lizbee | FIC: Disengagement (AtLA, Mai/Zuko, ensemble, PG)

Title: Disengagement
Author: LizBee
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Rating: PG
Characters: Mai/Zuko, ensemble
Notes: Written for day 2 of the

womenlovefest.
Summary: Zuko thinks a return to the traditional Fire Nation marriage would be a good thing. Mai thinks Zuko is an idiot.

Disengagement
by LizBee

Late in the evening, after Iroh had closed the tea shop, Zuko said, “I want to ask your father for permission to marry you.”

“Wow,” said Mai. “Should I count myself lucky you’re even telling me in advance?”

“Actually,” Zuko went on, “I guess it’ll be Li and Lo asking your father, because the chief Fire Sage says that in the old days--”

“Is this going to involve me going into seclusion with my friends and mourning my separation from my family?” Mai asked. “Because I’ve been trapped in a room with Ty Lee before, and I don’t care to repeat the experience. Why are you even talking to the chief Fire Sage about this?”

“Because so much is changing so fast,” said Zuko, clearing up their empty tea cups, “and I thought, if we go back to the traditional ways for some things--”

“Like arranging my future on my behalf.”

“--like the traditional role of the Fire Lady, then people will be more willing to move forward for other things.” Zuko looked hurt. “Don’t you want to get married? You were saying just last week--”

“I want to marry you,” said Mai, “I just don’t see the point in all the ... fuss.”

“But you don’t see the point in anything!”

“I see the point in you. Although I might have to change my mind on that.”

“But you said--”

He ducked. Mai’s shuriken buried itself in the wall behind him.

“Please don’t assassinate my nephew,” said Iroh mildly. “I’m technically still his heir, and I don’t think the royal court will fit in my shop.”

One of the advantages to growing up with Azula was knowing how to keep track of exactly what went on in the palace. By the time the royal delegation to ask for Mai's hand in marriage had arrived at her parents' house, she was already out the window and halfway to the new airship port.

"You know," said Suki, "Kyoshi Island isn't actually a refuge for disaffected Fire Nation noblewomen."

"I'll teach your warriors how to throw knives."

"Welcome to Kyoshi Island."

Ty Lee threw her arms around Mai. "We're going to have so much fun," she promised.

Kyoshi Island, Mai decided, was not all it was cracked up to be. It was essentially the most boring place in the world. Last time anything interesting had happened here, it was That Time Fire Lord Zuko Invaded And Almost Burned The Village Down.

Mai had not travelled halfway around the world to listen to strangers talk about her boyfriend.

"Boyfriend?" asked Sokka. "Or ex-boyfriend? Because it's honestly all Zuko talks about, and Dad says it's making the trade negotiations really awkward."

"It's complicated," said Mai.

The other problem with Kyoshi Island was the number of mutual friends who knew she was there. When a royal messenger hawk turned up with a letter from Zuko -- written in his own hand, she assumed, because there was no way the palace would employ such an incompetent secretary -- she knew it was time to move on.

"He did apologise," Ty Lee pointed out.

"Yeah. He just didn't know what he was apologising for."

"Come to the North Pole," said Katara's grandmother. "It's more comfortable than the south, and with your knife skills, you can show those waterbenders a thing or two."

"I'm not really into the cold," said Ma.

"Also," Pakku added, "for his part in Zhao's invasion the other winter, Fire Lord Zuko is forbidden to set foot in the Northern Water Tribe."

"I'll get my things.

To her surprise, Mai actually liked the Northern Water Tribe. Waterbenders and warriors alike were gratifyingly impressed by her prowess with projectiles, and no one ever mentioned Zuko at all.

Right up until a dragon appeared on the horizon.

"If that's Zuko," said Mai, "I swear, by the time I'm finished, he'll have to run the Fire Nation from a bucket."

"That seems terribly cruel," said Kanna.

"His idea of creating a new era involves turning the clock back a century."

"I'll sharpen your knives."

Fortunately, it was Aang on the dragon. He thew himself to the ground, bowing to Kanna and addressing her as Gran-Gran before he turned to Mai and said, "Zuko sends his apologies and love, and if you'll forgive him, Ran and I can take you straight home." To Kanna he added, "Appa's a bit jealous, but he understands. I mean, even when I was a kid, hardly anyone was permitted to ride a dragon."

It was true, and Mai had always wanted to try. Which Zuko knew, and at least he wasn't stupid enough to come out here himself, but --

She said, "So what does Zuko think he's apologising for?"

Aang looked blank.

"He didn't really go into that much detail," he said. "He was going to give me a letter, but he said he couldn't find the right words, and then Sokka started telling him he should be sending poetry, and, well, dragons don't really wait around for literature."

"Right." Mai bowed to the dragon and climbed on its back. "Drop me off in the Earth Kingdom," she said. "And tell Zuko I hate poetry."

She fetched up in Gaoling, fending off the advances of a very large man who referred to himself in the third person and insisted she see him compete in a secret illegal earthbending tournament.

He was wiped out in the first round by a thirteen year old blind girl.

Mai smiled.

She got to the Bei Fong estate just as Toph marched out.

"And I'm never coming back," she shouted through the gate. "Oh, hi, Mai. You're not going to tell me they're my parents and I should give them another chance, are you?"

"Depends. Are you going to tell me I should give Zuko another chance?"

"Hell, no."

"Well, then."

Toph turned out to be surprisingly good company. She was smart, brave and completely unscrupulous when it came to cheating at games of chance.

She also had problems with injustice, which was how Mai found herself fighting off a local warlord's soldiers to defend a farming village from his predations.

"Doesn't it give you a warm, glowy feeling inside?" said Toph later, at the feast the villagers had thrown in their honour.

"Maybe," said Mai. "Unless that's the muscle I pulled dodging that guy's hammers."

"Admit it, you had fun."

Mai mumbled something.

"And it took your mind off what's his face."

"...Shut up."

"Hey, your blood pressure just went up."

"I'm not having this discussion."

"Then can I have your dumplings?"

Mai's allowance from her parents came with a letter bearing a royal seal.

She scowled at it.

Her parents hadn't wanted to give her any money at all, until she started dropping hints about all the ways a girl on her own could earn an income. Not that she had any actual intention of going into prostitution -- or worse, retail -- but there was something to be said for parents who expressed their love and concern in cash. Although Toph still said they could get more money cheating at darts.

She might have known her parents wouldn't stand up to Zuko for long.

"Get it over with," said Toph. "Maybe he's writing to tell you he's decided to marry a nice Fire Nation girl who plays three instruments and writes poetry in her spare time."

"I don't--"

"Hey, your heart just started racing."

"I hate you," said Mai.

She opened the letter.

"Let me guess," said Toph, picking her toes, "he's taken a vow of celibacy?"

"He thinks he's found his mom."

"Whoa."

"There's a rumour that she's in a small mountain village a couple of days from here. He says we're the only people he trusts to find out for sure."

"I can see how she might be a valuable hostage if people found out who she was." Toph stood up and stretched. "Does he say anything else?"

Mai read the letter again, turning it over in case she had missed something.

"Nothing."

"Not even a haiku declaring his love? He's slipping."

Mai slipped the letter into her sleeve.

"I'm not going back," said Princess Ursa.

Mai was mildly impressed the princess had even recognised her after this many years. Not that Ursa looked like a princess, with her ink-stained hands and faded green hanbok.

On the other hand, Mai didn't look much like the Fire Nation noblewoman who nearly married the Fire Lord.

"I have a life here," Ursa added, blocking her door. "I won't leave it."

"You won't get any arguments from us," said Toph.

"Zuko just wants to know you're okay," Mai added.

She was aware of a dozen or so girls in the room behind Ursa. It was a school. A school for Earth Kingdom peasant girls whose parents wanted them to have better lives.

Ursa hesitated.

"Come in," she said at last.

She served them tea and pork buns, saying, "This place is so remote, it was only a few months ago we heard the war ended."

"Zuko's been searching for you since the day he was crowned," said Mai.

"I didn't know." Ursa's hands were right around her tea cup. "I thought -- or I told myself they wouldn't need me anymore. And my students -- I only have an assistant. There's no one to take my place."

"Zuko's letter didn't say anything about making you go back to the Fire Nation." Mai pulled it out of her sleeve, pointedly ignoring the way Toph smirked at the familiar crackle of paper. "He just wants to know that you're safe and happy." She shrugged, passing the letter to Ursa.

"He'd visit?" the princess said. "Here?"

"I'd pay to see that," said Toph. "Well, not see. And I wouldn't actually pay. But I doubt they get many royal visits up here."

"If you wanted to visit," said Mai diffidently, "I could take your place here."

Ursa raised her eyebrows.

"I'm educated. And I've been all over the world teaching people to throw knives the last year, and no one's complained yet. Reading, math, history -- at least there's less chance of injury."

There was a small smile on Ursa's face.

"And why aren't you in the Fire Nation, Mai?" she asked. "I remember your mother. I can't imagine her letting you wander around the world when you could be getting married to someone she approves of and giving her grandchildren she can criticise."

Mai shrugged. "Zuko's trying to be a traditionalist."

"Oh, is that what it's about?" said Toph. "I thought it was just one of those things where he was an idiot, and you got mad, and then you ignored him for a year instead of actually talking about it."

Ursa did not manage to conceal her laughter.

"Come on," said Mai, "you won't go back to live in the palace either. Can you imagine being treated like a doll for a whole lifetime, with nothing to do but have kids and perform the old ceremonies and turn up to dinner looking appropriately pretty?"

"Mai," said Ursa, "I was married to Ozai."

"Oh. Right."

"I'll talk to Zuko for you."

In the end, it took a year.

For Mai's explanations, and Zuko's (prose) apologies, and the long and occasionally hostile correspondence between Mai and her parents. Even with airships and messenger hawks, it took a long time for mail to reach the mountains.

Mai didn't care. She was busy, and if he had any sense, so was Zuko.

Three of her students passed the bureaucratic examinations at Ba Sing Se. Another went to Omashu. One went so far as to apply for and receive a position in the Fire Nation royal palace. Others went home, to look after their parents, have families of their own, become teachers themselves.

Mai taught them all how to fight. Just in case. And she prepared lessons for the younger girls who would return after the summer, and made notes on their progress for Ursa. One of the students wanted to stay and help teach after she had finished her schooling. Mai figured the girls should have an Earth Kingdom teacher.

When summer was at its height she went to Ba Sing Se.

Everyone was there, so she had to put up with Sokka's teasing and Ty Lee's hugs, while Zuko avoided her gaze and Ursa sipped tea and smiled.

It was evening before she and Zuko found themselves alone.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I know I wrote it, but I need to stay it as well. I had this idea that everything needed to go back the way it was before the war."

"Accepted," said Mai. She held out her hand. "Will you marry me?"

Zuko swept her into a hug.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"How do you feel about large families?" Zuko asked.

end