I am sitting alone in my bedroom reading a novel my uncle recommended to me when I hear a knock at the door. I get up to answer it and double check the knot on my robe is tied tight. As I pull the door open I recognize Katara's soft face instantly.
"Hey, glad I caught you up." She smiles. "Can I come in?" I'm not really sure what to say, this could look really bad.
"Of course." I never seem to say what I should say around her.
"I was thinking about what we were talking about earlier… about that night." She walks into the center of the room and turns to face me. She is in a blue robe, clearly ready for bed. I can't take my eyes off her. "About you thinking about it too…." I feel my throat swell up. She comes closer to me. "We both have to stick to our responsibilities, I understand that. But maybe we could secretly be together… without anyone knowing." She touches my arms lightly. I can't breathe.
"Katara…" I began but she hushes me.
"Sometimes you need to be selfish. We are both making sacrifices for the greater good. Why does that mean we have to be miserable?" She speaks to the side of me that wants her badly. My hands find their way to her hips, they feel more noticeable now. Katara has really developed into a young women and the results, I must admit, are striking. She pulls my robe slightly to rest a hand on my bare chest. I feel like we are about to make the biggest mistake of our lives.
There's a knock at the door.
Katara pulls back quickly and sits on a chair while I tighten up my robe. We create as much distance as possible. "Come in." I instruct. Sokka peaks his head in the door and smiles.
"Knew you guys would be up talking about this!" He walks right in and flings the door shut behind him without looking back. He sits on the foot of my bed right next to me and pulls his feet up. "So, how awesome is this plan? I think the world is going to have a great response."
"You're just excited because you got to choose the name." Katara rolls her eyes and slumps down into her chair.
"I thought about this the ENTIRE trip over here: Republic City. It just screams 'way better city than Ba Sing Se.'" He raises his hands up as if holding an invisible banner. I feel myself smirk. My bedroom door whips open aggressively, much to everyone's shock, revealing a grinning Toph in the entry way.
"You cannot be having a sleepover pow-wow in here without me. That just isn't going to fly." She stomps across the room into a chair next to Katara and kicks her feet up into the facing chair.
"We were just talking about the meeting today." Katara fills her in but I don't think she actually cares. I think she just missed being around us, like the way things were. I think that's why she still travels around so much… I think she's bored and lonely.
"I had a really cool idea after the meeting: what if I teach others to metal bend, and create a squad of metal benders to act like guards and keep the city safe."
"That's actually so bad-ass." Sokka nods in approval.
"But your metal bending won't be unique to you any more… are you okay with that?" Katara was always trying to mother everyone and be there counsellor. I found it a really endearing quality, but I could see it get on someone's nerves like Toph.
"Oh, I'll still be the best." She smirked. "But I'll just get to go down in history as the first person to do this amazing thing instead of the only person to have ever done it. Eventually those people become legends and you aren't sure if that ever really happened or not. I don't want to go out that way."
"I like that idea. With a special skill like that it will take the best of the best to keep the city safe and inforce the rules. We should bring it up tomorrow at the next meeting." I rubbed my finger against my chin thoughtfully. I had not yet started growing a beard but was considering the possibility as it would make me look wiser in these moments of chin rubbing contemplation. "Do you think Aang would oppose a force like that?" I direct me question at Katara as she is his voice currently.
"I think he would be fine with it." She shrugs her shoulders and looks at Toph. "There needs to be rules to avoid chaos, we need people to inforce them." I nod in response and Toph grins wildly.
"I cannot wait to open up my school!"
"I feel really sorry for the guys signing up for those classes." Sokka leans over to me. We both snicker.
"Well, it is getting pretty late. I think I'm going to head to bed." Katara yawns and stands up from her chair. She stretches her arms high above her head and I can't help but stare. We almost did something tonight. I can't shake those thoughts. "Good night all." She gives me a brief look before exiting the room. My eyes float down to the ground.
"Yeah I think I'm going to follow. I've said all I wanted to say tonight." Sokka hops up quickly and shoves his hands into his pocket. He whistles a happy tune as he casually saunters out. Toph and I sit in total silence. I never really know what to say to her. Like Sokka said, she's kind of a wild card.
"You know Zuko," Her sudden voice startles me. "There is one thing I never got about you." I wait for her to continue. "There was all this chemistry between you and Katara… I don't understand how that didn't happen. Maybe that's because I wasn't around during the whole 'stalker' phase of your life. Maybe if I'd been there I'd see it differently. To me, at the time we were all together, it just seemed so obvious. I thought for sure you were going to run off together after the comet."
I'm completely shocked. I'm not sure what to say to her at all. My body is frozen and my jaw is clenched tight. I just hoped she would continue so I wouldn't have to be left in this uncomfortable place.
"I know it's still there. I can still sense it." I feel like she isn't going to continue any further on that point. I wait a moment longer to be sure.
"Toph, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a married man."
"But you're sleeping in a room separate from your wife?"
"Things are… complicated… but we are working on them."
"I know you guys had sex that night." Dead silence. "I can hear tanks coming from miles away but you don't think sex nearby would do it?" I am mortified. No one was supposed to know. This could ruin everything. I feel sweat appear on my brow.
"Look… it was a one-time thing. A lapse in judgement. We all know Katara and Aang are meant for each other."
"He'd have way better luck producing an Air-Bending heir with a non-bender. She's a powerful bender, they'll just conflict." I had never thought about that before. I had also never realized Toph was so against their relationship.
"Why do you care? It can't be that you're just interested in seeing a happy ending for me." I pause for a moment. "You're in love with Aang?"
"How did you come to that conclusion? There has been zero chemistry between us. We couldn't be more opposite."
"I think that is what attracts you." I watch as a blush spreads across her cheeks and I know I'm right. I don't mention it, I know that she has no idea what blushing looks like or that she's even doing.
"You couldn't be more wrong." She sits up in her chair and rests her feet on the ground. "I'm a powerful bender too, we'd probably never get an air baby. I just couldn't understand why you both chose to burry your feelings." She stands up and crosses the room towards the door. "It doesn't really make sense what you're doing. I think it will only cause more pain in the long run and tear our group apart." With that she leaves the room and earth bends the door back into place. The door hangs off its hinges, ruined, it will never close properly again.
Toph marches down the hall past Sokkas room. She senses Sokka just ahead in the hallway. He is passed out on the floor leaning against the wall. He has a beef-pork chop from dinner hanging out of his mouth. It appears he couldn't stay away all the way back from the kitchen.
A/N: Short Chapters so far, but lot's more to come I promise.