Part Seven: Sealed With a Kiss
Mai had a three day lead; she'd changed from her nondescript black clothing to drab peasant clothing to her current costume of clashing pinks and oranges before boarding the first ship she could to the Earth Kingdom; she made sure to act as friendly and vivacious as she could—as much like Ty Lee as she could—yet she was still terrified. The finality of what she'd done, of the damage she'd committed while acting as a passenger in her own body, had hit her, and hit her hard.
She'd killed Zuko and Katara. Or tried to, anyway. There had been no news of their deaths, and she'd listened carefully to as much gossip as she could; there'd been rumors of an attack on the Fire Lord, rumors that followed her and grew wilder and wilder with every passing day and mile, but no official announcement of mourning or offer of a reward or even a sign of pursuit.
So maybe she hadn't killed them, but even so, she'd tried to, and that was as much a crime as succeeding would have been.
Part of her was relieved that Zuko appeared to still be alive; most of her, she was willing to admit in the privacy of her own thoughts in the darkest hours of the night, lying alone and sleepless in the cramped cabin she shared with a rambunctious family of four returning from the festivities in the Fire Nation to their home in the Earth Kingdom.
Regardless, there was no way she could ever return to the capital now, no way she could ever be more than a hunted fugitive, whether Zuko and Katara lived or died. Either they lived and knew who attacked them, or they died and the only person to flee the palace would be instantly under suspicion, although she hadn't heard her name whispered in the many rumors floating around.
She wondered where she thought she was going, when she allowed herself to consider the future beyond the next day or so left of her sea voyage. Home to her parents house? They'd be horrified by her actions and would probably turn her in themselves if they thought it would save their family honor. To Kyoshi Island, to wait for Ty Lee to show up and beg for her help?
Mai's lip curled at the thought, before she remembered the desperate role she was playing and turned it into a flirtatious smile at a passing sailor. Go to Ty Lee for help? Not likely. She was too busy playing the reformed villainess; besides, her new leader was Suki, Sokka's girlfriend, and she knew Suki would turn her in without hesitating for stabbing her lover's sister.
No, she was on her own. As for what the future would bring…she shrugged inwardly. She would be on the run for as long as she could, as long as it took Zuko's soldiers and spies and friends and, most importantly, Uncle Iroh, to track her down and drag her back to face justice. The fact that no one seemed to be on her trail meant nothing; it wasn't the attack she saw coming that would take her down, it was the one she didn't see.
The best she could hope for, the best she did hope for, was to delay that moment as long as possible.
And how would she react when she was found? Would she fight to the death or turn herself in willingly? Would she spare her family the shame of a public trial, and herself the agony of a public execution? Because, face it, Mai, she told herself, you know this is how it all ends. No matter how long you run, no matter how far, at the end all you have to look forward to is a hangman's noose.
And if they were going to execute her for two attempted murders, or two murders if it turned out she'd succeeded in killing Zuko and that little tramp, Katara, then what difference would it make if she killed anyone who came after her? At best she'd get clean away; at worst, she'd delay her fate by that much longer.
No, Mai knew herself not to be one to submit tamely. The only time she'd done so had been when she defied Azula and allowed herself to be imprisoned for it. She'd gone along without a fight because she believed she still had something—someone—to live for.
She knew better now.
Now, all she had was herself, and the gods and spirits help anyone who tried to catch her.
oOo
"You think Aang might lose control that badly, that he'd actually kill Mai?" Zuko sounded incredulous, and Katara could understand why, but she needed him to understand her reasoning as well or he would never take this as seriously as he needed to.
"Zuko, he's so upset right now, he's not in control of himself, so yes, I'm afraid he might do something rash, something he'd regret for the rest of his life. Not on purpose," she stressed. "In the heat of the moment. Especially if Mai refuses to give herself up.
"Katara, he couldn't even kill my father, and he had more reason to kill him than he has to kill Mai," Zuko protested, still hung up on the idea of Aang killing someone.
"Like I said, it wouldn't be something he did deliberately," Katara repeated. She laid a hand on Zuko's arm. "Will you just promise me you'll stop him from hunting Mai? Please?"
He responded to the desperation in her voice as she hoped he would, by nodding, even though his face was still full of doubt. "If you're that worried about him, then I promise, I'll go right now and stop him."
She smiled at him in relief, then watched as he strode purposefully for the door to her room. He paused on the threshold and she blew him a kiss, smiling shyly as a grin blossomed on his lips.
She just hoped it wasn't too late, that Aang hadn't immediately jumped back on Appa and taken off. With any luck the flying buffalo was still too tired out from his long journey from Gaoling to the palace to do more than sleep for a long, long, time.
oOo
The next time her door opened, over an hour later, it wasn't Zuko again, as she'd hoped (for more than one reason), but Toph. "Hey, Sugar Queen, I hear you're feeling a little under the weather." She left the door open behind her as she padded across the room, heading unerringly for the bedside chair and plopping into it. "How's your side?"
"Better, a lot better," Katara assured her. "But you didn't have to come all the way back here, you know. Zuko and I, we're both fine now."
Toph's sightless gaze settled on Katara's face and she gave an incredulous laugh. "Are you kidding me? I've never been wanted for attempted murder before! I wouldn't have missed this trip for the world!"
"Yeah, sorry about that," Katara mumbled, embarrassed for the actions that had been taken on her behalf while she'd still been unconscious. "I don't know what came over Iroh, thinking you and Aang might have something to do with it!"
"Well, we did just take off unannounced that morning," Toph pointed out, not sounding upset at all. In fact, she sounded as if she were enjoying it as much as she claimed. "We were gonna stay for another week, remember? Aang was supposed to give a speech and everything."
Katara did remember, and her face burned with shame. He'd abandoned the celebration and his duties because of her.
Toph's expression became concerned. "Hey, you all right, Sugar Queen? Your heart rate just sped up like crazy, so either you're excited to see me or something's wrong. What is it?"
"Did Aang tell you why he took off in the first place?"
Toph shook her head. "Nope, and I didn't ask. I could tell he really, really, really didn't want to talk about it. But I'm guessing it had something to do with you, am I right?"
"Yeah, you could say that." Katara sighed. Where to begin, how much to tell? And how much to tell without talking to Zuko first? Well, she could at least tell about the kiss and her own actions immediately following, then see if Toph would buy the official reason for why Mai had stabbed Katara as well as poisoning Zuko.
Toph spared her further debate. "I'm guessing you let him kiss you, 'cause he was mumbling about kisses at one point, then shut up when I asked him about it. And I'm guessing you gave him the 'let's just be friends' speech after that, am I right?"
"On the nose," Katara confirmed.
Toph nodded. "That explains a lot. But it doesn't explain why the Ice Princess stabbed you after she poisoned Sparky. Unless you were kissing him behind her back?" she asked shrewdly.
"Not behind her back!" Katara protested, then clamped her lips shut in chagrin. "I mean, we didn't break up with Aang and Mai to be together, honest. It just sort of turned out that we were interested in each other but nothing happened till after Mai tried to kill us." Oh great, that didn't come out too confusing at all. She tried again. "Toph, Zuko and I didn't…"
Toph waved one hand as the grin returned to her face. "Save it, Sugar Queen. I know you weren't sneaking around with Sparky, I'm just giving you a hard time. But you're with him now, right?"
Katara nodded without thinking, then winced at her thoughtlessness. "Yeah, we are. But no one's supposed to know; I mean, my dad knows and Aang knows, but that's it."
Toph snorted. "Yeah, right. That's not how gossip works, you know. People are pretty good at putting two and two together, especially when you don't want them to. Mai tried to kill two people, you and Zuko. Guess what the rumors are going to say the reason was she did it?"
"Zuko told the Council it was because she was afraid I'd find Zuko and save him. Which," Katara pointed out, "I did. What's not to believe?"
Toph folded her arms across her chest, raised her sightless eyes to the ceiling, blew a deep breath that stirred her bangs, then slowly shook her head. "No one ever believes the official story," she replied patiently. As if explaining something to a backwards child. "Especially not with Aang storming off like he did. Only idiots believe he had something to do with any assassination attempt, but just about everyone knows how he feels about you. Get it now?"
Katara did, and replied with a heavy sigh of her own. "So you're saying even if Zuko and I play it cool, everyone's gonna think we're sneaking around together."
"Sounds about right," Toph agreed, her voice cheerful. "But hey, look at the bright side; that means you two can play kissy-face all you want!"
"I don't think I want to know what you're talking about."
The voice came from the open doorway; Toph, who'd obviously heard the newcomer's approach, smirked to herself while Katara gasped and turned to see who it was.
It was her father, of course, carrying her lunch tray and giving her an unhappy look as he entered the room and kicked the door shut behind him. "I thought you were going to downplay your recent indiscretions," he scolded his daughter as he placed the tray on her lap. "Good afternoon, Toph," he added in belated welcome.
"Hiya, Hakoda!" she replied cheerfully as she jumped to her feet. "Guess I'll be going now!" Without another word she marched out of the room, opening the door and then slamming it shut behind her.
Katara and Hakoda watched her go, then faced one another, each wearing equally unhappy expressions. "Dad, that was really rude," Katara began.
At the same time, her father said: "Why did you tell her the truth?"
They each stopped, than Katara sighed and answered her father's question. "Because Toph is really good at figuring things out. And she told me everyone's going to gossip no matter what the official story is. Do you think that's true?"
Hakoda sighed as well, but inwardly. His daughter's eyes were shining with hope, hope that she didn't have to hide her infatuation with the Fire Lord after all, hope that she could openly pursue a relationship with that troubled—and troublesome—young man. Hopes that he needed to squash here and now if he had any hope of his own of saving her from future heartbreak. "Katara," he said gently, "whether it's true or not makes no difference. You know you have to tread carefully, for all the reasons we've already discussed. Zuko knows it as well," he added, hoping to stave off an argument.
No such luck. "Yeah, well, Zuko and I are old enough to decide for ourselves how to handle things. And if people are going to talk about us no matter what we do, then why shouldn't we make the most of it and just…be together?" Her chin jutted out at a mutinous angle as she spoke.
Before Hakoda could respond, a gentle tap came at the door. "Come in," Katara called out.
Her shining eyes and wide smile told Hakoda who the newest visitor was before he even turned around. Zuko strode into the room, bowing respectfully to the Water Tribe Chief before turning his attention to Katara. "Make sure you eat all that up if you want to get back to your own rooms today," he reminded her with a smile.
Hakoda indulged in another inward sigh. He'd make no progress with Katara now; giving in to the inevitable, he rose to his feet and offered Zuko the chair. "I have some meetings to attend to," he said when the Fire Lord offered a token protest. "I'm sure you and my daughter have things to discuss, I won't keep you."
After Hakoda made his dignified exit, Katara rolled her eyes and shoved at the rice bowl Zuko was trying to tempt her with. "Not now, Zuko! Did you find him?"
Zuko gave up, replacing the rice bowl on the tray. "If I tell you yes, will you eat?" She rolled her eyes again and he shook his head grimly. "Sorry, Katara, he's already gone. I don't have a clue where he was headed, but he took Appa and flew away right after he, you know, punched me."
"Someone has to go after him, keep him from doing something he'll regret; do you think Toph would go if we asked her?" Katara once again tried to rise from her bed; this time Zuko took her by the arms and pushed her, gently back firmly, back against the pillows. He removed the tray and put it on the floor. "Zuko, we have to do something!"
"No, I have to do something," he replied. "You have to recover from a nasty stab wound."
Something in his voice warned Katara not to try rising again, but she continued to protest. "This is all my fault, Zuko, I have to do something about it. Make him see reason."
"Katara, for once this isn't something you can fix," Zuko said in exasperation. "Aang's furious with both of us right now; if you try sweet reason he's likely to go off on you, and then do exactly what you don't want him to do just to spite you. Hunting for Mai when he has no clue where she went will give him time to calm down, to get a little perspective."
"Or give his fury time to simmer into an eruption," Katara insisted stubbornly. "Zuko, please. We have to do something."
Zuko sighed. This argument kept going around and around in circles, and he realized the only way to end it was to do as Katara asked. "Fine. I'll see if Toph and Sokka and Suki are willing to help out. He has no reason to be mad at any of them, all right?"
"I guess," Katara muttered. She'd much rather be with them, but she understood Zuko's concerns. And her father would be dead set against her leaving her sick bed just to go on a lengthy journey to find someone who was as likely to ignore her as listen to her.
"I'd better get the gang together, then," Zuko was saying, and she nodded disconsolately. She was part of the gang; it wasn't fair that she couldn't go, but with her injury only half-healed she'd be a liability. And Zuko wasn't going either; the Fire Lord couldn't just go dashing off on a quest, even if it was to find the woman who tried to kill him. That would leave Iroh in charge, which he clearly did not want to be and which would probably cause all kinds of political headaches for Zuko when he returned.
"Promise you won't try to keep me in the dark," Katara half-asked, half-ordered.
"If you promise to eat all your lunch so you can go back to your own rooms," Zuko countered, lifting the tray back up and placing it carefully on her lap.
She grunted her assent and began picking at the cold rice and vegetables, an expression of distaste on her features. Zuko bit back a laugh; she looked just like a small child faced with a holiday gift of new underclothing. "Everything will work out, you'll see," he said soothingly, then leaned forward to press his lips against hers. "I promise."
