Prompt #7: Present
Stolen Moments
"Live in the present," was one of Iroh's favorite sayings. Zuko ignored it for those years of his banishment, preferring to wallow in the terrible events of recent years or muse about the uncertain future that lay before him. Mai did the same, spending her time recalling lost days with her only true friend or imagining a reunion that might never come. Still, both had a certain determination and when something needed to get done, it got done, no wallowing allowed.
Once the war was over and their issues settled, the young couple focused on each day as it happened. There was little time for rumination anyway. And their present was everything they ever wanted, despite the aggravations and stress that went along with being the Fire Lord of a changing nation and the partner and confidante of said Fire Lord.
"What's next?" Zuko asked Mai one day about six months after his coronation.
He adjusted the stacks of correspondence on his wide desk top, sorting them into neat piles. Zuko couldn't tolerate messiness. It made his already difficult job that much more difficult.
"You have a meeting in half an hour with the Minister of Education," Mai replied with a yawn. "Do you want me to stay?"
"Yes!" Zuko exclaimed. "I can never remember half of what they say in these meetings and you have that thing you do."
Mai raised delicate eyebrows and sat up straight in her chair.
"That thing?" she asked.
"You know," Zuko said, "that way you have of seeing through the phoniness and understanding exactly what the ministers and councilmen really mean."
"Oh, that thing," Mai stated dryly.
She stood up, leaned across the desk and gave Zuko a kiss.
"I'm going to see about getting some tea sent to the council room. I could use a cup. I'll meet you there."
"Okay," Zuko agreed and kept his eyes on Mai until she closed his office door.
He never got tired of watching her walk away or watching her walk toward him. In fact, Zuko could watch Mai doing anything with a smile on his face. The tingling he always felt in her presence slowly faded and he readjusted the papers, signing one he had missed, before standing up and checking his appearance in the gilt mirror that hung on the wall behind his desk. His hair was fine, thank Agni. Zuko had a tendency to run his fingers through it, whether he was wearing a topknot or not. Mai had done emergency hair repairs more than a few times before meetings or dinners.
Zuko meandered down a series of hallways that led to the council room, once the war room. Mai was inside already. An elegant tea service sat upon a small table and three chairs were gathered in a loose conversation circle. Zuko preferred to talk with people rather than down to them from the throne.
"Hey," Mai said when she heard his approach. "Minister Norito is running late. He sent a frantic letter apologizing."
"That gives us time to have tea together," Zuko replied with a smile.
"Yep," Mai said and poured a cup for Zuko and then for herself.
They sat in comfortable silence, taking sips of the specially blended jasmine tea, a gift from Iroh.
"This is nice," the Fire Lord observed.
"Mmmm," Mai hummed in agreement.
They took what they could when they could and enjoyed it. Every moment together was like a gift and they refused to take any of them for granted. There had been too much lost time.
