(1 1/2 Hours Before the Wedding)

Mai felt amazing.

She had slept well, woke up without a pimple in sight, and despite the chaotic events of last night, everything had seemed to be resolved. Her morning had been quiet; her ladies bathed and dressed her and were now applying the finishing touches of makeup to her face.

But as soon as the door slammed open, Mai knew her quiet morning had been morning. And when she turned and found Ty Lee's concerned face staring back at her, she knew that something had gone horribly wrong.

"Ty Lee," Mai said calmly.

"Mai," her best friend replied in turn. "You remember the misprinted banners and pamphlets, right? And how Azula sent a letter to the printing company to get them reprinted?"

"I do," she said, frowning.

The ladies doing her makeup chided her for the facial expression. "Don't move," scolded one.

So Mai resumed her stoic face. "Sorry," she mumbled. "Yes, Ty Lee, I do remember. What about it?"

"I dunno what happened, but we haven't received the new banners or pamphlets yet."

Mai was trying very hard not to scowl, but she couldn't lest risk the anger of the make-up ladies. "Fuck," she said, the lack of facial expression making the curse sound strangely polite.

"Azula's trying to figure out what to do, I thought I should ask you about it," said Ty Lee, looking a little nervous. "What do you think?"

"Screw the pamphlets. And the banner too far that matter," Mai said, tapping into her year of living with her parents so as to not furrow her brow. "I don't care if the banner is tradition. I'm going to be the Fire Lady - to hell with tradition."

Ty Lee smiled. "Azula's going to have a fit. You know how she is about tradition."

"Don't care. If her name was spelled I-D-I-O-T on her banner, she wouldn't be Little Miss Traditional, would she?" Ty Lee smiled, but Mai could tell it was forced. "What else, Ty Lee? There's something else wrong. Just tell me."

"You remember the eel-swans and turtle-ducks Zuko requested?"

"The ones that Katara, Aang, and Sokka rounded up and separated last night? What about them?"

"Yea, well now the turtle-ducks are fighting the other turtle-ducks, and the eel-swans are fighting the other eel-swans."

Mai felt a flash of irritation. "Ugh," she groaned. "Hmm. Let me think." She pondered the situation for a few moments. "The Earth King is here, right?" Ty Lee quickly nodded her head. "Get him to figure out what's going on with the stupid animals. After Ba Sing Se was liberated, he studied environmental science and animal behaviors at the university. He should know what to do."

Ty Lee tipped her head into a nod. "Good idea, Mai."

"Oh, and before I forget," Mai said before Ty Lee went to find the Earth King. "Has Zuko's uncle arrived yet?"

Ty Lee shook her head. "No, not yet. But I think he'll be arriving soon."

Mai sighed. "Hopefully he does. I don't need anything else on my plate."

"I wouldn't worry too much." She bent her head to peck at Mai's cheek, smiling warmly. "Just in case I don't see you again until the ceremony, I just wanted to say that I'm really happy for you. You're my best friend, and I'm so glad you're happy. You're gonna be a great Fire Lady."

Mai smiled, to which the makeup ladies scolded her again. "Careful," Mai warned, half-joking, "You're gonna make me cry and ruin my makeup."

"No!" one of Mai's ladies shouted. "No crying! No ruining makeup!" She pointed a finger at Ty Lee. "You. You go. You can't make her cry."

Ty Lee laughed lightly before leaving the room in search of King Kuei.

Not even a moment later, the door slammed open again. Mai looked up expecting to see Ty Lee again but instead found a frazzled-looking servant. The servant started performing a deep bow at Mai, but she held out a hand for her to stop.

"That won't be necessary. Just state your business."

The frazzled servant sucked in a deep breath. "I'm so sorry, My Lady, for interrupting your morning, but when I was dusting the revenue for today's wedding, I saw a large crack in the ceiling! I fear the ceiling may collapse!"

"Get Toph to inspect the safety of the ceiling," Mai instructed.

"I went straight to Lady Toph's room as soon as I saw it, but she wasn't in her room," said the girl, "I overheard she and a few other friends were in the Fire Lord's Suit, but as I am not allowed to enter the Fire Lord's Suite without permission, I came to you."

Mai sucked in a deep breath. "Hm. Okay." She looked up, thinking for a solution. "Please bring me Lady Katara. Tell her that I need her immediately."

Katara, being a certified healer, was the only person other than guards or the Fire Lady who could enter the Fire Lord Suite without permission. So, if Mai asked Katara to go and get Toph, Toph could fix the issue, and the matter would be solved. Everything would work out just fine, right?

Right?

Wrong.

A few moments later, and the door swung open, revealing Katara. Mai was pleased to see that Katara had already had her hair and make-up done, and she was dressed in bridesmaids' robes.

"What's up?" Katara asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Yea, so I was just informed that the ceiling of the wedding venue doesn't appear stable at all," Mai informed. "So, I would like you to go get Toph from the Fire Lord Suite, and have her check it out."

Katara nodded, about to leave the room, when the door swung open yet again.

"Agni, does this ever stop?" Mai exasperated, and she was quickly swatted by on the makeup ladies. "What is it now?"

She looked up and saw two nervous-looking guards standing in the doorway.

"Speak," Katara instructed.

The older of the two guards spoke first. "Your Grace, do you know where the Fire Lord is?"

Mai's bottom lip trembled. She knew this was going to be bad. Like really bad. "No," she said as calmly as she could manage. "Why?"

The younger of the two spoke next. "Erm, well," he stammered, "Last night, the Fire Lord got… intoxicated with his friends. We saw him in the early hours of the morning stumbling into Caldera City, and he hasn't returned since."

"WHAT?!" Mai yelled, causing the woman doing her lipstick to smear it across her face. "What do you mean he hasn't returned since?"

"And why would you let him leave the palace?" Katara asked, raising a brow.

"Er, well, we technically cannot force the Fire Lord to stay—"

"Imbeciles!" Mai shrieked, her breathing growing panicked.

This wedding wasn't just about her and Zuko. It was also about her marrying into the Royal Family – her becoming the Lady of the Fire Nation! This day could not under any circumstances go wrong. It just couldn't! Today would make her first day as Fire Lady. She would need to make a good impression in order to seal her authority.

If anyone had reason to suspect that Zuko got cold feet the morning he was due to marry her, she'd be ruined as Fire Lady. She would be mocked and ridiculed – more than she already was. She knew what people said about her.

About her sallow-faced appearance and strong chin. About her too-dark-to-be-pretty hair or her too-raspy-to-be-feminine voice. What stung the most was the whispers about how a certain waterbender outshone her, particularly in regard to beauty. Lady Katara seems so much better matched for the Fire Lord, don't you think? the servants would say in whispered conversations.

Mai felt hot tears pricking the backs of her eyes, and her throat began to tighten. She knew that Zuko and Katara's relationship wasn't romantic anyway. She knew that Katara only had eyes for Aang, and that Zuko only had eyes for Mai. But she still sometimes felt inadequate.

Hot jealousy suddenly flooded through her, and in that moment, she wanted nothing more than Katara to be out of her sight.

Her misdirected animosity reminded Katara disappeared instantly when she felt Katara placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. It was quickly replaced with guilt, which caused her eyes to well up even more. Katara had been a good friend to her after the war. She seemed to understand more than anyone else that certain situations cause you to make decisions you won't be proud of.

Katara explained how she learned to understand and forgive Zuko, and now she would learn to understand and forgive Mai. She once told her how she nearly killed a man, and because of that, she understands how easy it is to make bad choices – especially when they're being made to protect yourself and your family.

"Don't worry," said Katara, taking her watery-eyes to mean that she was concerned over the upcoming wedding, "I'll get Toph to fix the ceiling, and I'll find Zuko. Everything's going to be alright, okay?"

Mai nodded, but she felt her heart sink to her feet. Her dreams of a perfect wedding suddenly seemed unattainable.

. . .

Airbending was an ancient and most noble practice as timeless as the air they drew into their lungs. It's practicers we're well learned in the principles of self-discipline and productivity. Early to bed and early to rise, airbenders were devoted to the optimization of time. Well... that is unless it's the morning of your best friend's wedding, and you're still hungover. Oh, and did we mention that said best friend was the Fire Lord?

This was the case for the Avatar on the morning of the wedding between Fire Lord Zuko and future Fire Lady Mai.

Beside him, his two friends, Sokka and Toph were also asleep on the floor of the Fire Lord's private chambers. The Fire Lord, however, was nowhere to be found...

The four of them had stayed up last night, drinking and laughing over the good times they shared. Somewhere along the line, they drank far too much and forgot about the impending royal wedding. "Impending" - as in "in less than 12 hours" kind of impending.

The Avatar was the first to wake up the morning, and he shot up in a panic. This panic only increased when he only counted two of his three friends beside him - and neither was the groom.

Zuko was gone.

"The wedding!" He exclaimed. Glancing over at the sundial, he saw that there was exactly one hour and a half until the groom had to arrive at the ceremony. And the aforementioned groom was missing.

The loud attempt at waking his friend up only succeeded in waking Sokka and Toph, both bleary-eyed.

"Hu-Woah!" Sokka shouted, his eyes widening comically. "The wedding!"

"Yes," said Aang, making frantic gestures with his hands, "And the groom of the wedding of the century is missing!"

Toph yawned sleepily. "Maybe he went to the bathroom?"

Aang ran over to the restroom in the Fire Lord suite. "He's not in here!" he cried.

Toph didn't seem too fazed. "Oh. I guess we are in a bit of a pickle."

"A bit of a pickle? A BIT OF A PICKLE?!" Sokka screeched, his face incredulous. "Toph, this is serious. This is the biggest wedding of the century, and the Fire Lord is missing, the Avatar and his best man are hungover, oh and did I mention the ceremony is two hours away?!"

"An hour and a half," Aang corrected.

Sokka's eyes widened even more. "AN HOUR AND A HALF!"

Aang shook his head, his heart sinking. He could practically hear that cooky Fire Sage wailing about inauspiciousness.

Toph rolled her sightless eyes. "Okay. You guys are overreacting. All you have to do is find Zuko, and how far could a drunk dude get in a palace? Some servants probably already found him by now. So all you have to do next is buy some hang-over medicine, and then change into your suits," she said, "It's not like you have to spend your morning putting on makeup and stuff."

A few beats of silence ensued as the two boys considered this wise impartation.

"You're right, Toph," Sokka, grinning madly. He threw his arms around her in delight, narrowly avoiding a punch to the nose in the process.

"Get off me!" Toph barked.

Aang suddenly lifted a hand to his head. "Ouch. Could you guys be any louder; it's not like I have a splitting headache. What the hell was in that drink, Sokka? I've never been this hungover in my life."

Sokka grinned sheepishly. "Uhm, well…"

Fortunately for Sokka, a very well-timed interruption saved him from having to answer. In the doorway of the Fire Lord Suite stood a very angry-looking waterbender. Specifically, a very angry-looking waterbender that Aang had the pleasure of calling wife.

"Good morning, sweetie..." Aang said in a sugar-sweet tone. He wasn't sure what was apparently pissing her off, but he did know how to grovel.

Apparently, Katara wasn't having any of the groveling. "Don't sweetie me, Aang," she snapped. "I'm going to cut to the chase - where's Zuko?"

Sokka immediately stepped in. "Sis, relax. He's just... er, getting some fresh air."

Katara's angry eyes snapped to Sokka. "You better hope he's just, er, getting some fresh air because his guards just informed Mai they say him drunkenly stumbling into Caldera City last night and that he hasn't returned since," hissed Katara.

Sokka cursed. "We thought he'd still be in the palace."

"Yeah, well you thought wrong," Katara continued, "Need I remind you that in less than two hours, the Fire Lord is expected to be wed? And now he's missing, somewhere in Caldera City?"

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap."

Katara scoffed. "Yea, no kidding. And like always, you guys got yourself in hot water, and now I'm having to get you out." She pointed at Toph. "You. You get over to the wedding venue, ASAP. One of the palace servants noticed a crack in the ceiling. Suki's already there; she'll help you if you need it."

Toph simply nodded. "Yes, ma'am," she muttered before walking away. She knew Katara enough to know that she did not want to cross her right now.

She redirected her finger and Sokka and Aang. "And you two - you're coming with me," she barked, and then she was turning on her heel. "We need to go find the Fire Lord. And you better hope that Mai isn't in tears, because if she is, Azula is going to kill all of you. And I won't be the one to stop her."

And with that, she spun around on her heel and left the room.

Sokka and Aang exchanged glances.

They were doomed.

. . .

Somewhere in Caldera City…

An elderly couple were standing in the doorway of their guest room, both of their eyes trained on the surprising guest who was currently sleeping on the bed. Last night, they discovered a troubled-looking young man stumbling through the streets. Taking pity, they opened their home for the youngster. Their son was once a young man who had probably gotten himself in situations like this – and they would've wanted someone else to have helped him.

So, they prepared a warm bed for him, and left a glass of water on the bedside table.

This morning, though, when they came to check in on their guest… they noticed something odd. It was now that it was morning, and the sun allowed them to properly see his face, and something wasn't quite right.

"Is this…" the wife trailed off, "Is he… who I think he is?"

"Is who you're thinking of, who I'm thinking of?"

"I think so." The wife inched closer to the still sleeping guest.

The husband shook his head. "Isn't his wedding today?"

"I guess he got cold feet," said the wife. "So… what do we do now?"

"I don't know, Karen!" the husband exclaimed. "This has never happened to me before."

The wife rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously, Carl. The Fire Lord showing up to your house drunk isn't exactly something that happens twice-in-a-lifetime," she retorted.

The couple sighed, unsure of how to proceed. Because on the morning of the wedding of the century, in their guest room, slept the bizarrely pantless, still-intoxicated Fire Lord.

To be continued