If there was one thing that Asami could say for sure about Varrick, it was that he was as regular as clockwork.
"Zhu Li! It's four o'clock! You know what that means!"
"I'll get the pumice, sir."
Asami waited for them both to leave Varrick's office before stealing around the corner and slipping through the door before it closed, trying not to think about Varrick's feet. She had no idea how Zhu Li dealt with it – but then, there seemed to be something going on there, so maybe she wasn't really scrubbing Varrick's feet.
She quickly shoved that thought out of her head, mortified, as she rummaged through the drawers of Varrick's desk. He was the messy kind of genius, the type whose paperwork was just as muddled as his thought process, so she didn't worry too much about subtlety.
It didn't take long to find the letter. As she'd suspected, Varrick had kept it from her father; for what reason, she couldn't guess, but she was sure it was nothing good. Varrick was never up to anything good. Tucking it inside her jacket, she slipped out as quietly as she'd entered and immediately went looking for Bolin.
She found him sitting under a tree outside apparently trying to teach his pet fire ferret to do a hand-stand on a ball.
"Come on, Pabu! Just one more try! I promise I'll catch you this time!"
Asami dropped down beside Bolin, and Pabu immediately leaped into her lap.
Bolin scoffed. "Alright, alright, but you can't hide behind Asami forever, you know."
Asami laughed, stroking Pabu's head. "So I got something," she said, lifting her gaze to Bolin.
"Oh yeah? Is it edible? I'm starving."
She rolled her eyes and reached into her jacket, casting a furtive glance around before pulling out the letter. "Remember that messenger?"
Bolin's eyes widened. "You didn't."
Asami smiled sweetly.
"You broke into Varrick's office? Are you insane?"
"I'm being proactive," Asami said primly. "Do you want to know what it says or not?"
"Well, obviously."
She grinned at him and opened the letter, reading it aloud – in a hushed voice, so as not to be overheard.
"To His Majesty, Hiroshi Sato of the Northern Reach,
I send this letter in the hopes that you will read it, though I am given to worry that it might not even make it to you. Even so, I trust that when it finds you – if indeed it does – it finds you in good health and better humour.
I know you are not unaware of the struggle of our nations. We have been caught in a stalemate for too long, never advancing nor retreating, never gaining ground but always losing soldiers. Good men and women who have done nothing to deserve to be sent to their deaths. The longer it goes on, the less I can be sure it's justified. We've been at war for generations – does anybody recall why? My generals fight to avenge their fallen, just as I imagine yours do, but the real reason behind the fighting has long been forgotten.
I believe it's time to lay this feud to rest. Let us lay down our arms and talk for once – on neutral ground, with neutral mediators, for the good of both our kingdoms.
I propose a peace council on Air Temple Island. There has been enough senseless death – let us put an end to it.
With hope,
Chief Tonraq of the United Southern Tribes."
Asami lowered the letter and stared at Bolin. He stared back.
"What are you two doing?"
They started guiltily as Mako's shadow fell over them, and Asami tried to hide the letter, but moved too late.
"What's that?"
"Nothing," Asami tried, but they all knew she wasn't fooling anyone.
"Asami." His voice was less stern than pleading, and her lower lip formed a pout as she reluctantly handed the letter to him.
His serious, golden eyes flitted over the page. Asami and Bolin exchanged a worried glance as Mako read.
"Where did you get this?" he asked when he finished.
"I... found it," Asami lied. Mako arched an eyebrow at her and she pressed on in a vain attempt to remedy her absolute transparency. "But look, this is a good thing, right? We should go."
"It could be a trick," Mako said. "They could just lure Hiroshi out of the city and kill him."
"Trust you to see a down side," Bolin said. "Come on, Mako! This is big!"
"I don't buy it," Mako said stubbornly. "Besides, Hiroshi would never go for it. And Varrick makes way too much money off this war – neither of them want it to end, not really."
"That's why I'm going to change their minds," Asami said. "Well – my father's, anyway."
"And how do you expect to do that?"
"You're considerably more annoying than usual today."
Mako's lips twitched into a smirk. "You have no idea, do you?"
Asami flushed as both brothers stared at her. "Well, not exactly, no. I'm working on it!" She added indignantly as Mako rolled his eyes.
"Well, stop working on it," he said, tucking the letter into his pocket. "It'll never work, and you'll only land both of us in trouble." With that he turned on his heel and walked away.
Asami glowered after him, but she couldn't deny that he was right – especially when it came to Varrick. He was the real problem, and while he was whispering away into Hiroshi's ear, there was no way she'd be able to convince them to go to Air Temple Island.
Unless...
"Uh oh," Bolin said. "You have an idea."
Asami beamed at him. "I have an idea."
Asami Sato was a woman of many talents. She could strip down an engine as easily as solve any mathematical equation put in front of her, she could hold her own in a fight and she could charm the birds from the trees.
And she could convince her father to give her almost anything she wanted – so long as it didn't interfere with his beloved war.
Over the next few weeks, she made sure to be in her father's sight as often as possible, and she did her absolute best to make her feigned melancholy seem genuine. She wandered aimlessly around the palace, sighing and looking forlorn, staring out of windows and speaking little to anybody – even Mako and Bolin. She couldn't afford for either of them to let slip that her apparent moodiness was an act, so while it pained her, she avoided them as much as possible.
Staying out of the garage was the hardest part of the whole charade, but it was the key that finally unlocked the door to her father's undivided attention.
Hiroshi called her to his office early one morning, before Varrick could rise and intrude on them.
"You seem out of sorts, my dear," he said as Asami lowered herself into a soft leather armchair.
"Do I?" she asked in a distracted sigh.
"Mako is very concerned." Hiroshi was peering at her over the rim of his glasses, his hands folded on his desk, and there was genuine worry in his eyes. "He says you've barely spoken a word to him or Bolin in weeks, and you haven't even been seen in the workshop. Is everything okay?"
Asami turned her gaze (rather dramatically) out the window. "I guess I'm just... I don't know. Bored. I haven't been out of the Reach in years."
"It's too dangerous for us to leave the Reach, Asami," Hiroshi said, gentle but chastising all the same. "You know that."
"I know, but... I want to go somewhere. There's got to be somewhere I can go where the south won't find me."
He had to think it was his own idea. This wouldn't work otherwise. Asami pouted a little, thumbs toying with one another in her lap as Hiroshi watched her thoughtfully. It was a struggle to keep her ears from reddening beneath his gaze, but finally, he spoke.
"What about Air Temple Island?"
Asami adopted a carefully practiced look of distaste. "With the monks? Father, do they even have beds?"
"It's neutral territory," Hiroshi said, "so the south wouldn't dare invade there. And it's away from the Reach. You can take an airship straight to the island – with a protection detail, of course."
Asami made some show of considering it.
"Please, Asami. I hate seeing you like this, and if a trip out of the Reach is what helps, then Air Temple Island is the only viable option without sending you halfway across the world."
"Are you sure you can spare the troops for a protection detail?" she asked, feigning concern for his damn strategies.
"For my daughter's safety and happiness? Of course."
Unless it involves putting an end to this bullshit, she thought, but she kept that to herself. "Alright, father," she said, and she let a smile grace her lips for the first time in weeks. "I'll go to Air Temple Island. Thank you."
She almost felt guilty as he returned her smile. "I'll send Mako and Bolin with you, too. It's not a trip without friends."
That put a damper on things, but she did her best not to let it show. If the order was coming from Hiroshi, Mako would have no choice but to go with her, regardless of whether he agreed or not.
As she left her father's office, her heart fluttered excitedly in her chest. Now all she needed to do was convince Tonraq that she'd been sent to speak on Hiroshi's behalf.