Why do people always feel the need to be in such a hurry? Life is short. We don't have much time. And, while this can leave people feeling anxious, trying to cram everything in at once, we all know how that usually winds up. So, people should at least give a moment or two for a breather. Smell the flowers. Take a leisurely stroll. Breathe the fresh air.
"Zuko! I told you to dress the kids an hour ago!" Mai cried down the hall as she tied her hair up in its trademark style.
"One minute!" Her husband shouted back, he was finishing up signing last-minute documentations for political exchanges. Mai bit her lip, tapping her fingers against her hip in impatient irritation as her infant daughter began to cry in her cradle. She then threw down her hair ties and clips in agitation onto her vanity, storming into her husband's office. She then knocked the stack of papers off of his desk, folding her arms crossly as Zuko jolted up in alarm.
"Mai! What the hell was that?" Zuko shouted, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Kaito needs to be dressed, Ursa is crying, we promised them we'd be there an hour ago and we haven't even left, we are late!" Mai retorted sternly as Zuko sighed, taking deep breaths to contain his anger. He didn't want to blow up in another fight like they'd been having frequently lately. He was picking up the papers she'd scattered all over; he would have to start from scratch on them, he had been working on them for days and was nearly through.
"Mai, I was almost done," Zuko said jadedly.
"You say that every time, I'm sick of it!" Mai screamed as her husband lost his temper, slamming his fist against the hollow, mahogany desk, picking himself up.
"I was! I just wanted to finish! I can't enjoy myself when I know there are a thousand responsibilities weighing over me at home!" Zuko shouted back at her, "My best friends are getting married, I'd like to just focus on that, I would've, had not you come in and ruined it! I'll be up for three days straight making up for all this lost time you just caused!"
"That's another thing, you're never in bed, you're hiding away in this dingy, creepy room all the time," Mai huffed, leaning on the desk, glaring at him.
"Mai, how many times must we run through this? I am in charge of an entire country! The world depends on me! I am the fire lord! I can't ignore these things! I told you this when I proposed, I told you what it was going to be like!" Zuko screamed, pulling at his hair. He was at his wit's end, it was the same argument, day-after-day.
"I know, but it's excessive, you take it too far, Zuko," Mai told him, "Kaito hardly knows you, you might as well be your father for all the attention you give him."
Zuko's eyes bolted open wide, the comment cutting deep, "That's not true!" Zuko snapped, hurt, "My father didn't ignore me, not that I ignore Kaito! He's my son! My father- ha! I wish he ignored me!" Zuko yelled, pointing to the mark on his face.
"The premise is the same, you aren't there for him. I don't even know if Ursa knows who you are," Mai stated coolly.
"That's absurd. I'm the one who always gets up and feeds her when she cries in the middle of the night, I'm the one who changes her diapers most of the time, I take plenty good care of her!" Zuko cried, her words continuing to sting.
"That's not enough. What are you going to do when they're older? You've got another on the way. You'll never have time; it will be more excuses. You won't be there, you will just be some distant man they call father, but don't know the meaning of, and I know what that's like," Mai snarled, placing her hand over her stomach; she was five-months along in her pregnancy.
"Stop it! I will be there, I will!" Zuko cried, "I want to do more, I do, I try! I can't do everything! I can't!" He explained, "Things are chaotic right now, Mai. I hate arguing with you, I hate it! Especially in your condition, and I don't want to make you nervous, but let's just put it this way, there is a lot going on right now, and we could all be in a hell of a lot of danger, okay?"
"Another excuse, wow, Zuko," Mai mocked with her deadpanned demeanor, "Original."
"You messed it all up now anyway, let's get going," Zuko urged, starting to walk away, wanting to just end the shouting match that never lead anywhere.
"Excuse me?" She scoffed, extending her arm to stop him.
"What?" Asked Zuko, massaging his forehead with the tips of his fingers.
"I didn't mess anything up!" Mai declated.
"I-I didn't mean-" Zuko began.
"What did you mean?"
"Just the papers, Mai. You knocked them over. That's all. It'll be a pain to-"
"I think you meant more than that. Well, let me tell you something, Fire Lord," Mai spat, giving him an angry shove forward, "The only one messing things up is you! You messed everything up! My father always wanted me to marry you, to get into the royal family, well, before you turned around on your father. Now he hates you. Ugh! This is irrelevant, my point is, and you aren't a good husband. You're never here for me, you aren't a good father, and you are never here for your children! All you care about is this damn country! You don't give a shit about anything else!" Mai screamed. Zuko clenched his fists, feeling his heart break with every word she cut him with.
"You don't know what you're talking about…" Zuko whispered.
"I don't?" Mai asked rhetorically.
"I love you, and I love our children- more than anything," Zuko muttered, looking his wife dead in the eye as his watered. He glared at her, too hurt to lash out once more, so he stepped out of the room. This time Mai just watched as he left, hugging her arm, she felt guilty. She swallowed hard down the lump forming in her throat, as she shook her head, leaving the room. Zuko went into the master bedroom where their daughter's crib was, picked up his daughter, kissing her head lightly as he rocked her in his arm.
"I do love you," Zuko whispered to the little, pink bundle as she pulled at his hair, and Zuko gave her a teary smile. Mai watched from outside the door, diverting her gaze sympathetically.
"Come on, Zuko," Mai urged more gently, her rage dwindling, the expecting woman held her three-year-old son's hand as the family made their way for departure to Ba Sing Se through the humid, summer morning.