Chapter 21: All Those Scented Pages

Dear Zuko,

How are you? Did Aang and the others make it there? I have not heard from anyone that they did and it has been a week. How are you and Katara, on friendly terms I hope, I know that things got confused between us all, but you and I were able to sort everything out, so I hope that you and Katara are able to work through it. I guess it is all a silly point to make if they have not arrived yet, so I shall wait for confirmation that they have arrived before I write any thing more. I love you and miss you dearly.

Yours Truly,

Yue

Yue,

Yes, the Avatar and the others have arrived, and they even volunteered to help me in the restoration of the palace. It was a nice gesture, but I do not want them to interfere too much as they do not know what it is meant to look like, although, I must admit that without Toph's earthbending, the walls would still be collapsing in on themselves, so that was a great help. That Sokka guy is the same guy we met at the Northern Air Temple, the one I wanted to punch, occasionally I still do, but for being an idiot, he is actually pretty smart. As for Katara, she has some weird mood swing where she hates me, but mostly we get along okay, we just do not talk or interact much. The best news is that they have all stopped staring in awe at my firebending, like they finally got used to it, I do not like being the center of attention as though I am a circus freak. So, I guess I will see you in about seven weeks now.

Signed,

Zuko

Dear Yue,

I am so sorry we never contacted you to let you know we arrived safely! Zuko mentioned it when he got your letter, and I felt compelled to immediately write back and tell you how sorry I was, personally, but also how all the others felt bad about it too. Also, I wanted to ask you about your wedding plans, is the wedding going to be traditional Water Tribe or are you thinking more Fire Nation style since it is going to be held here, correct? Aang tells me that Fire Nation weddings are the most festive, but he also admits that he has only attended Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom weddings, so he may not be correct. Also, what color scheme are you going with, blues and whites or reds and... black? I have just realized that the typical Fire Nation colors are no good for wedding color schemes. Not to be pushy, but I totally offer my services as a go between on wedding planning for you and Zuko, and I can arrange and set everything up over here, so feel free to ask me to do anything, Suki says she will do the same.

Sincerely,

Katara

Dearest Zuko,

You write very formally, like a letter of business, did you know that? I just thought it was funny. Seriously, however, now that I know that you have met with the others and therefore know fully the plans for the wedding, I must ask you, what are your thoughts about it? Do you want a wedding that is more traditionally Fire Nation, or would it matter if the wedding was more in a Northern Water Tribe tradition? As well, were there any color preferences that you had thought of? White and blue are the traditional Water Tribe colors, but I know red was an important color for Fire Nation ceremonies, so I am told, so would you prefer red or any other color combination for the wedding? Also, on another note, my father has sent word to the head of each of the four Air Temples, and they are going to meet with him and myself in a few weeks time, I believe we are to discuss whether the Air Nomads are going to respect and acknowledge the return of the Fire Nation. Great news, right? Well, I will not write anymore about it now, I do not want to jinx the meeting. How are you doing? I miss you terribly, and I love you, truly and deeply.

Love,

Yue

Yue,

Weddings are not really my area of expertise, so you can plan it however you wish, just fill Katara in on the details so she can help me figure out my part. The same goes with the color choices, I trust you to make a perfect choice. The repairs and reconstruction are going well, in fact, we are planning to visit the Western Air Temple next week or the week after to start the process of refurnishing the inside. The grounds still need a tremendous amount of work, as do the connecting verandas, but the inside rooms are mostly repaired, having extra hands and minds working together has actually been a good thing. Well, that was all I had to write about, so we are just a bit under six weeks out, are we not? Time is flying it seems.

Signed,

Zuko

Dear Katara,

I am terribly sorry to write back so late to you, I did receive your letter, I just wanted to get some clarification from Zuko on what he wanted, and he wrote that he trusted me to make the decisions, so I did some thinking and decided some things on my own. As far as colors go, I want to mesh both of our cultures together and utilize white and red, mainly, but the men can have red with black for their attire, the ladies with wear red. Going with the theme of meshing the two cultures together, I thought that maybe we could do the same for the ceremony, however, I know basically nothing about the Fire Nation's wedding tradition, so any help you could give me there would be great, does Aang know any of the ceremony? As well, I know of very few of the Fire Nation's native flowers, and I would like a variety to be utilized in the décor, so I give you that task as well, please recommend a flower that suits the color scheme. As well, would you, Suki, and Toph want to be part of my entourage for the wedding? I am so sorry that I did not get a chance to ask each of you in person. I hope I have not given you too many tasks or asked too much of you, however, I have one last question for you, does Zuko seem stressed?

Sincerely,

Yue

Dear Yue,

Suki, Toph, and myself would be overjoyed to be part of your attendants, just let us know what you want us to do in particular.

We had a lovely visit to the Western Air Temple recently, so I was able to put together some information on Fire Nation wedding ceremonies for you, the Air Nomads kept great records of ceremonies they preformed or presided over. That is one stark difference, according to Fire Nation tradition, a spiritual person must preside over and give their blessing to the marriage, rather than just the father of the bride and father of the groom both giving their blessing. Which, not to be bossy, the Fire Nation tradition would probably work out better in this situation due to the fact that, well, Zuko's family members are all dead.

Moving on, however, another tradition is the lighting of ceremonial candles, three of them, one lit by the groom, one by the bride, and the third lit by the two together utilizing the candles they had previously lit. After the official vows and promises, they had a great store of these, apparently you write your own in the Fire Nation instead of reciting the formal rehearsed vows like in the Water Tribe, anyhow, after that the couple is to stay together for the entire night, never leaving the other's side. Also, the before the feast can begin, the husband must create a fire which the wife utilizes to make ginseng tea, of which she pours him the first cup. After this there is feasting and dancing and general merrymaking until the sun sets, then fireworks are set off to light up the sky. Oh, yes, all Fire Nation weddings take place before the sun sets, but not at dawn, just near sunset.

As for colors, I think that selection works wonderfully, I can get some material at the Western Air Temple if you would like. It would seem that the monks at the Western Air Temple did not want to let the ancient style of the Fire Nation die, so they preserve and craft the olden Fire Nation styles and sell them amongst the visitors and tourists to the Western Air Temple. Zuko was rather furious about it, but I am happy that we have someone to get the clothing from. Also, Zuko showed me a native flower that is an orangish-red, growing more red towards the time when the flower is out of bloom, I wish I could show you it, but it is called a Firelily.

And finally, as for Zuko, he does not seem too stressed. I mean, he was terribly furious at how the culture of his people was "being mocked and sold to tourists for a petty profit for greedy merchants" as he put it, but other than that, he is fine, why do you ask?

Sincerely,

Katara

My Love,

I heard from Katara that you went to the Western Air Temple, how was it? Is it as beautiful and breathtaking as the Northern Air Temple? Are the monks just as friendly? It has been a while since we wrote to each other, has it not? How have you been? I suppose you have been terribly busy as I have, well, more or less, different types of busy, but busy just the same. I hope you are not too terribly stressed, but if you are, do let me know, please. You can tell me anything, you know that, right? Well, it seems as though father and I are traveling to the Northern Air Temple tomorrow, we are to have an audience with the head monks from the four Air Nomad Temples there and we hope to have their support in recognizing the Fire Nation once more. I will not write too much more about it because I do not want to bring bad luck on our endeavors, which i believe I stated before.

Love,

Yue

Yue,

I am not stressed, however, I do suppose I have been quite pre-occupied with various tasks. Also, I have enclosed your betrothal necklace with this letter, I hope it is adequate. I was highly unsure of your people's customary designs and such, so I substituted a design familiar to my people, however it is not as elegantly captured as it should be, but I am no artisan. I am not sure how much I will be able to write back to you in the coming weeks, if at all, so I suppose I can just be content with speaking when I see you, only three weeks left, correct?

Signed,

Zuko

Dear Katara,

Thank you for your last letter, as to why I was asking about Zuko, I was simply curious. I have another request to make of you, would it be too much to ask of you to come and visit me? I wanted to finalize some of the details in person, and since you have been coordinating everything on that end, I wanted to get together and pull everything together. If it is not too much trouble, could Suki and Toph come as well?

Sincerely,

Yue

Author's Note: So, wow, this took forever to finish... Which is weird because in the end I got too lazy to even really go through all of the details of the ceremony and such... Oh well, so next chapter is a super duper huge fantastic wedding! Sweet! So? Tell me how you think that went as far as character wise, also, did anybody figure out why Yue was so worried? Well, here's a reason, she is a bride to be planning her wedding, but reason two has to do with Zuko. Read his letters and you will see, hopefully... Well, until next time I randomly update! TTFN!