Varrick had often teased her about her resemblance to the last Fire Lady, asking if they were related, or if that was who had taught her to stay so calm, impassive, and unflappable no matter what happened. From a certain point of view, she supposed he was right. She had been a dutiful student in every subject, and History had been no exception. Her favorite figure in the story of the Hundred Year War had always been the girl who had been able to outwit the smartest, most cunning, most invulnerable master manipulator of a warrior princess who frightened everyone she came across into submission. Everyone except this young girl with no powers of her own. None but the superhuman ability to hide her emotions, to put on an act of obedience, indifference, and apathy so convincing that no one suspected what lay beneath the surface. It was the first mistake the otherwise unstoppable Fire Princess ever made, the first person who outsmarted her, the first time she miscalculated.
Zhu Li had always admired the girl who could accomplish such an impossible feat. How had she done it? Her admiration and fascination only grew the more she read about Mai, the fearless, stolid knife thrower who faced everything with nerves of steel. She grew up hoping she would be just as strong, and, to that end, strove to imitate her cool, calm, and collected demeanor through every obstacle or ordeal that came her way. She refused to let anything unsettle her. She taught herself to face any life-threatening danger or annoying demand of her boss with the same rigid composure. It was a big event when the expression on her face changed. She felt emotions as much as anybody – she was simply careful that they should never interfere with what needed to be done. And that no one should see them. Give no one a weakness they could use against you (in the line of work her boss was in, you could never be too careful).
She was well-aware that many people found her machine-like aloofness unnatural, inhuman, unnerving. Varrick, on the other hand, found it impressive. He took great delight in trying to push her past her limit, and his admiration for her grew each time he failed. She never spoke of her feelings for him. It never seemed to be the right time...
Had she suspected that his chosen lifestyle would someday put her in the position where she'd need to protect him? On some level, she must have. When they were recaptured and taken before Kuvira, she felt as if, before that moment, she had never known what it was to fear. They were doomed now. Nobody defied Kuvira and lived to tell about it. Anyone else might have had the very slim hint of a hope of a quick execution – the two of them, however, could hope for nothing more than eternity rotting away in a slave labor camp, building weapons she could use to enslave even more innocent people.
She couldn't let this happen – not to the world, and not to the man she loved. But what could she do? She had no powers, no combat skills, no weapons except her mind. She was no match for the unstoppable Earth Emperor with her sharp, precise, flawless mind and merciless, metallic heart. If there one thing everyone in the civilized world knew by now, it was that nobody but nobody was a match for Kuvira. She snuffed out all opposition quicker than an Airbender could blow out a candle, stomped out all rebellion as easily as a child stomped on a spiderfly. For the first time she could remember, Zhu Li found herself faced with a problem she couldn't solve. She couldn't think of any possible way to fight, trick, or escape from the Earth Emperor. Kuvira was too strong, too good a strategist. She had everyone in her power. She had no weakness, no vulnerability, no chink in her armor. She calculated every move she made perfectly, leaving no one any room for escape. She knew people too well to be surprised or tricked by anything...
Then she remembered...
"I never expected this from you. The thing I don't understand is why?"
In her panic, she'd forgotten. There was a way to trick people like her, one thing they never considered, one thing that was beyond their ability to grasp, one weakness they were always vulnerable to. People like her never factored in the courage that love and loyalty gave people, never considered that any motive could override fear of themselves. Confident they knew everything, they never feared anyone could outsmart them, could conceal anything from them, would dare to double-cross them and risk their wrath. Princess Azula had never considered the possibility that Mai could love Zuko enough to betray her, that her unquestioning, submissive minion would have any motive to risk defying her. Kuvira wouldn't consider it, either.
Would it work? Could she do it? Could she really be as strong as Mai? Was she strong enough to pull it off? She'd never used her ability to hide her emotions to deceive someone like this before – someone so dangerous, when the stakes were so high. But she had to try. Better she die for treachery than live a slave.
She had just enough vanity to think it would hurt Varrick. But Mai had hurt Prince Zuko, too, in her restraint of her affection for him, her seeming lack of passion, her constant distance from him. It was the only way her act would succeed. A girl had to do what she had to do to protect the man she loved.
This is for you, Varrick. In an instant, her emotionless exterior melted away, and a strange, panic-stricken girl no one in the room had ever met before suddenly appeared. "Please! Have mercy on me! Don't send me away! Take me back!" The first five words were barely out of her mouth when she was sure she'd failed. No one would buy that she could be that afraid, even of Kuvira. But now that she'd started, she couldn't give up.
She should have known she couldn't pull this off. She was laying on the flattery way too thick. No one would buy it; anybody, let alone the so-called Great Uniter, could see through it. This would never work...
"You two could learn something from her."
Was she mocking her? No, look at that smug, self-satisfied grin – it was completely sincere. She was an addict who craved the drug of flattery and worship so severely, she would take anything anyone offered her. Zhu Li almost felt guilty – Mai had never had it this easy.
Her theory was correct. It never occurred to the great Earth Emperor that the quiet, impassive, obedient girl, with the permanently blank expression on her face and empty tone in her voice, could be plotting against her. What motive could she have to do so? How could she have had the courage to do so? She was no threat. It was perfectly safe to trust her. As long as Zhu Li never gave her the impression that she cared about anything, or anyone, except serving her and staying alive, she was above suspicion. She could get away with anything.
There were moments of panic when the full nature of the situation she was in threatened to overwhelm her, when, although on the outside, her conditioning allowed her to appear as calm as ever, on the inside, she was screaming in terror. If Mai could take it, so could I, she reminded herself. Feel it if you must, but conceal it – don't let them see, don't let it show. The image of Varrick kept her going; the image of Mai made her believe she could.
She wasn't surprised that it ended exactly the same way now as it had then. Is this how it felt, Mai? she wondered when the inevitable moment came – her exposure complete, no need to wear her mask anymore, she stared defiantly at her enemy, terrified yet proud that, whatever happened next, the woman would know there was one person in this world she couldn't predict, one person who didn't bow to her, one person she couldn't control, one soul that had remained unconquered. Even if she died for it, she had won this round. If her actions bought Kuvira's enemies just a little more time, gave them just a little advantage, it was worth it.
She gave Kuvira credit for how well she concealed her own emotions during the climactic confrontation. Zhu Li was certain only she, being such an expert at the art herself, could tell how the Emperor was on the brink of exploding with rage upon the discovery that someone had deceived her, that someone had managed to outwit her. Such things did not happen!
But they did all the time, and they would always end the same. In the contest between a superpowered, invulnerable, bloodthirsty, power-hungry manipulator who ruled by fear and a stoic, emotionless woman who fought for love, love won every time.