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They were being shipped off to the prison near the Firenation Capitol two days after her-their 'betrayal'. Mai and Ty Lee hadn't been able to talk since that faithful day as they were separated after Azula gave her command.

Now, both girls were in chains and sitting beside each other on the ground at the bottom of the ship, and were flanked by prison guards.

They were silent for most of the trip, Mai, uncomfortable with saying things that she needed to say in front of many people, and Ty Lee, knowing Mai's discomfort.

Mai gave a long sigh, "The trip was faster on the air ship"

Ty Lee grinned, "Yeah, it was".

"Thanks Ty Lee" came Mai's solemn voice.

"I'm your friend, Mai, you don't have to thank me", Ty lee turned her face towards the girl beside her, "She was going to hit you with lightning. She was going to kill you; I never thought she would"

"I didn't either, Ty Lee" Mai sighed, "what happened? Were we ever her friends?"

"I think we were, even though she didn't want us to be", Ty Lee glanced down at her bound hands, "she always tried to control us with fear, but we've known each other since we were kids, and we were too innocent to be afraid of her, then"

Mai snorted, not because she didn't believe the other girl, but because she did; most people think she's stupid but honestly the girl was perceptive, she just uses her bubbly attitude to fool people.

"So, you LOVE Zuko more than you fear her, huh?!", Ty lee grinned, a glint of merriment was shone in her wide eyes.

Mai looked abruptly at Ty Lee, her face flushing as a couple of prison guards, obviously eavesdropping, spared her glances.

"I cannot believe you just jumped to that", Mai raised an eyebrow at Ty Lee. Her tinted cheeks belied her unaffected tone.

"So, you've finally admitted it to yourself", Ty Lee bumped her shoulders to Mai's affectionately (as it was the only movement they could make at the moment), "took you long enough, you've been in denial for forever"

Mai turned her face to Ty Lee's and gave her an icy glare. "You're not going to make me forget that, are you?"

"Nope, so, let me guess, you haven't told him yet"

Mai sighed and looked unseeingly in front of her, "You, apparently know more about that than I do"

"Zuko's stronger by the way", Mai turned to Ty Lee again and raised her eyebrow at the abrupt jumping to yet another topic, "I thought you'd like to know, I'm not sure if you saw him fighting. His flame was more controlled, more powerful—I can't find a fitting way to describe it, it's as if he truly mastered his element, I think if given time, he'd beat Azula"

"He shot a flame at the ground, and the guard uncle sent to guard me instinctively blocked my path, it gave him the time to escape from me" Mai said monotonously, "but, you're right, I wasn't able to appreciate the flame he created"

Ty Lee wasn't fooled by the tone in which her friend said those words.

"Smart", Mai shot Ty Lee a disbelieving look, "look, Zuko was just looking out for you"

"Your uncle visited me in my cell, he said that he liked Zuko for you"

"He wasn't singing that tune after the invasion" commented Mai flatly.

"He said as a guy, he understood Zuko, that Zuko just didn't want to bring you down with him", Ty Lee glanced at Mai "and you'd have gone with him, Mai; we both know that if I didn't block you're chi at that cruel Agni Kai, you'd have been banished too"

"We've never talked about that", observed Mai, her tone suggesting that the other girl should just drop it.

"Well, we're full-blown traitors now, I don't see how it could harm us", Ty Lee looking imploringly at Mai, and at not having seen what she was looking for gave a long sigh, "will you ever forgive me for that?"

Mai felt as if something was stuck in her throat, "If you hadn't, I wouldn't be in the situation to save him 2 days ago"

"You didn't answer the question"

An uncomfortable silence fell around the room.

"How could you?" Mai hissed and her remembered pain evident in her tone, her eyes fixed murderously on the ground and face set, "you were my friend, and you stopped me from doing what was right. Zuko never lost his honour that day, you and the other people present there knew it"

"A 5-year-old child could have stopped that blast but he didn't, he allowed his father to punish him because he thought his father had grounds to punish him" Mai continued, bottled-up emotions slowly pouring out with every word, almost choking her in the process, "it was disgusting, everyone laughed as their prince suffered. And he suffered for THEM. All he did was stand up for a bunch of young soldiers who would have been sacrificed to win a bigger battle".

Mai fought to regain her composure and succeeded, blank eyes regarded Ty Lee, "Even now, I don't understand why you did? You thought it was wrong too"

"I did it because you were my friend", said Ty Lee quietly after a while, "and I did it because I was Zuko's friend too, he wouldn't have wanted you to be banished with him, and he couldn't have stood a chance if you asked to go with him… He said I was right, I told him about what I did at Ba Sing Se, he thought you'd forgotten him"

Mai gave a long sigh and fought for her controlled and composed self, "I don't need to be cosseted. I can fight my own battles, Ty. You and Zuko aren't my keeper, you don't have to protect me"

Ty Lee smiled, Mai had called her 'Ty', which meant they were okay.

"You know, boys!...They have this Neanderthal notion that they have to protect 'their' women, even from themselves", Ty Lee bumped her shoulders to Mai's again, "I'm really, really, sorry"

Mai let out a disbelieving snort, "No, you're not, if given the chance, you'd do the same thing over again", Mai turned to her and looked at her flatly "it's truly okay Ty; so, you can now stop declaring my story to the world"

"We're docking, secure the prisoners!!" said a guard who had been at deck.

As they walked out the ship, one after the other with an overwhelming amount of guards around them to escort them to their new prison, all they could do was grin at each other in camaraderie.

"Ugh, do you have any pink prison garbs? Maroon contrasts my personality a lot"

Mai just shook her head at her friend's antics, while more than one of the guards threw Ty Lee a death glare.