Day Three: The Spark and Confusion

"How long has she been doing that, Toph?"

"I'd say about the whole day, give or take a few hours."

Sokka's disheveled ponytail flopped in the crisp late afternoon winds of the Western Air Temple, wryly glancing over at his earthbending friend. Both youths were definitely amused with the goings-on of the group thus far and neither of them were loathe to showing it. When Katara made yet another angry pass with her stomping feet as she stormed by, Toph's smirk only expanded.

The fact was Zuko had recently joined their forces. He was an odd addition to the gang what with his dangerous past and previous treacherous side that had earned them a devastating defeat in Ba Sing Se that not only lost them the Earth Kingdom and nearly the War itself, but the Avatar was down for a time as well. As of the moment, it was quite obvious that the master waterbender disagreed with this new arrangement if she had anything to say about it.

"So," mused the Water Tribe warrior, "think she'll ever stop?"

Toph Bei Fong scoffed as she quietly folded her arms across her chest and she used her feet and earthbensing skills to feel the vibrations in the terrain. "Nah. No chance." Then, her smirk broke out into what can be preconceived as a predatory grin. "Well," she added amusedly, "until Prince Prissy Flames jumps off the cliff side."

The two friends laughed heartily, clutching their stomachs in mirth. They did not even notice as a certain waterbender pivoted around to face them in a furious outrage. If one looked closely enough, they would say that they could see a vain twitching on her forehead. Needless to say, a sane man would be terrified.

"What are you two meatheads laughing about?" Her arms flailed wrathfully into the air and her eye glinted in a threatening nature. "This isn't something to be laughing about!"

Even though Katara's older brother originally found the situation more than fairly entertaining, something about the way he heard his sister enunciate those words struck a chord within him. At that moment, he inherently knew that this really was no laughing matter at all. His instincts were trigged. His sibling was much more than simply angry. Sokka could feel it in his gut and in his bones.

She was confused and frustrated and hurt, but it was much more than that. The nonbender felt that Katara actually hated Zuko. He did not know exactly what kind of hatred this was; he had never felt it radiating from her fingertips like this before. No, this was an utterly new feeling…

…and he found it best to avoid it for the time being.

The fifteen-year-old raised his hands up in surrender, a resigned expression upon his features. "Okay, I'm out of here," he said a little too swiftly, "I don't think I want cubes of ice shoved down my throat today."

He waved and added, "See you crazy people around," as he stood and ungracefully sauntered away from the incoming line of fire. Under his breath the teenager murmured, "Better be careful, Toph. She might blow up in your face…"

But he knew that Toph would hear him all the same. There was no need to get anyone else involved.

The daughter of the richest noble family in the Southern Earth Kingdom raised her eyebrows and unprofessionally picked at her toes as if nothing unusual had happened in the past few seconds. Unfortunately for her, her already teetering friend took that as an indirect back sass. Apparently, there would be absolutely zero tolerance at present.

The natural winds of their territory howled in rage in sync with Katara. Toph could almost not believe her ears.

"I can't believe you guys," the waterbender bellowed in blind fury, "You sit around here all day, laughing, while Aang is out there trying to learn firebending from a very dangerous threat! Not only do we lose the Invasion, but we gain a—a liar for an ally!

"Did you forget? He betrayed us in Ba Sing Se! If it weren't for him, Aang wouldn't have almost died! We wouldn't even be in this position! We would have the Earth King's forces backing us up!" Her lips turned into an ugly scowl, rising in order to display her teeth. "And not only that! We lost all those people to the Fire Nation! They could be in prison or—or worse! And then there's Azula, who, somehow, figured us out, and Aang still needs to face the Firelord and Zuko could turn on us at any minute—what if Aang doesn't make it? —and of course had to go ahead and kiss me so now—"

Toph stood up quickly right there. "Wait," she said, stunned, "Who did what now?"

Katara suddenly halted in her place, an appearance of shock on her face. Her moccasin was frozen in mid-step above the Temple's chiseled and rubble-covered surface. She blinked and apprehensively replied, "Wha—what are you talking about?"

"Don't lie. I can tell when you're lying," the blind earthbender smugly retorted.

Their surroundings seemed to sigh in exasperation. In the distance, they could briefly hear the tentative blasts of fire that Zuko was attempting to demonstrate to Aang. Only Toph's enhanced hearing and seismic sensing allowed her to know that he was having problems. His fire blasts were weaker somehow and she almost smiled when she heard Sokka say something about the student and teacher "jerkbending." In her head, she noted that maybe Zuko's firebending needed to be fueled by something else now; maybe that was why his maneuvers were paling in comparison to his previous abilities.

That thought, however, would be reserved for dinnertime.

The girl pouted at her older companion. "So who kissed you? Zuko?"

Just as expected, Katara reacted instantaneously to the comment. She swore up and down that she would never ever kiss a traitorous scum like him. He had betrayed her trust and she was adamant on the idea that there was no way that she would even entertain the thought of forgiving him, even if he somehow decided that it was time to "switch sides" and "teach the Avatar firebending." What a load.

"Okay, then," Toph continued, unfazed. "Who kissed you?"

The waterbender reeled back. "Ah! N—No one did! It was nothing!"

"Someone kissed you. Who was it? Was it Twinkle Toes?"

It was only meant to be a joke of some sort, a prod at something hopefully laughable, really. The Bei Fong did not realize that this simple teasing gesture would pry more information from her wayward friend than she initially intentioned. Afterwards, she would not regret the potential ammunition she had gathered for these kinds of things. It would be such a pity that the event would have to stay a tentative secret for a while though.

And though Katara vehemently attempted to deny that Avatar Aang had indeed kissed her on top of the submarines just before the launch and subsequent failure of the Invasion on the Day of Black Sun, it was so obvious to Toph that she was lying through her teeth, and admittedly for reasons that only attributed to the embarrassment of some treasured and clandestine hush-hush that had been found out.

Eventually, the older female had given up. She knew that Toph could not be fooled. Eventually, she reconciled herself to that fact. Instead, she sighed and bowed her head.

"I don't know what to do anymore, Toph," the waterbender said dejectedly. "I'm so confused and Zuko being here isn't helping.

"Every day is another day the Fire Nation could be attacking us. It's another day closer to when Aang has to face his destiny, and with Zuko here…I'm afraid that he'll hurt Aang and I'll hurt him for doing that." She closed her eyes, her arms drooping sadly beside her. "I don't want to care about him too much. If I do, I'm afraid I'll lose him in this War and I just…I don't know if I can deal with that…"

Leaves rustled below their feet and the fountain in the background splashed as if in a late afternoon daze.

Toph sighed. "I don't think I'm the right person to talk this out with, Sugar Queen." At that comment, Katara appeared surprisingly crestfallen. But, her friend was not about to abandon her just like that. It was too simple, too shameful.

The earthbending master smiled gently, a rare sight to behold. "But I do know that you're right. It might not be the right time to start something now, but…" She worried her bottom lip in a slightly uncharacteristic behavior. "…but if you really do care about Aang, how about after we end this war, huh?"

Katara trembled at the thought. In her heart, she knew what she wanted, she knew what she needed. But she was too confused. First the kiss, then she practically threatened Zuko's life if he ever dared to lay a finger on Aang, and then…and then…

And then what?