Okay I'm back! I hope everyone had a good summer. I am sorry to those of you who were waiting for me to hurry up and finish this story. Things should quiet down a bit after next week. If all goes well I hope to have the next chapter up soon. GASP!

Thank you so very much to all of you who sent me those lovely reviews! I love you all!

The Best Laid Plans – Chapter 10

Toph and Aang slid down off of Appa and into a swarm of people. By now, Aang's Avatar fame was legendary and he was used to the crowd that always gathered whenever Appa was sighted.

His wife however, was not. With his arm draped loosely over her shoulder, he felt her tense as the cluster of bodies surged towards them. Just as he was about to start making excuses and escape, a couple of very welcome faces shoved their way forward.

"Alright people break it up! Nothing to see here!" Sokka bellowed, "You will all have a chance to see the Avatar and his wife at tonight's banquet! Give them some space now!"

At first the crowd looked like it had no intentions of moving but the ripple of response in them when they heard the word 'wife' was a palpable thing causing dozens of different whispers to break out.

'He's married?'

'Is that her?'

'So the rumors were true'

'Isn't that the earthbender?'

'I thought the waterbender was his?'

The young newlyweds stood uncomfortably in the center of attention when Suki came to rescue them. "You heard the man! MOVE!" she barked with the skill of a veteran military leader scaring many into motion.

Eventually the crowd broke up leaving just Sokka, Suki, Katara and Zuko closest to them. There were still a few stragglers but they had the sense of self preservation to stay a polite distance back. Once they were relatively alone Sokka once again took the lead.

"So-o you guys sure took your time getting here. What were you doing to make you almost late?" he asked twitching his eyebrows up and down then yelped when his wife Suki smacked him in the back of the head.

"Ow! Hey it's not like we don't know what they were doing – Hey! Ow! Why is everybody hitting me?" he complained after his sister smacked him.

Laughing, Toph broke away from her husband and stepped over to hug the idiot General. "Hey Sokka."

"Hey Toph, you look good. Are you feeling any better?" he asked allowing his tone to show how worried he truly was about her.

"I'm alright. And to answer your question, we spent most of our time training."

"Training? You spent the three weeks after your wedding training?"

"Yes, and whatever we did after is entirely our business got it?" she said menacingly while giving him a solid punch to the arm.

Suki chuckled quietly while she edge her husband away and gave the earthbender her own hug. "Don't mind him he really was worried about you. We all were." The Kyoshi warrior said, then stepped aside to let her sister-in-law in.

Katara embraced her the tightest. "Are you sure your okay? I don't think you should be trying any heavy training yet."

The tiny earthbender made a frustrated sound. "Well I couldn't very well show up at the summit like I was. People are expecting a tough Master Earthbender, not some wimpy little blind girl."

"Toph." Katara said in that mother hen tone of hers. Just that one word and everyone there heard the worry that lightly veiled a warning.

Holding her hands up in surrender "I'm fine, I'm fine. Honest. The truth is I still get tired pretty easily and I can't quite get used to the new shape of my body. I feel like I'm constantly tripping over my own feet." She pulled away from Katara's concerned presence and angled towards Zuko's quiet one. "I suppose I should be thankful I didn't grow as much some people. Well sparky, are you going to come over and say hi?"

Accepting the invitation, the fire prince stepped forward and leaned down to embrace her. The difference between the now near hulking firebender and the extremely petite earthbender was almost comical.

"Jeeze, how did you get so big and tall? Maybe you should give Sokka some tips."

"HEY!" Sokka squawked while the rest of them laughed.

"So where's your gloomy girlfriend?" Toph asked, quickly silencing the laughter. "What? What did I say?" she asked feeling the sudden rise in tension.

"Uh, maybe we should show you to your room." Suki suggested awkwardly, "I'm sure you must be tired."

Alarmed, Toph stayed rooted to the spot trying to sort out the impressions her feet were giving her. "She's okay isn't she?"

Beside her Zuko gave a resigned sigh "S'okay." He mumbled "It's not like everyone else doesn't know. She would hear about it sooner or later. But Suki is right; we should not talk about this here."

Half an hour later in the Avatar's suite at the palace the six friends were seated with tea and pastries that none of them felt like touching. Zuko took a deep breath to relate what for him was a bitter memory.

"Ever since I took over for my father, I've been steadfast in my goal to restore balance to the world. I've been drastically cutting military funding and directing those funds into education, agriculture and infrastructure. Unfortunately war and weapons are what put some of the nation's most powerful families where they are and they are not at all ready to give that up.

There was one governor from a long military line whose family practically made money every time a soldier set foot on a battlefield. He, along with the support of several other families he stonewalled every policy that I tried to put forth." Zuko paused to take a nervous sip of his tepid tea. "Mai got it into her head that she might be able to persuade him to cooperate a little more."

"By persuade you mean…" Toph asked leaving it hanging.

"The kind that involves a promise to use many of the various knives she keeps on her person if you don't do as she says."

"So what happened?"

"She was caught. It seems the man had been anticipating nothing less than an assassination attempt so when Mai showed up she was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the private army he prepared."

Toph paled. "She's not… she didn't… get hurt did she?" it was hard to figure that a fighter like Mai could live through a war only to die such a needless way.

"No. Instead he thought it would be more amusing to have his fun with the fire prince's fiancé before returning her."

The tiny earthbender sat there in shock for a few moments before she stood up and smacked her fist into her palm. "Alright, where the hell is he? I'll grind him into paste." She declared angrily. Mai wasn't her most favorite person, but this governor's actions were unforgivable. Her husband placed a calming hand on her shoulder and coaxed her to sit back down.

"Nothing like that happened." Aang assured her.

"What? Then where is she? Why isn't she here?"

Zuko heaved another bitter sigh. "As luck would have it she was saved… somewhat… by the man's wife and several of her friends."

Toph's face twisted into a look of complete confusion.

"When his wife and her friends walked in and saw him holding a mostly naked woman everyone's first thought was that they were secret lovers. While his wife was making one hell of a scene, the Governor accused Mai of trying to seduce him for political reasons.

Mai became a public scandal almost overnight. Her reputation was completely destroyed. People started making not-so-subtle comments that I regularly used her as some kind of bargaining tool." The firebender shook his head angrily lost in memories that still stung. "Anyway, when she saw how everything I was working for was falling apart, she took it upon herself to publicly acknowledge that her actions were her own and she broke off our engagement."

"Damn, are you okay sparky? I could still turn him into paste if you like."

"Thanks but no. Besides, it seems the former governor has suffered from a constant streak of bad luck lately. Among other things, it seems an earthquake completely leveled his estate and his summer place was hit by and unusual flood." He said managing to keep his face straight.

"An earthquake and a flood huh?" Toph asked drolly then looked at the others "You guys?"

"Of course not! There are many witnesses that can verify that Aang and Katara were in completely different cities at the time." Sokka announced. "However it is possible that members of the ever so mysterious White Lotus organization might have been nearby. Who can tell with those guys?"

A huge grin split Toph's face. Naturally, it would have looked too obvious if the creep's house had burned down but he'd be hard pressed to prove Zuko's involvement with a flood or and earthquake.

"Seriously Zuko, are you sure you are okay?"

"Me? You are the one whose parents put her to sleep for almost four years. How are you doing?"

The earthbender's good mood dissolved at the mention of her parents.

The fire prince started to apologize, but Aang stopped him with a gesture. Taking his wife's hand in support he turned to the rest of the group. "We briefly stopped by their estate on our way here. Toph wasn't ready to speak to them so I told them their ends did not justify their means and that we would reject any contact with them until she is ready."

"Well at least you are not the only one with a messed up family." Zuko said softly. Surprisingly, it made the earthbender feel better. At that point Sokka spoke up.

"Hey you'll always have us!" he announced and as if it was planned, the Avatar's wife and the fire prince groaned in mock despair.

tbc