1 - Ending

Mai could see that Zuko was struggling to maintain at least a minimum of decorum, and she appreciated that. He was the absolute ruler of her nation, after all; a leader who couldn't act the part would simply be ignored by the populace, and she would rather avoid her homeland descending into a state of hysterical lawlessness if at all possible. Plus, she generally preferred Zuko when he was keeping a lid on the festering outlet for lifelong trauma that he called a temper.

Zuko stood amidst the rumble and the flames and the panicking attendees, maintaining a regal pose despite the lopsided Flame Crown nearly falling out of his topknot, the soot on his scarred face, and the battered flower blossoms sticking to the charred ribbons that were once his robes of state. He looked straight at Mai and said, "You were expecting this."

"Something like this." They might no longer be lovers, maybe not even friends anymore, but Mai still could not bring herself to lie to him. Even if she was flouting every single one of her other foundational convictions by wearing (the remains of) orange robes. "The explosion was a surprise."

His gaze drifted, and he gave a nod. "It caught me off guard, too." He looked up at her again. "But how?"

Mai sighed. "Well, if you really want to know..."

It began in Auntie Mura's flower shop, on the gray kind of rainy winter day that usually kept people indoors and definitely did not have them thinking about flowers, even if the best florist in all of Lower Harbor City always had fresh product available for purchase in a variety of colors and arrangements. It was the kind of day when a random employee of that florist, who may or may not be the proprietor's niece, might hope to get by without having to deal with bothersome customers-

"I have arrived," the customer called as she pushed the door open with a slam and glided into the shop.

Mai thought a whole bunch of words that were as colorful as the flowers the filled the shop. But she kept her face blank and turned to greet the new arrival-

-and just barely managed to swallow a frown. Following the customer at a precisely proper three steps was an armored guard.

An armored guard with disgustingly colorful facepaint that echoed the shades of the ugliest flowers in the shop.

An armored guard who was a Kyoshi Warrior.

An armored guard who was a Kyoshi Warrior who Mai knew because they had grown up together and why was Ty Lee playing footpad to this random loud lady?

The lady in question was pretty classy- too much for Lower Harbor City. She was dressed like she'd just attended a public immolation up in the Caldera. Even the people who lived in the capital didn't dress like that just to pick up some flowers.

Behind the nob, Ty Lee winked.

Oh, great. Mai had no idea what that wink was supposed to signify, but when Ty Lee was winking, either she manipulating a boy or planning a dangerous escapade that would require Mai's assistance in a life-endangering way.

Mai hoped it was the second one.

While she glared daggers at Ty Lee (which usually preceded actually throwing daggers), Aunt Mura stepped up to the main counter and smiled. "Welcome to my humble shop. Can my wares help brighten your life in some way?"

Lady Overdressed gave a slow look around the place, and made a face that Mai recognized from her days living up in the Caldera. It was the grimace of someone who had been hoping to find something worth throwing a fit over, and was disappointed to see that everything was up to standards. "I am Lady Yuying. This 'establishment' was recommended to me as a place of artistry. I have come to assess that claim." She didn't give any sign that she knew Ty Lee was behind her.

It was insulting, but nowhere near as bad as some of the brides who had come in as customers. Auntie Mura kept up her cheerful smile and gave a quick bow. "Welcome! My apprentice and I would be delighted to show you everything that-"

"Things got boring as Auntie took your cousin-once-removed back to our Viewing Room and served her tea," Mai told Zuko, "while Ty Lee and I had a conversation silently by expanding and contracting the irises of our eyes at each other. I was just getting to explaining how even she couldn't make those horrific Kyoshi cosmetics work-"

"Thanks," Suki said as she patted out one of the bits of her skirt that was still on fire.

"-when Lady Yuying decided..."

"It was just as I was told," Yuying hissed as she turned to take in the clusters of flowers that spread a symphony of color across the small Viewing Room. "You are a Hua Master."

Auntie Mura giggled. "I try."

Mai was still glaring at Ty Lee when Yuying spun to address her. "You- apprentice. I hope you appreciate your position and the knowledge you have been given an unworthy chance to absorb."

Mai was still shifting her eyeballs to a more appropriate vector as Aunt Mura said, "Mai is my niece, and it is my pleasure to have her as an assistant. The cluster on the left is actually her work."

Mai bowed. Apprentices weren't supposed to speak in front of the fancy customers.

Yuying walked over the arrangement in question - Mai had only thrown it together because she was bored this morning - and scrutinized it. She made a pleased sound, smiled, and then reached into the metallic yin petals to pluck out a small knife. "She has unique sensibilities."

Oops. Lady Fancy had found it. Mai had thought it harmlessly amusing to hide one of her weapons in a room that was supposed to be about instilling tranquility.

Still, she kept her face blank and met Yuying's gaze with apparent indifference. She knew how this kind of thing worked, and babbling excuses or (worse!) apologizing would just get her into more trouble. "I wished to make a statement by the juxtaposition of an instrument of death with blossoms of life."

Ah, it was like being back in the Royal Academy- on one of the days when Azula wasn't around to get her out of trouble.

"And yet you hid the knife, so that the statement was inherent in the work but invisible to the observer." Yuying smiled and held the weapon out, two fingers suspending it at the hilt so that the handle was free to grasp. "I most likely wouldn't have found it if I wasn't so intimately familiar with blades, myself. I specialized in the Silver Dance, back in Deadly Arts For The Defense Of Our Honor And Bodies class."

Mai tried not to choke as she accepted the knife. The Silver Dance?! That was one of those fighting arts that didn't just take years of rigorous practice to use without killing oneself, but also a freakish natural talent. Mai probably could have learned it, if she'd wanted to put in the effort. Her own chosen Flying Daggers style had seemed easier, more fun, and less messy.

She responded by bowing. "It is an honor to be recognized by another artist."

"Hmmmm." Yuying turned back to Aunt Mura. "You must have your apprentice make a contribution to your display at the show. I look forward to what you both produce." She snapped her fingers.

Ty Lee finally stepped forward and used both hands to present a single card to Auntie. Mai tried to lean over so that she could see what was written on it-

"And that's how I got invited to participate in the Great Fire Flower Show, 115 Year of the Rooster, Ri Wu era." Mai waited to see if Zuko had any questions.

Unfortunately, for all that people liked to make jokes about his intelligence, if there was one thing Zuko was good at it, it was clutching onto an important idea (with his teeth if necessary) and following all the way to the very ends of all knowledge. "But you didn't say how you knew there would be an attempt on my life! That's what I was specifically asking about!"

"Ah." Mai looked over at the Kyoshi Warriors who had joined the gathering to stand on either side of Zuko, in their once-matched-now-mismatched-by-random-holes-and-burn-marks uniforms, and decided to throw them under the dragon. "Well, your pretty bodyguards told me. That's why Ty Lee was in my Aunt's shop, when Suki could have assigned any of her warriors as your cousin's bodyguard. I thought it was implied."

Zuko blinked, and then spun to look at the pair of Kyoshi Warriors. Ty Lee managed to look sheepish underneath all that makeup.

Suki, of course, didn't back down. She had a lot of practice at it. "Mai's right. I brought her in on my authority as your Temporary Chief Bodyguard."

Zuko shut his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temples, shutting out the flames and the people running around the blast-damaged walls and the ruined flowers scattered all over the place. "Why her?"

"Mai tells it so much better than me." Suki's painted, ash-smudged lips twisted into a smile. "I love her dour commentary."

Zuko opened his eyes and looked to Mai.

She sighed. Why did she feel the need to become friends with the girls who most irritated her? "Whatever. So, after Aunt Mura horrified me with a celebratory dance for getting invited to present at the greatest flower show on the planet..."

Mai was sweeping up at the day's end when Suki decided to drop by.

Although she was the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, Suki was not dressed up in that heavy, ostentatious armor, nor was she wearing the clown makeup that for some reason the last Earth Kingdom Avatar had favored. (Mai suspected it was so that she'd stand out in all the art of her adventures despite the many artists who could only paint one face. If so, it had backfired.) Suki was dressed in Fire Nation red, and in moderate finery that was more appropriate for Lower Harbor City than the earlier customer's getup.

Suki was incognito.

Mai suppressed a smile. She liked it when her warrior friends showed up incognito. "Who do you need stabbed?"

"Azula, if you know where to find her." Suki leaned on the shop's counter. "But she's not my immediate concern. That's more of a general stabbing I'd like."

Mai put the broom back in its corner. "You and the rest of the world. So, if it's not Azula (this time), what are the Kyoshi Warriors getting themselves into? And are you going to make me wear the makeup?"

Suki stuck her tongue out. "You haven't earned the right to wear makeup. But this time we're- um, well, it's kind of a Zuko thing."

Mai clutched her hands over her heart and let out a sigh. "Zuko, my one true love. Woe am I, that we are parted by the sum of our crimes against each other's hearts! In the cold of the night, I dream of his warmth, just as I know he dreams of mine, and yet an uncrossable gap keeps us separated! Will this adventure finally lead along a path to each other? I pin my hopes just as I pin my enemies to-"

"You didn't really say that," Zuko interrupted.

Suki was obviously biting the inside of her lip. Ty Lee was giggling.

Mai shrugged. "You know me too well."

Mai said, "I'm out."

Suki shook her head. "What, do you think I'm doing this to play matchmaker? I know about your issues with him. I was there when he ordered you, as Fire Lord, not to break up with him. It was so traumatizing to witness that I couldn't get mad at Sokka's dumber antics for a whole year. Plus, I'm your friend."

Mai, of course, knew all of that, including the fact that this girl from an extremist Earth Kingdom island actually liked her. The problem was that she didn't quite understand this view of 'friendship' espoused by all of the people who were brought into her life by Zuko. They seemed to think that friends didn't sometimes take a little pleasure in each other's pain, or lash out at each other when life was being too relentless, or control each other through fear and abuse. Mai usually knew that, thanks to Ty Lee, but there were forgetful times.

Fortunately, all these friends were tolerant of that.

Mai nodded as much of an apology as she could muster. "So why me?"

"Because this flower show isn't the kind of place where armored guards are allowed to shove anyone then want, and yet I'm terrified for Zuko's life." Suki blew out a breath and straightened. "I take it you know about Lady Zuzka's Great Fire Flower Show?"

Mai nodded. It was famous enough that she'd heard about it even before she'd devoted her life to arranging the dead sexual organs of plants. "Lady Zuzka, little sister to Fire Lord Azulon, has held the show annually since before Ozai was alive. It's a celebration of Spring and gardening and romance, as well as Fire Nation culture blah blah blah I'm already bored, and one of the social events of the year, for a certain class."

"That's right. This year it's coming back to the capital, and Zuko has been invited as the guest of honor." Suki motioned as though she'd just made her case.

Mai grabbed a cloth to wipe down the counter. It was a perfectly clean counter, but perhaps it would send Suki the right message. "Sounds awful, but I'm not getting why Zuko would be in any great danger. The nobility hasn't sent an assassin after him in a while. At least a month."

Suki blinked. "Oh. You've been away too long."

"Too long for what?"

"Mai, Lady Zuzka has been a hardline Ozai-supporter up to a week ago. Zuko has never been invited to the flower show before, because his great aunt there considers him a traitor and usurper. But this year her granddaughter, Pangfua, is coming of age. Pangfua's official Society Debut is going to be on the last day of the show. Now, all of a sudden, Zuzka's rediscovered the importance of family and wants to pay tribute to Zuko's 'leadership and benevolent reform of the homeland.' That's unagi spit! Azula has been disinherited and Zuko has no heir, so if he dies, Zuzka herself - or her daughter Yuying, who you just met - becomes Fire Lord."

The picture was becoming clear to Mai. "So you're expecting Zuzka to set Zuko up."

"Exactly!"

"So get Aang. He loves flowers and bright colors. And Zuko has such a fun time threatening his life every time they have even a minor disagreement."

Zuko winced. "I hate how accurate that is."

Suki sighed. "He does. But this is a Fire Nation event. If I could, I'd have Aang and Sokka and Katara and Toph all there. The only reason- get this, the only reason the Kyoshi Warriors are allowed in is because of Ty Lee. It seems that by the ancient blood laws, a Fire Nation noble joining our ranks actually makes us an extension of her house. I've apparently been adopted."

"Yeah, I know." Mai quirked an eyebrow. "What, did you think I got you into the palace as Zuko's bodyguards because of your makeup?"

"No, I assumed it was because of your persuasive personality and way with people."

"Heh. So you want me as a hidden knife you can rely on."

Suki reached over the counter to grab Mai's hands. "I need you! No weapons are allowed. We're still short on Firebenders in the Royal Guard after the Kemurikage thing. Zuko's head of security sent a note begging me to bring the Kyoshi Warriors back to protect him. And I don't have enough people in case something goes really wrong. I can't get invitations for Aang and the others, but I do know an apprentice florist with an In who's good in a fight and doesn't want Zuko to die."

Mai wondered if it would irreparably harm their friendship if she pulled her hands free. "I'm not going to pretend I don't care about the leader of my nation dying, but there has to be someone else. You know what you're asking of me. You know he's going to see me. You know why I broke up with him, or so you claim."

Suki snorted and let go of Mai's hands. "I do. And I know that, in spite of it all, you still love him."

Mai turned away. "No I don't. I dated other people."

"One guy! Who started off as a terrorist trying to manipulate you and switched sides only after you beat up all his friends! I don't even remember his name."

"...yeah, me neither." Mai sighed. "You really can't get anyone else?"

Suki shook her head and then made a Ty Lee face with the big eyes and quivering lips.

"Ugh, she's been teaching that to you? Fine, as long as I'm at the stupid flower show anyway, I'll help you protect Zuko."

Zuko blinked. "Wow."

"Eh," Mai said, "don't let it go to your head."

Ty Lee leaned over Zuko's shoulder. "Um, as great as it is that you two are having this conversation, I think we're about to be in more trouble. Sorry."

Zuko said, "What?"

Mai said, "What?"

And then another assassin leapt at Zuko.

TO BE CONTINUED