i.
Prison is boring. This, Mai knows, would not have surprised her if she'd thought about it before defecting, but that doesn't change the way the days drag on.
Nothing she's done matters anyway. They'd arrived at the Western Air Temple just as the sun had begun to peek over the horizon and the dawn clouds still hung thick in the valley. Like a big, fluffy blanket, Ty Lee had chirped. A special assignment, Azula said, just for Mai. To make things interesting.
Mai had refused to kill Zuko, gone so far as to face Azula inside an airship with only her knives to protect her from the charge she felt building in the air, and then Ty Lee had reached out to chi block Azula just as sparks formed on the princess's fingers, and then they had been arrested, locked up, put out of Azula's sight.
All for nothing, Azula snapped later. Foolish Mai, saying she loved Zuko more, and Zuko wasn't even there to hear it.
Mai sighs. Ty Lee spares her a glace from the floor where she's playing some kind of game with the captured Kyoshi Warriors.
That jerk better be grateful.
ii.
The day Mai leaves prison breaks like any other. Their rations are pushed through the door, and the Kyoshi Warriors begin their usual morning routine. Ty Lee has begun joining them. Mai has not.
Their leader arrives silently, armed with the warden's keys and three contingency plans. They take Mai with them-as if Ty Lee is already one of them-and slip into the jungle outside the caldera.
They aren't on their own long.
iii.
The comet glows overhead. Suki goes into the city for news as the last glowing tendrils fade from the sky. When she returns with a summons to the palace for the Kyoshi Warriors, Mai is dreaming of fruit tarts with rose petals and of the way Zuko's smile creases his eyes.
She dreams of the good times, of the picnics in the hills and the palanquin rides across the city and the ice cream he brought her when she was heat-addled and angry. Out here, it's easy to forget how impetuous he is, how jealous, how angry. It's easy to forget that he grew more subdued every day until he was gone like sand through her fingers. Gone without a trace, except for the smell of ozone that clings to the Fire Lord and the brief letter he left in her bedroom.
It's easy to forget that letter until it isn't, and then she wants to throw it at his head.
iv.
A young woman leads the group through the maze of the palace hallways. The palace is quiet, even more than usual, but the curtains have been opened and light streams in. The oppressive darkness has lifted, almost as if the entire building has stopped holding its breath.
"Ma'am," the woman says, rapping lightly at a door and pushing it open. "The Kyoshi Warriors have arrived. Princess Azula's associates are with them."
"Azula's friends were on Zuko's schedule yesterday," a woman's voice murmurs. Mai snaps to attention, slipping between two warriors as everyone files into the room. The desk is covered with paper, what Mai can only assume are pardons, and a girl who can't be any older than Azula sits behind it.
"They arrived with the Warriors," the woman explains. "I can retrieve the Fire Lord-"
"No. Thank you, Keiko. I'll handle it. The Fire Lord should not be disturbed." The woman bows briefly before ducking out of the room. The girl comes around the desk quickly and throws her arms around one of the warriors. "Suki! I'm so glad you're okay."
Suki returns the hug tightly, and the warriors light up. "Katara," Suki says, "how are you here?" Chatter erupts from the warriors as they swarm the girl. Mai narrows her eyes fractionally. The Avatar's waterbender wears Fire Nation silk. Her hair is done in the style of a Fire Nation woman, up to the bronze ornament in her hair. It's unsettling.
"Aang disappeared," the girl explains, though this explains very little to Mai. "Zuko and I worked together to defeat Azula during the comet."
Suki sighs, as do some of the warriors. "He is just a kid," she offers.
An unreadable look flits across the waterbender's face. "Yeah," she says. "We all are." Returning to the desk, the waterbender pulls a stack of papers out from under the mess. "Fire Lord Zuko has officially pardoned the Kyoshi Warriors," she says, her tone more formal. Then: "Both for whatever they did to get thrown in prison and for escaping." She grins.
The Kyoshi warriors grin back, and then Suki tugs at Ty Lee's elbow. "The girls met Ty Lee in prison."
The waterbender crosses her arms over her chest and glares at Ty Lee. "Why were you in prison?"
"Oh," Ty Lee says, clasping her hands over her heart like some kind of sappy actress. "When we attacked the Air Temple, Mai was supposed to kill Zuko, but she said-" and here Ty Lee arranges her bangs to cover her forehead and peers through them. "She said no. And then she said, 'I love Zuko more than I fear you,' just like that."
Mai does not sound like that, and she glares daggers at Ty Lee to make the point. Ty Lee smiles at her unapologetically.
The waterbender looks pained. "Azula must have been furious."
"She was!" Ty Lee is nearly bouncing on her toes. "I chi-blocked her, and then she sent us to prison! And then-" she pulls two of the nearest Kyoshi warriors into what Mai is certain is a painful hug. "I met the Kyoshi Warriors, and they let me join their group!"
About to respond, the waterbender pauses as a Fire Sage leans into the room. "The Fire Lord has need of this year's tax code."
Straightening, the waterbender puts her hands on her hips. "Tell the Fire Lord that he's supposed to be resting. If he's bored, he can read a play."
Mai is impressed at the sage's impassivity. "The Fire Lord indicated you would say that, and he wishes me to tell you he's read all the good plays."
The waterbender rolls her eyes. "Tell the Fire Lord he should be studying up on Pai Sho strategy, then."
"The Fire Lord assures me he will win your game tonight, Majesty." Mai feels her breath catch. Something is wrong here, she knows, and she fingers a stiletto that the security team had missed. It reeks of some kind of foreign coup, installing Zuko as a puppet Fire Lord, and this waterbending girl is some kind of power behind the throne. She slides her eyes over to Ty Lee, who looks just as tense as Mai feels.
The girl's next words pull Mai out of her thoughts. "He needs to stay in bed. Healer's orders. Tell him to start reading bad plays if you have to."
Mai is sure the sage laughs a little as he bows deeply and retreats. She narrows her eyes at the waterbender. "Zuko was hurt?"
The waterbender meets her eyes, her mouth a grim line, and her shoulders are rigid. "Yes."
"What happened?" She asks. Mai keeps her voice cool, disinterested. She does not allow herself to lean forward. She does not allow her voice to shake.
"Azula nearly killed him," the waterbender says softly. He took lightning to the chest."
Alarms blare in Mai's head. Zuko can redirect lightning. Ozai had emerged from the bunker after the eclipsed singed and raging about it. Azula had accounted for it in every plan she made before they attacked the temple. No. "You're lying," she accuses, voice still cool. "Azula knew not to use lightning against him."
There's something heartbreaking in the waterbender's eyes. Pity, Mai thinks. This waterbender pities her, and she doesn't know why. Servants and sages bow to this peasant woman, and Mai doesn't know why. She sits at the Fire Lord's desk wearing Fire Nation silk, controlling what Zuko, the new Fire Lord, is allowed to see, to do. Mai's fists clench inside her sleeves, even as her face is smooth as porcelain.
"Azula is not herself," Katara explains, as if that's any kind of explanation. "And she didn't use it on Zuko. She shot it at me."
Bile rises in her throat. "And Zuko got in the way, I suppose."
There's a silence. Ty Lee watches them carefully, and the Kyoshi Warriors have tightened their ranks, leaving a clear path between Mai and the waterbender. The waterbender sighs. "Zuko wanted to talk to you before anyone else did. You and Ty Lee are both pardoned, obviously. The coronation is at noon, and I'll make sure you have an audience with him after that. For closure."
Mai glares. Ty Lee flinches, but the waterbender does not. The tension is nearly choking all of them. "Fine."
"For what it's worth," the waterbender says, never breaking eye contact, "I'm sorry."
v.
Ty Lee is trying too hard to cheer her up. "Don't worry, Mai. I'm sure Zuko is fine. Just think of all the other times someone's tried to kill him!"
"Thanks," she drawls. "That makes me feel so much better."
"Katara seems nice," Ty Lee says. "I think we're going to be great friends."
Mai wants to tell Ty Lee to shut up. To go away, to leave her alone. But she doesn't, because she's not Azula, and because Mai is only alive because Ty Lee chose her, and Ty Lee doesn't deserve to feel the raw edge of whatever this is. "She's Water Tribe," Mai says, scanning the hallways for open ears. "She shouldn't be anywhere near the Fire Lord's office."
Ty Lee shrugs. "If they fought Azula together, he must trust her."
Mai hums, and then they're in the bright sun of the courtyard, midday sun beating down on them from above. It warms Mai's scalp under her black hair, feeling almost like a caress. It's calming, in its way. People have gathered in the courtyard in rows of red and green and blue. Their faces are tired, their postures slumped, but there's an unusual lightness in the air. Ty Lee fusses with her green sleeves.
"Mai? Do I look okay?"
"You look fine," she says, sparing her friend a glance. "Your face paint isn't even running."
Smiling brightly, Ty Lee makes a beeline for the rows of green, for her new sisters in arms. Mai glides toward the Fire Nation contingent, searching for her family. They won't make a fuss, she knows. A quiet, predictable reunion is what she needs right now.
She comes to regret finding them. Zuko steps into the sun wearing the Fire Lord's clothes and leaning on the waterbender, and then Mai's heart skips. The waterbender has taken the bronze pin out of her hair but wears her own scarlet hanfu and yunjian. They stand together on the dais, a grim-looking Avatar beside them, and the sages raise two hairpieces-not one, two-
And then they're kneeling together, and Katara is where Mai should be, and there's a silver flame in her topknot that should have been Mai's and a title that should have been Mai's and everyone around her, except her parents, cheers so loudly that her ears ring the rest of the afternoon.
Still, she's been raised better than to speak, to argue, to cry. Her face is smooth as a glass pane as her heart shatters into a million shards.
vi.
"I'm sorry, Mai," he offers when she returns to the office. "I planned to talk to you yesterday. No one told me you'd escaped the prison with the Kyoshi Warriors."
"Shut up, Zuko," she sighs, but she knows anger tinges her voice the way it did on Ember Island. "You broke up with me with a stupid note seven weeks ago, and now you're married to someone else? What's wrong with you?"
"I had to save my country," he says, and she wants to slap him. "This was the only way. I'm sorry you had to find out like this."
"I went to prison for you," she snaps, and it's clear from his nonreaction that the waterbender has already briefed him. The little thief. First her boyfriend, then this. She wonders when she lost Zuko, whether it was during that war meeting or sometime after, sometime after he'd left the palace and joined the Avatar. Sometime after he'd spent too much time looking into those cool blue eyes and forgotten about the girl he dumped on his way into treason.
Zuko pinches the bridge of his nose and exhales slowly. "What did you want me to do, Mai? If you were in my place, what would you have done?"
"We could have been happy, Zuko," she says, finally regaining control. "If you had just kept your head down-"
Quickly, he shakes his head. "No. Nothing the Fire Nation has done in this war has been right; don't you understand that?"
She does, if she stops to think about it, but Mai dislikes politics and power and everything that comes with them. She was happy with Zuko, and she just wanted to keep being happy even if he was a stupid jerk on Ember Island, even if he was moody about war meetings. "It doesn't matter."
"Yes it does," he says, quietly. "I'm sorry, Mai. I wasn't a good boyfriend, and I've treated you badly. I know that."
"And you hope I'll find someone else just like you did," she says sharply.
He laughs mirthlessly. "You can do better than someone who hates you."
She doesn't hate you, Mai doesn't say, and you don't hate her. She sees the way he looks at her, knows by the way the waterbender touched his chest when he stumbled after the coronation that Zuko had jumped straight into that lightning. "Goodbye, Zuko."
As she sweeps out of the palace, tipsy revelers in her wake, Mai wonders whether she lost Zuko before or after she went to prison for him. Was it before or after she'd tried to beat back his worries with her lips, before or after she'd scolded him on Ember Island? Or maybe Azula was right, and there had been something going on with the waterbender in Ba Sing Se. Mai could have lost him in the catacombs, before she'd even gotten him back.
She wonders, then, if she ever really had him.
vii.
A waterbender for a wife, her father snarls, glass of fire whiskey wobbling when he strikes the table. Mai sits quietly. You did everything right, her father complains, even joining the right side in the end, and still, a waterbending peasant for a wife.
Foolish child, bringing the colonists home. There will be rice shortages this year, her father predicts.
His bending is gone, her father grits out, his face nearly purple with rage. Her mother puts another dumpling in her mouth placidly. Ozai's bending is gone. The Fire Lady a waterbender gone home to the South, the true Fire Lord a nonbender. What is their nation coming to.
Then the waterbender returns, and Ozai walks to his death, and there is in fact a rice shortage that year. The New Ozai Society will regroup, her father says, stewing in his study. Princess Azula still lives and bends, he says, no matter that she sees her mother in mirrors and her father in windows.
On the other hand, he says one night, eyeing his daughter speculatively. The Fire Lord has been married over a year, and there is no heir in sight. Perhaps the long game is the way to go.
Mai shrugs as she finishes her fruit tart. Perhaps.