Chapter Four

She stormed outside into the palace gardens with her knives, trying to hide her anger from everyone- from the servants, and the guards at the door and especially from her father. Ukano was in just the other room and part of the reason why Mai was so angry, and she really wasn't in the mood to be lectured on how they were royalty and shouldn't show emotion and blah blah blah. Her father was always going on and on about that, and Mai was getting a little tired of it. Mai walked back maybe thirty paces from a tree, gripping a knife in one hand. They were real knives now; she had moved past the dull, safe ones meant for beginners three, four years ago.

She took a step back and sent her knives flying at the tree. They soared through the air, finally burying themselves into the tree with a satisfying thwack. They weren't that deep; she could dig them back out again without any difficulty. She threw them again, and again, and again, and every time she hit her target. The tension just rolled off her shoulders every time she threw her knives, and it helped calm her, at least a little. Finally, she dug them out for the last time and put them back in their holsters. She slumped down against the tree.

The problem wasn't that her father was getting married. That wasn't the issue at all. Well, sort of. The problem was that Fire Lord Ukano was marrying the absolute worst woman that Mai had ever met in her life, and Mai had spent her life surrounded by countless infuriating noblewomen. Still, out of all of them, she was the worst. Her father had proposed to the absolute worst person in all of the Fire Nation. Her future stepmother would become the bane of her existence. She was patronizing, demanding, selfish- ugh. Mai already couldn't stand the woman, and she could count on one hand the number of times that they'd spoke, or even seen each other face-to-face. She was even worse than Mai's father, and she was dreading the wedding. After that, Mai would have to live with her. Forever. And it wasn't even that far away anymore. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, and tried to stop thinking about it. She'd have plenty of time to hate it in a few weeks.

Of course, as much as she dreaded the wedding, as much as she dreaded having that woman for a stepmother, the wedding had to happen eventually, and there wasn't anything she could do to stop it from happening. She wasn't even sure what she would do, if she could- it wasn't her choice. It was her father's. And even if she knew that it was a terrible choice, and for some reason he hadn't been able to figure it out after how many months, she had absolutely nothing to do with it. Mai just happened to be caught up in it. She had to drag herself out of bed several hours too early in the morning to get ready on time to leave, and she hated it. She hated every second of it, and she wouldn't even see her dad's fiance- her new stepmother- until the afternoon.

The wedding itself came too fast- although, really, for Mai, it would have been impossible for it to not come too fast- and yet at the same time it seemed to drag on forever. Mai tried her best not to pay attention to it all, to the fire sages marrying her father and his bride. Her new stepmother. It really was packed to the gills with people. It seemed all of capitol city was there, or at least all the nobles and their families. Mai tried to at least pretend like she was paying attention, but the ceremony would have bored her to tears even if she didn't hate the bride. She'd never been to a wedding before, but it was about as mind-numbing as she'd expected. The bride and groom were in front of everyone, and her hair was all done up. Some Fire Sages said some cheesy stuff about unions and marital bonds and hope. They kissed. She spent most of the ceremony staring down at her feet, until finally it was over. Or at least the ceremony was over. Now the party had to begin.

The crowd stood up en masse after the ceremony, just as the band began to play. People got up and started to dance; for the most part they were couples. A few singles and children danced as well. A long table was lined with an array of food and drink, from smoked pighen to sugary pastries. Mai snaked through the crowd, trying to avoid being dragged into some conversation or another, or accidentally bumping into someone. She picked up a fruit tart and brought it back to her place in the corner of the room. She ate it slowly, scowling at everything and nothing.

"Mai!" Ty Lee called. Mai looked- she hadn't even seen her. It was like she popped out of thin air. Mai hadn't even known that Ty Lee was going to be there, but she supposed it made sense. Her family was highly respected, and Ukano had invited most of the capital's upper social circle.

"Hey, Ty Lee." Mai tried to force a smile, not wanting to put her problems on her friend. Ty Lee, of course, saw right through her, like she always did. She knew her too well to not. Ty Lee's forehead creased and she frowned, tilting her head to the side.

"Wait, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," Mai said, scanning the room to think of something, anything to change the subject with.

"No, come on, tell me! What happened?"

Mai sighed, resigned. "It's my stepmother. I hate her. She's so patronizing- we've only met a few times and I already hate her. You know people like that, right? Who think you can't do anything for- for some reason and they just treat you like your nothing, like you're some helpless baby. And then at the same time I can feel her judging everything I ever do or say with her eyes. She's so fake!" She said the words low, half-whispering them, because even over the noise of the music and all those people, she was still worried her father might overhear. Or even her new stepmom. Mai wasn't sure which would be worse.

Ty Lee gave a sympathetic look and put an arm on Mai's shoulder. "Yeah, I totally get what you mean," she said. "I can't stand when some people act like that, you know, constantly putting you down, or comparing you to other people."

"I know what you mean," Mai said, nodding. "I guess I'm just going to have to get used to her is all."

"Sorry," Ty Lee said, shrugging her shoulders and grimacing.

"No, it's fine. I don't want to drag you into my problems, anyway," Mai said, sighing. "Hey, wait, who were you talking about?"

"No one, no one," Ty Lee said, fidgeting with her hands. Mai raised an eyebrow, but let it slide. "And it's not you, that's not what I'm saying at all! Just- some people- do that, sometimes, to other people. Or, well, me too, I guess, and it's just mean, do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah! That's exactly it," Mai said.

The girls stayed by each other and talked for most of the rest of the wedding. After what felt almost like an eternity, the party drew to a close. It had stretched on for hours, late into the evening, but finally, finally, it was almost over. People began to leave, slowly at first and then all at once. Eventually, the room was empty. The reception might have over, but the reality was just beginning to sink in.

This is a terrible chapter and I'm sorry and I had no inspiration for this but I needed to write it and also I really want to start moving this along and I wanted some interaction with Ty Lee because she's an important character who I love. So this takes care of both with a chapter that I absolutely hated writing, but I forced myself to do it anyway. Mai is probably being pretty overdramatic but she really does hate her stepmother and she's like 12-13 at this point so I think it kind of makes sense. Anyway I'm sorry about every single word here but thanks for reading and reviewing I guess. This is just really not my best, I guess, but I just had to get this out and it feels off to me but I'd already waited too long. Sorry about that too.