Love Enlightened

Chapter 1:

Toph fingered the necklace, memorizing the feel of the pendent's shape and carvings. A fine chain hung loose from her hand, swinging slightly and glinting the moon off of its gilded surface, but she couldn't see that. All she could do was run her thumb over the design, over and over again. The image of a badgermole backed by a map of the world. He'd spent weeks carving the mold, he said, and months saving up the money for the gold. He said she deserved it. Said he loved her.

The jet-haired woman clamped her teeth down hard against the tears that bit at her eyes. When she opened them, the pale orbs shined as the moon relflected off of the wet. Ohev was a good man, she knew. He was pure-hearted, and he loved her for who she was, not for the porcelain doll her parents thought she was. But something in her heart had kept her from saying yes when he asked, and prompted her to ask him to let her think about it. He'd understood and left her to herself.

She sighed. Why couldn't she get over him? It had been a year since she'd seen him last, and that was just a short visit. Nearly five years ago he'd gone with Aang and Katara, a body guard to the both of them, and no doubt in charge of the maps, as they travelled the world so that Aang could settle disputes left over from the war. Toph chuckled when she thought that he might have also originally gone along to keep an eye on his sister and her loverboy to make sure they didn't do anything to hasty, but they were married now. She closed her eyes and shook her head. She missed them all so much.

Even for a whole year, even when Ohev returned from his nomadic travels and began to court her, she couldn't give up the hope that Sokka would return and she'd be able to tell him how she felt. She'd always thought she'd get the chance eventually. After all, he'd left Suki behind on his travels as well. She'd gone back to Kyoshi to rally the warriors after their ordeals in Fire Nation prison. She was their rock, and as much as she had wanted to go with Sokka or for Sokka to stay with her, it was impossible. Since then they'd only seen eachother for short visits, when Aang's Avatar duties took them near Kyoshi. It had been the same whenever they came near Gaoling. The gang stopped to meet with Toph and catch up.

But they'd been hopping between the Fire Nation and Norther Water Tribe for a year now, trying to tamp down the feelings of hate that the hundred-year war had bred into the people of the world. Toph sighed. She wished she could go with them, but her parents never ceased reminding her that she had duties to her family as well. They'd finally acknowledged that she was a master earthbender and had given her some freedom, but they also insisted that she represent the Bei Fongs wherever she went. So they dragged her to parties and meetings in formal gowns and headdresses and people finally knew about the secret daughter of the Bei Fong family. The blind woman who couldn't even compete in Earth Rumble, because she was too good. There was no competion.

And they never stopped the ceaseless line of suitors come to win her hand in marriage. She swiftly booted many of them with a hard column of earth, and they usually ran. Damn cowards. They were only after her family's wealth.

Only a few people she'd ever known had actually cared for her as a person instead of as an earthbender or the Bei Fong daughter. Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Ohev, mostly. Others knew her and respected her, but these were the ones she truly considered her friends.

So if Ohev was offering her his heart, why couldn't she return it?

Toph closed her eyes as a chilly wind whipped past her small frame and she shivered. She had always hoped that Sokka would realize she loved him and return it, but certainly that was never going to happen. He loved Suki, and Ohev loved her. Why couldn't she just accept it?

She wandered back into her room through the large double doors, the light veil drapes brushing her skin pleasantly as she went inside. She quietly undressed and slid between her sheets before closing her eyes and willing the worries away.

The bison landed with a grunt in the front courtyard of the Bei Fong Estate. Sokka jumped down and stretched. Flying for a long period of time still made him stiff, and his bad leg still bothered him every once in a while. Once his muscles were considerably less cramped, he looked around as Katara and Aang jumped down from Appa's back. The place still looked pretty much the same as it had a year ago. Lady Bei Fong made sure the servants kept it pretty much spotless, and her parents still couldn't understand that Toph would be okay even if they rearranged the landscape. He chuckled to himself. They never did fully understand how she looked at the world, but as she got older they stopped most of their overbearing ways.

As soon as the bison had landed on the earth, Toph's eyes had gone wide and she'd bolted away from the breakfast table at a speed that her mother gasped at, thinking that in her blindness Toph could trip or run into something. She grossly underestimated her seventeen-year-old daughter, for Toph knew the house like the back of her hand, and vibrations ran through the earth and back to her with every step she took, telling her where everything lay ahead of her.

When Sokka's familiar vibration ran through the earth, Toph doubled her speed, winding through the many hallways and doors that made up the vast Bei Fong home. Katara's and Aang's vibrations were noted as well.

When Toph reached the front door, she slowed and stopped for a few seconds, catching her breath and pulling her garments back into their proper places. Her outfit was alot like her Blind Bandit outfit, but had matured with her. It fit her figure much more snuggly than when she was twelve, and moved with her instead of simply covering her. When she had her breath back, she nodded to the doorman, who bowed and pulled open the door. She strode out gracefully with her characteristic smirk on her face, and put her hands on her hips.

"You guys made me think you were never coming back!" She laughed. The trio, who had been pulling things down from Appa's saddle, whirled and beamed at her. They all dropped what they were doing and went to hug their old friend. Aang reached her first and wrapped his arms around his old sifu.

"You're looking great, Toph!" He exclaimed. Katara came up behind and laughed, her blue eyes sparkling. She peeled her husband off her best friend.

"Come on, Aang, let me have a turn or you might make me jealous!" Aang laughed and backed away, and Katara hugged the young woman with the pale green eyes. "It's good to see you again, Toph." She said.

"Wish I could say the same, Sweetness." Toph laughed. Then she turned to him.

Sokka had held back, a little unsure of what he was supposed to do. She grinned at him and laughed. "Why are you just standing there, Meathead? Didn't you miss me?"

His face broke out in a grin and he swiftly stepped up and enveloped her in a brief hug before standing back again, rubbing the back of his neck. Toph's face lit up with a blush that quickly receded before he could notice it.

"Hey, Toph."

"Hey, Sokka." She laughed, "So are we just going to stand out here all day or do you guys want to come inside?"

"Is there food?" Sokka quickly asked as Katara and Aang turned back to get their packs. Toph just laughed.

"You never change, do you?"

He grinned. "Nope!"