Chapter Six

Zuko took out his key and unlocked the door to the house he was staying at while in Ba Sing Sei. He rested his hand on the door's knob and sighed. Years... He hadn't seen her in years. What had he expected? Of course she wouldn't still be that little girl he used to spend every waking moment with. That girl who danced even though she was told not to. She wouldn't be that same girl who would sit next to him when he was sick in bed and told him stories or the girl who showed him the neat fire-bending and water-bending tricks.

He sighed again and leaned against the door. But she was so beautiful. Seeing her reminded him why he had fallen in love with her in the first place. He then closed his eyes, straightened up, and walked inside.

The house was very large, with decorations everywhere. Mai walked out of one of the various hallways and smiled at him.

She had long, dark hair that was hanging freely near her mid-back and was, too, from the Fire Nation. She had dark eyes as well and was about the same height as Zuko was.

"There you are! Where've you been?" She looked him over and frowned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said as he walked over to a chair and sat down.

"No you're not," she said as she walked over to him. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Mai."

"Come on, tell me."

"Well," he hesitated. "I ran into Aurora today."

Mai's smile disappeared. "Oh."

"It was so... Awkward. She was all tense and kept calling me Fire Lord and being all formal. She seemed really mad, but I don't know what I did wrong!"

Mai's small smile returned as she walked a little way away from the chair. "Well, I never liked her anyway. She was so... strange. All she was was a little orphan girl that your mother took in as a charity case."

Zuko gritted his teeth but said nothing.

"She used to tell me the strangest little dream she had. Aurora said that if, for some reason, she had to leave, that you would go after her! Isn't that strange?"

"Very..."

Then it hit him, why she was so angry with him.

I've been fine on my own, thank you.

I'm fine, no thanks to you.

Everything fit together in his head at that moment. She actually had her reason to be mad. He hadn't gone after her.

"Well, are you going to get ready?"

Zuko looked up at Mai, still dizzy from what he had realized. "Hm? For what?"

"The ball! Are you sure you're okay? We can just stay here instead."

"No, we'll go. Just give me a few minutes to get ready."

Mai smiled once again and went to go get ready. Zuko followed soon after and prepared for the Emperor's Celebration Ball.

Aurora pulled Min through the crowded streets of Ba Sing Sei, weaving in and out of shops and people. One thing Min noticed was that Aurora was pulling her in the opposite direction of the shop where they had run into the Fire Lord.

"I still don't get why you got so mad at him."

"Because. Now come on!"

They had bought the dresses and where heading in the direction of the houses. Min didn't try to resist. For seeming so young and weak, Aurora was surprisingly strong. The two girls stopped in front of a house and Aurora reached into her small brown bag. She froze and pulled something out of the mail box.

"An invitation! To the ball I told you about! You said you were going, right?"

"No, I didn't."

Min looked curiously over Aurora's shoulder to see a flyer with bright colors, inviting the owner of the flyer to a ball.

"We should go!"

"Oh, I don't know..."

"We should! It would be fun!"

"I'm not even invited."

"Look! It says right here we can bring guests."

"I don't see it."

Aurora pointed to the flyer, and sure enough it was there. Ta Min was out of excuses.

"I don't-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Aurora had dragged her new friend into the house, holding the bag of dresses.

"Look, Aurora," Ta Min said, pulling out of Aurora's grip. "I appreciate everything you've done for me. Really, I do. But... There's just no need for you to keep... Showering me with gifts like this. I have money for myself, and a house... And I don't need to go to any kind of aristocratic party."

Aurora looked Ta Min straight in the eye. "I know you don't need any of these. That's the point of giving gifts. And trust me, I know you can take care of yourself and all that, but what I also know is that you don't seem to have many friends around here. And, well, I don't have many friends around here either." She paused. "If you don't want to go, that's fine. I was just reaching out, because I was trying to be nice."

Regardless of what she thought of that statement, it was pretty much impossible to ignore a face like the one Aurora was making. "I'll meet you here at sunset," she said softly, smiling and taking her own bag of dresses. "I'll give you time to get ready."

Aurora positively beamed. "All right! I'll see you here!" She then bounded back into her own house, as Ta Min began to walk back to the middle ring.