Chapter I – Blossoms
Steam still filled the room and surrounded the bed, when a tiny strip of tea came out winding from the scalding pot on the ground.
"Here, little wisp. Let's see if I can bring you right... here!"
The little string of tea that graciously flew above her head started freezing in a crooked spiral between her hands, and Katara was about to give out a little squeal of joy, when she noticed it was melting again in the blink of an eye. And it poured right over the sheets of her bed.
"Oh, come on!" she muttered. Right then and there, the morning sun creaking through her window made her mind shift back to reality. "Right! It's time to go!"
Katara threw her feet on the ground, grabbed her long tunic and boots, and ran out of her room. Of course, she had forgotten. That was the one day she had to finish her chores before eight in the morning, and the one day she had chosen to forget about it, too caught in practicing her bending.
She quickly ran across the kitchen and grabbed a steaming pot and a teacup and a tray, all this without even slowing her pace, and rushed out to the garden, hoping the porcelain wouldn't tragically crash onto the ground.
Suddenly she smashed into something—someone—slender and steady. Her eyes flashed in terror when she saw the tray fly out of her hands for just one second. But Sokka's reflexes were quick; he grabbed the tray and the teacup just in time and fixed it back in her strong hold. "Good morning, sister."
"Sokka! Sorry, I'm just—where's Dad?"
"He's sitting by the pond, like... medidating or something. I thought he was losing his mind but I, uhm, sort of understand it, now. What's wrong, Katara?" he asked, grabbing her shoulder to stop her, since she was already walking past him, "You look terrible today—and what's that in your hair?"
Katara snorted. "Thanks, Sokka. Look, I'm late. I should be on my way down to the village now."
Her brother sighed. "Katara, listen to me, just one second." He put on his serious older brother face. "I realize you must be quite upset today. And that you're still willing to do this although you don't like this whole thing at all. But... our family is pretty much all that's left of our people. You know how Dad cares about you and he just doesn't want you to ever be left on your own. So please, just... don't mess up."
"Have I ever let Dad down?" Katara asked, looking her brother straight in the eye. "I know how important this is to him. I know he just wants... he just wants the best for me. And I'm not going to fail him, or you, or Gran-Gran, or anyone" She smiled faintly. "I promise."
Sokka curled his mouth. "Yeah, when you talk like that, I guess I should trust you." He let go of her. "Go kick butts, little sis'!"
Katara smiled at him and turned away, but after a few steps she stopped again. "Oh! Sokka!"
Her brother turned to look at her. "Yes?"
"Would you mind doing the chores for me today? Please?" she asked in a tiny voice, wearing her nicest smile.
Her brother sighed again. "Okay, okay. Just because it's late. But do me a favor—fix your hair as soon as you can. I'm serious."
Katara rolled her eyes. "Thanks again, Sokka. You truly know how to make a girl feel better," she smirked above her shoulder.
"Anytime, Katara. Good luck!" he shouted back, watching her turn the corner of the house to the garden. "You're going to need it for this day" he sighed bitterly, muttering to himself this time.
Katara had to slow down abruptly before nearing the small pagoda in their garden, seeing how absorbed in his thoughts her father was.
He sat in the middle of its circular plant, legs crossed, elbows on his knees, head down. His wide shoulder line didn't flick slightly at the sound of her step.
"Dad?" she asked timidly after questioning herself whether she should disturb him or not. "I brought you some tea."
Hakoda lowered his head and then slowly got up. Katara almost rushed to help him, before she remembered her hands were busy with the tray. She saw her father turning to her with a smile on his face, and couldn't help but smiling back. But she could see something undefinable through the lines on his face, that looked suddenly deeper that day. Like new flowing rivers had carved their banks overnight on that still juvenile face.
"How is your leg today?" she asked all of a sudden, as if she wanted to shake those thoughts out of her mind. After all, that leg injury, an injury her father got years earlier while still leading his men against the Fire Nation navy, had marked him and somehow changed him, made him imperceptibly distant and sadder than before; and Katara couldn't deny that it did affect her brother and herself, and their lives, in a way.
"Fine, like always, my dear" he said lovingly, placing a soft kiss on her forehead.
She lowered her gaze while placing the tray on the ground. "You're lying."
"And you worry too much" he smiled, his hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for the tea."
"You don't have to thank me. The doctor said ginseng tea every morning is always the best cure. Reinforces your bones and warms your blood and spirit. Remember?" she said cheerfully, careful not to look him in the eye, while she filled the cup and handed it to her father.
"Okay, but it doesn't matter. I'll be fine anyway, you know." Despite this, he brought the cup to his lips and sipped anyway.
Katara sighed, and smiled, at last. "Sometimes I wonder how you can be more stubborn than Sokka."
"Where do you think you both got it?"
"I'm not being stubborn. Not when it comes to being careless about one's health. The healers said your injury-"
Hakoda laughed, interrupting her. "Katara, please, you need to feel your age for just one day. It's your special day."
Katara lowered her gaze to the ground. "Yes. My special day. Sorry, dad. I guess I'm just... tense."
"Are your ready for your appointment?"
"Yeah, I'm-I'm working on it. Gran-Gran is waiting for me in the village, I guess I will need a little tidying and polishing and-" she paused abruptly, "about this fortuneteller thing..."
She stopped and sighed. Something started hurting in her throat. Something she had to say. "It's... nothing. I'm just nervous." She paused a moment, her eyes low. "I'm not sure about everything. If someone can predict my future... that doesn't mean I necessarily want to follow". She looked up at him, a little timidly.
"Katara" her father sighed, his kind blue eyes staring at her. "Listen to me. There comes a time in the life of a girl when she has to make a choice. I won't be here forever. Sokka might not be here forever. I want you to be safe, like every other father here. This fortune-teller has always helped people in this village—and she can help you too. But I want you to know nothing she'll say will determine your destiny. Katara," he paused, and he got incredibly serious, "I will never force you into marrying someone. Whatever happens today—take it as just a sign pointing at something."
Finally, he smiled again, and Katara bit her lip. She almost wanted to tell him that was not the point. She almost told him that a life like that wasn't really what she wanted at all. She wanted to say that maybe knowing that sign would frighten and disarm her, a little.
But she didn't. And at last she just nodded, with a faint smile.
Her father raised his brow. "And by the way, tell your grandmother you don't need any polishing. Your face is by far the prettiest. You're one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen, and I'm sure you will become an even more beautiful woman."
Katara shook her head and laughed. "Come on, dad, you're getting emotional. Besides, you're biased."
Hakoda laughed loudly. "I might be, just a little. After all, sometimes I realize my little girl is all grown up." He paused, looking at her, then something occurred to him. "Now—what time is it? Aren't you supposed to be at the village at nine?"
Katara startled and her eyes popped open. "Gosh—I know! I mean—Yes, I'm... I have to go!
She ran out of the pagoda almost stumbling down the steps, and her father watched her rush down the hill and disappear over the walls of their house. The village was a ten minute walk away and she was already late.
"Kanna, where is your grand-daughter? I thought she should be here by now. It's nine fifteen."
The old woman switched her grey eyes on her friend, standing on the dais in front of the house. "She's coming, Lue. Have a little patience, for spirits' sake."
"If you say so" Lue sighed, and stepped back through the doorway.
"There she is" Kanna said suddenly with a grin, and Lue stopped where she stood. "I told you she was coming."
In fact, Katara was coming. She was right on the other side of the street, all drenched in sweat, and her hair ruffled. But the streets of Makapu were busy and bustling in the morning, and that happened to be the main road of the village. She waved at her grandmother and walked through the traffic, but didn't see a man who seemed to carry a heavy load on his back was coming her way, and they ended up crashing into each other in a burst of clanging metal and milk pouring on the ground, before they could realize it.
Kanna brought a hand to her forehead.
Katara jerked on her knees and rushed towards the man, who was still lying on the ground. She saw a dozen bottles shattered on the ground and part of the milk they carried all spilled on the ground. "Oh, no—Sorry, this is all my-"
"You careless little... brat, wandering about the street when there are people working!" The man barked, his face deformed in a look of pure hate. "Look what you've done!"
Katara's face went livid all of a sudden and her ocean blue eyes flashed in outrage. She dropped the milk she was in the process of bending back from the ground. "Excuse me for helping you, sir. I'll put your precious milk back where it was."
And as she said so, the few bottles that were still upright fell down and spilled all the remaining milk on the street. "My fresh milk" he cried in despair "that's a catastrophe! I'll have to go take it back on the other side of the hill!"
"Let that be a lesson for being such a gentleman!"
She left him behind without looking back, still frowning, and crossed the street to end up in front of her grandmother, her arms crossed. "Good morning, Gran-Gran. Sorry for the wait."
Her Gran-Gran shook her head and smiled, examining her granddaugher from top to toe. Her hands and gown were dirty with dust and milk, and her blue kimono tunic was crooked and too loosely tied. Her curly brown hair was down—Katara couldn't find time to braid it—and tangled in a frightful mess of knots that would take a relevant amount of time and pain to unravel. On her neck, her mother's necklace shined as always, almost merging with her skin.
"You're such a bad-tempered child, aren't you?" the old woman said as a mild reprimand, while holding the girl's shoulders. She might have been mad, but Katara knew her grandma would never scold her for putting a boorish man back in his place. "And bad at timing, too, I'd say. Come, let's not waste any more time. We're going to fix you up a little."
"First, let's get you cleaned up" Lue said with a smile, while guiding them both inside. "Let me have a look."
Katara was busy looking around, so she didn't notice the brisk old woman had appeared right in front of her, and she gasped when she felt fingers in her hair and a smart, pondering gaze pinning on her face and clothes.
"Well, well, well," she said, at last "I've seen much worse, after all. But we sure got a long way to go..."
"Wait—I don't think that's necessary, Lue" Katara objected politely. "Aunt Wu receives people every day and-"
"But this is a rite of passage, child" Lue replied, almost offended with her hesitancy. "Here in Makapu, it is believed that good looks bring good omen. This is a special day for girls in this village and you don't want to make a poor figure, do you?"
"No, but... the dress, the hair, the make-up—isn't it all a little too much?" Katara tried to say. "I don't think I-"
"Oh, come on. Just a bath, we'll untangle your hair, and we'll get you something decent to wear. You won't even notice, believe me. Come, let's turn you into a lady."
At this point it was hard to find a way to object. And as the bather dragged her by her wrist to a fancy shield before she could even gape, Katara found a piece of mind to wonder whether that had to be taken as a compliment or not. Either way, she couldn't think of an answer, because suddenly her clothes slipped off her skin without her even touching it, and it was too late to protest, anyway; she could only shriek when she literally felt her body splash inside a wooden tub, full of foamy ice cold water.
"Are you kidding me? It's freezing!" she finally caught her breath to protest, while still trembling in the tub.
"You call that freezing?" Gran-Gran replied with an amused smile, while Lue was pouring some lotion over Katara's wet head. "Back in my day, a Water Tribe girl would have paid gold to have such a bath."
"Yeah—you forget I left the poles ten years ago" Katara said through her teeth, too focused on not moving in the icy water—it was cold, no matter what Gran-Gran said.
"Don't be easy on her, Lue" Gran-Gran said, "she really needs a little lesson on that."
After the bath, hairdressing was next. Katara found herself sitting on her knees, in a pretty room with birch parquet and pink orchids on every shelf and a huge white glass wall behind her back. She could as well enjoy the peacefulness of that room, if only she hadn't had two quite talkative women all bustled around her, one on each side; and she felt their hands working on her head and messing with her hair, pulling, curling, pinching and tying, unable to see them doing that, which was way frustrating for her. Still, she abid everything and waited patiently to see the result. She absent-mindedly heard the women chatter around her head—she caught something about a war, and hundreds of boys fighting for her—but she didn't listen. When they handed her a little round mirror, she gasped. She wasn't sure if she liked it, and she wasn't given the time to see it all, but the glimpse she'd caught reassured her they managed to fit her signature loopies in her hairstyle, and she smiled in relief.
Hair done, it was time for the dress. She followed Gran-Gran out in the streets. She had to speed up her pace in order to catch up with Gran-Gran and Lue, but then something stopped her: a little girl had her rag doll stolen by two young boys, playing with their wooden swords. At that sight, a blurry reminescence of Sokka and her playing in the yard passed before her eyes; and she just had to bow down and swipe the doll away from the boy's hand, and give it back to the little girl, who hugged her toy and looked at her in awe. This, before Katara was grabbed by the arm and dragged away in a few seconds.
The dressmakers were better than she expected. Even the few times they accidentally pinned needles into her skin—it was not their fault, she thought as she held her breath—or almost choked her when tightening the belt on her waist.
Before she could see herself, she was sent straight to the final part—the make-up session. It was again the uncomfortable feeling of being touched and pulled and pinched and painted without her having a clue of what was happening to her face. Despite that, she was still looking forward to see the result; she had never worn any make-up before. And when she was given a mirror, she had to admit her blue eyes contrasted the crimson red of her lips quite nicely, with the black paint along her lids, and long black lashes shadowing over. If anything, the make-up was utterly soft and delicate.
At this point, Katara allowed herself to look in the tall mirror on her right. Her hair, parting from the middle of her forehead, were tied back in a loose, thick top-knot, with a pale pink flower behind her neck. On both sides, her loopies fell nicely, framing her face.
Her long white pettycoat touched the ground, covered with several layers: she wore a pale blue gown, with embroidered hems; a kimono-like vest with long and large sleeves, the same color of her Water Tribe clothes, shaped in the Earth Kingdom fashion; around her waist, over the shirts and gowns, a tight sash with a huge bow on the back; and an additional blood red belt. She carried a long red ribbon which was supposed to twirl around her arms, falling on her back. A pair of white pearl earrings had been added somewhere during the make-up session.
All this was far more than Katara had requested or imagined, and though it made her uncomfortable and eerily nervous, nevertheless she couldn't help staring at her own reflection.
"Here. You are ready" Gran-Gran said, as she neared and took her face in her hands gently.
Katara smiled. "You mean almost ready." She opened her fist, unfurling her light blue charm with waves carved on its stone. "Help me tie it up, Gran-Gran."
The old woman smiled warmly and bound the blue ribbon behind her granddaughter's neck. "Look at my little waterbender. As beautiful as the moonlight on the sea." Katara looked at herself in the mirror, and she couldn't lie to herself that she liked what she saw.
"You look just like your mother on the day of her bethrotal" her Gran-Gran said from behind her shoulder. "Ah, that Kya. A beautiful girl for sure."
Katara lowered her eyes and her fingers found their way up to her necklace. "I wish she was here."
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Katara felt an old, bony hand get a solid grasp on her shoulder. "She is here."
Katara smiled at her grandmother's apparent sour tone, and bit her lip. Then she turned abruptly towards her and hugged her tight, so much that at some point she feared she could break her. "Sorry, Gran-Gran" she muttered.
The old lady, as a response, reinforced her grasp. "What are you talking about?" she said. "I am stronger than you and your brother altogether, you know. And now—move on, little lass. We've got a matchmaker waiting."
A/N: So here we are again. I wish I had been able to update earlier, but I'm on vacation so I haven't had a lot of time recently! Anyway, this was the first actual chapter. I'm a little nervous because this is where we get to introduce Katara and her family. I hope I made a decent job :P also, there are a few things about their life in the Earth Kingdom that might be a little confusing. As you see, they live in Makapu (and you will understand later on how they got there). I've had them living in the Earth Kingdom for a series of narrative reasons, and most of all I thought it was interesting to explore a possible scenario of our favourite Water Tribe family living away from the Poles, with all that comes with it. I also wanted to note that Hakoda is a little different here. It's an AU where he got permanently injured during the war, and leaving the Poles, along with losing his wife-all these things together have changed his attitude a little bit. I hope it makes sense :P so, that's it, for now. My hope is to update once a week (at least until september). For anything else, just let me know or ask me on tumblr :)