A/N: Hello, here. You may remember me from such books as: The Southern Earth Kingdom And How To Avoid It, and The Complete History of Lumin: From Village to Vice. And of course, some small portion of you know me as the author of Scorched Earth, my OC Avatar story and one which I would greatly appreciate your input on, though in my opinion, the first ten chapters are the best and the rest are slowly being revised.

Anyway, to keep my readers happy while that's going on and to keep me from going crazy while working on my original novel, I've decided to begin posting a series of one-shots, whatever I feel like writing about in this excellent universe. Of course, feel free to make suggestions and if I like it, I'll write it. About the piece below: It seemed fairly obvious to me that Toph had feelings for Sokka, but he remained serenely oblivious. However, in the grand finale, she seemed perfectly okay with our favorite Water Tribe warrior being together with Suki. Something had to have happened and this is my take on what it was, or at least part of it. Maybe I'll feel inspired to write the other part later.

This is my first time working with the canon characters, so I hope you'll excuse any blatant OOC moments as merely inexperience. These characters are, like real people, very complex, and since I didn't create them, all I can do is guess about what's going on inside their heads. Thank you for reading and as always, enjoy the show.

Tears trickled from sightless green eyes to soak the summer grass, and quiet sobbing went unheard beside the endless crash of waves on white sand. The warm Ember Island night wrapped around the secluded cove, concealing its single occupant and her pain. Toph was angry. Her hands carved furrows in the earth as they clenched into fists and if she hadn't been so afraid of being seen like this, she would probably have sent the whole cliffside crumbling into the sea. She was angry at Suki for having the impudence to be alive-though that thought also made her feel sick with guilt. She was angry at Sokka for being even blinder than she was when it came to women. Most of all she was angry at herself, for in the end, she and only she was to blame for her state of despair. I never said anything. I had all the time in the world and I never told him. And now I'll never be able to.

The next morning, if anyone noticed her eyes were rimmed with red beneath her bangs, they didn't dare to mention it. But they noticed the change in her attitude. The toughness was still there, but now it had jagged edges rather than the enthusiasm and sense of humor that they were used to. After she'd snapped at them for the tenth time, Aang finally asked her what the problem was.

"What's gotten into you?" he asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"No," she answered sullenly, "I'm just in a bad mood today. It's a girl thing."

"That's what you said last week. I can't feel when people are lying like you can, but that seems kind of suspicious to me. Come on, tell me what's wrong. Maybe I can help."

Toph fumed in silence for a moment. Why can't he be like other boys and take the hint? But then he wouldn't be Twinkletoes, would he? So helpful it makes you sick sometimes.

"Really, it's nothing," she said, plastering a smile on her face. "I'm fine. Just...your earthbending needs a lot more work before you face the Fire Lord! If what I saw yesterday was the best you could do, then we're all screwed. So today I expect to see something better."

Aang smiled, seeming relieved.

"I'll try harder," he promised. "I'm just lucky to have a good teacher."

"Good? I'm the greatest teacher, Twinkletoes." But earthbending was far from the things on her mind.

It was that afternoon that things finally came to a head. And naturally, it was Suki that came to talk to her. Thanks the mortally embarrassing incident in the Serpent's Pass, she knew what it was that was eating at the earthbender.

"I think we need to talk," Suki said. "Is there a place around here we can speak privately?"

"Sure," Toph murmured. She had dreaded this moment, but it had to come sooner or later. If I had any guts, I'd be the one calling her out. Even with this she's braver than I am.

She led the Kyoshi Warrior to the same isolated cove that only last night had hidden her shame, then turned to face her. Or, at least, her chest, as she only came up to Suki's shoulders.

"What is there to talk about?" she asked. "You won. He's yours now. Have a blast."

"Were we ever in a contest? Sokka never told me you were interested. And, no offense, but aren't you a little young to be thinking about these kinds of things?"

"That's because he's an idiot in a lot of ways," Toph snapped. "I'll bet you had to give his back teeth a tongue bath before he figured out what you were saying. And I'm only about three years younger than he is. If my parents admitted I exist, I'd have gotten marriage offers by now."

Suki blushed slightly, and by the hesitation before her reply, Toph knew she had hit the mark.

"He has his good points. But that's not what I came here to talk about. We need to be able to work together if we're going to survive the next fight. You need to tell him how you feel. That's the only way there'll ever be any end to this mess, for better or worse."

"Oh, is that all there is to it?" Toph said, her voice full of biting sarcasm. "Why didn't you just say so? Oh, right, because when I get shot down, you'll have an excuse to claim it's over."

"If you won't tell him, I will."

"No!"

"Then do it yourself! I don't much care for the idea of having you always looking over my shoulder and hating it whenever you see us together. And rest assured, this has inspired me to talk to him about whatever other women he may not have told me about. I don't like being left in the dark any more than you."

"Funny, that wasn't how it seemed to me back before Zuko and Katara left," Toph retorted. "I could feel everything going on in that tent." It was a cheap shot and they both knew it.

"If that's all you want out of a relationship, you've got even more issues than I thought. Please talk to him, as a favor to me."

Toph stood up as tall as she could, her shoulders set.

"All right," she said, sounding resolved to some grim task. "I'll do it. But you owe me big time."

"For my peace of mind, trust me, it's worth it. I'd like us to be friends. Do you think, just maybe, we can do that?"

Toph sighed.

"I hope so. But I don't know. I just...I don't know."

The two girls set off towards the house. They walked in silence.