"Do you know how to dance?" Zuko asked her point-blank as she entered his suite with a knock. Suki stopped dead in her tracks in confusion and stared at him.

Zuko was standing in the middle of the room with a panicked look on his face, a crumpled scroll in his fist.

Suki's painted eyebrow went up as she slowly closed the door behind her. "Yeah. Why?"

"Because they expect me to dance at this…this thing and I don't dance!"

A grin broke out over her face as she stared at him, wild with panic. "And how did a member of the royal family, who had the best teachers, the best instructors and the best upbringing, manage to avoid both learning how to dance, and doing it in a public setting?"

"Are you laughing at me?" Zuko demanded as she approached him and took the scroll from his hand.

"Maybe a little," she said, scanning the scroll. "So this is what's got all the generals and nobles in a tizzy. Does this have anything to do with the plan to marry you off?"

Zuko scrubbed his hands over his face. "Let's put it this way, invitations have been sent out to every single woman of high birth in the Fire Nation aged seventeen to thirty. My Council wants me married off yesterday and producing heirs last week."

"You look like you're panicking."

"I'm finding it a little hard to breathe," he admitted, pacing back and forth in front of her.

"That's understandable. After all, how can you breathe with no heir?"

Zuko stopped in his tracks and swiveled on her. "That's not funny."

Suki grinned at him. "It was a little funny."

"Shut up," he said, fighting a smile. He took the paper back from her and bent over it at her side. "When they brought up the idea, I just… I didn't think they'd do it. I didn't think they'd…pimp me out like this."

"No one's pimping you out, Zuko. They're not going to make you marry anyone you don't want to."

"They would if they could," he groused, scanning the invitation again with an obsessive expression on his face. "The Council has been pressuring me to marry someone, anyone, for two years now. Ever since Mai and I broke up."

Suki noted the absence of bitterness in his voice as he said his ex-girlfriend's name. Once upon a time, that had not been the case. Getting over her had taken a long time, and she'd been there for Zuko every step of the way, lending support and a commiserating ear when he needed it.

They'd grown close over the years through sheer proximity. As his bodyguard, they saw each other every day. They even trained together three days a week,at Zuko's insistence. Their training sessions, he said, were the highlight of his week. She had no doubt about that. Between gruelingly long council sessions, his duties, and the constant pressure of ruling a Nation more used to war than peace, it was a wonder Zuko hadn't cracked yet. More often than not he went sleepless, hungry, and neglected his own needs, all in pursuit of caring for his people.

She admired that selflessness, and more often than not, she'd found herself doing the same, mirroring him. They'd spent countless sleepless nights together pouring over law books, maps, supply lists and grievances from citizens with an ax to grind. She probably knew him better than anyone else in the world.

That thought struck her hard and she glanced up at him as he scanned the scroll yet again.

"Well, maybe this is a good thing? Maybe you really will meet the girl of your dreams at the ball?" she offered, with a strange, but all-too-familiar flutter in her stomach. She tried to ignore it, just as she always did.

"Doubtful. More likely I'll meet every scheming social climber in the Nation. Half of them so desperate to marry the Fire Lord they'd cut off a finger if I asked them to," he said darkly, with a disgusted look on his face. He crumpled the scroll again and tossed it toward his wide, cluttered desk.

"And the other half would probably just be satisfied to share the Fire Lord's bed for a night. For bragging rights and the sheer pleasure of it all," she said wistfully, noting the way Zuko's face flamed red. "So there's a bright side."

"Yeah, right. I doubt that," he mumbled, pacing again.

"I don't. Do you know how many times I've caught some of those supposedly well-bred noble women trying to sneak into your suite wearing nothing but some very see-through robes, a lot of perfume and just a hint of desperation?"

Zuko whipped around to face her, a shocked expression on his face. "WHAT? You've never told me that! You're lying!"

"Am I? Next time you see Lady Shura, tell her I think she should get that mole on her left butt-cheek checked. Looks a bit iffy to me," Suki said, with obvious glee at Zuko's expression.

"Lady Shura is…she's old enough to be my mother! She's…she's married!"

"Actually, her husband died a couple of years ago, remember? From what I hear though, being married never stopped her from sleeping with every stable boy, litter-bearer and servant in her employ. Woman's a cougar-rat. Better watch out for her, Zuko. She'll eat you alive. Phrowr," she said, turning her hands into claws and scraping the air as the color drained out of Zuko's face.

"That's so disturbing."

"If you want I'll just let the next one I find sneak right on in your room and you can properly scandalize the court with tales of your prowess in the bedroom."

"Now you're definitely laughing at me."

"Why would you think that?" she intoned, dropping her hands at her sides as a laugh tumbled out of her. Zuko stared at her for a moment and then sighed, dropping onto the edge of his bed. He ran a hand through his long, unbound dark hair as she crossed the room to sit next to him.

"I mean, it's not like I have any…prowess anyway," he mumbled as perched beside him. "I'm not… I mean, I'm not very good at… You know, women."

Suki bit down on her lip, choosing her words carefully. "But...you dated Mai."

"I wouldn't say we dated. It was more like being at war with someone you were sleeping with."

"But you miss her."

"Sometimes," Zuko let out a gust of air, clapped his hand to his face and fell back on the bed with a groan. "And Sokka? You miss him?"

"Yeah," she said gently and looked at her lap. "It's been a long time though. Nearly a year. I mean…it's not like we've even seen each other or anything." The bitterness in her voice wasn't as much as it had been even three months previous.

"He still hasn't written?" Zuko sat up again and looked at her seriously. He seemed more angry on her behalf than she felt herself, a fact that made her bitterness fade.

"No," she mumbled. Her letters to Sokka had gone unanswered for six months. Eventually she'd just stopped sending them.

She didn't know how she felt about her rather distant relationship with Sokka. Mostly she was annoyed, with hurt and sadness adding just a touch of bitterness to the whole thing. They'd spent more time apart than they'd ever had together. He had his life and she had hers and the two had just never properly aligned. And lately... Things had become strained.

She just wished she knew why his letters had stopped. She kept up regular contact with Katara and according to her, Sokka was fine, just busy building Republic City.

Surely not too busy to write a fucking letter, she thought for the millionth time, but with a touch of acceptance at the situation.

"I'm honestly kind of over the whole thing. I mean, I'm angry. But… I don't know," she finished lamely, unable to articulate her rather confusing emotions. Zuko studied her face and then sighed.

"Well, if you think a year is bad, try over two years."

"No wonder you're always in a bad mood," she said, and he rolled his eyes, flushing again.

"Shut up."

"You shut up," she said, bumping his shoulder with hers. He huffed out a small chuckle and then bumped her back. "Seriously though, this ball won't be so bad. You just have to plaster a smile on your face, eat some room-temperature cheese, and dance with a few girls. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

"Are you forgetting that I can't dance?"

"How did you never learn?" she asked again and he shrugged.

"Father thought it wasn't proper for a man to learn to dance when I could be learning to firebend instead. It's not like I've ever needed to do it before. I usually just stand against a wall and try and pretend I'm not there. But they're expecting me to dance with these women. In front of everyone."

"I can teach you a few dances. I mostly know Earth Kingdom dances, but I've learned quite a few of the more popular Fire Nation dances since I moved here."

"Who taught you?"

"What I do on my nights off are none of your business," she teased him with dignity, tossing him a mischievous look. He reacted just as she'd expected him to. His face flushed and he looked away quickly, as if to hide his expression.

"Is it…uh…Sokka's business?" he asked gingerly.

"Mostly it's Ty Lee's business," she said, making him whip around to stare at her, wide-eyed. She stared back seriously and then burst out laughing. "Her current girlfriend is a dancer and we've hung out a few times. I like to dance though. It's like fighting, but with less fists."

"Really?"

"Sure. Some of the dances even remind me of Firebending forms. Just with no flames involved. I've seen the way you move, Zuko. We train together. You'll make an excellent dancer and I can teach you. Don't worry. You won't humiliate yourself at this ball."

"Sure I won't. Did you forget the part where they're pimping me out in desperation?"

She laughed and bumped his shoulder again. "Of course not. That's my favorite part."

Zuko groaned and fell back on the bed again, his hands over his face. "I hate how much you're enjoying this."

Her eyes slid down his body and she had to forcibly stop herself. She looked away and grinned. "My enjoyment hasn't even begun. Now, unless I'm mistaken, you have a Council meeting in five minutes and you need to get changed. You don't want to be late. They might be planning an arranged marriage with one of General Tsung's legendarily ugly daughters."

Zuko's sat bolt upright, eyes wild with fear. "You don't think they would, would they?"

She laughed as she stood and walked toward the door. "No, probably not. But maybe they'll put one of them in your bed? Since it's been two years, you might even thank them."

Zuko groaned as she winked at him. "I shouldn't have told you that. That's it, you're banished."

She shot him a cheeky grin over her shoulder as he took off his shirt and reached for his formal robes. "If you banish me, who's going to teach you how to dance?"

"Lady Shura?" he offered bitterly.

"I bet Lady Shura would love to! Better guard that tight butt of yours though. She's got grabby hands."

"SHUT UP!" Zuko laughed as he wadded up his shirt and tossed it at her. She ducked it and swept out into the hall on a peel of laughter, closing the door behind her. She could hear him laughing through the door as she waited for him. Her own laughter faded after a moment and she bit down on her lower lip, a sliver of unease sliding through her as her humor at the situation slipped away to the reality of it.

She swallowed hard, images of Zuko dancing with the prettiest women in the Fire Nation sprang to her mind. A sour feeling burst to life in her guts and she felt it clawing at her insides. It wasn't a new feeling. It seemed to grow with every woman she caught looking at him, or trying to creep into his quarters.

It was jealousy, she realized. Deep, poisonous, painful jealousy.

"Damn," she said out loud as she heard Zuko's footsteps approaching the door at her back.

Zuko opened the door and shot her a smile. "You ready?"

She returned the expression, warmed by his presence. "Yeah. Into the turtle-lion's den with you."

"So long as you're with me, I'll be fine. Come on," he said, and his hand briefly touched her lower back, lingered and then, as if he realized what he was doing, he dropped it back to his side. He glanced at her and their eyes met. She felt a zing all the way to her toes and back to her chest and quickly looked away as they walked side by side down the corridor toward the Council chambers.

Shit. I'm in trouble.