Toph Bei Fong walked with her friends Aang, Sokka, and Katara. She was a little bit homesick (though she would never in her life show it), and was deep in thought as to how worried her poor mother might be when Sokka rudely interrupted.
"Wait. If you never had a friend before you left home, that's a pretty sad line of romance."
"Sokka!" chastised his sister through clenched teeth. "That really isn't your business."
"Hey, Toph, don't feel bad. Katara's only boyfriend was a total jerkwad."
"What? Don't drag me into this! You're the one who's got a crush on Ty Lee! And how dare you insult Jet! He died trying to save your life!"
"See how she knew just who I was talking about?"
"Guys," said Aang, "Can you try to be a little quieter?"
They had to try to sneak past Fire Nation soldiers, so flying on Appa (who had already gone ahead) was rather out of the question. The Water Tribe siblings shot looks at each other but said nothing. Dashing behind barrels of blasting jelly, soldiers' tents, and crates full of who-knows-what, they finally made it past the outpost. Sokka and Katara began their bickering once again as they walked into friendly territory. Aang groaned and rubbed his face.
"And," came Sokka's obnoxious voice, "We all know who Aang likes."
"Uh…"
Suddenly Toph stopped. "Guys, be quiet!" They finally stayed quiet. "Do you hear that?"
"No," said Katara. Momo started chittering away.
"Momo hears it."
Toph took a bending stance that sent the person she heard flying over the trees and into the center of the group. All eyes widened as they saw who it was. Zuko.
"Heh, sorry," said Toph. "Don't feel bad. I earthbent your uncle too."
"That doesn't comfort me one bit." He rubbed his back. His back needed to pop because the earthbending had knocked it out of place a little bit.
"What are you doing here?" asked Katara, not without hostility.
"Sitting, apparently, under threat of all the other nations."
Katara gave a furious and frustrated growl as she turned on Zuko, her finger inches from his face.
"Every time I see you, you just want to hurt us! Every single time! You don't care about what happens to other people as long as you get your way! And you're a traitor!"
"Look, Katar-"
"I don't want to hear it! Back in Ba Sing Se, you didn't care if we were going to get hurt! You lied to me when you told me you'd changed! No, you have changed. You've got the guts to put your own uncle in prison without remorse! But I suppose that runs in your blood like all the other things you've ever done! What is it with you-"
"KATARA!" Zuko shouted, cutting her off. "I'm sick of being told I'm good-for-nothing, and don't even think of interrupting me, peasant-you're going to hear me out for once! My father considers me lower than a piece of dirt, and Azula…well, she's Azula. I never had anyone besides my mother and uncle! You don't know how awful I feel for betraying him in Ba Sing Se! Every night I have nightmares about what might be happening to him right now, so don't you dare tell me I don't have a conscience! I'm not the man that everyone sees me as, believe me. Sometimes…I don't even know who I am. Then I remember the last thing my mother ever told me, to remember who I am, no matter what happens. I'm a prince. That will never change. But I'm no killer."
Katara looked shocked, and Sokka had frozen in mid-whisper to Aang. Zuko's saffron eyes bored into everyone's eyes-Katara and Sokka's sapphire eyes, Aang's cloud-gray ones, and Toph's jade eyes. None of them could look back, except Toph because she was blind anyway.
"And no matter what you think of me, I am not the firebender who killed your mother." His voice was unusually soft, soft and quiet as only a fellow mourner's voice could be. Zuko stood up and started to limp away (for Toph had hurt his ankle as well), but something stopped him. "I don't want to be your enemy. I just want to go home."
"Wait!" said Aang. "I need a firebending teacher, and I think you're supposed to be him!"
Sokka's eyebrows went halfway up his forehead.
"What?"
"Think about it-he's the only one who we've known since the beginning, right?"
"Right," said Katara.
"Ever since I came out of the iceberg, he's been popping up everywhere."
"That's because he was chasing us, Aang."
"Not after the North Pole," said Zuko. "The only time I actively went searching for you after that was when Azula was tracking you. And when I saw the poster for your bison in Ba Sing Se."
They looked at him silently.
"Look, if it weren't for me, he might still be in the hands of the Dai Li! And I didn't hear a word of gratitude."
"Oh," was all Aang managed to get out. "But that only makes it more obvious that he should be my firebending teacher!"
"I'm not even a firebending master, Avatar. How do you expect me to teach you?"
"Katara and Toph weren't masters when they were teaching me."
"You weren't exactly pathetic when I had to fight you in Ba Sing Se."
Zuko paused for a moment. "No one's ever told me that I was a good firebender before. They just told me I had a long way to go to be able to beat my sister."
"Will you be my teacher?"
"You don't understand. I've messed up everything I've ever tried to do, from playing the tsunghi horn to pai sho to firebending. And I'm not exactly a good luck charm." He continued to walk off back toward Ba Sing Se.
"You'd also be a strategically good person to have with us," added Toph. "What? He knows the Fire Nation better than any of us!"
"I also can't go back there unless I have the Avatar as my prisoner."
"Duh," said Sokka. "He can pretend you're his prisoner, Aang, and that way we get to the Fire Lord's palace with an escort, and he gets to go home.
"Everybody wins!" said Katara.
"I don't win," said Toph.
"Well, most of us win."
"I'll come."
"Yay," said Sokka semi-sarcastically. "We got Zuko to come with us…!"
It was nighttime, and Toph had been intrigued by Zuko's personality. Iroh was right, she thought, we are a lot alike. But we're also a lot different. I wonder what he looks like.
She walked over to his sleeping form, and ever so gently touched his face. His skin was definitely that of a member of the royal family in exile-softness was just below the firm, dirt-laden surface. He jerked awake and threw Toph a few feet. He was on his feet in seconds, instantly awake.
"Just what do you think you're doing?"
"I'm blind! I can't see people's faces, and I want to know what you look like. It's the only way I know how!"
"Thanks for asking."
"Were you even asleep?"
"Yes. Now leave me alone so I can go back to sleep."
Toph walked back over to her bed, vowing never to let her infatuation humiliate herself again.
Zuko, please help me!
Where are you, Uncle?
In the mouth of the dragon…
That doesn't help! I need to find you!
I have to have your help!
I can't find you, Uncle! I need a light! It's too dark!
The blue dragon devoured your mother, and soon she will take me!
(tears poured down Zuko's face) I don't know how to help you!
Find your destiny, my nephew; only then can you save your mother and I…
(the Blue Spirit mask floats in front of Zuko. He reaches out to take it and puts it on his own face)
Zuko sat upright as the dream he had stayed fixed in his mind, unlike most dreams. He was sweating slightly. He was the first one awake, for the sun had not yet risen. Aang stirred slightly.
"Aang," Zuko said.
"Mm?"
"I'll be back. I have to get something from town."
"Mm…"
And off he went.
Toph woke up from a pleasant dream about playing in beach sand. She could feel that Zuko was not in his bed area, and that she was the only one awake. The ground was warm, as though the dirt had been warmed for a few hours by the sun. She wondered which direction that Zuko had taken off in, because she was going to follow, but then she felt his footsteps returning. He was still quite a ways away, but he was getting closer. She felt relieved for some reason. Why was she feeling protective of Zuko? She barely knew him.
Zuko saw that Toph was staring right at him. No, she's blind. She can't see you. But the others can,he thought, and made sure that the mask was still hidden. Not that he'd paid for it or anything, but he had it now. As soon as he'd held it again, he felt like a piece of him that was missing had been returned. It fulfilled a hole in his heart and mind that was beginning to ache. The Blue Spirit was more than a disguise for him. It was a part of who he was.
"You're hiding something," Toph said, startling Zuko.
She's blind! How in the world can she know that?
"What makes you say that?"
"Your heartbeat is going faster than it was earlier. I can tell when people are lying or hiding something because I can feel their body rhythms change."
"I'm not going to tell you."
"I didn't ask you to. But it's okay. I had a secret life from my parents for four years as the Blind Bandit."
"Why did you tell them?"
"I didn't exactly. Aang was in trouble so I kicked Xin Fu's butt. And other people's, too."
"Only four people know who my other self is. Uncle, Aang, Zhao and I. Zhao's dead, Uncle's in prison, and Aang's a fugitive. I look on wanted posters and I see myself twice. People who know my other self don't end up the best they could have been."
"Zuko…can I feel your face?"
"What? Uh…" he looked around a bit. He'd only let Katara do so once, and that was with a promise to heal his scar. Should he let Toph? "I don't know. I'm not exactly proud of my scar." What is it with these Earth Kingdom girls liking me? What the heck makes me so attractive to them? Is it because I have royal blood? But Jin and Song didn't know that.
"Oh, okay."
"I…"
"Yes?" Toph's heart was in her mouth, hoping that maybe he'd say-
"…sure. But don't tell anyone. And know that I'm not comfortable with it."
She ran her fingers over his face again, noting that same texture of gentleness hidden behind a tough exterior, feeling the straightness of his nose and the flawless shape of his mouth, and even his luxuriously rich hair. Then she found his scar. The skin was hardened, inflexible, and almost leathery. His lack of an eyebrow and eyelashes made a particularly strong impression as the mangled folds of his flesh ran beneath her fingertips. She reached to his ear, which also was scarred and distorted, and managed to pull her mind away from the terror that still lived inside the wound. His jaw was what she thought would be perfect, and the muscles in his neck were strong and proud. The skin still had that feel to it-strong and determined, but with a softer inside than he let on. She felt his collarbone, but he tensed up and pulled away so she had to stop. He entranced her utterly, more than anything had ever done before.
"I…think you have pretty eyes," said Zuko awkwardly. "They're really pretty. In a strange sort of ghostly way." Keep your mouth shut, Zuko; you're bound to make everything come out wrong.
Neither of them knew it, but all the others had watched the exchange lying still so that neither Toph nor Zuko would notice.
For days afterward, no one mentioned the touch, but there were comments flying about Toph's crush (mostly from Sokka). Toph blushed and Zuko often rudely interrupted by explaining firebending basics to Aang.
"Firebending is the opposite of earthbending in one key factor. Earthbending emphasizes muscle, but the power of firebending is in the breath, not the muscles. That's how some of the least muscular people are powerful firebenders. They don't need muscle. But you need to keep your breath steady and constant. In through the mouth, out through the nose. You know you're doing it wrong if you lose a lot of energy. When you start panting for air, you're doing it incorrectly. I know it's ironic coming from me, but if you don't stay focused, you're going to lose. That's true for everything."
Aang listened eagerly, but Katara still considered him a traitor, and she had a talk with Toph about it.
"Toph, I know you see Zuko as a very intriguing person, but I think you ought to remember that he's done quite a few things to hurt us in the past. I know that some people are very attractive but they don't always have the most valiant hearts."
"Like Jet?"
Katara's eyebrow twitched. "Yes, like Jet."
Just then, every member of the group felt something sharp poke their neck and they blacked out.
Zuko woke up and looked around. No Aang, no Katara, and no Sokka. Even Appa and Momo were missing. The oddness of the situation struck Zuko-they took the Avatar, a wanted criminal with a huge bounty, but not himself who had an equally big bounty. And Toph was there still, too. Why in the world would they leave two of them behind?
"Look!" shouted Toph. "A note! I can't read it."
"Oh, right. 'Not just the Avatar we have in our hands, but also the firebender known throughout the lands. Come to the place where the moon meets the sun, or by the morning foul deeds will be done.' Does that mean they've got Uncle, too?"
"Did they have to rhyme?"
"Where the moon meets the sun…is that a shrine of some sort?"
"Or perhaps it's a history thing. Did the spirit of the sun ever come in physical form?"
"That doesn't make sense anyway. The spirit of the moon is at the North Pole, and we can't get there by morning."
"Maybe it's a secret organization of people who called themselves the moon and sun?"
"Or somewhere that the Fire Nation and Water Tribe met centuries ago? But that's wrong, too! Grr!"
"Is there a landmark named after the moon or the sun?"
"This is your nation, not mine."
"I know about Half-moon Bay over by Ba Sing Se."
"Again with the rhyming?"
"Sorry. But it can't be there because that's too far away. And you'd better decide because I always pick the wrong way. Always, without fail."
"I don't know where I'm going!"
"I will not give up if it gives me a chance to save my uncle! I refuse to give up."
"That's nice."
"This is all my fault! If I hadn't gone with Azula in Ba Sing Se-"
"You wouldn't be here to rescue Aang."
Zuko sat down and buried his face in his hands. "I don't know what to do. I never do. I can't think of anywhere they might be! I don't know the Earth Kingdom!"
"I've been stuck in Gaoling all my life. I don't know where to go any more than you do."
"Moon meets the sun…come on, Zuko, think! Where does the moon meet the sun?"
"The horizon?"
"Yeah, good luck with that."
"We could go to town to ask."
They went into town, to the mapmaker's hut, and asked if there were any landmarks that resembled the moon or sun anywhere nearby.
"Well, there's Cresent Rock."
"Where's that?" Zuko had long decided not to talk because it usually got him evil looks from the townspeople, so Toph had decided to be the spokesperson.
"About seven miles northeast of here. It's not hard to miss."
Zuko and Toph left without even thanking the man.
"Is that it?"
"I don't know, it's too far away for me to feel."
There was a fire burning brightly on the hill leading up to the rock, and Zuko could make out four figures. "There they are!" Zuko took off running at top speed, leaving Toph in the dust.
The full moon shone within the crescent of the rock as Zuko approached quietly. He heard the people chanting: "Shi e hi, shi e mizu, shi e kuki!" It sounded like one of the ancient languages his uncle had tried to teach him, but the only thing he knew was shi, which meant death. Suddenly he heard a rumbling noise, and turned to see Toph approaching on a giant earth-wave. So much for stealth.
"Toph!" came Aang's happy voice.
Zuko jumped up onto the stone table and spoke.
"Alright. What do you want?"
"A hunt. Dinner. Your friends."
"What?" screamed Katara, who then promptly panicked.
"I want to eat dinner, not become it!"
"Sokka, you're going to bring this whole bar down! Then we'll fall into the fire."
"Sorry, Aang."
Zuko jumped into the air and kicked the strange man in the face. Toph earthbent a group of five people off the cliff, and then Zuko kicked the wooden bar that all his friends were hanging by off the rocks and cut the ropes so that the four people would be cut loose of their bonds to help fight. Then they all ran.
"Wait!" shouted Aang. "Appa!"
Zuko bounded off to where Appa and Momo were being held. He took one slice with his swords to free them preceeded by a simultaneous firebending kicking/punching jump to attack the guards and knock them out. They were all free now and running for their lives.
Several miles later, they all fell to the ground from running so far without stopping. Zuko finally got a chance to hug Iroh.
"I was so worried, Uncle. I was afraid I'd never see you again."
"Me too, Zuko. Me too."
"Uncle, what did you mean by 'you must find your destiny before you can save your mother and I'?"
"What are you talking about?"
"My dream."
"Zuko, I did not get into your dreams."
"But the Blue Dragon-I mean Azula, was she involved in this?"
"Yes, actually, she was. She sold me to those cannibals."
"I hope Mom-I hope she-I mean-"
"I know what you mean, my nephew. I have the same hope you do."
Toph came over to Zuko.
"We worked great as a team, Zuko."
"Not really."
"You're both leaders," said Iroh. "It's no surprise things can clash between you. But for now, focus on the bond you share rather than the rift keeping you apart."
Zuko looked into Toph's jade eyes, Toph grabbed his hand, and the group set off toward their next adventure.