My first fic in English, hope you will like it.
Summary: Traveling through desert, Toph meets a stone with legendary poem of lost explorer, Lin Biao. She decides to leave something.
Even without touching it, Toph could sense small, gentle characters on red, lonely rock. She knew it's color, even if she didn't see. Sokka once told her that sandstone is usually red or orange in this part of Si Wong desert, and earthsense showed shape and facture.
In upper ring of Ba Sing Se sweet persimmon blossoms,
behind the wall is only earth dry and cracked by sun,
on the desert bones of old travelers lie whitened,
long, long is way to Ba Sing Se from bones and sand.
She rose her eyebrow. It was a poem, poem in the middle of the most deadly desert ever.
She rose hand and touched stone gently. Under fingers she felt inner structure of it, not so strong as it should be, more loose like sand itself. She moved palm to study characters once more. They were much deeper curved into stone than she thought before, but shape was the same.
Now Toph was certain.
She knew this poem. She learnt it during long hours in Bei Fong library with her grumpy teacher, miss Wei. She read it for her, saying it's work of Lin Biao.
He was explorer believing in chance of finding Wan Shi Tong's library. He went to desert completely unprepared, without enough water and food, without assistance of professional sandbenders.
He got lost.
After a few weeks searching expedition find this poem on lonely sandstone. Someone decided that it was curved by hand of Lin Biao in his last moments, only because boy got lost in this part of a desert and had talent for poetry.
For Toph's teacher it was so romantic and sad story.
For Toph, it was stupid to waste a little energy left to curve in stone sentimental, homesick poem, rather than spend it on finding some water and food. Yet it was a symbol and people loved symbols, even if they were placed on rocks in the middle of desert, where no-one was supposed to find them.
She closed he eyes. There was only darkness behind her eyelids, but it still helped her to concentrate, to feel countless layers of earth and sand under her feet. White bones of animals and people vibrated among sand grains, little lizard somewhere near moved in it's lair.
Earth wasn't dead, it sang.
In Ba Sing Se earth wasn't dead either, but it still vibrated by wheels and thousands of feet. Toph cannot say it's structure, if it was solid or loose, if it was full of small animals or just sleeping seeds and roots. There were no blossoming persimmons, just walls and doors.
Toph felt trapped and lonely there like Lin Biao on this desert. She felt in home, like he in Ba Sing Se. Something miss Wei would never understand, something even her own parents would never understand.
She placed hand on red rock, then turned and left it behind. She still was able to feel small, elegant characters:
In upper ring of Ba Sing Se sweet persimmon blossoms,
behind the wall is only earth dry and cracked by sun,
on the desert bones of old travelers lie whitened,
long, long is way to Ba Sing Se from bones and sand.
Under it there strong, certain hand added two:
But I buried my heart in the hot sand,
let it lie, let it dry, let it turn into dust.
Toph Bei Fong (not dying)
She smiled to herself. It was a symbol. Maybe someone will find it and bring to her home. At least there will be no need to think, which unfortunate soul curved it by own hands.
Note: Once I read in wanderful fic "Of all time" about Toph's parents, that their entire world is upper ring of Ba Sing Se. In this second I thought "Gash, it's true." For Earth Kingdom nobles their villas and closed homes are everything, they spend time watching blossoming flowers. But Toph cannot see flowers, she feels only wall. For nobles world behind wall is dangerous, for Toph it's freedom. Because of that she doesn't mind sand or dead bones.