Notes about the lateness in bottom A/N

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Katara hit the dusty floor of the training ground, her chin smacking against the ground. She tasted copper in her mouth and reached a finger up to feel a small cut on her lip where her tooth had gnashed against her mouth.

"If that's the best you can do, Fire Lord Ozai will send you back to the Southern Water Tribe in a Pai Sho tile box," Master Pakku said dismissively. Katara felt the aching in her bones and stood, despite how much she wanted to remain on the ground just a few moments longer. Her bones felt like jelly and her whole body quivered, but deep down she knew Pakku was correct. If she went up against Ozai or Azula in the competition, at this stage of her training, she would hardly last past a minute. She needed to train. She needed to be ready.

Pakku turned back around, his head tilting as he watched Katara steady herself. She ran her thumb over her forehead, gathering the sweat that pooled there, and pressed it to her lip for just a second. Not long enough to heal it completely, but enough to stop the bleeding, clot the blood, and encourage the start of scabbing.

"Again," Katara asked, her voice rough.

Katara was pleased when Pakku looked at her with approval.

"You have the fortitude of a warrior." Pakku nodded to her, pleasure in his quirk of a smile. "At least, for now."

Pakku held little back. Of this, Katara was eternally grateful. She didn't need someone like Zuko, who was worried about hurting her all the time, she needed a teacher that was honest with her about the brutality of Agni Kais, or other matches she might go up against in the future.

She only had to bother Pakku about eighteen times before he caved, giving their first lesson a little over three days ago. He'd declared Katara not completely incompetent, which for a girl was an over-the moon compliment, and said they'd meet daily until the competition. Katara was thrilled.

She learned very quickly that while Pakku was indeed a master of his bending, his teaching style was unexpected. It was complete, and Katara felt like she'd gleaned more from him than she would have gotten by herself in years of fumbling, but a straightforward teacher he was not.

What he preferred to do was scrimmage and have Katara watch him to copy his movements mid-battle, to take the information and internalize it. There had been no 'step one, step two, step three' and so on about how to produce a proper water whip, and he hadn't started out by seeing what Katara already knew. He only ever stepped in to correct a stance if Katara was really and truly failing, but he almost never said anything otherwise.

The first day, he'd had a comment. "You fight like an untrained penguin-seal. Your movements are hardly graceful, and you attack like someone is going to steal your last leg of meat."

He'd said it with a such a pretentious sneer that Katara couldn't help but take offense.

"Well, I've never had a teacher," she'd snapped back. "Everything I've learned I've done myself, so if you have a problem with it-"

"I never said it was a bad thing." Pakku had cut her off with a smirk. As Katara had been left with her jaw hanging open, trying to figure out what this meant, he'd simply moved on.

Three days in, Katara wasn't sure she completely understood, but she thought maybe she was starting to get the idea. While there was a grace and perfection to the way that Pakku waterbended, Katara's movements were unexpected and hard to predict. He'd shown her this when he'd begun to use Katara's own movements against her. Katara had been waiting for the proper waterbending moves, and though she recognized the hobbled-together foot dance of her own style, she was still unprepared to face it. When Pakku had knocked her off her feet (a phenomenon that was happening a lot lately) and she'd gotten back up with a grin, she knew that Pakku realized she 'got it'.

He was a man of few words, other than drawled jabs. She could appreciate this. Every insight she herself made just made her feel so much more adept, since Pakku had yet to spell out anything for her.

"Well, again," Katara said when Pakku did not move for a moment. She was about to start this herself, until a strike set her off balance. She managed to freeze it, wiggling out of the way, and sent the icy sphere back at Pakku. All of this took place within a second, as this was a high-paced spar they took part in.

Back and forth it went. Pakku never went easy on Katara, especially not when she was hurt. In fact, he seemed to up his game even more. Or maybe Katara was just utterly exhausted? Yes, it could be that too.

It went on for what seemed like eons, but was likely hardly longer five minutes, until Katara was knocked flat on her ass once again. At least nothing was bleeding this time.

She got up, despite her feet swaying beneath her.

"Again," she nearly begged.

"No," Pakku said with a cool tone. "We meet again tomorrow around-"

Katara threw a water whip at him. He managed to deflect it easily. She was just trying to get his attention anyway, so she wasn't upset that he was able to just wave it off.

"I can still go," Katara insisted firmly, wiping her hair back from her face.

"Maybe so," Pakku said, sighing, "But exhaustion makes mistakes. Part of being a warrior is continuing to fight under the worst of circumstances, but being a better warrior is knowing when to stop."

"I'm not too good at that," Katara said, crossing her arms, but readying herself for a sneak attack. Pakku saw her stiff posture and almost smiled.

"I can see that. Truly, Princess, we are done for the day. Go do whatever frivolous things princesses do. Bathe in rose water. Eat a good meal. Go to sleep early in a bed made of goose feathers."

While it sounded like a list of insults, Katara almost guessed he was encouraging her to take care of herself. Of course, Pakku couldn't be caught caring, especially not about a female warrior.

Letting her guard down just a little - but never fully - she walked over to the water bins where they summoned their weapons from. She splashed the cool water onto her cheeks, thinking that maybe a nice hot bath did sound like just the ticket. Oh, yes, food too. They were serving some peppered steak tonight, if Toph's information was correct. As there was nothing Toph loved more than food, usually it was.

She blended the water off her face and turned toward where her accessories lay on the bleachers to see Pakku holding up her grandmother's necklace, a soft look on his face, far softer than she'd ever seen on him.

Ever since Zuko had used her necklace for his proposal, Katara had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it did make the jewelry so much more meaningful. However, whenever she thought about wearing it, she just got a dull ache as she remembered she'd turned him down. She found herself unable to wear it, at least in his vicinity, but also unable to let it out of her sight ever again. Thus, there it had laid, waiting for her to finish.

"I'm glad I didn't have to write to my grandmother and tell her you still are refusing to train me. I think she would have sailed back across the sea to make you." Katara didn't know where it came from, to talk about her grandmother, but the words just tumbled out.

"I don't doubt it." Pakku still hadn't put down the necklace. "You and she are very much alike. In more than just your face," he mused. "She was far too headstrong for her own good."

"Or just so. Maybe too headstrong for your good," Katara said, which she wouldn't have said if Pakku wasn't so blunt back to her most of the time. She got the feeling that Pakku was a man who appreciated honesty.

"I suppose." Pakku finally put the necklace down. "The world seems to think of me a cosmic joke. Training the granddaughter of the woman I loved. And, despite a rocky start, a waterbender with so much potential. One that makes me wonder…" He tilted his head.

"What your children would have been like?" Katara finished with a low chuckle. "What kind of waterbending masters they would have become?"

"Perhaps. In all, it's a shame your grandfather could not have lived to teach you. I've heard it's easier to teach family. Perhaps he would have been able to put up with your stubbornness, even found it enchanting."

Katara blinked once. "Waterbending? He wasn't a bender," she said.

Pakku frowned. "And your father was not, nor your mother?" he asked.

"Nope. I thought I told you, I'm the first waterbender in, well, since GranGran's childhood friend left for Iroh's choice. But, even then, there weren't a lot of us." Katara rubbed her arms.

"Impossible, child. Bending is obviously an inherited trait. Just look at the Royal Family," Pakku scoffed.

Katara shrugged uncertainty. Once, this very question had bothered her, but it was something she hadn't thought of in a long time. Bringing up it now seemed pointless. She was a waterbender who was learning and all, what really else mattered? She once thought it was a dormant gene, lying around the people of her tribe, but she did find it strange that no other children in her generation were waterbenders, if that was true.

"There has to be a waterbender in your tribe, some blood line-" Pakku was continuing on.

"I don't know," Katara snapped at him. "What I do know is that most of the refugees that left the Northern Water Tribe to form our society weren't benders, and back when things were good, even then, there was only about eight benders and most died out before I was even born. Does this even matter?"

Pakku blanched a bit. "No, I suppose not.," he murmured after a moment. "Knowing one's lineage, with bending, can sometimes shed light on how powerful a person's to become. It could have told me how far I could push you, how much training you can take. If it's even worth it to prepare you for a battle, if you are always going to lose it."

"I think that's bull," Katara said, and then blushed at Pakku's stern expression. "Sorry, that's just not true. Excuse my language. Neither of Toph's parents nor any of her grandparents were benders. She was taught by badger-moles, and she's the strongest Earthbender I know."

"She was taught from the original masters, of course she's powerful," Pakku dismissed.

"But if she didn't have it in her, it wouldn't have mattered," Katara stressed.

There was a beat of silence. Katara wondered, after all that, if Pakku was just fishing for information about Gran Gran. Had she gone off and married a someone just like Pakku, or had she found the polar opposite of him? Katara didn't know what happened with them after the revelation in the garden, but she couldn't say she wasn't horribly curious.

How could her grandmother have loved such a man once? She knew she loved him, from the way Gran Gran's eyes had been sad. There was a startling realization that his gruffness reminded Katara very much so of someone close to her...of Zuko. Was this what Zuko was destined to be without Katara? Spirits, she hoped not. However, it seemed Pakku never remarried, whereas Zuko would be taking the hand of another lady.

"Maybe there's something to be said. They always said my father would have been a bender, in a different life. He was born on the Winter Solstice, when the moon is in the sky the longest."

"I know what the Solstice is, my child," Pakku grumped.

"Right. Well, Gran Gran had only been in the tribe less than a year, arriving that past end of winter and married the current chief not soon after, so they said it solidified my father's future as a leader."

Pakku squinted. "Don't you mean she arrived in the summer? Right after the Summer Solstice?"

"I know my family history," Katara retorted hotly, not liking the tone Pakku was taking.

"Child, she could not have arrived before the Summer Solstice, for she left on the first day of the celebrations at the North. I was set to marry her on the third day. You think I wouldn't recall the day she just vanished into the night?" From the anguish in his tone, Katara knew that he couldn't be lying. Or, at least, he had convinced himself of this. "Perhaps your father was born later. Or he was a premature child."

"Well, then the whole story about the moon wouldn't make any sense, would it? And I've delivered babies; I know what an early child looks like. They raved about how big my father was too, so there's no way, unless he's a god on earth," Katara said, trying to keep as much sarcasm out as possible.

Pakku frowned. "Then, Princess, something is not adding up."

Katara was smart enough to realize this too, however she wasn't sure how to reconcile it.

"Well." She licked her lips. "I mean, logically she had to arrive late winter, to have my father near nine moons later, so…" The answer was on the tip of her tongue, but she could not put it together.

Pakku, however, turned abruptly and began walking away.

"Hey, are we done?" Katara called, but from the urgency in his steps, Katara doubted he could hear her. He always set up their next lesson, so for him to forget was very unlike him. Something was plaguing his mind, something that made him abandon all other pursuits.

Katara put her dress back on and walked through the palace in a near daze, forehead burrowed in deep thought. She arrived at Sokka's door, shaking her head half in awe, half in disbelief. She knocked twice, but he did not answer.

This sharpened her mind. She knocked again. "Sokka, I know you're in there, I can see your shadow moving under the door." She rolled her eyes. "I'm coming in, in one...two…"

Sokka hastily opened the door, sliding himself to the other side of it. He shut it behind him, back pressed against the wood. "Hey, sis. Sup?"

"What's up with you?" Katara crossed her arms. "Oh, La, don't tell me you have, like, a handmaid in there with you, or a dignitary's daughter." Her face reddened at the obvious. His shirt was a little wrinkled and he seemed nervous. Plus, his breathing was short, like he'd been running. And, he was making a big deal of holding the door closed. Well, frankly, Katara didn't want to see a half or fully naked girl next to her brother, so perhaps she should be glad.

"No, not that." Sokka's neck was red, but he seemed to recoil at her suggestion. On another day, Katara would examine this more, but for right now she had something else on her mind.

"Sokka...I think Pakku might be our grandfather."

XXxxXX

"-and as you see here, smaller-sized Equalists were able to squeeze through this hole here, which seems to have been made over a long period of time."

Zuko ducked as he stepped into one of the mostly unused areas of the bottom of the palace, swatting away a cobweb. As his slippers walked over the ground, he kicked up a cloud of dust, causing him to sneeze.

The gathered group turned around: one of the repairmen, his father, Azula, and Lu Ten, who was standing a good foot away from Zuko's direct family.

"Zuko, how kind of you to join us." Ozai's voice was crawling with acerbic purrs. "That you would take time out of such a busy day to join us for this bothersome and insignificant moment. Since you were summoned an hour ago, I must only assume that you placed this farther down on your list than whatever you had been in the middle of. It's only our safety at stake, of course."

"I would have loved to join you, father." Zuko shivered only because of the chill from the air that whipped around the room. "Had I actually been informed."

"Well, perhaps you should be easier to find."

"I'm sure it was merely an oversight, Uncle. A harmless mistake." Lu Ten stepped in, trying to breathe evenly. Zuko snorted, doubtful, but he was glad for the backup.

"I only found out when a passing foot soldier told me of your location. Have I missed much?" He turned to look at the repairman who was practically sweating at the tension between the family.

Just an average day, Zuko wanted to tell him. It's Tuesday? Time to give Zuko a vague and slightly threatening comment. Oh, it's Wednesday? Time to remind Zuko of what a failure you think he is. A Friday? Guess what, it's Azula, vying for the throne, on time like clockwork. Speaking of Azula...don't look her way, Zuko.

From the way Azula was examining him, Zuko was sure if was her fault the message wasn't passed along, whether she had been told to do it herself or she'd threatened the person Ozai had instructed. Either way, she was probably looking for him to accuse her, and then she'd bat her big eyes at their father, and it would just lead to Ozai scoffing at Zuko. No, he wasn't going to give Azula that sort of satisfaction.

"Uhm, not much, your highness." The repairman bowed twice to Zuko. "I was just explaining that the holes that were made in locations like this that allowed the Equalists to get into the castle. As we fix the palace and find them, your father requested we keep tally of them…" He trailed off nervously.

"I've kept a log of them, Zuko, don't worry," Lu Ten said, relaxing now that his more favored cousin had arrived. Frankly, Zuko was glad that Lu Ten was there, too.

"As the Fire Lord, you should know these things, Zuko," Ozai said. Zuko was unsure if Ozai was offering a piece of advice for the future (unlikely) or scolding him for not magically knowing how hundreds of insurgents eked their way into the palace.

"If I could be in eight places at once, I would." Zuko gave an apologetic smile. "Which is why we have other people to do our work for us. Delegate, and read the reports, right?"

It was a tactic his father used very often. His father just hummed, folding his arms into his sleeves. "Continue," he told the repairman.

The next hour or so was spent with the repairman dragging them deeper into the underground palace, showing in the hidden corners all the ways a human could have slipped inside, and likely had. It was staggering, to be honest. They'd likely covered their holes with boxes or crates, making them inconspicuous, making them easy to pass by. There was no one and everyone to blame.

"We're, of course, sealing off any passageways found that are of this nature," The repairman said. "But that's just if we come across them. Unless you managed to capture one of these spooks and get them to fess up, sir-"

He looked down at his feet.

The palace was huge. There could be thousand more spots where they slithered in. They could be working on new ones now, knowing their plans were being fixed. It also gave the sense of familiarity of the palace, something that twisted Zuko's stomach deep within him. He looked at his father; he'd been non-reactionary toward this whole tour.

As if he already knew they were there. Zuko furrowed his brows. It had been a passing theory with Katara before, but now Zuko was doubting his father more and more. As much as Zuko really hated his dad, was he ready to come to terms that his father might have brought such horrors upon the palace? To further his airbender-killing narrative? Maybe he'd known for ages that the Avatar, an airbender, had returned and he'd been planning this for months. It wasn't the most outlandish scenario.

So what would he do now?

"The flaws in the security must be dealt with," his father was saying as he led them back to a main hallway. "Zuko, you'll handle this," he said casually, nodding to him. It was an impossible task he was giving Zuko, because he'd continue to sneak more and more Equalists in, or he'd play it some other way.

"I have much going on with the Choice, father. Why don't you let Azula handle it?" he asked, because his sister had begun to pout at his father's decision. Azula brightened. She looked gleeful at the thought of this task, of killing trespassers, or torturing them, or something equally grim.

"Father, I will make any Equalists rue the day they were born, just you wait-"

"No," Ozai shot her down. "Zuko will be the Fire Lord one day. Security of the Palace is a Fire Lord's job, for it translates to how you protect your country."

"I understand that." Zuko breathed in hard. "But Azula is fairly free with her time. If this is such an important matter, someone who has the chance to give it their undivided attention should be at the helm."

Zuko sure as hell wasn't going to let his father puppet him around, not if he could help it. The look his sister gave him was one of awe; probably because he hadn't been on her 'team' for eons now. Plus, Azula was scary enough that maybe she was the sort of person who should be dealing with this.

"My word is final," Ozai said and when he turned his glare on him, Zuko couldn't help but flinch. "Is that clear? Azula is not to help."

"Father." Azula's voice was almost heartbreaking in a way. "You haven't allowed me the opportunity to do something meaningful in a while, and I just think…"

"You haven't been given a job in a while because you will be married off soon enough, Azula, for whatever political ally we decide worthy. It's worthless to have you start projects you will not finish. I perhaps have let you alone far too long, and you've become over-confident in your place here, as made obvious by your dissent toward your brother, the heir. I expected more decorum of you, but I see I was mistaken."

It was like Azula had been slapped in the face. She grew stony, cold. Zuko truly felt bad for Azula in that moment. Father had never been so short with her. Zuko was used to it, but Ozai had always had a soft spot for Azula, and Zuko couldn't recall a single time when he'd ever been so cruel to her.

"I see," Azula said, taking a step back. "I suppose in that case, father, I will take my leave." She turned around, her steps wobbling. Zuko wanted to go after her like he did when he was a child, ask if she was okay, risk a burn or two. However, his father's gaze fixed only on him kept him here.

"Have I made myself clear, son?"

I am no son of yours, Zuko wanted to snarl. you have always made me feel like a mistake, an embarrassment.

However, Zuko could not say that. So, he clenched his fists twice and nodded hard.

"First, I will choose my own generals to be in charge of the palace guards," Zuko said. The current generals were his father's, and Zuko didn't trust them, as they'd been in his father's back pocket since he was a young ruler.

"Only expected," his father said, more amiable to it than Zuko would have thought.

"I also want to bring Lady Bei Fong in, and give her free rein to anywhere in the palace. Get her expertise," he added.

His father frowned. "A contestant? A noblewoman? Whatever for?"

"Her blindness is unique in that she feels with her feet. While we see a wall here." Zuko knocked on the wallpapered hall. "She can feel all the rooms behind it. If there's passage that we missed, Lady Bei Fong will find it."

"Are you sure?" Ozai questioned.

"Yes," Zuko said immediately. Ozai was silent, but nodded.

"It's your call now. Stick to your choices." He patted Zuko's shoulder as he passed, such an unexpected gesture that Zuko couldn't help but startle. Was he trying to show pride? Trying to psyche Zuko out? He honestly couldn't tell. "Do not feel the need to inform me. You do have the power. Just record it in reports, should I feel the need to check in."

"Uncle Ozai never fails to make things go from bad to so much worse," Lu Ten said dryly when Ozai was out of earshot. Zuko had thought for sure his father would want to know all his movements to be able to counteract and aid the next Equalist attack. Maybe he had little birds everywhere, so it didn't matter?

He brushed that aside. Now he had this assignment, and it was hardly something he could shirk off. He had to do a good job. It would severely cut into his time with the ladies. Maybe that's what his father wanted, less time he could spend with Katara?

"Lu Ten, do you know where Admiral Jeong-Jeong and Lieutenant Jee are stationed?" Zuko turned to his cousin.

Lu Ten smiled, shaking his head.

"No, but I'm sure my dad does."

XXxxXX

The letter the Water Tribe siblings sent home had been re-written about six different times. They sat in the library, hunched over the scroll, nitpicking wording and smearing their fingers across the ink if they were displeased. If they'd been writing individually, the letter likely would have been much curter, much more 'Gran Gran, what the hell', but together they tempered each other until the letter seems much more polite. Then, they'd sent it off with a messenger hawk and waited.

"She might not even answer us," Sokka said, watching it fly away.

"If we know, Pakku knows. Cat's out of the bag," Katara pointed out. "Might as well come clean on her own now."

"Think Pakku would drag her through the snow like that?" Sokka frowned.

"No, but the one thing I've learned about secrets….when one person knows, it's a secret. As soon as more than one person knows, it's going to come out, eventually. It's inevitable."

"So what does that say about our secret?" Sokka rubbed his neck, eyes cast back toward the door, as though he could see all the way back to his room as he was one of the the 'persons of the day'. Katara had yet to have either items fall to her hands, which was for the best, as of right now.

"Well, it's not really a 'secret', because we want people to know about Kuzon, eventually. Gran Gran would have taken this to her grave, if she got the chance. We're just trying to prolong an omitted truth."

Sokka snorted.

"I guess I have to admire that about you. So full of hope, always." Sokka said, patting her head like she was a seal-cat.

"You don't have hope?"

Sokka weighed it. "I'm realistic. I hope for the best, but a good soldier has to be able to see every outcome. All the best, all the worst," he said, puffing out his chest.

After that, Sokka returned to his room. Katara had nearly forgotten that he may or may not have a woman in there, but she wasn't looking to find out. She returned to her own room. Or, her current space. 'Own' was possibly an overstatement.

As most of the girls' chambers had been utterly destroyed in the attack, and not just Katara's, it was unsuitable for them to return. Their bathhouses had been smashed, furniture had been burned, and their beautiful little garden was just a square of upturned earth and charred trees. The girls had been allowed, with a guard envoy, to go back one by one to save what could be saved, but the general idea was that they wouldn't be returning.

For the time being, they were all squished in barrack-like conditions. The ballroom had been used for overflow bedding, but pretty much the only people left were the contestants. They each were given a trunk to keep belongings in, but many didn't have enough to fill even one. There was a changing area, and they could use the bathrooms. A lot of girls stored items of importance in their handmaids' rooms. Some went as far as to displace their handmaids from their room and force them to sleep on the cots while they used the tiny servant's halls. Aiga had graciously offered, but Katara wouldn't hear it. She used the room just to sleep, anyway. Plus, even the rolling cots were more comfortable than the beds she had at home.

Zhi had tried to keep the group positive on their temporary space.

"You'll be getting bigger, better rooms soon, ladies," she had assured them. "We're not just going to place you in a generic guest room, because we are preparing the best for you all."

According to Mai, as Katara overheard, they moved rooms twice throughout the competition. They were supposed to have moved at 20 girls, but things had just gotten in the way. With that, luckily, they were closer to being done with the new suites as compared to not. When it was whittled down to just five left, they'd move again. These suites would be like small apartments inside the Royal Family's doors, and none would be too far from Zuko's room. Whoever won would retain their room at this point. Some ladies, like Ursa, used it as a personal sanctuary. Other winners who were less interested in love had historically remained living in there, only entering the Fire Lord's personal chambers to produce an heir.

Either way, they were promised that their time living like cattle in a small pen was coming to an end soon. Some girls, like Nadhari, asked Zhi every day if they'd be moving. Zhi always responded with a forced smile and said, "When the Royal Family deems it appropriate, dear," and then would usually follow up with an overly-cheery, "Patience is a virtue!" or similar mantra.

Inevitably, little pockets of beds had begun to form, little clusters of girls who shoved their beds into groups.

"It's just like a sleepover!" On Ji had bubbled, trying to brighten the mood. Nadhari had heard the comment and been nasty about it.

"Yes, but you usually go home the next day after the sleepover," was one of the least cruel things she'd thrown On Ji's way. Apparently, corralling Nadhari with a whole host of others was not the way to make her nicer. Not that Katara was sure there was a way…

Katara's own bed was near Suki's, Toph's, and Alcina's. Smellerbee's cot had worked its way over toward her, through the encouragement of Toph, and Katara didn't mind. She'd never gotten a chance to speak in length with the short-haired girl, but Toph seemed to have given her the 'okay', so Katara couldn't complain.

Next to Katara's section, but still a little displaced, was Yue with the other two Northern Water Tribe girls that remained. As Katara looked out at their little group, she felt a deep pang. She wondered if Eva was still around, would she have moved her bed next to Katara's? It felt silly, to worry over beds, but it just reminded Katara how much she missed her, wished that something could have been different. Maybe if she hadn't been hiding. Maybe if she'd gotten there, to pull Eva back. Maybe if she'd been found sooner. The thoughts, questions, plagued her.

On Ji, Maiha, Ratana, and Jin were the next group over, all perfectly nice girls.

Next to them was the pair of Anaselma and Avizeh, but Katara wondered if they'd banded together more being the odd ones out than anyone else.

And then, far over in the corner, was Mai, Nadhari, Cillia, and Ty Lee. Well, saying Ty Lee was with them was perhaps overstating it. Those first couple nights, her bed had been pushed firmly next to Mai's. Mai, when she thought no one was looking, had seemed to comfort Ty Lee. But, of late, Ty Lee's bed was wheeling farther and farther away. Whether it was intentional or not, it broke Katara's heart a little. Every time she saw it, she had more than half a mind to invite Ty Lee so move near her group. The thing stopping her was that this might seem weird, since on the surface no one knew she was friends with the group, and Katara told herself that they were bound to be moving any day.

What was truly strange was Mai and Nadhari 'bunking up' together. It didn't seem like they were friends at all. Cillia, who was far nicer than either, was on a noble level to Mai or Yue, so that was hardly surprising, but still made Katara wish she'd become better friends with Suki or Alcina or someone. No, the one that mystified her was the pair of Mai and Nadhari.

"Maybe they're both in 'We're Horrible High-Class Snots' Club," Toph had snorted, and while Katara hadn't meant to put it indelicately, she'd had similar thoughts. The only thing that seemed to separate them was the fact one was Fire Nation and one Earth Kingdom. The climate of late was one in which it was nearly imperative to have an ally, at least somewhere.

A part of Katara was horribly curious to know what they whispered about, when they were, since Mai was such good friends with Azula and was appreciated by Ozai - if he could choose a wife for Zuko, it might be Mai. In fact, Nadhari was also a favorite of Ozai's. She was only here because he was strong-arming Zuko on it. A part of Katara hoped that was the only reason Mai was here too.

She shook out her thoughts as she pushed open the gilded doors to the ballroom. She saw a commotion of handmaids helping tidy things up and girls shoving things into trunks.

"What's going on?" Katara asked, holding the door open as Mai shoved past her with a whole group of maids following.

"Princess Katara, we could not find you to give you the good news!" Zhi smiled at her with a sense of relief.

"Oh, I was with my brother, in the library," she said. "Good news?" Though, she could have guessed.

"We're getting our new rooms, finally," Alcina finished for Zhi, grabbing Katara's arm and pulling her to their bed square. "I'm so excited to see what they look like! Aiga has been here since mid-morning, gathering your things for the move. I'm just about done too. Want to go with me?" she asked, her friendly exuberance a warm gesture. She knew that she and Alcina were friends, but it was still sometimes nice to have that reminder.

"Aiga, thank you so much," Katara said, a little red that she hadn't been around to help at all.

"Not a trouble, Princess. I know that you've been keeping yourself busy," she said. Her breath was a little short, though, and her eyes were a little too wide, a little too placid when she had no reason to be looking so oddly forced-serene.

Oh, she had the other item today.

And, if Katara had to bet, it was on her, for that in itself was the safest place. Or, the journal, at least. Would she really risk moving around so much with the powder, lest it tear open and kill everyone? However, from the slight tip of Aiga's head to Katara's chest near her cot, she understood. While she didn't like the idea that the power - as well wrapped as it was - was near her own things, it was the safest place. That meant Sokka had the journal.

"You okay, Katara? You can't tell me you're going to miss this," Alcina teased, nudging her. Katara realized she'd been scowling hard.

"No, no. Just thinking about something my brother said," she replied, lying easily.

They followed the convoy of girls and handmaids, finding the new suites with little trouble. They were closer to the Royal Family's quarters, somewhere in between where they put the regular visiting dignitaries compared to where they put up extended family members when they came to stay. The message was clear, they were starting to all be important to have made it this far. They were also on the second floor of the palace, a change to pace, since Katara really didn't spend a lot of time thinking about the multiple floors.

The area was once again sectioned off with a pair of guards and doors, although the doors were wide open to allow them to move in. It brought Katara back to those first days, when she'd been unsure who to trust and she'd heard things about Zuko, like that he was 'strangely handsome', or 'pensive', but not much else.

"It goes alphabetical instead of by nation," Alcina noticed immediately. "They probably want to promote more intermingling, now that we're getting whittled down and such," she said with a shrug. She was the first room, on the left. The doors were a little bigger, a little whiter. Instead of their names hung from a sign tacked onto the door (albeit, it had been in an impeccable font), their names were now on little stained wood signs drilled into the wall. A deeper sign of permanence. The hall itself was even bigger, Katara noted. And, it seemed that instead of looping around in a square shape, there were 11 doors down one long hall, mirrored on each side. There were also things hung on the walls, like it was an actual part of the palace, and not just an assembly of rooms in a convenient spot. At the end of the hall was a smaller doorway, and Katara was curious to see where it would lead. A couple other girls were eyeing it and blushing. Agni, did they think it was something stupid like an entrance into Zuko's suites? Spirits, that would just be an all-around bad idea.

Katara noticed as she passed that the first door from the front had no name, but she was reminded that they were supposed to move in at 20 people. It seemed each group of five rooms had a bathroom, though with only 17 girls left, it was three groups of four and one group of five at the end.

Katara's room was in second grouping, so near the middle. The girls' names went alphabetically back and forth, so while her name actually fell in between Jin's and Kilee's, her left door-mate was Avizeh and - she resisted a shudder or horror - to her right was Mai. This was the second worst combination that Katara could imagine, which could only be topped if it was Mai and Nadhari sandwiching her.

Being next to Mai was a nightmare for obvious reasons. And Avizeh was an incorrigible gossip, who would give her left foot if it meant being the first to spread around news. If she were allowed, she might make a fair journalist, Katara thought. And, when it was a slow day, she'd been known to amp up the truth. She didn't lie, but her word was always taken with a grain of salt. However, this meant any illicit meetings in Katara's room were going to have to stop; between Zuko sneaking in for kissing or for Blue Spirit meetings and she and Toph planning things, or any other secrets of the sort. This did put Katara out.

She saw Mai exiting her new suite and from the frown, it was clear that Mai was just as displeased to be saddled next to Katara as well.

Nadhari had left her room, a little down and away from Katara. "Where's Zhi?"

"Here, Lady Nadhari," Zhi said, sounding very tired.

"Are you who we talk to if we are displeased with our room?"

Katara could see Zhi's jaw twitch, probably holding back a string of cuss words. "The Royal Family has worked hard to make this exceed expectations. It's not even a day in. What could possibly be wrong?"

Katara never heard what vexed her so, because Nadhari dragged Zhi into her chamber. It was probably something stupid, like the paint color clashed with her eyes, or something.

"At least it's not Nadhari next to you," Aiga whispered when Mai was out of earshot and Nadhari's door had closed. Katara covered up her laugh with a cough.

"You're right, of course," Katara amended. She'd take Mai over Nadhari any day.

Aiga opened the door, and Katara couldn't help but be blown away. She'd gotten used to the very elaborate and superfluous rooms of the palace, or so she'd thought. Maybe the fact that this was hers was something different, or maybe Katara would simply never be used to the extravagance when all her lif,e she'd been raised to be pleased with anything the gods sent their way.

It was still just one room, but Tui was it a large single 'room'. A whole family in the South could fit in this one room. And, it was sectioned off to make it seem like there were separate spaces. A grand bed in one section, slightly larger than the previous one. An area dedicated to a desk with a couple book cases. A small sitting area, complete with a tea set waiting to be used. A space for putting her makeup on, complete with a new mirror and cushy chair. Katara didn't see a place to put her clothes, but was sidetracked by a window directly across from the door. There was a balcony with heavy curtains, and when Katara opened them, they revealed a sizable porch with a pair of chairs. They looked out onto a small sitting area that was probably hardly used, but well maintained. It seemed that they could not get down there directly, however. A part of Katara was already examining the walls to see if she could scale it down.

When she came back inside, Aiga was nowhere to be found.

"In here, Princess," Aiga said. There had been a door other than the front door that Katara had missed. So, not a single room. She opened it to reveal a closet with a full mirror. Aiga was putting her dresses that had survived, plus some she'd clearly spent time re-making, onto the hangers.

"What do you think?" Aiga said, holding up a pretty lilac dress.

"In general? Err, beautiful?"

"Oh, I suppose you didn't hear," Aiga said, pleased with Katara's reaction as she laid it across Katara's bed. "For tea time today, you've all been asked to meet with Lady Ursa. She wishes to talk to all of you."

"About what?" Katara asked, allowing Aiga to begin to undo Katara's current dress.

"I could not say, Princess." She patted Katara's shoulder. "But Lady Ursa is kind, of course."

Katara gave a short, slightly forced laugh. Somehow, talking with Zuko's mother was nearly as intimidating as going against Ozai. But, Aiga was correct. It couldn't be that bad.

This is very late. I get that XD However, I am RIGHT at the end of my last semester of undergrad (I graduate on the 16th) and because of this I have just been so incredibly busy. On that note as well, I will be taking a by week next weekend to graduate and spend time with all my family coming out to celebrate that. So, expect the next chapter around the 20th of December. After that, it should resume to regular update schedule.

As for notes, they are thus

*We're getting a little into the genetics of being a bender. I'm going off a great website I found, but I'll link it to later, because the discussion of hereditary bending and such will be a bigger deal later ;)

*Later tonight (I unforch left the files at home...I'm updating from work...bad Lex) I will have a schematics of the girls rooms, the order of them, as well as a picture of that nice lilac dress up on my tumblr (youngbloodlex22) or the Art Story on my Archie of Our Own

Not much else to say. I hope you all enjoyed this! Predictions of what you think Katara will be talking to Ursa about ;)