Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any related characters. This was written out of enjoyment of the series, and no profit is being made.
Spoilers: Episode 52 - The Western Air Temple.
Ships: (Romance) Toph/Teo, if you squint.
On Parents
"Hey, Toph. Where did you come from?"
The girl tilts her head slightly, curious. "What do mean, where did I come from?"
Teo thinks, resting his chin in his hand. "I mean, Aang never told me how he found you. Are you an orphan?"
Toph guffawed. "You kidding? I'm practically the exact opposite of an orphan."
"Really?" the boy asks, wanting to hear more.
"Yeah," they wave briefly as Aang whooshes by on his glider, laughing. "I had the cushiest life of luxury you could ever dream of: gourmet meals three times a day, silk sheets, apparently one of the best earthbending teachers money could buy."
"But you gave it up?"
"Sure did. This is my life of luxury now," she gestures out into the open air over the temple's edge. "Teaching Aang is a hell of a lot more fun than anything my parents could've bought me."
"Do you ever miss them?" he asks, quietly.
"Yeah," she kicks a pebble. "Yeah, I do."
They don't say anything for a long time, remembering his father and the rest of the troops, the ones who stayed behind.
"You know, Teo, just because we had this conversation doesn't mean I'm going to go flying with you."
He snaps his fingers in mock frustration. "Curses! Foiled again!"
AN. For a friend, who prompted me with "Absence".