PTG: Couple announcements: Uno! The first line was writen for me, and it sparked my inspiration.
Dos: The rating has gone up. Believe me, people, it's not called an affair for nothing.
Tres: Sanako is aka Zula, aka The Evil Girl who was watching at Zuko's burning.
Four: the title is hungarian for "silence."
Csend
"Perhaps in the future," she said, wafting a fan against her throat and watching from the silk of her bed as he paced the room in shadows, "you would do well to remember it is I who possesses the future of the throne, and you who serves the possessor."
Zhao did not have difficulty maintaining his glare. She would act like this, and now of all times. He walked over to windowsill and shunted the curtain out of the way: the sea was calm, with only an orange horizon moon and its reflection breaking the dark.
"Perhaps we ought to change the subject?" Sanako raised her eyebrows and let the fan fall. She waited for him to nod before adding, "To the question of what would happen if you were found in my room?"
Zhao suddenly found it that much easier to keep glaring. He knew, as did she, that though there were locks in this wing of the Fire Palace, there were also guards. One noise...
Sanako smirked, and Zhao put a hand over his face. Of course. "When did you dismiss them?"
"Oh, hours ago." Sanako twisted til she was comfortable on her side, swiping the fan off the bed to clatter on the floor. She fingered the knot on the cloth-of-gold sash keeping her robe closed. "I told them the servant Mei was coming to play me music and I was not to be bothered, and I told the servant Mei that I was having my monthlies and I was not to be bothered." The knot loosened.
Zhao tried to remember caution and glanced back out. The guards out on the wall were far below: they wouldn't notice a thing. "And they're not going to return?"
"Tonight? No." Sanako undid the knot entirely and sat up, draping the sash over one arm to admire the gold on her skin. She looked up at Zhao without raising her head, the dropped the sash and leaned back down, and the robe fell open.
"Forget the guards. They're gone." Sanako leaned her head onto her bare arm. "And when I ascend the throne? It won't matter if they know or not."
"Yes." Zhao nodded once, and let the curtain fall.