When word arrived that her husband's ship was sighted limping towards port, Mai thanked the messenger and continued lunching with her daughter. A maid finished feeding Ilah bits of steamed fish, then took the four year old away to be made presentable for her father's arrival: unruly hair put up into a topknot, casual day robes traded out for the more expensive silks that Mai's parents had quietly sent from the homeland.
Mai dressed herself.
Her household budget could only afford two servants, a maid and a cook. Styling her own hair and picking out her own clothes was something beneath even minor nobility, but Mai didn't mind. Accepting one's place in the world was necessary.
She had other duties, once. As a lieutenant of the Fire Nation. As a princess-consort. The kind of positions other people might have called special or important. After Ba Sing Se, she'd been a heartbeat away from being Fire Lady.
For a while.
Everyone in the inner circle had dealt with Prince Lu Ten's death and the siege breaking in different ways. General Iroh had gone into a self-imposed exile, walking the earth on some spiritual quest until his health had deteriorated. Mongke had taken his Rough Rhino and rampaged through the western Earth Kingdom, leisurely raping and burning his way back to the western seaboard. Jee had cut his topknot and never grew his hair out again, wearing his dishonor for all the world to see.
She and Zuko, now poised to inherit the throne, had finally stopped delaying having children. She left the military as a lieutenant while he continued on as part of his princely duties.
The carriage that takes her down to the dock was a plain black affair. Back home, it could have belonged to any family living in the capital. Here on Whale Tail Island it was a symbol of unrivaled luxury.
Zuko's ship was docking even as they arrived. The smoke from its stack was a clean white. They were use firebenders to power the boilers instead of burning coal. Despite the ship's strange and battered appearance, Mai breathed freer at the sight of the royal flag flying at full mast.
Zuko was alive. As long as he was, her family's exile was bearable.
The World of Broken Glass [8/14] - Mai
Mai dressed herself.
Her household budget could only afford two servants, a maid and a cook. Styling her own hair and picking out her own clothes was something beneath even minor nobility, but Mai didn't mind. Accepting one's place in the world was necessary.
She had other duties, once. As a lieutenant of the Fire Nation. As a princess-consort. The kind of positions other people might have called special or important. After Ba Sing Se, she'd been a heartbeat away from being Fire Lady.
For a while.
Everyone in the inner circle had dealt with Prince Lu Ten's death and the siege breaking in different ways. General Iroh had gone into a self-imposed exile, walking the earth on some spiritual quest until his health had deteriorated. Mongke had taken his Rough Rhino and rampaged through the western Earth Kingdom, leisurely raping and burning his way back to the western seaboard. Jee had cut his topknot and never grew his hair out again, wearing his dishonor for all the world to see.
She and Zuko, now poised to inherit the throne, had finally stopped delaying having children. She left the military as a lieutenant while he continued on as part of his princely duties.
The carriage that takes her down to the dock was a plain black affair. Back home, it could have belonged to any family living in the capital. Here on Whale Tail Island it was a symbol of unrivaled luxury.
Zuko's ship was docking even as they arrived. The smoke from its stack was a clean white. They were use firebenders to power the boilers instead of burning coal. Despite the ship's strange and battered appearance, Mai breathed freer at the sight of the royal flag flying at full mast.
Zuko was alive. As long as he was, her family's exile was bearable.