Chapter 6: The University

"Hey!" Mimi said as she slid into the seat across from Jin.

"Hi. How are you?"

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

Mimi's eyes lit up. "The Earth King went to the outer wall."

"What?"

"Yeah. My neighbor said she saw him on the train."

"But the Earth King never leaves the palace. And why would he take the train?"

"I know! But he did yesterday. He was just sitting there like everybody else."

"Then how do you know it was the Earth King?"

"He had guards with him. And," she leaned forward and lowered her voice, "He was with the Avatar."

Jin lifted her eyebrows and Mimi continued. "The Avatar broke into the palace and confronted the Earth King about," her voice dropped further still, "the war."

Jin gasped and leaned forward too. "Why? What happened?" she breathed.

"The Avatar told him about the war and took him to the outer wall to prove it."

"Did he believe him? Or did he get thrown in jail?"

"He believed him. He acknowledged the war. Now they're planning stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"I don't know. The kind of stuff you plan when you suddenly realize that fire benders are trying to take over the world. And you know what else?" Mimi was on the edge of her chair, leaning so far on her elbows that Jin worried she might fall. Her voice was scarcely above a whisper. "The Earth King ordered his bear to attack Long Feng and then threw his mauled remains in prison."

Jin gaped at her then looked around to see if anyone was watching them. "How do you know that?"

"A servant in the palace told one of the guards who came in the shop this morning."

"So the Earth King's running Ba Sing Se by himself?"

"Yeah."

"But … he doesn't know what he's doing, does he?"

Mimi shrugged. "It's better than Long Feng."

Jin had to give her that. "So have the Dai Li disbanded?"

"I don't know." She sat back again.

"Goodness."

"Yeah. Crazy. Hey, what's that?"

"Oh, it's a letter. I stopped by the post office on my way here."

"What's it say?"

"I don't know, I haven't-"

"What are you doing?" The girls looked up to see Zuko glaring at them.

"I'm taking my break."

"Now?"

"Obviously."

"But… you know this is when I take my break."

"Yeah, I know. When Jin shows up you drop everything and I'm supposed to schedule around that somehow."

"It's not like that."

"Whatever. Why can't we take a break at the same time?"

"Because someone needs to be working!"

"Pft."

"It's busy in here and you should start preparations for Quon's party."

"Eww."

"Quon's having a party?" Jin asked.

"Yeah. He thinks because he offered Mushi the shop that we'll cater every party he throws for free," Mimi said, looking very put upon.

"And we will. It's a good opportunity. Lots of important people come to those parties and then they come here."

"Well, none of those 'important people' have ever grabbed your ass at one of those shindigs, so shut up."

Zuko rolled his eyes.

"Jin, are you going to open that letter or what?" Mimi snapped.

"Oh, yeah."

"Yeah right. Who would want to grab your ass?"

"Hey! I'll have you know that I have a fine ass! One of the best in Ba Sing Se! People are dying to touch it!" She stood up to show him her silhouette and make a point.

"I got in."

"Sit down. You look like a skank."

"Hey! I may look this way, but at least it gets me some sort of love life!"

"Several diseases and dirty men touching your butt don't count."

"Well I never!"

"I … I got in!"

"Why don't you go make Jin's tea?"

"Why don't you jump off a cliff?"

"Lee!"

"What?" He finally directed his attention to Jin, who was staring at her scroll with wide eyes.

She looked up at him in shock. "I got in."

He dropped his arms from across his chest. "To … to the university?"

A smile grew across her face as she nodded.

"Jin!" She launched herself into his arms, laughing as he lifted her clear off the ground and swung her around, making her laugh more. Several patrons applauded.

"Can you believe it? Me! I got in!"

"You got in!"

He set her down and they grinned at each other for a moment before he suddenly cleared his throat and stepped back from her.

Mimi was jumping up and down and squealing. One of the men in the corner shouted, "Great job, Jin. Now make him bring us our tea."

"Sorry. Just a minute." He hurried toward the back of the shop, but paused as he reached the door to look over his shoulder and give Jin a secretive smile.

Katara stood in the doorway, unnoticed by anyone in the tea shop. She saw the joy on the boy's face and the happiness in the girl's eyes. It was strange. He was a monster, and yet here he was acting like a human being. Had he changed? Was he even the same person? Should she tell the Dai Li that he was in the city?

She watched as the girls discussed their celebratory outing, grabbing one of the other tea servers' arms and drawing her into the planning. "Of course I'll come. I'll do anything to get out of going to Quon's stupid party. Mushi will definitely let us out of it. I know the perfect place. You'll like it, Jin."

Katara hid herself partially behind one of the dragons at the shop's entrance as the boy came out again. He was still smiling, which was confusing. And he was polite as he set the old men's tea down next to the pai sho board. "Two jasmine, one green, and one lychee."

She turned and slowly headed towards the palace. After several blocks of walking in deep concentration she turned to the lemur on her shoulder.

"We didn't see anything. Did we, Momo?"

Maybe she was making a huge mistake, but she had always tried to see the best in everyone. Her brother always said that her optimism was a flaw, and maybe he was right. But then again, maybe he wasn't.

Zuko immediately forgot the names of Yun's friends after she went around the table and introduced them. The bar was loud and his sake wasn't very good. Due to their cramped seating arrangement he was pressed close to Jin. Their arms were so close that the small hairs on the back of his hand and the back of his neck were standing up. Neither of them had the courage to push the contact further or to pull away. They were both holding unreasonably still, and he found himself holding his drink in his left hand so he could maintain the proximity. His arm was just starting to cramp from the tension and lack of movement when the three piece band started to play.

"Alright! Let's get this party started," Mimi shouted as she reached out and grabbed a confused boy seemingly from thin air. Zuko watched as she pulled him onto the dance floor.

Jin giggled then turned to him. "Do you know how to dance?"

"Of course," he scoffed.

"Then come dance with me."

Once on the dance floor he pulled her into position, and she laughed. "What are you doing?"

"Dancing."

She shook her head, and then moved one of his hands down from between her shoulder blades to the small of her back. She stepped forward slightly and pulled their clasped hands closer to her body.

He swallowed thickly and looked around for the first time. He knew all the Fire Nation court dances, and he never considered that this would be any different. But everyone was in the position Jin had put him in and they were leaping around the dance floor, laughing and shouting.

Oh shit. What had he gotten himself into?

"Here, watch my feet. One and Two, Three and Four. One and Two, Three and Four." She bobbed from side to side and he hesitantly followed her. He was going to look like an idiot doing this. Jumping up and down? Good grief.

"There you go."

"Now what?"

"That's it."

"This is it?"

"Yeah. Well, you would circle the floor now, but this is all you're really doing."

Seriously? What a stupid dance. He led her once around the floor before calculating that it was something between a polka and a cha-cha. Maybe he could use some steps he knew from those. He spun Jin. She laughed and no one fell down. Score. He did know how to dance. Ha!

The song ended and she kept a hold on his hand as the next song started. In the Fire Nation court, you never danced two dances in a row with the same girl. Then he realized that they were playing the same sort of pseudo-polka again. Two of the same songs in a row would also never happen in the court.

The third song (with Jin still holding onto his hand so he couldn't get away) was slower. As soon as he prepared himself for a waltz, Jin readjusted his arms again and pressed against him. At first he thought she was hugging him, and then he realized that everyone was embracing like this and swaying slowly. A few couples revolved leisurely, but that was the extent of their movement.

Zuko found himself reddening as Jin's nose brushed against his neck. He hoped that she couldn't feel his hands sweating against her back. He hoped that she couldn't hear how fast his heart was going, but he was almost positive that she could. She definitely couldn't see how flushed his damned pale skin was, because she had her head pressed to his shoulder and her eyes closed. She looked nice, actually.

He snapped his eyes away from her, trying to focus on anything but the girl who was pressed way to close to him. To his horror, his eyes locked on one of the couples over Jin's shoulder, who were kissing.

Ok. This was far too intimate. He needed to draw a line.

Now.

Come on, Zuko, take a step back. That's all you need to do.

He felt her hot breath tickle his skin and her hands readjust around his neck so that her fingertips brushed his hair. He couldn't bring himself to pull away. Agni help him.

When the dance came to an end, she looked up at him with her fathomless eyes, and he realized for the first time that they were green. Anything he was about to say died in his throat and his hand spasmed against her back.

"I'm going to go get something to drink." He imagined that her voice sounded as strained as he felt, but her statement managed to break the spell over him anyway. He recoiled from her as if she had shocked him.

"Yeah. That's a good idea."

She turned and disappeared into the crowd. Rubbing his forehead, he retreated to his seat, where he intended to whack his head against the table several times, then leave. Instead he was interrupted by the only other boy who had come with Yun's group.

"Hey."

Ugg. Did this guy seriously want to talk to him? Couldn't he see that he was busy? How annoying. "Hey."

"I'm Dal, Nadi's brother."

Zuko had no idea who Nadi was. "Lee. I'm Yun's co-worker."

Dal smirked. "Ah. Yun."

The way the boy said her name made Zuko uncomfortable.

"The girl who's going to the University, she your girlfriend?"

"No."

"Good thing." The boy took a swig of his drink. "I've heard about girls who go to college. They get ideas."

"I think that's the point."

"No, like they think they're too good for you. You watch. I bet you that that girl won't make you dinner in a year."

"She doesn't make me dinner now." In fact, he was usually the one that cooked for her.

"You see, it's started already." He nodded knowingly. Zuko decided that he didn't like this boy at all. Thankfully, Mimi picked that moment to interrupt with a story about how some "dumb ass guy" wouldn't buy her a drink.

Jin slid into the seat next to him.

"I can get you a drink if you want one," Zuko offered.

"That's not the point!

"Then what is?"

"It's an insult. You're so stupid!"

"Sorry."

Mimi huffed and flopped down into a chair. Jin quietly slid him her mug as he looked like he needed it. He downed half of it in three gulps. She took the drink back and finished it off as Mimi continued to rant and Dal's eyebrows rose further and further up his forehead.

The table gradually filled. Someone noticed that Jin's mug was empty, and before he knew what was happening everyone had a full mug in front of them.

"To Jin!"

"Jin!

"Yay!"

Drink.

"To the University!"

"The University!"

Drink.

"To Lower Ring kids!"

"Here Here."

Drink.

"To this song!"

"This song!"

"Woo!"

Drink.

Jin was leaning against his shoulder and giggling uncontrollably. He scooted her drink away from her discreetly, so that only she would notice. This just made her laugh harder. Maybe he was a little tipsy too, as he grinned back, but he was by far the most sober person at the table.

Yun dragged Jin off to dance some more and Zuko decided that it would be a good idea to engage Dal in a drinking contest. He had spent the last three years with sailors, downing much more toxic stuff than this. He could drink the bastard under the table. He was a jerk and Zuko should leave him with alcohol poisoning. It would serve him right.

When Jin re-appeared an hour later, Dal and one of Yun's many nameless friends were passed out.

"Hey."

"Hi." His grin was coming much more easily now. "How was dancing?"

"I feel dizzy."

"You gonna be sick?"

"Nah, I'm good." She glanced at his table mates and her smile turned mischievous. "Can you stand up?"

"Yeah."

She laughed. "Want to show me?"

"Maybe later." He pulled out her chair for her to sit.

A strand of her hair had come loose from her pigtail. He found himself transfixed by it.

"Are you having a good time?" she asked.

"Yeah. Way better than I would have had at Quon's."

"I'm sad Suri couldn't come."

"She didn't want to. Clubbing's not her thing. And anyway, someone had to help with the party, and she's the responsible one."

"She loves you. You're going to marry her one day. You know that, right?"

"What?"

She broke into a fit of giggles that had her lolling against him and gasping for breath. Before long he was joining her, but he couldn't remember what it was that they were laughing at.

"This song is about a blacksmith," she said.

"What?"

"This song. It's about a blacksmith. My father's a blacksmith."

"So you like this song?"

"I hate it."

"Well, it's your party, so we should fix that."

Her face lit up. "It is my party."

He grinned. "Anything you want to do at it?"

"I want to take a nap." She rested her head against his shoulder again and closed her eyes. "Does that make me boring?"

"No way."

She giggled.

"Time to go home?" he asked.

"Ugg. Yeah. I guess so."

Jin was walking backwards. Every now and then she would stumble on the cobblestones and Zuko would have to steady her, which was difficult as his legs were made of noodles, or bendable tree branches, or springs. Something like that. He couldn't really come up with what they were most like. Definitely something.

Jin stretched out her arms a spun around. She came to rest staring up at the stars. "Aren't they lovely?" Her eyes sparked from the moonlight and the alcohol and some kind of mysterious inner magnificence.

During this moment of pointing out the mundane and declaring it beautiful, Zuko realized that Jin was absolutely perfect. She was fun and sweet and … her hair was really nice today.

He stepped forward and tucked a strand of her very nice hair behind her ear. It sprung back into her face and he tried again without much success. Damn it! Why wouldn't it stay put?

She hummed slightly, redirecting his attention back to her face.

His fingers trailed down along her cheek and her eyes slid closed. Her skin was soft, like … a flower petal, or … a rabbit-kitten. No, those weren't quite right. And when had he wrapped an arm around her waist?

His thumb trailed over her lower lip, which opened slightly. "Lee," she breathed.

Lee.

He stiffened.

That was not his name.

He felt cold and he became suddenly aware of how dizzy he was. He was a liar. He was lying to this girl. He was lying to everyone.

Oh, no. What was he doing?

He took a quick, stumbling step back and refused to look at her and see her disappointment.

Instead he focused on the stars, which only made him feel worse, but he couldn't really remember why.

"Come on," he said. "I should get you home."