The Blind Eye
Avatar: The Last Airbender One-Shot
A young girl scrambled through the village, her hip length unruly charcoal tumbles bouncing about erratically as her six year old figure darted around every corner skilfully. Suddenly, a cluster of sneering figures blocked her path causing her to skid to an abrupt stop, her bare feet scraping over the rough paving.
"What do you want?" She snarled, crossing her arms over her flat torso that was coated in rather masculine jade and pale cream yellow robes.
"I don't think you are in a position to speak to us like that." The tallest boy scowled, stalking nearer to the girl so that his elevated shadow loomed over her, "Walking around bare foot really does make you look like a filthy peasant."
"Right, because I really care what you think about the way I look." She retorted with a scoff, rolling her clouded over eyes, "In fact, I think I'm going to go home right now and style myself up like the morons that flock after you."
"Watch it, Bei Fong." Another boy growled as their leader simply chuckled darkly.
"What is she going to do to us? Look at her. She's pathetic." He sneered before smirking, waving his hand in front of her face that had twisted into a sarcastic expression, "How does my hand look to you?"
"Oh wow... You are so very witty." She muttered sarcastically as his companions chuckled, amused by her blindness, assuming her to be unaware of the hand that waved frantically in front of her face.
Suddenly, her hand clasped onto the boy's wrist tightly, her lips moving into a smirk as her clouded over eyes remained defocused, staring off into the horizon. The gathering of young males gawked in disbelief as the leader struggled to free himself from her bizarrely strong grip.
"Aw, sorry, is the little blind girl hurting you?" She sneered with a wide grin before releasing him, slamming the heel of her left foot into the ground.
A wave of rock shot out from the flooring, forcing the boy back powerfully before retracting under her control. She cracked her knuckles threateningly, taking a defensive stance as his comrades whispered in bewilderment.
"Now, I have a wedding to attend, so you can either move out of my way or end up like your little herder." She gestured towards their collapsed leader before strolling passed the males, watching them carefully with seismic sense. "Goodbye boys."
Toph Bei Fong growled in irritation as a chocolate haired waterbender busied herself about her, her crystal sapphire orbs glittering with delight despite her comrade's fury.
"Oh, Toph, don't scowl. You are going to look beautiful." She beamed as the shorter female rolled her eyes, slapping away the bronze-skinned optimist's hands.
"Get off, Katara." She hissed darkly, "I really don't care how I look, I can't even see myself... And I am not wearing a dress."
Katara rolled her pale azure eyes before nodding obediently despite her companion's blindness. After more struggling with the livid earthbender, Katara grinned with delight, clapping her dainty hands together joyfully. A loose-fitting, pale beige, silk top clung to Toph's slender torso, the sleeves that extended to her fingertips vibrant emerald in colour, resembling a dress sense she had maintained as a youth. An equally ill-fitting pair of jade coloured trousers clung to her legs, falling over her petite feet that were otherwise bare. Katara attempted to comb a stray tangle of raven out of Toph's clouded over pale eyes only to have the blind woman's hand slap her away.
"Stop touching my hair, Katara." She snapped before a goofy grin pulled across her lips widely, "It looks just fine to me."
"Very funny, Toph." The taller girl retorted her curved body dressed in a flowing gown of sapphire blue fabric.
Toph's tumbles of raven that otherwise sliced along the small of her back were tied back into a messy bun, a ruffled fringe sweeping over her porcelain visage. She folded her arms over her chest, rolling her eyes in irritation as Katara squealed with excitement.
"Come on, we had better get this over with." She muttered with a pout.
"You are possibly the most miserable bride I have ever met." The bubbling girl retorted, brushing her dark locks behind her slender shoulders elegantly.
"I do not see why I have to get married." Toph snarled as Katara led her through the winding corridors of the household.
The forest opened up before them as they exited the hovel, striding towards the opening in the lush, moss green coloured woods. There were rock formed chairs dotted about the opening on which various individuals dressed in greens and yellows, the traditional colours of the Earth kingdom sat, the crowd consisting of many old companions of the now adult earthbender.
"You need to get married because he asked," Katara hissed darkly, "And you two live together... And have a child together."
"Just because we have Ara does not mean we have to get married."
"Oh shut up, Toph. I know you want to get married." With that, Katara parted from the girl, taking her place beside her husband, Aang.
The earthbender's old pupil grinned with delight at his master as she stalked towards her partner, four years her junior, his tall figure drenched in pale beige and jade robes. He wore a soft smile upon his honey-skinned features, his button nose dotted in a sprinkling of a light freckles. As she approached him, his shadow towered over her as his dark eyes twinkled with delight.
"Nice of you to show up." He beamed as she grinned mischievously.
"Shut up, Duke." She growled playfully before the elderly man that stood between them cleared his throat, his bizarrely well-built body despite his age wrapped in elegant robes.
"Good afternoon." He chimed in a cheerful voice, his tumbling silver locks tied up in a tight bun whilst his beard was extravagantly cut and his sideburns frighteningly long, framing his square jaw.
"How lovely to see you, Iroh," Toph piped with a sly smirk, "Well... Not see in so many words."
The Duke smiled down at his partner to be in admiration, begging to embrace her petite, playful figure despite her irritation over his displays of affection. The cheerful elderly firebender grinned before calling for the attention of the buzzing crowd, announcing the beginning of the ceremony.
"Fortunately for all of you," Iroh chimed with a hearty laughter, "Toph has asked me to keep this short for fear of her own boredom, let alone yours."
She grinned at the Duke sheepishly as the ceremony began, consisting primarily of Iroh, briefly, stating the sanctity laws of marriage before the vows each partner must take. The Duke happily agreed, a wide, toothy grin spreading across his lips as all eyes turned to the short, blind earthbender.
"Do you, Toph?" Iroh inquired gently as she rolled her eyes.
"Well of course I do, why would I be here if I didn't? Jeez, do you guys think I do this for fun?" She grumbled rolling her clouded eyes as her companion chuckled softly before nodding at the smiling, elderly firebender.
Finally, to Toph's relief and the Duke's amusement, Iroh pronounced them man and wife. Toph smiled coyly before snidely remarking,
"I guess you are the wife then, Duke."
"Of course, how did you know?" He grinned in response, draping his arm around her shoulders affectionately.
She did not shrug off his arm but she kept her senses on it carefully, well aware that her partner often enjoyed pushing her buttons over her hatred of particularly public displays of affection. Suddenly, the patter of miniscule feet over the soft earth electrified through her seismic sense as a smile involuntarily spread across her face although she attempted to hide it beneath her tumbles of fringe.
"Sorry I am late!" Ara chimed, her body crashing into her mother's in a power embrace, "Some brats decided to give me a hard time."
"I trust you showed them a thing or two?" Toph beamed, ruffling her blind child's dark, untidy mop of hair.
"Of course I did, I learnt from the best after all." She retorted, glancing up at her mother, and earthbending master, in admiration.
"It is really great to know that you are supporting violence in our child." The Duke piped, earning himself a punch in the arm from both his newly appointed wife and miniscule daughter.
"Shut up." They growled in unison before grinning widely.
As sunset crept along the horizon the pale blue sky became highlighted with tones of vibrant persimmon and brilliant scarlet, a dark blanket of ebony clawing at the edges of the colour. Everyone sat upon the soft beach, running their toes through the soft sand as the children flocked about one another. Toph leaned into the Duke's body, his arm slung around her shoulders as their daughter inspected the water curiously, pressing her feet into the sand beneath it and attempting to bend the earth beneath the glittering waves.
Eventually, she squeaked with bizarrely delight, her heart racing as she scurried towards her parents, her hand curled into a tight fist around something. She crashed to the ground in front of the couple, digging her bare knees into the sand softly, her trousers rolled up to her thighs.
"Hey mum," She piped, peeling back her fingers gently, "What is this?"
Toph reached out her hand, tracing her fingers along the shell that rested in her daughter's soft palm curiously. It was almond in shape, a clouded over ashen colour yet it glittered beautifully despite its dull appearance. It was hollow yet nothing had ever taken up residence in the bare shell and upon the shell a child had carved in symbols 'The Blind Eye'. Toph smiled at the memory of her activities as a child before returning her attention to her daughter whose nerves sparkled with delightful curiousity.
"These carvings, my little Ara, where made by myself when I was a child," She beamed gently, draping an arm around her daughter's waist, "Do you know what it says? It is just like us... It is the blind eye."