After Dark
Part 5
"I want to play," Mai stated and both her expression and her posture brooked no argument.
"Shouldn't you be, I don't know, getting ready for some fancy ball or something? You're obviously not one of us."
"I've got money," she continued and flashed a gold piece.
"Look, little lady, why don't you just go home where you're safe and warm, all tucked up in bed with your dollies and your closet full of fancy clothes. Your mother and father will be worried about their precious daughter."
Mai sneered.
"You obviously don't know my parents," she retorted.
They stood outside a bright and busy gaming hall, Mai standing up as tall and straight as she could while the owner slouched against the wall. He was about thirty years old, handsome in a crude sort of way and dressed in a very form fitting tunic on top of baggy deep red pants. His arms were bare and he continually flexed his muscles, as if the manly display would dissuade Mai from her ambitions.
"You won't let this go, will you?" he asked and reached for a flask of fire whiskey that disappeared back into the deep pocket of his pants when he had taken a swig.
"No, I won't," Mai replied.
"Why do you want to play with a bunch of dirty old men? Don't you have friends?"
She reached up into her sleeves and felt her wrist holsters filled with deadly darts; yes, she had friends, friends that could kill annoying men who treated her like a porcelain doll.
"I want to. Now let me in."
"Fine, I warned you," he drawled and pushed the door open.
It was noisy inside and chaotic beyond anything Mai had ever seen, even the streets right outside. As she walked from table to table, looking at the games and observing the players, men stopped their gambling and stared at her. Some laughed, some looked with brazen desire and others seemed curious. Mai finally decided on a dice game and wriggled her way in between two drunken looking, scruffy men of late middle years. She shuddered at the contact but when one of them reached over and pinched her bottom, Mai stilled completely and set her golden eyed gaze on both.
"Don't touch me," she said slowly, emphasizing every word.
Both men broke out into loud, obnoxious snorts of laughter.
"A girl's behind is meant to be touched. You should feel flattered. I don't pinch just anyone's," the uglier of the two said.
"Yeah, what do you expect walking into a room full of drunken men?" the other added.
"I expect you to keep your greasy hands to yourselves," Mai declared.
"Oh, and how will you stop me?" the ugly one asked, a nasty leer on his face.
Mai smirked. "I thought you would never ask."
With movements so fast they were almost a blur, Mai reached for the knives tucked inside her wide black sleeves, threw four, two pinning each man to the wooden floor, the strength and velocity of her throws enough to knock each out of his seat.
"What the…?" one asked as he struggled to free his arms.
"Don't touch me," Mai repeated.
She retrieved her knives and was careful not to so much as brush against either boor. The men around the table were all laughing at the unfortunate louts, taking swigs of their beer and whiskey and setting up the dice for another round.
"Are you in?" the table's leader asked Mai.
She sat down daintily on a chair, pulled out a gold coin and laid it down with the other ones.
"I'm in," she stated.
Mai spent the next few nights in the gaming houses, asserting herself anew in each one and accumulating quite a tidy sum of money while she was at it. She wondered sometimes why she bothered to go. It was difficult to get out of bed and act suitably bored and disinterested the next day. She had clothing that smelled of pipe smoke and alcohol careless men had spilled on her; she was forced to sneak her dirty clothes down into the steamy laundry room and hand them off to the servants with no explanation. She supposed that the thrill of being free and wandering around as she pleased, exposing herself to what she saw as people more real than those she dealt with day after day, more than made up for any inconvenience. And the knowledge that her parents would probably faint from shock if they knew inspired Mai even more.
Fortunately, both her mother and father were preoccupied, obsessed even, with their second child, the infant, Tom-Tom, their son. They scarcely gave Mai a glance all day. They certainly didn't question her frequent yawns at the dinner table or the faint circles under her eyes. They didn't, but Azula did.
The princess invited both Mai and Ty Lee over to the palace for dinner four days after Tom-Tom was born. Ozai ate with them as well, a very unusual occurrence. Mai snuck looks at the Fire Lord and almost gasped at how much he reminded her of Zuko; except Ozai was all hardness and cruel smirks, while Zuko was shy glances and kind words of encouragement. She glanced at Azula, her mother's daughter in every way but the ones that counted. It seems the royal children each looked like the parent they least resembled. It was funny the way things worked out.
"Your parents had a baby boy, I hear," Ozai said pleasantly enough to the black haired knife thrower. "I'll have an appropriate gift sent to your house."
"Yes, my lord," Mai replied with proper deference.
Not much scared her, but Ozai did. It wasn't just fear that filled her, but anger too, an anger that she could barely contain, she, the repressed, quiet one. Once again, she pressed her sharp fingernails into her palms and used the pain as a distraction. It was becoming a habit.
"That's good," Ozai continued. "Now Sen has a proper heir, someone who can continue his fine work for me. Azula here is an exception. She surpasses her brother in every way. She is my true heir."
The princess looked smug and proud as she sipped at her spiced tea and chewed on thinly sliced bits of meat.
"Father, I think you hurt Mai's feelings. She had a little crush on Zuko, you know."
Mai looked down at her bowl and said nothing. She wanted to glare at the twelve year old prodigy but thought better of it.
"She did? I didn't know. Well, get over it, Mai. There are many boys much better for you than my weakling of a son."
'He's not weak,' she wanted to scream. 'How can you say that?'
Why was she the only one to appreciate Zuko? Why couldn't Ozai see his worth? What was wrong with the man? Her and Zuko were so different yet suffered from the same chronic under appreciation from parents. At least he'd had his mother's love for a few years. Mai had never enjoyed that, not really; a passing interest perhaps, a pretty little girl to show off, a pretty little girl to marry off, nothing more.
"Honestly, Mai," Azula said. "You've been so weird lately. And you look tired. What were you just thinking about?"
"Oh, my brother cries a lot at night so it's hard to sleep."
Thank Agni for plausible explanations. She really needed to get a hold of herself.
A servant entered the dining room and bowed so low that his face nearly hit the floor.
"My lord, there is a guest waiting in your sitting room."
Ozai's eyes gleamed and he put down his chopsticks immediately, meal only half eaten.
"Have tea and dessert brought there right away," he bellowed at the servant.
"Yes, my lord," the older man said and backed out of the room.
"Azula," Ozai said sternly as he stopped just outside the door and turned around to look at her, "You have an early training session tomorrow morning. Make sure you get to bed at a good time. If I hear that you were late…"
Mai noticed the tiniest flicker of fear in Azula's whiskey colored eyes.
"Yes, father," she replied quickly.
He nodded at Mai and Ty Lee and then left.
'I'll bet that Keiko Tanaki is waiting for him,' Mai thought.
"So Mai," Ty Lee began, "when can we see your little brother?"
"Why do you want to?" Mai asked.
"Babies are cute, that's why," Ty Lee exclaimed.
"They're disgusting," Azula asserted, "good for nothing but drooling."
"Yeah, but you were a baby once too," Ty Lee said in defense of all the helpless little bundles of joy in the world.
"Hmmph, I'm sure I wasn't like most babies."
"So when can we come, Mai?" Ty Lee implored her friend.
Mai just shrugged. "I don't care."
"Geez, you're such a downer," Ty Lee pouted.
Mai shrugged again. "There's a naming ceremony soon. I'm sure you'll be invited."
"Oooh, that sounds great. Will there be cute guys there?"
"I don't know, Ty Lee. You should ask my mother."
"Forget about the stupid baby," Azula almost shouted. "Tomorrow I have a firebending lesson with one of the best in our nation. And then I get to attend another war meeting."
"That's cool, Azula," Ty Lee enthused. "Your father must think you're really talented."
"I am really talented, dummy. That's why father's getting all the best teachers for me."
There was silence at the table for the next few minutes. Then Azula started poking at Mai again.
"Have your parents introduced you to any more boys?"
"No."
"So they've given up?"
"They're busy with the baby."
"Oh, so you feel all left out and neglected, is that it?" Azula asked.
"No, I don't care," Mai stated dully. "In fact, it's nice with them not noticing what I do."
"I think that your parents have given up and will focus all their efforts on what's his name. He's a fresh start and a son. You're not really needed anymore."
"Whatever," Mai droned but Azula's words cut close to the bone.
"Maybe it's time you had some fun, then," Azula continued.
"Maybe," Mai agreed and hid a smile behind her hand.
When she arrived home from the palace, both her parents were sitting in the main floor living room. Tom-Tom lay sleeping in a bassinet next to the sofa while both Sen and Masami sipped at cups of tea and continually glanced over at the tiny bed as if expecting it to explode.
Mai tried to sneak by the room, but Masami was sharper sometimes then the girl gave her credit for.
"Come in here, Mai. Tell me about dinner."
"We ate," Mai said and tucked her hands inside her sleeves.
"You know very well what I mean, young lady. How was dinner?"
"Mai, don't be rude. Your mother's very tired. Looking after an infant is a lot of work."
Just then a servant entered and took the boy away for his bath.
"I'm sure it is," Mai stated dryly.
"At the rate you're going, you'll never know," Masami shot back acidly.
"Alright, ladies; let's get back to the question about dinner with the princess."
Mai rolled her eyes. "It was fine."
"Honestly, Sen, can't you do something with her?"
"Ozai was there," Mai volunteered and Masami went into a tizzy.
"You had dinner with the Fire Lord? Do you know how lucky you are?"
"He left halfway through."
"But still, he's so handsome and such a wonderful leader."
Mai couldn't argue about the handsome part, but despite that, she didn't like his face. Malice and cruelty shone in his eyes. That negated the fineness of his features.
"What did he say, Mai? Please tell me."
"He heard that you had a boy and he's going to send a gift."
"Did you hear that, Sen? He's sending a gift for Tom-Tom. I'm so excited."
Masami rubbed her hands together and smiled. She began wondering aloud what the gift might be.
"I don't think he's picking it out himself," Mai said cynically.
"Still, it's from the Fire Lord."
"Yeah," Mai drawled.
Another servant entered the sitting room and handed Sen a letter. He grimaced a bit while reading it and then got up, handing it off to Masami.
"My brother, Katashi*, will arrive tomorrow and stay for the naming ceremony."
"I hope he doesn't tell horrible stories about those prisoners he deals with. He always does that."
"Now, now, Sen; he doesn't visit often. It's hard to get away from The Boiling Rock."
While her parents talked, Mai got up and left the room. Once on her own, she had a long bath and dressed in her nightgown. She wanted to be well rested for her uncle tomorrow. He was one of the few people in the world she actually liked.
Mai managed to avoid her parents for most of the morning. She snuck down and ate breakfast in the kitchen, the cook giving her curious looks, and then climbed the stairs back up to her room. She was waiting for the sound of her uncle's voice, deep and rich and evocative of so many good memories. Mai would know when he arrived. He never went anywhere quietly and that annoyed Masami to no end; another reason to love the man. And Mai's father couldn't stand Katashi. They grated on each other's nerves and tried to avoid each other during visits.
She felt for her knives and wondered what her uncle would think of her latest additions. He was the only person besides Zuko who had ever encouraged Mai in the pursuit of knife throwing. Well, Azula said she might find a use for it one day, though it didn't compare to firebending as a weapon.
Masami's shrill voice broke through her thoughts.
"Mai, I want to talk to you."
"Damn," Mai muttered.
She ambled back downstairs and found her mother in the sitting room again. She was holding Tom-Tom and making silly baby noises, going on about how gorgeous he was.
"The naming ceremony is the day after tomorrow, you know. A lot of important people will be there, including Princess Azula," Masami finally said, giving her daughter a quick sweeping glance that managed to take in all of the teen.
She looked disappointed like she always did. Mai gazed at her mother and then down at her newly lacquered nails. They were midnight black instead of the pale red that her mother preferred. It was another small rebellion.
Mai didn't even pretend to listen. She had heard the same lecture time and time again. It was always the same; be demure, be friendly, but not too friendly, dress appropriately, wear the right makeup, make yourself attractive to the boys, do not discuss knives and so on.
"Did you hear what I said, Mai?" Masami asked angrily.
"Yes," Mai sighed. "It's always the same."
"And yet you never learn."
Tom-Tom began to cry and Mai glanced at the pale little fists clenched in anger or frustration and the cheeks growing redder by the second. She understood how the infant felt. Still, she had no desire to hold him or form some sort of bond. His cries didn't wrench at her heart. They were annoying.
"We'll finish this talk later," Masami stated and left the room to feed the baby.
They never did finish the talk. Mai's uncle arrived and for once the house did not seem like a prison.
*means 'firmness' ...seemed fitting