Hey everyone! Here's a little one shot idea I had about Mai's thoughts when she officially meets the gaang. Note: It's written in Mai's POV .
"Mai, we're ready to leave."
I sighed at the sound of Zuko's voice. Not because I wasn't glad to see him, but I wasn't happy about the fact that he was dragging me to Ba Sing Se without telling me why we were even going there in the first place.
"It's a special occasion," he had told me just a few days before.
Ever since Zuko had become the new Firelord, he was always out looking for ways to show the world how our nation wasn't as terrible as it seemed. He was doing a pretty good job, but he almost never stayed in the Fire Nation for more than two weeks. He was always off traveling to some distant lands, probably with his friend the Avatar.
Zuko always invited me to come along, but I usually stayed behind to help him with his duties here at home. He was quite forgetful about things that needed to be completed here, so that left me to bail him out.
I was bored at home though. I almost hate to say it, but now that the war was over life is even duller. There's no fighting anymore, and I don't exactly have the ability to just shoot fire everywhere when I'm frustrated.
If I can't have Zuko, then I would be okay if Ty Lee was still around. But she isn't. She ran off with that weird group of terribly dressed fighter girls who call themselves the Kyoshi Warriors. Not that I was too surprised; they all loved Ty Lee back in prison. She happily kept everyone entertained with demonstrations of her crazy acrobatic abilities and eventually, she taught some of them how to fight better with her unique chi-blocking skills.
Me? I was stripped of every knife and dagger I owned and demoted to an insulting assortment of prison clothing. How could I possibly be happy with that?
I was pretty sure that Zuko was too busy with the Avatar to come bail me out, so I wasn't disappointed when he never came. I was disappointed, however, to find that an old Water Tribe man, one of the inmates from my uncle's prison, and a few kids had come to get us out of there. Of course, they hadn't realized that security had been heightened at the time, so their escape plan failed and they, too, were captured.
My heroes…
Luckily for me, my uncle was kind enough to get me out of there. Of course, it could have been because he found out that Zuko, my boyfriend who he tried to arrest weeks ago, was set to be the new Firelord. A little fear never hurts, I guess, and it didn't matter, because I was freed from that rotting place.
"Mai?"
I looked up and saw Zuko wearing Earth Kingdom clothes. His hair was all down, and his Firelord crown was nowhere in sight.
"Uh…" I didn't really know what to say. He looked somewhat ridiculous in foreign clothing, but then again, I probably looked just as silly in that Kyoshi Warrior clothing I had to wear months ago in Ba Sing Se. And I guess I was just wasn't used to seeing him in anything but Fire Nation clothes.
"I got this for you."
To my horror, Zuko held up a long, pale green dress. At least there were no frills or sparkles on it; I would have killed Zuko if there were. I'll admit, it was fine dress, but I despised wearing bright clothing like that. No sense in arguing with him however, so I replied with a sigh.
"As you wish, Firelord."
Zuko grinned playfully, another thing I wasn't used to…yet. Part of me liked seeing Zuko smile, but it was just such a huge change from the depressing boy who returned to the Fire Nation with me a few months ago.
"We're leaving in ten minutes," Zuko started to leave, but turned around and added, "Don't forget to wear those emerald slippers I gave you."
As I saw him disappear behind the corner, I groaned inwardly. The shoes were worse than the dress. Zuko clearly had no sense in fashion, but I could hardly blame him, after all he was a bit behind on the times.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
"The Jasmine Dragon?" I read off of the sign next to the tea shop. It was in the upper ring of the city, and overall a reasonably decent place. But why did Zuko drag me here?
"Why are we here?" I asked him, my curiosity was beginning to grow.
Zuko, ignoring my question, dragged me to the front doors of the shop; the dazzling, yet still unfamiliar smile glowing on his face. I rolled my eyes and followed after him, until we reached the front door. He tugged at the golden handles slowly, and immediately pushed me inside before I could even think of running away.
I blinked a few times. It took several seconds for me to register who was in here. As soon as I realized who they were, I whipped around and glared angrily at Zuko.
There they were: the Water Tribe siblings, the blind earthbender, the Kyoshi Warrior, and the Avatar. All of whom probably hated me.
Zuko was still grinning smugly towards me, and it took every ounce of my patience not to slug him in the face.
Everyone looked up from what they were doing and waved at Zuko.
"Hey Zuko, it's about time you guys arrived," the airbender said. Noticing me, he smiled politely. "Hi Mai."
Okay this was too weird. These people…how did they know my name? Why were they smiling as though they were…happy to see me?
I reluctantly allowed myself to be hauled even further into the shop. I was still stiff with the shock of seeing all of my former enemies in the same place. But…they were Zuko's former enemies too, right? Perhaps I would survive this after all…
The group gathered around, as Zuko began introducing them to me.
"I'm sure you remember Suki…"
The girl didn't look too angry, which was an immense relief, considering that I thought she would hate me the most for what Azula, Ty Lee and I did to her group.
"We would have never survived that prison escape without your help Mai-" I couldn't believe I was hearing these people refer to me by my name "-thanks."
I mumbled something in response and saw the Water Tribe boy standing next to her.
"And I think you and Sokka have met before…"
Oh yes. Indeed. The Water Tribe peasant who helped Zuko back at the Boiling Rock. And the same guy who Ty Lee and I attacked back in Ba Sing Se…and Omashu…and out in the wilderness…
He held out his hand, with an unnaturally happy smile on his face. I stared at it for a moment, and realized he wanted me to shake his hand. Not very traditional to a Fire Nation citizen, but I cautiously reached out and briefly shook his hand anyways.
"Nice to meet you," I muttered awkwardly. I looked at Zuko, silently pleading him to end these uncomfortable introductions. He ignored my despair, however, and nodded to the Water Tribe girl.
"Katara, I think you guys may have met…"
Katara smirked humorously. "Yes…she pinned me to a tree and threw knives at me in Omashu."
I could not for the life of me tell if that girl was serious or teasing me. I had never been teased a day in my life; tortured was a better word for referring to when I played with Azula when we were kids.
However, her smirk wasn't directed at me anymore; it was directed at Zuko.
"Still, it beats getting attacked and stalked by you for so many months, Zuko."
She punched him playfully. Weird sort of way to show affection for a friend, I mused.
Zuko took it all in stride. He didn't even mind being teased by these people- his friends- so I figured I could handle some of it too.
He proceeded to introduce me to Toph, the blind girl who tried to chuck pieces of flying earth at me back in Ba Sing Se before Ty Lee disabled her bending. Enemy or not, that girl was a good bender and I was secretly still glad that Ty Lee managed to stop her back then.
"And finally, I don't believe you've really met Aang…"
We shook our heads in unison. I mean, there was that one time in Omashu, but other than that, I've never really seen much of the kid.
To my great surprise, the Avatar bowed to me as any other Fire Nation citizen would.
"I'm Aang. It's nice to finally meet Zuzu's girlfriend," he joked.
I knew Zuko hated that nickname, and hearing it come from a twelve year old kid made it sound almost…funny.
I bowed respectfully in return; not quite sure what to say to an unbelievably powerful kid who had just ended the hundred year's war.
"The tea is ready!" I saw Zuko's uncle, Iroh, come from behind a door, carrying a large pot with small cups on the side of the tray.
He too, was wearing Earth Kingdom clothes, and, looking at Zuko, I realized that we Fire Nation people didn't look so ridiculous in these green clothes anymore.
Suki invited me to play Pai Sho with her over on a table across the room. It was the strangest thing, considering just months before I was watching as Azula's soldiers took her and her fellow warriors away in a portable prison cell, and, at the time, I didn't feel one bit guilty about it.
The Kyoshi Warrior was a pretty forgiving person, however. She was on good terms with my best friend and boyfriend, too, so she couldn't be too bad after all.
As I waited for her to make the first move, I looked up around the room. For once in my life, I actually had a caring group of…friends. For more three years, I was the most miserable person in the world; those were the years Zuko had been forced to leave the Fire Nation. To leave me…
And even when I joined Azula with Ty Lee, I never really felt as though I genuinely had friends. I attacked these people and aided Azula whenever I could, but now…
They forgave me. It was a strange, but good feeling to be forgiven.
I'm glad that Zuko dragged me all the way to Ba Sing Se just for this.
How'd you guys like it? I love reviews, so don't be shy! ;) (if this turns out to be popular, I'll probably write Zuko's-POV-epilogue oneshot next)