Grace woke tangled in the blanket and sheets. She sighed when she remembered that this room didn't have windows either. Kitare was in the side of her vision where he had been last night. He looked over at her and smiled.

"Morning." He motioned to the night stand, "I brought you breakfast."

She sat up and looked over, a silver tray of what looked like a sort of fried rice and toast, with a silver goblet of something. She saw the intricate fire design etched into the cup.

"Thanks. What time is it?" She rubbed at her eyes and put her hair behind her ears.

"A couple of hours until noon."

Reaching over for the tray, she took a sip of the fruity juice after setting the tray of food on her lap.

"After you eat and get ready, I thought we could go on a tour of the palace."

She gave a half hearted smile.

Grace stood by the bed while Kitare braided her hair to the way he had done it the day before. She looked at him curiously with a half smile as he did. "Where did you learn to braid hair?" She asked as he finished the small braids to tie back.

"At home I used to braid my sister's sometimes when Mother was busy." He said softly.

Grace noticed he said things about his family quietly, like he was remembering things while he said them. Which she didn't doubt.

"When was the last time you saw them?"

He moved to the front of her and looked to make sure everything was in place. "A year ago."

"Wow, you must miss them."

He nodded. "So, are you ready?"

She nodded.

Kitare led Grace to the middle of the palace, where pillars and a sheltered walkway circled the beautiful garden. A pond rimmed with stones sat in the middle, with cherry trees scattered around.

"It's beautiful!" She gasped, as they walked around to the entrance.

He took her hand as they went down the couple steps to the grass.

They walked to the water's edge and sat, Grace looked out at the pond, pink cherry trees surrounding the crystal clear water.

"This place is amazing."

"Yes. Whenever I come to the Palace I try to come here."

"It was the Fire Lady Ursa's garden." Grace smiled sadly.

Kitare looked over at her, "How did you know that?"

Grace gave a small smile, "I just know. She's an amazing lady."

He seemed to accept this for now, "She is." They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the water, the turtle ducks swimming over near where they sat. "When I was young, she was the only reason I liked coming to the Palace with my father, I never felt like this was the proud capital of my nation."

Grace wanted to ask him something, but she didn't feel it her place to ask. At least not yet.

Grace woke with a turn in her stomach. The invasion was today, hours away. What was she suppose to do? Kitare didn't want her here when the fight went on. But what was she suppose to do? Sit around and wait for him to come back…Hope that the Avatar won? She felt useless. He was going to try to meet her up with his Mother and Sister when they evacuated.

Grace moved over in bed, hugging her pillow, then decided she should get up, seeing the tray of food by her bed. There was no more time to sit and worry about it. She moved to get the tray when she heard a rustle of something under her pillow. Her heart beat faster. Moving the pillow she saw a note.

I know. If you make one move to tell him, I will not go easy on him.

Grace felt like she couldn't breath. Azula knew Kitare was hesitant. How did she know these things? She folded the paper and dressed quickly. Grace didn't know what she would do if Azula hurt Kitare's family. It was her fault he even questioned his decision not to follow Azula's word. What was she going to do?

"Grace?" Kitare opened the door looking in before walking over to the bed where she still lay. "Are you alright? You should get ready."

She moved the covers down a bit, "Yeah…"

He softened his gaze, "I told you you will have to be put with my mother and sister. You will be fine."

She sat up. She couldn't tell him. "What if…"

"Grace." He said louder now when she didn't say more, "Grace look at me!" He said when she didn't look at him. She did. "I will come back for you."

But what if he didn't?

The people started gathering to be evacuated in the middle of the city. Grace stood at the top of the stairs with Kitare.

"Are you ready?" He asked taking her hand, looking out at all the people.

She didn't say anything at first.

"Grace?"

She crossed her arms, "I'm scared."

He hugged her, "There's nothing to worry about." He looked out at the crowd and let her go. "Look." He motioned to two people toward the front of the crowd. "The woman and the little girl with the flower in her hair; that's my mother and sister."

She saw them. "How will they know it's me? Are you sure you can't come see them? They probably miss you—"

He stopped her, "It's better this way. Just call them by their names. My mother's name is Jira, and Sophie is my sister. They'll know. You have the necklace."

She looked at him his eyes seemed torn, between what he wanted to do, and what he needed to do. What if he was captured? What about his sister and mother? "Kitare? Don't do this…fight with your Nation."

He looked around to make sure no one could hear, "What? What are you saying?"

"I'm saying it's too risky."

He took her shoulders and moved close so he could whisper, "I had made my choice long before I met you, but you gave me the courage to make my move, this is the perfect chance. Trust me." He glanced at his mother and sister, "I've taken care of it. I'm not sure when we will see each other again. When you see two old men, you will know." He kissed her. She tried to smile when he looked at her, but knew it wasn't believable, she didn't want to leave. But she couldn't fight. She would only be in the way.

Her heart only lifted a bit when she glanced to them and back to him. Grace felt tears in her eyes, but nodded and started down the stairs.

So he was going to get them out.

That still didn't secure him though.

Only a few feet away and she could see the resemblance. He had his mother's eyes, caring, even though he worked to not show it. His little sister was beautiful, holding a soldier doll in her hand. She was looking around, but was too short to see past everyone.

Grace looked back to the stairs.

Kitare was gone.

She looked back to his mom and sister, they saw her. His mother looked away, but the little girl looked curiously at her.

She looked down, and saw the necklace hanging around her collarbone, sparkling in the sun. Backing away, she turned and hurried out of sight. Grace couldn't go with them. Not now. She had to stay for Kitare.

She wadded through the crowd. She had to find somewhere to hide. It took a few minutes, but she found a thinning in the crowd. She looked to make sure there were no guards around, and sneaked past one of the houses off to the side of the wide street. There was a window open in the back, and she looked inside the red clad house before slipping inside, happy Kitare had gotten her a skirt with legging type pants to go under it instead of that dress he had gotten her the day before yesterday.

Grace hit the floor with a thud and scrambled up and checked under her skirt, where two vials of water were concealed. While she had been in the bathroom this morning, she had emptied the perfume and soap and put water in, tying them to her upper legs with some hair ties. Both were secured still. She sighed with relief.

Grace still couldn't do much with water, she had been practicing these last couple days and the days on the ship. She had realized that freezing the water was easier than making it do much else. Carrying it through the air to its destination was not too much of a problem unless it got farther than a yard or two.

She sat by the wall, knees up to her chest. Now she just had to wait.