V
Later, Katara would recall the moments that followed her brother's pronouncement with a mixture of shame, remorse and a sweet sort of pride. The only way she could explain it was that she had been caught off-guard. The sight of those pale yellow eyes staring at her from the face of a person she had thought was harmless came as a shock. The other times she had seen eyes like that flashed through her mind: Zuko stalking her, trying to force her to betray Aang, coming at her relentlessly as she fought to protect the young Avatar; Admiral Zhao and his chilling smile; Fire Nation soldiers bent on destroying her people, destroying her and Sokka and capturing Aang at all cost. A single thought shot through the haze of disorientation like quicksilver—an animalistic thought, one that bubbled up directly from the murkiest depths of her mind.
Enemy.
She shrank away from Li Mei before she could stop herself, and from the corner of her eye she could see her consternation mirrored in her brother's face. The whole thing must have happened in less than two seconds, but it was enough. Li Mei saw their reactions and wilted, and Katara was torn between the desire to reassure the other girl and the more primal urge to grab Aang and Sokka and run.
"Oh. I guess I can see why you'd want to go around with that blindfold over your eyes. It's okay, though. You don't have to wear that around us anymore."
Her wide-eyed stare shifted from Li Mei to Aang. How can he be so calm about this? Doesn't he realize…?
Rationality returned to her with a jolt, accompanied by a hot rush of chagrin and embarrassment. By the spirits, what was she doing? Was she really so quick to judge a person just by the color of her eyes?
"You—you don't mind?" Li Mei asked, obviously surprised by Aang's easy acceptance of the fact that she belonged to the race that was constantly trying to imprison him, kill his friends and wreak havoc upon the balance of the world.
"No, I think it's great," Aang said with genuine pleasure. "I might not look it but I'm actually a hundred and twelve years old, and I remember how it was before this war with the Fire Nation began. I know things don't always have to be the way they are now, and seeing you with Grandfather Wang just makes me even surer of it. Besides," he added with a lopsided grin, "you're not the first firebender we've met who wasn't trying to roast us where we stood, although I have to admit, those kinds are pretty rare. Remember Shyu and Master Jeong-Jeong?"
He glanced first at Katara then at Sokka as he said this, his gray eyes bright and innocent. Too innocent, and Katara suddenly realized that Aang knew what she and her brother were thinking, and not only were his words meant to reassure Li Mei and Grandfather Wang, it was also his own, gentle way of reminding her and Sokka that people were much more than the labels imposed upon them. A relieved smile spread over Li Mei's face while Grandfather Wang bobbed his head in approval. Aang's grin grew wider, and Katara felt something tender and fragile unfurl somewhere inside her chest. She had always known that Aang was a good person. How could she not when it was right there, shining from his eyes? He was kind and brave and strong enough to take on the burden of the world upon his young shoulders, and despite everything that had been done to him, he still saw the best in people, no matter who they were. She had always known that—and yet, sometimes it took something like this to remind her how special Aang really was.
In so many ways, he was a much better person than she was. It was a humbling thought, and she was a little surprised to find that she did not resent it. Instead, it made her want to protect him all the more, to keep him close to her…to keep him safe.
But Aang would never truly be safe, would he? He was the Avatar and in him the world would find sanctuary, but there was no sanctuary for the Avatar himself.
She shook herself mentally, brushing aside her morose thoughts, and gave Li Mei a real smile this time. "Aang's right about the firebenders. We even once took care of a Fire Nation baby who'd gotten separated from his parents. It's just that every other firebender we've met were so clearly, well, firebenders. You know, not one of us." She let some of the guilt she was feeling creep into her tone, deciding that she owed the other girl that much. "I'm sorry. We've never met a firebender who could so easily pass for an Earth Kingdom citizen before. It took us by surprise."
"Yeah," Sokka added weakly. "By the way, not much of a family resemblance between the two of you, huh?"
Li Mei and Grandfather Wang exchanged glances. "It's a long story," she said at last. "The short version of it is that I came from one of the occupied towns in the north. I ran away two years ago and had been wandering around half-starved when Grandfather Wang found me and took me to Tai Shen. I've been with him ever since."
"Why'd you run away?" Aang asked.
"I…committed a crime against the Fire Nation."
Katara tried to imagine the polite, somewhat timid girl violently assaulting someone or pulling off a robbery, and failed. "What crime was that?"
"Treason." Li Mei's smile turned faintly ironic. "I freed some Earth Kingdom prisoners accused of being spies for the resistance. The Fire Nation authorities weren't too happy about it."
All three of them stared. That certainly wasn't what they'd expected. Li Mei sighed and waved a hand dismissively. "That's all in the past, and I will never return to the Fire Nation again for as long as this war continues. Tai Shen is my home now, and Grandfather Wang and the others are my family. I may have been born in the Fire Nation, but I've chosen to be a citizen of the Earth Kingdom, and that's how I will remain for as long as I live."
The words were passionate, even overdramatic, but Li Mei's voice remained steady and matter-of-fact, as though she were reporting a simple truth instead of what must have been a momentous decision for her. Looking into the clear amber eyes, Katara found that she believed her. "Sounds like you had an interesting life, and I hope some day we can get to hear the long version of your story," she said with warm sincerity. "But whatever it was that happened to you, I'm glad we met you, Li Mei. I just wish we could meet a lot more firebenders like you."
Sokka chuckled. "Yeah. All we keep getting is the other kind."
"The other kind?"
"The roast-us-where-we-stand kind," Aang quipped, falling in on the joke. "That kind gets really annoying after some time."
"And deadly dull," Katara added with a giggle.
"Not to mention exhausting and—" Sokka stopped abruptly as his stomach took the opportunity to gurgle as loudly as it could.
Katara grinned teasingly. "Gee, Sokka, has it really been that long since break—oops." Her own face turned red when the gurgle from Sokka's stomach was echoed by her own.
Aang laughed outright. "Guess you guys were serious about looking for food a while back." His eyes went wide when a third gurgle was heard, and his hand lifted to clutch at his stomach. "Oookay, whatever it is you've got, it's catching. Anybody know where we can get any lichi nuts around here?"
Li Mei and her grandfather, who had been watching their banter with fascination, exchanged amused glances. "All right, I know a hint when I hear one," Grandfather Wang said dryly. "We're here, anyway, so I hope you three can hold out a little longer. And speaking of nuts, Momo had better return those 'nuts' he pinched or I won't be responsible for the bellyache he's going get."
"Here where? You mean there's food on this hill?" Sokka asked, puzzled.
"What Grandfather meant was that we're in Tai Shen," Li Mei clarified.
Sokka glanced around at the grass and trees. "Looks a bit…rustic, doesn't it?"
"No, not this place." She pointed toward the hill. "Beyond this hill is Tai Shen. We're really very close."
Sokka perked up considerably. "Great! Let's get going. I thought I heard something about stir-fry noodles and sweet and sour tofu a while back. Any chance of bumping that up to lunch instead of dinner?"
Li Mei laughingly agreed, and Katara rolled her eyes at her brother's cheek. The tension between Li Mei and Sokka seemed to have dissipated, and the relief Katara felt was like a breath of fresh air. As she followed the others toward Appa, her gaze fell upon Aang who was walking in front of her, her eyes absently tracing the blue line of his tattoo as it flowed down his head and dipped into his collar. He must have felt her staring at him, because he glanced over his shoulder at her curiously. His gray eyes collided with hers with a jolt that she felt all the way down to her toes, and she nearly stumbled in surprise.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"I'm okay. Just a little hungry," she replied, pressing an arm across her middle in an effort to calm the mysterious flock of butterflies that had taken flight.
He smiled, which only seemed to make the butterflies worse. "Yeah, me too. I wonder if there's a gemstone to ease off hunger pangs."
"Don't let Li Mei hear you say that," she said, feeling proud of how normal she sounded. "She'd probably tell us there is a stone for something like that."
"You're right, there is."
Aang jumped back with a yelp when Li Mei's eager face suddenly appeared in front of him. The young goldsmith lifted a lecturing finger. "Jasper is known to help with digestive problems and other similar sicknesses, as well as soothe away mental stresses. And those peridot beads Grandfather showed you earlier are also known to aid in digestion—"
"Hey you down there," Sokka called from the saddle. "If you take any longer, we're going to take off without you and you can walk to Tai Shen."
"Li Mei, what did I say about being bullish on people?" Grandfather Wang admonished.
Li Mei flushed and lowered her head. "I'm sorry, Grandfather. I was just telling them about the power of jasper and peridot to help with digestive problems."
Sokka groaned. "The only way any stone is going to help with my digestive problem is if I eat it. Get up here already."
Nodding obediently, Li Mei gave Killer a comforting pat on the neck and pulled herself up into the saddle. Aang was about to jump on top of Appa's head when he was stopped by Katara's hand on his shoulder. "Listen, Aang, I just want you to know…" She trailed off, wondering why she was suddenly finding it so difficult to tell him what was on her mind. "I just want to tell you…I thought you were great back there. With Li Mei being a firebender, I mean."
Aang's face lit up in a way that struck her as sweet, as though he thought a simple compliment from her was worth all the accolades he received as the Avatar. "You think so?"
"Mm-hm." She smiled and reached down to give his hand a squeeze. "And thanks…for what you said. I guess we—I needed to hear that."
He shook his head. "It was nothing you didn't already know, Katara."
"Right. Sure, Aang," she said good-humoredly. "You can brush me off as much as you like, but I'll still think you're a really great guy." She released him, thinking that that was the end of the conversation, but his fingers tightened around hers, trapping her hand in a warm grip.
"Thanks," he said softly. "Katara, I—ow!"
He spun around, rubbing the sore spot on his head where the sparkling missile had hit him. Sokka was sitting up in the saddle looking pleased with himself, while Li Mei clapped both hands over her mouth—out of shock that somebody would dare treat the Avatar so offhandedly or to keep from laughing, Katara couldn't be sure. Aang shot the older boy a wounded look. "What was that for, Sokka?"
Sokka pointed at Appa's head. "Aang, get up here and fly this monster. I've just heard that there's a chance of a feast in our honor waiting for us in Tai Shen, and you should know never to get between a warrior and the possibilities of a feast."
"Well, somebody had better fetch that gemstone this young idiot just threw away," Grandfather Wang announced huffily, "because I ain't so sure you can afford to replace it."
Under the guise of picking up the stone, Katara took the chance to suck in a few deep breaths and slow her heart rate down. What was that back there? She had nearly just had a heart attack, and all because Aang was holding her hand? She must be a great deal hungrier than she thought if something like that could rattle her so much. She nodded decisively. Yes, that certainly explained why she'd been feeling so…so weird all day. These spells of lightheadedness, the heightened awareness, the strange thoughts in her head…hunger and sleep deprivation, that's what they were. This trip to Tai Shen was exactly what she needed to feel like herself again.
She focused on the stone in her hand and blushed. And glared. It was the lapis lazuli, the stone of friendship and truth. The blue and gold lump seemed to glitter mockingly at her.
"I got it," she muttered. She climbed up Appa and handed the stone back to Grandfather Wang just as Aang took the reins.
"Appa, yip-yip!"
Some food and a good night's sleep, she thought, staring sightlessly at the shifting scenery, far too aware of the slim, saffron-clad form sitting just three feet away from her. Come tomorrow, the nagging little voice inside her head would have faded away, and everything would return to normal.
She sighed. Or so I hope.
o – o – o – o – o
The little town of Tai Shen lay in a bed of velvety hills adorned with a lacework of trees and bamboo groves. The stream they had more or less abandoned when they met up with Grandfather Wang and Li Mei reappeared and wound itself around the town's borders in a way couldn't have been completely natural, forming a band of sparkling blue around the edges of town. The town itself was a perfect octagon, with red-roofed houses and buildings forming neat rows that faced the center of the town, which was marked by a round, shimmering pond. Sun-baked streets divided the town into eight equal segments, while just behind the houses on the outermost edges was a large, interconnecting garden that formed a ring between the town and the stream. White and purple azalea shrubs mingled with gracefully swaying bamboo and wintersweet trees with sprays of pink blossoms, and cairnstones sat amongst patches of red and white peonies and chrysanthemums of every color imaginable. The mountain rose majestically just beyond, and the clouds from its summit cast shifting shadows upon the landscape so that the town appeared to be glimmering in the sunlight. As the flying bison drew closer, Katara found herself leaning over the saddle and gasping with wonder while Sokka squeezed in beside her, trying and failing to keep his own jaw from dropping.
"Wow, is that Tai Shen?" Aang asked, letting the reins go slack in his hands as he craned his neck to take in the view.
"Yes, that's our home down there," Li Mei said proudly.
"It's beautiful," Katara breathed. "From up here, it looks just like a pendant. Or a brooch."
"And what did you think it would look like? A clump of anthills sprouting out of the ground?" Grandfather Wang said with a sniff.
Li Mei was quick to translate. "What Grandfather would like to say is that many of the townsfolk are jewelers, and nobody worships beauty the way a jeweler does. Times are hard, but we've done our best to keep our town looking presentable."
"Well, whatever it is you're doing seems to be working," Katara said. "Tai Shen is gorgeous."
"It's not bad," Sokka remarked with studied indifference.
"I bet it looks even better up close," Aang said eagerly. "Come on, Appa. It's time for our grand entrance."
Appa grunted in response and began to spiral downward the center of the town. A sizeable crowd had already gathered beside the pond, squinting and pointing upward at the strange sight of a white, six-legged bison descending in their midst. As Appa landed, Katara got her first good look at the inhabitants of Tai Shen. They appeared to consist mostly of women, although she did see several elderly men and children whose ages ranged between infanthood to fourteen years. The oldest boy was a gangly, messy-haired kid just a year older than Aang. Their clothes were similar to those worn by every other Earth Kingdom citizen they had come across—loose-fitting pants, high-collared shirts, robes and kimonos in shades of brown, beige or green. Every single person, however, seemed to be wearing at least one piece of jewelry—shiny beads embroidered upon a shirt or robe, a bead necklace, a pair of earrings, hairpins studded with tiny stones, a belt of interlocked copper rings, bracelets made of leather strips interwoven with differently colored beads. Even the babies in their mothers' arms wore tiny bead bracelets and anklets. The entire crowd seemed to glitter and Katara was glad she was wearing her mother's necklace, which kept her from feeling as though she were underdressed, although just barely.
Li Mei and Grandfather Wang were already climbing out of the saddle before anyone else could make a move. The trio watched in fascination as Li Mei hugged several of the women and children who crowded around her, her face bright with joy. It was amazing how the young firebender seemed to fit right in, and for a moment Katara caught a glimpse of the world as Aang remembered it, a way of life before war made enemies of people who might otherwise have been friends. She slanted a look at the young Avatar and saw the barest hint of wistfulness in his smile. She bit her lip, fighting down the urge to touch him, to tell him that the world he had known wasn't completely lost yet. She had already begun to reach out to him when she caught herself and pulled her hand back, cradling it to her chest. Maybe later, she would tell him. Just not right now. Not when she was still feeling…not herself.
Aang glanced at her and she quickly averted her gaze, hoping he wouldn't notice her discomfiture. Fortunately, her brother's dubious instinct for good timing proved itself useful once again. "It's incredible," Sokka murmured. "It's like nobody even notices she's a firebender. She's just this ordinary Earth Kingdom girl who happens to have weird-colored eyes."
Aang turned back toward Li Mei and Katara breathed a silent sigh of relief, deciding that she would do something nice for her brother before the day ended. "Maybe we should go down there and introduce ourselves," she suggested. "People are starting to stare at us."
As they climbed down, the crowd parted to make way for two new figures, one of which turned out to be Killer, squawking happily at being home again. The other newcomer was a woman who stood a good foot taller than Sokka and a couple of feet wider as well. A handsome woman still, she could have either been a young-looking eighty-year-old or a sixty-year-old who was mature for her age. She wore a simple, light brown gown and a cream-colored outer robe tied with a wide sash, but the plainness of her clothes were only meant to call attention to the stunning triple-strand green jade necklace hanging around her neck and the cluster of smaller jades attached to her earlobes. Her gray hair was swept up into a perfect loop on the top of her head, held in place by more strands of jade. She walked with her head held high and her hands clasped inside the wide sleeves of her robe, trailing from which were Killer's reins. As she moved past them, members of the crowd would bow and smile with a mixture of affection and respect, but the woman's steely hazel eyes were fixed solely upon one person.
And like an animal sensing the approach of a predator, Grandfather Wang slowly turned, the lines of his face drooping with dread.
The woman narrowed her eyes. "You!"
"Erp!" the old man squeaked, scuttling behind Li Mei.
The crowd retreated some more as woman circled him, Killer trotting contentedly behind her. In a display of good sense, Li Mei discreetly but forcibly pried her grandfather's fingers off her tunic and moved out of the line of fire. "Hmph. When I found this old bird scratching at my door, I knew the other old bird shouldn't be too far behind," the woman said in a tone as pointed as any iceberg Katara could make. "Of course, I'd been expecting to see both old birds at my door much, much earlier. Well? What do you have to say for yourself, Wang?"
"I, uh—"
"Did something happen to you on your way here? You didn't get yourself and young Li Mei into some kind of trouble, did you?"
"Well, I wouldn't say—"
"Something that wouldn't have happened if you'd gone and hired someone to help you with deliveries like I'd been telling you, am I right?"
Grandfather Wang drew himself up. "Now listen here, you bossy old biddy—mmff!"
He never got a chance to finish as the woman swept him up in a bone-creaking hold, pulling him so deeply into her ample bosom that all they could see of him were bits of his clothes and his bushy hair. Katara pressed a hand to her mouth, wondering if she ought to jump in and rescue the old man from the stranglehold the woman had on him. On either side of her, she could see identical expressions of shock and alarm on the faces of her two companions.
Noticing their confusion, Li Mei crept toward them and smiled reassuringly. "That's Grandma Sorab. She's the unofficial matriarch of our town and the closest thing to a mayor that we have. Oh, and she's also a fabulous jeweler, in case you're wondering."
Sokka pointed at the couple. "Shouldn't we help your grandfather? I think he's turning blue."
Li Mei giggled. "Oh, don't let those two fool you. Grandma Sorab and Grandfather Wang are really madly in love with each other. In fact, they're going to be married two days from now."
Katara didn't think her own eyes could get any wider without her eyeballs popping out of their sockets, and if she hadn't been so floored by the news she'd have burst out laughing at the way Aang and Sokka both had their jaws scraping the ground. "Married?" she croaked, struggling to piece together a mental image of the crusty old jeweler and the regal-looking matron—the blushing bride five times the size of the groom—dressed in ceremonial wedding robes and drinking out of the same cup and sneaking loving glances at each other while exchanging vows and, oh heavens, even sharing a kiss. Judging from the constipated look on Sokka's face, she knew he was attempting the same thing with even less success.
"That's, uh, great," Aang stammered, sounding as though he couldn't quite believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. "Congratulations to the happy couple."
Just then, Grandma Sorab released Grandfather Wang from her embrace and turned toward the trio. As one, Katara, Aang and Sokka leaned away from the stiletto gaze. The grand old woman advanced toward them while Li Mei darted past her to catch Grandfather Wang just as his knees gave out. Katara and Sokka both moved to stand behind Aang, who arranged his features into an expression of jovial harmlessness. "Hey, there," he called nervously. "Um, nice to meet you."
Li Mei thrust her grandfather's limp form at one of the other men and jogged over to them. "Grandma Sorab, I would like you to meet—"
"—the Avatar and his companions," Grandma Sorab stated, her penciled eyebrows sweeping upward.
"Er, yes. They were the ones who—"
"—rescued you and your grandfather from those Fire Nation soldiers who waylaid you. I know."
Aang blinked. "How did you know that?"
Grandma Sorab smiled coolly. "Those soldiers came here first, banging on our doors and demanding a new kind of tax from us. The unofficial kind, I believe. We refused to give them anything of value, and they were rather put out to leave here empty-handed. I thought that anyone running into them would have a difficult time of it, and I knew Wang and Li Mei planned to come home today."
"No offence, but how did you manage to get rid of those soldiers without giving them anything?" Katara wondered. "I mean, just looking at you now, I can see at least half-a-dozen things I'd love to walk away with."
The crowd exchanged amused glances. "These trinkets we're wearing are made of cheap glass and wires, miss," one old-timer called out, pulling on the collar of his robe to show off his necklaces. "They only figured it out when they were some distance from the town, but by then it was too late for them to turn back. As if we would ever surrender our lovelies to those barbarians." His declaration was followed by several enthusiastic "yeahs" and "we sure showed them."
Katara's gaze drifted toward the necklace around Grandma Sorab's neck. "Is that glass, too?"
"Certainly not." Grandma Sorab lifted her hands, causing the jade necklace to levitate several inches from her bosom. "I never wear glass. Any imitation, even a good one, is nothing but dishonesty in frozen form, and only truth can be beautiful. These beads are Imperial jade through and through."
"Okay, but how did you know we rescued Grandfather Wang and Li Mei?" Katara persisted.
Grandma Sorab sighed. "Do you see him weeping with rage and cursing the gods? No, which means he managed not to lose anything important. And the only way that silly old bird would be able to extricate himself out of any trouble would be if somebody bailed him out of it."
"I resent that!" Grandfather Wang bawled from the audience but was mostly ignored.
Sokka raised an eyebrow. "So if you knew what happened all along, then what's with the interrogation?"
Grandma Sorab suddenly threw her head back and laughed, the years seeming to fall away from her. "Ah, well. Appearances can be very useful, young water-tribe warrior, especially when it comes to dealing with stubborn men," she said with girlish mischief. "I've been trying for years to get my fiancé to part with some of his precious money and hire a bodyguard to help with deliveries. There is a point to be made here, and so I did. It is a woman's way."
Katara and Li Mei glanced at each other and giggled while Sokka frowned, certain that he and the other members of his sex had just been slighted but wasn't exactly sure how. Grandma Sorab smiled again, the expression transforming her face from severe and intimidating to motherly and filled with humor. "On behalf of Tai Shen, I welcome you, Avatar, to our humble town." She bowed, a motion that the rest of the crowd followed. When she raised her head, the coy playfulness was once again twinkling in her eyes. "And on behalf of this humble bride-to-be, I thank you for returning my fiancé and future granddaughter to me safe and sound."
At this, the crowd broke into wild cheering and swarmed around Aang, Katara and Sokka. Grandma Sorab stood serenely, a stately reef amidst the tide of people, and managed to quiet the crowd just be raising her hand. "Please, allow us to offer our gratitude to you and your companions with a feast tonight in your honor. Of course, it goes without saying that you are welcome to stay here for as long as you like."
The cheering began again, this time joined in by an enthusiastic Sokka. "Yeah! Now that's what I want to hear!" he whooped, all thoughts of veiled insults against the male of the species completely eclipsed by thoughts of impending gastronomic indulgence.
Katara shook her head at her brother's antics, while Aang bowed back to Grandma Sorab. "Thanks for taking us in. My name is Aang, and these are my friends Katara and Sokka. The little guy trying to steal that lady's headpiece is Momo, and this big guy behind us is Appa."
"It is you who honors us, Avatar Aang," Grandma Sorab replied. "And please call me Grandma Sorab. If there is anything at all we can do for you…"
Katara, who was beginning to see where Li Mei got her painfully good manners, was surprised when Aang actually looked as though he was considering it. "Well, there is something you can do for us," he admitted sheepishly, rubbing his stomach. "Do you have any food? I'm starving!"
o – o – o – o – o
The trio quickly discovered the downside to being considered the town's newest celebrities. Before Grandma Sorab could act upon Aang's appeal for food, the excited townsfolk swept them up and took them on an extended tour of Tai Shen. A plump, middle-aged woman named Soe took charge with the kind of bustling purpose and relentlessness Katara had only before associated with an armada of Fire Nation battleships. The three were hustled off from one house to another, one building to the next, and were introduced to the occupants of each by the voluble Soe, who went on to regale everyone with the tale of how the three had rescued Grandfather Wang and Li Mei from the Fire Nation soldiers, a tale that grew more and more embellished with each house they visited. Katara lost count of the number of times Soe presented Aang as the Avatar in the glowing, awestruck tones of one who believed herself in the presence of a god and clearly expected everyone else to share her sentiments. It was a testament to the young airbender's endurance that he managed to keep smiling and waving throughout the ordeal even though Katara clearly heard his stomach growling several times. When she noticed him hunching over and rubbing his aching cheeks in between introductions, she couldn't resist giving his shoulder a comforting pat. He managed to give her a grateful look before Soe reappeared and whisked him off to yet another household.
Katara herself wasn't spared the crowd's attention. To the beauty-worshipping people of Tai Shen, Katara's cocoa skin and ice-blue eyes appeared exotic and lovely, and she found herself constantly surrounded by a flock of admiring girls and women who cooed and fussed over her hair, her skin, her figure, her mother's necklace, even her water-tribe robes. It was flattering at first, but Katara soon grew tired of having to explain again and again that her hairstyle was traditional among the women of the water-tribe and far from unique, and that yes, she would be glad to show the other women how it was done.
It was Sokka, though, who suffered the most. Although he did receive his fair share of coy looks and flirtatious giggles from the girls, he was much too hungry and dismayed by events to properly enjoy the attention. It didn't help that every household they visited offered them food—a plate of dumplings, a bowl of noodles, a tray of freshly steamed sweet-buns—but before Sokka could pounce on it, Soe would jump between him and his quarry and shake her finger disapprovingly. "Oh no, not this poor fare for our honored guests," she would say in a voice that brooked no challenge. "You wouldn't want to spoil your appetite for the feast tonight, would you?"
And inevitably the host would laugh and agree and put the food away while promising their guests that they would be served better during the feast. By the end of the tour, Sokka's face was as gaunt and tormented as any of the Fire Lord's victims and any minute now, Katara felt certain, her brother would topple gently to the ground and burst into tears.
Word about the feast spread quickly throughout the town and with it, the warning that the Avatar and his companions were not to be fed anything until then. At least, Katara figured that that was the reason why, when Soe brought them to the marketplace and showed them off as if they were her prized fillies, none of the stall owners would sell them anything to eat. Nearly seeing double from hunger herself, she had had to physically restrain her brother before he broke down and snatched something right off a food stand, thereby reducing their status from honored guests to petty criminals. Two hours after their arrival in Tai Shen, only Momo had gotten anything to eat. The lemur had gorged himself on the nuts and fruits the delighted children offered him, and when Katara caught Aang trying to get Momo to sponge a nut from the children for him, she raised an eyebrow at him until he clasped his hands behind his back and shuffled away from Momo, grinning innocently.
The grueling tour came to an end when Soe finally escorted the exhausted, ravenous trio to a small house at the edge of the town. Although the house appeared to be deserted, it was in pristine condition. The doors had fresh, white rice paper pasted upon their frames and slid silently in their grooves, the wooden floor was polished to a near mirror-like shine, and for some reason the faint scent of jasmine and roses pursued them no matter which corner they went. The house was a one-room affair and there were no partitions or screens anywhere that could provide a modicum of privacy. An ornate, black cabinet sat against one wall opposite a small, tiered shrine that featured a cluster of crystals, while a low, intricately carved table stood in the center with a couple of cushions to provide a place to sit on. There were a few small paintings hanging upon the walls, but what dominated the place was the soft, cozy-looking sleeping rug set in one corner and covered with more plump cushions. The rug looked large enough to fit two people. Small pots of crystals were placed around strategic corners, and even the lamp hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the house consisted of a wide brass dish decorated with more clusters of crystals.
When Soe finally left them after cheerfully but pointedly instructing them to rest and refresh themselves before the feast began, Sokka stumbled over to the rug and collapsed upon it, burying his head in the cushions. "I never want to go through that again," he groaned. "I'd rather eat colored rocks for the rest of my life than go through anything like that again. That was sheer torture!"
Aang airlifted himself up on a window sill and halfheartedly stirred a wind chime hanging above him with a small gust of air. Katara examined the paintings, which at first glance had looked like graceful renditions of branches and flowers done in ink, but upon closer inspection turned out to be illustrations of...something far more suggestive than branches and flowers. Blushing madly, she took a step back and looked around again. A house barely bigger than a bed chamber, a table with two cushions, a sleeping rug fit for two… "Oh my gosh," she gasped, her eyes wide.
Aang looked over at her. "What's the matter, Katara?"
"I—I don't think this place is a guest house at all." She knelt beside the rug where Sokka lay as though he never intended to move again, and reached out to touch it. The rug felt unbelievably fluffy, and her fingers sank into it with tempting ease. She snatched her hand back, her blush deepening until she felt sure her face was lighting up the room.
"Then what kind of house is it? It doesn't look like anyone actually lives here," Aang commented, looking around curiously.
She found herself unable to meet his innocent gray eyes and inwardly cursed Soe for even bringing them anywhere near this—this cozy little nest. "I just don't think we're supposed to be here," she muttered. "Maybe we'll be better off camping out in the gardens."
Sokka lifted his face from the cushions just enough to roll his eyes at her. "Are you kidding? You'd rather sleep on cold, hard ground than stay here? On that note, I just have to say that this here is the snuggliest rug I've ever laid down in. I think we should take this with us when we leave. We could claim it as a souvenir. What do you say?"
She was saved from having to make a reply by the sound of footsteps outside. The door slid aside and Li Mei tiptoed in, making shushing motions with one hand when Aang opened his mouth to greet her. "Hello," she half-whispered. "How do you like our honeymoon house?"
"Honeymoon house?" Aang echoed, one eyebrow arching upward.
Li Mei smiled. "Oh yes. This is where Grandfather Wang and Grandma Sorab will stay right after their wedding."
There was a tiny beat of silence, then with a screech Sokka shot out of the rug so fast he looked as though he'd been bended out of it. In an instant he was plastered against the opposite wall, eyes so wide the blues were nearly drowned out by the whites, mouth gaping in a silent scream of horror. Li Mei and Aang looked at him in puzzlement while Katara swallowed a laugh, caught between smug amusement and sympathy for her brother. She smiled to herself, finally deciding upon the good deed she would do for Sokka: she would nobly and selflessly refrain from teasing him about wanting to take the snuggly conjugal rug with him as a souvenir. It was a favor that ought to be good for a lifetime.
"It's perfect," she said to Li Mei. "Very…comfortable."
Okay, maybe she could tease him a little bit.
Aang airbended off the window sill and joined Katara and Li Mei at the table while they waited for Sokka to unfreeze himself from the wall. "Katara's right, though. If you guys are going to use this place two days from now, then maybe we should stay somewhere else," he said.
Li Mei waved her hands. "Oh no, no, it was Grandma Sorab herself who ordered that you be housed here. This is the best house in our town and it's only right that we offer it to the Avatar and his friends. We can always do a quick touch-up before Grandfather and Grandma come here after the ceremony."
"Eeep," Sokka mewled, still lost in his own private world of unspeakable imaginings.
"Anyway, I'm not really supposed to be doing this, but after seeing what you three had just been through, I thought you might need these." Li Mei brought her other hand out and placed a dish upon the table.
"Rice balls!" Aang cried, a fluffy white ball already halfway to his mouth.
Katara reached eagerly for a rice ball, only to have her hand knocked aside by Sokka's. Her brother managed to down two rice balls before she'd even bitten into hers. "Glad to see you've recovered your strength," she told him wryly. He gave her a withering look, his mouth too full of rice ball to form a reply.
"So what makes this the best house in Tai Shen?" Aang asked conversationally. "Every other house we'd been to looked just as nice to me. Some were even bigger."
At this, Li Mei stood up, walked over to the other side of the room and pulled the back door open, revealing the house's portion of the garden. Morning rose bushes and shrubs of jasmine peeked shyly over the house's upraised floor, and large cobblestones formed a pathway that led across the garden and toward a charming wooden bridge that spanned the stream. "On this side of the mountain is a small cave that has some wonderful hot springs," Li Mei explained. "This house happens to have the shortest, most direct path toward the hot springs, and according to our town's tradition, anyone using the honeymoon house gets to have exclusive rights to the hot springs for the duration of a week. In two days' time, that would be my grandfather and Grandma Sorab—"
Sokka choked on a rice ball, prompting Katara to give him a brief warning glare.
"—but while you're here, I suppose that would be you," Li Mei finished brightly.
Katara immediately cheered up. "Hot springs? Now that's good news."
"I could show it to you right now so the three of you can bathe and refresh yourselves for the feast tonight."
"Yeah, Soe said something like that, too," Sokka mumbled around his fifth rice ball. "What's with all this 'refresh yourself' stuff? It's only dinner at somebody's house, right? I think we're refreshed enough for that."
All eyes shifted toward his dusty, travel-stained clothing, and Li Mei visibly winced. "Maybe I should have explained it better," she said apologetically. "You see, a feast in Tai Shen is not just a simple dinner. It's a chance for us to show off a bit. There'll be entertainment and speeches and singing and dancing, and everybody will be all dressed up in their finery so they can parade their latest creations and designs in front of everybody else. It's a convenient excuse for some friendly competition. There will also be—well, I guess you'll find out later tonight."
"You mean everybody will be all dressed up?" Katara grew faintly queasy, her mind already sorting through their rather limited choice of wardrobe. When the three of them had set off on their journey, packing along a dressy outfit for special occasions was not exactly high on their list of priorities.
"This is all I have to wear." Aang patted his orange and saffron clothing.
"Oh, you don't have to worry," Li Mei reassured him. "Grandma Sorab already had some outfits sent to our house for you to choose from. Also, the two of you will be wearing a couple of new creations by my grandfather and Grandma. That is, if you don't mind." She addressed this to both Aang and Sokka.
Sokka grimaced. "You want Aang and me to wear some kind of girly jewelry?"
"Oh no, of course not!" Li Mei looked affronted by the idea. "There's a line of jewelry especially designed for men, and that's what you're going to wear tonight."
"Oh, great. That's a relief."
As Sokka's sarcastic comment tapered off into sulky muttering, Katara looked over at Li Mei, trying not to pout. "What about me?"
Li Mei twisted her hands together nervously. "To tell you the truth, that's the other reason why I'm here, Katara: to ask you if you'd be willing to wear some of my work tonight. I swear I've gotten better at it since the ring Grandfather showed you," she added as she reached into her pocket. "In fact, I have one of the pieces right here."
She carefully drew out a shiny object and offered it to Katara. It was a silver tiara, with delicate, petal-like arches surrounding a clear blue stone in the center. Like the gold ring, it was simple yet elegant, and Katara drew in a breath. "It's beautiful!"
The young goldsmith beamed with pride. "Thank you. That's sterling silver, by the way, and the stone is a blue tourmaline. Grandfather cut the stone for me, but I did the mounting and all the findings myself. This is actually part of a set, and the first time I saw you, Katara, I immediately thought that this and its companion pieces would look perfect on you. Why don't you try it on?"
Katara sat on the floor and let the other girl affix the tiara onto her head, positioning it so that the blue stone lay in the middle of her forehead, with the silver petals curving into her hair. Li Mei produced a small mirror and handed it to Katara. "I feel like a princess," she declared, tilting her head this way and that. "I think it looks great. What do you think?"
She turned to her two companions, fully expecting the blank, can't-be-bothered response from her brother. What she wasn't expecting was the look on Aang's face. He was staring at her, his gray eyes wide and unblinking, his mouth hanging slightly open. He didn't even appear to be breathing. "What?" she asked, beginning to worry. "Don't you like it?"
He shook his head, a hint of red creeping into his face. "You look…really nice," he managed, his voice sounding oddly hoarse.
And to Katara's shock and bewilderment, she found herself unable to break away from his stare, and her own cheeks grew warm as that strange, soft something in her chest unfurled a little bit more.
Sokka glanced first at Aang, then at his sister. "Gee, looks like something in this house is working right," he drawled. "I wonder if there's a double-wedding coming up two days from now."
The spell shattered. Aang looked away, reaching up to rub his head bashfully. "I, uh…I was just, uh…"
"Don't tease him, Sokka," Katara reproached her brother with a bit more force than usual. "Okay, I'll do it," she said to Li Mei, rising to her feet. "Let's see that outfit you mentioned a while ago."
Li Mei clapped her hands together delightedly. "Oh, you'll love it, I promise. Our house isn't far from here so we can get the gown fitted before you take a dip in the hot springs. I've got this milk and honey cream that smells just heavenly. Maybe you'd like to try some of it."
"Only if you'll try some of my special seaweed lotion. It works wonders for the skin, I guarantee it." They headed out of the house without another glance at the two boys. Katara didn't need to listen in to know that Sokka was probably saying something disparaging about girls and their silly habits, while Aang would be…Aang would be…
"By the way, what does blue tourmaline do?" she asked in order to distract herself from unwonted thoughts about the young Avatar.
"It gives you calmness and self-assurance, focus and balance. The blue color especially gives its wearer mental peace and the patience to deal with confusion and turmoil."
"Oh, good," Katara said with utmost sincerity. With the way this day had progressed, she was going to need all the calmness and mental peace she could get just to survive the feast tonight.
(To Be Continued…)
Author's Notes:
(Ahaha. Fourth time to uploaded this. Made a few more corrections. Sorry!)
Once again, thank you so much for reading, and to D. Tempest, BN, Mage of Swords, Raven's-Lost-Sister, Niana Kuonji, XxSilverMoonFrostxX, shinjae, Scorpiored112, darktank, and me-obviouslyfor reviewing. Sorry if this one took a bit longer. As anyone familiar with my writing knows, I tend to write long, loooong chapters, so please bear with me. In the next chapter, I'll be dealing with Aang's POV again and the main plot of the story will be revealed.
A few notes, though. I re-uploaded the previous chapters after making a few more corrections. For one thing, a friend of mine pointed out that Bumi is the King of Omashu, not of the Earth Kingdom as I so erroneously believed, which is why the episode was titled so. I also can't believe I missed how the words airbender, waterbender, firebender and earthbender were spelled, which was without the hyphen in the middle. Talk about unobservant. And so I stand corrected, or rather, write corrected.
Another thing: thanks to Niana Kuonji for pointing out that thing about Li Mei's eyes. After rewatching some of the episodes I do have, I did notice the same thing you pointed out. Frankly, it made me squirm. So, er, please just pretend for the sake of story continuity that a lot, if not most, of the firebenders have yellow eyes. I didn't know how else to show that she was a firebender other than dressing her up in too-obvious red or actually demonstrating her abilities.
And to those who noticed it: Yes, Tai Shen is shaped like a Chinese bagwa, that eight-sided lucky charm with a mirror in the middle. Tai Shen is also taken from the name Tsai Shen which, according to a website on Chinese names, means "god of prosperity." And according to Jack Wade Gold's Jeweler Jargon, "findings" are "items used to make up jewelry, such as clasp, chains, settings, wire, castings, earring posts, bails, loops and so forth," while "mounting" is a "device used to hold gemstones in place, may be a 4 or 6 prong head mounting, or a bezel mounting that has metal all the way around the stone, and may be in any shape the gemstone comes in."
And oh, I just have to mention this. I do have an Auntie Sorab. She's a distant relation, but close enough so I get to see her in a few of the more extensive family reunions. She's loud and friendly and wears this black French beret all the time and is the only person I know who plays an accordion, which she does at every opportunity. In fact, my friends remember my grandfather's wake as the only one where the deceased was serenaded by polka music. She is also, biologically speaking, a man. I used to call her Uncle Sorab until she very sweetly told me to call her Auntie, complete with that special arch of the eyebrow that no straight man and very few women can pull off. Grandma Sorab here was inspired by her, but no fictional character I can create will ever hold a candle to the real Auntie Sorab. So there.