I managed to finish this a lot earlier than I'd expected to. This chapter is to re-introduce that last member of the Gaang, so for those of you whom were concerned that I'd killed her off; you can rest easy. Also there's finally a bit of combat, and I do mean a bit, it lasts only a couple minutes, but it serves its purpose. Well then, here's Chapter 3: Crumbling Foundations

It was early in the morning, the sun barely visible upon the horizon. The small Earth Kingdom village seeped in silence, the vast majority of its residents still asleep at such an early hour. Several huts, for there was but one building that could be classified as a house, sat half collapsed. The dry earth, all the dryer because of the drought that plagued the area, made poor groundwork for any structure, let alone the poorly built homes the villagers lived in. Those that had not collapsed sat on solid stone, which seemed to climb a foot up the sides of the walls, further ensuring their continued stability.

A dim light could be seen from a window of the house, the only light available save the first rays of dawn. The house, similar to the remaining huts, was supported and reinforced by a solid stone foundation. The light originated from the dining room where a small meeting about the future of the village was taking place.

A short girl sat back in a chair formed from stone, the chair itself seemed sized perfectly for her petit form. Her long black hair dangled down behind the chair, tied into a pony tail, it occasionally brushed the surface of the stone. He bangs were lose and all but concealed her pale green eyes, which seemed to be glazed over. Her skin was tanned, likely from traveling through the blazing sun for some tine, the occasional tan line along her collar or cuffs suggesting a much lighter tone.

She wore a forest green robe, buttoned only from her chest to her neck, and left her stomach plainly visible. The trimming and the inner lining were both a pale yellow that contrasted nicely with the rest of the robe. The sleeves were long, and hid her hands from view, though when she stretched her arms her hands appeared from within the cuffs, displaying a black bracelet around her left wrist. Her pants, a slightly lighter shade of green from her robe, were very loose and flared near her ankles, likely the only thing keeping them up was a tightly wound pale yellow sash around her waist.

She blew lightly at her bangs, causing them to dance and tickle her forehead, not satisfied with simply being bored she had to make it clear to anyone else who was paying attention. The person in the room, a chubby little man with shoulder length black hair and a well trimmed beard, was trying to speak with her and it was not long before her displeasure was noticed.

"Ambassador Toph, are you even listening to me? Stop playing with your hair and look at me."

"Hey, blind remember?" The girl, Toph, gestured to her eyes. "Besides, it's not that I'm not trying to listen, it's more like you're not saying anything worth hearing."

"Now listen here young lady!" Began the man, but he was quickly cut off.

"No, you listen here. I may be young, and I may be blind, but don't you think that you can pull the wool over my eyes. We had a deal, and now you're trying to worm your way out of it."

"As I've told you, we don't have anywhere to put them, they would simply be laying about the road and I will not have that in my village."

"Of course you won't, because you'll give them homes. It's just two families, and you have at least four huts out there that can be easily fixed up for them. I know they're there, so don't bother lying," Toph was no longer sitting relaxed, rather she was leaning forward, his hands on her legs.

"I will not have Fire Nation living in my village. Forget about any deals that way made, I simply cannot allow it. I don't care if it was the Avatar that sent you here, I will not adhere to these ridiculous demands."

Turning her right palm upwards, she balled that hand into a fist, as she did the stone floor around the man seemed to turn to liquid, crawling up his body and then turning back into a solid. "First of all, Aang did not send me; I am here by my choice alone. Also Aang is not the one that granted me the title of ambassador. You'll find that it was King Bumi of Omashu that decided I was deserving of the position, though King Kuei of Ba Se Sing, though I guess you know him better as the King of the Earth Kingdom, also agreed with the decision. Though even without their support, I'm still a Bei Fong, so you would do well not to assume that I need Aang to sanction any of my action,"

Clenching her fist tighter, the stone engulfed more of the man, leaving only his head free. "Now as per our prior agreement, you will take these people in. There are just two families, one an elderly lady with her two grand children and the other a young woman with her little brother. If you have any problems with this you can take it up with King Bumi or King Kuei, and explain to them why you are trying to derail peace negotiations."

The man could only nod, now fully aware that the girl standing before him had both the power to snuff his life out, and to cut off any trade to the village, effectively wiping it off the map. Toph opened her hand, and the stone fall away, melting back into the ground like ice into water. The man rubbed his neck nervously. "I have no choice but to agree. If you will but make a foundation for the ruined huts as you have the others I will see to it. I am very sorry for disrespecting you, and I will not let it happen again."

"It would be most wise to tread carefully around me mayor. I am in a hurry as I have another meeting I must attend, but I will set the foundation before I leave town. The refugees will be arriving by caravan in a week's time and I will be back to check on them," With that, Toph excused herself from the mayors home. With a few gestures she compacted and reshaped the ground around the abandoned huts into a solid stone base, then hastily left the town.

Upon exiting, Toph could not hold in her laughter in longer, and had to wipe a tear from her eyes. "As if that idiot actually thought I'd do anything to him or his village. Politicians will agree to anything when threatened," She stretched her arms out to the side and let out a yawn. "I guess I should go to my other meeting before I fall asleep."

Zuko sat relaxed on a branch high up in a tree, casually eating an apple. Normally he would have been alert, but he was more focused on his lunch than on his surroundings. Truthfully he'd only climbed the tree to avoid sitting on the ground, the parched land collapsed under his every step and so he did his best to avoid staying in one place too long otherwise he found he would sink a half foot.

Suddenly, the tree shook violently, and before the banished prince could brace himself, he was falling. He grabbed at a passing branch, using it to angle his decent, and landing on the ground in a crouch. In a flash his words were out, their blades decorated with etched flames that seemed to spew from the mouths of the dragon-like hilts. His shoulders immediately slackened as he saw that his assailant was none other than Toph.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice displayed more than a hint of irritation at the presence of the prince.

Zuko smiled, and sheathed his swords, confident he would have no use for them. Taking a step toward Toph he spoke. "I was just-" He was cut off as he was forced to jump back, the ground where'd he'd just been standing having collapsed into a deep pit. He looked down at the hole, then back at Toph, and then back at the hole. "Hey, at least let me explain myself!" He exclaimed.

"I don't need to hear your excuses," Toph drew her arms up to her chest, then threw them out to her sides, palms facing away from each other, and her arms forming a 180 degree angle. As she did this, two stone slabs, each the size of a barn wall, rose from the ground, about ten feet apart, flanking Zuko. The prince did not hesitate, and ran straight towards the left wall, and continued to run up it even has Toph brought her hands together. Using the wall as leverage, he leapt into the air, barely clearing the collision of the two slabs, the sound of Toph's hands clapping together echoes through the air.

Still in midair, Zuko did not have any opportunity to react as Toph; her arms still extended in front of her, cupped her hands together and raised them as high into the air as she could, while her right leg slid backward and he braced herself with her left. Following her movement, the two now conjoined slabs extended, shooting upwards, and slamming heavily into the prince's side. Zuko was sent flying trough the air, off balance and disoriented.

Slightly dazed, Zuko still tried to brace himself to the imminent impact, and upon feeling his shoulder connect with the ground, he ducked into a roll. Relying more on instinct than thought, all that mattered to him at the moment was to keep moving. Still dizzy, he stumbled to his feet and began to run, though he wasn't certain in what direction he was heading, his vision a blur.

Toph clenched her hands together, and brought her arms down, keeping her elbows straight, and following suit the slabs toppled over. Dust and debris were flung into the air as the slabs collided with the ground, narrowly missing Zuko. Smiling with satisfaction, Toph raised one hand, palm out, as if gesturing for someone or something to stop.

The impact of the slabs shook the ground, nearly throwing Zuko flat on his face. He ceased running, and crouched low. Searching through the dust and debris he attempted to locate Toph. However he found that the small particles of rock would not subside, rather they seemed to be floating in the air as if held by some unseen force. The prince was all but blind, while Toph, who did not rely on her eyes for sight, could easily pinpoint his location.

"Well done," he muttered, and drew his swords.

A fist side rock connected heavily with Zuko's shoulder, but even as he rolled with the attack he caught sight of another rock headed for his face. Bringing up his left sword he parried the attack, causing the rock to burst into dust, and like the other debris it too remained suspended in midair. No time to savour this small victor, a third rock hit his back, causing him to grimace in pain.

Rolling forward, Zuko tried to take a more offensive approach. Cutting down what flying rocks he could, he slowly made his way to what he thought was the edge of the dust cloud. A sudden barrage of rocks forced him back though, so he turned and tried the same method again. A second barrage, of even larger stones, caused him to fall back, dropping his right sword in the process.

The best the prince could do was parry the attacks he saw aimed for his head, and try to evade or roll with the others. The attacks came from every direction, so pinpointing Toph was near impossible. Feeling a sharp sting in his left wrist, Zuko dropped his other sword. Now unarmed, the prince could only wait for the final blow. A rock, easily the size of a torso, was sent flying at the prince. Not content to sit and wait for the impact, Zuko leapt into the air, but rather than clearing the rock, he landed atop it. The increased weight forced the rock to rapidly lose altitude, but before it fell to the ground, Zuko jumped backwards off it, adding the rock's momentum to his own. As he was not in contact with the ground, Toph could not see him, and so she did not notice as he finally escaped her smoke screen until he was already free.

A sudden impact with thee ground just outside the cloud of dust drew Toph's attention. It was Zuko, lying flat on his back, and obviously in some pain. Toph laughed to herself, for while Zuko's gambit had succeeded, it also left him prone. Before the prince could stand, Toph raised four slabs of stone around him, boxing him in.

Zuko cursed as the walls appeared around him, he'd been too slow, too sloppy, and now he was caught. Climbing to his feet, he began to cough, his lunges trying to rid themselves of all the inhaled dust and dirt. "Damn Earth Benders."

Toph could be heard laughing from outside the cage. "Ha, I caught sparky! Sugar queen would have a cow if she knew about this," She slapped her hand against the stone wall in exclamation.

Zuko slouched in defeat, but as he was about to lean again one of his prison walls, the entire box disappeared back into the ground. Suddenly off balance, the prince flailed wildly as he fell flat on his butt. This of course elicited more laughter from Toph, whom now stared down at the fallen prince.

"Real smooth there sparky," She laughed. "So I take it all that jumping and stuff earlier was just dumb luck, and you're really a klutz?" A serious expression etched itself upon Toph's face. "Seriously though, what are you doing here?"

"Why don't you tell me?" questioned Zuko, clearly irritated. "It was you that asked me to meet you here in the first place."

"Not, not here. I told you to stay away from inhabited areas, there's a village not ten minutes from here. Maybe you forgot you're a wanted man, but I can guarantee you that the rest of the world has not. Aang's put a hefty bounty on you, and given the state of the world I doubt anyone would hesitate to turn you in."

"Yeah, Aang would do that wouldn't he? Anything at all, just to keep his little mistake a secret."

Chapter 3: End.

This chapter was originally longer, but I decided to transplant the rest of it into the following chapter, which was going to be far too short otherwise while this one was going to be far too long. This chapter served to bring back Toph, as well as to show off her new look, and give some insight to how some characters' combat prowess has increased over the past few years. No Fire Bending from Zuko yet, but he's as agile as ever. Toph on the other hand has displayed the ability to multitask with little effort, where as most benders focus entirely at the task at hand. I'll post the 4th chapter as soon as I'm done, no estimates as my last two have been totally off. Remember to seize the day.

-fallendeathlord