A carriage jerked to a stop at the front gate of the large estate that was home to the wealthiest family in Gaoling.
A man peaked out the window before turning to his wife. "Your father left you this? This particular house?"
"Unfortunately," Toph said sourly despite the slight gleam in her unseeing eyes. She was brought up to have only the finest after all. "I have and forever will refer to this place as Kaso for prison. I always felt trapped in there. Come on, sitting doesn't do much for my bum."
Her husband who happened to be named Jenzin hopped out of the carriage, giving Toph his hand to help her climb down. After directing a servant who met them at the gate to bring their belongings inside the couple took a tour of the grounds. Well, Jenzin did, Toph only accompanied him. She already knew Kaso like the back of her hand, or perhaps like the ground under her feet.
She hadn't been back to her childhood home since Jenzin's and hers wedding ceremony. But it had been nearly fifteen years and the death of her father revealed that he had left everything, everything to her. Toph was surprised by the contents of her father's will, but she supposed it wasn't unexpected.
She felt Jenzin's hand brush against hers as they walked through the gardens, she grabbed hold of it. Despite their reluctant marriage they had grown to depend on each other. They were each other's best friend and sometimes—sometimes!—Toph would admit that she loved him. He was the same if not even more reluctant. When they had first met, everything to him was all about convenience. She had somehow managed to soften his aristocratic heart.
"I hope this doesn't offend you," Jenzin said after many "ohs" and "ahs" of the beautiful gardens around him. "Because I mean it in the most joking and . . . light-hearted way possible: I'm really glad your father died."
Toph "stared" passively in his general direction before patting his arm consolably. "You better not say that in front of my mother. She doesn't 'joke'."
"I'm not dumb, Toph," he said scornfully with a roll of his eyes.
She gave him an innocent smile before leading him to the entrance of the estate. Her personal Kaso.
"Toph?" Jenzin asked after awhile.
"Hm?"
"Thank you," he said. "I didn't think you would ever want to come back to this place but then you started telling the servants to pack our things and well . . . I've always wanted to live here. So yeah, thank you."
Toph snorted. "I'm not doing this for you Doofus," she said using her nickname for him.
"Oh," he said trying to push past the awkward. "then who or what are you doing this for . . . exactly?"
"Me," she said happily. "I plan on turning the Bei Fong Kaso into my own personaly dojo."
Jenzin thought for a moment before his lips fit into a smile. "I like it," he said, bringing her hand up to his lips in some-what-of-a-mock show of affection. "I will help you," he declared.
"I know," she said beaming.
And then Lady Bei Fong glided towards them.
Let the fun begin.