Toph was learning, slowly but surely. It helped that Iroh had a special set of Pai Sho tiles made especially for her. She thought it was sweet of him to be willing to spend countless hours with her while all of her friends were off in their respective couple for "alone time." He was teaching her Pai Sho and the finer points of tea making, while she told him of her childhood and how she learned Earth Bending. He was very patient with her, and she appreciated it.

On this particular night, Iroh was describing how the badgermole tile was played – she had to admit it was her favourite tile. As he was about to explain what its position meant, she heard him come in the Jasmine Dragon. His heart was beating very fast and his breathing was haggard.

"Sokka?" she called to him. Sokka crossed the room to her sat hard on the bench next to her. "I thought you had a date with Suki. What's wrong?"

"It's Suki," he said, then held his head in his hands.

Iroh cleared his throat. "I'll go check on that tea," he said, and stood up. "You have to be careful not to overboil the delicate leaves." Toph nodded to him and he went to the fire in the corner.

She turned to her friend. "Okay, Sokka. Calm down and tell me what happened," she told him.

Sokka sighed. "We were at dinner, just talking. It started out really nice." Toph could imagine the smile on his face. "We weren't even talking about anything important. Just…stuff." He paused. "Then, she said it, and I just can't see her anymore."

Toph raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Why? What did she say?"

"It's not good…"

"Is she seeing someone else?"

"No, it's not that." He paused. "It's worse."

"Worse?"

"Worse," he confirmed, but didn't elaborate.

Toph waited for a moment, but he didn't say anything else. "Well?" she finally asked. "What did she say?"

He took a deep breath and let it out. She knew he didn't really want to say it, but was going to tell her any way. "She said that she's…" He trailed off.

This is getting slightly annoying, she thought. "She's what?"

"She's a vegetarian!" he spat out, rather loudly.

Toph's eyes opened wide, and she brought her hands to her mouth. "Oh, Sokka, I'm so sorry," she said, and held her arms out him. He accepted the invitation and hugged her and rested his head on her shoulder. They sat there at the back of the tea shop, holding each other for a few minutes. Toph kept murmuring words of encouragement and sympathy to him. When they finally did break apart, she was sure she felt a slight dampness on her shoulder. She held his shoulders at arms length, and then smiled at him. "You know what you need?" When he didn't answer, she assumed he'd shaken his head. "You need a nice helping of jerky. I think there's some in the kitchen." She stood up and held her hand out to him.

He took it and stood as well. "Yes, please," he answered quietly, and he let her lead him in to the kitchen.

"And tomorrow, I'll take you shopping," she promised.

"Thanks, Toph," Sokka said as she dropped a few sticks of jerky in his hand. "I knew I could count on you to understand."

She jabbed him in the arm. "Not a problem. That's what I'm here for," she said, and sucked on a piece of the meat. Now, if only I could get you to understand a few things…

Could Sokka ever really love anyone that didn't share his love of meat? Perhaps in time...he just needs to get over the shock.

And who better to help him get over said shock than Toph? I just couldn't resist adding a hint of Tokka at the end. After all, who can resist a bit of Tokka if they're honest?

Avatar belongs to Nickelodeon and Mike and Bryan, not me (not yet, anyway ;D).