Oh wow... this was beautiful! I like the backstory for this - the tribe has acquired a new slave so that Katara doesn't HAVE to do the work. I also quite like that Mai is so good at beadwork. I imagine that her parents set her to some useless, feminine and above all QUIET (but also intricate and impressive) crafts like embroidery as a child. Also, beadwork is totally time consuming and really an indication of wealth amongst many native tribes. Not only do you have to afford the beads in the first place, but you also have to have nothing better to do THAN bead. (Or, as in this case, afford to have someone else do the beading for you.) And, uh, I'll stop interpreting now. >_> I have a whole ten minute speech about plains style beadwork from working at the Fort all summer.

But what I mean to say is that I loved this fic! And I was quite amused by the ending. :3 Very nice!