If there had been a part of Opal that doubted her mother's story about her past with the King of Omashu, it was quelled the moment the royal delegation began its slow trickle into Zaofu. In the days before the king reached their city, a seemingly endless procession of attendants arrived by airship and caravan, bearing what could only be interpreted as the tokens of a love long denied—singing-doves in gilded cages and bolts of silk in bejeweled chests, perfumes housed in sleek decanters and ancient maps in lacquered frames.
With each passing hour, Opal became surer that every person in the Earth Kingdom—let alone Zaofu—must have known of the king's affections. As her mother drank in the attention like a fire lily planted in the sun, her father receded, disappearing into the shadows of his workshop for longer stretches than ever before. In all the excitement, no one else seemed to notice this dynamic, least of all her mother.
And of course, Opal—along with her brother, Huan—had somehow become responsible for helping to catalog all the gifts.
Glancing up from the potted fig tree she was pushing across the foyer, she saw her brother lean back against a pile of embroidered cushions, parsing through an illuminated manuscript of the Epic of Oma and Shu.
"You think this is first edition?" he asked, peering down to better examine the intricate bordering on the pages.
Opal only groaned. At this rate, the king would arrive and leave before they were halfway done. "Huan, stay focused!"
Her brother merely shrugged in response. "I'm about as focused as mom is."
"I heard that," their mother said without looking up from the strand of blinding pearls coiled around her right wrist. "I was just taking a moment to admire these. Yokoya pearls were my grandmother's favorite."
Her eyes went misty then, as they always did when she thought of Great-grandma Poppy. After the moment passed, she shook her head and then went over to Opal, looping a segment of the pearls around her neck. "We should make a necklace for you—a long strand, the way they wear them in Republic City."
"Thanks for the offer, mom," Huan said pointedly.
"We'll make you one, too, sweetie," she replied, not missing a beat. "Yudai sent two whole baskets of these. That man must have had pearl divers in every ounce of water between Chin and Kyoshi Island."
"That's dedication," Huan said, casting the manuscript aside for the latest crate the guards hauled inside. To Opal, it sounded more like pillage or the breaking of an ecosystem, but she thought it better to hold her tongue.
A few minutes later, the young guard, Hong-Li, dropped off a small, unmarked box that he said had been mailed separately. Before Opal could open it, her brother took the box, face screwed up in concentration as he surveyed it.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Just making sure it's not a bomb or something." He handed it back. "A necklace."
"Who would send a bomb to us?"
Huan opened his mouth to respond, and then glanced at their mother, now occupied with a tapestry, but still well within earshot. "Just open the box, little sis."
Opal rolled her eyes, but did it anyway. It was a massive square cut emerald, suspended from an earth disc symbol and hung on a platinum chain. The piece was stately and restrained, lacking the lavish, whimsical quality of the other gems King Yudai sent to her mother. Opal picked the necklace up and studied it, waiting for the sparkle of some hidden diamond, but it never came.
She'd been ready to call Hong-Li back and ask whether the gift had been misdelivered when she noticed a small handwritten note at the bottom of the box.
I eagerly await our rematch, lieutenant.
Yours, in impatience and lasting awe,
Yusei
"Lieutenant?" Opal said after she read the note and handed it to Huan.
"It's for Kuvira," her brother said after looking for about a tenth of a second.
"How do you know that—"
"I assumed so based on the necklace alone, but the note makes it a certainty," Huan said. "Which other metal guard do you know with enough job security to get away with fighting royalty?"
"Yeah, point taken." Their mother had always let her protege get away with murder.
"Only one question remains." Huan then turned his attention back to their mother. "Mom, who's Yusei?"
She looked up from the decorative dagger she'd been examining, inlaid with gold and lapis lazuli. "Oh, he's Yudai's older son."
"The crown prince?" Opal said, her mouth all but hanging open. In all honesty, she was less impressed than tempted by the idea of Kuvira getting married and moving far away. Huan seemed to follow her train of thought and nudged her in the ribs.
Their mother made an uncomfortable face. "Well, no. Not exactly," she said, hedging her words. "Yusei is the king's firstborn son, but he isn't...well, the queen isn't his mother."
"Does that matter?" Opal asked.
"Not in any sane person's opinion, but you know how old fashioned most of the Earth Kingdom can be when it comes to these things," her mother explained. "It's such a shame, too. Yusei is the stronger brother by far."
Because strength and power were clearly the only things that made a good leader. Opal tried very hard not to roll her eyes, but Huan did it for her, anyway. She decided at that moment that she would prefer the younger son of Omashu out of spite.
When the king finally arrived on their doorstep, along with a sizable entourage of servants and advisors, her mother ran to him, standing on her tip-toes to kiss the imposing man on both cheeks—heedless of the royal protocol she'd had Opal memorize and then drill into her brothers.
"Suyin, it has been too long," he said, pulling her into a lingering embrace. "Were the presents to your liking?"
"Everything was beautiful," she gushed. "Especially those pearls. My grandmother always loved them."
"I remember," he said in a voice as smooth as river rocks. "Lady Poppy was a woman of great taste and distinction. Her granddaughter is the same."
"You flatter me, as always," her mother said, eyes lowered demurely.
The entire scene made Opal want to throw up in her mouth, but at least she could now confirm that they weren't having an affair. Any affair of her mother's would be less flagrant, held close to her chest and safeguarded with tight smiles and evasive words like her secret missions and political machinations. An affair of the heart between the Zaofu matriarch and the King of Omashu was the story she planned for passers by to whisper in taverns and along trade routes; that was the story she wanted the Earth Queen to hear, if she heard anything at all.
Though she understood this logically, Opal was glad that her father had remained in his workshop.
"Please," the king said, "introduce me to your beautiful family."
"Of course." Her mother turned back to them, all neatly lined up where she'd left them, as though she'd briefly forgotten they were there. "These are my youngest sons, Wing and Wei, the metalbending prodigies."
"I have no doubts," the king said, pausing to greet them both. "Will they be joining our talks this week?"
Her mother paused then and glanced at the twins, actually considering the possibility. "Next time," she finally said before deciding to move on. "These are my other two sons, Baatar Junior and Huan."
The king nodded at them briefly, clearly less impressed than he'd been with the twins, and Opal felt a flash of indignation on behalf of her brothers. But she was only allowed a few seconds to fume before her mother beckoned her over.
"My daughter, Opal," she said, taking her hand, "intelligent, beautiful, and kind beyond all measure."
"Just like her mother," he said, regarding her with a slight bow. "May I introduce my son, the crown prince of Omashu?"
Just then a boy around her age emerged from the procession, dressed in the deep purple and earth tones of the royal house in Omashu. He gave a deep, courteous bow. "I am honored to meet you, Lady Opal," he said, presenting her with a bracelet of gold and the stone she was named for. "Please accept this token of my appreciation for Zaofu's hospitality."
Opal responded with a shy smile, allowing him to fasten the bracelet to her wrist. "You're too kind," she said. "It's good to meet you as well, Prince Dai."
"You're getting married off," Huan whispered to her, once she was back in line with her siblings. In response, Opal stepped on his foot as discreetly as possible.
"A veritable army, but where is your older girl?" the king asked her mother.
"Older?" she asked, perplexed. "Oh, you must mean Kuvira. She's with the other Zaofu delegates, preparing our security strategy. And your other son?"
"He does the same. Good, then, that they are already well acquainted."
Her mother gave a short laugh. "That's one way of putting it," she said. "Shall we begin, or would you prefer to rest first?"
"Better that we get straight to it, and leave matters of leisure until after dark."
Her mother smiled, taking his arm. "I couldn't agree more," she said. "The attendants will show your people to their rooms."
The two then disappeared inside the house, flanked by a handful of officials from Omashu. Prince Dai was not among them.
"In case you were wondering," he said in a low voice, after her brothers and most of the king's men had dispersed, "they are not having an affair, despite my father's best efforts."
Opal gave a small, snorting laugh. "I gathered as much." She started walking towards the flower garden, and the prince fell in step beside her. They were trailed at a distance by a pair of metal guards whose presence they wordlessly agreed to ignore. "Do you know what all of this is really about?" she whispered.
"Not in any detail," he said, leaning in close as they both pretended to examine a flowering tree. "Only Yusei knows for sure. My father keeps his pai sho pieces close."
"My mother is the same way. The only people she really trusts are her advisor Aiwei and Kuvira." Although she had been trying very hard not to make any particular face, Opal knew she had failed when Prince Dai chuckled.
"I take it that you aren't as fond of her as my older brother is."
"A safe assumption," Opal replied dryly. "But if he likes her that much, she'll be Omashu's problem soon."
"I doubt it," the prince said. "Attraction is one thing, but strategically, they both have much better prospects."
"Kuvira has better prospects than the son of a king?" She stared at the prince incredulously. "You know she isn't actually our sister, right?"
"Exactly," Dai replied. "You have four brothers, correct?"
"I do, but—"
"And which one of them is in love with her?" He regarded her with a knowing, sympathetic look as the realization found purchase in her expression. "A strategic marriage could easily position her as your mother's heir."
A knot of dread coiled in Opal's stomach. "I mean, you're right in theory, but there's no way. They're not actually going to—" She waved her hand in front of her, dismissing the thought. It was true that Kuvira and her eldest brother had a strange affinity for one another, but marriage was a different matter entirely.
The prince sent her another dazzling smile, this one laden with intent. "You'd be surprised how little it takes for a person to fall in love with their best chance."