Whirlwind [Avatar Aang]

☁Chapter Eighteen☁

Nazadori didn't know what to write in the letters she was tasked to work on for her new council members. She stared down at the black pieces of parchment, the ink sparkling in the sunlight. Her fingers curved around the quill, which hovered over the first piece of parchment, not knowing what to write out at all. She wanted to quit working for the day, but this was her only task that needed to be completed.

A timid waiter from the Double Dumpling approached her table, but one of her guards stepped forward, giving him a weird look. Nazadori sighed and gently set the quill down. Running a hand through her dark hair, she bit back a snarky response for the guards standing at her side. She wanted the guards to leave her alone, but she knew they wouldn't listen to her even though she was going to be queen. 

She shoved the pieces of parchment away from her, quitting for the moment. She knew she needed to finish these letters for her council members, to welcome them to the job and to let them know when she was going to be crowned queen, but they would have to wait until later. She just couldn't focus on them right now, not with the way her heart sped up at the thought of being crowned queen.

That was coming up much quicker than she cared to admit. She couldn't imagine standing in front of all of Omashu and be crowned queen when the public didn't even trust her as the monarch. All they saw was her past -- the same one that she kept running from. But she couldn't run from it any longer. It made her who she was now, and she wouldn't have been the person she was if she hadn't experienced all her heartache and rejection as a child. 

A strong breeze blew through the otherwise empty restaurant, and both of her guards stepped away from her to check it out. Most of her scraps of parchment flew away from her, so she stood up and retrieved them. By the time she picked them all up and set them back on her table, she realized that she wasn't alone anymore in the restaurant. Avatar Aang stood in front of her, and her heart jumped in her chest at the sight of him. She couldn't help but remember their kiss the other night, one that should never have happened.

"I have to go," Aang said to her breathlessly. It seemed like he had run all the way from the palace to her here at the Double Dumpling, located in the lower part of the city. Her guards waited outside the restaurant, not letting anyone else inside. Besides Aang. "I have to leave the city. I can't just . . . spend all my time here. I have to save the world, you know? But I needed to say goodbye and --"

Nazadori took Aang by the shoulders and shook him a little. He immediately stopped talking, staring into her eyes. She hated how much she felt for him, and deep in her heart, she knew she couldn't follow through with any of it. Aang needed to keep the world in balance, and she needed to keep Omashu moving forward. They were on two separate trajectories, two different paths that would take them away from each other.

"I understand," she whispered to him. She pulled him closer to her until their foreheads were pressing against each other. For just a second, everything was right in the world. She had everything she needed -- someone who understood her more than anyone else could, happiness floating through her chest, a future in her mind. But it all fell apart when she took a few steps away from him. "I get it. You are the center of the storm, the calm in the whirlwind of my life, the peace in all the pain. We were destined to meet, but I believe we were also destined to depart from each other."

Aang's face showed the devastation traveling through her chest. But his eyes . . . that look in his eyes told her everything. He understood their dilemma. He understood her. He understood their relationship. He understood everything. 

"Thank you for everything, Avatar Aang," Nazadori said, bowing her head to him. She held back tears as she straightened back up, and instead, smiled at the boy that saved her from herself and her grief and her anger. "I am pleased that you agreed to be on my council."