Mingan searched Zuko's room top to bottom, looking for a possible escape route. She had tried the door and windows only to find they were locked. She was just about to start looking in the courtyard when the door in the front room opened. She peeked around the corner and saw three women coming her way. They were whispering excitedly amongst themselves and they were all carrying something; stacks of cloth, combs, brushes and many other items Mingan could not identify. When the women saw Mingan looking at them curiously, they fell silent.
The old woman stepped forward first. "My name is Ming," she said and then motioned to a tall girl to her right, "that's Sue." She waved to the woman on her left. She had a sour face and Mingan disliked her already, "and this is Jung." She paused as if waiting for some kind of acknowledgment. The Watertribe girl simply furrowed her eyebrows at them and then glanced at the items in their arms. "If you would follow us," Ming said, a little gruffly, as she led the way into Zuko's bedroom. The women set their things down and then Ming sat her down roughly in a chair in front of a large vanity.
"Look at her skin, Ming," Sue said. She was very tall and skinny. She looked quite young, perhaps even younger than Mingan. "Do you suppose that's natural for the savages?" Mingan bristled at this question. She was beginning to get very tired of people calling her a savage.
"I would think so. They are very different from us," Ming replied as she rummaged around in the things the women had brought with them.
"Her eyes are so blue! I didn't know such a thing existed!" Sue cried, most delightfully. Ming looked up into the mirror and nodded upon making eye contact with Mingan's reflection.
The sour-faced woman, Jung, took a comb from the top of the pile, gripped it between her teeth and quickly unwound the braid in Mingan's hair. Her scowl deepened when she took a handful of brown waves in her hand. She removed the comb from her teeth and went to yanking through Mingan's hair. "Such coarse hair." She made a sound of distaste. "And so ratty." Mingan glared at the woman's reflection, only to have her mean resolve vanish into a wince when Jung tore through a particularly bad knot. Ming was now shaking the wrinkles out of various articles of clothing while Sue was sifting through short glass jars containing various colored powders.
Mingan's scalp was steadily becoming sore with every stroke. "Why don't you start telling the savage girl about what is to be expected of her, Sue," Ming said from the far side of the room where she was hanging up the clothing.
"Of yes!" the girl said as she unscrewed some of the lids on the jars, "The most important thing to remember as a servant-"
She was cut off by foul women behind Mingan. "Slave, Sue, she is a slave. Don't equal her with yourself. It's disgraceful." Mingan's fingers clutched around a fistful of her dress.
"Oh," Sue giggled, "sorry. Anyways, you must always remember that your master is always right. No matter how absurd his request or how wrong you may think it is, it isn't. You do whatever he asks and you do it promptly." Jung was now twisting her hair into some kind of Fire Nation hairstyle, allowing the pins to stab Mingan's scalp. She was sure her head was going to be bleeding by the time that vile woman was finished with her hair. Sue rattled out rule after rule and Mingan decided to ignore her after about a minute. Her thoughts had drifted off to how she would escape the palace. However her concentration was shattered when something plush smashed into her face. She started choking on the thick white powder than was suddenly in her nose and lungs. Jung sharply reprimanded the foreign girl when she began squirming.
Sue was prattling on happily like nothing had happened. Before Mingan could even clear her sinuses of the vile powder, Sue began running a little brush over her eyelids. Then something wet stroked across her lash line, causing her to flinch at the peculiar sensation.
This went on for another tortuously-long ten minutes. "Well,I think that should do. Open your eyes, girl."
Mingan pried her eyes open and found a different person staring back at her. The girl in the mirror was not her. Her skin was almost creamy white and her eyes were dark with kohl and powder. She blinked and leaned forward slowly. She would not have even known it was her if it weren't for her blue eyes. She tilted her head experimentally. Her cheeks were pink and her lips red. Her reflection was very pretty. She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. She did not like her reflection. "Come now, let's get your dress on." Before she could process what was happening, Ming was dragging her from the chair and pushing her to the center of the room. "Look how skinny!" Sue exclaimed.
Jung hurumphed and glared at Mingan from head to toe. "Her hips are certainly not wide enough to bear children, let alone sons."
"Perhaps with time, Jung," Ming answered as she started fiddling with the back of Mingan's dress. She could not suppress a yelp when, without warning, her gown had suddenly pooled at her feet and she was standing there in nothing but her bindings! She tried to cover herself, but Ming only swatted her hands down. Her face was burning red, even through the powder that paled her. She flinched when a cool piece of leather wrapped around her waist. She looked down as Ming studied the little marks on the band, relaying them to Sue who was writing them down. Ming tsked her tongue as she stood up straight with her fingernail pressed to the leather measuring tape. "What have you been doing with your time, girl? Doing a man's job?" The old woman said it as though she was scolding her. Mingan was not sure why her athletic build was a bad thing. In her tribe, being a fit, able-bodied person was a good thing. Spirits forbid, if her husband fell ill or was injured, it was his wife's job to then provide for the family until he recovered. If a woman could prove herself valuable by hunting or some other useful skill, she was considered more attractive than a woman who could not.
A sharp finger was jabbed into her back. She whirled around to see Jung frowning. "Those muscles make you look like man," she growled. Ming was now measuring her bust, much to Mingan's horror. "You must know that men do not like that."
"Hmm," Ming hummed, tossing the measuring tape to Sue. "I have to agree. I'll notify the cooks to make some fatty meals for you. That should help shouldn't it, Jung?"
"I would think." She sighed. "In the mean time we can at least try to make you look more like a young lady. Sue, give me that corset." Mingan didn't know what a 'corset' was, but she did not like the sound of it, simply being that it was coming from Jung's mouth. She doubted that woman even had an inkling of benevolence toward her. "Stand up straight," Jung snapped as she started fiddling with the laces of the truss. "Are your people totally uncivilized?" She sighed, speaking to no one, but aiming the barb at Mingan. She moved in front of Mingan and held the corset against her. "I'm not even sure this will fit your boyish body," she groaned. Jung then spotted Mingan's arms. "Look at these scars! Agni! What a barbaric little girl! Do you play in the snow with wild animals!?" Mingan shot the sour woman a cold look. The little scars and knicks on her arms were just from little slipups with a knife while she was skinning, an arrow falling from her hand. It was nothing to be ashamed of and the watertribe girl had just about had enough of Jung's insults. "It still illudes me why Prince Zuko would bring home such an ugly girl. He should have killed her and burned her village."
That final comment had finally made Mingan snap. "You fat cow! How dare you talk that way!? Your people are the savages! Your people are the uncivilized ones here and your're the ugly one!" She didn't even know Jung had smacked her until she had tripped over the edge of the rug. She managed to keep herself on her feet, but Jung was quick. She had snagged Mingan by the ear and yanked her head sideways.
"You feral, petulant little monster! How dare you! Do you know who I am!?" She tugged on Mingan's ear sharply. "Foolish, ugly girl!" Jung spouted off insult after insult like a dam had just broken in her throat. The furious woman struck her again with the back of her knuckles and when Mingan tried to push her arm from her ear, Jung boxed her in the side of the head, making her other ear start to ring. She suddenly released her and then flew around to her back and pulled the corset tight against Mingan's waist. The fish-bone structuring dug into her skin and the stiff seams bit into her flesh. Jung reached around and smacked her sharply on the stomach, making all the air woosh out of her lungs. The vile woman yanked on the strings and tightened the corset so tight it felt as though her ribs were being crushed. "Dirty Fire Nation scum!" Mingan snapped, twisting away from Jung's craggy hands, but the knots had already been tied.
Jung grabbed a fistful of Mingan's brown curls and practically threw her into the thick carpet. She was shouting a never-ending string of curses, her face getting redder and redder by the second. Mingan finally managed to pushed herself to her hands, unable to contort her waist or torso at all. She heard a crackle in the air and the air seemed warmer. She looked up just in time to see a fiery hand flying at her. She ducked just in time, the flame missing her face but instead, scalding her bare shoulder, singeing right through a few layers of skin. Mingan cried out clutching at the hot burn. She screamed again, sorely wishing she hadn't touched her shoulder. There was shouting but she was too focused on the agonizing pain shooting through her body to focus on the voices around her.
Tears were spilling over her cheeks and panicked sobs wrenching from her mouth. She didn't think she had ever been in such pain before.
Zuko had been working through his bending moves in the training arena when a guard burst in. He had frantically told the Prince that there was an altercation in his chambers. Zuko took off through the palace corridors, running like a man being chased by Koh. He threw his door open to shouting and crying.
"What is going on in here!?" He demanded as he walked into his bedroom. When he spotted Mingan curled up on his carpet, flames flicked to his hands. "What happened!? He yelled. The three servants all fell totally silent and froze, staring at him like a frightened gopher-rabbit. "Prince Zuko, the watertribe girl and Jung began fighting and- and things got out of control-" Sue stammered, physically shaking in the presence of her infuriated Prince.
"Get out, all of you! And send for the royal physician! If I see any of you before he gets here, Agni help me I'll incinerate every last one of you!" The three women practically fought eachother to get out of the door. He would deal with them later, after he took care of the writhing girl at his feet.
Mingan heard Zuko's angry shouts, something about royal-somethings and inceration. When she was hauled to her feet her skin bunched and the burn was agitated even further. She was set down on something soft and through her watery tears she could see Zuko standing in front of her. It was then she noticed her state of undress. She was in so much agony and now she was mortified! She was in her undergarments in front of a strange man! She flung her good arm around her chest and pressed her knees together, hoping to cover up her indecency. Zuko crossed the room and then came back, wrapping something cool and silky around her body, under her arms. Mingan gripped the fabric tightly, grateful for the cover. A man, seemingly disheveled, burst through the doors of Zuko's room, breathing like he had been running.
"Prince Zuko," he greeted with a bow. Zuko waved a hand in Mingan's direction, his other pinching the bridge of his nose. The man scurried over and set his bag down beside her on the bed. She flinched away when he went to inspect her burn. "It's alright. I won't touch it I just want to get a closer look." Mingan eyed him suspiciously but allowed him to continue. "This is a very intense burn, Prince Zuko," the man commented off handedly. The doctor applied massive amounts of cooling antiseptic and then bandaged the wound. Then, he walked over to Zuko with a glass jar in his hand. "She needs to apply this every day until the burn fades. I'm afraid it will scar, but we can't really do much about that unfortunately."
"Thankyou, you're dismissed."
Mingan sniffled and choked down a cry of pain. Her shoulder felt much better and now she had time to realize just how tightly the corset was on her waist. Her lungs felt constricted and she found breathing to be difficult. She feebly attempted to reach around and untie the strings but the truss just wouldn't allow her to twist. She struggled for nearly a minute before Zuko spoke up. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," she blushed.
"You're doing something. Tell me what it is."
"No."
Zuko stormed over and leapt up behind her on the bed. Mingan squeaked in surprise and tried to scramble away but Zuko had snagged her arm. She could feel cool air where she had pushed the silk sheet away to try to untie the corset. "Oh. Well," Zuko huffed when he saw her predicament. Mingan squirmed against his grasp, trying to wiggle away from him and protect her decency but his hold was firm. He pushed the sheet out of the way, almost shyly and then set to untangling the strings.
"I've never understood why women wear these things," he grumbled as Mingan squirmed and he untangled.
"I didn't exactly have a choice," she bit back.
"You know this would be a lot easier if you would just hold still and I could use my other hand."
"No."
Their struggled went on for a few more minutes. "For the love of Agni, hold still! I'm trying to help you!" Zuko shouted. She flinched and stilled. He hesitantly let go of her arm and then, within seconds she felt the pressure on her lungs cease and she could breath again.
Zuko really couldn't help it, but, he may or may not have taken a peek at Mingan's bare back. He could see the way her muscles rolled under her dark skin, especially in her shoulders. And unlike the rest of her body, her back was unmarred. However his little observation was cut short when she pulled the silk close around her body again.
Zuko ordered for some servants to come and move some furniture in his study and to bring up a mattress and bedding. They worked quickly and before long Mingan had a little bedroom in the far side of the large study. It was nearing dusk and some maids had brought a set of clothing for her to wear until the seamstresses were finished with her clothes. Zuko was in his room preparing for bed. He had left the watertribe girl in his rooms when he went to eat dinner with his Father in the main dining room. He had just gotten back and had mumbled to Mingan that he was going to bed for it was late.
Mingan had stood at the window, looking out at the courtyard for a while longer, after Zuko had returned. She had stared into the garden for as long as she could until the sun had set and she was left with nothing to do. She grabbed the stack of clothes the maids had brought and proceeded to skirt past his bedroom. She may have really hated Zuko right now, but there was a part of her that was gnawing at her mind. She wasn't entirely sure what it was but perhaps she could appease it. She paused and took a step backwards. "Thankyou," she said bashfully and then scurried off to her new bedroom...
AN: I am so terribly sorry for this horrendous chapter. I have not felt this story has been up to par with my tokka fic's writing. I don't know. I've been down recently and I cant tell if its me being too hard on myself or if I really am struggling with writing right now. However! I haven't written a full-length story in 3rd person for a while sooooo yeah idk. anywaysssss perhaps next chapter will be a bit better :)