing.
With an exasperated sigh, Nami reclaimed her seat at the long oak dining table flanking the head of the hall, one typically reserved for water tribe VIPs. Except for the overgenerous slathering of meat entrées, the giant table sat empty. Probably for the best. She wasn't up for socializing anyway.
Nami's stomach lurched as one of the palace servants placed a heaping platter of fried octopus in front of her. It was one of her favorite dishes but tonight the sight of it made her want to throw up. She hadn't been able to eat a thing all day and she knew the reason why.
In less than a month she, too, would be married. She'd be forced to endure the spectacle of a wedding reception very much like this one—the dancing, the celebrating... the kissing—all for a man she cared nothing for. And Nami was certain her betrothed didn't care a thing for her either.
This was a bad idea, Nami. You should have never let Mom talk you into marrying Sinaak.
Over the mound of tentacles, which the cooks for some demented reason had arranged to look like a giant flower, Nami saw a shadow slide into the seat across from her. "Glare at that octopus any longer and it's going to burst into flames."
"Ha. Ha. You're a natural comedian, Iri." Nami scooted her chair over so she could see her visitor without having to peer over the grease in bloom. Despite her irritation, she couldn't help smiling at her only brother.
At twenty winters, Irnik had grown into quite a striking man. For tonight's celebration he'd drawn his typical shaggy locks—ones so black they were nearly blue—up into a warrior's wolf tail, along with the ceremonial braids often donned by the ranking men of their tribe. One shoulder length braid hung from each of his temples, both interspersed with beads of various shades of blue.
Though he wore his heavy anorak, a cobalt and silver fur one saved for formal occasions, the broad physique he'd earned laboring at the docks still showed prominently beneath it. Like their late father, her brother defied the tribal traditions, believing that just because he was royalty he didn't have to act the part. The fact that he held down jobs at both the docks and the armory proved it.
There was no need for him to work for money—their father had left them ample funds to survive on—but he insisted anyway, saying he preferred the physical labor. It did keep his body fit and strong, Nami had to admit. A shame Irnik wasted that body on another man when so many women in the city were completely smitten with him.
Nami winced at her own vindictiveness. Not that she cared about Irnik's sexual preference—she wanted nothing more than his happiness—but in his quest to find that happiness, his orientation ended up affecting more individuals than just him. Thus the reason for this betrothal she was caught up in.
"Shouldn't you be out there dancing with your boyfriend or something?" Nami asked, knowing his answer.
A knowing smile crept over his chiseled face. "Nice try, Nami, but I'm not telling you who he is. Not yet, anyway." Irnik's smile disappeared as he plucked a tentacle off the platter with his fingers and plopped it on his plate. "So, having second thoughts about this betrothal our gracious mother dragged you into?"
Like you wouldn't believe. "Not at all. What makes you think that?"
Picking up a knife and fork, he started to cut the hapless tentacle into little pieces. "Because, Sis, you're as transparent as water these days." His indigo-colored eyes shot up and he quickly added, "And I know you better than anyone. You've done nothing but mope and/or scowl throughout Kita and Hakoda's entire wedding ceremony, and now the reception. You acted the same way during Kenji and Mina's wedding last week, come to think of it. Too afraid to admit you made a mistake?"
Nami's mouth popped open. Her boot now had a new target. "You know, sometimes you're so full of—"
"Oh, believe me, I do know. Much more than I want to. Here, you need to eat." He pushed the plate of mangled octopus across the table toward her. "About you and Sin. You don't have to do this. Our tribe will be fine no matter who's in charge. Having another line take the Chiefdom is not the end of the world."
Nami shoved the plate back at him. "Maybe not, but thanks to you this will be the end of our line." She lowered her voice when a female servant sauntered by with another tray full of meat. Her betrothal, Irnik's penchant for the masculine gender and Arnook's failing health were all secrets to everyone except her immediate family. "You've left me no choice but to marry so we can hold onto everything we're about to lose. So if I have to marry, then Sinaak is as good a man as any. Even better, actually, since you two are best friends and all. He's not that bad looking either."
What she didn't say was that Sinaak, although hands down the most delectable man at the North Pole, was a dumb as a stump when it came to politics. And he was very impressionable. Moldable. Married to him, Nami might as well be the chief of the Northern Tribe. She was more than willing to trade her happiness for the chance to be a leader, even if it could only be done covertly.
"Where is Sinaak anyway? I haven't seen him for over an hour." Nami scanned the crowded hall.
Not that she was keeping tabs on the man. As far as she was concerned, her husband-to-be could do whatever he wanted as long as it didn't cause her any trouble. But she knew tonight was the night Arnook planned to formally announce their betrothal. For him not to be here would make her look like a fool. Or like she was marrying a fool. And, besides, she had no desire to prolong the inevitable.
"He's over by the ice sculpture of Avatar Kuruk, talking to one of the guys from the Southern Tribe," Irnik answered without looking up from the plate of octopus, which he'd decided to help himself to.
Nami craned her neck in the direction of the life-size ice statue at the far end of the room. Sure enough, behind it stood the chestnut-haired Adonis that could easily put twenty sculptures of the handsome Kuruk to shame.
Sinaak.
What immediately struck Nami as odd—she must have looked that way dozens of times tonight and hadn't seen Sinaak once. Between the statue and the crowd, he was practically hidden from her view. Yet Irnik knew exactly where her betrothed was at without even looking for him.
Nami was about to ask her brother if he'd developed some sixth sense that detected hidden waterbenders when the man Sinaak was talking with shifted from behind the sculpture. The man flashed eyes she remembered to be as blue as sapphires her way and smiled right at her.
She sank back into her seat. "Oh, great."
"What'd Sin do now?"
"Don't look!"
Irnik twisted around anyway. "Please tell me he didn't waterbend a penis on Kuruk's head after all."
Nami laughed. "That would definitely shake things up, but no. He's talking to that man I met on the docks a few weeks ago, when Arnook returned from the Gathering." She felt her cheeks heat as she recalled that day. "You know, the one who knocked me into the canal on accident."
"Oh, I remember him. That was fucking hilarious," Irnik said without taking his eyes off the two men.
She delivered his shin a swift kick.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?"
"Because it wasn't hilarious. It was embarrassing."
Embarrassing because by knocking her into the cold water, the man nearly gave away her secret—that Namika, a princess descended from one of the most prominent lines of waterbenders at the North Pole—couldn't bend a drop of water. She could hardly even swim. If it wasn't for the quick actions of her brother, who had promptly fished her out of the canal, the entire dock might have found out what she'd kept from everyone her entire life.
"I think he was just as embarrassed as you. You didn't see how red his face was afterward. I've never heard a man apologize more in my life. It was kind of sweet, actually."
Nami shook her head. She hadn't noticed if the man was as mortified as her that afternoon. Nor had she noticed his apologies. All she'd thought about was getting the hell out of there with what was left of her dignity. The man—sweet or not—had made her look like a complete idiot in front of her people. And Chief Arnook.
She peeked around her brother, curious as to what story Sinaak could be telling to the tall, raven-haired Southern tribesman to make him laugh so hard. Most likely it was something about her. "I wonder what they're talking about."
When Sinaak laid a hand on the man's shoulder, Irnik turned back to his plate of tentacles. He stabbed his fork into the plate and shrugged. "Who the hell knows? Probably the same thing everyone's talking about since Arnook returned. Hakoda's plan to restore the Southern Tribe."
"Don't you mean his plan to institute a floating stud farm?"
Irnik started choking on his food.
Pushing a pitcher of water toward him, Nami continued. "Don't you dare pretend that it's not. I'm willing to bet all eleven pairs of mukluks I own that Mr. Tall and Dark, So-sweet-he-flirts-me-right-into-the-damned-canal can't wait to leave tomorrow so he can get started along with the rest of them." She gestured toward the hall full of Southern tribesmen, most of them obviously drunk. "They're nothing but a clan of hedonistic barbarians bent on bedding us all."
Still coughing, Irnik managed to bend some water from the porcelain pitcher into a glass. He took a long swig then wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "Spirits, you're as crude as any man I've met. Maybe even worse. And a little paranoid, I might add."
"Call me what you want but I'm certainly not stupid. Stick a bunch of lonely, horny watertribesmen, who've been at sea for Spirits know how long, on a ship full of women for a few months...?" She left the question open but Irnik didn't answer it and returned to stuffing octopus into his face. "Come on. You know what's bound to happen next."
"A whole lot of fun?" he said through a mouth full of tentacles.
"Babies," she corrected.
"I thought that was the plan. They have no benders down there thanks to the war. How can they hope to re-establish their tribe if they don't do some boat rocking on the way back?"
"But babies born out of wedlock? I don't care what their situation is. It's not right."
"To us it may be, but the Southern Tribe does things a bit differently than we do. Hakoda married Kita. I'm sure he expects the same from his men as well."
"But I heard she's already pregnant, which means they consummated their marriage before they took their vows." Nami had also overheard of the palace servants—one whose husband had traveled home on the same boat as Hakoda and Kita—say that the couple spent most the journey in bed. "What kind of example does that set?"
A huge grin broke Irnik's face and he glanced over to where Hakoda and Kita were dancing. "No shit? That sly dog."
"Oh he's sly all right. Hakoda and his tribe are taking advantage of the dire situation we unmarried women have found ourselves in. He's using our pain as an excuse to sow his tribe's oats."
"I don't see what the big deal is to you. You're getting married."
"So? I was at that meeting Hakoda and Arnook called when they first arrived." Though Nami had already been promised to Sinaak—and had been for weeks—she still felt it her duty as the paramount chief's niece to go. "He might as well have been calling us desperate old hags."
Hakoda hadn't said anything even remotely to that tune and in fact had been very kind throughout the entire meeting. But to call a meeting in the first place, singling out all the unmarried women in front of the whole tribe instead of going about the selection process in a more discreet manner? It was like rubbing salt in an open wound.
Nami had seen the embarrassment on the women's faces when Hakoda brought up their almost nonexistent chance of finding husbands should they stay. Like they didn't already know! They had to deal with the dismal reality each and every day. It angered Nami to no end that in order to snag a husband, the women of her tribe had to leave behind their friends and families—their life—and travel to the other side of the world.
"Well? Are you?" Irnik asked softly.
She'd been so lost in her thoughts, she hadn't a clue what he meant. "Am I what?"
He glanced over to Sinaak again. "Desperate?"
She stiffened in her chair. If they weren't in public at the moment, she'd be yanking her mukluk off this second, even if what Irnik said wasn't true.
Nami was desperate. Desperate for something more than what she'd settled for. She didn't know what that something was, but she knew she just wanted... more.
But she couldn't say that to Irnik. He'd been looking for kinks in her armor, trying to dismantle this betrothal since day one. Nami crossed her arms in front of her. "No. Of course not."
"If you're not, then why are you marrying Sin?"
"You know the reason."
"No, I know Mom's reason. Not yours. I also know quite a few single men down at the docks who would happily take Sin's place as your husband. None of them hold as high a title as he does but if all you want is to keep our line in the Chiefdom..." Irnik cut himself off, his jaw ticking in obvious anger. He'd never before voiced it, but Nami wondered if her brother was against her betrothal for reasons other than her lack of a satisfied future.
"This is about Amaruk, isn't it? You're afraid he will take over?" she asked.
Amaruk, Sinaak's father, was a lesser chief to one of the outlying villages and more importantly, a descendant from Avatar Kuruk's line. For that reason, his family was viewed as Northern Water Tribe upper class, though in actuality they weren't. But Amaruk definitely acted the part. Whenever he visited Capital City, he was always criticizing Irnik and the way he chucked tradition. The two were at each other's throats so often, it surprised Nami that Sinaak and Irnik could remain such good friends.
Her brother despised Amaruk, that much was clear, but maybe Irnik's hatred went much deeper than she realized.
"Damn it, Nami, you could marry anyone. Sin doesn't even love you. He..." Irnik ran his hands through his hair, forgetting that it was up in a wolf tail and ended up pulling most the strands loose. "Shit! I can't do this. I can't stay here and watch this sham."
He abruptly rose from his chair, in the process bumping his knees against the table. His half-finished glass of water tipped and landed in his plate but he made no move to clean up his mess. Instead he pulled the leather tie that held his wolf tail in place out of his hair and tossed it to the table. "Look, Sis, I'm sorry. I tried but this is too much for me right now. I'll be up in my room if you need me."
Nami watched her disheveled brother as he stormed from the Common Hall, all the while wondering what the hell that was all about.