Chapter 21

Within a short time, the others decided to turn in as well, each finding their own little corner, paired off into couples--with the exception of Mai and Jet.

Toph had thoughtfully provided beds for everyone, using her own flick of the wrist to create the surprising comfort that Aang was so impressed with. The cave was large with alcoves enough for everyone to have semi-private sleeping quarters.

Mai found herself in a little alcove off to one side, out of the way of major traffic, but with a direct line of sight out of the cave and off to the fire that was burning itself down outside. Someone—probably Toph—had even bended away the stalactites that used to hang overhead, she noticed. She wondered if Jet had said something to her. She also noticed that even though her bedroll was single sized, Toph had provided a double sized bed.

Jet poked his head around the corner, causing her to blush a little for no reason whatsoever.

"Do you need anything?" he asked quietly.

"No, I don't think so," she answered, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Wow, this is surprisingly comfortable," she couldn't help but exclaim.

Jet laughed. "Toph did a great job on them, I'd say," he replied. "Well, I'm going to take first watch if you need anything."

Just then, Aang walked up. "Did I hear you say something about taking first watch?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jet answered. "I'm not sleepy anyway. Too much on my mind, I guess. I thought I'd just take the first shift and you and Sokka could fight over the others."

"We won't need a watch," Aang responded with a grin. "Check this out."

Then with a gesture, he closed up the cave entrance Toph had created, so only a little skylight remained. "Fresh air," Aang explained.

Behind him Jet could hear Mai's sharp inhale as the cave grew much darker, illumined only by the glows of scattered lamps. She didn't like caves, he remembered. "Are you okay with this?" he asked.

"Sure," she answered, but he could hear the lie in her voice.

Part concerned, part teasing, he sat next to her, put a strictly friendly arm around her shoulder, and asked, "Mai, are you afraid of the dark?"

"Of course not. I am not a child," she snapped, clearly unamused.

"Then what about this bothers you?" he continued gently, noticing that even as she snapped she did not pull away from him.

She only shivered a little in reply.

"Hey, I'll put it back like it was," Aang said genially from the doorway. "Didn't mean to make anyone uncomfortable."

"No," Mai commanded. "There's no reason to do that. I'm fine. Jet's overreacting."

"Okay," Aang acquiesced. "Then good night, all."

"Good night," they responded. As Aang's light footfalls moved further away, Jet started to get up but realized that Mai had reached out to grab a handful of his shirt.

"So, I'm overreacting," he teased, running his finger down the knuckles of her clenched fist.

She quickly let go of him and moved away. He wished he hadn't said anything.

In the sunshine, Mai was so confident, so controlled. But put her in the dark and something changed in her. It had happened in the swamp. In the daylight, she'd managed to take out nearly a dozen bandits singlehandedly and never even got a hair out of place.

But that night, she'd clung to him. Now, here in the darkness of this wonderful earthy shelter, she was edgy and nervous again.

"Hold on a minute," he said as he stood. "Let me get you a lamp, okay?"

She reached out to grab his arm as he began to walk away. "I'll be right back," he promised and she reluctantly let go of him.

It really was pretty dark in there, he realized as he began to poke through his supplies for another lamp. They'd already placed the few good ones he had and had used up all the oil in his stores to fill them.

In fact, he knew they didn't have the oil to burn them all night anyway and his searching grew more difficult as Sokka and Aang blew out the ones that lighted their areas in the back, leaving the lamp in the front of the cave as the only one still burning.

He walked over to pick that one up to move it closer to Mai's alcove. He'd see that it stayed lit all night if necessary. But as he turned to walk back toward the alcove, he nearly ran into her. She had her bedroll in her arms.

"I can't stay in there," she explained a little frantically. "It's too small. I can't breathe."

Jet looked around. Toph had created one sleeping area in the large open chamber next to his supplies. He'd sort of claimed that one for himself. "Do you want to take my spot?" he asked. "I can trade with you."

"No!" she blurted anxiously. Then after a deep breath, she added, "We don't need to trade or anything. I'll just sleep on the floor." The lamplight reflected in her eyes, which were wide open in nervousness.

"That's ridiculous," he replied. "There's no need to be uncomfortable."

He took her by the elbow and guided her to the double sized bed Toph had made for him, noticing that the stalactites had been bended away above it as well. He set down the lamp and took the bedroll from her grasp, laying it out next to his.

"There you go, a nice open space with a skylight and a lamp," he said as she lay down carefully on the far edge of the bed. "Is that better?"

"Yes," she answered reluctantly.

He sat on the other far edge and pulled off his boots. Then with a habitual check that his sword was within easy reach, he lay down with his back to hers, pulling his blankets around him.

"I don't know why this is bothering me so much. It hasn't been this bad in years. I feel so stupid," Mai whispered in the darkness. Her voice echoed a little against the walls.

He rolled over to face her. "It's not stupid at all," he whispered in reply. "Everybody has something they aren't comfortable with. Caves just aren't your thing."

She turned over to face him as well. "It's not just the cave," she admitted quietly. "You were right before. I don't like dark places."

"Why?" he asked. "There's nothing in the dark that--"

"Isn't there in the light," she finished sharply for him. "I know, I know. Like I said, I'm not a child."

"My apologies," he replied politely. "I meant no insult. So why does the dark bother you?"

She sighed and pulled her pillow under her head a little more firmly, moving herself just a bit closer to him. "I'm not sure I want to tell you. It's so silly and it happened a long, long time ago," she replied.

"Tell me," he answered. "Maybe you'll feel better when you do."

Mai took a deep breath and began to tell him of a time when she was a little girl, only seven or so, in her first year at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. She'd been fortunate enough to befriend Princess Azula within days of beginning school and had been very impressed with the princess's firebending skills. Azula, on the other hand, had been very non-impressed with Mai's lack of firebending ability.

"You just aren't trying," Azula would say. "It's not like it's hard."

During their first school break, Azula had invited Mai to come stay at the palace. She'd been thrilled to accept. On their second day there, Azula had told Mai they were going exploring. They'd wandered through the grounds until they'd come to a large storage building. Down in the basement, they'd gone into a room full of barrels and boxes.

Mai was looking into a box full of writing paper when the room went dark. She turned just in time to see the door close, cutting off the light from the hallway. "Azula!" she'd cried in fright.

Mai had run to the door, pounding on it. Underneath she could see the golden glow of a little band of lamplight. "Azula, let me out!" she'd called.

"No," had come Azula's cool answer. "You need to learn to firebend. This door locks on both sides. I hid another key in one of those boxes and wrote 'key' on the outside. All you have to do is bend enough fire to read by and find the key. It won't be hard. See you in a little while!"

Mai had watched the little band of light fade away under the door as Azula's footsteps echoed lightly down the hallway. Then the darkness had been complete.

She'd tried to bend. She'd tried with every fiber of her being to create any light at all as the ratweasels had scurried around her in the darkness, as the webs of spidermoths had broken across her face.

Then she'd decided to just open all the boxes, and she pulled recklessly at the first one, breaking her fingernails against the wooden crate top. Just as she prepared to stick her hand into the unknown, she wondered what might be inside.

She froze. What if there were knives in it? Or ratweasel traps? Her seven year old imagination had run wild with possibilities. She'd forced herself to search the box, gritting her teeth against the terror as she plunged her hand inside.

More paper.

She moved to the next one, but instead of getting easier, it got harder. Three times she started to stick her hand down into the crate, and each time her heart raced in panic.

What if there was something horrible inside? What if something reached up out of the box to grab her hand? What if a ratweasel had gotten in somehow and was just waiting to bite her finger off?

Then out of nowhere, something furry ran across her foot.

She screamed.

Then she couldn't stop screaming.

She'd screamed until her voice grew hoarse.

She'd screamed until Zuko had come to the door and unlocked it, letting in a shaft of golden yellow light that came from the palm full of fire he held in his hand.

"I guess I fell in love with him right at that moment," she admitted sheepishly. "He told me that Azula had been bragging about how she was going to teach me to firebend."

Then she sighed. "Anyway, I haven't been too fond of dark places, closed in places, or ratweasels ever since," she concluded with a shudder. "Silly, isn't it?"

"It isn't silly at all," Jet said, reaching out to pat her on the arm. "Like I said, we've all got something that bothers us."

"Even you?" she teased.

"Even me," he answered. "Now go to sleep. I'm going to leave the lamp burning and there are no ratweasels in here. Besides, you're armed."

"Always," she yawned. Then she rolled over with her back to Jet again, but in the process also placed herself even closer to him.

He tried to close his eyes and sleep. But his eyes wouldn't stay closed. Instead, he lay there in the near darkness and looked at her.

He watched as the flicker of the little flame of lamplight danced in golden-red reflection on the shiny fabric of her silk blouse.

He wondered how it would feel to place his hand on her shoulder, to touch that silky warmth.

He almost did it.

Instead he reached up to straighten his pillow and his fingers brushed against her hair as it lay spread out on the bed beside him.

She lay within a handsbreadth of him. Little tendrils of escaping hair actually lay against him, touching his shirt. He reached out to brush them lightly with a fingertip.

He thought to himself that he should be a gentleman and at least move to the edge of the bed. Or better yet, sleep on the floor himself.

Then he remembered that he wasn't a gentleman.

What the hell.

He moved closer to her, pulling her into his arms as if it were yet again the most natural thing in the world to do.

She sighed and snuggled against him.

The next morning Mai woke as Aang recreated Toph's entrance, this time as an arbor with vines that climbed in stony beauty up the walls.

Jet was not there—not anywhere in the cave as a matter of fact, she realized in confusion.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Looking out past Aang, she could see Jet at the firepit, a nice blaze already begun.

"How did you get out here?" Aang asked curiously.

"You left a skylight," Jet replied with a little grin and a gesture to a grappling hook and length of rope that lay nearby. "I woke up early and decided to get the fire going. It's a little chilly."

Mai looked beside her to see that Jet's bedroll was gone. She glanced around to see that it lay in a tidy bundle against the wall of the cave. Was he trying to protect her reputation? she wondered with a private smile.

She joined him at the fire, reaching out to warm her hands. The blaze did feel good, she had to admit. The sun was on the rise, sending pink and purple fingers of light up from the horizon.

"So, did you sleep well?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Sure. How about you?" he replied, just as easily.

"Very well, thanks," she answered.

"Good," came his friendly response. Then he stood up and picked up the kettle. "I'm going to get some fresh water. We could all probably use some tea."

"Tea sounds wonderful to me. I'll give you a hand with that," Mai offered as she stood up as well.

Aang might have given them an odd look, but neither of them noticed as they walked into the cave.

"The stream is in the far back corner," Jet warned her. "Are you sure you want to venture in that far?"

"Yes," she answered. "I'd like to see it. Katara said there was a waterfall."

Jet paused beside the lamp that had illuminated their sleeping area and picked it up to take with them, but completely failed to notice how seriously lacking in oil it had become as it burned through the night.

Quietly, they passed the alcoves where the rest of the group still slept. Soon, Jet had to light the lamp to provide illumination enough to see where to walk. Mai followed close behind him.

After a couple of turns, she began to hear the sound of falling water echoing ahead of her. The floor was a little rough and she stumbled a time or two. "You okay?" Jet asked, concern in his voice. "We can go back."

"No, I'm fine," she answered and to her surprise really meant it.

Suddenly the passageway opened up into a large room. "Here we are," Jet declared, holding the lamp up high so she could see the water pour from the ceiling.

The waterfall wasn't huge, but it was so tall she couldn't see the top of it in the dim light. Mai followed the water with her eyes to where it fell into a small deep pool there in the center of the room.

Jet handed her the lamp and knelt down beside the pool to refill the kettle.

"This is incredible," Mai breathed. "I've never seen anything like it."

"That's because you aren't a cave person," Jet laughed. "I've seen things in caves that put this to shame."

"Like what?" she asked curiously.

Jet pulled the now full kettle out of the water and set it down carefully. Then he led her to the rocky, damp cave wall.

"Do you see the way the limestone has melted away over the centuries?" he asked.

She looked where he was pointing at the wall before them and could see places that looked like melted ivory candle wax. Then she nodded.

"There's a cave on the other side of Omashu where the limestone has melted and run like this, only it's probably a hundred feet tall and a hundred feet wide. It looks like a giant frozen waterfall," he stated in a quiet voice. "I had to crawl probably half a mile on my belly to get to it. I don't think anyone else has ever seen it."

"Nothing on earth could make me crawl a half mile underground," Mai replied with a shiver. "I don't care how impressive the view was at the end."

Jet gave her a sheepish look. "I was being encouraged by the fact that the authorities were looking for me on the surface," he admitted. "A half mile underground was far preferable to ten years in prison for robbery of a Fire Nation official."

"Is that how you found this cave?" she asked with a hint of laughter in her voice. "On the run from Fire Nation officials?"

"Actually, for this one I was on the run from Earth Kingdom authorities," he sighed. "Not the time in my life I'm the proudest of." He reached out and stroked the damp wall, as if taking comfort in its solidity.

"I can appreciate that," Mai said, putting her hand on his arm. "We've all got times we aren't particularly proud of. You've probably heard all about mine."

"Honestly," Jet began, turning to face her squarely, "I really don't know much about you." Then he realized that might sound harsh and added, "I mean about you before you became representative to Omashu. I'd heard a few rumors about you helping Princess Azula take Ba Sing Se, but no details."

Mai sighed in relief. Then was surprised at the feeling. "Then let's say that as far as we're concerned, the past is a non issue," she suggested. "Everybody else in the group may know all about the skeletons in our closets, but the two of us can start fresh together--from where we are right now and not where we used to be."

"I'll agree to that," Jet replied and offered his hand to seal the bargain.

Just as she took it, the lamp sputtered a little, plunging them into brief darkness. He let go of her hand to take the lamp and adjusted the wick. "We better head back," he announced. "We're practically out of oil."

They walked back to the pool, and sure enough, just as Jet picked up the kettle, the lamp gave another sputter and went out. He set the kettle back down and tried to relight the lamp, but had no luck. He felt Mai reach out to grab the back of his shirt.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied. And to his surprise, it seemed to him as though she was telling the truth. "Just don't want to lose you in the dark," she explained easily. "Can you remember the way back out of here?" she asked.

"I'd rather not try," he replied. "There are a couple of places where it would be easy to wander off onto a side tunnel without being able to see the trail markings. Aang knows where we've gone. Someone will come hunting us shortly, I'm sure." His voice was reassuring.

"In the meantime, we might as well get comfortable," he added. Carefully, he placed the lamp on the ground next to the kettle. "Unfortunately, there's not really any place to sit. The floor is pretty wet."

They stood there for a minute, Mai's hand still clenching the back of his shirt. He reached out to put his arm around her shoulders, and she moved in closer to him.

Both his arms went around her then, and she rested her cheek against his shoulder, her arms around his waist. Neither of them knew what to say to the other.

After several minutes, Mai looked up to comment on how long the others were taking, but was surprised instead by the feel of Jet's hand on her cheek, then the soft touch of his lips to hers.

Maybe it was her nervousness in the dark, maybe it was the culmination of three nights she'd spent being held by him.

Maybe it was the fact that he was gorgeous.

All Mai knew was that she found herself returning his gentle kiss with a passion that surprised her. She reached up to pull him closer, her fingers in his hair, her hand reaching up to the strong muscles of his back and shoulder.

His grip tightened on her as he responded to her touch, his hand pressing her against him so tightly she could feel the buckle of his belt digging into her stomach.

All around them was darkness and the sound of rushing water. Without the benefit of sight or sound, she began to notice other details about him. She could feel his hand warm against her back as he bent to kiss her neck. He smelled like evergreen, like the forest.

She could feel the fabric of his shirt beneath her hand, the thick cotton washed to a well-worn softness—sturdy, but plain. Straightforward.

She reached up to his face, feeling a little tickle on the back of her hand as his hair fell forward around her fingers. She ran her thumb over his lips and he gave it a little kiss as it moved across them.

That little warm touch was so gentle, so innocent, but it ran through her like wildfire, igniting every nerve in her body. With a little gasp of breath, she found herself pulling at him, bringing him closer to her, kissing him with an intensity that disturbed her.

It wasn't like her to be this way, she kept thinking to herself. She was supposed to be in control of herself, of her emotions. She was not the kind of person to let circumstances get the best of her.

She was losing her head over this guy, she realized. This had to stop. But her body rebelled against her mind, as she found herself perfectly willing to continue her exploration of Jet in all his stormy, masculine glory.

Apparently he was perfectly willing as well, as she felt his hands roaming over her body and into her hair, his lips kissing her mouth, her eyes, her throat—her world devolving into one of sensation and passion in the absence of sight and sound.

Abruptly, Jet pushed her away from him, breathing raggedly. She could only feel both his hands tightly gripping her upper arms.

She stood there a moment, trying to catch her own breath, desperately missing the feel of his body against hers.

"What?" she finally managed to ask. Whether she meant what's wrong or what is it or what are you doing or what are we doing, she wasn't entirely sure.

After a few seconds more, he finally spoke. "It's okay," he said softly, giving her a friendly kiss on the forehead. "It just turns out there's more gentleman in me than I thought there was. We gotta get out of here."

Never letting go of her hand, he felt around for the lamp and passed it to her, then took the kettle and started walking.

(AN: The cave Jet is describing is actually in North Alabama—Cathedral Caverns. It is so much more impressive than Ruby Falls (Chattanooga, TN—inspiration for the waterfall)—no dissing of Ruby Falls intended—Ruby Falls a great cave, all you Tennesseans out there. But you owe yourself a trip to Cathedral Caverns—trust me.)