A/N – Well it's been a bit more than a week since my last update, but I have been stumped. I am, however, getting a clearer idea of where I want this to go. Your patience is appreciated.

Thanks to Looneyluna for letting me bounce some ideas off her. She has not looked over this chapter, but anyone is welcome to comment on it. Including her. :-P I have also realized that Azula's eyes are brown, not gold, and will be changing my mentions of them in chapter one soon. It won't change the story, though.


The Inn in Da Bao, Part II

Mai's eyes snapped open. The room was dark, and she heard insects outside conducting their nocturnal symphony. She listened a few moments and heard no sounds within the inn.

"It's time," she whispered to herself aloud.

She slid out of bed and untied the small leather sheath around her wrist that held a single throwing knife. This she wore while she slept. She adjusted her undergarments and quickly slipped into her normal robes; the Earth Kingdom dress she had acquired was too short-sleeved and also not long enough in the bottom to adequately conceal her arrow-launchers. Mai slid her boots on, secured all four launchers to her wrists and legs, and put her hair up in the mirror. It wouldn't pass in court, but at least it would stay out of her eyes should the worst come to pass.

Finally, time for something interesting. She took a deep breath, and slipped out the door.

Her room was only two doors away, and on the opposite side of the hall, from Zuko's. She drifted down the hallway, her boots barely making a sound as they brushed against the wooden floor. Mai produced her key from her robes; it was easy enough to work a key past the wards of a typical lock if it bore any sort of similarity. She eased the blade into the keyhole and, with great care, began to rock it back and forth while turning. She felt the notches in the blade slowly begin to slide along the wards.

Suddenly it stopped. She jiggled the bow, but the key refused to turn any more. It seems the innkeeper's cousin is not as big of a fool as I thought. But she had her lock picks in her sleeve. She only had to try two before the lock clicked open.

Mai turned the knob and began to ease the door open, but someone pulled it back and a hand shot out from the darkness to grab her by the neck.

"I knew you were just a thieving old..." Zuko's voice trailed off as he realized he throttled not the bootlicking innkeeper, but someone else entirely.

A moment of speechlessness passed between them. Mai couldn't breathe, and her instinct was to release an arrow from the launcher on her left wrist, but she hesitated. Through the open door she heard the sound of heavy snoring. Zuko's golden eyes shined in the darkness, considering her.

"Mai?" His grip loosened. She gasped for air, and regained her composure quickly before exhaling. "What are you doing here?" He wore no shirt or boots. Mai let her gray eyes linger a moment along the masculine outline of his chest muscles.

"I came to talk," she told him, looking once more at his eyes.

They narrowed. "Then why pick the lock and sneak into my room? How did you know I was here, for that matter?"

This was not the scenario Mai had hoped for; she had wanted him and Iroh on the defensive. "I heard word of you at the Misty Palms Oasis. I hurried north, hoping to see you."

Zuko pondered her words. Mai gazed at his scar. There was a dark beauty to it; Zuko was someone who knew cruelty first hand. His own father had done that to him. Her father wouldn't dare touch her, but her father did not radiate half as much authority as Fire Lord Ozai. Mai wanted to reach up and touch Zuko's cheek, but he was too close, and too suspicious. She felt the heat of his body seeping into her.

"Azula sent you, didn't she?" There was venom in his words. He snatched her left arm and pinned it against the wall, drawing close to her face. "Where is she?"

"She isn't here. I promise." I should have realized you'd be smarter than that. He raised an eyebrow at her words, but his grip on her wrist did not slacken. She continued. "Yes, Azula sent me, but I came alone. I want you to come back."

"I've already fallen for one of my sister's tricks. I won't do it again."

"I want you to come back with me." She reached for Zuko's hand, but stopped herself. I will not lose control of myself. "We want you back on our side, Zuko. Help us find the Avatar, and we will sort things out with your father."

"How?" he sneered. "What does father care if I capture the Avatar any more? He wouldn't have sent my sister to fetch and imprison me if he did. It's all wrong, Mai. All of it. This isn't childhood anymore."

And you think I don't know that? "My father is governor of Omashu now. Your father appointed him personally. We could speak to the Fire Lord on your behalf. If Azula puts in a good word—"

"Azula would do no such thing," he snapped.

"If she puts in a good word, because you helped us capture the Avatar, it might work."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Nothing worse than would happen to you out here. You can't run forever, Zuko. And everyone is looking for you."

A pained expression crept over his features. "No."

Mai sighed softly. "Then there's nothing left for me to do here. Goodbye, Zuko."

"I'm afraid I can't let you leave." He twisted her arm. "I can't let you lead my sister to me. We are not the children we once were."

She grit her teeth. I didn't want to do this, Zuko. She flicked her right wrist.

Zuko let out a scream as one of her small arrows pierced his left thigh. His fingers lost their hold for a moment and Mai slithered out of his grasp. She dropped to the ground, supporting herself only inches off the floor with one hand as the prince flung out his palm and called forth an arc of fire. It scorched the air above her and washed warmly over her cheeks. She pivoted on her hand and tried to trip Zuko, but he staggered back and her boot only brushed against his shin.

Quickly, she sprung to her feet and launched a volley, aiming for his arms. Zuko dropped into a crouching stance and thrust out his hands as he did. The wave of fire incinerated her arrows.

Suddenly she was on the defensive as he closed the distance once more. He kept her on her toes dodging gout after gout of flame leading his feet and fists. Her keen eyes saw a hole in his routine, however, and she took advantage of it, lurching forward and reaching into her robes for her spring-loaded blade and put the tip of it to her prince's throat. The two side blades popped out with a loud click in the sudden silence.

"I'm sorry," she told him, her lips just an inch from his. Mai leaned in and stole the kiss from him, pressing the point of her blade against the soft flesh of his neck. Then she pushed off against him with her foot, sending him to fall on his rear as she leaped for the window at the end of the hall. She threw it open just as Iroh emerged from the doorway and, seeing her as an assailant, firebended an attack. She flipped out the window as the flames licked at her robes, and landed hard on the ground.

With great haste she used dirt to put out the flames crawling over the hem of her robes and darted for the stables. They would be downstairs any moment, she knew, and she had to steal an ostrich-horse and escape.

There was a stable boy on duty who awoke as she entered. "Hey, you can't be in here!" he yelled, and tried to interpose himself between her and her goal. She pushed him into a post and left him there, moaning in pain, as she snatched the first mount in the stable and leaped onto its bare back. She pulled up her robes to straddle the beast more ably.

"Yah!" she yelled, kicking its feathery sides. It bolted from the stable, and she pulled the reigns to the right.

"Someone, help us!" someone screamed just ahead of her. Mai nearly fell from her pilfered mount when she saw who was yelling. This can't be happening.