Prologue

"My Lord! Please come quickly, the Lady is giving birth right now." A harried looking healer gasped, having not bothered to knock at the study door.

Lao Bei Fong would excuse this indiscretion this time, as now there was not a moment to waste. He stood swiftly; his robes billowed out behind him as he walked briskly down the corridors of his estate. It was not tradition for the man to be present within the birthing room until after the woman had fully given birth to the child, and it had been cleansed of the birth blood and umbilical cord.

Lao could hear his wife's shrieks and screams by the time he rounded the corridor that lead to the birthing room. He could only hope that the child would be okay, and that perhaps his wife would live through the ordeal of giving birth. Poppy's health had never been the most stable, and throughout the years of their marriage they had tried many times to conceive a child. The first three had been miscarriages, and the depression of losing her possible child had only burdened his wife's health even more.

This had been their last time to try and produce an heir to the Bei Fong estate. If Poppy could not give birth this time, Lao was afraid that the noble heritage of the Bei Fong family would finally end.

While he paced, Lord Bei Fong listened with rapt attention for any sound of his newborn son. He watched as healers and doctors rushed in and out of the room. Some carried tubs of water; others carried the grotesque rags that were drenched with his wife's blood. He could hear their urgent tones, although most of their talk was drowned out by his wife's pained screams.

So far it appeared as if the birthing process was not progressing as smoothly as they'd hoped. Still, if the child did not live, then Lao would have no heir. He was too old to produce any more heirs, and he knew that after this it was most likely that his wife would be unable to either. Their marriage would have been for naught, if he had known that Poppy was so unable to produce children, he would not have taken her as his wife…

Quite abruptly, everything was silent.

And then the piercing wail of a newborn infant rang through the air. Lao waited with baited breath as he could hear the doctors and healer conversing in hushed tones, before finally an elderly healer opened the door of the birthing room, her blue eyes solemn.

"Lord Bei Fong, I'm afraid that your wife…" Lao did not wait for the woman to finish her sentence.

"And the child?" he pressed impatiently, despite having just lost his wife of over seventeen years.

"Healthy my Lord." The healer bowed, and pushed the door open further as to allow him access. Lao did not hesitate for a moment before briskly walking into the birthing room. He did not even glance at the blood soaked bed, where his wife lay lifeless. A younger healer held a small bundle, and bowed to Lao as he entered.

"My Lord," she said respectfully, holding out the child.

"Give me my son." Lao instructed carefully, holding out his hands to take the infant. His sharp eyes did not miss the hesitant glances that the healers exchanged.

"Lord Bei Fong, I'm afraid the infant has been born blind. We don't understand why, but there's no way to heal it. And," The young healer hesitated, biting her lip nervously. "It's a girl."

Lao paused for just a moment. Realization crashing on to him as he mulled what the healer had just said over in his mind. All hopes of an heir had been dashed. He was stuck with a wretched daughter—and on top of that the infant had been born blind. No respectful man would ever want to take her as a wife for any amount of dowry, Bei Fong lineage or no. What if her blindness could be passed down to any sons she did birth? No man of title would take that risk.

"Would you like to hold your daughter my Lord?" The elder healer prompted, and the younger healer held the quietly crying child out once more. Lao did not reply, and instead walked to the door.

"That is no child of mine. Raise her here at the estate, so that I may make sure she never embarrasses the Bei Fong name." He said before leaving from the room, his rich robes trailing behind him as he shut the door.

The elderly healer, whose name was Yugoda gasped quietly as she stared at the door that Lord Bei Fong had just disappeared through. She'd always known that he was a cold man, but to this extent… Her attention was quickly drawn back to the child, who was quietly crying again, as if somehow the baby knew that she'd just been rejected by her own father.

"Song, pass me the child." Yugoda instructed sternly, holding her arms out. The child was quiet now, as if seemingly it somehow knew that something had transpired. She took the bundle carefully; her old arms trembled slightly as she thought about the life that lay ahead of this poor child. Yugoda had only handled babies and children through healing; she'd never had any children of her own. Her blue eyes softened as she gazed down at the infant's small face, and tenderly brushed a wisp of black hair from her forehead.

"I will raise her Song, do not worry about that. Just go and start making the preparations for Lady Bei Fong's body." Yugoda instructed after a moment and Song nodded and hurriedly left the room, leaving Yugoda alone with the tiny child. The baby felt warm in her arms, and was now tiredly closing her eyes and slowly drifting off into sleep. Yugoda wandered slowly over to the Lady's body. The birth had just been too much on her already frail body, and she had bled out. It was a miracle that the baby had even survived, but they had managed to get her out in time. She would greatly miss the Lady Bei Fong. Yugoda had known her for many years, and Poppy was a kind and loving person, very unlike her husband, whose only love was for wealth.

"Toph…" That was the name the Poppy Bei Fong had wanted for her daughter. Despite the Lady's name, her favorite flower had been the lotus. And Lady Bei Fong had wanted her child to know that they were supported, and loved. Hence, the Lady had liked the name Toph. And Yugoda knew that Poppy would have loved her daughter with all her heart and soul, had she still been alive.

The Lady had somehow known that it was going to be a girl. And the smile on her features whenever Poppy had been talking about how she was going to love her little girl was enough to light up a room. However Yugoda felt terrible naming the child what the Lady had wished for, because her life would be the exact opposite of her given name.

She would get no love from the only man that was alive and related to her, but Yugoda had never had a child and was willing to love the girl like her own. She would raise Toph as if she was her own daughter, and one day—she would get Toph away from that terrible man that was her father.

A year passed before Lao Bei Fong remarried.

He married a wealthy widowed woman from the Southern Water Tribe, who owned an Inn and several other assets. The Lord Bei Fong knew that he was well passed the conceiving age, and instead married the widowed Hama because not only of her wealth, but also because of her two daughters. He knew that he could potentially marry the girls off for a handsome dowry, and then it which case he would pass the title of the Bei Fong estate on to one of their husbands. It was the best he could do without an apparent heir of his own.

Hama was a seemingly nice woman at first, but her heart was icy and she was a cruel woman who enjoyed tormenting people psychologically.

Yugoda continued to raise Toph as her daughter, and although Lao never so much as took a second glance at her, it only spurred Yugoda to love the child even more.

Sometimes the elderly healer would take to reading aloud to the small child when she was old enough, but Toph never liked the charming fairytales with handsome princes and beautiful princesses. She'd told Yugoda so when she was about four, because Toph said that there was no happily ever after and she didn't believe in true love. And all Yugoda could do was think sadly about how the innocence of Toph's childhood was ruined, because somehow the young child had already realized the reality of her situation.

Toph may have been a child, but Yugoda knew that she was far more perceptive then others could ever guess for her age. She knew that her adoptive daughter could hear the whispers that followed her, and the disdained looks and sly words.

She was a bird in a gilded cage, and as long as Lao willed it—he would never allow Toph to leave the Sanctity of the Bei Fong estate. She would never have her happily ever after.

xxxXxxx

I realize that I made Toph's father seem cold and heartless (which he will be in this story, unfortunately). I do hope I got the names of Toph's parents right, if not I'll fix that later.

This story will center around Toph mostly, however the usual characters will of course be appearing later on! I'm trying to keep the characters as much like themselves as possible, and in case you haven't guessed, the story is set in an Alternate Universe or AU (I just figured out what AU meant, after several years of wondering what the heck it actually stood for, I FINALLY found out heheh!)

Hope you enjoyed the prologue :)