The Body is a Temple: Rocking The Boat

"I don't think you understand what I am saying to you" Azula huffs, tugging at her chains while Toph tugs in the opposing direction.

"Because I can't exactly trust anything that comes out of your mouth!" Toph growls pulling hard and causing Azula to lurch forward before she manages to steady herself and her and Toph begin a sort of tug of war with her black chain.

"Could you stop" I grumble stopping my slashing through the vegetation. "Toph… you're worse with her than Katara…"
"Only because I am not easily bullied by little blind girls" Azula hisses

"Well I think it's because you both have brilliant minds and similar personalities" I sigh, hacking in frustration at a particularly thick vine. There is a moment of silence…

"What!" Azula and Toph shout and I turn around to see Toph release the chain and Azula topple backwards as the tension is released, on her bottom with a low grunt.

"Are you saying I am evil…"Toph asks stomping towards me.

"I… what?"

"Are you saying I am boyish?" Azula shouts rising from the ground and dusting her bottom.

"I…" I stare at them both-formidable whether furious or not-and wonder briefly if this is the moment they decide to be comrades in their unity against me.

"We had better keep moving" I say unsteadily turning around to resume my plant, weed and vine slashing.

"I don't even know what your issue is" Toph mutters to Azula. They have been at it for an hour-shouting and hissing at each other like wild panther-cats and now their voices are low and raspy( thank Agni!).

"With what now?" Azula asks and I hear the irritable clanking of her chain fro behind. "You being Zuko and my self's last resort…"

"The blindness" Toph sighs theatrically. "You keep calling me a little blind girl!"

"You are smaller than I am" Azula says thoughtfully. "You are blind... and a girl"

"Argh!" Toph gasps walking quickly to catch up to me and tugging a stumbling Azula mercilessly by her chain. "Your sister is true evil! I should have left her… why did I bring her…?"

"Because I share blood with your Zuko" Azula sang and Toph yanked the chain hard again causing my sister to fall flat on the ground.

"Toph…"I sighed, storing my blades back to their strap on my bare back. "Could you be a little…?"
"More tender" Azula huffed rising from the ground and wiping her hands free of dirt and twigs. "A little less manly and show some flesh"

"Shut up Azula!" I breathed. "Just… we need to move fast. Less falling and stumbling would help that along"

"She gets under my skin" Toph said through clenched teeth gripping the chain tightly till her knuckles were a scary white colour.

"So does Zuko but I don't see you punching hi-" Azula began but Toph pulled hard on the chain again and sent her back down with a heavy thud.

"Bitch!"Azula growled and I pried Toph's fingers carefully open and took the chain.

"How about we take a five minute break…" I whispered to her as she began trembling with anger. "My arms are a little sore and this cloth wrapper is very emasculating"

"Toph having more muscle definition is to blame for that" Azula grumbled, stretched her legs outon the vine covered ground.

Xx~xx~xX

"We get to the shore and then what?" Toph mumbled. She had been pouting and huffing most of the journey.

"Then we build a boat and sail across to ancient uncharted lands" Azula whispered rolling her eyes. "What is your aversion with water… don't you bathe or something…?"

"She sees through the ground" I said softly, watching Toph's frustrated expression turning two shades angrier. "She wont be able to see when we travel by water…"

"Tell her anymore Sparky" Toph grumbled "And you might as well build me a casket and sail on that"

"Little Ms Tough can't swim can she" Azula cooed. "Well, you better keep the chain yanking to a bare minimum less the boat turns over and you need to be saved…"

"You won't be able to do much shackled…"Toph grinned.

"Then I'll take you down with me…" Azula hissed.

"No one is going to drown" I sighed. "Firstly, there isn't a boat built yet and secondly… we are a team"

"Azula is the mascot of doom for this…" Toph murmured, smiling to herself.

"Azula is all powerful and will singe that unruly black hair of yours right of your little dandruff infested scalp the moment she gets her hands free…." Azula roared her eyes taking on that far away look when she is overcome by her condition.
"And the true reason to your wanting to go to temple is revealed" Toph gasped theatrically. "You just want the elemental shackles off because you know I would never do it…"

"Quit it" I gasped. "We have to keep moving… we need to get there, build a raft and sail out in the night for cover"

"Yes, Fire Lord" Azula sneered. "Take over my plan and share it with this little earth urchin…"

Xx~xx~xX

"I am not getting onto that" Azula states eyeing my make shift raft suspiciously.

"Fine…" I huff "Then wait on that rock for murderous extremists to find you…"

"You would leave me alone on this decrepit beach shackled, Zuzu?" she whispers her eyes large and sad.

"I…" I mumble.

"Oh god!" Toph shouts stomping out of the encroaching trees "One minute you are a fearful Fire Lord and the next minute your as terrifying as a kitten-mouse…!"

"They have really sharp claws" Azula says seriously.

"If she had you alone, you would have set her free and you'd have been the one shackled" Toph says poking my bare chest

"And if she had had you alone" Azula counters, rising of her little rock chair gracefully and smiling sinisterly "You'd be flat on your back, hands bound, cloth ripped of your body and she'd be…"

"Shut up!" I scream, wheeling away from them and pulling my hair by the roots. "Both of you…!"

Azula stares at me bemused while Toph digs her toes in the rocky sand, lower lip jutting out and hands secured behind her back.

"No one is remaining" I say to them, shocked at their silence and the fact that they have finally listened to me. "No matter whether you can swim or not… shackled or bound… everyone is getting on that raft that I have spent hours constructing and sitting tight!"

"I wish you had flying bison right about now" Toph mumbles sulkily.

"Well I don't" I shout but they have decided to ignore my tantrum now.

"Drowning on Zuko's little raft or plummeting to ones death from a puny boy-Avatar's mangy bison" Azula says thoughtfully. "Blind girl… we have reached an impasse"

"Here is a brain teaser" I hiss at them both. "Remaining on this island and having a bunch of deranged ignorant and deprived soldier rebels find you sun burnt and half naked?"

"Lead the way Sparky!" Toph commands marching ahead anyway towards the coast-feet off from where my raft is.

"Toph… can't you see?" I ask.

"I am blind!" she shouts and stops moving "And this is loose sand… I can barely see and this heat…"

"At least build a shade on your pathetic raft Zuko" Azula sighs sitting back down on the rock and fanning herself with a banana-coconut palm leaf.

"I wonder if Aang had to endure this when he was running from me" I mumble to myself, picking up the heavy log.

"Less talk and more building!" Azula shouts.

"And yes…" Toph whispers from her position on the ground sprawled and sweating "We made him build a shade on Appa"

Xx~xx~xX

"Do you know of any temples…" I ask Azula and she shrugs.

"No, they are mostly hidden. We will need a guide" she sighs, dipping her foot into the clear blue waters and staring out to the setting sun.

I don't care how many times she and Toph complain… after staying in the shadows of that horrid dry beach for an added few days –I successfully turned my raft into a workable boat with a little shade hut all while dealing with Toph's increasing foul mood and Azula's whining that I return her to her 'cosy cell' so she can die in 'peace' rather than torture her to death on this island with my gremlin girlfriend and oyster-crabs.

The boat is steady, it's filled with resources and I was careful not to overload or under stock. Little coconut-banana containers of fresh water float freely at the sides with our additional water supplies and the shade is stocked with dried fruit, dried eat and smoked oyster-crabs.

Toph sits quietly in the shade-hut her face a sort of milky green colour and lips set in a hard line. She is clutching the beam that holds the little structure up tightly and her legs are wrapped around it. The hem of her now dirty beige shirt has been torn a good few inches thick and the piece of cloth from it wrapped like a band around her hair to keep her thick hair away from her face so she doesn't heat up. This leaves her smooth stomach exposed…

"How is Mai?" Azula asks startling me and grinning when I jump a little and cause the boat to dip and Toph to groan in fear.

"Mai…?"

"Mai…?" she says slowly. "My disloyal playmate… your stick girlfriend…"

Toph snickers at this.

"My fiancé" I whisper looking out at the expanse of water laid out before us.

"She proposed then?" Azula asks and Toph out and out laughs this time.

"Uh… we agreed to it" I mumble self conscious.

"Hmm" she murmurs and goes silent.

"What do you mean "Hmm"!" I demand, glaring at her.

"I mean…" she breathes closing her eyes "Hmm"

"Argh!"

"Temper Zuko" Azula chastises "I bet you it's what got us here"
"You have just won a bet, Witchy" Toph murmurs from the shadows of the shade.

"My temper made soldiers rebel and old men get greedy?" I ask sardonically.

"If we had the time I am sure we could prove there is a direct link" Azula retorts petulantly, pursing her dry lips.

"You are mad"

"Tell me something I don't know brother" she laughs.

"You are both twist.." Toph begins but then her eyes go wide, cheeks turning a definite green and she lurches forward.

"She is about to puke" Azula says calmly-indifferently. "You better hurry and push her over the boat"

"What?" I hiss releasing the oars.

"I meant lead her to the edge so she can hurl" she sighs. "So touchy about your urchin"

Xx~xx~xX

"Is it night time?" Toph asks, braving the calmly drifting boat and peering out of the hut.

"Oh Agni, the blind girl is scared of the dark" Azula mutters rolling her eyes. "The irony…"

"yes, Toph…" I say watching her with concern as she timidly holds the edge of the boat and sits by the entrance of what can only be called 'her' hut.

"My Grandma used to tell me of how wild and dangerous the sea got in the night time" she whispers, gripping the edge tightly.

"Luckily we are on Zuko's formidable straw raft…" Azula murmurs and Toph blanches.

"Toph…" I tell her seriously, pausing my rowing against the waves. If only Katara were with us to make the waters easier. "I won't let anything happen to you…"

"Yes, Zuko wouldn't do that" Azula chuckles. "He wouldn't let the deadly sea monsters snatch you up and gorge on you or the unstable fierce twenty feet tall waves knock the boat over and send you hurtling to the bottom of the ocean…"

"Azula…!" I groan and watch sadly as Toph quickly retreats back into her hut closing the leafy curtain behind her.

"What?" she asks innocently.

"Was that necessary?"

"You really shouldn't make promises Zuko" she says disappointedly "Those things really could happen and then what?"

"And then I would do my best…" I breathe rowing with new found strength in my anger

"Your best at getting yourself killed along with her" Azula responds. "There she is… going down with the green sea monster and you are swimming to save her and when the monster is done chewing her up and decides it really isn't satisfied by our two feet tall blind beautiful damsel… guess what?"

"What?" Toph asks softly from inside the hut

"It gobbles an idiot Fire Lord that swam after it, for dessert!"

"It won't matter because…" I huff

"Because honour blah, blah" Azula mutters. "My point… honour is like the idiot Fire Lord, diving to its death for nothing"

"Toph isn't nothing…!" I shout, my old anger from my dazed days emerging full force.

"So she is something…" Azula asks her eyebrows raised.

"I…" I stammer as I realised I am caught up in Azula's old form of entertaining herself at my expense. "She is a friend… something I pray you learn about"

"I am not being dragged to my death by a sea monster as yet" Toph grumbles weakly "So can you two shut up so I can pretend to sleep peacefully?"

"Goodnight sweat pea" Azula sings.

"Don't you mean 'sweet pea'?" I ask.

"No, sweat pea" she grins. "Now shut up so I can pretend to be pensive…"

"One can only wonder what you think about" I mutter.

"Destroying lives probably and drowning bear-puppies" Toph responds snickering

"Well I know what the two of you think about" Azula grins menacingly not bothering to open her eyes.

"What, no witty comebacks?" she asks after Toph and I both go deathly quiet. "Or are you two thinking…"

AUTHORS NOTE and RESPONSES: remember to review guys, no ghost readers…!