Zuko had two faces, one of which was always grinning.

When Mai gave it to him, she said it he needed to smile more, or smile at all, but that wasn’t a smile on the other face. It was a fearsome, toothy lear.

Zuko didn’t want to smile anyway.

The only thing he wanted to do was get back to his mountain, spew lava and ash, and chase all the humans off the slopes, no matter how nice the gifts they left at his alter were.

First Zhao, then Jet, who hated fire so much he hated volcano spirits who had nothing to do with the war, then Azula, who... Who was Azula.

Mai was Azula’s friend, but she gave him the wooden face anyway. Mai didn’t smile, but she thought he should.