"Finally. We thought you'd never arrive."

Ty Lee, Katara, and Yuki had made it to the entrance of the palace where Azula and Mai waited impatiently. Mai looked at Katara with hostile while Azula looked at both Katara and Yuki with a vicious smile on her face. Yuki bowed low to Azula like she did with Zuko. Katara, however, did not. She just glared at Azula who cleared her throat expectantly. Ty Lee nudged Katara and gave her a look that said "Do it or she'll hurt you" Katara glared at Azula again and reluctantly bowed.

"Much better." said Azula, with something that sounded a bit like mock in her voice that made Katara grit her teeth in anger.

The waterbender and concubine straightened themselves and Azula surveyed Yuki.

"And who is this?" she asked, or more like demanded.

"This is Yuki!" said Ty Lee, putting an arm around Yuki's shoulders once again. "She's friends with Katara. I said it was okay to bring her along."

"A friend of Katara's?" Azula repeated, her vicious smile was still on her face. "Well. This should be interesting."

Katara fumed but said nothing.


The first thing the girls did was go to the spa. Despite being with her enemies, it was very relaxing for Katara, but it made her feel sad when she remembered the time she and Toph went to that spa in Ba Sing Se. When she and Yuki were having mud baths with mud on their faces like masks, she half expected to Yuki to exhale and use earthbending to make scary faces with the mud on her face.

"Are you okay, Katara?" Yuki asked, looking at the waterbender with concern.

Katara blinked back the tears that threatened to fall and took a deep breath.

"I'm fine." She whispered.

Yuki continued to look at Katara with concern like as if she didn't believe her but didn't push the matter.

The girls left the spa later feeling very relaxed with fresh make up on their faces. Their make up wasn't overdone like Katara and Toph's were when they left the spa in Ba Sing Se.


They walked through the city and looked around at the shops. The people nearby bowed to them as they walked by. This made Katara feel slightly uncomfortable. After a few minutes of walking through the street, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee finally decided on a store that sold dresses.

"We should totally get you a dress Mai!" said Ty Lee as she pulled out a dress from the nearby rack. It was red with black trimming, short sleeved and was at knee length. "Zuko will love you in this one!"

Off Katara's confused look, Ty Lee said to her, "Mai used to have a huge crush on Zuko when we were kids. She still has one."

"Ah." said Katara. She tried her best not to smile. Ty Lee has just given her something she could use against Mai. Maybe even Zuko if he felt the same way about the knife thrower.

"Shush up." Mai hissed to Ty Lee, "Why did you tell her that?"

"Sorry." said Ty Lee.

She and Yuki explored the shop and looked at the things for sale.

"It's been a while since I've seen modest robes." said Yuki. "For a long time I've only seen concubine dresses and soldiers armor."

"Found anything cute yet?" asked Ty Lee when she walked over to the two. She noticed something red at a nearby rack and rushed over to it. She picked it up and gave it to Katara.

"Try that on!" she said.

Katara took the red fabric hesitantly and went to the nearest changing room to try it on while Yuki and Ty Lee waited.

When she was finished changing, Katara looked in the mirror. She wore a red tube top with a strap over her left shoulder, a skirt that reached her ankles, and a red sash that was clasped over her left thigh with a yellow clasp that had the Fire Nation insignia on it. Though she hated to admit it, the red did go well with her tanned skin.

She walked out of the dressing room to show Yuki and Ty Lee. Ty Lee jumped up and down.

"You look great!" she said. "You should totally get it!"

"I wish I could," said Katara, "But I don't have any money."

"Don't worry, you don't have to pay." said Ty Lee.

Katara started to feel uncomfortable.

"No, Ty Lee, you shouldn't spend your money on me."

"No, what I mean is none of us have to pay. Since Azula is the princess and since we're her friends, we can get what we want for free!"

Katara was slightly surprised. Aang hardly got that kind of treatment. Thinking about her other best friend brought another pang to her heart.

"You hate it, don't you?" Ty Lee asked sadly.

Katara was confused before she understood what the acrobat meant.

"Oh, no! I love it!" the waterbender assured her, "I never did realize that red looks good on me."

"That's what I was thinking!" Ty Lee said, back to her cheerful self again. She looked at Yuki up and down with a finger on her chin in thought.

"I think red and black would look great on you!" she said.


The girls left the store with their shopping. Yuki had gotten a red dress with black embroidery on the sleeves in the shapes of fire lilies, Katara just got the one she tried on, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee chose multiple outfits of red, black, and pink. By the time they had left it was starting to get dark and shop owners had began to light their outdoor lamps.

After walking through town again the girls decided to get some dinner. Azula chose an outdoor restaurant. There were redwood tables and chairs with a red lamp on each table. They sat at a table for five and a waitress immediately rushed over to serve them.

Katara enjoyed the komodo chicken she ordered. She'd never had it before. She had expected it to be hot or spicy what with it being a Fire Nation dish but was delighted that it was only mildly spicy.

While the girls ate Katara had a funny feeling that they were being watched which was ridiculous because everyone nearby was staring at the group because of Azula. She still couldn't shake off the feeling that there was someone there that shouldn't have been. She was brought back down to earth when Azula started to make a conversation.

"So, Yuki was it?" she asked. Yuki nodded shyly. "You're this peasant's friend?"

Katara shot a glare at Azula while Yuki nodded again. The fire princess smirked.

"Funny," she said, "I don't remember you being with the Avatar."

Yuki looked at Katara in shock.

"Well, by the look on your face I guess you aren't friends with the Avatar." continued Azula. "So how is it you two know each other? You don't look the Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe type."

"No, princess." said Yuki softly, "I've been born and raised in the Fire Nation. I…I…" she looked at Katara helplessly. The waterbender didn't know what to tell Yuki, especially with Azula there and she couldn't give her a sign because the fire princess would see it. Fortunately, Ty Lee came to the rescue.

"She's a new servant in the palace." said the acrobat. "She was just hired yesterday."

"I see."

Yuki mouthed a thank you to Ty Lee and the acrobat smiled.


By the time the girls finished eating it was completely dark. They went to a large building with music playing so loud that they could hear it from outside. They went into the building and inside were a large crowd of people, mostly teens, dancing or standing around talking loudly to one another over the music which was being played by a band in the back of the room. The room was mostly dark but there were lit red lamps that lined the walls to give the room some light. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee went to the dance floor and started dancing (Azula and Ty Lee danced, that is. Mai hardly moved at all) Katara and Yuki stood where they were. Katara knew how to dance but she knew that she would stand out compared to the other dancers, especially the couples who danced very close together and made sexual movements. Yuki just felt uncomfortable by how the couples danced. Ty Lee rushed over to them and grabbed their hands.

"Come on!" she yelled, "Be part of the group!" She pulled the reluctant girls to her friends and started dancing again. Yuki and Katara looked at each other, shrugged, and started dancing too. After a few seconds Katara allowed the music to take over her. She swayed to the music and moved around as if she was waterbending. She missed her real bending but this was just as good. When the song was over and a new song played, Katara felt very dehydrated. She wasn't used to the hot climate in the Fire Nation. She couldn't believe that at night this nation was almost as hot as it was in the day time.

Maybe that's why the Fire Nation invaded the other nations. Katara thought in a joking manner. She felt another pang when she realized that that was something Sokka would say. She excused herself from her companions and went to the table with the refreshments. She picked up a cup of water and quickly gulped it down. Setting the empty cup down, she picked up another cup and chugged it also.

"Thirsty much?"

Katara set her water down and looked to the side at a boy about the same age as Sokka standing next to her with an amused smile on his face. His hair was short, brown, and messy, his eyes were gold and he wore a red tunic with brown pants.

"I'm not so used to the heat here." Katara answered back without thinking.

"So you're not from the Fire Nation?" he asked.

Katara didn't know how to answer. She bit her lip nervously.

"You're from the Earth Kingdom colonies aren't you?"

Katara held back a sigh in relief and replied.

"Yes. I just moved here a few days ago."

"Interesting." he said. "So, you want to dance?"

Katara thought about it for a second.

Well, he is kinda cute She thought before nodding.

The boy took her hand and led her to the dance floor. The music started to go slow and soft. The boy placed his hands on Katara's waist and she put her hands on his shoulders. As they swayed to the music Katara saw the others at the refreshment table. Ty Lee gave her a thumbs up and mouthed a "He's cute!" to her. Katara laughed softly and looked up at the boy's face and into his eyes. For some reason, she was reminded of Zuko, but those eyes didn't offer the same warmth his did. They were just plain gold eyes. Just then she realized where her dancing partner's hands were going. She grabbed his hands and placed them off her behind.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

The boy shrugged.

"I thought you'd be okay with it." he said, "A lot of girls are."

Katara turned and walked away.

"Well, I'm not that kind of girl." She said.

The boy grabbed her wrist painfully tight and pulled her back to him. He placed his free hand around her waist.

"Maybe you don't know that yet." he said.

Katara looked over at the refreshment table to see if the others were still there. Mai and Ty Lee were gone but Yuki and Azula were still there. Yuki saw what was happening and started to walk over to Katara when Azula grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She shook her head at Yuki and gave Katara a vicious smile while the waterbender glared daggers back at her.

The boy pulled her close to him, one hand around her waist, the other still holding her wrist in a vise-like grip. She tried to pull away from him but he wouldn't let her go. The hand around her waist began to go lower when it stopped just above its destination. The next thing Katara knew, she was free from the boy's grip while said boy was on the floor from getting punched in the face by someone wearing a hooded cloak.

The cloaked figured grabbed Katara's hand and led her away from the fallen boy. This one was friendlier and felt familiar. The figure led Katara out of the building. Azula glared at the figure as he passed, Yuki looked worried.

As soon as they were outside the figure let go of Katara's hand. She rubbed the wrist that the boy she danced with held on to.

"Thank you for doing that." she said, "That guy was really-" She stopped talking when she recognized the face under the hood.

"Zuko?"

"Looks like Ty Lee wasn't around to help you." he said, looking annoyed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "Were you following us?"

"You really think I was going to let you and your friend go out with my sister and her friends without protection? Think about what could have happened with that filthy scum if I wasn't there."

"I would've handled it just fine!" Katara retorted. She knew that that was a lie, but she was sure as hell not going to let Zuko know that he was right.

Zuko snorted.

"I could see that," he said, "When he was pushing himself against you with his filthy hands around your waist and your wrist. Let me guess, you were lulling him into a false sense of security."

Katara growled, crossed her arms, and turned away from him. Zuko rolled his eyes. He started to walk away when he heard her sigh and say something.

"What was that?" he asked.

She turned to look at him with her arms to the side and her head down.

"I'm sorry." She said softly but loud enough for him to hear her. "You're right. I never should have gone out with them. Thank you." She raised her head to look at his face and their eyes met.

Zuko nodded and took her arm.

"Let's just go back to the palace." He said.

"Shouldn't we let the others know where I'm going?"

"Trust me, Azula will know who you're with now."


Zuko and Katara walked back to the palace in silence. It was only until they were back inside the palace when the waterbender finally broke the silence.

"Why did you help me back there?"

Zuko didn't answer. He just looked down at her for a brief moment before looking ahead again.

They continued walking through the hallways before they finally reached the door to the harem. When Katara opened the door, she thanked him again and entered the harem. Zuko stood in front of the door and stared at it for a few minutes before walking to his bedroom.