“By the way, Kris,” Amber whispered as Kris continued winning money from gambling in the bar that night. “The Fire Nation lost their royal ministers already and the Northern Water Tribe basically sent away their heirs, making their thrones very vulnerable. Since everyone is already advancing the plans all over the world, I think we should slowly proceed with our plans on tossing out the Earth King and Queen too.”

              “I already thought it out,” Kris said nonchalantly as if not really caring. “Just go look for the Water Tribe royals.”

              “How are we supposed to liberate the whole world of governments exactly? I mean if the King and Queen will die, they’ll just replace them with other heirs even with far relatives,” Amber asked so naively that Kris could not help but laugh. She does not understand what was so funny about her question though.

              Amber was born down in dirty slum area of the Lower Ring. Her history was definitely one of intense hardships. She lost her parents through a terrible feud with some royal guards and ever since then, she despised the Earth Kingdom government and swore to liberate this city of them forever. She wanted to bring down those discriminatory walls and build a new Ba Sing Se where people would not be separated by class and family origin.

              One day, this fire bender named Kris Yifan found her and asked her to join him for a great cause. He told her that he “would help her make a new Ba Sing Se” by devising a complicated plot to overthrow the Earth King and Queen. Although Kris knew all there is to know about her, she did not exactly know anything much about him. In fact, she did not even know why he was even here in the Earth Kingdom. All she knows was that he was from the Fire Nation, and that he and a bunch of other people from all over the world are planning on ridding the world of governments. That was nothing but a lie though. Kris is not here to get rid of the government. Getting rid of the Earth King and Queen is just a little step for an even bigger plot that he will never tell Amber about. He will actually just get rid of her too once he is done using her.

              “Don’t worry and just do what I tell you. For now, the Water Tribe Royalty is our main objective. We cannot get rid of the Earth King and Queen once the Water Tribe Royal Family contacts them. I’m sure that if the King and Queen finds out about their problems, they will take precautionary measures that will make our plans more difficult.”

              “Well that’s a problem,” Amber said nonchalantly. “Because honestly, I don’t remember how that Ice Princess from the Coronation Party looks like anymore. But maybe I can still bully that Onew guy or Yuri.”

"Oh, on second thought, maybe we should start weakening our Great Queen too," Kris said, thinking things through. "We all know that we can't attack her straight on. She's too powerful. We should start weakening her now."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Usually when someone loses a loved one, they grieve and feel either too depressed to do anything or too angry that they lose proper judgment, and become paranoid. What if we kill someone...?"

"Hm...," Amber thought. "What about the Queen's younger brother, Key? I used to work with him in Xiah Dragon Noodles and he doesn't seem that dangerous. Besides, he trusts me."

"Be careful though. If he doesn't die, you'll ruin it. You will become suspicious. You'll need precision. I'll have Tao help you out too."

***

              When everyone finally stepped down on solid ground in the pleasant breezy atmosphere of the Upper Ring that night, Taeyeon and her friends from the North Pole were reunited at last. It has been a long and arduous journey for both parties, and they surely cannot wait to share their adventures and discoveries with each other.

              “Sica!” Taeyeon exclaimed, giving Sica a big warm hug. Without a doubt, she missed her water bending teacher. “Wow, I worried so much about you! I’m glad you’re alright!”

              Sica noticed that Taeyeon was now wearing new and expensive Fire Nation royal garments made of fine red and gold silk. Taeyeon looked adorable and stunning, even though her hair was slightly messed up by the wind. During the whole time that she was training with Sica in the North Pole, she wore warmer and more comfortable fur or cotton clothing. What happened to Taeyeon exactly, and why does she look so well taken care of while we look like we suffered a thousand wars?

              “What happened to you and why do you look so…” Taeyeon trailed off, trying to find the right words to describe the sorry looking bunch without offending them.

              “Look so what? Awful? Mistreated? Cheated? Persecuted?” Sica said, not even trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. “Avatar, where have you been?! You had us worried sick while trying our best not to die!”

              “Tch… You’re the ones who left me all alone in those ports.” The blame game has begun again.

              “You’re the one who disappeared into the woods!” Sica raised her voice. Now they are fighting again because they both care about each other so much. They always have that odd love-hate relationship.

              “Sica Eonni and Taeyeon Eonni, now is not the time for this,” Seohyun said, immediately trying to be their mediator again. “This should be a joyous moment. Stop fighting before you hear each other’s side of the story.”

              “She’s right,” Taeyeon agreed with Seohyun. “Honestly, I’m just happy to see you again. Your letter really had me worried.”

              “What letter?” Sica never sent Taeyeon any letters, at least, none that she knows of. (Heechul the pirate sent the letter as a joke.) Besides, after all that they have been through, the Jungs never really found the time to actually send any letters. If they did, they could have sent Hyoyeon one, but they do not really have any means of doing that.

              After tending to the big fluffy Yoongsan, Yoona jumped off from the huge beast to greet everyone.

              “Hello Your Highnesses from the Water Tribe,” Yoona said as she bowed low before Soo-Young and Yuri, thinking that they are the Royal Jungs that Taeyeon and her Fire Nation friends have been talking about. Anyone can tell that she definitely did not know how to differentiate nobility from royalty at all. She just assumes that anyone rich-looking was royalty.

              Sica got annoyed by this that she could not help but slam a palm to her forehead. Back in the North Pole, everyone knew and recognized that they were royalty, but in any other part of the world, nobody can recognize them. Then she asked Taeyeon, “Who is this person? She looks a lot like Krystal by the way.”

              “Oh, her,” Taeyeon said with an enthusiastic smile. “It’s kind of a long story, and I’ll tell you about it later. She’s a really good friend who helped me out.” Then she turned to Yoona and said, “Yoona, they’re not the Royal Jungs.”

              When Taeyeon and Soo-Young saw each other face to face, they could not believe their eyes. Soo-Young’s already big eyes grew even bigger, and guilt surged through every fiber of her body, making her tremble in fear. Taeyeon also remembered Soo-Young. Finally she said, “Hey, weren’t you that strange waitress who was pretending to be a royal guest at Hyoyeon’s coronation party?”

              Soo-Young cleared in embarrassment and nervously fidgeted with her hands. Oh right, she doesn’t know that I was the one who stole her invitations. I’ll just have to stay quiet about that for the rest of her stay and she won’t kill me. After Soo-Young found out that the Fire Nation Princess whom she had stolen the invitations from was the Avatar back at the Coronation Party, Soo-Young just felt very scared and guilty of disrespect. What was worse was that she even yelled at her and called her a “little brat.” She knew should not have gotten onto the Avatar’s bad side from the start, but really, who would have known that that tiny Fire Nation Princess would become the Avatar? And who knew that they would meet again??

              “Oh, they’re not the Royal Jungs?” said Yoona, feeling rather confused. Then she scanned the poor-looking bunch and walked over to Seohyun and asked Taeyeon, “Is this one a princess?”

              Sica sighed and slammed her palm to her forehead again. Taeyeon just chuckled and patted Sica’s back.

              “Uh, I’m not really a Princess…,” Seohyun awkwardly answered.

              Prince Yonghwa just felt disappointed at Seohyun’s answer again. You’re not a princess yet, Yonghwa thought.

              Yoona snapped her fingers and groaned. “Darn it. I’m Yoona by the way. She's so cute though. She should be a princess. Anyway, nice to meet you all!”

              “Anyway, it’s getting late. We can’t stay out here in the streets. We better stay in a more private place. We don’t want to attract too much attention,” Secretary Yoochun commanded. “Miss Yuri and Miss Soo-Young, please lead the way.”

              Upon seeing Yoochun command everyone with great authority like that, Yoona’s eyes were fixed on his calm masculinity and charming manner, even though he was dressed rather poorly. Part of his sleeves was ripped, showing a tease of his biceps. His collar bones were also showing because of his loose shirt.

              Seeing that Yoona was still staring at him while everyone already walked onward to follow Yuri, Soo-Young, and Minho, Yoochun flashed a friendly smile at her and said, “Let’s get going, Miss Yoona.” Then he continued walking, leaving her standing there for a few seconds.

              Yoona’s jaw dropped upon hearing his cool, manly voice say her name. Then she shook her head and sped to Yoochun’s side as everyone walked to the Xiah Dragon Noodle’s restaurant. Then she asked, “Are you a prince?” If she gets it wrong this time, she will just burst into a fit. This guy has that “prince” aura, that’s for sure.

              Yoochun just laughed and patted her head like she was a puppy. “No, darling, I’m just a secretary.”

              The actual prince, Yonghwa, who was walking right beside Yoochun, just sneered and mumbled, “Tch…I wanted to give you the stupid throne and you refused, but you obviously really enjoy it when people think you should be a prince.”

              “I’m afraid I can’t help being so gorgeous,” the secretary said with a satisfied smirk.

***

              Junsu, who sent off all his employees home hours ago, still stayed in the restaurant, calculating income and expenses. He was never really good at math, and that was partly the reason why he stayed in his office for too long just doing his accounting. He never could finish it quickly. His brother, Key, would rather not help him either, since Key preferred to go shopping and hang out with his endless number of same-age friends after working as a chef in the restaurant. Hyoyeon would definitely help him with anything, but she was stuck in the palace and cannot really come out without a troop of guards following her around. For now, he was nothing but a lonely soul, wishing so badly that these accounts would just balance itself. When he glanced at his hourglass, he realized that it was pretty late at night already.

              “That’s strange. Where’s Key?” he mumbled to himself. Usually Key would be home and yapping about how his day went while getting ready for bed or something.

              “Boss! Boss! Junsu Oppa!” yelled some voices coming from the restaurant entrance. Yuri and Soo-Young knew that he still sticks around in the restaurant after work, so they headed there right away.

              When Junsu opened the huge wooden door of the restaurant entrance, he was surprised to see Soo-Young and Yuri with a bunch of other people. After looking twice, he recognized Taeyeon and Sica too. “Whoa, why is everyone here? Come in!”

              Yoongsan stayed outside as their watchdog. It was very late in the night anyway, so no one was around to see the huge creature.

              When they came in, Minho, Yuri, and Soo-Young immediately turned over the tables and set the chairs for the guests to sit in. Once they were all settled, they began to have their much-longed-for conversations. There they shared their past adventures and findings with each other. Taeyeon had to tell them all about how she met Yoona and what she did in the Fire Nation Capital.

              “Oh, so the Avatar was separated from all of you and you just met her tonight? Wow,” Junsu said in awe of such a wild adventure.

              “By the way, where is Kyuhyun Oppa?” Taeyeon asked, just realizing that he was no longer with the group.

              Everyone’s faces turned somber and the air turned very serious. Finally, Sica spoke up and told Taeyeon about their side of the story. When Taeyeon found out that Kyuhyun was killed by an assassin, she was terribly mortified, but Sica insisted that the story does not end there. Although she did not want to add the part about Kyuhyun being possibly part of the enemy, Sica still had to say it. Either way, he was dead, and if he was really trying to harm them from the start, he can no longer do so. Then she told her about how Sulli, Minho, Onew, Yuri, and Soo-Young helped out with the information that they pieced together. On the brighter side, Seohyun finally got to be with her parents again.

              “So people have been trying to kill you all this time?” Taeyeon just felt so bad. Throughout the time that she spent standing by and relaxing and doing a little training back in her home palace in the Fire Nation, Sica and the others were being persecuted by a bunch of different people. As the Avatar, she could have come to them sooner. She could have figured out what to do sooner. Alas, she was just a rookie Avatar. Although she was trying her best, her best was still not enough. “I’m sorry guys. I can’t believe I’m such a fail…”

              “Eonni, don’t say that,” said the sweet Seohyun. Then she came to Taeyeon and wrapped her long arms around the tiny Avatar. “None of this is your fault.”

              Suddenly, while everyone was feeling terrible about themselves and their ill fate, Yoona spoke up. “Um, did you all just say that there’s a plot to overthrow the Water Tribe government and that they are trying to kill you?”

              “Well, that’s what Soo-Young and I heard,” said Yuri.

              “Taeyeon Eonni,” Yoona turned to the Avatar and grabbed her arm. “Weren’t there some murders in the Fire Nation recently too? I mean, Princess Fany Eonni, Princess Sunny Eonni, and Hyomin Eonni were all trying to uncover those mysteries while we were there.”

              Sica and everyone else were all staring at Yoona with a blank expression. They had no idea that there was some chaos in the Fire Nation going on right now. To explain this, Taeyeon told them all about how she and Yoona went to the Fire Nation Capital and met up with the twin princesses and the Firelord.

              “Don’t you all think that this is a little too strange to be happening almost at the same time?” Yoona asked, emphasizing on the events’ strange timing.

              “You’re not suggesting that they’re connected to our case, are you?” Sica asked, still in a bit of doubt.

              “The Fire Nation is very far from the Water Tribe though. I doubt that there will be some sort of connection,” Taeyeon said while trying to think out any link that might fit in their puzzle. “There are plenty of theories and rumors in the Fire Nation about the murders because this was not the first time a high official was murdered. It happened not too long ago with the previous Firelord. But about the Water Tribe problem, you know it yourselves that the North Pole is one of the safest and happiest places to live in. I mean, for hundreds of years, the North Pole has been nothing but a peaceful place. The government is also doing such a good job of managing and leading the place. The uprising in the Water Tribe could have a different reason from the one in the Fire Nation, and it seems quite unreasonable too.”

              “Anyway, like Secretary Yoochun has been saying lately, the reasons don’t matter for now. What matters is that we stay safe from our enemies, whoever they are,” Sica said. “Yonghwa and Krystal may need to go back to the North Pole for them to stay safe. Queen Hyoyeon might have a ship that can send you both back.”

              “What about you?” Yonghwa asked.

              “I need to train the Avatar,” Sica said firmly.

              “Hey, that’s no fun!” Krystal interjected. “I want to stay with you.”

              Suddenly the ground beneath them trembled a little and a hole appeared from the ground. Out of it jumped Key, Junsu’s younger brother, and the hole closed up instantly. Everyone was a bit surprised to see him suddenly appearing like that. He was panting like a dog and sweat soaked up his clothes. The young, scrawny teen looked like he was about to faint, and his complexion was even paler than it usually was. As if oblivious of the new guests, he immediately started talking out loud while trying to catch his breath. He looked confused, weak, and troubled. “You all have no idea what happened to me out there! I swear; someone was trying to kill me, and I think I might die soon!”

              Then he showed a small dart out in front of everyone before eventually falling down on the floor and losing his consciousness. Without a doubt, they all looked quite shocked to see him, especially Junsu. These surprises are just endless nowadays. Seohyun hastily came down to poor Key’s rescue and felt this burning forehead. He was having a terrible fever. Then she inspected the dart and gasped in terror. “He was poisoned! Quick, give me water!”

              Everyone was in a state of panic, but Seohyun and Junsu immediately gave them directions. Yoochun, Minho, Yuri, and Yoona went outside to stay on guard while Seohyun, Taeyeon, Soo-Young, and Junsu tended to the unconscious Key. As usual, Prince Yonghwa felt terribly useless since he can neither tend to the sick nor guard the place. At least his sisters Sica and Krystal were also there just standing in shock.

              With Taeyeon’s calm, logical mindset, she was able to remember her brother Jaejoong again. One time he cooked up an antidote when Yunho was bit by a venomous snake. Taeyeon, who had always been such a big fan of her brother, watched him prepare it and learned it for herself too. Now for Key’s case, she remembered that Fany has been studying the art of killing people with the use of darts the last time she visited. Fany once said that the most common poison darts were dipped in snake venom. If the antidote worked on Yunho, then wouldn’t it work on a person who was hit by a snake-venom dart? So then she stepped up and asked Junsu to lead her to the kitchen where she can prepare the antidote. Thankfully, Junsu has assorted rare, foreign and local ingredients in his kitchen store room. Key can be saved. As the Avatar, she does not want to let any more people die.

              Seohyun took some water and checked the condition of Key’s body with her water bending. The poison has not entirely spread. The side-effects of the poison slowly mitigated with her healing touch. When Taeyeon finally finished the antidote, Seohyun used her water bending to apply it on Key’s wound. After a while of frantic waiting, it seemed that Key has gotten so much better. He was still asleep, but Seohyun assured everyone that he will be alright.

              “What the hell could have happened to him?” Sica wondered as she trembled in fear.

              “This is scary though,” Yonghwa said as he held his younger sister Krystal close to him. “Has my bad luck just spread to everyone else or is this also part of the unknown enemy’s plan?”

              That night, the group divided into two groups again. The Jungs and their loyal secretary stayed at Yuri, Soo-Young, and Minho’s house while Taeyeon, Yoona, and Seohyun stayed with Junsu and Key at the Xiah Dragon Noodles. Everyone agreed that the Jungs cannot stay with Junsu, just in case the enemies have already figured out that they had a friendly past with Hyoyeon’s family. Plus, there are other employees and customers coming and going from that restaurant. Some of them might be spies. They thought Soo-Young and Yuri’s house would be safer for the Jungs since nobody would care to look inside their “unimportant” house anyway. Junsu already provided the Jungs with better Earth Kingdom clothes too, so they could at least maintain their dignity.

              As for Seohyun, she volunteered to stay with the sick Key since she was a nurse. Taeyeon and Yoona also stayed there because Yuri and Soo-Young’s place was getting kind of crowded. Besides, if Key was suddenly attacked, then maybe Junsu was in trouble too. If that happens, Taeyeon and Yoona will be there to help. They were honestly getting way too paranoid about this, but being safe was better than being sorry.

              While Taeyeon was preparing to go to bed with Yoona and Seohyun in one room, Yoona said to Seohyun, “So, you’re from the Water Tribe, right?”

              “Yeah,” Seohyun said with a smile. Having new friends was always a good thing to Seohyun.

              “So you know that really good-looking secretary, do you?” the air bender said with a big wide smile.

              “Sort of,” Seohyun replied. “He’s a nice and respectable servant of the Royal Jungs. He can be quite mischievous sometimes though.”

              “Oh…,” Yoona said and then began to giggle like a chattering monkey. “He’s really dreamy. I think I fell in love at first sight…”

              The not-so-amused Avatar just rolled her eyes and sat down on the sheets. “I thought you already have a ‘dream man’? Did you forget about the Seunggi guy from the Fire Nation already?”

              Seohyun had no idea who they were talking about now so the Avatar told her about Yoona’s story concerning a Fire Nation royal relative that Yoona had a crush on. The cheerful young Water Tribe girl just laughed at the peculiar story and sat on the sleeping mat beside Taeyeon. Seohyun saw the air bender as a unique character, maybe because she has never really met an air bender in her life until tonight.

              “Of course I haven’t forgotten him,” Yoona admitted in embarrassment. “But Secretary Yoochun Oppa is just so…”

              Taeyeon just shook her head and hid under the blankets. “Go to sleep, Yoona.”

              Seohyun just giggled in amusement again and lied down beside her favorite Avatar Eonni. “You know, Taeyeon Eonni, I kinda missed staying with you like this. It’s just like those times in the North Pole. I’m really glad you were safe and found your way back to us again.”

              “Hey, it was all thanks to me that the Avatar is safe, so I guess I am the real hero here,” Yoona said proudly. Then she whipped up a cool wind to blow out the lamp in their room.

              When the lights were off, Yoona lay down on Seohyun’s left on the floor. Then in the midst of the darkness, Seohyun turned to face Yoona and lightly poked her arm. “Psst, Yoona Eonni, are you still awake?”

              “Yeah, why?”

              “You seem to know much about love,” Seohyun innocently said to her in a soft whisper for Taeyeon not to hear. Despite that, Taeyeon was just right beside Seohyun so obviously she could hear her.

              Yoona quietly giggled and patted Seohyun’s arm. “I’m not sure about that, but I have to admit, I do know a lot of things.”

              “Tell me, how do you know if you’re in love?”

              “Hm… You get this really nice nervous feeling deep in your heart and, um, it’s hard to explain.”

              “Does it feel like you never want to be separated from someone and want to protect that person forever?” Seohyun asked.

              “Yeah, sort of,” Yoona replied. “Why? Do you have a ‘dream man’ of your own? Was it that Crown Prince Yonghwa guy?”

              Taeyeon, who have been trying to sleep in the midst of their chatter all this time, sat up and said to them, “Ugh, guys can you please shut up and talk about boys tomorrow? It’s bad enough that I’m the sleepless Avatar here!”

              “Sorry, Taeyeon Eonni,” said the ever-so-considerate Seohyun. “We’ll sleep now. We promise.”

              “Oh, come on, you’re no fun,” Yoona said in a weird high-pitched annoying voice to provoke Taeyeon even more. She was really just that immature.

              The sleepless Avatar just lay back on the sheets and closed her eyes again. Once more, she began the long reflection of how many strange weirdoes she ended up being friends with ever since the volcanic eruption. Now her weirdo friends are friends with her other weirdo friends, making a whole big mess of crazy weirdo friends. Her head just hurts thinking about all of them. “Ugh… The cost of friendship…”

              On the other hand, Yuri, Soo-Young, and Minho hastily prepared their home to accommodate their guests. This is the first time that they have been trusted to show hospitality to royalties (other than serving the nobles at the restaurant), and they wanted to leave a good impression on them in case these royalties would remember their kindness and reward them or something.

              “Your Highness, I prepared my bedroom for you to stay in. As you can see, it is much cleaner than Soo-Young’s so please stay here,” Yuri said, also trying to make up for those times that she yelled at Sica in the monorail. Also, since she was quite competitive, she wanted to outshine Soo-Young and Minho in serving the Royal Jungs. Yuri’s room was very neat and tidy and that the flooring was exceptionally shiny. The sleeping mat, pillows, and sheets are already readied on the floor. Yuri also placed some huge jars of water for Sica to bend in case any attackers might trouble Sica during the night.

              The Ice Princess just gave her a brief smile and said, “Well done.” Then she called Krystal and told her to sleep beside her.

              Yuri could not help but feel accomplished. “Please call me if you need any help or assistance.”

              Suddenly, Soo-Young forced herself into the room. She cannot just have Yuri hogging all the Jungs to herself. “Excuse me, Your Highness Sica Madame, there’s another room—my room—that’s a lot better than this. You’d really rather stay in my room, and not this sloppy, unfit-for-royalty, low-class room…”

              Getting angry that Soo-Young was insulting her effort, Yuri yelled, “Hey, my room has always been better than yours! Quit bothering the princesses and go stuff yourself with your midnight snacks, you glutton!”

              To make herself more superior to Yuri once again, Soo-Young raised her voice and said to the Jung sisters, “That’s exactly why my room is better, Your Highnesses! My room has food service!”

              “Ugh, get out of here, Soo-Young, they’re resting already!” Yuri pushed Soo-Young away and shut the door before her, leaving the Jung sisters all alone.

              Krystal turned to her Eonni and shrugged. “Well, that scene was interesting.”

              The sleepy Ice Princess just lay back on the floor and closed her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just sleep.”

***

              Early morning at about sunrise, Queen Hyoyeon walked out to her favorite rocky garden in the vast Earth Kingdom Royal Palace compound. This garden was close to the Queen’s Palace so she went there almost every day to relieve herself of boredom. This garden is actually composed of huge rocks with moss on them; some were cut to shape for an unusual aesthetic structure. Hyoyeon just liked earth bending and practicing around here.

              As a Queen, many would think she would be busy helping the King with his affairs, but in reality, she pretty much has nothing to do but train her apprentices and make sure only the best of the best can become high officials in the army. Other than that, she usually just misses her family. Actually, the previous Queens did not even have any power in ordaining army leaders. Queens were just around to look pretty and provide heirs. Hyoyeon, however, was given the responsibility of training apprentices and appointing the officials because King Eunhyuk and the king before him recognized her amazing earth bending talent. Eunhyuk did not want Hyoyeon’s earth bending skills to go to waste so he let her have the freedom of having a strong and powerful bender image instead of the previous Queens’ passive images.

              As she was walking around some huge rocks, a maroon bird with a cylinder case unexpectedly perched on her shoulder.

              “Whoa, what is this?” Hyoyeon said as she let the bird stand on her hand. Noting the Fire Nation insignia on the bird’s chest, she said, “This looks interesting.”

              Then she opened the cylinder case and took out the letter rolled up inside it.

Dear Queen Hyoyeon,

              This is Avatar Taeyeon, representing everyone else in deep trouble at this moment. I am currently here in Ba Sing Se. As much as I would like to say that is it good to be back, there are certain troubling things that I thought you must know about…

***

              When Key regained consciousness that morning, he told Taeyeon all about a hooded earth bender and a strange non-bender who attacked him on his way home. He was sure that those people wanted him dead, but he had no idea who or why. Luckily, he was saved by two great healers, Seohyun and the student Avatar. He could have sworn that the hooded figure looked familiar, but he wasn't entirely sure. That hooded earth bender seemed a lot like Amber though... By then Yoona started throwing around theories conspiracies that scared the soft-hearted Seohyun. Of course, Yoona’s strange theories are just theories concocted by her wild imagination. Taeyeon tried not to listen to Yoona’s ramblings though and just calmly composed a letter for Hyoyeon.

              Later that morning, before the Xiah Dragon Noodles was set to open up business for the day, a small young man with big, wide open eyes appeared before the restaurant entrance. (By this time, Yoona and Seohyun went on a morning ride on Yoongsan so the beast was no longer in sight to scare passersby away.) The young man was dressed in a fine golden silk robe and his hair was so neatly combed that Taeyeon could have sworn that she could see her reflection on it. His poker face was also so blank that it was impossible to describe that intense lack of expression. Then he bowed low in front of Taeyeon.

              “Can I help you?” Taeyeon asked after a while of silence from the young man.

              “Dear Miss, this is the Xiah Dragon Noodles, if I am not mistaken?” he said in a calm highly formal monotone; his huge eyes fixed on Taeyeon as he spoke.

              “Yes?” Taeyeon answered, feeling the awkwardness of the young boy’s presence. He was really young, probably a little older than Krystal.

              Knowing that he was in the right place, he looked around with his huge eyes once more to see that no one was around. Then he took out a golden Earth Kingdom seal that he was carrying from his leather bag and said, “Greetings, I am Do Kyungsoo, King Eunhyuk’s most loyal page. I have come for assistance under direct orders from the King and Queen themselves.” He showed Taeyeon the seal.

              “Whoa, Hyoyeon responded really quickly.” Taeyeon immediately let him in. Junsu did not bother to open the restaurant on time for today. “So, how are you assisting us exactly?”

              Kyungsoo took a scroll from his leather bag and formally handed it to Taeyeon with two hands. “This is a letter from the Earth Queen to be given to the Avatar. I am assuming that that is you, Miss?” he asked, noting the Fire Nation attire.

              Taeyeon, who just found his matter of speaking really strange and irritating, finally ordered him to stop. “Can you speak a little less formally to me? I’m your good noona,” she said with a pat on his shoulder.

              “Uh, if you wish, Miss Avatar Noona,” he stiffly said in an awkward formal tone.

              “Ugh, fine,” Taeyeon said in frustration, still not quite happy with the boy’s awkwardness. “Let me read this scroll…”

              Meanwhile, Minho, who went off to work at the palace, stood on guard for anything suspicious. He really wanted to check on Amber to see if she was planning anything bad at all, but he was not allowed to leave his post or go anywhere far from the premises of his duty. He terribly wanted to get further involved in this mystery, but he was powerless to actually do anything for now. Amber and the rest of Queen Hyoyeon’s other trainees are all staying at a different parts of the palace—quite far from Minho’s position. They all stay in a huge spiral minaret building as their dorm housing and obviously, only Queen Hyoyeon and the trainees are allowed over there.

              “Choi Minho,” a Lieutenant called.

              “Yes, Lieutenant?” Minho answered while standing by his post.

              “I got an order that the King himself wants to see you.”

              “Me?”

Hours Later…

              “Good morning, Princess Sica, or should I say, ‘Good noon?’ It’s quite late already,” Yuri greeted when Sica finally woke up.

              The sun was already beating right above the rooftops but Princess Sica was not even ready to face the day yet. She really missed the days when she basically did nothing but sleep in her icy cold Water Tribe palace. Ever since Taeyeon came along, her life of shameless beauty naps was ruined. She had no idea that training the Avatar would bring such a drastic change in her life and bring her to the Earth Kingdom where certain people wanted her dead for some unknown reason.

              “Where’s everyone else?” Sica asked, still rather groggy.

              “Hmm… your sister and brother went with Yoona and Seohyun on the flying buffalo’s back to fly around the city. Secretary Yoochun went to the Xiah Dragon Noodles to discuss plans with the Avatar. Soo-Young is working at the restaurant, and Minho is at work in the palace. I’m here guarding you, because you’re such a deep sleeper, and really pretty one too…”

              “Well, of course I’m pretty. I’m a princess,” Sica said so proudly. Then she shook her head and said, “How come nobody woke me up?!”

              “You wouldn’t wake up at all. They tried to wake you up but you seemed too tried to even open your eyes. And I didn’t want to wake you up because you looked so peaceful, that it almost seemed like you were dreaming about rainbows and unicorns…”

              “No, I was dreaming of crushing Kyuhyun under an iceberg along with all his cucumbers, which actually counts as rainbows and unicorns from my perspective… But anyway, I did sleep quite well last night if I don’t say so myself,” Sica nodded to herself. “Thanks for letting me and Krystal sleep on your bed. It was really warm and homey, if you know what I mean. I haven’t slept in a proper bed in weeks.”

              “You know, after meeting royalty just like this, I realized that you’re all quite human too, just like me and Soo-Young,” Yuri remarked, trying to make conversation as she sat in front of Sica on the bed.

              “Yeah, of course we’re human. The only difference is that I’m usually better than most people,” the proud princess said jokingly.

              Suddenly, there was some knocking at the house door. When Yuri opened it, Avatar Taeyeon and Secretary Yoochun came in with Do Kyungsoo and some news. They all looked quite flustered. First, the secretary introduced Kyungsoo to them and said, “Queen Hyoyeon is having a feast tomorrow in honor of Avatar Taeyeon’s return. We’re all invited.”

              “A feast?!” Sica exclaimed in shock. “Why? We’re all having trouble here and she’s throwing a feast?! Won’t that basically spread the word of our existence?! What if there are spies in the palace? Didn’t they say that that Amber person was from the palace? What if there are more of the likes of her in there?”

              “You won’t go in as the Royal Water Tribe. You’ll go in as ‘special guests,’” Taeyeon said with a wide smirk on her face. She seemed to be too happy right now.

              “What’s with the smiley face, Taeng?” Sica raised an eyebrow and placed her hand on her hip. The Ice Princess still doesn’t look all too pleased.

              “Here’s the plan that Hyoyeon wrote to us about: You will all pose as my royal escorts. Everything will look like I have come to have my earth bending training with the Great Hyoyeon, which isn't entirely a lie since I do need to learn earth bending some time soon while trying to master the other elements too. Besides, if everyone thinks that you are a subject of the Avatar, they won't think that you are from the Water Tribe."

"Oh, no, not that plan again!" Sica cried. "Ugh, why..."

              “And Miss Kwon Yuri, I have a special letter just for you from the Earth Queen,” spoke the young Kyungsoo in his very formal fashion.

              Yuri accepted the letter and opened it up. Upon reading the letter, she began to cry and freak out. “OMO!!!! THE QUEEN HAS ACCEPTED ME INTO HER TRAINING!!!! FINALLY!!!”

              Suddenly, Minho burst through their door with a big wide smile on his face. He came right from the palace just to announce something very important also: “Yuri Noona, you’re not going to believe this, but the King personally wanted me to train with Queen Hyoyeon for earth bending!”

              Yuri gasped. “You too?! Awesome!” Then they both held each other’s hands and jumped up and down like excited little idiots.

              “Wahahahah! Yuri Noona! Our dreams have finally come true!”

              Princess Sica, however, wasn't quite sure of what to think about this. "Well this plan better work and not get us in more danger."

***

Somewhere in the palace, Queen Hyoyeon sat on her throne, feeling anger rising up to her temples. "Whoever tried to harm my brother Kibum and my best friends will pay. I will not tolerate this. I will hunt them down and punish them."