Note: Sorry this chapter took forever to post, but it covers over three years and actually has alternating POV between Mai and Zuko, which I might be doing more of...we'll see ^-^. Since there are letters and time lapses abound, I use bold fonts for every other letter and falling dots whenever time passes between scenes. That about covers it, so hope you enjoy, and RNR!
Fire.
Everywhere Zuko looked, he saw fire.
Blood-red insignias hanging down as strangling, silken reminders of his shame.
The sun high and relentless, beating him down. To. Nothing.
The memory of flames: desperately burning tendrils reflected in his father's cold yet blazing eyes before white-hot pain.
The prince ran his fingers over the newly formed scar, bright red like a starburst, and the pain had subsided to a maddening throb of everything he had lost...
"Zuko, come. You must eat."
The thirteen-year old's brooding was momentarily (and purposefully) interrupted as Iroh nudged his shoulder toward the communal table of food on the ship's deck.
From what Zuko had found out over the past month at sea, his uncle had hired a small crew for the ship used as transport for Zuko's mission.
If you could call it that.
Zuko took a deep breath and let it out just slightly fast enough to accidentally exhale flames, roasting the huge portion of ocean kumquats Iroh had passed to him.
Funny, I never used to be so careless.
He had noticed this change in himself over the past few weeks, little by little as long days of tracking the Avatar seemed to leave him in a consistently weary state, especially for a teenager. He was forced to either yield to his shame or grow bitter, the second of which he did, though it was exhausting...
Beginning to stammer an apology with a red-faced cringe, Zuko looked up to find his Uncle sliding the bowl of roasted fruits back towards himself, grinning as he said,
"Ah, thank you for remembering that I like my ocean kumquats well-done. They are very good a bit blackened...in my opinion at least!"
Staring off into the horizon with a cup of green tea in hand, he continued, nodding sagely,
"They are a true delicacy of the sea."
Ignoring Zuko's incredulous expression, Iroh came out of his thoughtful trance, saying with a grin,
"Now, do you want some more ocean kumquats?"
Zuko shook his head, responding,
"No, I'm not hungry, Uncle."
"Alright! But you really must eat," Iroh said, passing another huge plate towards him, this time full of sea prunes. Staring at his uncle now shoveling the burned food into his mouth as fast as he could with chopsticks, Zuko smiled just slightly.
Eating does seem to be Uncle's way of cheering people up. At least it works for him.
"Ah, by the way, a letter came for you."
Feeling his stomach tighten, Zuko tried to mask his surprise, but his shock was the sad truth: occasional letters were the only event of Zuko's "expedition" besides failed trips to remote areas that led to nothing but increasingly familiar disappointment. Not to mention the fact that both knew there was only one person who bothered to send him letters.
Mai.
Reaching for the scrap of paper with an impatient hand, Zuko took the letter from Iroh without returning his uncle's delighted grin.
Holding it up to the still-glaring sun, Zuko could see slender yet bold brushstrokes through the beige paper and studied them in an effort to calm himself down, though the prince failed; their thread of letters hadn't been going well...why had he just had to send his next letter before he received hers?
Right. He'd forgotten to completely wallow in self-pity in the letter before that, so he just had to send another days later...
Ripping open the metallic gray wax seal, his eyes scanned the letter before coming to a stop and closing his eyes and silently cursing himself. He should have known she wouldn't let him wallow in self-pity forever.
Idiot. Your one friend...
Zuko poured a cup of water and downed it, standing up from the table. Scraping across this chip, his chair groaned, and Iroh turned toward the sound before looking up at his nephew with concerned eyes. As he walked toward the edge of the ship with head down, Zuko bit back his sympathy for the old man and stared out into the never-ending waves, mumbling to himself about finding the Avatar's location to distract himself from growing self-animosity.
That was all he had now. Mutterings that vanished into the sea and ebbing empathy for just about anyone.
One month earlier...
Went to the Western Air Temple, where there's no Avatar but enough rocks and upside-down rocks to make my eye pound. And not the burned one. Sorry, too soon? I hate to have left so quickly, but the faster I capture the Avatar, the faster I can come back.
-Zuko
Sounds boring, At least you're not stuck in the Fire Nation like I am. No offense, but I've heard that the Avatar hasn't been seen for almost a hundred years. I don't know where he'd be, but good luck (and no, I don't say that sarcastically). Maybe you should rest, let your burn heal.
-Mai
You sound just like my uncle. I can rest after I capture the Avatar. What's complicated about that?
-Zuko
Whatever, I'm starting to think it's kind of crazy that you have to be on this quest or something while you have an injury and who you're looking for hasn't been seen in practically a century. Calm down. It's hard to believe the answer to you getting banished is this...simple. So where are you anyway?
-Mai
What do you care where I am? And I don't care as much about my burn as i do that my honor's been taken from me, my country, everything. This is the only way to get it back, call it simple if you want, but I'm searching for an enemy of the Fire Nation. And I don't need to calm down, so don't tell me to.
-Zuko
What's wrong with you? If you're just going to send a letter to yell at me in writing and have some stupid argument and pity party, then why bother?
-Mai
She didn't receive a response. They were angry, and just barely thirteen and fourteen when the teenagers stopped writing to each other.
For now, they were still children.
.
.
.
Three years later...
Through embroidered curtains casting a dull light on the room, Mai stared off into the sea as well, though this was a different one, a bay that was cloistered in the heart of the Fire Nation.
Just like her.
She absent-mindedly twirled the knives in her wrist and wryly smiled, nostalgic for pins, and wistful for the times when she could have gotten away with being a little careless. That is, without Azula seeing just what it was Mai was fingering in her sleeve without being interrogated, found out, and recruited by the young princess to be a henchman for whatever schemes she planned. However, her parents were delighted that Mai had a talent that could be discussed at small talk-laden political dinner parties. Her mother and father had asked few questions, just given her a gift: knives. Mai was thankful for the present and quietly returned her mother's pins to their rightful place shortly afterwards. However, one aspect bothered her slightly.
Why tin of all metals?
She had asked her parents this and was given an (unappreciated) pat on the hair and multiple responses, all silently scrutinized by Mai.
"Oh, that way they'll make good decorations."
Decorations for what, when I grow out of this and just want to sit and look at pretty things, like it's some phase?
"We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself, now would we?"
Did you miss the part of Azula's little story where I've been hiding and throwing knives from my sleeves?!
"Isn't tin shinier than steel?"
...Of course it is.
But Mai kept her frustrations to herself and channeled them into her knife-throwing until the shiny playthings looked more like real knives: a bit scraped, dented, and used.
Still gazing out the window to the sea, Mai laughed to herself, but the sound quickly turned desperate. She felt trapped, but couldn't help it. Since Zuko had left, the fifteen-year-old had been more than a bit off-balance, though that was unnoticed by anyone. The firebender was still gone, and she was still here.
How long had it been now?
Over three years.
"Agni, that's too long," Mai said, her cultured voice just barely cracking. Though not loudly enough for anyone to hear.
.
.
.
It took just one more letter to change all of this.
Mai,
I'm sure you've heard about the Avatar being found in an iceberg and how my imbecile of a brother and fat uncle have failed to catch him—no surprise there. Anyway, since our home country just perpetually bores you and because I've been called by Fire Lord Ozai to actually succeed at capturing the Avatar, why don't you join Ty Lee and I in Omashu? It won't be boring, and you might even see Zuzu again.
-Azula