Forty-four
It had been a difficult journey so far. Maya's arms were burning from the paddling they had done to get to the little ice island they were on now. Once they had almost been seen by the guard in a watchtower. It was cold. But Maya did not complain. She'd seen plenty of hardship before. This was just something she had to do. She waited as Zuko peeked around the side of the iceberg jutting up in front of them. He sighed and turned around. "I don't have a clue how we're going to get past the guards."
That was when Maya heard the sound of barking seal-turtles behind her. She turned to look. There was a group of three of them surrounding a hole in the ice. One after the other, they jumped into the hole and disappeared below the water. Zuko went over to it. "They have to be coming up for air somewhere," he murmured.
He pulled the mask down off of his face and took a deep breath, getting ready to dive in.
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Maya said quickly. "What if it's too far away? Seal-turtles can hold their breath for half an hour if they have to. You and I can't do that."
He turned to look at her. "What choice do we have? Look around. Do you see a better option?"
She sighed and went over to him, knowing that he was right.
"I promise as long as you stay close to me, nothing bad will happen to you."
"How do you know?"
"… I don't. But I promised, didn't I? Now, come on. We're wasting time." With that, he took a deep breath and dived into the hole.
A moment later, Maya followed him.
Twenty seconds later, Maya's head popped up out of another hole and she climbed onto the ground beside Zuko, who was lying there and shivering. She was freezing too. She curled into a ball and shook violently, wishing – not for the first time – that she could firebend. She watched enviously as Zuko exhaled flame a few times and stopped shivering. He rolled over to get up, and then looked at Maya, who was still curled into a ball.
"Oh," he said. "You can't firebend."
"R-r-really?" she chattered. "I d-d-didn't n-notice."
He laughed quietly. "Come here, Maya." Without waiting, he leaned down over the top of her and pressed his lips to hers, opening her mouth with his own. She blushed. It was a very suggestive moment. He did not seem to notice. He took a deep breath through his nose and slowly exhaled into her mouth. She was surprised. His breath was warm, like the wafting heat from a fire. It spread through her body. Down to her stomach and then to her arms and legs. At the same time, he moved his hands over her arms and hands, warming them up even more.
After about a minute, she was feeling nice and toasty, and part of it had nothing to do with Zuko's breath of fire. She sat up and felt the blush in her cheeks all the way to her hairline. She laughed nervously. "When Uncle said breath of fire, I didn't know he meant it literally, although I should've guessed."
Zuko chuckled. "Come on, Maya."
He helped her to her feet and they continued on. They only walked a few feet before realizing that there was nowhere else to go. The cave ended abruptly. Maya looked around for some sort of an exit, and noticed a natural water fountain spouting from the top of the cave. "Look," she said. "That water has to be coming from somewhere."
"You're right," Zuko said. "Come on."
"Let's hope this is as easy as it was last time."
The two of them struggled up the waterfall, clutching to the sides of the hole to keep from being blown backwards by the force of the water. Maya could feel her oxygen depleting rapidly. Finally, they made it past the suction of the water and swam upwards. Maya was seeing stars and her lungs were burning. She felt Zuko yank her upwards without remembering ever stopping swimming. Instinctively, she took a gasp of breath and was surprised to find that it was air she was breathing. They had found a small gap in the roof of the cave they were in that the water did not reach. For a few moments they stayed there, taking sweet gasps of oxygen. And then, when Maya could see again, they continued their journey.
Zuko had spotted a let-off in the cave system that he guessed led to another opening. Even if it didn't, they couldn't stay there forever. They each took as big a breath as they could and swam up the small tunnel. Maya looked up and saw the light above her. She would have sighed with relief if she could have. And then something horrible happened.
Zuko slammed into the light. At first, Maya was confused. And then she realized with dread that a thick layer of ice had covered the hole. They were trapped, and neither of them had enough oxygen to swim back to the top of the other cave from there. They were going to drown.
Vaguely, for it was hard to formulate thoughts at this point, Maya thought, What a horrible way to die. Her lungs begged for air, and she resisted the urge to intake water. And then, as her vision darkened again, for the last time, she felt a tug and heard Zuko gasp as his head popped up from the ice.
Maya awoke slowly. She immediately clutched at her head. She had a migraine. It was so bad that she felt nauseous. She groaned.
"It's from lack of air," said a voice.
"Zuko," she croaked. "Did I die?"
He laughed a little. "No. But you were unconscious."
"I'm sorry."
"Why?"
"Because I'm weak."
He laughed again. "No you're not. I almost passed out, too. We're both lucky I didn't, otherwise we'd be dead right now."
"Where are we?"
"Sitting in some ice alcove right near the wall of the city."
Maya looked up – and immediately blushed. She was lying on top of Zuko. She could feel his arms around her. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Keeping you warm," he said simply. "What else?"
"Shouldn't we keep moving?"
"I want to capture the Avatar way more than you do, and I'm going to tell you right now that we both need rest."
Sighing with relief, she rested her head on Zuko's chest, where it had been before she had woken up. "When did you become the voice of reason between us?"
"When I started listening to you."
She smiled, too tired to laugh. "Thank you for saving me, Zuko."
"You're welcome, Maya."