Avatar: Reborn in Ice and Blood

Mai,

She didn't think Ty Lee would make the most infuriating person Mai ever met fall unconscious. Really, she expects her friend to react more rationally than that, considering their situation. But she can't honestly fault her. Mai, too, has been itching to get one over him for that disappearing act with her little brother.

Ty Lee was hurt by him, severely, controlled and disregarded as unimportant. It's natural that she'd want to take a bit of revenge.

Mai only half-wishes she'd chosen another time for it. It's clear that he's good at getting out of hairy situations more or less intact, and his earlier non-verbal bid for stalling gave her hopes for escape.

While Mai is lost in thought, Ty Lee searches the two men, finding no keys on the pirate for Mai's shackles, and only an assortment of trinkets on the waterbender. They consist of a charcoal sketch of a young woman, paper yellowed with age, and several animal teeth, looking to be distinctly sharp and dangerous in nature.

"Can you pick the locks?" Ty Lee asks, considering one of the larger ones critically. Her voice scrapes over Mai's ears, and she's once more surprised that she could forget about its condition at all. No longer does her sweet friend sound as chipper as she usually is, but instead more menacing when cheerful than anything else.

"No," is Mai's flat answer, "Not of this calibre." Or she'd have done it by now. She still has her hairpins.

It makes her think of just how precicely he must be able to bend for him to free Ty Lee. She recalls that he was also the one to get the better of Azula when she'd still been fifteen. The more she thinks about it, the more she feels that their chances of successful escape stand best with him awake and on their side.

"How long until he wakes up?"

Ty Lee looks thoughtful, "I didn't hit him hard. An hour, at most. Why?"

"Because we might need him in a fight."

"Oh please, Azula-"

Mai watches realisation dawn on her friend's face. Not to mention, one of them might be handicapped carrying Tom-Tom. Coming to think of it, the waterbender never seemed impaired fighting with his burden. A small voice of cynicism whispers to her that there's a reason he thought he'd get away with not honouring their agreement.

"You're going to have to find the keys and unshackle me, and fast. That one been down here with us for too long already," Mai decides, squashing the voice viciously.

Ty Lee, looking almost glad that someone is telling her what to do with no small amount of pressure, nods and slips into the darkness beyond the small oil lamp the pirate brought with him.

Mai sits, and thinks for the while it'll take for Ty Lee to return.

Once she's free, they will have to locate her brother, and perhaps Azula, although Mai isn't entirely happy with the prospect – and isn't it strange that she has less of a problem with the idea of cooperating with the waterbender than the princess. Then they will have to determine their location and wither take over the ship – for which they will definitely need the waterbender –, or leave it to swim to shore and attempt to contact the Fire Nation.

By now, her parents will at least know of what has transpired, but with Omashu back under Earthkingdom control, she isn't certain they have the means to do anything with their knowledge. She's not sure the news of Azula's escape has reached the Firelord yet, but if it has, this new turn of events will lead him to question her capability. And sanity.

If Mai knows anything about Firelord Ozai and his expectations of Azula, it's that she does not fail. In his mind, his daughter will triumph, and if she can't, well, that's too bad. Before now, Azula's been comfortable in her position as his favourite, since her brother was the failure of the family. In Mai's opinion a kind heart is hardly a failure, but that seems to be just her. Azula's difficulty with bending will gnaw at her, until she snaps, like she did just before the pirates arrived.

At the time, it was only the waterbender's swift seizing of Ty Lee's body that saved her. If anything, when he wakes, Mai feels that there should be a blank slate between them.

For her and him, though, it's more complicated. While he returned her brother, it was only after she and Ty Lee had chased after them for weeks, knowing fully well that they abandoned part of their duties to their country in doing so. Their actions can be justified with Azula being their main priority, and them having the best chances of persuading her to return home with them. Yet, Mai knew with certainty that she went for her brother.

Funny how before all of this, before that cursed city, he was more of a nuisance and an object of both pity and envy.

She's torn from her thoughts by a pained groan.

Eyes searching the waterbender's face, or what she can see of it, with that mask still on, she finds nothing that indicates wakefulness, and the pain she heard. Cold settles across her shoulders and throat. The pirate.

Ty Lee's not taken his weapons. She doesn't need them, after all, but Mai could curse her friend. That's an amateur mistake! And Mai forgot about trussing him up, too, just sent Ty Lee to free her without thinking!

They lie there, just by the waterbender's feet, glinting, laughing at her.

If he wakes and raises the alarm, their chances of escape are greatly reduced. Scrambling for purchase, Mai attempts to reach him, and whack him over the head, to ensure his silence.

No matter how she contorts herself, she can't reach him.

Her shackles prevent it.

Hissing profanities under her breath, Mai thinks furiously, eyes flitting about. The waterbender won't wake for some time, but he's close enough to the pirate, that he could do what Mai can't. What can Mai use?

She looks, and looks, oh Firelord…

Another groan. Shit!

The teeth. The shark teeth are right there – she stretches awkwardly once more, gathers a couple into her palm.

She needs to wake the waterbender. Acting on instinct, Mai sends them both flying.

Damn it all! She forgot to account for their weight! She's used to handling metal, not bone, and the teeth only scrape one cheek, drawing blood. They must be extremely sharp. She feels blood on the skin of her palms.

The pirate sits up, a hand on his face, on which he fell when Ty Lee took him out.

"What the buggering fuck?" he asks no one in particular, and Mai feels hysterical laughter bubble up her throat.

It takes all she has to keep it in.

His eyes flicker about, take in the scene. His mouth opens, and Mai wishes she still had one of the teeth to lodge in his tongue, even if it would produce the same effect of his shout to warn the other pirates.

The noise just rises to his throat when he jerks and cuts off. His eyes bulge, hands going to his throat, choking.

If Mai ever had the desire to see someone choke on their own spit, it's forever gone now.

...

Waking to a sting on my cheek, a panicking girl, and a pirate about to raise alarm, is not how I wanted my day to go. Or night, as it were, since it's far too easy to silence the man with his own spit.

That that's the first thing I think of to cut off noise coming from throats is mildly concerning.

When finally he slumps to the ground, unconscious or dead, I raise my eyes to meet Mai's. She looks disgusted, slightly afraid and relieved at the same time.

For all that she's spent her childhood in the company of Azula, she's not been up close to someone truly struggling for their life. Me, I've just gone numb to it by now, all the while aware that it's not the usual reaction, not the one a healthy individual would have. But I've come to the conclusion that slight insanity, or dissociation, will keep me functioning however I need myself to.

"Are you hurt?" I ask, and it startles her so much her mouth does a funny little twitch.

She shakes her head, even as she looks down at her bloodied palm. Not seriously, then. But I want to take a look anyway.

The shackles around my wrists hold me in place. I sigh. Should've trusted myself. Relied on myself.

"Circus Girl's gone for the keys?" I wonder whether I should bother with the rest of our shackles, then. Conserving my energy could be wise.

Mai nods, still mute, and I see none of her pervious anger. Concerning. But there is a limit to how much trauma a person can withstand in just one day. Or night, as it were.

But… I have no idea how well she does stealth. How well the pirates can detect someone sneaking around on their ship. Well, I'd imagine.

I sigh. Concentrate. Get to work.

...

Don't forget to throw some power stones :)

...

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