3 Years

Chapter 6-Realization

Finally, Mai had gotten back to the village after a long day. It had started raining on her walk home, and rumor has it it was going to be raining for the next few days.

She was sure to be silent when she entered the house so that she didn’t have to make conversation with her mother or aunt. When she was sure the coast was clear, she ran up to her room. She looked at the letter for a moment, and decided to wait until morning to read it. Who knows what it contains. It could be something horrible, and she didn’t want to read it before it was time to go to bed. It would keep her up thinking about it, and she was tired.

There were still hours left in the day, so she decided to go out for dinner, just herself. She contemplated where she wanted to go for a moment until deciding on her favorite tea shop, besides the Jasmine Dragon of course. She had been there with Ty Lee a few times prior.

When she sat down to order her tea and dinner, she saw someone she never thought she’d see again. Kei Lo. At that moment, she hid her face with her menu so he didn’t see her.

“Mai?” He asked squinting, about to walk over to where she was sitting. She didn’t respond. “Mai, is that you?” He peeked behind her menu.

“Yeah.” She sighed.

“How have you been?” He asked.

“Fine.”

“That’s nice. I’ve been well too.” There was an awkward pause. The two never really clicked like Mai and Zuko had. “Anything special been going on?” He asked, in a poor attempt at making conversation.

“I just came back from the capital.”

“What for?”

“The Harmony Restoration Movement Treaty thing. I was invited to sign it.”

“That’s cool. I’d better be going now, I’m sure you don’t want me here.”

‘You got that right’ She thought

“Nice seeing you again.” He said on his way back to his seat.

“You as well.” She said, sounding like it was practically dragged out of her.

She was relieved he was out of her business, she wasn’t willing to admit it to herself then, but she was never really that fond of Kei Lo. 

She ordered ginseng tea with rice dumplings. She spent about an hour there, mostly just not wanting to get soaked. As time passed, she got bored, so she left to go home and sleep.

The next morning was like every other. Get dressed, get ready, get pestered by Mom and Auntie Mura. Except she didn’t get pestered by her mother and aunt, in fact she didn’t go downstairs at all. Instead, she stayed in her room to read the letter. She sat down and braced herself, unfolding it carefully. First she looked to see who it was from. Zuko. What could he possibly have needed to write to her, she was just with him, he could’ve told her in person. And why did someone just drop it at her feet? She had many questions before she actually started reading the letter.

She began reading.

Dear Mai,

Those two words tormented her, as in her past, what followed them haunted her.

She finished the letter and was shaken to her core. Between the untrue statements he made, the way he owned up to his behavior, and the things that she also feels towards him. After all this time, things were about to work out for them. After all of this waiting, one of them finally took the first step.

‘I have to go back there’ She thought. ‘I have to confront him, I have to confess my feelings too. I have to…’ She realized what she had truly wanted all this time.