Whew! That last one sure was popular. I'm glad you all liked Zuko's letters so much. My personal favorite was the haiku.

Today's story is short and simple. The shortest yet, in fact. (But that's just because there's a bunch of more involved stuff on the way.)


Day Six

Royal Affairs


Katara looked around the room nervously as one royal handmaid synched her sash and another wove pearls into her hair. This would be her first official assembly and she was understandably anxious about appearing alongside all of the other world leaders. It had been four months now since she'd begun training to take over Yue's role as princess-heir to the Northern Water Tribe. As the Avatar's waterbending teacher and with the recommendation of Master Pakku, Chief Arnook, who was getting along in years, had deemed her most fitting to represent the North in an official capacity. It had been a difficult decision for Katara to make the move North away from her brother and father, but by taking the role of princess she would be in a position to positively affect thousands of people. And, she reminded herself, her grandmother had been born and raised among the Northern aristocracy. Northern blood ran in her veins. These were her people, and Katara would always choose to help her people.

Of course, the people of the Northern Water Tribe were much bigger sticklers for propriety than the South, and Katara was being given the full royal treatment for this assembly. She'd been bathed and scrubbed and manicured and bathed again before being dressed in a purple angora gown and then plunged into the finest ermine parka money could buy. Her skin was lotioned and made up with shimmering charcoal paint and peony-colored lip-stain. This would be her debut as princess and she'd been carefully trained to walk, sit, speak, and dine with primness that would make Toph never speak to her again if she could see it. It was also the first assembly to be held in the Northern Water Tribe since the end of the war, making it particularly important that every last tiny detail was presented flawlessly. Katara personally didn't think the other nations would care overly much how she stood or ate—their leaders were there to discuss world affairs, after all—but Arnook was old and traditional and he wanted the Northern water Tribe to be taken seriously.

Katara took a few calming breaths as she was at last led to the great hall to join her fellow leaders. She'd never been the type to get nervous in front of kings—she'd known most of them for ages—but there was something about being all dolled up like a wedding cake that made the nerves flare up.

The doors opened and she took another deep breath before making her entrance. The first face she saw, to her relief, was Sokka's. He was dressed in one of their father's ceremonial parkas and he not-so-subtly shot her a grin and a thumbs up. Katara walked smoothly past him to greet Kuei and Bumi who gave her a respectful bow and approving cackle respectively. She then took her place at the end of the line with Zuko who greeted her with a graceful, stooping bow.

"Congratulations, Katara," he told her softly, his eyes twinkling in the crystal lighting.

Katara answered his bow with a regal curtsy and tried to hide how she grinned up at him as she did so. She could already hear the rumor mill at work. But she didn't care. Not really. It felt good to once again stand beside Zuko and her brother on the world stage. Now she could work alongside them in a capacity that mattered.

The warm reception went a long way to stilling her nerves and when Katara took her seat alongside the other world leaders, she felt her usual confidence settle in the place of her fear. This was nothing she hadn't done before. She belonged here and there was absolutely nothing she needed to prove.

oO0Oo


Like I said, short (but sweet).

Let's be real for a sec. Chief Arnook is gonna need someone to take over for him. He's out his only daughter and he's got no wife to pop out another one. Hahn is useless and we've never been introduced to any other promising young folks who could conceivably take his place. So, I decided hey, why not Katara? She's got Pakku's stamp of approval as well as the Avatar's, plus she likes helping people, so I could honestly see her taking up the torch. This is, of course, ignoring any tricky politics/succession laws that might bar the way.