Nazadori wasn't exactly excited to be spending some time with her family on one of her days out of the palace. She didn't want to hear them crack jokes about her new role as queen or to hear how much they didn't think that she could be queen. Most of all, she didn't know how to interact with them now that she was spending less and less time with them. Was she the same person she was before Bumi's death? She wasn't sure. But she didn't want to find out.
Gazon had sent her on a mission while she was home, anyway. She needed to get the real opinions from the public of Omashu while also being inconspicuous. Sure, she had announced to the public that she was going to be queen, but if she was wearing her regular outfit, maybe they wouldn't even recognize her. As long as she stayed out of her own neighborhood where she was very much known, she knew that she could do this and remain inconspicuous. Hopefully.
Nazadori stopped in front of her house, staring at the front door, willing it to stay shut for the time being. She had to prepare herself to go back inside and face her family again, but she wasn't sure if she could do it. She had told Gazon earlier that she would enlist her family's help, yet that was coming back to scare her and haunt her.
Squaring her shoulders, Nazadori pushed open the door before she told herself otherwise. This was what she had to do. She couldn't hide away from it now, not when she was going to be queen. Her life was different now, and she had to do things she never wanted to do in the first place.
The little mudroom was empty, so Nazadori slipped her boots off and walked deeper into the house. Once she made it into the living room, she realized her siblings were chatting softly in there together, but once she stepped in there with them, their words went very, very quiet.
"Nazadori!" Mava said, jumping up from her spot on one of the cushions next to the low couch against the far wall. "What are you doing here?"
"I had the day off, and I wanted to come back home and spend some time with you guys."
Mava grinned at her before wrapping her arm around her shoulders and rubbing her knuckles through her hair. Nazadori tried to get out of her grip, but her sister was way too strong for her, especially since she had begun lifting large pieces of earth to get even stronger for her job. Yes, she could earthbend easily, but she wanted to gain more muscles to match up with the other guards of Omashu.
"Hey, don't mess up the future queen's hair," Baleng said from his worn-out spot on the low couch in their living room. That was his spot, and he sat there day after day while he read through scrolls and books or even just napped. Today, he was holding a well-worn book, one that Nazadori had read when she was younger, before she started acting out. "She needs to look presentable to the public, especially when they know about who's going to be queen now."
"About that," Mava said, letting go of Nazadori, "I thought you told us not to tell anyone and that none of the advisors were going to announce it to the public. Why did you end up doing that?"
"I guess we took your words into consideration." Nazadori ran her fingers through her hair, trying to tame the wild pieces that Mava just messed up. She glared up at her sister, who just smiled at her. "Gazon told me that it was better for the people to come to terms with me coming to the throne now rather than later."
"I'm not sure if that's going so well out there," Mava said, using her chin to gesture outside of the house. Nazadori tried not to show her two siblings that she already knew about that and that it was greatly affecting her. "You should hear what the people say to me before they realize that the future queen is my adopted sister."
Nazadori glanced down at her feet. Was Mava going back to the story that Nazadori was adopted and that she wasn't actually her sister? She had done that when Nazadori first started going to the academy, when people would point her out to Mava as she passed by her in the hallways. Nazadori thought her sister had grown out of that, but apparently, she hadn't.
Finally, Mother walked into the living room with the rest of them, a green shawl wrapped around her shoulders where her silver hair balanced across. She basically floated next to Baleng and rested a thin hand on his shoulder. It had been at least a few days since Nazadori had seen her mother, but she hadn't realized just how old and tired her mother had gotten lately.
Her sharp eyes took in Nazadori, who bowed her head to her. "Hello, Mother," she said. "Would you like to help me with something?"
After Nazadori explained everything to her family, she dragged the three of them to the lower district of Omashu, where the markets were located at. She said that their cover was that they were going to buy food for a large meal tonight where they all could share tonight. Though Mother didn't look so happy about her doing business for the palace while she was home, she finally agreed and forced Mava and Baleng to come with them.
The markets were bustling with all kinds of people today. The whole area was nearly full from wall to wall of the marketplace. Nazadori desperately wanted to run back home, but Mava and Baleng held her back. It was like both of them just knew that she would try to run away, so they stayed close to her as they followed Mother into the market.
"Nazadori, you come with me," Mother said to her youngest daughter. "I want you to help me collect the sides for our dinner. Mava and Baleng, you find the best smoked fish you can, whatever kind it is."
"Yes, ma'am," Baleng said, saluting her.
Nazadori trailed behind Mother as she walked deeper into the marketplace. People were haggling over prices of food and goods while others were trying to make their way through the crowded area. This was not the place Nazadori wanted to be, but she knew that she had to get some intel for Gazon and the other advisors. If they knew more about what the people were talking about, maybe they could fix things before it got worse.
Mother approached an older woman whose booth was full of fresh produce. While her mother asked the old woman to prepare them a salad, Nazadori prepared herself on what she wanted to ask her. Her heart thudded against her chest at the thought of talking to people about herself, but she knew she had to for herself and for Gazon.
"What would you need from the future queen to feel safe in Omashu?" Nazadori asked the old woman behind the counter, who was busy chopping up some lettuce for the simple salad she was making for Mother. The old woman looked at her with a frown on her face, searching Nazadori to see if she would actually reveal she was the future queen. "I mean, what do you want to see from the future queen?"
"I just want her to honor Omashu and the values we hold dear," the old woman answered her with a quick shrug. "I don't care about the other rumors that are spreading around because they're just that -- rumors. King Bumi wasn't immune to them, and neither will she be."
Nazadori wanted to let out a sigh of relief, but she knew she couldn't do that just yet. Thankfully, not everyone in the city wanted to get rid of her from the throne. At least a few people in the city actually wanted her to rule instead of circulating the rumors around even more. Even if it seemed to be only one woman so far, Nazadori was happy to hear the words that were coming out of her mouth.
"Yeah, I think that's what everyone wants," Nazadori told her. She took the bowl of salad out of the old woman's hands before dropping a few coins into her own outstretched hand. The woman smiled thinly at Nazadori. "Thank you. Have a great rest of your day."
"You, too, Queen Nazadori."
Her head snapped back up to see the woman smiling widely at her. With a quick glance around the rest of the market, she realized that no one else had heard the woman say that to her. So far, her identity was hidden, besides from the old woman.
"How did you know?" she asked her softly.
"You don't exactly look like you belong here, and you were asking some weird questions." The old woman laughed, and Nazadori felt a little queasy. "Besides, you paid me with some of the royal coins, the ones that are very rare for commoners in this area to have. You're going to have to do something else if you want to ask those types of questions."
"Thank you," Nazadori said with a sigh. "I'll try my best."
"Keep your head up," the old woman said as Nazadori began walking away from her. "I know it's hard, but you'll do great. I believe in you, Queen Nazadori."
Nazadori wasn't sure if she could believe the woman or not. From what Tosrek said yesterday, she knew that there were people in the city that did not like her or did not like her past at all. That meant that she would have people who would never like her, even if she did great as a ruler. That idea intimidated her. How in the world did Bumi handle this? And why did he think she could?