The first time Mai saw Azula's brother, prince Zuko, she wasn't impressed. Lady Ursa greeted her and her mother at the palace, and prince Zuko stood by her side, grumpily mumbling something like greeting before dashing off and disappearing. Mai decided that Azula was right, and her older brother was kind of stupid.
The next time she met him was about a month later. They played hide and seek with Azula and Ty Lee. Azula hid somewhere in the palace, and they were supposed to find her. At first the girls were searching rooms together, but after a fruitless hour they decided to split. The royal palace was huge and terrifying, but also fascinating. Lots of people going back and forth about their business, nobody paying attention to little girls lurking among them. Mai kept very quiet and imagined herself invisible.
In one of the rooms she found prince Zuko frowning over the scattered maps and the globe. She stopped herself, but Azula could be anywhere, and she had to check it. He probably wouldn't notice her, anyway. She was wrong.
"Hey! What are you doing here?"
Apparently she wasn't invisible to him. "I am looking for Azula. Do you know if she is here?"
"No!" there was indignation in his voice. "Why would she be here?"
"I don't know. Ty Lee and I have been looking for a long time, but the palace is really big and full of strange places. Maybe she hid here and you didn't notice."
"She is not here."
"ok." Mai shrugged and came closer. "What are you doing?"
"I am studying geography. Major Earth kingdom cities, old colonies, new colonies, future colonies… it's all stupid."
"Why is it stupid? Id love to see some of them some day."
"Just stupid. Earth kingdom is boring. And anyway, soon we conquer all of it."
Mai wasn't sure she understood his point, so she asked a different question.
"What school are you going to? I am at Royal Fire Academy for girls, with Azula."
"I am not going to any school. Just studying with teachers here."
"Why?"
"I don't know? Maybe because I am a prince and no school is good enough for princes?"
"Hm. Does it mean that all the schools for boys are worse than my school? That's interesting. I was hoping there are better schools."
"What's your school like?"
"It's mostly okay. But we do have some cool stuff – like history and geography and military tactics. I was hoping literature would be exciting, but we're only memorizing boring poems about Fire lord Sozin…"
Prince Zuko made sympathetic face; he obviously didn't like poems about his ancestor, either.
"Why are you friends with Azula?" He asked suddenly.
"It's choice between having a friend and having no friends at all, really. I'd rather be friends with her and Ty Lee that staying alone at home. Besides, she is really smart and invents some fun games."
He mumbled something, she decided not to ask what. She added, to be fair. "Some of her games are not fun at all, though." After uncomfortable silence Mai asked. "Do you have friends?"
"No." Zuko turned away and busied himself with the maps.
Mai felt awkward. The conversation was obviously over, Azula was not in this room as far as Mai could see, and she had nothing else to do here. So she turned to leave, then stopped at the door and asked,
"Do you want to be my friend?"
There was a pause, followed by quiet "Okay"
"okay" Mai replied, and left to continue her search for Azula.
Zuko climbed the tallest palace spire because Azula said he couldn't possibly do it. It wasn't really that hard – there were stairs, uncomfortable but sturdy. It was just a really cumbersome climb and he would rather do something else than climb all the way there then all the way back just to prove to Azula that he can. But he couldn't refuse to it now, either. It was stupid, and Zuko felt just as stupid.
Finally, the final stairs ended with a door leading on a small balcony. There was probably supposed to be a guard on duty, but there was no one. Oh, not no one. With her back to the spire there sat a little girl. After a second he recognized Azula's friend, Mai. What was she doing there?
The girl glanced at him. "Hi, prince Zuko! What are you doing here?"
"Just Zuko. Azula said…"
"I see." She waved her hand around. "You can come and sit here, if you want."
He didn't really want to sit, but turning and going back wasn't any less awkward. So he sat near her. In front of him there was a gorgeous view of the palace grounds and the whole Caldera city beneath him surrounded by the stone of the ancient dead volcano, with glimpses of the whole island beyond them.
"What are you doing here?" He asked the girl Mai.
"I like to sit alone here and look around. It's quiet and you can see all the city and the people.
If you want to be alone, I should go."
"No, it's fine."
That sat in silence for a while, then Mai said, "It's so weird. We are at the highest place in the city, and we don't see much beyond the rocks."
"That's because it's volcano crater!"
"I know, but that's another thing – why build the city on the volcano?"
"The volcano's long dead. And most of the islands have volcanoes, anyway."
"Can you bend lava?"
"No, lava is rocks, not fire."
"If a firebender married an earthbender could their kids bend lava?"
"That's a stupid idea! Why are we even talking about it?"
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Nothing."
Mai moved closer to the railing and tried to reach out.
Zuko jumped, "Careful!"
She turned, startled, "I am fine. Just wanted to see better."
"Ok." Now he felt awkward. Why did he jumped like that?
"I think some day I'd love to travel and see other places."
"Have you been anywhere else? Beside the city?"
"Yes, the place in the mountains where my parents are from. There is a big village or something."
"You are from a village?"
"I guess… I mean, my father's family owns it. What about you? Have you been anywhere?"
"Ember Island. We have a house there that we visit every summer."
"Is it nice?"
"Yes, pretty nice." He smiled, remembering the dark beaches, running around with Azula, learning to swim with Lu Ten, building cities in the sand, and then uncle Iroh explaining to them basics of siege warfare, that usually ended with Azula just stomping all over the sand models. "Maybe you can come some day, too."
"I'd love that. I wonder if I climb the tallest mountain on our island, will I be able see far ahead?"
"Why wouldn't you?"
"It's not really tall and covered with forest. I think I'll try the next time I am there. It's going to be fun."
"I wish I could go, too."
"You're a prince, you can go anywhere you want, can't you?"
"It's complicated." The truth was he had no idea why they didn't go anywhere beside the Ember Island. There were always important reasons that nobody bothered to explain to him.
The girl turned to him. "I think I should go back now, I am getting hungry, and it's late."
Zuko had a brilliant idea. "Let's go to the Palace kitchen! There is always some food there!"
They slowly climbed down, and ran together to the palace kitchen. A large young woman was singing there, doing something magical, her movements smooth and precise. Zuko glanced at Mai – she, too, stood entranced watching the cook juggling knives, food, utensils in some mysterious rhythm turning regular ingredients into dishes worthy of the Fire lord's table.
"Hi, Mistress Sonam!" Zuko called.
The song stopped, the woman turned and smiled at them. "Prince Zuko! How may serve you?"
"This is my friend, Mai. Can we have something to eat right now?"
Mai did a tiny bow. Sonam brought them a giant plate full of shining red and purple plums and a basket with freshly baked rolls. "Here, you need to eat well to grow big and strong."
"Thank you." Mai grabbed a roll, bit it, and continued. "My mother says a girl must grow pretty."
"You can't help with growing pretty – it's what your parents made you. You don't have worry, little swallow, you're going to grow a real beauty, I can see it. But being strong - that what you need to work on." Sonam winked and smiled.
"You were throwing that big knife really well." Mai mumbled, her mouth stuffed with food.
"Takes practice. A good cook has to be good with knives. Also not a bad skill for anyone."
"I like knives, too!" Zuko felt suddenly annoyed at being left out of conversation.
"Of course, prince Zuko. Have some plums, they are most delicious."
He ate the plums; they are indeed were excellent. After he and Mai were too full of plums and rolls to eat or talk, they bowed to the cook and slipped out of the kitchen.
When Zuko saw Mai after summer vacation, his face lit up, and Mai's heart did a small weird jump when she saw him smile. She pretended nothing whatsoever strange happened and bowed to him.
"How was your summer, prince Zuko?"
He looked a bit confused at her formality. "Fine, thanks. How's yours? Did you get to climb that mountain?"
"Yes, I did."
"How was it? Did you see anything?"
Mai remembered her mad escape from the grandparents' home, long torturous walk up the forested mountain, and the amazing feeling she had sitting there and breathing deep. And then the servalnt caught up with her, and brought her back home…
"No, I didn't see anything. And then I was told that I disturbed evil spirits who would punish me for disobedience and then was locked in my room for the rest of the visit."
"oh." his face fell, and Mai liked it, too. "So what did you do there?"
"Practiced juggling my knives."
"Will you show me?"
"Sure, I guess."
"Did you see the evil spirits?"
Mai shook her head. The truth was she was terrified of them, but not about to admit it to Zuko, so she changed the subject. "How was your Ember Island?"
"It was awesome!" But there was a shadow on his face, too. "Pity that uncle Iroh and Lu Ten are still at the siege of Ba Sing Se and couldn't be there. I hope they are done with it soon, and the next summer we're all going to be together. Lu Ten is really cool, you'll like him."
They stood not quite knowing what to do next until Azula's voice broke the spell, "Mai what are you doing here? I've been looking for you everywhere. Come, I have a game for you."
"Why did you do that for?" Mai sounded really unhappy, and Zuko couldn't understand it.
"I saved you! From a burning apple on your head!"
"You are a firebender! Couldn't you just take the fire off? Or knock the apple down? Or do nothing? Why did you decided to push me in the fountain and drop there yourself?"
"I didn't exactly decide it..." Zuko felt awkward. It felt a right thing to do, noble and heroic when he rushed towards Mai, and now he couldn't explain why did it. It didn't feel wrong, ending in the fountain with her, and he thought she would be grateful for the attempt. But apparently she wasn't. Confusing. "I couldn't do nothing!"
"I am perfectly capable of dropping an apple from my head myself, you know."
"It was on fire!"
"all the same."
Zuko tried a peace offering. "Do you want to see my new knife? Uncle Iroh sent it to me."
"Sure." Mai shrugged, but took his knife with interest. "Never give up without a fight. Does it mean you can give up after a fight?"
He never thought of it. "I guess. If the fight is lost, like that general has done."
"But if you planning to give up, why fight at all?"
"Because you never win if you don't?"
Mai frowned, lost in some thought. "I feel like I would prefer to give up some things to avoid useless fighting, and never give up others, no matter how fight might go. I guess I need to think about it." She turned the knife in her hand back and forth, then squinted, and suddenly his knife was stuck inside a wooden beam high above them.
"Why did you do that for?!"
"To see if I could." She now squinted at him.
Zuko was exasperated. "How do I get it back?"
"You are a fire prince, you can order someone to do it."
He could, but it was obviously the wrong choice. Mai stood there, waiting for his decision. Zuko looked around, noticed a tall piece of furniture – some kind of shelves with dragon figurines on it, and started pulling it close to the place where his knife was stuck.
"Wait!" He turned, and saw Mai taking out her own small knife. "Let me try this." She walked around watching the knife in the beam, then threw her knife toward it, and after a loud clang both knives fell down. She picked them up, hid her own, and handed him his knife with a polite bow.
"Thank you, prince Zuko, you have a very beautiful knife. You don't have to save me, but it's nice that you wanted to." After that, she stick her tongue at him and ran away.
Zuko had no idea what to make of this.
After the funeral and the coronation there was a reception at the palace, and Mai was there with her parents. As soon as she could, she slipped out and went to look for Zuko. He wasn't in any of the obvious places, but she was well used to playing hide and seek there, and went determinedly ahead. Zuko wasn't hiding though – she found him wandering aimlessly one of the halls.
"Are you lost?"
He jumped, surprised to see her. "No. Yes. I know where I am, but nothing makes sense, you know?"
She could imagine. There were a lot of hushed conversations that she overheard. Conversations about recent events in the royal family, sudden change in succession, the war. Conversations she was not supposed to hear. The most curious thing was nobody was talking about lady Ursa, as if she never existed at all. Mai tried to ask her mother but was told to shut up, got to her room and work on her lessons. Nothing indeed made sense. She watched Zuko pacing the hall randomly, then took him by the hand and went to a room she knew was always empty. He followed without saying a word.
It was an old room, unused in the past decades judging for amount of dust collected on the furniture there. She discovered it in one of "searching for Azula" expeditions and liked the dolorous look of it. The faded silk panels on the walls looked sad, the dusty furniture haphazardly put there looked dejected. But it felt right for today. She led Zuko to a divan in the corner and sat him there.
"Wait for me here."
He didn't move.
When she came back with some food he was still sitting there. Mai put the food on the table in front of the divan and sat near Zuko, hugging him close to her. Zuko put his head on her shoulder and didn't say anything. They sat there for a long time, both never saying a word, until Mai remembered that she must get back.
"The food is for you. You can stay here as long as you want, nobody's going to come looking." She lingered at the door and watched Zuko huddling on the divan, looking just as lost as before.