The first to greet Katara when she walked through the door of Lord Ukano's mansion was a pack of hunting dogs. She dropped her bundle when they came at her, tails wagging, shrieking like demons. One put its muddy paws on Katara's skirt. Another licked her cheek. Katara smiled, reached out a tentative hand, and stroked its head.
No one could say she hadn't received a warm welcome.
A servant whistled, and the dogs went running. "Quiet," he shouted at the barking animals. One jumped on him. "Down!"  He turned to Katara. "Sorry, Miss. They're harmless... well, harmless to pretty girls." The servant winked and left the room, the dogs following him.
One dog stopped to kiss a small boy who came in from the other room. The boy laughed and petted the dog's back.
Katara took in her palatial surroundings. Lord Ukano's mansion was so vast that the entire population of Wolf Cove could have lived comfortably inside it. The front hall alone had enough space to fit her family's house. How was she ever going to find her way around?
Something thumped against her legs. Katara looked down. The small boy had thrown his arms around her waist.
"Hello," Katara said. Not knowing what else to do, she hugged the child back.
Her new friend was about four or five. His head was shaved bald except for a single tuft of black hair. He gave her a smile with multiple missing baby teeth. "Are you the water bender?" he asked her.
"Tom-Tom!" A young lady around Katara's age, presumably the boy's older sister, rushed into the great hall, carrying a bouquet of the plum blossoms Katara had seen from the carriage window as she approached the Ukano Estate. "That's not how we greet guests." She pulled Tom-Tom away from Katara with her free hand. "I'm sorry."
"Oh I don't mind," said Katara. Tom-Tom seemed like a sweet child.
The young lady bowed to Katara. Her flowing silk garments rustled like leaves. She then handed Katara the plum blossom bouquet. White petals fell on the floor like snow.
"Thank you." Katara breathed in the flowers' sweet, intoxicating perfume.
"I'm Mai," said the young lady. "And you've met my brother, Tom-Tom."
Lord Tom-Tom and Lady Mai were Lord Ukano's children. Lady Mai was who Katara would accompany into the Lotus Villa—her soon-to-be sister.
Katara bowed to both siblings. "It's an honor." She hadn't expected to meet her guardian's family until dinner.
Tom-Tom remembered his manners and bowed to Katara as if she were an empress. His black tuft of hair kissed the floor mats. Katara chuckled. What a perfect little gentleman.
"You didn't answer me," said Tom-Tom. "Are you the water bender?"
Mai rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said. "Father took us to see Master Amaruq perform in Ankachia last month." Master Amaruq was a famous Northern water bender, and Ankachia was the closest city to the Ukano Estate. "And when he told us that a Water Tribe girl was coming to stay with us, Tom-Tom assumed you would also be a water bender."
Katara knelt and tousled Tom-Tom's hair. More petals fell from her bouquet. "I am," she said.
"Prove it," said Tom-Tom, putting a hand on his hip.
Katara looked around. There weren't any water sources in the great hall-not even a bowl of water for a floral arrangement.
Two maids appeared, presumably to bring Katara to her room.
"If you're a good boy, I'll show you at dinner," Katara told Tom-Tom before picking up her bundle and joining the maids.
Tom-Tom bounced on the balls of his feet. "You promise?"
"I promise."
The older of the maids, a pleasant-looking, matronly woman with a thick braid coiled around her head, bowed to Katara. "Welcome, Miss," she said. "I'm Kaori, Lord Ukano's housekeeper."
"And I'm Otilka," said the younger maid, a slight girl perhaps a couple of years older than Katara. Kaori and Otilka resembled each other and were probably mother and daughter. "Lady Mai's personal maid. We'll be looking after you while you're staying with us."
Katara bowed to the two women. "Thank you, ladies. I'm certainly in good hands." She bowed again to Mai and Tom-Tom before leaving with Otilka and Kaori.

Otilka slid open the doors, which separated Katara's room from Mai's. "You'll have to wear one of Miss Mai's dresses to dinner," she said.
Mai's formal robes were displayed on hangers while the rest of her clothes were packed away in drawers and chests, which Otilka rummaged through to find something for Katara to wear.
"Will she mind?" asked Katara. Though what reason would Mai have to mind? She must own twice as many clothes as Katara had in her whole life.
Otilka found a flowing gown made from layers of gauzy white silk in one of the chests. "Miss Mai hardly ever wears this one," she said. Katara stroked the delicate ruffles. If she owned something so beautiful, she would wear it whenever possible. "And between you and me, you would look much prettier in it." 
"I'm sure Miss Mai looks lovely in it," Katara said. Mai was tall, slender, graceful, and one of the most elegant women Katara had ever seen.
"Poor thing. White isn't her color."
While Otilka went through another chest to find undergarments for Katara, Katara sat down on her bed, opened her bundle, and looked at the keepsakes inside. Her mother's bronze mirror and Gran-Gran's bone comb, the fisherman's knife that Sokka gave her before she left Wolf Cove, and the silver-plaited smoking pipe from Uncle Bato.
La's gills, how she missed them.
Katara stashed her keepsakes in a box under her bed.
After the question of what Katara would wear was solved, Otilka drew baths for Katara and Mai. The women of Lord Ukano's household had their own bathhouse. A Fire Nation bathhouse was not unlike a Water Tribe steam hut, a place for socializing and relaxation as much as cleanliness. But the wooden tubs filled waist-deep with steamy, jasmine-scented water were incredibly extravagant. As Katara luxuriated in her tub, Mai sat up in hers and explained all the etiquette Katara would need to know before she had dinner with her family.
"When you kneel at the table," said Mai. "Sit back on your heels and when you bow to my father, your forehead should kiss the floor mats." She rolled her eyes as if to say, I know this is all ostrich horseshit, but pay attention.
Katara sank into the bath water. A million things could go wrong when she met Lord Ukano. What if she forgot everything Mai told her and froze up like a scared squirrel mouse? What if she spilled something and ruined the beautiful white dress she'd been lent? What if Lord Ukano disliked her on sight and sent her home in disgrace?
Otilka pulled Katara out of the water by her hair and started working a comb through Katara's thick waves. "Aren't you just the cutest little thing, Miss," she said. "With this hair and those doe eyes, you'll have plenty of suitors at court."
Katara slumped her shoulders. She'd been told how pretty she was all her life, but would people in the Fire Nation think she was ugly? The Fire Nation admired women like Mai, pale and willowy with haughty, aristocratic features. Short, sturdy Katara, with her round, sweet face, was the exact opposite. Would she be a coarse, clumsy turtle duck among graceful crane swans?
"Don't speak until someone asks you a direct question," said Mai. "When you receive the wine bowl, take three sips, then wipe the rim with a napkin before passing it on." Mai turned her head and noticed how nervous Katara must have looked. "And when you feel intimidated by my father..." She reached over and squeezed Katara's hand. "Remember, he'd cut off his right hand if it meant he could wipe Fire Lord Iroh's ass with his left."
Katara laughed. Some of the pressure slid off her shoulders.

Lord Ukano was a dignified middle-aged man dressed in a court minister's black robes and hat. Tall, haughty, and handsome, his daughter, Mai, took after him. His consort, Lady Michi, wore so many hair ornaments that her head resembled a pin cushion. She had a pretty but pinched face with beady, judgmental eyes that scrutinized Katara as she bowed to her and her husband.
Katara took a deep breath and followed Mai's instructions. Sit back on your heels. Your forehead should kiss the floor mats. She rose and faced the flinty gaze of her guardian. And when you feel intimidated by my father, remember, he'd cut off his right hand if it meant he could wipe Fire Lord Iroh's ass with his left.
Lord Ukano smiled. "Welcome," he said. "Katara of the Southern Water Tribe."
"It's an honor, my dear," said Lady Michi. She kissed Katara on the forehead.
Katara let out the breath she'd been holding in and thanked the spirits that she'd gotten this over with.
Mai handed Katara a cup of tea. "Well-done," she said.
Katara smiled back at her. Thanks for all the help. 
Tom-Tom ran into the room, followed by his nursemaid. He went right to Katara's side and tugged on her skirt. Katara spilled some of her tea on the floor mat. Spirits. That child was as frisky as those dogs who'd welcomed her earlier.
The nursemaid tutted. "Master Tom-Tom!"
Lady Michi gasped at her son's bad behavior, and Mai gave Katara a napkin to clean up the mess.
"I was good today," said Tom-Tom. "I didn't wander off during my walk and put all my toys away before my nap." The nursemaid shooed him away from Katara.
Katara folded her hands in her lap and addressed her guardian and his wife. "I promised the young master a display of my bending." She bowed her head. "If Your Lordship and Ladyship permit it." Qi tickled the tips of her fingers. She was just itching to bend.
Lady Michi smiled, and Lord Ukano nodded.
With a wave of her hand, Katara cleaned up the spilled tea, which floated like a jellyfish around Tom-Tom's head. The little boy's jaw dropped. Katara snapped her fingers, and the tea evaporated. Tom-Tom and his family applauded her.
Katara modestly lowered her eyes to not seem too full of herself.
Lord Ukano picked Tom-Tom up and placed him in his lap. "Now, boy," he said. "What do you think of your new sister?"
"She's prettier than you, Mai," said Tom-Tom. He stuck his tongue out at his sister.
Mai rolled her eyes.
"It's a shame you're my sister." Tom-Tom climbed out of his father's lap and shuffled over to Katara. "I would have liked to marry you."
Katara patted him on the head. "The loss is all mine, My Lord," she said. She could have done a lot worse than becoming the next Lady Ukano.
Lord Ukano's head steward rang a gong and announced that dinner was served. Servants carried in the first course on trays. The cook had artistically arranged each plate so that two stuffed crabs sat on a fluffy bed of white rice next to black lacquer bowls filled with fish broth and pickled vegetables.
Katara tried not to gawk like some yokel, but she'd never eaten white rice before. Back home, her family had considered it the height of luxury when they had brown rice. She put a morsel of white rice in her mouth and chewed it nonchalantly. If she was going to court, where Uncle Bato said they wear silk and eat white rice daily, she better get used to it.
"Red fire flakes or green, My Lady?" one of the servants asked Katara. He carried two bowls on a tray. One contained dried red flakes, and the other, pickled green flakes.
Fire Nation cuisine, in general, and fire flakes, in particular, were notorious for their spiciness. Uncle Bato complained that fireflakes always gave him heartburn. But since Katara was in the Fire Nation, she might as well give them a try.
"Green please," said Katara. The green fire flakes looked like they would be less hot.
Mai raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't if I were you," she said. "Fire flakes can be too much if you're not used to them, especially the green ones."
But it was now too late. The servant had already sprinkled green fire flakes in Katara's fish broth, and Katara raised the bowl to her lips.
Katara gulped. It was like swallowing a burning coal. She panted to put it out.
Lord Ukano chuckled. "What did you think of your first taste of the Fire Nation, my dear?" he said.
"Water, please," gasped Katara. Another servant gave her a cup, and she took a ladylike sip. She wouldn't humiliate herself further by lapping up the water like a dog.
Thankfully, her blunder seemed to have amused Lord Ukano rather than offended him.
"Told you so," said Mai. "Eat some rice. It'll stifle the heat." She then demonstrated how the dish should be eaten by putting a morsel of rice in her mouth before taking a sip of broth.
Katara followed Mai's instructions and found that fish broth with pickled green fire flakes were quite delicious.
After the first course, the head steward, who Mai told Katara was Kaori's husband and Otilka's father, brought out a bottle of wine and a drinking bowl. While the head steward poured the wine, Lord Ukano pricked the tip of his ring finger with a pin. Three drops of his blood fell into the bowl.
Katara also pricked her finger and let three drops of blood fall. Mai had already explained that this was part of the adoption ceremony. When you receive the wine bowl, she'd said, take three sips then wipe the rim with a napkin before passing it on. Once her finger stopped bleeding, Katara drank from the bowl. The metallic blood blended with the dry, earthy wine. Katara's mouth puckered.
The wine bowl traveled around the table from one member of the Ukano clan to the next. Each of them kissed Katara on the cheek and welcomed her into the family. Katara remained stiff. Once each Ukano had drank from the bowl, Katara bowed her head in gratitude and promised to obey Lord Ukano as her father, honor Lady Michi as her mother, and love Mai and Tom-Tom as her brother and sister.
She wouldn't exactly be a daughter of the house, more like a poor relation who was dependent on them. But the Ukano name would give her protection and status while she was in the Fire Nation. And the family seemed kind and welcoming.
Lady Michi, whose eyes sparkled after several more cups of wine, stroked her husband's hand. "A well bred fire lily," she said, her gaze moving from Mai to Katara. "And a charming wildflower. The garden flourishes."
Mai rolled her eyes. "The first line had too many syllables," she said. She later explained to Katara that her mother had a habit of waxing poetic when she'd had too much to drink.
But Katara flushed. A charming wildflower. Thank the spirits she'd made a good impression.