Toph sometimes cannot sleep. Most of the time, if she could, she would venture into the village they were staying near to, and this was no exception. She walks out of Zuko's Ember Island beach house and strolls through the nearby town for a while, and hears a woman singing and strumming her instrument. There isn't anyone gathering around her, clearly too interested in something else to pay attention to a singing girl. Toph stops and listens, and she feels the lyrics strike a little too close to home…
Drew looks at me
I fake a smile so he won't see
What I want and I need
And everything that we should be
Toph smiles at Sokka brightly when he gives her a concerned glance. She feels her heart break as he dismisses her smile as the truth and continues telling her about a funny story about Suki.
I'll bet she's beautiful
That girl he talks about
And she's got everything
That I have to live without
Toph grits her teeth as Sokka, for the sixteenth time that day, starts rambling about Suki. "Suki's the best. She's kind and sweet without being a pushover! She's awesome!"
Toph rolls her eyes, masking her sadness. "I know, Snoozles. You've told me this SIXTEEN TIMES TODAY!" she yells, her tone of pure annoyance. Sokka shrugs. "Sorry, but she is!" And Toph screams in frustration to the sky, stamps her foot so hard that she sends a gash measuring two miles in each direction in the ground (though that might have been her Earthbending) and leaves angrily. Sokka never sees her cry; but she cries her heart out during her bath in the river.
Drew talks to me
I laugh 'cause it's so damn funny
I can't even see
Anyone when he's with me
Sokka is a funny guy, everyone knows that. Apart from his sarcastic comments and jokes so bad it was actually kind of funny, he is also an unwilling slapstick comedian and master prankster. Toph laughs so hard she falls off the rock she had been sitting on when Sokka accidentally falls, face-first, in a huge pile of dung, courtesy of Appa.
He says he's so in love
He's finally got it right
I wonder if he knows
He's all I think about at night
Toph listens, once again, as Sokka proclaims his love for Suki over and over until Zuko threatens to burn him. She sits and remains so silent that everyone begins to think she turned mute as well as blind, but she still refuses to tell anyone what was wrong, especially Sokka himself.
Toph smiles sadly as she constructs the perfect romantic story of a rude, brash princess locked in an ivory tower and her knight who wielded a meteorite sword in her earth tent, while the others are sleeping. And then she cries, just as she does every night, because she knows in her heart that her fairy-tale ending will never come. The princess in the ivory tower is pushed aside in favor of a much prettier, more perfect princess.
He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star
He's the song in the car I keep singing
Don't know why I do
The Aang Gang lay on their backs and watch the meteor shower. "Wow," Katara breathes. "This is amazing!" Aang is quick to agree, and Toph feels them grasp each other's hand and their heartbeats speed up. "Make a wish, guys!" Sokka yells enthusiastically.
They all make wishes.
Aang and Katara's heartbeats race, and Toph smiles for them, knowing that they have wished to be together.
Sokka's wish is unknown to her, but she knows it had something to do with either Suki or his father.
Zuko's wish is silent, but Toph has a hunch that he has wished for his Mai.
Toph herself wishes, with all her might, that one day, somehow, Sokka would look away from Suki and look at Toph instead.
Drew walks by me
Can he tell that I can't breathe?
And there he goes, so perfectly
The kind of flawless I wish I could be
Sokka brushes Toph's shoulder by accident as he walks past her. Her breath hitches, but thankfully he doesn't notice, because he trips over a stone and falls with a loud yelp. She laughs to hide her mistake, and knows that despite his imperfections, he is still perfect in the sense that his heart was always in the right place.
She better hold him tight
Give him all her love
Look in those beautiful eyes
And know she's lucky 'cause
Suki was one lucky, lucky girl. She had everything: good looks, good fighting skills, good cooking. But most importantly, she had Sokka.
Toph has one thing to say to her. "You better not break his heart, Little Miss Kyoshi Warrior. Because I swear, I will replicate that emotional pain you caused him in a physical sense."
She doesn't mention that if Sokka's heart breaks, Toph's heart will shatter into a million tiny pieces to see him suffer.
It is at this point that Toph cannot take it anymore. She just listens to the song, just listens and feels, and she doesn't relate it to her own experiences because it hurts far too much.
He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star
He's the song in the car I keep singing
Don't know why I do
So I drive home alone
As I turn out the light
I'll put his picture down
And maybe get some sleep tonight
'Cause he's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only one who's got enough of me to break my heart
He's the song in the car I keep singing
Don't know why I do
He's the time taken up but there's never enough
And he's all that I need to fall into
Drew looks at me
I fake a smile so he won't see
The song ends, and Toph realizes that she is crying. She quickly wipes away the tears and hands the singer two gold bars, part of what she had conned out of those conning scumbags.
The singer nods. "Thank you, little lady. Most generous of you." The woman knows not to pry, even though she sees the tear streaks on Toph's face. "Hope you have better luck with your man than me," she calls after the small girl. The girl doesn't appear to notice, but her demeanor screams one thing.
'Yeah, right.'