TW: There is a very brief, very theoretical mention of abortion in the first scene.
More Than Blood Can Stand
Chapter 34: The Guarded Gate
No news had come of Zuko's location, or that of the Blue Spirit, for more than a week. Mai wasn't thrilled with this, but she was trying to look at it philosophically. No news meant he hadn't been killed or captured by the Fire Nation.
That didn't mean he wasn't lying face-down in a ditch somewhere, but there was no need to dwell on those thoughts.
Still, she felt a deep need for intelligence. She had never gone this long without meeting with a White Lotus operative, and she was beginning to feel twitchy about it. They were close to the Si Wong Desert, and she knew of a small outpost there where she might be able to make contact.
But first, she had to figure out a way to get out of the watchful eye of Azula. There were very few excuses she could use to make her escape; she knew Azula still didn't trust her. She would have to plan it carefully.
After sitting up half the night thinking it over, she finally had a plan.
The next morning, she strode up to the campfire. "I need to see a doctor."
"What for?" Azula asked, not bothering to look up from her nails.
"Female problems," she said, hoping that would be a topic Azula wouldn't want her to elaborate on, especially with Ling around.
Or not. Azula's head snapped around, and she fixed Mai with a glare. "You're not pregnant, are you?"
Ty Lee jumped up and squealed, hands clasped together under her chin. "Really?! Oh, that's so exciting! A cute little Mai and Zuko baby!" She catapulted herself into Mai, enveloping her in a crushing hug. "Congratulations!"
"I'm not pregnant." She rolled her eyes and gently pushed Ty Lee away from her. "Trust me, that's the last thing I want right now."
And that was the truth. Someday in the future, sure. That sounded… well, nice. But right now, when Zuko was furious with her and she needed all her energy and wits to keep Azula from killing him? No. She couldn't afford any weakness. She'd seen her mother during Tom-Tom's pregnancy. Morning sickness, fatigue, body pains - these were not conducive to her current plans.
"Pregnancy isn't usually controlled by your wants," Azula drawled. "There would be far fewer children in this world if it were that easy."
"Hear, hear!" Ling raised his water pouch, an amused grin on his face.
She grimaced, fervently wishing that she'd chosen another excuse - any other excuse - to get away from the group.
"I'm not pregnant," she repeated.
"And if you were, you would immediately take care of the problem." It wasn't a question.
"Of course" she said automatically, neutrally, not even allowing herself to go down that train of thought.
"Take care of the… problem…?" Ty Lee whispered, horrified. "But-"
Azula nodded. "We don't need any brats interfering with the line of succession."
"No brats." She sighed dramatically. "Just Zuko. Now can I please go find a doctor?"
"Oh, I suppose so. But be back before we break camp this evening, or we will leave you behind."
In truth, Mai would like nothing better than to be left behind. If she didn't worry that Azula would find Zuko without her, she would leave.
It wasn't too far from their camp to the Misty Palms Oasis, but it felt like ten times that distance because of the relentless sun and intense heat. The Fire Nation was tropical, it was true, but at least they had shade.
Not that she'd been anywhere near the Fire Nation for the last three years. Omashu hadn't been this hot, although it had been exactly as dry and dusty. The constant coating of dirt had to be what she hated about the Earth Kingdom more than anything. But at least in Omashu, she'd had litter bearers.
The small tourist town that had grown up around the oasis was barely more than a ghost town now. The buildings scattered around the frozen oasis were made of earth - of course - and many were beginning to crumble. Windows were boarded up, and doors hung on their hinges.
Those buildings that were occupied still had an air of disuse about them. There was a layer of sand or dust or dirt - Mai wasn't sure which - on everything. The houses were shaped like domes, and were the most unattractive attempts at construction she had ever seen, Omashu included.
It wasn't hard to find her destination, a small flower shop across the street from the tavern. How they stayed in business when so many other buildings had shuttered windows and crumbling walls, she didn't know. But she suspected a large part of it had to do with funds from the Order of the White Lotus.
The smell of plant life hit her as soon as she entered the door, and she drew in a deep breath. She'd always loved flowers, especially roses, though she knew those didn't grow well in this environment. Still, the perfumed air and dim lighting calmed her nerves and lifted her spirits.
There were no employees or customers in the shop. She did not find this strange; many businesses acting as fronts for White Lotus operations were like this.
In the back of the flower shop was the door she was looking for. She rapped on the wood and a peephole opened at eye level.
"Who knocks at the guarded gate?" a man asked in a hushed voice.
"One who has eaten the fruit and tasted its mysteries," she said, rolling her eyes. There were many things she loved about being part of a secret society, but the insipid pass phrases were not one of them.
The man opened the door just wide enough for her to slip in.
"Lady Mai," he bowed.
She bowed perfunctorily. "I have information about Azula and Ozai's plans, and I need to know where Zuko is, if anyone has—"
She cut off abruptly as her eyes came to the other man in the room.
She hadn't expected to see him here. "Fire Lord Iroh."
He stood up from the chair he'd been seated in and came over to her. Inclining his head slightly, he smiled. "It is good to see you again."
She made no answer. A tightening in her chest caused her to breathe more heavily, and she reflexively fingered the blades at her wrists.
He chuckled. "Is that how you greet a Grand Lotus and your Fire Lord?"
"You are supposed to be dead," she said acerbically, "and I have been crowned Fire Lady. I'm not sure there are protocols in place for such a situation."
"Ah." His smile turned sorrowful. "It is a tangled mess we've made."
"We've made?" Mai hardly ever lost her temper, but she could feel her barriers crumbling. "I have done nothing but follow your orders. To the letter, even. And what has come of it?"
"Ozai thinks I'm dead. That is what we wanted, is it not?"
That did not dignify a response, and her opinion didn't matter here, anyway. "Where is Zuko?"
"I'm afraid we only have guesses." He tilted his head, confused by her icy manner, and held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Please, come sit and have some tea."
Mai didn't want any tea. But she reined in her anger and frustration and joined him at the table.
He poured her a cup of jasmine tea, which she had always hated. Though she loved flowers, she drew the line at having them in her tea. The perfumed scent was overpowering to the point that you couldn't taste the tea itself. And why drink tea when you couldn't taste it? She put the cup to her lips, sipping politely.
"Our spies lost track of Zuko in Chen Village," Iroh said seriously. "If he's been seen since then, we are unaware of it."
So they didn't realize that he was the Blue Spirit. Interesting. For a moment, she considered telling him. It would help them keep tabs on him, she knew, maybe even keep him safe. But seeing Iroh like this - genial, seemingly without a care in the world, and unconcerned about the pain he'd given Zuko - gave her pause.
Iroh began speaking again. "And how is it that you do not know where he is? Was it not your duty to travel with him and ensure his safety?"
"He no longer wishes to travel with me," she said in a brittle voice.
"And you couldn't change his mind? His well-being is our number one concern."
She heard the rebuke in his words, the insinuation that she'd failed in her duty. As if she hadn't been putting her life at risk this whole time, lying to Azula's face, to protect his life.
Her carefully crafted, perfectly controlled mask snapped. She slammed her tea cup down on the table.
"Too bad you didn't think of his emotional well-being, too, when you came up with this plan."
"I am sure the responsibility must have been hard for him to deal with-"
"It wasn't the responsibility. It was the pain. Why did you do this to him? Why did you make me lie to him? Did you honestly think your death wouldn't kill him inside?"
His mouth fell open, but he quickly covered his surprise by taking a sip from his teacup.
Mai wasn't finished. "And another thing: marrying him wasn't part of the deal. I was supposed to go along as his companion, not his wife. I never would have agreed to the assignment if I'd known that was part of it. Wasn't that going too far? Lying to Zuko when we hadn't seen each other in years, fine. But not as his wife. He deserved better."
Iroh put down his tea. "I'm afraid I don't understand. What were you lying to him about?"
Her hands clenched into fists. "All of it! About the Order of the White Lotus. About the plan to defeat Ozai. About you being alive. What did you think I meant?"
He stood up so quickly that he knocked over his chair and rattled the table hard enough for both their teas to spill. There was a look of fury in his eyes like she'd never seen in him.
"Zuko didn't know I was alive?"
"Of course not!" She was furious that he would say such a thing. "The orders said not to tell him anything. Wasn't this your idea? Weren't the orders directly from you?"
"I said to keep him informed!"
She cast her mind back to the scroll she'd received, the same as every other order from the White Lotus. She saw the words in her mind's eye. No, she had not been mistaken.
"That's not the way it was told to me."
The anger drained out of him as fast as it had come. He righted his chair and sat down in it with a thud.
"This whole time, Zuko thought I was dead?" His voice was hollow.
"Yes." She pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. "Until a few weeks ago, when I decided he needed to know."
"My poor Zuko," he half whispered. "How will he ever forgive me?"
Mai had little patience for his self-pity. There were bigger issues at play here.
"If your orders were to keep him informed, why was I told differently?"
He gave a little shake of his head. "I do not know. But I will find out." Then he sighed deeply and forced a smile back on his face. "You did the right thing by telling him. I am glad you went against your orders."
"I should have done it months ago."
"Better late than never. I am glad Zuko has you." He reached across the table and put one of his hands over hers. She jerked it back reflexively, and then felt a pang of remorse at his hurt expression.
"But he doesn't have me," she said to cover the awkwardness. "He's furious at me for lying to him. He set out on his own."
"And do you have any idea where he is?"
Did she feel confident enough in Iroh's sincerity and competence - both of which she'd had ample cause to question over the last few months - to trust him with Zuko's secret? She hardly knew the man, other than as a larger-than-life memory from her childhood and whispers from other White Lotus members about the great Grand Lotus Iroh.
But Zuko had trusted him. He loved him. He would have given anything to see him again.
She imagined the look on Zuko's face if Iroh were to find him, and she knew she couldn't make any other choice.
"Are you familiar with the Blue Spirit?"
Traveling through the Fire Nation incognito had been more difficult than Katara could have imagined. Without Zuko and Mai (and Hinata) to explain the customs and act as guides, it felt like they were stumbling around in a blizzard.
They had managed to find Fire Nation clothing early on, which helped keep up the ruse from a distance. But as soon as they opened their mouths, they were outed as foreigners.
Luckily, most people assumed they were from the Fire Nation colonies instead of taking a good look at, well, everything else about them.
Aang and Appa were the sorest of sore thumbs. Even in his Fire Nation clothing, Aang looked like an Air Nomad. He wore a hat on his head most of the time, but he had a habit of letting it fall off, and his glider wasn't exactly a common Fire Nation accessory. And Appa… well, it was hard to hide a ten-ton flying bison. They hid him in caves while they went out into the villages to inquire about Piandao.
Everyone knew who he was, of course, but in the first few islands they had visited, no one knew exactly where he lived.
"In one of the eastern islands," they would say. "But he likes to be left alone."
They were already in the eastern islands, so this was discouraging news to say the least. The further they traveled, the closer they were to leaving the eastern islands.
But at last, on the fourth island they visited, they struck gold. They had splurged on a fancy restaurant meal - smoked sea slug, supposedly a Fire Nation delicacy - when the owner had heard them mention Piandao's name.
"He is the pride of our island," she beamed. "He owns the big estate just outside town. You know he's the greatest swordsman in the whole world?"
They knew.
She gave them directions, and an hour later they stood outside his big front gates. The mansion rose behind the gates like a mountain. It reminded Katara of the way the Southern Air Temple had appeared behind the clouds.
The gate itself was inlaid with gold in an intricate lotus design, with the Fire Nation insignia resting inside the petals. There were two large iron rings below this, which Sokka pulled and knocked. It made a loud, heavy clanging noise that made her feel nervous.
A large man opened the gate, and without a word motioned them inside. Once the gate was closed, he gave a short bow and said, "The Master will see you and your companions, Avatar Aang."
Katara's mouth fell open. Aang's tattoos were covered, none of them had opened their mouths, and Appa was hidden away in a cave in the hills on the other side of the village.
"How did you know?" Aang said, just as surprised as she was.
The man walked towards the front of the estate, and the group hurried after them.
"We have been expecting you for some time," he said, speaking into the empty space in front of him instead of to them. "Our spies lost track of you for a few weeks, but we knew you were headed in our direction."
"Oh," Aang replied in a small, unsure tone.
Katara understood how he was feeling. There was something so unnerving about hearing they had been watched by spies. She hoped Mai had been right about this. They didn't know what side Piandao was on. He might be an agent of the Fire Lord for all they knew. And even if he wasn't, it wasn't a given that he would be willing to help overthrow him on the Day of Black Sun.
As they came nearer to the steps, Katara saw a man standing in the shadow of the pillars, and her heart quickened. She had never seen him before, not even a drawing, but she knew instantly that this man was the swords master Piandao. He was an imposing figure, with a stance that bespoke readiness for anything and fear of nothing. And yet, she was not afraid of him. He was approachable, too.
When they had come close enough for her to see his face, she felt certain of this. He had a warm, pleasant countenance.
He reminded her of her father.
"Welcome, Avatar Aang." He bowed to them in the strange Fire Nation way that Katara had never quite gotten used to. "How may I be of service to you?"
But like so many times when they were in these situations, it was Sokka who took the initiative, and not Aang. "We need your help to defeat the Fire Lord."
Piandao lifted his eyebrows. "That is a bold request. I am a Fire Nation citizen. Why are you so sure I would betray my own sovereign?"
"We aren't sure," Sokka said boldly. "But we know your history with the Fire Nation army and your friendship with Fire Lord Iroh, and we - and Zuko - want to ask you to join us."
He considered them for a moment, then laughed. "Young people are so rash. The safe thing to do would be to ask veiled questions to feel out my position, but you come right to the point. It's refreshing."
"That's not an answer," Toph said, folding her arms across her chest. "Will you help us or not?"
"I would have helped you regardless. But I must admit, your method of asking was very entertaining. What is your plan?"
Again, Sokka was the one who spoke. "We want to attack the palace on the Day of Black Sun. Without firebending, Ozai will be vulnerable. You are the best swordsman in the world. With your help, it should be a walk in the park."
"Do not underestimate Ozai. He is no fool; he will be prepared for an attack."
"I'm not going to fail the world," Aang spoke up, his voice tinged with the authority of the Avatar. Katara felt her heart quicken. He always sounded so grown up, so secure in his power when he spoke like this. It was such a change from the carefree demeanor he usually adopted.
Piandao, too, seemed to sense the shift. The corner of his lips turned up, and he swept his hand towards the entrance of his home.
"Then let us begin."
