A/N: This is chapter two and promises more Mai/Jee romance/angsty tension. This entire chapters takes places solely in the season one episode of "The Storm" and gives light to the background that this story is built on. This will also be used for my final entry for my seven Mai fanworks for the atlaland challenge.
Warnings: Mai/Jee pairing (and thus some May/December elements. Haha, "May/Mai"). And, beware of season one spoilers revolving around Zuko and "The Storm" episode. Also, hints of Mai/Zuko, also known as Maiko.
Detours
Chapter Two
By: Nuit Songeur
They are still following the Avatar, but Jee has lost the trail since their encounter with the pirates. It was entirely Jee's fault that they had lost him, even though Mai never punished him for it. But Jee is still angry, although Mai has no idea imaginable as to why he should be. She mostly brushes it off until she hears whispers, and the whispers don't make her very happy.
Words like spoiled, selfish, and heartless reach her ears. She is almost disappointed she does hear doesn't give a damn.
"There is a storm coming," General Iroh says one day, after staring at the horizon for quite a long time. Mai looks in the direction he indicates but sees nothing out of the ordinary, not a single cloud.
"How can you tell?" she asks, turning toward him.
"I can feel it." Mai never doubted Iroh's predictions before so she does not start now.
"We'll need to find shelter," says Jee, coming from behind. "There's a dock nearby." Mai doesn't look at him as he approaches but stares ahead. Normally, she would suggest the same thing, but Jee's behavior as of late irritates Mai, so she does anything she can to disagree with him.
"We've been through storms before," she says. "We will not dock. We will continue looking for the Avatar that you have lost, Lieutenant." She smells the smoke curling from his fingers before she sees it.
"But ma'am," he protests through tight lips. "The safety of the crew—" Mai turns, fixing him with a cold glare.
"If the safety of the crew matters to you," she says, "then you would not have made such an incompetent blunder. You would have not have compromised my return home. The safety of the crew means nothing. We will continue our search for the Avatar." Mai turns her back to him, formally ending their conversation.
"You make me sick," he hisses from behind. "You're nothing but a pampered girl who knows nothing about the world and only cares about herself. We've been at sea for over two years, and you've never showed any interest in going home. You're not the only one on this ship, ma'am."
Mai does not move nor does she allow her expression to change. Hiding her disgust was easy; stopping herself from hurling a knife at the lieutenant was relatively difficult. She hears him getting closer.
"Hey! Did you hear me? I'm tired of you treating us like infected hogmonkeys—" Jee places a hand on her shoulder and before he can say anything else, she has him on the ground, a sai to this throat.
"Choose your next words carefully, Lieutenant," she tells him softly. Not a single muscle changes her placid expression. Everything is still on the deck for several minutes and it seems as if no one breathes. Iroh does not intervene, although Mai really wishes he would. She's desperately wanting to shove her blade through Jee's windpipe.
Finally, Jee says, "My apologies, Captain." Mai doesn't nod or help him to his feet as she straightens up and withdraws her weapon. Instead, she ignores Jee altogether and leaves the deck, slamming the door behind her as she does so.
Mai is angry but does no show it. She is enraged at the lieutenant for his insolence. She wants to hurt him like she has never hurt anyone before.
Mai has made it a habit of hiding in the rafters of the lower decks. No one finds her there except Iroh sometimes, and it is there that she learns the secrets of her crew and the… whispers about her. Tonight it is where she hears Iroh narrating her story to them after walking in on Jee and the others cursing her name.
"Mai is a misunderstood young woman," he begins, taking his seat. "She is not troubled or spoiled as some would like to think. Instead, she has made rather mature sacrifices at an uncharacteristically young age, choosing to be punished for someone else's mishap. My nephew, the Prince Zuko, attended a war meeting where he insulted a respectable general. As punishment, Zuko was to fight an Agni Kai. Thinking he was going to fight the old general, he instantly agreed. However, since it occurred in the Fire Lord's war room, he had insulted his own father.
"Ozai planned to duel his son himself. No one knew of his plan, except for his beloved daughter who gloated the information to her friends, the daughters of two noblemen: Ty Lee and Mai."
At the mention of her name, there is a murmur of ghostly unrest among her crew. Mai looks away from their fire and at her own hands.
"For reasons unknown to most people, she requested an audience with the Fire Lord and somehow convinces him to not duel with Zuko."
Mai remembers the conversation exactly:
"Ah, Miss Mai, a beloved friend of my princess. How may I help you?" Mai does not hesitate or hedge around her purpose.
"My Lord, Prince Zuko will not fight you." Abruptly, Ozai's guard is up, and his deceptively warm eyes narrow in suspicion. Mai betrays no emotion.
"Explain yourself." Mai gets on the floor and bows, keeping her head close to the floor. Her nose barely skims the tiles. She knows that if she makes one error, all could be lost and Ozai could very well ask for her head.
"Princess Azula has confided to Ty Lee and I of your plans to punish the prince," she says evenly, voice devoid of any sort of inflection.
"Then she has placed a certain amount of trust in you that would be foolish to betray."
"Yes, Your Highness. I would never dream of betraying Princess Azula's trust or yours. However, I am here to say that I believe you know as well as I do that your son will not fight you in the Agni Kai you have planned for him." There is a long silence as Ozai considers her. She can tell what he is thinking, wondering if she is here to defy him, but she is not.
"I know my son," he says finally. "He will refuse the fight once he sees me, but he will be a fool to do so."
"What will he suffer for his refusal?" Ozai considers the question.
"Banishment. He will be in exile unless he finds the Avatar and brings him to the Fire Nation." Mai almost flinches, but years of practice stifles the urge. Instead, she sucks in a large, steady breath, preparing for the words she will say next.
"I request, my Lord, that you give his punishment to me instead." Mai senses, rather than sees, Ozai's astonishment. Had he not been in control of his senses, Mai would venture to guess that her words would cause him to stumble back.
"And you will do this? Never return to your home until you have the Avatar secured?" Mai does not pause.
"Yes, I will." She hears him breathe through his nose as he circles, almost as if he wants to chuckle but he does not. Mai's heart hammers wildly in her chest as she awaits for his answer.
"Zuko must fight an Agni Kai," he muses. "I suppose he could fight the general as he thinks he will."
Mai's chest swells with what she thinks is elation, but she remains silent.
"You do realize that, once you are banished, you will not be able to save him from other infractions while you are away?"
"Yes, Your Grace."
"Rise."
Mai does as he says quickly, and does so fluidly. She keeps her head titled and her eyes still trained on the floor. She feels his smile beside her, filled with his innate cruelty and amusement at her offer.
"May I ask why you would take his place?" This time, Mai looks at him straight into his eyes, the smile she imagined perfectly etched into his face. Her expression is blank, completely smooth.
"Is it wrong to love the one I was groomed to marry?" she asks. Ozia's smile changes now. It turns rueful, almost regretful. Almost.
"You would have been a wonderful addition to the Royal Family. I give you my blessing over your search so that you may still be."
Mai merely nods her respect and leaves his presence.
Oh yes. Mai remembers the encounter perfectly. Iroh continues.
"On the day of the scheduled Agi Kai, Prince Zuko fought the general he thought he was going to fight. He struggles, but eventually manages to become victorious. I was there. But there was a seat next to the Princess Azula that was missing."
"Mai's seat," Jee supplies, in a tender voice that Mai would have never imagined he would have when referring to her. Iroh nods at Jee's guess.
"That's right. The next day, I get a reassignment from Fire Lord Ozai. I was to accompany the banished noblewoman, take care of her, make sure no harm befell her. I am in her charge and, should she ever find the Avatar, to ensure she returns to the Fire Nation safely."
"Why would she do that? For Zuko?" Jee asks suddenly. Mai cannot name the emotion in his words and imagines Iroh shrugging, wondering if the retired general knows.
"Perhaps you should ask her yourself," Iroh says, chuckling. Mai smiles to herself, knowing she would never tell Jee that about herself.
"But why…" Jee stammers, struggling to find the right words. "Why does she not care about finding the Avatar? Why does she sit and do nothing?"
"Now, Lieutenant," Iroh says somewhat reproachfully. "Since we've found the Avatar's existence at the South Pole, she has been, undoubtedly, more interested." Mai knows Iroh is right. She'd been putting more effort in doing things and giving orders since the South Pole.
"I haven't seen that much change in her. It's almost as if she's toying with us. She doesn't care, she doesn't… feel anything." Jee's remark stings Mai more than she would have thought, so she curls into herself to keep the hurtful words at bay.
"Doesn't she? Or has she been taught to have that appearance?" Mai finds herself listening more intently and the blood thrums through her ears as she anxiously waits for Iroh to continue.
"What do you mean?" Jee asks.
"Mai is a girl born of the Fire Nobility, taught in the ways of the aristocracy. I would gamble to say that Mai seems like that to you because she's used to punishment whenever she shows emotion. She keeps herself locked away behind a mask, a true courtier."
"But she's not at the palace any more," Jee presses half-heartedly.
"Old habits die hard, Lieutenant."
Mai is completely baffled by how much Iroh knows of her. She had never shared that with him. Did he know her mother, then? Know what she was like? Or perhaps he had heard Mai murmur in her sleep, things like 'Yes, Mother' or 'I'm sorry, Mother." Iroh stretches, yawns, and rises from his seat.
"However, it is not my place to say for sure, but now you will all understand our captain a little bit more."
Mai hears Jee opening his mouth to respond, but a loud boom rocks the ship, knocking everyone off their chair and causing Mai to desperately cling to the metal beams so she wouldn't fall. The ship levels off, and Mai climbs back easily on her perch.
"The storm!" Jee exclaims. "I think we were hit." Mai hears them assess the situation some more as she hurries to the deck to see the damage.
The rain is sheeting and pelts her face and clothes enough to where she is completely soaked through in mere seconds. She surveys the tower where the navigation room is and sees specks of broken glass and the small shapes of dangling metal.
One shape bears a strong resemblance to a human.
The others are suddenly on the deck with her.
"The helmsman!" she has to yell over the roar of waves and thunder, pointing up at the top of the tower.
Jee is beside her and looks at Mai in a way that seems he is appraising her and wants to make amends. It makes her uncomfortable so she turns away and races to climb the emergency ladder welded into the side of the tower. Jee follows her, always a few steps behind because Mai is smaller, faster.
About halfway up, Mai feels her hair rise and her neck tingle. She glances down to see Iroh redirecting a bolt of lightning away from the ship. She focuses her attention back up and climbs a few more steps before hearing the terrified scream of the helmsman as he loses his grip and falls.
Mai catches his hand just as it is passing her face, but the sudden weight of another man pulls her down and her small hands threaten to release him. She may be faster than Jee and stronger than other girls her age, but that does mean she is strong enough to hold up a man twice her size a hundred feet in the air.
Mai hears a muffled scream escape from her throat without her consent as the weight of the helmsman threatens to rip her arm off. The pain is suddenly relieved when Jee reaches out to grab him around the waist, pulling the helmsman to safety.
Mai's arm hurts like hell but she is mentally grateful that Jee followed her up the ladder. He looks up at her with a hint of a smile on his face. Mai feels a ghost of one barely touch hers but does allow her eyes to soften down at the lieutenant.
Once they're all down, the helmsman is treated in the hospice and Mai rubs friction into her arm to somewhat subdue the chill in her bones. She glances suspiciously at Jee and the others, wondering how they're largely unaffected by the rain, and spots their plated armor with a hint of jealousy.
She notices Jee standing closer to her looking… uncomfortable? She turns to him with her characteristic blank expression, waiting for him to say whatever he has on his mind. He is hesitant to speak and scratches the nape of his neck. Mai understands now— he's felt that they've connected over rescuing a life together. He thinks that they might have bonded.
Mai admits, it's a rather foolish notion on his part. Nothing has happened except that he knows about her past. She thinks that he could apologize for his previous words, but knows that since he is male, it is a lost hope.
Mai is about to turn away from him when she sees a shaped mass of white fur over Jee's shoulder. She blinks at it and recognizes the sky bison.
"It's the Avatar," she points out in an uninterested voice. They all turn at her words and see the Avatar's bison flying away." Jee is suddenly all business.
"Shall we pursue him, ma'am?" Jee asks. Mai gives him a blank stare.
"Well, we can't really go anywhere without a helmsman, can we?"
She turns from them all, wishing to be left a lone, and heads for the stern of the ship now that the rain has died down.
Katara glances down at the ship they have soared above. It looks like the ship that Lieutenant Jee runs, but she can't be sure. They are already too far away and the rain is too thick to discern any distinguishing details. She wonders, briefly, who is Jee's captain. They have never seen him before.
There is a figure onboard that Katara can't quite identify. They look feminine and are completely drenched, but there is something familiar about the styled black hair.
But, they are out of sight before Katara can name them.
Mai knows she should probably change clothes. It has long since stopped raining, but her current robes are still soaked. She runs her fingernails against the slightly warped railing of the ship, feeling the dampness collected around the edges. She shivers as a breeze passes through the waning sunlight and hunches her shoulders closer together for the slight amount of warmth.
She hears someone walking towards her but doesn't turn, thinking it's Iroh come to comment on her earlier actions. But when they speak, the voice sounds nothing like Iroh.
"That was rather impressive," says Jee instead. Mai ignores him completely and stuffs her hands under her arms. She hears him sigh, and his discomfort rolls off of him in waves. Almost instinctively, she hears his thoughts and knows that it would be so much easier for him to talk to her if she were male. Saving a man's life together would have constitute as some sort of bonding between them, but it's different. Jee doesn't know of the complex ways of feminine nature.
Her lack of response, if only, seems to prompt him. She senses his unspoken apology hanging in the air behind her, and before she can do a single thing, he turns her around and kisses her.
Mai is stunned, and her astonishment initially just measures with her wide eyes. Within a moment, she understands that this is how Jee is apologizing, but the moment is brief and soon Mai doesn't understand. Why is he kissing her? It doesn't make any sense for him to do so.
She disentangles herself away from him, individually prying his fingers from her shoulders. She fixes him with a cold glare as she systematically brushes Jee's smell off of her.
"I wouldn't suggest doing that again, Lieutenant," is all she says as she walks past him to return to her cabin for the evening.
There you are! I hope you enjoyed. Please review, and I can almost assure that I plan to add more chapters. The Katara excerpt is reference to the common mirror Zutara pairing in this 'verse. So, in this story it's presented as Mai/Katara. Thus, more is to be added.
-NuitSongeur