Disclaimer: I disclaim everything. Cept the plot.
Chapter 1: hide your face
Set after Lake Laogai sp
The attack took place in the dead of night; the remnants of Omashu had been fast asleep. Headed by King Bumi, the slaughter had taken place before most of the fire nation soldiers even knew what was coming. Most of the fire nation residents were killed in their sleep, including the governor and his wife. The few survivors of the advancement were used in prisoner exchange.
And that is how Mai ended up with custody of her brother, Tom-tom.
As Mai stared at the toddler set in her lap, hate started to rise like bile in her throat. Even though a million questions raced in her head, she kept her face expressionless and silently dismissed the guard with a nod. Only after he had left did she glance back down at the child. She disliked children in general, much too noisy, but she felt a rare stroke of compassion towards the small boy. She didn't hate him, it was just the responsibility of a child was not what she had in mind when she had asked for adventure.
It then struck her that she really wasn't that depressed over her parents passing. She had been born at the wrong time, everyone had said so, from the astrological charts to her very own grandmother, she was bad luck. She supposed they had loved her in a way; it was just that, when she was born her father had held a very low government job, whose main responsibility was to kiss everyone's ass. That added to the stress of her grandmother moving in with their family, they just didn't have money for a baby.
She had a flash back to her childhood when she had accidentally knocked over a vase; her grandmother had simply put her stitching in her lap, sighed, and remarked softly to her mother, "how is it that you have managed to produce a child with not a single thought in her empty, empty head?" Her mother had turned scarlet and made herself very busy with the cooking. Her grandmother then turned to address Mai for the first time in the whole ordeal, " now why don't you go outside where your foolishness won't further embarrass the entire family?"
A couple weeks later she was transferred to a year round boarding school, the Fire Nation Academy for Girls, there she quickly made friends with Azula, the princess, then they also made friends with the orphan, Ty lee.
It wasn't an accident that she latched herself to Ty lee and Azula. She had found that it was much easier to be the tormentor then the tormented. She knew that if she hadn't had been one of Azula's co-conspirators; she would have made it ten times more difficult for Mai. Plus being Azula's friend meant she never had to home for school vacations.
Just then Tom-tom decided to start whimpering, she picked him up by his armpits and raised one eyebrow. Just what she was supposed to do with a crying baby, she did not know. But then he reached out and grabbed a chunk of her hair; with a grimace she gently pried his tiny fingers from her tender head. He then let out a large yawn and his eyes drooped slightly. Mai stood up and placed him in the middle of her bed, recalling some grasp of knowledge about babies she grouped blankets around him to keep him from falling out.
She finally turned to the box in the corner. Most of her parent's possessions had been transferred to her family's home in the Fire Nation, but a small box marked fragile was given directly to her. With a flick of the wrist, she expertly used one of her knives to cut open the box, and then sheaved it. Her eyes widened as she pulled out the first of the items, her mother's mirror. Mirrors where fairly rare, and very expensive, it was a family heirloom and it served to remind her that her parents where actually gone. She felt a brief pang of guilt for not reconciling with them before their passing. She had kept a grudge for years even after her grandmother had died and they had tried to reach out to her. She had been stubborn feeling that she needed to avenge her childhood by being cold, and sometimes cruel to them.
She paused to study her reflection, seeing only night black hair and a sickly white complexion. Her mind wandered back to another brilliant remark of her grandmother, "I know being pale is a mark of beauty, but my dear", turning to her mother," that child looks like death. Plain and simple, she doesn't have the looks or the right frame of mind to catch a man."
Mai gritted her teeth and put the mirror back into the box.