Made Up


"Oh, this is never going to do!" Azula harrumphed and chucked the kohl eyeliner in the trash bin. She flung up her hands. "I give up! Katara, what on earth do you use on your face? Nothing is sticking to your skin! I can't even get the concealer to blend properly, and forget about the blush. You're going to have to go au natural for the wedding."

"Is it water-based make up?" The Water girl asked, wiping her eyes with a damp towel.

The Firebending prodigy tilted her head to one side. "What?"

"Is your make up water-based, as opposed to oil-based?"

The princess thought a moment. "Yeah. Yeah, I think it is."

"Most of the make up used in the Water Tribes is oil-based, usually made from seal or whale blubber. Water-based make up will just dry and cake on me. It's a Waterbender thing."

"Eew." Azula made a face. "How can you stand to put that fatty stuff on your face? I mean, it'd stink and all. I know you're all a bunch of uncivilized heathens down there, but fat on your face? That just sounds disgusting…"

As Azula blithely blabbed on about the virtues of Fire Nation cosmetics and how advanced they were compared to the Water Tribes, Katara puckered her lips and made affirmative noises to show she was listening to her oh-so-civilized benefactor. As the Fire princess yakked on, the Waterbender silently rearranged the water-based lipstick, mascara, kohl eyeliner, eye shadow, and blush on Azula's face with a deft, gentle weaving of her slender fingers.

"…which was why I agreed to be your maid of honour in the first place. Oh, I could teach you and your people so much about beauty!" Azula sighed. Katara nodded slowly, pretending she agreed.

"Zula, do you think you could do me a favour and ask Zuko about whether he's made a decision about his over robe? I want to know whether it's going to match my fourth dress of the evening."

"Absolutely, dear. I'll be right back." Azula said brightly and sprang to her feet, not one to miss an opportunity to torment her brother with wedding details. "Toodles!" She waved and ducked out the door.

Katara smiled to herself.


Zuko was reading the same document he'd been trying to get through for the last three weeks when his sister glided in.

"Oh broth-er deeeeaaar," she sang. "Your darling fiancée wanted me to ask you about—"

"Go. Away." Zuko growled without looking up.

Azula pouted. "Really, you should treat your fiancée's maid of honour more politely. Katara was the one who sent me, after all. I just came from a make up session with her. Oh, you should hear her tell me about these blubber-based cosmetics they use in those little ice villages of theirs! I nearly killed myself laughing…"

Zuko grunted in annoyance.

"Listen 'Zula. I don't want to hear about what you think of my wife's culture. Furthermore, I have HOLY SHIT WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUR FACE?"

The young Fire Lord's eyes were wide with shock, then with laughter.

"What? What are you—" She looked in a mirror.

The enraged shriek that ensued deafened Zuko for the next two hours. But the ringing in his ears was well worth the look on his sister's clownish visage.


Quick reminder: I don't own Avatar. I hope that is painfully obvious.