"Is it on straight?" Mai asked Katara. As the Moon Maiden, Mai's costume featured a silver crescent-shaped headdress with strings of pearls looped around her chin and a shimmering black veil that fell down her back.
The headdress was a little crooked. Katara set it to rights. "There, now it is," she said, smiling at Mai.
The Moon Maiden represented beauty and grace, two virtues the ideal woman possessed. Court poets often compared lovely women to the full moon. Poised, aloof, and radiant, Mai embodied the Moon Maiden.
"I know I'm not going to get through the night without tripping over this thing," said Ty Lee. She raised the hem of the trailing cape she wore as Lady Maple Leaf, covered in leaves cut from blood-red silk. "I just know I'm going to twist my ankle."
Katara laughed into her sleeve. How funny would it be if Lady Maple Leaf, who epitomized wisdom and maturity, fell flat on her face?
"And what about me?" said Katara. Yi-Shen, the master of ceremonies, made the obvious choice and gave her the part of Lady Snow, who wore a white cloak and a headdress shaped like a snowflake.
Mai looked Katara over. "You look like snow wouldn't melt in your hand," she said. Snow wouldn't melt in her hand was a stock poetic phrase describing a pure and innocent woman.
As Lady Snow, Katara personified virtue and purity, the two qualities, other than beauty and grace, that poets seemed to stress the most. Fire Nation poets could afford to see snow as something pretty and romantic. They came from a land where it was rarely cold enough for snow and, if then, only enough to give a picturesque dusting to the purple slopes of a mountain or the thatched roof of a peasant's cottage. If a Water Tribe poet had created her, Lady Snow would be a cold-hearted bitch and not a sweet and gentle maiden.
Master Yi-Shen opened the screen door. "Places, ladies," he said.
Mai, Ty Lee, and the other girls rushed toward the great hall. Katara adjusted her glittering veil. Snow wouldn't melt. She took a deep breath. Snow wouldn't melt.

A castle set had been erected in the great hall of the palace keep, where Fire Lord Iroh hosted a banquet for a delegation from the Earth Kingdom. Katara took her place with Mai and Ty Lee in the castle's ramparts, where they and four other girls would wait to be rescued by the Sun Prince and his six masked warriors. Her heart pounded in time with the drums that announced the pageant was starting.
The doors at the other end of the hall opened, and the Sun Prince led the charge on the castle in his dazzling golden costume. Master Yi-Shen, as the Dragon King, summoned a flaming serpent to hold the masked warriors back. The banquet guests gasped at the flaming serpent and cheered on the warriors.
"Which one is Prince Zuko?" whispered Ty Lee.
Mai shushed her.
During rehearsals, the girls were kept in the dark about who would save them from the Dragon King. Trying to guess beforehand and being surprised when you removed his mask were all part of the fun. But each girl probably hoped she'd be the one partnered with Prince Zuko.
Katara waved to her rescuers. He's the Sun Prince, of course.
After Master Yi-Shen read the cast list aloud, Katara saw Lord Ukano give him money, presumably for putting Mai and Katara in the pageant. And Mai so happened to get cast as the Moon Maiden, who gets rescued by the Sun Prince. Katara wouldn't have put it past her guardian to bribe Mai into Prince Zuko's arms.
Once the Sun Prince had defeated the Dragon King with his fire bending, a water bender dressed as a polar bear-dog raised a wall of ice to keep the warriors from breaching the castle. Luckily for the warriors, the ice wall had grooves and shelves that allowed them to climb up the ramparts.
Katara lent a hand to the Sun Prince. A gold mask covered half of his face. Through the eye hole, scar tissue was visible. He winked at Katara. Her breath hitched. It is him. She hadn't seen Prince Zuko since the tournament and never expected he would remember her.
Holding Katara's hand, Prince Zuko leaped over the battlements. "Thank you, My Lady," he said.
Katara stepped aside so Prince Zuko could reach Mai as he was supposed to. Prince Zuko led Mai down from the ramparts, and a young man in flaming robes, the Flame Warrior, Lady Snow's rescuer, escorted Katara. Another young man, dressed as an Air Nomad monk, carried a shrieking Ty Lee.
Once the warriors freed the lovely maidens from their prison, it was time for the unmasking. Katara untied the ribbons on the Flame Warrior's mask to reveal a good-looking, smiling face. He bowed to her, and she bowed in return.
"Lord Ruon-Jian," she said.
Katara had made Lord Ruon-Jian's acquaintance during the endless round of cherry blossom viewing parties Lady Michi had dragged her and Mai through the month before. Lady Michi, who made it her business to know the prospects of every eligible young man the girls came into contact with, told them that he was the son and heir of the Marquess of Wa—a grand title but without a pot to piss in and not worth their time.
Lord Ruon-Jian winked at her. "A pleasure, Lady Katara," he said.
A few places down the line, Mai pretended to be surprised when the Sun Prince revealed himself to be Prince Zuko.
"Your Highness," said Mai. She bowed to the prince like she'd been preparing her whole life for this moment, which she had.
Prince Zuko gave her a gracious nod. "Might I ask what your name is?"
"Mai..." She lowered her eyes flirtatiously. "Mai of the Ukano clan... It's an honor."
"The honor is all mine, My Lady."
Up in the gallery, the musicians began to play. A servant handed out bamboo sticks to the maidens and warriors. Katara took a deep breath. She'd been practicing the steps of the bamboo cutter dance for weeks. The bamboo cutter dance was one of the few dances where men and women partnered. It got its name from the bamboo sticks the dancers flirtatiously knocked together at specific points.
Lord Ruon-Jian tried to engage Katara in small talk. Had she been to see the Royal Opera? What did she think of Lady Mori's latest poems? Did she like polo? But Katara simply smiled and nodded. It would have been rude to tell him to shut up so she could pay attention to the music and steps. She wasn't going to embarrass herself in front of the whole court by stepping on someone's foot or accidentally hitting them with her sticks.
The dance involved lots of leaping and twirling, and the point was to take small, swift steps so that your skirt appeared to float above the ground. Water Tribe dances, such as the Polar Bear Dog and the Maiden or Crossing the Ice-flow, also involved lots of leaping and twirling but were more about speed and stamina than grace and precision. It took all of Katara's self control for her not to stomp her feet or kick up her heels like she was used to.
When the music stopped and the dancers received their applause, Lady Ursa invited Mai to sit with her, and Prince Zuko went to get Mai some refreshments. Katara searched the crowd for Lord Ukano, who would undoubtedly be pleased with this development. Sure enough, her guardian was standing next to one of the great hall's massive gilded columns, slipping a purse of gold to Master Yi-Shin- probably the second installment of his bribe.