June wakes to the most terrifying thing she has ever encountered.
She has a hangover. June does not get hangovers. It's something she lucked out on, and something she was notorious for. And she barely drank last night because she was babysitting the Phoenix Queen.
This is not off to a good start.
When she looks around, she sees that it is still dark out. The sun seems to be trying to rise, but not there yet, and she wonders how she could have gotten this bad so fast. Maybe she is just sick, right?
She gets up, groaning, and walks directly to the window. It seems like suicide with her headache, but she kept catching glimpses of the city and wonders what it looks like from the highest tower.
Highest tower. He locks his wife up in the highest tower like some kind of kid's fairy tale.
June isn't impressed by the Sozin City Skyline; all she can think about is crawling back into her bed. It just looks like metal eating old stone alive, like everything else after the comet. Yeah, it sprawls like nothing she has seen and the walls are depressing. But nature looks better. Bars look better. The young woman who has just walked to her side to her looks better.
"The stars here are nothing compared to out there. Same with the sunrise," June complains as she studies the polluted sky. It draws her attention to the factories that must have engulfed the lower ring at some point after Fire Lord Azula desecrated the place for the first time.
"They're worse in the Boiling Rock," Mai says. It's a tease. Ask about me. I'm mysterious. I'm going to try to own you sexually.
That does not happen to June.
"Alright, I'll bite," June says. Mai gives her no expression or response. Predictable. "You've done time. I've done time, you know. It's not that special after the war."
"I wouldn't be surprised if you went to jail a few times before the comet," Mai comments, giving no useful information whatsoever. So, June doesn't say a word. "That's not a story I feel like telling you."
"Fine," June says. She honestly doesn't care. Mai honestly doesn't seem bothered by that, which irks June slightly. Girls don't respond to her like that. They fawn over her.
Maybe she was just imagining the Phoenix Queen's flirtation when they were playing darts.
"You look awful. I'm going to take a bath." Mai stops for a moment. "Those are unrelated. Keep your panties on."
"I am keeping my…" Yeah. June is not saying panties. She would rather die.
" " "
In Mai's bathroom, June pretends to be furniture as a slave girl fills hot water into metal-coated stone, and Mai stares out of the small window. She seems to do that often.
The walls of Sozin City are made to keep people in, not keep people out.
"You can leave," Mai says but June does not move. "I have power over you, and… oh, I don't give a damn."
The Phoenix Queen undresses.
June continues pretending to be furniture, and she does not watch, because she really hasn't gotten over that whole eye gouging story. It probably is true.
She sees the scars and acts like she doesn't.
" " "
June accompanies the Phoenix Queen to a very impromptu lunch. It is extremely formal for coming out of nowhere. She was bored to tears watching Mai read books and scribble pictures on parchment that probably costs as much as an entire bounty.
They don't seem to talk to people or drink or go places. June has no clue why this chick needs a bodyguard. Maybe someone to protect her from a falling book or help her walk when her muscles atrophy.
Finally, they saw someone when Mai decided to go for a walk and complain about everything they walked past. Unfortunately, that someone is June's employer. She isn't quite intimidated by him, but she doesn't like the idea of fucking up in front of him.
"I didn't know you were here," says the Phoenix King once he gets his wife to sit down across from him. Mai does it so carelessly.
"I don't really leave, so it's likely we would run into each other occasionally," Mai dryly replies and June frowns to stifle a laugh.
"Everyone gets as much space between each other as possible in my family. It's how we refrain from killing each other," Ozai says.
Very normal lunchtime conversation, of course.
"I can't imagine the bloodshed if you didn't all have your own wings. There's a lot of killing each other in your family."
"Our family, and I prefer taking prisoners," he says. He seems to be referring to real ones, ones that make Mai shift positions.
"But you never fail to kill the messenger," Mai continues. "It's a very unusual combination."
June has no idea why this girl can talk like that. It doesn't even seem to bother the man who burned the world and destroyed June's life.
"Well, no one likes bad news, and prisoners are entertaining in a very boring world," Ozai says, and June hates understanding that justification.
"That entertaining? I want one," Mai replies. The corner of her lip twitches and June can't understand it.
June would say that Mai has one, if it were a different situation. She has to keep her mouth shut too often in this new line of work, and she still does not know if the payment is worth it. Even if it is payment she will not get from anyone else.
"I'll keep it in mind. Yesterday was your birthday, after all," Ozai says.
"I have gotten people as presents before," Mai replies. "It's more impressive than jewelry."
June has to agree.
" " "
June leans against a wall, watching the sole door that leads into the windowless library. It has a healthy stack of weapons here and there, and some dismantled knives, but the books and scrolls steal her attention.
Mai reads them.
June wants to scream.
"What are you reading about?" June blurts out. "I can't take this silence."
"I'm reading about deadly wildlife," Mai replies.
"And those stacked books?" June loosely points, not having the energy to be specific.
"Mostly about knives. I make my own… and upgrade some in dangerous ways."
"And you're allowed to have them?" June is startled by that.
"Yes. And arrows. I've been practicing with bows and crossbows and whatever."
June finally is interested. "If you're half as good as you are at darts, you could hustle a Yuyan Archer."
"I plan on it. I also expand my arsenal of military expertise. I will never use any of these skills, but fake violence is better than none. Pretty much all I'm not working on is firebending, because that's not exactly my forte," Mai says, and June notes that she does not mention the drawing. "I'm also pretty intrigued by history, because it's really not as glorious and shiny as people say. It's a lot of dirty little people doing dirty little things to other dirty little people and then calling it legendary."
June laughs. "That's, uh, one way of looking at it. I don't read."
"Can you?" Mai asks.
"Of course," June snaps. This bitch.
"You can't."
"I can read," June says, wholly honest. "I mean, I don't have the patience or the means to read one of those dusty stacks of paper, but I can tell the difference between sake and poison and figure out exactly how much people's lives are worth… So, will there be any knife making or target practice? Because that sounds way more interesting."
"It's rainy out."
"Ugh." June sinks onto the floor.
"Don't complain. I'll have you burned at the stake." Mai seems sarcastic, but June does not like the truth at the root of the mockery.
"That sounds more fun than this," she says.
"I think there are some dolls here you could play with."
June rolls her eyes.
" " "
June has had four drinks and no one can blame her for starting to lose her inhibitions. The Phoenix Queen is interesting, she has to admit. She thought it would be standard rich jerks, but instead she found someone really weird.
She doesn't need to know things, but she wants to.
"So, when did they let you out of prison?" June asks and Mai does not look startled.
Most people do when others ask them personal questions.
Again, the Phoenix Queen is actually more interesting than June's past clients.
"I escaped, actually," Mai says and June snorts.
"People don't escape the Boiling Rock," she says with a shake of her head.
"Well, helping people escape is how I got put into it, so, I can safely say that people do escape the Boiling Rock. But you can't do it alone."
"So they did let you out of prison?" June leans forward, abandoning her alcohol.
"No. It's complicated and you don't need to know. I was recaptured, and my choices were very limited. The choices were a variety of ways to be executed, and then this, so, I mean…" Mai just shrugs.
"Better than being dead. I get that." June looks at her empty glass. "I may have no regard for my own life, but I don't want to lose it. I did stupid stuff in a time that had really low tolerance for stupid stuff. It's how it works."
"My life is aimless, meaningless and boring. But it's way better than death." Mai seems not to care, and June wonders if she really doesn't.
"I know that feeling," June does admit. "This is the worst job I've ever had – and I've only been at it for two days – but it's better than the other options."
"Well, I had really low hopes for my future, so I guess they can't be dashed."
"Here's to that."
June lifts an empty glass and Mai does not move.