Chapter 34

Desperately Jet sought Mai's heartbeat, but fear had shut down his vision. He was blind.

"Toph?" came Katara's anxious voice.

"She's alive, she's alive," Toph assured them all. Jet clung to her words like a lifeline.

"I can't see her," Jet whispered brokenly, his hand shaking as he smoothed the hair back from her face. She still wore that little secret smile.

"She's alive, Jet," Toph repeated. "I can still see her. She's alive." Then Jet realized Toph was also reassuring Zuko, who knelt on the ground across from them, his face pale. His broadsword lay in the dirt, Mai's blood staining the blade. Toph knelt next to him, her arms encircling him tightly.

Katara continued to work, Aang's hands on her shoulders. His eyes glowed blue and Jet realized he must be helping her through the avatar state.

At his other side, he became aware that Sokka held Zutara in his arms. The little girl was sobbing. Suki stood next to him, her arm around his waist, one hand stroking Zutara's back.

Mai lay there so still, so pale as he cradled her. She was so fragile. He could see the blood staining her dress, flowing red on the brown stone of the courtyard. He tried again to feel her, but couldn't. He was so afraid.

At last, Katara looked up at him. "I've stopped the bleeding," she sighed. "That was close. Any worse and . . ." she let her voice trail off without completing the thought. "Right now she needs rest. She lost a lot of blood and it may be a while before she wakes up."

Jet carefully picked her up and walked toward her apartments. Aang was immediately at his side, as was Zuko, ready to help.

He carried her upstairs and placed her gently on the bed. Katara adjusted the pillows and put a light coverlet across her. "I'll need to watch her carefully for a while to be sure she doesn't go into shock," she stated.

"I'm not leaving," Jet declared, taking a seat on the bed at Mai's side, his eyes never leaving her face.

"The rest of us will wait downstairs," Toph stated, putting her arm around Zuko and heading toward the door. Then she stopped and pulled her meteor bracelet from her arm.

The unusual metal was extremely bendable and it took very little effort for her to pull a section free, shaping it into a ring with a wide band. She walked to the bed and took Jet's hand, slipping the ring onto his finger and bending it to fit comfortably. Then she placed his hand on Mai's arm.

"Can you feel her again?" Toph asked softly.

Jet closed his eyes and concentrated through the metal of the ring. There she was. He could feel her heartbeat, steady now and strong. He nodded, not trusting himself for words.

"Good," she said, then gave him a kiss on the forehead.

Walking back to the door, she took Zuko's hand and walked him downstairs to a quiet corner.

They sat down and Toph watched Aang have a few words with Sokka and Suki. Then the three of them gathered the children and went into another room, leaving her and Zuko alone.

"Are you okay, baby?" she asked him. She knew he wasn't. She could feel him shaking, even without the benefit of her earthbending vision.

"Why did she do that?" Zuko asked in reply. "I nearly killed her." He sighed and put his head in his hands, still trembling.

"I don't know," Toph answered gently. "But she's going to be okay." She rubbed his back for several seconds, then he turned and pulled her into his arms, resting his head on her shoulder. She ran her fingers through his hair and held him until he settled again.

Upstairs, Jet sat next to Mai, his hand never leaving her wrist. With the ring on, he could see her with all his vision and he clung to the sight desperately.

That moment when her eyes closed and his vision had slipped away from him, blocked by fear, still hung in his mind. Any time he closed his eyes, he could see her dying in front of him, could feel the loss surging in his veins. Then he'd force himself to open his eyes again and watch her breathe, force the fear back so he could see her with his earthbending sight.

What had she been doing? What had caused her to do something so reckless? She'd nearly died.

Just the thoughts of it sent his heart racing again. His throat ached. He concentrated again on feeling her heartbeat, seeing her chest rise and fall.

Katara watched quietly from a nearby chair for several more minutes, then stood. "I'm going to tell everyone that she's hanging in there. I don't see any signs that she's getting shocky," she said softly.

Then Katara put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Jet, she's going to be fine. I'll be back in a few minutes. If she wakes up, just keep her still, okay?"

Jet nodded. He never took his eyes off Mai as Katara left the room. He willed her to open her eyes, to wake up and speak to him. To come back to him.

Downstairs, Sokka and Suki had managed to get Zutara to calm down enough to tell her side of the story. Then with the resiliency of childhood, she got down to play with the boys.

"If Jet ever found out that Zutara was trying to get that sword back, he'd never keep it," Sokka sighed, looking at Suki sadly. "And it belongs to him, Suki. He can use it in a way I never would be able to do. He's supposed to have it now. That's why he found it."

"Sokka, I don't know if you can keep him from finding out," Suki replied worriedly. "You know what a talker Zutara is."

Sokka thought for a moment. "It's supposed to be his. Don't say anything to Zutara and maybe she'll just forget about it," he finally decided.

Suki nodded, but inwardly wondered if he was thinking of some other child of theirs named Zutara. The one she knew had never forgotten anything in her life.

When Katara came down to let them know Mai was doing as well as could be expected, Sokka got up from the sofa. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he said, then walked out the door.

Outside, shining in the sun, the guys' swords lay on the earth of the practice grounds. Mai's blood still stained the end of Zuko's broadsword. In silent guilt, Sokka carefully cleaned the blade and placed it and the other broadsword as well as Jet's black sword on the lowest seat of the stands.

Then he got a bucket of water and began to wash the blood off the stones of the courtyard. Once he was satisfied that everything was back to normal, he picked up the three blades and headed back into Mai's apartments.

He walked up to Zuko, his eyes solemn, and held out the broadswords to him. Zuko looked up at him, but only hesitated a second before taking the swords from Sokka's hand and resheathing them at his side. Then Zuko reached out for Toph's hand and held it silently.

Sokka slid the black blade back into his own scabbard, but it felt very uncomfortable at his hip. He wanted to take it off, but wore it as penance instead. He should have been more in control of his own child.

Suki looked up at his face, its expression set and grim. She wanted to tell him not to blame himself, but she knew it would do no good. All she could do was give him space and time. Plus, she felt a good bit of guilt herself. She should have seen what Zutara was up to.

Aang watched the drama in the room and was full of sympathy for all of them. They blamed themselves for something that was just going to happen. How could Zuko predict Mai's actions? How could Sokka or Suki have seen the inner workings of the mind of a child? He sighed and glanced up at the ceiling, certain that upstairs Jet was finding some way for the whole thing to be his fault.

Jet had indeed tread those grounds as he sat with his hand on Mai's arm, watching her, waiting for her to wake up. But in the end, he'd come to the realization that Mai's reasons were her own, and that if she hadn't been there to knock him aside, it might have been him bleeding out in her place.

Katara had gone downstairs again to send for the herbalist when Mai finally stirred. Her eyes opened and she looked at Jet in surprise. "You're here," she whispered. "You didn't die."

"Nope," he answered with a grin, "and neither did you. Even though you scared the life out of me."

Mai looked at him again and tried to sit up, but Jet kept her pressed back into the pillows. "No moving. Healer's orders. Just lie still and rest, okay?"

She nodded weakly, then murmured, "I have to tell you something."

Jet listened, but she didn't say any more. Then her eyes closed and he realized she'd gone back to sleep.

When she woke the next time, both Katara and the herbalist were in the room as well. Jet stood to the side as the two women consulted, then decided on some blood building herbs to help Mai recover her strength.

Then they sent Jet out of the room so they could get Mai out of her bloodstained dress and into something clean and comfortable. By the time they had her settled again, she was exhausted. She managed to stay awake long enough to see Jet come back into the room, but once she knew he was with her again, she drifted to sleep once more.

Late that afternoon, she woke again. This time Toph was there with Katara. "Jet?" Mai asked, aware that her voice sounded a little bit pitiful, but not really caring. Where was he?

"He'll be back soon," Toph assured her. "He hasn't left your side for a minute. We just made him go downstairs and get something to eat."

"He'll be furious that you woke up and he wasn't here," Katara added, holding a cup of liquid to her lips until she drank it. "You just rest now so that when he comes back, you'll be awake enough to talk to him."

Mai nodded slightly and closed her eyes. She tried not to go back to sleep, but had just begun to drift off when she heard the door open. Jet? She opened her eyes to see him come in the room.

Toph and Katara made themselves scarce, leaving the two of them alone.

"Hey, there," Jet said softly, coming to sit next to her. She noticed he was wearing a strange black ring. He hadn't seemed the jewelry type to her before.

"What's that?" she asked, looking down at the ring as he took her hand in his.

"Toph made it for me," he answered. "It's made out of the same metal as the black sword. I can see you with it—earthbending style."

"What do you see?" she asked quietly.

"I can see your heartbeat and feel where you are. I can tell what you're doing without watching you with my eyes," he said, reaching up to brush her hair back from her face.

"So you can spy on me," she teased lightly.

"No," he answered seriously, then realized she was teasing him. "I would never spy on you," he said. Then he realized he needed to backtrack. "Actually, that time you were washing your hair in the waterfall and told me to turn around, I was still watching you with earthbending. But I was still learning then. I didn't see much."

"Much?" she asked doubtfully.

"Well, not as much as I wanted to," he replied easily. Then he pulled the coverlet a little higher around her shoulders. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she said. "But I'm still tired."

"Katara said it will take you a few days to build back from the blood loss," he said. "You took a pretty bad hit out there." He looked at her with a question in his eyes, giving her the opportunity to tell him why she'd done it.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, her eyes beginning to shut again. She realized that she must have really scared them. And poor Zuko. He was the one with the sword in his hand. "Tell Zuko I'm sorry. I had to do it," she tried to explain as she drifted off to sleep again.

"Why, Mai?" Jet asked. "Why did you have to do it?"

Mai forced herself to wake up enough to answer him. "For you. I had to do it for you," she whispered, then drifted off again.

Jet sat there beside her, his mind whirling with questions. What on earth was she talking about? She had to throw herself on Zuko's sword for him? He watched her sleep again, aware that maybe a little color was beginning to appear in her cheeks.

Meanwhile, his back was getting stiff from all the sitting and he stood to stretch. There was a soft tap at the door and he opened it to let Katara and Toph back in the room. "Is Zuko still downstairs?" Jet asked Toph.

"Yes," she replied. "Do you want me to get him?"

"I'll go see him," Jet answered. Then he looked back at Mai where she lay resting, her position looking more like true rest to him than convalescence. "I'll be back in a minute."

Jet walked downstairs and found Zuko with Aang in the small sitting room. Sokka and Suki had taken the three children to put them down for a nap.

"Got a minute?" Jet asked Zuko.

"Sure," came Zuko's immediate response.

"I'll go see if the girls need anything," Aang offered, but Jet told him to stay.

"Maybe you'll know what this is all about," Jet continued. Then he sat down with a sigh on a nearby chair. "I asked Mai what happened out there and she said she had to do it. Then she told me to tell you she was sorry, Zuko, but that she had to do it."

He took another deep breath. "Then when I asked her why she had to do it, she said she did it for me. What's she talking about?"

Zuko and Aang exchanged glances. Aang shook his head and shrugged. "I've got no idea."

"Me either," Zuko said. "But I'm the one who's sorry, Jet. If I'd just been paying closer attention to my angles of attack, I'd have been able to pull the blow in time. It was a juvenile mistake."

Jet argued with him. "Don't be an idiot, Zuko. This was a sparring match. No outside interference allowed. Besides, I told you to watch my sword because I'd be working on bending."

Seeing that Zuko was taking that well, Jet added, "Now, if you want to go no holds barred, we can melee in the courtyard and get everyone in on it. Then you can't complain when somebody jumps you from behind."

"Have you ever seen this group go all out in bending practice?" Aang asked Jet with a grin. "You might want to hold off on your group fight idea until you've see that one in action. It gets pretty wild."

Jet got up to go back upstairs again. "I've been in bar fights in the lowest ring of Ba Sing Se. I've seen wild."

"Tell me about it," Zuko sighed. "My uncle started a fight in a place called The Spinning Waterlily. I thought we'd never get out of there alive."

"Was there a guy in there throwing meat pies and laughing?" Jet asked curiously.

"Yep, you know him?" Zuko asked.

"Unfortunately," Jet replied, then made his way back up the stairs.

He sat at Mai's bedside in the same armchair she'd sat in the night they brought him back from the city's dungeon. He sat in the same spot and watched her sleep.

It was almost midnight when Katara came in to check on her. "Has she been awake again?" she asked quietly.

"No," Jet replied. "She just seems to be sleeping."

"She needs to take these herbs," Katara said, pouring a package into a cup of water and stirring vigorously.

"Hey," Jet called softly, rubbing Mai's hands and stroking her cheek with the back of his hand. "Wake up, sugar. Time to take your medicine."

"Sugar?" Mai responded with a little groan.

"You prefer hot stuff?" Jet asked with a little laugh.

"Yes," she answered sleepily.

"Okay, then, hot stuff, sit up and drink this," he said, placing one hand behind her back to help her sit up. He was glad to see she was able to hold the cup for herself. She was getting stronger, he knew it.

Once she'd finished, she passed him the empty cup, lay back on the pillows, and looked up at him, her eyes still heavy with sleep.

"Let me know if you need anything," Katara said softly, then walked out the door.

"She's got a great bedside manner," Mai noted. "She knows when to leave you alone."

Jet laughed and took her hand in his. "You feeling better?"

"Just tired," she replied with a yawn.

"Then go back to sleep," he said, leaning forward to plant a kiss on her forehead.

"I have to tell you something," she began. Through the meteor ring, he could tell that her heart began to beat a little faster.

"What is is?" he asked when she didn't say anything.

It was so unfair, Mai thought to herself. Words came so easy to him. He could just say it—I love you. He'd told her three times already. She was so nervous.

After a few quiet minutes, Jet pulled the coverlet around her and gave her another kiss on the forehead. "You rest," he ordered gently. "There will be plenty of time to talk in the morning."

She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but frustration warred with exhaustion, conspiring to keep her awake. Meanwhile, Jet moved back to the armchair and leaned back, closing his own eyes.

She looked up at him and thought about what she'd done. She'd thrown herself into danger for his sake—just like he'd done with the grizzly and the bandits. If she'd died that morning in his place, her only regret would have been that he'd never heard her say how she felt about him.

If she could be brave enough to die for him, couldn't she be brave enough to let him hear the words?

"Jet?" she called softly. Maybe he was asleep.

But he opened his eyes and looked at her. "What is it, sugar?" he asked.

She wasn't going to have regrets. What if something happened to him? What if something happened to her? He had to know.

"I prefer hot stuff," she heard herself say.

He laughed. "I'll remember that. Go to sleep, hot stuff."

"I love you." The words just sort of fell out of her mouth in a tumble.

Jet moved to sit on the bed beside her and took her hand. "I don't know what I'd do if you didn't," he replied, pressing a kiss on her fingers. "It would make marriage difficult. And I am going to marry you, Mai."

Mai rolled over onto her side and got comfortable by curling up next to him, one arm cast over him to keep him close to her. "I'm counting on it," she murmured, suddenly unable to keep sleep at bay.