Skin; Laughter
25. Skin
The noblewomen of the Fire Nation had some very strange habits when it came to skincare. Several of the things they considered beauty products, Katara considered food. If she had ever rubbed pureed seaweed or reduced tigerseel blubber on her face back home, people would have called her crazy. The women of Zuko's court payed ridiculous amounts for tigerseel blubber, imported from the northern Earth Kingdom and, under the new trade agreements, the Water Tribes. Ty Lee had given her a jar when Katara had complained to her about the havoc the local climate was wreaking on her skin. Katara had frozen it and diced it, then eaten it. It tasted like home, and also preservatives. She wasn't going to waste a good, Water Tribe-style meal by rubbing it on her face, humidity induced acne or no.
13. Laughter
The first time Mai and Zuko broke up was also the first time Katara got drunk. It was rice wine, in Zuko's private quarters. She listened to him rant about Mai's lack of emotion, or affection, or understanding. Trying to move away from a hundred years of war economy was not, he informed her easy. He needed some support!
“Also,” he said once they were well and truly drunk, “she's kind of boring in bed.”
Katara pictured Mai, with her usual expression of disinterest and disdain, doing a sexy, hip swinging dance. She burst out into a fit of giggles.
“What?” said Zuko.
“Does her expression change at all?” asked Katara.
“I... don't know,” said Zuko. “It's generally pretty dark, and - ”
Katara slid off the low couch they were seated on, knocking over several empty bottles, and pounded the floor in laughter.
“Time for more wine,” said Zuko.
They woke up tangled on the floor together the next morning, each with a headache the size of Appa.
Mai and Zuko were back together by the end of the week.