Altered reality

Unhappy

Ying Kong Shi has noticed that his brother does not seem like himself.  He goes to find him early the next morning and finds him wondering the halls.  "Brother, why are you up so early?  You are newly married.  Don't you want to be with your new wife?"  He's again confronted with a sad smile.  Ka Suo turns the tables on him.  "What about you?  Your betrothed is waiting to get to know you.  Shouldn't you be attending her?"  Ying Kong Shi huffs.  He frowns towards the mountains, breathing in the cool, fresh air.  "You know we dont get along.  I can only hope the marriage is delayed long enough to leave me with a little time without misery."  His brother only laughs.  "Is she really that bad?"  Ying Kong Shi looks over at his brother annoyed.  "Fine, forget I brought it up.  At least I made you smile.  Lets go play ice ball."  Still laughing at his brother while they walk away, Ka Suo responds. "Ok brother, I'll stop teasing you." 

Behind them, around the corner is the mermaid princess. She has felt that something is off with her new husband.  He seems to not really want to be around her.  When he is, he isn't present.  She thought perhaps it was in her head, but now her doubts are reinforced.  She wonders what she did wrong. She knows she is considered the most beautiful princess in all the realms.  So why is she not able to make her new husband happy.  She stays where she is in the shadows, tears running down her beautiful face, making small clicking sounds as the freshly made pearls hit the surface of the ground.

Rumors start to spread throughout the ice kingdom about a grey smoke lurking around. Some have even heard it laughing as it goes by. The news soon reaches the ice palace. Oddly, popular public opinion seems to call for the youngest ice prince to marry the fire princess and be named heir to the throne to solidify peace and encourage ice nation and the fire nation to join their forces. A strong former enemy becoming an ally would make them feel safer. The young prince suspects someone is behind this sudden change in public opinion, but says nothing. Perhaps this might be fate afterall. He needs to speak to his brother again.

It's been a few days now since the fire princess has had to call the ice kingdom her new home. She was never the sort to stay and mope in her rooms when she felt down. She had always been the sort to get out and find a way to cheer up. But the food here was not to her liking yet (it was just so different than what she was use to), the people here didn't seem to like her (they were to soft and snobbish anyway). Even her future husband seemed to be avoiding her. There were several things she learned while wondering around though. To Yanda, knowledge was power and she could use that to her advantage. It was obvious to her that Ying Kong Shi clearly had powers but hid them even from his brother. And since they had been used on her, she could tell he was not weak. Why was he hiding this from his family? This she had not puzzled through yet. It was also clear to her that someting was wrong with the newly wed prince. She had seen his new bride crying the other day or walking around looking morose. She might be able to use this to her advantage if she needed. She was also learning more about the people there. One thing had not changed from her fire nation home. People still gossiped here as well, regardless of who was around. She was able to gather a lot of information and learn about the function of this ice nation fairly quickly. One thing she was sure of, the people of the ice nation were not warm hearted. They seemed cold and uncaring to her. She was going to need to find her own happiness somehow. She would not let that icy interior get to her as it did the mermaid princess.