Writer's Note: Contains spoilers for the end of Book Two.
Dewdrop
Women of the Fire Nation were often viewed by the pallor of their skin - folly, since even the Fire Nation was filled with people with different skin tones and various shades and colours. But the old ways usually are loathe to die, and are even less inclined to do so among the noble classes.
Mai knew. If she had counted how many times her mother had shrieked at her to find some shade as a child, well... she would be a very rich woman, that was for sure.
"Mai, you are probably one of the luckiest girls in the world," her mother insisted, pulling a large-brimmed hat over her unwilling head. "You have naturally pale skin, and you should do whatever it takes to preserve it!"
"Why?" Mai spat out, her mother's tugging frustrating her to impatience. "It's just stupid skin."
"It's the cloak you wear as a noblewoman," her mother said sternly. "Any woman with such pale skin is sure to be of wealthy and noble means, of the bluest and brightest of bloodlines."
Mai sneered. "Great-grandpa was a fisherman."
Which earned her a dismissal from her mother's inner chambers for the rest of the day, despite it being true.
When Zuko met her, he looked at her with such wide eyes and pink cheeks that she wondered if what her mother said was actually true. After all, here was the prince, and his skin was almost as pale as hers. And already, he was looking at her like she was a pretty doll, even after being thrown into a fountain with him.
But that didn't last. Years of seaside exile weathered his skin to something darker - skin that darkened even further when he spent so much time in the Earth Kingdom. Mai marvelled at the change, privately admitting that despite it all, her prince really was still rather beautiful.
"Did you ever notice how pale my skin was?" Mai wondered one night at his side, feeling his fingers running through her long hair slowly. Her hand was upon his chest, and she noticed how even her hand was lighter than his skin there, too.
"Mm?" he said sleepily, and she repeated her question. "Oh. Yeah, I guess."
"Because noblewomen always have such pale skin?"
"They what?" He made a face. "No, not because of that. What? It was because your skin always looked so smooth, and delicate, and sometimes..." He blushed, and she smiled. "Sometimes I worried you would shatter if I touched you."
"And now?" She looked up at him. He looked into her eyes, and she felt that all-familiar thump in her chest.
"Now," he said softly, "I wish I had touched you sooner. I missed so many moments that could have kept me saner."
She curled closer to him. The day after that, she stopped her dutiful regiment to keeping her skin pale. She wanted Zuko to never fear touching her again.