Chapter 15: Introductions
The next morning, true to his word, prince Zuko helped Katara get a fresh night shirt on, this one made of white silk, and gave her a white sash to tie around her waist that belonged to his mother... She'd looked exquisite in red, but white was truly magnificent on her... Her mocha skin contrasted vibrantly with the white fabric, giving her an enticing ethereal glow... Her beautiful blue eyes took on a lighter clear blue with the color of the fabric, and she'd put a lighter shade of red on her full lips... Prince Zuko had found a hairpiece his mother had worn on her wedding day earlier that morning, and was excited to see what her reaction to it would be... Despite being of the fire nation, prince Zuko's mother loved every color she could get her hands on, her favorite being dark blue... Knowing this, her mother had bought her a beautiful silver rose hair comb with dark blue diamond encrusted in every petal...
" Katara, I have something else for you." Prince Zuko said as he walked over to her, a huge grin on his face, " I hope you will like it... It belonged to my mother as well..."
Katara gave him a questioning look as he extended his hand and opened it for her to see what was in it... Katara gasped as he handed her the silver comb with dark blue and white diamonds in it and held it in her hands as if it were a rare piece of glass in danger of shattering...
" Oh... It's beautiful!" Katara exclaimed blushing, " But Zuko, I can't take this! It's too much!"
" I want you to have it... Mother would surely agree that you deserve it after all you went through..." Prince Zuko said seriously, " Think of it as a token of my friendship for you..."
" Thank you so much..." Katara said smiling softly.
Prince Zuko gave her a lopsided grin and plucked the comb from her fingers, gently placing it in the hair up above her ear.
" Now you look like the princess of the southern water tribe..." Prince Zuko said smiling.
" What do you mean?!" Katara asked in surprise, " I'm not a princess!"
Iroh chose that moment to enter the room, obviously, he'd been eives dropping at the door, for he had an obnoxiously cheerful grin on his face, and had obviously come to tease prince Zuko, as he'd been doing all morning since the prince had told his uncle iroh, as well as all the crew, that they needed to look thier best for thier introduction to the young lady guest...
' Uncle...' prince Zuko thought blushing furiously, ' If you crack one perverted joke, I swear I'll throw you overboard!'
" Prince Zuko, are you ever going to introduce us to our young lady friend?! Or are you going to keep her in your room all to yourself?!" Iroh said grinning mischievously.
" Wait..." Katara said blushing, " This is your room?!"
Before Zuko could say anything, iroh busted out laughing...
" Oh prince Zuko!" Iroh said laughing loudly, " You have had this lovely young lady as your companion for weeks now and never thought to tell her that she was in your room?! Haha! That is hilarious! Shame on you!"
" It's not like that and you know it uncle!" Prince Zuko yelled angrily, smoke coming from his mouth and nose...
" Never mind, you do look very lovely my lady..." Iroh said, kissing her hand like a gentle man, " I really can't blame prince Zuko for wanting to keep you all to himself..."
Katara was speechless for a moment before finding her voice again...
" Who are you?" Katara asked.
" Ah... It's no surprise that your time awake has faded... I am general iroh... But you, young lady, may feel free to call me uncle..." Iroh said kindly...
" Thank you, general iroh..." Katara said smiling.
" Uncle..." Iroh corrected gently, " I insist."
" Alright..." Katara said blushing.
" Now then, prince Zuko? Will you help miss Katara into her wheelchair?" Iroh asked kindly, "Your crew is very anxious to meet our guest..."
" Of course..." Prince Zuko said.
Zuko placed one arm around her waist and the other under her legs and gently lifted her up into his arms and gently sat her in the wheelchair.
" Are you ready to meet everyone?" Zuko asked worriedly.
" Yes... As long as they won't hurt me for being from the southern water tribe..." Katara said nervously.
" Oh no!" Iroh exclaimed, " No one will ever harm you aboard this ship! Everyone of our crew has someone waiting for them, a sister, a wife, a daughter, a granddaughter! No one would dare harm a lady here!"
Feeling a bit better, Katara took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a few minutes before letting them know that she was ready to go. Prince Zuko gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before wheeling her out into the hallway, his uncle right behind him... When prince Zuko wheeled Katara up on deck, she was surprised to see the entire crew was on deck cheering for her.
" Your looking wonderful lady Katara!"
" Beautiful! We're so happy you're feeling better!"
" Is there anything I can get for you my lady?!"
" Are you hungry?!"
Katara was so overwhelmed, she was speechless as one by one, each of the crew members came up to her and gave her a hug, the older members gently giving her a kiss on the forehead or cheek...
' The older crew members must have grandchildren...' Katara thought to herself in surprise, ' I've never felt so welcome...'
" Alright, men..." Prince Zuko said seriously, " You all know what this young woman has been through... I want you each to introduce yourselves... I want to make her stay here as comfortable as possible..."
The first to step forward was a man in his midforties, light grey hair and a beard.
" My name is captain Khan. I am honored to meet you, my lady .." Khan said warmly.
" It's nice to meet you." Katara said shyly.
The rest of the day went by quite fast as she was introduced to each of the crew members, Lee, Keron, shion, Andre, Tarnock, the list goes on and on... There were simply too many names to remember them all, but the first five she was introduced to after captain Khan, were ones that immediately stuck. They were each very kind, as all of Zuko's crew were, but those five had instantly decided to be her escorts around deck, much to prince Zuko's irritation... They all fawned over the exotic beauty that Katara was, always complimenting her blue eyes, her beautiful tan... Even how much better she looked in Zuko's clothes then he did! Of course, Katara ciucould help but giggle at that... In honor of Katara's first day out of bed, the prince and his crew had planned a big party to celebrate the fact that Katara was finally healing well and put together a very special music festival for her... Later that evening, her eyes were alight with happiness and laughter as she watched Zuko's uncle iroh drag him to the dance floor with him! It was a very amusing sight... After about fifteen minutes, Zuko broke away and raced back to Katara's side, a blush of embarrassment on his face...
" Sorry about that..." Zuko said angrily, " Uncle is so irritating..."
" But he loves you ... That's a wonderful feeling when you know your family loves you..." Katara said smiling, " And it's clear, your crew cares a great deal about you too..."
" Yeah..." Zuko said, distantly, his thoughts on the girl before him...
" Um..." Katara began, clearly how to approach the subject of what she wanted to say, " I have some feeling starting to come back into my legs..."
" That's wonderful!" Prince Zuko exclaimed excitedly, then, calming down a bit, he added a bit flushed, " Would you like to dance? I promise, I won't let you fall..."
Katara blushed, but Asif in a trance, placed her hand in his and shakily walked with him to the dance floor... Iroh watched with a light in his eyes as prince Zuko gently spun katara around the beauty of the full moon illuminating the couple as they spun and twirled together to the music... As one song ended and another one began to play, a most amazing thing happened... Prince Zuko began firebending as he and Katara danced completely unaware of what was happening... A few minutes later, Katara's element joined in the dance, the water shimmering and swirling around them with Zuko's fire, the entire sight completely ethereal and beautiful... Before long, the whole crew stopped laughing and eating and watched entranced as the couple kept up thier dance... The tempo to the music changed to a faster beat and prince Zuko and Katara increased thier speed, it looked almost as if they were sparring and dancing at the same time... The drums beat out a heart pounding rythimn as thier movements became faster and more complicated, with Katara doing cartwheels and twists and turns... The dance finally ended with prince Zuko gracefully dipping Katara back and both thier eliments shot up to the sky, both eliments taking the form of great dragons and dancing around each other before exploding in a firey display of Sparks and ice shards glittering all around them...
" General iroh..." Captain Khan said as he walked up to him, clearly in shock, " What on Earth was that?"
" I think... Captain Khan, if I'm not mistaken, that was the etournal flame dance..." Iroh said, an excited grin on his face...
" You mean?!" Captain Khan exclaimed.
" Yes... Our prince has found the one he is destined to be with..." Iroh said smiling...
