When Mai first hears about Zuko's banishment, she doesn't say anything. Her parents always taught her how "important" it was to not show any emotion in front of others, after all. It's funny, Mai thinks, that they don't realize this includes them as well. And so, when her father breaks the news to her, she wears the same guarded mask that she's worn all her life, and nods her head.
Even though on the inside she is a mess of emotions.
Mai decides to go to the palace and check on Azula. Even though the girls relationship with her brother was less than ideal, Mai knows that her friend feels something over the fact that she likely won't be seeing her brother for a long time, if ever again. At least they can be miserable together.
When Mai arrives at the palace, she isn't greeted by the guards, but instead by Azula herself. Mai bows in greeting to the princess.
"I had a feeling that you would come here eventually. Come on, let's go inside. I'm sure that you have questions about how this happened in the first place."
When they are sitting down drinking tea, Azula tells her a tale of the foolish crown prince who spoke out of turn in a war meeting that he has no place in, and how he disgraced himself and his father during an agni kai by refusing to fight him, and how Fire lord Ozai declared that Zuko must find the avatar and capture him in order to return. She says it all as if she were talking about the weather. If Mai didn't know any better, she would think that her friend didn't care at all about what had happened to Zuko.
But Mai does indeed know Azula, and she sees how Azula is clenching her fist as shares the details with her. She sees the slightest bit of worry on Azula's face before it's gone in the blink of an eye.
Mai finds it comforting that she knows someone else who is just as good at masking their emotions as she is.
As Mai and Azula lay down in the princess's bed later that night (she didn't feel like going home, on the off chance that she let any emotions slip in front of her parents) she finds herself feeling angry at Zuko. Why couldn't he have just kept his mouth shut in that war meeting? Why did he have to insist on going to begin with? Why didn't Iroh do something when the agni kai was announced? Why does he have to leave her? So many why's with no answer to any of them.
Mai finds herself feeling somewhat glad that Ty Lee isn't here. Knowing her, the girl would most likely smother her with hugs and try to reassure her that everything would be ok, and that Zuko would be back in no time. Falsehoods like that are the last thing Mai needs right now. What she needs right now is silence, something that the girl next to her understands all too well.
The day of Zuko's departure, Mai meets him at the docks. Iroh grins at the two of them and walks into the ship, whistling all the while. Zuko glares at his retreating back before returning his attention to Mai. He opens up his mouth to say something before stopping himself short. What should he say to her? That he's sorry for being an idiot and opening his mouth at the war meeting? That he's sorry for not fighting back against his own father? He thinks, no, he knows that that's not what Mai wants to hear right now. There's so much that he wants to say to her, but he doesn't know where to begin. So all he says is this: "I promise that I'll be back one day. I won't give up until I find the avatar."
Mai nods, somewhat shocked. Even though his father has sent him on a wild goose chase (because really, if the avatar was alive, surely they would have heard something about it by now. Fire lord Ozai never found the avatar, and neither did Fire lord Azulon or Fire lord Sozin) and yet he still has his determination, his will to never give up. Mai thinks that it's inspiring. She also thinks that that's the thing that she loves most about Zuko. She steps closer to him and places something in his hand.
"I'll hold you to that promise. It's going to get boring with just me and Azula here, so you better come back."
Zuko nods, and he moves in to hug her. They stay like that for a while before Mai pulls back a little bit and kisses him. It's short and sweet and they enjoy the moment, knowing that it'll be a long time before they can be together like this again.
Iroh yells that they are ready to depart, and the two of them pull away from each other. Zuko gives Mai one last heartfelt glance before he makes his way onto the ship. Mai watches as the ship slowly leaves the docks, a piece of her heart going along with it.
After Zuko gives his orders to his crew, he goes into his room for the foreseeable future and closes the door behind him. Now that he's alone, he can finally look at what Mai gave him. He reaches into his pocket and pulls the object out, and blinks. Mai had given him one of her knives. For his protection or for something to remember her by, Zuko isn't sure, but he appreciated it all the same. Perhaps it was both. He continues to stare at the knife and makes a promise to himself. He will find the avatar no matter what. Not only to regain his honor, but also so that he can return to Mai. He won't keep her waiting for him forever.
Zuko swears it.