I was going to post this earlier today, but I got caught up with Thankgiving stuff, so sorry. Now that I have eaten my weight in turkey, I can put it up. Enjoy!!
Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar: TLA we wouldn't have to wait until the season finale for ZUTARA. But, alas, I don't so we will all have to wait...
As it turns out, Katara did run into Naomi as she went to collect her things from the inn. Naomi had been waiting for her.
"Katara, finally. I thought you would never show up."
Katara smiled and embraced her friend. "It's good to see you too, Naomi. Did you talk to the captain yet?"
"Yea. I told him that both of us are stationed in the palace, as servants."
"Did he say anything about the other girls?"
"There are five in the city, but most of them are working in the palace."
Katara smiled. "That's great. Did he say where?"
"No. But I doubt we'll see them. Katara, do you know how big that palace is? We have fifteen girls there as a part of hundreds of servants. We won't be able to communicate easily. From what I gather, you are probably the closest to where the Prince will be spending most of his time. We've all decided to lay low until you tell us otherwise."
Katara sighed. The palace was enormous. She agreed with Naomi. Now, she was in charge of the mission. "Okay. Has anybody seen him yet?"
Naomi shrugged. "There's no way of knowing, but probably not. The wing that Mistress Pri runs is closest to the wing where the royal family stays."
"Oh," Katara said. She wasn't sure how she liked this. Whenever she was told by her father, teachers, friends that she would kill Prince Zuko, they told her that the other girls would help her. They would work together, as a team. Now she would have to do it alone, and she wasn't sure how she liked that. But I have no choice, she thought. My people are counting on me to do this. I cannot let them down.
Katara sighed, promising herself that she would think about that later. "Naomi, don't abandon me. I can't do this by myself."
"Katara, I would never. You are my Princess, but more importantly you are my friend. I will contact you whenever I can. I promise."
"Thank you," Katara said. She hugged Naomi and then grabbed her trunk.
"Will they check our stuff?" she asked.
Naomi shrugged. "I don't know. Will you risk it?"
Katara opened her trunk and looked through it. "How am I supposed to kill him if I don't have any of my weapons? Are you taking anything?"
Before Naomi could answer, there was a knock on the door. A girl burst in, panting. Katara ran over to her. It was Yuri, a girl from the South Pole. She sat on the floor, trying to regain her breath. Naomi got her some water.
"Yuri, what happened?" Naomi asked. The girl took a sip of the water before speaking.
"They check the bags. I was bringing my trunk into the palace, and the guards stopped me. They took my trunk and opened it, telling me that they had to inspect it. They saw all of my weapons so I ran."
"Are you okay?" Katara asked.
Yuri nodded. "I don't think they followed me, but they took my papers. They know my name."
Katara and Naomi looked at each other. Make that fourteen girls in the palace. "What should I do?" Yuri looked between the two girls. "Katara, you're in charge."
Katara didn't know what to say. "Do you think they would recognize you?"
Yuri shrugged. "It's getting dark and I didn't look directly at them. But I'm not going back there."
"I wouldn't expect you to," Katara answered. "Go find a job elsewhere. Use a different name and lay low."
Yuri nodded and smiled weakly. She stood. "Thank you." She turned to go.
"Yuri," Katara called. The girl turned around. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Yuri nodded. "Just a little shaken." With that, the girl left the room.
Katara looked at Naomi. "I guess I'll be leaving my weapons behind then?"
Naomi smiled. "That would be best."
Katara and Naomi went through their things, taking out anything that was obviously a weapon. They decided that if they each strapped a small knife onto their thigh then it would go unnoticed. But the others had to go. The only things that they kept were the war fans, their water pouches, and the less obvious poisons that could be easily mistaken for tea.
When they were finished, Katara said goodbye to her friend and left. Naomi agreed to stay behind in case somebody else in trouble came by.
The guards checked Katara's trunk and let her in without any questions. She would have gone straight to her room, but she had forgotten where it was. Katara checked for Mistress Pri in her office, but she wasn't there. So, Katara wandered toward where she thought her room was.
After a while of wandering, Katara still had no idea where she was going. All of the hallways looked the same to her. She continued walking, once again completely ignoring her surroundings. Only this time Naomi wasn't there to stop her from crashing into something. Or someone.
A.N. Did you like it? Tell me. Review.
I know it's really short, so sorry. I just wanted to post it. I'll update again really soon, even faster if you guys review.