The Spy Who Tolerated Me
Ember Island
Early Autumn
2 Weeks After Sozin's Comet
Mai was alone in a crowd, but she was used to that.
Ember Island was always a place dedicated solely to fun, but it usually wasn't as chaotic as the scene was this evening. However, word had arrived day before that the Hundred Year War was over, and the combined forces of the Avatar, the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, and a mysterious faction called the White Lotus were surrendering. Being in the employ of those forces, specifically those White Lotus folk, Mai was aware that 'surrender' was in this case Fire Nation-talk for "agreeing to give back all the Fire Nation land they captured during their unstoppable invasion over the summer, in exchange for an end to hostilities and all the colonies being returned to the Earth Kingdom." And so a 'Freedom Festival' was being held all across the island.
The Fire Nation was not famous for its grasp on reality.
A mask hid Mai's face from view, just like many of the people in the crowd around her. She was not given to facial expressions- that was an indulgence she had given up years ago- but with the mask in place, she was free of the baggage and dangers of her identity. She might have been born and raised in the Fire Nation, and even served the Royal Family, but all that had changed last spring, in Ba Sing Se. Many things had changed in Ba Sing Se, not the least of which was Mai's confidence for her place in the world. Thus, she had chosen for her disguise a white Noh mask of a woman with sunken eyes and red lips, a fairly boring choice for a festival.
It was a fact that Mai's 'date' was making more than clear.
"I can't believe you," Ty Lee said from behind her own Spirit of Roses mask. "You could be a dragon, or a smiling komodo rhino, or even a sooty copper fritillary. A sooty copper fritillary, Mai. But instead you pick the plainest mask you could find."
"How nice of you to notice."
Ty Lee cocked her head in a way that conveyed the deep frown beneath her own mask to anyone who really knew her, but then she shifted her gaze to the other side of the small plaza. "Ooh, there's a cute guy selling Firecracker Rice! I'm going to buy a carton. Don't worry, I'll get an extra pair of chopsticks."
Mai nodded. "Be quick." As Ty Lee dashed off, Mai did another distant examination of the area and tried to ignore a rowdy rendition of 'The Earth King has no Fireballs' from a nearby group of celebrating men. Mai had only met the Earth King in passing, when she helped Princess Azula take over Ba Sing Se, but given that his rebel forces had expelled the Fire Nation from their city and went on to serve as the backbone for the Avatar's invasion force, she didn't think the song was particularly apt. And certainly, the Fire Nation had little to brag about. Ozai had disappeared, in a move that was less of a 'tactical retreat' and more of 'running scared like a chicken-pig at the slaughter house,' and its new Regent rulers had surrendered to the invaders.
On the other hand, Mai could attest that Prince Regent Zuko and Princess Regent Azula did indeed have access to fireballs, and apparently that was enough.
Her gaze traveled over the plaza, a little collection of shops and cafes that had brought their wares out into the open air. Revelers moved from display to display, clasping hands with strangers and trying food and wine from every visible source. Only one business in the plaza had not turned itself inside out for the night, a former villa now marked with the characters for Entertainment and Exclusive. The sounds of actual professional music wafted from within to compete dully with the raucous singing coming in the streets.
Ty Lee soon returned- face once again exposed below a raised mask- and was already digging into her rice with a pair of chopsticks. Another pair stuck up out of the rainbow-colored grains like incense sticks at a grave. "We ready?"
Mai answered by slipping into the crowd. She cut through the carousers like a knife through the air, angling and shifting her weight so that she didn't so much as brush against the teenaged fools who tumbled and stumbled through the plaza. Although she continued to eat, Ty Lee followed with even more grace, even while stopping to throw a few winks at some boys who offered her hopeful smiles. As the pair drew up to the former villa, she finally pushed her mask back down.
At least Ty Lee could be counted on to take the job seriously when it was important.
They were stopped at the main entrance by a man who stood like a haphazard pile of muscles. "Club members only, ladies."
Mai produced a coin from her sleeve, and held it up for examination. It wasn't proper Fire Nation currency, and wasn't even made of a precious metal, but the image engraved on the face of the token made it valuable all the same. It had been included with Mai's written briefing for this mission, and she couldn't help but wonder how Iroh had gotten it, if it was even real.
Fortunately, it was real enough for the bouncer, who nodded and waved them through to the main dining room.
Mai and Ty Lee stopped to scope out the scene. At the far side of the room, a stage hosted a band that was playing something bouncy while a line of young men and women wearing strategic scraps of clothing recited melodic poetry and very carefully did not move in any way that could be construed as dancing. Mai might have betrayed the Fire Nation at Ba Sing Se when first tried to save Zuko from Azula, later saved Sokka of the Water Tribe despite his technically being an enemy soldier, and then finally joined Iroh in a campaign to invade her homeland and end the war, but she was still Fire Nation enough to approve of the lack of dancing. As she had been taught as a child, dancing was almost like art, art was almost like a political statement, and once politics got into the mix, someone was going to get set on fire.
Rather than kneeling at a table or hanging around the stage, Mai led Ty Lee along the edge of the dining room, to a door set in an unobtrusive corner that had been described in her briefing papers. A tall servant woman with her hair in a tight bun was standing guard in front of the door, and her eyes hardened at Mai's approach, but she made no overt moves.
Mai stopped just short of punching distance, bowed low, and then spoke from beneath her mask, "I would like to see the boss."
"I don't care what you'd like," the servant sneered. "Get out or I'll have you thrown out."
"Very well." Mai brought hands together within her sleeves like a proper Fire Nation lady. "Then please tell the boss for me that I'm pretty sure this can be resolved without Princess Regent Azula being involved. She's quite adamant about finding her father, but I think the rest of us would prefer to resolve the issue without any complications."
The servant woman's expression changed instantly, and Mai indulged in a smirk behind her mask. She had always known about the fear surrounding Azula's reputation in the years when they had been friends, but it wasn't until Mai began lying to the Princess in Ba Sing Se that she learned firsthand just how terrifying the woman herself could be. Mai might be Azula's enemy now, even if the Princess believed Mai herself to be dead, but she still enjoyed turning that fear around to work for her.
The servant's face once again settled into something professional. "Wait here." She slipped through the door, and soon returned. "The boss will see you, but first you must be searched for weapons." She caught sight of Ty Lee's rice. "You can't bring that in."
Ty Lee gave that lip-quivering face of protest that she was so good at. "Awwwww, please? I just bought it, and it's nice'n'hot. I haven't had anything to eat allllll day!" Even Mai sometimes succumbed to the power of that face and tone, although she'd never admit that.
The servant was made of no tougher stuff. "Ugh. Fine. But it will have to be searched for weapons, too." Ty Lee nodded with evident satisfaction, and the servant led the way through the door and up a set of stairs. So far, so good.
Now for the dangerous part.
"There, the Ember Island Illuminaries club." Super Secret Agent Sokka pointed to the building at the far end of the busy plaza. Around him, the festival pumped and pulsed and completely ignored him, satisfied enough by his stolen red clothes to miss his blue eyes. He would have preferred a better disguise, perhaps a beard and tinted glasses to go along with a funny voice, but this mission had been thrown together at the last minute, and so Sokka was force to hide behind a shirt. A shirt with holes in it, no less. "According to our friend on the docks, Boss Pantu's office is on the third floor. I'm sure Ember Island's biggest smuggler has some record of where she sent Ozai, and once we find it, Operation: 'Hunt Down the Abdicated Fire Lord and Drag Him Whining to the Earth Kingdom Where He Will Be Imprisoned Forever' shall be successful!"
Beside him, Suki was also sporting the red-clothes/blue-eyes fashion that was all the rage these days with secret agents illegally operating on foreign soil, and turned to offer an incredulous look. "Is that really what our mission is called? It doesn't exactly seem Aang's style..."
"Operation: 'Sarcasm' is not approved for operations at this time, Agent Suki." He winked and added, "We're keeping it in reserve as my secret weapon."
"I think the new treaty outlawed the use of sarcasm in enemy counties." She gave a wink of her own, and then turned back to face the club. "So the sooner we finish this, the sooner I can get back to Kyoshi Island. How are we going in? I've never actually seen you use the front door to anything."
Sokka wondered what she meant about getting back to Kyoshi Island. Did she really plan on leaving when things were still so crazy? "That's because they expect you to use the front door."
"Who's 'they?' "
"Exactly! Anyway, we don't have one of those membership tokens our source said all club members have, and counterfeiting something like that is a little beyond my resources right now, so breaking in is our only option."
Suki nodded. "It should be easy enough. I can jump up and run across the tops of everyone's head in this plaza, and then leap to grab one of the second floor window sills. I can either go through that window, or flip myself up to a third-floor window. How about you?"
Sokka was left dumbfounded for a long moment. "Um, I can... sneak in... through the back... somewhere?" His brain finally caught up with his mouth. "Okay, new plan. You wait out here as backup while I infiltrate through the back and look around. If you hear trouble, do that jumpy flippy thing you just said and come help me get out of there. Sound good?"
Suki's grin was all teeth. "You've come a long way, letting your girlfriend be your muscle."
"Girl muscle is the best muscle, now and forever." They parted with a kiss, and then Sokka dived back into the crowds, a man on a mission to avoid his girlfriend having to come and save his butt.
After Ba Sing Se, he was due some good karma in that regard.
Boss Pantu's 'office' looked like the dark heart of Ember Island itself. Just to get to the offered chairs, Mai had to step around a changing screen that had been painted with a mural of a beach, the surfboard left leaning against it, and what looked like theater props from the Ember Island Players' award-winning interpretation of Love Amongst the Dragons just lying in the middle of the floor. Decorative fans, all painted with scenes from around the Island, were hung up on the walls, and beaded necklaces had been left dangling on everything that could support them. Anything ever associated with tourism on Ember Island had a representative somewhere in the office.
It was all almost enough to eclipse the massive darkwood desk positioned at the rear of the room. The thick woman seated at the desk was not so easily missed, though. Her only movement was to lethargically stroke the white cat sitting in her lap, but her eyes were anything but relaxed. It made Mai wish she had her knives, and the feeling reminded her too much of pretending to be a Kyoshi Warrior back in Ba Sing Se. That had been a... vulnerable time.
Mai and Ty Lee took their seats in the offered chairs, the acrobat still clutching her bowl of rice and chopsticks. As soon as they were settled, Boss Pantu shifted the cat in her lap and spoke. "My people tell me that you've been speaking of associations that are best left forgotten."
Mai was glad for the mask on her face; she still wasn't used to being a spokesperson, and this wasn't a problem that could be solved with a knife. "Forgetting the Fire Lord isn't going to be as easy as you'd like. The whole world is looking for him, and the trail has led to you. You helped him get off Ember Island?"
Pantu's expression didn't change. "Who wants to know? You mentioned Princess Regent Azula."
Mai weighed the notion of perpetuating that lie, but decided that Pantu wasn't the type to fall easily for deceptions. "I'm not a direct representative of the Fire Regents, but they're involved in the manhunt, the same as I am. I speak for... a more negotiable faction. We can pay you for information about Ozai, and then forget where it came from. And the sooner Ozai is found, the sooner everyone will stop looking for him on your island."
"I don't make deals with people who I don't know. You come to me in a mask, representing unknown people? Young lady, I don't know what kind of criminal you think I am, but that type of thing is simply not done this close to the Capital. We cover ourselves only in silks. Give me your name, or I shall show you some of the weapons hidden in my silk."
The cat in Pantu's arms let out a hiss. If that was rehearsed, Mai was impressed.
She considered the ultimatum; it was clear that she couldn't exactly announce herself as Lady Caldera Yu Mai, but that didn't leave many options. She had, more or less, lost herself in Ba Sing Se. She had betrayed Azula to save Zuko, and later Sokka when it worked out that they had somehow managed to become friends. In turn, she herself had been abandoned by the suspicious princess, and had been forced to rely on General Iroh to protect her from the 'mighty' defenders of Ba Sing Se. Her work for him had been a form of repayment, carrying messages to his White Lotus friends to join him in invading the Fire Nation and bringing the war to an end. It suited Mai well enough since ending the war would keep the people she cared about safe, and also give her something exciting to do. Now that the war was over, she was still working for Iroh mainly out of a lack of other options. Her family had been driven out of New Ozai- although it was probably back to being 'Omashu' now- and no one knew where they were. The Avatar and his friends were overseeing their army's withdrawal from the Fire Nation, and then they'd be doing all the scut work of transitioning the colonies back to Earth Kingdom rule.
She was just Lady Mai- nothing more, and nothing less.
"Noh," she finally said from beneath her black white Noh-mask.
Pantu frowned. "No?"
"Noh."
"No, you won't tell me your name?"
"No, I'm telling you to call me Noh." Mai ignored Ty Lee's giggle. "I mean no disrespect, but not all of us enjoy the protections that you do. I'm a facilitator offering promises, letting you know that there is an alternative to becoming the next target of the people who sent the Fire Lord running scared. An opportunity. You don't need to trust me, you just need to know that the world is a friendlier place than it was before we met."
Pantu just shook her head. "Pretty words. But they aren't what I asked for." She lifted a hand from her cat to make a small motion, and Mai's instincts signaled danger a moment before the sounds of heavy boots came from the rear of the room.
She turned to find the exit blocked by three big men in the armor of the local Home Guard division.
Well. It seemed that this was a problem that could be solved with a knife after all.
Too bad she didn't have one.
The club's unsightly backside did indeed offer plenty of infiltration opportunities, especially for an experienced connoisseur like Sokka. Sadly, a disturbing lack of Momo or other handy distractions left him without any sure-ice way avoid attention, but he could at least get into the building with the ever-reliable 'Dress like an Employee' backup plan.
If only Sokka could find a uniform conveniently lying around where he could steal it unnoticed.
Servants were coming and going through the curtain-covered back door with all manner of goods, and quite a few crates were left lying around the little patio that was apparently serving as the club's supply depot. Sokka crouched behind a stack of wine jugs and spied on the general comings and goings of the scene. He waited until the latest batch of deliveries tapered off, then scampered to the curtain and slipped underneath it. He found himself in a room filled with scattered crates that unfortunately did not contain any employee uniforms, and quickly stepped through the clutter to the doorway and hallway beyond. He then affected a walk like he was exactly where he was supposed to be as he made his way deeper into the club, just like a good spy.
Operation: "Sneaky Sneak" was going perfectly.
He was entertaining fantasies about getting all the way into Pantu's office and finding records detailing Ozai's whereabouts (while dangling from the ceiling by a rope harness, because it struck him that floors squeaked at the most inconvenient times during infiltrations, and wouldn't that be lots of fun?) when he turned a corner and bounced into a big man who looked like he was born to be professional security and never had any other aspirations for his life. Sadly, the typical wisdom about the lack of wisdom in such people didn't seem to apply here, as the man immediately frowned at Sokka and said, "I don't know you. Let me see your staff token."
Thanks to his fruitful infiltration experience, Sokka knew exactly what to do in this situation, and immediately turned and dashed down another branch of the intersection. He heard the big man giving chase, so he turned another corner and then ducked into a nearest room while he was out of sight. The room wasn't empty, but even better, it was full of people who were busy and moving around and not paying attention to anything going on around them. Sokka scooted through the throng and away from the door, managing to work his way over to the far side, where a long set of curtains has been suspended from a line to cut off a slice of the room from view. Sokka glanced back over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of the burly guard looking around through all the activity, so Sokka ducked behind the closest curtain and found himself in a little space. What was this, a closet of some kind? Then Sokka looked down and saw the pile of clothes at his feet. Ah, it must be a place to get changed in private, complete with conveniently placed disguise! Sometimes, the universe really did pay him back for all the trouble it otherwise put him through.
Then Sokka saw that what the clothes were, and realized that the universe was a huge jerk after all.
He emerged from behind the curtain a few minutes later, dressed- or rather, undressed- in a set of scraps designed to flaunt the feminine figure that he hoped he was faking convincingly. He passed right by the guard without earning a second glance, although the first was more than disturbing enough with the way it lingered on Sokka's bare shoulders and thighs. (Not that Sokka minded what he felt was a rather absurd compliment under the circumstances, but what kind of an unprofessional guard took a moment out of searching for an infiltrator to ogle the other help?)
Then a call came out of, "Quick, we need you on stage!" and Sokka turned to find someone with an air of importance looking right at him.
Oh, this wouldn't end well.
Mai chose to ignore the thugs gathered behind her and, through her mask, stared Boss Pantu right in the eyes. "So are the thugs to escort us out, or are you really going to make this worse for yourself?"
Pantu raised an eyebrow. "Worse for me? What can two little girls without weapons possibly do? It's a shame, but people who speak to me of the Fire Lord must be made to disappear."
Mai folded her hands together and leaned forward. "Then you should understand that you've made yourself an enemy." Behind her, Mai heard the heavy inhalation of breath that was usually a prelude to Firebending, and the floor squeaked as the corrupt soldiers shifted into attack stances, but she didn't turn around. She did- because she had a certain sense of style that might someday get her killed- take the time to say, "We'll see ourselves out." Then she smoothly turned to Ty Lee and reached for the carton of rice in her lap.
Or, more specifically, the four chopsticks sticking up out of the colorful grains.
No sooner had she wrapped her fingers around the chopsticks than she was standing up and whipping around. As she spun, she did her little trick: she reached within to the energy that flowed through her body like blood, the energy that Ty Lee was able to disrupt with but a touch when she chose, and willed it to converge into her arms, into her hands, into the chopsticks between her fingers. When she let go, three of the thin wooden projectiles went flying forward with far more speed than the strength of Mai's arms and the momentum of her spin could have produced. They flew with all the power she hoarded within what passed for her heart.
The three chopsticks spread out in a precise pattern, aimed where Mai had heard the attackers moving behind her. Two of the projectiles went hurtling at the soldiers on the right and left, piercing their leather tunics and dragging them to be pinned to the far wall. The men tried to yank free, but the chopsticks had sunk deep into the wall and didn't budge, and the leather was tough enough to resist their strength.
The third chopstick had been aimed at the soldier in the center, and instead of nailing his clothes to anything, the projectile speared the fist that he had been raising in a Firebending punch, cutting off the connection to his element. His breath exploded out of him both from pain and the stifled flow of energy, and Mai left him to once again face Pantu. As expected, the boss was rising- her cat fleeing the scene- with a knife in her hand, but Mai just waited, and as expected Ty Lee's fist came up to intercept Pantu's arm and turn it into so much useless muscle with a precisely aimed arrow-fist. Pantu's hand spasmed from the blow, causing her to drop the knife.
Mai's own hand was there to swipe it out of the air.
Without blinking, she spun to face the last Firebender, still standing with a chopstick piercing his hand, and slammed butt of the knife's handle into his forehead, dropping the him to the ground instantly. Mai quickly glanced around to make sure the other soldiers were still out of the game, then faced Pantu again one last time. She spun the knife into a reverse grip, and raised it with heavy purpose.
She was brought to a halt when Ty Lee grabbed her arm and said, "What are you doing? We need to get out of here before more people come!"
Mai's eyes never left Pantu. "She's loyal to Ozai. We can't take her prisoner, and if we leave her, she'll just make herself into a distraction. I should just kill her now." Letting out a breath that she hadn't known she was holding, she returned her gaze to Ty Lee. "It won't take long."
Ty Lee's grip just tightened in response. "That's not our job! She hasn't seen our faces, and we can make sure word gets to Zuko and Azula about her. Let's just leave! Please!" Ty Lee might have been wearing a mask, but her glistening eyes were perfectly visible.
Mai realized, with some sense of gratitude, that the time had not come to cross that line, yet. "All right, let's get out of here." Mai spun the knife again into a proper grip, and then pulled Ty Lee around the unconscious thug on the floor and back towards the door.
As they fled down the hall, Mai heard the heavy stomping of Pantu's reinforcements.
Sokka's cry of surprise was high enough in pitch to fool the director who had grabbed his arm. The man was dragging Sokka down a narrow corridor towards a darkness that was either a torture chamber or a performance stage, or possibly both. Every instinct in Sokka's nearly undressed body was telling him to talk his way out of the situation, but fortunately his brain stepped in to push his instincts aside and remind him that while stuffing his socks down a thin chest wrap was apparently enough to fool these people into thinking he was a woman, there was no way he was going to make his voice do the same, whether or not he had some spare socks. However, that would only delay the problem until he was out on stage, at which point he would have to hope that Suki had somehow divined his distress and was ready with a well-timed rescue. But the only disturbance he had caused was with a single guard who hadn't let loose any rampant chaos, so how was she to know?
Outside in the plaza, Suki was loitering unobtrusively amidst the partying crowed when she heard the unmistakable sounds of battle resonate from the Illuminaries club. She looked up, and saw a guard go flying out of one of the third-story windows, tumbling down the succession of slanted roofs to crash into the crowd.
Festival goers screamed, and began moving away from the newly revealed battle zone.
More noises of fighting were now audible from those top-floor windows, so Suki threw herself into motion, dashing forward just enough to gather some speed and momentum before leaping up above the crowd. Her sandals touched on someone's head, and long before her full weight came down on the unfortunate cranium, Suki pushed off with her legs again, and soon she was skipping from head to head.
Sokka was shoved out onto the stage, making the haphazardly hanging cloth that was serving him as a something like a skirt flutter in the air, and he found himself standing amongst similarly garbed performers in front of a band. (He noticed that the men were wearing something that, while no more modest, was at least more in line with their gender expression, and once again cursed the universe for not providing him with the right disguise just because he wished it.) Other performers were hopping out onto the stage with a sense of desperation, and Sokka realized that the crowd seemed agitated, murmuring and looking not at the stage, but at the guards who were streaming through the dining room towards a door in an obscure corner.
Where were they going in such a hurry? Were they looking for Sokka?
Then a loud, feminine voice behind Sokka said, "Hey, you ain't a girl! What do'ya think you're trying to pull here, boyo?"
Sokka spun to find one of the other performers glaring at him. She was wearing the same costume he was, but it looked much more natural on her, probably owing to the lack of socks in her chest wrap. Others around them started paying attention, and the band took up a new melody. Sokka gave his best big-eyed pleading smile and said, "I'm a last minute fill-in?"
"...hey, security, we got a bozo guy in a dress with socks stuffed in his wrap!"
Sokka took that as his cue to jump off the stage and dash for the exit. The entertainers grabbed for him, and aside from a brief tearing sound that he didn't worry about at that moment, there was nothing to stop him from escaping. As he dodged around diners and low tables, he caught a glimpse of two of the guards turning to pursue him, so Sokka put on an extra burst of speed that took him through the front door and past a confused bouncer.
He emerged into the plaza, and was surprised to see most of the people screaming and moving away from the club, but since he was headed in the same direction and had guards chasing him, it was all working out. Now, where was Suki? With her help, he'd be able to get rid of his pursers in a delightfully decisive way-
-and why did it feel so breezy?
Running from danger and alone in an enemy land, Sokka looked down to see that he had left his stolen clothes back in the club.
One moment they were fighting their way out of Boss Pantu's club, stabbing, punching, kicking, tripping, and throwing goons out of windows, which altogether meant Mai was having the time of her life. The next moment, she and Ty Lee jumped out of their own strategically chosen window to find a strangely familiar ninja girl jumping past them to climb in the window they had just vacated, and since when are there traffic jams three stories above the ground outside criminal hideouts? Mai landed on the second story's curved roof, knocking shingles loose, and glanced back in confusion. Then she heard cries of alarm coming from below, and she looked down at the plaza to find a dark-skinned young man streaking- in the both the sense of running very fast and also being sans any clothes- into the fleeing crowd while chased by a pair of the corrupt Home Guard soldiers in Pantu's employ.
That's when it all came together.
The ninja girl was Suki, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors.
The young man was Sokka, companion to the Avatar, boyfriend to Suki, and-
-and Mai's friend, after those strange events in Ba Sing Se. Sure, there had been some mutual betrayals, but eventually they came to a working agreement, which went on to involve saving each other's lives, and you couldn't face death (or Azula, same difference) with someone and not consider them something like family afterward. In Mai's case, she even liked Sokka better than some of her family.
She realized, without any sense of surprise, that it was time to save his life again.
She turned to Ty Lee. "Did you recognize the girl?"
"Yup!" The tilt of her head somehow managed to express the smile beneath her mask. "That was the Kyoshi Warrior girl! The leader one! Azula stole her underwear. I'd recognize that fighting style anywhere."
"Good. I'm out of ammunition, so you'll have to go back inside and help her. Tell her that I'm taking care of her partner, get her out of there, and take her to our eelhounds. I'll meet you."
Ty Lee blinked. "What partner?"
Mai didn't bother replying. She jumped off the roof, and literally hit the ground running. Once she emerged from the plaza, into the confused press of people trying to figure out why their festival was being disrupted, she yanked her mask off and began shedding layers of robes. In seconds, she looked like any other pampered teenage girl out to show off her new summer dress, but the thoughts running through her head were unlike those of anyone else on Ember Island.
This was her life, now. Danger, escapes, demanding alliances, clever plans, and a touch of ruthlessness. Her family would be horrified, if they knew she was alive, and Mai tried to take some solace in that.
It had seemed like a problem with a simple solution. When running from a pair of pursuers through a crowd, simply use the crowd as natural cover. It was like covering yourself in plants while hiding in the jungle, except it was a jungle of people, and Sokka was a people, so it was actually more like a plant hiding in a bunch of other plants. The problem was that all plants were naked, so it was easy for them to blend together. Unlike Sokka, though, the people around him were actually wearing clothes, and that even included the people in obscenely revealing Fire Nation swimsuits. Also, all those people didn't seem to be enjoying Sokka's state of undress any more than he was, so they pulled away from him as he ran past them, making for the very opposite of blending in like a plant amidst plants. Sometimes, it was hard being a special flower.
Obviously, it was time for Operation: "Get Off the Street, You Dummy."
Sokka immediately shifted his erratic trajectory and made for a cluster of colorful tents that were serving as a miniature carnival amidst the larger celebration. Some of them were serving food, and others offered unwinnable games, but all of them would hopefully offer Sokka some cover with their tall peaks and striped fabrics. He swerved around people, ignoring the mix of insults and cheers, and ducked between two of the tents to slip around to their backs.
He found himself in a blessedly empty little space like a back alley, with orange and red and yellow fabrics standing in for walls, and finally stumbled to a halt, panting for breath. That only took somewhere around 83% of his attention, leaving him an easy- well, his brain wasn't feeling so good about math right now, but the leftover attention was enough to look around and scope out further hiding prospects. The lines of tents were big enough to shield him from view of the road, but not so big that he could hide inside one and not trip over whatever was going on inside. He decided that he'd keep moving along the makeshift alley, staying out of sight while he looked for something to wear, and then he could circle back to Pantu's club to meet up Suki. From there, they could make their way to safety and come up with another plan to investigate the boss-
Sokka didn't even have time to finish that thought before the pair of soldiers emerged from between the tents.
Sokka reflexively reached for his boomerang, but then realized the only weapon he had was his was his bare body, and unless these were especially shy guards, it was going to be an uneven fight. "Hey, guys. I don't suppose you'd believe that I'm just a guy who wound up on the wrong side of a really mean prank?"
The soldiers glared at him, and began a simultaneous approach.
Sokka tensed ready for a fight, and then-
-and then a blur of red, white, and black flapped out from around one of the tents right in front of him and resolved itself into a girl. The red was her clothes, a two-piece affair that left the white skin of her midriff and neck bare. The black was a hair-do that Sokka was familiar with, a complicated piling of shiny obsidian that came together to form two odango buns on top and a trailing pair of long tails that hung past her pale face.
Mai stood right in front of Sokka, and raised her hands. Between each of her splayed fingers was- a little painted children's top? They were colored like the tents behind Sokka, and he guessed that they were being sold nearby.
Oh... kay. Why was Mai showing them off?
Then she smirked at him, drew her arms close to her body, and flung them out again towards the soldiers.
Sokka could only keep sight of one at a time, but it was enough. The guy on the left got a top right in the eye, and screamed. The guard on the right had his own scream cut off by another top that actually landed right in his mouth, eliciting a gagging sound that made Sokka swallow in sympathy. There were simultaneous crunches as another pair of tops smacked right into the guards' noses, and then Mai was between the guards, grabbing the one on the right and swinging him to crash into his partner. They collapsed in a heap, groaning and clutching their faces, and didn't try to get up.
Mai turned to Sokka and said, "Hello, lover."
"Lover?"
It was almost cute, the confused look on his face, and Mai kept her eyes firmly on his face lest she somehow mortify herself by looking... elsewhere. "Well, 'Sokka' isn't exactly a common name in the Fire Nation, and you need something you'll know to respond to." Mai arched an eyebrow. "You're not blundering about with the Avatar anymore; you're working with a professional."
Sokka was still just staring at her. "What?"
"Your persona is Lover. You are my boyfriend, and we are enjoying the Fire Festival. Here, put this on." Mai untied the shawl from around her shoulders, and tossed it to Sokka. "Wrap that around you like a breechcloth, and then lean against me when we get back into the crowd. With me obscuring you, you'll look like you're wearing normal Fire Nation swimming trunks. The baggy look is 'in,' supposedly." Finally, Sokka began moving, dressing himself as she commanded. Mai ran a completely professional eye over him, making sure that the disguise and persona would work, and added, "Also, try not to look anyone in the eyes. Blue eyes might be fine in the colonies, but this is Ember Island. You practically have to have Royal blood somewhere in your ancestry before they'll let you off the boat. And untie that ponytail, it looks weird."
Sokka gave his new skirt one last adjustment. "This kind of reminds of how you ripped off my clothes in that dungeon and gave me all those throwing knives. I don't suppose-"
"I don't have any weapons to give. I feel more naked than you probably do, now." Mai's fingers almost twitched at the memories Sokka was bringing to mind. It had been purely professional, the way she had outfitted him with some of her own hidden knives so that he could escape Azula's captivity and maybe help keep Zuko out of danger.
Sokka pulled the tie out of his hair to let his locks hang freely down the sides of his head. "I don't mean to imply anything, but I just want to be clear, this time. You're not manipulating me in the hopes of accomplishing some insane goal that will just get us all in trouble, are you?"
That almost hurt. Mai crossed her arms and give him one of her best Looks. "Your Kyoshi Warrior went into Boss Pantu's club looking for you. I sent Ty Lee to get her out, and we're meeting them at my getaway point, but at this point the club's entire security force is probably out looking for them... and you. I can get you past them, if you stick to your persona. They're looking for one naked guy, not a pair of appropriately dressed teens."
That perked him up. Without hesitation, Sokka stepped over and wrapped an arm around Mai's bare shoulders, pulling her tightly against him. They both set off between two tents not far from the incapacitated guards, and just before they slipped back into the crowd, Sokka whispered, "Sorry. I don't know what you're doing here, but really, thank you. You're probably saving my life. Again. I totally owe you a knife, sometime."
Mai put an arm around him, too. "You're welcome, Lover." His skin was unusually warm against her own.
For Sokka, life on Ember Island was no longer a party. Certainly, it looked like a party, but knowing that people were now looking for him took all the fun out of it. It was almost as bad as the party he attended his first night in Ba Sing Se, where instead of games and singing they had secret police and political corruption, which wasn't the same thing at all. It was all too easy to see the sinister side of the torches lighting up the night, the merchants hawking food and masks and toys and illicit ice cream and more, and the drunk explaining to a horrified young couple that he just needs a few coins to hire a carriage home. Well, okay, that last one wasn't particularly sinister, except for the young couple in question.
"Eyes down, Lover," came Mai's voice at his side. "There's a soldier coming up at the crossroads."
Sokka dutifully lowered his Water Tribe-colored gaze to his feet and leaned even tighter into Mai. "Don't take this as a complaint, but what are you doing here? Kind of risky for you to be back in the Fire Nation, isn't?"
"The risk is what makes it fun. Anyway, General Iroh sent us to follow up on a lead he had on his brother, but we ran into trouble that kept us from getting anywhere. And no, I don't want to talk about it."
"Sure, okay." The soldier was past them now, but Sokka kept his head down, just in case. "So, where are we going?"
"Ty Lee and I have a pair of eelhounds stashed just out of town. They're fast enough, we'll be able to get word to our back-up before Pantu can get off the island. This time next week, Zuko and Azula will hear about her unfortunate run-in with..."
"Pirates," Sokka offered.
"That's good. Pantu's unfortunate encounter with pirates." Mai glanced over at him. "Are you headed back to the South Pole, now?"
"Katara wants to. I'd like to see my Gran-Gran, but then..." He trailed off as a little factoid he had heard, back just before he parted from the army to to go on this wild turkey-goose chase, came to mind. "Aang wants to make sure that the Fire Army leaves the Earth Kingdom without restarting the war or anything profoundly stupid like that. That includes some of the conqueror-governors... like the leadership at Omashu..."
Mai looked up sharply. "My family?"
"Yeah. They're all okay." Sokka shrugged. "I asked. You know, I accidentally kidnapped your brother, so I was kind of interested in making sure that the evil little Fire Nation baby was okay, right? No big deal."
"No big deal." Mai nodded, and they walked on through the night. Sokka didn't take his eyes off of her face, though, and as they passed another torch, he thought he caught the curve of her lips just barely visible in the darkness. "Thanks for the news."
He let it go at that, because that's the way he would want it if he were in Mai's place. Not that having spent part of the evening in a dress was helping to understand the feminine mind; even if there was such a thing as a feminine mind, it was more that Mai in particular happened to think just like he did. They walked together out to the edge of town, where torches and buildings gave way to moonlight and frondy foliage.
And thus Sokka found himself taking a moonlit stroll on the beach with a pretty girl, except it was an Enemy Beach, the girl was a defector from the Fire Nation and just a friend, and they were out on the beach in order to escape an all kinds of people who would see them dead. Eventually, they found some company for themselves. The pair of large, sleek-looking mounts (the presumed eelhounds, and Sokka decided that he absolutely had to have one) were an interesting sight, but Sokka's attention was on the girls who waited beside them. Ty Lee and Suki ran over, and the latter didn't stop until she had thrown her arms around him for an embrace that, thanks to Sokka's state of dress, or lack thereof, was easily as dangerous and thrilling as anything else he had experienced over the last year.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sokka saw Mai step back from him and practically melt into the dark of the night.
It was Suki who spoke first, and it wasn't to Sokka: "Thanks for saving him, Mai." She bowed to the shadow as much as she could while still holding onto Sokka.
"Eh, I owed him one, I think. It's hard to keep track."
Suki's attention returned to Sokka, and she suddenly frowned. "Wait, why are you naked?"
"Almost naked."
"Whatever. How did you lose your clothes spying on a crime boss?"
Then the night spoke in Mai's voice, and it said, "Well, I had already stolen your clothes once. I may as well go for a full set."
There was silence for a moment as Sokka tried to come to grips with Mai deliberately making a joke.
Then he laughed.
The eelhounds paddled out into the moonlit surf, two tired riders on each animal, cutting through placid waves that glistened like polished metal ingots under the light of the moon and flames...
MAI
as
Ian Fleming's 007
in
~Trapped in Yu Dao~
(search youtube for "Adele Skyfall piano")
It's you again
Come to join me at the end
My heart within your ken
Alone out of all men
Yes it's you again
On edge of a knife we'll descend
To the land we condemned
Bodies forever penned
Trapped in Yu Dao
Land of metal
We will join hands
Face it all together
Trapped in Yu Dao
Land of metal
We will join hands
Face it all together
In Yu Dao
Dread Yu Dao
Yu Dao is where we'll fight
Close your eyes and deny the light
Just one spark and the flames ignite
On the day we touched, I learned the cold of fright
Can I make your love my might?
Trapped in Yu Dao (trapped in Yu Dao)
Land of metal (land of metal)
We will join hands (We will join hands)
Face it all together
Trapped in Yu Dao (trapped in Yu Dao)
Land of metal (land of metal)
We will join hands (we will join hands)
Face it all together
In Yu Dao
(Trapped in Yu Dao
Land of metal
We will join hands)
(Trapped in Yu Dao
Land of metal
We will join hands)
What kills you kills me
If you rise I rise
The world has turned us to spies
To stab and kill with our lies
Will it use us up?
Will we drink this cup?
Will they make us bleed
For their greed?
Trapped in Yu Dao (trapped in Yu Dao)
Land of metal (land of metal)
We will join hands (we will join hands)
Face it all together
Trapped in Yu Dao (trapped in Yu Dao)
Land of metal (land of metal)
We will join hands (we will join hands)
Face it all together
In Yu Dao
Trapped in Yu Dao
We will join hands
In Yu Dao
Oh...
TO BE CONTINUED
