Just an accident, chapter 10
Summary: In his intent to help Toph, Zuko ends up kind of...well, married to her.
2)"It's time to end with this big fat lie," she said confident, yet the lump in her throat apparent. "This whole thing was...all a...It was his fault!!"
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or any characters on it. The story is purely fictional and views or facts expressed in it aren't meant to offend or degrade anyone. I make no money out of writing this story; never had, never will. And disclaimers are kinda stuck up.
Comments: I make a terrible person to introduce characters, so if you hate Xio Yuu, me too! He's sketchy and has not much to do in the story. Like a filler! D:
Wow! We're in chapter 10 already. To be honest, I didnt think this would last ;). Enjoy.
The coffee girl smiled to him when she handed him his morning cup. "Have a nice day sir."
Zuko nodded and got back to the reports. However the delicate gold ring he had on his finger drove his thoughts away again.
Somehow he didn't really believe he was married. It had to be understandable: he had never planned to marry Toph, or that he had barely seen her the last two days. Toph had been surrounded by waiting maids, maids of honor and the social ambient of the court–one very far away from the meeting room.
Only yesterday had he got a glimpse of her in her rooms; she was wearing a linen camisole, but before he could say goodnight Chong had locked the door.
"A beautiful Fire Lady she makes, huh?" The deep voice made Zuko jump out of his thoughts. Xio-Yom, minister of intern relationships smiled kindly, looking out the window.
"When did you come in?" The Fire Lord said disconcerted, but Xio-Yom raised his hand motioning him to shut up.
Zuko followed his gaze out the window, where a group of ladies was. And Toph was there. She was in the front –not in front of Chong– and a maid held her parasol high over Toph's head to cover her from the sun. Her flowery pink dress didn't reach her ankles, showing a red petticoat underneath. Over her dress she wore a short red jacket, no doubt put to make her look more like a Fire Nation citizen.
All in all, she looked like a Fire Lady. He noticed she was even smiling. Someone had handed her a flower bouquet, she held it close to her face and sniffled it.
"As I said, a beautiful Fire Lady she makes." Xio-Yom said softly.
"Indeed" without even knowing, Zuko let that slip out. The old man laughed heartily when Zuko widened his eyes and quickly looked away.
"It's a shame that your uncle didn't stay for the lovely wedding." The minister continued. He was one of Iroh's old friends, a member of the White Lotus. "I can't wait to see that old man's face when he finds out. But first we'll have to wait for our Fire Lord to make a move huh? She can't be crowned before that."
Xio-Yom kept mumbling to himself, but then noticed Zuko no longer listened. The young Fire Lord looked at nowhere in particular with widened eyes.
The old man sighed shaking his head. "Before you two–"
"I know, I know!" Zuko replied, not wanting to hear any of it. He furrowed his brow. "But you can't really expect…I mean she's my comrade, not my girlfriend. And she's fifteen!"
The minister raised a brow questioningly. "Didn't you think of that before you married her?"
"I didn't because I wasn't thinking!" Zuko let out frantically. Xio Yom nodded. "I…I mean, anyone would've done the same thing in my place. You know Yan-Yan, he's…"
"I know who Yan-Yan is Zuko." The older man said. "Maybe better than you; yet you could have stopped to think. You could have still made the marriage invalid saying you don't allow it. You're after all the ruler of this land-"
Xio Yom's words became blurry for his ears, disappearing behind one thought. The Main Ruler of the land always had the last word.
"That's it!" Zuko shouted, interrupting Xio Yom in the middle of his speech. He put his hands over the older man's shoulders. "The Earth King may have permitted the marriage between Yan-Yan and Toph, but he never allowed ours! That means it's invalid and Toph can go home and this madness is solved"
Zuko allowed an amused smile to show. "Call the scribe and start relating the letter please" Zuko told Yom on his way to the door. "I'll go tell Toph the good news!" The Fire Lord announced joyfully while he strolled out.
"But your majesty…" Xio Yom tried to call Zuko, but he didn't turn. The coffee girl came in, picking up the cup and spoon quickly.
"I wonder how Iroh managed all this time." The minister said. The girl stopped, thinking he was talking to her, but she just shrugged and went back to coffee things.
___
Toph walked slowly over the grass, thankful she was barefoot today. The Earth beneath her feet felt so very good while she walked.
Chong had finally accepted to get a garden trip and leave aside the court rubbish partially. The girl holding the parasol almost tripped over Toph again and quickly apologized and took a step backwards, stretching out more to cover her with the parasol.
"…Milady?" Yu Jin asked shyly. She was one of the lower-ranked maids of honor she had; her parents came from a family that had once been very noble, but now were almost peasants, only sustained with the botanic shop they had.
"What is it Yu Jin?" Toph asked using an uninterested tone. Even though she liked the girl, Chong constantly reminded her she shouldn't talk too much with Yu Jin; higher ranked girls could take offense on it.
"You see Milady," Yu started a smile in her face anyways. She paid no mind to the tone she had used, neither that she had broken the protocol arrangement of where her place should be in the walks. "This plant here, these flowers make wonderful herbal baths; they're highly healthy and would make you feel refreshed –you know, in case the hot weather still bothers you."
The other girls tried to suppress their gasps when Toph brought the flowers up to her face and sniffed them.
Chong took a step front and extended her hand to take the flowers. She cleared her throat when Toph didn't pay attention to her.
"Oh, don't worry, I'll carry them." Toph disengaged Chong easily and turned back to her maid. "Incredible, would you believe these flowers grew in my garden? I think I never noticed my bathing water had some of it."
Yu Jin smiled and gave a shallow bow, going back to her place.
One of her ladies-in-waiting dared taking a risk. "Where are you from in the Earth Kingdom?" she asked, her tone more casual since her status was far more elevated. She was a far relative of Zuko, she recalled.
"Gaoling, it's in the south." Toph stopped her chat when the earth vibrated slightly with someone's running steps. Sparky's running steps.
"Oh look, the Fire Lord's coming this way!" The young maid that held the parasol noted cheerfully. Chong gave her a glare for her bold behavior that made the girl's skin crawl.
In few seconds Zuko indeed got there sweaty but over-joyful. His merry-go-round mood went down when he looked at the crowd the maids made.
"May I…err…have a moment with my wife?" He finished the last part hesitantly. The women quickly responded affirmatively. "Well, in that case…" He started catching Chong's pointed glance "I wouldn't want to be rude but could we be alone? It'll be just a second."
The girls hesitated but left, making small reverence before leaving. Chong was left last, still glaring daggers and raising her brow.
"Milord" She said coldly.
"Good morning Mrs. Chong" Zuko replied uncouthly, grabbing Toph's wrist to pull her away. He walked away annoyed that they had ruined his good mood.
"Hey, hey sparks" Toph wined strolling to catch up with him. "I'm not into acting breakable, but that kind of hurts!"
Zuko noticed his grip was overly tight. He laced his arm with hers to get closer while they walked. And that would make a more convincing acting then dragging her like a sack. "There's a way to call this down, I just figured it out." He whispered roughly, barely containing his voice.
"Ok, I believe you" She said in a normal voice that she then changed to whisper. "But why are we whispering? I can't sense anyone around."
"Oh, right the Earth beep-beep thing."He said more to himself than to her. He craned his neck to check if he could see someone in the thick foliage of the garden "But this is the Fire Nation, don't get over-confident." He finished, again in a whisper.
"Can you finish the drama and just spit!"
Her companion measured his steps and after a few seconds of silence she heard Zuko clearing his throat roughly. "As in talk! Not spit 'spit' you idiot!" she told him. Rather unkindly, he observed.
"Oh, that makes more sense; there's a law that undoes our marriage. You know that law there is about International Marriage, don't you? If a couple from different tribes marries they have to send a request to-
"Sparks," Toph spoke blandly to him. Grass crushing beneath them could have sounded harder than her voice. "I don't want to start a transaction; your secretaries took good care of that from the fist minute. Now resume."
"What I mean is, a marriage between an Earthen –you – and someone from the Fire Nation," Zuko lead on.
"That would be you," Toph stated, following his thoughts.
"Need permission from both rulers of their Lands. I can't say I don't give permission to myself to marry,"
"But the Earth King can!" she finished widening her eyes.
"That's exactly what I've been trying to say." Zuko's frown suddenly furrowed. Both of them turned when they heard heavy steps behind them.
"But you won't. Neither that or this whole crazy plan, do never mention it again!" Xio Yom scolded appearing behind the vegetation. Toph didn't lose time and she slide her feet to fighting position.
"He's a friend." Zuko told her with clenched teeth. "But I think he owes us an apology for eavesdropping."
Toph remained prepared and with her brow furrowed. She was sizing Xio Yom up. "I believe so."
"And are you going to attack an old man?" the minister said, the authority of his age was still in his voice. "I followed you Zuko, because your plan is senseless. How can you assume the Earth King to know –don't even mention deny- of this marriage when she isn't the crowned Fire Lady? Did you not hear anything I said?"
Toph stopped focusing in the elder and searched for Zuko's response. "What does he mean?" she asked, hesitating.
Zuko looked away, even though she couldn't see him. "Some law" he mumbled so low he was barely hearable. "It says you're not the Fire Lady until the marriage is consumed"
Toph widened her eyes, she shook her head frantically.
"Wait!" Zuko shouted over the noise two stone walls made when they suddenly appeared from the ground.
__
There was a soft knock on the door of his private office. A girl that was in the youngest maids of honor Toph had was standing outside, biting her thumb while she looked nervously at him.
"Sir" she started, without pulling her thumb out. "My Lady waits for you in her chambers." She said and went back to nervously chewing her finger.
He almost wished Chong had come instead. He would have mumbled a 'coming' and thought it a lie. But this girl was surely sent by Toph. He nodded and spoke with a small raspy voice. "I'll be there in a second."
The girl looked up to meet his eye. Then proving to be braver than he thought she came over and sat right next to him. "Is this were you rule the Nation from? Because I had heard, that you had a throne room with a wall of flames. And no one could sit next to you but they could sit beneath." She stopped and looked around.
"Well I do." He said, deciding to show off a bit. "And it's not a wall of flame, but two; I can keep them on all the time."
"Yeah, sure" the girl said sarcastically. "I see none of that here."
"Well yeah," Zuko said, annoyed by the nerve the girl had. "None of that is here because this is my office, not my throne room."
The girl blew a crowberry. "So you work in the office like anyone does? That's not amazing or anything."
"I'm a Political leader, not a circus!" He complained. "And besides, I would like to see you try to manage a country while keeping the fire from burning the curtains."
The girl made a wide O with her mouth and then stood up. "I think I took too long already." She mumbled and stood up, walking out. However she stopped paralyzed at the door.
Zuko looked up from his papers. "Afraid of dark?" he asked. The girl nodded, still looking out. Her candle had melted while she talked, and the service hadn't lit up the wall lamps yet. Looking at the big oil lamp in the center of his desk, Zuko found a crossroad.
If he went there, he'd be making the lie bigger. He'd just be deeper in the whole mess, and irrevocably in it no matter how the things went that night.
The girl kept taking steps back from the darkening hallway and nearer to the only light now. "I really don't like when I can't see." She mumbled, looking at his lamp pleadingly.
Zuko gave her a short glance and looked back to his papers.
In a quick move he threw them all in a drawer and picked up the lamp. "Come on," he said while he walked out, the mahogany and gold walls shined into life near the light as he walked by. "There's little oil left, and I don't want to Fire Bend and burn the sleeves of my new tunic." He mumbled and the girl was beside him in an instant.
He should have felt a knot in his stomach or a lump in his throat; but he felt nothing much as he chose the path to their rooms.
A path of lies maybe, but it could be worth it, he was reminded by the maid walking next to him, or the other one waiting down the hall that pretended to be a grown up.
No they're not going to do it! In case anyone thought so. They are just going to keep lying all the way. I deliberately put the girl so Zuko thought her to be a bit like Toph. It's unavoidable when you're in a relationship with someone older that the older one will see with a bit of parent eyes his/her companion. Believe me.
Sorry for the delay guys, I went on vacations to the Caribbean! : D sadly there's no internet over there; this chapter was ready 2 days after I posted the 9th! Also thanks for the 2 people that faved the story!
I hope you liked! Have a nice day!