Prestige
Katara felt beautiful. Aang had given her this dress a few days after her 18th birthday to wear on fancy occasions. Bright orange and saffron complimented her dark skin while flowing ribbons on the back of the dress contrasted with the fashion typically found at events such as this one. Katara styled her hair with white flowers intertwined through tight braids, mostly because Aang loved when her hair smelled like flowers, but he had also assured her that they were a traditional Air Nomad style. Katara felt closer to him wearing the yellow and orange of the airbenders, and Aang seemed ecstatic to not be the only one wearing them. So, when the girls in front of her mentioned the dress it was difficult not to listen.
The one with the green dress and golden hair clip was speaking, "Can you believe that peasant? Walking around, flaunting in yellow and orange like an airbender. What right does she have?" The group of young women failed to realize that the target of their gossip was directly behind them.
A girl probably around Aang's age and very clearly from the Fire Nation spoke next, "Perhaps the savage thinks that she's an Air Nomad by insertion." This sparked a round of laughter in the girls and a wave of embarrassment through Katara. She brought her hands to her hair as she fiddled with the flowers while a wave of crimson washed over her.
The first girl spoke again, "I for one pity her. She's either too dumb or too naïve to realize exactly what she is. A distraction. Something exciting and exotic for the Avatar to … practice on..." she delivered those words with a smug look before continuing on, "Before he takes a nice girl from a noble family as his wife."
The third girl decided that this was the perfect time to let her thoughts be known, "Exactly! A girl from a nice prestigious family. Not a savage from the end of the world. Can you believe that her father is only a chief of a small village!" In an instant, Katara's embarrassment gave way to her more passionate emotions. Thoughts began to race, 'Practice on! Naïve?' her grip started to tighten, and her breathing began to speed up. She was still trying to process what they had said when their next round of insults reached her ears.
It was the one from the Fire Nation that was speaking, "He spends so much time away as it is. Maybe the Avatar is a girl in every port man anyways. Poor girl probably believes that he loves her."
The girl in the green dress spoke again, "If the rumors are to be true. That's exactly what the case is. He's not even here tonight! Doesn't matter though, does it ladies? We'll be here waiting for him when he gets back." Katara, in this moment, was wondering whether Aang would be angry with her for committing murder. It would still probably be worth it, and his forgiveness couldn't possibly be that hard to earn. She needed to calm down. She was here as her tribe and Aang's representative, so while maiming the girls in the moment may make her feel better it would also spark some quite uncomfortable conversations.
These thoughts did little to stop the shaking of her hand or the burning desire to spill the girl's drink with a flick of her hand. Katara had to leave now. Katara needed to leave now. She scanned the room quickly looking for any route, any avenue to get away from the girls. In the corner of the room, a set of double doors stood out among the crowd. There was never doubt in her mind as she started towards the doors, Katara lowered her shoulder and bumped into the girl wearing the green dress. A squeal was all that was heard behind her as she continued forward, but she didn't look back. Looking back would have only given them the satisfaction of seeing the tears leaking from her eyes, and she would never give them that.
The walk was quick to the door. Tears blurred her vision, and Katara had to hastily apologize as she bumped into partygoers whenever a wayward step would lead to crossing paths with them. Relief swept through her like a waterfall when the doors to the balcony opened. Luckily there didn't seem to be anyone else outside, tears continued to seep out of azure eyes as the waterbender made way towards the railing. Katara wrapped herself with her arms insulating some of her heat from the wind nipping at exposed skin, this was normally the point where she would feel a warm embrace and reassuring words from a tall airbender. Tonight, was different, her airbender was hundreds of miles away attending to some peace meeting while she was here alone. "Maybe he's attending to another woman". Katara shook the thought from her head, this was just those stupid girls getting inside of her head.
Katara continued to wrestle with the intrusive thoughts. They were ridiculous, but hearing others say them out loud just made them that much harder to shake loose from her head. She knew that Aang didn't care about titles or prestige or even about family names. The airbender treated everyone equally from a peasant working a field to the Fire Lord. Katara wasn't even sure if the Air Nomads had titles among themselves, but Aang was the Avatar. He wasn't only an Air Nomad, and maybe the politicians that he was forced to spend his days with would convince him to find a more "suitable" match. Katara's heart was in a freefall, that would mean that their entire relationship was nothing more than "practice" just like those girls had said. She suddenly felt like a fool in her orange and yellow dress.
A rough clear of someone's throat brought the waterbender back to reality, "Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt, but I thought that you could use some tea."
Katara quickly wiped the tears in her eyes before turning to face the man. Iroh stood in the doorway holding two cups of tea, steam slowly drifted upwards into his face. Despite not really wanting company, Katara found it difficult to decline. Iroh slowly approached her before handing the cup over with a gentle smile. He turned to face Ba Sing Se below them.
Iroh took a sip of the tea, "You look very beautiful in that dress, it is such a pleasure to see others wearing the colors of the Air Nomads."
"You seem to be the only one." Katara had just finished taken a sip of her tea as she responded. A glance towards the former general revealed a knowing look on his face.
"I see … Did someone happen to say something about the dress?" He took another sip of the green tea.
In that moment, Katara hesitated mostly because she did not want to seem that the girl's words had bothered her too much, but she knew that they did. Iroh seemed to already know most of the situation anyways, and perhaps he could provide some assurances or advice.
Once her moment of hesitation was over, she began, "It wasn't just about the dress. They talked about Aang and I's relationship too." After a moment she continued, "They said that this was all just for practice. That soon Aang would leave and settle down with a girl from a more prestigious family. I know its ridiculous because Aang loves me, but sometimes its difficult to stop thinking that way. He's the Avatar, the great bridge between two worlds, and I'm just some waterbender from the edge of the world. I grew up hearing stories about the Avatar for spirit's sake!"
Iroh chuckled before giving a broad, reassuring smile. "I do not think the Avatar would appreciate hearing anyone talk about you or your relationship in that fashion." He then paused and looked down to the cup of tea in his hands before he continued, "To think, the great Earth King Kuei is serving simple green tea at a grand ball. Such a simple refreshment for such an extravagant event is rather unusual for a man of expensive taste. Don't you agree young waterbender?"
Katara felt as if the retired general had lost his mind, but she indulged his sudden change of subject, "Sure…I guess it could be unusual."
Iroh's smile only grew in size, "Green tea may not be as prestigious in name as some of the other teas around the world. It is common and can be found in most places, so some may choose to look down upon it. However, those few miss on the amazing traits green tea possesses; a smooth herbal taste, a comforting reassurance of past days, and a sweeping warmth that will shake the chill from your bones. It may not be prestigious as other teas, but it is special and unique to everyone in a different way. It never means the same thing to two people."
"So…you're saying that I'm like the green tea. I might not have a prestigious name or a noble title, but I mean something special to Aang?" Katara started slowly, understanding creeping up on her.
Iroh nodded slightly before turning to face her, "I am saying that you know Aang the best. Not as the Avatar as others know him, but the man who stands behind the title. He has chosen to share the deepest parts of himself with you, and no amount of jealous girls can take that away. Prestigious titles and noble families don't mean anything to a man in love."
Katara smiled to herself, it was insane to think that Aang would ever consider the nobility of her name when it came to their relationship. He loved her because of Katara, not due to her last name, and she loved him because he was Aang and not because he was the Avatar.
"Thank you Iroh, I needed that." She said as she gave him a hug.
As he returned it, he heard her say one more thing, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"Wouldn't it have been easier to tell me that without the tea metaphor?"
A hearty laugh escaped him as he answered, "And where would be the fun in that?"
AN: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this story. I apologize for the time between Differences and Prestige, I got very busy suddenly and I couldn't find the time to finish up the story. I really enjoyed writing Iroh and the dynamic between them. It felt kind of weird to write a story about Aang and Katara without having Aang actually appear in it, but hopefully it wasn't too bad. The next story is going to be up sometime this weekend, most likely around Saturday or Sunday. Let me know what you thought about the story, reviews are always appreciated as well as some constructive criticism.
Also, I'm in the process of writing a multi-chapter fic which should be up sometime in the next two weeks. I have a few chapters written, but I would rather have a pretty sizable backlog before I start posting it.