Chapter 11: Pressure

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"You going to wake up, Mai?" Zuko asked the next morning, nudging her slightly.

"Do I have to?" she mumbled.

"Sounds like you already have," Zuko chuckled.

Mai moaned and turned away from him, pulling a pillow over her head. She curled up, her knees close to her chin.

"Aw, don't do that, Mai!" Zuko gripped her shoulder, and tugged on her until she was turned back to face him. "I took the day off to spend time with you. We don't have to go anywhere. Don't be afraid to wake up."

"I'm tired, Zuzu!" Mai groaned.

Zuko cringed. "What did you—"

"You heard me. I have a right to call you whatever I want."

"But Azula's nickname for me?"

"Why not? I think it's cute." Mai yawned. "Do you regret waking me up yet?"

"You haven't even opened your eyes," Zuko pointed out. "I'm going to have to wake you up in a better way." Ideas ran through his mind.

Mai flinched. She scooted away, only to be pulled back. She was surprised when she felt a kiss on her finger tips. Then her forearm, shoulder and finally her neck, where Zuko lingered. "What are you doing?" Mai asked emotionlessly.

Zuko stopped. He'd been sure Mai would respond to this, but her emotions were nowhere to be found. "Waking you up. Is it working?"

Mai opened her eyes. "Do you really expect me to wake up just because—"

Zuko cut her sentence short with a kiss. He could tell she was irritated, but he was enjoying it. He put a hand in Mai's hair, keeping her from jerking away. He wrapped his other arm around her waist. It still wasn't enough for him, so he deepened the kiss. Finally, he could tell that he was getting to her. He pulled away for breath. "Awake?" he panted.

"I'm still…" Mai was now aiming to provoke Zuko. She enjoyed his methods, and now wanted to see how far he'd go.

Zuko was kissing her again, and rolled on top of her for good measure. He didn't know why he expected her to keep trying to escape, but he did. But he knew he was way too heavy for her to escape. He ran his fingers along her side. Smiling, he pulled back. "Now?"

"Yes, I admit I'm awake." Mai smirked, rolling her eyes. "You planning to keep going?"

"Oh, I don't know…" Zuko rolled off. "You're so tired." He pulled on a lock of her hair slightly.

Mai sighed. "Then it's up to me." Now she sat up. "We're going to finish this."

Zuko laughed. "You're very awake now, aren't you?"

"Shut up." Mai smirked before initiating a new round of kisses.

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There was a loud knock at the door.

"Go away!" Zuko shouted, turning back to Mai.

"We're healers here to examine the Fire Lady."

"We have a personal healer."

Mai shook her head. "You mean Katara? I don't think she counts."

"You wait a minute," Zuko whispered. Raising his voice, he continued his bid at shooing away the healers. "I'm busy."

Mai smirked up at him. She was definitely succeeding at driving him crazy. "Poor, poor Fire Lord won't share his favorite toy."

"Didn't I tell you to wait a minute?" Zuko asked irritably, trying not to think about his frustration. "You're not just a toy, you're a whole pastime."

Mai let go of a giggle. "Let's pass more time." Mai went at Zuko more aggressively. She was still giggling, and it wasn't helping that Zuko was now tickling her.

"We need to examine the Fire Lady to assess her fertility," the healers yelled to be heard.

"She's fine," Zuko shot back, winking at Mai.

"It's traditional to routinely check up on the Fire Lady. We need to reassure the country that the Fire Lady is capable of producing an heir."

Mai and Zuko wondered why she hadn't been checked on before the wedding. Neither said anything on the subject.

"Neither of us can prove anything if we're always interrupted!" Zuko shouted.

"You mean you're… right now?"

Zuko sighed, looking down at the fully clothed Mai. She was so stubborn… "I'm working on it."

"Then we could come later."

"Do that." Zuko waited until he heard retreating footsteps before turning back to Mai. "Can we speed up now?"

"No. Stay slow for now." Mai smirked at how much Zuko wanted her. He'd just have to want her a little longer. For as long as she could restrain herself, at least.

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Later, Mai submitted to the healers' test.

"Well, Lady Mai, it appears that you are in fact capable of child bearing. With any luck, you'll be pregnant within the month."

Mai looked around at all the smiling healers. She felt like a mare in a breeding farm, easily replaced after her sole duty had been performed… probably several times… Not that Mai would mind several children, but was she really supposed to be a breeding mare who only existed to have a foal and then another and another? Her face started getting hot. Hadn't this been what her mother had raised her for? Hadn't this been what her mother had agreed to become? It was starting to make Mai sick. True, she'd always known this was part of being Zuko's wife. She would be viewed as a means to an heir. She'd have to change that image of herself somehow. "Am I free to return to my husband now?" she asked.

The grins widened slightly, accompanied by nods.

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Topekaia was waiting when Mai exited the room. "Zuko was here, but I sent him away," she said as she took Mai's arm to lead her along. "That man is so attached to you!" Topekaia accompanied this statement with a giggle.

"Why did you—"

"Because I want to spend time with you, and so does Ty Lee! She's practicing Kyoshi style now, but once that's done…" Topekaia frowned. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Mai shrugged. She didn't want to talk about her feelings with anyone but Zuko. It concerned him, anyway.

"Oh, not that again!" Topekaia said. "Tell me! Is it what they said in there?" A thought occurred to Topekaia and she continued in hushed, conspiratorial tones, "Do they think you'll be a bad Fire Lady?" Topekaia's brow was knit in worry, her eyes betraying the desire to avenge Mai's hurt feelings.

"No." Mai hoped that would be enough for her.

"Then they think you'll be able to give the Fire Nation an heir?" Topekaia asked hopefully.

Not her, too,Mai thought. "Is that all I need to do? Is that all that matters?"

"Ah. I understand. Just remember, and I don't know why I am saying this, but you are not a breeding mare or a machine, you are worth so much more than that to a lot of people and if your Zuko is worth a grain of sand on a beach he will tell you so." Topekaia put an arm around Mai. "I hope you don't really care about all of that rot."

"I don't," Mai said, "but it's my past, present and future whether or not I choose to care about it. I'm someone who lives, as a noble and now Fire Lady, to bear sons. I just… know the Order wants me to have an heir for Zuko by year's end… If I lose so much as three months, we're lost."

"Whoa! I never thought I'd be telling you not to get ahead of yourself like that. Is Zuko rubbing off on you?" Topekaia laughed. "Who knows, maybe you're already pregnant?"

Mai laughed now. "That's a good way to cheer me up, Kaia. Smart. Anyway, they just finished poking, prodding, and running every test they could think of on me. I don't think—"

"They could've been wrong," Topekaia said.

Mai didn't want to think she was already pregnant. How could she survive so little time with just Zuko?

"Don't let them get you down, Mai. I know everything will work out."

Mai sighed. "Why can't I go back—"

"Because you're going to eat something with us girls. Zuko will figure it out."

Mai shook her head. "I don't think he will. He jumps to conclusions a lot."

"So send him a note!"

Mai frowned. "A note, huh?"

"There you are!" Zuko called. "How did your appointment go?" Zuko ran up to Mai, wrenching her away from Topekaia.

"Fine. I'm not barren." Mai restrained herself from just melting. She faced Topekaia, giving her a "Sorry, you're on your own" look.

"Great! Does that mean they'll leave you alone?"

"I don't know. I ran off too fast to find out."

"I don't blame you at all," Zuko laughed.

"Fire Lord Zuko," Topekaia interjected in a no-nonsense, almost authoritative tone that no one (except maybe Azula and a few choice members of the Order) dared to use. "I arranged for Mai to have lunch with Ty Lee, Katara and myself. I intend to take her there now."

"Do you?" Zuko was unimpressed.

"Yes. I promise to return her, undamaged and in pristine condition in merely an hour. Satisfactory?"

Zuko frowned, but released his hold on Mai. "Have fun," he said, "I'll go find Sokka and Aang."

"You've chosen wisely," Topekaia said with mock solemnity.

Zuko looked at Topekaia appraisingly for a moment before nodding. "Not a scratch," he said.

"For spirits' sakes Zuko, what do you think we're going to do? Try to locate, interrogate and decimate the Dai Li?"

Zuko rolled his eyes. Not that he'd been able to do that himself. "I'll see you later, Mai," Zuko said as he left.

Topekaia led Mai off, allowing her to look over her shoulder every once in a while.

"Welcome, Fire Lady Mai!" Ty Lee cheered. "How've you been sleeping recently?"

Mai stared. How was she supposed to respond to this? "Haven't slept too much," Mai muttered, sitting by Katara.

"Because Zuko snores?" Ty Lee guessed.

"Because he keeps waking me up. Do you realize he doesn't seem to be able to sleep through the changing of the guard, birds flying around outside, or anyone talking in the halls?"

Her friends laughed.

"Then he expects me to wake up at the crack of dawn with no problem. It's not like it's easy to go back to sleep after 'Mai, do you hear that? What do you think it is? Should I go see if I can kill it?' " Mai shook her head. "He's so silly that way."

Katara laughed especially. "Sounds like he's never gotten over his travels." Then Katara examined Mai. "Is that the only reason you're not sleeping much?"

Mai reddened. "Just leave me alone, all right?" Mai bent her head forward, hiding her eyes with her hair.

"None of that!" Topekaia said with mock sternness, interrupting Katara's apology.

Mai folded her arms. "No personal questioning. And Zuko does not snore."

Ty Lee burst out laughing. "So you defend him now? I'll bet he snores like a saber toothed moose lion and you don't care!"

Katara laughed along. "I've camped with him, Mai. I know he snores."

"From which we can conclude Mai and Zuko really haven't been sleeping much." Topekaia laughed, too.

Mai seized an apple and began eating it pointedly.

"Wow, Mai, you're enjoying that apple, aren't you?" Ty Lee asked with a giggle.

Mai picked up a grape and threw it at Ty Lee, hitting her between the eyes. "That's enough of that," she said.

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After breakfast, Mai learned that Zuko was with Sokka and Aang, sparring. After watching a few minutes, she decided it was time to visit Amaya's library again. When she got there, Amaya was standing right inside, her head cocked to one side. "I heard you got married!" Amaya said.

Mai nodded. "You could have come. It wasn't too far…"

"I did come." Amaya said with a wink. "I just didn't get into the receiving line. I'm not ready for that many people!"

Mai nodded. "Do you still think the plan will work?"

"I'll be your audience, and you can tell me the story! I don't know how the Fire Lady can have stage fright!" Amaya laughed.

"I don't give speeches." Mai shrugged.

"Well, I've got stage fright, too, so I'm not ridiculing you or anything. Go on, let's hear it."

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Mai cleared her throat. "In the thirtieth year of the War, there was a certain general named Fu Yu. In his possession was the blessed talisman known as the Shard of Victory. While it was in his possession, he never lost a battle. However, after destroying a certain Earth Kingdom city, he lost the shard, and couldn't ever find it again."

"Refugees probably took it," Toph said.

"Now that would be ironic," Sokka pointed out.

"What does this story have to do with us?" Aang asked.

"The Order looks up to this general Yu. I think if we made an effort to respect his memory—"

"We don't want to respect his memory! He destroyed an Earth Kingdom city! And probably more than one!" Aang said.

Mai nodded calmly. "So did Zuko. And I am partially responsible for the fall of Ba Sing Se, along with Zuko. Are you seeing a pattern here? You've got to look past things done out of patriotism during war."

The gang was silent.

"So you're saying we should run around the Earth Kingdom looking for this thing? You'll probably never find it," Sokka said.

Mai's eyes flashed.

Zuko stood up so he could walk over to stand with Mai. "I think it's a good idea. Who told you about this?"

"Amaya Kurosawa, that girl who lives in the library."

Zuko nodded. "I trust her. We should try to—"

"Find background information?" Mai gestured to the pile of scrolls she'd carried in beforehand.

Zuko laughed and kissed Mai's forehead.

"Eew, royal cooties!" Toph shouted, smiling.

"Don't worry, Mai is the only one who has to worry about my royal cooties!" Zuko said happily, turning Mai so he could kiss her lips.

Suki and Katara giggled.

Aang and Sokka laughed.

Mai just blushed.

Zuko craned playfully around Mai to get to a scroll. "Does everyone want to—" His eyes landed on Toph. One person couldn't read the scrolls… "I'll just read these out loud if you want."

"Do you really think this will appease your enemies?" Aang asked. "If you do, I'm here to help."

"This plan sounds reasonable," Zuko said.

"Are you just saying that because it's Mai's plan?" Sokka asked.

"No," Zuko said. "This is serious. It's apparently part of the Fire Nation's history, and some people need to see that I haven't turned my back on everything that happened in the past, I'm just trying to redeem my country. I still acknowledge brave soldiers."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Toph said. "I've been wondering why you still have an army."

Mai and Zuko looked at each other.

"Pirates," Zuko said.

"Highway bandits," Mai added.

"And Revolutionaries," Zuko said.

"Don't forget some people actually like the military," Mai said.

"And some people's uncles work in prisons," Zuko chuckled, jostling Mai slightly.

"That makes sense, I guess," Toph said. "Except for all of your newlywed mushiness."

"Actually, that makes sense too; it's just funny," said Sokka.

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Mai opened the door to the room adjoining her room. "Topekaia! We're getting ready to leave in a couple days. You want to come?"

Topekaia smiled, "Is that a question? Of course I'll come! But um, where are we going?"

"The Earth Kingdom. We have all decided that it's the best thing to do. We need to unite the Fire Nation, so we have a quest of sorts planned out."

"Sounds like fun," Topekaia replied, whisking her hair into a pony tail. "What's to be done?"

"Packing. Lots of it. In my case, at least. I don't know how you travel."

"I travel light. You, on the other hand, can't afford that. Though what you'll do with all those robes I don't know."

Mai huffed. "It's not clothes. It's knives. Last time I was in the Earth Kingdom , I got so bored I started throwing them everywhere. I'll need a good supply."

Topekaia nodded. "And I'll be sure to pack boards as well."

"Trees are more fun, but boards will do."

Topekaia rolled her eyes. "If you'll put out the clothes you want to take on your bed, you can take care of your own knives, and then we will have no confusion."

Mai played with a shuriken from her wrist. "Who says I'd have let you pack them for me? Oh, and we'll be wearing Earth Kindgom clothes while we're there. Besides the fact that we'll be riding Appa, we'd like to be a bit… inconspicuous."

"No yellow and red? Pity. Still, I suppose they will have to do."

"My thoughts exactly. However, we will survive. I've done it plenty of times before. Do you have some Earth Kingdom clothes or should I lend you some of mine?"

"I have a couple of outfits, but thank you anyway."

"I'm going to the courtyard to relax now. Zuko has more work to do."

"Of course, Mai," Topekaia followed Mai out of the room.

----------

The turtle-duck pond was still, as the members of the turtle-duck family were preening themselves nearby. Mai sat eating an apple in the shade of the tree. She'd told Topekaia to keep anyone from bothering her.

Topekaia was enjoying her job, and had already scared off three nosy officials.

Mai finished her apple and tossed it into the pond for the fish. As she lazily watched the ripples, she became aware of two dark figures in the branches.

"Topekaia!" Mai cried, dodging fire.

Topekaia was there in an instant, and then both of them were running for cover.

Blasts of fire followed them.

"We can't just keep running away!" Mai said.

"They have to come out of the tree. I could burn the tree, but isn't it kind of… sacred?"

Mai rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's sacred. Just like all the other trees around here."

"Can you see them up there?" Topekaia asked as she deflected more fire.

"No, not from this far away," Mai was squinting, anyway. "There's got to be a way to get them out of that tree…"She thought for a moment and then sent two holsters full of small arrows into the treetop.

There were angry and pained yells.

"That's what you get for not letting me see you!" Mai yelled. "I could have aimed around your skin!"

A moment later, the arrows came flying back.

Mai's eyes widened. There was nowhere to run. She knew well enough that the arrows covered too wide a range to run from. She tried anyway.

Topekaia yelled angrily, but burning the arrows would just burn Mai.

Mai growled to keep from crying out in pain. They'd caught her in the leg. There was laughter in the tree.

Mai jumped up, her leg stinging, and hurried out of range before turning to look at her wound. The arrow was in half way. Hurriedly, she pulled it out.

"Are you all right, Mai?" Topekaia asked.

Mai nodded, examining her own bloodied arrow. "We'll need a new strategy."

Topekaia looked at the tree. "We'd have to scare them out of there. As long as they're in there, they've got an advantage."

"Agreed." Mai pushed Topekaia along as a stream of fire from several sources came right at them.

Mai surveyed the burning grass. "Nobody cares about landscaping anymore," she said with a sigh.

"We'd better find a way to put that out," Topekaia said. "If it spreads, we'll be stuck in an inferno."

Mai nodded. "What if they thought the tree was going to go?"

Topekaia raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Mai hurried out of the way again. The muscles in the back of her leg were tensing uncomfortably. Her skirt was sticking to her leg, making her feel that much more uncomfortable. "We could make it look like the tree was going to come down or burst into flame."

Topekaia's eyes widened in understanding. "I'll look like I'm burning it… then at the last minute… I won't!"

Mai nodded. "And no knives this time. No need making them think they're dead. I want them out, not waiting for you to reveal the trick."

Topekaia nodded. She jumped out in front of Mai and bent a ring around the tree trunk. Lifting her arms, she caused it to rise toward the branches.

The assassins came leaping out of the trees.

"Four of them. They're a detachment, not a group," Mai said.

"Does that mean you think there's someone else?" Topekaia asked, looking around to see if someone else was hiding nearby.

"Not here. They were sent here because they're specialists. Or else the others have a different assignment. That's neither here nor there, so let's focus on the moment."

"Right!" Topekaia ran toward the nearest assassin.

Mai blinked. Hand-to-hand combat? Not likely. She darted around close to the other assassins. Without looking at the first, she sent him flying into the tree trunk. She then ran between that one and the other two.

"Mai?" Topekaia called. "Can I have some assistance?"

Mai swung around the side of the tree and grabbed Topekaia's assassin's collar from behind. She dragged him back to the trunk and pinned him there.

Topekaia was already taking down the other two.

"Did you knock them out?" Mai asked.

"Yeah," Topekaia kicked one once more for good measure.

"Would you put out that fire over there for me?" Mai asked Topekaia, not taking her eyes off the nearest assassin.

"Of course!" Topekaia's adrenaline level was decreasing steadily. She took the opportunity to do something distracting.

"Who hired you?" Mai asked the two conscious assassins calmly and evenly. She was glad she was able to keep the act up through her moderate pain and near fury.

The silent assassins regarded Mai with contempt.

Mai did not react to their defiance. She merely stood in a more comfortable position. "If you're not going to talk now, I can always send you to my uncle, the Warden of the Boiling Rock prison. He has a ninety-nine percent no-escape rate, and ways of making prisoners talk." For emphasis, Mai flicked her wrist and a sharpened steel star was sent whirling at the head of one assassin, barely missing his ear.

The assassin who'd almost lost an ear to the Fire Lady began to sweat.

"So what will it be? A lifetime in the center of a boiling lake, or a more comfortable stay at one of our less severe prisons?"

The assassins were unable to look at each other, due to the angles at which they'd been trapped. There was no way to communicate opinions.

Mai looked to Topekaia. "I am going to fetch some guards to take care of these men. Would you be so kind as to keep watch?"

"Of course, Fire Lady Mai." Topekaia added the title only because the assassins were nearby. "Don't you think you should have your wounds tended to?"

Mai blinked. "What? There's only one."

Topekaia held Mai's arm and showed her a place where the fabric was torn. Sure enough, there was a cut there, too. "Didn't you notice?"

Mai shook her head. "No…"

One assassin laughed. "You're not as observant as you'd like people to think you are, huh Lady Mai?"

Mai looked at the man sharply. "How about I take an appendage off of you?"

"Try me!" the man shouted.

Mai readied her knives.

"Lady Mai, just go get some help. He's not worth your time," Topekaia said loudly so the assassins could hear.

Mai sighed. "You're right. I'll be back very soon…"

"No, don't come back. Once you find some guards, you go straight to the infirmary and find someone who will take care of that."

Mai rolled her eyes. "You're starting to sound like Zuko," she said, walking away.

"Glad to hear it!" Topekaia called after her.

----------

First, Mai gathered a few guards and ordered them to take chains to the courtyard where there would be four prisoners. She managed to hide her arm wound, to her relief. Anyone might leak that information to Zuko.

Just when she thought the coast was clear of informants, Mai encountered Katara in the hall.

"Hey, Mai! How's your day been?" Katara asked, giving Mai a sunny smile.

Mai sighed and rolled her eyes. "Uneventful."

"Really?" Katara asked. "That's hard to believe."

"Why is it so hard to believe?" Mai hoped Katara hadn't noticed her open and bleeding arm. Maybe the red of her dress was disguising it? She shifted uncomfortably.

"Because I heard that a bunch of guards were off to take some assassins into custody." Katara crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "Did you get hurt?"

"No!" Mai said. Too quickly.

"Let me see it," Katara said.

"It's only a scrape; I can go get a bandage." Mai held back.

"I'll tell Zuko."

Mai peeled back the dress sleeve to show Katara the path the arrow had taken across her skin.

"That's messy. You'll need new clothes," Katara said, bending water out of her water pouch.

"There's no need for that," Mai said.

"Do you want the servants to report to Zuko?" Katara asked incredulously.

"Do your thing," Mai said quickly.

"That's what I thought."

The healing only took a few seconds.

"There, it's done. See you later." Mai hurried to get away from her friend.

"Show me the other one," Katara said.

Mai turned a pained expression on Katara. "Please…"

"I'm not going to explain to Zuko, when he comes completely unhinged, that I had the chance to heal you completely, but didn't."

"It would be my fault, though. Because I hid it."

"Ha! That proves you've got one! Show me."

"No, I think I'll just go—"

"Mai!"

Mai scowled as she lifted the hem of her skirt.

"They caught you in a bad place!" Katara mused.

"Whatever," Mai said.

Katara took a few more seconds to fix the leg wound. "The loss of blood didn't bother you?" she asked.

"No," Mai said with a shrug. "Am I done now?"

"Well, I guess you'd better hurry to your room and get changed so that Zuko doesn't find out."

Mai nodded. "I'll see you at dinner."

"Bye!" Katara said as she walked off.

----------

Mai sighed in relief as she arrived in her room and closed the door. She'd made it there without being found!

"According to this missive from a small group of guards," Zuko said from his spot reclining on Mai's bed, holding a scroll open in front of him, "there were four assassins in the courtyard." He sat up. "And they were pinned to the apple tree by flying daggers. Explain."

"What are you doing in here?" Mai asked.

"Don't dodge the question!" Zuko said, standing and walking over to her. "Topekaia was there guarding them. She spoke highly of your tactical abilities."

Mai began to walk toward her closet.

"Tell me what happened!" Zuko was following her.

"Nothing happened!" Mai said, reaching the door.

"There is a patch of burnt grass in the courtyard. Several arrows—the kind you use in your wrist and ankle holders—were found a full inch into the ground. And another one of the same was found a few feet off covered in blood." Zuko's face twitched oddly when he mentioned the blood.

"What makes you think I didn't injure them?" Mai asked nonchalantly, taking her time in selecting a new dress.

"Well, the fact that I can see the rip in your sleeve gives it away." Zuko gripped Mai's arm directly under the aforementioned rip.

Mai looked down at his hand. "I'm not injured," she said.

"Because you met Katara in the hall," Zuko said.

Mai looked at Zuko in annoyance. "Did I really?"

Zuko frowned. "You were supposed to ask if she'd told me."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Oh, Zuko. Only amateurs fall for that one."

Zuko groaned. "Mai, just tell me, please!"

"Why should I?" Mai brushed him off and turned back to her clothes. "Why can't it just be my business?"

"Because now that we're married, it's our business. You were just attacked in our home, Mai! That means you were almost killed within a mile of me! Do you realize that means it's partly my fault? What did I do wrong?"

Mai turned back to Zuko then. "It was all easily fixed, Zuko. I can take care of myself, remember?"

"What if Topekaia hadn't been there?" Zuko asked, taking a step closer. "What if they'd attacked you when you were by yourself?"

"Why speculate?" Mai asked, finally selecting a dress.

"Because I almost lost you!" Zuko grabbed Mai's shoulders and turned her to face him, eyes boring into hers. "Do you understand?"

Mai was thrown off for a moment. "You didn't react like this at the Boiling Rock," she said, trying to shake away.

Zuko's lone eyebrow lowered. "What do you mean by that?"

"You used to trust me more. You left me with a ticked off Azula, remember?"

Zuko bit his lip. "I wouldn't have done that under other circumstances."

"But you did it," Mai pointed out, trying once more to escape. "How is it any different now?"

"Because now it's in my power to help you, and back there it wasn't." Zuko kicked Mai's closet door closed. "Topekaia won't come in here, will she?" he asked.

"She will if she's really, really bored and wants to know what I've got in here," Mai said, trying to shrug but finding it impossible with the way Zuko held down her shoulders.

Zuko shook his head. "Somehow I think you're the only person who could ever get that bored."

"What are you trying to do?" Mai asked, though she already had a good idea.

"Well, we have time to kill," Zuko said with a shrug.

"Your point?" Mai asked, slipping behind her mask.

Zuko rolled his eyes and grunted in frustration. "Not that again," he complained.

Mai quirked a smile for a moment, then reassembled her mask. "Why not?" she asked.

"Because," Zuko said as they reached the wall, "I'd like to see what kind of effect I have on you."

Mai raised an eyebrow. "Would you, now? Well, I'd like to see how long I can stay under control. How about we start our collective testing?"

"All right," Zuko said before kissing Mai roughly on the lips.

Mai prided herself on her control. She kept a completely straight face as Zuko went to work on her.

Zuko pulled back in annoyance. "Nothing?" he asked.

Mai, in answer, merely gave him a blank look.

Zuko frowned. "All right, I don't like this game."

Mai smirked at him. "I'm perfectly content to keep going as long as possible."

Zuko narrowed his eyes at her. "This means war," he said.

"Then fight," Mai said, sticking her chin out defiantly.

"I will!" Zuko started attacking her clothes.

Mai laughed at him. "Already, my lord? Are you that savage?"

Zuko looked up at Mai in irritation. "Savage, maybe, but at least I'm not moping, right?"

Mai laughed again. "I'm done being bored," she said.

"Finally!" Zuko yelled, and was glad he'd closed the door.

"We should start that quest soon," Mai said, ducking away from Zuko momentarily.

Zuko growled, irritated once again. "Fine, just get back here!"

"So you can ruin my clothes?" Mai teased, pretending to be scandalized.

"Yes!" Zuko said, making a point by ripping Mai's sleeve from the point where it was already ripped.

"Zuko, I could have gotten that fixed!" Mai said irritably, pulling the sleeve off.

"Not now," Zuko said, and ripped off the other sleeve.

"Stop that," Mai said angrily. "That was uncalled for!"

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Our thanks to the kind people who took the time to review: gloomy maiko lover, Kimjuni2, NeverTooLate03, and Silvereyes12.