Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any other copyrighted property that may appear in this work of fiction. Lyrics in this chapter are from "She Walked Away" by BarlowGirl.

Sand and Stone

She couldn't take one more day
Home was more her prison now
Independence called out
She had to get it

A fight was all she needed
To give her reason—
She slammed the door with no goodbye
And knew that it was time

Scroll IV. You Versus Me

The capital city of the Fire Nation was widely known by its inhabitants to be situated in the crater of a dormant volcano—which was appropriate, as firebenders and volcanoes were the only ones to possess the gift (or curse) of the Inner Fire and be able to control it, besides the Avatar. However, lesser known was the presence of a small forest situated some distance behind the Fire Palace, one composed of tall thin trees, dense shrubbery, and populated by birds and small game animals.

In older, less war-torn days—before Sozin, one might say—the young Fire Princes used this wood to practice archery and indulge in less martial pursuits such as hunting. When Fire Lord Sozin came to power, he'd ordered the place cordoned off and forbade his subjects to approach it. Zuko guessed that his great-grandfather had done so because he didn't want his heirs concentrating on anything but his dream of conquest. Aang disagreed with him, saying it was out of unexpressed guilt—for there was a time when Sozin and Roku had played here as boys, before Roku became the Avatar and Sozin became the Fire Lord and the lines were drawn so clearly between them.

Toph found the site more or less by accident, and after a brief consultation with Zuko (who extracted a solemn promise from her that she would not rip the entire forest out by the roots) she quickly adapted it for her own purposes. There was a natural clearing in the middle of the wood, which she'd widened and evened to make a suitable arena for her training. As long as she was careful, Toph reasoned, nothing would be in any danger of being destroyed—well, nothing of real importance, anyway. This afternoon, she'd come here to practice her earthbending… as well as find some solitude to think.

It had been almost two weeks since she'd arrived at the Fire Palace, and already Toph was dead bored. Most days she spent helping Zuko iron out the pesky details of the deal she'd suggested he broker with her parents and the cabbage guy. Other days she spent in Katara's company, warily evading attempts to discuss anything more serious than her recent visit to Kyoshi Island or the new techniques she'd adapted into her bending style.

Surprisingly, Toph found it a lot less difficult to skirt the 'hot' topics than she'd anticipated. Her waterbending friend seemed particularly subdued for some reason, willing to listen to her blab about Sokka and Suki and the rest of the villagers without comment. Occasionally she would suggest a topic of her own, as per her right as hostess.

"So you've met Haru again, haven't you?" was the first thing out of her mouth earlier today. "What do you think of him?"

Toph raised an eyebrow from her comfortable slouched position on the end of the sofa, where she was entertaining herself by bending the space rock Sokka had given her into different shapes. "…I'm supposed to think something of him?"

"Well, surely you had some opinion?"

"That he's kinda lame? Katara, he has long fwoofy hair, and takes pride in calling himself a glorified construction worker! Not to mention he sings your praises like there's no tomorrow—which, with all due respect, is very annoying."

"…Okay, fine. Any GOOD opinions?"

She could tell she'd nettled her friend with her blunt assessment. Sighing, Toph recoiled the meteorite fragment about her upper arm and sat upright to answer. "…He's loyal to you. I guess anyone who can be that—" (smitten, she thought) "—devoted has to have some good qualities underneath."

"You think so?" Katara had exclaimed, and the blind Earthbender thought she detected a great deal of relief mixed in with the inexplicable delight. "That's good."

"What's good?" Toph scowled, a lurking suspicion darkening her previously mellow mood. "Hey, are you plotting something, Sugar Queen?"

"Don't be silly. Why would I need to plot anything?" said Katara in an airy, overly casual tone that sent the warning alarms clamoring in Toph's mind. "It's just… well, relationships have been founded on less …"

"What are you talking about?"

It was Katara's turn to straighten, and Toph heard the soft clink of porcelain against wood as she set her cup on the table. "I think Haru would be a very good match for you, Toph. I have reason to believe he likes you a lot."

Upon hearing the words uttered in the Fire Lady's most formal tones, Toph started up out of her seat, blindly staring wild-eyed in Katara's general direction. Her first impulse was to deny it right off the bat, unthinkingly—her second was to laugh her head off. She followed through with the latter heartily, clutching her stomach and tumbling back to the floor in peals of hilarity. "Oh Katara, Katara… And people say I'm the blind one around here!"

"What? I'm serious!"

"No, you're lying through your teeth. Either that, or you're seriously clueless as a brick." Wiping the mirthful tears from her eyes, Toph attuned her senses to Katara's racing heartbeat. Lying, of course. I'd stake my reputation on it. "Look Sweetness… I may be a newcomer here, but I'm no dummy. I figured it out even before I set foot on the palace grounds—that guy is hopelessly, head over heels in love with YOU."

The Waterbender sputtered, as Toph knew she would when confronted with the truth. "Wha—NO! It's not like that, we're just friends… we, we talk now and then, but he's not… and I'm married, Toph, for Spirits' sake—!"

"Like that matters. He's still in love with you, isn't he?" Toph grinned, blithely and thoughtlessly ignoring the gathering storm. "Geez, Katara… does His Royal Sparkyness even know he's got competition?"

"NO!" The slap came out of nowhere—a sharp open-palmed hit that sent her head twisting hard to the right, with all the force of a water whip behind it. It shocked her… but not as much as Katara's low, tremulous response as she gathered up her robes and fled. "Sometimes people have to figure that out for themselves."

………
She walked away
Couldn't say why she was leaving
She walked away
She left all she had believed in
She walked away…
………

For a Healer who's been living in the lap of Fire Nation luxury for a few years, Sugar Queen sure has a heavy hand. Toph gave a little ironic smirk at the incongruousness of it all, following it with a wince—she'd cut the inside of her cheek on a tooth when she'd been slapped. Toph probed the puckered tear with her tongue, fuming all the while.

Seriously, Katara must've undergone a radical personality change or something… maybe cracked under the strain of being Fire Lady while Zuko went off and did his Fire Lord stuff. Toph frowned, suddenly wondering if she'd somehow hit a nerve by bringing Zuko into the conversation. The Katara she remembered would never have stooped to such physical violence, especially in response to mere teasing.

Especially to a friend.

"Well, what the heck were you doing, trying to pair me up with Haru in the first place?" she muttered resentfully to herself, resisting the urge to lift a hand and feel her still-throbbing left cheek. Instead Toph settled for crushing the rock held in her fist, crumbling it into gravel and letting the bits fall through her fingers like sand. "You knew it was a lie. There wasn't a naked mole-rat's chance in hell I'd believe that lovesick puppy was in any way attracted to me."

Brushing the grit from her palms, Toph assumed the horse stance in order to begin the routine she'd created years ago, for those times when she felt she was in danger of allowing strong emotions to affect her earthbending. Here, she merely observed the forms without calling the earth to respond to her actions, shifting smoothly through strong punches, low sweeping kicks and swift fluid strikes with the heels of her palms. Only when the tremors of anger and hurt completely faded did she feel up to viewing it with a tolerably critical eye.

Did Katara even understand how presumptuous, how insulting it was? Toph had always thought of matchmaking as beneath her—when she'd escaped her parents she'd congratulated herself on leaving it behind, along with the bleak memories of her past self… of the fragile, sheltered child she had been.

Even then there were guards and maids stationed about her day and night, every single one of them sworn to secrecy about her existence. One daring night, a four-year-old Toph Bei Fong managed to slip the latch from a side-gate and scampered for the woods—only to stumble into an old hidden badger-mole den. Within minutes she was lost, wandering the winding earthen tunnels with a kind of stunned, half-realized horror that she might never find her way back to the surface. Oh, how she'd cried and cried that first time, huddled in her constant darkness and terrified at the enormity of what she had done.

How I despise her. How I pity her… weak, helpless, smothered alive.

It was thanks to the badger-moles that she survived at all. The badger-moles who found her didn't care that she was not of their kind—only that she was frightened and alone, and for that they took care of her. From them Toph learned to 'see' through earthbending, and for the first time she became truly aware of herself and her surroundings. She returned home a week later, a confident and much more self-assured girl than before—not that anyone noticed, of course. Her parents never found out about her little escapade because they were on a family visit at the time, and the servants were too afraid to say anything for fear of losing their jobs. Pleased with her success, Toph swore then that she would never ever be so weak as to cry like that again. Her goal now was to become strong, so someday even the biggest and most burlesque of her guards would think twice before calling her a 'wee, pretty little thing'.

The second time Toph rebelled against her parents (not that they ever knew their precious daughter was even capable of rebellion) was during her stint as the Blind Bandit. Through Earth Rumble she learned the defensive-aggressive aspect of earthbending that the badger-moles and her pencil-necked tutor either couldn't or wouldn't teach her, and used the knowledge to create and hone a style of earthbending all her own. She learned the fine art and nuances of the trash talk; discovered in herself a startling proficiency for the prizefighter's language that made the crowd roar and cheering fans go wild. Toph reveled in the feelings of empowerment that being the Blind Bandit gave her, donning another identity so different than the one her parents knew: a shy, retiring flower, growing alone and protected in the depths of a secret garden.

It was about that time that I met Aang, wasn't it? Toph straightened for a moment and closed her eyes against the bittersweet tang of treasured memories, allowing the old familiar confusing feelings to wash over her. The day Aang had come and brought her away… the third rebellion against her parents' control. I'm surprised I acted so blasé about it—like it's not weird that he asked me to be his Earthbending teacher. ME! A blind little rich girl whose existence he shouldn't have even known about!

…Spirits know what my parents were thinking, what with his little 'let-me-cool-your-soup-I'm-the-Avatar!' shenanigans at dinner. Probably thought he was trying to impress me, or something.

She sighed, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. No matter what anyone might think—Katara, Sokka, Suki, et cetera—she didn't regret meeting Aang. Quite the opposite, actually: without him, it was unlikely she would've ever had reason to learn metalbending. Sheltered behind the walls of her family's estate, what opportunity would she have had to handle metal when her father didn't even trust her to handle a blunt table knife without somehow harming herself?

Twinkletoes had, in his earnestly open way, taught his 'Sifu Toph' a great deal about friendship and trust, and through him she gained a family: a mom/sis, brother/comic-relief characters, a student/sparring partner, and finally a kindly father-figure (Iroh, not Zuko—although Zuko did carry off the dashing angst-ridden hero bit rather well).

He hadn't intended to plunge the dagger into her chest, Toph knew—not a literal dagger, per se, just figurative—but that didn't change the fact he hurt her all the same. Even if all the others drifted their own ways, somehow she'd always imagined that at least she'd still have him at her side.

/ I'm sorry, Toph… I don't need you as a teacher anymore. Now I need to be on my own. /

In the Avatar's own words, that's what it boiled down to. His sincerity only twisted the knife deeper, no matter how many times he apologized for saying them. Then again, truth is supposed to hurt… isn't it?

For all her boasts about her sensitivity, her ability to tell truth from falsehood that she prided herself so much on—there was no softening the fact that when the moment of separation inevitably came she did not 'see it coming'… and that when it did come, it completely blew her away. Such an admission was unforgivable, especially from the mouth of the World's Greatest Earthbender… and Toph had spent the last five or six years working to amend that, in the only way she knew how.

She trained. She threw herself into her routines and wove them into her armor; when she ran out of exercises she racked her brain and made up more, each one more bizarre and challenging than the last. It was all she could think to do at first, but the longer she did it the more necessary it became—for as the years passed, the reality of his absence and how much it affected her became harder and harder to deny, even to herself.

"ROCKLIKE!" How many times had she yelled it at Aang during training, urging him to think like an Earthbender? Enough times to be aware of the irony now, she supposed. Rocks, after all, were NOT weak, NOT vulnerable, and definitely NOT fragile. Wrapping this ideal about her, Toph let herself drown in its cold, solid comfort. She would make her heart a fortress, she decided, a fortress with tall stony walls and twisted iron bars and surrounded with enough barbed wire to make the defenses protecting the Fire Lord and his people look like a stroll down the street.

But how, then, did one actually go about becoming "rocklike"? Toph had to admit she didn't really know. She couldn't have been doing too badly at it, if Katara had slapped her for being insensitive—still, what she wanted was insensitivity to being hurt, not insensitivity to the distress of others. Toph sighed and squatted, folding her arms across her knees and resting her head on them.

Speaking of sensing things… "Who's there?" she shouted.

There was a crunching noise, like the sound of dead leaves being crushed underfoot—too loud and unsubtle to be caused by even the clumsiest of forest critters. Toph reacted instantly, almost without thinking. Leaping to her feet and seizing the staff from where she'd propped it against the nearest tree, she automatically shifted into defense position as she cast about her in a wide arc, seeking the vibrations of the intruder.

"Come out into the open and face me," Toph growled, tossing it to one side so she'd have both hands free. (After much practice she'd learned somehow to earthbend with the staff, but it was a lot less of a pain to just do it normally.)

"Relax, it's just me." Toph matched the disarming voice with the feel of the man's step and stance, and mentally swore as she recognized both. She'd been trying to avoid this encounter all day, ever since she'd had that, er, revealing conversation with Katara. Now she'd just up and let him approach without noticing, until it was almost too late.

"Haru, you DORK! What were you thinking, sneaking up on me like that?" she exclaimed with an annoyed huff, lowering her arms to her sides but not relaxing one bit.

"I wouldn't be so daring as to presume I actually managed to startle you, Toph." She could hear the smile in his voice, the admiration and politeness in equal measure. Ooh, isn't he a smooth one. Yeck. With a light scoff Toph pushed her disdainful thoughts to the back of her mind, intent on investigating Haru with the rest of her senses. There was something weird about the way he was acting—and she wasn't sure she liked it.

"So, what is it? It can't be time for dinner yet," she probed, bringing her routine to a precipitous but rounded stop. Toph and Haru hadn't interacted much in the past, even when fleeing to the Western Air Temple with Aang—so his seeking her out was… unexpected, to say the least.

Feet scuffed the ground sheepishly. "Um… well. I was just wondering if, well…"

"WHAT? Hurry up and spill it already," she impatiently snapped, tapping the ground with the bottom of one heel.

"Iwaswonderingifyouwantedcompanyandwhetherthere'sanychanceofsparringwithyou," he rushed out in a single breath. Even then it took a moment or two for the request to sink in, and Toph involuntarily blinked in surprise.

"Sparring? YOU? …Huh. Um, to be honest—"

"I know I'm not on your level," Haru interrupted, and she subsided in silent agreement. So… at the very least the guy wasn't stupid. "But I have to say I'm curious as to how your skills have improved since the end of the war. Would it please you to give me a demonstration?"

Oh. Well, that made more sense. Toph grinned sharkily, and cracked her knuckles as she considered: it had been a very long time since she had a good rumbly bending battle, after all, and it would please her very much. "Having difficulty finding people to kick your butt, huh?"

"No," he replied in the same smiling tone, and she could feel him shifting into the same standard position most all her opponents used. "Just Earthbenders. We're a minority here, in case you didn't realize."

Toph laughed and stepped back at that, feet slightly apart and full of a wicked excited expectation, the tension singing through her body like the wind through a sheaf of hollow bamboo. She felt as if she were a tautly coiled wire, ready to spring at the first sign of movement.

"Ready when you are, Pretty-Boy."

………
Now she's driving too fast
She didn't care to glance behind
And through her tears she laughed
It's time to kiss the past goodbye

"I'm finally on my own—
Don't try to tell me no
There's so much more for me
Just watch what I will be"
………

Today was a very special day, in Fire Lord Zuko's book: after much haggling, he'd finally gotten an affirmative response from the Bei Fongs about looking into 'the Fire Lord's agricultural commerce matter,' and that once they received a positive answer from the merchants they would send word to the Fire Lord.

"We are relieved to hear that our beloved daughter is safely residing in the Fire Nation capital and enjoying the hospitality of the Fire Lord and Lady… We will carry out this commission with the understanding that it is on our beloved daughter's behalf, and upon her expressed request," the letter concluded. "Please convey to her our best wishes for the future, as well as the letter we have enclosed for her eyes only."

Somehow it did not surprise Zuko that Toph's parents had been reduced to this final measure, of sending personal communication to their daughter in a way that she would be practically forced to receive it. His own father had sent his psychotic sister Azula as his messenger… and the message she carried had been his death warrant.

No, I will NOT think of her. Zuko forcibly wrenched his thoughts away from his sister's mocking cruelty, and almost absently he touched the old wound above his heart. Uncle and his friends have secreted her where she will never emerge. She is dead to me, forever and ever.

So, back to the present… because of the news, Zuko felt there was just cause for celebration. And what better way to celebrate than to have an actual sit-down dinner with his lovely wife (who he hadn't seen in months) and the friend who made the celebration even possible?

"Where is she?" Zuko asked, drumming his fingers on the table a bit impatiently. Both Fire Lord and Lady had sat down to their meal more than an hour ago, and yet Toph still had not arrived. "Didn't you send someone to get her by now?"

"Oh, Toph's probably just training in the woods again. I sent Haru out there a few hours ago in hopes he'd get to know her better." Katara took a neat bite of her spiced jellyfish and chewed it carefully. "I judge by the fact that he hasn't returned that he's met with success."

Her husband frowned somewhat uneasily upon hearing her coolly complacent reply. "Do you really think that's wise? I mean, I can't imagine Toph would approve of any outside efforts to interfere in her love life—or her lack of one."

"Of course she won't approve," retorted Katara, setting down her utensils beside her half-eaten dish and giving him a no-nonsense look. "But what she doesn't know won't hurt her, and besides, she has no choice in the matter. …Which is also why you're NOT going to tell her about it."

Zuko gave a long-suffering sigh and briefly kneaded his temples with his fingertips. Even through the throbbing of his reemerging headache, he dimly perceived that the evening was going downhill fast. "Katara… I understand that you're doing this because Toph's a friend, and I know that you only have her best interests at heart. Still, just because you were married at seventeen doesn't mean that—"

"That has nothing to do with it!" she snapped at him irately, enough to shut him up for the moment. "All I want is for her to find happiness, Zuko—but how is she to do that if she refuses to even so much as take the chance to go out and look for it? Ever since Aang left, she's totally closed herself off from friends, family and strangers alike… trying to maintain a kind of status quo, I suppose. Now that she's here, she needs to accept how things have changed and move forward."

"But you're not making it any easier for her, either." Zuko stood up and began pacing the length of the room, hands clasped behind his back and his long dark hair swishing behind his shoulders. "Generally speaking, Earthbenders or Earth Kingdom citizens are resilient, but rather resistant to change. You Water Tribe people, on the other hand, are all about change and are very adaptable. Your philosophies of life don't… mesh well, if you know what I mean." He turned to face her, his shoulders unconsciously braced against the impending wave of her disapproval. "I think you should give her some space. Any pushing on your part now will only be met with greater resistance on hers."

"Oh, really?" Katara also got to her feet, looking a bit peeved. "Well, if that's what you think… Excuse me." She marched toward the door, passing close enough that the edge of her sleeve brushed against his. A second later Zuko's hand shot out and caught hers, drawing her back to him. Katara did not resist the pull—as it was his 'right' as her lord and husband—although she did disparage it with her gaze.

Golden eyes searched her sea blue ones, and his handsome scarred face grimly set in a slight frown. "…You think I'm wrong."

"Was it that obvious?" Sarcasm. He sighed, and released her.

"If you're not going to listen to me anyway, it doesn't really matter, does it? Besides, I have other things to attend to—like improving the lives of my people. Isn't that more important than nosing about in someone else's business, when that person is fully capable of taking care of herself?"

That stung her. Katara bit her lip, averting her eyes as she painfully whispered: "Of all the lives you should be concerned about, I don't see why you never choose to concern yourself about your own… the one you're supposed to share with me."

She left him then, standing and staring after her like he couldn't quite believe his ears. Meanwhile the half-eaten meal grew ever steadily colder behind him.

………
Not a day goes by
For the ones she's left behind
They're always asking why
And thoughts of her consume their mind…
………

She found him in his bedchamber, the one adjoining his office that he used for the nights when he was prone to falling asleep on the job. He could tell it was Toph approaching by her firm, steady steps, accompanied by an occasional tap from that staff she liked to carry around.

"Sparky? Are you sleeping already?"

"No, I'm awake… just looking out the window," he answered, straightening a bit self-consciously and turning to greet his guest. It didn't matter that she couldn't see him; no self-respecting Fire Lord ever received his guests in a state of pathetic mental turmoil. "You didn't come to dinner."

"Nah, I was busy straightening out some things," she said rather drolly, sliding the door shut behind her and tossing her staff lightly from one hand to the other. She looked inordinately pleased with herself. "How was it? Did you save me anything?"

"Sorry, I didn't ask for dinner to be brought up tonight. I ate downstairs with Katara."

"What, you saw her? Good for you." Toph nodded approvingly, even though it was quite evident her mind was elsewhere. "Geez, I'm starving. I guess I can go visit the kitchens later…"

"Why were you out so late anyway?"

Toph rolled her eyes and said wryly, "Well, if you ate dinner with Katara she probably told you all about it, didn't she?" Before he could respond she continued, "So what's the special occasion? Feeling romantic, or something?"

Actually, nothing could be farther from the truth, he thought, barely suppressing a flinch. "Your parents agreed to discuss the matter with the merchants on the Fire Lord's behalf. I just felt like sharing the good news."

"How is that good? They haven't talked to them yet; all that means is that they're going to," Toph muttered a bit dampingly, her high spirits seeming to slide away at the mention of her parents. "Don't count your chicken-pigs before they hatch, Sparky."

Zuko sighed, and felt around in his pockets. "Well, I figured the Bei Fongs couldn't have become the wealthiest people in the Earth Kingdom if they didn't have some way of getting what they wanted."

"I suppose. What are you doing now?" She came closer, perhaps attracted by the sounds of his search. Fortunately, just then his searching hand closed on the paper and withdrew it.

"Here. Your parents sent you this letter." He handed it to her and watched as she turned it over, fingering the unbroken jade-colored wax seal, imprinted with the flying boar of her family crest. "They said it was for your eyes only."

Toph glanced up at him then, her gaze incredulous. "They said that."

"Yes."

Her incredulity seemed to increase. "…Word for word."

"Yeah." Zuko shrugged, uncomfortably aware of the mounting aura of rage rising from the smaller girl. "I guess they really wanted to contact you."

The fine thin paper crumpled in her hands. She's trembling, he realized with a start. "Toph?"

The diminutive Earthbender viciously balled up the letter, threw it down, and stomped on it hard enough to cause damage to the floorboards. Stepping back and bending over, she scooped it up and held it out in his direction. She did not look at him. "Burn it."

Zuko eyed it—and her—somewhat disbelievingly. "Are you sure you want to do that? It might be something important."

"Doesn't matter."

"But—"

"BURN IT!" she practically shrieked at him, and she shoved it into his hands. Zuko accepted it—more out of habit than of any rational thought, for he was severely taken aback. He had never seen Toph lose her cool like this.

"What's wrong?"

" 'For my eyes only'? I'm BLIND!" she cried in a voice that could have melted steel. "As if I could read any of the stupid inky sheets of paper they keep mailing me! Are they so desperate that they've forgotten the basic facts about their own daughter?" She broke off at last, breathing raggedly.

Zuko watched her and said nothing, but he slowly undid the scrunched-up ball with his fingers, flattening the folded paper on the windowsill. "… Do you mind if I read it to you first before I burn it?" he asked quietly.

Toph was much like he used to be: hating one's parents and being unable to forgive them for not loving one enough, yet in some part of one's psyche desperately needy for some sign of their approval and blessing. He watched as she wavered between hurt outrage and yearning curiosity… and finally, with some sort of resentful defiance, she nodded for him to go ahead.

"Dear Daughter— (it began):

Since your last visit nearly ten months ago, your mother and I have been concerned about you and your increasingly erratic behavior. It is unseemingly for a young woman of your age to travel completely unaccompanied—although we would have preferred it if you simply rejected the guards we sent, instead of resorting to earthbending and knocking them out as soon as you were out of sight. That was badly done of you, Toph.

Your mother and I miss you greatly, and wish you would simply forget your fruitless pursuit of the Avatar. We understand that during your abduction you bonded very strongly to him, but this hostage/kidnapper obsession of yours ought to have worn off by now. How can you continue to treat our worries as unfounded?

The Avatar no longer needs you, but we do—we need you to come home and start behaving like a proper daughter again. No more of this independent travel nonsense. We can accept that you are currently visiting the Fire Lord and Lady, but remember that when you finally tire of hiding, that you can come home to the place you belong."

Zuko folded the paper again, feeling awkward and a bit embarrassed. Toph definitely wouldn't have wanted anyone else privy to the contents of that particular letter, and judging by the tense expression she wore she was now heartily regretting her decision to let him read it. To forestall her having to repeat her earlier demand, he lifted the paper to his lips and concentrated his mind on thoughts of fire.

A soft exhale, a deeper inhale and he breathed out just so—so that a thin tongue of flame caught and held to the paper. Without a word he watched it burn through, consuming the ink writing and turning the entire sheet into brittle ashes, then stretched his hand out the window and let them blow away in the night.

"It's done," he informed her. Only then did Toph break the tension, slumping her shoulders and letting out a grateful sigh.

"…Should've burned it at the very start. I already knew they didn't understand." She flung herself down on the bed next to him somewhat despondently, folding her legs close to her body and hugging them. "They think I'm chasing after him, like a ditched girlfriend who doesn't know how to quit. Stupid, of course."

He gave her a sideways glance. "How so?"

"If I really was chasing him, don'tcha think I'd have found him by now?" she snorted, but her gaze was pensive. "Besides, this is Avatar business, bigger than friends and stupid stuff like, oh, promises and personal sacrifice. I spent the years more constructively than that… and I spent them on my own."

Zuko reached out and tentatively patted her on the back. When she didn't immediately lash out at him, he brought his hand up to her shoulder in what he assumed was a suitably supportive manner and said, "Uncle once told me that there is nothing wrong with letting those that love you, help you. Stay here as long as you want, Toph—Agni knows how much we need you here, too."

Toph tilted her head toward him, looking markedly curious at the inflection in his voice. "What do you mean, 'need'? As far as I can see, you've got things well under control here."

He hesitated for a moment, and wondered if he dared. "I… well, Katara and I… it's just we've been—"

He never finished his sentence, for just then the doors slid open with a loud bang in the outer office, and a set of agile, light footsteps advanced into his rooms. By the slight jerk Toph gave in his supportive clasp, he knew that she too recognized the owner of those footsteps. Knowing Katara as he did and suspecting how their positions possibly could look to a newcomer, Zuko had just enough time to remove his hand when the bedroom door banged open, and his wife entered the room.

If Katara had been a firebender, she'd probably have been spitting fire literally instead of figuratively, she was that pissed. As it was, though, Toph simply ignored the atmosphere and grinned.

"Well, speak of the devil. Whatcha you doing here, Sweetness?"

A strange expression passed over Katara's face and she replied in a tolerably even tone, "Perhaps I should be asking you the same question, Toph. What are YOU doing here?"

Zuko hurriedly jumped in before Toph could possibly do any more damage. "We were discussing a letter from her parents, Katara… that's all."

"A letter? Where?"

"Noneyahbusiness," Toph answered nonchalantly, then quickly switched to the truth (perhaps because she thought it more amusing). "Sparky just did me a favor and incinerated it for me."

Katara's gaze flickered from Toph to Zuko and back again. "And why, may I ask, is this conversation taking place here instead of the office?"

"Not enough privacy," Toph said frankly. "You know how it is, Sparky and his paranoia about people listening in all the time."

Katara looked back at him, glaring and mouthing silently What have you been telling her?! Zuko shook his head vigorously and mouthed back It's not what you think! But she still looked disbelieving, and what was worse—suspicious.

"Is there something you wanted, Katara?" he asked quietly (and a trifle hurriedly, seeing as Toph was in a volatile mood and could not be counted on for help). Dinner had taken place only one or two hours ago, and Zuko couldn't help wondering if their recent conversation weighed as much on her mind as it did now on his. Judging by her sudden flush and refusal to meet his gaze, he rather suspected it did.

"No. I mean, yes—I wanted to… to give Toph this note for Teo. That's all," she answered a little unsteadily, although it was with great dignity that she came forward and passed him the roughly folded paper. "Now, I'll… just go. So… bye. I-I mean, good night."

"Sweet dreams, Sugar Queen," Toph called after her, as she closed the door with a greater degree of consideration than she'd opened it. As soon as Katara left, Toph turned to him and asked confidentially, "What was that all about?"

Zuko shrugged and turned the paper in his hands. There was a distinct sensation of disappointment in his chest, that this was all Katara had come to do… but he ignored it in favor of explication. "She wants you to deliver it for her." He held the note out for her to take.

Toph took it, sniffed cursorily at the stiff folded sheet, and proceeded to fan herself with it. "Okay that's great and all, but why do I have to do it? Can't she do it, since she actually knows who this Teo is?"

"Teo lives in the Tower out by the woods you were rough-housing in earlier. I think she hoped you would take it, since you go out there on a regular basis anyway." And maybe she had another reason for it, he thought broodingly… but she was his wife, and out of consideration for her he held his tongue. "Since it's already dark, I'd suggest dropping it off tomorrow."

"Mm-hmm. …All right, I can do that. How's Katara, by the way?"

Zuko winced. "I think I'd rather not talk about it right now—I'm depressed enough as it is. How did it go with Haru?"

"Are you kidding?" She grinned at him again, this time with the beatific, utterly satisfied smile of the victor. "I'm the greatest Earthbender in the world, a.k.a. the Blind Bandit—Earth Rumble champion. I totally kicked his butt."

………
The choice is yours alone now
Tell me how this story
ends
………

A/N: Late again, I know. The story involves the lightning-struck laptop mentioned last chaper, typing the first 7 pages or so on it WITHOUT BACKUP, and then turning on the laptop one evening and finding out IT WON'T TURN ON. TT So, had to start from scratch... and what bites is I lost about a GB of Avatar pics along with everything else. /useless complaints. At least I have the outline still, and I hope that the worst of these computer complications are over.

As this is a Taang story, soon we can expect to see more of Aang (wherever he is... eheh). As always, if you like please review!