Sorry for no chapter yesterday, between an important thing I had to do during the day and Eurovision in the evening I just had no writing time.

Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40296867: Absolutely luck is a factor in battle. It's a very major factor.

Zigzagdoublezee: Yes, this is a forest spirit just like Hei Bai. And like that other spirit, he's not fond of humans running into his forest and setting it ablaze for no good reason.

As Always, Please Review!

Mai's ostrich-horse weaved around a rock formation and carried on up the narrow pass. She was hungry and thirsty and tired, but she knew she could not give up yet. Zuko must be close now.

She knew because the Avatar, that forlorn-looking girl with white hair being carted off as a prize by a Fire Nation general, had said that she had seen him. Sure, Avatar Yue had been very tight-lipped on the details, but Mai had not needed to know them to read between the lines. She was on the right track; her quarry was close.

She sighed and looked up the road.

It hadn't been too long after encountering Avatar Yue that she had left the Fire Nation military behind her, and come across a fort set into the mountains. There had clearly been a battle there recently, but it was crawling with Earth Kingdom soldiers.

Mai had stopped at the sight of them. Prior to this point she had been in friendly territory, with a letter from the Firelord helping her on her way. But past that fort she would be in the territory of the enemy, and the letter would count for nothing. It might even be a liability if she were to be caught; the men of the Earth Kingdom were under no obligation to obey Fire Lord Ozai's instructions.

At least, not yet. Not unless the Fire Nation had its way.

Mai had taken one look at the fort and turned the Ostrich-horse away, deciding that the risk of being caught near it was too high. Instead, she decided to look for some other way through the mountains.

Which brought her to where she was now, picking her way up a slope along a narrow path, dodging rocks on her way across the mountains. There were less soldiers on this route. At least, she hoped there were.

The trail was long and boring, and Mai had nobody else for company. Ordinarily that would never have been a problem, she was not huge on talking at the best of times. But she found herself missing some kind of company. The Ostrich-horse was there, she supposed, but no substitute for her friends.

The sun beat down relentlessly, forcing Mai to squint. She scowled and lowered her head to stare at the ground, where the light was less painful. She would have closed her eyes entirely and just let her steed choose the route if she could.

She thought of why she was doing this.

Zuko.

The last time she had seen Zuko, he had been a Prince, heir to the throne, a Firelord in waiting. It had been just before the Royal Family was due to set sail for the North. Mai hadn't thought much of it at the time, assuming it was a fairly routine trip in order to honour the reveal of the new Avatar. According to Azula, that's what Zuko had thought it was too. Neither of them had anticipated the true nature of the mission, nor the momentous events it would unleash.

Mai had been sat in her room, idly practicing her knife-throwing, when the sound of footsteps outside had heralded the arrival of a palanquin. The servants had set the vehicle down and Zuko had stepped out, nervously smoothing over his robes before hurrying towards the house.

Her parents had been delighted to see him, of course; they were both compulsive social climbers and so the fact their daughter was in with a chance of being Fire Lady one day greatly pleased them. Mai had listened, amused, to the sounds of grovelling coming from the front door before she had heard her name being called. Her parents were standing there expectantly, stood next to Zuko. He smiled at her awkwardly as she approached, and Mai smiled back. But not too much, she had an image to uphold.

Her parents had grinned at her, before making their excuses and retreating to the safety of the next room, where Mai was sure they would be eavesdropping. Maybe Ozai could have found jobs for them as spies, they were good at that.

"I have to go soon," Zuko had said in an apologetic tone.

"Must you?" Mai asked.

"Unfortunately," Zuko smirked. "Hey, have you asked if you could go?"

"I don't know if the North Pole is my kind of place," Mai shrugged.

"I didn't know you had a kind of place," Zuko observed. "I thought you hated everywhere."

"Who says I don't?" Mai asked. "But there are levels. And I would rather hate somewhere warm, thank you very much."

"Fair enough," Zuko had nodded. "I'd rather not go either. I heard they hardly get any sunlight up there."

Mai sighed.

"Doesn't sound like a place you'd want to stay in long."

"No," Zuko agreed. "I would much rather be back here, with you."

"I would like that," Mai nodded, slipping a hand into his. Nobody else was about, and her parents could only hear rather than see the interaction. She consequently felt she could get away with the flagrant breach of protocol.

Zuko blushed a little.

"I- I would like that too," he managed. Mai stifled a little giggle.

Zuko suddenly widened his eyes.

"Oh!" He said. "I got you something!"

He began fiddling around in his robes, patting his chest down several times in attempts to find it.

Mai watched with increasing bemusement.

"Need any help?" She asked, folding her arms.

Zuko stopped, and straightened up with a sheepish look on his faces

"I... I, uh, think I forgot the present," he admitted. "It was a-"

"Shhhh!" Mai silenced him quickly. "Don't tell me what it is! We can save that for when you return. We'll make it a special occasion."

She had smirked.

"You absolute idiot."

But she said it with such obvious love in her voice that he just grinned back.

"Sorry," he said. "I had planned that going a lot better."

"When does your ship leave?" Mai asked.

"Soon enough," he had said. "But I think we have a few minutes before that."

Mai was snapped back to the present as the Ostrich-horse stumbled over a rock and squawked. Mai managed to steady it with the reins, and carried on up the pass. The danger was the price she paid for the pass being undefended.

But Zuko had never returned. The meeting had simply been the last gasp of a happier time. A few days later had come the news of the start of the war, and after that the news of Zuko's exile and the announcement of her rescue mission. Mai was confident she would see him again, but she didn't know what kind of person she would find. The Prince was gone, the son disowned; the heir, passed over. Their destiny had been derailed. She was likely to find a refugee in their place, a refugee she had been personally ordered to apprehend by the Firelord himself.

That meant he was likely to be hiding with other refugees. Mai's hand idly travelled to her saddlebag, where a red mask peeked out over the edge, its eyes just visible. It could come in useful for infiltration, should it come to it; the Fire Nation had been at peace with the Earth Kingdom, the two kingdoms exchanging merchants and diplomats, until very recently and Mai was a relatively significant figure at court, so the possibility she could be recognised was definitely there.

But if it meant seeing Zuko again, it was a risk worth taking.

Mai remembered their last meeting, and wondered how the reunion would go.