"Hurry up, girls," said Lady Michi. "We're going to miss the curtain."
Mai and Katara were smoothing their robes in front of a mirror in the lobby of Fire Lord Iroh's private theater. Katara smiled at her reflection. She looked very pretty and grown up. Lady Michi had lent her the string of pearls woven into her curls. The look was finished with a crown of rosebuds and a gauzy veil that flowed down to her ankles.
Lady Michi grabbed her daughter's arm. "And Mai, you don't want to keep Lady Ursa and Prince Zuko waiting."
Lady Ursa had invited Mai to watch the performance in the royal box. Katara couldn't tell who was more excited, Mai or her mother. Lady Michi had even let Mai wear the family's priceless kingfisher feather tiara. Mai straightened the tiara in front of the mirror before letting Lady Michi pull her away.
Katara picked up her skirts and followed them up the stairs and down the corridor leading to boxes one through five.
Mai squeezed Katara's hand at the door of box one, the royal box. "Wish me luck," she said.
Katara squeezed Mai's hand in return. All Mai needed to do was put herself out there a little, and Lady Ursa and Prince Zuko would love her.
"Remember to smile," Lady Michi cut in. "And sit up straight."
"Yes, mother," Mai said. Her mother often scolded her about her habit of slouching and frowning.
"And when someone talks to you, try to give answers that are more than two syllables."
Mai rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother."
"And don't roll your eyes. There's nothing more juvenile and ill-bred."
"Very well, here goes nothing." Mai approached the door of the royal box, and an usher opened it for her.
Katara smiled at Mai, who summoned her considerable grace and dignity before entering the royal box. If she were in Mai's place, she would be a nervous wreck.
Lady Michi tapped Katara with her fan to get her attention. "Quit dawdling, Katara. The play's about to start."
"Yes, ma'am."
The Ukanos had managed to secure box three, two doors down from the royal box, something Lady Michi had been bragging about to anyone who would listen. Their seats were close enough for Katara and Lady Michi to keep an eye on Mai and Prince Zuko. Mai and the prince sat beside each other, with Lady Ursa's watchful presence behind them.
"What are they saying?" Lady Michi asked Katara, who was closer to the young couple than she was.
Mai and Prince Zuko's conversation was inaudible over the overture. Before Katara could answer Lady Michi, the curtain rose, and the whole theater turned its attention toward the stage.
The play was Love Amongst the Dragons, which Lady Michi said was a perennial classic and a favorite of Lady Ursa and Prince Zuko. Set during the ancient past, when the Fire Nation was a collection of warring kingdoms, it told the story of a warlord called Noren, known to history as the Dragon Emperor, and his marriage to Noriko, a princess from a rival clan.
Other than that, Katara struggled to follow the play. What should she make of the strange, twanging music, the artificial and exaggerated movements of the actors, and their bizarre costumes? It was all so odd and unnatural.
But everything else seemed to be enjoying it. Ty Lee, who sat in box six with her parents, grabbed the railing and bounced on the edge of her seat during the love scenes. Lady Ursa mouthed along with some of the heroine's lines. Lady Michi was so invested in the romance blossoming on stage that she'd stopped spying on the romance blossoming in box one, where Prince Zuko leaned over to whisper something in Mai's ear that made her blush.
Katara turned her attention back to the play. Hopefully, she would see what everyone else did.
The heroine, Noriko, had an adopted sister, Hua-Mei, who accompanied her when she left home to marry the Dragon Emperor. Hua-Mei would no doubt also fall in love with her sister's betrothed, and Katara expected to feel bad for her since her feelings would be unrequited. In the end, poor Hua-Mei would suffer in silence while Noriko got to be with the Dragon Emperor. It was all so unfair. Noriko got everything despite being cold, aloof, and difficult, with few redeeming qualities.
And Noriko is considered less beautiful than Hua-Mei. Katara hid a nasty smile behind her fan.
But Hua-Mei did not have feelings for the Dragon Emperor and instead was interested in a handsome warrior. Hua-Mei dressed like a courtesan and flirted shamelessly with the warrior she loved when she wasn't weeping hysterically whenever something sad happened. Her role in the play seemed to be to make Noriko look more sensible and dignified in comparison.
Katara shook her head. Noriko was a prig and Hua-Mei was a ninny. Neither of them was very likable, and Katara felt nothing when Hua-Mei married her warrior, and Noriko became the Dragon Empress.
"How'd you like the play, dear?" Lady Michi asked Katara after the curtain fell and the deafening applause had died down.
"I..." Katara fidgeted in her seat. "I enjoyed it."
Why had she not liked the play when everyone else had? Perhaps she was too uncultured and uneducated to appreciate it?

Katara and Lady Michi collected Mai from box one after the performance. When the usher opened the door, Mai, Prince Zuko, and Lady Ursa were still seated and discussing the play.
"My mother used to drag us to see the Ember Island Players perform it every summer," said Prince Zuko. Mai rolled her eyes and scoffed as if to say, I know exactly what you mean. "Each year they butchered it."
Lady Michi gave Katara a smug smile. Mai and the Prince seemed to have hit it off. Katara folded her hands. She had no idea what Ember Island or the Ember Island Players were and wouldn't have been able to discuss them with Prince Zuko.
Lady Ursa cooled herself with a priceless-looking mother-of-pearl fan. "I seem to remember," she said. "You and Azula used to act out the final duel between the Dragon Emperor and the Dark Water Spirit."
The Dark Water Spirit was the villain of Love Amongst the Dragons, a bandit who terrorizes the Dragon Emperor's lands wearing a blue and white mask that makes him look like a demon.
Prince Zuko glowered. "Azula never let me be the Dragon Emperor," he said.
Mai laughed. "That sounds like her." She noticed her mother and Katara standing in the doorway.  "Your Highness." Her hand brushed Prince Zuko's arm, making him blush. "You've met my mother, Lady Michi."
Lady Michi bowed to the prince.
"But I don't think you've met my family's ward, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe."
Prince Zuko smiled as Katara bowed to him. "I've had the honor of making Lady Katara's acquaintance before," he said. Katara's breath hitched. Was he going to tattle on her for sneaking out? "At Lady June's house."
Katara breathed a sigh of relief. Thank you, Your Highness.
Lady Michi nudged Katara. "You never told us you were introduced to Prince Zuko," she said.
Mai raised an eyebrow, letting Katara know she must tell her everything later.
Katara lowered her eyes. "I didn't think I would have left much of an impression on His Highness." Not a good impression, at least.
Her behavior when they met at the casino certainly gave him the impression that she was a silly, forward girl, and he no doubt thought she had the manners of a fishwife after their encounter in Lady June's garden.
"With eyes like yours, my dear." Lady Ursa stroked Katara's cheek. "How could you not have left an impression on him?" 
Prince Zuko blushed. The poor boy was in a tough spot. If he agreed with his mother, it would upset Mai (no girl wants to hear her suitor praise another's beauty). But it would be an insult to Katara if he disagreed. 
"Lady Katara's skill with embroidery struck me," he said. "She was kind enough to show me some of her work." 
Now, it was Katara who was blushing. Work that you destroyed by making me prick my finger. But she still shouldn't have called him a raccoon-dog's ballsack.
Lady Ursa caught the ends of Katara's sash between two fingers and examined the apple blossoms Katara had embroidered there. "Is this your work?" she said.
"Yes, My Lady," said Katara.
"My son was right. It is exquisite." Lady Ursa let the sash go. "Do you think you could make something similar but with fire lilies?"
"Yes I could." With Lady Ursa's patronage, Katara might be able to make a fortune with her embroidery.