My Turn

I shuffled my feet where I stood, aware of my father’s anger. He did not show it however, making sure he kept his cool. His voice was quiet, but I could still hear him in the hollow room. “Why were you so late? You know this means a lot to our Nation.”

I bowed my head. “I was at school and…”

“At school?” he asked, losing his cool. “Why would you be at that retched place?” My father, Pelagius, always said that the world outside of the castle was disgusting and no one should ever be there. I, on the other hand thought the opposite. I thought the castle and the market place surrounding it was the really disgusting part. I loved the outside world. When I was out there, I felt normal.

“I was just…”

“I told you I didn’t want you there.”

“But I…”

My mother, Asherah, came bustling through the side door. Her blonde hair was at her shoulders, curled up tight so her hair bounced as she walked. Her blue crown on the top of her head, held some of the hair in place. Her dress, a normal one for her, floor length, blue of course, and gold embroidery decorating the skirt and corset of the whole thing. “Where have you been?” she asked me, grabbing my arm. One hand was on my wrist, the other on my elbow, steering me out of the throne room and away from my father.

“I told you—this is something that you cannot be late for.”

I did not answer, letting her drag me through the maze of halls and down to one of our many dressing rooms. This one was the one that held all of our formal gowns and such.

Asherah went over to one and started to look for my gown she wanted me to wear. I stayed still in the middle of the room, not really wanting to be here. There was only one reason I was here at all. Noelani, my best friend, was the eldest daughter in the Air Royalty. She was going to be here today and I was looking forward to it. It was usually months in between our meetings together, but this time was almost a full year.

The Nations were all bashing heads, all having problems with one another. A war was coming in the near future because of it, and this tea party was supposed to stop that from happening. I didn’t think it would work, but we were grasping at straws. We really didn’t have any alliances with any of the Nations so if there was a war, we were going to be the first to go down.

Asherah sighed and came back to me. “Jiang?” she called. A small Chinese women came inside the room, her head bowed low to us. The small woman got down low, almost kneeling on her knees, but was still standing at the same time. It looked very uncomfortable.

Asherah did not release her from her crouch. “I need you to call three more Marauds and get in here so you can make Maya look…” she looked me up and down with a disgusted look. “…presentable. Before you go, I need you to get her dress for me. I can’t seem to find it for the life of me.”

The women named Jiang, got up from her crouch and went over to a rack of clothes, pulling off an aqua looking dress. It was strapless, white wave designs on the hem of the skirt. Jiang striped the ragged dress I was wearing now off of me and slipped the new one on quickly. She took my crown from Asherah and placed it on my head.

A girl walked into the room at that moment, followed by three other marauds. Her light brown hair swayed from side to side as she walked. Her small crown on the top of her head was even smaller than mine. This made me smile, knowing she was older and yet I had more power. Kendall was my older sister, unlike normal sisters; we didn’t get along one bit. Some Marauds have found Kendall and I more than once in the kitchen, Kendall ready to stab me through the heart.

Kendall’s dress was a dark blue, almost black, not normal for the Water Nation. The top of her dress was just two bunches of fabric making a cross across her chest. It was just covering the right amount of things for it to not be called inappropriate.

As Kendall passed me, her sweet smile stayed on her face, pretending in front of Asherah. “I brought some help for you.” She gestured toward the three women behind her, then looked at me. “I knew you would need it.”

“Thank you.” Asherah said, giving Kendall an approving smile.

“And our guests are now arriving. I think you should go and greet them.” Kendall said.
The marauds came over to me and started to fuss with my hair and my face, putting various powders on my cheeks and forehead. I looked around them all as Asherah kissed Kendall on the top of the head, then left the room, leaving Kendall behind.

“Leave.” Kendall said, keeping her bare back to me. The marauds jumped from the fierceness in her voice, then left in a flurry. When Kendall turned around, her face was no longer sweet and innocent. It was devilish and angry. She stormed over to me, getting an inch from my face.

“I have something that needs to be said.” She seethed, letting me know she was angry. “If you screw this up—if you do one thing to ruin this for anyone in this castle, I swear on the life of me I will…”

I held up my hand in front of her face, feeling her hot breath on my palm. “You will what?” I asked. She thought she scared me. She was so wrong she didn’t even know.

She huffed out a large breath, then stepped back. “You—you are going to rule this kingdom?”

I held back a laugh. I had heard this speech so many times I knew exactly what she was going to say. I couldn’t help but smile as she continued her rant.

“How could they think you are more capable than I am? Me? Kendall Glyndwr. Don’t they know who I am?” She started to pace in front of me, her hand being thrown in the air for emphasis. “And I am so capable to rule this Nation. They all know it. They haven’t even given me a chance.”

I stopped at this point like I always did. “You have had eighteen years to prove yourself to them. They didn’t like what they saw so they passed it down to the next in the blood line.”
Kendall came back up in my face, but this time she was pleading with me. “But I need to rule! I deserve this throne! I deserve it way more than you do!”

I just laughed and turned away from her. “We need to get to the tea party.” I left the room, Kendall following. She didn’t try to talk as I thought she would have. That I was grateful for. When we came to the tea party room, I took a deep breath before going into the open door the guards were holding open.

The room wasn’t very big, but it wasn’t stuffy either. There was large end table in the middle of the room, surrounding that were four couches. On those couches were all of the royal women from all four Nations. The Fire Nation sat in the couch furthest from the door.

Akane, the queen was one of the ugliest women of her nation. Her black hair was unlike her two daughters, a large mole rested above her lip and her face always read that she was unhappy. Her daughters Azar and Shula glared me as I went and sat down in my spot.
The Earth Royalty was in the couch in front of me, all wearing bright green dresses. The queen, Yuuna, was already sipping her cup of tea looking like she was comfortable here in our castle. Her three daughters were also holding their tea, sipping just as quietly as their mother. Ila was the oldest, then there was Gaia and Terra.

Finally I looked to my right to see two people in light blue and yellow dresses on the couch. Araceli and her eldest daughter Noelani were seated, patiently waiting for their tea. I made eye contact with Noelani, smiling with my eyes. She returned the greeting just as glad to see me.

Kendall nudged me with her elbow so I looked at Asherah who was offering a cup of tea to me. I gladly took the warm tea cup and took a sip, looking around the room again. Now everyone had their tea.

All of the women sat quietly for a few moments, sipping their tea. I took a sip, glancing at Noelani. She was already restless, moving every which way on her seat. Her face showed much discomfort. She turned the skirt of her dress, trying to get comfortable.

I smiled, covering it up by taking a sip of the fresh tea that was poured into my cup. I took the napkin from the table, dabbed at my mouth, then rested it on my lap. I looked around at the other women, the batter beginning.

“So I hear your crops are more than satisfactory this autumn.” Araceli said to Yuuna. She set her tea cup down on the table, picking up a napkin like I had done.

“Yes they are; we have wonderful farmers this year. A new batch.”

“And I have to say thank you for send us some of your wonderful farmers.” Asherah said, holding her tea cup up as if to toast to the Earth Nation.

Yuuna and Ila bowed their heads in welcome, sipping their tea.

“And,” Araceli said, looking around the room, seeing each person in turn. “We got some help with our crops last year. They grew three times better with things we got from the Earth Nation. We are in debt to your Nation." Noelani and Araceli raised their glasses. Again the Earth Nation bowed their heads in welcome again.

Everyone looked at the Fire Queen in wonder. Had the Fire Nation actually accepted help with anything? Everyone knew that they lived in the dry, hot land, making their crops the worst out of everyone. They had never accepted our fresh water nor anything from any one else. Had that changed?

Not in the slightest.

“If I do say so myself,” Akane gloated, “Our crops are doing just fine without your help.”

Yuuna just smiled at her, not wanting to cause any trouble. Ila was the one to answer. “We were just offering our assistance, but if you don’t need it, you don’t have to accept our offer.”

“I wasn’t planning on it.” She hissed.

Asherah filled the tea cup Araceli was offering to her before giving it back. She snapped her fingers twice, signaling the marauds to come forward with the food trays. They set four platters on the table, took off the lids, and left the room in a hurry.

The Fire Nation was already angry with the Earth Nation—like always. The Fire and Earth nations always have something against each other. The Earth Territory always tried to hide it in their peaceful ways, but I could always tell when they were getting a little angry. The good news, it hadn’t happened yet. When the Earth Nation got angry, they got angry. No one wants to see that.

“Lovely food Asherah.” Gaia said, taking a small bit of the finger sandwiches on the table.

Asherah nodded in thanks, taking one for herself. The batter began again, this time about what this winter was going to bring. I zoned out, singing a song in my head. I had to fight back the urge to dance along with the tune. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. I sipped my tea, an hour passing. The batter continued, not much laughter in the air. Everyone was tense and on edge, hoping that something would happen so they could start yelling at each other which never happened. I had always wanted to yell at the Fire Nation. They were always so uptight and never wanting to be polite. I hated them for that.

“I see that Sora is not here today.” Kendall said a smirk on her face. I looked at Noelani to see that Kendall was right. Her younger sister Sora was no where to be seen. When I looked closer at Noelani, I could see that she was trying to hide something from everyone else, that little glimer in her eye that I saw everytime she was either lying or hiding something.

“She had a little bug today. We told her to stay home and rest.” Araceli said, glancing at Noelani disapprovingly.

My eyes widened as I thought through all of the things Noelani had done to her younger sister. Not that I could blame her. Her sister was sometimes worse than Kendall, but what had she done this time? I watched Noelani until she looked at me, mouthing, “What did you do?”

She just got a large grin on her face, not saying anything else.

I smiled back, sipping my tea again to cover up the smile. Looking around the room again, I wondered why the room was the way it was. It wasn’t that large of a room, but it was big enough. The four couches surrounding the table were centered perfectly inside the room. The walls had a certain painted design on them full of vines and leaves, making in homey, and the floor was wood unlike the hallways of the castle which were stone. There were a variety of chairs around the room, making it possible to look out the windows of the castle and sit as you are doing so.

Noelani and I usually did so, sitting in large cushiony chairs while secretly speaking to each other while we were supposed to be listening to the things that the others were talking about. It wasn’t like anyone realized it.

Today I didn’t feel like sitting, I felt like walking. I would just need to find an excuse to leave the room; Noelani would follow about a minute later. I sat back a little in my seat, getting more comfortable.

I sang the song in my head again, glancing at Noelani in the process. She was readjusting her skirt as I did so, making her look like she had been dancing to the song in my head. I couldn’t hold back my laugh this time. The loud sound burst through the quiet hushed room, disrupting the peace that had settled. I stood and set down my tea cup. “May I be excused?” I asked Asherah. She nodded, looking at me like I had just murdered her best friend.

Noelani was smiling as I passed her, almost about to laugh out loud as well.

When I finally got outside into the hallway, I couldn’t help but laugh. All of the events that had happened since I entered that room seemed comical to me. Maybe it was because I was tired and I didn’t care why I had to be in there in the first place. But I really didn’t care. It was nice to laugh after two hours of sipping tea.

The two guards who were outside of the large tea room door were looking me like they thought I was nuts. I didn’t mind about that either. They could think whatever they wanted to think. Both guards stood their post a little more tense than normal. I was sure it was because of me. I decided to leave the hallway and turn down another.

After a few steps down the hall, I heard my name being called. I turned around but there was no one there. I started to walk down the hall again, thinking I was hearing things. I heard my name again, recognizing the voice this time. It was Noelani calling me, running down the hallway to catch up. She hadn’t picked up her dress as she ran, making herself trip. She fell on her hands and knees, getting up quickly like nothing had happened just then.

“Very graceful.” I said, smiling almost too wide by her presence.

“That’s me.” She said, walking the rest of the way to get to me. On her way, she twisted the skirt of her dress again. “Do you think it is safe?” she asked, looking both ways down the hall, seeming to be looking for someone or something.

I looked too, wondering what she was talking about. “I guess…”

Without another word Noelani ripped the dress off over her head and threw it on the floor. She sighed and stretched her legs that were covered by light blue pants. I looked her up and down, noticing she had a long sleeve shirt on to match the pants. She wasn’t even wearing any shoes. Her brown hair was perfectly straight, not a hair out of place.

Noelani was the only one in her Nation that had brown hair. She dyed it every month, wanting darker hair. Darker colors were always something she had liked, but they were almost forbidden in the Air Nation. It didn’t stop her some of the time…

I laughed again, my side starting to hurt. “If your mother saw you in those boy clothes…”

“For all she knows,” she interrupted, walking down the hall without me. “I am a boy.” She started to skip, something you couldn’t really do in a dress. I picked up the dress she had thrown, walking after her, making sure to keep my laughter quiet. I dropped the dress off in one of the spare bedrooms, hoping we could find it again. We went down the hallways and through a random room, exploring the castle. I didn’t even know what half of this castle looked like and I lived here.

“It’s nice to have you here.” I said, looking straight ahead. I usually wasn’t the one for sappy stuff, but this was true. I could always use an old friend.

She didn’t answer, not too into the sappy stuff herself. Instead, she stopped suddenly and turned down a very narrow hallway, the walls a different color that the rest of the castle. They were a dark green instead of all the blues and whites like normal. At the end of the hall was a small door made of metal. That was the only metal door I had seen in the castle.

Noelani trudged up to it and grabbed the knob. I stayed back in the other hall, wondering why such the big difference and why I hadn’t seen it before now.

“Come on.” Noelani grumbled, pulling on the door knob. It was locked—four times. Four large metal locks were visible from where I stood in the hallway, maybe fifteen feet away. Noelani let go of the handle giving up. “That stinks.”

“Let’s go.” I said starting down the hallway again.

She caught up fast, able to run in her clothes. “That was a cool door. Have you been in there before?”

I shook my head, my hair swaying slightly. “No.” The crown was starting to dig into my head, making my scalp itch. I took it off gently, holding it in both of my hands. The crown was a dark blue, unlike the rest of my family’s. The dark blue represented me taking over the thrown when I was ready to do so. I rubbed my thumb against the large jewel in the center, wondering if I would ever be ready for it.

Noelani took off her crown as well. Hers was a darker blue that the rest of her families as well but way lighter than mine. “I hate these things.”

“I don’t know,” I said, contemplating weather I felt the same. When I wore mine, I felt like I had power, but too much power. I didn’t want all the power the crown entailed. Maybe Kendall was right—maybe I wasn’t cut out for something as big as running the nation. But I knew she was wrong about something. She would never be fit to run this nation either. Her temper would start wars all over the world. But maybe my brother, Conway, could do it when he was older, more mature. He was so young now, but maybe one day he would realize the opportunities he had here.

“What are thinking about?” Noelani asked, searching my face for the answer. I smiled at her but didn’t answer. I looked back down at my crown, then placed it on my head, securing it on.

Noelani’s face lit up and turned back to look at me as we rounded the corner. “You want to go run around outside?”

I shook my head. “I think we should get back. They might come looking for us.”

“Those old ladies? They won’t move if they don’t have to.” She started to skip down the hallway again, moving her arms above her head like she was dancing to some tune that was inside her head.

“I didn’t mean them,” I said, jogging a little to catch up to her. “I meant the guards. They have to have sent guards to look for us already. Plus, we should be there. We don’t want a war…”

“We don’t?” she said, still skipping down the hall.

I pondered over this. “I don’t see why we would want a war Noelani.”

“It would be pretty cool to watch. I have only heard stories and read about them, but they sure sound exciting.” Now I could tell she was kidding. I smiled at her comment but did not add anything as she babbled on about the different battles she had read in various books. I on the other hand tuned her out. I had heard this before and didn’t care to hear about the blood and guts once again.

I grabbed her upper arm to stir her down a hallway. She hadn’t seemed to notice I had done so until we were no longer going to the kitchen. “Where are we going?” she asked, looking behind her at the other hallway.

“To get your dress.”

She groaned but didn’t complain any more than that. She slipped her dress on over her other clothes, twisting and turning the skirt that she had been doing before. I laughed a little at her uncomfortable expression.

“This feels weird when you put it over other clothes.” She said, her face still showing how uncomfortable she was.

“I can only imagine…” I said which was true. I had never worn boy’s clothes before. Ever since I was born all I was aloud to wear was a dress. “Is it comfortable?” I asked.

“Not at all!” she said, getting frustrated with the dress.

“No, I mean the boy’s clothes. Are those comfortable to wear?”

She smiled at me, already coming up with some kind of scheme to get me into them. “More than anything I have ever worn. It is almost too comfortable. I don’t think I can go back.” She gestured to her dress. Her smile faded when she looked ahead of us and saw that on the other end of the hall was the tea room, the two guards standing in the same spot as when we left.

I stopped her suddenly in the hall, turning her to face me. I forgot to ask her something.

“What?" she said, slightly eagar for stalling the moment that was about to come.

“What did you do to Sora?”

A smile crept on her face, but she tried to hide it. Her eyes shimmered with the look I knew so well. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

I shook my head in disapproval, but deep down, I gave her a high five.

We both looked each other up and down, making sure we both looked okay to go back inside. When we finished, I went in first, holding the door open for Noalani. We didn’t exchanged glances as we both took our seats.

The fire queen, Akane, glared at me, and said. “Were you so bored here that you had to leave?”

I tried to be as polite as I possibly could, but some anger leaked out onto my words. “I had to use the restroom, then I got lost.”

The woman still seemed agitated when she shifted in her seat. “You live here do you not?”

I sipped the cold tea that was still in my tea cup. “Yes.”

“And you still got lost?” She said in an accusing tone.

I set my tea cup down rather hard onto the table, sloshing tea out of the side onto the polished wood. I crossed my arms over my dress—something I was not supposed to do—and said, “It’s a rather large castle as you can tell. And if it was any of your business, I really don’t study a map of the place. So yes, I did get lost.” Even if it was a big fat lie, what right did she have to tell me off like she had?

Asherah stood up and grabbed the tea pot that was on the table. “Who wants more tea?” she asked haistily.

The Earth Nation’s oldest princess, Ila, stood up, still holding her tea cup. She was about twenty years old, just about to get the throne in her nation. She cleared her throat loudly, almost bringing a calm to the room. “I was wondering,” she began, looking at Noelani, “how do you get your hair so shiny?”

It was so off topic of anything we ever talk about at these tea parties, it almost made me laugh. I watched Noelani for a few seconds before looking back at Ila. She looked completely serious about the question, waiting until Noelani answered her before sitting down. Her dress was green like her sisters’ and her mother’s, but hers was more sophisticated. Her mousy-brown hair was in a large braid, draped over her right shoulder.

“I use some shampoo that is shipped over from the Fire Nation, then use some herbal conditioner from the Earth Nation. After that I use air to dry it quickly so it doesn’t frizz.” Her answer was as normal as could be.

Ila smiled brightly, her white teeth brighter against her olive skin tone. It seemed like this was what she was expecting. “And do you use water to wash it out?”

Noalani nodded her expression unreadable by anyone else but me. I could tell she thought Ila was pretty crazy. Everyone else around the table was watching Ila, wondering why she was asking this.

I thought through Noelani’s answer and got where she was going with this before anyone else. “So you use Fire, Earth, Air and Water?” I asked, stepping in for Ila, her smiling widening at me in appreciation.

Noalani did not answer, getting the idea of the question as well.

The Fire Queen and her two daughters shifted in their seats, but it was in more of an uncomfortable way rather than an agitated one. Asherah and Kendall seemed uncomfortable too.

The tension now gone in the room, Ila now sat down. She looked around at the group of women surrounding her and sighed, content with the situation.

The Earth Queen, Yuuna, now spoke up. “My daughter is right. We all work together to keep this land alive. We all need each other.”

Asherah had been standing the whole time, the tea pot in her hand. She finally placed it back down on the table. “Yuuna has it right. If this war happens, we all will go down for it.”

Akane smiled greedily, but covered it up quickly, bringing her hand to her face as if she was going to yawn. Akane and Araceli exchanged a glance, then smiled at each other like there was something between them. Noelani caught the glance just as I did, worry crossing her face. Since when were the Air and Fire Nations so close? Both queens stood up, their daughters following suit.

“We need to be getting home.” Akane said, curtsying to Asherah. “Thank you for inviting us to your wonderful tea. I had a pleasant time.”

Asherah got up from the couch, ready to curtsy as well, but all of them were already leaving. I stood, realizing Noelani would be leaving. This was one of the shortest visits that had ever happened between the two of us. Noelani came over to me and gave me a quick hug, me returning the pressure. Before I knew it, she was following her mother out of the room, tripping as she went. The door closed behind them all with a small click.

The earth royalty stayed on the couch. They always stayed the night when we had our tea parties and get-togethers. They had to be our closet ally; we could trust them with everything. Well, almost everything. They were our allies, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t deceive us when the time was right for them. They were the peace keepers, but they were a little greedy. All they really wanted was to be on top, just like the fire nation. They would take the deal if the Fire Nation offered it to them.

I hadn’t really noticed Kendall this whole time; now I had. She was sitting like stone, unmoving. She didn’t look comfortable, but she did look good. She scooted closer to the edge of her seat, placing her cup on the table, the tea drained from it. She stood and went over to Ila, holding out her arm. “I would love to show you your room. And maybe take a walk around the garden?” Her innocent voice again, joy.

Ila got up, entwined her arm with Kendall’s. They strode out of the room whispering something to each other as they went.

Asherah and I stood, ready to escort our guests to their rooms. Asherah helped Yuuna to her feet, leading the way out of the room. I helped Gaia along the hallways, Terra following suit. Gaia was about my age, at least one to two years older. Terra however was twelve years old, the youngest girl that came to the tea party. She was good at pretending to be older, but when she was out of the pressure of everyone staring at you, she acted just like my brother Conway, immature.

I opened the door to one of the guest bedrooms in the castle, leading both girls inside. Their mother and older sister were just down the hall to the left. “It was a wonderful tea party.” Gaia said, sitting down on the bed, still in her proper mode. For the thirteen years I have known Gaia, I have never seen her have fun. Even when she was a child she acted like she was already part of the royal tea party, making sure to be proper and polite at any costs. Sometimes I wanted to shake her and tell her to act human.

Terra was another story. She flung off her shoes and got on the large bed, jumping up and down like she was overjoyed. I was about leave when Terra jumped down from the bed and grabbed my arm. “Don’t you want to join me?” she asked, tugging me towards the bed.

Gaia got up from the edge and took Terra’s hand away from my arm. She slapped the girls hand, her tone firm when she said, “You aren’t supposed to be jumping on the bed in the first place. You had no right to grab her like that and you had no right to ask her to do such a thing.” She let go of the little girl's hand and said, “Now go into the wash room so you can get clean.”

Terra went into the wash room, tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry.” She murmured before she left.
“I am so sorry for my sister; she still has a lot to learn.” Gaia said.

I shook my head. “It was no problem really. I understand. Conway is the same way.” She didn’t seem to really care. She went to the chair in the room and sat down, her hands crossed in her lap. She gazed out the window, obviously excusing me from her presence.

I left door open a crack, making sure that they knew they could leave.

Kendall was coming out of Ila’s room, laughing silently. When she saw me, her smile got wiped off her face. A scowl replaced it. She stomped over to me, her shoes making a loud clatter on the stone below her feet. She was inches from my face when she stopped. “What the hell were you thinking?” she seethed, “You completely upset the Fire Queen. Now there is really going to be a war and it will be all your fault! I hope you are happy, you killed us all!” She stormed away from me, down the hall and out of sight.

I stood there, slightly surprised by the words. Maybe they had some truth in them. I did upset her. I was totally out of line when I had said that.

I heard the door creek open beside me, making me jump. Gaia was in the doorway, looking at me. For the first time I saw something in her chocolate brown eyes that I had never seen before. She felt sorry for me.

I smiled quickly then left her there, staring after me. I didn’t need anyone’s pity. It was just something that Kendall said to. She said things to me all the time that upset me, but did I show it? I didn’t think I did. I was good at hiding that kid of thing. I was beginning to wonder if I really was as good as I thought I was. Maybe people could see through me. Maybe they knew what was really inside me. Maybe they knew the real me.