Though Toph was hardly a sentimental girl, the one thing she was most thankful for was her friendship with the members of Team Avatar. For the greater part of her life, she had been doted on, sheltered, and shadowed by caretakers hired by her parents because of the simple fact that she could not see. Before she ran away, she would constantly be "handled " by various au pairs, and rarely ever caught a break from someone breathing down her neck. She'd grown increasingly frustrated over the years, and though she loved her mom and dad dearly, she could no longer take it. She had to get out of that house.
That was where the underground fighting had come in. There she was, a puny little blind girl amidst all those brutes in the underground arena. They'd scoffed at her. They'd asked her if she was lost and needed "someone to find her mommy". Well, after a few rounds in the tournament with her, they were the ones who had been crying for their mommies. She was soon dubbed the "Blind Bandit", and rumors spread about her throughout the city.
That was all fine and good, but she wasn't truly satisfied with her life until Aang came along and she volunteered to be his Earthbending teacher. She'd made fast friends with the Avatar and his two Water Tribe companions, Katara and Sokka.
She was especially fond of Sokka.
None of her new friends treated her like a handicap or a burden, least of all, the older boy. There were times when Katara could get really motherly and protective over her, like when she pulled a bunch of deceitful tricks on the locals in order to snag some quick cash. Every once in a while, even Aang would suggest that she hang back if they were going on a particularly dangerous mission.
Sokka had never done any of this, but rather stuck up for her and encouraged her to do her very best instead. For that, she couldn't help but develop a little bit of a crush on him. Although she could not see for herself, she had heard many girls in the various towns they'd passed through sigh about how handsome the "tall, exotic-looking one" was. She was about 99.9% sure they were talking about him, for she was able to sense basic levels of height of the objects and people around her through her feet. And, man, was Twinkle-Toes short!
Besides his height, Toph could also sense that he had a lean, muscular build... But incredibly poor posture. It seemed that whenever he was hungry (which was almost always), he would slouch over and drag his feet when he walked. She had to surpress her giggles whenever she noticed it on their visits to the marketplace. What could she say? She found it cute.
Now, Toph was anything but a girly girl, and if she had caught herself daydreaming about what it would be like to hold Sokka's hand while strolling through a warm, sunny meadow with birds chirping in the trees on any other day, she would have kicked her own butt. However, on this particular morning, she was in far too deep. She was so enraptured in her fantasy that she didn't even realize she was talking out loud.
"Oh, Sokka, you have no idea how long I've wanted to tell you that I like you. You're the only one who doesn't treat me like I'm blind, and you don't know how much that means to me..."
"Hey, do you guys hear something?" Aang looked up from where he was cleaning his glider and tilted his head, listening. For the past few minutes, a faint mumbling that sounded like a human voice had drifted into his ears but he couldn't make out what the voice was saying.
Katara paused her sewing and turned in the direction the noise was coming from. "It sounds like Toph," she said after a moment.
"Where is she, anyway?" Sokka was perched on Appa's back, eyeing his boomerang carefully as he sharpened its edges.
"I don't know," Katara replied as she set one of her brother's socks, which had a hole she was trying to fix, aside. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen her since breakfast. She mysteriously disappeared afterwards."
"Maybe we should look for her," Aang suggested as he stood and scanned the green, rolling hills of the Earth Kingdom where they had been camping out the past few days. "I know she can find her way back and all, but still."
"You have a point, Aang," Katara agreed. "Who knows what could be roaming around out there. Let's go see if we can find her."
Sokka rolled his eyes. "She can take care of herself, you know. She's going to be upset whenever the two of you show up all worried and gushy over her."
Katara narrowed her eyes at him and placed her hands on her hips as she stood up. "What do you mean, the two of us? You're coming too!"
"What? Why?"
"It won't take as long with all three of us," Aang supplied with his goofy, lopsided grin. "And we know Toph can look after herself. We just want to make sure she's okay." A moment later, his smile turned into a worried frown. "Actually, if that voice does belong to her, who exactly is she talking to?"
Katara's brow furrowed. "I don't think anyone else has been living nearby. What if it's the Fire Nation? What if they caught up to us already?"
"Um, hello!" Her brother leaned down and wildly waved his hand in front of their faces. "I'm pretty sure that if Prince Ponytail was here, she'd be screaming bloody murder and flinging giant rock meteors at him, not having a polite conversation."
She let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head as she grabbed his arm and pulled him harshly to the ground. "Whatever. We're still going to look for her, and you're still coming!"
The trio's search didn't take much longer than five minutes. They soon came up over the edge of a decent-sized hill, and there lay Toph on the grass. Her hands were clasped behind her head and a big, dreamy smile was plastered on her face. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be dreaming.
"Didn't she feel us coming?" Aang wondered aloud as he scratched the back of his head.
"Is she sleeping? You'd think she still would have woken up because of our vibrations."
"Alright, see? She's fine! Now can we go start dinner? I'm dying of starvation." Sokka glanced down at his rumbling stomach impatiently and groaned. They were just about to turn back, when...
"Sokka, you're so silly! Of course, I'll feed you grapes and fan you..."
There was a collective gasp from Katara and Aang as the older Water Tribe boy froze in his place.
At their feet, Toph emitted a a small, bubbly giggle that was very unlike her. "Oh, you want to take me on a date to that fancy little tea house in Ba Sing Se? Why, I'd be delighted..."
Katara and Aang had to clasp their hands over their mouths to surpress the fits of laughter that were threatening to be released as their wide-eyed gazes flickered between Sokka and the oblivious Earthbender. All Sokka could do was blush and avert his eyes from all three of them as he tried to make sense out of what just happened.
Did Toph... Have a crush on him? The very idea puzzled him. She had never seemed like the type of girl who actually liked boys. Though he was sort of ashamed and felt bad about admitting it, he sometimes found it hard to remember that she was even a girl.
"Sokka, is that... An engagement ring?! Oh, of course I'll marry you!"
And that was the third strike out for Aang and Katara. Neither could contain themselves any longer, and they both made the mistake of collapsing to the ground with howls of laughter. Toph sat up almost immediately and turned to where the sound was coming from. She could sense that the two rolling around on the ground were Aang and Katara, so that meant that the person standing was...
Oh, Gods, no...
She stumbled to her feet and backed away slowly, her cheeks growing warm from embarrassment.
"Toph, it's okay," Sokka started towards her with a sigh. "Don't pay attention to them, they're just being jerks."
But it was too late. Toph sped off down the other side of the hill, desperately trying to put as much distance between the object of her affections and herself. Gods, she was stupid! How could she not have sensed them coming? She was only half asleep... Did she really have it that bad for Sokka? She couldn't even imagine what he was thinking right now. 'Oh, Toph has a crush on me? Ha, what a joke!'
She wiped away the tears that were beginning to fall from her sea-foam eyes and let out a choked sob. What was she thinking? She had no chance with him! She was twelve years old and couldn't see. How was she supposed to continue traveling with them now? All of their interactions would be awkward, forced, uncomfortable... Toph slowed down to a walk and sighed. She'd been running for at least five minutes, and she could sense that she had now entered some sort of forest. She could feel the presence of the large, shady trees scattered about. She tiredly collapsed against one and began to pull blades of grass out of the ground absentmindedly.
She knew she was going to have to go back at some point, whether they came looking for her or she returned of her own accord. However, she was hoping to prolong that moment as best she could.
Suddenly, she noticed something odd about the ground beneath her feet. It almost seemed like there was some sort of cavern below... With numerous tunnels branching out to who knows where... She had been able to determine what creatures had created lots of underground networks in her short lifetime, but this was something entirely unrecognizable and new... She couldn't sense any type of movement from whatever could be down there, either... Was there an opening nearby?
Figuring that this was an open invitation to distract herself from the horrors of adolescence, she stood and set off once again.
"WHAT. IS. WRONG. WITH. YOU?!" Sokka paced back and forth angrily in front of Aang and Katara, both of which had guilty, sullen looks on their faces. "Honestly, and I thought I was insensitive!"
"I know, Sokka, and I feel horrible-" Katara started, but was cut off by her brother's continuing tirade.
"I'm not all that surprised at you, Aang, but Katara? Really?"
"I know, Sokka, I'm disappointed in me too-"
"I know that if the situation had been reversed and it had been one of you, I would have laughed too, but-"
"Sokka!" Aang held his hands out in a gesture meant to calm the fuming Water Tribe boy down. "We know. We're sorry. We shouldn't have laughed at her."
"Yeah," Katara chimed in as she laid a hand on her brother's shoulder. "It wasn't a very mature thing to do. I'm sure she's really upset. We're supposed to be her friends."
"Exactly, and I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."
"You're right," Aang sighed as he shamefully bowed his head. "We should go find her and tell her we're sorry. Come on, Katara. Let's go."
"Uh, wait," Sokka paused, arms crossed and an unusually thoughtful expression on his face. "I think that maybe I should be the one to go talk to her. I mean, I know I'm probably the last person she wants to see, but I also think I'm the first person she needs to see. Metaphorically speaking, of course."
His sister gave him a small smile. "Well, if you're sure. Just don't take too long. Dinner will be ready in an hour."
Just as they were saying their goodbyes, a bloodcurdling scream interrupted in the distance. All three of them snapped their heads to the forest in alarm.
"Scratch that. Let's all go."
