She tied him to her back when he got too tired to keep walking. Her legs cried under the weight of all her knives, her sword and then this extra body. But she needed to get out of the city, get away from her mother and her mother's ceaseless crying. She needed to get out of reach from Zuko and his guards and from Azula and her sisterhood of asylum escapees. She needed isolation and safety. She knew her mother could not protect her brother, so she made the decision to take him with her. Their mother was foolish. She had put too much faith in their power-hungry father who made themselves enemy of the Earth Kingdom while Governor of Omashu, and then enemies of the Fire Nation while heading the New Ozai Society and plotting to overthrow her ex-boyfriend. Then her mother put too much faith in the City Guard, spent too much time trusting they'd fix everything to notice that Azula had made away with Tom-Tom. She didn't know how to fight or fly, only how to weep and cry. She meant well, but was weak and ignorant. So Mai decided to take the reins.

They took a steamer to the Earth Kingdom, bought some new clothes, then walked for a day. The Earth Kingdom was the only place where they could walk and keep walking without running into ocean or water. They must have covered at least thirty five miles by the time the sun set. Tom-Tom had long been asleep. He walked for a good four hours before Mai had mercy and tied him to her back enabling them to pick up the pace. With darkness encroaching, she treaded deeper into the woods away from the road to make camp for the night and remain unseen. She gathered some brush for padding and then covered it with one of her spare robes to make a bed for Tom-Tom. She laid him down first and then stretched her back before setting off into the nearby surroundings to see if there was anything edible they could collect for their journey. They had enough water for three days, and enough preserved food for seven, but she didn't want to break into that store for anything other than a last resort. Finding edible vegetation was easy. If her formal studies taught her anything, it was how to identify poisonous plants and berries, and how to not be killed.

Despite her exhaustion, she found herself awake, watching her little brother sleep while sharpening her blades. She reflected on the texts she was forced to memorize and be able to regurgitate at any time until after the last edge on the last blade was sharp enough to peel a berry. The stowed the knife and her whetstone away, leaned her head on her spare robe, and wrapped her arms around her little brother protectively, and closed her eyes to sleep.

It was the fifth night. They had reached a small village sufficiently far from civilization for Mai to be satisfied, with a room cheap enough for them to rent for at least a month with the savings her mother gave them after realizing there was no way to stop her armed daughter from taking her son.

"You here to trade?" the innkeeper asked Mai curiously.

"No."

"Do you have a trade?"

"No."

"Then why, may I ask are you here, stranger?"

"I just need somewhere safe where I can protect my baby brother," Mai replied, lifting her gaze from her coin purse to the innkeeper.

He leaped back in surprise before he could ask why.

She raised a brow.

"Sorry, I just—never seen eyes quite like yours, miss. I don't mean to flirt they're just—"

"Completely normal where I come from," Mai replied, replacing the change in her purse. The people of the Earth Kingdom all had eyes of green in varying shades. She had forgotten how strange her tawny eyes must have seemed to the man with roots so deep, so far from the former colonies.

"Right," he replied suspiciously as he handed her the key to the room.

"Thank you," she said flatly, taking the key and turning away, feeling her baby brother stir in his wrappings.

She dropped their supplies on the floor and freed the boy from her back, then collapsed on the bed.

"Mai, I'm hungry!" Tom-Tom cried.

With a sigh, she found herself up again. She shed a few layers, grabbed her coin purse and his hand, and they went outside.

She kept her head down, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

It was bad enough having a stranger in town. Knowing they were former enemies would have only made things worse.

"Your options are lamb-cow, or chicken-pork," Mai said reading the sign above the meat stand.

"Chicken-pork!" Tom-Tom spouted cheerfully.

"Two please," Mai asked the vendor.

She watched her baby brother inhale his meal and then run around the town square for hours. She wanted nothing more than to retreat to their room and lock the doors, but knew the growing boy needed to expel his energy to sleep. He made friends with a couple of locals, kicked a ball around, and even got to try one of those yo-yo-toys on strings. Mai would make one for him, she decided. And while not letting him out of her sight, went to buy the supplies.

She would not let him miss out on life despite taking him out of the Fire Nation.

While he slept, she stayed up, carving the wooden piece into two inverted cones with a hollowed space in the middle for a rod to act as an axle. She carved his name into the inside of one of the cones, then got carried away stylizing it in a way she saw it written in a book one time. Soon enough the inside was completely covered in whittled calligraphy. She was exhausted but knew he would like the toy. Besides, it would help develop his hand-eye coordination. If he could roll the yo-yo like the other children, throw it, and catch it again, he might be able to throw a knife with some accuracy some day.

As expected, Tom-Tom rose with the sun. She wondered if it was a sign. If he would be a firebender and she wouldn't have to teach him knife-throwing or swordsmanship. She wondered if instead she would have to hide him from potential enemies, Earth Kingdom Nationalists who thought all Fire Nation deserved to be punished for the heinous crimes of their ancestors. She wondered if coming across the sea to hide from familiarity was all a mistake. She wondered if she would regret everything.

"Mai, you made it?" He asked finding the yo-yo, and the two sticks attached to each other by a string.

"So you wouldn't have to borrow," Mai replied, barely awake.

He crossed the room and threw his arms around her. "I love it! Thank you!" he exclaimed, practically suffocating her with his affection.

She hugged him back, and ran her fingers through his hair.

"I'm going to cut it this evening, after dinner," she warned him.

"Okay," he replied.

"May I get breakfast on my own? So you can sleep more? I'll come back with the food, so you don't have to worry! Everyone went to school so- so so so—I don't have anywhere else to go."

She pulled out three copper pieces and a three-pronged sai.

"For the food. And for anyone who tries to hurt you," she said, holding his hands tightly.

He nodded and unlocked the door and ran across the open square to the same meat vendor they met the previous day.

She tilted her head back but couldn't sleep. She had to watch him, to make sure he was okay. He was her everything.

A/N This takes place right after Smoke and Shadow. Right after Kei-Lo leaves aunt Mura's maybe for forever (maybe not). Mai knows that Zuko would protect her when Azula comes back to wreak havoc on the nation (now that she has decided her fate is to make Zuko a strong Fire Lord), but Mai doesn't need or want his protection. She is tired of war and fighting. She is tired of being a high-profile target. She doesn't want to be Zuko's weakness, and she doesn't want Tom-Tom to become hers.

She just wants peace and quiet, and for her baby brother to be safe. So she runs away to some remote village in the EK.

But the past always has a funny way of coming back to ruin a perfectly good day.

Pls pls please! All feedback is greatly appreciated.