It was five days before the wedding. Mai was sitting out on her private balcony, worried, but not for the reasons one might think. Certainly, the vows she would be required to recite were complex and difficult to memorize; and yes, her ceremonial robes were likely to arrive from alterations at the very last possible minute; and there was also the matter of the number of beautiful wedding gifts currently pouring into the palace, each of which required acknowledgement and participation in a delicate game of reciprocation – but Mai was a noblewoman by birth, groomed for her station; she had been training for court life since she was knee-high. She was prepared to deal with these matters. No, Mai was worried because her family was coming to town.

Mai's family had been supporters of the old regime, and here Mai was marrying into the new regime. It wasn't that her family was displeased with her or disappointed in her – on the contrary, it was what she had been raised for. Her mother had apparently become hysterical with joy when she had received the news of her daughter's impending nuptials.

Mai knew in her heart that her family was more loyal to the crown than to the actual fire lord, as many nobles were, and to her this was a source of both relief and shame. It was the reason her family had accepted Zuko so quickly – but it was also the reason they had gone along with Ozai's tyrannical reign. Hell, it was part of the reason she herself had followed Azula halfway across the globe. Zuko knew this, and accepted it. He had made his mistakes, she had made hers. In the end, it was their choices that really mattered; Zuko had chosen to fight for the Avatar, and she had chosen to fight for Zuko.

But the Avatar and his friends had yet to meet her family. Her fiancée's former prey and current friends had very little concept of loyalty as it was viewed in the Fire Nation. And she knew, based on her limited interactions with them, that all in the group were owners of strong moral systems and an even stronger dislike of Ozai.

And this worried her. Because Mai – prideful, aloof, disinterested Mai – desperately wanted the gang to like her. She didn't want them to simply accept her because she was Zuko's intended – she genuinely wanted to be a part of the easy friendship the group seemed to share. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki, and Zuko truly cared for one another in a way that Mai, as unlikely as she was to ever admit it, envied. She had grown up with playmates strategically selected to advance her social and political standing – aside from her friendship with Ty Lee or her romance with Zuko, Mai doubted that she had ever known people who simply liked her for who she was and nothing more. She'd never really been close to anyone who hadn't wanted something from her; she'd never spent time with people whom she could trust with her self - and so she had kept her emotions concealed like the knives on her body, lest the Azulas of the world use them against her.

So Mai was anxious to make a good impression with Team Avatar. And that required that the group overlook her clan's past complacency with the Fire Nation's crimes – which was unlikely to happen if her family was not on its very best behavior. Although not a flicker of emotion passed over her features as she sat in the bright sunlight, Mai cringed internally at the mental image of her exuberant mother, flushed with drink from the celebratory banquet, bringing up some family history that all present would rather forget.

Tonight, both the Avatar's group and her own family were scheduled to arrive at the palace to aid with last-minute wedding preparations. As she searched both the sky and the sea from her perch on the balcony, Mai prayed to Agni that her family would not ruin this chance.

Author's Notes: My headcanon is that Mai and Zuko get married only a few short years after he is crowned Fire Lord. The members of the Gaang have headed in their various directions, and everyone is keeping busy… so basically, the wedding is the first time everyone's really been in the same place at the same time since Ba Sing Se. Sure, Mai has seen nearly everybody at some point or another, and she gets along with them just fine – Suki's spent some time with the palace guard, and whenever Sokka's in the area he stops by (probably for the palace grub more than anything), and Aang and Katara have been present for peace talks – but the wedding will be the first real reunion, and Mai wants to feel like she is a part of the group. She, like Zuko, still feels like she hasn't quite made up for her family's mistakes. (Although her family never really did anything that horrible, Mai has come to believe that being a passive bystander in the face of atrocities is its own special brand of evil.) So Mai foresees some tense situations, and is worried that her family might compromise her image in the Gaang's eyes.

I'm planning to continue this for a couple more chapters, at least. Please review, I welcome criticism! And thanks for reading