Mai stared blankly in front of her, trying to ignore the annoying drone of the meeting. Today was another day of meetings about the budget as well as subtly convincing Zuko he needs to have an heir, and she just wanted to move on to the more interesting stuff like the new schools, rebuilding of the destroyed villages out in the farthest islands; honestly Mai was interested in anything that wasn't this. She just wanted to be home with her plants. Some needed to be transplanted today, and she couldn't wait to go home.

"Blah blah blah new agreement. Blah blah blah blah war. Blah blah, not the same as it was." All of the conversations were boring. What Mai wouldn't give is to just sit and stare out at the garden in Hira'a for the afternoon instead of listening to the old councilmen and women.

She folded her arms and took deep breaths in and out focusing on keeping a blank face as well. The seating arrangement had changed today due to several members being missing, so she was in between Zuko and another older man to her left. Zuko seemed intent on the meeting, nodding along, and the old geezer beside her was taking notes excitedly beside her. She restrained herself from groaning aloud.

She poked at her papers, underlining some of the words she heard people say to occupy her time. Mai then resolved to draw a perfect like-ness of the man blathering on about reinstating the troops. He had very angry brows in her drawing, but she thought it looked exactly like him.

Zuko poked her side discreetly. To all other eyes, he was politely paying attention and keeping notes, but Mai could tell his patience was wearing too. She could tell by the slight twitch in the corner of his lips. She glared at him, poking him with her foot under the table. The corners of his mouth tilted in a mischievous smile and he poked her again with his elbow. Mai stuck her bottom lip out and rolled her eyes at his antics, returning to her drawing. She began adorning the page of notes with knives.

Zuko leaned over, whispering in her ear: "You may want to tone down the 'I want to murder everyone in my sight' look."

Mai let out a smug cackle, quickly covering it with her hand. Several heads swiveled in her direction.

"I can't have you murdering my entire cabinet," Zuko continued.

That's when Mai lost it. Her shoulders shook. Remain impassive, remain impassive. Mai tried to cover the noise with a cough, but her cheeks were already rosy and she shot a baleful look right at Zuko. There was silence in the room now save for Mai's coughing, or rather cackling at this point. As much as she tried to press her lips together, she couldn't stop laughing. Zuko innocently stared at her with wide doe eyes as if he didn't know what he was totally doing. "Are you alright, Councilwoman Mai?"

Mai glared daggers at Zuko. Oh he would pay for this. As much as she tried, she couldn't stop laughing. Every time she regained her composure, she heard Zuko's whisper in her head again, setting her off.

Everyone else in the room looked at Mai with varying levels of alarm, as many of them surely had never heard her laugh, much less cackle. Mai covered her mouth with a hand, but her dark sense of humor set her off again. "Excu-excuse me," Mai murmured between gasps of air. She stood up abruptly, bowing to the room of councilmen and woman before making her hasty exit.

Before the door had a chance to close, Mai let out a stream of laughter, sinking down against the door of the council room. The guards in the hallway gave her concerned glances, but she waved them off. "I'm fine," she choked out. She wiped her eyes in mirth. Zuko was sooo going to get it later. He got her out of a meeting, but she was never going to live this down.

A bell rang in the distance, and the councilmen came out of the room for their lunch break, openly staring at her with wide eyes. Mai tried valiantly to control her features, but it was honestly too freeing to laugh at their stunned faces.

"What am I going to do with you, Councilwoman Mai," Zuko said quietly, slipping out into the hallway. He wrapped a hand around her arm comfortingly, coming to stand in front of her so the council could only see her head as they departed. They wouldn't be able to see the look of evil joy on Mai's face as she shook with remnants of laughter. "Cracking a joke in the middle of a serious meeting. For shame."

Mai poked Zuko's chest without real intent, taking several deep breaths to try to straighten her face. "You did that on purpose."

"It's what you were thinking, right?" Zuko said with a smirk, his eyes glittering with mischief.

Mai pouted. "I would have gotten away with it, you know."

Zuko squeezed her arm before rummaging for his papers for the next meeting in his satchel that Sokka had given to him for his birthday. "I wouldn't doubt it for a moment, Maisy," he whispered just to her. "I think you should take a break for your health for the rest of the afternoon," he announced louder, so those in the room would hear. Zuko squeezed her arm again, smiling now. "See you for dinner?" he whispered again.

Mai bit her bottom lip and shook her head. "You are crazy, but yes; I'll see you for dinner."

Zuko pressed a quick kiss against her cheek before running off to his next meeting, leaving Mai shaking her head after him. "I'm a horrible influence," she muttered to herself.

Mai walked down the hallway, still shaking her head with a smile on her face.

"Hey Mai," Jiro, Mai's friend whispered. He beckoned for her to join him behind a column. "I have something for you."

Mai narrowed her eyes at him. "This better not be another stinky fish prank."

Jiro pulled at her hand. "Oh come on, my fiancé promised I wouldn't do that again. He made me swear on it." He handed her a scroll. "I found this in the library. I thought you might want to see it."

Mai unfurled it with curiosity. "What is it about?"

"You're supposed to read it," he snarked back. "It's about Avatar Asa. She married the Firelord years ago and there was-"

"Yeah, I know," Mai cut in, scanning the scroll hastily.

"Well, this is from the…restricted section," he said, waggling his eyebrows. "Go ahead and take it. Enjoy your day off."

Mai huffed but didn't object to the teasing.

"Oh wait, before you go," Jiro called out, grabbing her wrist again. "Be careful that no one sees it," he warned. "No one else should see its contents except you and me, okay?"

Mai stuffed it in her sleeve. "Okay."

"See you later!" Jiro smiled and ran off down the hallway, following Zuko and the rest of the council.

Mai sidled down the hallway to her office to drop off things. She opened the scroll before thinking better of it. If the inside of the scroll had something secret inside, she probably shouldn't read it when there were eyes everywhere. Better to take it home to read and have some lunch on her day off while she was at it.

At home, Mai sat down with a cup of tea and a bowl full of noodles as she unfurled the scroll once again. It seemed like any normal history document, describing Avatar Asa and Firelord Itoku's lives just as she had read it the other day. However, at the bottom the description got more detailed. There was an account written in Avatar Asa's script of the days leading up to the death of her and her husband. She was hours away from achieving control of the Avatar State, but things were growing complicated and she described her unease while walking around the palace. There had been multiple assassination attempts, each purposefully missing their mark, but were no less deadly. Is my love for Itoku enough to endanger my life and others? Asa had written towards the end of her account. I have seen a vision of our death and a future of pilage and war without a descendent of Raava for many years. I fear for my nation and my family and my husband's people for I cannot stop the future. There was only one more line of writing to the document:

I have seen the future of my nation, and the phoenix will rise and bring prosperous health and glory to its nation.

Mai sighed. "So that's where the Loser Lord got his name." She rubbed her head. She took a sip of tea and mulled over the words. Mai wondered if she could send a hawk to the Avatar and see if he knew anything about Avatar Asa. Mai did not believe in spiritual mumbo-jumbo nor did was she inclined to believe a prophecy, but it couldn't hurt to be extra careful and verify the wording.

Drafting a letter was easy enough, but once Mai was back from sending it off with a carrier hawk, she was in desperate need of a nap.

Hello Readers! Another cute chapter with a tiny bit of plot hidden in it :) I hope you liked the shenanigans between these two on a normal day. Mai and Zuko are totally Morticia and Gomez in my mind so I am trying to emulate that dynamic in some of these scenes. In the next chapter (two weeks from now) we will return to what is happening with Azula and the rest of the gaang so look forward to that. Some of these chapters might get shorter because I do not have as much time to work on these chapters due to school, but I'll send any sudden changes to the schedule on my tumblr (under the same name: BelleBasBleue). Please feel free to leave a comment, favorite, or follow if you wish. Until I write again, TTFN!