"Dear Zuko,
Your last letter did scare me a little, but I'm trusting you're okay. Still, write to me as soon as you can so I know for sure. I sent some of my hair with this. I think that should hold my scent for a long time.
There's something I've been wondering. Where are we going to get married? In the Fire Nation or in Ba Sing Se? I don't mind either way, I was just curious. I'm also wondering, now that the battle of Omashu is over, if there's been a date decided yet? I'm a girl, I need to know these things.Well, I need to stop for now, but I hope to hear from you soon. Take care.
Love, Jin"
The bird soared over the land, squawking loudly as it passed over rooftops, the letter tied tightly to its leg. Normally thi breed of bird had exceptional vision, almost as strong as its sense of smell, but what came happened too fast that he was lucky enough to dodge the shiny object that suddenly came flying at him. It did, however, graze through the cord holding the letter to its leg, and both the cord and the letter fell, the bird unable to do anything to stop it.
A figure walked over, once the bird was gone, and looked down at the letter. "What have we here?" she muttered lazily, leaning over and picking it up. "Hopefully something interesting because this city is so boring..." she groaned. She opened it up and began to read it. "Just some love note..." she muttered, rolling her eyes, but then a line got her attention. "Where are we getting married? In the Fire Nation or Ba Sing Se?"
Mai raised an eyebrow. "The Fire Nation?" She folded the letter and lookd to the sky. "Her lover will write her back when she doesn't respond to him..." she said to herself, looking up in the direction the bird had flown.
"We don't have time to waste on something to pointless," said a voice and she turned, seeing Long Feng standing behind her with an impatient look on his face. "We have a job to do, remember?"
"I've done my part," she snapped at him. "You and the Dai Li are free to terrorize the city as you please. But remember, if you find Zuko, bring him to me unhurt." Long Feng's eyes narrowed.
"I'd be careful if I were you," he warned. "My men don't like to take orders from a woman."
"I think you underestimate my power of authority," she said back. "I'm very closely connected to the Fire Nation and all it would take is for me to give one bad report on you, and you and your men will be hunted down and imprisoned within a week at the most. And I can assure you, the Fire Nation is not as kind with their prisoners as your Earth King was." She could hear Long Feng curse under his breath and she looked him in the eyes. "I released you to help me find Zuko, and help me you will, or I will personally see to it that yor finally days are filled with agony." She turned on her heal to leave, but Long Feng's voice stopped her.
"And if he's not here?" he called back.
"I've heard rumors he is in here somewhere," she said. "We will find him."
Long Feng turned to leave, then paused, muttering under his breath, "Obsessive stalking brat!" and he left.
----
The banquet became an all out celebration with dancing and feasting until all hours. Zuko, not really being a social person before, found ways to enjoy himself, starting to adjust to being a hero rather than a villain. When the dancing began, Sokka did not hesitate to grab on to Suki, and they were off. Katara rolled her eyes and stood next to Aang. "Typical of them, huh?" she muttered. Aang looked as if he didn't quite know what to do with himself and the sight nearly made Zuko burst out laughing.
"Uh... yeah..." said Aang, scratching the back of his head. He quickly looked to Zuko who pointed to Katara.
"Dance with her!" he grunted through clenched teeth so Katara couldn't hear. Aang bit his lip nervously and Katara glanced at Zuko.
"You say something?" she asked. He immediatly started coughing.
"Just something in my throat," he lied, and coughed again. When Katara looked away from him Zuko looked at Aang, who was starting to shy away. He sighed, rolling his eyes and thought of a way to get them together. "I'm gonna get something to drink," he said, walking past Katara. As he walked past Aang he nudged him hard enough that the boy stumbled right into Katara, who gave a cry of surprise.
"Sorry!" cried Aang, jumping back, shooting Zuko a dangerous look. Zuko used his eyes to point to Katara and Aang sighed, turning to her. "W- ...Wanna dance?" he stuttered. Katara smiled and nodded.
"Of course!" she said, taking his hand, and they went off to the dance floor. Zuko smiled and watched as the two spun around with everyone else and he looked over at Sokka and Suki, who were now holding each other closely. Sokka was staring at her lovingly and Suki was smiling at him, clearly happy to be this close to him. They kissed each other, looking like true lovers... and Zuko felt his smile fade.
Jin would have loved to be there.
He didn't want to be there anymore, so turning he left, no one really noticing, and he decided he needed to write Jin, even though he hadn't heard back from her. He had said he would to ensure he was still alive, so chances were she was simply waiting for that letter.
About an hour later, Aang came in with an odd smile on his face and Zuko quickly hid the unfinished letter under his pillow. He glanced up at Aang and raised an eyebrow. "What are you smiling about?" he asked. Aang didn't answer and Zuko started to laugh. "I'll take it you and Katara had a good time?" Aang nodded.
"It was great..." he muttered. Zuko waited for him to elaborate but when he didn't he gave him an impatient look.
"Well?" he asked.
"We danced... and danced for hours..." Zuko made a face.
"It's only been one hour-" he started to say.
"It felt like hours," said Aang. "And then she said she was tired, so I walked her to her room... and at the door she turned to look at me... and I..." his voice trailed off and Zuko sighed, getting frustrated now.
"And you what?!" he demanded.
"I kissed her goodnight!" said Aang. "It was amazing!" Zuko snickered and rolled his eyes.
"You loverboy, you," he mocked.
"Hey Zuko... what was your first kiss like?" he asked. Zuko held back a laugh.
"Five seconds long and I ditched her by a fountain," he answered and Aang looked at him surprised.
"What?!"
"Yeah... real romantic, I know," he said standing up, taking the letter with him.
"Where are you going?"
"You're too mushy to deal with at the moment," said Zuko, and he left. Aang just smiled and sighed. When Zuko left he jumped up, using a gust of air to propell him up high and he shouted out "I kissed Katara!" Unfortunately his jump had a little too much energy put into it and he smacked his head on the ceiling.
----
(A/N: Sorry this was short, but I just had a computer die on my and this was all I could get done. This is dedicated in memory of Lappy ver 1.0)