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The house was in ruins, the party long over, and all the excitement of the fight… not even a fight, just extensive mischief, evaporated from Mai as they all walked together back from destroyed Chan’s mansion.
She remembered the tiny house with questionable décor in which they were supposed to rest for the night, and couldn't bear to see it now.
“I am going for a walk. It is too much excitement in one day for me. I need to cool down.” She strode off without looking back fast enough not to hear anything anyone could have said to her.
“...stupid.” she still caught a tail end of something Azula was saying. Judging by the sarcastic tone she was allowed to go if she behaved herself. Mai walked as fast as she could without running. It was not the leisurely stroll she had in mind, but she would take what she could right now.
Soon enough she became aware of footsteps behind her. Azula wouldn’t do it, and the steps were too heavy for Ty Lee. She didn’t slow down, but in the next moment or so Zuko was striding by her side.
Neither of them said anything, and the leisurely walk at a breakneck speed continued for some time, until Mai felt she was far enough from the little ugly house of Lo and Li.
She stopped and looked around – the same endless beach of the Ember Island, the gentle waves of the tame ocean, the night sky full of stars high above them. No people in sight. It was actually quite nice to look at. Zuko’s hand found hers, and she squeezed it back.
“Let’s just walk along the water. I really wanted to get my mind off all that fun we had today.”
Zuko nodded, without letting go of her hand.
Mai started walking again, holding Zuko’s hand.
They walked in silence that Mai found rather comforting. After all, how many emotional outbursts she was supposed to have in one day? She was tired of all this stuff, yet too wound up not to care where to sleep.
“The night is nice.” Zuko decided to break the silence.
“It's ok.”
“It is exquisite. The black silk of night is deeper for all the lights of thousands of little brilliant stars. You are an ethereal creature, roaming free...”
“What?!” Mai stopped and looked at him. “What does it even mean?”
“Just trying to describe the night in a non-boring way. You hate boring things.”
“It doesn’t make sense. What is an ethereal creature? Why is the night exquisite?”
“It means beautiful. Uncle…”
“It is a stupid word, and people shouldn’t be allowed to use it.”
“You are exquisite.” He actually had the daring to smirk while saying it.
“No, you are exquisite!” She huffed and walked away. Zuko followed.
Mai continued to grumble about being called an ethereal creature, but this whole exchange seemed to put Zuko into a good mood.
“Your ethereal beauty, surrounded by night, shines brighter than the brightest star.”
She had no choice but to trip him.
Zuko fell down with a loud yelp, but immediately grabbed her ankle and pulled her toward him. Mai twisted, trying to free herself without success. She saddled him and started tickling Zuko’s underarm. He turned them over, but she wiggled out and head butted him carefully not to actually harm, just to surprise. Then there was some rather undignified rolling in the sand with pulling, and tickling, and giggling until Mai managed to break free. She made several steps toward a large rock and took several steadying breaths. Zuko jumped on his feet, and yelped again.
“What happened?”
“I stepped on something.” He picked up a large angular object from the sand that turned out to be a seashell. “Stupid shell!”
Mai rolled her eyes, then immediately started to worry, “Have you cut yourself?”
“No, I am ok,” he threw the shell away and came closer.
“Shells are pretty stupid, I agree.”
“Don’t be so smug about it.” He leaned in and kissed her.
The kiss was different from their usual kisses. Zuko, Mai thought, knew what he was doing, more or less, confident and sure that Mai was just as happy to kiss as he was. There was no hesitancy and doubt, just an underlying tenderness that made her melt inside. Mai kissed back pouring all her own confidence and tenderness and annoyance that he had dared not to know how much she cared about him. How could such things ever be said, when they could only be kissed? Why would she need words to express her feelings, when she could kiss the way she felt?
They kissed before, but then they wore much more clothes. Sure they had normal beachwear on, but still, the feeling of her hands on his back, their bellies touching, was electrifying in an entirely new way. Mai felt reckless and bold. Their skin to skin contact wasn’t enough. She tugged at her breast binding, untied it, and let it fall.
The cool night air together with the heat of their bodies made her shiver. She leaned closer and closer as if trying to get through Zuko’s skin. It felt good. She had no proper words to describe the feeling except she wanted more of it. Zuko, fully committed to kissing, hadn’t noticed changes in her state of dress. With a half thought of what she was doing and why, Mai took his hand and guided it to a new area of touching.
Zuko absentmindedly cupped her breast, and it felt so damn good, she might have moaned into their kiss. That made him pay attention to the view, and when he realized he was looking at her naked breast, and actually touching it, he froze. Mai briefly wondered whether she broke her boyfriend, but then the silly grin lit up his face, and vigorous touching and kissing resumed.
Eventually Mai felt she really had to cool down, and the next time they stopped for breath, she stepped aside. “I am covered in sand. It's horrible. I am going in for a swim.” She announced without looking at Zuko.
There was no one at the beach but them. Mai closed her eyes, then opened it. Then took off her clothes and quickly went into the ocean deep enough to have water cover her up to the neck. She still didn’t look back, but took a deep breath and started swimming away from the beach. The splashes behind her told her Zuko followed her example. Mai smiled and continued swimming, and soon enough Zuko overcame her. She wasn’t a bad swimmer, but he was very good. Three years at sea would have helped anyone.
Under the bright moonlight it was also glaringly obvious that he was a naked as she was.
They were in the large cove where ocean waters were quiet and gentle, while still giving them enough space to swim around each other. Mai turned on her back, and floated on gentle waves, using all her remaining brain power to keep as much of her body underwater while staying afloat. The splashing stopped and Mai floated watching the stars above her head forming themselves into constellations. She can never remember the proper names and which stars belonged to which. But now, the stars that seemed separate and alone joined forming figures that reminded her of plants or animals, of household objects. It was as if the Universe actually made sense, and she was a part of it. The stars were ethereal, the night was exquisite, and Mai felt herself to be a strange ethereal being connected to all this world, this land, these waves and this sky. Zuko’s hand found hers, and Mai turned her head carefully to see him floating by her side. She smiled and turned back to watch the sky.
The moment passed, the feeling of connection with ethereal became ridiculous and Mai dived in to shake it off.
After a while she was back on the beach, putting on her clothes and not looking back.
They walked back in silence, not touching and not looking at each other. Mai was trying to hold on the feeling she had while floating, but it was slipping away. She had no idea what Zuko was thinking at that moment, but it changed fast.
“Did you call me exquisite to mock me?”
That came out of nowhere. “A little. You had no business saying that I am exquisite. It is such an empty pretentious word. But also… you are really handsome. So I mocked the word, not you.”
“I am not pretty.” He seemed to be put off by the mere idea.
“Have you seen all those girls at the beach swooning at the sight of you?”
“There were any?” Of course he didn’t.
“Scores of them.”
“Hmmm.”
“If you had noticed them you would have also noticed how I didn’t beat them up.” It was a pointed barb, but she said it anyway.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing much, I guess”
“I am sorry. I am sorry, okay?”
Mai glanced at Zuko. He was rubbing his forehead with his palm, probably in a misguided attempt to understand what he had been thinking earlier on. She didn’t stop him, instead she entertained a weird notion of beating up everyone who found her boyfriend attractive. “Just imagine, bodies would be flying everywhere, and for what? For the fact that people have eyes and good taste to consider you pretty. As I am the strongest fighter on the beach, except for Ty Lee, restraint is important.”
“Sure, you exercise a lot of restraint..”
“Pardon me?” She turned and faced him, and even in the moonlight Mai saw Zuko’s deep blush.
“I probably should stop saying words,” he mumbled and walked in moody silence for a minute, then said, “Why did you exclude me and Azula? When you said you were the strongest fighters on this beach? You think you are stronger?”
Mai shrugged. “You, firebenders, are in the category of themselves, being those weird ethereal creatures.”
That earned a chuckle from Zuko.
“We shouldn’t have trashed that house, I know. But it is just so… strange to think that they didn’t know…”
“That you are their prince? You were not around, and Azula is not the most outgoing type, either.”
“I know, I know, but still. They live as if everything is normal, and nothing happens…”
“While we were away, hunting the avatar and fighting in the war? I know. I guess I got lucky, to have that much excitement in my life. Just imagine how dreadfully boring their existence is.”
“I can’t. I would very much like to imagine a boring existence full of stupid parties.”
“It is really boring, judging by the parties my parents hosted.” She moved closer and circled his waist with her hand. “I think we just have to invent our own fun.”
“I think we can do it, definitely.” There was a grin she couldn’t see but felt in his voice, and his hand moved to hold her closer.
“Are you still angry?”
Zuko made a long pause. “Yeah… A little. It’s like an undercurrent, always running deep inside. Or, like I have this little rock in my shoe, and I cannot find it, and I cannot get it out, but it is bothering me a little all the time, and I have no idea why it’s there, and who put it in, and how to get rid of it, and it’s just…”
“I think I understand. Sometimes I get this feeling, too. I usually just think it is because the world is horrible in general…”
“Maybe… There are good moments, though. Swimming was fun.”
Mai laughed at that, and he answered with a soft chuckle. It wasn’t a bad night, after all. It was kind of nice.
They walked together, and eventually the little ugly house was in front of them, and Azula, and Ty Lee, and Lo and Li… And Mai was tired and sleepy, but still reluctant to end their walk.
Mai and Zuko stood facing each other without quite looking in the eyes. Mai felt that there had to be said something deeper and more profound than “good night”, but couldn’t find words.
Zuko pulled her into a deep hug, but instead of a kiss she expected, he buried his face in her hair, that was all messed up, wet and salty after the swim, and stood like that. She found strangely comforted by the hug and squeezed him back.
“Two ethereal creatures we are.” She mumbled just under breath and heard Zuko’s appreciative chuckle.
“On one exquisite night.” he murmured in her hair.
She nuzzled his neck feeling perfectly content for one beautiful moment. The night was definitely kind of exquisite.