It was our last night in Ba Sing Se, a few weeks after the fall of the Avatar. Azula was finalizing the city's new government, which meant she was harassing her pet Earthbenders and making absolutely sure that they wouldn't experience a sudden swell of patriotism. They wouldn't, we all knew, but Azula is thorough if anything. The rest of us had long since gone to sleep.
"You know," I said as my bedroom door was eased open, flooding my room with pale, green light, "it really isn't appropriate for you to be sneaking into my bedroom."
"I'm not sneaking in," Zuko muttered, blushing. "I couldn't sleep."
"Relax." I stood up and followed him into the hallway. "I'm just teasing."
It was a regular thing by now, the two of us aimlessly wandering around the palace, hand in hand.
Zuko had been more withdrawn over the past few days, since Azula had begun to question him of his intentions about returning home. She usually pressured him to come with us, which seemed the obvious answer to me.
Whether she admitted it or not, I knew she'd missed him –we all had, quietly and behind closed doors. But if she wanted him around to brighten her by comparison or because she cared about him on some level, I'll never know.
I had known Azula since Zuko and I were seven and had been with her as the palace slowly cleared out. Ty Lee and I had been the only ones left, the Fire lord too busy to give her much attention. I could relate; I almost felt guilty being dragged out to Omashu –oh, I'm sorry, New Ozai- after Ty Lee had run away. But Azula was a big girl and tonight wasn't about her.
"Where are we going?" I asked him, settling into his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around my waist.
"Nowhere," he scoffed. "We never go anywhere."
"What about when we go to the library? I think I left one of my gloves there last time…."
He blushed again. "Okay, sometimes we go to the library. Thinking is just easier when I'm walking. And with you."
"Don't hurt yourself, now."
He didn't notice as I subtly turned us away from the prison chambers, where we seemed to be heading. I didn't want him getting himself into any trouble.
My voice broke the silence bluntly.
"We're leaving at sunrise and I think the only thing I wouldn't want to leave in this dump is my boyfriend. Are you coming home with us?"
I tried not to let his hesitation get to me.
"I –I don't know, Mai," he whispered into my hair. "I don't know if I can."
"Of course you can."
"I haven't seen my father since… since I left. What if everything's changed –what if nothing's changed? I might not even be the restored prince; I could still be the failure. I don't have the Avatar. What if it's just easier to stay in the Earth Kingdom than to go back and just get kicked out anyway?"
"Zuko," I turned his face with one hand forcing him to look at me. Agni, did he always look like a kicked pygmy panther? "The Avatar is dead. If you come home… trust me, you aren't going anywhere."
I closed my eyes and rested my forehead to his. I gripped his hand firmly; after so many years, I felt the need to hold onto him like a child holds a balloon in a monsoon. I reached to meet his lips-
The Dai Li agent guarding Azula's suite, across the hall from Zuko's door, pretended to cough. Zuko whipped around.
"Got a problem, peasant?"
"No, sir," he drawled. "Feel free to do whatever you choose with your wife in the middle of the hallway."
"Get flamed," I scoffed at him before Zuko slammed the door after us.