Whirlwind [Avatar Aang]

☁Chapter Seven☁

Their laughter echoed around them as Appa touched down in front of the palace in Omashu. Nazadori and Aang hadn't stopped laughing ever since they left the Earth Kingdom candidate's house. She had been a joke, someone who just wanted the fame that came with working the Queen of Omashu. She had tried her hardest to befriend Nazadori that she would agree with anything that she had said, even to the extent that Nazadori started making things up just to trip her up. 

"Can you believe that she actually thought that you were Bumi's daughter?" Aang asked her as they remained on Appa even though they were on the ground now. He leaned on the side of the saddle from his place at the reins and looked up at Nazadori with his shining gray eyes. "She is definitely not someone we need to be part of your council, that's for sure. Though, she would make us laugh a lot based on how dramatic she seems."

"Bumi would not have liked her," Nazadori said, shaking her head. A somber look passed across the Avatar's face, one that she felt appearing on her own. Just mentioning him and thinking about him made her mood drop enormously, and based on the way Avatar Aang sat up straighter, she knew his mood was quickly dropping, too. "I wish he were still here. Maybe he could have given me a little head's up to know that I'm going to be queen instead of leaving me in the dark."

"He never told you that was his choice?" Aang asked her softly. 

"No."

"No wonder you're scrambling to find members for the council," he said, shaking his head. He locked eyes with her again, and he tried to give her a small smile. She returned it. "Don't worry. I'm here to help any and all leaders of the world. It's my job, after all."

"You really can't do anything else with your time?" she asked him with a frown on her face.

"What else would I do? This is what I've been trained for. It's all I know."

His voice didn't sound bitter, but the words that came out of his mouth didn't sound nice. Avatar Aang suddenly turned around and hopped down from his spot on Appa. He waited down below for her, and she stood up and slid down the side of Appa. When Nazadori landed on the ground, her feet stumbled underneath her, and Aang was right there, grabbing onto her arm and guiding her a few steps away from Appa. 

"Thank you," she said softly to him. He slid his hand down her arm until it rested for just a split second in her hand, giving it the gentlest squeeze. 

"You're welcome."

"Oh, Nazadori, thank goodness you're back!" Gazon shouted from his spot just inside the courtyard where she couldn't see him at first. She jumped away from the Avatar and accidentally let out a little scream. "You're needed urgently."

"I guess I have to go," Nazadori said to Aang. "I'll see you later, right?"

"Sometime, yeah. I might take a small trip to visit my friend in Yu Dao for a few days."

"Isn't that in the western portion of the Earth Kingdom?" she asked him. "Wasn't it one of the colonies before the war ended?"

"Yeah, she has a school set up, and I want to check in on her."

"Okay." Nazadori waved to Aang as she started walking over to where Gazon was waiting. "I'll see you soon, then."

"Bye, Nazadori!"

"You're late," Gazon hissed to Nazadori as she approached him.

"Late for what?" she asked him with a frown on her face. 

He just took her by the hand and pulled her even farther away from Aang. She glanced back at him to find a small smile on his face, one that looked like it was meant only for her. Nazadori smiled back at him, but Gazon suddenly pulled her around the corner, blocking the Avatar from her sight. He dragged her into the palace from the courtyard silently.

"You have a class to go to," Gazon said as the two of them strolled urgently through the long hallway. Their footsteps echoed around Nazadori, clicking along as he pulled her forward when all she wanted to do was stop walking for just one moment. 

"Class?" she asked him. "I finished school a few years ago when Bumi brought me here."

"Oh, this class is something you've never been in before."

"Can you tell me what this class is about, Gazon?"

"Let's just say that it'll be one of many classes you'll need to take, especially with how you're acting today."

Nazadori glanced up at the older man. He had been her mentor here for a long time, but today, he was acting more cryptic than normal. She wasn't sure what had gotten into him lately. Maybe it was because Bumi's death was affecting him more than he let on. Maybe it was because Nazadori wasn't good enough to be queen. Whatever it was, he wasn't happy and hadn't been happy for a couple of days, and Nazadori didn't like that one bit, especially because he seemed to be taking it out on her.

Gazon led her to an area she normally never would have been allowed to go into in the palace: the king's living chambers. She rarely ever went in there because Bumi liked to conduct all his business in the dining room where everyone could eat and enjoy food together. The last time she was here, though, was when Bumi died. However, she assumed that this place was going to become hers sooner or later, which was why Gazon had scheduled this class -- whatever it was -- to be located over here. 

They didn't get that far in the king's living chambers because Gazon suddenly stopped in front of a door located just inside the large gates that blocked the king's chambers from the rest of the palace. Her heart started thudding against her chest as she gazed deeper down the hallway that led to Bumi's bedroom. The doors were shut to his room, but she could still picture it easily in her mind. 

"Are you following?" Gazon asked her, pulling her out of her thoughts. She glanced over at him and squinted through the tears that had pooled in her eyes. He had brought her into what seemed to be a classroom. The room contained a few desks with some books and an ink dish and a quill, and there was even a board at the front that contained pinned pieces of paper situated behind a man. "This is where I'll leave you."

"Thank you, Gazon," Nazadori said, bowing slightly to him. When she rose up from the bow, he had a small smile on his face. He returned the bow to her.

"Welcome to Omashu Royalty 101," the man at the front of the room said to her, tapping the board where he had pinned a wide banner across it that said the same thing he just did. His circular glasses made his eyes nearly bulge out of his head, and she had to hide a snicker behind a cough. "This will be your first class before your coronation, Your Highness. My name is Banu, and I will be your teacher today."

"You don't think I don't know about this stuff?" Nazadori hissed to Gazon before he left. He pushed her forward into the room. He wouldn't meet her eyes as she tugged on his sleeve. "I had to learn all this stuff when I was in school many, many times."

"Oh, what you'll learn in this class is what they keep out of the history books," Gazon told her, finally meeting her gaze. He had a strange look on his face, one that she didn't recognize and couldn't read. "Let's just say that this class will open your eyes to what the true history of Omashu is."

And with that, Gazon left her alone in the classroom with the teacher -- Banu. Nazadori made her way through the room until she made it to the closest desk to Banu and sat down on the ground in front of it. 

"Okay, I think we shall get started with the ancient history of how Omashu came to be," Banu said to her. "You better be taking notes, Your Highness, because the test will not be easy."

"Test?" she whispered to herself before grabbing the stack of books from the corner of the desk. They really weren't books, but they were blank and waiting for her to take notes in them. "Why do I have to take tests when I'm going to be queen?" 

She grabbed the quill and dipped it in the pen as Banu started talking again about the legend of Oma and Shu, the story Nazadori had heard thousands of times. Still, she had always loved hearing the story because it had always given her hope during the war. Oma and Shu had proved to their warring tribes that love could always conquer hate, and she had hoped that Omashu would fulfil that example with the war. Her hope had been quickly vanquished when the Fire Nation had taken over her home. Now that the war was over, hope was quickly blossoming in her chest yet again. Surely, love was going to beat hate now that the Avatar brought about peace. Nazadori prayed that love was going to survive for a long time.