The steam billowed out of the giant bronze tub. The four dragon feet carved into the base gave the illusion that the large structure was going to run away. The bright red rubies studded along the side looked as if they held heat, water beaded on their surfaces. Thick string of incense burnt in the air. Making the very air smokey and oppressive.
The splashing water was boiling hot. Katara let out a howl as she was dunked into it. For one terrifying moment she was completely submerged. Her nostrils flared and her eyes crunched tightly shut. Her hair billowed around her, coming out of their ceremonial loops. Her fingers clutched each other in terror. She then splashed upwards, gasping for breath, her hands slapped down onto the sides of the tub. Scrambling for purchase. Her breath came in thick gasps, her hair stuck to her face and neck and back.
"HOT! HOT! IT'S TOO HOT!" She screamed before getting a bucket of cooler water tossed into her face. She sputtered and gasped, her eyes filled with confused tears as she wiped the water off of her face.
"You stop that now!" The pinched looking woman wagged a finger in Katara's face. She was an old woman with great heaps of white hair piled on top of her head. Her eyes were ringed with golden make up and her gown was of the finest scarlet.
"It's boiling me!" Katara whined. The woman tossed her head back and let out a quick bark of laughter.
"Boiling? This is barely considered warm! Leave it to a water tribe barbarian from the bottom of the world to not know good hot water! You give them a tub and they want a pond! You give them warmth and they want it cold!" The woman shouted to the misty depths of the room. Katara sat back in the hot water and shivered. Her eyes darted around.
There were more women in the room. Most of them were washing laundry. Long bales of silks and furs were being treated. Most of the finest reds and rubies and shades of scarlet. Most of the women wore their hair in strange buns at the top of their heads or in tighter buns near the sides and base of their necks. Most of them ignored Katara and the woman with the bucket.
"Katara. Are you behaving yourself over there?" Kya called from the other side of the large rice paper wall. The wall was collapsible and had been set up between the two women when they had first arrived. It was set up between two massive bronze bathtubs. With smaller stools and buckets near by.
"Mom…..I want to go home." Katara whined. The older fire nation woman tossed her hands up in disgust before she grabbed a large brush out of a bucket that was overflowing with suds. She thrust the brush into Katara's hands and frowned down at the young girl.
"Here. I am positive you at least know how to clean. Now don't bother your mother. She is also preparing herself for what comes next."
"But what does come next? What is happening? Mom…"
"Katara!" Kya said sharply from her side of the dividing wall. "It will all be okay. Just behave. Be quiet. Wash up. We will be home before you know it. This has all just been….a misunderstanding." Kya said gazing up at the pinched face of the woman attending to her. The fire nation woman gave out a thin lipped little smile. As if trying to give Kya just the slightest bit of comfort, although both knowing that they were on opposite sides of a war. And one of them definitely held a lot more power over the other.
Kya let out a sigh and sunk deeper into the water. She closed her eyes and began to rub the hot water over her face and back. The water was nice at least. She had never experienced this warm before. In fact it was very relaxing.
Normally water took a long time to heat up in the south pole. So they reserved especially warm water exclusively for cooking or special occasions. If you got dirty then you had glacier melt off. The summer months it was a little different, there was more water available to use. But Kya had never experienced water this warm before. It felt like a great warm blanket had just been wrapped all around her and she was basking in it.
The thick smells of burning incense covered up the smell of laundry. Kya dunked her head entirely under the water and then came back up for air. It was actually rather refreshing. And relaxing after being cooped up for so long in the bottom of that stinking iron boat. She rubbed her face and hands with the bar of soap that had been thrust into her hands. It smelt of animal fat and flowers.
Kya only got up when the water got cold. She stood shivering, arms crossed over her ample breasts. They really were her most noticeable feature. They were twice the size of her head without a hint of sag. Her brown nipples were as thick as thumbs and stuck out a solid fingers width. They were very sensitive as well and were hard enough that they could probably destroy glass.
Kya yelped as a towel was rapidly scrubbed against her back and legs. Another was scrubbed quickly against her shoulders. She let out a yelp as someone gripped her hip and vigorously began to rub at her full butt cheeks. She was turned around and hissed as her hair was pulled just as quickly by more hands. Soon the women working in the laundry room had wiped every last inch of her body with the large towels. So that she was as dry as she had been when she got into the palace.
The older pinched faced woman gripped Kya's face and rapidly rubbed a small tube of something red and foul tasting against Kya's lips. She then flung some bright blue powder against Kya's still slightly damp cheeks.
Kya moved to rub at the make up only for her wrist to be rapped smartly by the pinched faced woman.
"You will smear it! Don't touch!" She said warningly. Kya dropped her hand and then gasped. More hands and bodies moved rapidly around her. Plucking, pulling, readjusting, until finally Kya found herself with her hair up in a large bun, her traditional hair loops had been left hanging so that her hair framed her face. The sharp edges of sharpened sticks had been shoved into the bun to keep her hair bun in place.
Her thick blue woolen furs had been torn away at some point. She was now wearing a dark wine red loin cloth, her tits were in a tight red wrap. But it was too small. It was like a bandage around her nipples. She had a lot of upper boob exposed and a lot of under boob exposed. The loin cloth hung all the way down to her knees, with the fire nation capital symbol sewn in gold on it.
A collar was clicked around Kya's neck and she swallowed, her throat constricting against the heavy cold metal.
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