Toph tried many times to say something to Aang, but ever time she tried no words came out. She was sitting with her back to him, but she could still feel how tense he was. He was holding onto the rains so tightly his knuckles were white. A small feeling of guilt was washing over Toph the longer the silence went on. She had to remind herself of how she had ended up leaving to teach him earthbending in the first place. She was worried about what that would case. How her father would react, she didn't feel ready. He had been relentless though, and in the end she left with him and the others. She was just doing the same thing now, making sure he did the right thing. Helping him live up to his potential. No matter how many times she told herself all of this, it never stopped her from realising that this was a very different situation, and that she was the last person that should be forcing someone to do what they had to. She couldn't even make herself honer a final wish of someone very important, and take on the job of master of the white lotus. Something in the back of her mind keep telling her that this was to important for her to worry about being a hypocrite about, she just had to make sure that Aang did this.
She was about to try and say something again, when she felt Appa begin his descent to the earth below. She felt like they had been flying for days, but now that she thought it over she wasn't sure they had travelled far enough to reach their distinction. There was nothing she could do about it though, all she could do was sit back and let Aang take the lead from now on.
He didn't even offer her a hand to the ground once they landed, like he had always done. Toph never took him up on his offer, she wouldn't have this time either, but the absence of the gesture worried her. She kept a few paces behind him as they walked towards the house a few feet away. Aang had landed them in a filed a few feet away from the village his student lived in. he was making his way towards the nearest house, that stood on the outskirts of the village. He reached the front-door and before he moved to knock it. He finally spoke to Toph. "Wait here, I'll look for him and bring him back to Appa." He didn't even turn to look at her.
Toph gave a silent nod and turned to face away from the house. She felt a small fallen tree a couple of feet away, and moved to sit on it. She wasn't sitting for long before she felt someone running towards her.
The door had been answered by a middle aged women, who's hair has started to grey a little and was pulled into a tight braid. There was no need to ask who it was that had knocked on her door. Without saying a word she pulled the door opened further and moved out of the way to let him enter. Aang walked into the house, his eyes became set on a painting on the wall facing the door. It was of a little girl sitting under a cherry blossom tree. The image seemed mixed with one he had of Toph. It was an image of her the night of the ball in Ba Sing Sa, the last time all six of them had been together. He had found her sitting under a cherry blossom tree in the grounds of the place. "What can I do for you avatar Aang." The women had been walking slowly up behind him as he looked at the painting. She was now standing a few inches to his side, her eyes half on him and half on the painting. "Avatar Aang."
Her gentle voice pulled Aang from hid thoughts. He slowly pulled his eyes away from the painting and turned to face the older women. "Sorry. I need to know if you know someone called Yunru."
An odd look came over the women's face, Aang wasn't sure what it meant till she spoke, as she nodded her head a little. "Yes, he's my son."
There was something about the the footsteps of the person that was running towards her, that brought a faint smile to Toph's face. His footsteps were almost as light as Aang's had been when he was twelve. Toph was never one for signs or fate, but she had to take this as a sigh. The person they were looking for was running right towards her, she didn't even have to try and look for him. He slowed down a little as he got closer to her, but didn't stop. "My friends talking to your mother right now. I would leave them to it." Yunru was just over a foot from the fallen tree she was sitting on. He stopped at her voice and turned to look at her. She sat with her face turned the other way.
"What." He was mentally kicking himself for not being able to think of anything better to say, but that was all that would come out. He crept closer to the Toph, tilting his head so he could get a better look at her face.
"That is your house back there isn't it." Again she spoke without turning to look at him or the house she was talking about. He was now standing just in-front of her. He nodded in response to the question, but she didn't react. Her eyes seemed to be set on the sky. "Will you keep me company till my friend comes back." Yunru took a half step forwards before stopping. "Don't worry. I promise there is nothing wrong. My friend's just looking for someone so he's asking around." This seemed to ease any worry Yunru may have had and he moved to sit on the tree next to Toph.
Aang did his best to explain the situation to the boys mother. It looked like she was listening to every words he was saying to her, but then he would glance at her eyes. They looked so vacant. Like she hadn't understood a thing he had just said. Taking in a deep breath he let his eyes drift back to the painting, while he gave Yunru's mother a chance to think more about what he had just said. The longer he looked at the painting the more angry he started to get. He hated Toph for putting him in this position. He was about to turn to look out the window behind him to see if he could see her, but Yunru's mother spoke first. "I understand."
Toph waited for Yunru to speak first, but he was taking to long. "So, what's your name." This was a pointless question, she was already very sure of who he was. She just thought there should be a normal start to the conversation, as it was not going to be a very normal conversation.
"Yunru." A faint smile crossed her face as she subtlety nodded her head. She really was always right. "You."
"You know it's not good manners to ask a lady that."
"I thought that was age."
Again Toph smiled a little, she was starting to like this kid. "That's true, but that's all girls. I am talking about lady's. Lady's of noble birth."
Yunru allowed his eyes to lift from the ground at his feet, to look over the young women sitting next to him. She did have a pretty face that was very pale, like he would have expected from a true lady. Her clothes seemed to be made of expensive fabric, and he hair was long and shining. However there was something in her mannerism, she was to relaxed, yet seemed like she would be able to react to any sudden chance of situation in a instant. He looked at her hand that was placed on the tree next to her, her nails looked like they had be chewed. This was differently not like a lady of noble birth. He looked at her face again, as his eyes travelled up her arm, he noticed that the cloak she was wearing had the symbol of the earth kingdom army embroidered on it. She didn't seem like she was lying. So if she wasn't lying, and she was a lady of noble birth, then she could only be one person, and that would mean that there was a chance that her friends was... "Lady...general...Toph..."
"Toph is fine, my friends just call me Toph." He tried to not read to much into what she just said. Just because she had told him to caller her Toph, then said her friends call her Toph, that didn't mean she was calling him a friend. "To be honest, I don't think I can remember all of the different names, titles that I have."
Yunru found that now he knew for sure who she was he couldn't look at her. His light brown eyes remained set on the ground. His voice had also left him. There was so much he wanted to ask her. For as long as he could remember all he ever wanted to do, all he ever wanted to be was an earthbender. His older cousin was an earthbender and he had grown up watching him train and getting stronger. He trained too, on his own he went over all of the stances that his cousin taught him over and over again. He never got anywhere, the earth didn't move an inch when he tried to bend it. Disappointment an resentment had started to eat away at him, till he realised that crying wasn't going to change anything, nothing was going to change it, this was just the way it was. Sitting next to the worlds greatest earthbender, brought back all the resentment he felt. Why was this short, thin, blind girl able to do something so easily that he wanted so much and worked so hard to do and got no where at.
"I should let Aang tell all this to you, but maybe it's best I speak to you first." Yunru wasn't sure but he thought the last part she had been speaking to herself rather than to him. "How much do you know about your family history." She gave him sometime to answer, but he didn't so she went on. "Your great grandfather, was an airbender..."
"I know."
Toph gave a nod, much like she had done before. At least this conversation was going to be shorted than she had thought. "Good, I don't have to go over all of that then." she paused before she went on , but Yunru spoke first.
"What dose that have to do with me." He wasn't an idiot, he could guess where all of this maybe going. The fact that her friend she was talking about was the avatar, was other big clue. He just couldn't quite believe that all of this was really happing. He knew she was blind, but he still turned to look right into her eyes. He hoped they would show some idea of what she was thinking. He had heard storied about her, about all of the friends of the group, but as an earthbender she was the one he had been the most interested in. He heard that she had almost married the fire lord. That she she was cunning, disrespectful and that she was pretty. He found in her no signs of the first two and he thought she was beautiful in her own way.
Toph had started to bite her lower lip, thinking of the best way to answer his question. She would normally bite her nails, but she didn't want to more from her ringed position on the tree log. Nail biting had become a habit over the years. Once she started to slip a little back into high society, she found picking at her toes was not something she could do without getting a lot of burning looks. Katara had tried to stop this new habit, but to no avail. She had said that she believed all of these little habits of Toph's were to do with her restlessness, a very un-erthbenderly attribute. Maybe this was true, because at this minute there was nothing Toph wanted more than to run away.
"I...We think that you maybe able to airbend. So Aang's going to teach you." She had picked her words very carefully, so she was not out and out lying.
With a speed that was close to what she expected from Aang, Yunru got to his feet and turned to face her. "How would you know. Your an earthbender and your blind." He didn't mean to shout at her or for it to come out as harsh as it did, but his last lingering hope that he could maybe become an earthbender one day was slipping away.
"Your right." He didn't know what was going on, he had not expected that reaction from her. She didn't even flinch and her eyes stayed set on the sky a little to his left. "I' am an earthbending, and a great one, and I am blind. Its because I' am blind that I can tell that you have a great chance of being able to airbend."
"Whys that."
"You have the same footsteps as him."
Surprisingly she didn't have to say any more he got it. A million things ran through his head. What did all of these mean, what was going to happen now. Before he could think of his next question, or anything to say he noticed the door of his house opening. The avatar walked out of the door first followed by his mother. Not giving Toph a second look Yunru ran towards them.
"Thank you for your help, and for listening." Yunru's mother nodded her head in response to the avatars thanks. As her head lifted up she saw her son running towards them. Aang noticed her eyes falling on something behind him and turned to see what it was. Yunru was tall for his age, about the same hight as Toph, maybe even a little taller. Aang knew how much she would hate that. His hair was a very light brown, so were his eyes. There was nothing that Aang could see in him that reminded him of any of his old friends from his childhood.
"I want to go with them, wherever it's to. If I can't be an earthbender, then I am going to be a airbender." Again his mother nodded, having fully expected this response from him when he knew about what she and the avatar had been talking about. Aang however was a little surprised by what Yunru said, he didn't have to think very hard about who had told him about all that was going on. He turned away from the mother and son, and caught sigh of Toph getting up from the tree trunk and turning to face their direction. By shear luck her eyes met his for a second, just as the bright autumn sun hit her eyes. Giving them a glint that made it look like she was smirking at him, because she had just gotten her own way.
Thank you very much for read, I hope you are still enjoying. I know that this may seem like a bit if an odd way to end a chapter, but I thought there was no really reason to write about them talking about where they are going next then leaving, so I left that out. The next chapter will be about them talking a little stop on their way to the eastern air temple, where they will be training. I am thinking about having them stop at the village where aunt Wu lives. So if anyone has any ideas about what Aang's new future and Toph's or even Yunru's could be I would love to hear them. Please review, it really dose make my write faster as I feel that I have to get the next chapter up faster.