It had been only a few days after Aang's horrifying injury underneath Ba Sing Se. The Avatar still had not awakened from his deep sleep after that brief moment as the group left the former capital city of the Earth Kingdom. The night flight from Ba Sing Se to Chameleon Bay seemed to last forever, none of them were able to rest easy as they fled. They were only just beginning to win, things were looking up - how could this happen? Three Fire Nation girls had manipulated the secret police of the capital to coup against the military and the King, and with the help of an exiled prince turned tea shop employee they had succeeded.
For the first time in a long time, Toph Bei Fong felt unsure. How could she not be? Aang was in a death-like slumber, alive but not waking. Ever since they regrouped Katara had never left his side for a moment. During their flight to the Bay she held the young air bender like he was the most fragile creature to ever live, and if she held him too tight or let him go entirely he would simply fall even deeper into his slumber and be lost to them forever. His brief awakening after she used her Oasis water gave the water bender hope, and she clung to it fiercely.
The young earth bender simply sat above the air bison's shoulders, staring blankly into his fur as she held on with a grip so tight her knuckles became as pale as the air bender not two feet away from her. She started at the unexpected touch on her shoulder, she didn't turn towards the owner of the hand squeezing her small shoulder gently. Sokka didn't say a word, there was no need for it. He let the girl, who could see nothing but darkness tonight, know that she was not alone. She didn't show it but this simple action make her heartbeat rise briefly before calming. She chose to ignore the skip her heartbeat took at his touch, instead mulling over what it was that must have been going through the Water Tribe boy's mind. He was aware Suki wasn't in the capital, she may have been held captive or even worse, the ruthless Azula could have killed her in cold blood. Toph could tell through his hand his heartbeat was steady, if he was worried he did not let it rule him.
She couldn't tell why but this small fact brought back some of her confidence that everything would be alright. If that dunderhead could be confident, even though he had no bending, then there was no reason why she couldn't be.
She let the smallest graces of a smile appear on her lips as she loosened her grip on the soft fur beneath her. She felt the urge to reach up a hand and set it on top of the boy's, but decided against it. She decided to substitute it by straightening her back as her characteristic slight frown came back, showing the boy next to her that she would be fine. She couldn't see what his face showed, but the hand on her shoulder remained there unwavering.
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Ever since they had arrived at Chameleon Bay things had somewhat returned to the way they were before. Shelter was nice, and it gave the group hope and a sense of safety. Aang would not awake, but they had to keep forging ahead even if he was asleep. The group allowed themselves to relax, Sokka soon went back to his joking manner. Not long after they had arrived Katara had Aang moved onto her father's ship, and it was there she spent most of her time. The few times she appeared she was not herself, distracted and frustrated. On this beach Toph could not see as well as she could normally, but even that was obvious to her. Sokka worried about his sister but would soon afterwards be reassured by the Water Tribe leader Hakoda.
Hakoda was not what Toph had expected. Then again she wasn't sure what to expect out of the father of Katara and Sokka. But it had turned out he was very much like his son, or was it the other way around? He was easy going but serious and a good leader when he needed to be, it was obvious that Sokka idolized his father. When Sokka had introduced his father to the earth bender he seemed surprised by her blindness but attempted to not show it, he was polite and impressed by some of the stories Sokka told him about her - most of which Toph had to correct at one point or another. Hakoda simply laughed and told her he was glad his son had someone so capable to look after him. Sokka seemed embarrassed at such a statement, but Toph only smirked and agreed. Yes, Sokka was lucky that he had her to keep him in line. When he started to object she merely earth bended him onto his back. Hakoda burst into a loud laughter and helped his son up.
Toph decided that Hakoda was a good guy. Smarter than his son too.
With Katara with Aang it was very much like it was before Azula's coup. Katara and Aang off by themselves splashing in some puddle which left either Toph by herself or with Sokka. Usually lately she could be found with the older boy, joking and talking about one thing or another. As the group's 'protector' Sokka had apparently felt the need to hang around Toph more after he remembered - very vaguely- her trouble getting around in the desert. She could see somewhat better here on the beach, where the sand was packed together more than in the vast desert. But she didn't tell Sokka, even though she wasn't sure why. She enjoyed his company, and he enjoyed her's. Even if she did tell him that she was perfectly fine on her own without him, Sokka would probably just make up some excuse to hang around anyway.
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Only two days had passed since they had first arrived and Toph was already starting to feel anxious to get moving. The Fire Nation were obviously aware of the Water Tribe presence in Chameleon Bay. It was naturally decided they had to leave, there was no point in staying where they could be surrounded by the Fire Nation. For the moment they would stay put, it would take some time for the Fire Nation to reorganize after capturing the capital of the Earth Kingdom. Troops would have to be moved to new stations and that bought the Water Tribe more time.
Apparently Toph was the only one in her group that wanted to move as soon as possible. She didn't know where they could go, but knew they couldn't stay. Sokka assured her they would only be here a week at most, and remained relaxed. The Earth King remained calm and spent more of his time conversing with the Water Tribe warriors and with his pet bear. That bear still weirded her out a little, at least she wasn't alone in that.
No one was sure what Katara thought on the matter, the times she wasn't with Aang's unconscious form she didn't say much and everyone thought it best to avoid the subject. If she had something to voice on the matter, she probably would have suggested something. Naturally the Avatar was relaxing and probably off somewhere doing his Avatar thing and leaving everyone else out of the loop. Yeah, just like old times. Maybe if he had earth bended as much as he splashed around in puddles with Katara he would have been able to take a lightning bolt or two. Typical Twinkle Toes.
Worst of all, she couldn't go earth bending. She enjoyed having her own time away from the group, just herself and the earth all around her. She could get some peace of mind and clear her head. It was as much a part of her as breathing, maybe even more than that. She liked to think sometimes that she was born blind just so she could truly be the best earth bender in the world. She wouldn't be distracted by what things looked like and used earth bending as her sight, in her opinion it was superior to normal sight. Who needed it? She could see more through the ground than they could ever see in the sky.
But no, couldn't do that. At least not all out throw-a-boulder-into-a-wall-she-made earth bending. During the first day after a good laugh with Sokka she informed him that she was going to go practice on her earth bending. Snoozles however had different plans, he reached out and gently grabbed her arm asking her to wait. Her heartbeat skipped again like the night before, and again she tried her hardest to ignore it. Harder to ignore was the tingling sensation of her skin underneath the warmth of his bare flesh meeting hers.
She quickly choked out a gruff "What?" to him and worked her smile into a frown, which twitched slightly as he brought his hand away from her. He could hear him shift his weight in the sand, trying to find a more solid stance in the chance that she would try to shove him back. She kept the smirk that wanted to come to her face down, even if his feet were rooted in the ground she could still push him over. He cleared his throat and explained that with the situation at hand, it probably wasn't the best idea to go around causing noise with her earth bending.
After a long and heated 'debate' Toph decided to take it easy on him and agreed with his request, she wouldn't perform any heavy earth bending. Sokka let out a breath and thanked her sincerely and turned to walk away, only to get hit in the back of the head with a pebble.
So here she sat, alone on a beach with a bunch of thick-skulled warriors. They were easy to get along with though, more like Sokka than Katara. Toph just hoped that the siblings didn't make her come to the South Pole with them, she doubted she could handle a whole tribe full of Sugar Queens. Sokka was in main tent with several Water Tribe warriors probably going over what exactly they should do, where they should go, reports on Fire Navy ships, boring stuff like that.
She sighed quietly when she admitted to herself, she was bored out of her mind. She was always more for action than words and it was seeming there was no action to be found lately. She had tried to convince some of the Water Tribe warriors to spar with her a little, but judging from the hazy outline of Sokka behind her she saw that he was making gestures to them to not do it. So she kicked a line of sand into his chest and knock him over. After that the warriors came up with their own excuses to not have any sparing matches with her. Sometimes being the greatest Earth Bender in the World had it's downsides… Not many though.
She pulled her knees up to her chest and moved her right hand into the sand beside her, letting the grains fall between her coarse fingers. She noted with a frown that time was a lot easier to pass with that knucklehead around. She did enjoy being around him though, they had fun. That was probably why time seemed to go by quicker and before she knew it it was time to go earth bend herself a tent for the night.
In fact, it seemed when she wasn't around him her mind strayed to him frequently. When that thought occurred to her she stopped feeling the sand with her hands, instead wrapping them around her knees and hunching over as her slight smile turned into a frown again. Why would she be thinking about him so much? And why did her heartbeat speed up or skip a beat sometimes when around him or if he did something?
There was no way she had a crush on him, that was just not possible. He was Sokka and she was Toph Bei Fong, the Blind Bandit. The idea itself was crazy, the greatest earth bender the world had ever seen, crushing on some warrior from the Southern Water Tribe? No way. He had Suki anyway, even if they had no idea where she was or even if she was alright.
But this wasn't the first time she had noticed this sort of thing. She had first noticed it around the time she started training Aang in earth bending, but managed to forget about it for a time while they were in the desert and Sokka was busy acting crazy from his cactus juice. She still wondered from time to time what that cactus tasted like. But after they escaped the desert and things settled down a bit it all came back to her, making her confused with the events around her. She was distracted and off in her own thoughts. Why did she start feeling different when Suki showed up? She didn't remember most of the trip through the Serpent's Pass until she had to save Sokka's life. The fact that he didn't show gratitude for the fact only annoyed her more than it normally would have.
Then there was that Serpent, and the kiss she had meant for Sokka when she thought he had decided to pay enough attention to her and came to save her himself. She didn't know why she wanted to kiss him, it was just what her instincts where telling her to do. Too bad her instincts only got her embarrassed when it turned out it wasn't Sokka, but Suki herself who came to get her.
After that Toph decided to hang away from Sokka and Suki for the rest of the trip. The embarrassment and frustration from the trip so far was getting to her. She noticed the entire time Sokka did nothing but fret over Suki. Was she jealous? She didn't want to think so. What did she have to be jealous of? If Sokka had fretted over her like that he'd be just like her parents and would get a rock to the head for it. So the confusion she had just came back.
Toph still wasn't sure about what all that meant. She was starting to feel frustrated again. Ever since the Pass she tried to forget about that incident, and succeeded for the most part. They were always busy after that, except for those long periods in Ba Sing Se where there was nothing to do. Naturally she was cooped up with Sokka during these times, while Katara and Aang where off looking for any trace of Appa. That didn't help much. Though because of that effect the two got to hang out more, and gradually grew into the accepted fact that the team would be split up into twos on occasions. Katara and Aang together as always and that left Toph and Sokka.
That was one of the reasons she appreciated having something to do lately, Toph realized. Having something to do meant she had less time to think about Sokka and the insane possibility that she might have feelings for him beyond simple friendship. Unfortunately now was one of those times where there wasn't a lot to do. She had no idea where Momo and Appa were, so that distraction was gone.
She wished Twinkle Toes would get off his butt and wake up, he would at least be a good distraction. He still needed to learn more on his Earth bending. She would go see how he was but ever since they arrived Katara insisted that he be allowed his rest and that he shouldn't be disturbed, and Toph was smart enough to know now wouldn't be a good time to cause her to explode. It seemed no matter what Katara wouldn't leave his side for more than a few minutes. She wouldn't envy Aang whenever he wakes up, it's obvious Sugar Queen will do nothing but making sure he doesn't overexert himself.
Then again Aang probably wouldn't mind the attention, she had no idea how it wasn't obvious to the Water Tribe siblings that Aang had feelings for the water bender. While they were blind to it Toph saw it as clear as day. It was obvious from the way Aang's voice lifted when he spoke to her, or the way his heartbeat sped up when she was near to him. It seemed just being around her made him happy, she was always the one that could cheer him up or calm him down no matter the situation. She couldn't help but wonder how the Water Siblings never noticed it, they didn't have the insight that their father had showed. Then again Toph was willing to bet Hakoda might have been as dense as his children were at their age.
Then Toph's blind eyes widened slightly as she realized something. She wasn't that much different than Aang. He was always paired up with Katara and she with Sokka. Aang's heart sped up when he was around Katara, and not in the way where a person was lying. Her heartbeat sped up around Sokka sometimes and she didn't realize why. Could that really mean she had a crush on Sokka, like Aang did on Katara?
That still seemed crazy and impossible to her. No way was she like Twinkle Toes, not like that. But it made sense, all the points connected. The earth bender sighed deeply to herself and let her head fall forward to land on her crossed forearms. She knew it was true no matter how much she didn't want to admit it. Both of them liked one of the siblings. It was almost funny to her how that ended up. It was obvious to her how Aang felt about Katara, and now it seemed ridiculously simple to her the clues there had been that she had refused to recognize.
The kiss at the Pass that was meant for him, so many small moments that she herself couldn't bother remembering them all. There was also the flight back to Ba Sing Se when she had met up with Sokka and Aang who were riding on Appa. The entire time when she was on top of the bison she clung fiercely to Sokka's arm and he let her, through that connection to his arm she could tell his heartbeat was steady. He seemed calm and content, and she felt that way herself for the first time in a while. Just a simple quiet happiness that she could feel warming her body despite the cool air that rushed past them on Appa's back. Those were all markers that seemed to her as large as a mountain, but apparently she was the only one who had noticed this so far. Sokka was oblivious, Katara could be just as bad and Aang probably never paid much mind to their interactions.
So the main question left to the earth bender now was, What now? She wasn't sure where to go with the knowledge she now had. Right now there was nothing to do, there was no way she would tell Sokka with everything going on now. Maybe later when everything calmed down, or maybe just whenever her instincts told her to do so. She just hoped that next time her instincts wouldn't get her embarrassed again. Toph groaned and rubbed her temple, she was tired of all this thinking and wanted to do something more than before.
She could hear the approach of feet to her right, coming from the camp and recognized them as Sokka. She fingered the cloth on her knees for a moment, unsure of how to act around him now that she realized she did actually have feelings for him. She frowned and got up when Sokka neared, popping the bones in her hands and back.
"So, did you decide anything in that tent or just blow more hot air?" She didn't bother to turn towards him, she could feel the sun's rays beating down on them more as the air around them cooled. The sun must be beginning to set.
Sokka shrugged uselessly before remembering the motion meant nothing to Toph. "Apparently there are some Fire Nation ships approaching from the east. We have another day to decide on what we're going to do." Like always lately he was calm and relaxed, she assumed that this was because he was happy he could sit back and watch his dad in action this time rather than proving himself again.
"Finally! All this waiting is getting on my nerves." Sokka just laughed and agreed. They started walking back to camp where Toph could smell what was apparently dinner for the camp tonight. The conversation was easy between them like it always was, no matter what they always found something to talk about.
Toph let herself smile a little bit, knowing Sokka wasn't looking and so wouldn't ask about it. When the time was right he'd find out, but until then they all had their own parts to do in this war and until then she was just content with the two staying as friends. Even if Sokka couldn't bend.
Her smile grew into a grin and she slugged Sokka in his shoulder. The response was a sharp "Ow!" from the warrior and all he got out of the earth bender beside him was a mirthful laugh. Yeah, things were just fine they way they were for now.
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A/N: Thanks for reading! As always feedback keeps me alive and encourages me to write more. Please tell me what you think. Also a huge thank you to Ruth a.k.a Meowmadness who beta'd this for me and gave me the confidence to put this out there because I knew at least one person would read it and like it!