Somewhere in the back of her mind, Mai had known they would lose. But that didn't make the sight of smashed ships and dead soldiers surrounding them any easier.
Zuko had captured the Avatar only to lose him again when those two Water Tribe kids caught him and the girl had knocked him out. If it hadn't been for the Avatar's naive kindness Zuko could have frozen to death in the snow.
The Fire Nation troops were completely wiped out. Zhao had indeed succeeded in killing the Moon Spirit only for Princess Yue to sacrifice her life to save it. Then the Avatar, merged with the Ocean Spirit, had gone into a rage, sinking ships and killing Fire Nation soldiers right and left.
The only good thing to come out of this was that they no longer had to worry about Zhao hot on their trail anymore. The Ocean Spirit had taken care of that; Mai couldn't help but smirk as she remembered Zhao's last moments. Good riddance, creep.
She sighed, turning her gaze to a sleeping Zuko. He didn't even seem to care that they'd lost, that he'd lost once again. I'm tired, was all he'd said before lying down on the raft at their feet.
"So now what?" she asked no one in particular. The next step seemed obvious, follow the Avatar to wherever he planned to go next, but after what they'd been through in the last week was it worth it? Was Zuko really that stubborn, that he'd continue this impossible chase? Iroh offered no answer, his focus was on steering them past the wreckage.
Mai glanced at Zuko once more, then carefully eased his head onto her lap, stroking his bruised cheek. Zuko made a small noise in his sleep, fingers clutching the folds of her robes.
They were truly on their own now.
*
And thus ends my "coverage" of Book One. Starting with Book Two, these chapters will probably get longer and I'll most likely be branching out from the episodic drabble format. Many thanks to everyone who's reviewed the story so far!