Southern Star

統一

Unity

A fair amount of the Fire Nation Capital had been destroyed in Zuko's fight with Azula. In the days following, while the city was rebuilt, representatives from the Earth Kingdom and both Water Tribes had been appearing to witness his coronation, alongside many citizens of the Fire Nation. It was odd, knowing that everyone was coming to see him. He had given many of his first orders, as the Crown Prince rather than the Fire Lord, from the confines of the medical wing.

Song Lee Tanaka, the Black Wing, daughter of Vice Admiral Hegu Tanaka, niece of Representative Yan Song Abe, and granddaughter of General Lee Tanaka, had not woken up yet. For the first twelve hours after Azula had been defeated and Sozin's comet had faded beyond the horizon, Katara had stayed awake, working hard to heal Song and prevent as much scarring as she could. When the first delegation from the Northern Water Tribe had arrived, she had sent for another healer and passed out on one of the beds next to Song.

Since then, Zuko had been called away from Song to get ready for his coronation. He was tempted to ask Katara for help, but she had been woken up as soon as Sokka, Aang, Toph, and Suki had arrived, and he hadn't heard from her since. All of the servants were still being re-hired, which was a troublesome process, but Zuko didn't require any servants immediately, and wasn't used to them anyway. Regardless, with how his own injuries were affecting him as he struggled to pull a robe on over his bandages, he wondered distantly if he really did need help.

As if they had read his mind, someone said "You need some help with that?" from behind him. He recognised that voice immediately, and his head shot up. He spun around to face Mai, who was leaning against the doorway and watching him with a smile.

Despite the guilt he felt about how things with her had ended up, he couldn't help the grin that broke over his face. "Mai," he sighed. "You're okay." He went to embrace her, and asked, "They let you out of prison?"

"My uncle pulled some strings," she said as she ducked under his arms and helped him with his robe. "And it doesn't hurt when the new Fire Lord is an old friend. We got Ty Lee out, too, as well as that Abe woman. I'm sure you helped, too."

He had. "So, does this mean you don't hate me anymore?"

"No, Zuko, I don't hate you," said Mai. "But... we need to talk."

There it was. He felt a lump in his throat. "Yeah...?"

"Oh, it's not about us," she said. "Yeah, it's over between us."

That both stung and relieved him of his worry. "Oh."

"Yeah. This is about national policy."

"Oh!"

"Yes. See, well... While Ty Lee and I were in prison... I, um, I sort of... This is hard to explain."

Zuko thought he understood. He thought back to when he had first returned to the Fire Nation with Azula, when he had had that strange conversation with Ty Lee in the middle of the hallway. The one that probably would have gotten her killed if he had decided to tell anyone about it.

Now, Mai was worried that she would get killed for it, too. But Zuko wasn't his father, or his grandfather, or his great-grandfather.

"You want to be able to pursue your interest in Ty Lee," said Zuko.

She clasped her hands tightly together and looked down. "Yes."

Zuko shrugged. "Okay."

Her head shot up so fast Zuko was worried that it would come off. "What?"

"Sure. I see no reason why same-sex relations should be any different than opposite-sex relations. It shouldn't be an issue to decriminalize them, though getting the support to legalize marriage will probably be more difficult... But I'll work at it. I want you and Ty Lee to be happy. I want everyone in the Fire Nation to be happy."