[On Hold] How to Measure Worth || ATLA

4 || The Avatar Has Arrived

(Unedited, 3200 words)

Nine days after my birthday, I get to skip my morning lesson with Master Pakku for the first time in quite a long time. Like all the other mornings I get to skip, it's because of Princess Yue. This time, it's because her birthday is today, and she has asked for me to be with the entire day. She does this every year, and every year, I comply. Master Pakku doesn't have a choice if the Princess specifically asks for her personal guard. So, as soon as I'm ready and fed, I head over to the palace with my ego already through the roof. 

Everyone greets me as I walk in, and a few ask me what I'm doing there so early. I respond with shrugs and smiles, trying my best to keep a low profile as I make my way through the palace. At some point, I pass by Chief Arnook and he nods his head at me with a smile. I nod back, silently thanking him for being the one to tell Master Pakku I'll be skipping my lesson this morning. The Chief has always been there to back me up when it comes to Yue's request for my presence, and obviously Master Pakku can't say no to him either. 

When I get to Princess Yue's room, I knock politely and say, "I'm here when you're ready, Princess."  

She responds almost instantly with her usual chirpy voice, "Give me a minute!" I smile and lean my shoulder against the wall by the door, crossing my arms over my chest as I wait for her. 

For her last birthday, I took her to the merchant ships and bought everything she looked at for long enough to warrant me to think she wanted it. This time, Chief Arnook commissioned my mother to make Princess Yue's favorite food for the dinner party they are throwing for her tonight. I have yet to find something to give her. I've decided that I'm going to wing it because I have nothing else to do. I've been with her for too long each day to get something without her noticing. 

When I hear her door unlock, I perk up. She opens it and steps out, already dressed and ready to go out. "Let's go on a canoe ride, shall we?" 

"I'd like that," I say, admiring her smile and her happy aura. She holds her hand out for me, and I take it, laughing softly. As we start walking, I comment, "You know, if you keep holding my hand, people are going to start to question my intentions with you." 

"What are your intentions?" she teases, looking up at me as we carry on down the hallway in the opposite direction of how I walked to her room. 

"Why, to protect you, of course," I reply, squeezing her hand softly. The smile that dusts her lips and the sparkle in her eyes makes every lie worth it. Every false word that falls from my lips, every lie my parents have to tell, my whole faux identity. It's all worth it to see her so happy. It's all worth it because she doesn't have to pretend to be someone that she's not around a personal guard that doesn't care about her the way I do.

"Of course," she echoes, and we both laugh all the way down to the boats. 

When we arrive, the boat handler asks if we'd like him to come with us. I glance over to Princess Yue, and she shakes her head. "My guard can guide us," she explains, and the handler nods in understanding. He steps aside and gestures to the canoe, which I help Princess Yue into before boarding it myself. 

I've guided canoes before, and I've also been a passenger in them, so I'm well aware with how to handle them. With Princess Yue as my passenger, I'm extra careful as I navigate the waterways. I ask the Princess where she wants to go as we get further from the palace, but she simply replies, "Take me anywhere." And so I decide to guide the two of us around aimlessly for a while. 

I love the architecture of the Northern Water Tribe. Even though I hate how everything is made of snow and ice and is all one color, I do love how intricate the buildings and boats and waterways are. Everything is built to be beautiful and tactical. The capital city of the Northern Water Tribe has survived throughout the hundred years war because it was built by people who knew what they were doing. I appreciate them every day. Their work lives on, even long after they did, and all of us here today get to appreciate it and live in it. Not only in beauty, but also in safety.