Souvenirs
The idea visited her in the middle of the night, as ideas tend to. So she went knocking on the Fire Lord's door to have it entertained.
"We need bonbonnieres." Katara brightly said to her sleepy-eyed fiancé.
"Muh?"
"Bonbonnieres; little gifts for the guests to take home."
Zuko shuffled aside and let her enter his room. He collapsed onto a sedan chair, eyes still closed. "Mrr."
"It suddenly came to me that we didn't have anything to give to our guests so they could remember our special day..."
"Nrr."
"…And it is going to be a day to remember, so why not send everyone away with a little souvenir? Do they give bonbonnieres in the Fire Nation traditionally?"
"Fuh."
"They do in the Water Tribes. It's expected. I can't believe I forgot about it!" The Waterbender pulled a list out from the folds of her robes. "So I made up a list of ideas…"
Zuko groaned inwardly. Not another list.
"Tell me which ones you like," she said. "Candy."
"Mm."
"No? How about candles?"
Zuko said nothing.
"A maybe. Okay… soap."
"Buh."
"But it could work, if we packaged it nicely in little silk pouches with some confetti and ribbon. That way people would get something useful, too."
"Mrr nrr ff muh nuh…"
"Fine," Katara scratched soap off her list. "Whistles."
"Urh?"
"I just put that on the list for fun. You're right though, people would be blowing them all throughout the dinner, and then we'd be swamped with all kinds of weird animals." Scratch scratch scratch. "Poetry."
Zuko cracked an eye open questioningly.
"Not YOUR poetry. Dear gods, no." She said. "We could write something together, maybe, or have the royal bard write us something cute…"
The Firebender covered his eyes with his hand. Why couldn't Katara's ideas visit her during the daylight hours?
"…but I guess having the scribes write out 1000 copies of the poem would be torture. Still, the sentimental value would be there." She made a note on her list. "Okay, this one's a little more on the pricey side, but I think it would be fun..."
Zuko muzzily listened to his beloved rattled off half a dozen more ideas until he turned his head and finally mustered up enough energy to dismiss her. "Sure, that's great, sounds great, I love it. Can I go back to bed now?"
Katara grinned. "Oh Zuko, you're the best ever." She kissed him lightly and slipped out, closing the door softly behind her. The Fire Lord slogged back to his bed and promptly fell asleep. He had no idea what he had just agreed to, but was quickly reminded (informed) the next day when Katara plopped an armful of lacquered objects down onto his desk.
Zuko started as one of the articles, wobbling on its elliptical edge, clattered to a stop, face up. "What—?"
"Bonbonnieres, remember?" She smiled. "I said, 'Masks' and you said, 'Sure that's great.'"
Zuko gawped at the pile, dumbfounded.
"I… I…" Zuko blinked. "Did you choose these?"
"Well, I picked the final four, and Aang helped me pick this one out. I hope you don't mind; it's just that you've been so busy running the Fire Nation and all that." Her brief pout melted as she picked up one of the masks. "Isn't it a beautiful design? I only picked it because of the colours, but Aang really latched onto this one for some reason. Funny, I have the strangest feeling I've seen it before."
Zuko stared at the blue and white visage grinning back at him. It took every ounce of charm and charisma he could wring out of his anguished, writhing spirit to nod, smile, and agree with his lovely wife-to-be, while simultaneously cursing his best man and vowing to begin the hunt for the Avatar anew.
This time.
I'm going.
To kill him.
Ah... good old Bluey.
