She bounded down the street feeling the city air again, watching as the merchants she knew show their wares, it felt like a lifetime ago when she was here last and it seemed new in an old way. The people moved and bustled and paid little attention to the small girl in their midst, and she was happy enough to stroll, but still she wondered what had happened to Zuko, what could a Fire Lord be doing, alone within the walls of his palace. Who did he talk with and did he still sit by that small pool in the garden he liked so much.

Around guards stood in clusters, older men, relics of the war who knew nothing better than the hard life in an army, they eyed the street with long stares, unsure how to regard the peacetime culture after so long of having to always watchful of an enemy infiltrator. She smiled and moved past, a hunger in her stomach but she pushed it aside knowing she was almost there.

She thought back to the ride hear, it had been quiet and peaceful, intensified by the hectic nature of her recent life. She remembered the waters off the Earth Kingdom, and how they had been choppy and rough, smashing against the high brutal cliffs that surrounded that land. So much different than the soft coast of the Fire Nation, the sandy beaches the water would lap onto.

Ahead of Ty Lee the Fire Palace loomed over the capital city and she was glad to be back at the place where so many childhood memories had been made. She thought back to poor Azula and how she had betrayed her, how even standing up for one friend had driven the three apart. Still; there was a Fire Lord who needed to be reminded how to laugh.

***

Zuko sat cross legged on his palanquin, wearing his royal robes, large and obtrusive they were an impressive outfit, above the roaring flames and his advisors who spoke of restoration; the minister of foreign trade was dealing with Northern Water Tribe traders. He focused on the problem at hand and attempted to address it in a way that would benefit all. They finally left, leaving him in peace. He sighed and rubbed his temple; since he had sent his uncle and Jin away he had even more stress. While there had not been another attempt on his life; security had been beefed up to the point where he felt choked by them.

The doors were opened and six guards marched in carrying a figure between them, the one in the lead spoke loudly across the chamber.

"Lord," he bowed; "We found this girl sneaking about the palace, as per your orders we brought her to you."

Finally, he thought, now to find out what they know. He stood and passed through the flames, forcing them out of his way, and approached the group to see what they had. They split to reveal; Ty Lee smiled from her position. She was dress as he always had known her, loose baggy bright red pants, border line pink, with an equally bright top, her hair pulled back into a braid.

Zuko rolled his eyes, "What are you doing here Ty Lee?" he waved the guards to release her.

Ty Lee sheepish shrugged, "I'd thought I'd come visit my old friend and favorite Fire Lord," She bowed quickly "and visit my old stomping ground."

Zuko let out an exasperated sigh and waved the guards back to their posts. "Good work." He said as they quickly shuffled away. Ty Lee leapt onto him and gave a huge hug, a strange occurrence, a gesture of warmth he had not known since Jin had left, and though his heart sang to think it, Ty Lee definitely gave nicer hugs. He reluctantly returned it until she pulled away. "We are having some, "Security" problems. I'm sure as you noticed."

"Hmmmmm, it did seem weird the amount of guards were around, still I've seen you fight, you're the Fire Lord, who could beat you?"

Zuko smirked as she said it and led her out of the Throne room; he was hungry and wished a meal. "True, but almost anyone could defeat the Avatar, if he was looking the wrong way, asleep, and you had a sword covered in poison."

The implications of an assassin not declaring an Agni-Kai seemed to dawn on her and she responded with an "Oh."

He always preferred her when she smiled so he changed the subject trying to cheer her up. "So what have you been doing?" they rounded the corner, "I hear you left the Kyoshi Warriors to rejoin the Circus."

She beamed to correct him, "With the war over Many Kyoshi Warriors are allowed to have other jobs, as long as we keep up with our training; in fact two of them joined with me."

"That's good." He spoke only to cue her to continue.

"Yea, they tried being acrobats and are really good, but they went back home when the winter season coming, the circus shuts down you know."

In fact Zuko did not, but it seemed an irrelevant turn of fact. Still a little cheeriness was good to have in his life. They arrived in the royal dinner chamber and were guided to sit across from one another. Even as they sat the servants placed platters of food before them and they dug in, Ty Lee said nothing and gobbled food, Zuko deciding she must be very hungry from the trip out.

Even as the first bite reached his move his aide cleared his throat behind him. Reluctantly he sighed and wiped his mouth; turning to face the small man who bowed quickly and spoke in a hushed tone.

"Sir, the guests have begun to arrive;" Zuko gave him a confused look, "The Sun Ball Lord."

"Ah yes, of course." Zuko remembered the ball, in fall when the days started to get shorter, it happened every year but he had not gone in years, having been exiled and managed to dodge it every year with official tours and trips. This year would not be so lucky, he considered not going on the grounds of it being the perfect set up for an assassination, but decided immediately against it.

Nobles from across the nation would be arriving, though it wasn't scheduled to begin for another three hours some wanted to politic it up with the other nobles. He would need to get ready and longingly looked at his meal, before casting the thought aside and standing.

"Ty Lee," he turned before leaving, "Will you join me for the Ball?"

She stopped eating and looked up, her soft and cute features blushing, "I don't have a dress," she spoke sheepishly, like it was her fault.

Zuko clapped his hands twice and the aide stood straight, "Get this lady fitted with a dress suitable for the ball."

The aide looked shocked "But sir, the ball is in only a few hours."

Zuko turned his face hard as stone, "Is that a problem?"

"Of course not, of course not. It will be done."

Zuko smiled as the man scurried to her, hustling her from the room and turned to head to his own bed chamber.

***

Ty Lee was sore all along her back by the time they were finish, it took hours but her dress was finished, the tailor had been prodding and pulling, pushing and tying the fabrics all the while it was on her. She stood tall though as the woman had known what she was doing, and it was beautiful. She strode through the hallways and wondered how much of the Ball she had missed, she hoped not too much.

The doors ahead of her opened to show the hall, the room was packed with the rich and powerful, beautiful ladies and powerful men stood and spoke as servants served appetizers, across the floor she saw couples dancing, she moved quickly among the crowds looking for Zuko or someone else she recognized.

He was standing in a modified version of his royal robes, an additional trim of gold down the sides and a slightly more ornate collar to it, still his headdress was the same and she approached as he spoke to an older general, in his dress uniform.

"Just make sure your men search out this group, they haven't tried anything but I am still concerned." Zuko spoke to General Shi about their mechanisms to flush out the group who had tried to have him killed. The general nodded agreement and took a draft of his drink.

He turned as someone approached and saw Ty Lee. She was stunning when she had gotten out of the old baggy clothes she had been wearing earlier. Her dress was to the floor, long and red, like rich apples, it left her shoulder bare and collar seductively revealed, her soft skin reflecting in the firelight. She smiled as he stared agape at her, and he consolidated himself to seem less like he was leering, still she winked uncaring and spun to show him the back, which was cut low to show her powerful yet lithe back, how the dress stayed up confused Zuko.

"How is your party, oh mighty Fire Lord?" Her voice was playful and cheery, just what he had missed for so many weeks, chirping across the din of the music.

"It goes but I do not like these events, too many people I don't know, and too many openings." He quickly glanced around them.

She grabbed his head and turned him back to her, "oh Zuko, try to enjoy the night, stop worrying, you'll get old too quick."

"It can be hard for one with a mark of death over them."

"Then instead of standing here worrying do something to take your mind off the problems." She smiled but he knew he had to keep his guard up, still; when she gave him that playful fun look it harkened back to an age where such concerns were beyond him. He longed for those days and seemed to lean towards her suggestion.

She took his hand into hers and the contact was unexpected, Zuko almost recoiled; "Come on, let's dance." She began to pull him towards the music and he obliged to follow, guessing it would be more fun than standing around.

They quickly moved between the twisting couples, finding a spot of floor she draped her left arm onto his shoulder and took his left with her right hand. Around them the crowd twirled in a traditional flame waltz. While dancing had been frowned upon for most of his life, he had been taught almost all dances as a child, though he felt inadequate and silly, hoping it would come back to him.

He wound he right hand down to the small of her back, bare and smooth his hand gently grazed it.

She giggled, "Are you trying to tickle me?" He turned beat red and felt so young again, like a child with their hand in the fire flakes jar, "Just have a firmer grip." She reached down and pressed his hand against his back. It was firm but soft, a thin layer of healthy fat layered over solid muscles, her girlish figure disguising her powerful form.

She waited for him to start; he realized he had to lead so guided her in spins and circles, moving with the flow of the music. It came back to him as if he had done it his entire life; she swished and swayed beside him and the connection between them seemed evident. Her moves complimented him well and he smiled. The crowd around them came to stop in small pairs and groups to watch and eventually the entire crowd dispersed to leave them together alone. He ignored that, he focused on her, and she looked at him only to smile.

It filled him with such happiness to know he could satisfy at least one of his people, everyday he dealt with problems and issues and it never seemed to end. But here for one moment, for one dance, for one song, he could make just one person under his rule happy and it filled him with a satisfaction of a job well done. He returned the smile to her and she blushed.

She hadn't the slightest idea why he was smiling but she was glad, in the times they had met as children he had been so serious, such a desperate child, always on guard always on the defensive. Of coarse Azula did that to them all but Zuko seemed to take it the worst. He had changed so much, now so close to him she could see stress in his eyes and a general tiredness in his aura. He put on a smile but she could see it was a façade for the nobles and generals, for the ambassadors and people of their nation. Zuko was a Lord in need of some relaxation.

The song ended and they stopped in the middle of the dance floor, so realized that around them the crowd had parted to leave them alone. She felt embarrassed and blushed, but scolded herself, she preformed daily in front of giant crowd and never felt nervous, but here with these prying eyes she felt somehow shamed, what caused this?

The crowd allowed a small applause to cross the dance floor and Zuko guided her away, uncaring for the attention he absorbed. She regained herself and willed herself to stop blushing, still she felt weak inside, this crowd must be making her a bit queasy, the knowing looks, the way noble would always look down on her and he free spirited ways. The thought chilled her and she looked around not to see faces that were having fun or happy to be here, only men and woman putting on a show, she may work in a circus but these people had their whole lives as one huge stage, and this; this was the big top.

Her and Zuko glided past the older onlookers to a table adorned with refreshments. He took a glass of water. She noticed that he was sweating a bit, the warmth of the room and exertion of dancing had taken its toll. She leaned towards him and said what he wanted to hear.

"Want to step outside and get some air?"

Zuko breathed a sigh of relief, he was dieing inside his robe, the heat in the chamber had become almost unbearable. He kept his cool,

"Sure," He led Ty Lee around the edge of the crowd to a side exit as the next song began and checked his shoulder once to see if anyone was looking and ducked out.

The traveled down the paths of the back courtyard allowing the cool night air to wash away the exhaustion and sweat from him. She looked to him,

"So do you duck out of official events with young girls often?"

He looked to the sky, remembering Jin and the time they had together, and how he didn't think he would ever be able to see her again; not with the dangers present.

"No, I can say it is a rare occurrence." She smiled as he said this, she seemed to smile so much and it gave him a good feeling inside.

"It's strange to come back after all this, you've changed so much, you seem so much… stronger." She rolled the last word in her mouth, like it had an unexpected taste.

"A lot has changed, and I see time has changed you as well." He paused and they stopped at the edge of one of the still pools; "You've grown into quite a different woman than the one I knew." She had become such a powerful young woman in the time he had been busy and she had been gone. He felt an attraction to her, to the magnificence her figure was in the dress but mostly to the connection she was to the simple happiness he had once had as a child. He felt shamed to betray Jin like this, and yet it felt right, for surely he could be friends with a beautiful woman without the treacherous feeling.

"Ah-hem." A slight cough came from behind him and Zuko turned expecting to be ushered back to the party. One of his aides stood with a platter and two tall goblets on it each filled with what appeared to be wine.

"Drinks?" He approached and offered the cups to them. Zuko was shocked but wasn't about to return to the boring party, they wouldn't miss him too much. He took the cup as did Ty Lee and thanked the man who hurried off. He took a draw from his drink, it was a rich bitter wine, but strong. He relished the taste and held it in his mouth for a second before swallowing it.

They walked for a while and Ty Lee had almost finished her drink, the powerful drought was playing with her normally perfect sense of balance, she wondered if this was what normal felt like all the time, the thought made her giggle.

The stood having almost circled the compound together and he turned to the sound of her muffled laughter, "What is it?" His face was flushed and Ty Lee saw that the wine had affected him as well. Limply in his hand he held the goblet which was now empty of contents.

She looked at him and absentmindedly asked him, "Do you think this dress looks good?" she had little idea of what she looked like and her fuddled mind raced hard to remember what her reflection had been like in the mirror at the tailors chamber.

"Oh coarse, you looked fantastic, a big change from the sweats and shirt you normally wear." She could tell he tried hard to maintain his regal stature but his words had the drunken edge to them. She decided not to point out the back-handed compliment, passing it off as an ill-thought word.

"That's good, I never was one to try to impress you… or anyone I mean." She said, thinking hard, the wine was now hitting her full force, forcing her to focus hard; she stopped, feeling a little dizzy.

She watched Zuko go another two steps before stopping to see why she had stopped; he must have seen her sway a bit because he came back and placed his hands on her shoulders steadying her.

"Are you okay?" He asked seeming concerned.

"Oh yes, just need a moment." His hands were warm and the physical connection gave her a view of the worried aura he projected. He came into sharp focus, his handsome features arced with a smile, probably at her silliness. She felt a powerful drive come over her and she leaned towards him planting a heated kiss on his lips, she closed her eyes and brought her arms around him, his hand moved to her back and he leaned into it.

***

Took long enough to finish, but there we go, Ty Luko! (I know I have one "fan" who's wanted this) next chapter is going to have… oh I don't know, I don't plan ahead like that, but it will happen at some point. Also I don't know if I should have sex scenes or just glaze over them with a flash forward, what do you think? Also I have noticed that the courtyard is apparently the place to take first dates. Works for Zuko.