Looking for a new home was harder than Mai had hoped. After spending one night at Councilwoman Sheiyi's home, Mai was determined to find a permanent place of residence of her own. She was grateful for the older woman's help, but Mai hated depending on people, it just wasn't her thing.
Her guide through the open rooms was a stocky woman who took no nonsense, but she took Mai to the worst homes first. Mai had some money stored up, and she was determined to get something nicer than bare minimum if she could. Some were too big, others were too dark or too light.
The one place that Mai truly adored was just a two bedroom space with a kitchen pushed into the corner and a small square of garden in the backyard that was overgrown with years of unuse. The householder knew it was her favorite too, just by watching her run her fingers across the walls in reverence.
"I might be able to give you a discount for this place, if you really want it, although you'll have to be quick about it. I had another interested buyer come by this morning," the house seller said with a knowing grin.
Mai raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "Who said I wanted to buy this small of a place? Just down the road they were offering me five rooms for the price of one. What makes you think this will do?"
"You're the new councilwoman that's being courted by the Firelord, are you not?" The older woman said, challenging Mai in the same tone. "Not everyday do we get someone so interesting looking for housing."
"I would bring you more business, right?" Mai asked. She looked at her surroundings again. It wouldn't be great for her mother, her younger brother, and her, but it wouldn't be bad. Her mother would hate it. "I'll take it."
The sunlight billowed in through the one window in Mai's bedroom. Mai closed her eyes again and hummed to herself, letting out a content sigh. Catfish was mewing softly at the base of Mai's makeshift bed that she had made the night before. In her rush to get out of her family home before her mother sold it and ran with the money, Mai had snagged her belongings and got an old cabbage cart to carry some basic furniture to her new home.
Out of the two bedrooms, Mai chose the one with the most light. The room was pretty barren with only a pillow and a low mattress on the floor and a light blanket, but it was enough for the first night in her own home. Her home. She bought it with her own money. Mai's toes curled at the feeling. She couldn't help but feel content. Things were changing, finally. And for the first time she was in control.
Her kitchen was pretty bare too with only a small cooking fire in the corner, a few cabinets to store food in (which only had eggs, rice and a few vegetables), and a table and chairs. In the corner of the room, near the door, Mai had pushed her trunk of clothing, weapons, and minimal belongings. Mai slipped outside to freshen up and get ready for the day before coming back inside with some firewood to start up a small fire to cook a small breakfast for herself. She pulled out a wayward scroll and jotted down some supplies she would need to pick up later in the day.
The small room was filled with low voices from the room next to her, and she heard some pets a few doors down yowling at their owners for food. Being used to complete silence, breakfast was much more eventful, listening to the gossip of her next door neighbors. Not very interesting gossip, but it was problems of a simple life. Looking at the pile of work papers and long list of things to do for the day, Mai sadly admitted that these mornings and nights were as close to normalcy as she would get. People always wanted a life of luxury. Oh to be a friend of Fire Lord, or to be within his close circle of his family or advisors. Everyone thought the life was without issue; it was the extraordinary life that was fascinating. But what was extraordinary to those people, was normal for Mai now. Taking down bad guys, figuring out mysteries while writing laws and making large decisions for the better of the country was Mai's normal life, yet she wished for the extraordinary life of her neighbors.
After work that day, which had been mundane in the settling of issues and creating a new set of laws for the Fire Nation to be governed by, Mai was finally free to do her own thing for the weekend. It was the first time she had had a break in a long time, and Mai was determined to spend it right.
In the night market by the docks, there were wares selling this and that, trying to get as much money from the poor, unsuspecting customers. Mai paid for a turtleduck shaped bean pastry, munching it as she walked up and down the street, stopping here and there to look at carpets, a table and chairs, as well as some new clothes. What caught Mai's eyes was a booth packed full of plants. By plants, Mai saw plants with veins reaching towards the ceiling, little spiky ones, bright, colorful ones, and those that were large enough to have wide trunks. Mai peered inside her bag of money. Would it be too much to buy them all? Surely, but it couldn't hurt, could it?
She went around, picking put this plant, and this. Then she had to pick up a new watering can and fertilizer and cute pots and supplies to take care of the plants with. Mai took one trip home to drop off the new supplies before going back to bring back several armfuls of plants. The shopkeeper was giggling by the end of it all, promising a discount for such an eager young woman.
Mai looked at her pile of plants with satisfaction. She took time well into dark organizing and giving each plant a new home in her small apartment, making sure to put some out of catfish's reach. She transplanted a few into new pots, being careful not to disturb the plants' roots like the shopkeeper had told her to. Mai was able to collapse into bed in a fit of content exhaustion.
Waking up was a better feeling. All of her new plants swayed in the morning light, a few looking utterly unhappy with being moved, but some already seemed to be taken with their new surroundings. Before her breakfast, but after catfish's, Mai made her way around her room, watering each of her new plants with care. Maybe 27 plants was a little too many to start off with, but Mai was excited to treat each of her plants, taking a catalogue of each of their markings so she would be able to look them up in the library. Was this as crazy as her small knife collection, maybe, but it was her own. All of these were her decisions, and everything in this tiny little apartment room was hers. It was a good feeling. it was a new type of normal she could get used to.
Hello Readers! Here is a new chapter that is just a nice short look into Mai's daily life putting down new roots without the rest of her family. I tried coming up with another hobby that Mai would have other than just knife collecting, and I thought collecting too waaay too man plants would totally be down her alley. This chapter is a little early, but I will be out of town this coming Sunday, so I won't be able to update at the normal time, but I'll be back in August. Thank you so much for reading and please leave a comment, follow, or favorite if you wish. Until I write again, TTFN!