Of Flames, Roses, & Gold
Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, would I seriously be writing fan fiction? I own nothing.
A/N: This story was not merely born from the desire to write for my second favorite Zuko ship. This was born from an insult to me in a reply to a review to a Maiko story. The author knows who he/she is, should he/she read this. I'm not bitter—I just don't like being insulted, oh anonymous author! But I do want to prove that a big Zutara-fan can indeed write well for contradicting ships. The only times that Zuko and Katara interact in this story is when he's doing business with the Water Tribes. Friends, maybe, sure, why not, just as long as it's clear that they have zero romantic interest in one another. Okay? Okay.
Mai looked down at her chains dully, thinking of the past events that had led her to them. She remembered playing with Azula as a child. Being branded as one of her group in the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. Their occasional trips into the capitol city and her eventual move to Omashu, or New Ozai. Being called away by Azula to come help her hunt down the Avatar. Fighting in Ba Sing Se. Fighting on the Day of Black Sun unhampered by the eclipse. Coming to a personal duel with Prince Zuko—and standing down, defecting against Fire Lord Ozai and Azula. And now she was in shackles.
The guards stopped, holding Mai's arms. She raised her head to look at the door they had reached. Imposing, magnificent, powerfully striking—all exactly the perfect preparation for what lay beyond. Two guards opened the door and she was lead to a plain red cushion in the center of the room. Her eyes lifted to the silhouette behind the wall of fire—the emotionless, anonymous figure and the person she knew who lay beneath. To the figure's right, its most trusted adviser, harder to see behind the flames.
"Leave," the Fire Lord's voice said to the guards. The four that had been there before, stationed at the corners of the room, stayed, motionless—barely perceptible from statues of fearsome armor. The only other inhabitants of the room were a clerk and secretary. Twins, Mai noted. She kept her eyes cast downward as her station demanded.
"This hearing is to pronounce judgment upon one noblewoman Mai, of the Shan-Tsai family. She has been accused of war crimes including the assistance in the successful coup of the government in Ba Sing Se, acting against the government of the Fire Nation, assisting in anarchist plots, and attempting to bring fatal harm upon the current and previous Fire Lords along with family and acquaintances. You are accused of accessory to murder of the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, namely one Suki. How do you plead?" the clerk asked, reading from his tablet as his twin took down every word.
"Not guilty," she said plainly. The clerk began to speak again, but she cut him off. "I have done many things that under certain interpretations could be construed as endangering, harmful, or even anarchist, but these things can all be logically explained and attested for." The secretary feverishly noted every word. His brother looked to the Fire Lord, and, seeing some sign of approval, continued.
"You may give your account of the events and your part in them at this time," he said.
Mai took a deep breath and began.
Fire Lord Zuko watched Mai carefully as she began her story. She started back when they were children, telling of her early involvement with Azula. Knowing all this and that the secretary would have anything he was not already aware of documented, Zuko turned to his uncle.
"What do you think, Uncle?" he asked quietly. The crackle of the fire and Mai's account would cover any speech he would make to his adviser, but he did not want to seem that he was merely ignoring the woman he was trying for war crimes.
"It is unwise to pass judgment too soon, Fire Lord Zuko."
"I'm not," he answered thoughtfully. "I'm merely asking what you think so far. Her tone, pose, expressions."
"Lady Mai has learned very well to mask her emotions, Zuko. The fair judge keeps his mind free from presuppositions and biases."
Zuko turned back to Mai. Her pale gold eyes were kept on the wall just below where the fire began. She spoke without emotion, her face was blank.
"I soon realized that Azula would do whatever she deemed necessary to achieve her goals. She intimidated me for a while and I began hiding my emotions more and more from her. Azula came to notice the specific talents and gifts that Ty Lee and I possessed that she lacked. She cultivated the friendship. I will admit that I had few problems socializing and being associated with Azula."
Zuko listened to Mai's account, taking note of her articulate speech patterns. She seemed to be wrapping up the act of her story dealing with her childhood.
"The Royal Fire Academy for Girls, though a prestigious institution, did little to occupy my mind outside of the classroom and I found myself almost constantly bored. I took a certain specific interest in small arms and began to teach myself their secrets. I read much, bought some of my own, and practiced often.
"I eventually graduated and the small group I shared with Azula and Ty Lee split to our separate ways. I went home to live with my family. I continued my weapons practice, admittedly without my parents' specific knowledge. I kept correspondence with Ty Lee and Azula. My parents finally found out about my weapons practice and I was able to convince them to allow me to continue my training with them."
Zuko noticed that a very small amount of emotion would ebb into her voice as she spoke if her paid particular attention.
"Eventually, my brother Tom Tom was born and not some time after that my father was called to become governor of New Ozai, formerly Omashu. My life there was particularly dull, for my parents forbade my to do any weapons practice that could not be accomplished in the comforts of my room.
"There were some unfortunate happenings, immediately followed by Azula and Ty Lee's visit. She told me how she was putting together a small team. I was very ready to leave the city of New Ozai for the prospect of something to employ my time as well as entertain me in general. The job sounded interesting as well; so I accepted. I soon after learned that the mission was to hunt down her estranged brother and paternal uncle."
"You admit of your own free will that you willingly engaged in a plot to capture both the Fire Lord and his trusted uncle?" the clerk asked.
"I learned after I had accepted her offer that the mission was to hunt for the then-refugees Zuko and Iroh, Azula's family members with whom I was familiar. I was still terribly unenthusiastic to stay in the city of New Ozai, and the prospect Azula proposed—to track down not only Zuko and Iroh, but the Avatar as well, promised not only a challenge but, but an interesting pursuit as well." She cleared her throat lightly and licked her lips before continuing.
"My next confrontations were with the Avatar and his company and a band of warriors from Kyoshi Island. I saw neither Zuko nor Iroh until Azula had successfully affected a coup." Her throat apparently dried again at that point, Zuko noted. "I observed the defeated Iroh in a cell and kept an occasional watch, though we hardly interacted. I interacted with Prince Zuko on a roughly daily basis for the time we were in Ba Sing Se. I remained loyal to Azula in her orders to keep a covert watch of her brother. He seemed to have made a full reform and acted quite well with us. We soon returned to the Fire Nation, immediately after Azula had set up a proper viceroy.
"What was your involvement with the death of the Kyoshi warrior known as Suki?" the clerk asked.
A/N: Thought I'd leave a miniature cliff hanger here. Flames will be tolerated merely for the fact that you have the right to think/say/ship what you wish. Meh.
I will remind you that this is a Maiko fic. No Zutara-ness. I know the beginning is slow, but it will hopefully get better.
Please write reviews! I'm a new fanfic author, so all feedbackgratitude! And please point out all grammar flaws you see other than sentence fragments (that's a style issue, no matter what the rules say).
Jesus saves!
ZFF