This is a shorter chapter than usual, but I figured it was better to post a shorter chapter sooner than make readers wait for a longer one. It's more difficult than I'd thought to get myself back into the headspace of this story after ignoring it for a couple of months. My intention is to get back to the regular 2 week updates, but it may take me a bit to work up to that.

Thank you to everyone has been supporting this story so far! I really appreciate all of you. :)

More Than Blood Can Stand

Chapter 22: The Letter

Zuko woke up with an aching back and a heavy weight on his shoulder. He cracked open one eye to see the canopy ceiling of the tent he vaguely remembered setting up last night.

That would make sense. There was only so much a bedroll could do to make rock-hard ground comfortable. No wonder his back hurt. And his shoulder… He looked down and stiffened. Mai was curled up next to him, her head on his shoulder and her body splayed over his arm. Which, now that he thought about it, was completely numb.

How had that happened? The tent wasn't that big, but he clearly remembered there being some amount of space between their make-shift beds last night. Now, though, her body was occupying the space between their bedrolls. Wrapped tightly in her blankets, true, but still directly on the hard ground.

He cringed in sympathy. That couldn't be comfortable. Though speaking of discomfort… he really couldn't feel his fingers, and his shoulder was beginning to throb. Maybe he could disentangle himself without waking her. He leaned over so he could use his free arm to lift her up ever so slightly and began to wriggle his arm. But before he had moved it so much as an inch, her eyes flew open.

She stared up at him, and he back down at her. For a moment they were both still and silent. He hated uncomfortable silences.

"Sorry for waking you. It's just my, uh, arm. It's asleep," he said, gesturing with his head down at her.

Turning her head, she glanced at the ground, then back at him. Her eyebrows crept up.

"Huh," she said. "I wonder how that happened." She gathered her blankets around her, and the two of them sat up. Frigid mountain air rushed into the gap between them, and Mai shivered. "On second thought, maybe it's not so mysterious." She unwrapped herself from the blankets, scooted as close to him as she could manage, buried herself in his chest, and covered herself again with the blankets. "You're warm," she said in a muffled voice.

He put an arm around her - the one that wasn't currently burning with the pain of a thousand pinpricks - and smiled. She could have made this into something awkward and uncomfortable; he certainly would have, if he'd been given half a chance. But instead she approached this like she did everything else in life: as if it were the most usual, boring circumstance to find herself in. Nothing to get excited or upset about.

She poked her head out of the blankets and held up her hands between them. "I never realized how convenient it would be to be married to a firebender," she drawled. "Warm my hands up, will you?"

He took her hands in his, and his mouth dropped open. Her hands were frigid, almost painful to touch. "Are you okay? That can't be normal." He began rubbing them between his own, forcing extra heat into them.

"Sadly, it is. Especially when it's cold outside."

"How do you throw knives with hands like this?"

She shrugged. "My accuracy suffers a little, but when you're already dead accurate it's not too much of a difference." She sat back, pulling her fingers away and flexing them. "Thanks, that's a lot better." Then she lifted a foot in his direction, a teasing glint in her eyes. "My toes get awfully cold, too..."

He paused for a second before putting his hands on top of her feet. Was this weird? Weren't feet kind of gross? But it didn't feel weird in the moment, and her feet were really cold. Maybe even colder than her hands.

"Mmm," she sighed, closing her eyes. "This is the life. Sorry, Zuko, but now you're going to be expected to do this every morning. And maybe nights, too."

"Glad to know my firebending is useful to you," he laughed. "Anything else you need from me?"

Her eyes opened and locked onto his, her gaze intense. His breath caught in his throat. She put her hand behind his neck and pulled his face down close to her. The corner of her mouth turned up.

"Just you," she said, and closed the gap with a kiss.

That hadn't been Zuko's plan at all. He had been concerned with how cold she was, and wanting to make her warmer. No ulterior motives at all. But if this was how she wanted to spend her time, he was not going to be the one to put an end to it.

He ran his hands through her hair, down from the usual buns, slightly tangled from the tossing and turning she'd done the previous night, but still soft and silky and absolutely amazing.

It had only been five days since the wedding, and it still felt surreal. How had they gone from careful politeness to this in only five days?

But now wasn't the time for thinking philosophical thoughts. It was time for breathing, for feeling, for-

The earth rumbled beneath them, throwing them to opposite sides of the tent, Zuko landing in a crouch and Mai using the momentum to roll onto a defensive position on her side, knives out. They exchanged a serious glance. That was no natural earthquake, like the kind that often hit the Fire Nation. No, that had been earthbending.

They crept towards the tent flap together, taking defensive positions on either side. She reached out with one of her knives and moved it aside just a crack so that he could peer out of it.

He huffed, dropping his fists. "It's just Toph. What was that for?" he snapped as he walked out of the tent.

Toph was standing outside of the tent with her arms crossed. "Hinata says if you don't wake up soon, we'll never make it to Ba Sing Se before sunset."

He rolled his eyes. "We were already awake. Surely you already knew..." His voice trailed off as he realized the implications of what he'd been about to say. Surely she already knew that, because she could see through walls with her earthbending. He cleared his throat and decided that the best thing to do was to ignore it. Less awkward that way. "Breakfast. Right. We'll be there soon."

Toph gave him a mock salute and began walking back towards the fire, where he could see the others eating.

Mai emerged from the tent a few moments later, hair neatly arranged, a long vest on over her dress, and fingerless gloves on her hands. And presumably more weapons than she'd been sleeping with, though it was hard to tell through her voluminous sleeves.

"Well," she smirked, "that was an exciting start to the morning." She linked her hand with his. "Let's have some breakfast."

General Mak rubbed his head, staring at the map on the war table. It was hard to concentrate on the movement of troops and strategies when his head throbbed so. He must have gotten a terrible night's sleep. When he had woken up that morning, he had been just as tired as when he'd drifted off the night before. He couldn't remember tossing and turning, though, and no dreams. If not for his exhaustion and pounding headache, he would have assumed he'd slept like a rock.

His thoughts were interrupted as a soldier entered the room and bowed. "Sir," he said with the barest tightening of his jaw, "I was sent to inform you that Princess Azula arrived at the gates moments ago and surrendered to our troops."

The princess? What was she doing here? Mak stood up suddenly and almost had to sit back down again because of the pain exploding through his head. "Bring her here," he commanded, gripping the table tightly. The soldier bowed and left the room without a word.

This was an unusual development. So far as he'd been aware, Ozai had been keeping Azula with him at the capital. When had she left? And why would she have surrendered? He didn't know the princess very well, but from what he'd heard that was uncharacteristic behavior for her. His eyes narrowed. This could very well be a trap. The royal family certainly was in disarray now, with Ozai usurping the throne, Zuko committing treason with enemies of the Fire Nation, and both claiming to be Fire Lord. Which side Azula was on he did not know, but either way he needed to be on his guard.

He rubbed his forehead, and was just about to sit down again when the door opened and the soldier returned, followed by a dozen soldiers escorting three prisoners: a tall Fire Nation soldier, a very beautiful young lady he thought he might recognize as one of the seven famous Ty sisters, and Princess Azula.

"Your highness." He bowed. Prisoner or not, she was a member of the royal family. "What a surprise. What brings you to Ba Sing Se?"

"General," she said, smiling softly. "I'm so relieved to see you. It has taken us weeks to travel here, and I was afraid we would be too late." She paused for a beat. "I'm not too late, am I?"

Ah, so she was fishing for information. Mak knew better than to rise to her bait. He was the one in control here. "What brings you," he said again, this time with more edge to his voice, "to Ba Sing Se?"

She sighed, looking at the floor. "I couldn't stay in the palace anymore. I just couldn't stand it. It was all well and good when he was acting as regent during Fire Lord Iroh's death, but claiming the throne for himself when it was clearly Zuko's right… I couldn't live with that betrayal."

She raised her head, and there were tears glistening behind her lashes. Mak steeled himself against them, pushing the sympathy down. A change of heart from her certainly was possible, but knowing court politics as he did, he wasn't about to let emotion cloud his decision-making.

"A betrayal that our troops feel as well, Princess. As I'm sure you are aware, we have not been following orders from the Crown since the passing of Fire Lord Iroh."

She nodded earnestly. "Yes, this is why I came here. I knew I could trust you to fight for Zuko, to reinstate him."

His lips thinned. "Have you not heard? Prince Zuko has betrayed his country, committed treason."

"No!" she gasped. "That's a lie. Why would he do such a thing?"

"But he is." He walked around the room to a table in the corner and picked up a scroll that had arrived just that morning. "I have proof. This letter comes from Fire Nation troops stationed at the North Pole, addressed to Fire Lord Zuko to update him on the progress of training the Water Tribe soldiers to assist in the invasion of the homeland."

Her jaw dropped. "Training Water Tribe troops to invade the Fire Nation? He wouldn't!" She bit her lip and looked him in the eyes. "But General… if Zuko is a traitor and Father a usurper, what is to become of the Fire Nation?"

"I do not know." He dropped the scroll on the table. "But the more pressing question is this: what is to become of you, princess?"

"Me?"

He took a step closer to her. "Yes, you. Should I throw you in the dungeons or have you executed immediately? Don't think for a minute that you have me fooled with your innocent I care about the integrity of the Fire Nation speech. I've spent too long dealing with court politics to believe you came here because you have seen the error of your father's ways and now want to support your dear cousin's bid for the crown. You are here to do Ozai's bidding, to remove Zuko as an obstacle to the throne. And that makes you just as much an enemy to the Fire Nation as he is."

"Fine," she snapped, all softness gone from her gaze. "I came here to trap Zuko. Does that really make me such a threat? As you said, he's a traitor. Zuko is a traitor and my father is a fool. He couldn't even manage to usurp the crown successfully. Is it any wonder I took things into my own hands?" She smirked. "You asked me what my motive is. I'll tell you: if Zuko and my father are not fit to rule, who does that leave as Fire Lord?"

When he didn't answer, she laughed. "My motives are easy to understand, General. I'm here to gather support for my own bid for the crown. And you're going to help me."

Azula stretched out on her bed, smiling at the ceiling. General Mak was like putty in her hands. True, he had put her on house arrest in a luxurious suite in the Earth Kingdom palace, but he knew as well as she did that he ought to have done much more than that. The guard posted outside her door was a fraction as strong as he would have ordered had he truly considered her a threat. This was merely a formality.

He was beginning to trust her.

He already trusted her enough to show her the scroll from Zuko's troops at the Northern Water Tribe, and in doing so he had unwittingly given her some important information. Tucked into the report was a note from one of Zuko's guards warning him of a letter she had decoded ordering Mai to kill him. She congratulated herself on getting here soon enough to ensure that Zuko never read that warning. If he'd gotten there first, that would have complicated things.

So Mai hadn't received the letter before leaving the North Pole. That was unfortunate; if she had, Zuko would no longer be an obstacle and they wouldn't be in this position right now, of needing to brainwash Mak and convince him to support her. But it also relieved her worries about why it was taking Mai so long to finish the job. If she was still waiting for orders, that meant she was still loyal. All she needed to do now was to find a way to get a second message to her.

And seeing as the report mentioned Zuko's expected arrival in Ba Sing Se sometime this week, she was sure an opportunity would present itself soon enough.