Her body flinched when light struck her face once more.
"Yard time," grunted the guard in the doorway. She frowned at Mai's raised eyebrows as behind her herds of prisoners streams by. "You hear me? Get up!"
Mai's eyes narrowed—but one of the prisoners walking by suddenly ducked under the guard's arm and slipped into Mai's cell.
"Mai!" Ty Lee squealed. "You're here!" She seized Mai's arm and Mai sat up despite herself, still wincing in the light.
"Come on, Mai, you've got to come with me! You can't stay here; all this darkness is terrible for your complexion."
Ty Lee dragged Mai to her feet and out the door, and in her overzealous tugging, she pulled her into the guard. Mai bounced off the guard's armor and slammed into the doorway; the left side of her face struck the doorframe and she staggered as Ty Lee, skipping, led her forward to join the stream of prisoners.
"Oh, it's so good to be out!" Ty Lee said carryingly. She skipped higher and higher, Mai's arm dangling limply in her grip. "Whew—I'm so stiff! Oh—wait a second!" She stopped abruptly in the crowded hall, seized her right leg by the ankle, and pulled her foot easily over her head.
The prisoners behind them complained loudly, jostling into Mai as Ty Lee dropped her hand to stretch her left leg. "Move along!" shouted a guard.
"Oh, sorry!" Ty Lee called. She seized Mai's hand again and resumed skipping down the hall. "Oh, it feels so good to be out of that tiny cell! I mean, at least it's still big enough to practice in a bit, but it's nice to jump—" she skipped so high that Mai's arm almost jerked out of its socket—"and not bump your head on the ceiling, huh?" She glanced back at Mai, whose eyes were on the floor.
Ty Lee fell into step beside Mai. "Your hair looks really great down, Mai. You should let it loose more often!" She frowned and peered more closely at Mai's face. "But your skin looks terrible. You were always kinda pasty before, but now…" Mai's lip curled, and Ty Lee, sensing danger, changed tack. "Oh—oh look, we're in the yard already. Yaaay sunshine!"
The tightly-packed stream of prisoners dissipated as they reached the open courtyard, a metal-walled compound with dirt floors. The sky above was hazy with steam; the sun was hardly visible. Mai glared at Ty Lee.
"So many people!" Ty Lee said, stepping out of the stream of people. "Who should we meet first?" She glanced at Mai, made no note of the latter's crossed arms or flat expression, and continued, "Look, there's a group of girls our age—let's start with them! Hey…don't they look familiar?"
A trio of brown-haired girls in red tunics was indeed marching towards them, all wearing similar angry expressions.
"Oh, no," said Ty Lee. "I totally know them! Who are they! Look, Mai, they know us, too—do you remember who they are?"
Mai put a hand on Ty Lee's shoulder but she had already bounced forward to meet the approaching girls. "Hi! I'm sorry—I know we've met, but w can't remember your names."
"We're Kyoshi warriors," said the girl in the middle, a teenager with a short, boyish haircut and angry grey eyes.
"Oh my gosh!" Ty Lee exclaimed. "That's right! You guys sure look different without the face paint."
"You were the ones who captured us!" shouted the girl with a long brown braid, who stood to the left of the first. "Outside Ba Sing Se!"
"Do you know how many refugees are probably stranded without us to protect them?" snapped the last of the girls, shorter than the other two with brown bangs and a bun tied at the nape of her neck.
"—We were just trying to find the Avatar for Azula," said Ty Lee, a flicker of concern crossing her face. "We didn't mean to—"
"You!" interrupted the braided Kyoshi. She pointed at Ty Lee. "You're the one—you were paralyzing us!"
"Oh, yeah," Ty Lee grinned weakly. "It's called 'chi-blocking.' You hit people's pressure points—"
"Is this funny to you?" demanded the first, short-haired girl. "You think this is just a game?"
"People are dying out there!" shouted the short one.
The braided girl leapt forward and swung at Ty Lee. She gasped and stepped backwards into the short girl, who pinned Ty Lee's arms in a bear hug as the first girl lifted her foot to strike.
Ty Lee flinched and squeaked in terror, but before the first girl's foot struck Ty Lee it landed in Mai's raised hand.
"Leave her alone!" said Mai. Her voice was hoarse and cracked, but it carried above the courtyard din and all five girls froze, the braided girl with her fists raised, the first girl on one leg with her ankle in Mai's grip, and Ty Lee slack in the short girl's grip.
"What's this! Break it up, break it up!" Two Fire Nation guards had already arrived, one with a drawn club. Mai and the short-haired Kyoshi glanced at the guards, then glared at each other; Mai threw the girl's leg to the side at the same time as the girl kicked fiercely back at Mai, and both girls toppled backwards.
Her reflexes had been dulled by the days she had spent lying on the floor of the cell; Mai hardly managed to reach a hand around to break her fall. She hit the ground, stunned, a fierce stabbing pain in her hand.
"…Back to your cells," the guard was shouting. "No fighting or next time it's the cooler!"
The shortest Kyoshi had released Ty Lee, who ran to Mai's side. The short-haired Kyoshi, who had also fallen to the ground, rose slowly, her chin raised.
"Come on, back to your cells," the guards snapped, and with ominous looks tossed over their shoulders, the three Kyoshi were lead away.
"Gosh, thanks, Mai!" Ty Lee said as Mai sat up slowly and winced. "I always get scared when someone attacks me. I know it's silly—we've attacked lots of people—but when it's the other way around it's different—Mai, are you all right?"
Mai's tightly clamped jaw was trembling. She struggled to sit up and felt again the sharp pain in her palm. She lifted her hand and saw that she had landed on a pebble.
"I'm fine," she said, her voice cracking as her stomach suddenly growled. She put a hand over her stomach and was surprised to see how badly her arms shook. "Just tired."
"Come on," a guard snapped from beside them. "You too. If you fight your yard time gets taken away."
"Okay, okay! Give me a moment!" Ty Lee chided. She turned back to Mai and said sternly, "Mai, you're not eating, aren't you?"
Mai raised her eyebrows, then clutched her head and let out a low moan.
"I noticed," said Ty Lee quietly. "There was a full plate of food in your cell just now, remember?"
A guard seized Ty Lee and Mai each by the arms and pulled them to their feet. Mai's head spun; she was suddenly so hungry she felt faint.
"Listen—Mai…" said Ty Lee as the guards walked them out of the courtyard and through the corridor. Her voice seemed to be coming from far away. "I know you're upset—about Zuko and Azula…but we're going to get out of this, okay? You have to keep up your strength!"
Mai glanced over at her. There were lines beneath Ty Lee's big eyes, a drawn look to her once-full cheeks. Her tightly-braided hair was frizzy and disheveled.
"Here we are," said a guard. She opened the door to Mai's cell.
"Mai?" Ty Lee called.
Mai tried to speak, but the guard nudged her inside and then the door slammed closed between them.
She stood still for a moment, inches from the door, listening to Ty Lee's light steps and the guards' heavy footfalls as they marched further down the corridor. Then she sighed and unclenched her fists; the pebble that she had scooped up at the last minute fell to the ground with a tinny clatter. The tray of food was still lying on the floor, but Mai stepped over it and threw herself down on the mattress.
She lay for a moment, on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her stomach growled.
Then, slowly, she sat up and crossed her legs. With her little finger she dragged the tray of food towards her and contemplated it.
Her stomach growled so fiercely that Mai felt a swoop of nausea. She frowned, lifted her hand—and paused, as Ty Lee's frightened face floated up into her mind's eye, followed by the Kyoshi's threatening glares.
Mai gingerly picked up the bread between her thumb and index finger, examined it closely, sighed, and took a bite.
The food was not nearly enough, so once she was finished Mai lay back down on her cot, hungrier than she'd been before, her stomach roiling with pain. She lay, unmoving, with a grimace on her face, for what seemed like hours, until someone knocked on the cell door.
"Who is it?" Mai called sardonically.
"Mai, it's your uncle."
"Oh." Mai looked at the ceiling. "I guess you can come in."
The door opened and the warden stood in the doorway, his lips pursed in a glower not unlike his niece's. "Mai," he began. "What in the world were you thinking?"
Mai shrugged. "The family's been trying to get me to fall in love with Zuko since I was born. This has got to be my mother's dream come true."
"You've endangered everything your mother and father have worked for!" the warden groaned. He closed the cell door behind him. "Your parents are in disgrace, and Princess Azula wants you and Ty Lee executed!"
Mai blinked, her eyes on the ceiling.
"Fire Lord Ozai has deferred judgment until after Sozin's Comet. I would try to help you, but I've lost my honor—the first prisoners ever to escape the Boiling Rock—and Prince Zuko, no doubt!" He pressed a hand to his face. "The Fire Lord had ordered that he be killed on sight—and I didn't report his presence to the Fire Lord—because I wanted to tell you first!"
Mai looked at her uncle for the first time.
"Where is Zuko now?"
"How should I know?" the Warden snapped. "The whole Fire Nation wants him dead. Wherever he is, I doubt he could survive much longer, not with Azula and the Avatar out to kill him."
"But he was with some of the Avatar's friends," said Mai.
"I don't know what any of that means," the Warden said gruffly. "So there's nothing I can do to help you, Mai. And your parents aren't in a position to help you, either. They were shamed after King Bumi took New Ozai back from the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun—they are trying to get back in the Fire Lord's good graces, and too close of a link to you would hurt their chances—but they'll help you if they can."
Mai looked back at the ceiling. "Right."
"They are having a difficult year, Mai," the warden said uncomfortably. "Tom-Tom's kidnapping in the spring—"
Mai snorted.
The warden raised his eyebrows. "Your mother was very distraught—"
"She was more 'distraught' about her honor than Tom-Tom's safety," Mai said blandly, but her eyes narrowed.
The warden looked at Mai and paused. "I—I've brought you some food—a guard told me you didn't eat anything the first day or so you got here—but that's all I can do."
"I want Zuko's letter."
"No," said the warden. "That's evidence—evidence in your favor, Mai! It proves you were not Zuko's co-conspirator when he deserted the Fire Nation. I'll keep it, Mai; I can use it to help you."
Mai sighed.
"Mai!" the warden objected. He knelt down beside her. "Haven't I always spoiled you, my only niece? You are the daughter I never had—Didn't I take you on trips when your parents were busy, buy you sweets—I paid for your first martial arts instructor—I even gave you your first throwing knife, and look at you now! You're a prodigy!"
"Yeah…" said Mai flatly. "Look at me now."
The warden grew quiet. He slowly set the package in his arms on the floor, then straightened. "I'm…I'm sorry, Mai. But this is all I can do."
She kept her eyes on the ceiling. So, with a miserable frown on his worn, wrinkled face, the warden turned around and put his hand on the cell door.
"Thank you," Mai muttered.
He paused, but did not turn around. Then the warden opened the door and left. A guard slammed it shut again behind him.
