It had been a long time since I was in Ba Sing Se. The last time I was here was for the celebration of the end of the hundred year war with the fire nation. I could remember it. The whole city was decorated with the yellows and the oranges of the air nomads to honor Aang's nation. There were so many parties, so much food and wine, and so much attention. I had never received that much attention before, not that I'm complaining, I enjoyed all the festivities. Though the glory of it all is over and done with. After a year of traveling around together making sure that everything after the war was going well, we split up. Aang and Katara went back to the Southern Air Temple to restore it, Zuko went home to the Fire Nation to claim his throne, Toph went on her own to explore the world, and that left me alone to do whatever I pleased. To keep myself from starving, I became a bounty hunter. It wasn't the job I saw myself doing, but hell it payed well. That was the reason why I was in Ba Sing Se. I was looking for an outlaw with a bounty on his head. He called him self the Renegade Dragon. He was known in Ba Sing Se for many things. Making counter fit currency, and conning people out of their money not matter what level they lived in. Those are the two things that I was after him for.
Ba Sing Se had changed a lot since I was here, and for the better. The people here no longer seemed afraid of everyone around them. They no longer seemed to be wearing fake emotions. They were more aware of the world outside their city's walls. I walked through the streets of the lower ring. Food stalls lined the sides of the streets. Tantalizing smells filled the air and my nose. When I was younger, I was always hungry, and food was my favorite thing. Now, not so much. I rarely had time to think about it, but my stomach was telling me it was empty, so I had to stop and get something. I decided to duct into a small tavern. I would rather sit and eat, than walk and try to avoid running into all those people. Also I was carving something to drink. I sat down at the bar. The place was small but it had a nice homey feeling to it. It was packed with people.
"What can I do you for?" The bartender asked me. She was a tan heavy set woman in her forties. She was wiping a terra-cotta cup with a green towel.
"A shot of honey whiskey and whatever noodle soup you have." I said.
"Sure thing." She answered and went off to get my order. She was back in less than ten minutes, with both my drink and my food. She set a bowl of steaming noodles on the counter and set the shot glass next to it.
"Haven't seen you here before." She said picking up another cup and cleaning it. I downed the whiskey the sweet liquid slightly warming the back of my throat.
"I'm new here, just traveling around." I wasn't about to tell her that I was a bounty hunter. Some people don't react well to that information.
"You just passing through or you settling down?" She asked.
"Just passing through really." I blew on my soup, steaming drifted from the surface like fat white clouds. Another person sat down on the stool next to me. I could see them out of the corner of my eye. They were wearing a circular green hat of the Earth Kingdom soldiers. They had a small frame defined by lithe muscle. They wore a loose green shirt and pants with a large brown belt. Their knuckles were bandaged up.
"Shot of pepper whiskey." They said. Pepper whiskey wasn't a light drink. It had both the burn from regular whisky and the burn from the dragon peppers. It was pretty spicy.
"Pepper whisky's a pretty spicy drink." I said.
"So. I can handle spicy." They said. Their voice sounded strangely familiar.
"Just saying." I answered back.
"Trust me, I can handle a lot of things." They downed the whiskey and asked for another shot. "You're new. Just blew into town?"
"Yeah." I answered. I finished off the last of my soup and placed the tab on the counter. The stranger downed the second shot, left the tab and left. That's when I noticed that they weren't wearing any shoes.
"It couldn't be." I thought. I had to take a second look. I bolted from my spot and headed outside. I saw the green hat and chased after it. Trying to catch up with them and avoid running someone over.
"Wait!" I called, hoping they would stop. They did. I caught up with them.
"Yeah, you need something?" The asked. I noticed that they didn't look directly at me, and I could tell why they had such a small frame, it was because it belonged to a female.
"Uh...you never told me your name." I stuttered a bit.
"Who wants to know?" She bit back.
"Well, Sokka would like to know." I said.
"Sokka? Sokka!" She squealed and flung her arms around me. Actually she flung her whole body at me. I almost fell because of it. The hat she was wearing slipped off and hung by a silk ribbon that slinked around her neck.
"I didn't even recognize you. You've changed so much." Her eyes didn't completely meet mine. They never had.
"You've changed as well, Toph." I said. "Come on let's get out of the road and find a place to talk."
"We can go back to my place." She offered. I gladly accepted.
It turned out that after Toph left the group she returned home to try to settle things with her parents. They still didn't understand her, so she left again. She ended up in Ba Sing Se and opened up her own Earthbending school, which was quite successful. So successful that she owned a house in the upper ring.
"That's pretty impressive, but I wouldn't expect any less from the greatest earthbender in the world." I said. I saw a slight blush creep up on her pale cheeks.
"So what have you been doing all this time?" I really didn't want to tell, but she would know if I was lying to her.
"I'm a bounty hunter." I said timidly.
"That must be exciting. Chasing down bad guys and getting paid for it." She slapped on the back, showing me that she approved.
"Ow. Toph you don't have to hit so hard." I said.
"Sorry. Don't know my own strength." She said as she opened the door to her large house. It looked like the house we stayed in when we lost Appa, but then again all the houses looked the same. The inside was furnished with the colors of the Earth Kingdom, deep greens and soft yellows.
"You staying anywhere?" She asked setting her hat on a side table.
"I was gonna try to get a room at an inn." I answered.
"You could stay here, it's free and a lot better than some old inn." She offered. I couldn't say no to her.
"Thank you." I said.
"No problem. It'll give us some time to catch up." Toph flopped down on a pile of large green pillows, stretching out her creamy limbs.
I couldn't help but notice how different she looked. She had grown quite a lot, she was still short about five four, but she had a more curvier figure than I remembered. Then again the last time I saw her she was still on the verge of puberty and that was seven years ago.
"So, what's it like to be a bounty hunter?" Her voice broke my train of thought, I was glad for that. I didn't know what kind of things I would be thinking of.
"It can be pretty dangerous at times." I said as I sat down next to her. She flipped over on her side and propped her head up with her hand. "I have to go to all sorts of places just to catch these people. And some of the them are the worst of the worst. The really bad ones are worth the most money." As I was talking, I noticed that Toph was extremely interested.
"I miss that life style. Just going wherever you want, not having any rules. To be free." She sighed.
Toph's job and school kept her stuck in Ba Sing Se. I knew she was happiest out on the road traveling.
"You don't like your job?" I asked.
"No, no. I love being a teacher. It's just that, I miss traveling with the gang, facing danger, kicking major ass." I couldn't help but laugh. Toph was never lady like. That was her charm. She could hold her own with some of the toughest men that I knew.
We sat there until night fall just talking. I've never talked with her that much before. It was nice to catch up, but it was also very nice to see her. I serious thought that I would never see her again. I never realized how much I missed the cloudy jade eyes of hers. They were eerie and beautiful at the same time. I could stare into those misty pools all day long.