𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟 | zuko

14: GIRLFRIEND

"Sorry?" I said.  I wanted to make sure I heard right.  Though I'm quite sure I did.

Mai wasn't paying a lot of attention, she closed one eye and aimed another knife at the target.

"I said I knew him since we were little, and I'm his girlfriend."

That's why Zuko went away so awkwardly.  He's got a girlfriend.  And a knife-throwing one, at that.  I remembered now.  She was the girl from the night before the coup.  The one that put a fish on top of Zuko's head and threw an icicle at it like a dart, piercing the fish.  

I didn't want to make it weird, so I stayed in the garden.  While Mai hit the bullseye a couple of times, the closest I got was one ring away.

"Hey, at least you're hitting the target," she said.  "It's not fun to teach if they can't aim."

"I would think so," I said.  

A few more minutes went by, and finally the both of us went inside and our separate ways.  But I found myself not knowing where to go, and I wandered around the castle.  I knew the way to the east wing, and toward my bedroom, but I didn't want to go there.  I wanted to go someplace to think.

Four hallways, two dining rooms, and a long staircase later, I had found myself in front of a curtained door like the ones that led to the hallways, only this one was different.  The curtain had patterns on it, and the door was bigger.  It looked like the one that led to that small living room that looked out into the yard, only a little bigger.  Maybe this was just a bigger version.

It seemed like a perfect place to just let my head fight with itself, and listen to my thoughts.

And I did, and nothing came out of it except a hot towel and a cup of tea.  Servants stumbled upon me and offered stuff.  And it seemed everyone else liked to wander around the palace too, because eventually Toph stumbled upon me, and started ordering servants around.  I mean, I didn't know you could ask a servant to go buy you a rabbaroo.  And just as Toph had asked, Katara came in and told the servant they did not need to buy her a rabbaroo, and that she was perfectly fine without one.  Toph got annoyed.

Kyra came back later, with news of a first kiss with Hakan at what was supposedly the most amazing restaurant in the Fire Nation.  At least, according to Hakan.  

"He's absolutely amazing," she told me in that very same room, where now Aang and Suki had gathered.  "He says he wants to come to my house sometime.  I didn't know what to tell him.  I mean, what was I supposed to say, that I'm staying in the palace with the Avatar and friends?"

"You could've said that," said Aang.  "It is the truth."

"He wouldn't have believed me, not in a hundred years."

"A lot can happen in a hundred years," shrugged Aang.  Katara snickered.

"Hey, where's Sokka?" asked Kyra, finally noticing the missing member.

"He's down in the yard, fighting Mai," said Suki, rolling her eyes playfully.  "He's trying to at least win once before he comes up here, and by the look of it, he hasn't won yet."

"Well, you can't fight tiny knives with a sword," I shrugged.

By the time we had all gone up to bed, it had been dark for hours.  We spent a lot of the time after dinner playing Pai Sho over and over again, continuously saying "okay, one more game". or "hold on, I want to go again".   I wanted to talk to Kyra about Mai, but I wasn't going to do it in front of everyone, so I decided that when we went upstairs I'd talk with her.  

"So... what's the gossip?" asked Kyra as she unmade her bed.

"I was waiting for you to ask," I said.  "You know how I came here to see Zuko, right?"

"Yes..."

"Well, see the thing is, I think I still have feelings for him."

"That's old news, Jin, I knew that when you first laid eyes on the guy."

"Well, yeah, but there's another thing."

"..."

"He's got a girlfriend."

Kyra dropped a decorative pillow. "He's got a what?"

"A girlfriend."

"You come all this way for him, and he goes and gets a girlfriend?"

"He had the girlfriend before I came," I said.  "But that's not --"

"Still!  Shouldn't he have remembered you?  Shouldn't he thought of the possibility you'd come back?"

"He didn't think he'd ever see me again, Kyra!  Besides, they've known each other forever.  Longer than I've known him, that's for sure."

"What's her name, anyway?"

"Mai."

"That bored, knife-throwing girl?  You're much better than her."

"Much better than her at what?"

"Well, at least you show feeling."

"Kyra, listen.  Maybe we should just go.  It was nice to see him and all, but --"

"Absolutely not!  I thought you were the one with common sense!  You'll win.  You have to."

"Kyra, I just don't think --"

"Shh.  Let it play out.  I've just got a feeling, that's all.  We are not leaving the Fire Nation until you get the Fire Lord.  I have spoken, good night."

I rolled my eyes. "Right.  Good night."

-- ꩜ 🌊 🌏 🔥 --

The next morning, Aang, Suki, and Sokka left to take her back to Kyoshi Island.  Aang and Sokka would be back by nightfall.  

While Kyra decided she'd have a day of training with Toph, I stayed in the castle, bored out of my mind.  Both the people who would usually train me while Kyra did earthbending, were gone.  Of course, there was one other person.

"Hey, Mai?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I was wondering... do you think you could teach me more?  I mean, Sokka and Suki are gone, so I thought maybe.."

"Sure.  I'm bored, anyway.  Palaces are like that."

We went to the yard, where I told one of the servants to get the targets.

"It's alright to practice other's styles of fighting, but remember, you have to find yourself, too," said Mai, pulling out a knife in between her fingers.  

I had known I'd have to find a style I was comfortable with.  A style that suited me.  But I'd decided to learn other people's styles first, so as to find my own way inspired by them.  Honestly, my favorite so far was Suki's style.  It was quick, yet strong.  Like a combination of both Mai's and Sokka's.  Of course, I would still have to find my own.  The only thing was, I wasn't sure how.