Tokka Week 4 - Moonlight
It was the middle of June, which meant that it was winter in the Southern Water Tribe. It was the dark part of the year, when there wasn't any sun. Not that it mattered to Toph. The only difference that it made to her was in the below freezing temperatures. She was buried under a mountain of blankets on top of the pile of furs that made up her bed. The newly reconstructed village, looking similar in style to the Northern Water Tribe, was silent, indicating to her that everyone was asleep.
Toph didn't know how long she had been awake - or if she had even been to sleep. She cursed to herself for letting Sokka talk her into coming.
A swoosh of air alerted her to a presence in the room. "Who's there?" she demanded to know as she sat up. She was only greeted by the cold when the blankets fell away from her shoulders. She listened for any and all sound around her and hugged herself for warmth; a wasted effort. Her blind eyes missed the moonlight that shone through the opaque window of ice in her room and cast its light onto her bed; illuminating it in a soft glow.
Another gentle breeze blew her bangs out of her eyes. The breeze was warmer then the room's temperature and came from a direction away from any heat source. This put Toph on edge and she leapt to her feet. She wore a heavy long sleeved green night dress over pants of the same color and moccasin style slippers that were lined with fur. Out of habit she stood in a defensive earthbending stance, though she obviously had nothing to bend. Her heart pounded as she was reminded that she had no way of defending herself. "Who's there?" she demanded again, though her voice lacked its previous conviction.
The warm breeze encircled her and left her with an overwhelming sense of calm. "I am not here to hurt you," the tranquil voice of a young woman surrounded her – as if the breeze itself had spoken.
"Who are you?" Toph quietly asked as her defenses dropped of their own accord.
There was a slight touch on Toph's forehead and her mind filled with an image so brilliant and unlike anything that she had ever imagined; having been blind since birth it was impossible that she could have imagined it. For the first time in her life, she was truly seeing, in her mind's eye, what another human actually looked like – as she would have seen had she not been visually impaired. Toph was so stunned and overly stimulated that she stumbled backwards and fell to the floor – landing on her butt. She couldn't comprehend what she saw.
"I am Yue…" the voice introduced itself.
"The moon spirit…" Toph breathed in awe. In her mind the vision of the young woman nodded and Toph heard the word "yes" come from the breeze around her at the same time that the vision's mouth moved. Toph recalled hearing about Yue and how she had become the Moon Spirit, from Sokka. Toph also recalled that she was one of his past loves. "So, what do you want with me?" Toph asked after the few minutes that she had been given to collect her thoughts and regain her composure.
The vision of Yue smiled. For the first time Toph understood the meaning of the word beauty. So this was the kind of woman that Sokka loved. Toph found herself wondering how she compared.
Suddenly the vision changed and Toph saw someone different. The body structure told her that it was a male. After a moment she recognized the basic form from the way that she saw him through earthbending. "Sokka?" she whispered his name in disbelief. She was finally seeing what he looked like. In her mind, there couldn't be a better looking man. He was asleep in his room located next to hers. She giggled at his disheveled hair – freed from its usual wolf's tail, and at the ridiculous look on his face as he slept with his mouth open. Toph imagined that she could hear his light snore.
"You love him," the breeze around her said, "and he loves you," Yue confirmed. The image of Sokka disappeared, much to Toph's disappointment, and was replaced by the image of Yue. "Please take care of him," Yue implored, and slowly her image began to fade.
"Wait!" Toph called to the moon spirit. "You didn't have to ask, I would have anyway," she responded. Seconds passed, but all that she saw now was darkness. "Is that all?" she asked. Even the breeze had left her, but what she couldn't see was the moonlight that surrounded her. "Couldn't you have at least shown me what I look like?" Toph asked with a sigh of disappointment.
There was another light touch on her forehead and the image of a girl with long dark air flowing down her back with her bangs framing her face appeared in Toph's mind. She wasn't as lovely as the image of Yue had been, but Toph supposed that the she was pretty; only having one other image to compare herself with. "Thank you," Toph said with a smile; it was the best gift that she had ever received – next to the blessing of the Moon Spirit herself over her relationship with the man that they both loved.