Mai emerges from the maze to find Ira waiting outside.
'You should be with Katara.'
'I am your spy. My loyalty is to you. And a good thing, too – they've found your husband, Lady. Time to run.'
They do. They run – to the servant's quarters, out the door, to the palace walls.
A bell tolls out the alarm.
Ira melts the metal gate, flames licking her fingertips – out! Out they run.
Mai's breath catches in her throat. Rips the lining.
Cries – arrows.
'Run, Lady!' Screams Ira.
Mai runs. They both run, almost at the forest when Ira falls. Mai turns back – but she sees in a glance that the woman is dead.
And she runs onwards, for all she can hear dogs behind her, knows what soldiers they do have will soon be coming for her –
There is an explosion. For away as she is, it sets Mai's ears echoing. The light blinds her momentarily.
She falls behind a tree, caught in a storm of burning light.
When it subsides she cannot hear. But she turns – the trees around her are burning. The ground is hot. Her ears are ringing.
She looks through the trees.
The palace has been reduced to rubble. The city behind it – the new, racially pure city – she can see houses burning, there, in the distance.
She can almost hear their screams.
But this is a war.
She pulls herself to her feet.
And she heads south.
