"What," Mai said, raising an eyebrow at the fistful of plants being offered to her, "is that?"
Azula rolled her eyes, holding the bright red flowers out further. "They're fire lilies,Mai. Haven't you been looking at the date? The spring Fire Lily Festival is this week."
"And?"
"And, doesn't one of the usual celebrations entail giving these flowers to those one is closest to? And that particularly fortunate person then taking them and expressing their gratitude for both the gift and the thought?"
"Hm…It's been a while since I thought about this stuff, but I might remember something like that," Mai mused, glancing from the lilies to Azula's expectant face as she considered the situation. On the one hand, she could take this rare show of affection from the princess for what it was, accept the flowers, and let that be the end of it.
On the other hand…She had standards, especially when it came to gift-giving. And she knew that Azula could and would do better than this, especially if pushed to.
"Well?" Azula pressed. "They're yours. Aren't you going to take them?"
"Yeah, because nothing says, 'I love you,' more than a bouquet that'll die in two days," she said dismissively, smirking at the look on Azula's face as she turned to leave. "I'll pass on this one. Better luck next time."
The princess was momentarily stunned speechless by the rejection, only able to stare in confusion as the older girl rounded the corner at the end of the hall. But as soon as she left Azula's sight, a flare of heat in her chest burned that shock away. Now what was wrong with that?! she thought furiously. Gritting her teeth to keep from shouting that and more after Mai, she glared at the lilies as if they were to blame for all this, and a second later they burst into flame in her hand.
"Oh, now, that's a shame," Ty Lee remarked, jumping down from the rafters above (where she had insisted on watching) to Azula's side. "You could have given those flowers to me instead. They were pretty."
"Shut up, Ty Lee," Azula snapped. "You were the one who told me this would work."
"Well, yeah…But in hindsight, maybe I was looking at this the wrong way. I mean,I would love to get a whole bunch of flowers for the Fire Lily Festival, and you said you liked the idea, so I thought that Mai might too. Still, I really thought I was on to something - for a second I was sure that she was going to take them. Maybe she just didn't get why you wanted to give them to her."
"No…" Azula muttered, replaying the last moments of her and Mai's interaction in her head and suddenly understanding. "Did you see that smirk on her face? This is a challenge."
"Ohhh, I get it," Ty Lee said with a smile. "She completely gets what you want from her, she just wants you to step your game up before she'll give it to you, is that it?"
"I think that's it exactly."
"So we should start looking for a new Festival gift!"
"A better one," Azula agreed. "Based on what Mai said, it should be a gift that will last a long time." A gift that actually means something, I suppose.
"Right! Okay…I've got it! I'm thinking, this time - fire opals! Oh…But Mai isn't going to go for jewelry - "
"Who says it has to be jewelry? Why don't I get her some sort of custom made knife, with an opal embedded in the hilt?"
"Oh, that's a great idea! A decorative knife, that's just - "
"No, no, not decorative, it's got to be something that she can actually use. Listen to me, I think I've got it this time…"