Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any other copyrighted property that may appear in this work of fiction. Lyrics in this chapter are from "What Hurts the Most" by Rascal Flatts.

Sand and Stone

I'm not afraid to cry every once in a while
Even though going on with you gone still upsets me
There are days every now and again I pretend I'm okay
But that's not what gets me…

Scroll III. Six Years Later

"Whew…" Toph planted her staff in the rocky volcanic outcropping and took a moment to wipe the perspiration from her brow with the back of her hand, grinning in dusty self-satisfaction. She'd been traveling more than a week to get this far into the Fire Nation, back to visit Katara and her delightful hubby, Fire Lord Zuko.

Nearly four months ago she'd stopped by Kyoshi Island to see how Sokka and Suki were doing, and ended up staying longer than she'd originally intended—it was a pleasant experience, since she liked both of them and they enjoyed having her there (apparently she was quite a hit with the villagers, too). But then something happened that made it impossible for her to stay any longer…

"Another proposal, Toph?"

"Yeah… this is the third one this month!" the blind Earthbender threw up her hands in frustrated bewilderment. They were at dinner, and Sokka sat at the head of the table scarfing down food while half-listening to the conversation. "And this time it wasn't even one of the girls… it was a guy! An OLD one!"

Sokka rolled his eyes and spoke around a mouthful of food. "How you can freak out when a guy shows signs of being romantically interested and yet remain completely unfazed when a buncha girls ask you out is beyond me."

Toph unknowingly mimicked him, scoffing incredulously. "As if you're one to talk, Snoozles. You'd have done the same thing if you'd been in my place."

"Well I wasn't—because I'm a handsome manly warrior named Sokka, and that makes me different." Sokka shoveled another spoonful into his mouth and chewed complacently as his wife briefly looked to the ceiling in search of support. Toph merely scowled.

"Whatever. Besides, I know the girls are only kidding… this guy was serious! He had everything prepared. He even had an engagement ring!"

Suki leaned forward in casual interest, her chin balanced on her interlaced hands. "So… who was it this time?"

"The guy who keeps making weird noises and foaming at the mouth every time I tell the kids stories about my early travels with the respected Avatar." Toph sniffed dismissively. "It's kinda icky."

"He's not really old, Toph…"

"Yes he is!" she persisted stubbornly. "He must be almost thirty years old, not to mention he acts like he's crazier than Mister Handsome-Manly-Warrior here strung out on cactus juice."

"Hey! That only happened ONCE!!"

"That's not—" Suki sighed, and tried a different tack. "Toph, you do realize that you're eighteen years old, right? That's past marriageable age in most all of the nations."

Toph flinched slightly at the word marriage. "So what?"

"So it shouldn't be such a shock that there are going to be suitors lining up for your hand," Suki continued patiently. "You're from a wealthy family, of good name and estate. You're also young, beautiful and single."

"And blind." Toph added flatly.

"Strangers could take that as an invitation to offer you protection as a husband."

"I don't need anyone's protection!" Toph angrily slammed her fist on the table, making the bowls and plates jump and teeter. "I don't need a man to boss me around and tell me what to do!"

"Not all husbands are like that, Toph, calm down!" Suki rushed to soothe her. "Look at Sokka and I, for instance. He doesn't control me at all."

"But he's an idiot. He's never been able to control anything other than his boomerang!" Toph turned her back on two surprised and rather miffed expressions. "…And you two are in love. You chose to marry each other, and you're happy."

Her heart was a fortress, and the walls were very high.

"…There will never be someone like that for me."

Toph sighed as she came to the end of the path and approached the gateway that led into what she could feel was a bustling city complex. The palace guards would let her in, she was sure (Katara had given her proper identification and all)—the real problem was actually getting there without getting mauled and trampled underfoot.

In her last letter (received at Kyoshi Island and obligingly read by Suki) Katara had said that if given prior notice, she would have a guide at the front gates in order to expedite the process. Now, if only she could find him…

"Excuse me, by any chance have you seen a short black-haired girl dressed in Earth Kingdom clothing and who appears to be blind?"

Bingo. Turning in the direction of the voice, the green-clad Earthbender moved confidently towards the man who seemed to be conversing with one of the gate guards. This was easier than she had thought.

"Hey," she smirked as she came up behind him. "Looking for me?"

The next second she was hit smack in the face with a mane of long hair, as the man whirled around and caught sight of her. "Miss Toph!"

"Miss Toph indeed," Toph grumbled, batting the long strands from her face and trying to remember exactly what was so familiar about the guy's voice. "Just call me Toph. Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Haru, son of Tyro. I'm also an Earthbender… do you remember? We were both at the Day of Black Sun, helping the Avatar."

Tall, has long hair, walks with the loose gait of a country bumpkin tempered by the firm balance of an Earthbender… Oh, so it's him. With that she was able to put an identity to the voice, which she now recalled perfectly. "Yeah, I thought I recognized you from somewhere… but didn't you leave with the others after the old Fire Lord was overthrown?"

"Yes, my father and I led the rest of our people back to our village after the end of the war. It was a triumphant return, and all rejoiced," Haru replied, fondly enough but with a distant note, as if his mind was far away. Toph mentally groaned to herself. Ho boy…

While Toph didn't begrudge any man his right to dwell on happy memories, she'd rather he did it on his own time—and after he'd gotten her safely untrampled to the Fire Palace. "Ahem… that's great and all, Haru, but maybe you should explain on the way. Katara's probably impatient by now."

"Oh, of course!" The other Earthbender sounded rather embarrassed by his lapse. "Um… apologies in advance!"

"Advance of what? Hey!" Toph protested indignantly as he grabbed her by the arm and plunged them into the thick of the crowd. Dragged along as she was, she grudgingly had to give him credit for the assured way he led her through, weaving swiftly through the worst of the hustle-bustle like a true urbanite. In only a few minutes it seemed to her that the vibrations had largely faded, and now they turned into a quiet paved street with hardly any traffic at all.

"Sorry about that," Haru apologized again as he slowed his pace to a walk and released her wrist. "We're in one of the upper-class residential districts right now, so it's a lot less noisy than the main road. This street opens directly into that which leads to the Fire Palace."

"Neat little trick."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you. With your help I managed not to get my toes flattened today, which is a nice plus." Toph self-consciously chafed her wrist for a moment before regaining her carelessly confident demeanor. "So… how did you get from your village to back here again?"

"I came back three years ago in order to attend Katara's wedding," Haru answered, his strides as even and measured as his tone. "After the festivities I asked her permission to stay, and she gladly gave her blessing."

Toph stopped dead in her tracks, incredulous. "You're telling me you willingly chose to stay here? In this chaotic, claustrophobic city, stuck in the crater of a frickin' volcano?"

"It's not as bad as you make it sound. People are beginning to be more open, and it's only been six years." The older Earthbender bounced a random pebble off the otherwise well-kept pavement with his foot, catching it in mid-air and tossing it off to one side. "Besides, the volcano has been latent for over a hundred years. If it's good enough for Ka—for the Fire Lady and Fire Lord, it's good enough for me."

"Aha… Is that so." Still carrying a torch for Sugar Queen, eh? Poor guy. Wonder if she knows?

Her musings were interrupted when Haru abruptly changed the subject. "But what about you? Katara was ecstatic when she received the notice that you were coming—she was even debating whether or not to send me down with a palanquin, but decided against it at the last moment."

"Smart choice… I hate traveling in those rickety things; they're too far above the ground for my taste. I much prefer walking—I've done enough of it, anyway."

"Do you do much traveling, then?"

"I've had my share, I guess," Toph shrugged, knocking the staff against the stone walkway every third step she took in order to further her perception of her surroundings. "Mostly been training, though."

"Training?"

"Yeah—the war may be over, but that doesn't mean I can slack off. I've been bending rock and earth practically every day for the last few years." She hitched her traveling bag higher up on her shoulder and tried not to follow that particular thought train down to its logical end. Don't think about it. It's called the past for a reason—it's behind you now. "Nothing especially interesting."

"Oh really? Well, there's plenty of opportunity for using those skills here—sometimes I help with repairs to some of the older buildings, set the foundations for new ones. Katara says it's a great asset, being an Earthbender here." Haru's voice went somewhat dreamy at this point, and Toph couldn't help but snicker. He was so obviously enamored that it was laughable. "If you want and have the time, you should come along and try it for yourself. It's educational, and quite rewarding."

"Riiiiight… as if I'm visiting because I wanted to inspect the masonry." Toph shook her head and almost pityingly clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Look, don't take this as an insult, Haru—but no REAL Earthbender who fought in the war would be content spending the rest of his or her life fixing architecture. At least, not without a really good reason," she added, thinking of her waterbending friend (and all the boys who once vied for her affections) with wry amusement.

There was Jet, who died bravely helping them find Appa—but after all was said and done, he'd really come for Katara's sake. Here for the same reason was Haru, a country boy, stuck in the city carving rocks into blocks when he could be back in his village with his parents. There was Zuko, proud and aloof by birthright but who nevertheless let Katara get close enough to touch his scar—who once knelt and offered himself up as a prisoner to her, attempting to soften her heart. And last but not least, there was Aang—the current Avatar, imbued with the experience of all the Avatars before him when in the Avatar State, and who once sacrificed his ability to use it because he couldn't bear the thought of giving her up.

Toph felt her smirk twist into a frown, and shook her head in mystification. It was so obvious, even a blind person could figure it out! How had Katara, with guys left and right practically throwing themselves at her feet, managed to be so oblivious about the extent of their feelings for her?

…Well, maybe not completely oblivious. She DID marry Zuko, after all.

"Toph? Toph!"

She blinked, and mentally cursed as she realized that Haru had been gabbing on for the past five or ten minutes while she hadn't paid attention to a single word of it. Geez, this trip-down-memory-lane introspection habit is rubbing off on me. "…Sorry, what did you say?"

"I said we're here." There was a note of pride in his voice, and Toph could feel the ground shaking a bit as the giant doors very quietly slid open. They didn't open all the way—the two Earthbenders weren't royalty, after all—but just wide enough for three men to pass through without touching shoulders. They moved forward, and as soon as they crossed the threshold into the confines of the walls the doors slid shut behind them, just as soundlessly and easily as they'd opened.

Toph shivered a little, despite her firm resolution not to reveal any weaknesses. It was difficult to hold herself to it, though—especially when the vague oppressiveness that had once bothered her so much settled about her like a heavy perfumed veil, made insidious and taunting by its very presence. She quickened her steps in response, but disappointingly enough it didn't make a bit of difference—which shouldn't have been a surprise, seeing as her discomfort wasn't something she could outrun or thrash into place with her bending.

Thankfully Haru made no comment on the change of pace and simply lengthened his stride a little to keep up with her shorter, brisker ones—he was probably even more eager to see Katara than the person he was escorting was. In any case, it was quite evident he didn't realize what she was up to.

Eh, whatever. Toph squared her shoulders and pursed her lips silently, slowing to a less frenzied pace as she did so. Guess I'll just have to tough it out.

Just then she halted in place, feeling Haru do the same from behind her. Footsteps—light, firm and decidedly feminine—approached them from the opposite direction and broke out into a flat run as soon as they came within hearing range. "Toph! Oh it's true, you really came!"

"Yep, I did," Toph chuckled, stopping early enough that she wasn't completely bowled over when Katara plowed into her and swept her into a tight ecstatic hug. "I came back."

………
It's hard to deal with the pain of losing you everywhere I go—but I'm doing it
It's hard to force that smile when I see our old friends and I'm alone
………

"Seems like you've done alright for yourself, Sugar Queen… or should I say, Fire Lady?" Toph grinned smugly at her old friend over a cup of tea, the tiny vessel looking unusually fragile in her weathered blunt-nailed hands. "By the way, I would like to remind you that I totally saw that one coming—figuratively speaking, anyway."

"Yes, yes, gloat at me all you want… I'm sure you missed doing it so." Katara rolled her eyes and took a sip from her own cup. The tea set (as well as the tea itself) had been a gift to them from Zuko's uncle Iroh, who now operated a highly successful teashop in Ba Sing Se. From all accounts, the former Fire Nation general was currently considering expanding his enterprise in order to 'spread the love of tea to all peoples across the Earth Kingdom'—as well as providing ideal meeting places for the White Lotus members to gather, drink excellent tea, and play pai sho. As Zuko once commented, there was no doubt that his uncle would accomplish his dream if he ever decided to put it into action.

"I missed doing a lot of things—hanging out with you guys, for one. Wish I could've come when you guys got hitched; it must've been epic."

The brown-haired Waterbender smiled at her response, but all the same felt the familiar pang of sadness that came with remembering that two dearly beloved faces were not present at the ceremony. "I did send you an invitation, if you ask—yet all I got in reply was a note from your parents, saying you'd run off with the Avatar again. But I knew that wasn't true… or was it?" Katara couldn't help the slight note of uncertainty that crept into her voice.

Toph's head snapped upward, her foam-green eyes smoldering. "Of course not! I keep my promises, Sweetness… and even if I did run off with our beloved Avatar, he probably wouldn't have me." She lowered her gaze, but did not attempt to hide the bitterness in her voice. "Y'know, the whole 'I'm-the-Avatar-I-have-to-do-this-alone' type spiel?"

Katara felt her eyelid twitch in exasperation, and set her cup back down on the table. "Oh, for Spirits' sake… You don't mean to say you're STILL angry at him, after all this time?"

"Why do you all ask me that?? Geez, the bunch of you seem to think I'm holding this insane, obsessive grudge against the guy. 'Poor Aang… he can't ever win, can he?' 'It wasn't his fault, I don't understand why she's so against him even now!'" she mimicked in varying mocking falsettos, giving Katara the lurking suspicion that maybe Sokka and Suki had been less than discreet in their conversations about Toph when she was around. "Well, to satisfy your insatiable curiosity, I'll have you know that that chapter of my life has been dealt with ages ago. OLD NEWS, do you get me? Now I'm just trying to get on with it without everyone treating me like I'm gonna try and bury him under a rockslide the second I see him… if I do ever see him, that is." She said this last so quietly, Katara had to strain to hear her.

"Er, no offense, Toph… but just now you sounded rather mad about it. I think you might be suffering a little from denial."

"No, I am not," the smaller girl retorted, and the tone of her voice indicated that she was uninterested in being argued with on the issue. As if to cut off further debate, she raised her cup and drank deeply from it. "Mmm… how I missed drinking this stuff. What kind is it?"

Katara sighed, but decided to humor her friend for now. In any case, there would be plenty of other opportunities to ask over the next few weeks. "Well, let's see…" The Fire Lady picked up the sealed container holding the tealeaves and examined the paper strip pasted on the outside. "According to the package Zuko's uncle sent, it's Zi Mu He tea. 'Freshly harvested from the mountainous northern regions of the Earth Kingdom, Zi Mu He tea has properties good for those who wish to attain or maintain good health and energy for—'"

"Blah blah blah, whatever. I just wanted to know the name of the tea, not its history." Toph rolled her eyes and extended her arm, offering up her emptied cup. "Fill 'er up, if you please."

"Hmm." Without removing her gaze from what she was reading, Katara reached out and bended a small quantity of tea from the teapot out through the spout into Toph's cup. "…This is interesting. I wonder if Uncle Iroh is trying to hint at something here?"

Toph shrugged and blew on her tea to cool it, wisps of steam grazing her pale face. (Her skin was actually tanner now because of all the walking she had done, but not significantly more so than it had been back in the days when they traveled on Appa.) "What can you find on the label that even vaguely resembles a hint?"

"Listen to this: 'Nu Guo brand Zi Mu He is highly recommended by several respected tea connoisseurs and enthusiasts, including former Fire Nation General Iroh. Among its many notable qualities are its mild, refreshing taste and significant enhancement of female fertility by at least 35 percent.'"

Toph, who was fast nearing the end of her second cup at this time, choked mid-swallow and succumbed to a heavy coughing fit. "Wuh… WHAT?!" she managed at last, her face deeply flushed. "This is a pregnancy potion?? Katara, what were you thinking?!"

"I didn't know, Toph, I swear it!" Katara exclaimed, mortified by the dagger-like glare focused in her direction. "I just received this today right before you arrived, and since it came from Iroh I thought you'd like to—"

"Newsflash, Sugar Queen—I'm not interested in becoming pregnant," the diminutive Earthbender growled, her eyes narrowed into twin slits and screwed up in a grimace. "Although it sure looks like old man Iroh wants to see some grandnephews and grandnieces in a hurry. What's it been, two years?"

"Three, actually." She looked down at the wooden cylinder resting innocently in her palms, and closed her fingers tightly over it. "And just so you know, it's NOT a pregnancy potion or anything. Drinking the tea alone won't make you pregnant; you need the help of a man for that."

"A man?" Toph snorted. "Like I'd want his help."

Katara blinked, aware of a sudden flood of incredulity and rising panic. "…Please, PLEASE tell me someone gave you the 'birds and bees' talk before now."

"The what?"

"Oh Spirits. Um, how did Grangran put it? … When a man and a woman love each other very much… well, I guess technically they don't have to be in love but, uh…" The Waterbender could feel her cheeks heating up as she struggled to articulate the age-honored speech under her friend's perplexed unseeing gaze. "T-then… babies are made!" she finished desperately, rushing the words and hoping it still made sense.

The younger girl's expression cleared in sudden comprehension. "Ohhh… the baby-making talk!"

"Yes, that," Katara agreed, thoroughly relieved that she hadn't had to go into as much detail as her Grangran had. (Kanna had always been a liberated kind of woman, after all, and she'd wanted to make sure her granddaughter knew exactly what she was getting herself into.) "Did your mother explain to you?"

"Nah, never had it." The Earthbender held up her cup with the dregs of the Zi Mu He tea and sniffed it, wrinkling her nose doubtfully as if deciding whether or not she should finish it. After choosing the latter and setting it on the table, she stood up and stretched languorously. "As I always say, it's best if you learn directly from the source!"

Katara felt her jaw slacken in shocked disbelief. She… she couldn't mean—?! "Ubbuh… wha…?!"

"You remember how I ran away as a kid and learned earthbending? Well, part of the reason I went back home the first time was because I was getting tired of not being able to get a good night's sleep… 'cause badger-moles mate too, you know? The vibrations were disturbing me—and in more ways than one."

"Oh thank heavens," the Fire Lady breathed, putting a hand to her chest as she tried to regain her composure. A cool metallic surface grazed her fingers as she did so, and she was reminded of something else she had meant to ask. "Oh, that's right… while I'm thinking about it, is there anyone who has caught your interest in a… significant way? Someone you'd like to marry, perhaps?"

Toph froze mid-stretch, arms extended in the air and eyes wide open. "Marry…?"

"Yes, marry. Like how Sokka got engaged to Suki as soon as she turned sixteen and married soon afterwards, and how Zuko and I got married a couple years after they did. Think about it; you're the last of us girls to remain single," she remarked with a gentle laugh.

"…Is there a problem with that?" This time Toph's tone was challenging, almost belligerent, and she lowered her arms with a jerky stiff movement. "What if I said I don't want to marry, huh? What would you say to that?"

"I would… I'd say that it wasn't totally unexpected, having known you as I do." Not to mention she also had inside information—she'd been informed by one of Suki's later dispatches that Toph was rather touchy on the subject of husbands and marriage, and that the topic should be handled with great delicacy if it ever came up. Her words now were completely truthful, yet even that fact did not completely assuage her guilt for omitting the other truths.

But then the younger girl's lips slowly quirked upwards into a satisfied smirk, and as they shaped the beginnings of a mocking diatribe (one including the words "koala-sheep," "mindless" and "brainwashed") Katara's guilt vanished as if it had never existed. Yes, she prided herself on her ability to empathize with others and to communicate effectively and tactfully, but then again she'd never been able to deal well when it came to the exaggeratedly self-important and the blatantly arrogant—and right now Toph fit very neatly into this second category.

"Wouldn't be surprised if one of them bleated—"

"I wasn't finished talking, Toph!"

A startled look appeared on the blind Earthbender's face, but she was quick to cover it with a petulant scowl. "Oh, like that's new… you're NEVER finished talking. We should've let you take on the old Fire Lord; you've probably have argued him into submission long before Aang could whip out his Avatar-style finishing move." She muttered something else low under her breath, but waved her hand as if indicating her to continue. Katara didn't wait to figure out what she'd said, and instead launched into her own speech.

"You asked me for my opinion, and I'm going to give it. I admit I thought you would still be unmarried, especially since you don't strike me as the whirlwind-romance type and you don't like mushy stuff anyway. But I expected more of you than to run from commitment like a scared rabbit-monkey. I thought you would face it head on when it came, like an Earthbender should." Katara said all this quietly and deliberately, watching Toph's face as it grew increasingly stormy and overcast. She knew that saying such pride-injuring things was practically a patented recipe for explosion, but…

Toph's face closed underneath a stony exterior. "I don't run from things worth committing to."

"What about people? I mean, how many times have you run away from your parents by now?" Careful now, Katara, she mentally cautioned herself. You're older and more mature now, no need for this to deteriorate into a self-righteous shouting match. Remember your limits.

"I didn't run away from my parents, I ran away from the gilded cage they wanted to keep me in. I'm tired of having this conversation, Katara, repeating the same things over and over again. So drop it, okay?" Toph made her way to the door and added, "I'm gonna go bother Fire Lord Sparky now, so I guess I'll—"

"Toph!" she called, and the smaller girl stopped, twisting her head back in attention. "Just… remember you're not the only one who keeps your promises. Aang will return, and someday soon."

"I've been trying to think that way for years, Katara—and it gets less and less convincing as time passes." The smile she received with that response was thin and edgy and almost wistful. "The last person in this sad world who had a cause truly worth committing to… is gone. That's fine, and I've accepted that. Thanks for the tea, Sugar Queen."

Katara looked at her friend's retreating back, heart contracting sympathetically in her chest. Poor Toph… had it only taken six years to change her rough fun-loving nature into one so guarded and cynical? The girl who arrived and drank tea with her today reminded her of a diamond—hard, pure and impenetrable, with a cold crystalline flame at the core, blazing for all to see. She was remarkably beautiful, but it seemed her dangerously sharp edges and resolute disinterest played a large part in keeping her single.

They say some wounds never completely heal… Perhaps this is one of those. The Waterbender folded her hands and held them clasped close to her chin, closing her eyes. If only Aang were here… but no. Despite all she said, no one knew when their Avatar would return, and how he would appear to them. Would he still be the same as the boy she had rescued from the iceberg, the cheerful upbeat Avatar who eventually saved them all? Katara hoped so. Until then, it seemed like her only option would be to find another diamond (or a substitute hard enough) to chip away at those defenses Toph had erected about her heart.

Blue eyes flickered open and she smiled cleverly to herself. And what's more, I think I know the perfect person…

………
Still harder getting up
getting dressed
living with this regret
………

"If you want to sneak up on me, you had better try harder in the future… because that was just pathetic."

"No, you're just freaking paranoid," Toph grumbled as she was shown into the office by a couple of attendants. Zuko put his brush down and examined her with some interest.

"I can tell you've been training. You look good."

"Why thanks, Sparky. You look as handsome and chipper as you ever did."

The Fire Lord grimaced a little at the bad joke, but waved for the attendants to pull up a chair for her in front of his desk. "Bring some refreshments for the lady," he ordered, and at once they bowed and exited the room. As soon as they were gone Toph settled herself in the seat, draped her arms over the back of the chair and gave him a wry grin.

"I don't need to be refreshed, really… I just had tea with your ladylove Katara, and apparently I'm thirty-five percent more fertile than I was before I drank that brew."

Zuko gave her a weird sidelong stare as he debated how to best respond to her statement, then shook his head and decided finally it was better not to try. "Did you two catch up on the past? I know it's been a while since you've last talked," he remarked conversationally, picking up his brush and pulling closer the document he'd been about to sign. Toph sighed, and rolled her head back against the headrest.

"I'm bored of talking about things that happened long ago. Unfortunately, everyone here seems intent on reminding me." She raised her head and narrowed her eyes suspiciously in his direction. "YOU aren't about to start bugging me about Aang or about marriage, now are you?"

The scarred dark-haired man couldn't suppress a disdainful snort at her query. Who did she think he was, anyway? "Hardly. I'm busy enough as it is, and I'm not interested in whatever drama the others choose to involve themselves in… whatever it may be."

"Is that so?" Toph raised an eyebrow questioningly, her face now attentive and curious. "Sweetness hasn't already given you the blow-by-blow account of my misanthropist faults?"

"I haven't spoken more than ten sentences to Katara in the past month, Toph," he answered testily, finishing his signature with a flourish and stamping it with the official Fire Lord seal. "I'm in the middle of negotiating an important trade agreement with eight of the most well-traveled agricultural merchants in the Earth Kingdom. Once everyone agrees to the terms, the Fire Nation will be better able to deal with food shortages in the future and farmers in the Earth Kingdom will have access to a larger consumer base and increase their profits."

"Sounds pretty good to me. What seems to be the holdup, then?" asked the blind Earthbender, tilting her chair backwards. Zuko braced his head on his palms, feeling the familiar frustration build up at his temples as he thought of it.

"There's this one paranoid old codger (who keeps accusing me of 'abetting the cabbage-destroyers!', for some reason) who absolutely refuses any terms that we set before him, no matter how generous. I've been attempting to placate him since the summer solstice, but so far I've had little success."

"Oho, I see how it is… hmm. Katara used to be a diplomat before you two got in the sack, didn't she? Why don't you let her mess with him?" Toph suggested with a smirk, dropping her chair's legs back down with a loud thunk.

"Seeing as he keeps shrieking 'WHAT DID MY POOR CABBAGES EVER DO TO YOU??' if he so much as hears her name, I'm thinking that it's best to keep them far, far away from each other. That also means I have to keep my distance from her as well, just in case he notices and decides to assault me for being a cabbage-destroyer's ally." Zuko ran his hands through his long hair and sighed. "I don't know, Toph. Sometimes I suspect Kat—"

"Wait, Sparky! Keep talking about cabbages. Hey, do you think if this cabbage guy got talked to by some of the richest people in the Earth Kingdom, he might just change his mind?" Toph asked with a feigned innocence and quick change of topic that had Zuko bewildered.

"Toph… what are you—?"

"I think that with a message or two from my parents, this problem might get taken care of without all this haggling," Toph continued unheedingly as the first servant entered, holding a tray of delicate cream puff pastries and various fruit and nut tartlets. The second servant came a moment after, carrying a tall narrow-spouted teapot and two matching cups, all of which was set on the desk as soon as Zuko cleared it of documents and writing utensils.

"The food and drink were tested for toxins and found to be untampered with, sire," one said with a bow. Zuko nodded, understanding now why Toph had done as she had, and dismissed them with a wave of his hand. Both servants bowed again and left, closing the door behind them.

"As I was saying, it's in their best interests to be on good terms with the Fire Lord, seeing as their daughter is planning on visiting for some time. Plus they have connections in the merchant business that you don't, so they can handle it better anyway," Toph concluded, reaching for a tartlet. The aforementioned Fire Lord contemplated the proposition for a few minutes, and then looked back at her as she chowed down unceremoniously.

"Are you so sure your parents will be willing to help, or even let you stay here when they find out?"

"They know I'm here—I checked in with them maybe a year ago, stayed several months to make 'em happy, left because I couldn't stand it and told them I was making for the Fire Nation. 'Course, I went to visit Kyoshi Island first, so as to throw the trackers off my trail." She grinned at him through a mouthful of chestnut and cheese, and in some corner of his mind that wasn't busy analyzing the proffered solution or temporarily paralyzed with disgust, Zuko wondered if she did it purposefully to feel him flinch.

"I trust you know your parents better than I do, so… I'll send them a messenger hawk this afternoon and open up the subject for discussion," he said finally, shaking himself out of his semi-reverie. "I'm willing to negotiate if it means I can get this guy off my back already."

Nodding approvingly, Toph ran her tongue along her white teeth and picked up a few cream puffs, popping them into her mouth one by one and savoring them with a childlike relish. "Wow, these are good! Do you eat this kind of stuff every day?"

"More or less," he replied with a lot less enthusiasm than his guest, glancing at the carefully arranged snacks with slight distaste and resignation. At this rate, I'll probably be the first Fire Lord in more than a hundred years to die of gout from high living—not a record I want to be remembered for. This, however, did have the desired effect of reminding him of his duties as host. "Would you like some tea?"

Toph paused in her mini-snack fest in order to direct a suspicious glare at the teapot (She missed it by a few degrees, but since it was unlikely that the blind Earthbender would be suspicious of his bookshelf he safely assumed it was the teapot that had her ire). "…It doesn't have some weird male-potency-enhancing thing in it, does it?"

One of his eyebrows involuntarily twitched. Honestly… "No. It's. JUST. TEA. Ordinary jasmine tea, from Uncle."

"You sure? 'Cause if it was me, I wouldn't trust anything the old man sends until I got a promise from him in writing. Like today, he sent Katara a pregnancy potion!" she whispered this last in confidential tones, taking the opportunity to clean the rest of the pastry platter. Zuko felt his eyebrows climb up his forehead in surprise.

"Really? But why would Uncle do something like that?"

The green-clad girl chewed industriously, swallowed, and scoffed. "Oh, gee, I don't know… Maybe he's starting to worry about his nephew's prowess in the bedchamber?"

That little…! He fought the urge to say something very un-Fire-Lordish, settling for simply growling through clenched teeth, "Do you want the tea or not?"

"Sure, sure, I'll have some. Boy, guess you really can't take a joke…"

"It wasn't a particularly funny joke," Zuko muttered darkly, but forced himself to calm down and picked up the teapot with both hands. After checking to be sure it was indeed filled with Uncle's jasmine tea blend, he gingerly went about pouring it into the cups, steady hands controlling the flow of the thin stream of hot liquid. In the meantime Toph sighed contentedly, picking bits of nut and berry out of her teeth.

"Mm-hmm… Definitely gotta send the chef my compliments. It's a wonder that you aren't fat by now, shut up in this room with all this yummy stuff to eat."

"I practice firebending every morning and evening. Also, I don't share your fondness for the little sweet things—at most I can stomach three or four before the richness overwhelms me." He set the teapot back down on the tray and took his seat once more, and Toph swiveled her head to face him.

"So, what was that you were saying about Katara?"

It would've been easy to tell her—even easier to tell the truth, since they both knew she could spot a falsehood as easily as any ordinary person could find a komodo rhino hiding in a china shop. Zuko wanted to tell the truth, to unburden himself of it… but after thinking it over he knew he wouldn't. Toph had just come from some kind of disagreement with Katara, and saying anything else would be adding fuel to the smoldering embers. It wouldn't be fair to either of them, and would probably doom what he still hoped for.

So he shrugged his shoulders, picked up his cup and said in its place: "…Never mind. It can wait."

………
But I know if I could do it over
I would trade, give away all the words that I saved in my heart
That I left unspoken
………

"Where were you, Toph? I was looking for you everywhere!" They'd run into each other by accident in the hall, and the Fire Lady did not sound pleased with her friend's disappearance, no matter how brief it happened to be.

"I was busy talking business with Sparky," Toph said off-handedly, yawning a bit. As much as she cared for Katara, there were times when dealing with her was more trouble than it was worth—now being one of them.

"For the past two hours??" Katara's voice rose an octave in pitch as well as in volume. "You were talking the entire time??"

The Earthbender blinked at her sleepily. "Oh, was that how long it was? Time flies when you're having fun…" She yawned again. "Hum… all that eating and drinking made me drowsy. I'm going out to train, see if I can get some blood pumping."

Katara frowned and pursed her lips, lost in thought. "That's so strange, though. Zuko hasn't even let me come within ten meters of his office for the past several weeks!"

"Eh, well… it isn't something you can help him with this time, Sugar Queen." She brushed by her taller friend and muttered thoughtfully under her breath, "I wonder if he was wrong about the tea not being a male-potency drink, 'cause my tummy's feeling funny…" She shrugged and set off down the hall, leaving Katara staring after her.

………
What hurts the most
Is being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been…
………

A/N: Aaand the third chapter is FINALLY up! It would've probably taken less time except there was a lightning storm, and to make a long story short somehow my laptop got hit by the backlash, and now the speakers don't work and my network connections have disappeared. -sweatdrop-

So I am using a friend's computer to upload this. Hope it doesn't disappoint, despite having quite a bit more Zutara-hints than Taang this time... but as always, please read and review!