Lightning Can Be Warm
Chapter 3
AN: And the chapters just keep coming! I'll probably stop soon but I really like this story. Has anyone read Embers? It's a 100,000 fic that isn't complete yet. I like it a lot because it is rational in some ways but I think that Aang was portrayed as a bit too naïve and Katara as a bit too stuck in her ways. I can understand a part of her breaking when her Mother died and I can understand Kanna getting to her but I think that hatred, even she is proved wrong several times is just a bit too...dramatic. But the ending of the last chapter was tribute to Embers, so go read it! And yes, when writing the second last part of the last chapter, I was listening to McFly.
ML: Thanks for reviewing, do you not have an account yet? I'm glad you liked it. Koh is going to be a big factor in this world as you will see in this chapter...
Tsk tsk: I wasn't aware about this at all but I talked to James Golen and he's alright with it. I don't normally post authors comments this but you didn't leave me any way to contact you with the answer. I got the transcending lifetimes idea from the show when Roku talks about being friends with Gyatso and I wondered about Sud. I didn't want to add Sud as another character so I thought of characters similar to what we see of him. And Toph just jumped to the front of my mind and the idea set in. The name must have been a coincidence but I saw the pointlessness of that so I changed it.
Mai sighed as she walked out of her rooms towards the palace. Today, Azula had wanted some help in armed combat and she and Zuko were going to teach her as she was pretty much hopeless. She blushed very slightly as she thought about Zuko. She hadn't necessarily become friendlier with him and she was nowhere near being in the relationship she somehow wanted to be but he trusted her and that was enough.
She was about to exit the house when two spears that the guards used blocked her path.
"You need to see your parents. You mustn't leave until you see your parents." Mai sighed, not this again. A long time back, before she had gained the emblem of Azula's, her Mother took to trying to keep her quiet so her Father couldn't lose any political standing. She got everything she wanted if she was quiet and composed. She still did, but her Mother gave up trying to control her a long time ago. Though why, she still hadn't worked out. Maybe it was something to do with Azula's emblem.
She walked to the elaborately designed room and knocked on the door.
"Mai." Her mother said, pushing her into the room. Mai looked around. There were boxes filled with clothes, shoes and papers strewn over the floor and her mother's hair was for once not in its tight bun but loose only with a small topknot.
"Your Father has been promoted! Isn't that great? We get to go to Chìrè Hūyìng! The Glowing Echoes! The beautiful quaint little—
"Just tell me the truth. Father would never get promoted, we're being demoted. No. You're being demoted, I am a faithful ally of Princess Azula, and she would never send me away if she had a choice, which she currently does. You are being sent away for being useless and you presume that I will come with you." Mai said all of this without an expression on her face, her nightmares still echoed of Koh and her Mother using expressions against her.
The guilty and shocked expression on her Mother's face gave the game away completely before she even spoke a word.
"Yes, I thought so too." And Mai walked out of the room and out of the house. The impertinent guards were splayed to a wall by shruiken knives and anybody who attempted to smile at her was cowed into submittance.
She slammed the door to Zuko's room open and he sat on the end of his bed attempting to aim a bow at the target on the wall with Zhao's badly cartooned face. He looked at Mai at the last moment and let the arrow loose. The arrow was sent flying, ricocheted of surfaces before landing haphazardly in one of his eyes. He smirked before looking at Mai truly and he patted a space next to him.
"What's going on with you Mai? Your eyes are showing expression. Anger, Hurt, Betrayal and a sense of..." he peered closely into her eyes. "Aah. I see now. You're afraid. And you are afraid of being afraid."
Mai nodded, she didn't understand how he had done that, how he had summed her feelings up in one big—
"Uncle. He taught me how to refine this, muttering something about being a white lotus. Why he was comparing me to a Pai Sho tile, I'll never know. Now tell me why you feel so negative. Well, more negative than usual."
Mai hesitated. "Mother and Father have been demoted to the Glowing Echoes and they've assumed that I want to go with them, when I'd much rather stay here and enjoy myself once in a while." Zuko smiled.
"Nice to know you want to stay." She blushed very slightly.
"Azula and Ty Lee, Zu-zu." He smirked at her and she flashed a shruiken knife at him. He grinned and pointed at the various weapons decorating the room.
"I win. For once."
She rolled her eyes and tucked the little knife away. "Sometimes I really forget you're a Prince, because you sure don't act like one."
Zuko smirked. "That's more Azula's forte. I'm blend in and hide. Mostly."
"Your stunt with Taurus Majul was hardly 'blending in'." Mai said archly.
Zuko smiled. "I guess it wasn't. Do you want to talk to Azula now?"
Mai rolled her eyes and walked out of the door. Zuko waved at her as she left and she smiled. She'd listened to him so many times, now he'd repaid the favour. Though, Mai suspected that he'd been spending a lot of time with General Iroh to achieve that sense of annoying happiness and 'I-know-more-than-you-do' atmosphere.
(X)
Mai stood outside the house she had lived in for a long time, watching delivery men load up the carriages. Her mother was weeping as she and Father came out of the house and walked towards Mai.
"You won't come with us? Your parents who have looked after you for 11 years?"
Mai sneered very slightly. "Looked after me? I looked after myself. I made my life, my own. You were merely obstacles and Father being a diplomat was a way for me to get into the Royal Academy where I met my very best allies, Azula and Ty Lee. What have you done for me? You suppressed my emotions and kept me down. I owe you nothing."
Mother started weeping again and entered the carriage. Mai waved sarcastically as they went by and seeing this, her father started crying. Mai rolled her eyes and walked away towards the palace without looking back.
(X)
"What do you want me for?" asked Azula as she walked with Zuko towards the Capital. Zuko blushed darkly.
"You're a girl. And you're friends with Mai. Her birthday's coming up...and I wanted to get her something special. I wanted you to help me."
Azula smirked. "So, little Zu-zu's got feelings for my best friend Mai." He looked down but made no indication otherwise.
They passed Ty Lee's house where they saw two of her sisters fire-bending at each other on the porch and Ty Lee herself watching in boredom on the roof. Ty Lee noticed them and leapt agilely from where she was perched and landed elegantly in front of them
"What'cha doing?" she asked perkily.
"Zu-zu's trying to find the perfect birthday gift to Mai cause he lurrrrves her..." Zuko looked at her curiously, she sounded remarkably like some of the girls he saw out on the streets normally.
"Azula, why do you sound like one of the commoners?" Zuko said, eyebrows arched high. Ty Lee laughed and they kept walking.
Azula blushed scarlet then frowned and held herself aristocratically. "It's just you've never really been this open about liking her. We all knew you liked her but...the two of you are so private..."
"Well isn't that a good thing? Zuko's more open now. And we can all plot on what Mai's birthday party should be like." said Ty Lee happily and flipped herself onto her hands. Zuko just stared as she continued to walk down the road in this fashion.
"Don't even ask." whispered Azula, "She just...does. Somehow."
Zuko shook his head and the two of them followed her.
(X)
"Perfume!" Ty Lee shouted exuberantly as they moved through the bustling city.
"No." said Zuko, "I am not giving Mai...perfume. That implies she smells bad. Which is most definitely not true."
"Fine then...Food!" Ty Lee suggested.
"No!" Azula scoffed. "That's just not something you someone for a birthday present! And definitely not Mai."
Ty Lee paused reflectively, resulting in bumping into a fast moving pedlar carrying a box of anklets. As could be expected they spilled all over the floor.
"I've got it! Jewellery! It's stylish, classy and means you have serious feelings for her!" Ty Lee beamed helping the old lady pick up her wares.
Zuko smiled. Jewellery. "Yes." And Ty Lee smiled so wide that he could swear she would burst. Azula smirked.
"Surely you have to give her a ring?" Zuko gaped at her and she shook her head. "I can't believe that actually worked. That was one of the worst jibes I've made at you."
Zuko blushed. "Rings are immediately excluded. Earrings are for barbarians. Necklaces are for engagement..."
Azula paused. "What if you did just that?"
Ty Lee squealed. "Oh Spirits! You could give her a betrothal necklace! You could get engaged to her!"
Zuko stopped in his tracks. "Engagement? I haven't even talked about- I don't even know whether she likes me back!"
Ty Lee paused. "Fine. No engagement. But bracelets are for sweethearts. Get her a beautiful bracelet that's very expensive and a special gift I'll organise for you..."
She whispered in his ear. Zuko grinned. "That's perfect. She'll love that. It'll be very therapeutic and she'll be Glowing."
Azula smirked. This is going to be just great..."
(X)
Mai sighed as she woke up. She stared at the red ceiling, it was her birthday and she didn't even think they knew it was. With her parents, she was given a small gift and she was given a bit more freedom than usual. She pulled herself out of the warm bed sheets and opened the window and sighed. It was still dark; no one would be awake yet. Then she noticed a light from the window and watched as the sun rose. She could almost hear the majority of the place wake up. She rolled her eyes. Fire-benders.
She then noticed a trail of characters leading out of her room. On her desk was a sheet of paper and a brush with ink. Written on the top was 'Rub them out as you go.' Mai touched the first one. The black dust coated her finger. Charcoal. She copied it down and rubbed it out with her foot. She copied down the letters in her room before pulling on her outer layers as quick as she could. She opened the door and followed the letters, copying them down and rubbing them out as she went. She was so engrossed in what she was doing, something completely interesting and new, that she didn't notice all the servants openly laughing and flashes of decorations in their hands.
She walked down the stairs writing all the characters down in order and mysteriously they stopped. She frowned and sat down a chair provided and put the spaces in the most obvious places and stared at the surprising message tattooed across the page in her stylized writing.
Have an exciting Birthday.
She heard a Tsungi horn play the distinctive birthday tune she had heard in the Royal Academy. She looked up and stared at the small band of musicians burst into a livelier rendition of it with the Pipa and Erhu adding a distinct funky tune. She smiled as three people she knew very well entered the room.
Ty Lee gave her a big hug, running in and Mai just held her hands open and waited. She soon let go and smiled happily. Ty Lee pushed a brightly wrapped package into her hands
"Here Mai, Happy Birthday!" Mai slowly opened it and smiled faintly at the new set of robes. Ty Lee's sense of fashion had reached over into this and it wasn't nearly as modest as the rest of her clothes were, but luckily, they were in her dark colours.
"Thank you Ty Lee." She murmured. Ty Lee beamed and walked over to the musicians and started flirting with one of them.
Azula was next. She came towards Mai and she curtly nodded and Mai nodded back.
"Well, it's official. You're two years older than me." said Azula. Mai smiled faintly. She had forgotten. Azula passed her a regally wrapped present. Mai opened it. She looked at the newer, sharper range of knives with her name inscribed in a faint gold. It was her kind of present.
She was about to thank her when she remembered and bowed in the traditional manner. Azula smirked.
"It was nothing. Enjoy yourself and burst the ego of a few soldiers, will you?" Mai scoffed. That was the new Azula, well and truly.
Finally Zuko came up to her. He blushed a lot and seemed to be scratching his neck in fervent anticipation. He thrust the badly wrapped present into her hands, flushing. He looked down to the ground uncomfortably, a furious redness filling his cheeks. She opened the present, without taking her eyes off him. She stared at a very delicate box. She opened it and in it was a beautifully intricate bracelet made of gold and moulded like fire and part way through it was a beautiful sparkly maroon stone. She slipped it on her hand and stared at the beautiful effect in the light as it glittered a different colour completely.
"I bought it because it's like you. It has two sides. The dull mask that is beautiful in its own way and the amazing person underneath." He looked really awkward so she gripped his hands that were moving faster than she'd ever seen and looked him in the eye.
"It's really nice. Thanks." He smiled and she was about to lean in to-
"Ahem!" The two of them sprung apart quickly at the sound and blushed deeply at the smirking Azula and an oddly shrewd Ty Lee. "If you are going to do that, please, do it at tonight's celebrations. For now, we have to head to the Royal Academy to watch the two of you graduate early! Congratulations!"
Mai rolled her eyes. "How long is that going to take?"
Azula didn't answer. Mai swore under her breath silently and Zuko squeezed her hand gently.
(X)
"Is it finally over?" Mai asked as she finished pushing her way through the crowd gathered at the palace. Contrary to most people's opinions, Fire Nation nobles loved a good party, as long as there was etiquette and manners and they loved parties on honour of progress and talent. It also helped it was her birthday and when Azula and Ty Lee were in charge of anything, it became overly complicated such as a party with more than half of the Fire Nation capitol packed inside the Royal Banquet Hall, eating good food and congratulating her and Ty Lee.
Zuko gave one last shove to the people in front of the four of them and they entered the Royal Gardens. It was new moon and the candles were lit so people could see. Zuko artfully steered past the stragglers on the outside of the party and Azula took lead and they navigated through the labyrinth they had explored when they were children. They entered the middle and Mai sat down on a wooden bench. Ty Lee perched beside her and ripped off the extra layers of clothing required for formalities and relaxed in her usual pink attire. Azula send bursts of fire to light the lamps and illuminate the rather spooky atmosphere while Zuko sat on the ground next to Mai.
Ty Lee paused and looked around awkwardly before blurting out something. "I'm leaving."
This stopped Azula in her tracks as she lit the last candle. The look of hurt and betrayal still etched on her face.
"You can't leave! I refuse! You can't, you can't! I won't let you!" Azula shouted angrily, a single tear streaking down her face. At this Ty Lee started crying too and threw her arms around Azula.
Zuko looked at the crying weeping huddle and shuffled further away from it. He inclined his head towards them and pointed at Mai. Mai shook her head fervently but he jabbed the air roughly and Mai rolled her eyes. She put her arms around the two of them and slowly calmed them down with reassuring words in her flat tone.
Finally they stopped crying and Mai sat down, guiding them towards the bench too. They both perched on it, Ty Lee occasionally sniffing and Azula's face set into a blank expressionless mask.
"So, where are you heading?" asked Zuko into the stifling silence.
"The c-circus. It's v-very lively and e-everyb-body is friendly. They'll know me as T-ty Lee, the a-amazing acrob-bat, c-contortionist and a-a-a-animal tamer! Not a-as the noble g-girl who's gonna marry some old smelly general and as one of seven identical s-sisters." Ty Lee stammered, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"We'll miss you Ty Lee." Zuko said with a sad smile. This started her off again and Mai patted her back, avoiding her gaze.
"Well, I suppose this is the only chance I'll get to give you my other present, Mai." Zuko said and rummaged in his pocket. He came up triumphant and placed a golden envelope in her lap. She stared at it.
"Go on, open it!" said Azula, sounding irritated.
Mai slowly opened the cover and drew out two maroon tickets. She waved them in Zuko's face. 'What the heck are they?"
Zuko laughed. "They are tickets." He said with a flourish of his hand and before Mai could retort he carried on. "Tickets for a palanquin ride to the Glowing Echoes!" Mai looked at him, a steely look in her eyes.
"You don't fool me Mai. You may not like them, but they are your parents, and you still care about them a little, even if you deny it. And look, if you can't face them alone. You can take one of us with you. It's next week today."
Mai nodded, not looking at anybody. "Azula?" she asked dully.
Azula shook her head. 'I can't Mai. Father has arranged for me to go organise some troops in the Earth Kingdom and I leave on that day. Zuko could have come...but he didn't want to. Which I found weird." Zuko blushed red and looked away.
Mai turned slightly towards Ty Lee. "You Ty Lee?"
Ty Lee hugged Mai and shook her head. "I'm leaving the day after tomorrow. I can't."
Mai turned towards Zuko. 'I guess I'm stuck with you, since I'm not going alone."
Zuko grinned and hugged Mai. Ty Lee threw her arms around them and tugged Azula into the hug too.
"We'll be in each other's hearts, always. We're unstoppable, Agni wouldn't separate us forever. If he did, I'll go up to the spirit world and knock the chi out of him so he can't meddle with other people's lives!" said Ty Lee fiercely.
Azula smirked. 'After you did that, I would zap him with lightning."
"Then I would stick a few shruiken knives in his dying body." said Mai rather roughly.
"And I would roast him into ashes and get Uncle Iroh to replace him." finished Zuko angrily.
"Why fuddy-duddy Uncle?" asked Azula. 'Why not Father? Why not you!"
"Uncle is more suited to it than us. He knows what's good for everybody. Ozai would obliterate the world if he was Agni and I would miss you all too much to be a spirit."
Mai leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Happy 13th birthday Mai..." Zuko murmured.
(X)
A thins sliver of moon shot down on the image of Ty Lee and Azula hugging. Ty Lee wore an extravagant ensemble of white and pink clothes with a cute little gold tiara.
"I'll miss you Azula!" Azula nodded wryly.
"I'm sure you will. Say, you couldn't give me like a timetable of the places the circus will be going and where? If it's near where I am in my tours, I might come visit you. I'll make sure Zuko comes too. I can't guarantee anything about Mai though."
Ty Lee sniffed before darting away into the shadows. A flyer floated down and Azula picked it up with a sad smile. She wouldn't forget. Ever.
(X)
Mai sighed as the escort from the palace took her and Zuko towards where the carriages were. She really didn't want to go and see her parents. Zuko hopped into the brown coloured carriage and offered a hand up to help her in. She took it and stepped up. He drew the curtains and they started moving. They sat at opposite ends of the carriage and glanced awkwardly at each other.
"So..." they said simultaneously. Zuko nodded and gestured for Mai to begin.
"I...don't want to go back. I don't love them. I hate them Zuko!"
Zuko shook his head. "You can't. You may think you hate your parents but you can't. They're your parents; you have a bond with them you can't break. Ever."
"What about you and your father then, you've said it enough times, you hate him!" Mai said, the closest she'd been to being annoyed.
"I said he's evil, not that I hate him. I can't hate him. I just can't. No matter how much I want to. Because he wasn't always evil. When Azula was very little, before we knew she could fire-bend, Heck, before they knew I could fire-bend; he was...a good father. He loved us both and treated us all well. We were happiest on Ember Island, away from the Fire Nation capital. But when he figured out Azula could fire-bend at the same level I could when I was seven when she was five with more refined movements...he stopped. It wasn't an overnight change, he was more cunning that. But he began to treat Mother and I with more distance and he expected perfection and he wanted power. And he became who he is now and I stopped calling him Dad or Father but Ozai or Fire Lord. He of course, thought I was becoming a good son. In reality, I'm detaching myself. But there will always be a strand connecting us, however thin. Because he's my father. Even if he is evil and rubbish at it."
Mai paused. Zuko had talked to the ground the entire time, but she could feel the sincerity. 'I guess I owe something to them. But we don't have to stay. We can go, say hi and go on a tour for the rest of the day. I've heard the caverns made by the waterfalls are beautiful." She attempted to stay calm but Zuko could see her and shut herself up, pulling the strings to her personality tight. Tighter. Tighter.
Zuko stared at Mai. Something was wrong. She wasn't normally this closed up and resilient. Normally she went with the flow but something was happening as they got closer the Glowing Echoes and Zuko didn't know what. So he decided to bluff it.
"I see now."
She looked startled and Zuko almost smirked but he needed to keep his bluff going.
"I know what's wrong with you Mai. You are terrified. You are terrified of reaching the Glowing Echoes because of your parents. Your parents did something to you. Need I continue?"
She hunched up tighter. Zuko sighed, his bluff had failed and she was more closed up. But he looked up, realising that she had sighed at the same time and unravelled.
"You know my mom. You know that she was an Azuli assassin. You know everything. Why should I even speak when you already know?"
"Because it will help you, it's therapeutic talking to people about your deepest fears?" Zuko said hopefully, knowing he was doomed.
"You're right. Okay, I'll start from the beginning. The Azuli were a group of women who were stealthy and showed no emotion whatsoever. The Fire Lord of that time a long time ago was friends with the Avatar and boasted that the Azuli showed no emotion at all in their entire lives. The Avatar wasn't very pleased by the arrogance showed by the Fire Lord and wanted to test that claim. So he asked Koh to follow round the Azuli for a year and see if they showed emotion. If they did, Koh would be allowed to take their faces and the Fire Lord's face. If they didn't they escaped intact. So he followed them around for a year. Not a single emotion. Ever. Koh was so pleased with them, he granted them special powers from the spirit world. They were gifted with extra-special knowledge and stealth. They became very favoured by the Fire Lord and were enormously successful, threw fear into the hearts of bad guys, etcetera. This trend carried on for a few decades before the Azuli assassins' descendants decided they didn't want to do it and abandoned it.
My mother found out about the Azuli assassins from bedtime stories and she longed to be one. She looked through her family trees and realized that she was related to an Azuli assassin. She followed all her friends' family trees and they too were related to an Azuli assassin. My mother realized that they had been put together for some reason. She interpreted it as the spirits. So she put herself into deep trances and took to meditating wherever she was and schooling her face into impassiveness. And one day, she slipped into the spirit world and stayed there for a year. When she came out, she was an Azuli assassin. What she did there, she never told anybody. I asked her once and she said it was unspeakable, but something she had to do to get the spirit's approval. But something went wrong. She fell into a trap and got married and had me. She lost anything she might have been as an Azuli assassin. So she told me stories at night and got revenge on her husband. And she told me that Koh was watching, waiting to get rid of the two people that kept the best Azuli from reaching her potential. I try not to show emotion. I try, I really do, but sometimes, I feel him trying to take my face."
Zuko pulled her close to him. "They're just stories. And it's your imagination. I swear on my best hat, that there is no spirit attempting to take you. Promise."
Unfortunately for Zuko, fate was determined to prove him wrong. There was breeze and the two of them instantly fell asleep and their souls were transported to the spirit world. Zuko stared in wide shock before realizing his previous comment mightn't have been the best thing to say.
They were in a darkened cove, with tree roots extending everywhere. He looked at Mai, whose face was expressionless. Completely, not the wry boredom she usually showed and Zuko realized truly and completely where they were.
"Agni's great-." He schooled his face expressionless and looked into the dark shadows of the cove, waiting for the Face-Stealer.
"So, you have finally arrived, Mai. Mai, Mai, Mai. The person who robbed the woman with the most potential to be an Azuli assassin, I've seen in years. But of course, there is you. Your skill with shriuken knives is commendable, especially at your young age. And that face, so expressionless. I have called you here because of a claim from your little boyfriend that there wasn't a spirit attempting to take you. I love proving people wrong. And he's...so wrong! I'm watching you. If you show any signs of emotion...WHAM! No face. Bye Bye now! Toodles!"
Mai jerked back into consciousness. She automatically moved to Zuko to check if he was alive. She sighed in relief as she felt him stir. He opened his eyes and they sat in silence for a few moments before Mai disturbed it with a faint smirk etched on her face.
"You owe me a hat. A fancy one."
And Zuko laughed. But Mai kept her mask, the warning from Koh echoing through her head.
"We're here Mai. Come on." He looked at her blank face. "Do you really believe he'll watch you every single second? He won't have that much influence in the mortal world."
Mai looked at Zuko. "You're more naïve than usual. The Azuli started because Koh watched them day in, day out."
Zuko looked at her with pain across his face. "But it's myth, from generations back."
Mai laughed bitterly but her face stayed the same. "He's one of the oldest spirits the world has ever seen, who knows how much power he has? And it wasn't myth. How else did they become prophets without the spirit's guidance?" She didn't look him in the eye as she stepped out of the carriage. She looked up at the big house. Nice to know her parents were still being treated well after their fall from grace. Then again, they were nobles. She knocked on the door. She felt Zuko approach behind her and place a hand on her shoulder.
The door was opened and fraction by one of the servants from the old house.
"Mistress Mai! Come in! I'll tell your parents you have arrived."
He ushered her and Zuko into the house. She followed him through the oddly bright hallways. They arrived in a bright area with two benches laid out with cushions facing each other.
"Please, make yourself at home, mistress. The Master will be back soon." Mai moved the cushions and sat down Zuko grabbed the cushion and fluffed them up before setting them aside gently before sitting down too.
Her father entered the room and threw his arms around Mai.
"You're back! I missed you my darling daughter! Are you staying?"
Mai was about to answer scathingly when Zuko cut in over her.
"We'd love to stay the night. The carriage doesn't leave until morning." Her Father beamed and she looked at Zuko. He whimpered but didn't take the statement back.
"Oh, Mai? Your mother is in her room. She wanted to see you but she had to...you'll see. It's the second on the left if you take this corridor.' He pointed. Mai thanked her Father dully and dragged Zuko along with her, without looking back at him.
"What was that Zuko?" she said flatly.
"What was what?" he said, attempting to sound innocent.
"Staying the night. I don't want to stay here! I didn't even want to come! I assumed it would be a DAY VISIT!" she shouted at him.
He smiled and kissed her cheek. "It'll be FINE! Trust me Mai. We'll leave in the morning."
She rolled her eyes and knocked on her Mother's door.
"Come in!"
She entered the room and her jaw dropped tenfold at what she saw. Her mother holding a very small baby dressed in red and rocking him to sleep, singing and cooing at him.
"Mai, you have to admit, at the moment, she doesn't exactly seem the fierce scary mom you were on about the one that sided with Koh! I'm sure it was an over exaggeration." Zuko whispered in her ear. She was inclined to agree...
Until she turned around. Mai blanched at the look of pure fury.
"What are you doing here Mai?" She could hear Zuko's chattering teeth and placed on a look of placidness and an air of smug superiority that often was Azula's.
"I heard the good news about my little baby...sister, is it?"
Mai's mother looked angrier. "No actually, you have a little brother. The new heir to the Konietziko Fortune."
Mai smirked. "The very much non-existent Konietziko fortune. But pray tell, what is my little brother's name?"
"If you must know, it's Tahm-Tahm. A very decent Fire-Nation name. Unlike yours, a very Water-Tribe name." her Mother sniped.
"You named me. Well, Koh named me. After all, you don't have any willpower, do you?"
Her mother put down Tahm-Tahm as quickly as she could and turned to slap Mai but Mai was faster and four shriuken knives pinned her mother to the wall.
"Don't ever do that again Mother. I will take taunting. I will take blatant bids for power. I will even take suppressing of feelings, for they have come in useful, but I will not tolerate physical abuse. Have you hit Father yet? Or maybe even Tahm-Tahm? You must be careful of your temper, it's a wonder Koh hasn't moved on from you yet. He abandoned the other Azuli assassins quickly enough. That being said, why hasn't he moved on?"
Her mother smiled almost like a crazed woman. "I stayed with him for a year and did things to him that shouldn't be mentioned in front of children such as yours truly." Zuko who had been looking curious turned a violent shade of green and looked like her wanted to puke.
"That is gross. From what Uncle has said from his travels in the Spirit World, Koh looks like a giant caterpillar. He only steals faces not bodies..."he whispered. Now, Mai felt ill.
"Now my boyfriend here has already told Father I will be staying the night, so for Father's sake I am staying. Good gay, Mother." Mai slammed the door in her Mother's face and walked out with Zuko.
"Wow Mai. Way to attempt to reconcile with your Mother. You completely alienated her."
"Well she's now alien to me. I can't even recognise her! And she doesn't act like a Mother! She just threw the fact that I'm not heir to a non-existent fortune in my face!"
She looked at Zuko with an angry expression on her face. But stopped dead in her tracks when he smiled.
"At least one good thing came out of that."
"What good thing?"
"You're finally calling me your boyfriend!" Mai looked Zuko in the eye and twitched very slightly before turning around. He snatched her hand and held her close to him and smelled in the scent of her hair.
"I'm sorry Mai. I'm sorry I tried to reconcile something that didn't exist. I assumed your family was exactly like mine and so in turn probably ruined anything you may have had."
"Don't be sorry Zuko. It's fine. I think. But I still hate you for making me stay."
Zuko chuckled and held her hand.
"Of course you do Mai. Of course you do..."
(X)
Mai sighed as she saw her Mother out in the garden. She turned away, not looking. It was childish but she really didn't want to even think about her mother. Zuko had wanted to see the town and do a little informal inspection but Mai had wanted to stay in the house. She felt something tugging her robes. She sighed, she hated when her robes got stuck to the floor. She looked down to unattach it and stared at the baby who was very small attempting to crawl and using her as a balance stick. She sighed, boys were so stupid. She lifted the little boy up and held him awkwardly in her hands. What were you supposed to do with babies?
She sighed as it started crying. Ty Lee would know how to calm it down but she...she had no idea what to do. Threaten it? She smirked. She knew it wouldn't work but she would do anything to make her mother angrier. She slowly removed on of her knives from her pocket. She stared as it immediately stopped crying. She hadn't been serious about threatening it, but it seemed to work. Did her mother really threaten Tahm-Tahm to make him shut up? She laughed in relief as it attempted to snatch it out of her hand. Thank God, it was a stupid baby wanting the sharp dangerous weapon and not her Mother threatening it. Then again, from the way her Mother fawned over it, she couldn't imagine her hurting it or pretending to hurt it in anyway. Mai sighed as it started crying again as she put it away. On the baby's head it was. She gave the knife to the baby.
"Be careful, that's one of a kind."
Of course the baby didn't listen and started sucking it. Typical. She took it from the baby. It was about to cry when she sighed and covered it's mouth. She was starting to get fed up with it. Suddenly it looked at her. Just looked, like it was reading her soul. It looked so much like Zuko in that moment, she smiled and the baby cooed and giggled. She immediately stopped smiling. She didn't want the baby happy. But it kept gurgling and laughing at her. She almost scowled, but it was so endearing. As it fell asleep, she smoothed the tiny patch of hair growing from its head. And as Mai stared at the sleeping baby, she realized what she was going to do. She hated it with all of her mind but her heart had decided. She couldn't let the baby get corrupted by Mother. It deserved to be good, sweet and innocent like Ty Lee. She closed her eyes and a single teardrop fell from the lashes.
(X)
"I'm staying Zuko."
Zuko seemed to beam. Did he not like her? Then why would we give her the bracelet? "That's great! How long? A week, a month? I'll stay with you, I'll send a hawk to Az and then she can come when she's done in the Earth Kingdom—"
Not hate then, just misinterpretation.
"I mean forever. Or at least till I've trained Tahm-Tahm enough. He won't survive in this world without a part of him dying. A part of me never existed due to Mother and Koh. I can't let that happen to Tahm-Tahm."
Zuko's face was hidden in a mask of serenity. But as she looked in his eyes, she saw just how much pain and hurt there was.
"I understand. If it was Azula, I would do the same." He smiled sadly and walked back inside.
Mai sighed and looked up at the sun setting.
"I hate the colour orange." She muttered before walking inside.
She stopped dead still when her Father came up and gave her a hug. "Happy late birthday! A week, isn't it?" She nodded curtly. He handed her a box. She smiled faintly. She couldn't believe he had remembered. He had never remembered before! She opened the box and her smile fell off her face as fast as it had come on. It was a bunch of bright pink ribbons and hair accessories that would look gaudy on Ty Lee.
"Aren't they great, Mai? I got them especially for you, you lok so gloomy! Cheer up a little!" Her father attempted.
She fake smiled and walked out into the garden. Why was she staying here? Why did Tahm-Tahm have to be so very cute? She breathed in and breathed out very slowly and softly as to stop the telltale tears bursting through. But even she couldn't stop a tear coming through. Weakness. She could barely tell the passing of day to night as she breathed in and out. The cold no longer bothered her and she was at peace with herself. That was, until; she heard familiar breathing patterns getting louder and closer.
"You're late for dinner. Coming with me?" Zuko asked softly.
"Not hungry." She muttered, not looking at him.
She could feel him sit down next to her. "I know why you have to do this. I know I'd do the same for Azula. Don't punish yourself like this Mai."
Mai looked up at Zuko and looked away almost immediately. "I'm not punishing myself for anything Zuko, I'm meditating, and I really am not hungry. Just...let me be, just for a little while, I need to think."
"You've been thinking all afternoon. Please Mai. Forgive me."
She wheeled round and looked straight at him. "Forgive you? But you haven't done anything wrong. I have. I chose my horrid family over the best friends in the world... Oh Spirits. Azula won't be happy at all."
Zuko paused. "No she won't. She'll see it as betrayal. First Ty Lee, now you...she won't like it at all. But I'll never abandon her. Never. I'll always be there for her if she needs me...Just like you're going to be there for Tahm-Tahm. Don't beat yourself up about it, family comes first. No matter how painful it is. I know Mai. I know very well why you need to do this. Please, be my Mai for these last few days. I don't want to remember you as a grumpy old lady, do I?"
She smiled and leant into his side before jumping up again and punching him. "For the record, I am not old. I am perfectly youthful and 13 years old!"
Zuko smirked as he pulled her close to him. "Doesn't stop you from having wrinkles when you yell at me."
She rolled her eyes and snuggled with Zuko.
(X)
"I wonder what's taking our daughter and her guest so long?" asked Mai's Father.
"Why do you worry, Tao Xu? She abandoned us for her status." said Mai's Mother, feeding Tahm-Tahm.
"And now's she back. Why do you hate her so much, Rhia? She's our daughter!"
Rhia scowled. "She's more your daughter than mine. She never was mine. In fact, she robbed me. I'll never be an Azuli assassin. Yours and her fault."
Tao Xu sighed; he and Rhia had had this conversation more times than he count. "Well, why do you love Tahm-Tahm?"
Rhia smirked. "He's a boy. He disinherits Mai. And, I chose to have him and he's perfect!"
Tao Xu sighed, he hated when she got broody. "I'll get Mai from the garden, shall I?"
She didn't respond and he took that as a yes.
Tao Xu walked out into the gardens. He looked up and down and then remembered a small stone bench hidden in the corner. He was about to enter when he heard kissing noises. He quickly peeked through a bush and almost fell over backwards at Mai kissing the boy! Well, she had introduced him as her boyfriend...But it was still wrong!
"I love you Zuko." She murmured. Tao Xu almost fell over backwards. He was having the Crown Prince Zuko in his house! Mai was dating the Crown Prince Zuko! And he almost fainted when Mai's sleeve hitched up as she stroked his hair. She was wearing a truly beautiful sweetheart's bracelet. He started hyperventilating and looked away. Did he not know Mai at all? The Mai he thought he knew was quiet, responsible and perky. The sullen girl he had seen was not his Mai. Did his Mai ever exist? Was Rhia right, was she...bad? Was his daughter bad?
"I love you too Mai. I hope that Agni deigns for us to rejoin again someday, when Tahm-Tahm's all grown up. I'll miss you." The Crown Prince Zuko said, sadly.
Tao Xu smiled. She had chosen them. Maybe his Mai was hiding underneath the surface. Maybe the time she'd spend with them would bring the Mai he thought he'd known back. If she'd ever existed.
(X)
Mai watched the carriage disappear into the distance quietly. She wouldn't cry, weakness was bad, especially when Koh had said he would be watching. At least it would be easier to be impassive without Zuko, Azula and their impulsive lifestyle. Mai paused before laughing bitterly. Trying to fool herself into thinking she was going to be fine wouldn't work. She knew it wouldn't and no matter of convincing could change your instincts.
AN: Okay, forgive me, this chapter is all angsting and fluff and filler. I hated writing this chapter, especially near the end but the part about Koh had to be said. And yes, Mai's mother is very much out of canon. I know. That's why this is an AU. Hopefully I stuck to the rest of it though, I think my portrayal of Mai is somewhat accurate (hopefully, maybe?)