"We'll reach the coast tomorrow."
"Yes, I heard the sailors talking."
She didn't look up from the clothes she was folding. The small room rocked gently with the waves; they barely noticed it anymore. Aku was sleeping soundly in a small bed in the corner, snuggled into his blankets. The sea air had gotten colder as they had moved farther and farther away from the Fire Nation. Mai had noticed its toll on both Zuko and Aku—they had both grown a bit more introspective, a bit less contented. She found it strange that she wasn't affected at all.
Her first suspicion had been the firebending, but since Aku could no longer firebend, the idea was immediately dismissed—and not without a small shadow of doubt.
Zuko cast a glance over at the sleeping boy, and extinguished one of the three hanging lanterns in the chamber. At the sudden loss of light, Mai stopped folding clothes and plopped unceremoniously on to the bed.
"What are we going to do, Zuko?" she asked, after a pause.
He hesitated, then lay down next to her and closed his eyes. "I have a vague idea. We can make it."
"You're extremely recognizable."
"I have an idea for that too."
"Our Fire Nation clothes?"
"Easily remedied."
"We're on a ship full of Fire Nation citizens."
"They just think we're on vacation. Word of Aku's kidnapping hasn't reached them yet, we left before it could."
"The news might have reached the coast."
A sharp sigh escaped him, and he propped himself up on an elbow. "Dammit Mai, you have to trust me."
She turned to face him, her expression unreadable to anyone but him. "I do," she said quietly.
Zuko extinguished the remaining lights, and they both got into bed.
"Aku likes you, you know," she heard him whisper as he moved closer.
"I know."
He gently rested his arm over her waist. When he spoke, his breath brushed the back of her neck. "He told me you're teaching him how to use knives."
"I thought it would be a good idea to teach him how to defend himself…"
Without firebending went unsaid.
"I agree. It's a very good idea. Is he learning?"
"Extremely quickly. Faster than I did."
"You didn't have a teacher."
"True. But he is very bright."
Zuko made a noise of assent in the back of his throat, and rested his forehead between her shoulder blades. She laid her hand over his.
"Do you know what he told me the other day?" he said.
"What?"
"He told me he knows why I married you. Because—and this is exactly what he said—'she's beautiful and smart and very nice, and that's the kinda girl you should marry.'"
Mai had to cover her mouth to keep from making a sound, but her shoulders still shook with contained laughter. Zuko chuckled softly behind her.
"The boy's learning quickly."
-x-x-
Thirteen days later…
Zuko had been astonished when Mai asked to carry Aku. (He had, of course, obliged—he may have cared very much for his nephew, but that didn't make the boy feel any lighter in his arms.) Aku had taken to her very well, talking to her animatedly about everything that was going on around them, no matter where they were.
Leaving the colony port was almost too easy. They purchased new clothes, two ostrich-horses, some food supplies, and they were on their way. They traveled with a caravan out of the port; Zuko was careful to keep his face hidden in the shadows of his hood. Then they had slipped away from the caravan after a few nights and ridden off through the wilderness towards Lingsi. That part of the journey was so successful, any doubts that Mai had faded very quickly.
Aku rode with him now, in front of his seat, chatting with the ostrich-horse (whom he had affectionately named 'Pli').
"You have weird fur," he told the animal bluntly, stroking its neck. "It's feathery and fuzzy and green. Do other animals make fun of you? I don't suppose so, since you can't speak other animals' language, right? Can they make fun of you in another language? Oh, wait…you wouldn't know, 'cause you can't understand it…"
"What did you ask that guard?" Mai asked Zuko, moving her ostrich-horse closer so that they could speak over Aku's one-sided dialogue. "Back there, when you wanted to speak with him alone?"
"The Lingsi border guard? I just wanted to know if he knew my friend."
"Your friend?"
"The one we're going to visit."
"Why are we going to visit him?"
"Because I won't feel safe with anyone else, and we can't stay with the rest of the refugees. They'd reject us immediately if they knew who we were—and we can't afford being forsaken by the people who have the power to return us to the Fire Nation."
Mai fell silent, then she heard him mutter: "Although I'm not quite sure she won't reject us, now that I think of it…shit."
He had that determined look on his face again, the one Mai instantly recognized. Usually it meant he had just made a decision that he hadn't wanted to make.
"Let me guess—you don't want to, but we have no choice."
"I don't know what else to do," he replied quietly. "We need to be here to be protected, but I'm not sure mixing in with the refugees is the right thing to do."
"It might make us impossible to find."
Zuko glanced away. "Maybe…"
In truth, Zuko's conscience was killing him. There was someone he needed to see, someone he needed to apologize to. He had been given forgiveness before—perhaps this old friend would be able to do it again.
Doubt clawed at his mind, but he pressed forward. Guilt was driving him on.
-x-x-
"Why are we stopping here?"
"Because if we go any closer, we can't turn back. And this might be a big mistake."
Mai raised an eyebrow. "So…you're rethinking this?"
"That's one way of putting it."
"And you can't do it at the front door?"
"We probably won't even get to the front door."
She opened her mouth furiously to demand exactly what he meant, but he had already spurred his mount on, and she had nothing to do but follow.
It didn't take long for her to realize exactly what he was talking about.
After only a few steps, a wall of earth shot straight for them. Both ostrich-horses shied violently, skirting to the side and rearing their heads. Aku screamed, Zuko fought to keep control, and Mai lost her balance and fell to the ground.
Another one came right after the first, from a different direction. This time Aku tumbled from the saddle, and Mai's mount leapt over the first wall and escaped. Zuko tried to calm his mount enough so that he could get off—
A third wall came from behind them, and not even Zuko could stay on. His ride fled the scene just before a fourth wall rose, boxing them in.
Mai was already standing and ready, a total of 12 knives in her hands. Aku had taken out his own, personal knife bravely, but he hobbled over to hide behind Zuko's legs.
"YOU BASTARD!"
Zuko slowly closed his eyes. Yes, this had been a mistake.
In a flash, a section of the front wall dropped, and in walked a black-haired young woman, her face twisted with absolute fury.
"Toph," he began, but she didn't give him a chance to finish.
"How dare you!" she screamed, pointing a finger at him. He could feel the earth shaking beneath his feet, and Aku clenched the fabric of his pants tighter. "You heartless a—"
"Mai DON'T!" Zuko roared. Mai's arm froze just in time, her knife dangling on the edge of her fingertips. "Wait," he told her breathlessly. "Wait."
"Oh, so you think calling off your homicidal girlfriend is gonna warm me up?" Toph bellowed. "No chance!"
Just as she raised a hand to earthbend (and do something that would probably be excruciatingly painful for all three of them…or perhaps just Zuko), a voice called out: "Toph! Toph, what are you doing?"
She whirled. "Stay back!"
An exceptionally tall young man—although older than her—approached at a run, followed swiftly by an older boy in a wheelchair. The first man was taller than Zuko, with long brown hair that fell to his shoulders and a small mustache. The boy in the wheelchair looked very young, although his height and voice (for he had been the one to call out) suggested he was around Toph's age.
Both pairs of eyes widened at the sight of Zuko. "You!" they both cried at exactly the same time—which may have been funny, under different circumstances.
"Please listen to me," he pleaded, getting down on his knees and pushing Aku behind him. Mai was glaring at them all, stilettos still poised. "Please—"
"No," Toph snarled, raising a hand again—
The tall man gripped her wrist firmly. "Toph," he chided, looking down at her. "Hold on a second."
"Why?" the boy in the wheelchair asked angrily. "We know it's him."
"But we don't know why he's here, and why he hasn't brought the Fire Nation with him."
"They all bring the Fire Nation," Toph breathed, her body still tense. "Everywhere they go."
"I didn't bring it here," Zuko assured her. "I swear I didn't. I left them far behind when I kidnapped the prince."
Mai was torn as to whether that had been a brilliant or stupid move on Zuko's part. It certainly silenced everyone. Not a word was said for several long, drawn-out moments. All three of their captors were simply staring at her husband blankly, astonishment plain on their faces.
"They won't let me back," Zuko said at last. "I committed a capital crime. I'll be executed if they find me. And even if they weren't going to kill me, I wouldn't go back anyway."
"The life of a king not suiting you, Hotman?" Toph snarled. The nickname had its desired effect—Zuko flinched, for reasons unbeknownst only to Mai and Aku.
He watched the boy's corpse in the pouring rain, still poised to attack in case the Avatar suddenly stood up. But he knew he wouldn't. There was no mistake this time, not like at Ba Sing Se. He had aimed for the heart—and he had struck home.
"No. It wasn't suiting me at all," he said quietly. "That's why I left. And I took Mai and Aku with me."
Toph's gaze never turned from Zuko's face, but her furious expression dropped immediately. Zuko supposed she had just 'seen' his nephew, cowering behind his uncle. "Is he Azula's?" she asked, and it was evident she was struggling to keep her voice level.
"Yes."
There was a slight pause, then: "What kind of man would—ow!" The boy in the wheelchair rubbed his arm where the other man had smacked him.
"Not in front of the child," he growled. Mai glanced at Aku, watched his golden eyes flick back and forth between the two strangers in front of him, watched his eyebrows furrow in confusion and his hands take a tighter, more desperate hold on Zuko's arm. She felt her heart sink.
"We need a place to stay," Zuko said quietly.
"That's obvious," Toph snorted, folding her arms across her chest. Evidently, the sight of Aku had made her anger fade somewhat. The gaze in which she held Zuko, however, was still filled with absolutely nothing but contempt.
"We humbly request asylum, if you'll give it to us."
"We grant your request."
Toph turned to her companions, now completely ignoring Zuko, Mai, and Aku. "Haru," she said flatly, a hint of a snarl in her tone. "No. Absolutely not. How could you possibly even think about that?"
Ah yes, that was his name, Zuko thought. He had wondered why the man had looked so familiar.
Haru rubbed the back of his neck. "If they were really against us, they would have targeted the city. They would have brought at least some backup with them. Right now, it just looks like Zuko made another one of his ridiculously short-sighted decisions that you're always telling us about."
Mai snorted quietly in the corner.
"I really don't see why we shouldn't give them a place to stay."
"I can think of a few good reasons," Toph began, spreading her feet and shoving her hands on her hips. But before she could say anything else, the boy in the wheelchair (Zuko struggled to remember his name) spoke up:
"He has a child."
Toph closed her mouth. Haru glanced down at him.
"Teo has a point. If it were dangerous, he wouldn't have brought the child. Logically, I mean."
"You don't know him," Toph hissed angrily. "You don't know what he's capable of. He's murdered a child before."
"We know, Toph," Haru said in a quiet voice. "We all know."
Aku gasped softly, clinging to Zuko even tighter. "She's lying," he whispered. He sounded as if he were desperate for someone to tell him he was right.
Toph whirled, that angry spark lighting her pale eyes once more—
"Please," Zuko pleaded, suddenly frantic. "Toph, don't say a word. I beg of you. I'll do anything."
"Toph," Teo said in a warning tone.
"Let's go inside," Haru announced suddenly with the air of someone who strongly desired a change in subject. "Zuko, you and your family are welcome here."
Toph looked like she was about to explode, but Teo and Haru quickly herded their three 'guests' out of the rock enclosure before she could get a word in edgewise.
"We'll pay for this later," Teo whispered loudly to Haru as the group moved slowly towards the house. The corners of Haru's mouth quirked.
"I know."