Title: Interior Design
Rating: K
Character/Pairing: Mai/Zuko
Summary: It's apparently considered a privilege to design the royal apartments.
A/N: Written for a friend who gave me the prompt "flame retardant"
One of her chores as Fire Lady is redesigning and redecorating the Royal Chambers to suit her and Zuko's needs. Zuko, rather stupidly, at first refers to it as a privilege until she cocks an eyebrow and he very wisely backpedals.
Today she and the Keeper of the House are looking at fabrics to replace the curtains in their bedroom. She and the maid are discussing which would be most suitable when the maid tells her frankly, "Honestly, my lady, before you make a decision you should think about the functional role that the curtains will play in your bedroom."
Mai considers this. She's pretty sure that the Keeper is asking if the curtains will be used to block the sun or trap the heat or only for decoration, but what Mai is thinking about is Zuko.
Zuko stalking into the bedroom, his voice raised and his arms flailing as he rages, "Did you see what Toph did to my garden?"
Zuko pacing through the apartment as he mumbles his speech to himself over and over under his breath, wringing a handkerchief nervously between his hands. "The honor of our ancestors - our historical honor - no, no, the honor of our ancestors..."
Zuko, swaying back and forth as he attempts to focus on her from the foot of the bed. "No, I did not open Uncle's good wine. Maybe you opened Uncle's good wine."
"Nothing expensive," Mai finally says. "Nothing that needs to be imported. And nothing that will cost much to be replaced."
"My lady?" The maid raises her eyebrows, clearly surprised at Mai's frugality.
"Did you know," Mai asks quietly, her eyes straying across the bolts of fabric tossed over the chairs and stools, "that firebenders can hiccup flames when they're drunk?"
Originally posted 5/23/2010