Finding Home
The next morning, Katara is woken up by a knock on her door. She lets out a groan, in an attempt to shoo whoever it was behind the door away, but they continue to knock. Katara slowly sits up and notices little rays of light coming in through her window. It must be very early in the morning, because her room is usually totally illuminated when she gets up, and it's still cool from the lower temperatures the nights bring.
Katara slowly peels away her cocoon of warmth that was her covers, and she drags her feet over to the door. She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she passes her dresser. She must have slept very hard after having gone to sleep so late, because her bun is now loose and drooping, and she looks like she has a mane with how many stray strands of hair are sticking out around her face. She sways a bit as she stands at the door, her eyes so heavy she keeps them closed as she reluctantly begins to slowly open the door. She cracks an eye open to see a servant girl standing behind the threshold.
"Good morning, Master Katara!" She says in a sing-song voice. It's the same girl who had brought her the pass she needed to get through the palace.
"Mm?" Katara manages to groan out.
"Are you ready to begin preparing for your gala?"
Oh yeah, that's today, she remembers. What time was it going to be held? Was it really necessary that she got up this early? Katara merely lifts a finger, silently telling the girl to wait a moment as she goes and retrieves her pass, which she makes sure to always place on the corner of her dresser so she doesn't lose it.
Katara absentmindedly follows the girl out and into the halls, not even realizing that she's still wearing her night slip. She hadn't even put a robe on beforehand. She does notice the few traveling guards they pass through the halls all looks away, towards the windows as she walks by. This isn't enough to make her question anything, in fact, she still doesn't notice it until the lady servant who stood in front of the doors to the dining hall said something.
"Oh, my!" She gasps, covering her mouth with her fingertips after catching sight of the indecently dressed waterbender. "Young lady, what on earth are you wearing to breakfast?" Katara looks down and finally sees that she's still in her champagne colored silk night dress. It has a v-cut neck, and the straps are nothing but thin strands of silk on her shoulders. Katara's face begins to go red as she gets embarrassed, realizing she had just walked down the halls and passed multiple people on the way down to the dining hall. "You think you can sit next to the Fire Lord like that?" The servant scolds.
"No, I-" Katara tries to defend herself and explain that she had only just woken up, but the woman holds up a hand and shakes her head.
"Fetch her a proper robe at once!" She barks at the younger servant.
"Yes, ma'am." She gives her superior a bow before scurrying off.
"Stand behind me so those men can stop gawking at you." Says the older servant, as she pulls Katara around her to stand between her and the wall. She must have been speaking about the guards stationed on the walls across from the dining room doors because as Katara hides, she sees them advert their eyes from her direction to straight ahead.
It takes quite a few minutes before the younger servant comes back with robe in hand. The older woman turns towards Katara and quickly robes her before she extends one arm to press the door open as she uses the other to begin gently pushing Katara into the room.
"Oh, and fix your hair!" She yanks Katara back for a moment to gather the loose strands of hair and twist them up, before she grabs a pin from her pocket and jabs it into her hair, securing the hair to the back of her head before she finally shoves Katara into the room. Katara stumbles a bit before she stands straight and looks around. The head of the table was cleared, a few servants disappearing behind the back doors to the dining room.
She lets out a scoff before she calls through the front doors. "Zuko isn't even here!"
The lady pokes her head through the door and says, "Well, he could have been!" She sneers.
"Why does it matter!?" Katara argues.
"You should do your best to always look presentable for our Fire Lord!" Katara opens her mouth to say something back, but before she can, she watches as the servant's expression softens, and a small smile appears on her face. "A lovely young lady like you could catch his eye." And with a wink, she leans back behind the door and closes it, ending the conversation.
This confuses Katara a lot, and she stands there a bit, bewildered before she makes her way over to the table and takes a seat. She can't help but wonder what the servant had meant by that. Zuko was involved with Poppy after all, why would she say what she did? Why would she want Katara to catch Zuko's eye? Katara shakes her head dismissively at the thought of her and Zuko becoming a pair.
Then, she lets out a small laugh. She remembers how Poppy had acted when she had met her, and she didn't seem to be the nicest girl out there. This lady and Poppy had probably crossed paths at some point, and the servant probably didn't appreciate her rudeness, and now rooted for Zuko to find another woman to be with. Thinking about it, Katara can't blame her.
Katara eats slowly, she takes the time to mull over things. She regrets it, though, as she can feel the anxiety welling up in her stomach, making her feel sick. She thinks about what had just happened, the way she had walked through the halls wearing her night clothes. What would those who saw her think? What would those who heard about it think? What would Zuko think, when he heard? What if word spread to Kaine? She rolls her eyes a bit after thinking the last couple of parts. She hadn't walked around nude, was it really that big of a deal? Then she remembers that she's in the Fire Nation palace, and things were all about being correct here.
She lets out a sigh at the thought of being correct. She remembers what Toph had said all those years ago, about how she had learned proper society behavior, and she wonders if people will be put-off by her not knowing much about it. Would the Noblemen and women turn up their noses at her here, as they had done in the Earth Kingdom? Katara always tried her best to be as polite as she could, but it had never seemed to matter. Where ever she went, people had seemed to find something she did or said and took offense to it. Then, they would think less of her, ignore her, shun her, even.
If she didn't stand correctly, bow deep or long enough, greet people correctly, eat appropriately, walk properly, breath correctly people would treat her differently. But how was she supposed to know all the hidden rules and regulations each town seemed to have. Each of them was always a bit different, too. She can't help but wonder, what was she bound to do wrong here, in the Fire Nation? How was she destined to embarrass herself at her own gala?
She plays with the food in her place, piling up the rice only to mash it down as flat as she could with her chopsticks, before she repeated the process over and over again. Part of her wants to get up and leave now. Not just the room, not just the Palace, but Caldera as a whole. She wants to go back to Jong Shoi, where none of this mattered. There, no one cared when she had walked around with mud covering the bottom of her pants, or if her hair was a mess, or if she looked incredibly tired. She could go right to Hiko's office, without needing some stupid documentation that gave her access. She hadn't been held in a single room until she was given the proper permits. She had been welcomed there, without having to abide by any terms or conditions.
Now, she's feeling like she doesn't want to go to the gala at all. She wants to crawl back into her bed after closing the curtains and lay alone in the dark. She wanted to go and hide and keep away from all the judgment she was sure to face within the next few hours. She couldn't handle this, she didn't want to handle this feeling, this situation she was about to be put in. She had enough of this in the past eight years, she had left Aang to get away from this, and now here she was, putting herself into this situation.
She wants to cry, but the sound of a man's voice rips her from her thought. "Are you not enjoying your meal, Master Katara?" One of the servants asks.
Katara looks up at him before back down towards her plate, realizing she has hardly eaten anything. "Oh, no, I'm sorry. I was just... thinking."
"No need to apologize, my Lady. But, I must inform you that we need to begin clearing the table, as we're about to begin serving lunch."
Katara lets out a little gasp. Lunch!? Had she sat there playing with her food for that long? She couldn't believe it. "Sorry, I'll leave now." She says, giving him a small nod before she gets up and makes her way towards the door. As she steps out of the room, she is greeted by the same young servant she was with earlier. Katara must have startled her, because she does a little jump as she comes to halt before she gives Katara a deep bow.
"Master Katara! I've been looking all over you!" She exclaims as she stands up straight. "I thought you had gone back to your room, but you were here the whole time?" Katara nods. "Well, I've been told to escort you to the spa, to begin getting you ready for tonight."
The fluttering butterflies in Katara's stomach seem to enlarge in size, as her anxiety begins to go through the roof. She looks around as if there was something or someone nearby that would get her out of this. She hopes for a servant to come running down the halls, with a message from Hiko, calling her back to Jang Hui, but there is only her, the servant, and the guards in the hall. There is no way out of this.
"Alright." She sighs, as she follows the young lady down the halls. It won't be too bad, she tells herself. She thinks about how she had thought this trip was going to go originally, compared to how it really has gone. So far, she had been having a really great time, so why would the gala be any different, she asked herself. Just go, and try to have fun, get it over with, she thinks.
The spa was a luxurious area in the palace she felt as she walked through. Skylights bring in plenty of warmth and light, whilst also keeping the rooms private, as there are no windows on the walls. The walls are red, black, and gold, adorned with lovely designs and murals. The young servant leads Katara to one of the back rooms, where the wall is covered in a mirror, lined with a counter, with multiple chairs placed along its length. Katara picks a random one, and she sits for just a moment before a small group of women emerges through the back doors. At first, they startle Katara and make in incredibly nervous, as they all crowd around her.
"You're so pretty in person!" One of them exclaims. "I've only seen paintings of you!"
"Your hair is so soft!" Says another, as she begins taking Katara hair out of the bun.
"And your eyes are so pretty!" A girl says as she puts her face right in front of Katara's, staring into her eyes. "Oh!" She says as she stands up straight. "I wish my eyes were blue!"
"Me too! And I wish I wasn't so pale! Your skin tone is so gorgeous!" The first one says as she holds her arm next to Katara's comparing the color of their skin side by side.
"Ladies!" A stern voice calls out. An older woman comes out from the door, and the girls immediately turn to face her before they all give her a small bow.
"Greetings, Lady Lin." They all say simultaneously.
"Is this how we treat our guests? Swarming them and picking at them?" She asks, appalled by their actions.
"No, Lady Lin."
"You all should be ashamed, acting so impulsively! Where are your manners?"
"We're sorry, Master Katara!" The girls say as they turn towards her.
"Forgive me for being so rude!" One of them says.
"Me too!"
Katara holds up a hand and shakes her head. "No, no, it's fine really!" She says, a bit flustered at how they all had doted on her. She wonders if they really thought she was pretty, or if it was just an act to make her feel good about herself. They had all seemed genuine, but she's just not sure.
Lady Lin rounds them up and gives them orders, designating each of them to a certain task. One of them is to do her hair, the other her makeup, and another is to help her get dressed.
"What will you be wearing?" Lin asks. "Have you picked something out already?'
Katara nods. "Yes, I have a dress ready... but it's in my room!" Katara begins to get up out of the chair, but she is quickly shoved back down by the girl fixing her hair.
"Zalia is fetching it for you," Lin says, as she motioned towards the door, where the young servant from earlier is already scurrying towards. "Relax, Katara. You don't have to worry about anything." Lin gives her a soft, reassuring smile. "Here," She says, as she holds out her hand. "Let me do your nails."
The girls are all so gentle with her as they fix her up. Katara is finally able to lean back in her chair a bit and allow her muscles to relax. Her nerves calm down as well, and her anxiety seems to melt away. One of the girls washes her hair, gently combing out any and all tangles as another girl puts on a different series of masks on her face. One of the masks has sugar in it and exfoliates her skin, another soothes it, and the last tightens it. Her nails go from crooked and chipped to polished and rounded, all at the same length.
"Wow," Katara breathes out as she looks at herself in the mirror. Her skin is soft and glowing, and her hair is so long, as the wet strands cascade over her shoulders.
"How would you like your hair and makeup done?" Lin asks.
Katara takes a moment to think about. She doesn't want her hair up for this, she's beginning to get bored of her hair up in a bun all the time. She might only change it for a night, but she knows she wants to do something different, to make it a little more special. She remembers how she had done her hair when she was younger, dressed in disguise as her and the Gaang traveled around the Fire Nation in secret. She decides she wants something similar to that, but not exactly.
They settle on putting her hair half up and half down, with a small topknot at the crown of her head, as she had done before. Instead of pulling two sections to the front as she had done in the past, they straighten her hair. The girl puts her hands together, Katara's hair in the middle, and she heats her hands up as she runs them down the length of her hair, flattening out the waves and curls. Katara has never seen her hair like this before, and while she does like it, she misses her curls a bit, and she twirls the ends around her finger. The girl who had done her hair must notice this, because she takes her hair and curls just the ends around her fingers, leaving small ringlets at the bottom. The two girls look at each other and nod, both happy with the end result.
Katara doesn't put much makeup on her face. Only a powder to even out her skin tone, and some black sort of paint on her lashes to make them darker and longer. While this was a special occasion, it was for her, and she didn't want to act like someone she wasn't. This little bit of simple makeup was perfect for her.
The light from the skylights has begun to fade, and Katara can tell that it's nearing sundown, the time she was to arrive at the coronation plaza, where her gala was being held. Zalia has long since returned with her dress and shoes, and now it was finally time for Katara to put it on. All the girls gasp once they finally see her in it, and Lady Lin smiles with pride. The dress fits her nearly perfectly. If she hadn't allowed herself to get so skinny, it would hug her in all the right places, showing off her curves. Instead, it hangs a bit loosely on her, but because of the light, airy chiffon fabric on the bottom, it makes the dress seem to flow and flutter a bit more as she walks. Her gold shoes have been cleaned and polished, and it matches the gold bracelets and armbands the girls have given her to accessorize. They place a ribbon with a small, gold Fire Nation insignia charm adorned onto it around her topknot, completing the outfit.
"Oh, Katara," She breathes. "You are so lovely. We are all so honored to have been the ones to prepare you for tonight." Lin bows and the girls follow suit, giving Katara a curtsy.
Katara smiles at them and shakes her head. "No, no, thank you! I appreciate all your kind words and everything you have done for me."
Lin walks over to her and places her hands on her shoulders. "You go on now, and have fun." She smiles. Katara nods and smiles back, ready to go and have a great night.
A/N: Be sure to leave a review and let me know what you're thinking! Every review, follow, and favorite is very much appreciated! Also big thanks to ML8991 for being my beta reader! I appreciate all your help!