Toph held her cup of mint tea in both hands, enjoying the warmth spreading through her fingers and the fragrant steam. It had only been a few hours since the Jasmine dragon opened, and her Duke had not yet arrived. Her Duke? Where had that come from?! The Duke, she chided herself, the Duke.

She took a sip of her tea, it had cooled down just enough not to burn her tongue. She hadn't been entirely truthful when she told the other girls what she was doing all day. She had told them she was going to hang out in the Jasmine Dragon and help out Iroh if he needed it, but she left out something important; that the reason she wanted to be there was in case a certain helmeted young gentlemen stopped in. For some reason inexplicable to her she wanted to keep this inside herself for now. Was that strange? Katara told her practically everything--whether she wanted to know or not.

She noticed someone walk in the door. Iroh greeted whoever it was cheerily and gestured to a table. Her table. Her heart sped up.

"Hi Toph." Katara plopped herself down in the seat opposite hers. "Here all by yourself again?"

"Well, not any more." She began to breathe easily.

"What's wrong with you? Your face is all red." Katara asked.

"I thought you were someone else." Toph said.

"Someone else? Who? Is it a boy?" Katara asked eagerly. "You're blushing! Who is it? You have to tell me!"

"I don't have to tell you, Sugar Queen."

"Will you? Please?"

Toph sighed. "Fine. Iroh said the Duke asked about me here yesterday. Following the laws of common courtesy I thought I ought to be here to talk with him today."

Katara paused a moment "Aww!" She exclaimed. "That's so cute! I best leave you alone then. You have to tell me all about it afterwards!" She stood up, leaving Toph alone once more.

She was bringing her tea to her mouth again, absorbed in her thoughts, when suddenly someone was beside her. "Hey Toph!" said a cheery Duke. His arrival startled her and she flinched, spilling her tea all over him.

"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just a little wet. You seem a bit on edge though."

"You snuck up on me," she protested. "Have you been taking lessons from Twinkletoes?"

"It's possible..." He teased. "I'm not quite that light on my feet though."

"Yeah, well, if you're not an air bender it's difficult." She paused "So, what have you been up to in Ba Sing Se?"

"I wanted to see you guys again. It's been a while. Oh, and I got invited to the Eath King's ball thingy. Are you going?" His voice was hopeful.

"I was trying to figure out a way not to, but if you're going to be there..." she paused, "I might just have to go."

"Sweet! I'll see you there then." He looked down at himself, "I better go find some dry pants. See ya around, Toph."

"Yup. See ya." The Duke left the tea shop and Toph was left with a huge grin on her face that she wasn't exactly sure why she had.