There were times when Zuko truly missed banishment. When he missed his ship, his only concern finding a bald monk and bring him kicking and screaming to the previous Fire Lord. He even missed being hunted as a fugitive. In retrospect, those were probably the best times of his life. A depressing thought, really. But anyone would be more inclined to that as opposed to the trials of governing a country that's main source of income had been due to the manufacturing of war machines and the taking over other nations. It had been better than dealing with administers and advisors, delegates and ambassadors, kings and all that lot. In some ways, he'd been reduced to being a referee.

At present, some minister of some settlement of Hai-somewhere in the Earth Kingdom was yelling at one of his administers about something involving cabbages. He wasn't sure, he'd stopped listening a while ago. Deciding that he should probably end this meeting before the twitch developing with his good eye was noticeable, he addressed the assembled nobility.

"Gentlemen," they didn't exactly come to a grinding halt, but their reaction time had gotten better, at least, "I believe we've made as much progress as is possible for today. We're done here."

He stood, bowed his head slightly, and walked out of the room among the murmurs of the men inside. He walked through the palace halls. Glancing outside, he could tell from the sun's postion that it was mid-afternoon. He probably could have resolved the squabble in the meeting, but truthfully, he didn't want to. He wanted out of there. What he wanted at that moment was his wife. Just lay back and relax together for a while. Just be.

At this time of day, Mai would be entertaining dignitaries' wives in the East Parlor. Knowing Mai, she was most likely bored out of her mind, listening to the women chatter about parties and dressed and 'how honored she and her family must be that she was chosen to be the Fire Lord's bride'. Someone had said that to her at their wedding and after they'd moved on, Mai had given him a look.

"Like I'd let you live if you picked anyone else."

And then she kissed him. Sokka went 'Ooooooh', and Katara and Suki both hit him on either side of his head at the same time.

He smiled at the memory.

She was so beautiful when she threatened his life.

He'd quickly made it to the anteroom of the parlor, nodding to the guards stationed in the hall. The door to the parlor stood partly ajar and he paused by the door frame when he heard a familiar laugh. His eyes widened when he immediately recognized the laugh.

What in Agni's name is she doing here? With Mai? Together?

"Oh, now Zuko should have known better," he heard Mai, laughter in her voice.

What's funny? What did she say?

"Well, at least you got dinner out of it. Me? My ostrich-horse got stolen."

His jaw dropped.

Crap! They're both in there! With Mai! Together!

"Ahem."

He jumped when he saw Mai at the door, apparently not hearing when she got there.

"Hello," she was smirking at him

He gave her a measured look.

"What are you doing?"

"Entertaining guests," she took his arm and dragged him inside, and he barely recovered enough to replace his jaw. "Look who showed up."

"Lee!" the two girls said at the same time then blushed. They stood up and bowed to him.

"We meant Fire Lord," Song, the girl on the right with the braid, said.

"Sorry," said Jin, the girl on the left with pigtails.

"No, it's fine. Just call me Zuko. I…" he stepped away from Mai. He bowed to Song. "Please forgive me for deceiving you and stealing your ostrich-horse. It was wrong and dishonorable. I shouldn't have done it."

"Oh, that's okay. I forgave you a while ago. You and your uncle needed him more than we did. And the two you sent were far above the one that you took."

"Thank you," then to Jin. "I'm –"

"Please don't start. As far as I see it, you did nothing wrong and have nothing to apologize for," she smiled at him and for a moment, he thought everything was all right. "Besides, the stories Mai's been telling us more than make up for anything you could have done."

He shot Mai a look.

"What stories?"

She waved a hand.

"Oh, you know that time when you were a jerk at Ember Island, and when you broke up with me in a letter –"

"I said I was sorry and you said you over forgave me."

"I do. You just haven't made up for it yet. Or that time with Azula and being imprisoned with Ty Lee. My uncle has very small cells, Zuko."

"I know. I'm sorry," he sighed.

"And these two have been telling me how they met you. Very interesting."

Now Zuko felt ill.

"Uh, I need to go," Zuko said abruptly. "There's a meeting with the king about the land. It was nice seeing you two again," he rushed out of the room, but not before giving Mai a peck on the cheek.

Three young woman sighed dreamily.

"He's still so cute," Jin said.

"Hey," Mai pointed to herself. "Mine."

Song looked at Jin.

"So you say he juggled?"

Sometime later, Mai found her husband reclining on the couch in their private quarters, dead to the world. She walked around to the back of the couch and leaned over. She reached a hand down to play with his hair. Twirling a good amount around her fingers, she gave a decisive pull.

"Ow!"

He bolted upright and glared at Mai.

"How was the meeting with the king about the land?"

"He jumped of a cliff along with the rest of them. Mai, what was that all about?"

She gave him a blank expression.

"What do you mean?"

"That with Jin and Song? What were they doing here? How did you even find them?"

She shrugged.

"After you told me about them, I was curious. We talked, about you mostly. And I had Jun find them."

"Jun's here?"

"Well, she was. But then she said she was going to go settle up her debt with you and went to talk to the treasurer. I like her."

"Mai. Why do you do these things to me?"

"I bore easily and messing with your head is fun," she curled her fingers through his hair.

"You're sadistic."

"So what are you then? A masochist?"

He groaned.

She laughed at him.

Then she leaned forward and kissed him deeply. He pulled her down and flipped them over so he was on top, not breaking the kiss. He came up for air.

"I guess I am."

A knife appeared in her hand and her eyes sparkled with mischief. (1)

"Works for me."

A/N: Since this is Asian culture, would they be called something different as opposed to gentlemen? So I've read a few of Lord Shade's stories and he seems to get a kick out of Zuko torture and I thought I'd try. I think it's pretty mild, but I just can't stand to do too much to him. Shady does it better.

(1) I HATE that line. I don't much like this story.

If Jin and Song seem out of character, then well that's not really possible. They were in one episode each. Two more pairings I don't understand. It has been said that Mai and Zuko picking back up where they left off is shaky. But meeting a healer one time and stealing her ostrich-horse is a great way to start a relationship. And I know how this sounds, but I didn't like Jin. Jun got a cameo 'cause she's awesome and if Mai didn't exist, I'd probably throw her together with Zuko. I don't care what anyone says, Zutara is a crack pairing and Junko would happen canon wise before that pairing.

I'm stuck with my other story so I thought I might as well update this one though I've been having a little trouble coming up with new ideas for this one too. Any suggestions? Like a theme or a challenge or something? Whatever you got.