Chapter III: Make a Play

Make a play and take the chance,

Join with me within the dance,

Bluff your mark and bet your soul,

Eat your heart and claim your goal.

"She has returned."

It was the barest whisper in his ear, but General Sheng heard each syllable like the clash of a gong. Smiling, he nodded at his agent, who returned the bow and then melted back into the Palace corridors. Still smiling, he turned to face the Minister for Culture, Education and Citizenship once more.

"My apologies, Noble Chinh. News of a, ah... family matter."

The man opposite him raised a perfect, curved eyebrow. "I trust all is well?"

More than well. "Abundantly so," Sheng finally managed to smooth down his smile, darkening his eyes to opacity once more. It wouldn't do to be too obvious, after all. Especially in front of Chinh. The man had never been a general, stopping his military education early on. But his high family position, his loyalty, and his own innate cunning had landed him an impressive position; the Fire Nation took Citizenship and Culture seriously, after all. Thus, it would have been most unwise to underestimate him, and Sheng had no intention of doing so. "But back to more pressing concerns. What are your opinions?"

Chinh pressed his lips together in thought. "Why are you asking me?" he queried baldly. "Neither are particularly part of my portfolio, after all."

This again. Sheng affixed him with a look. Chinh smiled and leaned back in his chair. "I'm just wondering, my friend."

There was a sort of hesitant challenge in his eyes, like a man testing the waters, and Sheng internally sighed. This might end up being harder than he'd thought, and he'd never relished uncertainty. "Part of your portfolio or no, the Fire Lord will request all of perspectives before he makes his choices."

He kept his tone blank, nonchalant, as if he himself had no opinion on the longwinded way in which Zuko liked to do Court. Granted, it was better than Ozai running roughshod over everyone, but it also left the new Fire Lord deliciously open to manipulation. "Besides, I do believe you are underestimating the extent of your influence, dear Chinh. The question of the refugees is one that touches all of us at heart as to how we want our great Nation to treat its people and its priorities. Furthermore, the, ah..." Sheng swallowed, as if he had honey sticking to his throat, "Peace summit, its location, and its organisation are of great import as to how we shape our identity in these troubling times."

Chinh drew his brows together. He was a slender man; there was little middle-aged paunch on his build despite his years, and the same applied to his features. Sometimes in the wrong light, his skin glinted sallow in the hollows of his cheeks. Now, as he sucked them in, Sheng could see the resemblance to an old, scroll-papered skeleton.

"A noteworthy argument, Sheng. But that still does not answer the question of why you're asking me,"

The slower, changed emphasis made Sheng blink. In that moment, he realised that he had miscalculated, and he internally cursed Agni. Still, he himself had not risen to the vaunted position of Minister for Security for nothing. Sheng's face remained smooth as he fell back upon his second plan, mentally lining up the third and fourth as the other part of his brain worked upon the news his spy had sent him.

She has returned.

The knowledge coasted a wonderful thrill across his skin, a tingle of electricity that sparked his imagination anew. Sheng turned it into a look of deep earnest. "Why should I not, my friend?" He leant back into his chair, as if perturbed. "In these long days after the war has ended, I find myself worrying sometimes. We... we have built our lives upon the knowledge that we should rule the world. We have for over a century. Who better to turn to for guidance than a man who has spent most of his life studying and applying our Nation's very soul?"

Chinh interlocked his fingers and stared at them. "Eloquent words, Sheng. A passion I did not know you entertained." Something sharpened in his glance, and he looked up. "What do you think, when you worry?"

Question upon question, barb upon barb. A feint, a flurry, a probing search. Sheng began to relax. This, he knew. "I think that the Fire Nation must stay her course." He searched the other's eyes and found nothing. He took a light breath. "I think that we should not forget who we are."

The words were ambiguous, but meaningful enough. He watched as Chinh nodded in understanding, but then was thrown by his next words. "And Hui?"

"Hui?" Sheng frowned. "Why do you ask?"

Chinh smiled thinly over the tips of his fingers. "Don't play coy with me, General," he said mildly. "It is clear that you and the Chief Advisor disagree on some things. It is fine for you to admit that."

Sheng's heartbeat slowed. "The Chief Advisor is wise," he shrugged, calm once more. Internally, though, he felt a glyph of glee leap in his chest. Someone had noticed. This whole play might just work. "But he has ever been the adapter. Though he and I share our love for the Fire Nation, our views are influenced by our different perspectives. Where he would bend, I would think that whatever happens, whatever obstacles are thrown in our way, we must retain our pride. Our strength. Our honour."

He stilled. Chinh was staring back at him now, the blackness of his eyes almost luminous against his pale gauntness. He decided to take the last, final leap. "No matter what it takes."

There was silence. Mutually, the two circled each other with their gaze, perceiving, weighing, rationalising the risks. Sheng found himself craning forwards again, ever so slightly, his features still giving nothing away. Whatever happened next, he was still certain in his own position as a consummate player, a fine example of Fire Nation strength. A sudden thought made him smile. And, whether his dear son knew of it or not, he certainly wasn't the only one.

Mai stared across the expanse of space between her and Zuko. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make her feel a little better. At least it was further than the space between her and the guard captain, and a part of her wondered whether to feel infinitely grateful or infinitely annoyed.

She decided on the latter, for a number of reasons.

"Look, Zuko. We don't need an escort to get back to my house." She refused to look at the escort in question. Ironically enough, it was so much easier dealing with her ex. Now I wonder why that might be... the traitorous voice whispered in her ear again. It was quickly silenced. "Katara and I will be fine."

The water girl in question turned and blinked. "Me as well? Oh... I, uh, I thought I still had a room in the palace." She turned to Zuko and laughed a little nervously. "That is, unless you decided to throw my stuff out while I was gone?"

Zuko looked mortified. "What do you take me for?"

Katara opened her mouth again, but Mai quickly overrode her. "Room or not, it'll be easier for you to get ready at my place," her gaze flicked back to Zuko. "If you insist on us joining you for dinner tonight, she's going to need to know at least the basics in Fire Nation courtesy."

"And politics," the guard captain cut in. Even without turning to look, Mai could feel his gaze burning into the side of her skull, and she internally scowled. It was much easier to ignore him when he wasn't speaking. "It would not do for any slip-ups tonight, not with all your Ministers attending."

Katara raised her eyebrow. "Just why did you decide to have a Court dinner tonight anyway?"

Zuko looked at them all and unconsciously began to massage his temples. "Oh bite me," he said sourly. "I just thought it might be a good idea to put on a united front. Not to mention the fact that the final meetings about the refugee situation and the Peace Summit are coming up soon. If they spill anything, anything... it could be of some use."

Mai shook her head. "None of those tiger-foxes are going to slip up," she warned him. "Not to mention, won't it be a little bit awkward for us two to attend? We've split up now, after all. And your Ministers aren't exactly going to let their guard down around a waterbender."

She was fully aware of how callous her words were, but also how practical. Still, Zuko and Katara both flinched. She didn't turn to see how Shen Li had reacted, but she wasn't surprised when she felt nothing at all coming from his direction save his intense gaze. She stiffened her shoulders. "You know I'm right."

Zuko frowned. "I was hoping they'd feel more at ease, actually," he nodded towards them. "If it were just me and them and their families, it might feel a little too much like holding Court. I thought that if you two came along as well, they might think it was less formal. Drop their guard."

Shen Li pursed his lips. "That's a gamble, Zuko."

The Fire Lord smiled thinly. "Everything's a gamble."

There was a brief pause amongst the four teenagers for a while, as if they were all internally debating. And then Katara shrugged. "I suppose we might as well," she said carefully. Her eyes were narrowed when she looked up, and Mai was relieved to see it. "If you're so worried about your Ministers, it'd help to have two extra sets of eyes." Her chin lifted. "Not to mention, they'd better get used to having a Waterbender around. It'll be practice for the Peace Summit."

Internally, Mai reviewed her own opinions of Katara. It seemed like that was an exercise she'd been participating in constantly for the last few days. "We'd best get going, then," she said briskly. "We've only the space of an afternoon, and I'm sure you have plenty to do too."

Katara rose as well. "See you tonight, then," she smiled at both males, and Mai felt an irrational sweep of... something come over her. She bowed and turned quickly, not missing the second of intensity when Shen Li's eyes met with her own. And then they were out.

The door closed behind them, and Zuko sighed and cracked his neck. His bones made a sharp retort before he relaxed back in his chair. With a silent sweep of his robes, he turned to Shen Li. "What are you thinking?"

The guard captain's eyes betrayed nothing but a strange kind of exhaustion. "I don't know what to think," he answered, and Zuko detected the ring of honesty in his voice. "It... I can't tell you how much it troubles me that the rebel base was empty. And by the sounds of it, very large."

Zuko nodded in agreement. "

A troubled silence descended upon the two, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. Finally, Zuko's wandering gaze caught sight of an abandoned pile of paper that had been waiting on his table. He exhaled through his nose and tried to relax.

"Anyway, time for something a little less doom worthy," he snorted self-deprecatingly. "Depending on how you define doom, of course."

Shen Li raised his brow in question, and Zuko gestured towards the pile. "It's the rewriting of that atrocious play showing on Ember Island," he explained. He pushed the sheaf of papers across his desk, and Shen Li picked them up and began to flick through. "I just want to tell me what you think."

Zuko watched as the guard captain let his eyes wander across the words, reading in short bites and digesting the general feel of it. For a moment, he wished he could see past that blank mask, just so that he could determine for himself what was going on in Shen Li's mind. He himself had had a strange reaction when reading through the pages, and it would have assuaged his confidence somewhat if his friend had had a similar response. Even when Shen Li finally looked up, however, his expression remained inscrutable. "Are you sure this is what you want, Zuko?"

At the words, Zuko smiled thinly again, an edge so sharp it felt it might bleed. "In the end, it's not what I want. It's what my people do."

The two girls shared an almost collective sigh as they stepped outside Zuko's office. Katara shook her head, smiling ruefully. "Wow."

Mai looked at her sharply. "Wow what?"

The waterbender shook her head again. "So much hasn't changed. So much... has." She turned to regard her, a thoughtful expression bespeaking her own questions upon her face. "Do you really think us going there tonight will be bad?"

The Fire Nation noblewoman thought briefly. "It is a risk," she rasped. She quickened her pace a little, anxious to get back to the privacy of her rooms before they talked more at length. In her mind, Katara's apparent willingness to debate this in the open was only testimony to how inexperienced, and therefore how potentially disastrous, she was. Briefly, Mai wondered whether, had their positions been reversed, Katara would have ever survived in the Fire Nation court.

She had a sneaking suspicion that the waterbender might have ended up with a scar like Zuko's.

The thought was unsettling, and she wrenched her mind back to the task at hand. Katara was looking at her strangely. "Are... you all right?"

Mai tensed under the slim slips of her clothing. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She wasn't sure what she was more afraid of - the suddenly knowing glint in Katara's eye, or the fact that it was infused with compassion. "You seemed... uncomfortable."

Mai kept her face blank, but behind it her mind was churning. She wasn't sure what to say, suddenly. How could she explain it? The... tension, for the lack of a better term, between her and the guard captain. The sudden distrust she felt. Ever since they'd found the scouts she'd felt incredibly twitchy. The thought crossed her mind that even if she could explain it, she wasn't sure whether she wanted to.

Katara saved her the trouble, speaking before she could think of anything. "You know, you weren't alone."

Her mouth was a wry smile, and Mai was suddenly struck by the echo. She'd heard those words from this girl before, less than a few days ago. She wasn't sure whether to feel comforted or not. The memory of Katara in Zuko's study confirmed her indecision. "You didn't seem so to me."

The other girl didn't seem to pick up on the implications. Or if she did, she brightly ignored it. "I wasn't aware I was such a good actor," she shrugged, and turned those deep blue eyes on her. "But really. If you want to talk, you know you can."

Her voice was filled with understanding. For some reason, given the way that she had already begun to change, to open, at this moment it just grated on Mai's nerves. Mai opened her mouth to reply, not quite sure what she was going to say. With the inexplicable sense of antagonism towards a certain guard captain still simmering in her belly, however, it was quite likely going to be something along the lines of it being none of the waterbender's business. But luckily, before the words could take shape, she was interrupted by the arrival of a pink ball of bounciness.

Uncharacteristically, Mai felt the annoyance drop away, and even a tiny smile worm its way across her mouth. "Ty Lee."

"Mai!" the acrobat was ecstatic, arms flinging around to wrap her close. "I heard you were back! Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you? Did you..."

The smile quickly dropped from her face. In a fighter's move, she pulled away and threw a hand up in the same motion. Ty Lee skittered back in surprise, her eyes coming up to meet Mai's slitted amber ones.

"Are you insane?" her voice was a harsh whisper.

The look that followed was enough to put silence in the air. Ty Lee swallowed and jumped straight nervously. Mai swept past, noticing Katara's surprised look. Under her breath, she muttered to both of them. "We'll talk in my house. Move quickly. We don't want to be seen together for too long."

Ty Lee immediately snapped to attention. Katara was a little less subtle. "What do you mean? It's not like half the city hasn't already..."

Mai tried to silence her with a glare, it didn't work. A discrete twitch of stubbornness settled across Katara's face. "Seriously, this is ridiculous..."

Mai contemplated what approach to take. She could continue on as she was, barking orders under her throat like a Fire Nation noble. Like Azula. It didn't appear to be working. A flush began to work across her face. They were back in the city now, and what seemed ridiculous was that Katara wasn't deferring to her. The high-born noble. The one who could have been Fire Lady.

The thought hovered in her mind, and then was dashed. It was a symptom of her old mindset, one that had been slowly shattered apart. From the very first moment she had met Katara across a battlefield, things had been different. She had grown into a worthy enemy. They had saved each others lives.

Mai suddenly caught her breath. She was not going to end up like Azula. She thought instead of the strange, almost awkward camaraderie that had sprung up between them. She thought of the feelings that had awakened in prison, and of the way they had been magnified by the waterbender in front of her. The waterbender, Zuko, and someone else, but she preferred not to think of that.

"Please," she said instead. The word rasped from her throat strangely. It tasted foreign on her tongue. "Trust me."

She wasn't sure how to feel when Katara stopped mid-tirade. She was even more confused when Ty Lee gave her a sidelong glance of surprise. She only knew that the silence as they walked quickly through the rest of the Palace and down to the city was bizarrely companionable, given that she was used to an atmosphere shot with lightning.

It wasn't long before the gates of her house loomed before them. For once, she was almost grateful at the sight. Flanked by Ty Lee and Katara, she didn't even think about the place as a prison, or even as boring. Instead, at the moment, it would serve as a safe house for them, free from prying ears and questionable guard captains. She almost smiled at the thought.

When they crossed over the threshold, and the butler got over his surprise at Katara's presence, Mai learnt that her parents were out. Unconsciously, the knot of tension in her stomach relaxed even further. Of course, when they finally got to her room and she flipped the lock, it was quickly replaced by a rumble.

Startled, Mai realised that they hadn't eaten anything substantial for at least a few days. For a moment, she was disconcerted. Maybe that's why you were off your game just before, the voice taunted. You had to be off your game if Katara noticed.

She shook her head and irritably banished it. "Ty Lee, can you get us some food?" her skin chose to itch at that moment, reminding her of hidden dirt and dust, and she wrinkled her nose. "And maybe arrange the servants to draw two baths in my room?"

Her friend didn't hesitate. "Sure thing!" she grinned. "I'll be back with baked goodies and hot water." She winked. "And don't worry, I'll be quick. After all, I do remember all the shortcuts in your house to the kitchen."

Mai chuckled dryly. "I wouldn't expect any less from you, Ty Lee." The look passed between them. I'll explain more later.

I know.

As she cartwheeled out of the room, Mai let a drop of tenderness soften her stance for a moment. In the days that had passed, she had to admit she had missed her friend. There had been a time when they had been inseparable, above and beyond Azula, and it was that long-forgotten memory that gentled her now.

Still, there was little time to dwell on that. Katara stirred uncomfortably in front of her, reminding her of the task at hand, and the softness vanished.

Mai pulled her sleeves together, and when she spoke, her voice was droll. "Now, where to start?" Her eyes travelled up and down, taking in every inch of her subject. On the way into the city, Katara had thrown a travelling cloak to hide her tattered Painted Lady garments, and it clung around her now like a ragged blanket. Her blue eyes were wide and bright, almost scarily youthful set in the tan of her face. "After all, we have a lot to get through,"

Katara scowled and crossed her own arms. "I'm not a complete peasant," she objected. Her sarcastic, almost dirty emphasis on the last word made Mai snort. Katara glared in return. "And even if I was, it certainly doesn't matter. I've eaten with Kings and Chiefs, I'll have you know. Not to mention some of the greatest benders on the planet. I..."

"I'm not just talking table manners," Mai cut across her cleanly, her voice a rasp of neutrality. "I'm talking knowing who's who. You don't want to make yourself look like an idiot if you gape after not knowing what to expect. Remember, you're not just representing yourself, or your nation, or even the Avatar. As Zuko's..." she paused, frowning as she tried to find the right word, "... ally, in a way you're representing him. And given his shaky position at the moment, we can't afford any slips."

She expected a suddenly crestfallen look. That, or an expression of sheer blankness, which would allow her to roll her eyes and explain again. Instead, what she got was a sudden calculating flash behind those blue eyes, one that mixed emotion with feeling and determination. With a start, Mai realised that her old and surface biases about the waterbender were resurfacing. She wasn't just compassionate, weak, or blindly devoted, stupid. She had played a vital part in her little group of rag-tag orphans and the Avatar for almost a year, and that meant that there had to be some cunning, wily streak in her that she was discounting. Mai frowned as the memories returned. Not to mention, she had beaten Zuko after less than a few week's training at the North Pole, gone against highly trained members of the Fire Nation Army singlehandedly as the Painted Lady, and had killed Azula.

Mai thought. Though Katara might be naive in some respects, she grudgingly had to admit that it was likely she'd catch on quickly. Which, in the current circumstances, had to be a good thing. As her mind turned to the question of tonight, she thought of the old dragon-hawks she remembered. Of her father. Of Shen Li's father. Of Chief Advisor Hui. She thought of the ancient family lines of the Fire Nation Court, and saw them arranged around the youth of Zuko, standing proudly in the middle. She thought of herself in the background, of Shen Li. And of this half-naive, half-shrewd beyond belief water peasant in front of her.

Mai picked up the brush. "We'll start with your hair," she said, in a voice that brooked no opposition. "And then I'm going to tell you what food to expect, and what cutlery you should use."

Katara wrinkled her nose. "That... sounds rather boring."

Mai began to work the brush through her long brown hair. From her vantage point behind the waterbender, she knew that Katara could not see the slash of a smile across her lips. "Not really. It's a Fire Nation Court dinner. You'll need to learn how to use your knives."

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A/N - Eh, I'm sorry I haven't been updating as frequently as I've wanted to, and that this is shorter than I'd prefer. I guess I'm trying to juggle too much at the moment - I've been going through a bit of a strange phase that's been kindly dubbed 'development', but feels more like crashing around in the dark wondering where my life went and where it's supposed to go. If my writing has suffered for it, please do let me know - I've always thought quality over quantity is better, and I'd love to hear your opinions and feedback.

That said, thank you so much for your reviews yet again. :D I really can't say how great it is to hear from you. Thanks again for making this journey so much more amazing.

-Shadowhawke