Sokka was sick of his job. He was a warrior at heart. That is what he excelled at. Politics was never exactly his forte, but now it was his life. He took a deep breath, leaving his office for the board room. Everybody was waiting on the final member of the council. Today they would bring out the Bill of Unity; it was a document that would give citizens of Republic City a brand new nationality, people born there would no longer fit into the Earth Nationality but one that breaks the mould of the world's divisive nature. A Unitarian, undefined by race or nation.

The problem on his mind was the Earth Nation protesters. For whatever reason, there were many people who took offence at this Act. Sokka presumed it must be Earth Nation supremacists, annoyed that they were losing not only land, but civilians- people born there would no longer be Earth Nation, putting a dent in their numbers.

He felt a headache coming on as he reached the board room, but he smiled at the others, shutting the door and taking a seat.

"Sokka. Welcome." the water representative smiled.

"Hey guys, have you had any developments?"

The fire nation member's brows knitted together, "There was an attack on Geun, she was on her way home from the market when rebels tried to kill her! All over this stupid bill."

Sokka inhaled sharply, the woman was absent, something he was ashamed to realise he hadn't noticed. "Is she alright?"

Yahne nodded, "She made it out without too much harm- the same can't be said for the rebels."

"Urgh. I'm so sick of this bill. What's the big deal?" Sokka threw his hands in the air.

It was silent for a moment, before Zhan looked up at him. "People don't want to treat Fire Nation civilians as equals." their fire representative spoke quietly, but with conviction and a soft tone of disquiet. "They may hide it under "concern" for their safety, or even ours, but the reality is that they still want to punish them for something their government did. Restricting them where ever they go- hotels suddenly don't have a room spare, a job opening is suddenly filled, a tenancy is no longer available. It happens everywhere, my son failed a paper at his old school that I helped him with- and I used to lecture the subject at universities!

People not having their Nation stamped all over their identity would make that sort of segregation a lot harder, and that's what people are against."

Sokka was struck silent. Zhan was right. He could see that attitude where ever he went, it was almost tangible in the air, though never discussed or brought up. Many people still held very distorted views on their fellow man, purely based on where they were born.

Their meeting went on as usual, going through various movements, and discussing how various new laws were being upheld. As it came to a close, Yahne stood up, addressing the table. "We are being assigned body guards for the duration of the next section of the Unity Bill. I think we can all agree that it is essential to the success of the city, and our safety is paramount to making it happen. We cannot afford any incidents."

"That's ridiculous, I don't need protection." Zhan snorted, indignantly.

Sokka agreed- being followed everywhere by a bulking, sweaty, grumpy man didn't exactly slot into his idea of fun. "Neither do I, Yan. I'm a warrior, remember?"

The middle aged lady sighed, blowing a few strands of hair from her face. "This is bigger than your pride, gentlemen. We have the city's well being to take care of, and I won't have it jeopardized because you two needed to prove your testosterone levels to each other."

"But that's just it. It isn't just us we have to prove ourselves to- how can we look like a strong leading force if we're cowering behind body guards twenty-four/seven?" Sokka exclaimed.

"I've thought about that. Zhan," She gestured to the door, "this is Dekan." A man walked in, he was about the same age as Zhan, with a friendly smile but a fragile look about him. "He is your 'oldest friend', from the fire nation. Dekan has mastered the art of throwing-knives, as well as several forms of martial combat. He will never carry a visible weapon, nor will he show any sign of being a bender. Nobody will know his true identity." Unable to argue further, Zhan stormed out silently. Dekan followed, he paused with a weary glance at us, though he composed himself into that casual attitude again before leaving with his reluctant assignment.

Their air acolyte was assigned a man dressed as a nomad, she took his help without complaint, and smiled at him and Yahne serenely before leaving. Sokka then noticed an attractive man in a suit walk toward his own charge. Yahne looked a little flustered, and Sokka sighed internally, thinking that her choice in guard contained alternative motives than protection.

"Go on, then, what about me?" Sokka sighed, "I don't see who you could choose that could protect a warrior better than himself, though." He didn't like to sound arrogant, but the guy he'd been assigned would have to be pretty damn impressive before he let him take lead in an attack.

"Your guardian is the best of the best. They'll be arriving tomorrow, it was hard to get in touch, but they've accepted the job and have to travel pretty far from the west to get here."

"Okay. But I don't know how convincing they'll be as a "friend", I don't have friends, people would be suspicious to see me with someone who wasn't the Avatar or my sister." Sokka let out a humourless laugh.

Sokka woke to find a letter, hand delivered in his post box. It wrote that his guard would find him at the cocktail party tonight. He groaned, he'd forgotten about the party. It was an implement of schmoozing up rich benefactors and talking to important political figures. It would also no doubt be a public opportunity to explain away the 'reunion' of him an his old 'friend.'

That night he was dressed to the nines in a dark blue dress coat, complete with seal fur linings and polished leather shoes. He felt a little uncomfortable, but even he had to admit that he looked the part.

People were everywhere at the party, the mansion was huge, and had at least four large halls. Sokka worried that he might not be able to find his guard. He had other guests regularly come over and talk to him, but never did they mention anything about protection.

Something that started to come up later on in the night did strike him odd, though. These parties were formal events, usually consisting of stuffy politicians and morose rich citizens, but a few of the younger men began to mention the girl who had come to the party. Apparently she was stunning, witty, and a great dancer, not to mention the fact that she was from old money. She smiled at one of them and they told Sokka that his legs could have given away right there. Soon she was the topic on everyone's lips, though he never got an actual description other than overall awe. Sokka eventually gave up waiting for his guard and decided he wished to see her for himself.

He broke away from the room he was in, heading in the direction of the music hall, where he could hear a tsungi horn, pipa and erhus being played. When he arrived, there were a lot of people in the dance room, but the one that caught his eye was in the middle, people had made space for her and her current dance partner- Yahne's body guard; pretty boy. He hardly noticed him, though, because the woman he was with drew his eyes like a moth to a flame- she was captivating. She was turned away, but her long silky dark hair flowed down her back, swishing to the music, he occasionally caught a glimpse of a delicate, but defined face as she spun and swirled when the music demanded it. The woman wore a light green chiffon cocktail dress, hugging her form and accenting her perfect hour glass figure. She moved in quick, fluid movements, always perfectly in synch to the music. It was hypnotising.

Sokka thought about the fact that the women at these events always wore strange heeled contraptions for shoes, and wondered how the young lady could possibly move so well in the ridiculous things. As he moved closer through the crowd of people, he realised that she wasn't wearing heels. In fact, she wasn't wearing any shoes at all.

Her feet were twisting and twirling to the music- occasionally moving so she stood only on the tips of her toes, he'd seen ballerinas with less grace. Her feet were memorising in their own right, but they struck a cord inside him. Could it be?

The man she danced with finished the song with a flare, dipping her and attempting to plant a kiss on her lips that she diverted to a cheek. He bowed to her and left. She turned to the crowd, still smiling, flushed from the dance, and for the first time he got a good look at her front.

The young lady's dress had a sweetheart neckline, two chiffon straps running over her exposed shoulders, her skin over her collarbone looking soft and tanned. Her face was beautiful, with full lips and thick, dark eyelashes to compliment her small face and cute nose. She wore one piece of jewellery, a dark arm link made of a familiar material.

Her misted eyes twinkled as Sokka almost lost the strength in his own legs.

"Toph."