Where Earth Meets Sky:

Chapter 1: On the wings of… a glider?

Author Note: So, here I go again, with a new series fic. *Nervous laugh*

Okay... so, originally, this was my first attempt at an ATLA fic. I planned for it to be Tokka, but when I got to the second part, I suddenly saw the possibilities for Teoph. I didn't like how the fic was turning out, it was frustrating me, so I scrapped it and started to work on ATLA: New Beginnings instead. When I found the Teoph-LightEarth group in DeviantArt, I discovered that my idea of Teoph was actually shared with others. I wasn't the first person to think about it.

Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE Tokka! Tokka is my favorite, but I saw how my previously scrapped fanfic could turn into a Teoph fic instead. So, I decided to edit it and see how it turned out... So far I have received a few good reviews on it in DA, so I decided to see how everyone likes it here, in .

Disclaimer: Avatar, These characters, and this setting are all property of Mike & Bryan. I do not claim any rights. Only the idea for this fanfic are my own.

"I don't need you to take care of me!" Toph yelled; balling her fists at her sides and stomping her foot as she dropped into her horse stance. The earth shook beneath her feet and split. The crack ran along the ground towards him, causing him to jump to the side in order to avoid being swallowed into its depths. He rolled after losing his balance and barely made it out of the way.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed in a panic and scrambled to his feet in time to narrowly avoid being crushed by a boulder. "Toph, calm down! Are you trying to kill me?"

"I am not weak, Sokka! You don't need to protect me!" She empathized, sending a boulder flying at him after each spoken word. Now she could call HIM Twinkle toes. Through her feet, she could detect his movements as he jumped, ducked, or rolled out of the way - as if he were dancing with death. Toph smirked at her thought. "I am leaving, and I will be leaving without you!" She spat and spun around on her heals, "and don't follow me!" She commanded over her shoulder, and threw her hands down at her sides with her palms pressing towards the earth. A large gash of the earth dropped between them, creating a deep canyon - wide enough that it couldn't be easily jumped and long enough that it would take a few hours to walk around.

Sokka watched her storm off into the forest from where he sat. He had fallen to his butt after the large quake that resulted from the formation of the canyon. He was stunned beyond belief by her actions. "Wh…wh…what was that about?" He exclaimed, jumping to his feet in a huff. "I was just trying to help!"

"Well, how could you blame her? You dote on her as if she were a child!"

Sokka turned to find his girlfriend, Suki, who leaned against one of the boulders that had nearly been his demise. "What? I do not!" He defended himself and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yes, Sokka, you do. You are constantly doing things for her, as if she can't do them on her own… as if she were helpless." Suki told him matter-of-factly.

"I do not!"

The Kyoshi Warrior shook her head in exasperation. "Sokka, a year ago, after the war ended, I understood why you wanted to go with her to her parent's estate. I even went along for support. I didn't even have any objections when you helped her run away from them again. I made no objections to allowing her to live with us so that you would stop worrying over her safety."

Sokka was in his own state of self glorification, basking in what he believed to be praise for selfless loyalty towards his friend.

"But," Suki continued, "Whenever Toph said that she wanted to do anything or go anywhere, you were glued to her side, insistent on going with. "

"Well, what do you expect me to do? She couldn't possibly travel alone! How could she possibly navigate? She would have to ask someone where she was, where she was going, or how to get to where she wanted to be."

Suki shook her head with a sigh. "This is exactly what I am talking about, Sokka - exactly what SHE was talking about! She is not helpless. Don't you think that you are treating her exactly the same way that her parents did, by being a little TOO over protective?"

Sokka's mouth dropped. "What? No! That's not… I didn't… I only…" he stammered - his heart sinking as he faced the facts.

"You only meant well…" Suki finished his train of thought. "Just leave her alone, Sokka. She can take care of herself. She doesn't need you to protect her and obviously she doesn't want you to protect her, either."

Sokka took a deep breath and mulled over her words for a moment. "I don't know, Suki, there's no telling where she's off to or what kind of trouble she'll get into."

"What kind of trouble could she possibly get into that is so dire she would need to be protected? The war is over, Sokka!"

Toph earth surfed across the terrain with vigorous force, eager to get as far away from the two love birds as she could. They were driving her nuts, constantly kissing and cuddling and cooing at one another. It made her feel uncomfortable.

Through her feet she could tell that she was heading towards the mountains. If she hadn't known that they were in the Northern Earth Kingdom, she would stay clear of the mountain ranges. Upon reaching the change of landscape, she climbed up the side of the mountain on a stone pillar. She stopped to rest only when her form of travel began to slow - the result of an overuse of earthbending. She fell to her back, her arms and legs spread eagle, and succumbed to the swirling depths of sleep.

When her consciousness slowly began to return, and she was in that state that is somewhere between being awake and dreaming, she felt that she was not alone. At first, she couldn't tell if she wasn't still dreaming, but then it moved; it didn't move like a human and if it was an animal, then it was a fairly large one – but it didn't have the feel of an animal either. Toph's eyes snapped open and she leapt to her feet, wide awake. "Who's there?" She demanded, holding a threatening position, ready to earthbend the creature into oblivion.

"Toph, calm down, it's me," said a vaguely familiar voice. The image finally formed in her mind of what looked like a mini wagon.

"Who?" She asked, but didn't relax her stance.

"Teo," the boy answered calmly, so as not to set the blind earthbender off. "We met during the invasion. My father is who made the submarines,"

Recollection formed over Toph's face and she relaxed. "Oh… hi…" She said, moving a hand to the back of her head and giving him a goofy smile. "Sorry about that… At first I thought you were a talking wagon," she said nervously. His glider made it impossible for her to see him clearly.

"No problem," Teo replied, taking no offence. "What are you doing here? Where is everyone?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing. What are you doing here?"

"I live here," Teo stated, not missing her look of shock. Of course, she wouldn't know, she hadn't been with the Avatar when they first met. "You are near the Northern Air Temple."

Toph didn't bother to hide her surprise. "You live at the Northern Air Temple?" She voiced her amazement. "I thought that the air nomads were wiped out over a century ago."

She felt the slightest vibration through the stone as he moved the glider towards her. "It'll be dark soon, why don't I explain that on our way to the temple?"

"How are we supposed to get to the temple?" Toph asked and stiffened when she felt him touch her hand.

"Fly, of course. You'll never get there before nightfall by earthbending."

"F…fly? Are you insane? I hate flying!" She exclaimed, taking a step away from the glider.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you." Toph could hear the smile on his face and she frowned; her unseeing eyes glaring in his direction.

"No way!" She exclaimed,

Teo figured that they could stay here all night arguing about it or, though he hated to do it to her, he could pull her onto the glider and take off. It was mean to do, he remembered from their time at the Western Air Temple that she would be completely blind if her feet weren't in contact with the ground.

With a strength that she wouldn't have expected him to have, Toph was suddenly yanked into his lap. She screamed uncharacteristically as her feet left the security of the mountain side, and they were soaring through the air before she could blink. "Are you insane!" She bellowed into his ear. Her arms were wrapped around his neck in a death grip.

"If you don't stop moving so much, we'll fall," he warned. "Relax, I've got you." Toph snorted in his ear and continued to cling around his neck.

Teo was fully aware of her fears and attempted to distract her with the story of how his father had led his people into the mountains after a great flood had destroyed their home, killing Teo's mother, and leaving Teo paralyzed. He explained how they had made the old temple their new home. Toph was aware of his father's inventions, especially the airships that the fire kingdom used during the war. The airships were now used among all of the kingdoms. Many of the Mechanist's inventions had helped to rebuild all of the kingdoms after the war; or so Sokka had told her.

As Teo's glider neared the Northern Air Temple, Toph could hear the crowd of people that awaited them. Once the glider landed, however, there was complete silence. Toph wasted no time to scramble off of the glider and place her feet to the ground.

"Everyone," she heard Teo begin his introduction. "This is Toph. Toph, everyone."

Toph smirked about his reference to everyone. She was sure that there were more than 10 people here. She could feel the bustling of many others around the temple. From those that she had just been introduced to, she could sense their curiosity, but offered no explanation - she merely acknowledged their existence with a nod.

"Come on," Teo said beside her. "Let's go get some dinner."