The Girl After

Chapter 43

I never was a fan of the idea of a life of glitz and glamour. Too fabricated, too orchestrated. Yet here I was on a long red carpet at Bolin's side with cameras flashing from every angle around  me, blinding me. I blinked quickly to rid my vision of the black and green lights left by the ambush of photographers. It was quite the event, I'll admit. Everybody was dressed for occasion, and children were taking photos with what I could only guess were the animal companions of Bolin's character, Nuktuk. I was actually really proud of him, to be honest. He was doing something that made him happy, no matter how ridiculously absurd I thought that thing was. That smile plastered on his face was like no other... except for when he introduced me to his pet fire ferret for the first time.

I looked over to Bolin, who couldn't have been happier, and felt myself smile as well. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, a hand was pressed against my shoulder and shoved me away from him. In my place now stood a red-headed bimbo in white gown with matching satin gloves, arm hooked with Bolin's as she waved graciously at the crowd. I glared and cursed her underneath my breath, almost hoping that the story-hungry reporters would overhear. "There they are, folks," shouted Shiro Shinobi, the most prominent of radio personalities with the most irritating of voices. "The sweethearts of the big screen and Republic City's most favorite couple, Bolin and Ginger!" I gagged a bit at the notion of them being a couple, but soon moved on in my mind as they made their way into the building without me. 

Whatever, I brushed it off in my head. More important things to worry about tonight. I thought a lot about what Mako had said when we went to visit him in the jail. Keep an eye out, he said. And so I did.

"Leinani Ho!" The harsh cry startled me, making me nearly stumble out of my heels. I turned to find Lin Beifong approaching me, her arms crossed. "What are you doing here?"

Picked up the hem of the gown from underneath mt shoes, I explained in a huff, "Bo brought me here. As you can see, the rising star has left me in the dust to fend for myself." I looked at her, noticing an odd look on her face. It was an expression that was unrecognizable on her; I couldn't quite pinpoint what was going on in her head. So I let it go. For now. "What are you doing here, Lin?" I asked, crossing my arms to mirror her. "I never took you for a lover of the arts."

"Very funny," she scoffed. Lin pointed towards the limousine that had parked in front of the end of the carpet. The door opened, and out came President Raiko and his wife, First Lady Buttercup Raiko. "That," Lin said, "is why I'm here. We can't take any risks of an attack while there's a civil war afoot."

I watched as the President and his wife waved to the crowd and photographers as their admirers cheered and screamed for them. Varrick quickly came prancing down the carpet towards the elite couple, shaking their hands excitedly to greet them. "Yeah," I said to Lin, almost dismissively, "always gotta be prepared, right?" I gathered the fabric of my dress and began shuffling in the direction of the trio as they walked towards the building, keeping enough distance to keep from being obvious but just close enough that I can make out the conversation. To nobody's surprise, Varrick spent a majority of the walk boasting about the expenses for the event: best performers brought in from Ba Sing Se, the best food from across the globe — even the carpet being imported from the Fire Nation because "they make the best red stuff over there", as he worded it. The three of them stopped in their tracks for a photo op with the wall of demanding photographers. 

"Varrick, you didn't have to do all this for us," said President Raiko. 

While trying to pick up parts of the conversation, I was bumped and pushed and shoved by the photographers as they tried getting the perfect pictures. One of them went as far as to stand on my foot, ripping part of my dress. Fed up, I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him backwards onto the ground. I then snatched the camera from the man's hands and threw it with such force toward the back of the crowd that I couldn't even hear it crash against the cement. "Hey! What gives, lady?" He said as he tried to stand up. I crouched down to his level and clutched his collar once more. In a low snarl, I warned, "You can either walk away now, or I will whip you around like the limp noodle you are." He quickly chose the first option, racing to find what was left of his camera.