A/N: I'm going to Double Update, because I really don't like that last chapter. Merry Christmas to everyone!
Book 0: Steam
Chapter 3: The Servant Girl
"Katara, wake up!" The seven year old tossed around a bit, mumbling about magic arrows and Iluminati. "Katara!" Still, the little Waterbender did not awaken. "Katara, if you don't get up this instant, I will send you straight to the scullery for your first day." That did it. Katara immediately jumped up, throwing herself out of bed and quickly making it. No one wanted to be sent to the scullery, and today especially, because her mother had finally decided to let her start working. And she would face down a dragon before going to the scullery as her first assignment.
Katara scurried from her small bedroom to the main room of the apartment, which served as a combination sitting room and eating room. A piece of bread and a bowl of sweet soup was waiting for her on the table. She sat down and ate, wondering what kind of work she would be assigned. Perhaps she would work in the kitchens. She was a good cook after all. Or maybe she could get assigned to the Royal Chambers, that way she would have all the gossip about the Family first-hand. Of course, it didn't matter to Katara, she was just happy to finally get the honor of serving the Royal Family.
As she was biting into her bread, Tia came in from the front hallway, a scroll in hand. Katara perked up, as she knew that that scroll contained, along with the major issues in the staffing and her own personal to-do list, the different posts that needed filling for the day. Almost immediately, she began scarfing down her soup, anxious to find out her job. Tia laughed when she saw.
"Slow down little one. I'm not going to give all the good jobs away." Katara ignored her, of course. About five minutes later, the bowl sat empty, and Katara on the edge of her seat.
"Come on Mom, open the scroll! What is there to do?" She said excitedly, bouncing slightly in anticipation. Tia just laughed again and rolled out the scroll.
"Well, let's see. The full serving staff is needed tonight for Lord Azulon's dinner guests, the royal combers are low on shampoo, an engineer is needed to fix the piping to Prince Zuko's room... ah, here we are. It seems there's only one job open... oh dear. Um, sweetie, are you sure you don't want to wait another few days before you start working?" Katara rolled her eyes.
"Yes Mom, I'm sure. What's the job?"
"Well," Tia grimaced. "It seems that Princess Azula has broken another one of her 'playmates'." Katara winced. "Playmates" were the euphimism for the Princess's personal servants, and she often drove them to their breaking point, causing many a therapeutic vacation to Ember Island that occasionally had a follow-up to the Spirit World, or otherwise re-assignment to some governor's home. More than half of the servants the palace lost were at one point Azula's playmates. Still, she insisted on having at least one at all times.
The single most taxing job in the entire Palace. Endless psychological torment by the Princess herself. The ultimate test of one's will. Katara grinned.
"I'll do it."
------------This is a Linebreak!------------
Almost immediately after accepting the job, Tia, though worried, informed Katara that the Princess always woke at dawn, and expected her playmate to immediately bring her flatcakes with fresh berries and lichie and wouldn't get up until she'd gotten it. So, fresh from the kitchens with a tray of exactly that food, Katara braced herself and knocked on the Princess's chamber door.
"Enter." Came a voice, only slightly older than her own but with twice the command in her tone. Katara gulped, and pushed the door open.
The room was surprisingly... girly. From all Katara had heard of Princess Azula, she was certainly not a girly-girl. She was cold and cruel, and a perfectionist in every way. The young servant had honestly expected to see a rack next to the bed, with the lever right where she could reach it from her bed, and pictures of Earth and Waterbenders for target practice. Instead, there were stuffed Komodo Rhinos and Dragons lining the foot of her bed (even a badgermole and an ice wolf), candles against the walls (in a warm inviting way, not a dark and terrifying way), and everything else was pink, pink, pink! The walls, the floors, the bedspread, and the little girl in it were covered in different shades of pink.
As for the Princess herself, she was still as terrifying as she had been the few times Katara had caught a glimpse of her. Though stunningly beautiful (very much like Princess Ursa, her mother), the sharpness of her features, combined with the look in her eyes that screamed "die you filthy vermin" easily put fear in the hearts of subjects, servants, and older brothers everywhere.
"Tell me, new girl, what time is it?" She asked cooly, already knowing where this conversation was going. Katara did as well, and she didn't like it.
"It's, um, around mid-morning Princess." She replied.
"And what time," the Princess continued, "do I expect my breakfast delivered to me?"
"D-d-dawn, Princess." Came the stammered reply.
"Then tell me, girl, why you have decided to be so very late on your first day."
"I apologize Princess. I was only assigned to you just this morning." Katara tried puttin more confidence in her voice. She was determined not to be broken like all the others. Azula merely sighed.
"That's the excuse everyone gives on their first day. I can at least appreciate that you have some form of spine, so I won't punish you this time. Just don't let it happen again." Internally Katara sighed with relief, and carried the Princess's tray to her, laying it out over her as she had been taught to in her serving lessons (on the off chance she ever did become a personal attendant). "Wait outside the door for me. On one foot." It was apparent what Her Royal Highness was doing. She was testing Katara, trying to figure out how long the younger girl would last before even finding out her name. That, or just having fun at her servant's expense. Either way, Katara wouldn't fail.
------------This is a Linebreak!------------
Ten minutes later, Katara stood on one foot, the patience and dignity drilled into her over years of expecting nothing but servitude as her life's work (well paid servitude with nice accomodations, and an excellent dental plan) coming in handy as it was not a fun task. Her leg was sore and her small body, which, by the nature of seven-year-olds, did not appreciate being told to stay still, itched to move.
Seconds ticked by. Seconds turned to minutes. To Katara, minutes turned to hours. It was apparent that they had in fact, as she could swear the sun had moved since she last checked. Still, the Princess did not come out. Finally, when Katara had just about given up and prepared to set her foot back down, a boy came up to her.
"... what are you doing?" He asked. Katara turned her head to look at him, and found herself facing an extraordinarily handsome boy only a few years older than her, jet black hair pulled in a phoenix tail and perfect golden eyes staring straight at her. Though his regal clothes indicated that he was probably the son of one of Azulon's high class guests, a slight blush came unbidden to her face.
"I'm, er, waiting for the Princess. She commanded me to stand out here... like this." She replied, as nervous as she had been with Azula, albeit she didn't know why. Unlike her Royal Scariness, this boy had a relatively kind look in his eyes (even if they were looking down on her) and lacked the sharp features. No, this boy wasn't so scary, so why was she internally quaking? He merely laughed.
"Oh, I get it. You're her new toy." Katara's eyes turned to glaring.
"I prefer playmate." She growled. The boy just laughed some more.
"Which is kind of sad when you think about it. Excuse me. Azula, I know you're just waiting for her to give up, but this one seems stubborn, and Uncle is waiting for us." He called out. Katara froze. Uncle? So that meant that she had just snapped at the crown prince of the Fire Nation, Prince Zuko. Wow, when the maids said he was handsome, they weren't kidding*. A sigh came from Azula's room.
"Alright, fine." Azula came out now to find Zuko and, more surprisingly, her new servant still on a single foot. Even when virtually overruled, she waited. Azula had only ever known such loyalty from Mai and Ty Lee. She would be interesting. "You can stop now." Relieved, Katara brought her foot down, shifting it a bit on the ground to get the feeling back in it. "Now come. I have lessons to attend." With that command, Azula spun on her heel and began walking briskly towards the inner Palace courtyards. Zuko followed, barely sparing Katara another glance. She quickly followed.
-----------This is a Linebreak!------------
The next two weeks followed a very distinct pattern. In the mornings, Katara would bring Azula her breakfast, and then, while the Princess prepared for the day, would wait in a variety of uncomfortable or difficult positions (she never quite got down folding herself in a pretzel though, try as she might). Eventually, Prince Zuko would come calling for lessons, simultaneously liberating the young Waterbender from the discomfort. The next two hours would be spent going from the Inmer Courtyards, where Prince Iroh taught the two Firebending (Katara spent this time running back and forth to the kitchens, retrieving all manner of food and drink for Azula), to various rooms in the Palace for schooling in history, mathematics, reading, writing, and being royalty (seriously, a lot more to it than being hand-fed cherries and daily foot scrubbings). After that, Zuko and Azula would most likely seperate, neither being overly fond of the other, meaning Katara would no longer have the Prince for eye candy. Katara then got to spend the rest of the day "playing" with Azula. "Playing" meaning being a target to practice on. So far Tia had tallied five bruises and two third degree burns from the Princess' rare misses, all of which were attributed to Katara moving of course. So far it wasn't so hard, Katara didn't really get why her predecessors had gone crazy.
It was on one such day inbetween classes when Azula stopped suddenly.
"Katara, I've been meaning to ask you something. Are you a bender?" Both royals turned to look at her. All of a sudden Katara became very nervous.
-Flashback-
"Katara, I want you to remember something." Tia said seriously. "Tomorrow when you start working, I don't care if it's convenient or easier, I don't care if a Royal directly asks you, do not reveal that you're a Waterbender. You could be killed because of it. Understand?"
-Flashforward-
"No. No I'm not." The lie spilled difficultly from her, both because she didn't like lying and because, despite her obvious servant role to Azula, the young royals were still sort of her friends. Still, it was somewhat unneccessary, as even while Zuko shook his head rapidly and mouthed "don't lie!" several times, Azula grabbed her arm and pushed it against a wall.
"That was a test of loyalty. You failed." She spat. "My father told me all about you once he found out your name, including the fact that you're a Waterbender. Unfortunately my Grandfather has a special interest in you for some reason, so I will forgive you keeping it from me. But never lie to me again, understood?" Katara nodded fearfully. Zuko shook his head.
"Just let her go Azula. She was protecting herself and you know it." Zuko would never admit it, but he had taken a liking to the Waterbender. She was probably an experiment by his grandfather, taking the savages from their native lands and seeing if they could be properly culturized. He rather liked the idea, it meant less needless killing, and it seemed to work with the dark skinned servant. But again, he wouldn't admit it. For now, he would just protect the girl.
Azula complied, brushing off her shoulder, and started moving again. Katara stood still for a second, before following even as she scratched Azula off of her mental friend list.
A/N: Review if you want, after what I said before I've just decided I don't care. Nope. No caring at all. Btw, did you know they added a new feature? If you review, a cookie magically appears in front of you.
A/N: Yeah, I'm going to give you another one now because I'm nice. Call it my belated first Hannukah present. The rest are in cookies.