Problems and Petals

Zuko had decided that he wasn't really fond of boats.

In the abstract, at least, he had no problem with them. Floating on the water seemed useful, and was definitely more pleasant than drowning in it. The benefit of crossing oceans was a bit more debatable, at least now that he had seen the condition of the Earth Kingdom close-up, but he could at least admit that there were definite possibilities in the idea. And he found that boats tended to have very pleasing shapes and definitely looked good in paintings and reliefs. That was all fine.

But he was finding that actually being on a boat was never pleasant, at least for him, and he would probably consider it unlucky if he believed in luck as something that could override hard work, vision, and teeth-grinding stubbornness. He'd loathed the three years he'd spent on his Avatar-seeking warship. That phase of his life ending in an explosion which had nearly killed him was only appropriate (and also very painful and more than a little inconvenient). The less said about the time he had spent on a little raft with only Uncle, drifting from the North Pole back to the Earth Kingdom, the better- especially regarding the bathroom situation. They got very cold winds up there.

And now he was on another Fire Nation ship, one that was supposed to take him back home in glory and comfort with regularly cleaned bathroom facilities shielded from the wind. Yet he was being disrespected and manipulated by every teenage girl around, and for some reason their number was growing. On top of all that, he'd been forced to dance with them tonight in a humiliating contravention of modern Fire Nation law. Somehow, being on a boat kept leading to the worst experiences of his life- not counting the time his face had been lit on fire. But that had led directly to all his experience with boats, so it probably had an honorary inclusion, and he was very big on Honor.

Not to mention what his experiences on all those boats had revealed about himself. When he first boarded the ship that had taken him into his exile, it had been because of all the ways he had failed as a prince and Firebender, things he had never considered before that. After he'd scrambled aboard that raft for a windy journey across arctic oceans, he'd been forced to acknowledge that he was not an Avatar-chasing machine and did indeed have human weakness, something that no young man wants to face. And tonight on this ship, Mai had informed him that he was no longer a nice little boy.

Why did that one hurt just as much as the others? Even phrasing it in a purposefully diminishing way in his thoughts didn't help.

Perhaps it was who had said it to him.

As Zuko chewed on that thought and found it getting caught between his teeth, he leaned on the main deck's rear railing, pretending to watch the receding Earth Kingdom lands as the ship passed into Chameleon Bay, the last gateway before the ocean. The symbolism of watching a whole geographically-defined phase of his life fall out of sight was not lost on him, one more suffocating metaphor in a night full of them, and it was almost a relief when there was a strange flash of light somewhere behind him.

It briefly overpowered the poor moon and stars who had cleared their schedules to spend all night illuminating Zuko's misery, followed by a crack of sound that usually indicated either the start of a war or another of his little sister's attempts to make friends. He turned around ready to finally try redirecting some lightning, only to find himself alone. But something was burning on the other side of the conning tower and bridge, so perhaps Azula was annoying someone else for a change. Maybe this was the sound of her flirting with someone, after all the dancing she had done tonight; rhythmic movement was a slippery slope to all kinds of unpatriotic hedonism.

He wanted desperately not to be interested, but he'd never really picked up the knack, so he found himself walking over to see what was going on and if it might kill him anytime soon. He passed around the conning tower to find the last of several little fires fading and Azula dragging a trembling Mimi below decks. So no flirting, unless his sister's preferences tended in ways that Sozin had outlawed a century ago.

Ignoring the matter of his sister's possible attractions because he very much wanted to, Zuko approached one of the smoldering piles on the deck. He picked up a piece of something which was had survived only half-burnt and found it to be a round, pink flower petal. Had Mimi tried to give Azula flowers and been rejected via lightning? Had Azula tried to give Mimi flowers and a bolt of lightning to go with them? Which of those was weirder? Did Zuko even want to know? No, he did not?

No, he did not.

At least someone seemed to be having an even worse experience on this boat than he was. But, somehow, he wasn't reassured by that.

Izumi wasn't sure where she was expecting Azula to drag her, now that her being a time-traveler had been exposed. Perhaps the ship's brig (although having a cell near Uncle Iroh might have been comforting and at least there was a chance of good tea) or maybe just tossed into the care of Mom and Auntie Ty Lee to be prepped for an execution.

She certainly hadn't been expecting to be brought to Azula's cabin and sat down gently on the big bed.

And that Azula proceeded to bring a hairbrush over and begin working it smoothly through Izumi's hair was so improbable it might have been a hallucination. But then, so was time travel, so if Izumi was going to start treating improbable things as if they weren't real, she had to start a lot further back than a hairbrush.

She elected to roll with it and say, "Wh- what are y-you d-doing?"

"Comforting you. Soothing physical contact and relaxing music in the aftermath of a traumatic experience is an effective way to minimize mental and emotional damage." Azula hummed what sounded like the first verse of Fire Army's old official march. "Those creatures clearly terrified you. Just relax and let me brush your hair for a while. Doesn't it feel nice?" She hummed some more of the march, the bridge verse that no one sang anymore about civilizing lesser nations with modern plumbing and purging fire.

"It d-does. Th- th- thanks." With the only available versions of Izumi's parents being cranky teenagers, this was probably the best she was going to get.

"Thanks are not necessary. I need you able to communicate clearly if I'm going to interrogate you."

"I- i- i- interrogate?" Izumi yanked away so quickly the hairbrush was thrown straight up into the air.

Azula caught it again with one hand and no change of expression whatsoever. "Oh, don't worry. I am not expecting violence to be necessary. You seem the type to speak aloud every thought in your head, and we're natural allies in this situation. The time for hiding your status as a time-traveler is over. Just tell Aunt Azula what's going on and we'll all be better off, some of us more physically than others."

"O-oh." Izumi decided to take that at face-value. Azula was a very capable ally when she wasn't betraying anyone, Izumi knew from experience, and this Azula being only fourteen did not seem to reduce her effectiveness at all. But how did show know about the time-traveling? Had Auntie Ty Lee blabbed? Or- "Are- are you a t-time-traveler t-too?"

"Ha! No, no. I have managed to keep myself firmly in my own temporal realm, thank you."

"Then how-"

"I read. More people should." Azula put a hand on top of Izumi's head, moved it into what was evidently the proper position, and began brushing her hair again. "But, granted, most people don't have access to the forbidden scrolls of the Fire Sages. Nevertheless, there is much inspiring and insightful speculative-fiction available to the masses, and I think its literary merit is often unfairly maligned."

Izumi tried to turn around and stare at Azula in shock, but her hair was firmly in the grip of the royal hairbrush, so all she did was give herself a nasty hair-yank. "Ow! Um, fiction? So you read stories about time-travel?"

"One of my favorite novels is 'A Caldera Hotman in Chief Sol's Court.' Have you read it?"

"Uh, I don't think-"

"It's about a man from Fire Lord Sozin's time who is transported to the height of the Sun Warrior civilization as remembered in legend. The author was very humorous, and I adore good satire. It's a shame he had to take it too far with one of his later works and get himself executed, hm?"

"Um, yeah. Ha, ha. Bully. So-"

"I think bullies are almost as unfairly maligned as speculative fiction. But yes, between your laughable attempts to hide the truth and the signs I recognized from the classified records of the Fire Sages, I realized what you are." Azula paused in her brushing. "The violent guardian spirits made of petals from flowering tree-buds is a distinctive feature in every verified case. I don't suppose you know why trees, specifically?"

"U- um, I-I-I- was under a t-t-tree that- that g-g-got st- struck by l-l-lightning?"

"Oh, do stop trembling every time I mention the monsters." Azula increased the pace of the brushing and Izumi did her best to keep her head and back and sanity straight. "Be calm. Don't worry. I will protect you from your fears. After all, you are my niece, aren't you? Zuko's spawn?"

"Y- yeah."

"I hope your name is not Mimi."

"N- no, it's I-"

"Do not tell me. Let's stick to only what it's necessary for me to know."

Izumi sighed. It seemed she couldn't completely relax yet, even aside from a teenage form of the world's most dangerous terrorist currently brushing her hair.

Azula chuckled. "And judging by that sigh, Mai is your mother."

"Why does everyone say that? I don't sound like her!"

"I tease. (If that's what you'd prefer to think.)" Azula set the brush down, running her fingers through Izumi's hair to spread it out more. "There were other clues, most prominently that knife dance you two did together. Her style is so evident in your movements that she might as well have stamped her seal on your face. What other mother would teach such knife-play to a Firebender daughter? Also, that chin of yours is a big giveaway. Well done, posing as a member of her extended family. But then, that was Ty Lee's idea wasn't it?"

"Er-"

"Don't worry, I recognize that her deception was necessary to prevent further disruption of the timestream and thus protect you from the things we aren't going to talk about because you're a coward. Her punishment won't be fatal. How do you feel about braids?"

"Uh-" If it came to it, she could try chewing her own hair off and make a run for it. "If you think they would look nice?"

Azula made a pleased sound and began separating out streams of Izumi's hair. "So! Mission summary! According to the Fire Sages' records, the reason you're being hunted is because of said unsaid disruptions. You come from the future, but your existence is hinged on certain foundational history. Without that history, you have no foundation. (Metaphorically. Your use of makeup is vastly superior to your mother's. Hopefully she learns.) And thus to save you, we need to re-establish the foundation. And, without telling me too much, I think Zuzu's little tantrum at Music Night indicates a problem with your parents. A problem you have been trying to fix, and to phrase it generously, you have not been entirely successful. Am I wrong?"

"N- no. And it's okay, you can say I'm a big failure."

Izumi felt the braiding halt. There was a sharp yank on her hair, and she found herself pulled backwards to find Azula looming over her. "Never," Azula whispered, "say that about yourself. Do you understand?"

"Um-" Flashbacks of Izumi's Firebending training flashed before her eyes, and she dearly hoped the focus of the memories meant she was just having a traumatic moment and not that she was about to die. "Y-"

"Excellent." She smiled and loosened her grip. As if nothing had happened, she began braiding again. "Well, however we assess the situation, I think we can all agree I'm better suited to resolve the problem. Now, planning phase. You can sleep here. I will guard you through the night. Tomorrow, you can stay in this room with all the books you want while Ty Lee takes over as your protector. We shall say you are ill."

"Um, Auntie Ty Lee is with Mom, helping her-"

"Ty Lee has more important duties, now." Azula patted Izumi's hair. "There, perfect braids." She stood up and began pacing next to the bed. "I will undertake an intelligence-gathering operation about the problems between Zuko and Mai, and then create an action plan to resolve them. Any questions?"

Izumi blinked. "Uh, just one. You're really going to do all the work for me? Why?"

Azula stopped pacing. She turned to Izumi, and slowly a grin stretched across her face to reveal straight white teeth. "Children are the future. And you a Fire Nation princess who has survived to be a teenager despite being far too much like your unfortunate father. Ty Lee was right to try to hide you from me, because I am very good at drawing conclusions, and I see a victorious future for my family and homeland in you. That is a future I want to lock into place."

Izumi blinked again. "Oh. Bully."

"If you insist, but I prefer to think of myself as someone gifted with strength and will, called by fate to use those qualities to make other people live better lives."

"Huh?"

"What?"

Izumi went to sigh, but a reflexive thirteen-year-old quality stopped her from any action that might get her compared to her mother again. She suppressed the sigh and said, "Never mind. So, uh, thank you?" She was overcome briefly by a yawn. With Azula guarding her, perhaps she could sleep.

"You are welcome. Have a good night, 'Mimi.' Dream of victory." Azula turned to go.

Izumi took off her spectacles, wrapped them in one of her handkerchiefs, and put them on the small table next to the bed. She went to lay down-

Azula paused at the door and said, "You called Ty Lee your 'Auntie.' What do you call me, in your time?"

"Uh- well- if it's not bad for you to know- I call you 'Master.' Is- is that okay?"

She couldn't see Azula's expression without her spectacles. Azula simply said, "If I don't object then, I can hardly object now."

And then she left Izumi alone. Sleep came in moments.

Mai had decided that she wasn't really fond of boats.

Her first experience with them had been the happiest, when she and her parents had taken a ferry to Ember Island. It was one of her earliest memories, and notable not just for being a new and exciting experience that didn't involve keeping quiet while her parents talked at boring people, but one for which she and her parents actually shared an enthusiasm. Mai had been excited because they were sailing on the water just like in the picture books and going to a place where she could play in the sand and the surf; at the time, her only experience with water had been the domesticated kind which came in cups and bathtubs, so the idea of experiencing the wild variety was intriguing.

As for her parents, she had puzzled out later in life that they didn't really like beaches at all, but vacationing on Ember Island was a status symbol. So they had been thrilled to be miserable there, a trick Mai had never quite figured out, but she knew a few good tricks involving knives, so she figured it balanced out.

To everyone's delight, Ember Island had been where she first befriended Prince Zuko, at the time fourth in line for the Burning Throne at three years old and very proud of his new baby sister. Mai hadn't understood the first part and didn't care about babies. She was, after all, only two. But she knew that Princes were heroes from dramatic stories and news announcements (and sometimes both at the same time, she figured out later), and Zuko turned out to be both kind and adventuresome. The only way he hadn't really met her preconception of royalty was by being only a year older than her, but her parents had clarified that princes could be children, too, and would one day grow up to be heroes of news announcements. Mai had accepted it with only slight skepticism.

Perhaps she should have expected all the boats in her life to pale in comparison to what and/or where that first one had brought her. There was the boat that had taken Zuko away three years ago; Mai had a personal vendetta against that one. The boat that had taken her family to the Earth Kingdom, to bring glorious civilization and such modern inventions as oily smog to Omashu, was akin to a kidnapper in her mind. And the boat she was on now, the one taking her, Zuko, Ty Lee, Azula, and Mimi back to the Fire Nation, was practically a prison.

She couldn't leave. Not without being a Waterbender or Airbender, and she had missed those particular opportunities, somewhere. And she was forced into proximity with-

"Hey," Ty Lee said, "is that Zuko?"

Mai sighed into her breakfast of sweet tofu pudding and answered the question by not answering it: "Why couldn't we just stay in my room and let the servants bring us food? It worked out pretty well for me yesterday, aside from those extra-hot fire flakes delivered to the wrong room, but I hear that guy is recovering and should be able to taste again in a few weeks."

"What, you don't like going out to eat?" Ty Lee grinned at what she probably thought was a witticism.

Mai made a show of around the mess deck, where she and Ty Lee were sitting a bench at a sticky table near soldiers and sailors who were nursing hangovers (apparently 'Music Night' had been only the start of the festivities for the crew) and drinking tea with hot sauce in it. She said, "Too fancy for my tastes."

Ty Lee giggled and rolled her eyes. "Well, your cabin need to air out a little, anyway, what with that incense we burned to cast the Sun Warrior hex on all men, and it still smells like the marshmallows we tried to roast over the candles to get you to stop crying-"

Mai made a cutting gesture across her neck to let Ty Lee know that they were not to speak of any tearful lamentations that anyone may have been doing in her cabin last night. Then she remembered she was covered in knives, so she made the same cutting gesture with an actual blade to really drive the point home, the point in this case being at the tip of the knife and the home being Ty Lee's throat if she didn't shut up.

Across the mess deck, Zuko was scanning the room. His gaze found Mai just as she was moving her blade in front of her neck. She quickly slipped it back into her sleeve, lest he get the wrong idea. She felt her stomach clenching.

He broke the staring contest first, heading towards the serving shelf to grab a bowl of something and stalking off with it.

"Ooh, that was a good sign," Ty Lee whispered.

Mai decided to indulge in an incredulous stare. "Huh?"

"Sure! He could have stayed in his room like you wanted to do. But he came out here!"

"So?"

Ty Lee turned Mai's own incredulous stare back on her with disturbing similarity, considering their faces were completely different shapes. "He obviously came to see you!"

"But- but he couldn't know I'd be here!"

"He found the Avatar." Ty Lee sat back and pointed her chopsticks at Mai. "Finding you on this ship can't be that hard in comparison."

Mai found herself at a loss for words. The statement demanded recognition as either genius or complete dragon droppings, and neither path would take this conversation in a pleasant direction. So she stuck some pudding in her mouth and pretended she had nothing to say.

Unfortunately, it was the type of cowardly retreat that everyone always said went against the Fire Nation's entire philosophy. Ty Lee took the opportunity to seize some conversational ground and plant a flag of conquest by saying, "You should go talk to him and apologize."

Mai choked on her pudding. "Apologize?! For what?"

Ty Lee sighed - one that sounded suspiciously like Mai's own - and leaned over the sticky table to put a hand on Mai's shoulder. "I understand that he was hurtful last night. And also a jerk. And a big baby when he kicked over our fire. And-"

"I get the idea. You're not saying anything you didn't say last night before you dropped that flaming marshmallow in my lap."

"I told you I was sorry about that." Ty Lee took a breath, put a beatific smile on her face, and continued, "And now that you're feeling better, I can say that like how I totally didn't mean to set you on fire with a misplaced toasted treat, you accidentally hurt Zuko, too. You said truths that needed to be shared, but they were just as painful for him, and now it's time for the healing and kissing to begin."

Mai carefully lifted Ty Lee's hand off her shoulder and placed it flat on the sticky table. "He's the one who said he couldn't trust me not to betray him."

"After you-" Ty Lee tried lifting her hand off the table and failed. "Um, after you said he wasn't a nice person anymore. Why is my hand not coming off?"

Mai put her empty pudding bowl down on the table next to Ty Lee's hand. "Well, he isn't nice anymore. And I will always obey Azula, just like he threw in my face, so he's right not to trust me. So for what part of that should I bother apologizing? That we're apparently both awful people?"

"Not if you don't want to fight again, but I understand that you might not be very experienced at apologies. And if you don't know how they work and you actually have friends, think about how stuck he is right now." Ty Lee tilted her head to the side (and tried to discreetly tug at her hand free). "Just because you two have differences doesn't mean you can't find a way to work around them. After all, you're not nice and we're both loyal to Azula, but we're friends, aren't we? If you apologize for being hurtful, he can take a hint and apologize back, and then you both can start finding your own path together."

Mai once again found herself with nothing to say. She tried to have some more pudding, but found that it was all gone. She also found that she had no argument, not unless she was going to deny that she had let Ty Lee spend the night in her cabin with marshmallows and hexes and unfortunately placed candles. It was almost like she had walked into a trap, but Ty Lee couldn't be that clever, could she?

Then Azula's voice rang out coldly from behind Mai with, "I am glad to hear you two are so faithful to me."

Some nearby soldier called out, "Princess on the deck!"

All conversation stopped. Everyone stood up and bowed at the waist, and there were an audible number of winces from those who were still working on the hangovers.

Mai stood and turned and bowed as well, much more silently. Ty Lee also bowed. Out of the corner of her eye, Mai saw Ty Lee's braid get flipped onto the table surface and heard a soft, "Uh, oh."

Azula's eyes found Mai, a fairly easy task with them right in front of each other. "You may rise. I heard you strained yourself dancing last night."

"Um, no, I didn-"

"You should rest up in your cabin all day today. I need you at your best when we get to the Fire Nation."

Mai only needed to scrape off only a thin layer of gilding to find the iron order underneath. "Understood."

"Mimi is ill, no doubt something she caught from the rabble in Ba Sing Se. She is convalescing in my cabin. You shall have no contact with her, lest the sickness spread."

"O- kay." Mai studied the princess's face. It looked like Azula was wearing a little extra makeup around her eyes. Perhaps hiding something?

But Mai wasn't going to ask. She hadn't survived this long as Azula's companion by stepping into obvious traps, not unless not stepping into the trap was the real trap. Fortunately, it looked like Azula wasn't feeling multi-dimensional this morning. Maybe the princess had a hangover, too.

Azula turned her gaze to Ty Lee. "I have a special assignment for you. Report to the ship's quartermaster and requisition torches, flares, travel lanterns, some firepans, and plenty of fuel. Then meet me on the deck for further instruction."

"Yes, Azula," Ty Lee said in a subdued voice. She tried to rise from her bow, but ran into the obvious problems when her hand and braid revealed their own close relationship to the sticky breakfast table.

Mai sighed. "Permission to help free Ty Lee before I shut myself away from all the weird secret missions I'm not supposed to ask about?"

Azula's eyes twitched. "Granted."

Zuko could have really used an Avatar to chase right about now.

It wasn't that he had particularly enjoyed following a dishonorable terrorist around the world and getting dropped on his head all the time for his efforts, but at least it was something to work towards. It was a goal, an endpoint to which he could draw a clear line from his current position. Once he got there, granted, he tended to get beat up and/or thrown off buildings. But had only needed to win once, so as long as he had kept trying, victory was statistically inevitable. It was as simple a situation as he could have asked for.

Now, he had no goal but to simply exist while he was carried to the Fire Nation on this stupid boat. It wasn't like he could fail to go home, at this point. He had tried that back in Ba Sing Se, but somehow he had let Squinty Mimi talk him into returning to the capital with Azula.

Well, he supposed there was one possible goal. In theory, he could try to make peace with Mai. But there was no clear line to that goal, especially since she apparently hated him so much she had waved a knife at him when he just started thinking about joining her for breakfast. Even capturing the Avatar seemed easier, thanks to an education filled with lessons on fighting, restraining, and humiliating people. No one had ever told him how to handle both liking and loathing the same person, nor that such a state was even possible. The Fire Nation was very big on clear distinctions between allies and enemies, even though Uncle sometimes hinted that things could sometimes be more complicated than that. But he was in a prison cell and Zuko wasn't, so the matter seemed fairly settled.

As the day wore on, Zuko climbed up to the ship's main deck simply for lack of anywhere else to go. He found the ocean sprawled around the ship on all sides, no land in sight.

Had he been in command, he would have probably picked a longer coast-hugging course that would minimize time away from a safe landing, as long as time wasn't an issue. According to the captain, however, Azula didn't consider such strategies to be efficient. Her orders were to sail straight across the ocean to the western coast of the Fire Nation's Capital Island. If the ship hit a storm and sank beneath the waves forever, Zuko would at least have the satisfaction of knowing it was because of her mistake.

So, naturally, there was nothing but bright sunlight, pleasantly warm breezes, perfectly calm seas, and no classically grizzled sailors complaining about aching old injuries or the scent of hurricanes on the wind. There were several lit firepans scattered at points around the deck, and Zuko could almost believe Azula had used them in an unholy ritual to summon pleasant weather, a trick he really could have used several times over the last three years. The ship would probably reach the Fire Nation with zero problems and in record time.

No, the only problems he had to deal with were entirely of his own making. He had turned Mai into some kind of knife-wielding enemy, as opposed to a knife-wielding friend or just a knife-wielding person-who-hung-out-with-his-sister, and come to think of it maybe he shouldn't take the knife part personally. Uncle Iroh was down in the ship's brig, and the less Zuko thought about that situation, the better. The crew didn't seem to know how to treat Zuko, which was fair because he didn't know how he should be treated either, given that he technically hadn't fulfilled the terms of his banishment. Mimi, he heard, had caught some kind of horrible wasting disease and would be dead by nightfall.

(Since Zuko had experience with sailors and how they tended to exaggerate, he judged that Mimi probably had a head cold or an upset tummy. Maybe she just got seasick or pulled a muscle dancing. Could that be why Azula carried her into the ship last night? But then what was with the lightning and burning flower petals?)

And Ty Lee-

Zuko watched as she passed by, sweeping up what looked like ash and a few half-burned blossom petals. Even stranger, not only was Ty Lee quietly cleaning instead of seeking attention, but she had a quiver strapped to her back filled with unlit torches, two bandoleers crossed over her chest stocked with military flares, and a pair of fist-sized lanterns dangling from her belt by coiled chains like meteor hammers.

"Hi," Zuko said warily. It wasn't a word he typically used, finding that a growl or aggressive grunt could often accomplish the same thing with less work, but a little extra caution seemed appropriate in this case.

"Hi," Ty Lee said wearily, as she swept (literally) past him.

"What- um, what are you doing?"

"Top secret mission." She glanced over at him and added, "Don't kick over any of my firepans, please."

"Wait, your firepans?" So Azula wasn't controlling the weather? Well, statistically speaking, there had to be something she couldn't control. "But what-"

"Top secret mission," Ty Lee repeated. She pushed the pile of ash and flower petals through the bottom of railing and over the edge of the deck. "And sorry, I'd love to hang out, but I need to make another patrol of the passenger quarters." She handed him the broom (why?!) and trotted off to the stairs that would lead below decks, taking one of the lanterns at her side and unwrapping the chain.

Zuko stood on the deck, holding a broom, and began to suspect that someone was playing a trick on him. The crew on his own ship had tried to 'prank' him- once, about a year into their shared exile, and they hadn't tried a second time. But who would bother with such a-

"Ah, Zuzu, there you are." Azula stepped over, took the broom out of his hands, and threw it overboard. "A little tip: if you want people to know that you're royalty, don't walk around with cleaning implements in your hands. The way you slouch, someone could get the completely wrong impression."

Zuko was almost relieved to be bullied by his little sister. At least that was normal. "What do you want, Azula? What's going on around here?"

"I-" Azula sighed and pinched at the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry, this is going to sound stupid. I need to talk to you about your love life."

His first urge was to run. But if he wanted to know what was going on-

"What exactly," he bit out, "do you want to know?"

Mai had a few minutes to dread her fate before it arrived.

It started when the air-vent in her cabin, a little square of grating high on the wall above her bed, began emitting worrying noises: clanking and a steady shuffling, never a good thing to hear coming from a wall (especially when the other side was your parents' room, thankfully not an issue on this ship). Mai immediately thought of deadly assassins or ship-bound rats and prepared some appropriate throwing blades with more than a little apprehension. If it was the assassins, that would be no problem, but rats were filthy and if she pinned one then she'd have to touch it get her blade back. She hoped dearly she was about to be assassinated.

Then there was a louder clank, followed by the metallic echo of a voice hissing a word that wasn't actually impolite, but nevertheless was said in a very impolite way.

Mai didn't put her blades away, but she did relax and lean against the far wall. This would be more hygienic than rats, but would it be more interesting than assassins?

Eventually, the sound drew right up to the vent cover. A shadowy hand pressed against the grate. It kept pressing for a few moments. Then it retreated beyond sight, only to come back as a fist to pound against the cover. This, too, proved ineffective. There was some more shuffling, some more childish words said in an adult manner, and then a second hand emerged from the darkness to join the first. The two hands together proved to be as effective against the grating as phrases like 'dragon droppings' were to express frustration.

After a few seconds, the grating echoed with, "A little help?"

Mai put her blades away and said, "You didn't have a plan for this part?"

"The cover came off a lot easier in my cabin."

Mai nodded. "You probably had more leverage back there."

"Bully for me." More shuffling. The squeak of leather or rubber against metal. The hands both pressed against the grating again, this time with much more strength. The little criss-crossed lines of metal creased the smooth skin-

The grating popped off, Dear Cousin Mimi popped out of the vent, the grating fell onto Mai's bed, Mimi fell onto the bed hard enough to pop her spectacles off, a rat ran out from under the bed in terror, Mimi lunged unsuccessfully for her spectacles and face-planted into the grating, and the rat ran in circles on the floor around the spectacles.

Mai applauded. Against all expectations, events had proved far more entertaining than assassins.

"Thanks," Mimi said, pushing herself up and rubbing her nose.

"What can I say? You seem to have no limit to how much you will humiliate yourself in entertaining ways." Mai opened the cabin door long enough to let the rat out, and then closed it again quickly. "You're missing a boot, by the way."

Mimi looked at her left foot and discovered the bare stocking there. She glanced back up at the air vent, and then let herself flop down to lay on the bed. "I'm going to miss that boot. We've been through a lot together."

Mai went over to the bed and sat down next to her guest. "Are you here to kill me on Azula's orders? Is that why she said you were sick and I shouldn't have any contact with you?"

"No. It's something you'll never believe and doesn't really affect you unless we mess up and then everyone on this ship will definitely die."

"Oh, good, then I don't have to think about it." Mai laid down next to Mimi. "And to be rude, I'd rather an attempt on my life than another painful, awkward, and ill-considered attempt to match-make me and Zuko."

"You mean not to be rude."

"I meant what I said."

"Oh." Mimi squinted up at the ceiling. "Well, that's not why I came."

Mai blinked and turned her head to look at her guest. "No?"

"Nope." Mimi turned to meet her gaze. "Honestly, I was bored in my cabin and wanted to go exploring. Azula left some guards at the door, so I found other ways of getting around."

"I'm surprised you could fit in those ducts."

Mimi sighed. "I almost didn't, and you saw how it ended. I think I've finally reached an age where I'm going to have to give up traveling through cramped metal pipes. But I had a good run."

Mai gave a snort of amusement. "No wonder your parents sent you chasing after me. You must give them headaches."

"Heh. Funny, but we actually get along pretty well." Mimi gave a wistful smile. "Apparently my antics are 'precocious.' My friends are all jealous because they get in trouble for that kind of thing, but honestly, their behavior is a lot worse than mine. Especially Bu- this guy I know."

Mai tried to imagine Cousin Mui being amused by children not behaving - any of them, even her own - and came up blank. "Lucky you." She faced away from Mimi and looked up at the ceiling. "And in your desperation for amusement, you came to me?"

"Well, Ty Lee's off doing things for Azula, Azula is off doing things that will probably spell doom for us all, and Zuko is off doing dragons-know-what and at this point I'd rather not know." After a moment, Mimi added, "And your cabin was the closest one by air-duct."

Mai glanced at Mimi out of the corner of her eye, and found a completely deadpan expression.

Mai broke out into laughter. "Okay, we are definitely related."

Mimi giggled along with her. "Why do people keep saying that? Did you not believe the backstory I didn't remember when I first showed up in an exploding tree and had to have Ty Lee explain to you?"

Mai found that she couldn't stop laughing.

Mimi turned and propped her head up on her elbow. "And look at this face! When I was sent to assassinate the Fire Lord's children and their weird companions, I went to a lot of trouble to steal the soul of one of your cousins so I could copy her face and infiltrate your group. (Not that such a thing happened to anyone I know.) How could any doubt effort like that?"

Mai rode her giggles to a satisfied breathlessness. "So you really came just to hang out? No weird schemes?"

"No schemes. I just want to spend some time with my m- cousin."

"Well, how about a game of pai sho, then?" She got up off the bed and went to the trunk where she kept a portable game set. "Fair warning, though: I mainly play as something to do with my hands and attention while I engage in sarcastic, withering commentary on anything that pops up in conversation."

"Bully!" Mimi hopped and grabbed her spectacles from the foot of the bed. "That's my favorite way to play!"

Mai put out the little table with the board carved into the top and unlatched the leather case with all the playing pieces. She was about to set up the game, but then remembered something. She went back to her trunk and brought out a knife so polished, it nearly glittered. "Here's your knife back. You know, from the dance we did last night?"

"Ooh, thanks!" Mimi took it back, admiring the blade for a moment, and slid it into her remaining boot. "My mom gave that to me."

Cousin Mui gave her kids knives? Before Mai could ask about that, Mimi turned back to the air vent she'd popped out of. "But you just reminded me that the other one is in the boot I left up there."

Mai sighed. "Fine. Take you boot off, I'll kneel down, and then you'll stand on my shoulders. I have some long knives you can probably use to reach it and drag it out. After that, we'll play pai sho."

"Bully."

"You keep saying that. I'm not going to ask why."

If Zuko's little sister was going to try to humiliate him by rubbing his face in his failures, he at least wasn't going to make it easier for her. Before he would tell her anything, Zuko brought her back to his cabin so that no matter how humiliating things got, at least there wouldn't be an audience.

True, it also meant there wouldn't be any witnesses if she murdered him and threw his body out a porthole, but Zuko considered it worth the risk. Mostly. It helped that he was good at both faking his death and swimming.

They were kneeling across from each other at a low table. A pot of tea and two empty cups sat between them. At some point, the cups might be filled, and even further beyond that, there was a chance of someone sipping from them. But so far events had been so nonsensical that Zuko wasn't making any solid plans.

"So," he said in the awkward silence, "what is it you want to know, exactly?"

Azula looked miserable. "You and Mai haven't been getting along since Ba Sing Se. Normally, I wouldn't be concerned since neither of you get along with anyone, so getting along with each other might very well be some kind of mathematical impossibility. But you two are even more miserable than usual, and Mimi's little romance-oriented machinations seem to have made you rather two upset with other. I will tolerate no conflict in my social circles that I did not put there."

Mimi again. Zuko still wasn't quite sure what she was doing in their lives, but Azula was clearly still supporting her. And now she was trying to clean up Mimi's mess. Well, Zuko was sick of going along with it. He probably should have stayed back in Ba Sing Se.

"So what?" He glared at his sister. "Who cares if Mai and I are fighting? What, are you anxious that you're not going to marry me off to one of your spies? Is that why you turned Ty Lee into the most heavily-armed janitor in Fire Nation history?"

Azula snorted a laugh. "Really, Zuzu? I picked Mai to lure you out of Ba Sing Se because you seemed unhappy and I know you enjoy her. I was trying to do something nice. You think I need to use Mai to place a spy in your life? She lies like a war balloon, swooping through the sky to drop death upon our enemies."

Zuko frowned. "What's a war balloon?"

"It-" Azula waved the matter away. "Never mind, I'll have someone give you a full briefing when we get back home. Let it suffice to say for now that it's a thing which flies, so it doesn't lie. So that means Mai is bad at falsehoods. Get it? It's a play on words."

Zuko understood the joke, now that it was explained, but felt no need to laugh. So he didn't. He sometimes had trouble with humor, but he was clear on that part, at least.

Azula rolled her eyes. "Anyway, my point is that I have no need to waste a loyal friend on spying on you. Pick any girl in the Caldera to marry and I will have her more loyal to me inside of a week."

Zuko couldn't help but wince at that. "Just like you took Mai from me when we were kids. Just like you always do."

"I-" Azula's eyes went wide. "Is that what has you moping and grumbling and kicking things and calling Ty Lee a janitor? If it bothered you that much, why didn't you ever try to take Mai back? She was right there the whole time when we were kids! You only get to keep what you can hold onto; that's what Father always tried to teach us. But clearly you never listened."

"Apparently," Zuko snarled, "I was too nice for something like that!" He swept the tea set off the little table in a direct display of his current not-niceness and stood up to turn away from his sister. It was just as well he hadn't poured anything. "Mai said she used to like how nice I was, but now that I have my honor back and I'm who you say I'm supposed to be, she thinks I'm too mean and wants nothing to do with me!"

There was no immediate reply. Instead, he heard Azula's boots on the metal floor, and she came walking around him into his view. She craned her neck to directly meet his gaze, her eyes searching for something in his face. Then she leaned back, her gaze going unfocused as she became lost in thought, and started stroking her chin as she stood there.

Zuko sighed. "What?"

"What?" Azula looked up at him again with surprise.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm trying to figure out if you're joking. You didn't laugh at my pun, so we might have very divergent senses of humor. I don't want to sabotage your attempt by asking you to explain it to me."

Zuko clenched his fists at his side. "I wasn't joking."

Azula stared at him for another moment, and then said, "You aren't. Huh. And Mai said this, or are you just assuming things?"

"She told me herself, last night when we were dancing."

"How perverse." Azula turned away from him and began pacing across the cabin. "I would never have expected her to be attracted to weakness. I thought she just didn't know enough boys and you happened to be weak. I never thought there was a correlation."

"I'm tempted to thank you sarcastically, but I hate sarcasm." Zuko shook his head. "So why do you care?"

"The future of the Fire Nation is at stake!" Azula spun and stared at him like he was crazy, which considering that he was a willing participant in this conversation, might be true. "When you get home, you'll be the crown prince again. The woman you marry could be Fire Lady some day. And weak offspring you have - jittery, soft-hearted, interested in the weirdest music - could be Fire Lord some day!"

Zuko took a step back from her. "This isn't about you talking yourself into killing me or trying to usurp my birthright, right?"

Azula raised her hands to massage her forehead. "Not unless you really deserve it." She sighed, spun on her heel, and headed for the cabin's door.

"Wait!"

Azula looked back. "What?"

"Um, as long as we're talking- I've been wondering- what's going on with the flower petals and Ty Lee running around with torches sweeping up ash?"

Azula's eyes narrowed. "Do you read much speculative fiction?"

"Never. It's often so dry and lacking in character."

Azula snapped, "You're dry and lacking in character." She took a breath, and then continued in a much calmer manner, "Then you're probably familiar with the kind of stories where someone falls in loves and coughs up flowers until she dies or gets married?"

"Sure, I've read a few like that. It's improbable, but-"

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Then something like that, but not as dumb." She stalked off without another word.

Zuko frowned. So who was coughing up flowers and who were they in love with?

It was difficult to not ask her mother how her love life was going, said no person ever.

Izumi carefully placed a pai sho tile on her poised thumb, waited just long enough that her next movement would be a surprise, and then flipped the tile into the air. It spun in a fast-moving arc, turning end over end, and-

-a knife snatched it out of its path and pinned it against the cabin wall. The wall being made of metal had in no way impeded the blade from sinking into it like a crude joke at a fancy party. And, just to finish the presentation, the tip of the knife was going right through the middle of the painted fern on the tile, not even a hair off-center.

"Bully!" Izumi clapped. "Ten for ten! You're on fire!"

"Not yet," Mom drawled, "but the day's not over, so I might still manage to fatally annoy a Firebender. Especially if Azula finds out I'm sheltering you."

"Ooh, and you're at the top of your wordplay game, too!" Izumi put her hands to her cheeks in mock amazement. "Is there anything you can't do?"

Mom smirked at her. "Are you trying to flatter me into a favor? Because that will absolutely work."

"I will keep that in mind." Izumi went looking for another pai sho pile she could throw as a target for Mom. They had gotten tired of playing pai sho a while ago, and it turned out that the teenage version of Mom had absolutely no respect for anyone's property, including her own. She was completely okay with ruining her own pai sho set for a few laughs.

Izumi was having fun with it, too, in a transgressive kind of way, but there was a part of it that made her a little sad if she let herself think about it. Did her real Mom not destroy things for fun because she had other, healthier ways of enjoying life? So what did this say about her teenage years?

Well, Izumi knew at least part of what it said. She was directly responsible for Mom and Dad fighting, after all.

That was why it was so easy to not pry into her feelings about Dad, about this conflict between them, about whether Mom was ready to reconcile with him. To be his light in his darkness, or let him be her light in her darkness, or do a sizzling back-to-back team battle and switch up which darkness they were fighting. Mom was happy now, she and Izumi were having fun together, and Azula and Auntie Ty Lee were working to keep the demons from doing any demon things.

Ultimately, there was a selfish element to it. Izumi had not been having a good couple of days, and finding a way to make her mom happy again, at least temporarily, was a relief. So she would continue to enjoy this day, trust in her family and friends, and then together they would find a way to restore Izumi's future and bring love back to her prehistory.

As Dad always said, you have to follow your heart. Nothing else could tell you the right way to go.

Azula leaned on the railing at the pointed bow of the ship, watching in satisfaction as the horizon failed to grow closer in an optical illusion almost as compelling as the lies she herself could spin. She had been told that the ship was making good time, and if the winds or the waves or sea monsters or whatever stayed with them, they'd reach Fire Nation shores in two days. She had made the correct choice when she decided that hugging the coast was for sissies.

She was wise, but she was also tired after working all last night and today on Mimi's behalf. Future Girl didn't need to know how many of the demons Azula had destroyed en route to her cabin in the small hours of the morning, nor how many Ty Lee had burned and cleaned up today. After all, Izumi hadn't been the one to read the secret research of the Fire Sages and understand the true nature of the demons. And if this next part went well, Azula would be free to turn in early tonight and catch up on her rest. However, said next part would be wise not to keep her waiting for long-

A wind buffeted her, bring a swirling collection of blossom petals right up to the ship. The petals twisted and whirled almost like a flock of birds, riding the winds one moment and then moving against them the next. The petals settled over a spot on the railing right next to her, slowing into a patterned array that formed the impression of a bipedal body.

It was a phenomenon Azula had come to know well. And unlike most of last night, she did not shoot lightning at this one. Nor was Ty Lee around to hit this one with a flaming torch or swing a burning lantern into it.

The creature, if it could be called that, did not move.

Excellent. It understood the situation. Without looking at it, Azula said, "So what's your offer?"

The being was silent for a long time. Azula had considered it likely that it could understand human speech, but there was no guarantee, and-

'We are not used to negotiation.'

The voice had come from nowhere, but it was audible nevertheless. A nice trick.

Azula was not inclined to play games, though. "Really? And here most of our spirit stories are about the agreements humans make with your kind, and the consequences thereof."

The floating petals that made up the being's form rippled in a way that very much looked like an awkward shrug.

'We, specifically, find that violence is sufficient to meet our needs. But we believe that to each their own.'

"There is wisdom on both sentiments." Azula supposed the creature's statement could be taken as a threat, but she didn't think it was meant that way. Even spirits could be graceless conversationalists, it seemed. "If you would prefer to stick to your usual methods, I am certainly willing to go back to how we've doing this. Although I burned many of your kind through the night, and Ty Lee seems to be holding her own quite well."

The wind picked up with a sound that could have been a sigh.

'We cannot divulge details, you understand. It would defeat the entire purpose. Then we would be forced to deal with you directly.'

"Well, you would certainly have to try, granted." Azula smiled while keeping her gaze on the path forward. "And I am entirely aware of the nature of your concerns. But I'm going to need something. Convincing me is your problem, not mine."

'Fair enough. A new future is in play due to the interference of The Remnant. It is why we are trying to remove The Remnant. We make no pretense of judging human happiness, but the future on the current course more closely aligns to what the people on this watercraft claim to desire. Restoring the timeline of The Remnant would deviate from those desires.'

Azula considered that for a long time. This was critical. She turned the wording back and forth in her mind, probing it for all possible meanings. She preferred speculative fiction, but she still had plenty of knowledge of legends and ghost stories, and those all agreed that the wording was very important.

Finally, she straightened off the railing and said, "That is an interesting way of phrasing things. I think I understand. And all you would require in turn is Mimi's life?"

'The Remnant.'

"Very well. Thank you for your offer." She bowed to the spirit and turned to walk away.

'Are we to take that as a refusal?'

Azula stopped. "I haven't made a decision yet. I will give your offer all due consideration and let you know. Until then, further attacks would make me ill-inclined to side with you. After all, there's no rush, is there? Mimi and her parents are in my possession. We have all the time in the world." She turned a smile to the spirit-

-only to find that she was alone at the bow and there was not a single petal to be found.

Well, she thought it was witty.

But if it came down to it, she would rather have victory than an audience for her genius humor.

TO BE CONTINUED