The only newspaper the estate subscribed to was the Zaofu Times, which exclusively covered upbeat local stories and the fluctuations of the market. So every Sunday, Opal took the tram downtown to buy the latest Republic City Herald and read it in some tea shop or sidewalk cafe. As much as she loved spending time at home with her family, she would surely suffocate without these regular excursions. Though she knew she would never have true privacy or anonymity—at least not when nearly every adult in the city worked for her mom in some capacity—there was something undeniably freeing about mingling with the general public.
After stepping off the platform at the Central Zaofu station, Opal waved at the owner of the terminal's newsstand, who was ready with a copy of the Herald as soon as he spotted her.
"Just the paper today, Miss Beifong?" the old man asked, and she could tell from the look in his eye that he hoped she'd buy more. The stand didn't get much traffic on weekends, when there were fewer commuters passing through the downtown hub.
She gave a gentle smile. "Is there anything else you think I'd like?"
The owner shuffled over to a rack of glossy magazines from the United Republic and picked one that featured a muscular man in furs on the cover. "This one's about those Nuktuk movers the young people have been so excited about lately."
Opal nodded appreciatively. She hadn't kept up with the movers, but Wing and Wei liked them a lot. From what she'd heard, though, she was fairly certain that the films were just poorly acted propaganda to make the world side with the South in the Water Tribes' war. The Varrick Industries insignia in the corner of the magazine only made her that much more certain of the fact. But she'd buy the magazine anyway, if only because she found the lead pretty attractive.
"That man Varrick sure has his hand in everything," she said, shaking her head.
"Well, not anymore, now that he's in prison."
"Really?" she asked. "Since when?"
"Right after he tried to kidnap the president of the United Republic, if I read the story right," the man replied. "I don't know what it is with those millionaire types. They can never seem to keep their noses clean. Ah, no offense Miss Beifong."
"None taken," she said with a grin. She took out her wallet and pointed to a copy of Bending Arts that she'd probably forget to give to Huan later and a little tote bag to keep the papers from blowing away. She dropped her change in the tip jar as soon as she paid and then made her way out of the station and into her favorite organic juice shop.
Opal took a table near the window, ordered a kale smoothie, and started to read. The front page story was about the Nuktuk premiere—the attempted abduction of President Raiko and Sir Varrick's subsequent arrest. But there was also news of angry spirits wreaking havoc from the poles to Ember Island and a Dai Li crackdown on student protesters in Ba Sing Se. She had already moved on to the style pages when a figure approached her.
"Lian!" Opal beamed at the sight of her childhood friend weighed down with shopping bags. "It's been forever! Where have you been?"
Lian shook her head and then all but collapsed into the seat across from Opal. " The future Lady Young has been keeping me busy," she said with an exaggerated eye roll.
It had been announced a few weeks ago that Lian's older sister Peony would marry the eldest son of Governor Young in Shuijing. Opal could only imagine what kinds of demands the older Park sister was making with such a high title within reach.
"Well, you're taking a break now."
"I don't know. She'll throw a fit if she doesn't get her papaya juice by—"
"You can blame it on me," Opal said, already standing up. "Just sit tight. I'm buying you a coconut water."
"The Herald again," Lian noted once she had returned. "Always so serious, Opes."
"Did you hear about the attempted kidnapping in Republic City?"
"Did I ever," Lian replied, shaking her head. "My parents are royally pissed that Varrick got himself arrested after we gave him such a bargain on all that platinum."
"Wait, our families are in bed with Varrick? Why?"
"Oh, you know. The usual." Lian shrugged as though she found the whole matter trivial. "We give him platinum, he makes mechs for the South, and when the South wins the war, he gets them to sell us oil on the cheap. Only the South is losing, and losing bad."
"That's terrible. My mother—" Would never? Opal couldn't even bring herself to finish the thought. With something she wanted in her sights, her mother would, absolutely. She sighed. "Don't tell me we had a hand in the Dai Li crackdown too."
"Not that I know of, but you should probably ask your brother," she said. "I heard the protests started in the engineering school. He might know some of them."
" Junior and the revolutionaries?" The very notion had Opal laughing until tears seeped out of the corners of her eyes. "I bet he never even left the library when he was in Ba Sing Se."
"You never know. People surprise you sometimes," Lian told her. "I should probably head back before my sister's head explodes. Do you want to come over for a bit?"
"Sure," Opal said, feeling only vaguely bad for whichever guards her mother had sent to trail her from a discreet distance. They had probably been counting on a short excursion and an afternoon off.
Lian led them back to the tram station, and Opal was grateful for it. Whenever they were out with Peony, she insisted on taking the bright green convertible her father bought her even though she barely knew how to drive it. The rides were invariably jerky and halting, and the car always seemed to lurch too close to the edge of the bridges that connected the city pods.
The Parks' house was the largest residence in the Platinum District. They were rich enough to create a separate pod for their estate, as Opal's parents had done, but her mother would never allow it—lest anyone forget for even a moment that Zaofu was her city. The iron gates were adorned with a pair of sparrowkeets, the Park family's insignia, and a buttoned-up butler who appeared to have been plucked straight from the Age of Kyoshi rushed to open them.
"Good afternoon, Miss Park, Miss Beifong," the man said, eyes lowered in deference.
"My sister?" Lian asked, noting the urgency of his movements.
"In a fitting," he said, "and quite anxious for company."
"Duly noted," Lian said, and then ascended the staircase leading up to the estate. They found Peony in a dressing room, standing on a raised platform in her dressing gown and smoking a cigarette through a long extender. A veritable army of seamstresses bent beside her, taking measurements and sketching silhouettes and presenting fabric swatches in endless shades of seafoam, jade, and lime.
"Lian, what in the name of Yue took you so long?" Peony asked before she turned to face the door.
"It's my fault," Opal said. "Don't get mad at her."
"Opal, darling," Peony said with a dazzling smile. Dark haired, red-lipped, and deep-dimpled, she had often been called the diamond of Zaofu. It was little wonder at all that she was set to marry into the Earth Kingdom's high nobility well before her twentieth birthday. Still, Opal couldn't help but think her mother would be disappointed that she had given up on the craft of her bending to husband hunt. After all, before Kuvira, Peony had been her star pupil. "It's forgiven, of course."
She took a long drag from her cigarette and then blew out a series of perfect rings, causing one of the seamstresses at her feet to cough. Opal winced in sympathy. "Peony, you know smoking is terrible for you," she said, as she had for years since her friend picked up the habit.
"Boring," Peony said after another drag. "Let's discuss something more interesting. I have it on good authority that you're favored to be the next Queen of Omashu."
"Well that's news to me," Opal said, crossing her arms even as she flushed at the thought of her last conversation with Prince Dai.
"Did you dislike him?" she asked, gesturing broadly with the cigarette holder. "Was he unkind?"
"No, not at all! Dai is smart and funny," Opal said, a smile growing on her face. "Honestly, I wouldn't mind getting to know him more."
"That's wonderful," Lian gushed.
"So what's the problem, then?" Peony asked.
"I don't know." Opal looked down and started writing her hands. "I liked him, but everything about the situation just felt so calculated. He told me that I was his best chance and he was mine, and that we could grow to love each other."
"Well, he's right, you know," Peony told her. "There are influential families in Omashu that would rather see the king's bastard succeed him. Tying Prince Dai to the Beifongs would make them all think twice. And being married to the future king would give you more sway both here and there, which you've always wanted."
"You're right," Opal said with a sigh.
"Naturally," Peony replied. "And spirits know your mother could use better advisors than creepy Aiwei and that upstart bumpkin."
"I know, I know. It makes sense strategically. I just...I always thought I'd be with someone who likes me for me, who'd want to be with me if I were a rice farmer or the avatar or a circus performer, for better or for worse. Not just because of my last name or who my mom is."
"That's really sweet," Lian said, grabbing her hand. "If that's what you want, I think you should wait for a love like that."
"Well, I think you should stop sitting on your hands and set a wedding date," Peony quipped before squashing her cigarette down on a silver ashtray. "Or if not, pass him on to that one and let my mother and I handle the rest."
"No thanks," Lian said. "As I've told you and mom a hundred times, I don't want to get married anytime soon—not even to a prince."
Peony shook her head at them. "I worry about what happens to you little fools after I leave to run my state."
Less smoke inhalation, for one.
"Peony, you understand that you're not going to be the governor, right?" Lian asked. "You're marrying the governor's son ."
"Yes, one geriatric heartbeat away from ruling through my husband, who is adorable, but several orders of magnitude less intelligent than me." Peony smirked. "Trust me, little sister. I understand the situation completely."
Well, at least someone had a plan.
They spent the next hour or so comparing colors and patterns for wedding dresses and sipping an array of sparkling wines until a pair of metal guards appeared and ferried Opal away from the Parks' estate and onto her family's private tram.
"Moon flower's en route to the hive," one of them said into his radio.
"What's going on?" she asked the younger guard, Hong-Li, once they were on their way back home. He looked pained for a moment, as though he'd be chastised for telling her, but eventually wilted under her harsh stare.
"Rogue spirits within an hour of Zaofu," he told her. "The city's going into a full lock down. The domes go up in fifteen minutes."
By the time Opal got to the house, her mother was dressed in full armor, standing in the foyer with the highest-ranking metal guards, Kuvira at her right hand, as always. Opal was far less bothered by it now, on the eve of disaster, than she'd be under normal circumstances.
Her mother stepped away from the guards upon seeing her, leaving Kuvira to finish giving orders to the others.
"Opal, thank goodness," she said, clasping her hands. "I almost thought you'd have to spend the lock down with the Park girls, and Oma knows how insufferable their mother can be."
Opal chuckled a little. "Mom, be nice," she said. Then, "When are you leaving?"
"Any minute now."
"Please be careful." Opal pulled her mother into a hug.
"Honestly, you sound just like your father," her mom said. "Don't worry. We'll be back soon."