As soon as I possibly could I excused myself from the crowd of people who were busy congratulating me- a bittersweet thing, I assure you- and made my way as quickly as I could back to the room I was staying in. I threw myself on the bed and began to sob, feeling trapped and damned. As I was busy arguing with myself in my head- at least he's not a complete jerk who's too old for you, right? - I heard a knock on my door.

"Jade?" I heard his familiar voice call. "It's me, Shang."

It was all I could do not to bitterly tell him to leave me alone, so instead I stayed quiet. I suppose he took my silence as permission to enter, and the door opened a crack.

"Jade?" he called my name again. I sat up and hugged my knees, wiping away my tears because he sure wasn't going to see my cry.

"Look, I really didn't know," he said quietly. I wasn't sure if he was trying to console me or keep me from hating him, but either way the information didn't really make me feel that much better. I looked up at him now, though, and his face was sincere. I rubbed my eye with my hand and stared at him with the other. After hesitating for a moment Shang reached out and gently guided my hand back to my side.

"Listen, if you want to fight this… I mean, I don't know if it'd work, but we could try. Or…" Shang's face twisted sadly and I had the most overwhelming sense of déjà vu. That dream… Shang was the firebender from it! But what did it mean…?

So at this moment I was just sitting there stupidly and not responding to him, which I figured I should probably do.

"Look, as much as I really don't want to marry someone I barely know- no offense-" I began.

"None taken," Shang interjected.

"I don't really think we can do much about it," I finished.

"So what does that mean?" Shang asked me, expectantly. I sat and quietly debated my options for a moment before I responded.

"Well… I guess since we're engaged…" I said, in thought. "But on one condition." It wasn't really like I had much of a choice, but I wanted to feel like I had some say in the matter.

"What's that?"

"I want you to actually ask me… Engagement necklace included."

Shang looked puzzled for a moment and looked as if he wanted to remind me that we were technically already engaged, but agreed anyway.

"But not tonight… I think we've been through enough tonight. Plus I don't have you a necklace anyway, so…"

"Yeah… It has been a long night. So, I mean, if you don't mind…?"

"Oh, yeah, of course. Sweet dreams," he murmured before making his way quietly out of my room, shutting the door behind him.

What a night indeed…