The Warrior's Gambit (Zutara)

XI

"I wonder what this big announcement is going to be," Saoirse twittered quietly to Yue as all the girls gathered in the sitting room they'd first filed into on their first day.

It had felt so crowded then, Katara mused. Of course, they were a good number of girls down from the original complete set, but the feeling of being alone in a difficult new setting had also made Katara feel very alone, even with 35 girls always around. There were still a lot of contestants - more than the Fire Sages would prefer at this stage - but it didn't feel like as many because Katara knew all these girls. She might not like all of them- she'd readily admit she disliked a handful - but the fact that she knew weird intimate details about all of them made the group feel smaller. More compact.

She gazed around at the girls sitting in their large skirts. Of course, Zhi had taken out the unnecessary chairs, but the places where friends had once sat still felt like they lingered. Like Eva, Katara thought with a depressed sigh. The letters between her and her Northern friend had been slow coming. She was blind now, so she could hardly blame her. Still, she was biting at the bit to make sure Eva was okay.

"Something huge, or else it wouldn't be so formal," Yue whispered back logically. It wasn't just the girls sitting here. The room was packed all around, even if the girls were sitting up front. Sokka was leaning on a back wall, having given up his seat for an elderly delegate from some tiny Earth Kingdom town. Hahn and Arrluck had been seated, but as soon as they'd seen Sokka graciously offer to stand, had jumped up to find an older and more in need delegate to offer their chairs to. Or, at least Hahn had. Arrluck had given his chair to a middle-aged woman, and Hahn had whispered angrily about something to him. Everything was a competition between the two Water Tribes. Katara would call them childish, but she also knew that if provoked, she would be just as determined to show Hahn up.

Point of the matter, this was a wide-reaching announcement, one that required everyone's attendance. Many of the delegates were in the room here. It did point to a large sort of event happening.

From across the room, Toph sent Katara a raised eyebrow look. It seemed to ask 'spill the beans, sis'. But Katara just shook her head back, hoping Toph picked up on it. She had no idea what was happening. Zuko had not given her any cues to what this was.

As Katara thought back, the only thing she thought of was how Zuko had suddenly left the room when they'd been pouring over the census reports. He had a funny look in his eye, that of a man who was planning something some might call mad, but he'd left so swifty that Katara had been unable to pick his brain. In the following days, she'd simply forgotten.

Until now.

She crossed her arms, sliding low in her seat. She was glad there were so many ladies, for if they were alone, Zhi would have been appalled at her posture, commanding her to correct it at once. Zhi was flitting around doing something else, something probably related to this, but Katara couldn't be sure. Zhi always seemed one task away from a colossal anxiety-driven breakdown, but that was just what Katara saw.

So no, she wanted to tell back to Toph, she had not the foggiest what was about to be announced.

There was a table set out in front, one that had been brought in for this. It was scattered with sheets of parchment and Katara wished she could peer up at what they were, but a set of guards stood stoically beside it, only allowing the Royal Family to view the sheets. They seemed to know what was about to be said.

Ozai didn't linger on it long, which soothed Katara's nerves. Anytime Ozai gave an announcement it always turned bottom-up. His track record with 'surprises' made Katara nervous whenever he was the one reading the proclamation.