Yay! I'm back! Habitat was awesome and I'm really happy about the fact that I helped built a house for a poor family. Also, here's another chapter!
Toph's blind eyes stared out at the sprawling golden sea that was the city of Lei jin shi from the observatory atop the Grand Palace and she felt the gentle night breeze caress her pale face from an open window. Two weeks she'd been here. Here in this city of gold amongst a populace of the most powerful benders in the world. Running her hand along the bag that lay at her feet, she once again sighed sadly.
It was time to go.
Aang had mastered Skybending as fast as he had mastered all the other elements. As a matter of fact, the last few days of their stay in the City of Thunder was spent mostly enjoying themselves as Aang had already mastered the discipline by then and had easily rose to the same level as the King. Turning back towards the center of the observatory, she felt Erzi's footsteps ascending the stairs and entering the domed room. As he neared the center, Toph left from her position near the window and moved quickly to meet the prince. There were no words as the two benders silently approached each other, Erzi staring into the Toph's blind eyes with a sad smile on his face which went unnoticed.
"Can't believe you're leaving already." He said, his voice slightly betraying the sadness that lay beneath. Toph simply nodded in response..
"I'll be back before you know it, Stumpy." She said, smiling. She moved to pull him into a hug, something which would have been appreciated greatly by both parties, but instead took his hand firmly and shook it.
"I'll be counting on it. Now go back with the Avatar and save the universe or whatever." He said smiling sadly, pulling his hand out of her iron grip.
"I'll see you soon." Toph nodded and gave his hand one last squeeze before descending the stairs one final time.
It was very surprising, and regretful, how little Toph had acted upon her particular affection to the prince during her stay in the City of Thunder. Sure there was a secretive compliment paid to her when the others weren't looking and the many times Toph had "accidently" happened upon Erzi while he was practicing in the observatory at night meant something but overall, the two were still as different as day and night.
The sudden realization of this fact made Toph stop dead in her tracks. Wait a minute, Toph thought, bunching her fists and grinding her foot into the ground.
What was she thinking? Here she was, about to leave this magnificent city and its equally attractive prince for who knows how long and she hadn't even gotten a goodbye hug, much less asked for one like she yearned to. Turning on her heel, she breezed back down the hallway and back towards the stairs leading to the observatory, pushing past a very surprised Aang.
"Hey, Toph. What're you-" He started but was cut off as the Earthbender blew past him like a hurricane.
"Not now, Twinkle Toes." She growled and climbed the stairs, heading towards Erzi's familiar vibrations from the center of the room.
"Toph?" Erzi said, his eyebrows raised as she strode up to him.
Without a word, she grabbed his head and smashed her lips against his.
Erzi's eyes widened in surprise but he found himself wrapping his arms around Toph, eagerly returning the kiss. She responded in kind and ran her hands down his back, silently noticing the feeling of tension unwinding within him. Finally, the two broke for air and, panting, faced each other; Erzi's clear blue eyes staring into Toph's blind ones.
"I just wanted to say," Toph said finally, "I think you're pretty attractive." Erzi grinned at this and ran his hand through her dirty hair.
"You're not so bad yourself." He said, kissing her on the forehead.
For a while, the two simply stood in each other's arms, basking in the warmth of the rising sun. Eventually, the young benders ended up on the floor with Erzi sitting up cradling Toph's head in his lap.
"Now I'm REALLY gonna miss you." Erzi said, breaking the silence. Toph's only response was an uncharacteristic whimper, which caused Erzi to laugh.
"Please don't tell me the Great Toph Bei Fong just got soft because of some dashing prince." He said, grinning. Toph giggled back and slugged him lightly on the shoulder.
"I can still kick your butt anytime, Stumpy." She chuckled as Erzi nursed his injured shoulder. But her grin soon faltered as her mind digested Erzi's words.
"What's wrong?" Erzi said as he noticed Toph's cheerless expression.
"I just practically told you that I loved you." She said, avoiding Erzi's gaze. "and now I won't be seeing you for…" She trailed off, sniffling slightly.
"A long time." Erzi finished for her. He sat silently, thinking with his brow creased in concentration. Finally, he nodded to no-one in particular and stood up, taking Toph by the hand.
"C'mon." He said, leading her out of the observatory.
"Where're we going?" Erzi grinned and paused midstep, turning to her.
"Well I just can't let you go about saving the universe without me, can I?" He said, his grin broadening at her shocked expression.
"So come on. We're going to pack."
The door to Erzi's room flew open and the two benders walked in. The room was painted a muted grey, a stark contrast to the gold that dominated Lei jin shi. As for the furnishings, Toph could sense that the room was very Spartan; with a single, large bed in the center and a few closets and drawers off to one side. She also sensed a variety of long, metallic objects on the wall beside her head.
"What're those?" She asked, gesturing in their general direction.
"Oh, that's just my weapon rack." Erzi said, his head peeking out from one of the closets, a pair of leggings dangling casually from his head. "Forged and made in the Thunder Kingdom." Toph ran her hand along the wall and the cold steel of the various halberds, swords and spears tickled her fingertips. Suddenly, her hand was pulled away from the wall.
"They're also very sharp." Erzi said, holding her hand. Not letting go, he thrust the handle of a short sword into her pal. "Here, you should hold it like this." He let go of her hand and went back to rummaging in his closet while she stood holding the sword.
It was nothing short of beautiful. The hilt felt like stone but as Toph felt the weight of the sword, it was far too light. It was also intricately carved; with the pommel forming the head of what felt like a lion in mid roar and the edges of the handguard curving upwards onto the blade.
"Why the lion?" She thought aloud.
"Dunno." Erzi said, his voice echoed by the closet. "I've just always thought that the lion pretty much symbolizes the Skybenders. Loud, proud, wicked hair, also we've all got a great sense of belonging when we're with others of the same kind." He exited the closet with a neatly folded bundle of clothes. He had also fastened a leather vest over his royal tunic and had swapped his leather greaves for metal ones. Sensing the added weight to his movements, Toph shot him a questioning look.
"You're wearing armor?" She asked. "It's not like we're going to war or something." Erzi smiled wryly and laced up his greaves.
"To be perfectly honest," He said, finishing one leg and starting on the other. "I've got no idea what to expect once we get out of here."
"You mean you've never left Lei jin shi?" Toph asked her eyes wide in surprise. Erzi shrugged and grinned.
"Pretty much."
"You know the grass is blue under the mountain right?" Toph asked after a pause. Erzi chuckled and shook his head.
"I've seen pictures, you know." He said, standing up and checking his armor.
"Still," Toph replied as he walked over to his rack and began inspecting each finely crafted sword, spear and halberd. "Where I come from, the grass IS blue. And there's this island named after one of Aang's past lives that's got fish the size of houses."
"Alright, NOW you've got to be kidding." He chuckled, grabbing a war hammer from the rack and handing it to Toph. "Here."
"What's this?" Toph asked, grabbing what seemed like a long metal pole. However as her fingers made contact, she realized that it wasn't just some random spear. The staff that served as the handle was beautifully engraved with swirling patterns of leaves with a set of characters in the center of the staff.
"Never back down, even in the face of defeat." Toph said, reading out the inscription. Moving her hand further up the staff, she came upon the head of the hammer. Instead of a conventional hammer head, there was a highly detailed carving of a badgermole, its mouth frozen in a mighty roar.
"This was made by an Earthbender." Toph noted, feeling the heavy metal head of her first Earthbending teacher
"It was given to one of my ancestors when the Air Nomads still existed." Erzi said, feeling the war hammer. "It's been in my family for generations. Now I want you to have it." Toph's eyes widened in surprise.
"Erzi.." She began but was cut off as their hands, still on the hammer, and lips joined.
"Take it." Erzi said. "I've always had the feeling I'd give this back to its rightful owner." He softly kissed her forehead and let go of the war hammer.
"Couldn't ask for a better person to give it to."
One of Toph's hands left the hammer; despite it being twice her size she held it easily with one hand. She brought her free hand up and caressed the badgermole that served as the head.
"I like it."
Suddenly, the doors to Erzi's room burst open and a man in a metallic conical hat stepped in, light surrounding his hands. Toph reacted immediately and lunged at him with the war hammer but was swiftly tossed aside by a blast of light.
"TOPH!" Erzi yelled. He turned and faced the man, grabbing a random weapon from his rack and prepared to charge when the man threw off his hat.
"Hello, brother." Liuwang said, s wide grin on his face.
"Long time no see."
Grah, that's finally done. I stated this chapter at 10:00PM. It is now 1:08AM. I'm tired. I'm gonna go to sleep now.
BTW, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an awesome game and pretty much drove me to write the weapon heavy part of this chapter. Also, yay! Toph finally said it!
So as usual, R&R this chapter and I'll see y'all next time.