Hey guys, I'm a day early, lucky you! I won't have time to upload tomorrow, so here's chapter 13.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar TLA or its characters.

Chapter 13: Approximately 2 weeks before mid-spring, post 'the boy in the iceberg'

To Toph, it felt as if half her life were spiraling out of control and the other half was going to end far too soon. When she had told her parents that she was 'happy' to get married at 17, they had been so elated that they were willing to give her practically anything she wanted, and so Sokka and his Tribe had been kept safe from her father's project. Leaving her to deal with the consequences.

Preparations for the wedding seemed to begin the instant they set foot back in the Earth Kingdom. Her mother hired her a tailor straight away to get fitted for an appropriate dress and her father had reached out to the boy's family to give them the good news. It would be an understatement to say that the family was pleased; Toph received two whole baskets of sweets from them as a token of appreciation. How the boy had known she liked sweets she had no clue. But she found that, when it came to it, she couldn't stomach even one of them. Her mother was instantly concerned, but Toph brushed her off gently, saying that she was 'just nervous' about the whole thing.

These past months had been filled with fittings, engagement celebrations, food tasting, hair tests and ceremony trial runs. Toph had been poked, prodded, squeezed, pinned and generally treated as if she were a doll to be dressed up rather than a human being. Though she had stayed silent throughout it all and not commented on anything once, except where her 'valued' (yeah right) opinion had been asked. She didn't even complain when the tailor accidently stabbed her with a pin or the maids wrenched her untamable hair too tightly. It felt as if she had no power over that part of her existence, not that she'd had much in the first place, but at least she'd once had the choice of wearing her hair in its trademark bun or deciding not to wear shoes under her dress.

Now she had to wear shoes all the time at home and her hair was always in a complicated, tight plait that wound intricately around her head. A carved wooden and painted ornamental piece was inserted in her hair just behind the crest of her head, as the latest fashion dictated. The tassels that hung off either side were always tapping against her ears, irritating her and making it hard to concentrate. Toph wondered if they were trying to make her loose balance on purpose.

Then there was the part of Toph's life that she had once had full control over, which was now coming to an end. When she got married, there was no way she'd be able to sneak off at night to training or Earth Rumble tournaments. For she'd have to share a bed with her husband, wouldn't she? He'd defiantly notice if she disappeared at regular intervals in the dark hours.

Knowing this, Toph savored everything she could while she still had it. She'd always been committed to training, but for the next five months she pushed herself harder than ever before, wanting her last win at Earth Rumble to be so memorable that no one would ever forget it. Through hard work, her body became solid and sturdy like the earth itself. While her curves didn't totally disappear, they were reduced around her thighs and stomach, though not around her hips, for that was more the shape of her bones than anything. She would spend long periods during the night and early morning in the underground caves beneath the town, testing her senses by seeing how many people she could count through vibrations as they walked around in their homes.

And though she had learned a long time ago to be patient in her bending and wait like the earth, Toph spent many hours meditating and simply holding her stances for as long as she could before her legs gave way underneath her. Her hands became bruised and rougher than they'd been before. She had to carefully hide them from her parents at home.

When the heats for Earth Rumble began at the beginning of spring, she signed up straight away and took back her usual training room in the underground facility. Even though she didn't have to compete in heats, as she was the reining champ and that was her automatic ticket to the final, she like to anyway. And mostly they let her, except during the finals themselves. On that night, they always saved her appearance till last.

Toph had never told Sokka, but this competition wasn't strictly recognized as 'legal' in the Earth Kingdom. In fact, if this place were ever busted during a match night by the authorities, she would probably be arrested. Even though she was only 16, that wasn't a minor in Gaoling. Though the actual earth bending contests weren't what might get them into trouble, it was…the other stuff that went on around the comp. Earth Rumble attracted a pretty bad crowd, as most underground sports do, and there was black market selling for things like Cactus Juice and other potent substances. Toph had tried some once and found it too disorientating to be enjoyable. But she'd only been fourteen then, maybe she'd like it more now.

There was also a heavy gambling problem, but that was a given for any competition sport. Then there were the 'after-show' activities. After a few shots of 'Cactus' and some hard work either playing in the comp or being a supporter, there were men who wanted to relax and have their 'needs' tended to. And there were women all around the place who flocked to the contest to make money by offering their post-match services. The organizers had told Toph once that she could probably make some extra money by doing the same. Apparently she would be worth a lot more because she was a competitor and that somehow made her more 'attractive' to the men. She had told them that the only money she wanted was prize money. They'd laughed and said that she'd come around sooner or later.

That was obviously not going to happen. She didn't need any more money. But they brought it up every year anyway and she always refused. This year she had more than one reason to decline. Not only did the idea repulse her, but she found herself only wanting to experience that kind of thing with only one person.

One person in particular.

The Water Tribe boy who had stolen her heart.

Toph tried not to think of him often, to save herself the heartache, but invariably she did. Damn it. How had he managed to chip away at her stony exterior and ingrain himself so firmly, that in being apart from him, she felt as if half of herself was missing? That was true, she supposed, after all, they were the dynamic duo. You couldn't have a duo with only one person, right? She smiled sadly at the thought.

"Is something funny?" Hui asked coolly, not sounding at all interested.

Spirits! Of all the damn times for her mind to wander off…

"No, sorry, I just remembered something." Toph covered hastily, making sure to sound as innocent and polite as possible. She and her fiancé were walking through the gardens around her house. This was the first time they'd met in person, her parents had made it very clear how important it was that she 'please' him. So far, she had discovered he was even more cold and distant than she had imagined him to be.

"Mm." He took her arm, surprising her, and pulled her to the left. "There's a bush there."

Well duh. She knew this garden like the back of her hand. Toph bristled in annoyance. Great, another person in her life just wanting to take care of her. And not even because they loved her, like her parents, but because it was their 'duty' as her husband. This was so stupid, she was so far above him it was insane, she could even see those ants he was stepping on, yet he couldn't. If she were to suddenly break out into an earthbending set, who would be the more helpless then? Toph took a deep breath. You can't. You can't. You can't.

"Don't worry, when you come to live with me, you won't need to go outside unattended or anywhere without help. I've made the necessary arrangements." His voice was quite a few notes higher than Sokka's and Toph found it incredibly irritating. And he'd done it again, treated her as if she were nothing more than a burden that he was going to have to work around.

"Thank you." Toph got out, politely enough, even faking a smile.

They walked a little longer, the late afternoon breeze was warmer now that it was only a few weeks before mid spring. Toph let her thoughts drift again to the Water Tribe boy as the wind played with the hair around her face. She welcomed it to mess up the perfect arrangement that her maids had done it in. She took it as a small source of rebellion.

At that thought, Toph's fingers rose to her upper left arm, where, under the sleeve of her dress, rested the betrothal necklace that Sokka had given her. It was coiled tightly and flatly around her skin, so as not to cause a bulge underneath the clothing and alert her parents to its presence. That was the exact reason why she never wore it around her throat, except in bed or when she was away from home, the second her mother had seen it around her neck on the boat back from the South Pole she had told her to 'get that ghastly thing off' and to dispose of the thing instantly. So now she had to hide it all the time around them. When she wore anything sleeveless, she bended it around her upper thigh or around her middle and at night she would place it back around her neck, its comforting weight at her throat helped her to get to sleep.

Hui paused in his walk. Toph took a moment to notice and had to retrace a few steps to get back by his side. His high voice knocked at her ears. "It is getting late, we should get back." He said, matter-of-factly.

"You're right." Toph agreed, thank Oma and Shu, she was so hungry she could probably have eaten a whole mooselion. She walked a few steps in the direction of the main house when Hui caught her arm and stopped her. "What?" She demanded, her tone slipping back to its usual roughness.

"I just wanted you to know, Toph, that while the other women I've courted prior to you, could all see properly, you are still the most beautiful. If it weren't for the pale of your eyes, your face would be perfect." He said.

Ugh! Toph resisted the urge to punch the jerk into next week. Could you get anymore unromantic? Sure, she wasn't the softy romantic type, but Sokka had always commented on how much he loved her eyes. They reminded him of the snow and the clouds, things that he had grown up with all his life and found comforting. He never saw her as anything but beautiful. And Hui and her parents could never look past the fact that her blindness meant she wasn't 'quite right'.

As Toph was trying to come up with a reply that didn't have any expletives in it, she suddenly felt the wet feeling on her cheek of Hui kissing her. She pulled back out of reflex and barely stopped herself from wiping the spot with her hand.

"Was I acting out of turn?" Hui seemed confused.

"Oh, uh-n-no. You just surprised me, that's all." Toph took a step back.

Hui moved towards her and took her arm again. "You'll get used to it soon." Toph could hear the smugness in his voice, as if he were right now thinking about how he would have her when they were finally married.

"I'm sure." Toph said coldly.

The Earthkingdom boy ignored her and led them back towards the house. Toph, who usually savored her healthy coating of dirt, now felt incredibly unclean and had the burning urge to run a bath, as much as she hated water, and scrub her face till it hurt. Whenever Sokka had kissed her, his lips had felt kind and gentle and loving, compared with that, Hui's were just, well, lips. They were warm, wet bits of skin that left her flesh feeling soiled. Toph decided that, as soon as dinner was over, she'd ask one of her maids to run her a bath.

They were taken through to the dining room by a servant and were met by both Toph's and Hui's parents, who were already seated and waiting. Dinner was a quiet and civilized affair, with little chat exchanged between the parties. Ever since spending nine months living on Water Tribe food, the fancy Earthkingdom meals Toph ate now were too rich and made her feel sick. She longed for the simple cooked and salted meats of the South Pole and the special tea Sokka had made her when she was recovering from her hypothermia. The one that made her melt inside, like he did when he kissed her sweetly. Even something as bland as hot broth would have been better than what she was eating now. Heck, she would have even eaten seal-jerky, at least that didn't hurt her stomach.

After the first meal was over, Toph politely refused more, saying she was feeling under the weather, while the rest of the group ate into the night. She now found it incredibly disgusting how much the high-society people of her nation ate. Having experienced life where one had to physically go out and find food, Toph had come to value it much more than previously. No doubt if Sokka were here, he'd be stuffing his face, not out of greed, but just because he would never have seen so much food in one place before. Except during the solstice festivals that was. And yet she and her family ate like this almost every night.

Finally, sometime before midnight, Hui and his parents left to go sleep at the establishment they were using near by. They weren't from Gaoling but from a town a week's journey away. Toph would have to move there with him after the ceremony, as was custom. His father would give them a plot of land to live and raise a family on. At the thought of children Toph suddenly felt ill and quickly banned the idea from her mind. She made her way swiftly to her rooms with a maid at her side. There would be no training tonight, the Earth Rumble facilities were closed now that it was only seven days before the finals and they had to get the place ready for the live rounds that started tomorrow.

If, no when, she won, it was going to be her own early birthday gift to herself, as finals night was just one week before her birthday. Turning to the maid, she asked her to get a bath ready.

"It's getting a bit late, Miss Bei Fong." The girl, Fu, said gently, as if attempting not to offend her.

"I know that." Toph snapped harshly, then felt guilty. "Sorry, I'd just like to feel refreshed before I go to sleep."

There was the tiniest of pauses and Toph knew that the girl didn't want to disobey a direct order, but also didn't want to get in trouble for encouraging Toph to stay up to late. "I understand." Fu said eventually and she left to the side room where the bath was.

The splash of water on tile told Toph that Fu was doing as asked, and she took a moment to remove her suffocating dress and shoes. She left her chest wraps and underwear on, hiding her necklace in the little pocket of space between her breasts. Fu came back into the room and took her clothes. "Do you need help with your other garments?" She asked politely.

"No!" Toph said too quickly. "Er, no, I'll leave them outside the door for you."

She felt the other woman nod and heard her say, "I'll get your sleepwear ready and leave it on the bed."

Toph smiled. "Thank you, Fu. See you in the morning." She turned away from the girl and, running her hand along the wall in a fake show of blindness, made her way to the washroom.

"Goodnight, Miss Bei Fong." Fu replied to the door as Toph closed it gently.

As soon as she felt the other woman leave her room, Toph pulled out the necklace from her front and bent it back around her neck, where it belonged. She walked over to the bath and removed her underwear and unwound her wraps, sucking in a breath at the cold air on her skin. Slowly, she lifted a foot and dipped her toes into the water. It was hot, but not burning. Swallowing, she stepped fully into the bath, keeping a firm grip on the rim of the ceramic pool. Gradually Toph sank herself completely in and up to her neck, not letting the water come higher than her collarbones. For the first few months after her incident at the South Pole last summer, Toph had refused to bathe and instead she would scrub herself with a damp cloth to get clean. But now she was confident enough to go back into water where she could at least feel the bottom, like here.

For a few minutes, she simply let the hot water sooth her skin and relax her muscles. Almost instantly, she thought about the same thing she had since the winter solstice. Running away. She thought about it so often these days that it was probably bordering on some kind of condition. As always, though, Toph came to the same conclusion.

She couldn't do it.

Not for any feel of guilt towards Hui or her parents, but because she actually couldn't. As independent as Toph was when her parents weren't around, she would never be able to look after herself outside of Gaoling. If she made a break for it, where would she go? There was no distant family to run to, no town that would take her in. And she certainly couldn't just go live in the wild, what would she eat? She didn't know how to hunt or forage for food.

Sokka would know, she thought dimly with an ache in her chest.

And even her Bei Fong passport that doubled as a 'free pass' into anywhere would be useless. The moment she ran away, her parents would send the distress call out to everyone in the Earth Kingdom, and as soon as Toph flashed her 'pass' it would raise a red flag. She'd be captured and sent back home.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

No, she couldn't think about it anymore, it was driving her insane. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly to calm herself, Toph reached up and untied her complicated hair, letting it fall down and into the water around her shoulders. She groped around the edge of the pool for her soap and, upon finding it, began to wash herself vigorously, wanting to scrub any trace of Hui off of her body. When she was done, Toph simply sat in the warmth of the water and let her thoughts wander again. She brought her hand up to her throat and took off her pendant, running its smooth bone backing across her lips. Her eyes drifted closed and she wondered, with an involuntary pinch of sadness, what Sokka was doing. Was he thinking of her? Like she thought about him, even when she didn't mean to? Did he think about the promise he made her that last day? Was he already on his way here?

Toph bit her lip angrily at the last thought, knowing it to be impossible and cursing herself for having such a stupid idea. He didn't even know where she lived; she'd foolishly never mentioned it out of her hate for any thought of home.

Sitting up straighter, she bended the jade and bone betrothal pendent back into its stone housing. She ran her fingers along the surface of the precious jewel and noted that while its surface was smooth, it had small imperfections in the stone itself. She liked them. They reminded her of Sokka, of the skin on his chest and back that she'd only felt a few times. Smooth, warm and crisscrossed with scars here and there, from a hard life out on the ice. Which didn't bother her, she had scars on her own hands and knew that, while they were seen as imperfections to some, they were stories to her and the Water Tribe boy. She could recall vividly the feel and location of everyone of Sokka's that she had ever touched.

Placing a hand on her stomach, she remembered how it had felt when Sokka's cool fingers had run along her torso, up from her bellybutton to her sternum and back again, round to her lower back…those actions he had taken were imprinted so strongly on her that she doubted she'd ever forget them. With a sigh, she got out of the bath and dried herself. Trying desperately to push any more thought of Sokka out of her mind. This wasn't like her, all this emotional crap. She was an earthbender and earth was the element of resilience and strength. It stayed strong while everything changed and crumbled around it. The only thing that could wear down rock was slow erosion…or a group of badgermoles.

Toph realized bitterly that water was one of the elements that eroded earth.

"Damn Sokka and his damn Water Tribe." She muttered angrily. "Making me bloody fall in damn love with him."

Pressing her palm to her forehead, Toph walked back into her room. And, with a few tired yawns, she violently pulled on the bedclothes that Fu had left for her and climbed under the sheets. She tossed and turned for a couple of minutes and couldn't get to sleep. Something was missing.

Reaching over to her bedside table, Toph yanked open the top draw and slipped her fingers into the secret compartment at the back that held her Blind Bandit outfit. She took out her headband and removed the tufts of polar bear-dog fur. Bringing them to her chest, she ran her fingers over them, letting them drain away her anger till only an aching sadness was left. She sank into a deep slumber.

It had been damn hard sneaking out of the house only one week before her wedding, but as Toph walked through the stone doorway and into her training room at the Earth Rumble grounds, she put all thoughts of the marriage out of her mind. She had three hours to kill before her finals match and she wasn't going to spend it thinking about what she couldn't change. She wouldn't spend it with the 'women' either, like the male contestants were. No, she was here to beat the snot out of everyone, get her prize money and leave. She dropped her bag on the floor and earthbended the door closed behind her, giving herself full privacy. Toph was already wearing her outfit and didn't need to get changed. All she had to do to get ready was secure her headband with its puffballs and bend her necklace around her middle, where it couldn't get damaged in the fight. Having completed both those things, she still had over two hours to wait.

She felt someone approach her room and the wall rumbled as someone knocked. Toph bended the door open, annoyed at being interrupted, she didn't like to talk with anyone before her matches. To her surprise, a Jaga guard stood before her, shifting from one foot to the other. "Yeah?" She asked.

"There's a spectator that wants to see you-"

"You know I don't talk to the dirt bags who come to watch these fights." Toph's words interrupted firmly. "Especially not before a match."

She tapped her foot in a show of impatience.

The Jaga scratched the back of his neck and shrugged his shoulders. "I know, Bandit, but he's kinda insistent. He says his name's-"

"I don't care, tell him to get lost!" She spat. "Spirits! Why would you even bother to ask me?"

The guard's mouth opened and closed for a confused moment and Toph realized that he wasn't very bright. "I-"

"Just go!" She told him before bending the door closed in his face.

Taking a breath, she moved over to one wall and bended away a piece of the rock to get at a natural water reserve. Toph took a few large sips and closed it off again. She then walked to the center of the space and settled into a horse-stance to meditate and calm herself down before the match. She did this for half an hour before she was rudely interrupted again. The person didn't even knock this time; they just bent her door open without warning. This pissed her off and, without thought, Toph bent a chunk of rock into the air and aimed it at their face. "What do you want!?" She demanded angrily.

The rough voice of one of the male contestants spoke. "Whoa! Bandit, the match hasn't even started yet."

Toph was silent and kept the rock where it was, she stated her question again. "What do you want, Zhong?"

She felt him rub the back of his head. "Well, its just that I've got some spare time before my match and I know you do too and I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, work off some nervous energy together? If you know what I-" His tone had turned suggestive.

"Spirits!" Toph said, cutting him off and rolling her eyes. "Don't you lily-livered idiots know the meaning of no?" She thrust forward her arm and let the rock fly. Zhong didn't have time to react and was hit squarely in the chest and sent sprawling backwards. Toph brought her fists together roughly, bending the door closed behind him.

Too annoyed to return to her meditation, she went back to her place in the centre of the room and turned to warming up for the last forty minutes before the match. She practically threw herself down onto the floor and began a set of pushups, working off her anger and letting the burning feeling of her muscles occupy her thoughts entirely. Eventually her time was almost up and she could hear the announcer begin his speech to the crowed, getting them ready and excited for the final match. Wiping the sweat from her forehead with a towel, Toph took one last drink from the spring before coming to stand by the wall that faced the arena. All of the contestant's rooms were set up in a ring around the stadium, so that, to enter, all they had to do was bend a door through the rock.

The announcer called her name, there was a pause...

She took the cue to walk out into the now roaring arena. Walking over to the stone stairs, Toph took a final deep breath before placing a foot on the steps and walking up to the fighting ring.

:3 For some reason, I find Toph POV harder to write, hope I did her justice. :) Please R&R!