"Zuuuuuuuuuuko!"

Zuko cringed as he heard the piercing voice destroy the quiet of his office. He glared at the ornate door to his study as if it was the one who stopped his train of thought.

"Guards! Silence her immediately! And whatever you do, do not let her into my office." He heard their confirmations and returned to his work. A dozen heartbeats later, he heard soft grunts followed by a clattering of metal armour hitting the ground, quickly followed by an exuberant knocking.

"I know that you're in there, Zuzu. You can't hide from me..."

Massaging his temples, Zuko sighed. "Fine... you may enter, Ty Lee." Under his breath, he muttered "Not like I could stop you, anyways."

"Zuko! I missed you!" Zuko barely had time to step around from his desk before he was enveloped in a swath of flowing pink fabrics. Pushing her away from his body, he got his first good look at the girl... no it was definitely woman now, in nearly three years. She remained much the same, except for a slight increase in height and the slimming of her face, revealing her aristocratic cheekbones.

It was the eyes, Zuko realised, that made her who she was. In those pools of gray he could see the innocence that had not been lost during the war, nor during her time as Azula's lackey or her time in the Boiling Rock.

He was pulled out of his musings by a sharp slap to his face. "And that's for breaking Mai's heart again! I mean, how could you!"

"What are you talking about, Ty Lee? She broke up with me."

"But... but... everybody is saying..."

"Ty Lee, did you actually talk to Mai and ask her side of the story? Or are you relying on rumours again?"

Ty Lee flushed as she studied the extremely interesting floor between her feet. "...It's not my fault. Mai's disappeared off the face of the earth, it seems."

"...She left me to go with Jun, Ty Lee."

"Why'd she do that, Zuko? That's weird. I mean, why leave your boyfriend and go off with some gothic chick who totally bats for the other... oh. Oh."

"Yeah... can we not talk about that anymore? Why are you even here?"

"Oh yeah! The girls and I went up to Ba Sing Se at the Earth King's request. Something about national solidarity? I wasn't paying attention. Bosco's just so fluffy! I was busy entertaining him. Anyways, after the meeting, I went down to your uncle's teashop, and he pulled me aside and asked me to come over here and make sure that you weren't working yourself too hard. He said that you tended to bury yourself in something when you're upset."

Taking a heartbeat to make sure that he understood everything that had just erupted from the woman's mouth, Zuko's temper flared before he could catch it.

"What? Did he think that I can't handle myself? I'm doing perfectly well over here, slaving over our Nation's needs while he's pouring tea over in the Earth Kingdoms!" Immediately cringing, Zuko blew out a short plume of fire, ignoring Ty Lee's surprised shriek at the sudden fire. "He didn't deserve that. He's worked hard for everything in his life, and after Lu Ten... he didn't have to take me in. He deserves his own chance at happiness."

"Wow... you've really grown up, haven't you? A mean, three years ago, there would have been a lot more fire. Now you've got it down to the single burst."

"Thanks, Ty Lee. But that doesn't answer my entire question. Why did you agree to come? Missing the homeland, are we?"

"Well, yeah, there's that. But..."

"You can tell me, Ty Lee. You're my friend – feel free to tell me anything. I'm not a gossip. I can't afford to be. Did you know that Fire Sage Ishan takes my every word literally? I've had a few close calls with him."

Ty Lee giggled before resuming a more serious tone. "Can we... can we sit down for this?" Nodding his ascent, Zuko led her to a pair of seating lounges in the inner offices.

"Well, to tell you the truth Zuko, the warriors and I aren't getting along too well."

"Oh? What do you mean? I mean, the last time that I saw you with them, they seemed to accept you just fine."

"Well, it was fine the first year or two. After that, it just started going downhill. I tried to celebrate Agni's Ascent the other month, and... Well, it didn't go over too well."

Zuko nodded his head. It was a popular festival in the Fire Nation. Held every seven years, the people constructed fifteen straw effigies of Agni's opponent before burning them between sun up and highsun, symbolising their return to the flame. At dusk, they would rub down one final effigy, this one representing Agni himself, with sacred herbs and oils before burning him the whole night through in tribute to his power to bring light to the darkest of nights.

It was a tradition celebrated outside of the homeland very often – even in the colonies during the War, they usually didn't celebrate it. Something about the ritual burning made the Earth Kingdoms natives nervous. Zuko could see Kyoshi Island not being very accepting – as much as places like Iroh's Landing were a mix of Fire and Earth, so too was Kyoshi a mix of Earth and Water. When you combine fire opposite with someone who they had oppressed for decades...

"That's probably putting it lightly. So what happened next, Ty Lee?"

"Well, Suki tried to make it all better by convincing me to show more of the Fire Nation customs, to get everybody to know us better" Zuko winced. Suki's heart is in the right place, but I don't think that she really gets how much the world hates us. Even Kyoshi Island, with its fabled neutrality, suffered from Azulon's legions. Hasn't she wondered why all the warriors are so young? The Southern Raiders killed all the senior warriors looking for waterbenders a long time ago. "At first, it was okay. Then the elders found out... and they didn't approve. They delivered an ultimatum – either give up my Fir Nation heritage or leave the Warriors. Since I never gave them a formal answer, I kinda got pushed to the side. I mean, I'm still technically a member of the warriors, but the only time we interact is during training. All the other girls are afraid of what the elders will do to them if they hang out with me."

"Ty Lee... I didn't know."

"It's okay. I mean, I didn't tell anyone else, so how could you?"

"...You know, Ty Lee, if you're looking for someplace to belong, there's always the guest wing here at the palace. I mean, I have the servants to maintain them, and I've been looking for someone who sees me as Zuko, not as the Fire... Ty Lee, are you crying?"

"It's just..." sniff "No one's been this nice to me ever. I mean, here I am, checking up on you when you clearly didn't need it, disabling your guards, generally wreaking havoc with your life, and you're offering me a place to stay. How can you be so nice, Zuko? Especially with your family!" Ty Lee covered her mouth in horror.

Zuko's eyes betrayed a hint of pain before he buried it. "Ty Lee, you're a friend, regardless of what you believe. And friends are the ones who walk in when everyone else has left."

Ty Lee looked up to Zuko and saw the utter sincerity shining forth from his eyes, then suddenly burst into tears anew and rushed into his arms, leaving the Fire Lord with a crying girl on his lap.

Suki... how could you let this happen to one of your warriors? I thought that they were your family. IT doesn't matter anymore. I'm not going to let her go back if this is what it does to her. Azula may have been a monster, but at least she treated Ty Lee with respect. Zuko's arms tightened around the girl. And I'll protect her. Dammit Suki, but we are going to have a talk next time you and Sokka visit.

- - - oOo - - -

Gift-fic for TyLuk04ever over on DA (also know as YoungFool). I know it's more friendship!Ty Luko than anything else, but this is what it turned out as. I swear, it was supposed to be fluffy at the end, dammit.

I've also used this to go off on a tangeant or two – such as why there's only teenage Kyoshi warriors when there SHOULD be adult and even retired ones. Also dealing with a bit of the cultural backlash and residual anger against the Fire Nation that will no doubt stay for a couple of decades at least.