"OW!" I yelled as Sokka accidentally stomped on my foot.
"Sorry," he said, waddling towards me. I grabbed him before he could fall. "We've been on the ship for a long time. My feet are woozy."
"Your feet can't be woozy." Toph punched him.
"Ow!"
"Earth sweet earth," Toph sighed. "It's great to be back."
"Well, well, well." Katara smiled. "We're here again, eh?"
"This is where you met Hama?" I asked.
"Oh, yeah," she grinned. "We're back at the Fire Nation."
♋♋♋
Zuko sat in his room, Mai next to him.
". . . And we had a tea shop," Zuko said.
"That's . . . Interesting." She said in a bored tone.
"And another kid worked there with us. I have no idea where he is now . . . " Zuko went on and on. Mai sighed.
"You had quite an adventure, didn't you?"
Zuko stopped. "Yeah."
"So tell me. Is 'she' the girl—"
"The one you hurt?" Zuko asked. "Maybe."
"When my knife thing hit her shoulder? That was barely a touch—"
"She was bleeding—"
"Oh come on—" she muttered.
"We made a deal," Zuko finished. "That's why I'm here, remember?"
"Yeah, whatever." She turned away.
Zuko went through a mini flashback.
"You okay?" Zuko asked.
"No, I'm useless." Ayame mumbled, gripping her arm. Scarlet blood seeped through her fingers.
Zuko rolled his eyes. "You practically sent them running." He tried to make her a little cheerful. It made him uncomfortable when she was hurt like this.
"Yeah right," Mei scoffed. "All I did was knock Azula out for a second. Even you took down Mai, which is really funny. Was she unconscious the whole time?" She grinned.
Zuko didn't feel angry when she said that, which surprised him. "Uh, no. She got Azula to leave somehow after you got hurt."
"What?" my smile faltered. "Why?"
"Maybe because you were acting senseless."
She'd been jealous of Mai. He could totally tell, and so even Zian had joked about it when she wasn't listening. "Looks like someone has a cru-ush," he poked Zuko, and Zuko had replied, "You have no idea what you're talking about. She isn't like that." And then Zian laughed. "How long have you known her? A week?" And then Zuko had gotten annoyed, saying, "My point exactly." Maybe Zian was right. He should've been nicer, more openminded. And here he was, doing what she'd tried to keep him from. Sitting here with Mai and just being with her. Ayame'd be fuming.
Ayame.
That day, Mai had made Zuko promise one thing when Zian had put Ayame in a protective rock layer.
"Leave her alone. Get out of here." Zuko said.
"And why, dear brother, should we listen to you?" Azula put her hand up in a questioning way.
