POSITIVE PROSPECTS

"You're cutting way too much of the stalk away, dear!", Mai's aunt complained with a chuckle, and gone was the flower in Mai's hands. Mura had grabbed it, and was now demonstrating how to cut the right amount of the fire lilies' stalks off, her face lightened up by contentedness.

"See? Just like that. We want them to get enough water, don't we?"

"So that's why you cut them off where the stalks are the thickest?", Mai wondered. "I thought it might look nicer if the stalks were thinner, so that you could put more of them into the same vase..."

"Oh, I don't think that's so important. As long as they stay nice and fresh as long as possible! Fire lilies are only in full bloom for such a short time of the year! If you cut them the right way, you get to have them in your home for a few days longer than otherwise."

Mai nodded, watching with some astonishment how beautifully her aunt arranged the lilies in a red jug. It wasn't as if Mai was all that interested in flowers. They were just flowers, after all. But her aunt certainly had a talent for these things, and Mai certainly had missed her aunt over the past few months. So she kept watching her arrange flowers, and helped her to cut some,too, now and then. Mai liked to cut flowers. Then again, she liked to use knives in general.

She was sitting on top of the counter of a small, chilly room,- just above the palace's basement,- her aunt standing in front of a table at her left and working on the fire lilies.

Mai was glad that auntie Mura had brought some of them with her to the Earth Kingdom. There were others, too; other flowers far to nice to belong here, and Mai felt a wonderful sorrow when she looked at these reminders of home.

How Zuko must feel, she thought, all alone on a ship without anything else than the boatmen to remind him of their nation? Well, Zuko had his uncle, of course. Zuko had always loved his uncle, Mai knew. But still, there had to be so much anger and fear in him. So much desperation at the prospect of never going home again, if he wouldn't figure out how to find the Avatar...

Mai hated herself a little for it, but when had she first heard the rumour of that person being alive,- the rumour of the presumed dead Avatar having returned to their world and to their war, after so many years, - her first reaction had been pure joy.

It wasn't acceptable to feel that way, to be happy about the Fire Nation's enemy being back among the living and therefore being a risk to their military chances, again, but Zuko might return, therefore, too! Zuko might catch that child, capture him, to bring the Avatar to his father. And then, she might actually have a chance to see him, once again, as well... There was a small likeliness of these things to happen, the world was so huge, the Avatar could be anywhere, and even, if Zuko did capture him, there were many things that could go wrong... But Zuko wasn't an idiot, after all, was he? He would find a way to do it. To regain his honour and to go home and to find her and...-

"What are you thinking about, Mai?", her aunt asked, eyeing her warmly and curiously. "You look happy."

Mai shrugged, regaining her usual, unemotional expression.

"It's nothing important.", she explained, standing up and taking another fire lily. She cut the stalk off, the way her aunt did, and put the flower into the nearby vase.

"See, now you're doing it perfectly!", Mura smiled. "You really could step into my shoes one day, Mai! Wouldn't it be lovely, to be surrounded by flowers all day? It seems to cheer you up."

Mai didn't say anything, she just continued to cut the flowers. In the exactly right way, at the perfect spot, so that they would gain as much water as possible and stay fresh for longer than otherwise... And perhaps, it really wasn't that much of a bad prospect, to work in a flower shop one day, if only to get rid of some of the time spend in boredom. Perhaps, cutting flowers in the exactly right way wasn't all that different from throwing knives in the exactly right way. Perhaps, flowers were really making her happy. Knives surely did, too.

Well, Mai pondered, we'll see.