In a land of fire, Mai is an exotic woman of ice. In a nation where emotions run hot and high, her face is an inscrutable, impassable wall. During the long, slow early months of their relationship, Zuko was fascinated by the hints she would sometimes show of her inner heart. At first, the idea of such an intensely private person captivated him and he devoted hours to teasing out a picture of the woman he didn't yet know. As she let him know more of her, he was stunned first by the hidden depths she revealed, then awed and grateful that such a woman would choose him.
He knows her inside and out now, and she knows he knows, but the face she shows in public is the same impenetrable one it has always been. It's only when they're alone that she reveals the rich emotions that swim behind the ice. He doesn't mind because he wants to keep this mystifying, marvelous woman to himself. The rest of the world will never know what they've been missing. Still, it's only in the dark, when even he can't see her face, that she acts completely free. His favorite feeling is at night when she smiles against his kisses or when he manages to tease a single surprised laugh out of her. The first time he heard her laugh long and hard until she was breathless was when she told him she was pregnant.
