Kyoshi found herself laughing. "Kid," she finally said. "I'm not going to kill you."

Zuko shifted in front of her. "And what about others? Even as a human you had a reputation for destruction."

Jet was watching, on edge, worried for his sired. Good man. "I assure you, I didn't destroy anyone who didn't deserve it."

That didn't seem to satisfy him, but she could see he was too scared to continue. She moved on. This meeting wasn't about killing anyone; it was about Mai. And besides, the kid had been dancing around her for months. They'd have years more to smooth things over between them.

"We're here for the hunt, remember?" Jet said after a moment of silence. It did good for the atmosphere. "It'll be Mai's first time leading."

The woman in question didn't look quite ready to lead. She still had the tendency to cover up her emotions, but her mask was thinner, more fluid, and her sires knew her. She was nervous. She didn't need to be—every sign pointed to her doing incredibly well. Her sense of smell was strong, and she still retained her pinpoint accuracy with knives. Zuko often told stories of her battle prowess. None of them had any doubt that Mai would lead them well and fill them tonight, save for Mai herself.

Only three of them would be going on this hunt. Kyoshi had her own business to attend to.

"Don't worry, Mai," Zuko murmured. He'd moved over to her to soothe her worries while Kyoshi had been thinking. "You'll be great. I'm sure of it." Mai buried her head into Zuko's shoulder while he held her close. Jet had mentioned he was very tactile.

"I know," she said. She was still a little bit nonverbal.

Kyoshi sighed, bringing attention back on her. "We've been talking for a bit too long, haven't we? The night's not getting any younger. People are going to bed."

She was right, and they knew it. It was reflected in their eyes. They said their goodbyes and stepped out the door, and Kyoshi was left watching them as they gave Mai some pointers and she started to lead the hunt.

Mai was nervous, but so had been all her sireds. She wondered idly if the Kyoshi Warriors knew they had a vampire counterpart. Most likely not—they didn't even know they still had an Avatar around, even if she'd lost all her bending when she'd died.

She'd do well. They always did.

The alley walls surrounded them as they began to finish their hunt, letting Mai lead the way home. Each of them were pleasantly full. They knew they were safe, even as they snuck through the shadows, careful of the light—

Disaster struck.

It struck in the form of tens of guards pouring out of the shadows to surround the three. Zuko and Jet formed an instinctive shield around Mai. But there were so many of them, and neither were sure they could take out enough to protect her.

Whatever their intent, this was not a good development.

Mai shrunk back into the space between them, trying to get away from the soldiers on all sides, gripping one of the knives Jet had stolen for her. She didn't have nearly as many as she'd had before. Fighting was out for her, unless she wanted to go hand-to-hand, and it had been a long, long time since she'd practiced that. Her caretakers (her boys) held their swords out. Protecting her.

Before, she would have chafed at the display. Now, she knew better.

Motion at the open end of the alleyway. The soldiers began to part, revealing the two people who were, perhaps, the absolute worst people to find them.

"My son," Fire Lady Ursa said, her husband stoic at her side. "What did it do to you?"

Ropes bound Jet's wrists. Zuko and Mai's chains were a fair bit more metaphorical.

Mai's parents were away, having gotten over their daughter's death in a mere couple of weeks. Instead she stood at Zuko's side, Ursa and Ozai on either side of them, escorted as betrothed to the Crown Prince. (The non-aging Crown Prince, which either had yet to remark on.) She didn't know whether to speak or fight or wait. Was she still leading? She didn't think so—this wasn't a hunt anymore—but—

Forget about that. That wasn't the point here.

Zuko slipped his hand into hers and gave it a squeeze, trying to reassure her, trying to project the illusion of control. Mai knew better. Her sire was capable, yes, but Ursa and Ozai were the ones that had trained him, raised him, knew him. He couldn't fight and win. Everyone here knew that.

But maybe he could cause a distraction.

The procession of guards and royals began to wind their way into the upper city. Dawn was breaking on the horizon. They were running out of time.

Zuko didn't let them. As soon as they stepped into an open courtyard he jerked aside, attacking the guards behind him as Mai sprinted forward and to the other side, dodging both of her parents-in-honor. Jet was getting in on the action too, causing more commotion behind them. She looked back for just a moment—"Go!" Jet yelled at her. "Go to Kyoshi!"—but didn't stop running until she could no longer hear the commotion.

Neither of her sireds had escaped with her.

Jet moved as soon as Zuko did, thoughts only on keeping his sireds safe. He didn't worry about his own. It turned out that he hadn't needed to. The guards were tired maybe, or maybe they were new, or injured, or a dozen other things that made it incredibly easy to break their positions and struggle through their ranks towards his sireds. He saw Mai hesitate as she bolted away and yelled "Go! Go to Kyoshi!"

She began to run again, and he never saw her stop.

Whatever advantage had let Jet break through in the first place, it didn't last long. Zuko managed to break away from his parents (keep him away, keep him away) long enough to meet Jet—"Where do we go?" he says, trying to fight off the guards that had followed him.

They didn't stay together long enough for Jet to respond.

The guards managed to slip hands over arms, torso, head, pulling him back into their crowd despite his struggles before someone tied his hands back. With chains this time. He caught glimpses of Zuko's parents, heard them yelling as they pulled their son back, screamed his sired's name above the deadly commotion. Mai—Mai had escaped but Zuko hadn't, Zuko was still captured, he needed to free him—

The chains around his wrists reminded him that Jet, too, was captured. And, to make things worse, in the commotion the guards had dragged them into the Royal Courtyard and the sun was rising in the east.

It was over.

Jet only hoped they'd get another chance.