A/N: I own nothing. Thank you to my reviewers, I'm sorry I cannot answer each one because for some reason, the reply links I get in my email do not work. The progress may seem quick and overwhelming, but as they always say.. two heads are better one. In this case, Iroh makes a third head.
CrazyDyslexicNerd – Ah, that is totally true.. and actually, probably 10 or something. I think this is about a year and a half before the show starts.
Cold Thunder
Chapter Seven: The Tomboy
Freedom lies in being bold.
Toph Bei Fong was an interesting bit of character study. Zuko spent almost the entire next day simply watching her as she rolled and tossed pieces of rock and dirt with her fingers, sitting on the floor of the inner academy building. It was an isolated area, and he assumed that it was because she was blind and rich that Master Yu had hidden her away into seclusion. In some aspects, it was very similar to the way he spent his own childhood... but in any case, he was only here because he was probably the quietest and most well behaved student that could be trusted to watch her. She was a little thing, delicate looking in her way of dress, and probably about 5-6 years younger than he was. Zuko gleaned what information he could from her posture, her subconscious movements, her hidden expressions.. he could tell she was a much better earthbender than everyone thought. Primarily, it had to do with the way she sat. Oh, she had seated herself with the regular poised grace of someone in high society, but she couldn't hide how she never failed to firmly plant her feet on the ground. She also twitched slightly whenever he moved or adjusted his position, even though he tried his best to not to create noise or rustle his clothes. It was actually pretty fascinating.
After a pleasantly quiet and calm four hours of doing nothing but observing her, Zuko was not surprised when the girl in question finally lost a bit of her cool. Toph Bei Fong let the crumbling pieces of earth drop out of her restless hands as she struggled not to scowl.
"Are you going to watch me all day?" she asked scornfully, with an undercurrent of irritation. Ah, so she wasn't the patient type, was she? Another notch for his hypothesis about her, though it was a sketchy one at best. Usually, wealthy females were rather good at waiting, or you could also call it stewing silently. Like a good stew, a woman's temper got more potent as time passed... Oh god, Iroh was rubbing off on him.. he had just made a food analogy. No no no.
"Something wrong, lady?" answered Zuko blandly, but a hint of a smile on his face. So she could feel his gaze? How curious. He continued to watch her shamelessly, making swirly drawings in the layer of dirt on the floor as he did so. She seemed slightly distracted by that, though her eyebrow did a small little spasm at his reply. Did he just call her a lady?
"May I ask why you're staring at me?" Toph ground out admirably, suppressing most of her annoyance and trying to retain her dainty image. Her fingers were making sudden, minute movements, as if she itched to brain him with a piece of rock. He added another mental notch to his list.
"Ahh.. yes. It is very educational to do so," said the fire prince, with sudden seriousness. She paused momentarily at that.
"Hmph," she then scoffed, switching to another topic. "I know you. You're Master Yu's newest pupil, right?" She emphasized the word 'master' with apparent distaste and sarcasm.
The golden eyed teenager hummed, stretching calmly. "So you've heard of me?"
"Yes," her mouth twisted into a humorous grin. "I have. All the other students talk about you. The talentless earthbender that can't even make dirt shift by itself, no matter what he tries to do."
"That is probably true," Zuko conceded, closing his eyes until they were lazily half-lidded, staring at the patch of sunlight nearest him. He drank in the heat with comforting thirst while Toph grew angry at his complacency.
"So?" she demanded, her fingers gripped tightly into a fist, abandoning her delicate facade. "Are you just going to stand there and take it, you pansy? Don't you want to prove them wrong?" Her words were loaded with bitterness, and he frowned in response as she unknowingly struck a chord within him, his own disastrous experience with early firebending coming back to the forefront of his mind.
"I see," he said lowly, his expression blanking quickly. "You yourself have dealt with this, haven't you? In fact, it is still going on as we speak.." He glanced around the room, which was completely free from anything she might possibly bump into or hurt herself with, including other people besides himself. The girl stiffened, her entire body still with surprise, but she soon relaxed herself enough in his presence to continue speaking.
"I am a helpless little child," Toph said bitingly, a scowl now obviously present on her face. "A poor, defenselessly blind human ornament. Sheltered and fragile."
"Don't say it like that," he sighed. "You're making it sound like the truth."
"You agree with them, though, don't you?" she accused, her agitation making the rest of the rocks vibrate and clatter. "Even though you have no skill at earthbending, you still feel superior to me!"
Zuko regarded her placidly, stretching the moment a tad unnecessarily as he reviewed what he knew about her, and what he'd guessed for himself. The girl, breathing hard from her emotional outburst, awaited his response in a violent mood.
"No," he said finally, with strong conviction. "I do not."
Those truthful words, boldly spoken, had then unknowingly earned him an eternal friendship.
Toph had been born prematurely, in her Earth Kingdom hometown of Gaoling, to Poppy and Lao Bei Fong. She made her entrance into a world of phantom luxury and a life of absolute darkness, being blind from creation and unable to appreciate the beauty of the wealth around her. Her parents doted on her with over protective devotion, and sheltered her from the harsh realities that existed outside the walls of their well-kept manor. At first, she didn't mind because she didn't know better, knowing nothing but her current way of life. It was only when her parents had distinguished guests over, who told stories of the wonderful majesty of the world and its amazing sights and phenomena, that she realized what she had truly lost out on. The blind girl would never be able to view the wonders that most people did, to connect with others on the same level, to do wildly fun things for the thrill of it, to be able to genuinely enjoy living like everyone else.. This ugly truth left a gaping, cavernous hole in her heart that never went away and ached with insatiable longing. Disillusioned and struck with the unfairness of it all, Toph's personality grew stubborn, defensive, and intolerant of all perceived slights. Her frustration reached new heights when her efforts to overcome her disability were not supported by her parents, and in a fit of fury she ran away.
Despite being sightless, seemingly cursed with vision that was endlessly entrenched in shadow, she had located the entrance of a mountain cave in her angry flight and disappeared into its dark interior. It was there, crawling hastily and desperately holding back tears, that she had found the animal that would change her whole world as she perceived it. Her time with the badgermoles of the mountains was a time that she cherished most deeply, as it was the first instance in which she had connected with something that possessed the same exact condition as her. The same condition that had plunged all of her years in an unyielding black vacuum, devoid of light. The badgermoles were just as blind as she was, and through this mutual connection, they could easily understand each other. The Bei Fong heiress communicated to them her resentment and vexation with her handicap, and thus, in return, received invaluable instruction in earthbending from its most natural source. The day when everything became clear to her, that day when she grasped the way to see without sight for the first time.. the blind girl felt that empty space inside of her fill itself with warm, solid purpose. The giddy feeling of success and ecstasy she had embraced in that moment became her drug, her medicine, and her addiction. This was her true calling... the meaning of her entire existence.
It might've been silly and naïve of Toph to believe that because of her new found skills, her life would be automatically righted and her competence acknowledged. Indeed, though her subsequent days and impressions of the world were profoundly changed from then on, nothing was truly different. Her parents remained oblivious and smothering, refusing to believe that she had risen above her unfortunate circumstances and turned her handicap into a dangerous advantage. Toph, growing up to be hard and rebellious, recognized wisely that their actions were done out of care. They did care for her, and she cared for them in exchange, but that did nothing to alter the fact that their actions continuously stunted and sabotaged her growth. It was clearly time to take matters into her own hands, and that was exactly what she did. Under the black veil of night, the Bei Fong heiress practiced her earthbending in utmost secrecy, honing her seismic sense as well as her other, unhindered senses. She became acutely aware of even the slightest movements from the vibrations in the earth beneath her feet, her hearing grew sharper and scarily accurate, and she mastered her own unique variation of earthbending with wondrous finesse. But regardless of her progress, Toph had ultimately resigned herself to a hidden existence behind the stone walls of the Gaoling manor.
That was, however, only until she discovered the thrill of battle. Gaoling, a rather prosperous Earth Kingdom town, was not without its own threats. There were many bands of rogues, thieves, and ambitious rebels who found the townsfolk to be good prey, and they were not always easily repelled. One day, a particularly smart group of bandits snuck into Toph's home, and then proceeded to try and ransack the place. Chaos had quickly erupted as the guards stationed around the grand house engaged the bandits, who proved too slippery and underhanded for them. Not one to simply sit there and allow things like this to happen right in front of her, the Bei Fong heiress waited until the last guard was knocked unconscious, and then unleashed the might of her earthbending prowess on every single one of the bandits. The fight was over in a flash, but the adrenaline that remained pumping in her veins had left her breathless and excited. In that moment, the only one still standing in the room surrounded by collapsed bodies on all sides, Toph decided she enjoyed fighting. If earthbending was her brush, then the battlefield was her canvas.
Her parents had returned home in record time, distraught and worried for the safety of their little flower, and the victory was attributed to the efforts of the guards. Poppy and Lao Bei Fong then swiftly upped the security, leaving their blind daughter with the best protection their money could buy on short notice. Toph, as a result, was forced to live in a gilded cage, feeling both confined and unfulfilled.
In her defense, she had tried to devise many ways to wrestle her way out of under the watchful eyes of her caretakers. She had, in the end, managed to convince her parents to let her take earthbending lessons with the resident academy owner Master Yu, in a plot to allow her more freedom and to show her parents just how good she was at earthbending. It was all for naught, however, because that long winded droopy idiot did not allow her to do anything beyond basic breathing exercises. This made her nearly scream in anger, and she jadedly observed that her life had so far been a lesson in futility.
Toph had been persevering in another agonizingly boring session with Master Yu when her routine was broken by something out of the ordinary. A new academy student that had absolutely no talent in earthbending, judging by the taunting and condescending words of the other pupils. Her interest peaked, the Bei Fong heiress had spied on the new guy from a distance, feeling his movements with intense concentration. It was not hard to distinguish him, because even in her black and darkened world, he burned brightly. His spirit was like a beacon, and though Toph personally agreed that he would never be a true earthbender.. she did not want to believe him to be totally hopeless. Able to view his efforts from a unique perspective, Toph cultivated a healthy awe of his skillful displays of mobility. Even if he had no talent, he had still managed to accurately express the true essence of earthbending.. and that accomplishment was something she respected.
Honestly, the blind girl had never expected to meet him personally, nor had she expected him to become her most treasured friend and confidant... but that was what happened. The way he had answered her questions with complete honesty, and without any ulterior motive, led her to place her trust him. Quietly, without either of them noticing it, they carved themselves permanent places in each others' lives.
The two continued to meet for the rest of the month in the earthbending academy, and during that time they formed a great, inseparable friendship. It was not one forged out of pity or sympathy, but one created from mutual experience, understanding, and acceptance. Zuko, scorned by his father and looked down upon as a failure of a firebender, knew what it felt like to be underestimated and restricted. Toph herself knew the fire prince for what he was, but chose to acknowledge him for who he was, and did not pester him about his past. This the golden eyed teenager was immensely grateful for, and returned her belief in him by helping the blind girl with her advanced training. He had a fountain of ideas and new concepts, mostly dredged up from Iroh's many lectures, and offered helpfully unbiased observations.
They experimented with different types of earthbending, and by combining the kata styles of water (which they guessed from stories told by Iroh) and fire with earth, Toph was able to bend vegetation. She didn't like the non-confrontational aspect of the hybrid forms and wasn't very good at executing them, so she merely filed this information away into her brain for later use and quit while she was ahead. For her part, the Bei Fong heiress helped Zuko discover that he could firebend normally when enjoying a battle a bit too much. The fire prince normally did not relish fighting, but alongside Toph it could be rather fun at times. Together, they also drummed up several combo attacks, which Zuko thought were rather flashy. They succeeded at creating lava, sand, and glass by combining their elements, but not much else.
The golden eyed teenager also assisted his female friend in outright battle experience, providing a model firebender to help her get a feel for fighting someone from the Fire Nation and allowing her to devise a defense for his less powerful lightning strikes. In exchange, he learned tactics that were effective against earthbenders and thought up more versatile uses for his lightning, such as knockout fields and electric nets. Toph's speed and innate accuracy did not match his, but her ability to think quickly and logically under pressure improved dramatically in every spar. Both Zuko and Toph aided each other, learning from joint experience and the pooling their knowledge. They formed a type of seamless teamwork that would eventually be essential to their survival.