Chapter Text
The weather outside was hot, humid, and the air hung heavy and still. Mai, dressed in only her thin inner robes, fanned herself with a scroll she supposed to be reading in a poor attempt to cool herself off. Even though she was not a fan of the cold, there was little Mai hated more than the summer weather in the Fire Nation. It was relatively warm year round, but in the prime of summer, it really seemed like Agni himself was punishing them with the brutal, oppressive heat. Walking over to the bed, she flopped down unceremoniously and groaned.
As if the weather wasn’t bad enough, she was also stuck on Ember Island. Zuko had decided to give her and Ty Lee a long weekend off from palace duties, since he knew that they had been working hard. He also knew that Ty Lee loved the beach and offered to let them stay at his beach house on Ember Island for their little getaway. Hearing this, Ty Lee basically pounced on the Fire Lord, tackling him with a bone-crushing embrace in gratitude. Mai knew right then that there was no getting out of this, not without disappointing Ty Lee, and even the mere thought of doing so hurt Mai’s heart. She had a complicated history with the vacation spot. As a young child, her parents dragged her there for weeks every summer. It was the fashionable thing for nobility to do, practically everyone in the Caldera had a beach house on Ember Island. The last thing Mai’s mother, Michi, wanted was for some snobby nobles to gossip about their status or the state of their finances if they didn’t take their vacations there. So, Mai would be ripped from the safe and comforting isolation of her bedroom, only to be limited to the shade of her mother’s parasol in fear of her ruining her skin or playing with the other children, which Michi deemed too “savage and undignified”. She was never allowed to leave the shade and barely even allowed to touch the water. It was a stifling, lonely experience. The last time she went to Ember Island was with Azula, Zuko, and Ty Lee during the war. While destroying Chan’s house did prove to be surprisingly fun, the fighting and psychoanalyses by the bonfire were not something she liked to be reminded of. Mai somehow avoided visiting the place ever since, claiming responsibilities at the flower shop or watching Tom-Tom, or even faking illness to get out of invites. But, nevermind all that, because here she was.
Lost deep in her thoughts, Mai’s eyes began to close. She was almost asleep when she felt something-- or should she say someone practically jumped on top of her, someone suspiciously Ty Lee-sized. Mai’s eyes opened slowly as she was greeted by her girlfriend planting little kisses all over her face.
“Come on, Mai! Let’s go down to the beach, please? I think a nice swim would really feel nice. A great way to beat the heat!,” Ty Lee giggled, unphased by Mai’s blank expression, “I promise you can take a nap later. I even packed everything we needed!”
Ty Lee looked at Mai with her big grey eyes and a big, cheery grin. Knowing that she wouldn’t win by being stubborn about it, Mai exhaled through her nose and nodded.
“Sure, Ty. I hope there is at least a breeze by the water. Just let me change into my swimsuit.”
Ty Lee squealed, threw her arms around Mai’s neck, and kissed her on the cheek.
The two walked down to the beach, hand in hand. In the hand that wasn’t holding Mai’s, Ty Lee was holding the largest picnic basket Mai had ever seen.
Ty Lee squeezed Mai’s hand to grab her attention, grounding her to the present and out of her head.
“Do you remember what Lo and Li said about Ember Island, how it smooths even the roughest edges? Maybe this trip will change how you feel about the beach and the island itself. I will do all I can to hopefully replace the bad memories with new, happy, cheerful, good ones!”
Ty Lee looked expectantly at Mai, who just hummed in a noncommittal response. She already knew that Mai was stubborn and especially did not like being reminded of the past, but Ty planned a day that Mai would undoubtedly enjoy.
Lounging under the shade of a red parasol on a pink picnic blanket, Mai sat leaning back on one hand with Ty Lee’s head in her lap. Her other hand ran up and down the length of Ty Lee’s silky, soft braid in a soothing motion that almost put the Kyoshi warrior to sleep. They had eaten a lunch of spicy pork-chicken dumplings and steamed veggies with tofu, with fruit tarts for dessert afterwards, all of Mai’s favorite foods. Then, Ty did some stretches as Mai read her book aloud, since Ty Lee loved when Mai read her stories and knew that Mai enjoyed it too. After a while, Ty Lee got sleepy from the combination of the heat, a full stomach, and Mai’s soothing voice, and that’s how she ended up in this position. It was pure bliss, feeling Mai’s nails drag gently across her scalp, but this was for Mai, not for her. So, before she could doze off, Ty Lee bolted straight up and grabbed Mai’s hands and dragged her towards the water.
“Come on, Mai! Let’s go for a swim, even with the slight breeze it’s still way too hot out here.”
Ty Lee glanced back towards Mai, her brows were slightly furrowed, and there was a subtle frown on her face… Mai was nervous.
“I don’t know, Ty…”, Mai glanced at her, barely meeting her eyes, “I never really ventured in the ocean before. The last time I swam was probably when Appa launched us into that river.”
Ty Lee chuckled a bit at the memory of the two of them flying through the air and getting dunked into the river, and then placed her hands on Mai’s shoulders looking at her reassuringly.
“If you really don’t want to, I won’t make you, but I just know that I will never let anything bad happen to you. Consider me your personal lifeguard for this evening, Lady Mai.”
Ty Lee dipped into a mock bow, and Mai smiled at her, laughing a bit at her theatrics. Mai reached out to hold Ty’s hand again and nodded.
“Alright, let’s go for a swim,” Mai responded begrudgingly, but Ty Lee could see through the act.
The two waded into the water up to their waists.Ty dipped down until the water reached her shoulders, Mai did the same. They just floated around for a while, bobbing with the waves and joking around. Ty tried to show off her underwater handstands, only to resurface with seaweed in her hair.
Mai tried hard to suppress her laughter and slight disgust as she picked the seaweed off of her girlfriend’s head.
“Hmm Ty, I know I say you look good in everything, but I don’t think green hair is for you.”
Ty Lee giggled, then tilted her head and tapped a finger on her chin in thought, “Maybe not… but I think it would look good on you!”
Mai stood confused for a moment, then caught on quick as she dodged the clump of seaweed Ty threw her way.
Mai glared at her indignantly, and splashed Ty Lee as payback. Ty naturally splashed back, diving under the water and popping up behind Mai randomly in hopes to catch her off guard. The two played around in the water until the sun started to set, and Mai started to complain about how sticky and gross the salt water felt on her skin.
The two packed up their things and headed back to the beach house. When they reached the door, Mai stopped and turned towards Ty Lee with a small smile on her face.
“Thanks for today Ty, I actually had fun. Maybe one day, we can take Tom-Tom to the beach, I think he would enjoy it, I know I would. ”
Mai leaned down and gave Ty Lee a quick kiss. Ty blushed bright pink in response, placing down the picnic basket and throwing her arms around Mai. Ty Lee picked up the basket once again and followed Mai into the house, thinking that maybe Ember Island really did help smooth out jagged edges, because Mai looked at her with such a soft look on her face.
“Of course, Mai! Anything for you, always.”