AN. I don't really like posting these things, but I though I better with this chapter. These stories are all song inspired, not songfics. So though the song for this chapter is a little different, it's what inspired what I've written.
When Lao first found out his daughter was blind, he refused to accept it. Deep in denial, he was adamant that one day, she'd open her eyes properly. That one day she'd blink away the sleep like haze. That one day she'd smile at the sight of his face and stretch up her arms for a hug, gurgling 'dada'.
One day.
But unfortunately the spirits were cruel, and as Toph grew older, the hazier her eyes seemed to become. How Lao hated her blindness, forcing him to lock away his life's greatest success behind fancy ornament gates, in fear of what further cruelties the world would bestow upon the young girl. He had believed he was doing what was best for her. After all, a father knows best, right? Poppy shared his grief, but it was her that encouraged him to let Toph go when she ran away join the Avatar and his friends.
"She's tough Lao, let her be." She had murmured, cradling him to her chest one dark night.
He hated to admit she was right.
The waiting for his daughter's return was the worst. Anxious pacing by the windows and doors every night, running out to the garden to scan the night skies for that flying beast…the disappointed sighs as his frame drooped as he slowly headed back inside.
He started listening to the village gossip, catching snippets of her travels through the kingdom. Slowly he began to relax and smile when he heard of her achievements. No longer did he pace or wring his hands in worry. No longer did he cry in Poppy's arms like a newborn. Instead he smiled at the stars, patiently waiting for his little girl.
It was during one of these nights that he began to questions Toph's blindness again, but in a new way. Earlier that day, he had over heard a commoner shout at someone how it was better when they said nothing at all. It struck him as amusing at the time, but with only the comfort of his ancestor's celestial eyes, he pondered it. What if Toph hadn't been born blind…but mute? In some cultures it would be a blessing; a female child who would be see and not heard- literally. But for Lao, he could not bear to picture his strong, independent daughter silenced forever. To have never heard her melodic voice or laughter? The fates would have been far too cruel to have punished them with that.
Stroking his chin, he frowned at the sky, mind working over time. What if she was deaf? It had always been one of her favourite jokes, stating how she was blind not deaf. So what if she had been? He had seen deaf old men and women, shouting louder than necessary, or grumbling about the world where they thought no one could hear them, just because they couldn't hear themselves. He had never seen a deaf child, though he had heard stories of how the spirits had no mercy for these souls, by having both stolen their hearing and their tongue. Shivering, he drew his cloak around himself tighter, hastily cutting off his previous thoughts. He could not bear to even conjure up the idea of Toph losing her sense of touch or taste. For her to be blind had been devastating enough, but when he thought about it now, he would have never let her live a life full of suffering at the loss of any of her other senses.
When Lao first found out his daughter, his sweet, sweet daughter was blind, he had been in denial. But now, watching as she slid down from the bison's back, before quickly running towards him, arms wide open and the call of his name on her lips, he just smiled. He wouldn't have her any other way.