Death of a Thousand Cuts 17 - Break

When Zuko heard the ringing cry of, "There you are," he almost launched a pre-emptive Firebending attack. Only the fact that he was in mid-step kept this from happening, in that his attempt to spin in place and kick a fireball was hampered by not being properly rooted, and so all he managed to do was move like he was having a seizure of some kind and crash to the floor.

"Oh, dear," the voice said, and despite Zuko's pain and humiliation, he managed to identify it, in a manner of speaking. He still didn't know Mai's Mother's real name, but he had managed to get by without it so far.

She knew her place very well, and so didn't even look at him as she scrambled on the dusty floor. Zuko quickly got up and dusted himself off. "You were looking for me?"

"Yes, dear." She inclined her head respectfully. "I'm sorry to impinge on your royal alone-time, but I need to speak to you."

Zuko hoped she didn't realize what he had been intending to spend his royal alone-time on. "This isn't something you could take to Azula?"

"Oh, uh, the Princess is of course clever and wise, and quite capable of handling whatever problems come her way." Mai's Mother's eyes shifted. "But this isn't something that can be solved by setting someone on fire or with harsh words that will inevitably break her victim's spirit."

Yes, that would definitely disqualify Azula. "What do you need, then?"

"Well, dear, I've just come away from speaking with my daughter."

"Mai's home?" Zuko felt fear stab into his heart, which was a very apt metaphor because his fear was of Mai stabbing him in the heart with something that was a lot more solid than fear. "Is she okay?"

"Oh, she's fine; thank you for asking. Of course, she's not in the best of moods, but... ah..." She paused as she tried to find a way to insult her daughter (or so Zuko expected) while simultaneously trying to make her seem endearing to him. "Well, she's quite a unique flower, one with dark colors that doesn't smell especially fragrant. But that's a metaphor, of course; Mai smells quite nice, I've taught her proper grooming."

"Oh. Uh, okay." Zuko let out the breath he had been holding. "That's good. That she's back I mean, not that she doesn't stink. Thank you for informing me. That she's home." He was going to turn to go back the way he came, towards the residential wing of the Earth Palace, but Mai's Mother shifted so that she was not quite but almost in his path.

"Actually, dear, I wanted to talk to you about that. Mai might not have ever been the most outgoing child, but her moods definitely took a turn for the sour once she hit her teens. (You weren't around to see that, of course.) However, she's been positively expressive here in Ba Sing Se. As far as flowers go, she's been quite blooming. Up until tonight."

Ah, so he wasn't going to be stabbed to death, as he had feared after his talk with Mai at the zoo, but her mother was going to try to talk him into submission using the most humiliating metaphors that she could imagine. Well, that was probably better than the alternative, but still something that Zuko felt merited an expeditious retreat. "I'm... sorry to hear that. I hope she feels better. Now, if-"

"Yes." Mai's Mother's expression turned hard, despite her perpetual pleasant smile. "I managed to pry out of her that her mood might have something to do with you intending on staying in this city as an administrative representative for the Fire Lord?"

"That's true."

Mai's Mother nodded in a disturbingly grim fashion. She was almost starting to remind Zuko of his father. Good thing she wasn't a Firebender. "Well, it seems I am truly needed, then. Normally, this would be the type of thing that your parents should talk to you about, but... um... well, you know your situation better than I do." She waved the thought away. "You do realize that you're royalty, don't you?"

"Of course, I-"

"Good. Then why would you stay in this dysfunctional land of savages?"

Zuko blinked. "But Mai said that your husband is the governor of Omashu. And the people here aren't really-"

"Yes, dear, but that's a step up for us. You're now the Fire Lord's crown heir; you'd just be wasting your time ruling this hole in the ground."

Zuko blinked again. Was she right? He thought he had found an ideal compromise for his situation, but was he really mistaking things so badly? He had lived among the people of the Earth Kingdom, and while for a time he had wanted to set them all on fire for making him eat their filthy garbage, he had found a few who he could have been friends with if they had been born in the right place and of the proper station.

The magnitude of that thought nearly knocked Zuko to the ground. Really, he had hated the Earth Kingdom so much, hated how Jet he betrayed him, how Pao had made him bring tea to peasants, how Jin had made him feel vulnerable in new and squishy ways. But now that he had the opportunity to go home, he wanted to stay here, and was more inclined to remember Jet as a fellow warrior of Justice, Pao as a boss who helped Zuko clean up that time he dropped a tray, and Jin as a really cute girl. How could that be? It was like he had been broken into two people, one from before the Avatar had died and one from after.

He found himself touching his scar.

"Thank you for that insight," he mumbled. "You've given me a lot to think about." Mai's Mother smiled and bowed, and Zuko hurried away from her.
With any luck, she wouldn't realize that they were in the corridor leading to the stairs to the dungeons, where Uncle was still under guard.

TO BE CONTINUED