The Firelord's Honor

Chapter 29

A/N A few things. First, the song that is sung by the women before the wedding is called Inuit Wedding by Sainkho. I know pretty nail-on-the-head but.. second, I drew from 3 different Native American marriage traditions(Cherokee, Apache and Inuit) as well as Celtic, and added some ATLA themes to make it fit. It took me forever to figure that scene out. I hope you like it. I did a little bit of stuff on my rarely used Instagram for this chapter, badadder1. Her dress and hair, etc.

Chapter 29

To say that Katara was surprised by what waited for her at lake Laogai would be an understatement. The entire tribe was gathered there. Temporary shelters master Pakku had clearly bent from the snow and frozen lake stood in a large circle around a great fire. It felt almost like home.

As soon as they arrived, before she even had time to apologize to Zuko for how angry she'd been, several women descended on them and pulled her away into one of the huts to prepare. She looked over her shoulder as she was dragged away and shot him what she hoped was an apologetic smile. His smug grin was the last thing she saw before she ducked into the frozen hut.

Gran Gran was there, sitting in the middle of the room. Across her lap was a winter dress Katara had never seen before. The fur lining was white and soft and dyed bone beads picked out various symbols against the blue dyed sealskin. It had slits up the sides to allow for wider range of motion as she preferred.

"I have been working on this ever since we got to the city. We could not bring much with us from home, but I had set the hides aside for this years ago. I couldn't leave them to be destroyed in a Fire Nation raid." Kanna placed a hand on Katara's cheek and smiled lovingly at her. "It should have been your mother's task, but it was my privilege instead. I am so proud of you my dear girl. I know that she is too." She reached up and wiped the tears from Katara's face and stood. "Now," she stepped back and gestured to the dress "let's put this on."

Thick leggings and knee high boots went on first. After the dress had been pulled over her head she looked down at the bead work over her right breast and gasped. The three pronged flame of the fire nation was tucked in a circle beside the crescent moon that represented her tribe. Above the flame was a small sun, below the crescent was another smaller full moon. It was beautiful. The pattern was repeated twice along the split hem. Their two nations, depicted in beautiful unity. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked up at the older woman to thank her.

"Oh Gran Gran, this is beautiful. Thank you." She embraced her tightly before allowing herself to be manhandled again, this time for her hair. Blue, purple and white beads were strung along four loopies on either side of her face and pulled into her round bun. Many more beaded strands hung down the back and clacked softly when she moved. The final touch was a red painted crescent on her forehead with white dots on either side to represent Tui and La. Finally one of the women, Anyu's mother, brought her the blue ceremonial blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. Katara smiled at her and the other women around her before they all began to sing.

As they exited the hut, Silaqqi was waiting for them and added her voice over the others. They made their way to the largest ice structure where her family and much of the tribe was gathered, many more standing outside. She could hear the heavy beat of drums and the low tones of men singing as well. Inside, her father and brother stood beside Zuko and Iroh. The two fire nation men wore brown hide earth kingdom style parkas with wide black, beautifully tooled, leather belts. It looked like someone from her tribe had gotten ahold of the parkas though. Zuko's had the same combined emblem as hers in beads and Iroh's had the fire nation flame. Half of Zuko's shoulder length hair was pulled back and someone, probably Sokka, had strung a few beads on a section of hair next to his ear. On his forehead, mirroring her moon, was the sun.