"Lighten up, Mai. It's just a prank."

"What are you going to do?"

"I told you. It's a surprise," the ten year old princess led her friends through the palace. She wasn't at all surprised at what a stick in the mud Mai was being; she never liked playing jokes on Zuzu.

Ty Lee carried the cage, whistling to the small, red songbird inside of it. Mai had seen the bird before, when Azula and Ty Lee had dared her to go into Zuko's bedroom and steal all his pants (she hadn't been too pleased then either, but was glad she didn't have to do anything mean to his face.) She didn't know the bird's name, but she was sure it had been a present from his mother when Zuko was young. Honestly, she was surprised he had been allowed to keep it after she left. The girls turned at the sound of a deep laugh coming around the corner.

"Uncle! It's not funny!"

"Quick! Hide!" Azula hissed as she grabbed their wrists and pulled them behind a tapestry as Zuko and Iroh rounded the corner.

"You must forgive me, Prince Zuko. When you get to be my age, you find that the things that once held the weight of the world are quite funny."

"Fine! If you're not going to take me seriously, then-!"

"No, please. I'm sorry, nephew. Now, how do you plan to tell Mai of your feelings for her?"

"What are you-? I- I never said it was Mai!"

Zuko's voice echoed in the hallways and hid Azula and Ty Lee's snickers. Mai ducked her head and avoided the other girls' eyes as her face grew warm.

"Nephew, please, calm down. How do you plan to tell this girl how you feel?"

"Stop! Stop! Never mind! I don't care. It doesn't matter any way. Even if she did like me, Azula would just kill everything."

At the sound of her name, Azula's smile fell and Mai watched her change from Might-Do-Something-Annoying-To-Zuko Azula to Seriously-Going-To-Hurt-The-Idiot-If-He-Doesn't-Keep-His-Mouth-Shut Azula.

"Maybe you should try to be kinder to your sister, Prince Zuko. An act of love goes much farther than one of anger."

"I do try to be nice -like this morning, at breakfast, there were two pastries and one was all messed up and whatever and the other looked perfect and I remembered that you said to be nice, so I let Azula have the good one -and it wasn't like she grabbed it first, because the tray was right next to me and I picked it up and said 'here' and smiled and everything- and she still called me a dumb-dumb and pulled my topknot as she left the room!" -Mai watched Azula's brow furrow and wondered if she had actually noticed Zuko being nice to her.- "It's like she just hates me. Or she's evil or something."

Azula's eyes narrowed as Zuko snickered, apparently having something funny come into his head. In the name of Agni, Zuko, SHUT UP.

"And I think she might have a crush on Captain Zhao!"

Ty Lee and Zuko both giggled and Mai tried to ignore the blush running across Azula's face and the feeling of dread in her stomach.

"Shut up!" she snapped at Ty Lee in a whisper. "Give me the bird. I'll show him evil."

"Azula, what are you going to do?"

"Be quiet, Mai. Ty Lee. Give. Me. The bird."

Ty Lee looked between the princess of her country, who had just given her a direct order, and the delicate pet bird of the prince that had never done anything to offend Azula. She hesitated.

"Fine!" Azula brought her hand back and prepared to strike the bird.

"Azula, don't hurt it!" Mai cried out without thinking, a crime that would be punished severely in front of her mother and possibly more so in front of the princess, and sprang, knocking the cage out of Ty Lee's grip and exposing the girls' position as the metal cage flew out from behind the tapestry.

Zuko watched as his sister fell onto the floor, landing on her hands and knees, shortly followed by Ty Lee, who fell gracefully into a somersault, and Mai, who landed on Ty Lee. The frightened bird flitted around its cage, which had landed on its side, and Mai could see its chest rising and falling rapidly, which looked very odd; she had never seen a bird panting before.

Everything seemed frozen. Ty Lee sought out Mai's eyes, but found she was too focused on Zuko, whose face, as usual, held a look of extreme confusion and slight embarrassment.

The silence was shattered as Azula shot a stream of fire at the birdcage. As if out of instinct, Mai threw the dagger inside her sleeve. The dagger hit the very bottom of the cage, causing it to spin across the floor. The little, red bird flew out of the door, which had become unhinged, and circled the group once before flying out of a window.

The ground where the birdcage had been was marked black and burnt, as was the dagger stuck in the ground.

AN: My friend has two pet birds and they're weird looking when they pant. My brain was all *DOES NOT COMPUTE*

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