Alone in a strange country, mai made her way to the Little Asia district of the city, wher she encountered several of the locals, including Wah Sing Ku, Li An of the Hsien and the enigmatic mage Nekoko and finally two of the city's Shih, Ting An and Hung Hsi Kuan.
. She has begun Shih training under Hsi Kuan, and feels deeply hurt by the very existence of the Shen. She feels, as Nekoko put it, "as though she was a trembling ant in front of a herd of loud, energetic,
and sadistic, children." She is almost certain that she is totally helpless against them, and greatly
overestimates their power. She is unsure if she will live long enough to complete her training and become a Shih, and fears if the very training she is taking will turn her into a monster. During the day she works at Hong's pharmacy, during the noon hours she wanders the city in search of her friend, or talks with her own friends within the city.
She is currently living in Hsi's apartment, in his spare room. She shares the space with Hsi and his niece Hung Yu. Her lugguage has been at last recovered, and Mai now has her mother's martial arts weaponry, as well as access to a storage shed of her mothers (bought by her long ago) which contains an unbelievable amount of technological junk that Mai can't make heads or tails of; certainly of interest to any tinkerers or gadgeteers. She is trying to take a path of defending others, although due to the death of two of her newfound friends, she has rown sick of killing and hurting others.
Mai is unused to being around alot of people, and often doesn't know quite how to act.Although she knows english from listening to her parents, some words, especially slang are lacking from her vocabulary, and she often mistakes flirting for simple social behaviour. Her sheltered life has made her terribly innocent in many ways, and some things simply slip by her due to lack of vocabulary, innocence, and/or jumping to a possible but not plausible conclusion.
Last year marked a major chang in Mai's life. after 3 years she and her sifu hung Hsi kuan admitted their feelings for on another and where wed in Hsi home of Hong Kong. Mai's grandfather was in aattendance and was happy to see his grandaughter joined to the Hung family and Hsi. To Mai's chagrin, Gen made a point of putting Hsi through the wringer before giving his approval, but the wiley old Shih was merely testing the young man's resolve and love for Mai.
Currently, they reside in the same apartment in Little Asia, though Mai is nop longer in the guest room. She is also now an instructor at the kwoon as well as an advanced student. She and Hsi continue their roles as Shih and fight together in the combined traditions of their families.