I do not own any of the characters or the world in which they reside.
This is for Taang week, 2011. Out of order, but I will be working towards getting them all in here. Enjoy!
Toph had given up on figuring out what the little airhead was up to the past few days. Even when she had asked him why they were traveling at random, to places they had never been before, where there were no cities or people for miles around, where even the spirits had left the terrain uncharted and untouched, the only answer she got was, "It's a surprise." Toph was getting very upset at the lack of a reason. After ten years of traveling the world with Twinkle Toes she had gotten used to never staying in one spot for very long, but the last few days had gotten ridiculous.
Just as she expected, five minutes after landing Appa in the present canyon, Aang was back on his head and yelling "yip, yip." The surprise couldn't be worth this much tedium. Nothing was worth this much tedium.
"That's it! You have some explaining to do, monk boy! Every year, for the past three years, Katara agrees to watch after the little guys for one week. Normally, that's the best week of the year! It's our vacation from parenting! It's our time to relax on the beach or in Omashu or anywhere in the world! Why are you wasting that whole week on these five minute stops this time, airhead? We must have stopped a hundred times just for you to walk around aimlessly for two minutes and then continue on to the next stop. I demand answers!"
"One more place! Just let me stop in one more place, then I'll be done, and you can have your surprise. I know you'll like it. I swear! Just, one more stop."
Aang then reached into his bag in Appa's saddle, where his wife couldn't "see" what he was doing, and retrieved a small sphere of metal and earth. He passed his hand over it briefly, then placed it back where it came from. As he was heading back to Appa's head to grab the reins, Toph reached for the bag.
"No!" Aang hurriedly grabbed the bag that contained his precious sphere, and kept it from the diminutive earthbender. "Please, just trust me. One more stop, and it'll all be worth it."
The flight to what was promised to be their last stop took hours. By the time they arrived on the small, uninhabited island, just south of the Fire Nation capital, Toph had fallen asleep in the saddle on Appa's back.
Aang pulled out the sphere and hopped off Appa's head, down to the sand below. After a few minutes he jumped right back up, to take a seat next to his wife, careful not to wake her. Again he passed his hand over the surface of the metal and earth ball, briefly adjusting the surface with earthbending, then looking it over to appreciate his work.
Toph slowly began to stir. "Alright, Twinkles." She yawned and stretched before sitting up. "What's the surprise?"
"Well, Toph, I wanted to give you something that could truly show how much you mean to me, but when I thought about it I realized how many problems there is with that. I mean, first, I don't own anything to give except for my love, and my self, and you already have that. Then there's the fact that nothing I could offer would truly be enough to compensate for all you've given me. You taught me first how to earthbend, then how to face all life's problems head on. You've given me our two children, and I could never get close to…" Toph's arms were crossed over her chest. Her foot tapped impatiently. "Well, I would love to give you the world, and this is as close as I can come to doing that."
Aang handed Toph the sphere. It was a perfect, miniature map of the entire world, all of it to scale. The metal portion covered the surface wherever the oceans, and rivers and lakes resided, and the rock was shaped perfectly to replicate every valley and hill across every nation. Toph could even feel a few miniscule pieces of earth raised up on the island they must currently be sitting on to represent Appa, Aang and herself.
Toph looked over at Aang without expression. She said, in a tone completely unreadable, "This is what you've been doing for the past week?"
"Umm… yeah." Aang scratched the back of his neck nervously, hoping he didn't mess up and waste a week's worth of vacation.
Toph smiled. "This is amazing. The craftsmanship is uncanny, it's perfect, to the smallest detail! Aang, this is the most beautiful thing anybody's ever made for me. And it kinda proves that I taught you well. But…" Toph said the last word pointedly, and let it hang for much longer period of time than needed.
"….. but?"
"That little speech you gave was the most heinous pool of sap I have ever heard, Twinkles. Really? You'd love to give me the world if you could? That was terrible." Toph smirked. "Now come here so I can kiss you for it."