The steam billowed out of the giant bronze tub. The four dragon feet carved into the base gave the illusion that the large structure was going to run away. The bright red rubies studded along the side looked as if they held heat, water beaded on their surfaces. Thick string of incense burnt in the air. Making the very air smokey and oppressive.
The splashing water was boiling hot. Katara let out a howl as she was dunked into it. For one terrifying moment she was completely submerged. Her nostrils flared and her eyes crunched tightly shut. Her hair billowed around her, coming out of their ceremonial loops. Her fingers clutched each other in terror. She then splashed upwards, gasping for breath, her hands slapped down onto the sides of the tub. Scrambling for purchase. Her breath came in thick gasps, her hair stuck to her face and neck and back.
"HOT! HOT! IT'S TOO HOT!" She screamed before getting a bucket of cooler water tossed into her face. She sputtered and gasped, her eyes filled with confused tears as she wiped the water off of her face.
"You stop that now!" The pinched looking woman wagged a finger in Katara's face. She was an old woman with great heaps of white hair piled on top of her head. Her eyes were ringed with golden make up and her gown was of the finest scarlet.
"It's boiling me!" Katara whined. The woman tossed her head back and let out a quick bark of laughter.
"Boiling? This is barely considered warm! Leave it to a water tribe barbarian from the bottom of the world to not know good hot water! You give them a tub and they want a pond! You give them warmth and they want it cold!" The woman shouted to the misty depths of the room. Katara sat back in the hot water and shivered. Her eyes darted around.
There were more women in the room. Most of them were washing laundry. Long bales of silks and furs were being treated. Most of the finest reds and rubies and shades of scarlet. Most of the women wore their hair in strange buns at the top of their heads or in tighter buns near the sides and base of their necks. Most of them ignored Katara and the woman with the bucket.
"Katara. Are you behaving yourself over there?" Kya called from the other side of the large rice paper wall. The wall was collapsible and had been set up between the two women when they had first arrived. It was set up between two massive bronze bathtubs. With smaller stools and buckets near by.
"Mom…..I want to go home." Katara whined. The older fire nation woman tossed her hands up in disgust before she grabbed a large brush out of a bucket that was overflowing with suds. She thrust the brush into Katara's hands and frowned down at the young girl.
"Here. I am positive you at least know how to clean. Now don't bother your mother. She is also preparing herself for what comes next."
"But what does come next? What is happening? Mom…"
"Katara!" Kya said sharply from her side of the dividing wall. "It will all be okay. Just behave. Be quiet. Wash up. We will be home before you know it. This has all just been….a misunderstanding." Kya said gazing up at the pinched face of the woman attending to her. The fire nation woman gave out a thin lipped little smile. As if trying to give Kya just the slightest bit of comfort, although both knowing that they were on opposite sides of a war. And one of them definitely held a lot more power over the other.
Kya let out a sigh and sunk deeper into the water. She closed her eyes and began to rub the hot water over her face and back. The water was nice at least. She had never experienced this warm before. In fact it was very relaxing.
Normally water took a long time to heat up in the south pole. So they reserved especially warm water exclusively for cooking or special occasions. If you got dirty then you had glacier melt off. The summer months it was a little different, there was more water available to use. But Kya had never experienced water this warm before. It felt like a great warm blanket had just been wrapped all around her and she was basking in it.
The thick smells of burning incense covered up the smell of laundry. Kya dunked her head entirely under the water and then came back up for air. It was actually rather refreshing. And relaxing after being cooped up for so long in the bottom of that stinking iron boat. She rubbed her face and hands with the bar of soap that had been thrust into her hands. It smelt of animal fat and flowers.
Kya only got up when the water got cold. She stood shivering, arms crossed over her ample breasts. They really were her most noticeable feature. They were twice the size of her head without a hint of sag. Her brown nipples were as thick as thumbs and stuck out a solid fingers width. They were very sensitive as well and were hard enough that they could probably destroy glass.
Kya yelped as a towel was rapidly scrubbed against her back and legs. Another was scrubbed quickly against her shoulders. She let out a yelp as someone gripped her hip and vigorously began to rub at her full butt cheeks. She was turned around and hissed as her hair was pulled just as quickly by more hands. Soon the women working in the laundry room had wiped every last inch of her body with the large towels. So that she was as dry as she had been when she got into the palace.
The older pinched faced woman gripped Kya's face and rapidly rubbed a small tube of something red and foul tasting against Kya's lips. She then flung some bright blue powder against Kya's still slightly damp cheeks.
Kya moved to rub at the make up only for her wrist to be rapped smartly by the pinched faced woman.
"You will smear it! Don't touch!" She said warningly. Kya dropped her hand and then gasped. More hands and bodies moved rapidly around her. Plucking, pulling, readjusting, until finally Kya found herself with her hair up in a large bun, her traditional hair loops had been left hanging so that her hair framed her face. The sharp edges of sharpened sticks had been shoved into the bun to keep her hair bun in place.
Her thick blue woolen furs had been torn away at some point. She was now wearing a dark wine red loin cloth, her tits were in a tight red wrap. But it was too small. It was like a bandage around her nipples. She had a lot of upper boob exposed and a lot of under boob exposed. The loin cloth hung all the way down to her knees, with the fire nation capital symbol sewn in gold on it.
A collar was clicked around Kya's neck and she swallowed, her throat constricting against the heavy cold metal.
"Solid gold. You should feel very honored that they gave you such a gift." The pinched faced woman said down towards Kya. She clicked a chain to the collar and handed it off to a nearby guard. The guard yanked on the chain and Kya stumbled to her feet. She gripped the chain to try and take a bit of the pressure off of her neck. She took a few unsteady steps.
"W-Wait! Please! My daughter!" She yelped in fear.
"Mom!" Katara said as she was pulled out from behind the other side of the curtain. Kya sighed, relieved. Katara was wearing a similar outfit to the other women working in the hot steam filled room. A dark red fire nation maid uniform, but redesigned for youths. Her hair was in a loose tangle down her back and still damp from the hot bath. Katara's eyes widened in surprise. She had never seen her mother so exposed before. It was a lot of bare skin.
The two women were wearing matching golden collars. A leash was in fire nation guards hands and they pulled the mother and daughter down multiple hallways. Slipping from one servant hallway to another. Until finally they popped out into a major corridor. The walls were held up by massive marble pillars, the ceiling disappeared into darkness. The only light came from flickering torches shoved into the wall.
A massive black stone door was open in the middle of the hallway. The smell of cinders floated out from it. Kya grabbed Katara's hand and squeezed it lovingly. She gazed at her daughter with as much care as she could muster.
The guards walked into the room and yanked the two behind them. Katara's eyes widened. Before her was a room she had never even imagined. Seated before her was an old man. So old his hair appeared to have lost all color. It wasn't white, it was drained. He was covered in wrinkles and had absurdly long sharp fingernails sharpened to dangerous deadly points. Behind him was a massive fire that flickered and cracked. A long line of guards stood on either side of the massive room.
Kneeling to one side on fine pillows was a family of four. They were wearing fine silks and robes. Even from this distance and in the darkened room Katara could tell that the family was adorned in royal finery. With silks and cottons and fine material that she had never seen before. Or even imagined.
It was a family of four. A man, his wife, and their son and daughter. The boy was looking at Katara with unabashed curiosity. As if he had never seen a member of the water tribe before. The girl was also studying Katara, but with a bored haughty expression. They were around her age. The boy maybe a little older, maybe around Sokka's age. The girl was definitely Katara's age.
"What has been presented to me today?" The old man seated before the flames croaked out. Katara cried out as she was kicked in the back onto the floor. She stumbled and fell to her hands and knees. The leash clicking against her collar. Kya cried out as well as she was pushed onto all fours as well.
"A woman of the southern water tribe and her daughter my Excellency. Captured from the Southern Water Tribe and brought as a offering to the Fire Lord's family. They are unique. No one in the fire nation owns a single member of the southern water tribe-" The guard cut himself off when the fire lord held up a hand.
"No one in the fire nation owns a single member of the southern water tribe? Who told you this?" The fire lord asked with a deep cracking snarl.
"The…the general who captured these two informed us that-"
"I own the southern water tribe. I also hold claim to the Earth Kingdom and the northern water tribe. They are all mine. Mine by right. All of the Southern Water Tribe members who I have captured are mine in MY prison. Who dared implied that I did not have a small armada already?" The Fire Lord asked warningly. His tone left no room for argument. The guard gulped, his throat bobbing, trying to get a word out. The Fire Lord snarled before pointing.
"Take these two worthless men to the dungeons and remove their legs. Then find this general who implies that I do not own the Southern Water Tribe. I want him burnt to ashes and the ashes burnt so that no one even remembers his name." A group of fire nation soldiers moved rapidly and gripped the guards by their arms, pulling them sharply backwards and towards the door. Katara stared after the departing guards with wide terrified eyes. The sheer ease and speed that the members of the household moved….It was terrifying. The men hadn't even done anything wrong! They had simply told the Fire Lord something that he didn't want to hear. And now they were going to lose their legs. And the man that took her and her mother so far away from home…he was going to be burnt.
"Now what to do with you two. I could just send you away to the water benders prison. But that is a waste of resources. I don't feel like feeding two mouths that can't even water bend." He tapped his sharp chin with an equally sharp finger. He studied the two women and sighed.
"Well you are both curiosities that is for certain. But not a curiosity that belongs in my zoo. Ozai. I gift them to you boy." The old man snarled to the younger man. Ozai, the man who was sitting on a nearby pillow bowed deeply. His forehead touched the floor.
"I thank you my excellency. My wife Ursa will be the one focusing on their training personally. I assure you that they will be the envy of the palace." Ozai said. The old man snorted and waved his hand dismissively.
"Do as you wish. Just remove them from my sight. They bore me. I gift the older one to you and your wife to use as you wish. The girl can go to the children. It is about time that they domesticate their own servant."
With that the family of four stood and bowed deeply. Apparently dismissed. Kya gulped loudly as the tall woman walked towards her. She smiled down softly and privately towards Kya.
"You may call me Lady Ursa." Was how she introduced herself. She looked between Katara and Kya and waited patiently for a few moments. She seemed used to waiting. Her patience was great.
"This is my daughter Katara. I am Kya." Kya said staring up firmly back towards Ursa. Ursa quirked a single perfectly manicured eyebrow and continued to smile that small private knowing smile.
"Well Kya. Katara. Welcome to your new home. The palace has not had a southern water tribe member in its halls for a very long time. You may stand." Kya and Katara slowly got up to their feet. Ursa took a hold of Kya's chain and began to walk. She walked with a casual smoothness. Like she was gliding. Kya gripped Katara's hand as they walked out of the massive throne room.
"Mother! I wish to train my water tribe toy!" The little girl shouted once they were in the hallway. Katara wrinkled her nose in distaste. The father…Ozai Katara remembered, had walked away by the time the rest of them had gotten to the hallway. Clearly he didn't seem interested in the family. Or he was busy with other matters.
Katara was disappointed. She had hoped to get to see the entire family up close. The two fire nation children were well fed. Full cheeked with glossy black hair. The boy seemed to resemble his mother's softer eyes and features. The little girl had more of the father's squareness. More chin and firmer eyes. She had lovely hair though.
Ursa frowned warningly down at the short little girl. She was shorter then Katara, although they were definitely around the same age. The fire nation princess glared right back. Completely at ease.
"Azula! This is Katara, she is not a toy. She belongs to you, to both of you. But never mistake her for a toy." Ursa said gently yet firmly. Ursa gripped Katara's chain and handed it over to the young boy. He had been standing silently and watching the women. He seemed shy, introverted, quiet.
"Zuko, take Katara to your shared play chambers and start introducing her to her new role. I expect you to teach her what is expected of her. You must also show her the gardens and the bedchambers. Remember that she is a gift to the both of you. You must share her." Ursa said with a warning look over towards Azula. Azula rolled her eyes. Clearly annoyed with her mother.
"And don't forget that she is a gift from your grandfather. So you must treat her well. No breaking her. You do not want to insult your grandfather by ruining his gift to you both. It was generous of him wasn't it?" Ursa asked the rhetorical question to the two children. Before she turned towards Kya and smiled sweetly.
"Wasn't it nice of him? To give your daughter to my children?" Kya blinked in confusion a few seconds before gulping, her breasts felt too exposed and yet somehow still constricted by the overly small rubber band like top.
"Oh yes! Very generous of the Fire Lord!" Kya agreed rapidly. Nodding her head quickly. Kya raised her eyebrows at Katara. A little warning. And the younger girl nodded along with her mother.
"Come along you." Zuko said pulling on Katara's chain. She walked a few steps. Her hands gripped her golden collar.
"And you will come with me so that you can learn your place." Ursa said as she wrapped Kya's golden chain tightly around her hand. She turned around and began walking away. Not waiting for Kya to catch up.
Katara yelped as Zuko pulled firmly on Katara's collar. And began walking her in the other direction. Katara turned back to look at her mother with wide eyes.
"M-Mom?" Katara's eyes were nearly overflowing with tears. Kya turned and looked back at her daughter. Her promise that they would stay together rocking through her ears. As loud as the waves.
"Katara!" Kya said pulling sharply. Ursa raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow in surprise as the golden chain flew out of her hands. It clattered down behind the water tribe woman, clicking at her ankles and over the bamboo floors. Katara wrenched her neck and sprinted towards her mom. Her chain racked over Zuko's knuckles.
Kya scooped Katara up. Held her close and whispered in her ear.
"Don't waterbend. If you want to see me again. Do not let them know you are a waterbender." Katara pulled her face away the make up smeared across their cheeks. Katara nodded quickly. Her eyes wide and blue.
"I will see you soon. Be good. I love you. Don't be scared." Kya said quickly as Katara nodded. Her throat was full of lumps. Kya pressed her forehead to Katara's. She took a deep steadying breath and then slowly let it out. Katara copied her. Their foreheads pressed firmly together.
"Okay. It's time to go. You will see each other for dinner." Ursa said firmly. She gripped Kya's chain and yanked it sharply upwards. Kya gently placed Katara on the floor and gave her daughter's forehead a kiss.
Kya grinned downwards before Ursa yanked her new toy away.
"That was an unacceptable thing that you just did." Ursa whispered warningly into Kya's ear. Kya squeaked in amazement. Ursa had one hand on Kya's chain. And the other was gripping Kya's left ass cheek firmly. Her long fingernails digging into the warm soft round booty flesh. Admiring the firmness, leaving her fingerprints on the water tribe milf's butt cheek.
"It occurs to me that we might have some work cut in domesticating you both. But I am sure that with the proper training you will both accept your fates. Your new lives. Your better life." Kya gulped and shivered. Ursa let out a light musical giggle, she had felt Kya shiver. She slipped her hand beneath the thin cloth of Kya's loin cloth. Squeezing Kya's ass all the harder. All the more possessively.
"You're lucky I didn't burn you." Azula said threateningly as she gripped the chain on Katara's neck. Yanking her along impatiently. Zuko wandering behind them. Katara looked over her shoulder as Kya was lead around a corner by Ursa and away.