A/N: Hellooo! So one of my favourite characters is Toph. I saw a picture of Toph when she came back to earthrumble and I decided I wanted to write one fic where she did exactly that. But me being me, needed a reason for her to do that so that's why I wrote this 'prequel'. Enjoy! :)

"I throw my sandwich in the air sometimes saying ayooo I wanted mayo!" In the stillness of the sky a loud out-off-tune voice rang through the clouds.

"Sokka will you just shut up?"Katara hissed through her teeth. Even his singing was getting to the normally patient waterbender.

"I can't help it! The song is just AWESOME!" Sokka gushed. Everyone just groaned, even Appa. Ever since he heard the song sung at a tea shop one evening he would randomly burst out into tune.

"Careful Snoozles, you don't wanna kill all the innocent birds flying over us with your singing." Toph smirked. 5 years after the war her sarcastic self still remained. Sokka folded his arms and pouted. There was no point in arguing with Toph. She would just shoot him down again.

"There there…" Suki scooted closer to him and gave him a kiss. Soon, however, the kiss deepened, and tongue action ensued.

"Get a room." A certain firelady rather monotonously said while the rest of the gaang shouted words of protest at the much too public display of affection. Sokka and Suki pulled away reluctantly.

"Um…hey guys, we have to stop soon. Appa's getting tired." Aang called from his seat at the large furry beast's head. Sokka lit up and grabbed his map from the bag. It was time for some map-reading!

"Hmmm…let's see…bong bong island is on our far left, and the eastern lighthouse is on our right, sooo according to the map, the nearest town is…

Gaoling."

Toph immediately tensed up. The atmosphere in the saddle changed, and the tension was thick. Ever since the war was over she avoided passing Gaoling. She was still a little angry at her parents, okay maybe not a little, and she did not want to be locked up the moment she came back to the estate. She enjoyed the freedom that came with travelling with the avatar, and she wasn't about to relinquish it. Going into Gaoling meant visiting her parents as the whole town will know that the avatar has landed and not visiting will just be utterly disgraceful. If they pass Gaoling, the whole gang will be left stranded in the middle of the ocean when Appa crashed from exhaustion. There was no choice.

"Okay, let's land at Gaoling."

The rest of the gang looked at each other. Zuko, who had been emo-ing at one corner, spoke first.

"Are you sure Toph? I mean we could…"Zuko started but was cut off.

"Could what? Could what, Zuko? The next town is 10 miles from Gaoling! Unless you want to float the rest of the way, I suggest you SHUT it and LEAVE ME ALONE! " Toph burst out.

"Stop it Toph! It's not Zuko's fault you are so scared to meet your parents!" Mai retorted. Ouch. A pregnant pause followed. Toph was breathing hard, as if she was about to burst out, either in anger or in tears. However, Toph being Toph, would never let her friends see her cry.

"Just-Let's not talk, okay?" Toph looked away. Zuko nudged his wife. She sighed.

"Hey, I'm sorry Toph. I didn't mean to say that." Mai said guiltily, although it sounded indifferent because of her monotone.

"Yeah." The blind bandit did not even bother to try to smile.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence.

Toph sat in the saddle while the rest of the gaang climbed off Appa. She made no attempt to move.

"You coming Toph?" Aang asked. There was no answer.

"Toph?"

"Yeah, I'm coming."

The earthbender didn't show it, but she was a bundle of nerves. What if they don't accept me? What if they still view me as the little blind helpless girl? What if I don't know what to say? What if I get tongue-tied? What if? What if? Worry flowed through her mind. On one hand she couldn't care less what her parents thought of her, but on the other hand the daughter inside her wanted the approval and praise of Lao and Poppy Bei Fong. Guess I kinda know how Sparky felt when he was trying to please Loserlord, Toph thought bitterly.

Finally, they reached the estate. She suddenly felt paralysed. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this…

"Ready Toph?"

"Ready."

Bravely, she marched up to the guard.

"I'm sorry, miss. You are forbidden to go pass this point unless you have an appointment." the guard growled.

"I think I have every right to go in." Toph stuck out her chin defiantly.

"And who do you think you might be, little lady?" the other guard smirked.

"The daughter of Lao and Poppy Bei Fong." Colour drained from the two men. The little blind girl they knew had grown up so much they couldn't recognize bowed. "We apologise for our tone, Miss Bei Fong. Please come in."

The first guard walked ahead to tell the nearest servant to inform Toph's parents that they had visitors while the second guard escorted her. After a few steps she was briefly aware that the rest of the gaang was not following her.

"Aren't you coming guys?" she demanded. They broke into sheepish grins.

"Um…Suki's gonna train me. Sorry!" the meat-and-sarcasm dude ran off with the kyoshi warrior.

"Um…me and Mai are going to check on the town and…work on our smiles. Sorry!" Sparky and Blade girl walked off.

"Um…me and Katara's going to…talk about…healing?" Aang and Katara followed the rest of the gaang. "Sorry Toph, we think that it would be better if you faced this without us."

"Hey, you know what, don't worry about ABANDONING ME!" Toph yelled, before the gates closed.

Some friends.

A/N: So how was it? Sokka's first line was taken from the comment section of the song Dynamite on youtube. I'm thinking this will be a three-five chapter fic. Unless I get extremely inspired. I would really appreciate if you reviewed, so click the little button below. Thanks! :)