Heart Broken

Chapter 39

It wasn't long until team Avatar minus Kano returned to Ba Sing Se. Aang dropped the others off as he made his way to King Kuei to report on what transpired.

"Welcome back", Zuko greeted them with a tray of chai as they entered the house. They all happily took a cup and sat down as they gave the fire bender the rundown on what happened at Renu village. The smile he had earlier dropped slowly at the news of what Aizo had done.

"I thought we had rounded up all of my father's loyalists", Zuko groaned and dropped his face to his hands.

"Some loyalists were always going to fall through the cracks Sparky. You can't help it if you haven't captured all of them", Toph stated.

"Toph is right Zuko", Katara spoke up, "what matters now is that we were able to put a stop to his plans."

"Although if we looked for him after their lair went down then maybe we would have prevented what happened to you, sis," Sokka said as he sipped his tea.

"It is what it is Sokka", Suki patted her boyfriend's back, "we could have done a lot of things but there isn't any use thinking about it."

With that Zuko turned to the water bender, "How does your wound feel?"

Katara thoughtlessly placed her hand over where the arrow had been, "It still stings a bit but I'm fine. I was lucky to have Kano there to heal me."

"And she chose to remain at the village?" Zuko wondered.

"Yes. After the mess with Aang finding out about our wager and Aizo, she decided to stay and reconnect with her friend."

"So is the wager off?" Zuko asked.

"Never should have agreed to it but yes it's over", Katara answered.

"Either way, it's looking like Katara might be in the clear with Aang", Sokka commented.

"Just because Kano relented doesn't mean that Aang will...accept me as more than a friend", Katara replied.

"You don't know that for sure Sugar Queen. He only said that he needed time to figure out what he wanted. Everything will be fine," Toph encouraged.

"Toph is right. So much has already happened in the past few days, even before we departed for the mission. The best thing you can do is give Aang the space he needs and wait for him to say something," Suki said and then turned to Zuko, "How did everything go with Mai?"

They eagerly looked to the fire bender who couldn't help holding a flustered expression on his face. His eyes shifted as his lips curved upwards into a small grin as he thought of Mai.

"Judging by Sparky's heart rate, everything went well", Toph smirked.

"We spent the day together..." Zuko started as he reminisced over it.

He had found her standing outside of the lobby. Her dark hair cascaded over her shoulders in waves, framing her face like a curtain of midnight silk. Mai's eyes met his as he approached her. She held a stoic expression at the sight of him.

"H-hi Mai..." Zuko greeted awkwardly, "I'm here."

"So you are," She responded.

From the hotel, they strolled through the nearby park. Iroh had mentioned it as a good date spot surrounded by beautiful flowers. It was the first time in what felt like a lifetime since they spent time together like this.

As they walked, Zuko couldn't help but steal glances at Mai, admiring the way her dark hair caught the sunlight and the subtle grace with which she moved. Mai observed him as well without showing it. When she had relented to giving him a chance to prove himself to her.