Number Eight: Azula Always has a Plan.

Theme: Trick

Characters: Mai and Zuko

Riding on Komodo Lizards, Mai decided, was unbearably dull. Right now they were stopped near a little stream in the middle of the forest and were letting their lizards drink up the water and grab a few bugs to munch on. Azula was off studying the map and making careful and detailed lines on it to show where they'd been and trying to estimate where the Avatar was headed. Ty Lee was stretching off in the grass, but Mai looked away, unable to bear watching her companion stand on one foot and put the other behind her head. With nothing but trees, trees, and giant smelly lizards to look at, she opted to take out a knife and practice throwing it into the air and catching it.

It had been a week since they last spotted the Avatar's bison in the skies, and so they were getting more and more off course in tracking him as the days went by. Luckily, Azula already had a good idea where they were headed and a plan of what to do once they caught up. Azula always had a plan. Mai thought back to that one time when they were all young children living in the Fire Nation, when life was less complicated.

It was a boring, quiet day. The four of them—Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko—were sitting together in Azula's bedroom, drinking some tea and eating pastries that the maid had brought for their afternoon snack. They were trying to figure out what game they could play. Tag was out, since Ty Lee had twisted her ankle when she fell off of a clothesline that she was using as a tightrope. Hide and seek had been discarded, as there were only so many places to hide in the palace, and they'd hit on all of them already.

Azula was just about ready to suggest that they borrow a Pai Sho board and play that when she hit on an even better idea. A maid walked by the open doorway, whistling a rather popular love song as she went along down the halls with a slight bounce in her step. Quite odd, as the maids normally not only were miserable, but tried their best to avoid walking down the hall by Azula's room, lest the fall into a trap of the mischievous Princess's.

"Look at the maid," she whispered to the other three. "I think she's up to something, don't you?"

Mai and Ty Lee exchanged a look. "She's just walking, Azula," said Ty Lee. "What's odd about that?"

"She's too happy. What reason does a maid have to be happy?"

"Maybe she got a promotion," Mai added logically. "To a higher level maid, or maybe a chef or something."

"Father wouldn't give a raise to her. She's so forgetful."

Zuko asked her, "So what do you think it is that she's happy about?"

"Maybe she's in love!" Ty Lee smiled brightly.

"Or," corrected Azula with a knowing tone that implied she knew better, "Maybe she's having an affair. She is married, right? I think she's cheating on her husband. Wouldn't you cheat on your husband if he was as ugly as hers is?"

Zuko didn't really know what to think about that. Sure, it was a possibility, but he'd seen her and her husband together just last month, and they had looked quite happy together. Ty Lee was shocked, "Oh, Azula, is that really true?!" The girl nodded. "Wow! I wonder who it is that she is cheating with, then?"

Azula grinned. "Let's go find out, shall we?"

The four had snuck out of the room and followed her down the hall to the maid's chambers, where she went inside, still whistling, and closed the door behind her.

"Now what?" Mai whispered quietly.

She glanced around and smiled when she saw that the door to the room beside it was unlocked. It was a supply closet, used for storing cleaning supplies and linens, and connected to the maid's chambers through another door towards the back.

"Mai and Zuko are going to spy for us," she replied smoothly. "See that supply room? You two are going to hide inside and see what you can hear."

"Why Mai and me," questioned Zuko. "What about you and Ty Lee?"

"Ty Lee isn't a very good spy. You know she can't stay still for more than a moment," Azula said as she quietly opened the door wide enough for them to slip through. "And would you really want her to keep watch?" This convincing argument got them, and the two conceded to slipping into the somewhat cramped supply room. Azula grinned, and closed the door behind them.

Inside, it was almost pitch black, and they had to feel their way along to find the door that connected to the maid's room. Mai thought she had found it at last, but it turned out to be Zuko's hand, and the boy snatched it away shyly.

"Sorry," she whispered, glad for the darkness to hide the blush that she knew was on her face. Another moment's time found them at the door at last, and they crouched down among the mops and brooms in front of it.

Quietly they pressed their ears against the door and tried to hear what was going on. She was having a conversation with someone, but Mai couldn't focus on the exact words, as Zuko's leg pressed against hers was a tad bit of a distraction.

"Mai," he whispered, making her jump a little. "I think she's just talking to another maid about doing the wash."

"Are you sure it's not a guy?"

"No, I hear two women talking. Come on, let's get out of here."

Carefully they felt their way along until they found the exit into the hallway, trying their best not to trip over anything. A light from the crack under the door signaled that they'd found it at last. When Mai tried the handle, however, she found it was locked. And, being a supply room, instead of something else, the door locked from the outside.

She moved over as Zuko tried the handle, but he couldn't open it, either. "Azula," he whispered out to her, "open the door."

There was no answer from the outside. "Azula," whispered Mai a bit louder, "Ty Lee? Open the door, it's locked!"

Silence. Zuko bent down and tried looking under the crack, but as far as he could see, there wasn't anyone out there at all. "I don't think she's there, Mai."

She sighed in annoyance. Now what were they up to? "Come on," she whispered over to Zuko, "We'll just have to wait until the maids leave the room, and then go out that way."

Once again they snuck back over to the other door where they would listen and wait until the maids left. Getting better at maneuvering in the dark, they went a bit quicker as Mai led the way over. About halfway there she stopped suddenly, and Zuko bumped into her.

"What's wrong, Mai?"

Her voice sounded shaky as she whispered to him, "Is that your hand on my neck?"

"No," he said, and showed her both of his hands.

"Agh," she cried, trying her best not to be too loud. "It's moving!"

He squinted in the darkness at it. "I think it's a spider."

She started to scream, but found his hand covering her mouth. "Don't scream; I'll get it off!" He grabbed the nearest object and held it on her neck, trying to coax the thing onto it while still keeping one hand over her mouth. After a few seconds of this, the spider finally crawled onto it and Zuko smushed it against the wall.

He took his hand away and told her, "There, it's dead."

Her face still tingled where he had touched her. "Thanks," she whispered, quite grateful that the beast was vanquished.

Being careful of touching any more spiders, they knelt down by the door to the maid's chambers and waited. The two women weren't having a very interesting conversation to listen to; it was just a bunch of talk about what hours they had to work and the tasks left to finish before they could go home. There was nothing to play with besides the mops and brooms, which they were afraid to touch anyway, lest they come across another spider. They sat there for almost an hour, crouched down on the floor together, close enough that they were almost touching. In the silence it was easy to hear each other breathing; Mai found her own breathing faster than Zuko's.

He whispered something, but she couldn't hear it. "What did you say?" she asked. He leaned closer to whisper into her ear, and at that moment the door to the hallway open and light poured into the darkness. Azula and Ty Lee were standing in the doorway, looking at them amusedly, and it was easy to guess what they thought was going on between Mai and Zuko that they should be so close together.

"Well, well," smirked Azula, "I guess that you two were having a good time."

They blushed, as it would be no use trying to convince Azula that they weren't kissing. Instead, Zuko questioned angrily where she had gone.

"Ty Lee and I were here the whole time," she said innocently and with such sincerity that you could almost believe her. "I don't know what you are talking about, we didn't ever leave."

"But we were calling for you to unlock the door, and you didn't answer us!"

"Well, I must not have heard you. Were you whispering?"

She had caught them in her trap. Yes, they were, but they were certain that she could have heard them, even if they were whispering. However, it was no use trying to explain that to here, and the two couldn't argue any further that she had left her post. The two decided to let it drop and except that they'd been tricked.

Walking down the hall back to Azula's room, Mai whispered to Zuko, "We'll get her back tomorrow."

"Definitely."