Scene 1: Suspicions
posted July 2, 2010
Mai's first suspicions came with the soup.
Steam arose from it with a savory aroma that almost overpowered the cloying scent of moon-snake poison. Sloppy, she thought with a disdainful frown that the unobservant would mistake for a courtier's simple pickiness. Sloppy and predictable. The same poison three nights in a row - are they really that stupid?
Mai signaled the lead server, nodding once with a lift of her chin, and he dropped his eyes in subtle acknowledgement. Moments later, a boy hurried forward to whisk the poisoned soup away from the Fire Lord's place. The exchange escaped Zuko's notice as he continued a long-winded verbal swordfight with the visiting governor of Shokang province.
After tasting her wine for poison (her trained palate found no trace), Mai settled back in her chair, sipping thoughtfully as she observed the assortment of nobility and advisors gathered for the night's state dinner.
Palace security had been… uneven at best since the war's end and the fall of Ozai. After the sages crowned Zuko Fire Lord, half the royal guards had been dismissed outright, too stupid or corrupt or cruel to support their new ruler. The other half lacked… initiative.
I suppose I can't blame them, Mai thought with an inward sigh. Ozai had been quick to weed out any guard who seemed to display "insubordination" – the monarch's way of eliminating those who disagreed with him. Dozens of good officers had been executed or sent to distant mines for "insubordinate" behavior, and their ranks had yet to recover.
The five Kyoshi Warriors tasked by the Earth King as an honor guard to the Fire Lord helped ease the burden. They had the skills and instincts of warriors under the grace of courtiers and the Fire Nation's ministers and generals seemed more charmed than threatened by their presence – an oversight that only made them more useful in Mai's opinion.
The lead server stepped forward to top off her glass. Mai rested her fingers delicately on the rim and shook her head, smiling faintly and quirking her brow. Anything?
The server dipped his head, a motion that might appear as mere acquiescence, but Mai understood. Nothing.
She sipped at her wine again. Poisoned soup, suspicious gifts, the occasional accident, the usual murmurs of discord heard and reported by maids and attendants… Mai smelled a plot, more odorous and deadly than the moon-snake poison. Alone, any of the "attacks" could simply be clumsy attempts on Zuko's life or dignity, the usual actions of disgruntled ministers and self-described "revolutionaries" who spent more time in the library than on the training grounds. But taken together as a pattern…
They're testing me, she thought, allowing her brow to furrow. Let those watching think that she found something distasteful at the table; they wouldn't be far wrong.
Across the table, the Shokang governor harrumphed and turned his attention to his cooling noodles while Zuko relaxed almost imperceptibly. He glanced at Mai, met her eye and smiled for a fleeting moment before addressing the woman seated beside her. The minuscule portions on his plate remained nearly untouched; Mai knew he would eat later, in private, when she brought him a tray and reminded him that he should be hungry. "Minister Xaolei, I have wanted to ask you for some time…"
The excruciatingly polite conversation faded into the background as Mai finished her wine, analyzing the patterns in her head and developing new strategies to protect her oblivious charge.
Er…
Boyfriend.
Author's note: time to get this one off the hard drive and into the world. I think I started working on it a year ago and had envisioned it as a one-shot, but I think breaking it into chapter format will help motivate me to get it finished. I seriously love this story, and it's the starting point for my yet-unseen canon work.
PS: YES, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I AM WORKING ON ENSLAVED.