Author's note: So, "Guest" asked if I was doing Taang Week. And while I've never before known what these "weeks" were, I looked it up on my handy-dandy—google! And decided that YES, I am doing Taang Week! These are going to be kind of short compared to most of my uploads, but hey, you're getting one EVERY day so that makes up for it, right? This is the sister piece to "Trials of Sincerity", because they fit into the same format and storyline (but they made more sense on their one-I'm thinking of posting them on both, however...if that's allowed). I'd love to hear the input of all you readers out there.

Anyway, without further ado...

Day 1- Regret

When they were twenty-seven, their secret relationship became a secret affair.

The day Aang married was the most unforgettable day in both their lives. For her, it was because she knew that would (should) be their end. Fifteen years of 'them' turned into 'Aang and Mrs. Aang—and oh yeah, Toph's there too' in the small time between sunrise and sunset. It was a crisp autumn day and the trees shed their leaves and she imagined if she could see the spectacle, it would be beautiful (but then again, Toph had never understood the depth behind the concept of beauty).

Aang stood smiling on grand display in the Fire Palace courtyard and dozens—hundreds—of voices and faces weaved around him, congratulations spewing from their mouths as they promised him that this would be the most memorable day of his long life. They were right—he'd definitely never forget the hours he spent after the marriage ceremony staring at Toph's stoic, uninterested face that couldn't return his gaze.

Of course, he had been the perfect groom—he'd gazed lovingly into his bride's dark eyes, his own crinkled with strange elation that he didn't understand. He'd said all the right things as they passed the chalice of wine between them and he'd squeezed her hand when their palms were bound together with a delicate red ribbon. He'd kissed her enthusiastically—passionately, even—when they'd been introduced for the first time as man and wife and the masses had cheered madly when he pulled away from his breathless blushing bride. But when he'd looked away, it was immediate and unintentional that his eyes locked on the blind earthbender and he swore in that instant that the earth fell away from beneath his very feet.

It was wrong.

He had proposed to his new wife with the sake of his people on the forefront of his mind. She was an airbender—the last of her people—and he was an airbender—the last to the rest of the world—and together they could restore the airbending race to the world and keep their culture alive. When he'd proposed to her, he did love her greatly, but he knew it wasn't the love that built a marriage. He loved her because it was his duty to love her. He even loved her like he loved Sokka or Suki or Zuko—like family. He could live with her and respect her and even raise children with her and keep her happy. But Toph—

He realized, standing beside his newly wed wife in front of the world, that he couldn't live without her. A world without Toph Beifong would be a nightmarish hell and he wanted no part of it.

His hand brushed against hers when it was her turn to congratulate the new couple despite the arm that was slung loosely around his wife's waist. Toph's hair had fallen from its elaborate style and hung in her eyes but he could see traces of a small, hurt smile tugging the corners of her lips and he thought his chest might burn him up through the bile in his throat.

"Nice job, Twinkletoes," Toph chirped happily, swinging her fist into his arm. "We never thought it would happen."

Their friends had laughed at her teasing barb, but only Toph was aware of the pained stutter that his heart gave and only Aang was looking closely enough to notice the imperceptible clench of her jaw. She never said the words aloud, but inside she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

She'd hoped it would never happen.

At least, not like this.

As the celebration moved indoors for a grand feast, he pulled her aside into the shadows. His hand rested against the nape of her warm neck but she kept her face turned down from his sight.

"Toph," he whispered gruffly, "I need to know; are you—"

"Don't ask me that," she interrupted. She sounded far steadier than she felt and she thanked the spirits that she'd never before regarded for her display of composure.

"I have to know what's going on in your mind."

The earthbender shook her head. "It's too late, Aang. What I'm thinking doesn't matter anymore."

But he kissed her gently without thinking twice and she realized it would always matter to him. When she kissed him back, he almost believed he could read her mind. The gentle press of her lips against his lulled his mind into a place where clouds were weightless and her skin was a balm protecting him from the fierce winds that bore at him from the world around them. His arms pulled her close and tears dripped down her cheeks onto his while she ran her fingers through his short hair. He tried with his every breath to take her pain from her, to shoulder it for her so she would once again walk taller and hold her head where it should be held—above them.

They parted and when they joined the others in the great hall, it was as it had always been—they acted as though it had never happened. He sat beside his wife and smiled and she sat beside the Fire Lord and toasted to their happy marriage. But the glances he stole at her and the way his ears picked up her gentlest words felt deceitful and wrong and he felt a new emotion that they had never shared before.

He felt regret. It was not regret that their affair would hurt his new wife. It was not regret that they were lying. Instead, it was heavy regret that what they were was wrong. She was the one thing in his life that felt so right and made him feel whole—but that was wrong, because she was not his and he was another's. They had become something distorted and it was his deepest, darkest wish that they could live in a world where they were right—because them being wrong was so very wrong.

She was his everything and he had given her up.

To their dying days, they would regret nothing more.