Chp. 4
Toph:
"Why? Why, why why why?" I don't get it! Me! The commander-in-chief of the Fire Nation Army, does not get why that girl saved him?
Not that I am not grateful, I mean he's my best friend if I lost him I don't know what I'd do.
But there's just one piece of the puzzle that I don't get.
It doesn't make any sense…
There was a knock on my office door, and one of the royal guards opened it.
"Commander Toph," his rough voice rang in my ears, leaving goosebumps on my skin.
"Well if it isn't King Makoto? And what did I do to have the pleasure?" I came around the front of my desk and sat on the edge.
"Oh I don't know? A little rebellion, a sprinkle of desperation. You know a suicide note entailing how much you've missed me doesn't hurt either?" My lips formed a half-smile, showing him only half as much as I would like to in the presence of my men.
"You mind leaving, Shin?" I asked, and was rewarded with his retreading footsteps. Even before Shin closed the door Makoto closed the distance between us.
"Hello," he said pleasantly, his presence filled all of my senses, leaving me lightheaded as always. He brought my hands to his face and I found his lips easily, the contours of his face already memorized in the soles of my palms.
"How is the Earth Kingdom?" I asked, running my hands through his hair.
"Boring, it just does not fell the same without my fiancée there." I frowned slightly.
"What?"
"Fiancée." I said the word with utter repulsion.
"Well yes, it is customary to call the girl you are going to marry your fiancée." He came closer and nuzzled my neck.
"Why do we have to get married again?" I tried to move him away, trying to clear my head, but he didn't budge, and just started laughing.
"What?" I asked.
"You- aha, you just…."
"What?" my patience wasn't something to mess with.
"The Blind Bandit, the great and mighty Toph is….. is afraid of commitment?" his voice was incredulous.
Ah, me afraid of commitment…. Please…..
"I'm not afraid of anything." I said, hoping off the desk and earthbending myself behind it.
"Out of the 7 years that I've known you, I wouldn't think it either…" he pondered aloud, just baiting me out of the water like the sucker I was.
"-but I guess all things are possible."
"Not true!"
He ignored me and continued, "I guess I can just marry a nice earth bender peasant, or maybe a water tribe healer- I hear they are pretty fun. And you can have a nice relationship with some boring man that is afraid of you and will never leave you because you'll crush him to bits."
"No! No! You are mine, you understand?" I bended myself off the ground and onto his lap. Underneath me I felt him chuckle, but barely could hear it.
"And that is why we are getting married. So neither you nor I kill our mythological mistresses."
I covered my face with my hands and mumbled, "You are ridiculous."
"Ridiculous, yes. A little tipsy from the boat ride with my solders over here, possibly. But completely happy and thrilled that the woman I want to marry, to have by my side forever, also deep down- somewhere down in the caves of her wonderful heart- wants to marry me as well? Well that answer is as clear as the wind." I didn't know what to do next. I never really got used to him always proclaiming his love for me, but somehow I knew that I wanted this too. Wanted him. Forever.
But in my line of work, and the things that I have felt, forever isn't always forever.
"I love you," I said, knowing full well that since I could never have forever, I should make the most out of now.
"I know." He said simply bringing his arms around me and started kissing my hair. Another knock on the door interrupted our reunion.
"What?" I yelled, but Makoto countered me, "Come on in."
"Toph, eer…do you want me to come back?" his voice was tired and groggy.
"Zuko, pleasure to see you again." Makoto said, inconspicuously putting himself in between Zuko and I, which in result drove me crazy. He always seemed to be even more protective when Zuko came around.
"Yes you too. How is the Earth Kingdom?" Zuko's diplomatic talk, which has been more refined over the years, still puts me to sleep.
"Good, I actually just-"
"Yea yea, what do you want Sparky?" I said, interrupting their 'exciting conversation'. "Uncl- Fire Lord Iroh wants to have a meeting with the girl, and we need you there. I'm sorry Makoto if Fire Lord Iroh knew you were here he would have included you in the invitation."
"No worries." he said.
"Let's go then." I said, untangling myself from Makoto and moved in the direction of the War Room.
Once in the hallway, Makoto grabbed me from behind and whispered with his husky voice I hated/loved so much, "We'll finish what we started in your office later on tonight."
As much as I hated it, I knew anyone in a 10 mile radius would be able to hear my heartbeat accelerate.
Kahealani:
The island seemed to be filled with people, I felt so anxious from all the energy surrounding me- it was overwhelming.
"Come on, let's keep moving," my father's close friend instructed. He took me and my mother towards the islands' one-and-only dock. We reached a small ship, and he told me to get on it.
"What? Are you guys not coming?" I asked, suspiciously.
"Kahea, the man on that boat will take you anywhere you want to go, just please get on the boat." He pleaded me with his dark russet eyes. It was early morning, all the fisherman were either coming back or just starting their journeys. The perfect time to escape…
"Why? Why do I need to leave, I mean I don't even know your name! Why should I do what you say?" He was giving me the choice to leave my family, but why?
"Because, you are not safe here-" his almost all-grey hair whipped hectically in the now awakening breeze.
"I'm not safe anywhere." I told him solemnly, I was a threat to people.
"-Look! Kahea you don't have time for this. You need to leave for the sake of your sanity." My mother told me, her blue eyes shown against the azure ocean.
"Why are you making me leave? What did I ever do? I mean whatever I did I'll fix i-"
"It's what you're not doing. You should be saving the world, not sitting on this island killing people on your fathers command!"
"That's not true! I am worth nothing, and the only way in proving that I am greater is in following my father's instructions. And if it means killing bad people than so be it!" You would think with all the yelling, someone would look up, but no one did- no one ever does.
My fathers' friend shook his head furiously. His usual pink energy was now shifting to other colors, mainly meaning that he was confused.
"My name is Iroh. I am the brother of the Fire Lord, and I command you to leave!" Iroh? Fire Lord?
"Pftt, command me?" I moved away from the boat.
He laughed, not a happy laugh more like an exhausted one. "You remind me of my nephew, always trying to please the person who doesn't deserve it." I gave up on the crazy old man, and look at my mother.
"What about you? I can't leave you here alone." As much as I respected my father, he was never nice to my mother- I was the one usually protecting her and healing her wounds.
She smiled, "I am leaving as well, I assure you. But you need to go, honey."
If I leave, I could find my brother. If I leave, I could enjoy the world, like my mother would want me too.
"You? Old man. Why now?"
"What?"
"I mean can't you do this tomorrow? Why now?"
"Because your father…. he just….he's changing and it's not good for you."
"Well thanks for looking out for me!" I said sarcastically, he didn't seem to answering any of my questions. "Baby, you will thank us. But now you have to leave!" She said once more, this time forcefully.
I guess, if they are this persistent then…. there must be a good reason.
"Will you come find me when you leave?" I asked, finally getting on the boat.
"Of course, find Iroh and you'll find me."
"I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too, baby."
"Kahea, one more thing. You'll need a new identity, so he can't find you."
"Ok?" A new identity, wow, this must be pretty serious.
"Your new name is Jasmine, Jasmine of the Kogo family. Originally from the Earth Kingdom. And this is something a friend of mine created-"he handed me a beautiful necklace, "-it will hide what you look like from other people. There's a manual that goes with it. Understand?"
"Understood" A manual? Really guys? The man brought the anchor up and we started drifting away from the shore. "Bye." I said once we finally started to pick up speed. I looked at them until they turned into little specks on the oceans dock.
The captain asked me where I wanted to go.
"The Southern Water Tribe, please." I always wanted to see where my mother grew up.
"Hey! Wake up!" he said. My eyes reluctantly opened, and I was faced with a soldier.
"It's time for you to get up and face the music, pretty girl." Ah, pretty girl, funny….
I pulled the covers over my head, indicating to him to go home.
"Is she up yet, Shin?" it was a deep voice that reverberated throughout the entire room. "No, sir. She doesn't look like she wants to get up." I pulled the covers down a bit, showing the soldier named Shin my eyes, and I winked at him.
He laughed, "Yup, definitely does not want to get up."
I heard a pair of boots clink against the oak floor, and a man appeared in the door. I recognized him as the prince. Prince Zuko.
He looked me over once, "Get up or get out." Then he firmly slammed the door, and Shin exhaled a breath of what I was guessing relief.
Sad, you save the guy's life, and you don't even get to sleep in the next day.
"I'll wait outside, while you…. change." Shin added awkwardly. I looked down at my now upright self. Change into what? I thought to myself.
"Oh, I guess you don't have any clothes… Right, come on then." He said pulling my arm, and I followed him out into the hallway where a whole pack of guards all 'conveniently' assembled to 'escort' me to the meeting room.
We walked around another corridor, and another hallway, out of a door, into a door. It seemed that I wasn't welcomed here, even though I did save the Prince's life.
Turning down a lighted hallway I got lost in my thoughts.
Someone screamed and I looked around, so sure that he had found me.
"The Prince! He's falling!" looking up I saw the prince grab on to the tile of the roof, but it crumbled under his touch.
A huge rush of emotions hit me like a speeding train, and fear was part of this color wheel. Still yet, no one made a move to help him. Their beloved prince, was falling from the sky and no one was doing anything.
I felt recognition, I didn't know if it was my own or someone who was passing by but I recognized this part in the play. I was in that same position, although I don't remember it I do recall the papers talking about how I was saved.
Saved. This man needed to be saved.
Scrambling to my feet I started moving towards the Palace, rushing past the people standing in the middle of the street watching the man fall from the sky. Running faster I could see his bodice getting closer to the ground and I did the only thing I thought I could do.
I jumped on top of a fireworks station and brought my knees up to my chest and shot in the sky, rocketing towards him. I felt the wind and gravity take its toll, but recovered quickly flipping myself in the air and grabbing onto the prince.
Ugh, he was heavy…
I looked down to see a large fountain in the middle of the square. Thinking on adrenaline, I bended as much water I could out of the fountain and up to me- water bending 101.
It slowed us down forming a bubble around us until we splashed in the fountain, completely unharmed- but that's what I thought.
Looking around I couldn't see any one that looked helpful, let alone sober, but I did see a whole lot of people forming a circle around us. I didn't notice till now that the Prince hadn't said a thing the entire time.
That ungrateful little… You know what? Let's just fix him up and leave.
That was until I saw he was unconscious- and by my standards healing an unconscious man was a lost cause.
He was a big man too, not just tall but wide. His scarred sleeping face was still, and he brought an air of death- unusual amongst Royals or mortals for that matter- but I could see it all over him, like a dark cloak around him.
But, he was beautiful, nonetheless. Not by these western standards maybe, but he had the scars of a soldier, and his broad and flat features, like the flatness of his chest or the amber earring he wore on his left ear symbolized the war he's gone through both emotionally and physically.
A man may not even notice the attraction of all that muscle or the way heat just morphed off him, but I would bet that he never walked through a room without attracting the gaze of every female there.
And he was trying to kill himself. That makes absolute sense...
The Prince fidgeted in my arms, and I forgot he was still underwater. I bended the water away from his face and he hiccuped coughs of water.
"I am so sorry," I said softly bringing him upright. His eyes twitched a little like he heard me but they didn't open.
"Miss! Get away from Prince Zuko," a guard said, startling me. My fingers instinctively tried to form a ball of fire- but I forgot… they could tell something was wrong with me if I did.
"Miss please, I don't want to hurt you!" another guard said moving into battle position.
Hah, like you could hurt me…
I didn't want to leave Prince Zuko, but I did a deed for his empire I should go and get out of town…
But I didn't.
The soldiers around me halted at the foot of a very intimidating door, and when I moved past them they started to disperse into their original positions.
Hmm, nice army, my father would be proud…
I stopped in front of the door. The energy from inside hit me like a flying arrow- horror, irritation, love, confusion, calmness were just one of the many.
Taking a deep breath, the Royal Guards opened the door and I was greeted by a familiar voice.
"Jasmine, it has been awhile."
