Sokka and Suki sat knee to knee at the low table in the apartment, both of them jotting down notes and calculations while Zuko sorted through several pages worth of warehouse manifests. Glancing up from his paperwork, he caught the couple exchanging yet another one of their flirtatious looks, and the prince cleared his throat discretely to bring them back to the task at hand.
"Okay, moving right along," said Sokka briskly, tearing his eyes from Suki, "how many dolls are there?"
"A hundred," Zuko replied, scanning the page.
"Then we'll need more," stated Sokka with a small frown as he reviewed his figures, "We've got a hundred and sixteen girls."
"I'll add it to the list," Suki sighed as she made a few marks on her parchment.
The door to the apartment opened and Katara walked in followed by Toph, while Suki continued to look the page over glumly.
"How are we going to get all this done in only three days?" she groaned wearily, "The list just keeps getting longer."
"Well, you can mark the banquet food off," Katara offered as she closed the door behind her, "Toph and I found a shop that will cater, so we got that taken care of."
She joined the others at the table while Toph flopped down on a pile of nearby pillows, arms folded across her chest and scowling.
"Actually, you took care of it," the blind girl retorted grumpily, "I just got dragged all over the city."
Katara opened her mouth to make a comment, but she was interrupted when the door flew open and Aang bounded cheerfully into the room with a smiling Iroh close behind. Both were carrying stacks of freshly printed announcements.
"The posters are done!" crowed Aang, setting his pile on a nearby counter. Walking over to the table, he glanced over Sokka's shoulder at the to-do list. "How is that list coming along?"
"I'm not sure we'll be able to get everything ready in time," Sokka answered doubtfully.
"Wow, that is a lot of stuff," Aang admitted, scanning the page. "Sooo…" he said slyly, pulling a paper from Iroh's stack and holding it aloft triumphantly, "I guess it's a good thing I had these printed up too."
Katara took the sheet and read it over, nodding approvingly.
"A request for volunteers," she looked up at the air bender with a smile, "great idea Aang."
"Come on, everybody grab some," Aang requested, "If we hurry, we can get them all up by nightfall."
Everyone but Toph gathered around, took up some leaflets from each stack, and headed out the door. As Aang was about to leave, he noticed the blind earth bender still lounging on the pile of cushions.
"Aren't you coming, Toph?"
"What for?" she snorted, "It's not like you need me to go posting things backwards and upside down."
"Then you could…" he fetched about trying to think of something she could do to help, but coming up empty, suggested somewhat lamely, "keep me company?"
"I already did that job once today with Sweetness," she stated crossly.
"Oh," replied Aang dejectedly, "okay. Well…we'll be back in a little while then."
Getting no response but silence, he sighed and left. Once he was gone, Toph finally called out dryly to the empty room.
"Have fun."
Aang sailed over the city on his glider as the sun sank below the horizon. Using the increased speed of his air bending to get around, he'd managed to finish posting his notices well before the others, and was now on his way back to the apartment.
The front room was almost completely dark when he walked in and, setting his staff aside, he walked over to the paper lantern sitting on the counter. Drawing a deep breath, he rubbed his palms together excitedly for a moment and then focused on the candlewick.
As his face screwed up into a tight knot of concentration, the entire lantern erupted into flames. Opening his eyes to check his handiwork, he stepped back from the small inferno with panicked yell.
"Aaah!"
His eyes darted around the room, and spotting a pitcher of water, he bent the liquid out and onto the burning lantern, dousing the flames with a hiss of steam. A short sigh of frustration escaped his lips as he surveyed the mess.
"Darn-it."
"If you're going to burn the place down practicing your fire bending," Toph remarked, apparently having never moved from her pile of cushions, "can you at least let me get out of the room first?"
Aang started slightly in surprise. He hadn't seen her there in the dark.
"Heh-heh," he laughed sheepishly, "Sorry."
As he went about the task of cleaning up the soggy, charred lantern, and lighting the other lamps in the room (this time using a proper candle lighter), he glanced furtively from time to time at his earth bending teacher, who stared sightlessly at the ceiling the whole time with a glum expression on her face.
"Is everything okay?" he asked at last.
"Why wouldn't it be?" she replied sounding thoroughly bored.
"I don't know," he shrugged, "you just…don't seem to be very excited about the festival."
"What is there to be excited about?" she snapped. "I don't care about toys, fireworks are pretty much wasted on me, and as for the big banquet…." Her voice trailed off, the comment unfinished.
"What's wrong with the feast?"
"Nothing, if you have a date," she replied testily, then added almost mockingly, "It's 'couples only'."
"So then…you find someone to go with you," Aang reasoned innocently. It seemed like an easy enough solution.
"Pft!" she scoffed. "And exactly how many people do you know would want to have dinner with a blind girl that could easily kick their butt."
Aang cocked his head to one side in bewilderment. He didn't see why Toph's blindness would be a problem considering how very capable she was. And Katara could beat just about anyone in a fight, even Zuko, and he was pretty sure no one thought any less of her. So he simply couldn't understand why Toph believed no one would want to be around her just because she was blind and powerful. It didn't make any sense.
"Well," Aang replied with a simple shrug, "I would." Suddenly his face brightened. "In fact," he stated, walking over to where she sat and announcing formally with a slight bow, "Toph Bei Fong, it would be my honor to accompany you to the banquet."
The girl's face darkened into an angry scowl as she stood up, ready to give him a verbal lashing for making what she assumed had to be a childish joke. But as her feet touched the stone floor, the harsh words died on her tongue. Her eyebrows knit together as she sensed carefully for some indication that he was lying, and finding none, she straightened in surprise.
"You're…serious," she realized disconcertedly.
"I sure am," replied Aang confidently.
Blind eyes blinked involuntarily as this unusual development fully registered in Toph's brain. She mulled the idea over for a moment, and then smiled.
"Alright, Twinkle Toes," she said almost challengingly, poking a finger into his chest, "You got yourself a date." Just as Aang's face broke into a wide grin, she added, "But if you try anything funny, I'll bury you right up to your big ears."
With that, she turned and left the room leaving Aang standing there in mild perplexity. Self-consciously he reached up and touched his ears, gingerly pressing his fingers around the outer edges, and then tugging on them slightly as he wondered aloud.
"What has everyone got against my ears?"
When Aang arrived the next morning at the designated area for the volunteers to meet, his jaw dropped in shock. He had expected maybe a dozen citizens, if that. But what he got was a crowd of over fifty people. Scanning the faces before him, however, he could see a great deal of animosity interspersed with an occasional expression of curiosity, and the assembly was neatly split down the middle into Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom groups.
"It's a good thing we decided against offering refreshments," Iroh remarked in awe as he came up beside the young Avatar.
"No kidding," Aang agreed nervously. "I really didn't expect so many. I just hope they can all get along."
Iroh placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.
"You'll do just fine."
It didn't take long at all to get people sorted and set to the various tasks that needed done, and Aang had made sure that there was a good mix of both nations in each group. While it did initially increase the tension level for all concerned, most people soon learned that there were definite benefits to having both and Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation citizens working together.
Zuko was in charge of sorting goods in the warehouse, and was very glad for the two earth benders that had been assigned to assist. Of course, the three fire nation teens that had come along with them hadn't been too pleased at first, but when they discovered that the earth benders could just scoot the stone tiles, crates and all, across the room and spare them a lot of heavy lifting, they became much more cooperative.
It helped that Zuko was, for the first time in quite a while, completely at ease with what he was doing. Giving orders was something he was accustomed to, but even though the situation was familiar, there was something still completely foreign to it. Perhaps it was the fact that he felt no need to shout, or make demands, or try to intimidate anyone. Whatever it was, he found himself thinking that this wasn't nearly as awkward or annoying as he feared it would be.
"I found it!" called a boy from behind a stack of crates.
Looking over in the direction of the voice, Zuko was greeted by a huge paper dragonhead suddenly poking up over a box.
"How many are in there?" asked the prince as he came over and poked through the container.
"Just the one," the boy replied. Zuko frowned slightly as he checked the warehouse manifest in his hand.
"There's supposed to be another…"
"Here it is," announced one of the earth benders, an older man with a pleasant disposition, from the other side of the pile. "Where do you want them?"
"Move them over by the lanterns, and-" Zuko began instructing but before he could finish his directions, Sokka entered the warehouse.
"Time for lunch!" he sang out cheerfully.
Everyone in the room looked up, the faces of the volunteers bright and eager for a break.
"We'll take care of it afterwards," Zuko said to the earth bender, who gave a polite nod before heading toward the door, passing Sokka as he came up to stand beside the prince.
"Looks like you've gotten a lot done," he remarked as he looked around at the neatly sorted crates.
"It's going much better than I expected," Zuko admitted honestly.
"You know," said the warrior casually as the two made their way out of the warehouse, "I'm beginning to think this crazy idea of Aang's just might work after all. Which is good," he rambled, "because after the last few weeks of craziness, I think we definitely earned a little down-time."
Zuko only nodded silently as Sokka continued blathering on while they walked down the street.
"And you should see the spread they have planned for that banquet too. Roast bear-boar, deep-fried cat-shrimp," he rattled off dreamily, "sugared peach-cakes-"
"Don't you ever think about anything besides food?" the prince interrupted with a hint of exasperation.
"Of course I do!" insisted Sokka. Zuko glanced sidelong at him with a sarcastic smirk.
"Name something."
"Girls," the boy answered promptly.
"Figures," the prince mumbled, rolling his eyes.
"Oh what, like you never think about them?" challenged Sokka good-naturedly.
"Not really," he confessed. Sokka threw his new friend an incredulous stare.
"You're joking, right?"
"No," Zuko answered resentfully.
"How can you be sixteen years old, and not think about girls?"
"I've sort of had other things on my mind the past few years," Zuko responded cynically.
Oblivious of the fire bender's tone, Sokka shook his head disbelievingly.
"Well, we're going to have to change that," he decided, and then spotting a pretty Earth Kingdom girl shopping at a nearby booth, turned to Zuko with a grin.
"And fortunately for you," he bragged, "I know just the thing."