Chapter 3: And a Hard Place

That night, Zuko didn't get much sleep. Toph was insatiable.

It had all started out at a slow relaxed pace. Zuko had followed Toph to her house, with an awkward silence hanging over them. They had walked out of the town and up a hill, overlooking the valley where Gaoling was settling into a peaceful night-time slumber of sorts. Lights were gently flickering down in the valley, against a warm breeze.

Toph's place turned out to be a huge mansion, easily rivalling the royal summer houses of the Fire Nation. There had obviously been a wall surrounding the estate, but most of it had been torn down, creating an eerie contrast between the messy, unkempt lawn and the beautiful house. The interior wasn't really different in any significant way. There was expensive looking furniture and trinkets everywhere, but they were in utter disarray. It was like a tornado had passed through the building, and its name was most likely Toph.

She told him to take a seat as she walked off into a different room. This turned out to be more difficult than one would expect. By the time Toph returned with a tray, carrying a pot and two cups, Zuko was still searching for a proper chair to sit on, one that wasn't broken, covered by junk, or halfway through a wall.

"Having trouble, your Highness?" she asked in mock politeness.

"I was just looking for a seat," Zuko said, still turning his head in search of a place to sit on.

"Pff, don't worry about that," Toph said as she stomped her foot thrice, summoning pillars of stone from the ground to act as a table and stools. "We'll just drink here."

As Zuko sat down and Toph poured them tea, the awkward silence returned once again. They sat there for several minutes, just sipping their tea. Zuko thought of mentioning to her that her tea was a lot better than the one at the restaurant, but realized that was a pretty lame thing to say, so they continued to sip their tea quetly. They were both on their third cup when Toph finally took the initiative and broke the silence.

"Soo... What have you been up to, you know, in the last decade or something?" Toph asked, while not taking her blind gaze off the tea cup.

"I've, uh, been busy, really busy, with work and all," Zuko couldn't raise his gaze from his tea either.

"Oh, well, I guess that explains everything."

Zuko took a deep breath. "Look, I'm sorry, I really am. I don't really have an excuse, it shouldn't have happened at all in the first place. I have no idea what happened. I guess we just drifted apart... and it was probably all my fault."

At this, Toph finally raised her head, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Ah, that's okay, if you really regret it. Now let me tell you what's been happening to me since you've had your head up your – uhm – you know what I mean."

And with this the suffocating silence disappeared for good. Toph told him what had happened to her after the last time they had met: she had taken up fighting in earthbending tournaments and other rare international bending tournaments. She had dominated all of the professional circuits in bending, but after a couple of years became bored with it, as there was no worth fighting in the tournaments without proper opponents. Then she had decided to travel. She had met a lot of interesting people on her journeys. But more importantly she had discovered the joy of teaching on her travels. There were so many kids in the Earth Kingdom who had the potential for earthbending in them, unfortunately their own attempts were poor at best since most of them couldn't afford proper teaching. So Toph had given them a few pointers. After a few weeks, they were erecting walls and throwing boulders like professionals. After these experiences, Toph decided to start a school of her own, with no acceptance fee, she didn't need the money, since after all, she came from a rich family and swindling money from crooks was easy as pie for her. And so, she had been teaching kids for six years now.

"And those guys in the alley were some of your students?" Zuko asked incredulously.

"Ah yeah, even though I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it" she said, scratching her head and blushing slightly. "They aren't really the best I got, you know, they've failed the final exams five times by now. But they're the only ones, I swear."

"Oh, I would never dare doubt your teaching skills, just your choice in those you teach."

"And what's that s'posed to mean?"

"Well maybe you should just kick them out, no more need to follow them around, to make sure they don't hurt innocent people. Speaking of which, why didn't you step in before things got serious?"

"Oh, I was about to, but then you went off shooting like a rocket, so I decided to let them receive a fire flavoured beat down before I served them my unique style of scolding."

They both let out their first genuine laughs for the night, but definitely not the last.

"Hahaha, oh man," – snicker – "but I don't even know why you were there in the first place yet," Toph said as she gulped some tea.

"Well, to put it simply, some pirates stole information about the Fire Nation's military and I'm here to track them down."

"By yourself? Hah, you really suck at being a ruler. Ever heard of delegating?"

"I'd like to see you try and lead a country from the confines of a castle for several years. Besides if I hadn't come here, we wouldn't have met."

"I'll drink to that!" Toph shouted and took a deep swig from her cup.

"Hahaha, wait, what kind of tea is this anyway?"

"Really strong... I have no idea...hic, hihih"

"I don't think this is regular tea, haha."

"I think you're right, pffahahahaaa."

And their conversation continued on like this throughout the most of the night, laughing, drinking, and trading stories of their little personal adventures over the years. Toph was more than eager to share life stories with Zuko, she was especially interested in royal wardrobe for some reason, and wouldn't stop laughing whenever he mentioned the royal hairpieces. Zuko guessed that the reason for the ease of reconnection was due to the fact that they had lived rather similar lifestyles. They had both lived rich lives, but enjoyed the years adventuring the most. And of course there was the tea, he shouldn't have forgotten the wonderful tea...

Zuko woke up to a terrible headache in the morning, no, it couldn't be morning since the sun was so high. He jerked up suddenly, which he regretted immediately. It felt like he had been using his head for earthbending target practice. Eventually he managed to look around. He was sitting on the table Toph had made for them. But he couldn't see Toph herself anywhere. He decided to stand up to go and find her, or a toilet at least. As he stepped off the table, he fell into a crater he hadn't noticed in his numbed state of mind. At the bottom of the crater he found Toph, as their heads collided together.

"AAWWGHH!!" they shouted in perfect unison. They struggled briefly, but only got further entangled.

"What are you doing?! Get off me, don't think you can take advantage of me like this, just cos, cos –" Toph's protests were cut short, by Zuko and her own mind failing to come up with any real reason.

"Oh shut up, who's touching who inappropriately here anyway?" Zuko said annoyed. He didn't have time for this. The pirates already had a significant head start on him, and he'd wasted the entire evening and morning, which he had originally meant as time for inventing a better plan and furious riding in their pursuit. He was angry at himself, and Toph to a certain extent, after all she was the one who had given him the tea.

"Ugh, I need to get out of here, I need to catch those pirates, I need..."He managed to untangle himself from Toph and tried to climb out of the pit they were in. "I need more time, I need, need... help."

Then he collapsed onto the floor and fell to sleep once again along with Toph.

When the pair of benders woke up again, the sun was starting to set once more.

"Damn it! I've wasted a whole day here!" Zuko screamed. A voice inside his head whispered: What did I tell you, you're a failure, always was, always will be. A breath of fire escaped his mouth before he regained control over his emotions.

"Toph, get us out of here, now!" Zuko said in a manner that suggested that failure to comply would not be tolerated.

"Geez calm down, Mr. Gloom'n'Doom," Toph got up, holding her head. As she regained her sense of direction and stable footing, she thrust her hands upwards, lifting them out of the crater.

Zuko flew out of the house without a word. He was so angry, he thought smoke was actually pouring out of his nostrils and ears. He really hoped this wasn't really the case. Running through the town with his head smoking, would've been the last straw. He had to catch up to the pirates, or he'd never find them. Worst of all, he had left Toph without even a goodbye. Could things possible go so wrong, so easily, so incredibly quickly? He made a silent vow he'd come back and apologise for his behaviour, later, now he had a mission to complete, and not a second could be wasted.

He bolted through the town's streets like lightning, nimbly dodging, and occasionally knocking down a passing pedestrian. As he rounded the corner, and saw the restaurant with the stable he had left his mount in, he couldn't do anything but gape in bewildered shock. He stood there completely motionlessly, as an unnameable terror griped his innards and froze him solidly to the core. The restaurant had burned down to nothing but high stacks of ash. The stable was still standing though, however it was empty.

After about five minutes, Toph showed up.

"Woah, looks like we weren't the only ones who had a rough night," she said as she reached Zuko. "Hey, Zuko, anyone home?"

She waved her hand in front of his face but received no reaction whatsoever. "Huh..." she contemplated on the problem at hand. Maybe he'd react to a punch to the shoulder. Thump. Nothing. "Huh..."

She looked around. There was a boy working his way through the wreckage, probably seeking anything that hadn't completely been obliterated by the fire.

"Hey! Kid! Yeah, you! Get over here!" she beckoned.

As the boy reached the place where the duo was standing, one tapping her foot impatiently, the other starting to develop a nasty looking twitch in his good eye, Toph asked him: "What happened here?"

"Well some of the customers, the lot that shows up after three in the morning, got a bit too rowdy, and well one thing lead to another, and then there was this guy selling fireworks, and then some hog monkeys came out of nowhere, and then there was this whole brawl before the guards showed, and then it was all like piff paff pow pew pew –"

"Okay okay, I get the picture, now get lost. Me and my, uh, catatonic vegetable of a friend here have things to discuss." Toph said as she waved goodbye to the boy standing in front of her. He didn't like being patronized, but he knew you shouldn't be mean to handicapped people. As he walked off, he wondered how a blind chick and cat-catatron-catatactic, whatever, person got around any way. It was probably best not to think too much about it, as his Pops always used to say.

Toph started prodding Zuko, then gently punching, and finally slapping. None of it worked, apparently nothing could release Zuko from his stupor. Well, if Toph had learned anything on her travels around the world, it was that there was always one specific way to grab a man's attention, though this time, she surmised, a kick would probably work better than a squeeze. So she took aim, and launched a brutal kick to Zuko's royal family jewels.

"GYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGHHHHHHHHOOOWWWWMMMMGGGGGOOOOSSSSSHHHHHOOOOOOOOWWHHYYYYOOHHWWHHYYY?!?!!?"

"Why? There was a 'why', right? Well I was starting to get bored with your glazed gaze," She said with a surprising amount of conviction.

"That's – no – reason – urgh – bleh," said Zuko with little conviction as he continued to squirm on the ground.

"Well nothing else was working."

"Couldn't you – have done – something – less painful... like throw – a boulder – at me?"

"No time for that, besides why did you rush here in the first place?"

"I, ugh, needed to get, agh, back on the road t-to follow those pirates I told yugh about."

"Oh, and this was where your ride was?"

"Yeah..."

"Hmmm, oh boy, Zuko, to be completely honest here, I don't think that's an option anymore."

"I know that," Zuko said with a growl. "Now what am I s'posed to, uh, do? I messed up again..."

"Well you could start by getting up, and then we could think of a new plan... over some more tea, perhaps?"

"Grrrr," came the teeth clenched reply.

"Don't worry we'll go to the Jasmine Dragon here, and get some normal tea. Seriously, I had no idea that tea was so, uhm, potent. And there we can come up with a new plan. C'mon Zuko, we've been through worse, a few pirates shouldn't pose a real problem."

Zuko remained on the ground, brooding, as the pain slowly disappeared. Then suddenly it hit him, possibly even harder than Toph's kick.

"Wait, did you say Jasmine Dragon?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Where?"

"At the end of the street."

For a man who had just been kicked in the groin, Zuko ran incredibly quickly, even if it was slightly lopsided. He soon found the Dragon, barged in, and looked around. There had to be a Pai Sho table around here. His Uncle wouldn't tolerate one of his fine tea shops lacking such a fundamental commodity. And there, in the corner it was, with an elderly lady sitting on one side, calmly sipping her tea.

He sat down on the other side of the game board, gingerly of course. He laid down a white lotus piece on the centre of the board.

"I see you favour the White Lotus gambit. Not many are left who still cling to the ancient ways," the woman said.

"Those who do can always find a friend," Zuko recited.

"Then let us play."

The old woman calmly gazed at him, before she placed a tile of her own. They continued placing tiles until a giant lotus was nearly formed on the board with Zuko's tile in the centre. By now Toph had caught up and was now standing behind Zuko with look of utter confusion. Zuko was playing Pai Sho now? Maybe she had kicked him too hard, sending his nuts to where his brain used to be.

"Welcome Brother, the White Lotus opens wide to those who know its secrets," the woman said as the last tile was placed.

"Thank you Sister, I am in desperate need of immediate assistance. The fate of the world could depend on it," Zuko said.

"Oh you youngsters and your melodrama," the woman said as she carefully glanced at Toph. "If your situation is indeed so dire, perhaps we should relocate, to a place with fewer prying ears."

"I guess you're right," Zuko replied and then turned to Toph, "Could you wait here while I, uh, finish things here."

"Zuko, what's going on here?"

"Remember the Order of the White Lotus? Well, I'm a member and since you aren't, well, I can't let you join us... sorry," He added. All of this seemingly aimless running around wasn't really fair on Toph, but, he reminded himself, he didn't have any more time to waste.

"O-kay," Toph said in a rather dreamy voice, as she went through her memories, seeking relevant moments to this one. She had no idea what was going on, but could tell that this wasn't a good time to hinder Zuko with her witticisms. As Zuko left the board and went to the back of the tea shop, Toph decided to sit down. She sat on Zuko's chair. As she sat there, coming to grips with the situation at hand, she started wondering how such a secret order could just leave all of their tiles in the form of the their secret symbol on game boards without anyone finding out about them. She decided to gather them up, as she didn't really know what else to do.

She started to recollect the events that had lead to this moment, along with the tiles. She had met Zuko in an alley, being ambushed by her students. As if that hadn't been awkward enough, the actual conversation had been even worse. Luckily after the initial shock at meeting Zuko again after so many years, she had quickly regained control of the situation. It gave her enough confidence to allow them a proper chance to reconnect, even though it had taken its fair share of awkwardness to happen as well. Then it had gotten easier, enjoyable actually. It was probably that tea she had bought. Although she didn't think it was fair to blame her for the tea mishap, she was blind after all. Then the two had woken up in a rather... unrefined position. And after that Zuko had run off mysteriously. And she hadn't really been enlightened any further on the situation after that.

She remembered that Zuko was after some kind of pirates or something, and that the Order of the White Lotus had helped during Sozin's Comet. Woah, that sure was a long time ago, 13 years or something? And now Zuko was a member? Why wasn't she one? Well, in any case, this was probably all for the better. If these flower power guys had helped in liberating Ba Sing Se, along with Iroh, they could probably help with the pirates.

By the time Zuko returned, Toph had made up her mind about several things.

"Hmm, I should get the information I want by tomorrow, and the White Lotus promised to do all they could to resolve this issue as well. This could all turn really nasty if we do nothing," Zuko said as he sat down on the other side of the board. He gave it a small glance and raised an enquiring eyebrow. "What happened to all the tiles?"

"Don't worry, I have them, flame breath," Top told him as she turned her blind eyes on Zuko. "Zuko we need to talk."

"Yeah, I know, this must all seem pretty crazy and I'd like to apologize for –"

"Stuff it Zuko, I'm talking now," she said in a serious tone. Zuko stared at her with a surprised look on his face.

"When you turned up, and after that night we had, I've realized something. I'm bored. And chasing you around, and being involved with all this mysterious business is the most excitement I've had in years. So I've decided to join you on your little quest."

"Wha-?" Zuko's jaw dropped slightly. "Wait, don't you have a school to run."

"Hey, it's not like I can gate fired, it's my school and furthermore, no one's paying me anything. So I've decided to join you."

Zuko was silent, thinking. He felt like he still owed Toph something. He could probably use all the help he could get, and who could be more reliable than someone from the old Gang. Which lead him to his next idea. "Alright, why not. Maybe we can even get the rest of the guys to help as well. The Order has some of the fastest messenger hawks in the world. We could even get Aang and Appa to carry us around, that would really help speed things along." He could feel his heart start to beat faster as he got excited. He could still stop those pirates, and silence that voice in his head that had been belittling him since this whole thing started.

"Uhm, Zuko," Toph said quietly.

"What?"

"Haven't you heard? No one's seen Aang for almost ten years."

And with that sombre statement, Zuko's heart skipped a couple of beats, as that all too familiar terror snuck back into his spirit.