…Union…

It was raining. No, rain was too peaceful. It stormed. Thunder, lightning, and sheets of rain pounded the city of Omashu.

"Don't worry," Bumi assured. "Rain on a wedding day is good luck here. If we were in the Fire Nation, then you'd be in trouble."

"I'm in trouble anyway," Piandao groaned.

He sat in a chair with his head in his hand. Every beat of his heart kept a steady, pounding thud drumming through his ears. His stomach rolled with every breath, threatening to throw the contents of his stomach over the palace floor. However, he just had the nausea without the actual vomiting which could arguably be worse.

Of course, it could just be the nerves.

It was probably the alcohol though.

"You really are in bad shape," Bumi tsked.

"Why aren't you?"

While he'd had a few too many, Bumi had a few more too many and appeared no worse for wear.

"When you've lived as long as I, my boy, things either get easier or harder. I decided they should be easier."

Bumi stood before him, chewing on some leafy thing wearing a new robe of pure, stunning white. Piandao didn't know why and decided not to ask. Bumi could give him a headache when he was stone sober. In his current condition, he'd either make Piandao's head explode or start making sense.

"Jeong Jeong. You're supposed to be the best man. Why did you let me drink so much?"

The man in question stood at the window watching the rain, probably contemplating how water washed the world clean and had power to heal and destroy and being jealous because he was a firebender.

"Isn't the point of a stag party to drink too much? Be grateful I didn't let you wander off with some strange woman."

"The woman he's marrying is strange enough already," Pakku said, gazing about the room. "Really, Piandao, you should know your limits better than this."

"At least I didn't try to go streaking, unlike some people I could mention."

"I still don't believe I actually did that."

"My friend," Jeong Jeong said. "Believe me when I say you did and of your own accord."

"Where is Iroh?" Pakku said, not even trying to subtly change the subject.

"Probably trying to talk June into letting him walk her down the aisle again," Piandao answered. "When that fails, he'll start flirting with her bridesmaids. Then June will kick him out, and he'll remember that he was supposed to be getting me his so-called cure-all tea."

As if speaking his name conjured him, the door opened and the man himself appeared.

"I am afraid I couldn't find the right ingredients for the tea, but this should do just as well."

Iroh handed him a tall mug with a suspicious smelling liquid. It smelled almost like fire flakes, and he saw that the red thing floating in it was a chili pepper.

"What did you just give me?"

"Hair of the Puma Dog."

"…is that in here?"

"Of course not. At least, I didn't see June put it in."

"You got this from June?"

"Indeed. She suspected that you might indulge and had this ready."

Piandao glared bitterly at the drink before closing his eyes and downing it in four long gulps. Though June often courted tipsy herself, he knew that she'd skin him alive if he married her hung over. She'd planned this wedding with passion and detail that surprised him. June had confessed that she'd never really thought about things like weddings and dresses and all the fuss. He knew all the work she'd put into this and how truly excited she'd gotten about it. It was almost like she was possessed by some manic spirit of insane perfectionism.

And then she'd told him that she'd personally skin anyone who ruined it alive. That is how he realized that he was still marrying the same woman.

So with the Hair of Puma Dog still burning his tongue and bringing tears to his eyes, Piandao stood and pulled on his dark maroon silk sherwani , straightened his sleeves at the wrists edged in dark green and gold.

He knew that June's dress was a similar color to his, but he'd been forbidden to see it. In fact, she'd threatened to blind him. Her enthusiasm was completely endearing.

"Well, that's settled," Bumi clapped his hands once and split the wall open. "If you're sure you'll be staying conscious, let's get this show on the road. It's not every day I get to officiate weddings, you know. Or want to."

Iroh and Bumi led the way out with Pakku following. Piandao took a deep breath to steady himself. Then another. Why did he feel like he was one man against one hundred right now?

Very reluctantly, he sensed Jeong Jeong come up behind him. A hand settled on his shoulder briefly.

"Second thoughts?"

"Uh…no."

"Good. Because if you were, I have June's instructions to do you bodily harm to convince you otherwise and quite frankly, she's scarier than you."

"Who's best man are you, anyway?"

"The wedding's. Specifically the reception. "

"You really are a very self-serving man."

"You say that as if it's news to you. Shall we get the hanging over with?"

"You're not funny."

"I am having fun though."

Piandao was suddenly having second thoughts. Not about marrying June. No, he was re-thinking his choice of best man. Even at his age, he was still learning things: never con a somewhat mentally unstable troll of a fire bender.

"If I throw up, I'm aiming for you."

"And June will be a widow before she's a wife."


A/N: In Asian culture, wearing white is for mourning at funerals. Where I live, weddings are often referred to as 'hangings'.