The golden egg fell to the ground and bounced off the marble floor of Lee’s bedchamber. It was soon followed by the two knives and unlit torch he had been juggling. “Pa-Lao!” Lee cried as he ran after the hard football sized object that was now rolling across the floor. The King breathed a sigh of relief as he grabbed the undamaged egg. He blushed, glancing towards the door. He hoped the Dai Li who were guarding him today had not seen his little accident. He saw the way they looked at the thing whenever he spoke to it. They didn’t believe there was a dragon inside the rough golden rock. He hated to admit it, but after what had happened at the party the previous week, he was beginning to have doubts himself. He had been told that the Dragon Egg was a gift from the Fire Nation. His recent discovery of the existence of colonies on his soil made him seriously doubt the Fire Lord would make such a gesture. He stared at the egg, turning it over in his hands, considering its true nature and where it may have come from.
A soft but enthusiastic voice disrupted his thoughts, “Your Majesty, the tea makers are ready and waiting in the garden.” He looked up to see Joo Dee smiling widely. The King nodded. It seemed like an odd time to be judging a contest, but he needed to keep up appearances. He smiled back at the woman, “I’ll make my way there now.” Lee was already dressed in his gold robes, except for his traditional cap which he donned before heading out to the hallway to greet the Dai Li agents who would be accompanying him to the gardens. Kailì would be with him as always, but there were others waiting. “It’s a beautiful morning to spend outside. Don’t you think?”
For Seiko, the morning had not at all been good. Up at sunrise, things had gone according to routine until someone had nudged her, saying with a snicker, "You're on King Detail, today. Try not to catch the crazy, Seiko." She'd dropped her food in surprise, leaving her where she was now: screwed and hungry. King Detail... That was for the Dai Li who didn't have anything better to do--the ones who fancied a nice stroll in the park while babysitting his cushness. You know, the kind who opposed the idea of doing any real work. At least it meant she got to sleep in the upper ring for a bit.
"It's a beautiful morning to spend outside. Don't you think?"
Seiko snapped to attention, careful to stand as straight as she could while nodding a wordless but respectful reply. Being a woman in the Dai Li meant a lot of things, the simplest of which was being shorter than all the men. In the streets it didn't matter, all you had to do was be savage. Up here, though, image was everything.
No, seriously: everything. It was going to be a long day.
The Dai Li agent he had addressed merely nodded in reply. He knew they wore stone gauntlets but he sometimes wondered if their faces might be covered in stone as well. He hated how rigid and strict they all were. The King often lost track of their presence as they stood around motionless like statues. They had become like pieces of the palace blending in to the stone walls and high columns. He wondered what it would take to make them act like human beings.
He continued past the guard and began walking down the hallway towards his Royal Garden. He turned to the female agent who he hoped was following him, “I don’t remember seeing you in my personal guard before. What should I call you?”
The king moved past the guards, and each agent turned to follow him rigidly, pivoting sharply on their heels. It was at this point, though, that Seiko realized her mistake: because she had stood away from the door initially, now she was left immediately to his side, the other guards trailing behind her. Feeling exposed at once, she focused her attention on scanning the room around them, even though there was virtually no chance of danger. So occupied by this, though, she nearly jumped when the king spoke directly to her.
"I don’t remember seeing you in my personal guard before. What should I call you?”
It was to her, right? It had to be. Caught off guard, she stammered out a response as quick as she could, not at all ready for the question. "Seiko, sir. Err, Xifeng, I mean. Seiko Xifeng," she practically sputtered. Then, not sure if she had attached enough honorifics, she added again, "Sir. I mean, uh, your kingship." Her face burned red at that, and she shut her own mouth quickly, refusing to make another sound until he replied. So much for Dai Li stoicism.
He listened patiently as Seiko fumbled her introduction. Pretending not to notice the guard’s blush the King continued down the hall. He wanted to tell her his name was Lee, but he held his tongue. It was traditional for an Earth King to give up everything from their lives before they assumed the throne. It prevented corruption but ultimately led to a lonely life. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Seiko Xifeng.”
As they approached the gardens they were greeted by the aroma of jasmine. At first the King thought it was coming from the flowers, until he saw the smiling tea makers waiting for him. They must have come from tea shops all over the Earth Kingdom to compete. The large white gazebo remained in the center of the space, but some of the smaller statues and fountains had been moved to make room for the many tea booths. The King made his way to the small table under the gazebo and sat down. There were two other chairs at the table and he gestured for Kailì to sit with him as usual. “Xifeng! Have a seat here next to me.”
For his the part, the king responded more graciously than Seiko had anticipated he might, and it relieved her a great deal. A small part of her wanted to get fired from this position as soon as possible, but the larger, more stubborn, part of her demanded she do well at it anyway. Time to pick yourself up again, then. Wordlessly, she trailed him into the garden, viewing it in full for only the third or fourth time; even she could admit it was stunning, and that said something. When they reached the gazebo, though, things got a little more interesting.
Her? Sit with him? Was this some sort of ultra passive-aggressive punishment for stepping on her tongue earlier? She wanted to protest that, of course, she didn't need to do that, but that seemed like an even worse idea. Awkwardly, she moved toward the seat, not sure who else would be joining them but too worried about all the decorum she was trying to remember to be concerned with anything else.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," she replied, remembering the title people used most appropriately. She could make it through this... just a whole day to go.
Lee's eyes widened as Seiko carelessly attempted to sit on Kailì. At least his personal guard behaved as a gentleman. He quickly moved to stand behind the chair, holding the back as if to pull it out for the lady. "Xifeng! I should think a member of the Dai Li would be more observant. Someone was sitting there."
One plainly dressed citizen approached to serve a pot of tea, seemingly unaware of the embarrassing blunder that had just taken place. The invisible guard took his place in the other chair as the commoner began pouring the steaming hot liquid into the King's cup. Kailì looked down at the tea and stroked his salt and pepper goatee thoughtfully. The pleasant aroma was not enough to ease the King's mind. This could be a clever trap to force Lee to drink poison.
Seiko jumped at the king's word, her heart jumping into her mouth and beating harder than if she'd been chasing someone down an alley. "What? There wasn't--" she began to blurt out but shut her mouth immediately, somehow managing an ounce of restraint, thank the spirits. If she couldn't keep her tongue down in front of the Earth King, then she wouldn't be just taken off this position: she'd be out of the city!
This must have been what they were talking about, the thought occurred to her, though. Don't catch the crazy? She had always heard rumors that the king was off his rocker a bit, but she had never imagined what that might actually look like. The only other person around was serving the tea, and they were no where near sitting down. How did that work? She didn't know. Instead, for the second time she felt her face turn red. No doubt the rest of the Dai Li were sitting in the back, snickering over her blunder, whatever it actually was.
Eona: SO... is this sight still active?
Dec 21, 2014 19:04:15 GMT -5
Psychosynchrony: Hmmm... was popping in to see if this was still going. Guess not.
Apr 6, 2016 13:44:28 GMT -5
Wei Shen: If any of the admins are still here, e-mail me at Nexocidal@gmail.com, I would love to get the site started up again. I'll try to help
Apr 20, 2016 2:00:37 GMT -5
Wei Shen: If anyone does come back, I'll be checking on this site for at least once a day~ Hope to see some old members maybe
Apr 20, 2016 2:12:40 GMT -5
Guest: Is this still active?
Sept 2, 2016 13:05:51 GMT -5
Mordred: i'm here somehow
Nov 9, 2016 13:19:01 GMT -5
Wei Shen: If you see this Mordred, I PM'ed you my chat info!
Feb 16, 2017 23:34:37 GMT -5
Mordred: well i still need you to answer the pending info
Feb 18, 2017 20:02:03 GMT -5
Mordred: also i can't shoot you a message on discord since you disabled it
Feb 18, 2017 20:02:40 GMT -5
