Mai had a hidden passionate nature that Zuko had barely guessed at. He knew the reasons for her distant attitude, but he had assumed that her interior largely reflected her chilly exterior. It was a surprise when she began to let him peek through the curtain at the fire she held in her. In public she was as cool and proper as ever, but her definition of private grew as the weeks continued. Their nights in the bedroom were intense and passionate, but she gradually began to thread those activities into other aspects of their life.
When she was seated next to him at dinner, her left hand demurely moved food from plate to mouth as her right intimately caressed him beneath the table. In the few seconds of privacy they sometimes found walking the hallways, she would pull him against a wall in a passionate kiss and press a thigh between his legs. When servants appeared mere seconds later, he was grateful his robes were long enough to hide his reaction. In trips through the city in their palanquin, she would pull the curtains and do things he never would have expected outside the bedroom. She moved so smoothly that she never even shook the palanquin and all he could do was weakly grip her shoulders and try to suppress his moans.
She played coy whenever he tried to ask her what she was doing, but he couldn't help but be enchanted by her. He had expected a coldly beautiful woman, but he'd captured a wicked, amorous creature. He'd always thought she was lovely, but the smoldering looks she gave when nobody could see made her exquisite. When he noticed the room they were in was emptying (and now he was always conscious of these things), his hands began to shake with the expectation of what would come. Although he never could have seen this coming, he was completely captivated by her. Every time she returned to his arms and gave him that little sly smile, he was bound more and more tightly to her. When she raised her lips to his, he was certain there was nothing better in the world.