Two Flames
Author's Notes: Hm…I think I should mention that the reason why I don't think Zuko and Mai would make a good couple is because she's just…so emotionless! Even I can't stand it. And when I see them together, I think of it as very awkward. But I hope you all keep an open mind and give Jade Lai a chance. Enjoy and always review!
Disclaimer: Don't own the anime or the characters, just the story as usual. Oh and the character of Jing Lai.
Full Summary: She was his betrothed, a loved princess in the East side of the Fire nation. He didn't love her at first, too caught up with his affections with Mai. Suddenly when he was exiled, she protected him and followed him. What started as a polite friendship ended with a beautiful romance. But could this last now that he was back in his home as a prince again and the temptation of his first love in his face?
.:Chapter 2:.
At First It Was Like Talking to a Wall, A Polite Wall
Had it always been so quiet, this garden? They were sitting across each other in the garden again, this time in the sun. Instead of himself wanting to be there, he had been compelled to.
This time it was with Jade Lai, not Mai.
In almost every way, she reminded him of Mai. The emotionless look in her eyes, the way she held herself upright as if she had been dining with a politician rather than her fiancée, the polite statements she spoke in made him think very much of the emotionless girl he had in his heart.
So he angrily sipped his green tea, looking at everything and anything but her. She sat across from him between a small tiny table set up on the grass with a blanket beneath them. She looked just the same as she had when he first met her.
Zuko took an angry bite of his dumpling. They hadn't spoken but it didn't look like she minded. He sure as hell minded.
"Must you always be so quiet?"
Zuko looked up, shocked. He dropped the dumpling delicately in between his chopsticks back onto the plate.
"Girls are normally very talkative, I was expecting you to speak." He replied, composing himself.
"I was taught that when dining, the guest should never be the first one to speak." She replied. "But I thought that this should be an exception because you look like you want to burn these dumplings." At this she giggled.
She had a soft laugh that reminded him of the wind chimes his mother used to hang up by the windows. He found his lips slightly turning upwards. It formed into a smirk when he lifted up the dumplings again.
"Really?" Like this?" Zuko asked as he lit up the dumpling to ashes. Jade Lai gasped.
They sat there in silence for minutes after that, quietly sipping tea and eating tiny bites. They kept their eyes on each other as if eyeing the enemy, awaiting their next movement to know when to attack.
When the tea was gone and the servants had not yet come to take the plates away, Zuko spoke.
"So…tell me what is Fire Dancing about? I've never seen it before."
"Back home, it's a type of fire bending. You bend the fire to make it seem like it's dancing with your body. It is the light, the props, even the very steps of a dance."
"Why not something else? Why fire dancing? I mean you could just do regular fire bending?"
Jade Lai chuckled at this. She smiled and they both stood up. They left the plates for the servants and they walked along the gardens and around the palace.
"My father had always said that as a child I loved challenging and intricate things to do. Every time I was given something normal, I made it more difficult to understand. So when my father took me to do fire bending classes, I stumbled in on a Fire Dancing class." She told him. "After that, I never wanted to stop."
"Is it difficult?"
Jade Lai nodded. "It has been argued in my home that it is more difficult than fire bending."
"That is impossible! I mean you have to gather your chi and be able to exert it into flames!" Zuko argued.
"Yes but in Fire Dancing you have to all these things and at the same time make it whimsical, magical, beautiful. I mean you could never make a fire butterfly. In fire bending, it is just like regular marital arts and you exert strength by taking flames out. In fire bending, you stand still and shoot. In fire dancing, you must move and exert the flames at the same time. It takes many skills to do this without burning yourself." Jade Lai explained.
"No way! I bet you that I can make a fire butterfly just like you did last night." Zuko argued. His eyes slit at her. She simply smiled at him.
"Then fine! I'll give you two weeks."
"Two weeks?! I'll only need two days!"
"That's very difficult, Zuko. It takes sometimes even months to be able to learn how to create one."
Zuko puffed out his chest and brought a hand to his heart. He looked the image of a proud prince…in the most sarcastic manner.
"But at last! I am a prince! Therefore I must have a power much greater than those of normal citizens!" He said in a high tone.
Jade Lai and Zuko shared a laugh. Their first.
"Zuko! What the hell are you doing with her?!" Mai screamed in the distance. She stomped over, glaring angrily at Jade Lai. Jade Lai only tilted her head to look up at Mai.
Mai made a grab for Jade Lai, fingers wrapped around her tiny wrist and pulling her up from her seat. "Look girl," Mai snarled, "you better-"
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me girl." Jade Lai cut off. "Considering I am older than you, Lady Mai."
"Excuse me?" Mai hissed in response.
"I'm in front of you, Lady Mai. I did not think a girl of such youth would have trouble hearing what I had said." Jade Lai said politely. "But I shall say it again; I am older than you Lady Mai."
Zuko stood there, stunned. He had just witnessed Jade Lai being rude but yet she did it in such a way where she looked very calm, graceful, and often insulted in a polite manner. The undertones of her anger of being handled roughly by Mai was evident in the way she gritted her teeth and her clipped tone, as if she was biting back down harsh words.
"I heard what you said!" Mai shouted, pushing Jade Lai down into the ground again. "Zuko! She just insulted me!"
"Uh…"
"Are you just going to stand there?!" She shouted at him.
"Technically, Lady Mai, I had not insulted you. I was just stating a mere fact that must've slipped your mind." Jade Lai was standing now with her hands folded in front of her, smiling.
"Oh for god's sake, don't act like such an angel! You insulted me and you know it!"
"Mai, I think that's enough." Zuko suddenly stated.
Mai looked at him shocked with a mouth wide open. He tried to look through his memory to find a time when she might've ever looked shocked and he found none.
"ZUKO!" Mai managed to stutter out.
"Mai…please leave us." Zuko stated in a diplomatic tone that suddenly everyone could tell he was the Prince of the Fire Nation. Thin lipped, Mai left. After several minutes, Zuko turned around with a determined look on his face. "Show me how to form a fire butterfly."
The smile that had been lost returned to Jade Lai's face.
.:End:.
Author's Notes: REVIEW
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