Sorry about the delay, but Avatar Madness week had me drawing a poster and watching episodes religiously. My heart is still adjusting to the shock and monumental BRILLIANCE that was Sozin's Comet last Saturday... and the Kataang kiss in the end? WOOHOO!! I decided not to include a Kataang kiss until the next chapter, since I really want to try and give it justice (especially after such a perfect kiss in the finale, oh my god). Stay tuned!


"How was the camping trip?"

Sokka turned his head from his locker just as he was closing it, hearing that familiar dream-like voice, and he indeed found Yue's celestially beautiful face pass him by in the hallway.

The boy grinned with acknowledgement, but tried hard not to hold his gaze at the lovely waterbender for too long, for the respect of Suki and the fear that she'd throw a Kyoshi fan at him. Even after two years of knowing her, Princess Yue still captured the radiant essence of beauty, and Sokka almost found it an inconvenience that she hung out with his sister a lot. That innocent look about her almost seemed like a misleading illusion - especially after watching her play tennis so fiercely and calmly for the Praying Mantis team. It's no wonder Sokka couldn't look at her straight in the eye.

Sokka involuntarily started scratching one of his arms for imaginary mosquito bites, "Eh, not bad... one of the kids got sea sick from canoeing in the boats, and some crazy Foggy Swamp High kids thought it'd be funny to waterbend the vines and lift our tents in the middle of the night! We had to sleep on the seaweed vines... and poor Teo got chased by a tiger-gator on his canoe-chair in the middle of the night."

"Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear about that," Yue's eyebrows arched in surprise, not losing that empathy she seemed to naturally carry in her face.

"Don't be – he's fine, and Toph ended up Earthbending a fort for us, anyway," Sokka laughed to keep his sense of humor alive, trying not to feel the sweat that was trickling behind his ears as Yue still looked at him. He wasn't sure why exactly she was there... perhaps to ask something about his sister?... but for the sake of awkwardness, Sokka kept talking.

He opened his locker again, pretending like he forgot one of his books or science scrolls, and began to say, "Oh yeah! The best part was... you know Mai, that quiet, scary-looking girl with the knives?"

"The artist?" Yue wondered.

"Yep... well she was a chaperone! She just showed up on our meeting before the trip, and didn't say a word... just took out a sketchbook and wrote notes on it. The guys – and Toph – and I thought she'd found the wrong classroom or something, but no! She showed up wearing all this new swamp camping gear, staggering all over the place because she didn't know how to walk on rainboots... it was pretty funny."

"That's strange..." Yue commented, ignoring the snickering in Sokka's mind as he recalled those camping moments with Mai. "... she doesn't seem like the girl who's fond of the wilderness."

"I know, right?" Sokka remarked, closing his locker once again and instantly feeling a little bit more comfortable with the talk. "But she was decent at the job, I guess. She kept looking after this one little kid most of the time... making sure he had fun and climbed the trees and stuff."

"Hmm," Yue just said admirably, imagining the joy of having little siblings like that, something she wasn't very familiar with. But she composed herself then, looking at Sokka as he waited for her to say something else. She could tell he was beginning to feel a little awkward.

Slowly, Yue sighed and began to speak. "Sokka... I'm a bit worried about your sister."

Sokka could feel that coming, and he made a frustrated sound of annoyance, watching other kids pass by in the hallway as he thought about what other shenanigans Katara has gotten into.

"Oh really?" the boy's sarcastic voice was up and running. "Does it have to do with some lethal-looking burn-out with a scar on his face?"

Yue blinked, clearly forgetting about how Sokka was dealing to this new friendship that Katara had molded. She couldn't really believe it herself, but as Katara had once mentioned him to her... Zuko did not seem that scary to her anymore.

"Not exactly." Yue then said in a much calmer manner. "She didn't come to water tennis at all last week, and Coach Hama wanted to see if she would be ready to compete again. But I can understand if she's been preoccupied with other things."

"Hmm," Sokka thought, just before brushing it off with more sarcasm. "I think it's the rehearsals... Even when she sleeps, I hear the occasional 'these majestic mountains shall keep a stronghold to our undying love.' And she's been a nervous wreck about that special kissing scene, for some reason..."

"Sokka, this is serious," Yue imposed at him assertively, yet worried. "It's about the upcoming class presidential elections."

The young water tribesman snorted uncontrollably, smiling in his cool.

"Oh right, Katara mentioned something about that, but I don't think she'll go through with it." Sokka leaned against the locker wall, getting rid of the weight of books he carried on his back. It was like he was pretending to ignore Yue's lovely presence, pretending that she was like any other student he could talk to. "No offense to you, but can you see my sister – my waterbending, sometimes-too-emotional-to-function sister - actually try and run the student body primarily made up of Fire Nation?"

"I don't know, Sokka, but apparently that's exactly what she's trying to do. She's running against Azula this year."

Sokka blinked into widening eyes, but Yue didn't stop talking.

"I saw her campaign support petition in Mr. Pakku's classroom... he's representing her for the staff, and she's looking for other students to help run her campaign."

It took a few seconds for Sokka's face to suddenly drain itself of blood and look as white as a sheet. His eyes were growing wider and wider.

"Are you KIDDING me?"

"I'm afraid not," Yue replied sadly, lowering her head. "Her slogan is: Water, Earth, Fire, Air. United. Katara wants to unite the school, Sokka, and as much as I adore the idea... I think she's--"

"–gonna turn this year into a living nightmare is what!" Sokka finished her sentence fiercely, waving his arms wildly, as his face turned bright red from the intense stress. The boy brought himself off of the locker wall and started pacing around, talking to himself. "Is she purposefully trying to give me a heart-attack? I'm too young to die – I have the frickin' science fair in three months!"

"Sokka, calm down--" Yue tried to bring a hand to the boy's wandering frame, but it was hopeless. The pretty waterbender could only stare at the young man sadly, wondering if these over-reactive tendencies were a genetic thing.

"I mean sure, Katara..." Sokka kept talking to himself, looking at the floor. "...Go try out for the play. Learn something new... But what stale sea prunes was she eating to make her want to run against AZULA!?"

"I know what you mean, Sokka, believe me." Yue sighed, looking at him intensely through her light blue, radiant eyes. Quickly, she grabbed Sokka's hand before he could throw it back up in the air with frustration. "But Katara knows what Azula is capable of, and I don't think she is doing this to make you crazy."

"She's going to get hurt, Yue!" Sokka said, immediately with a pause after realizing who the girl was that was talking to him. His eyes shifted against hers as he watched Yue's blue eyes almost shimmer with tears, and Sokka panted out of breath, regretting what he had said.

He was there that day. He remembered the cruel-looking, unrealistic posters of this beautiful girl wearing something that caught the attention of all the boys in the locker room. Sokka could still hear that encumbering laughter and whistles as the young men stared at the once respectable, magnificent princess of the Northern Watertribe... a girl who just wanted to make a difference in the school, and would have done anything to feel accepted into the public eye.

And as much as her few friends tried to heal those open wounds of Yue's dignity... as much as the boy's sister violently defended her closest water-tennis friend to try and change what had happened to her that day... the result was inevitable. The pictures were seen, and the rumors spread throughout the school like the Nation's wildfire... and all but a few people never saw Princess Yue the same way.

Sokka stared at the lovely girl with radiant white hair... and even though he was certain that last year had already left her system... the boy didn't think it was coincidence that Yue never wore the slightest revealing clothes at school anymore.

"It was my fault, Sokka," the girl then assured to him quietly, staring at him with glimmering eyes. "I made the mistake to listen to Azula... believing that she would help me fit in, saying that we could help each other in the election for the good of Praying Mantis School. She has a way with speaking to people, and I trusted her because she was another princess... but I should've known better. I should've been more careful."

"Yeah, I'm... I'm sorry." Sokka attempted, tugging on his backpack nervously, trying to avoid the girl's lovely and saddened face. "But with Katara... you don't understand. It's like she's constantly trying to change people's lives -- like it's her job -- and she loses herself in it. Azula will do anything to keep her place as class president... and I mean anything."

"I know, Sokka, but Katara is not an idiot." Yue looked at the ground, grief-stricken but sincere in her words. "She knows Azula's deceptive tendencies far more than I ever did. If Katara is willing to run against Azula this year to Unite the school, she knows what's at stake. I think it's very brave of her."

A small, hopeful grin came from Yue then, and Sokka couldn't help but shake his head with a frown. He heard other kids passing by – one of them being Teo in his wheelchair – and Sokka smiled, as if pretending that his heartbeat weren't racing with stress at the moment.

"Ugh, what difference does it make?" Sokka then said in a surrendering tone, crossing his arms. "She's not gonna listen to me, anyway."

Yue made a quiet, involuntary laugh, and then brought herself back to a calm ease. "I think we should help her, don't you?"

The young boy turned his head back to the young lovely waterbender, seeing a rare sense of determination in her form. It almost reflected that strong, persistent nature of his sister, and being the proud water tribesman he was, Sokka could not help but go along to help his own people.

"I'll check the student election guidebook in the library when I can. Right now...I gotta head to Mr. Mechanist's office..." Sokka sighed, knowing there was no way around an argument with his sister, especially when it came to planning and promoting her cause.

"Thanks, Sokka." Yue did not hesitate to smile at the boy then, in all of his repressive state, getting closer to wrap her arms around him for just a simple hug.

It was an ordinary hug, and yet it felt like an abundant amount of warmth, what passed through the boy then... and Sokka could not stop it from spreading all the way down to his toes. Of course, Yue wasn't aware of it, but he couldn't help but admire that beauty... and that sensational amount of peace that a simple touch from her would bring to an ordinary water tribesman.

And the boy just gulped on the inside, feeling his muscles cave in as he tried hard not to breathe in the girl's scent... and forcing himself not to hug her back in that fraction of a second that Yue held him like that. There was no questioning to anyone that she was beautiful... even after all that she had been through, and all that she had taken upon herself to outlive, every single day after that dreadful one. Sokka couldn't help but love her, looking down at her face right then and there for who she was... supporting her people and believing that another one of them could change the school.

And just as quickly as it came, the hug was finished, and Yue parted from Sokka and the entire world expanded for him once again in the noisy, busy-bodying locker rooms of the school.

"I should go sign up for her campaign support." Yue began to walk around Sokka, who was still too stiffened and nervous to even meet her eyes again. "Tell Katara I said hello!"

She waved a graceful hand at him before turning completely to walk down the locker corridor, and Sokka watched her form get smaller and smaller in the distance... and seeing her stop for a second to glance at that grotesque campaign poster of Azula.

The boy felt his shoulders slump instantly as she left, looking at all those familiar and unfamiliar faces that seemed to pass him by all of a sudden in the corridors. His eyes longed to find that sweet, adorable face of Suki, for the sincere comfort of holding her, reminding himself that she was as genuine as they came.

He frowned, wanting to curse for feeling so much – almost as much – for a girl that he still barely even knew.

After two years, why did she still have that affect on him?

Sokka grit his teeth, placed his weak fists against his locker for support, and took the liberty of hitting his own head against it. The year did not seem to look very promising at the moment.


"I still can't believe we kicked the Northerners' butts like that!"

Aang spun around happily on his spherical air scooter in front of On Ji, laughing happily as the first day of the school week finished up without any trouble. Since Katara had Ms.Ursa's birthday party that weekend, the boy felt generous enough to invite the young girl to the Air Dodgeball tournament that Saturday. He couldn't have thought of anyone else more appreciative of the sport, and On Ji herself was delighted to take part as a spectator.

On Ji laughed at the boy in response, sitting on the stairwell of Praying Mantis's outdoor corridor as she strapped on some strange-looking shoes to her bare feet. "The Southerners definitely had the defense going well for them, but I think they're too safe most of the time. They could have scored twice as many goals if they dared try it out."

"Oh come on..." Aang paused on the ground with his air scooter like the airbending master he was, and looked at On Ji skeptically. "Seventeen to eleven isn't all that bad."

"That's true," On Ji brought her loose hair behind her ears, and steadily walked down the stairs on the funny flat shoes that Aang had never seen before, "but you should brace yourself for the Western girls. I remember their techniques on the field... and they didn't let a single goal opportunity pass them by."

"Haha, whatever you say," Aang teased, wondering if she was bluffing the same way she had talked about her air-gliding skills. Deep down, the young boy didn't care how truthful it was... because he was just happy seeing her smile out of those shy brown eyes. "So... what's with the flat shoes?"

On Ji giggled, observing the giant air scooter that Aang was still propelled on. "Remember how I told you that Mr. Mechanist was fascinated by airbenders?"

"Yeah," Aang's air scooter slowly diminished down into the size of an air dodgeball, before disappearing entirely and making the boy land on his feet.

"Well, he designed these flats for me earlier this year... and they're amazing for air-skating!" On Ji approached Aang, lifting one of her feet to show the tiny little suction cups on the soles of her shoes.

"Air-skating?" the boy lifted his eyes in amazement, and confusion. "Like having little air-scooters under your feet... and being able to move around on them?"

On Ji nodded promptly, with a smile. "I know it sounds strange, but actually it's very simple! You just make two little air spheres and place them under the flats... and the tiny suction cups grab hold of the moving air. You can move around on land as if you were skating on ice!"

Aang couldn't believe what he was hearing. For as long as he could remember, he'd been wanting to come up with a way of controlling air currents with his feet... but the smooth arch of the foot wouldn't hold even the tiniest of air spheres to move around. The best thing he could come up with was an Air Scooter... but even that involved a lot of intense concentration and control with his arms. Was air-skating with your feet really possible!?

"Oh man... I have to see this..."

The young girl blushed and took a few steps backward with her flats, and gracefully... almost as if she were commencing another dance... lifted her arms and made a twisting movement with her hands. Immediately, a pair of small air spheres started propelling above her palms, and Aang couldn't help but 'yelp' with fascination. Right as she was holding those spheres in her hands, On Ji lifted her feet to mid-air, and immediately placed the spheres under her flat shoes.

As her feet approached the ground once again, Aang's mouth fell agape, realizing how the small air spheres were now holding On Ji's weight like a light feather in suspended animation. Slowly, the girl slid her feet from left to the right... approaching him gradually... showing Aang how the air spheres would not escape the suction cups, and the boy utterly felt like Mr. Mechanist had become his new favorite teacher.

"Play rehearsal doesn't start for another twenty minutes. Race you to the water tennis courts?" On Ji challenged, but unable to hold the giggling in her throat. They both knew how ridiculous she sounded, and Aang's fascinated face suddenly turned into sheer amusement.

Promptly, the boy folded his arms in a circular movement and created another solid air scooter under his feet. He didn't say anything right away, but just smiled as he looked at On Ji with fake ferocity.

"Last one there cleans Appa's toes for a week" was what came out of Aang's mouth just as he took off across the courtyards, leaving On Ji stupified by his spinning-top mastery.

"Hey... cheater...get back here!" On Ji called after him, but soon laughter overtook her system as she skillfully began to speed skate along the greenish path to catch up with the playful boy.

As the two airbending figures sped off towards the end of the courtyards, over to the water Tcourts on the east side of the Praying Mantis High... the young lady with her deadly copper eyes narrowed in fierce repulsiveness, watching them from one of the pillars of the corridor. She stood there, with her usual clan of Rion Jon, Chan, Ty Lee, Mai, and Hide standing around her. They had just started seeing them from the corner of the corridor as the girl demonstrated her air-skating... and with the exception of Mai, the clan observed them like vulnerable, injured prey.

And Azula's copper eyes glowed like a ravaging chameleon tiger.

"There you have it, my dear friends," she said elegantly as she held one of Chan's hands intimately between the fingers. "The airbenders."

"More like air-freaks of nature." Hide muttered under his breath, smiling down at Ty Lee as he heard her giggle from that little comment.

"I wouldn't be so harsh, Hide." Azula grinned at the corner of her mouth. "Do you see how confident your little On Ji has become with her art, now that she's met another one of her kind?"

The young man made a disgusted 'hmph' sound, grabbing a hold of Ty Lee's waist more intimately, by with the cheerful, lovely girl did not seem to mind.

Azula continued to speak, "Goodness knows what will happen when they finally discover the other Airbenders lurking around their school... too afraid to show their true identity. We cannot let them build that confidence within themselves. We need to keep them vulnerable. Weak."

"What do you suggest, oh mighty Princess of Darkness?" Mai was obviously getting tired of this plotting, but Azula took that comment with an edge of insult. Something about Mai's tone of voice was bothering her... and she couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly... at least not yet.

"Let's give them an open welcome, shall we?" Azula proposed with such estranged glee, even Chan blinked his eyes at the idea. "Make this Friday a special day for all Airbenders to meet and greet... and we will draw them in with open arms. They will not see the sharpness in our teeth."

"You mean, we're gonna get rid of the kids by eating them?" Rion Jon muttered.

Azula growled with sheer sympathy at the boy's stupidity, and Chan managed to give an answer. "I think it's more like... we're gonna stab them in the back... but in a figurative way."

"Yes. Yes. That's precisely what I mean." The young lady laid a hand over her furrowed eyebrows, wondering how in the world that boyfriend of hers had made it past 5th grade. "It's all planned out. Zhao will make the announcement after school, since Principal Roku's on leave, as usual... and we will lure those airbenders like lemmings... into the courtyard. And then, we will show them what we think of their customs."

"Brilliant," Chan replied lovingly to his girlfriend.

"On Ji's mine," Hide replied with a slight chuckle of amusement. "I know exactly how to get to her."

"Fine," Azula replied simply. "But leave the Avatar to me. I'll make sure that he knows exactly what kind of school he is dealing with."

After a few more minutes of planning, the small clan broke their separate ways, leaving Azula only with Mai to deal with... and the young woman did not intend to let her most faithful friend trot off so easily just then.

"Where have you been running off to?" Azula then questioned, keeping her focus on the pale girl as she stared back at her stoically.

"Pardon?" Mai pretended not to understand her clearly, turning around from her walk to acknowledge the princess she most dreadfully regretted once trading off relationship advice with. "If you must know, I've been a little busy with some murals for the school."

"I don't believe you." Azula's eyes narrowed dangerously, skeptically at the girl from even ten feet away. "You didn't show up to the last three meetings for my campaign, and I've been forcing Chan to draw the banners... which to be honest... look like a child's fingerpaints. You're hiding something from me. Tell me what it is."

"It's none of your business."

Azula's eyes angled in a somewhat irrational way, as if closing in on a moving target. Her voice suddenly became a lot more velvety, and sweet.

"Oh... does this have to do with my brother, Mai? Do you miss him? Are you aware that he's made quite the little friendship with that waterbending peasant... who's coincidentally running against me in this election?"

Mai's mind almost got lost at the name of Zuko, and the girl felt her eyes beginning to glimmer with a certain anger that she had never even felt before. She didn't know if it was about the past heartache of Zuko... or the present interrogation she was getting by Azula... or if it was something else. Something that was clouding her mind and was not giving her Azula's full attention by the sheer scent of seaweed and swamp vines.

"Yeah, maybe that's it." Mai replied simply, not wanting to argue or even speak another word to this outrageous girl. She looked at Azula straight in the eye, thinning them with much repulsiveness and disrespect for what she had just tried to pry out from her... and turned around... not caring that she had turned her back on the princess of her Nation.

Funny... how nothing else really seemed to matter to her right then. It was like a certain sense of peace was lingering towards Mai's system, telling her that she need not comply to a space she did not want to be in. It told her that she could walk off on her own.

It was at that moment when Mai felt a small grin form on her face, turning away from Azula... discovering that living, breathing spirit that was slowly inflaming with life in her own very being. The sounds of laughing children, the noises and creeks of the foggy swamp, even the pounding percussion of music was engulfing her system... not giving room for Azula's fearsome words to bother the girl's mind.

Of course, she wouldn't dare say anything to her just yet... but Mai knew... she knew right then and there that Azula no longer had power over her.


He was sitting against the trunk of the oak tree that late afternoon, feeling the warmth of the sun gradually fading into the thick clouds.

His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, and worries about how much reading he still needed to make up for Mr. Jeong Jeong's analysis of Chinese folklore. The intense hours of studying ahead of him were beyond unpleasant... and Jet could only look at the ground as he sat there, fighting the urge to get up and dance a little bit more.

Smellerbee, Longshot, and Pipsqueak had already taken a carriage back home... if home was what you called a noisy, three-story orphanage with children hanging from the laundry lines. For some reason, the young man couldn't find the energy to go back to a place where he'd just felt confined for a week, unable to dance his heart out at Street Fest or help his little brother learn how to make traps out of slippery swamp vines.

He'd missed out on so much... gotten himself sick over a ridiculous, impossible dream of having a certain girl in his arms... and Jet couldn't help but frown angrily and hit a fist against the ground from those recurring thoughts, still feeling a sense of pain whenever he breathed.

It was hard to believe how relationships once came so easily for him... how there was a time when he'd roamed the Earth Kingdom forests in all of their magnificent splendor, pretending he didn't have a little brother... charming young girls about his travels and making a life for himself as a free spirit. He used to adore that life, trying hard not to laugh as sweet, foolish girls would fall smitten to him as he demonstrated his abilities with the hooked sword.

Jet sighed, still clenching his fist at that life he once had, feeling almost ashamed of it, and not imagining many young hearts he had probably stolen from those years of being a rogue. He wanted to forget about those moments... those giggly, smiling girls... placing his emotions into dance movements and bringing himself to love only the little brother he had left behind.

And for a while, Jet's fresh start at Praying Mantis seemed to carry well under that Oak Tree... apart from the occasional girl who asked for his affection through smiles and laughter.

Yes, he'd seen that sharp-witted, pale, stoic girl pass him by at the school now and then, and even sat behind her in Mr. Pakku's class... but she never seemed to stand out to Jet, even with that malicious-looking dark attire she fashioned. He'd noticed the grace in her walk, and the thinness of her pretty copper eyes and lips, and felt nothing more than intrigued by her inner mystery... too afraid to talk to her about anything. Anything.

But what changed him... what completely, and helplessly changed this boy was when he looked over to her desk one day, and realized that this girl was not taking notes at all.

She was sketching... making life out of the simplest lines of ink that told the boy of a talent this girl must have been hiding from the world. Jet remembered how his eyes lingered at her desk, and how he couldn't say a word then, either, because that work had suddenly looked so familiar to him. He had noticed that dark style of work before... and soon, the boy found himself wandering the hallways of Praying Mantis, observing... discovering the great artist behind some of the work that other students just seemed to pass without a moment's notice.

Jet could feel himself becoming more intrigued, more mesmerized by the brush-strokes and the concepts that an ordinary girl creatively used to tell her story. He saw her loneliness... that confinement that came within constant rules, guidelines and consequences given by other people. He saw the closeness between her and the Prince Zuko... and how they ultimately looked like strangers holding hands. He could see her enclosed nature even in the abstract style... unable to break free from the rigidness of feelings, unable to give her art a breathing sense of life. It was like she was afraid to show her passion for this talent she had... too afraid to show passion for anything.

And Jet knew what he had to do; he felt like he'd gotten too involved already... he had to help Mai out of her emotionless shell... to help her realize what an incredible artist she could be.

But he had never expected to fall for her. Not in that way.

The boy shut his eyes tightly as he sat against the Oak Tree, letting those precious feelings for the girl suddenly take hold of him. He hit another clenched fist against the tree this time, burrowing his eyes into his folded arms as he sat there, still. After a week of not being present in the school, with a humiliating illness ... Jet had no idea how to approach that girl again. His mind was cloudy, and in pain from the idea that Mai would no longer be a part of his routine at school...

"What's with the sulky attitude?"

Jet heard the familiar husky voice like a welcoming of the soft breeze, and slowly, his head came up to find where that voice had come from. He looked behind his shoulder, instantly seeing the outline of a face hidden beneath the branches of the Oak Tree. Seeing those lovely eyes had the power to bring warmth into Jet's face, and the girl brought herself around the tree and stood in front of the sitting Earth Dweller... her arms crossed as if judging him.

Even beneath her silky black bangs, the boy could still see the faintest smile in her eyes.

"I was just looking forward to that crazy test Mr. Jeong Jeong's giving us on Friday," was the boy's simple reply, as he kept his admiring gaze up at the pale, yet radiant girl.

Mai just glanced at him with slight disbelief, shaking her head amusingly. "Whatever," came her dry tone of voice, managing to set herself down under the Oak Tree as well.

She didn't care if the tree's bark or the grass underneath her were affecting the delicate fabric of her clothes, nor did she care if Azula or Smellerbee or anyone else were secretly watching her make herself at home under this tree... next to a boy who'd given her so much, even passively.

A moment passed, looking up at the branches of the tree before she found the courage to say something to him... feeling her husky voice shaking to pick the right words.

"I'm sorry," Mai confessed, holding her hands close over her knees. "I didn't know how to help you that day... I panicked, and then your friends came in to help--"

"Let me tell you something..." Jet couldn't fight the urge to interrupt her thoughts, even with the longing to hear more of her voice. "...when I was crawling to the shade... I couldn't remember what was moving me, but somebody held onto me. I heard somebody's voice calling for help, and I felt someone's hands trying to get the sun out of my face... and... I didn't know if I was hallucinating, or dreaming...or..."

Mai looked away suddenly, too ashamed to stare at that boy she had almost left to burn. There was a deep warmth in her cheeks as she felt the boy's comforting words trail off into a suggestion that she had indeed helped him. That she had saved him.

"It was you, wasn't it," Jet then looked over to her, trying to seek out her pretty eyes again. "You held onto me, tightly."

Mai turned to him sadly, surprised at the calm features in the boy's eyes. She sighed and looked out into the distant courtyard, to the place where she had once painted without disruption. "Jet...I'm not a monster. I couldn't just leave you there...I..."

"What?" Jet could almost sense these threads of feelings seep out from a girl he had once believed to be emotionless.

Mai stared at him, knowing she could never forgive herself for how she treated him that day, feeling that his friends would always despise her as a heartless minion. She wanted to say so much more, but the feelings were overtaking her words, and her universe seemed to shrink into a pair of dark brown eyes that gazed at her, mesmerized.

They looked at each other with what seemed like a mixture of hostility, apprehension, and peace. Jet could feel the amount of sadness lurking in the girl's spirit, but the boy's eyes still glimmered from seeing her. From being so close to her, and listening to her voice as she felt sorry for what she'd done to him. It seemed that in one instant, all the pain Jet had been carrying had suddenly been lifted from his mind, and the boy dared to give her the rarest of smiles.

"I always knew you had a heart, Sharpy."

Mai blinked, recalling that nickname and glancing at the boy from the corner of his eye, suddenly feeling his presence a lot more real to him. She felt her mind adapting to the shade under the Oak Tree, but with her hands feeling cold and unfamiliar with the air that surrounded her. She was afraid to feel the uncovered tree roots that sprouted from the ground, or acknowledge the grass that was at her side.

Jet noticed this, too... and he slowly... carefully, moved one of his hands to brush along Mai's fingers. She flinched at first, but somehow did not feel threatened by the boy's sudden touch, staring at his hand as it played along her knuckles. It almost amused her.

It was a rush of sincere, comfortable warmth that went through Mai, seeing how much this boy was trying to make her feel better. To not feel ashamed or embarrassed to feel anything at all.

With just as much courage, feeling the warmth of her hand take over her heart's intent... Mai moved her fingers around the boy's playful hand and held it tightly. Gracefully.

And the two people under the Oak Tree smiled towards each other under the shade, letting that smallest bit of contact spread into a new sense of understanding between them. It wasn't long before Mai took out her small sketchbook, showing Jet page-by-page the many lively illustrations of the Street Fest, and the intricate details of nature in the Kalmian swamps... things that Jet had once felt horrible to miss out on.

But as the boy saw the girl's drawings, hearing her talk about them... Jet's heart began to dance joyously, seeing an unmistakable fire light up in the girl's copper eyes, realizing the progress in her artwork page-by-page. She was becoming an incredible, compassionate artist.

And the boy felt his spirit grow stronger for a girl he knew he was slowly, gradually surrendering his heart to.


A/N - no offense to MaiKo fans, since that couple kinda grew on me after the finale... but I just adore the idea of MaiJet. I had to try it out in a story. And yeah, the whole thing about Sokka/Yue was really tough to write, but I wanted to show how Sokka has really complex girl troubles (being that he is... you know... Sokka). Anyway, more shipping fluff on your way! -MM