The Surrender and then Something Else

Prologue / To Bear

AND as the handmaidens scurried around the young noblewoman, rearranging her clothes here and there, sweeping back hair or correcting the position of a jeweled pin, Katara asked her one last time, "Are you sure this is what you want, Toph? You don't… you don't have to do this." There was an unsteady tremor in Katara's voice, and the expression in her clear blue eyes revealed the great unease of her mind.

Toph made no move to show that she heard Katara's last question, but they both knew she had. Toph never missed anything. Finally, the handmaidens stopped their frantic scurrying, looking at their lady one more time before deeming that all the preparations were complete; their work was done, and Lady Toph Bei Fong turned around to face Katara. Despite Katara's own displeasure with the whole situation, a smile tugged at the corners of her lip when Toph was in her full view.

Even at five years later, Toph had not grown too much in height, but she definitely did not look a child anymore. Toph's sable black hair was wound up in an ornate fashion that was the work of a few hours, at least. The hairdressers had weaved small, shiny pearls into her hair, and adorned the sides with sparkling ruby and emerald pins. She wore pure white silk robes, and over each sleeve was draped a thick piece of cloth. One was a rich forest green, marked with the House of Bei Fong, the flying boar. The other was a deep blood red, embroidered with the Fire Nation's royal insignia. A deep pride bubbled within Katara to see Toph, Toph who she knew as an overconfident child at twelve to a… well, overconfident woman at seventeen.

"You look beautiful," Katara breathed, and Toph couldn't help returning Katara's reluctant smile. There was no lie in her words, and Toph knew that with certainty. Still, Katara sighed. "Toph… you can still change your mind, even now. I would support you, no matter what," said Katara again, trying to bring reason to her younger friend's mind.

Toph shook her head solemnly.

"Sokka doesn't understand, and to be honest, I don't really, either," Katara confessed. They had had this conversation many times in the past two weeks, but Katara had to go through it at least once more. She loved Toph, as her own sister, and she owed it to her, to make sure Toph knew exactly what she was going to be putting herself through.

"You know how beneficial this will be for Zuko," Toph pointed out with a shrug. "You and Sokka both said that Zuko should form an alliance with a high-ranking citizen from another nation if he ever wanted to get anywhere with reconstruction. You've both said it so many times."

"But that doesn't mean it has to be you!" cried out Katara, voice thick with remorse. "We didn't mean you—we never meant that. It just—it doesn't make any sense!"

"It makes most sense, and deep down, you know it does, too. I'm not just the heiress of the wealthiest family in the Earth Kingdom. I'm Toph Bei Fong, a key player to the end of the war, comrade of the Avatar. The other nations would all trust me, as Fire Lady, to check the Fire Nation, and then Zuko would be able to get some real work done," Toph said tonelessly. It was a speech she had said many times over now.

Katara pursed her lips. Then she sighed.

"I wish Aang were here," Katara said plainly.

Toph's head snapped up at that, and her brows furrowed. "Well," she said dryly. "He's not. And if he were, he'd agree with me. He'd know this is the best thing to do, too."

"He wouldn't want you to forsake your happiness for the greater good. Aang would never have wanted that," Katara objected, but the fight had left her. She wanted so badly for Toph to… it was not that Zuko was a bad man, but there were still old prejudices, and Katara was well aware that Toph's opinion for the prince could not have been that much higher than Sokka's. But Katara knew Toph well enough to know that at this point, nothing would change the young earthbender's mind. Toph was just as her element, stubborn and unyielding once she made up her mind.

"Aang would have understood," Toph said firmly.

She stared at Katara for a long time, until Katara turned away her gaze, her cheeks suffused with color, and Toph let out a breath of air.

"You need to understand, Katara. There's no happiness for me, out there—" Toph motioned the air with a wave of her hands. "I'm not… I'm not going to find the type of love you will have when you marry… or the type… Sokka has… that's not going to happen, for me." Toph looked at Katara meaningfully. "You must know why," she stressed, and Katara knew that the words were painful for Toph to say, and that this was going to be as close as she would ever get to admit how she felt about...

Toph's expression was strained, but she showed no sign of impending weakness, and Katara had to marvel at Toph's strength. "Oh… Toph," Katara said finally, her voice breaking and tears pricking her eyes. Toph would not change her mind, then; that did not change the fact that Katara still loved her as dearly as she could love anyone. "Look at you, you're a bride! You're beautiful, you're so beautiful. Regal, Toph, did you know?"

Toph smiled.

AND that was her last conversation before she walked into the Great Hall, filled with hundreds of guests. Her parents, the Bei Fongs, sat up front as honored guests, and she could sense the hum of pleasure coming from them. Fire nation or no, her match with her to-be-husband was a very good match indeed, more than her parents could have ever asked for from their poor blind daughter. Toph could feel also, another hum of pleasure, but from the other side. Iroh had been so glad when he learned of their engagement, and Toph could not help but to have felt a profound pleasure to have given him such happiness, no matter how little of it she felt herself. There was a slight breeze from the back that drifted towards her feet, and Toph deeply wished that Aang was here watching, and a part of her wondered if he had caught wind of her marriage, wherever he was. A slight pang tugged at her heart, and Toph wondered what Sokka was doing. She decided she was glad he was not there. No matter how strong she was, she wasn't sure how well she could handle having him there. But wherever he was at the moment, Toph was sure he was scowling. He had made his disapproval with the match loud and clear, and unlike Katara, who held the same disapprobation, Sokka's view was ironclad in this case.

Toph walked towards the dais in the center, towards where her future husband was standing. She could not see him through her milky green eyes, but she pictured him in her mind's eye, and saw him standing tall and formal, with an expressionless countenance on his face that matched her own.

She stood next to Zuko and the ceremony began.

Author's Note: Toph is my favorite character in Avatar, and though I think Toph/Sokka is cute, and Toph/Aang would be good for both of them, for some reason, Toph/Zuko really strikes me as a pair that could have character and real fire.