Inner Peace - LOK fanfic

The Earth Queen

The airship continued over the Middle Ring, before finally making it to the Royal Palace.

"Wow" Elira gasped in awe at the grand building. 

The airship slowly began its descent amongst other airships, landing with a slight cloud of dust and the party made their way down the ramp. A well-dressed Earth Kingdom man was waiting for them at the bottom. 

"Avatar Korra, Lady Azira and Masters Tenzin and Elira, it is a pleasure to welcome you and your party to the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se. I'm Grand Secretariat Gun" The man welcomed, bowing. 

"Thank you." Korra returned the bow. 

"Aah, it's got that Upper Ring smell." Bolin grinned walking by with El, Pabu and Pichi on their shoulders with Naga and Oogi following behind them. 

"It's amazing" Elira added 

"Oh no, the queen hates animals!" Gun warned

"What? How could you hate a face this cute?" El held out Pichi who chittered and tilted her head with wide sparkling eyes, trying to act as cute as possible. 

"You'll have to get them out of sight." Gun continued, not at all swayed by Pichi's adorableness. 

El pouted and Pichi chittered in disappointment as Bolin scratched his head. 

"Well, I can just stash Pabu in my shirt, these two are going to be a little tougher" He pointed behind him that Naga and Oogi. 

"Come with me, hurry, I'll take you to your quarters," Gun said and began leading them away. 

*

"Now, when you meet the queen make sure you bow low enough, that's very important, and don't look her in the eye, she can't stand that. If any food is served, don't eat before she eats. Well actually, I have to taste her food first, then she eats, then you can eat. Better yet, just don't eat." Gun explained, leading the group over a bridge 

"Seems like an awful lot of rules." Elira crossed her arms, Pichi chittering in agreement on her shoulder. 

"Oh, you have no idea" Gun sighed in exasperation "And I'm the one who gets in trouble when people don't follow them, so please, please for my sake try not to upset Her Majesty" 

Elira noticed her grandmother looking around with a scowl. 

"Um, you okay, Gran-Gran?" She whispered 

"I'm fine, lotus flower. Just having a bit of deja vu is all" Zira's scowl turned into a soft smile when she turned to her granddaughter. 

"Of course! You and Grandpa came here years ago during the war didn't you?" Jinora cut in, grinning. 

"Yes, we did. I just hope your time here won't be as...difficult as mine was. But sadly by the looks of things, it hasn't changed that much" Zira's scowl returned, watching Gun continuing to list off all the rules they had to follow as her granddaughters glanced at each other and Jinora shrugged. 

" Here we are." Gun finally stopped, holding his arms out as they stood in front of a grand house 

"Ooh, very swanky." Bolin smiled, impressed. 

The group entered the house and spread out to inspect the various rooms. 

"Now, go in and make yourselves comfortable. And keep those animals out of sight in the backyard!" Gun turned to Bolin and El forcefully who still had their respective pets on their shoulders. 

The couple walked off in a huff and Gun turned to Korra. 

"Avatar Korra, if you'll follow me. We don't want to keep Her Majesty waiting."