A/N: This chapter is a bit shorter, but it makes me happy on the inside. Have I mentioned lately that I love Sokka? Review review review.
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Tactics
"This meeting is adjourned," announces Mai, bringing down the gavel with a loud bang. Eruptions of chatter fill the marble room as the Senators and few citizens make their ways out. She surveys her colleagues for a few minutes, pausing to answer a clarification question from the royal scribe. Behind the wizened old man stands Sokka, broadly smiling at the Fire Lady as he waits his turn to speak with her.
"Hello, Sokka," she says, surprised that she is somewhat happy to see him. Perhaps his good mood is catching.
"Hey there, Mai," he says. Another man appears at the pulpit, bowing deeply to her, and Sokka waits for him to pass. "Good session, huh? Got a lot done."
Mai squints; she knows that Sokka dislikes talking about legislation, especially to her. He and Ty Lee have the same attitude about politics. "It was boring," she says, thinking that she hasn't used those exact words in a very long time.
He laughs, "Yeah. It really was." They are mostly alone in the forum now, and far out of earshot for anyone stupid enough to eavesdrop. Few remaining people mill about, chatting quietly, absorbed in their discussions. Sokka's eyes follow them for a moment before his face becomes serious.
His hand strikes out like a serpent, catching Mai's arm, dragging her close to his body. She unconsciously reaches for the daggers up her sleeve, but she realizes with a sinking feeling that she no longer carries them. The Water Tribe Warrior does not flinch when she hisses, "How dare you?"
They are near enough to whisper together, and no one around has noticed their exchange so far. Mai's harsh eyes watch as he raises her hand up to face level.
The solid grip around her wrist leaves Mai unable to look away from her fingertips. "I know how Kyoshi face-paint can smear," says Sokka without a trace of emotion in his voice. "I noticed it from back there," he nods his head to the balcony seat he always occupies in the formal meeting room. "Make sure Ty Lee washes it off her neck before you start touching her. It really sticks behind the ears."
Sokka releases his hold of her and waves casually at a few lingering Senators on his way out. At her pulpit in the center of the marble floor, Mai hastily wipes her hands together, wringing out her fingers, and seeing for the first time the white powder that was so abruptly brought to her attention. Her lips form words- excuses- that are left unsaid and unheard. She shakes her head, still marveling that he could catch her so off-guard in such a public place. What an idiot! Idly playing with Ty Lee's hair had almost gotten them both caught. No, she thinks, it's far too late for almost. They've already been caught.
Sokka knows, and he made it very clear that it was no surprise to him.
Heels clicking on the stone floor, Mai chases after her ex-enemy, determined to keep him silent. "Take a walk," she commands her waiting guards outside.
She practically runs to catch up to him, tearing past banners of former lords and ladies in the hallway. Mai's long fingernails grab the sheath slung across his back, successfully halting him.
"Is everything all right?" Sokka asks her evenly.
"What are you going to do about it?"
"About the boring meetings? I'll probably bring something to color next time, maybe a book-"
The look on her face makes him stop.
"It's not my business to do anything," he says. Her lips are pulled taut in a thin line and she appraises the truth of his words. Mai can see him talking to Katara, talking to Aang, talking to Zuko, ruining her secret.
"This is an unacceptable state of affairs, Sokka. I'm an unelected public official… and a married queen." She tells him hesitantly, "I could be banished."
He swings a muscular arm around her shoulders and says, "Walk with me." Mai is blushing at the contact, wondering why he bothers treating her like a friend. Even her brother, Tom, is reluctant to come too close to her sharp fangs, and she hasn't held Zuko in an eternity. Not to mention that being the Fire Lady has made her essentially off-limits to casual contact.
Sokka moves with a relaxed amble while she stands painfully rigid, marching like the royal guards she sent away. He leans over her, smiling at her discomfort in the situation. "Look, Mai, you won't be banished. Zuko's not Azula, thank the spirits. I think we've both had enough crazy bitch in our life, right?"
"You're barbaric," she snaps.
He shrugs, "I'm just saying that being in love is sort of a one or the other choice. You can't have them both for long." He holds her arms, staring at her with his icy-blue eyes that leave no room for argument.
"Zuko and Ty Lee don't deserve that," he says. Mai feels a pang of sorrow when he says their names, and she avoids looking directly at him. "You're better than that, Mai. You and I know that you don't want it to be like this. Covering up secrets hurts a lot of people, even if it may not show. Things will get worse."
She hates the pity in his eyes, loathes the sympathy. She isn't worthy of it, and somewhere in the course of his words, Mai represses the urges to claw off his face, scream until she passes out, banish him to the far reaches of nowhere, and hug him so tightly his bones break. She opts for a different choice, and lets her steady voice crack slightly. "I'm sorry," she tells him.
He looks into the grey eyes that match his sword in color, thinking that are twice as hard and three times as sharp. "I'm not the one who needs to know," he says sadly.
After a pause, she primly clears her throat, "She's… Ty Lee has been asking me to tell him. Zuko has had a very difficult life, as you well know, and I used to make it easier." Mai sounds like she is remembering a different time.
"We were in love."
Sokka opens his mouth, but she shakes her head and he does not speak. Mai takes a deep breath, "But to think, his wife and her best friend are lovers. Maybe it doesn't matter anyway, maybe he's already found someone else." Her eyes tighten, "Zuko talks in his sleep."
"Who?" asks Sokka.
A humorless grin files her features. She says, "No one of consequence."
Sokka's large, rough hands are set on her shoulders again. "You're doing the right thing," he reassures her.
"I am," she concedes. "Thank you for… helping. Although, you must be aware, there are far more diplomatic ways to make a point to the Fire Lady. Have you no manners, you great ape?"
As an answer, Sokka picks her up with a bear hug around the waist and starts spinning in a wild circle. Her black heels fly off against a wall and he plants a wet kiss on her cheek as she scowls, "Put me down, heathen!"
"That's my girl!" He sets her on the ground, ruffles her hair, and strolls away with a mischievous giggle.
Collecting her fallen shoes, straightening her robe, and putting her hair back in place takes several minutes of muttered curses, but Mai cannot help the small smile that infiltrates her serious defenses. She looks at the man down the hallway with a final roll of her eyes.
Her gaze finds a settling place on a colorful banner of an old Fire Prince holding up golden cup beneath the rising sun. Sitting for her own portraits and tapestries had been a dreadful experience, constantly being touched by the painters and weavers, adjusting her head just slightly, not being able to talk. Thank Agni for Ty Lee, who had forced her way into the sitting and chattered incessantly as Mai listened. The artists hated her, but Mai was grateful. She is always grateful for her.
Still, she is afraid.
Everything is balanced so perfectly, building up this precariously stable beast, and Mai is afraid to topple her world. It will be broken, crumbling and dusty and possibly unfixable, because she was the feather that tipped the scale.
But she cannot deny it. Sokka is right: her secrets need telling.
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