June keeps thinking about how the Phoenix Queen escaped the Boiling Rock. Such a thing only happened once, as far as June knows from her seven years spent there, locked in a filthy cell for no reason other than slight affiliation with enemies of the Phoenix Empire. Anyone would want to find a way out, but most people died trying or at least failed.
"How did you get out?" June decides to ask, since she fears nothing and hates to pussyfoot around the raw truth.
"Of where?" Mai asks.
"The Boiling Rock. You know what I mean. You escaped."
"I think they let me, but I didn't think about it at the time. I was desperate. They were going to execute me and I was willing to take risks," says Mai. "Get me a drink."
June shrugs. She might be a bodyguard, but she would not protest filling a glass or two. Once she hands it over, she sits down and sips her own.
"So, they let you out… why?"
"I don't know. I think it was a trap, to be honest," says Mai. "They found me a few miles away at a campfire by the road. I killed them all with a single knife and made it another week before they sent more competent soldiers to take me down and break my bones before I could slit their throats. The Phoenix King, as he calls himself, offered me a few ways to die or to take this offer and accept this life. I guess he had low confidence in his ability to seduce me."
June laughs. "Yeah. That's one way to propose. Marry me or die."
"There's my story. That's all of it. I've spent the rest of my life repeating the same day over and over and over. I'm bored enough to claw my own eyes out just for a change of pace but I'm not really passionate enough to put any effort in," Mai says, finishing her drink.
"That's it. The whole sordid affair is that short and boring?" June smirks. "Fine. Change of subject. Don't you ever get lonely?" June considers saying 'Don't you ever want to party?' but knows Mai's answer to that already.
"Mentally, emotionally or physically?" Mai responds without a second thought.
June did not take those differences into account. "Uh, any of those."
"Well, mentally I don't care, emotionally I don't care, and physically I'm not into you." Mai gazes at her glass. "Get me another, and if this glass is empty again, I will literally murder you."
June grabs the cup and fills it. "I want to say I wasn't hitting on you, but I kind of was."
"That's suicidal. Or are you just that pathetically lonely?"
"I'm bored. I want to be at that fucking party, but instead I'm babysitting the most boring woman who ever lived."
"I don't care if I entertain you or not. You work for me, not the other way around."
"How long have you been with the Phoenix King? You said the rest of your days which wasn't very specific," says June.
"How long have you lived under a rock?"
"I actually spent the first seven years after Sozin's Comet in prison. I was rounded up with some other randoms who had even the slightest ties to the Avatar and his pathetic friends. I got let out a little over a year ago."
"And you didn't catch up to cultural events?"
June replies, "Nope. I know nothing about you and I don't care to."
"That isn't a bad thing in my eyes," admits Mai and June refills her glass before it fully empties. "I don't like it when people know all my secrets."
"You've spilled them tonight," June says, topping off her own drink.
"I wanted to. You were really starting to annoy me by treating me like an enigma. I'm no one's mystery and I'm no one's reward and I'm no one's belonging," Mai says, so dry but so strongly. June wishes she knew how to talk like that.
"Goodnight, your highness," says June.
Mai does not respond. June grabs the bottle on her way out.
" " "
June overhears an argument while guarding Mai's door, aka the most boring job in the entire world. She imagined Ozai would visit Mai for reasons other than whispering under their breath with pure anger in their tones and the smash of glass punctuating the one loud word June makes out.
Zhuji. A name. Not a common name, but one that sounds vaguely familiar. Mai cheated on him. It is the only conclusion June comes to.
After Ozai leaves, slamming the door and shoving June into a wall, which clenches her fists, the bodyguard steps inside to see her ward with bloody fingers. She must have been the one who smashed that beautiful vase on the floor.
June begrudgingly cleans her up in awkward silence.
At last, she asks, "Who's Zhuji?"
Mai's eyes flash. June was right; they were talking about a man. "I don't know. Look up a census if you're so interested."
"Maybe I should look him up," June asks, trying to convince herself that she is not so interested because she wants a chance with the hot woman.
"Can you read well enough to do that?" Mai dryly asks, not even putting effort into the insult. She must really be hurt by that fight.
"Yeah. Yeah, I can," says June, hoping to prod an answer out of her.
She fails.
" " "
Late at night, Mai stays in her own room. Her bodyguard stands watch outside of her door, but at a late, hour, invites herself inside.
"Do you want to break the monotony?" asks June, approaching the woman she knows only pretends to be asleep in bed. "Do you want to go have fun?"
Slowly, Mai sits up.
"I wouldn't object," she says gently, getting out of her covers and getting dressed. "I'm a little sick of this place."
"But we can't get caught," June says firmly, trying not to think about the repercussions.
"I know," Mai says, rolling her eyes like those consequences would not be gruesome.
"Do you?" June asks, starting to rethink her idea. The Phoenix Queen might be a bit too sheltered from the real world.
"Yes. If we were, I'd be in as much trouble as you," Mai says, biting her lower lip as she opens the window. It once had bars, but no longer. He should not trust her as much as he does.
"I doubt that," June says with a small grimace. "Let's get moving before anyone notices us."
She nimbly slips out of the window and Mai follows while shaking her beautiful head.
" " "
June sneaks off the palace grounds, holding Mai by the injured arm. They walk into the Upper Ring and June glances around at the busy streets.
"Sozin City never sleeps. I heard rumors about the nightlife, when there aren't strict curfews imposed, that is," says June, releasing Mai. "Honestly, I always wanted to come to this city. It was the main reason why I took the job of babysitting you."
"I'm always happy to be a stepping stone to living your dreams," Mai says sarcastically, stepping forward and walking into the crowd. June hustles to catch up to her.
"I'm not losing you, because I will lose limbs if I do that," June says.
"Don't give me ideas," Mai whispers.
But they still walk together into the city.