The Legend of Ba Sing Se ○ ATLA

6 ○ No Longer Alone

The Plan: Locate the Avatar.

Kiiya pressed her back firmly against her monorail seat with as much force as she could muster. To most, it would seem that she was maintaining perfect posture. To her, she was doing everything in her power to stop the rattling of her broadswords strapped to her back underneath the heavy silk of her dress.

The setting sun gleamed through the open windows of the monorail car as it lumbered along the tracks. Colors just as vibrant as the sunset-painted sky soon overtook the rest of the landscape around Kiiya as she traveled further and further north.

Gone were the polished streets and tightly-packed marketplace tabernacles, which were gradually replaced by endless hills and valleys as Kiiya's car had passed through the Upper Gate. Droves of flower patches adorned the farthest reaches of her line of sight, dancing with grace as the breeze leisurely rippled through them. Magnificent crystal-clear streams and rivers swirled along the valley, adding to the fantastic waltz of nature before Kiiya's very eyes.

These were the brightest, most blinding greens, yellows, and blues Kiiya had ever seen. She wondered if it was possible to even achieve such a color in mixed paint or clothing dyes. Before she knew it, the most vibrant ride she'd ever been on was over, and the monorail car arrived at the main station of the Upper Ring.

The doors opened with a flourish as Kiiya rose to step outside. She exited the car with the rest of the pompous passengers to find two palace guards standing watch at the door. She tensed up, her broadswords suddenly feeling heavy as boulders.

Kiiya's breath hitched in her throat as the two guards bowed to her.

Stunned, she took a second too long to react. "Oh-- t-thank you." she choked out.

The guards rose, a quizzical look on both their faces. Before they could ask a single question, Kiiya bowed in return and darted away. Quickly padding down the stairs and out of the station, it was only seconds before Kiiya was blindsided again, and stopped dead in her tracks.

Kiiya's mouth hung open as she stood and took in everything all around her. The entire square seemed to sparkle in the fading sunlight, highlighting the magnificence of the architecture and the people who lived here. Every inch of anything had the most coruscating colors imaginable, from the honey-tinted bricks of the walkways to the shining emerald rooftops of the surrounding mansions. Gold was everywhere, adorning every inch of window, doorway, carriage, and streetlamp.

The splendor was unlike anything she'd ever seen in her entire life. It was no wonder Upper Ring people acted so ungrateful and snobbish when they were in the Middle Ring.

Why would they ever want to leave here?

Kiiya urged herself to move. It was time to take action.

Her shoes padded quietly against the finely-polished stone walkways, as her swords continued to clink together on her back. Though they were hidden beneath her dress well enough, she still prayed that any passerby would just assume the sound came from the massive lavaliers dangling from her ears.

Locate the Avatar, she thought. That was her original goal. But after seeing all this... where could he possibly be? The Upper Ring suddenly seemed tremendously bigger than she had originally assumed. Even after spending hours meticulously mapping out her route, it was all she could do to not stop and continue to take in the abundant riches of the land all around her.

Kiiya's brain finally clicked on as she remembered the first place she had thought to begin her search-- the outskirts of the palace walls.

No one was permitted to enter the palace walls unless granted permission by the king. But there was surely a long queue of people lying in wait to have their audience with him. Where else would they stay until then, but along the outskirts of his official territory?