Coming Together

Realization

Katara actually got to wake up to the soft chiming of her clock and not knocking the next morning. To say she was not a morning person was an understatement. She listened to it go off for four whole minutes before she got herself out of bed and crossed the room to turn it off. With a stretch and a yawn she cracked her back, padding out of her room and into the bathroom to get ready. She looked at herself in the mirror and grimaced. It was gonna be one of those days. A day where she spent an hour trying to get ready and in her eyes still ended up looking awful. Truth was, she was the kind of person who rolled out of bead beautiful, but she didn't think so.

And so she began her seemingly impossible task. She brushed out her wild hair, washed her face, put on just a dash of simple make-up, and fiddled with her hair, putting half of it up into a bun and letting the rest flow down her back. She went back to her bedroom and looked through her clothes. She wanted to look especially beautiful today to win over the council on her proposal; for there to be a public ferry between the city and the island where Aang lived now. The men on the council were old and some of them lonely. They would do anything to make a pretty girl happy. She felt bad for trying to seduce them into getting her way, but she didn't want to disappoint Aang. She pulled out a sky blue short sleeved dress robe with a white pattern on the bottom that looked like waves. It was one of her favorites. She changed from her night gown to her clothes for the day, tying around her middle a thick sapphire blue sash. She went to the bathroom and gave herself one last look in the mirror, satisfied, and headed toward the door, slipping on her black flat shoes as her boots didn't really go with this outfit.

Locking her door she made her way to city hall, looking over at the island before it was out of sight. She wasn't sure at first what it was, but when she looked over to the island, she could see a light colored structure in the water, along with a pathway down the side of the rocky cliffs leading up to the temple. She smiled. He had kept his promise. Now it was her turn. She held herself a little higher and made her way to city hall. For the better part of an hour she walked silently through the city, making eye contact with those who were already staring at her, making her wonder if she had dressed a little inappropriately. As she had more and more little stare downs through the city, she started to feel anxiety set in, her heart racing. Then she could hear whispers. They started discretely but the closer to city hall she got the more noticeable they became. Paranoia started to run rampant in her mind. Something was wrong. Half way there and the whispers grew louder and some words were audible. Words like "Avatar", "Watertribe", "Acolyte". It was hard to hold her head high now, feeling like she wanted to crawl away into a cave and hide. Some women had the nerve to step out in her path and make Councilwoman Katara walk around them as they whispered amongst themselves. She looked behind her and it seemed as if the entire street was staring at her. Something was very wrong indeed.

When she finally made it to her destination, other council members had arrived and were in a seemingly deep conversation. That is, until they saw her walk through the doors and up to her seat. Suddenly the conversation between them dropped and she became aware of how many eyes were on her. She scanned the civilian seats and met eyes with her brother, who gave her a small wave. She smiled and nodded to him, happy he was here, knowing he might be the only person in the room not talking about her behind her back. She also saw Zuko who gave her a knowing and gentle smile. One that said everything would be okay. She looked down at her folded hands and sat perfectly straight, waiting for the meeting to begin. There were a few key talks today; curfews, legal drinking ages, and street maintenance. When Councilman Xin Li opened the floor, Katara took her cue and stood from her seat. She gave the men her most dazzling smile and they she had their full attention, her beauty absolutely undeniable.

"I believe I have something of a proposal."

"You have our attention, Princess Katara." He said respectively.