And here is a new story! Yippee! AUish

I don't own Avatar the last Airbender.

Katara was speckled with blood and dirt, sweating from everywhere. She had been separated from the others, and the firebending was back on again, so to speak. There were guards in fancy red uniforms surrounding her, fire came from every direction.

"Where is Aang?!" She thought frantically, water swirling around her, barely keeping her from getting burned. "Sokka! Dad! I need you!" she screamed, as a huge fire blast broke through her wall of water.

She was forced down by an overly eager guard, who hit her over the head with the butt of his spear. "Aang... " was the last thought that went through her mind.

Katara's eyes slowly reopened. As her vision cleared, she discovered she was in a room with bars constituting most of the walls. A prison cell. She immediately scrambled up to the bars, looking out to see if she saw anyone she recognized.

A couple of aristocratic, Fire Nation faces looked back at her, lifting their eyebrows disdainfully. She looked away in disgust. Where had her family gone?! Where was Aang? Where was Toph? Were they even alive?

She shook her head to clear it of those depressing thoughts. For now, she would get out of here. She was still slick with sweat, so she prepared to use the same trick she had used when Toph and herself had been caught in a wooden prison cell a week or two ago.

She thrust out her hands, and then blinked. Nothing had happened. She repeated the motion once, then twice, then kept doing it frantically, feeling like a piece of her had been torn away. How could they take her bending?!

Just then, the door creaked as a pair of female guards unlocked it and came in. One of them snickered at her still trying to bend. "Bet you thought you were really somethin' before, huh? Now you're just weak and worthless!"

Katara glared at the guard, who just snickered, seizing Katara's arm. The other guard, who apparently was less talkative, grabbed Katara's other arm.

"Fire Lord Ozai wishes to speak with you."

Katara gasped. What would that horrible demon do to her?

As she was dragged into the throne room, Katara could feel her heartbeat quickening. This was the terrible man Aang had set out to defeat... She realised then, with a sickening drop of her heart, that the entire attack had been a failure.

As she looked up, she saw a wall of fire, and a man behind it. She was forced to her knees by the guards, who were also kneeling in reverence. Fire Lord Ozai stood up, and came forward slowly without a word.

Katara looked at him nervously, and gasped when she realized he looked exactly like Zuko, except without the scar. The corners of his mouth twisted into a smirk at her gasp.

"So..." he said casually, pacing around Katara, "You really are pretty for a peasant, aren't you?"

She looked up in surprise. He was... complimenting her? What was wrong with him? What tricks was he playing?

He chuckled. "Prince Zuko told me about you. You are the daughter of the chieftan of the Southern Water Tribe, correct?" She nodded dumbly, wondering why Zuko would tell his dad she was pretty.

"Good. You will be staying in my courts as a.. guest of sorts. I'm sure your father will be willing to negotiate now..." He said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. Katara almost shuddered at the strangely cruel look in his eyes.

"My father will not do anything you want!" she said, surprising Ozai with her boldness. His surprise changed to amusement quickly, however. "Take her to get ready." he commanded the guards, both of whom saluted and forced Katara up onto her feet.

They led her out, Katara wondering what it would mean to be a guest 'of sorts.'

After walking in silence for a few minutes, a marble archway came into view. Katara was led through this by her escorts, one of whom sneezed on entering, due to all the powder in the air.

A severe woman in a red kimono came their way. "Another one for me to prepare?" she said, grabbed Katara's face and examining her. "Hmmm... Nice eyes, nose could be a better shape, skin tone will do nicely with gold accents, and her face shape is perfect. Although, her feet are huge. " The woman released Katara's face. Katara scowled at being examined like an ostrich-horse for sale.

The woman gestured impatiently. "Can't you two ruffians do anything without being meticulously instructed? Bring her over to the chair, and then you may go." Katara was swiftly moved to the chair, and to her horror, strapped to the armrests and foot rest. That could not be a good sign.

The woman tsked at the dirty affair Katara's face was, and before Katara knew it she was attacked by assistants bearing clothes with stinging remedies on them scrubbing at her face. They also stripped her down, rubbing her whole body with the stinging stuff.

"This will make your skin soft and glowing. We will need to reapply every week." The woman informed her. She then took some of Katara's hair in her hand. "In desperate need of a trim," she announced, and her assistants rushed to get scissors and haircare products. Katara began to squirm. "My hair is just fine!"

"No, it is not. To put it up into the current style, we will need to shorten it a little." With that, the woman snipped away at Katara's hair. She took off a couple inches, and then Katara's whole head was cleaned with a strangely warm substance. "This will give your hair shine, something it lacks." The woman told her.

Now they dressed her in a silk robe, and unstrapped her from the chair. She was led over to another chair with comfortable cushions. This one had straps as well, but also for around the waist.

"Now comes the difficult part.." the woman muttered, as one of her assistants looked very pale. "Get me the silk strips. And the honeydew lotion." First the woman went over her feet with the lotion, her assistants hanging back and watching. She turned to them as she took two silk strips in her hand.

"The trick is to break it quickly, but in the right shape," she said, looping the strips around Katara's feet. Katara was now feeling exceptionally uneasy. " Wait, what are you doing?" she asked, fear inching its way up her spine.

The woman did not respond, instead tightening the strips with a sudden snap. Katara cried out in surprise and agony as her foot was swiftly and deftly bound up. "Give her something to grip, imbeciles!" the woman snapped at her assistants, who jumped and placed a rock in Katara's hand.

Katara could feel a second pair of strips wrapping around her other foot. "Wait!" she cried out frantically, screaming again when the woman broke her other foot. She cried, as the pain was unbearable.

She felt mild surprise as the straps were unbuckled and she was hugged by the woman, who patted her on the back. "That's right, let it out..."

As soon as the tears stopped coming, however, the woman was all business again. "Shin, get the goldtone makeup kit. Yon, get the ruby accented jewelry." She immediately began wiping Katara's face clean. Shin returned with what looked like gold paint in a bunch of different compartments. The woman took this and began to paint delicate designs on Katara's face.

As she did this, Shin gathered Katara's hair up into a beatiful bun, with wavy locks of hair loose from it. Yon put a tiara with a ruby in the middle on her head, and once the woman had finished, she also put a necklace and earrings on Katara. This required piercing Katara's ears, but the pain was nothing to Katara.

Finally, they dressed her in beautiful red robes and tiny red shoes. The two guards from earlier showed up at the doorway, and they forced Katara onto her feet. It was a painful, slow walk, but finally they made it to her new room, which was not large, but it was rather pretty.

She sat on the bed, then as soon as the guards left, fell back in despair. How would she ever go home?

There was a knock on her door sometime later. Katara did not respond, but the door opened anyway. In came the girl Katara had learned to despise, Princess Azula herself, flanked by her best friends, Ty Lee and Mai.

Katara sat up, looking defiantly at Azula. Azula laughed. "As if you could scare me. You probably won't ever be able to fight again. Not that it will really matter, considering there will be nothing left for you to fight for soon."

Katara glared, hating the Fire Nation princess with every bone in her body. Ty Lee looked on uncomfortably, while Mai wore an expression of indifference. Azula cackled. "You're completely helpless, so I suggest you treat me with more respect!" she punctuated her sentence with a slap to Katara, who fell off the bed and hit the floor with a whimper, having jammed her foot into the bed post.

Azula just laughed and left, done for now. Ty Lee ignored Katara for the most part, leaving as well.

Katara sniffled, righting herself into a sitting position on the floor. She began muttering under her breath, until she realised she was not alone. Mai still stood impassively in the doorway. Katara glared at her, trying to get back up onto the bed without hurting her feet. She was startled when Mai silently offered a hand.

Looking suspiciously at the goth teen, she hesitated. Why would Azula's gloomy henchwoman want to help her? But Mai persistently offered her hand, and Katara finally took it, the need to get up onto the bed overcoming her suspicion for now.

She's even more surprised when a small bottle is pressed into her hand. "Why are you giving me this?" she asked, looking confused. Mai shrugged. "It's for the pain." And with that, the gloomy girl turned and headed out the door, leaving Katara wondering where the heck that came from.

The next day, Katara found out what her new duties were.

She was now to stand a few feet from Ozai whenever he had company. In essence, she was an ornament. A trophy.

It disgusted her, and it was boring to boot. Ozai had all kinds of meetings going on, and none of them concerned anything she was interested in knowing. So she stood their, her feet aching, and her mind somewhere else entirely, back home with Sokka and Aang. How she missed her makeshift family! She wondered how Toph was putting up with being the only girl now.

Her father was probably worried sick. Did they even know where she was? Would they come for her?

She spent the rest of the day daydreaming about being with her family, flying on Appa together.

As she hobbled back to her room, she sighed in relief. She didn't think she could have taken standing much longer.

She pushed the door open to her room, and was startled by Mai standing by her bed. "What are you doing in here?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise. Mai came over and helped her undo the restricting sash on her robes. "Just giving you a hand." Mai said with an almost-smile.

That was it. Katara could stand it no longer. "Okay, why are you really helping me? We both know you're not this nice to the average stranger!" Mai sighed. "Maybe I just like you."

Katara shook her head vigorously. "I don't think so. What's your real reason?"

Mai sighed, and sat down on the bed. Katara came over, cautiously sitting next to her. "It's Zuko."

Katara blinked in surprise. "What does Zuko have to do with me? I hate the guy!" Mai sighed again. "He's my boyfriend. Or at least, he was. During the day of Black Sun, he left to join the Avatar." Katara's mouth formed an 'O', as she was completely blindsided by this information. She held up both hands, finding her voice. "Whoa, wait a minute, why would Zuko want to join Aang? He's been trying to capture him for the past few months!"

Mai pulled a scroll out of her clothing. "This is the letter he left me. Here." She handed it to Katara, who snatched it, pouring over it. She was surprised at the fact Zuko obviously had cared about this girl, but more surprised by his explanation.

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How do I know this isn't a trap? How do I know you're not just trying to use me to find Aang or learn his weaknesses or something?"

Mai looked over at her with pleading evident in her features. "Because, this is my boyfriend I'm talking about. I just want to find him and join him. Please."

Katara was startled by the display of emotion, and now she was torn. Mai cleared her throat, and stood. "Don't tell anyone about the letter. I'll give you time to think about it. But remember, I can get you out of here and with the Avatar again if you help me. I promise."

And before Katara could reply, Mai was gone.

Yay! Please review if you liked it!