Disclosure

Dar 3: October 13

"Your Highness," Mai heard someone whisper to her. She turned to face them only after she felt someone pressing a piece of paper into her hand.

She saw their face, hidden under the hood of a cloak, and they walked away from her. She let them, figuring their was no harm to any of them. Mai looked down at the folded up piece of paper crumpled into her hand, debating on whether or not to look at it.

But not here, she knew.

It was only after she was alone, with the door closed behind her, that Mai unrolled the scroll in her hand. The words were all scrawled in dark black ink that had been smudged. Mai could tell just by looking at the penmanship that it had been written up hastily.

Her eyes scanned the paper quickly as she read what was written on it. Her eyes widened when she got to the end of the parchment.

"No," she said, horrorstricken. "No."

She ran a hand through her hair, hearing the strands untangling when she neared the tips. Mai rolled the scroll back up, storing it away safely within the the long vest that she wore, and struggled to regain herself.

A minute ticked by.

Then two.

Then three.

Mai flung the door back open, making her way quickly through the labyrinth of palace hallways until she found Zuko. Right where she knew he would be. In the office chambers, reading through documents that requested royal approval.

"Mai!" Zuko said happily when he saw her walk in.

She didn't return his smile. Instead, she cut right to the chase, bringing out the scroll from her vest and holding it out for him to see. Zuko's smile faded when he realized what she held in front of him. His mouth parted, as though he was about to say something, but he closed it again. No words came to mind. None that would make it better.

He couldn't say, Let me explain, because there was nothing to explain.

"You're letting him walk free," Mai said. It wasn't a question. "That much I can understand. He is still your…what I don't understand is why you've been going to him for advice."

Mai's normally monotone voice was starting to have emotion bleed into it. Zuko knew how shocked she must have been. Mai was rarely, if ever, emotional, but now it bled from her like she had been cut.

"Well…you know…they say all advice has some merit," he tried. But it came out feebly. It was a horrible excuse, and he knew it.

"Why him? Why ask him questions like–" she held up the letter again, "–this?"

Zuko could only shrug and hang his head.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"Don't be sorry," Mai told him. "I don't want your regret." She took a few steps forward, and seated herself in front of him. Zuko's head still hung low, and his hands were clasped together in front of him. "He's manipulating you," Mai stated bluntly.

"I know."

Pause. Mai said nothing as she waited for him to say or do something. But he said nothing; did nothing. Perhaps he was waiting for her, waiting for her approval or her anger or her pity. But he got none of it.

Instead,

"You…wanna talk about it?" Mai asked him, a bit uneasily. Emotional conversations wasn't her strong suit, but she was still willing to listen. Anything to tear him free from the downward spiral that she suddenly saw. It had been there for so long; how did she not notice until now?

"Do I have to?" Zuko asked.

Mai shook her head, no.

Zuko thought for a while before he decided to give in, and told Mai everything. Everything he needed to talk about, he wanted to say, all his confusion. And Mai listened.