A/N

Please bear with me, Zutara fans, as this chapter is mostly about Mai and my willful take on her character.

Chapter 4: And Ba Sing Se fell

Mai was sitting on the steps of the Earth King's Throne, staring into nothingness and watching Ty Lee tumble and play tricks from the corner of one eye. The bear beside her let out a frightful grumble. Mai shifted her attention to the bear without moving her eyes or head. The bear was huge. Standing on his hind legs, he was taller than any man she'd even seen, and even on all fours, he was an impressive sight to behold. She was sure Ty Lee would love to train and ride him. Not that Mai really cared. It was just ludicrous and pitiful for such a mighty creature to be wearing a silly little jacket and hat. Especially if the hat was designed as a simpler copy of the Earth Kingdom's crown.

Ty Lee cartwheeled toward Mai and the furry monster and stretched out her hands in consolation. "Poor Dear. You're so lonely without your master", she comforted him. "Come on, let's play!" She tugged the sleeve of his jacket and flipped away. The bear sat up and whined at Mai. Judging by his accusing looks, she was totally in the way and he was too afraid of her to just climb over her outstretched legs.

Or maybe he was too fat. The amount of food this animal ate in a single day could easily have fed Mai's family for half a week. The bear produced a corresponding amount of waste, too. And for some reason, it was considered as an honor in the Earth King's palace to be allowed to clean up after him. However, Ty Lee was always conveniently out of earshot whenever the deed had to be done, so the honor was usually Mai's.

The bear scratched the stone floor softly. "Come on, Mai, let him through!", Ty Lee chided. Mai rolled her eyes and growled: "Gee, fine!" She pulled her legs to her body to let the fat, useless cake annihilator pass. He harrumphed as he passed her, not without giving her a condemning side glance that left no doubt that he thought it was not her place to block his way. Mai scoffed inside. No audacity, but at least some pride and brains. Quite opposed to his owner. Maybe the bear should rule the Earth Kingdom. He was already dressed for the part and would probably give away less secrets to strangers than the current ruler-in-name.

Ty Lee was still coaxing the bear to follow her, but got tired of it after a while. Instead, she instructed the bear to sit down, nimbly mounted his back and went into a handstand on his head after knocking down his crown. Bosco whined again, but was apparently too taken with Ty Lee to shake her off. She summersaulted back onto the ground and bowed to the bear. "Please forgive me, your highness, for ruining your apparel." She picked up the hat from the ground and skillfully spiraled it back onto the bear's head. His highness growled excitedly and clapped his hands.

Seeing Ty Lee so happy, Mai began to dread that she would take the bear as a pet back with her to the Fire Nation. She should try to come up with a scheme to get rid of the bear before Ty Lee could get any ideas. Now Ty Lee even tried to teach the stupid bear how to walk on hands. Even if he could do that in theory, he was way too lazy to even try, so why bother? She heard steps from the entrance, but before she could fully turn her head, Ty Lee's hands were cast in rock. The forward momentum brought her feet back to the ground where they were trapped as well. Bosco clapped again and made noises that sounded like a laugh. Mai had never known that bears could laugh. The Avatar's goons and the most incompetent king in the history of the Earth Kingdom. came running for her, and the blind earthbender mocked Ty Lee: "That is a nice trick!" She was right. It was hilarious.

Before Mai could say anything, the underlings turned toward her, fists and weapons raised. The earthbender raised a rock from the ground and let it hover threateningly. So scary. Mai waved her hand, pretending not to care. "Just take the bear!", she said casually. But inside, she was throwing herself a party. No more bear poo, no more happy Ty Lee. Perfect victory. Not that she cared. Officially, at least.

The king screamed "Bosco!" and hugged the bear in joy. Clearly the Earth King has never had to clean up his own pet's droppings, for it was inexplicable to Mai how anyone could hug such a manure generator. "Come on, Bosco. Let's get away from these mean, deceiving girls as quickly as possible." Bosco got up from his sitting position and followed the king. After a few steps, he stopped and turned his head toward Ty Lee, whose hands and feet were still trapped in rock. "It's OK, little fuzzy bear. I'll be fine", she said, not entirely convincing. Bosco whined at the king, who folded his arms and frowned. The Water Tribe big brother smarty-pants, who was walking behind Bosco, pushed his furry butt and yelled "Get moving, bear! We don't have time!" Bosco whimpered again and started walking reluctantly. "I love you, too, sweetheart!", Ty Lee shouted after him. Bosco growled one last time as if saying goodbye as he walked out the door.

Mai was unable to suppress a sight. Just how cheesy could a goodbye between an overgrown cuddly toy and a circus performer with tied-up legs and arms be? She hoped never to see that bear or the most stupid ruler in the known universe ever again. Though she still wasn't quite sure what was worse. Bosco, at any rate, seemed sentient enough to at least follow an everyday conversation. She wasn't so sure about the Earth King. He, however, had at some point in his life learned to use a toilet.

As she was still pondering the pros and cons of keeping Bosco or Kuei as a pet (both of them sounded like critter names), she heard Ty Lee clear her throat noisily. In the end, she didn't care much for pets. Even if someone else cleaned up after them, they were just useless mouths to feed. Ty Lee cleared her throat again, more noisily this time. "You should see a doctor", Mai stated dryly. "Ummmm, excuse me? A little help here?" Mai looked up. "What do you need help with?" Ty Lee wobbled a little, trapped as she was. "I'm kind of tied up here and can't free myself. So could you maybe get one of the Dai Li to remove these rocks?"

Mai looked the other way. "So, you're giving orders now?" Ty Lee sounded hurt. "No, but I really can't go myself." Mai leaned back. "Just wait. They'll come back after capturing The Avatar." Ty Lee shrieked: "You want me to wait for another 100 years?" Actually, no. Mai just wanted to make sure that her little fuzzy poo factory was well out of her reach before she was freed. Also, if the same thing happened to Mai, Ty Lee would be too busy with random things, such as teaching a bear- "Hey!", Ty Lee yelled. "You still with us?" She sounded seriously pissed.

"Yeah, OK", Mai gave in and got up. Slouching out of the throne room, she wondered why she didn't think of leaving earlier. Just leaving her there was a marvelous solution, and much kinder to her ears.

She strolled around in the palace at random. She had no idea where any of the Dai Li were anyway. They were supposed to capture the members of the Council of Five, though she had no idea where they would be taken. Maybe to the prison. That's where King Dumbo, Boomerang Sucker and I-see-with-my-feet had come from earlier. For sure, there were no Dai Li there. Cause if there were, how would they escape? Or maybe the Dai Li had been there and unable to stop The Avatar army, or maybe they double-crossed Azula and rejoined their king. Mai hoped that's what happened, because it would be the most interesting turn of events. But no, the Earth King just ran off, abandoning his kingdom. And the most foolish king in the history of histories wouldn't be able to win back the Dai Li from the hottest firebender under the sun anyway. Dragons were extinct, after all.

The ground under her feet shook every once in a while, but she paid it no mind. This was the Earth Kingdom capital. Earthquakes were totally normal here. At least that would be her excuse if anyone asked.

After some ten minutes or so of gazing at Earth Kingdom antiques and pieces of art, she decided to return to the throne room. She'd been away long enough to convince Ty Lee that she'd sincerely looked all over the place for an earthbender to free her. But they were at war. The Dai Li were probably helping the wicked princess deal with that airbender and The Brother.

The thought of Zuko filled Mai's usually impassionate heart with a glimmer of hope She hadn't seen the Fire Prince since he was banned from the Fire Nation. She'd always somewhat admired him for being outspoken and straightforward, and getting away with it. But in the end, even he hadn't been allowed to speak his mind about the truly important things, which was vexing. She'd heard the stories about the War Council where Zuko had advised against the General's plan of sacrificing unexperienced recruits on the front line for some ulterior motive.

She resented ulterior motives. And if even Zuko as the future leader of the Fire Nation wasn't allowed to give his opinion about war strategies, what hope was there for noble girls like her? Her fate was to sit around prettily on a soft cushion and be sacrificed for her own father's ulterior motives. Ulterior motives anywhere. Her true hope shot blue fire from her fists and daggers from her eyes. As long as she was with the Fire Princess, she was free. Or at least less constrained than usual. She could travel the world, follow Azula's orders, or not follow them when it was too inconvenient, and follow her own whim, whenever Her Hotness was looking the other way. Azula didn't expect her underlings to think for themselves, after all. Just following orders to a T was fine. Pretending not to understand these orders was OK sometimes, too. Mai wasn't sure if she wanted Zuko to come back. Sure, she wanted to be with him. But she couldn't imagine herself liking a Zuko that was Azula's creature.

She stopped in an open gallery, overlooking the palace's inner yard, where exotic (by Mai's standards) plants, fountains and rock sculptures were arranged in sophisticated manner. The Fire Nation made a big show of art and flower arrangements and gardening and blah, but in reality, everything looked kind of the same. It was just for old people talking nonsense of what the gardener tried to express by planting the Matsu Tree in that exact spot and not a few yards further to the left or whatever. She'd always regurgitated her father's opinions when asked to give hers, so yeah, she'd had more than enough of that for her whole life. The rural style of the Earth Kingdom was refreshing in comparison. Though it occurred to her that it was strange to call something she saw in Ba Sing Se 'rural', for the Earth Kingdom capital was the most gigantic city in the world.

Azula didn't care much for trees. Zuko had once been genuinely interested in the art of gardening, and art in general, to be honest. She wondered if Zuko would start randomly burning trees like his sister, if he came back to the palace as a crown prince. Mai sighed and leaned onto the railing. She wished Zuko could see this. She knew little about trees or gardens or sculptures, but would have loved to listen to the Prince's musings of this patch of green deep within the palace of the Earth King. He'd always been one of the reasons why she hung out with his crazy sister and her hyperactive friend. But right now, she hoped that Zuko would just leave with his uncle and not come back. She wanted for Zuko to always stay as he'd been before that fateful day.

She straightened up. She should really return to the throne room. If she stayed away too long, it would be hard to explain her absence. Especially if Azula had returned in the meantime.

The palace was a maze and Mai's bad sense of direction didn't help much in finding her way back to the throne room. And there was not a person to be seen anywhere to point the way. Mai didn't blame them for running away from Princess Hotter-Than-Thou, but it was really inconvenient not being able to ask for directions. Her feet started to hurt and her weird green clothes felt super uncomfortable.

When she returned to the throne room eventually, said Princess barked at Mai: "Where have you been? We've been waiting for you!" Mai stopped in the entrance and recalled all of the excuses she'd prepared while walking about. The one that fitted the best was "I was searching high and low for an earthbender to free Ty Lee, but I couldn't find any. Even the prison guards were gone." Azula rolled her eyes. "Of course, they were with me!" Figures. "Really? That never occurred to me", she replied.

Azula folded her arms and shifted her weight to one leg. With a smirk, she said: "I'm sorry, Mai, dear. You never had the most impressive skills of deduction. No idea how you ever managed to get accepted into the Royal Fire Academy for Girls." Mai lowered her eyes. "I guess it might have been because of my family's position."

It was a complete lie. Anyone lower in status than the royals of the Fire Nation had to prove themselves with extraordinary performance in academics and athletics to be accepted into the Royal Fire Academy. The truth was that she had been obligated to be admitted to the Royal Fire Academy (because anything less than that just wouldn't do for her parents), but standing out among the other high-ranking noble girls in academics was bad, according to her parents. She was certain that all girls at the Royal Fire Academy had been instructed by their parents to never ever outperform the Fire Princess in anything. But being underestimated suited Mai just fine. People had no higher expectations of her than of others, which meant that she actually got to slack off. And she was sure that Azula wanted her stupid and obedient, anyway.

Hey eyes fell on Ty Lee, who was sitting cross-legged on the stone floor, juggling rocks. Could it be…? It was strange. She'd known Ty Lee for so long and it had never occurred to her that she might be playing the same game.

"Oh well, I forgive you because I'm in a good mood today." Azula had shifted her attention to one of the Dai Li agents, apparently giving him instructions. Not listening to what was being said, Mai's gaze floated around the room. Zuko and his uncle were noticeably absent. So were The Avatar and his companions. In fact, the scene looked just the same as earlier today when Azula had given her orders for the coup.

Something was different, though. There were only two Dai Li agents present, and their robes and skin were burnt. What in the name of the Great Dragons. Mai's thoughts were racing. OK, there could be any number of explanations for burnt robes, but she knew of only three firebenders who were currently in the city: Azula, Zuko and General Iroh. Princess Your-Pants-Are-on-Fire wouldn't damage her tools as long as they were doing their jobs. Which they were doing, apparently, because otherwise they'd be dead already. But they might have gotten into the crossfire during the battle between Azula and The Avatar. No. If they had accidentally gotten into the way of Azula's attack, on purpose or not, Azula would have treated them as traitors either way. The one responsible for these burns must have been either Iroh or Zuko. She wondered where Zuko was now.

As if she'd guessed her thoughts, Azula turned around and smirked. It was obvious that she wanted Mai to ask about Zuko. Even Ty Lee had stopped juggling and was eyeing her expectantly now. But Mai would not ask the questions. She would pretend not to care. Giving Azula power over her was a bad idea. She blinked. "Is there something in my face?", she inquired with blank expression. Azula shrugged. "I thought there was something on your mind, but I guess I was wrong." Mai didn't need to ask. She would find out one way or the other.

In the end, she decided to listen to the conversations around her after all. From what she found out, The Avatar had been struck by lightning right in the back and was likely (but not confirmed) dead. The Water Tribe girl had escaped with his body, as had Ex Earth King Kuei and his bear, the Water Tribe boy and the blind girl. Mai never cared to learn their strange foreign names. Zuko and Iroh had apparently plotted against Azula and killed most of the Dai Li agents that had come for Azula's help. However, they had been taken captive. Iroh had surrendered himself in the end, but Zuko had apparently hit the floor pretty hard and was still unconscious. They were currently being kept in separate cells, but Zuko had been given the required medical attention.

So Zuko had decided not to join his sister. For once, Mai was at a loss what to think. Not being able to keep her inner turmoil in check, she prowled around the castle for several days after the coup, observed the Fire Nation troops pouring into the city, and even as the day of departure back to the Fire Nation drew closer, she could not make up her mind if she wanted to see her former crush or not.

The Princess had gotten word when he regained consciousness and just had to honor Mai with a long side glance which the latter tried her best to ignore while looking as unconcerned as possible. More than a week had passed since then. Azula had apparently visited him several times for purpose of interrogation, but she'd always taken only two of her Dai Li agents. There had been no convenient excuse for Mai, such as visiting Zuko purely on Azula's orders. And the fact that Azula left her mostly to her own devices while she was taking over full control of the city and organizing an interim administration did not really help Mai, for she had nothing to do, which left her thoughts spinning in circles.

Just as her thoughts were spinning in circles, she found herself time and time again passing the stairs that led directly to the underground dungeons. When she finally set foot on these stairs, she had already started rationalizing her behavior with the fact that the dungeons were the only part of the palace that she had not been to yet. Knowing her way around the palace might prove useful later on, in case the Earth King succeeded to retake his kingdom and she needed to sneak inside or some such.

Of course, once she reached the base of the stairs, she might as well check on the Fire Nation prisoners. Or at least that was her justification in case somebody asked her. As she was walking around, exploring the layout of the prison, she passed rows upon rows of metal cells, which were designed to lock up earthbenders. None of them were more heavily guarded than the other, which probably indicated that the VIPs (Very Important Prisoners) were kept somewhere else.

There were no cells in the last corridor. Only two earthbenders were standing guard. Disappointed, Mai was about to return to her room, when it occurred to her that it made no sense to have earthbenders guard an empty corridor. The Earth Kingdom had a habit of imprisoning benders of other elements in caves whose entrances were sealed. She'd seen those during her time in Omashu. Two guards. Two cells. Two prisoners.

She walked up to the first guard and commanded with flat voice: "Open this cell. I need to interrogate the prisoner." The guardsman who was several spans taller than her and at least twice as wide, replied. "I can't let you into this cell. I have orders." Of course he had orders. Why else would he be down here? But she was authorized to command most of the guards. The Dai Li were the only exception. She sighed loudly. "Don't you know who I am?", she asked with accentuated irritation. The prison guard seemed to shrink. "I-I do, Lady Mai", he stammered. "You may punish me as you see fit, but Princess Azula gave very specific orders not to admit you into Prince Zuko's cell."

Wow. She had not expected that. So Azula had anticipated Mai coming to see Zuko, probably more so than Mai herself. Or maybe it was just a precaution. As if she would actually betray her for the sake of a traitor who'd never noticed her. And she guessed that Azula's orders went even further than that. The guard would report Mai's visit to the prison to Azula right after his shift ended. Then Azula would know that she'd been here. She could not let that happen. With exceptional presence of mind, Mai took a step toward the guard and drew one of her knives. He would be terrified of the punishment Azula had in store for him, so there was only one way to keep him from talking.

"I'll remember your face", she threatened with a voice steadier than she felt while holding the knife to the guard's throat. "If Azula hears of my visit, I'll find out where you live and mutilate all relatives of yours that I can find." He swallowed and spluttered: "Y-yes, I will forget that you were here, right away!" She withdrew her knife and stepped back. She had no idea if he was credible or not, but she would have to take the risk. She remembered his face, just in case.

She turned to leave, but stopped after a few steps. He'd said that Azula's orders had been very specific. She turned back and walked toward the second guard. She was well within earshot of the first and must have heard everything, so Mai saved herself the introductions and commanded: "Open this cell! No word to Princess Azula!" The guard looked unhappy, but saluted, stepped aside and waved her hands. The wall slid aside and revealed a dimly lit, oval cave. Mai entered and gazed upon the Dragon of the West.

A/N

Sorry, no chapter this week. I've been on a trip these past two weeks and prepared only two chapters in advance because I thought I'd have enough time to write the chapter for this week, but no can do... I'll post the next chapter next Fri/Sat (March 2nd/3rd).