Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, which is good. I'd probably mess it up.
Dumb Little Beads
Once, when they were in a market, Katara stopped to look at this dress on display. Aang couldn't really remember what it looked like or what color it was because, you know, why would he care about a dress? He could only remember that it had all these tiny, little beads sewn all over it because he also remembered thinking, That's stupid. It must've taken forever to put all those on, but if someone wears it and she just moves an inch, they'll probably all fall off anyway!
But Katara said, "Ooh, that's so pretty! Isn't it, Aang?" So he had to go in with her. She looked at the dress for a long time, just admiring it. Aang remembered that the shopkeeper was looking at Katara while she looked at the dress. He seemed sort of nervous, like he was afraid she would mess it up or try to steal it or something. But Katara never even touched it.
Katara was looking very closely at the dress, examining the details, and Aang was just standing there, really bored, and he was about to ask her if they could leave when she said, "When I was little, before my mom died, some of the men from our village went to the Earth Kingdom, and one of them brought a dress back for his wife. It was kind of like this one – I mean, really fancy like this one is. She'd take it out and let us see it sometimes, if she was in a good mood. Sometimes we asked her if we could look at it, and sometimes she'd invite us over and the dress would be out, like it was just a coincidence, but she really wanted to show it off. It was green, and she never wore it because she said it was really expensive. I bet this one's even more expensive. It's really pretty."
She kept looking at the dress while she was talking. Aang remembered that sometimes she would lift her hand and it would just hover over the fabric, like she wanted to touch it but wouldn't let herself, like the dress was pushing her away.
After a while, she laughed. Aang jumped a little, because he wasn't expecting it. The shopkeeper cleared his throat. Katara said, "Sorry, Aang. I'm being so girly! I don't need anything like this." After that, they left.
Aang was thinking about something when they left the shop, and he had been thinking the same thought, off and on, ever since. Even though he had been taught that a desire for material things will only bring pain, and that true happiness came from peace within oneself, he wished for probably the fifth or sixth time in his life that he had a lot of money. It wasn't a completely selfish wish, because he wouldn't use the money on himself. He'd use it to buy Katara things. Gold necklaces and rings with crystals in them and dresses with dumb little beads on them and, you know, whatever else kind of things girls like. He'd buy them for Katara without her having to ask, because he knew she wouldn't ask. He'd buy her all the things she wanted but didn't need.
He'd buy her a dress with tiny beads, and he'd buy replacement beads so she could wear it and move without worrying.