Standard disclaimer applies

Better Left Unsaid

The campsite was quite when he woke the next morning. As he glanced around he noticed that Katara was still asleep. Good, he thought, she needs her rest. He could also see the Avatar curled up on the ground next to his bison. He then noticed that Sokka had also fallen asleep. At least he wouldn't have to deal with him for awhile. It was then that the earth bender spoke up, "I guess Sokka thinks I'm a big enough girl to handle you if you try anything stupid. Looks like I'm your babysitter until he wakes up."

"I don't need anyone to watch over me. I'm not going to try anything. I just want to get out of here so that I can find my uncle."

"Yeah well that's not how Sokka sees it. I guess all those times that you've attacked them in the past and tried to steal Aang have kind off clouded his judgment." She replied sarcastically.

He stared at her for a moment. He didn't know how to take this new member of their little group. The fact that she was blind was surprising, but for her to be teaching the Avatar earth bending, she must be a master. The thing that was odd was that she didn't act blind. She knew her way around their surroundings and she would respond to people as if she could see them. In fact she knew he was awake and he had not even gotten up from the ground yet.

Finally he spoke, "I did what I had to do to capture the Avatar."

"Well it would seem to me that you're not very good at it. I mean how many times have you found him only to lose him again?"

Her words angered him. "You don't know anything about that. You weren't there. I have always fought him well. It just seems that luck has always been on his side."

"I wouldn't call it luck. Maybe Aang just possess more skill and cunning than you." She shot back.

Her words infuriated him. She knew nothing of the situation. He had always fought hard for the Avatar but the circumstances always seemed to favor the small monk over himself. As his anger rose over her comments, he could feel himself losing control. She was a smart mouthed little girl and at that moment he wanted nothing more than to give back some of the insults. "What would you know of skill?" he asked heatedly, "you're nothing but a little blind girl. It's amazing that they would even want to travel with you. The thought of you watching over me is laughable." He said as he rose to leave. "After all how are you even going to see me if I try to escape with the Avatar? I can't imagine you being of any use…"

His words died on his lips as the ground shifted under his feet causing him to fall. He came down hard on his left side and the pain shooting from his broken arm caused him to yell out. "I don't need to see you," She replied "your footing, your breathing, even the beating of your heart give you away. Not that you seem to have a heart."

Slowly he got to his feet and faced her. He was so angry that his head hurt. He would show her just how much skill he possessed. She wouldn't even know what hit her. He got into a fighting stance and looked at her. It was then that the impact of what he had said to her earlier hit him. He could tell that she was angry, but there was something else there as well. He had hurt her. He knew he had sunk low when the words past his lips but he was so angry he didn't care. Now looking at her he could see just how much his words had bothered her. Suddenly he felt like a heel.

"Well, are you going fight back or what?" she shouted at him.

He lowered his arms and bowed his head in shame. She may be blind, but he knew she was extremely good in a fight. He had seen her battle Azula. It had been wrong to lash out as he had. "I don't want to fight you." He said.

"Why is that? Afraid a poor, defenseless, blind girl is going to beat you?"

"No." he replied. "I just… I didn't mean … I shouldn't have said what I did. It was wrong. Your words just angered me. You can't begin to know the lengths that I have gone through to find the Avatar. I have lost everything I had from my life in the Fire Nation in my attempts to bring him to my father. My honor hinges on his capture. Whenever I come close to catching him he manages to slip out of my grasp. Even now, in his presence night and day, I am too weak to take him. The timing is never right."

His words seemed to surprise her. She lowered her guard and said, "So let me get this right, are you apologizing to me for being a jerk, because it sounds to me like that's what you're attempting to do? I mean you're still making excuses for why you can't capture Aang, but I do get the distinct impression that you are trying to apologize to me."

He gritted his teeth together in an attempt to keep from saying anything else that he might regret. She was infuriating. Here he was trying to be civil and she was just making fun of him. He stared at her blank expression when suddenly she began to smirk. He couldn't contain his feelings any longer. "You're making fun of me. Here I am apologizing to you and you're making fun of me!"

"Well that's because you make it so easy. I mean really you are way too serious. You need to lighten up. Laugh at yourself once in awhile." With that she smiled at him. Suddenly he felt completely foolish. She continued, "I mean really, I wouldn't make fun of you if I didn't think you were a talented bender and fighter. There would be no sport in it otherwise. I mean look at Sokka; for all his stupid, sarcastic remarks and his apparent laziness, he really is a good warrior. I never cut him any slack because I know that he can take it. I thought you could too, but if it hurts your feelings too much I'll stop."

"Nothing you can say could hurt my feelings!" he replied heatedly.

"Well good, because I really wasn't going to leave you alone anyways." With that she let out a laugh and suddenly he found that he couldn't help but smile back. He wasn't used to teasing like this. The only person who ever teased him before was Azula, but her teasing was genuine and meant to hurt him. This would take some getting used to, but then he remembered that he wouldn't be hanging around long enough to let that happen.

Once she finished laughing she said, "You know we've never been formally introduced. My name is Toph of the Bei Fong Family." The last she said with a haughty air to it. She put out her hand to shake.

He approached her and taking her hand he said, "Prince Zuko, pleased to make your acquaintance" He bowed low over her hand.

She giggled and replied, "Oh royalty. Well your highness, would you care for some breakfast?"

"Food would be nice" he said.

We've got some mangos if you'd like."

"That would be great." He said and taking the fruit he sat back down. They were quiet for a moment and then she spoke.

"You know you're not the first person to underestimate me because I'm blind."

"Hey look, those remarks I made earlier were out of anger. I know you can fight. I was there at the abandoned village when we all fought Azula. I've seen what you can do."

"Yeah well most people think that I can't take care of myself. They think because I'm blind that I need special care and attention. My own parents kept me hidden away from the world my whole life so that I wouldn't get hurt."

"Well you're their daughter. They just want to protect you. If I had a little girl, I'd want to do all that I could to keep her safe."

"Yeah well there's protecting and then there's smothering. They never let me do anything for myself. They couldn't see that I could take care of myself. I didn't need their constant attention. It drove me crazy."

"I can see how it would. Having people always trying to help has a way of making a person feel like a constant failure."

She started to laugh and he looked at her confused, "What's so funny about that?"

"Oh, it's just that your uncle said that I sounded just like you when I told him that I needed to do things on my own."

"When did you talk with my uncle?" he asked now even more confused.

"I met him that day we fought against your sister. We had tea together."

"You had tea with my uncle?"

"Yes I did. I was off walking, trying to cool my temper when I came upon him. He invited me to tea and we talked for a while. He gave me some good advice."

"Uncle has a way with giving advice, that's for sure." He said. He looked down at the food in his hand and realized that his appetite was gone. He missed his uncle and he worried about him. Please let him be alright he prayed.

"You really love your uncle, don't you?"

"He's all I have left in the world."

"He loves you too." She said. This caused him to look up at her. "He told me as much when we were talking. He worries about you and wants you to be happy. He mentioned that you two had parted ways, but that he had been tracking you in case you needed him."

"He was tracking me?" he replied stunned.

"He was looking out for you."

"He's been doing that for quite sometime now." He said softly.

"Well it's obvious that he loves you. You know it's funny though, when I was talking to him I had no idea who he was and that you were the nephew that he was talking about. In fact it wasn't until after your sister injured him that I realized who he was. I mean imagine my surprise when I realized that the nephew he was talking so lovingly about was the same person as the 'angry freak with the ponytail' that Sokka had been talking about earlier."

"Angry freak with the ponytail? Better to be an angry freak than a stupid idiot."

She smiled and said, "Yeah he can be stupid at times, but he's beginning to grow on me. Hey look, you really should eat something. If you're going to track down your uncle you're going to need all the strength that you can muster."

He looked at the mango in his hand. She was right he would need his strength. As much as she found it humorous that he needed to do things on his own, he knew that he would be on his own when he went to look for his uncle. In fact his uncle was the only person he had left on his side. Now that he was gone it was up to him alone to find him. No one else was going to help in the search. Alone, it always seemed that that was his destiny, to be alone. For once he felt the desire to have someone on his side, someone to confide in, someone to believe in him, someone to share the burden. But that wasn't going to happen. He was alone whether he wanted to be or not. That was just the way it was. The way it seemed that it would always be.