Hi, thank you for reading. This is part 13 in the on-going story. By this point it would really help if you have read the parts beforethis one, as a lot has happened.
One other thing, there is an image if the dress Toph is wearing on my profile page. It is under the where do we go from here section, the link next to Toph's silver dress. It's the last link in that part. Hope you like it.
It had been about half a year since Katara and Zuko were married. There were rumours from the fire nation that the new fire lord and lady were expecting their first child. Sokka and Suki now had two healthy and very noisy sons, Haki and Suten. Toph and Aang were still in the same place they were half a year ago. Aang was travelling or training to be a better avatar, no one knew which or where he was most of the time. Toph was still at her father's house. She had made the mistake of staying to long now she was trapped.
As the sun started to set, and the chill in the air grew stronger, she sat by the pound in the estates large garden. Over the past week she had been thinking about what her next step was going to be. Her father had been inviting men of noble birth for dinner, with the intention of marring her off to one of them. Another one was coming tonight. She was going to have to get out soon and force a happy look to her face.
All of her life Toph had expected that she would get married. It was just a matter of when, not if for her. She knew that she would have no choice in who she would be married to, the very best she could hope for was that she would at least like her husband. She had been resigned to this fate her whole life, that was until she meet Aang. He gave her freedom, and she thought she would always have it. Then he left again, and she ended up back in the gilded cage.
Lifting her arm to pull a strand of hair behind her ear, she became aware of the weight on her wrist. She wasn't sure why she still wore the bracelet Lord Toro had given her. She didn't love him, and it did not mean that they were engaged. There was just a slight comfort from wearing it. It made her feel less alone. Like there was at least one person that not wouldn't leave her, or try and control her.
Her hand moved up again. This time to hold the other piece of jewellery she wore that gave her comfort. The pendent of the necklace she always wore, would if it had been made of any softer metal have had the engraving wore off of it by no, with her unconscious action of holding onto it. It had belonged to her birth mother. When she needed comfort, she would hold onto it, it made her feel close to her mother. It was the closest she could ever be to her, she had never met her. Her mother had died giving birth to her. Her hand only touched her cold skin, the necklace wasn't there. She reached out around her, running her hand over the grass to see if it was nearby. It wasn't.
Toph got to her feet, almost tripping over the train of her dress as she did. She knew that if she remained calm and focused then she would be able to pick up on where it was, but she was to frantic for that. It was the most precious thing she owned. All she could think about was what if she never found it, if it was lost forever. She started to run back the way she had come, but stopped half way. Finally starting to calm down a little. Though her mind and heart where both still racing. This wasn't going to do any good, and she was not going to get down on her hands and knees and crawl all around the garden. It was at this moment more than any other in her life up till this point, that she hated being blind the most.
The anger and frustration started to build up more, causing her eyes to water with the threat of tears. Which she would not let fall. If she didn't calm down then she was very likely going to cause an earthquake. Her breathing became more controlled as she calmed down. The strong breeze she only now started to notice helped too.
After a few seconds she was calm and ready to start a proper search, when she felt a very familiar vibration appear a few feet behind her.
"I think you dropped this."
Her heart that had been racing, now almost stopped, as the well know voice rang through her head. It took what felt like an eternity for her to turn round to face him. Her hands clenched shut by her sides, were shacking with the tension of how hard she clenching them. A single tear from the water that had built up in her useless eyes, slid down her check.
As Toph turned to face him, and he was able to look at her properly and fully for the first time in almost a year. He once again had the strange, strong feeling that she couldn't possibly be real. There was just something so unnatural about her, over worldly. She looked like if another strong breeze hit her, she would be blown away. Let there was a look in her eyes, even though they were welling up, that said she would not be pushed around by anyone or anything.
Her feet moved on their own, before she had time to think. Before her mind stared to take in all that was happening, because her mind would never, given the chance have told then to run towards him.
Once she reached him she through her arms around his neck, with so much force she almost pushed him over. As he returned the hug, wrapping his arms as tightly around her waist. He lifted lifted off the ground.