when the little merman zuko swims to the shore to see humans, he gets captured in the net by fishmen. since people already have seen him several times near the shore and ships, he’s already known as the devil of the sea and the blue spirit because of his blue tail. townspeople come to see the freaky fish before selling him, so does mai. when she sees the desperation and tears in creature’s eyes, she thinks that he’s not scary, he’s scared. he’s just like her - captured and unfree. at the midnight she gets close to the docks (even though she’s afraid he would eat her) and cuts the net with her knife. 

mai comes from a noble family and lives with a strict mother that wants to marry her to an older rich man. to get at least some sort of freedom, she runs away every night and walks near the rocks. that’s where she finds the blue spirit again. she also finds out that the creature can speak and has no intention to eat her. they talk all night.

mai sneaks out every night to see zuko. one night he tells her that it’s his dream to have legs and to be a human. mai tells him, “don’t be a fool! they caught you once already!”. she tells him that the human’s world is cruel and evil, that they don’t accept even other humans that are different, not to mention ocean creatures. zuko says that in the ocean everything is even worse since his father ozai had become the ruler of the oceans.

once before the sunrise he whispers that everyone from home hates him and he’s incredibly alone. that’s why he swam to the shore... to see people, to hear their music, to see their dances and joy, to hear them laughing.

once he brings her a seashell, “i saw it and i thought it was pretty”, “don’t human girls like stuff like this?”

he makes her a necklace from natural sea pearls. when her mother notices it she assumes that’s the present from mai’s fiance. 

mai shares with him her story and desires to escape from her mother and that awful marriage of convenience. zuko tells her that he heard old stories about people who became merpeople and there are ways to do it. but even if they could make it, she has no right to interact with zuko in the ocean because he’s a banished prince. everyone who speaks with him or interacts with him in any way is considered as a traitor. 

and mai sighs and says, “so what’s the point to be a part of the sea if i cannot be a part of your world?”