Chapter Two

In which Mai goes to the Royal Fire Academy For Girls

Her new school uniform was crisp and fairly uncomfortable- the scarlet tunic itched and was way too hot for Fire Nation summers- probably Fire Nation winters, too. Probably too hot for everywhere except for maybe the Water Tribes, and even then she was doubtful, having never been anywhere close to either one. Mai already hated the uniforms and she already hated school, too, even though she hadn't even started it yet and would have to attend for what sounded like an eternity- seven years, until she was fourteen. Today would be her very first class in her life..

Scowling, she crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. They were getting way too long and kept falling in her face. She figured she should probably get them cut soon. Mai was good and sat as still as she could in the palanquin, although it was so hot and muggy she wanted to sprawl out on her back. Anything to keep cool. She would have, too, but she knew that you weren't supposed to do that. It made it awkward for the palanquin bearers if you moved around a lot, or something. Today was the first day she'd be attending the Royal Fire Nation Academy for Girls, and she'd be a hot sweaty mess the whole time.

Finally, the palanquin bearers set her down and she stepped out. It was almost just as hot outside, and maybe a little less humid. When she walked in the school building, though, with it's cold stone walls, it was much cooler. A pair of guards trailed behind her as she made her way to class- they wouldn't stay in the room with her, but they escorted her through the halls and would pick her up from the classroom on the way home. She scanned each door carefully, unsure which one she should be looking for. Finally she found it and pushed it open. The classroom was empty except for the teacher, a tired looking old woman with high cheekbones and full lips.

Mai bowed to her teacher, holding an open palm above her fist. The teacher returned the gesture. Mai stood there, silently.

"You can go ahead and take a seat here," the teacher said, gesturing with a pointed stick to the rows and rows of desks in the classroom.

Mai scanned the classroom, and picked a desk by the windows in about the middle of the classroom.

The girls started to slowly shuffle in, each and every one wearing the same bright red girls' uniform. Everyone would bow before the teacher, who would then direct them to take a seat. The teacher did not bow back, not to them, and Mai wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about it. It was probably because she was the princess, she thought, and left it at that. The other students were given the same freedom to choose their seats, but they didn't sit by her. Nobody did, and they gave her a wide space. That, on the other hand, definitely upset her, but she didn't show it. They didn't know what to do about her. She could see that clear enough, with the wide space around her on either side and the way sometimes, their eyes would widen when they saw her. Mai wasn't sure what she had expected; she had wanted to make a friend here, maybe, but that wouldn't be possible if her classmates didn't even want to talk to her. If they didn't sit next to each other, they wouldn't talk. And then she wouldn't meet anyone. The room was already filled with excited giggles and chatter.

She had all but resigned herself to that when two girls pulled in next to her- one of them had her brown hair in a braid with long side swept bangs, the other had dark brown hair that was almost black and in a topknot. They walked together to

"Hello, I'm Azula," said the girl with the topknot. Gesturing to her friend, she said, "This is Ty Lee. Is it alright if we sit here?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course," Mai said, relieved.

"Wait a minute. You're the princess!" Ty Lee said, pressing a hand to her mouth. "I- wow. It's an honor to meet you, Princess Mai!"

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too," Mai said, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "Are you going to sit down, or.."

Ty Lee giggled and slid into the seat next to Mai. Azula took the one in front. The teacher started counting heads with her stick, mouthing under her breath as she did. Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty eight… Finally, she seemed satisfied, and she tapped the thin wooden stick hard on the desk, silencing the class. Everyone clammed up and turned away from their conversation or whatever else they were doing, looking straight ahead at the teacher.

"Hello, girls. I am Nori. It's a pleasure to meet you all and I'm sure that, in time, all of you will excel here. I'm going to go around the room and everyone introduce yourselves- what's your name, can you bend, what's your family like, that sort of the thing. Okay, you first," she said, pointing to the girl in the upper left corner.

Daiyu went around the room, row by row, and Mai hardly paid attention until it was Azula's turn.

"My name is Azula. I'm a good firebender. I have an uncle and a cousin. I live with my grandfather, my parents, and my older brother."

"I'm Mai. My family- um, I live with my dad and I have an aunt, Mura, and an uncle, Kanshu, on my mom's side, and they both live pretty far away so I don't see them much. I'm not a bender," Mai said.

"Alright, Mai. Now, you," Nori said, pointing at Ty Lee.

"I'm Ty Lee! I have six sisters, two younger and four older, and I live with my parents. I like gymnastics a lot."

Nori moved down two seats and continued around, but Mai barely gave it any attention. Finally, her teacher was done and moved to the front of the classroom, holding the pointer loosely behind her back.

"Well, it's a pleasure to get to know you all, and I'm sure we'll all get to know each other better as time goes on." Nori said. "Before I really begin, all of you can read and write, yes?"

Hands shot up, Mai's included. She had been tutored in it over the past few years.

"Good. Now, everyone come to the front so I can give you your supplies," Nori said, opening a drawer under the desk. She passed out writing supplies and textbooks, which each girl took back to her desk.

The first half of the school day passed by slowly, but it was easier than she'd thought it would be. She barely had to do anything, but it was boring. Very, very boring, and they weren't even allowed to talk to fill all the extra time. Eventually, they broke for lunch and the teacher led them down to the kitchens, to show them where it was. There were trays of food laid out, and cooks filled their bowls with pre cooked, heavily seasoned hawk salmon, rice and vegetables. They went outside into the courtyard to eat. There were lots of blooming bushes with flowers, and a small bed of fire lilies around the school building. It was grassy, with lots of lush, green trees providing shade. There were benches, but they were all out in direct sunlight. Mai sat down beneath a large, leafy tree, trying to find some refuge from the heat. She had thought it was bad in the morning, but now, in the heat of the day, it was somehow even worse. As she started to eat her lunch, Ty Lee sat down next to her for the second time that day. It was a surprise, though not an unpleasant one.

"Hi, Mai! Is it alright if I sit with you?" Ty Lee said.

"You don't need to ask," Mai said, laughing. "So how are you?"

"Oh, I'm okay." Suddenly, Ty Lee gasped, and couldn't help but laugh as she told the story. "So last night, my sister, Ty Lao, she almost burned the whole house down! She was trying that one firebending thing where they focus and keep something from burning- yeah. Didn't work! I'm not even sure if she's a bender or not or whatever, but anyway. There was a fire! Everyone got out okay though, in the end." Ty Lee said, giggling. "She's always doing stuff like that. You know how it is with sisters. "

Mai let out a small laugh. "I don't have any siblings."

"Oh. Right." she said, slapping her forehead in embarrassment. She had long, sideswept bangs that stopped above her right eye. "I'm sorry. So! What's that like? I have a lot of sisters, and I love all of them, but a person gets curious."

"I don't know. It's a little lonely sometimes, and since I'm the only kid around there's not really anyone to play with, but it's okay. I just do things by myself most of the time," Mai said, lifting a bite of food to her mouth. "I'm not sure, though, because I've never had any brothers or sisters. I can't compare it to anything." The fish was spicy and delicious. It was great food.

"Hmm. Well, I I've always had sisters my whole life. A lot of sisters. It's always loud in the house and there's always people running around."

"Wow. Can't really imagine that at all," Mai said. Just then, someone came up behind them. It was one of the girls from her class, Azula.

"Hi, 'Zula," Ty Lee said, waving. She patted the ground next to her. "Come sit with us!"

Azula sat down carefully, holding the steaming bowl of food in one hand. "So, what are we talking about?"

"Just our siblings," Mai said. "So do you have any siblings?"

"I thought I said I had an older brother. Zu-Zu can't do anything right, and he's so gullible, too!" Azula said. "He is fun to mess with, though."

"Is his name really Zuzu?" Mai asked.

"No. It's just a family nickname."

The lunch break ended soon enough, a high noise was sounded and the girls quietly filed back into the classroom. Mai hadn't been particular about her seat and hadn't memorized where it was, so she followed behind Ty Lee and let the other girl slide into her seat before Mai sat down. Nori waited a few moments for the stragglers to arrive, and when they did, she tapped her pointer on the desk to get their attention, the same way she'd been doing all day. Then, the teacher passed out small pieces of paper to get signed by parents and the students themselves- the rules of the class and the school, the expectations, that sort of thing. If they were broken enough, the students could be punished to a degree. The rest of the day was about as boring as the first half, but Mai held onto a tinge of excitement. She was fairly certain that she had succeeded, after all, and had made a friend.

Class was dismissed after what felt like years of sitting there not doing anything. They weren't even learning anything; the first day was just little starting things. The teacher explained the class, explained the school, gave them ink brushes, boring things like that, and wouldn't let them talk or make any noise. Mai gathered up her things from inside the desk and rushed out the door, back into the heat. A silent pair of guards escorted her back home, picking her up from outside the classroom and trailing behind her in the palanquin. She still rode it, but was self conscious about it in a way she hadn't ever been before.

The ride back home was just as awful and boring and humid and stuffy as the ride to school had been, but maybe it hadn't been as bad as she'd expected. Probably, it would be worse tomorrow, since the teacher had already eased them into the schedule or whatever, but today it hadn't been that bad. She had some girls, now, who she was pretty sure could end up being her friends. When she finally arrived home and the palanquin bearers set her down, Ukano found her right away.

"How was school?" her father asked.

"It was boring." Mai said, thinking. "But I did meet some girls."

"Friends?"

"No. Well, maybe. We talked during lunch and it was nice.

"That's good. You want to make some strong foundations for friendship with the other girls. It will make their families more loyal, if their daughter is close with the princess."

"Oh. Well, I just thought they were nice to talk to," Mai said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Ty Lee and Azula."

"Even if they are nice to talk to, what I told you will still probably happen," Ukano said, heading upstairs to his office. Mai held her tongue and went into her room, where she changed out of the uniform and into regular clothes. She gave the uniform to a servant to wash and stayed up in her room for the most of the afternoon, thinking.

AN:

I'd like to thank whoever Avatar101 is for giving me that review because I probably would have abandoned this otherwise I thought it was so bad. It probably isn't that great but at least one person wanted me to continue this. Was I going to disappoint this one person? No. No I was not. It just meant a lot to me so thanks so much. So yeah, these first few chapters are, 1, going to have lots of time jumps, and 2, be fairly lighthearted, but that will change eventually. Thank you for reading this!