Zuko glances at her, then nudges her with an arm. "I give you permission to laugh." He says, with a small smile. But his attention soon finds its way back to the people. "I thought I was going to marry Mai. She's rather scary about it." He says, softly. "But she left. And my advisors, and possibly uncle came up with this crazy plan. And dragged you into it."

That's the part that bothers Zuko the most: they'd dragged in a friend. That friend had seen him at his worst and his best and is still his friend.

Honestly, he's more than a little lost. Oh, the politics make sense to him. Even the manuevering makes sense to him. What doesn't make sense is why now, so soon after the war has ended, so soon after he's been made Fire Lord?