A.N. – This was going to be a chapter of Following Destinies, but it got too long for that. It could conceivably be set in either the Avatar: the Last Airbender or Legend of Korra universe, but since this deals with the characters from the former, it shall be placed there.

This prompt was originally all about Toph and her kids (thanks to J.W. Appel for the request), but I rewound it a bit. I mean, didn't Toph look awfully young to have two teen/preteen kids when Lin and Suyin's past was shown in LoK? I know that canon supposedly said she was born decades after the war was over, but I see Toph having kids early. And thus, this little fic found life.

Roundtable

Conferences in the Fire Nation were the worst.

First, there was the heat. It wasn't a dry, Earth Kingdom heat. No, it was an ocean-fed, cloying, pervasive heat that stuck clothes to skin and made the air near intolerable to breathe. To a girl born in the continent's interior and raised behind literal and figurative walls, these things could only be overcome with repeated exposure. And, unlike the metal alloys that she'd only recently learnt to bend to her will, Toph Beifong was finding very few glimmering specks in this sea of strangeness.

Second was the tension. This was never an issue when the meetings took place in the family-oriented Water Tribes. Even in the Earth Kingdom, things were simple and direct. There was no room left for the subterfuge that seemed second nature in the Fire Nation palace. They'd tried to gather at Ember Island once, as a sort of getaway treat, forgetting the long memories many of the dignitaries held for the traditional vacation destination. They'd accomplished nothing other than getting heat stroke and sunburns along with the perpetually bruised egos.

Third, and insidiously benign, was the food.

"BRAAAAAAAAaaaaaaappppp…"

The delegation seated around the large table turned as one to the source of the dreadfully out-of-place noise interrupting the fragile negotiations. Toph, for her part, made no move to deny what she'd done, though Katara tried discreetly elbowing the bowl of fire flakes away. Those seated around her (incidentally, also those who knew the highest-ranking Earth Kingdom representative present at this particular meeting best) looked abashed enough to make up for the extreme lack of guilt Toph was showing. The rest of the political leaders, flunkies, and aides just looked slightly confused at the antics of the youngest member there.

Sokka, never being the best with tact, was the first to speak.

"So, Toph," and here he petered out, not sure exactly how to phrase what he felt needed to be said. The leaving off of her official title at these talks was a clue that what he had to say was personal in nature, but beyond that, the faces around the table looked anticipatory. Toph felt the increased heartbeats around her and decided that the dangling question was too tempting to leave unanswered. After all, she was never one to let an opportunity to make someone squirm pass her by.

"I was having a belching contest."

Toph sounded not the least little bit concerned about this declaration. The other stuffed shirts and their entourages all were shooting incredulous glances at each other. Down at Toph's end of the table, her friends were stunned silent, unsure how to come to her defense and save the already faltering meeting.

"Um, with who?" That Katara asked this meekly should've clued in anyone in the know to the gravity she was treating this with. The preeminent waterbender at the gathering was not often the quiet one.

"With Lin." Toph was blunt as ever with her response.

"Who?" Gone was Katara's attempt at placidity. Her strangled utterance was a verbal echo of the thought permeating everyone else's brains at that moment.

"My daughter." Toph reclined back in her chair and waited for the explosion.

"Your what?!" Katara did not disappoint.

"Well, Katara, when a man and a woman get together…" She successfully kept the mirth out of her voice but was helpless to corral the quirked eyebrow leveled at her friends. Katara, sputtering, cut Toph off before she could finish her sentence.

"And since when, missy, have you had a child?" The rest of the diplomats had abandoned any pretense of feigned ignorance of the brewing argument and were leaning forward to hear every word.

"I'd guess about three weeks ago. I woke up to a new heartbeat a few mornings ago and traced it to its obvious source."

Katara's bluster had faded away at Toph's pronouncement. Tears leaked out of her eyes unbidden, and a wide smile spread across the still anger-stained cheeks. Forgoing any sense of propriety (as if the previous verbal spar had left any doubt), she rose and nuzzled the smaller woman into a hug.

Sokka and Suki had twin looks of awe on their faces. Unnoticed, she leaned down to whisper, "Guess this means we won't be the first, after all." Sokka looked from his wife-to-be, to Toph, and Katara, and for the life of him couldn't fathom the direction the past hour had taken.

Zuko, resolute in his perch at the head of the table, finally made his voice heard as he rose to address the rest.

"So, who is the father, Lady Beifong?"

Ever playing his role, even when the rest had abandoned theirs in the extraordinary circumstances, he made his query sound like business as usual. Toph was having none of that. Extracting herself from the well-meaning but smothering clutches of Katara, she smoothed her humidity-ravaged dress and turned to the Fire Lord.

"Why, I don't believe that item was on this meeting's ledger. I must refrain from discussing such topics when more pressing matters demand our collective attention."

The seamless transition from irreverent demi-adult to polished orator was not lost on the group. Quickly comporting themselves, seats were pushed back in and papers rustled about importantly. Zuko sat back down, chastised but smiling. So she didn't want to tell. That alone told him more than he thought he'd get. Now, to get this meeting back on track…

"Toph, I believe an apology is necessary for the disruption, and then we can of course proceed with the next item on the agenda." Zuko pinned her with a hardened state, well aware how ineffectual it was on her but knowing she'd judge the gist of his mood correctly.

Toph arranged her features to look contrite while sounding anything but.

"It must be the advent of morning sickness, Lord Zuko, that caused my impertinent outburst. While it can't be helped, I hope it can be forgiven and forgotten."

With that, the smallest person in the room resettled herself in the too-hard seat and tuned out the resumption of proper discussion. Her mind drifted back to her previous tangent of railing against the meeting's locale, while outwardly she pretended to care about the goings-on. She knew no one else would dare bother her after that display. Now, if she could just convince them to come to Gaoling. If she played the pity card with the pregnancy, they might even come willingly! Satisfied, Toph laid a hand over her middle.

"Lesson number one, kiddo," she whispered to her belly, "always be like the rock."