Arctic Flower

Tea is a Sign of Tyranny

Katara's first time seeing inside the ship's magnificent great hall was when she made the final inspections before the summit. The gold shellacked walls nearly blinded her when she stepped out of her platform getas at the threshold; after being used to the dreary, utilitarian cabins with dim lighting and bare walls, her eyes needed to adjust to all this brightness and splendor. The golden walls painted with blossoming fruit trees were like stepping into a garden on a sunny day.

Her slippered feet glided across the bamboo mats on the floor as she lit pots of jasmine and sandalwood incense and rearranged oil lamps so that they looked more symmetrical and harmonious, whatever that was supposed to mean. The tea ceremony symbolized purity and harmony. The room where it was performed had to reflect these virtues, especially when that room was the setting for a summit that would decide the entire South Pole's future.
Katara brought the tea utensils over to a basin of water on the table. "Two lovers, destined for one another," she sang. "But the war still divides their people." Using her water-bending, she rinsed off each utensil: the dipper, the scoop, the whisk, and the bowl. She could easily wash them by hand but bending felt like a satisfying act of rebellion in a situation where she was otherwise powerless. "They build a tunnel through the mountain so now they can be together forever. Secret tunnel, secret tunnel, through the mountain, secret, secret tunnel."
"A pretty song." Katara's singing and bending had prevented her from hearing Zuko slide the door open and enter the great hall. He was dressed in his formal robes and looked regal and imposing.
Katara gasped and dropped the utensils back in the basin of water. She lowered her eyes like a guilty thief caught in the act of stealing. "Prince Zuko, is there something I can do for you?"
"It's just the two of us, Katara. There's no need to call me Prince." He joined Katara at the table and knelt down by her side.
"I know." Katara picked up the tea scoop and dried it off with a towel. "I was just practicing for later."
At the summit that evening, Katara would be expected to hold her tongue and be respectful.
Zuko circled around Katara and looked her over. "You look beautiful," he said.
"Thank you." Katara's cheeks blazed. Since their kiss all those weeks ago, she'd known that Zuko found her attractive. This was the first time he'd said so.
"I've heard Azula's taken you under her wing. What do you think of my sister?"
Katara laughed a little and dried off the whisk. "I trust her about as much as I trust black snow."  Black snow was the first sign that Fire Nation warships were approaching, and a raid was imminent. Katara still had nightmares about black snow. "But I have other things to worry about."
Today she would have to make the greatest sacrifice of her life: her freedom for the continued existence of her tribe.  Princess Azula's cattiness looked insignificant in comparison.
"Like the summit?"
"Like officially being handed over to the Fire Nation as a war prize."
"A royal consort."
"In the Water Tribe, we prefer to call a fishhook a fishhook instead of fishing tackle. It makes things less confusing."
Zuko gave a little bow of the head, which he often did when conceding that someone else had won the argument. "Speaking of confusing. Your brother, what kind of a beast am I dealing with here?"
Katara patted the water dipper dry. Sokka had been a thorn in Zuko's side since Zuko arrived at the South Pole. First, by responding to Zuko's letters with thinly-veiled insolence, then drowning a Fire Nation soldier during a skirmish, and finally seeking an alliance with the Northern Water Tribe behind Zuko's back.
"Like most Water Tribe people,  he's blunt," Katara said. "He'll tell you what he thinks of you right to your face. I wouldn't expect it to be anything good."
Zuko picked up the tea bowl and dried it off with another towel. "Honesty and straightforwardness are honorable qualities but not necessarily in diplomacy."
"Sokka is many things but diplomatic isn't one of them."
"He must have been pretty damned diplomatic to have betrothed himself to Chief Arnouk's daughter." Sokka's betrothal to Princess Yue was one of the terms of his alliance with the Northern Water Tribe.
Katara spread out all the tea things on the table and tried to arrange them with enough crisp precision to live up to even Mai's exacting standards. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you have something more important to do?"
"I came to see how you were doing." Zuko straightened the tea scoop, which was at a crooked angle. "You never know when world peace depends on the feng shui of a tablescape." 
"Then world peace must be as fragile as this tea bowl if such a little thing can upset it." Katara bent water from the basin into a snake-like tendril and used it to give the tea bowl a little push off the table.