Hey all! Sorry for the delay but things have been a bit hectic--I just finished up classes yesterday and have 2 weeks of finals to go! Also, warm weather has not been conducive to getting this written. Anyway, thanks to all of you who reviewed last chapter, and the first reviewer today will get to be number 100 for this story! =) Thanks so much.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter.


A Business Proposal

Mai sighed in relief, glad that their group would finally be leaving the ravine and be back in the vast, open desert that surrounded Plains Village. As much as she welcomed the cliff's cooling shade, she still couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. Her knife was always ready, her eyes constantly scanning the area in front of the group.

Everything appeared to be going smoothly when suddenly the lead lizard-mount let out a sharp hiss and began shuffling backwards into the group behind, its tail twitching agitatedly.

Mai frowned, something was obviously wrong. Lizard-mounts were not easily spooked, and even if they became a little jumpy, a trained soldier should be able to control one.

The soldier atop this mount, however, remained motionless, and as the creature continued to back away, Mai watched as his center of gravity shifted, his body slowly slumping as he tumbled off his mount, dead before he hit the ground.

The men reacted immediately—a tribute to their training—as the lieutenant called out orders, encircling the Fire Lord and his wife.

Quickly moving Lee from his position in front of him to behind, Zuko's eyes searched for their attacker, his brow furled in grim determination.

Suddenly, Mai burst from her mount, using its back to spring onto the rocky walls as she propelled herself upward in an effort to gain a better vantage point. She moved in a blur and Zuko never saw her attack, but a grunt and the sudden tumbling of rock and dirt from the other side of the ravine indicated otherwise.

When a body finally landed, hitting the ground with soft thump, Zuko could see one of Mai's knives protruding from the man's neck, a bow still clutched in his lifeless hand.

Nobody moved. Silence reigned and all he could hear was Mai's ragged breathing and the agitated hisses of the mounts as they swayed in the enclosed space.

"Mai?" he called, anxiously, "what do you see?"

She scanned the top of the ravine uneasily, not seeing any of the tell-tale movements that had given the other archer away.

"I don't see anything," she frowned, "but there has to be more of the—"

The last part of Mai's sentence was cut off by a low rumbling that slowly built into a loud roar as the sides of the ravine seemed to shake and the rocks began to rain down on all sides of the party. The lizard-mounts hissed uneasily, swaying as their riders fought to keep them under control.

"Mai…" Zuko's voice trailed off worriedly.

Eyeing the ground warily from her elevated position, everything suddenly clicked, "Earthbenders!" she called.

Zuko's reaction was instantaneous, yelling to his four remaining soldiers to hold their ground.

Sure enough, just as the rumbling seemed to climax, four earthbenders shot from the ground on either side of the group, their arms up, ready to attack.

Mai tensed, ready to fling another dagger, but surprisingly, it was her husband who spoke, "only four earthbenders?" he asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

The lead earthbender sneered, the dark green bandana that covered the lower half of his face shifting slightly. He didn't answer, but at his directive the other three benders shifted their feet, punching their hands into the sides of the ravine.

Zuko watched with growing anxiety as the sides of the cliff began to splinter and rocks began to fall. Two of the lizard mounts hissed loudly, rearing back on their hind legs to avoid being crushed and almost throwing their riders off in the process. Expecting the worst, Zuko's attention shifted back to the benders, but surprisingly, they hadn't moved after their initial strikes.

Quickly, Zuko glanced up to where the rocks had fallen and what he saw filled him with a mixture of shock and concern. Apparently the benders' attacks had not been random, but in fact were only the beginnings of a well-planned ambush.

As the dust cleared, Zuko could make out three caves that, in retrospect, had obviously been covered up by the earthbenders before Mai and he had even reached the ravine. Inside each of them were five soldiers, each armed with a bow that was currently trained on the party below.

"Well done Lee," a deep, male voice said from above.

Whirling around, Zuko found the speaker—a very tall, thickly muscled man. His protruding belly did nothing to take away from his disconcerting appearance as his head was shaved bare, and heavily tattooed with some design that Zuko could not make out from his angle. His small, beady eyes belied his obvious intelligence and the stout, bloodied mace that he held in one hand indicated a propensity for violence.

Seemingly satisfied, he idly smacked the blunt end of his weapon into his open palm, the meaty thump of the impact on his bare flesh reverberating across the ravine.

"Lee?" the man that Zuko assumed had to be Kotoru, asked.

"Yes?" came Lee's voice from the back of Zuko's mount, sounding uncertain.

"I said, well done," he repeated.

"Oh…of course," Lee stammered, "thank you sir."

"Now," he commanded, "bring me the map."

Lee's eyes clouded, his brow furrowing as he suddenly found his saddle to be more interesting than Kotoru.

"Lee…" Kotoru trailed off dangerously.

"She has it," he conceded, pointing over at Mai.

Kotoru allowed a small smile to grace his wide face as his eyes flickered down to where Mai was sitting, tense, but stationary.

"Good," he shrugged, "then you can take it off her dead body."

Before Zuko could even come up with an adequate retort, Lee spoke over him, indignantly crying, "that's not what we talked about!"

Kotoru's face, which had previously seemed relatively impassive, instantly changed. His eyes narrowed and his biceps tensed, and Zuko could almost see the vein throbbing across his shaved, tattooed skull.

"And you weren't supposed to bring them that map!" Kotoru responded.

"But wha—" Lee tried.

"No!" Kotoru bellowed, "I will not listen to your excuses. You have made my decision for me. After we are done with the Fire Lord and his wife, you will go back with the other children."

This time, Zuko spoke before Lee, his voice rising to the caves above, commanding the attention of all who were present,

"Kotoru," he began, watching in satisfaction as the man's eyes narrowed, irritated at having his identity revealed, "release the children and you will be allowed to go free. There is no need to fight, and you are badly outmatched."

"Let me be the judge of that," Kotoru scoffed, and in one fell swoop he leaped off the ledge and fell down toward the group below, his mace raised menacingly above his head.

Sokka yawned, stretching his arms skyward in an effort to calm his complaining muscles. Throwing aside the light green, silk sheets, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, squinting at the soft light coming through the window at the far end of the room.

The day looked sunny and bright—perfect for walking the grounds or simply relaxing outside; unfortunately, the weather didn't match Sokka's mood.

He hadn't seen Toph except for briefly at dinner the day before and her parents had been polite but blunt. They didn't mind his presence and were grateful for his assistance in bringing their daughter home, but they were adamant that neither of them wanted anything to happen from there.

Sokka had spent most of the past evening contemplating this unfortunate development and had tried to chalk it up to simply the stresses of the situation, but he couldn't help but feel they were making more of it than there really was—after all; he and Toph were just best friends, weren't they?

Shaking his head in a futile effort to clear his head, Sokka stood up, stumbling over to his dresser where he pulled on the only other clean pair of pants and tunic that he had brought. He was sure that the Bei Fongs could bring him some other cloths if he wanted them, but he was more comfortable in his own, plain tunics than anything as upscale or as fancy as they would most likely provide.

Stepping through the doorway and making his way from the servant's wing where he had been housed and down into the kitchen, Sokka wasn't surprised to find none of the Bei Fongs there; he could understand that they had better things to do than feed him.

Grabbing a moon peach from the table, Sokka took a bite and ambled through the hallways of the expansive estate, heading down the wing that housed Toph's room. Finally reaching her doorway, Sokka paused, contemplating the wisdom of knocking on the earthbender's door despite it being almost midday.

Knock, knock, knock. Sokka rapped his knuckles on the hard wooden facing and waited for a response from inside. When none came, he immediately became impatient, calling,

"Toph, are you up yet?"

Surprisingly, no irritable, sleep-deprived earthbender greeted his call.

Growing frustrated, Sokka decided to take matters into his own hands, "Toph, I'm coming in."

And with that, Sokka opened the door, careful to avert his eyes from what he assumed would be the indecent form of his friend, but what he found was certainly more worrisome than a half-clothed Toph. Her bed was empty, bedding strewn across the floor, and the window's curtains were quietly billowing into the empty room.

"Toph," he called, more to himself than anyone else, "where are you?"

Muttering under his breath he went over to the window that overlooked the Bei Fong's expansive grounds. Sokka couldn't help but admire the perfectly manicured flower gardens and the quiet brook that meandered its way under a low stone bridge and through a grove of trees before emptying itself into a pond that was filled with bright orange and yellow koi fish.

Everything was perfect, except, Sokka smirked, for the muddy trail that began directly under Toph's windowsill and wove its way through the flower gardens, strewing the multi-colored heads haphazardly aside in its wake.

Hopping over the short ledge and taking the three foot drop gracefully, Sokka began to follow the path of destruction through the grounds. After he had passed one grove of trees, over the shallow brook, and through another garden, Sokka began to grow a little worried—he knew Toph was going through a rough time, but she was usually very stoic when it came to her emotions, letting little of her true thoughts show through.

Therefore, when Sokka happened upon her small form sitting silently on a bare rock in the midday sun, her bare feet dangling conspicuously in the quietly bubbling brook, he was surprised to see her body shaking with repressed tears.

Not wanting to startle her too badly, he purposely stepped on a fallen twig, letting the loud snap reverberate across the glade before approaching.

"Sokka?" Toph called, guessing at his identity.

"Yeah, it's me," he said, coming over to sit on the rock next to her, his broad frame easily dwarfing her smaller one. "I got worried when I didn't find you in your room. I kind of figured you'd still be sleeping."

Toph snorted, "Couldn't sleep."

"You," Sokka asked, feigning surprise, "couldn't sleep? What is the world coming to?"

"Quiet Snoozles," Toph chuckled, leaning over to punch his arm. "There's a reason I gave that nickname to you, not myself, after all."

"And here I thought it was just because you liked me," Sokka joked, failing to notice the slight smile that crossed Toph's face. "So," he continued, adopting a more serious tone, "what brings you out here? What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing," Toph muttered, her blind eyes still fixed on the water below.

"Nothing?" Sokka asked skeptically, trying to decide if he wanted to press Toph further.

Toph didn't say anything, opting to stare silently out into distance.

"Toph…" Sokka said again.

Not taking her eyes off the water, Toph spoke up quietly, "My dad's going to die, isn't he?"

"Of course not!" Sokka exclaimed, trying to sound confident for her sake.

"I don't even need my earthbending to tell you're lying," Toph sighed.

"Toph," Sokka said, slowly reaching over and squeezing her much smaller hand gently, "I'm not a healer—anything can happen."

"I know," Toph conceded, slowly gathering herself before continuing, "but you know what makes it even worse?"

"No," Sokka said quietly.

"When he's gone, there will be no one left to manage the estate. No one to run the business, no one to manage our money…things just won't be the same."

Frowning, Sokka glanced over at his companion, "Can't your mother do that?"

Sighing audibly, Toph shook her head, a slight smile on her lips, "you don't understand high society, do you Snoozles?" But before Sokka could come up with an adequate retort, Toph continued, her face returning to its previous state of impassivity, "You see, women aren't allowed to manage estates—it has to be a man."

"But wha—" Sokka started.

Throwing a hand up haphazardly in front of Sokka, Toph effectively silenced his response, "Remember when I turned sixteen?"

"Of course," Sokka answered, a bit perplexed, "Katara, Aang, and I all came here to your party."

"Well," Toph continued, "remember how my father didn't get me anything for my birthday?"

"Yeah," Sokka admitted, scratching idly behind his head, "I always thought that was a little odd but I figured it wasn't my place to say anything."

"For once," Toph chuckled, taking a breath before she continued. "The reason he didn't get me anything was because he already had. For you see, when I returned home after we defeated the Fire Lord, he started bringing all these suitors to the house to court me, insisting that I needed to find a husband so I could be married by the time my birthday came around. I refused," Toph paused, a brief smile flashing across her face, "earthbending most of them right out of the house."

For whatever reason, Sokka found himself rather relieved at Toph's rejection of these men.

"One day, about a week before my birthday, when it became obvious to my father that I was not going to choose anyone by the time I turned sixteen, my father brought me into office and sat me down. He said he was going to treat my marriage as a business proposal, and therefore, he was going to make me a deal.

For my birthday, he offered to stop bringing suitors to the house for the next two years, until I turned eighteen, if I would be willing to marry a man of his choosing after that day. I thought two years would be enough, enough time to find someone I really loved—or at least someone who cared about me—but it's almost been a year, and nothing has changed. But now," Toph stopped again, her composure, which had been so strong up and until now, finally cracking and a quick sniffle escaped her lips, "if my father dies, I will have no choice but to marry the first man that walks through that door because our family will need someone to manage the estate."

Sokka started to say something, but Toph cut him off again, seeming to speak more to herself than the man sitting next to her, "I mean, if I were engaged, or at least had a boyfriend, things might be different—I would at least have some time. But honestly, who would want to marry me? I'm just an ugly, little blind girl who happens to come from a family with a lot of money."

Finally Toph stopped, allowing Sokka to get a word in, "Toph," he began slowly, "to start with your father isn't dead yet. He could still get better and all of your worrying will be for nothing. Secondly, you're not in this alone—you have Aang, Katara, and me. We're not going to desert you or let you marry some random stranger. And finally," he finished, squeezing Toph's hand once again, "you're a beautiful young lady and I think someone would be very lucky if they were to marry you."

They sat there for a moment, letting the silence and quiet babbling of the brook stretch between them.

Giving Sokka a sad smile, Toph slowly stood up, smiling slightly. She patted his shoulder gently as she began to leave, "Thanks Sokka, I really appreciate it, but I'm afraid I might not have any other choice."

As she left, her footsteps quietly fading, it was Sokka's turn to stare blankly into the water, his eyes unfocused as his mind mulled over what he had just learned. He didn't know what to do or how to do it, but he knew he had to do something or else his friend would be in a very bad situation indeed.

Just in case it wasn't complicated enough as it is! =) Please review.

~TH