So sorry it took awhile to get this up! My bad. This chappie is solely Katara-centric and a bit of a filler, but its necessary. I enjoyed writing it, actually.
Disclaimer: I don't own the avatar, the last, or the airbender. Go figure.
She sat back on her heels and looked around at the overwhelming melon red and gold. One side of the hallway was made up of pillars and windows, and long curtains that blew inward and sighed with each burst of breeze. The fire nation. Katara slowly stood up almost afraid to breathe and break the fragile silence. There was no one in sight. Immediately she noticed that she felt weightless, pushing herself up with almost no effort. She looked down at her hands. They were bluish and see-through. I'm a-a spirit??
Suddenly, the official clicking of heels was heard around the corner, coming closer and closer. A man rounded the corner in a red robe, hands folded inside his sleeves and whistling. Katara froze in fear, but he didn't even glance at her. She backed against the wall as a group of girls walked down the hall, dressed in clothes finer than Katara could even imagine. They looked like dolls, but she could tell that their conversation was less than innocent.
"I swear, if Yumi even lays a finger on Ree, my father will find reason to have her father fired. Father's rank is too high to be ignored: it wouldn't be a problem. "
"But I don't think that Yumi is your biggest competition. The only other girl Ree flirts with is Liela. . . . and her father's a commander!"
"Well, we'll just see if he still pays her any notice after tonight-" Their voices faded away. They must not be able to see me, Katara thought as no one had even looked in her direction.
She tried to think back, and remember how she could have gotten to the fire nation. She had gone to sleep . . . and then . . . and then . . . there was a swamp. A peaceful swamp, and a monkey meditating in a shrine of sorts. What had he told her? Well, the monkey said that I needed to find some one I don't know, yet know and knew before. Who would that be? She didn't have any friends in the fire nation palace, but then again: if she were friends with them she'd have to know them, right? And she wasn't supposed to know them . . . . But the monkey also said that she did know them. Or at least had at one point.
This was beyond confusing.
Maybe if she just wondered around enough, she'd see them and recognize them? She wasn't sure just how big the palace was, though, and she wanted to get back to the air temple as soon as possible.
Katara wondered down the hall and took a right at the end. This new hallway was lined with doors, spaced evenly apart. She opened one and was confronted with a magnificent expanse of ballroom. The walls were red with golden swirls like vines painted on them. From the center of the ceiling dangled a big crystal and ruby chandelier. Clean marble floor shone in the sunlight that poked its way between heavy maroon drapes. Katara closed the door softly and resumed her search – for what she didn't know. This hall way led to a gallery of portraits. Fire nation nobles, she guessed. There were many labeled Former Fire Lord , with paintings of men with their hair pulled severely back into top knots adorned with the golden Fire insignia. Many paintings showed a family with them. She found herself wondering if there were one of Ozai, certainly he would have had one made. She wondered what he looked like. What did tyrannical, mass murders look like? Probably, something like Azula. She walked to the end of the row. No Ozai. The last firelord's name was Azulan. That was strange.
She walked back out of the gallery and chose a direction at random. She opened a door and found five men standing around a table. Their heads whipped around as the door creaked open.
"Who goes there?"
" . . . "
"Did someone just open the door?"
"No one's there."
"Perhaps Azulan is having spies trained on us."
"He just sits there all day, he doesn't suspect a thing."
"Well, shut the door. And lock it!"
The door was indeed shut and locked in Katara's face, but she had other things on her mind. Why were they talking like Azulan was in power? I thought he had died. She started to walk on, but thought better of it. She needed to get outside. The red, gold, and the ever-present warmth were stifling. The very air itself wrapped around her, humid, warm, and heavy. She took a left that led deeper into the palace. Where had she first come in? There had been long filmy curtains blowing in the breeze where she had started. The hallways became slightly smaller as did the passing doors. A quick check in some rooms showed guest suites, and empty rooms for entertaining company. Suddenly, there came a series of doors larger and more ornate. The royal family, perhaps?
A double-door down the hall caught her attention where a sliver of daylight spilled on the floor. She eagerly pushed them open and inhaled deeply. The garden was small, but peaceful. The tiled roofs of the surrounding walls jutted out, giving the courtyard an enclosed feeling, save the mid-day sun that soaked the place from above. Her gaze wondered down a path to a pond beneath a willow tree. Turtle-ducks swam serenely across its surface.
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