Chapter Text
Mai sat on the floor of the cell, back against the wall, hands folded in her lap, eyes closed. She and Ty Lee had been dumped in a holding cell hours ago to wait while the guards scrambled to get the Boiling Rock back under control. The first successful escape from the supposedly escape-proof prison—a very public, very dramatic escape—had driven the inmates into a frenzy. The alarm had been clanging for so long she barely heard it anymore.
So far, she had not thought much about what happened. She had a dim awareness of cosmic irony in saving her boyfriend’s life after he broke up with her in a letter, but that was it. Exhausted and hungry, she didn’t care to think about anything else today. Or tomorrow, or the next day, but she knew the luxury of ignoring what had happened would be short-lived. She would take the chance not to worry while she had it.
Ty Lee did not want to seize such an opportunity for herself. She hadn’t stopped pacing and fidgeting since the cell door closed. If her wrists weren’t shackled, she would probably be somersaulting. Her arms had been bound behind her back, but she slipped her hands around to the front after the guards left. Mai’s weapons had been confiscated. The female guards thoroughly searched her, although they stopped short of having her disrobe completely, since she was still a noblewoman and the Warden’s niece. There was very little for them to find, since she had used most of her arsenal in the fight on the gondola platform.
Perpetual motion finally stopped working as an outlet for Ty Lee’s nerves. She blurted, “How can you just sit there half asleep?”
“I’m tired,” Mai answered, not moving. “The adrenaline rush of betraying my country wore off.”
“We are in serious trouble! We’re going to prison!”
“We’re already in prison. They just haven’t given us uniforms yet.”
“This isn’t funny, Mai. I can’t believe you’re making jokes after we’ve committed treason. That’s the worst crime there is.”
Mai almost said 'No, there are worse,’ but her eyes opened before her mouth did. Ty Lee’s face shocked her into silence: her zealously cheerful friend looked almost haggard. She stood up and said, “Look, freaking out right now isn’t going to do us any good. You need to try to stay calm.”
“How am I supposed to stay calm? We’re going to prison. I’m going to prison! You heard Azula. We’re never getting out.”
“Ty Lee, if you keep this up, your skin is going to break out.”
“It won’t matter if it does in prison!”
“You really mean you don’t care about your complexion anymore? You’d be fine if your face looked like it was growing lychee berries?”
Ty Lee looked disgusted at the idea. “No. I don’t want zits, even in jail.”
Mai waved a hand at the wall. “You should sit down and rest while you can.” Reluctantly, Ty Lee sat. Mai followed.
Ty Lee stared forlornly at the bolted door opposite them. “How much longer are we going to be in here?”
Mai shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“The warden’s your uncle. Don’t you know what he’s going to do with us?”
“The first priority now is to stop the prisoners from trashing the place. He’ll deal with us when that’s done.” She pressed her back into the wall, stretching a little.
“And then what?”
“Well, unless Azula decides she wants to pick out our cells herself, he’ll find some place for us.”
Ty Lee chewed her lower lip for a second. “Do you think he’d…you know…let us escape?”
“No.” The fact that Ty Lee even considered this reminded Mai that, in some ways, her friend’s family had spoiled her. Mai may have had more material possessions growing up, but Ty Lee had far more freedom. After all, her parents allowed her to remain at the circus she ran off to after they had satisfied themselves that she was not in any danger. Ty Lee’s mother had told Mai’s that it was best to let the girl “get it out of her system” while she was still young. Mai continued, “Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t. It would look too suspicious. He’d be removed as warden, for negligence at least, even if no one believed he intentionally let us go.”
“What do you mean, even if he wanted to? He doesn’t even want to?”
She gave Ty Lee a steady look. “You said it yourself. We committed treason. We—well, I—aided and abetted an escape from his own prison. My uncle’s spent his entire life punishing people for breaking the laws of the Fire Nation. He’s not going to let anyone just get away with it, even family.”
Tears brimmed in Ty Lee’s eyes. “He’s going to hurt us?”
Mai quickly put up a hand. “I didn’t mean it like that!” Her uncle Izo had a reputation as the meanest, toughest prison warden in the Fire Nation, a reputation suitable for the man in charge of the meanest, toughest inmates. But now he was caught between loyalty to his country and loyalty to someone he loved—a problem that seemed to be going around lately. She added, “He’s just not going to leave the side door unlocked for us.”
Ty Lee sniffled and rubbed her eyes. “Do you think Azula’s gone?”
“Probably.” Azula would most likely leave as soon as another airship arrived so she could track down her brother before he got too far away. Mai did not say more. She did not want to think about Azula chasing—and catching—Zuko.
“Do you think we could escape on our own?”
Mai’s answer was a simple no, but she said, “Not for a while. Everyone is going to be watching us carefully. Especially you, with the chi-blocking.”
Ty Lee said quietly, “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in prison.”
Mai shifted uncomfortably, annoyed by the guilt she felt. She didn’t ask Ty Lee to intervene. She never imagined Ty Lee would cross Azula for her sake, or anyone’s sake. She reminded herself that none of this would have happened if Zuko hadn’t run off to join the Avatar. Or if he hadn’t broken into the Boiling Rock for…she didn’t even know why. Or, at the very least, if he hadn’t gotten caught doing it. If this was part of a plan, it was a stupid plan. But Zuko apparently hadn’t known her uncle was the Warden. She shouldn’t be surprised—Zuko had never met the man. Her family didn’t talk much about her uncle’s profession, mostly because her mother considered it déclassé.
Ty Lee added, glancing at Mai, “But I couldn’t just stand there while Azula…I couldn’t live with myself afterward.”
This comment inspired a new thought for Mai: this was Azula’s fault. If she hadn’t left Zuko to die…
But regardless of whatever stupid and crazy things everyone else did, Mai’s decision to act was her own. Of course, the first time in her life she decides to take a stand, she ends up in prison for life for it. She said, “Neither could I.”
“I understand.”
The alarm finally stopped. Ty Lee leaned her head on Mai’s shoulder, and they sat in silence for a long time.
Heavy footsteps approached the cell door. Ty Lee quickly shifted her hands behind her back. Three guards entered the room, two looking menacing, the third trying to look menacing while carrying two bowls of steaming food.
The acting waiter set the bowls down on the floor. The other two watched Mai and Ty Lee keenly, poised to fire bend at the hint of a hostile move. The smell of hot noodles made Mai’s stomach rumble, but she kept her eyes on the guards. She doubted they would try to harm her or Ty Lee—not while her uncle was still the Warden—but people did foolish things when they were angry enough.
The guards, having finished their errand, cautiously backed out of the cell. Mai cleared her throat loudly and asked, “How is my friend supposed to eat with her hands cuffed behind her back?”
The guard who carried the noodles said, “Your hands are free. Why don’t you feed your fellow traitor?” The other guards snickered as the door closed.
Mai rolled her eyes. Ty Lee pulled her hands around to the front again, and said, “I’ll manage.”
After she finished her noodles, Mai’s eyelids grew heavy. Ty Lee started yawning. Mai turned to her friend to suggest they get some sleep, and saw that Ty Lee had nodded off sitting up, her head lolling to one side. She eased Ty Lee onto the floor. Then, she stretched out and closed her eyes, resting her head on her arms. The last thing that drifted into her mind as she faded from consciousness was how sleeping next to Zuko felt like sleeping in a pool of sunlight. She was too tired to chase the memory away out of anger.