By the Sillie in eXSillie. This is also on my Deviant Art, in case someone thinks I'm plagiarizing. : ) Lol.
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Mirror
Calloused fingertips caressed the smooth surface, cool and flawless resting against the wall. She knew what it was, but she had and never would see it with her own two eyes.
The sugar princess had been using it this morning, brushing her hair and preening herself to a perceived perfection that Toph had never understood. The newest girl, Suki, had sat down for a brief moment to brush her hair, much less attentive than Katara was. She seemed to find simplicity and necessity far more practical, and for that the young blind girl was forced to grudgingly respect her. It was the sound of her two female companions told her what it was-- it was a mirror.
She was told of its function once. You look at yourself in it. The first time she heard that she actually laughed—why do you need to see what you look like? To her it was nothing more than a metal coated piece of glass. If she punched it, threw something at it, bended it, the mythical reflection in it would simply break with no harm to the owner of the image that had existed only moments before.
Even though this was true, she wondered sometimes what she would see if, for only a moment her glassy, pale green eyes came back to life to let her see herself.
Maybe that was why he didn't choose her…?
When Toph rolled out of bed in the morning, she didn't think about what looked good, what matched, if her hair was perfect or not. She put on what felt good against her skin, what allowed her freedom of comfort in a world so dark and comfortless. Her hair, save for bangs that her eyes could not see, was out of the way, pulled back and bound out of her face where it wouldn't distract her when she didn't need distraction. She couldn't see her own flaws. Were there many? Was she just simply unattractive and didn't even know it? That was what a mirror was for, anyway. For vanity, to make sure that the owner of the reflection could pick and perfect every flaw that they perceived they had.
The hand dropped, clenching into a fist. It was all so superficial.
With Toph Bei-Fong you see what you get. There is no powder to hide her flaws, no clothing to flatter things she might have been able to flatter as a young woman, and least of all there was no lies. Everything about her was the harsh, undeniable truth.
If Sokka couldn't see that, then he was the fool that he pretended to be.