Burning Metal - Chapter 1
She was walking nervously towards the palace, unsure of that she'd say once she got inside – that is, if she could even get in. But she didn't have much time to think about it, because after one knock on the door, it opened. Firelord Zuko stood in the archway; he looked confused for a second, then he smiled and muttered, "Um…hi." Zuko didn't know who this girl was, or why she was at the door; but her figured he was about to find out because he barely had time to finish the word "hi" before she opened her mouth to explain. "My name's Tosha. Uh…I'm here to, um, see Toph?" Zuko looked at her for a minute, puzzled as to why she worded the sentence so uneasily, but soon stepped aside and gestured her in. "Oh, okay. Well, I see you're dressed like an Earthbender, right?" Tosha nodded, so he continued: "Soo…are you a friend of hers, or a relative maybe?"
However, Tosha didn't have time to answer, because the two of them were already on the courtyard where Toph was practicing her Bending. She stopped suddenly at the sound of their arriving footsteps. Without even turning around she said, "Hey Zuko…who's that with you? I don't recognize her." Tosha froze – she knew that she was in trouble now. They'd probably have her locked up in some Fire Nation prison or something. Both Toph and Zuko turned to face her; after a minute, Tosha decided that she'd better explain if she ever wanted to see the light of day again. "M-my name's Tosha…" she stuttered, "I'm from a, a tribe of E-earth and Metalbenders in, um, well f-from the West, and –"
"Hold on, did you say Metalbenders!?" Toph interrupted. Tosha looked very nervous now, and it took all of Zuko's willpower to keep from laughing. ""Um, well yeah, we –" "You mean there's an actual tribe that practices Metalbending?" Zuko rolled his eyes. "Toph, can you stop interrupting the poor girl? She's trying to explain." Toph grunted and crossed her arms in frustration as she uttered, "Fine, go ahead…" Tosha looked uneasily, but graciously, at Zuko before continuing: "Well, uh, my tribe is the only one that Metalbends, see, a-and um, you are mentioned a lot by our elders, like stories from, uh, other tribes and st-stuff, so I traveled here by myself to, um…ask you some questions."
As she finished, Tosha stared at her feet while Toph's mouth fell open in shock. Zuko, who seemed apathetic about the whole thing from the get-go, just shrugged and walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Tosha asked in a panicked voice, "He isn't going to get palace guards to throw me in prison or something, is he?" Toph noticed Tosha's stutter was gone since Zuko left. And although she was still a little stunned, she laughed at her tone. "No! Don't be so paranoid; he's got no reason to arrest you. Now what did you want to ask me?" Tosha sighed. She figured she'd get the answers that she was here for and trek back home, although the journey was not something to look forward to. "Is it true that you, um, invented Metalbending?" she asked. "Yep." was all Toph gave her in return. Tosha took a deep breath and asked her other question: "Is it also true that you can see through your bending?" This time, the answer was a little unexpected – "DUH, can't you?" Tosha could feel her face turning red. "Um, no, not exactly…Okay, I have to go now!"
She turned to get away from the palace as quickly as possible so as to avoid any more humiliation, but Tosha was stopped in her tracks by a giant rock, which she guessed was the work of Toph. "Hey, wait!" came the voice behind her. "Where are you going? Surely you didn't travel halfway around the world on your own to ask me twoquestions." "Oh, but I did." Tosha stated. Even though it was partially a lie, she figured it would work. But somehow Toph saw right through her. "Tell the truth!" she demanded. Even more mortified than before, Tosha turned to face her. "Well…I was actually wondering if you could, um, okay my people say you're a hero, right? So I thought that if I could gain a little speck of your wisdom or even just speak to you, my tribe would respect me. And I always love to learn, so there's that, and I'm fast at it too, usually –"
Toph smirked and interrupted her again. "So you wanted me to teach you…what, exactly?" Tosha looked at the ground "…to see though my bending." Although Toph could barely hear her muttered words, she understood and smiled. "Why didn't you just say so? Of course I will!" she exclaimed. Tosha looked up, startled, but didn't have a chance to say anything. "But it will take a while, and LOTS of hard work." Tosha nodded vigorously with excitement, all the while thanking Toph repeatedly. Toph smirked once again and said "So go pack your stuff, if you've got any, because you'll have to move into the palace." She then strolled away as casually as ever, leaving Tosha in the courtyard with her eyes as wide as they could be.