A/N: Sorry for the delay! I had a business trip to Houston plus insane over time. But everything has settled as my supervisor is back and therefore I'm back to doing only one job! Yay!
Disclaimer: I don't own.
Katara covered her face with her hands and sank into the tub. She shouldn't be embarrassed. She'd seen Zuko without a shirt before, as soon as they'd settled into the beach house before the end of the war he'd taken to just not wearing a shirt. Plus she'd healed him and that had been a lot of her seeing Zuko without a shirt.
His backside, however, was entirely different. And very nice, a sly voice admitted in her head. She groaned under water before sitting up. "Get a hold of yourself. It's perfectly natural for you to see your husband basically naked," she reasoned out loud. "Even if you didn't actually mean to get married," she muttered.
She sat up a little straighter and looked for the soap to wash her hair. Just as she had a good lather going the door burst open and Ursa glided in, carrying an arm full of clothes. Katara could clearly see Zuko staring at her. Great now he's seen my chest, she thought as Ursa kicked the door shut and began shaking out clothes.
"Now," she began, "I found a few old trunks of mine. Apparently no one bothered to throw them out thankfully. I also went through Azula's closet and picked out a few different items-"
Katara sank down as her mother-in-law spoke. "Uh, why do I need clothes?" She asked as she covered her breasts with one arm and bent water to wash her hair with the other.
"You're meeting with the Fire Sages today," Ursa said simply. "You can lower your arm, I've already seen those and have a set of my own, they're nothing new."
Katara quickly dunked her head and hoped Ursa didn't see her blush. Once she surfaced she said "thank you but I have clothes."
Ursa gave Katara a look she'd seen mirrored on Zuko's when he was dealing with one of Aang's more cheerful ideas. "Yes, you do have clothes but you will be addressing them as the Fire Lady. The Fire Lady does not speak to the Fire Sages in clothes that are, while admittedly nice, in need of a wash."
"And blue," Katara muttered.
Ursa huffed. "Color doesn't matter. Unless you're mourning then you wear white."
"If I were to get appropriate clothes in blue," Katara trailed off.
"No one could say anything against you without risking the wrath of the Fire Lord. You will be representing him at times; anything said to you will be like talking to the Fire Lord."
"Huh," Katara said. "I think I kind of like that."
"Of course, now get out and pick out something. I hope we can find something that fits." Ursa held a towel up for Katara. Katara quickly wrapped the towel around herself and bent the water out of her hair. "This was one of my old dresses." Ursa held up a slightly complicated looking robe. "I wore it right after I was married, before I was even pregnant with Zuko."
"About Zuko," Katara began. She knew she needed to apologize, if only to hopefully not have to endure hours of planning talks with wistful sighs about real weddings. "I apologized for accidentally getting us married. We talked about it last night and everything should be fine."
Ursa smiled. "Good. Just promise me I can plan everything else for you two as a consolation."
"Everything else?" What else would she need? It's not like-
"Oh when you announce your pregnancies, baby showers, maybe even a birthday or two. Little things like that. Now I'm not sure why Azula had this dress, maybe someone told her she needed a formal dress at some point and she didn't set them or the fabric on fire but here it is. What do you think?"
Katara just stared at the dress. Her brain stopped working at "pregnancies."
Zuko squirmed as the five head Sages looked (glared) at him and Katara. Ever since he was a kid and had fallen asleep during their long Summer Solstice benedictions he'd felt like they hated him. He'd done a few other things too but he knew they hated him for the sleeping.
"Fire Lord Zuko," the head Sage drawled in such a way that made Zuko feel like 'Fire Lord' meant 'naughty child.' Zuko gulped but kept his head high. "It has come to our attention that you've married this woman," he gestured to Katara, "but are seeking an annulment."
"Yes," Zuko answered. Later he'd explain to Katara what that meant.
"Forgive me, Fire Lord, but maybe your lovely bride needs our traditions explained to her."
Zuko tried really hard to roll his eyes. "I know we didn't get married in an official ceremony but I can honestly say we haven't consummated the marriage. I just need the marriage contract drawn up and the annulment. We can sign both today and be done with it."
The Sage smirked. "We can, of course, have that done. However, since your marriage was unofficially announced and Dowager Ursa has come to us to plan your official one let me remind you that you cannot get an annulment until three months after your wedding is announced."
"Is this some stupid way of making sure I'm not pregnant?" Katara asked tersely.
The Sage rounded on her, his fake smile straining at his lips. "Not at all, Fire Lady. Before we trained dragon hawks to be messengers it took a boat three months to reach the outermost islands. As such every announcement is given a three month time frame before it can be undone."
"That's ridiculous," Katara said.
"So is living on a block of ice," the Sage countered.
Zuko put his hand on Katara's shoulder to keep her seated. "Watch your tone, Your Eminence," Zuko said in a deathly calm voice. "You're speaking to both the Fire Lord and Lady."
Zuko really liked how the man's face paled. "My apologies, Your Majesty. I'll make sure we have both documents ready for you to sign by the afternoon."
"We'll be back then," he said as he stood. He held his hand out for Katara, who gracefully rose and held her head high as she turned to walk out of the room.
Once safely far away from the Fire Sages Zuko let his shoulders slump and sighed loudly. "Sorry about that," he said.
Katara shrugged. "I've heard worse from you."
"Right."
"You sounded a little scary in there," she admitted.
"I might have been trying my best to sound like Ozai for a little." He watched her open her mouth to reply. "Before you say anything I found that tactic really works with some people. That and showing them my scar. Apparently I'm intimidating then."
"Clearly they've never seen you cuddling the turtleducks."
"One time and you're never going to let me live that down, are you?" She shook her head. They kept walking as Zuko glanced down at Katara. He hadn't really had time to look at her. He took in the golden flame in her hair, liking the way it contrasted with the dark brown of her hair. Her dress, however, almost made him laugh. It looked too big and he could tell it was hastily hemmed. "Where did you get that?" He finally asked.
"The hairpiece or the mockery of a dress?"
He decided to be honest. "Both. I don't remember requesting that the hair piece be brought out of storage."
"Ursa did. The dress is hers too. Or was hers." He raised an eyebrow. Katara sighed. "Apparently I couldn't meet with the Fire Sages in my clothes so Ursa brought me new ones. Some were Azula's and some were hers. Even though I really didn't want to I tried Azula's and, well, they were tight."
"But you're no bigger than she is," Zuko reasoned.
"Everywhere but my chest." Zuko coughed. He'd seen her bare chest this morning and had promised himself that he would never forget the site. "What, no comment? Have I stunned the illustrious Fire Lord into silence?" She teased. "Come on, I know you saw this morning."
"I, uh, yes I did and I'm sor-"
"You showed me yours last night without meaning to and this morning I showed you mine. Fairs fair."
"You've been hanging around with Toph too much."
"Maybe I have. Anyway I need to change out of this monstrosity I hemmed this morning and back into something that actually fits before Ursa drags me shopping."
"I thought you two were better now."
Katara sighed. "We are but I still need clothes and she's still excited to have a daughter-in-law."
"Let me know if she gets carried away, I'll talk to her." Katara raised an eyebrow. "What? It's not like I'm scared of her."
Katara just laughed.
Thank you to everyone who favorited, alerted, and reviewed! All of that is awesome!
Next chapter will have more with other characters. I also really like writing Ursa this way.
Also bare in mind that this is the most regular I've updated anything, ever. So I'm kind of proud of myself right now.