Number Four: Flower for your Thoughts

Theme: Consolation

Characters: Zuko and Mai

A/n: For maikoforever. Sorry it took so long; I had it ready last week, but then I realized I made a major oops and had to rewrite most of it. Thanks for reading. )

In a little bedroom, or little by palace standards, rays of sunlight shone through the window and sparkled off a few stray tears on his face that the little boy hadn't wiped off yet. The young prince of the Fire Nation sat sulking on the floor of his royal chamber. From the angle he was sitting at, he couldn't see outside to the garden where just a week ago he'd fed the ducks at the pond with his mother. Just a week ago, everything had been normal. That was before his mother had woken him up in the middle of the night to tell him those strange words. "No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are," words that were starting to seem more and more like, "Goodbye."

Not only had his mother disappeared, but also his grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon, had died. At the funeral his dad had been crowned the new Fire Lord, instead of Uncle Iroh, which made Zuko the next heir to the throne. The future possibility of being Fire Lord, however, was no consolation for the recent losses plaguing the Fire Nation royal family. Now the palace was adorned in black and crimson, and above his door was a little silk black ribbon, in commemoration of the passing of Azulon.

Little footsteps clicked off the marble steps. The three friends were going to play in the Fire Princess's bedroom. It was getting too hot to play outside anymore, and the three girls had come inside to cool off. They clicked their way down the hall to Azula's room, the princess leading the way, Ty Lee following in a blur of pink, and Mai following behind, wearing her favorite colour. Not many people wore black in the Fire Nation, as it tended to get hot, but she absolutely loved the rich colour, and had persuaded her mother to only buy her black clothing. After all, wasn't black the colour of charred ashes? It fit the Fire Nation's prided colour scheme perfectly.

They walked past Zuko's room and Mai noticed the little ribbon hanging from the doorway. Finding it exquisitely beautiful, she stopped a minute to admire it. Hearing a quiet sobbing inside the room, she peeked through the cracked door. After a bit of hesitation, she took the flower that Ty Lee had placed in her hair and knocked on the door, softly pushing it open.

Inside, Zuko had his back to the door, and his head was down as he hugged his knees closely. Without saying anything, she walked up next to him and sat the flower on the floor. He peeked up and looked over at it, wiping his eyes on his sleeve, and then glanced up at her face.

She turned to leave silently, not waiting for a response; or more so trying to hide a quickly appearing blush at the sentimental gesture she'd just preformed. Before she got to the door, Mai heard him whisper, "Thank you." Then she left, joining back up with her friends who were waiting impatiently.

"Where did you go, Mai? Azula and I were just about to start the game without you."

She looked away from Ty Lee's questioning eyes. "I had to go to the bathroom. Sorry."

"I'm sure," said Azula wittingly. "We made you 'it' for making us wait."

They entered through her bedroom door, and halfway through Ty Lee asked to Mai behind her, "Hey, what happened to the flower I put in your hair?"

"Oh," she replied, a bit surprised, "It must have fallen out."

"I bet you just took it out because you didn't like it!" Jokingly she smacked the girl's wrist.

"I wouldn't do that."

"It's okay, we'll just have to get you another one."

Azula smirked. "Perhaps Zuko has one that we could use."

"Ugh," Mai blushed, "Whatever. Ty Lee is it."

"What? No, you're it, Mai! Remember?"

She smiled. "Yeah, but you smacked my wrist, didn't you?"

"Oh!" She whined playfully, "No fair!"