The Prince's Choice (Zutara)

XVII

"Another ball? Yuck! They're trying to kill me, spirits, they really are..."

Toph was not happy about the ball and told anyone who would listen. The annoucement came the day after her first night as the Red Spirit. Katara couldn't say she was thrilled about a ball either, but it was what it was. The difference this time, which Zhi made abundantly clear, was that while the first ball was in the contestants' honor, this one was a ball for which they'd only be attending. They'd likely still be interviewed and asked questions, but it wasn't about them entirely. This would be worse, most girls decided, since the group of guests would be larger and people like the Fire Lord - who made even Katara uneasy - and Azula - who just loved to see how she could manipulate Zuko's contestants - would be in attendance. Only Ty Lee seemed excited to see Azula.

"Oh, Mai! We haven't had a chance to see Zula in forever!" she squealed. "I have so much to tell her. Being a contestant here is really messing with our time together," she pouted. Even Mai didn't seem half as excited as Ty Lee, and this was with Katara assuming that she could tell when Mai was even excited. She'd been studying the girl for a while now and thought that she might have gotten it down; a quarter quirk of a smile meant she was ecstatic, Katara decided.

They had a week before the ball, so dance classes started up again. This time, Katara was called by Zhi specifically, and told she needed work on her feet movements. This wasn't news to Katara, though she hated the special attention. Luckily, there were a handful of other girls just as miserable as her, including Kilee, who also needed extra dance lessons.

"Why does it even matter?" Maiha questioned, another who was asked for specific lessons. "We all danced at the last ball and no one seemed to care if I stepped on a few toes."

Zhi's face puckered like she'd sucked on a lemon. "Because, Lady Maiha, that ball was in celebration of you. At this ball, you are merely guests for a larger matter," she reminded again, "It will be a moment to show that you deserve to stay here, and a good Fire Lady must know how to dance!"

At least she was getting a good sweat from it, Katara decided. With her nightly adventures with Zuko, she decided she very much needed to get fit again, specifically in her arms, so she could hoist herself onto houses with ease like Zuko. She even considered asking Ty Lee, the gymnastic queen, to give her some pointers, but then thought against it. She couldn't stand the idea of Ty Lee bugging for reasons for asking why.

Zhi had set up times for each girl to dance with her individually, so she could locate the problem and mend it. Katara's problems seemed to be, well, everything. They'd been at it for about an hour and Katara was exhausted, sweaty, and overall quite close to losing her temper. It also didn't help that Toph was lounging in a chair, watching them with her feet. She hadn't said anything, but Katara could hear her in the background, loudly munching on a pile of spicy soy sticks and snickering. Katara was about to blast Zhi and Toph right out of this very room. She'd decided she was all together done with dancing as a whole, screw whatever Ozai had to say about it!

"How many times have I said, it's the left foot, Katara!" Zhi snapped at her when she mis-stepped once again, "Spirits, If I have to-"

"Perhaps now would be a good time for a water break." Toph spoke up for the first time. It was actually a good suggestion. Zhi seemed to calm down, realizing that both of them were tired and getting nowhere fast.

"Yes, quite right, Miss Bei Fong. I'll gather us some tea," Zhi said, seemingly needing a breather just as much as Katara.

"Wow, Sugar Queen, I didn't know you were this miserable at dancing. Not a single step right, my gosh-"

"Toph," Katara snapped with a harsher tone than she had thought she'd be using, "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Oh, lemme check my calendar," Toph said with a straight face, staring right back at Katara. "Nope," she replied with a shrug after a moment without looking away.