Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry that updates are so slow. I how that this will make up for that, as always I own nothing.

My knight may not wear a coat of shining armor, but his code of glowing honor will never fail to protect us both from evils far worse than any fire-breathing dragon-Richelle E. Goodrich

After what seemed like an eternity spent recovering Haruko was at last allowed by the servant Lady Azula had sent to care for you to get out of bed. In truth she had gotten very little rest during her enforced confinement. She knew that her master had departed and she had not been able to go with him. He was entering danger and she should be with him to protect him, she had been speaking the truth when she told him why he was so valuable, to her and others. But it was more than that, he had shown that he had the potential to be more than just an image of his uncle, he could be great in his own right, as could his sister, the once and future Fire Lord.

Determined to ensure that her skills had not atrophied during her time of enforced bedrest she begun prowling the palace, seeing if she could move about undetected by those within. She decided to practice within the quarters reserved for visiting nobles, diplomats and guests of the Royal Family. As far as she knew many of them were empty at the moment, the majority of those who would normally be there were either with the military or were on other duties for the Fire Lord. Still, there would be servants and guards present and they would be a good test of her skills after her time of enforced rest.

She slid among the rooms, making sure that she kept to the shadows, when she heard the sound of voices. At first she thought nothing of it, she had heard several servants talking to each other, but something about them was different. The owners of those voices appeared to attempting to avoid being heard, additionally, they did not sound like servant voices, the accents were definitely upper class, possibly even foreign. Wanting to find out who they were and why they were attempting to hold so clandestine a meeting.

"…In readiness?" Asked one voice.

"Yes." Said a second voice. "I trust the Master will be pleased?" This last part was said with a half hopeful half fearful tone of voice.

"If your efforts are successful." A third voice interjected. "The Master is not pleased with you and the rest of your Fire Nation colleagues. Your failure to kill the Fire Lord or the majority of his family has put plans for the ceremony seriously behind schedule. This makes the Master unhappy and when the Master is unhappy his servants are unhappy and they may release that unhappiness on those responsible for them being angry in the first place."

"It was not my fault!" The second voice asserted, panic clear in his voice. "Lord Katsu was in charge of handling them! It was his fault that the whole was bungled, not mine!"

"We are not interested in hearing excuses!" The first voice interjected. "The Royal Family are proving more troublesome than the entire Earth Kingdom, both Water tribes and the Avatar combined! Even now both the Heir and her brother are heading to Republic City! And you know how important it is for things to go well there don't you? Or do I have to explain it all to you again?"

"No." The second voice said, sounding as if the owner of the voice was pouting.

"Good." The third voice said.

"Actually," the first voice said, a tone of contemplation entering their voice; "Having the Royal Children in Republic City may actually prove to be useful to our plans."

"What do you mean?" The second voice asked.

"They are the scions of the Fire Nation Royal Family, there is power in blood and theirs' would be most potent. It could be just what we need to ensure the ceremony goes well." The others made sounds of agreement.

"If there is nothing else," the third voice said; "We should be on our way. There is much to be done." After that there was the sounds of people moving about as they made their exit and there was the sound of a doors opening and closing.

Haruko remained in the shadows, contemplating what course of action to take. The people talking were clearly a threat to her master and his sister and her first impulse was to slaughter them and end the threat. On the other hand, there was clearly something being planned, something that would happen at Republic City and she was sure that her master would want to know what that was. She felt a brief flash of pleasure ant the thought of her master being pleased with her but she forced it down, she had work to do.

Certain that they had given her enough time for them to move apart she crept forward, making certain not to make any noise which would alert them to her presence. There were a number of doors through which they could have gone. Fortunately there area had not been cleaned in some time and she could see which doors people had gone through. Unfortunately, she could not tell who had gone through which door, she would have preferred to go after the man with the second voice. Not only did he sound weaker than the others but he was local, the others would be missed if they failed to return to where ever they had come from. She hated this, assassins where not supposed to have to think, they were given orders and they killed their targets. Still, she was the only one here and she had to make a call. Making up her mind she picked the leftmost door and went through it.

At first she did not hear anything and she began to think that she had picked the wrong door and then she heard something, the sound of someone walking down the passageway. She sped up a bit, determined to catch up with him before he got to the rest of the palace and she would be unable to take him down. She swiftly gained on him, at last catching sight of him.

He was a tall man, a bit on the fat side, with thinning black hair. His clothing was that of a member of one the lesser noble families, though clearly one who had managed to avoid military service by obtaining a place at Court. He was nearing a second door and so she sprang. He must have heard her because he started to turn around when she reached him. She launched into a series of chi blocking blows which rendered the man immobile. She slung one arm over her shoulder, he was heavy but she was strong and she moved him away from the door.

She carried him to a room which she knew to not be n use and to be far away from traffic areas. He was starting to regain movement in his limbs she drew one of her knives and cut strips from his clothing to use as bindings to secure him to a chair and stuff a rag in his mouth. Once this was done she took out all of her various knives and laid them out where the man could see them and then squatted down in front of him and began to speak, her voice devoid of all emotions.

"I don't know who you are and I do not care. My name is also irrelevant. AlI that you need to know is that I am the personal assassin of Prince Zokar and I heard your treasonous plotting against my master. My master is a kind man at heart, but I am here to protect him and ensure that he does not have to involve himself in such matters. I will not lie to you, you are going to die here. How much pain you suffer before that is entirely up to you."

She suspected that her master would not appreciate or approve of what she was doing but that was why she had been chosen, to do horrible things so he would not have to. She did not mind, she wanted to preserve him and his image. And she did not want him to think less of her, which he might if he ever knew. Pushing that last thought aside she reached for one of the knives.

Author's Notes: Hey everyone, so sorry that it has been so long since I last updated, things got in the way, but I failed to get this out before school like I said and for that I asked your forgiveness. So what do you think is going on? I already have a plan formed but I enjoy reading speculation. Till next time please pray for all who need it, including Pastor Saeed Abedini and the other Americans held in Iran. Iranians and Pakistani Christians persecuted for their faith, including Asia Bibi, under sentence of death, Pastor Aftab Gill accused of blasphemy, Nadia Bibi a Christian girl kidnapped in Pakistan and forced to marry her kidnapper and others in similar situation, including Saima Bibi whose family is going to court to try to get her back. Raif Badawi and his lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair who have both been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. Bye and may Jesus bless you.