[From The Palace of Koori]
I flexed my hand, watching with a bored expression as the icy spikes in front of me grew and contracted with my motions. Maybe some people would fear this—the raw power. The tingling in their fingers as the elements bent to their whims would send shivers down their spines. But not me. I was not afraid of power—I embraced it. I embraced it as readily as I resisted weakness. Ironic, then, that my greatest strength was also a great weakness.
Everyone knows that Benders cannot retain their sanity once they cross the threshold of ten. They begin having strange visions and their eyes lose all color. I read once, in a history book, that Benders used to be celebrated. Adored. Admired. A small part of me wished that I was alive during that time, where I could have flourished under the tutelage of a Bending Master. I could have learned the deepest secrets of my element and done something amazing.
I was so lost in my own musings that it took me a moment to realize how ridiculous that was. A soft, sharp laugh left my lips. I am the ruler of the entire planet, the most powerful being in existence. I am the only Bender who has any semblance of self-control. Why would I ever want to be just a part of something? No, this is what I was meant for.
My delicate fingers wandered briefly to my flask. It was always at my side, attached with a leather belt that only I was allowed to touch. I knew the servants whispered about such fanaticism behind my back; they did not understand. The herbal potion it contained was, quite literally, my lifeline to the Physical World. I had discovered just the right mixture to stave off the Spirit-Visions some years ago, when I was only thirteen and terrified. Perhaps more empathetic rulers would have shared their secret cure for Benders with their citizens by now. Then again, empathetic rulers never held power for long.
I eyed the door for a moment or two. My mind made up, I snapped my fingers. The ice I was playing with cracked; a small maid off in the shadows jumped a little.
"Come here!" I commanded. With a squeak, she raced to prostrate herself at my feet. "Bring me the Book." The girl did not need to ask for clarification about which book I wanted. I had burned all the other books a long time ago. She ran off, her bare feet slapping against my metal floors.
The Book contained the history of my Kingdom since the days of my many times-great-grandfather, Yuudai. He was a mighty warrior who had helped save the Physical World from the Spirit Monsters. The people rewarded him by crowning Yuudai and his descendants as Kings and Queens for the rest of time. Even until now, Yuudai was the only one who had entered the Spirit World and lived. His name lived on in the mouths of my people. Every child grew up learning the tales of the great Yuudai; children staged the battles between him and the Spirit Koh. As long as a descendant of his remained in power in the Physical World, the Spirits were too bitter and scared to try to raise a new assault against us.
Speaking of scared… The young girl had returned. She bowed, deposited the book into my lap, and retreated into the shadows once more. I ran my fingers over the soft leather cover with its gold accents. As if by memory, the book fell open to a page in the middle of Chapter Seven. I hadn't read through that Chapter in years, not since my fourteenth birthday…
"Ronin, would you tell me what you're doing?"
"Relax, Koori. Why won't you trust me for a change?"
"You've got me blindfolded and I can't see where I'm walking. Why wouldn't I trust you?"
"Sarcasm not appreciated, your Highness."
I laughed, a light one like the tinkling of bells. It was a different sound than my normal laugh, something Ronin had been quick to point out to me. He was noticing a lot of "differences" these days. I was thinner. I was paler. My hands were freezing cold, even during the summer months. My eyes looked more washed-out, and my hair was getting darker. He even went so far as to say that I smiled less. Whenever he brought up those concerns I would laugh them off, but inside I was panicking. As soon as he left me I would race to my room and take double the amount of my herbal remedy. He knew I had found something to help me handle my Spirit Visions; nevertheless we were both worried that it wasn't working.
Shuffling sounds echoed all around me. Then there was a thud like something landing on a table, and I was so ready to take my blindfold off that my hands actually twitched. I tried to take a deep breath—Ladies do not twitch, for they are never impatient.
Gentle hands guided me to a chair with a soft, upholstered back. Only one room in the palace had such chairs: the library. I felt a twinge of disappointment. Really, the library? I have to come here all the time for tutoring. Although lately my tutors had been calling out because my new appearance disturbed them. I didn't mind all too much; it was more time to spend with Ronin.
"Okay, I'm taking off your blindfold…"
The sudden onslaught of light was too much. I squinted down at the table before me. A book had apparently been the cause of the thudding sound. It was a book I had never seen before—rare, given the amount of time I spent in the room—and it was beautiful. Soft blue leather with silver embossment that read "The Tales of Yuudai." Dark blue ribbon peeked out from the pages, like a bookmark.
I shot Ronin a look and he shrugged, suddenly red in the face. "I know how you like to hear stories about Yuudai, so I wrote down the best ones I know. I had the crazy old bookbinder in town put the pages together for me. Happy Birthday, Koori." My smile wouldn't stay away. It felt odd and a little out of place on my face (I hadn't really smiled in months) but I was glad Ronin had put it there.
"This is the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me," I told him honestly. He started smiling, too. "And I know just what we're going to do now." Standing up, I grabbed Ronin's hand and dragged him down the countless aisles of the Royal Library. With three turns, left left right, we were there.
Sunlight poured down on the corner from large, vaulted windows. I had snuck a blanket into the library last year, when tutors would still come to see me. Instead of doing any assigned reading I would start fantastic games of hide and seek until they eventually gave up. Then I could retreat to my corner and dream about going outside, once my scheduled tutor time was over.
Ronin was suddenly all awkward limbs and stiffness. He took a step forward as if he wanted to move towards the blanket, but ended up freezing in place. I realized that he was still holding my hand; I used our connection to pull him down after me. He landed hard by my side. For a moment I thought I'd hurt him, he was so quiet. He laughed, though, and I remembered that he was learning to fight with two broadswords so he was probably used to bumps and bruises by that point.
"Read to me?"
He nodded. I leaned back and stretched out, closing my eyes.
"Part Seven, in which Yuudai decides to enter the Spirit World."
That sounded wrong, even when read in Ronin's deep voice. My face twisted into a scowl. "Why are you skipping the whole beginning?" I snapped.
"Well, I—"
"Everyone knows the beginning is the best part!" Okay, this is seriously bugging me!
"I just thought that…"
"That's where he trains and realizes what his destiny will be, and he has his first battles." Why is this bothering me? I was sitting up at that point, my hands clenching onto the pages of the book that Ronin was also holding. With a jolt, I realized I was speaking through clenched teeth. Something raced through my veins demanding that I rip the book away from him, beat him over the head with it, and maybe try something a little darker. Ronin stared at me with wide eyes that quickly narrowed in scrutiny. I forced my eyes shut and turned away, releasing the book. It fell to the ground with a thud but we both ignored it.
"Koori, what's been going on with you lately? I'm just trying to read from this book like you asked."
I pressed my fingers to my temples, struggling to breathe normally. "I don't know, Ronin. I honestly don't know."
"I've always been the one with the temper between us," he reminded me. "But lately you've been down everyone's throats. Just the other day, you threatened to have your cook maimed because the frosting on your birthday cake wasn't the perfect shade of periwinkle." His hand sought mine until our fingers interlaced. "That's not the Koori I remember."
Rage flared up again and I pulled my hand away. "Well maybe you're remembering wrong."
"Koori." Ronin was staring at me again.
I grimaced. "Sorry. I just… I don't know what's going on anymore, Ronin. I really don't."
"Are you scared?"
"No." It was a whisper, but it was the truth. I felt like something had started to hollow me out from the inside. It had taken my fear away, leaving me bold and reckless and just a touch inconsiderate. Now it was chipping away at my self-control; even though I should have feared what that would do to me, I was empty.
"Well I am. And I think I know what the problem is."
Tentatively I reached for Ronin's hand again and pressed it to my face. There was something real there, behind the weight of that contact. It was the one spot of warmth that I could feel. I tried to focus on that and tune everything else out. "What is it?"
"Your herbs, Koori."
I scowled and dropped his hand. "You don't know what you're talking about!"
"What else have you done differently in the past year? I'm telling you, those things aren't good for you."
"Ronin, you don't have to deal with what I'm going through so you can't tell me what is right for me. Listen to what I'm saying: without my cure, I would be a walking hallucinating mess right now! You said you were afraid of losing me once. Well I'm trying to stay here for you and now you're telling me that's a bad thing?"
He was silent for a long while with pursed lips. When he eventually spoke, he didn't have the rage that I was expecting. It was like a strange sort of role reversal, him staying calm and me blowing my top. "I just worry about you because…"
"Because what."
A small smile graced the corner of his lips. "You can't tell me that you haven't figured it out by now."
I wanted to strangle it out of him. "What the hell are you talking about, you little shit?"
He just leaned over and kissed me. When it was over, Ronin stood up and offered me his hand. I took it, but the room wouldn't stop spinning before I tried to stand up. His hands steadied me for the second time that day. This time, his fingertips left strange tingling sensations all over my body. My head must have been full of air, it was so light. We both waited a few moments for the other to speak first. For some reason my brain was having trouble composing sentences, so Ronin broke the silence. "Same time next week, then." I nodded dumbly, which was apparently enough for him, because he turned and walked away. Another goofy grin broke out onto my face. Almost absentmindedly, my fingers moved up to touch my lips and the memory of my first kiss. Same time next week, then.
Nothing ever goes as planned. Before the week was out, Ronin had left and I wanted him dead.
The memory left me angrier than I had been in a long time. I stared down at the neat script, Ronin's perfect handwriting. Part Seven, in which Yuudai decides to enter the Spirit World. With a fierce growl I slammed the book shut and hurled it across the room. My squeaking chambermaid hustled to the fallen birthday gift and ran off, presumably to return it to my chambers. They all knew the rules: if any of them damaged my personal belongings, they would be severely punished.
Ever since that fateful day two years ago, I discovered that I had a talent for punishing others. Not only was it a talent, it was a hobby. One day soon, I hoped to hunt down all of those who had betrayed me and escaped. The grand total amounted to one, but it was one too many. I still remembered Ronin's face: those inhumanly beautiful eyes and his sarcastic features… My old best friend who had dared to leave me, citing reasons that included cruelty and a parting of ways. I wanted to "part" his hair from his head and his spirit from his body. But that could wait, because once the issue of the world's last hope was taken care of, I would finally exact my revenge on that stuck up little boy, and—
"Highness," a man called timidly, peeking his head around the door into my icy chamber. I straightened at the rank of Princess: without any other people in positions of power, it did not matter what my subjects called me. Just as long as they understood that I controlled every aspect of their lives, that I was perfect and they were flawed, that if they failed to meet my commands then they would learn the true meaning of pain, the world existed in a perfect balance. My eyes narrowed in instant dislike of the man, and I smirked as he squirmed under my stunning gray stare.
"You had better have a good reason for interrupting me," I snarled, the sound bell-like and quite beautiful, "or I will personally make your life miserable." The man simply quaked in response, eyeing the enormous ice spikes that protruded from the floor of the room. He was probably wondering where they had come from—how had they just appeared? Or maybe he knew about Bending in general, which many people did, but he wasn't sure how it was possible to have a Bender be silent in my throne room. I didn't care to know his thoughts on the matter. I was content with knowing my own power, because the power was what scared them.
"My most humble apologies, Majesty…" the man faltered, but I half-smiled at his groveling. Encouraged, he continued, "I was taking a stroll through the Palace, and I heard Tsuneo discussing… the, uh, forbidden subject."
"I don't have time for these cryptic messages," I snapped, and though I thought I was being friendly, the man cringed back from me. Hmm. Maybe my people skills need some work. I tried my best to give him a warm and friendly smile; it worked almost instantaneously.
"Bending, Highness," the man announced with a trace of fear in his voice. "More specifically your abilities, but…" He trailed off, his eyes suddenly landing on my hands. I glanced down at them to find myself clenching at the throne. Tendons were popping visibly and I had a difficult time breathing. "I didn't believe him, of course, Highness…" But I saw it in his eyes—the way he was staring at those icy spikes left no doubt in my mind that he was slowly piecing it together.
Terror and rage grappled within me; for a moment I felt like a middle-aged woman, and then everything settled. "Bring me Tsuneo," I commanded. Anger simmered under the flat tone of my voice. The man bowed out respectfully. He returned a half-second later, dragging in a pleading and whining Tsuneo with him. My upper lip curled into a sneer at the sight of him, trembling on the frosted ground at my feet.
"Highness, please!" he screamed. "I had no idea that you did not wish—"
"Speaking of Bending is forbidden," I snarled, emphasizing the last word while leaning forward to glare at him. "How convenient that you would be the one to spread the word." I thought this over, the concept and plot taking root in my mind. "That you, the one who predicted my downfall, would be the one to tell people I was a Bender. Everyone knows Benders over the age of ten are insane, and out of their minds! Yes, how very convenient indeed… That you would be the one to start a rumor which could lead to a coup."
"Highness, I would never—"
"You are hereby under arrest for treason," I interrupted him. He stared up at me, horrorstruck, but did not move. It took me a moment to see the humor in the situation, and I nearly laughed. He thinks I will have him physically detained! "Tsuneo, do you honestly believe that I would let my guards handle traitors to my rule? The most dangerous threats there are? No. No, my second-rate fortuneteller, I deal with traitors myself." I gave him a nasty, toothy smile and smirked while a shiver ran up his spine. "Perhaps, if you beg for mercy, I will forgive you."
"Please, Highness," the man whispered. His eyes, his posture, everything was repentant. "My wife, she will tell you I am an honest man. I would never intentionally do anything to harm you. Please, Highness. Spare me. Show me mercy and I—"
"No thanks," I answered lightly. I brought up my right hand. Tsuneo's neck bowed unwillingly to the ground before jerking up. His hands pushed his body off the floor until he stood erect, eyes darting wildly about the room.
"Highness, please—" He never got to finish his plea; tiring of what seemed to be an eternal whine, I forced his mouth shut. With a grin, I jerked my new puppet to the left and… forgot to make him stop. He crashed against the wall and slumped to the floor before flying across to the right. Finally, I restored him to the middle of my throne room, savoring the agony that gleamed in his eyes. I had all but forgotten the other man watching my puppet dance because I was so focused on that expression of terror. There was nothing quite like it, not anywhere in the world.
"Now," I sighed, tapping my fingers on my chair. What were once frosty fingerprints blossomed into tiny ice crystals. Tsuneo's body jerked occasionally, in time with my finger tapping. "I could just end it now. Or maybe throw you around some more. I could force you to your knees until you beg me to stop. But… I like to watch people crumble." So I left him standing while I summoned the energy for my next task, my next punishment for the man who had tried to dethrone me.
It took several moments for the effect to start working. His face twisted in anguish while the unnatural chill crept into his veins. I had felt it once myself—knew how the cold would overtake everything, pushing out every thought in his mind except the pain, the unbearable pain of having something so impossibly cold in every nook and cranny. Then his brain would scream in protest because it was too cold to function and his temples would ache, but no relief would come. It would just continue spreading, worse and worse and worse.
The cold would suck everything out of him, turn his bones to brittle ice and his muscles to dried out pieces of meat. His teeth would rattle in his head, chattering until they snapped. All because of the excruciating cold, something no man was ever created to bear.
And then it would become worse.
It was something I had created for traitors just like him, for those who dared to suggest that there was another way of life besides the one I had designated for the world. Only after their blood was nearly frozen, a sluggish slush inside of them that would serve no purpose but to torment, I unleashed my full anger. And Tsuneo crumbled, just as I knew he would. With a terrible scream, my former fortuneteller seized his leg and collapsed, writhing on the ground in pain. It could only last a few seconds: once the blood spiked fiercely out of his veins and into his legs, he was not long for this world. But I watched every second of it coldly. I watched the traitor suffer the punishment that anyone of his caliber deserved.
Then I returned my attention to the other man, whose face was whiter than mine. My silver-gray eyes narrowed in intense anger. Once I let loose every one of my restrained emotions, it became difficult to control them again. But when I flashed—when my throne room disappeared for a moment, to be replaced by a strange place where the trees hung upside down—I reached down to my side to grab the flask. I chugged its contents and they kept me rooted, free to stare at my victim who was now motionless on the floor.
"Go."
It was a single word, only one command, but after the display he had just witnessed, the other man decided it was best not to push his luck. He scurried out the door like the weak fool that he was. I allowed myself a small smile.
That was the way it should be.
A/N: Hello again everyone! We're back for another week to check in with our favorite Empress! I really got the sense that I didn't give her any character development the last time I posted this story, and I didn't really investigate her connection with Ronin, either. So that is why you get some more Koori/Ronin "fluff gone wrong."
This interlude is a little shy of 4,000 words. If you have any questions about the chapter, just let me know in a PM or a review!
Tainted- Thanks for reviewing! Also, thanks for the VCs and the cookie cannon! Much appreciated!
Also, I would like to say thank you to those who have favorited my story and/or signed up for alerts. It means a lot that you are so interested in what I have to write, even if you keep quiet about it. So thank you, again, from the bottom of my heart! See you next week!