Work Text:
“Suki!”
The shout startled her out of her post-training meditation and when she looked up Ty Lee was standing in her doorway panting out of breath - had she ever been out of breath before? - her face wearing panic instead of her usual blinding smile. That was enough to worry Suki immensely. She had never seen Ty Lee drop her smile, not like this.
“What’s wrong?” she asked in concern. What in the world could worry Ty Lee, the girl who hadn’t been nervous even before her test to become a full Kyoshi Warrior! Even Suki had been worried when she had her test.
“Mai,” Ty Lee panted. Of course it was her. “something happened! She’s gone, she brought the bouquet home but something must’ve been wrong and I don’t know, nobody seems to have seen anything and she must’ve known what was gonna happen before she picked the flowers,” she rambled on, clearly distraught, “but she still had time to deliver them and I - I don’t know what or who or how or why and she’s gone and she needs my help and we need to go, she needs our help!”
“Ty, you’re panicking,” Suki said in the calmest voice she could muster. “I need you to take a few breaths and then tell me what happened properly.” She could see Ty Lee forcibly calm down (as much as she could, anyway) before starting to talk again.
“Mai is gone and I think she’s in trouble. I need your help to rescue her, possibly some of the other warriors as well.” She described how she had found the bouquet at home and Mai gone, that Mai brought her a bouquet home every day, that they usually had meanings along the lines of eternal or undying love, loyalty, and devotion.
“But she put a Peaony, Suki!! A Peaony! And orange Catchfly-Lilys. That’s not to be taken lightly!!”
Suki was struggling to follow and finally interrupted her. “You know I don’t speak flower, Ty.”
“Peaonys are a wish for a good journey, a successful fight. They are a farewell gift to soldiers when they have to leave their families for war,” Ty Lee explained swiftly.
“So you think Mai went to war? Or to fight?”
“I mean, no? Then I’d have given her the Peaony. I think she is sending me off to fight somehow but I don’t know. I just don’t know.” She gave a sigh, her shoulders slumping in defeat.
“Alright, so what was that other flower you mentioned? The Fly-Lilys?”
“Oh, orange Catchfly-Lilys stand for revenge, betrayal, and hatred. They are usually sent to enemies or as a threat. That along with the bluebell-hydrangeas, which stand for gratitude or an apology, as well as Lavender-Irises for hope or faith and Suiren-Camellias for waiting for someone you love or being far away from them sounds like she’s in danger to me.”
“Alright so she’s away or waiting for you, what was that with betrayal?”
“Orange Catchfly-Lily. But I don’t - she wouldn’t.”
“Well it seems odd for her to then warn you.”
“Yeah.” Ty Lee sighed again, looking uncharacteristically depressed. All her bubbly and excited energy was gone and only worry and defeat was left.
“So… she was betrayed? Somehow? maybe kidnapped, maybe she’s double-spying and she’s hoping you - or we - will save her.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Do you have any idea where she could be, who could’ve taken her?”
A small shake of her head.
“Alright, can you go and get a few of the girls? We’re going on a mission.”
Ty Lee perked up at that, hope and determination sparkling in her eyes once again. “Who do you want me to get?”
“This is your mission, you decide. I will try and get a plan ready.”
They should probably start at the city center, maybe the haven. Ask a few people, see if they were lucky. Maybe the ship hadn’t departed yet. They could of course have stayed on the island but Suki didn’t know any reason for why they should have. There wasn’t much to do in this place when it came to illegalities. They should probably check the old rebellions haven, too, just in case.
When Ty Lee came running back to the dojo with a bunch of the other girls, Suki had already made up a plan in her mind. She instructed most of the girls to ask around the village and stop anyone trying to leave the haven. They would search any ship that seemed even remotely suspicious. Ty Lee, her, and three of the other girls would go to the old haven and see if there were any signs of Mai there.
They hurried to the other side of the island each in their own thoughts, none daring to disturb the anxious silence that had fallen over their small group. The paths they took were barely that, just old trample paths so narrow that no two people could walk alongside each other. They were barely in use anymore, which made the deep boot prints in the mud all the more obvious. They all seemed to have registered them and simultaneously sped up into a quick jog.
Suki’s blood pumped loudly in her ears, her heartbeat fast, more from nerves than the running. She hoped, prayed almost, that Mai would still be on the beach, and that the five of them would be enough to take on whoever had taken her. Doubts started spreading in her mind. How many were there that they managed to overpower Mai? How skilled were they? Would the five of them manage? What if they got captured as well? She didn’t have time to think any further as they reached the northmost edge of the forest.
Upon arrival they found more footprints and the imprints where boats had landed. There was a ship - Fire Nation - a bit further out just picking up speed. They had to act quickly now!
“They aren’t that far yet, so we should still be able to get to them! Get the girls together down to the haven and the ship ready, quick!” Suki ordered, her voice fighting against the waves crashing on the cliffs near the small beach.
They hurried back, this time more focused on a clear goal and much less concerned about being spotted. Still, Suki’s mind was running in overdrive. Who had any interest in kidnapping Mai? Who knew she was here in the first place? Why did they fly the Fire Nation emblem? Was the ship stolen? Were they rebels? What was Mai worth to them? Were they trying to blackmail Zuko?
When they reached the port, all the other girls were working on keeping all ships anchored and searching everywhere for Mai. They looked up as they spotted Suki running towards them and all flocked together around the ship she was heading to.
The captain reluctantly allowed them on board and hurried out of the port as Suki explained the situation. The fire nation ship wasn't going all that fast, so the Kyoshi Warriors quickly gained on them.
"So, you're probably wondering why I brought you here." Azula paused, but Mai did not give a reaction. She continued anyway. "I was hoping you would be able to help me with a little problem."
She was pacing in front of Mai, expression scrunched in concentration. Mai herself was getting rather bored. She could never stand Azula's tendency for monologues. Her mother had brought her to too many plays as a child without realizing her daughter would take up the villains' habits, not the heroes'.
"You see, after my initial treatment in Caldera I was sent to Ba Sing Se to improve further. I lived with Uncle and helped out in his tea shop every now and then." It seemed like this would be a longer story and Mai almost opted to tune Azula out entirely before deciding to listen to her - there was nothing more interesting to do here anyway.
"There was a customer once, she talked to Uncle like they knew each other. She came back a few times. She was nice and tried to chat but I was obviously above such peasant-like behavior."
"Well a few weeks later I was sent to the Eastern Air Temple to finish my recovery and so I haven't seen her since. I was only let go quite recently." She stopped in her tracks as her story came to an end. Mai didn't know what to make of it.
Their eyes met in a staring match until Azula gave up and spoke first. "So what do I do?"
"I don't know, go to Caldera and challenge your brother to an Agni Kai?" Her tone was sarcastic of course but it wouldn't be unlike Azula even with her mind relatively healed. Sibling relationships seemed to be something else entirely, not that Mai would know.
"No, about the peasant!" Azula said with an exasperated huff, her arms crossed in front of her, like Mai wasn't getting it.
She was, in fact, not. "What peasant?"
"The peasant girl at the tea shop"
"What about her?" Mai was now thoroughly confused and getting tired of this conversation. Could Azula not just get to the point?
"Do I just go back to Ba Sing Se and see if she comes back to the tea shop? Do I search for her? What should I do?"
Mai huffed, exasperated. “What? You got a crush or something?” she teased.
Azula suddenly got very defensive. “I do not. I am simply interested in her for scientific reasons.”
Mai just raised an eyebrow. Scientific reasons. Sure.
"Well, I need to know more about the city if I'm going to stay there, so I might as well find someone to show me around."
"You're going to stay there?" That was a surprising statement, Azula had never seemed to like the Earth Kingdom.
"Well, I don't want to go back to Caldera just yet and Ba Sing Se seems like the next best place," she explained quickly.
Mai wasn't so sure about that explanation. "And that has nothing to do with that Earth Kingdom girl?"
"No, of course not. I have no further interest in her."
If Azula didn't want to tell her she wouldn't, so Mai decided to ask a more pressing question. "So why am I here?"
"Can I not want to have a chat with my old friend?" Azula sounded a little defensive again. She used to be a much better liar. She used to be more in control of a situation. Maybe it was an improvement. She was learning to let go of her control.
Mai raised her eyebrow again to express her doubt.
Azula faltered. "I wanted to ask for your advice," she admitted.
Mai got more guarded at that. "About what?"
"What I should do about the peasant."
"How would I know?" If this really was a crush she saw no reason Azula would ask her for advice. She could ask Ty Lee or Sokka, they seemed to be able to charm everyone they met. Or anyone but Mai, really. She was not good at flirting or people-ing or any of that.
"You have Ty Lee! You got her to betray me for you! You seduced my brother!" Azula shot back, clearly thinking this was a great argument.
Mai chose to ignore her word choice on the last one and refrained from pointing out that Azula had pushed her and Zuko to date and that Ty Lee had very much done the first and every following stop in their relationship. Instead, she opted for a joke. "Have you tried intimidating her?"
Azula did not get the joke. "Of course I have. She didn't even flinch."
A small smile slipped onto Mai's face. Of course Azula would fall for someone as stubborn as herself. She decided to just give the best advice she had and hope the girls would figure the rest out. Mainly the Earth Kingdom girl. “So go to Ba Sing Se, go to your uncle's tea shop and wait for her to come back.”
“And then?”
“And then you talk to her.”
“And then?” she asked again, now growing impatient.
“You just keep talking to her. The rest comes naturally.” Or not. Mai explained anyway.
Azula seemed satisfied with that answer. “Alright.”
“But bring me back to Kyoshi Island first!” Mai shouted after her as she left the room to talk to the captain.
"I don't think we have time for a detour." Azula answered dismissively over her shoulder. Hopefully Ty Lee had understood the flowers.