I don't own the avatar…but im currently holding zuko hostage in my basement.
I had a rough time sleeping, so I decided to knock out another chapter…YAY
Present (5 years later)…
It had been 3 weeks since the Fire Lord had made his announcement that they were to be having houseguests over the next few weeks. And so much had occurred so fast that it was making the prince's head spin.
His Father had obviously wanted to impress his old friend or else he wouldn't have gone through so much trouble (and money) to fix up the palace. All the servants had been worked to the bone, especially over the past week.
All the bedrooms had been prepared for new inhabitants. The sheets had been washed and re-washed, the floors had been swept and moped and waxed, new furniture was ordered and the rooms were dusted twice a day, every day. The Duke's bedroom had been spritzed with the scent of musk, his favorite, and his Son's bedroom had ornate baskets of gourmet chocolates and pies placed in all corners of the room. (his son was a fat ass). They each would be getting a personal army of servants to tend to their every whim. Everything had to be perfect for their stay.
Along with the rooms, the rest of the castle had also been scrubbed down and newly decorated. All the flowers in the garden had been replaced, and all the water in the fountains and lakes had been purified 6 times. The dining hall had gotten decorated from ceiling to floor, and all the rugs in the corridors had gotten a good scrubbing and beating. Not a spot or stain could be found anywhere and the entire castle smelled like pine needles.
It bothered Zuko that everyone was making such and obvious effort to impress this man. Zuko didn't like the Duke at all. He remembered in his childhood he would always make passes at his mother. He would flirt with her and always try to touch her, he was unsuccessful of course but what made the whole thing worse was that the Fire Lord didn't even care. He actually seemed to enjoy it. And he would always call Zuko 'boy'. Not by his proper title of PRINCE, just 'boy'.
"Out of my way boy" "be a good boy" "run along boy" "how have you been boy?", it drove Zuko insane!!!
And his son Gang was impossible!!! This kid was one of the fattest children Zuko had ever seen. He barely fit in any of his cloths and he was constantly trying to adjust his cloths so they fit him a bit better. And he touched everything too. He couldn't walk down a hall without trying to move the plant to the left a bit or shift the picture on the wall slightly to the right. The funniest time was when Gang tried to fish out the extra fish from their serenity pond in the garden, (apparently there was an odd number of koi fish swimming around and that just HAD to be fixed or else the world would end!)
From what Prince Zuko heard in the past few weeks from the servants and guests at the palace, the duke was RICH!!! He had always been wealthy but in the past 5 years he had profited greatly from the war in the earth kingdom, most particularly in Ba Sing Se. He had taxed the citizens there for every penny they owned and aquired quite a bit of property. He had funded an oil exhibition and when it struck gold he reaped the profits from that as well.
It seemed now that he was the only man in the world who rivaled the Fire Lord's wealth and position, which also probably contributed to the Fire Lords incredible transformation of the palace.
He also had heard word that his son Gang, had gotten engaged, which was somewhat weird due to the fact that he was probably no older than 16 or 17 at the moment. According to one of the guards, she was actually a lot older than he was and very beautiful. From what he could hear from the guards she was an heiress of some kind and was a distant relative of one of the 5 fire sages or something like that. He didn't really pay attention to the details because he really didn't care that much. She was probably coming to stay with them as well.
What a treat! (Sarcasm)
Another spoiled rich girl coming to live with them to steal their food and hospitality. They already had his sister and her friends, Ty-lee and Mai to do that, "what was one more girl going to hurt." He thought to himself sarcastically.
Speak of the Devil, Mai had just come through the dining hall. Crap. He had spent the majority of the day trying his best to avoid her and when he had finally found a few moments to himself in the dinning hall, she found him. Well, his peace was enjoyable while it lasted. He quickly averted his gaze and pretended he hadn't seen her. Maybe then she would go away.
Mai came walking towards him with her usual stiff posture and her melancholy frown. Over the past years her lazy face had taken a toll on her features. Even thought she was still quite young, only a year younger than zuko, she looked much older. The lines at the corners of her mouth began to sag and her eyes became duller every day. The only thing that hadn't faded one bit was her tight and conformed body language.
Once she came within hearing distance he heard her sigh out of boredom to get his attention.
He turned around to address her. "Hey" was all he said.
"Hello Zuko" she droned, "I need to talk to you"
Zuko already knew what she wanted to talk to him about. It was that fucking letter she wrote him. In all honesty he hadn't actually read it. He just trusted what his sister told him and left it at that.
"What about?"
"God! Zuko, you know exactly what and don't pretend you don't!" even when she was upset she still kept it contained and quiet. "Im getting bored of waiting on you"
"Excuse me?" if she was getting so bored of him then why didn't she just move on!
"Just answer me honestly, do you have feelings for me?"
Zuko answered honestly. "Yes" (she never said what kind of feelings.)
"Then why aren't we married!?" it was more of a complaint than a question "I mean im getting older now and I cant wait on you forever to sort your head out over this! I need to know"
Zuko didn't want to look at her. He liked Mai, he really did, it was just that…I don't know, he could never picture himself with her for the rest of his life. He couldn't imagine growing old with her and having children with her, it was just to…ODD!
Don't get him wrong, there was a time many years ago when he did love Mai, honestly and truly. He cared about her and waited on her hand and foot. But over the years her depressing attitude just started to bother him. It was okay when Zuko was feeling like crap because then they could feel like crap together. But whenever Zuko was feeling any other emotion it just became annoying and soon his attraction towards her was replaced with repulse.
Zuko didn't want to answer her question right now. He still needed to think about it. He knew he had already had enough time to think it over but he still needed more time.
"Zuko answer me!" she droned again
Gritting his teeth he stood up and left.
'Whatever' He muttered as he passed her.
Whatever was all he said, but 'whatever' was all Mai needed to set her plan in motion.