During the next week, Fire Lord Zuko came to visit the new heir. Toph was becoming more and more annoyed and suspicious with the Earth King for not returning to Ba Sing Se, so she wasn't in a very good mood when they met. It didn't help that Mai came with Zuko, and she so obviously disliked Toph.

"I could hardly believe it when I heard that you had been named heir," Zuko said as they shook hands, "but here you are!"

"What, you don't think I have the chops?" Toph asked waspishly.

Zuko shook his head. "I didn't say that! But don't you find it amazing that of the four of us who traveled with the Avatar during the war, two of us should become rulers?"

Toph shrugged. "I guess so. I'm not ruler of anything just yet," she said. "And I might never be," she added in a mutter, thinking of all the headaches she'd had in the past few days with the assassination attempts. With Guanyin on board now, there was even more sneaky stuff to deal with, and more people to be suspicious of. She sighed heavily; she hated thinking of such things, and yet, that seemed to be her lot in life now.

"What does that mean?" Zuko asked. "Why wouldn't you become king at this point?"

Toph was surprised that he'd heard her, and became aware of all the people who were standing around observing this meeting between nobles from different kingdoms. She could feel Junjie and Huang among the audience, and she forced herself to put on a smile.

"Never mind that for now," she said as pleasantly as she could manage. "You must be tired from your trip. Why don't you take a look at your rooms and relax for a bit, and we can talk over tea later?"

Zuko nodded. "I hear you have my uncle making you tea," he said cheerily, and Toph remembered another reason she was peeved with Zuko. She wondered when the last time Zuko had spoken to his uncle was, and for a minute she selfishly considered not telling Iroh that his nephew was in town, so that Zuko would have to go of his own volition to see him. She sighed and rubbed her neck and wondered when she had become so petty. She was sure Iroh would be excited to see his nephew again, and she sent a messenger in to town to ask him if he would like to come for tea.

They all met again in a couple of hours, in a more private setting, with only the Kyoshi warriors in the room with them. After Zuko and his uncle had their reunion and talked for a bit, Zuko turned to Toph and asked, "Now will you tell me what you meant when you said you might never become king?"

Toph then explained to Zuko about the attempts on her life, telling him about it all except the times she wasn't supposed to know about. He seemed genuinely upset at the news.

"Well, don't you get this all the time?" she asked practically.

"No! Of course not!" Zuko replied vehemently. "Just because you have power doesn't mean it's natural for people to try to kill you!"

Toph shrugged, acting more nonchalant than she felt. "It's just like the wrestling ring," she said. "If you're not the strongest, you have to fight to become so."

"I really hope you're not approaching politics with the same attitude you went into professional wrestling with," Zuko said. Toph's fingers twitched into a fist at his condescending tone, but she held herself in check.

"I think she's right," Mai said flatly. "You should be cautious at least. If you get too comfortable you'll get careless, and there will be someone to take advantage of that."

Zuko turned to Mai, and she shrugged and slurped her tea loudly. Zuko opened his mouth to say something to her, but she cut him off. "I haven't seen Ty Lee in a long time," she said, changing the subject oh-so-subtly. "Toph, do you mind if I steal one of your bodyguards to do some catching up?" she asked. Toph nodded and waved them off, and Mai and Ty Lee left, Ty Lee skipping along like a little puppy on Mai's heels.

As soon as they were gone Zuko asked Toph more questions about who she thought might be trying to off her; questions she had been asked a hundred times before by others. She growled and shook her head. "I hate conspiracy! Why can't I just meet these people in a ring and bash their skulls in?" she yelled, hitting her fists on her knees.

"Like I said, that's not really how the heir to the Earth Kingdom should be acting," Zuko said. Toph was about ready to bash his skull at this point.

"Well, if it's going to be like that, maybe I don't want it anymore," she said.

"Do you really mean that?" Zuko asked. Toph was silent. She had thought she didn't mean it, when she said it, but now that she gave it a little more thought…

"You know you don't have to do anything you don't want to," Iroh said softly. "Ultimately, the choice is yours. The Earth King is not decided by blood, but by choice; the King's choice as well as your own."

Toph was quiet, thinking.

"But if not Toph, then who would be heir?" Zuko asked. "You would be able to convince the king of a new candidate I think, but you'd have to be careful not to crown a fool."

Toph glared in his general direction, having decided she'd had enough of him. "I don't feel very well," she said as she got to her feet. Iroh and Zuko both stood up with her, and she waved a hand at them to relax. "You two stay and catch up; I'm going to lie down for a bit." She left the room as quickly as possible, half impressed and half disgusted with her restraint.

As soon as she got back to her room she punched a big hole in the floor. She stood for a moment and enjoyed it before smoothing the floor back to its original state.