Of Fire Chapter 29
A/N: This is where the M rating comes into play again. Also, just a warning this and any new chapters (and the last two chapters) have not been beta'd. I re-read them looking for grammatical errors but I don't know if I caught them all.
~x~
"Azula," Ty Lee called to her wife, late in the morning, having found her in her office.
"Hmm?" Azula answered, scratching out several lines on a document before amending it.
Ty Lee sighed, "You know, the children are at school."
"As they should be, yes." Azula agreed absently.
Two strong arms twined around Azula's neck, though not impeding her view of the document in front of her, though the lips that kissed her neck did. "What'cha doing?" Ty Lee questioned as she placed another kiss to Azula's neck.
Azula sighed this time, "Ty Lee, I'm very busy."
The acrobat groaned, her forehead falling to Azula's shoulder dramatically, "We never do anything together anymore."
"Do you not remember last night?" Azula smirked, never taking her eyes from the document in front of her.
Ty Lee groaned, "You know what I meant. We never do anything with just the two of us anymore. Whenever we go out we always bring Lin and Detia with us. And that doesn't happen very often because of all the work you do." Before Azula could get defensive about that comment, Ty Lee continued, "I understand, your job is important. But even when we lived in the Fire Nation you found time to spend with just me." Ty Lee let go as Azula turned to face her wife, guilt eating at her. "I know you're busy, I know. I just…"
"I know, Ty." Azula said softly, taking her wife's hands in her own. She wanted to be able to deny it, but it was true and she was glad her beautiful wife wasn't the kind of person to bottle the emotion up. "I'll make it up to, I promise." She pulled the woman down and kissed her gently. "I need to get these documents finished."
Ty Lee nodded, resigned to the fact that she wouldn't get any time with her lover today. She kissed Azula chastely and walked out of the office, shoulders slumped and her aura a deep sad gray and it killed Azula knowing that she was the cause. It was so much easier in the Fire Nation to take Ty Lee places. There she knew all the best places to visit. Here she just didn't know. She was still pondering this conundrum when Toph entered her office. "I just passed Bubbles and she didn't even say hi to me. Is everything okay between you two?" was the first thing out of her mouth.
Azula sighed, "Everything's fine." She answered.
A black eyebrow lifted, "I didn't even have to check to know that was a lie."
Instead of answering Azula asked, "When you and Arjuna were together and in the Earth Kingdom what did you with her?"
Milky eyes widened comically and it was all Azula could do not to laugh, "Woah, hey Arjuna and I weren't ever…"
"Please," Azula interrupted, "I'm a lot of things but stupid is not one of them. I know that you and Arjuna were together romantically then just as I know you and Deita are not now. Just answer the question."
Toph scratched the back of her head as she set in front of Azula's desk (only pausing for a moment to see if she was going to die an electrical death). "Well, let me think." There was a moment of silence. "I guess he just did the normal things couples do, ya know. He'd dress up nice and take her out to eat, or stroll around the upper ring when all the lanterns were lit and most everyone was asleep. Oh! There was this cabin outside the northern wall that was secluded that he'd take her to and they'd spend a few days there."
Azula's eyes lit up, "Is it still there?"
Toph nodded, "Yeah, once I remembered about it I found it and rebuilt it. There's a field of moonflowers that bloom around this time of year every night not far from it and we'd get a blanket and watch them bloom. She really liked that." The Earth Queen exhaled at the memory, almost able to feel the slender form of the Goddess of Lightning in her arms, leaning into her. Azula let her get lost in the memory. "Anyways, if you want to take Bubbles up there for a weekend without the kids you can."
"What? And get away from all of this amazing paperwork?" the sarcasm in the remark brought a smile to the Earth Queen's lips. "What are you doing this weekend?"
"Me?" Toph questioned before answering "Don't know, Aang is suppose to come over for a short time. After that I guess I'll be doing what I always do."
"Nothing?" Azula inquired deadpan.
A genuinely offended look crossed her face. "Excuse me! Do you see all this paperwork on your desk? This is nothing compared to my desk. There are literal mountains of paper on my desk." She neglected to say that those mountains were created by her one afternoon when she was bored and it was all blank paper but she'd be damned if she admitted that. "And it takes me forever to read some of the handwritten reports. Most of it looks like a five year old went crazy with a pen." She rubbed her temples just thinking about it.
"You should get Detia to help you." Azula offered.
"What?"
"Detia, my daughter, she can help you. She helps me all the time. It's part of a Political Science class she's taking. According to her it gives her extra credit and work experience." The head advisor answered nonchalantly. "And since you'll be watching her this weekend while I take Ty Lee to your cabin it'll give you the perfect opportunity to get her to help you."
Toph could feel the triumphantly smug smirk on her head advisors' lips. Of all the things she wanted to say Toph chose to reply with: "What about Lin?"
"Lin is spending the weekend with Iroh."
"Seriously?" Azula nodded, "When did she meet him?"
"Ty Lee took her to his tea shop one day after picking her up from school. Iroh adores her apparently." The resentment that her uncle was showing a child that wasn't exactly hers the attention she, his own niece, never got from him filled her chest but not her tone. She did not resent Lin for being adorable. She did resent her uncle for showing favorites though. "So it'll just be you and her." her light tone dropped a few octaves to a deep growling warning, "And if I hear even a whisper of you…"
Toph rolled her eyes and interrupted, "Nothing is going to happen between me and your kid, Azula. Man, how many times do I have to tell you that before you believe me?"
Azula shrugged, "It unnerves me that you two were lovers in a past life."
"That was a really really long time ago."
"You still have feelings for her." Azula intoned
"Even if I did still have feelings for Arjuna, and I'm not saying that I do, Detia is not Arjuna!" Toph argued back.
"Still, if anyone hurt my child I would make them wish they were dead, even if it was you, the Earth Queen. As is my right as her mother, you understand."
Pale green eyes rolled, "You are a fucking psychotic bitch."
Azula smirked, her sour mood that Ty Lee left her in all but gone. "That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me all week."
"I don't even know why I bothered coming in here to make sure you and your wife were okay."
"I don't either." Azula admitted, this was so much fun for her. "It's not like anyone in here is going to thank you for your concern."
Toph had the almost uncontrollable urge to push all of the papers off Azula's desk as she stared blankly at her head advisor. She understood what was going on here. Azula was baiting her and using her to feel better. Intellectually she knew that she could not beat Azula in a verbal sparring match, but as an Earthbender it was simply not in her nature to yield so easily. "I could throw you in the dungeon."
Azula contemplated this, "You could. But then what you tell my daughter?"
That was low, Azula knew and so did Toph, using the Earthbender's friendship against her. It almost had Toph to, "I'd just tell her I was teaching you a lesson."
The ex-princess paused, a scowl marring her perfect features. That could actually work. A laugh erupted from Azula, causing a lifted eyebrow from Earth Queen. "As if she'd believe that."
Toph smirked, leaning back in her chair. "I have my ways to persuade her. Reminiscing about the past could be fun."
The smile on Azula's face was wiped clean, a deathly stillness chilling the air. "I will kill you."
Toph laughed, "You're making these sparring matches super easy if you get all serious when I bring up my past with your kid."
Azula shook her head, she had lost this match but she'd never admit that. "My daughter's mental, emotional, and physical safety will always be my weakness. One I bare gladly."
A grim expression crossed the lightning bender's face, not that Toph could see it. Azula had seen her child hurt and near death one too many times to be able to deny her confession. It was one of two that she'd admit to having, though getting her to admit them was akin to pulling teeth most of the time. Toph was quickly become one of the few people who she would admit weaknesses to. They worked closely together most everyday and Azula would like to think of the blind earth bender as her friend. Toph would agree, most of the time she was honored to be considered one (if not only – Ty Lee not withstanding because she was Azula's wife) of Azula's friends. Most of the time.
Azula's two weaknesses were by no means a secret; even a blind person could see them. Toph would know. She had seen her head advisor with Ty Lee and Detia enough to know how she cared for them. She only brought them into their petty spats when she thought she was going to lose, which was often. Most of the time it didn't matter and Toph still lost. Nothing more would have pleased her than to bask in her victory. But the work of a queen was never ending so she stood. "Well, since that's over. I have paperwork to get back too."
"Joy" was Azula's sarcastic reply.
Toph smirked. "I'll give you details on the cabin later. Also, I don't mind watching Detia this weekend."
"I didn't ask." Azula reminded.
"Bitch." Toph remarked, walking out of the office with a mock wave.
~x~
"Azula!" Ty Lee giggled, "Can I open my eyes now?"
"Nope," Azula answered, the smile reaching her tone.
Despite the new transportation system the trip to the northern part of the outer wall had taken almost four hours and then another hour was spent in a carriage. By the time they reached their destination the sun had long ago began its descent down the sky, racing steadily towards the horizon. Azula guessed they still had a few hours before it finally set and was thankful that all their clothes and such had already been brought up earlier in the week. Toph had been kind enough to send a group of servants to clean the place up and restock the food. Everything should be perfect. She pulled the acrobat up the dirt path just a little more. The cabin shouldn't be far. True to her thoughts, a quaint cabin made of stone appeared over the last hill. Azula pulled her wife in front of her, resting her arms around her waist and whispered in her ear, "You can open your eyes now."
A soft excited gasp exhaled from Ty Lee's lips as she opened her eyes. "Azula."
The cabin was made of stone, obviously since it was Toph's. It wasn't very large, at least not from the outside. But the area around it was covered in deep green grass, the dirt path cutting into the uniform green leading to the wooden door. Toph's family crest, the flying boar, was carved into the door, the deep gold and green the only thing of color on the otherwise stone gray house. Azula wasn't impressed; this little 'home' was far below her general tastes. But Ty Lee suddenly hugged her tight and kissed her hard before running to the cabin.
Azula could only smile, and wince, as the front door slammed against the stone as it was opened. Slowly she began to follow, looking for signs of another path that would lead to the meadow. She didn't see it right away but she had all weekend to look so she wasn't in any hurry. A chuckle escaped when Ty Lee's excited squeal reached her ear. She had just made it through the door, looking around at the Spartan interior. There were three rooms she could see immediately; the kitchen, the bedroom, and the sitting room. All three barely blocked off with partial partitions. The kitchen was the room she walked into, a partial wall separating it from the sitting room. A single wooden chair sitting on a deep green rug with the sign for the Earth Kingdom as it's only design and a little side table sitting beside the chair were placed in front of the fireplace and were literally the only things in the sitting room. Luckily the chair was big enough to fit two people, if those two people were children. But that was okay, Ty Lee could just sit in her lap.
The bed room was positioned on the far side of the wall, partitioned with another, albeit taller, half wall. No lanterns had been placed in the room, so from her position in the kitchen Azula could only make out the large king sized bed. Given how sparse the other rooms were she wouldn't be surprised if that was the only thing in the room. Her musings were interrupted when Ty Lee appeared out of seemingly nowhere; it was all she could do not to lose her balance when the other woman jumped her. Several kisses were placed on the head advisor's lips before actual words were spoken. "This place is amazing," Kiss "Thank you so" kiss "so" kiss "much. You're the best wife ever!"
"I did promise." Azula answered with a smile, accepting each kiss warmly.
Once Ty Lee's feet touched the ground the acrobat moved her arms from around Azula's neck and took her hands. "Come see the bath!"
That was the only warning Azula received before being dragged through the small cabin to the door in the back, which she had assumed lead to the back yard. Instead it lead to a wide open area filled mostly by a steaming pond. Ten foot walls of stone guarded the area on two sides, the third side being made up of a sheer cliff wall. "It's a hot spring!" Ty Lee announced happily.
Golden eyes narrowed, Toph didn't mention anything about a hot spring. A fist clenched as an image of her daughter, older and more mature, and Toph came unbidden to her mind. "How dare she!" she mumbled.
A tender hand wrapped around one of Azula's fists. "Azula." She chided lightly, bringing the fist to her lips and gently kissing it. "I know what you're thinking, and stop." Golden eyes met warm gray and softened, "We've discussed this. Nothing is going on between our daughter and Toph. Stop imagining it." Azula sighed and rolled her eyes, knowing that Ty Lee was right. "Besides, this is supposed to be our weekend. Detia and Lin are in good hands. They are safe."
"You're right, of course." Azula grumbled.
"As much as it pains you to admit it." Ty Lee giggled.
A scowl turned Azula's lip down and in one swift motion Ty Lee found herself lifted off the ground and cradled in her wife's arms. Before she had time to question the new position her mouth became very occupied. So occupied in fact that she didn't notice they were moving until the steam from the hot spring dampened her skin. Ty Lee broke the kiss, looking at the pool of hot water then looking back to Azula, noting the devious smirk on her face. "Don't you dare…" She started as she felt Azula's grip slacken. "Azula, I still have my clothes on!"
The smirk widened and Ty Lee found her support non-existent. At the very last moment before her body collided with the water, Ty Lee latched onto Azula's sleeve, dragging the ex-princess in with her. Thankfully, the water wasn't deep, coming up to the thighs of person if they were standing. Once everything settled gray eyes found molten gold and a giggle escaped her lips. The scowl on Azula's face deepened, "You're going to pay for that." She warned.
The instant Azula stood so did Ty Lee, the acrobat trying to make it to the edge of the pool first so she could make her escape. "You threw me in the water first!" she declared as her hands reached the edge, about to push herself up and out of the water.
"No you don't" Azula's arms wrapped around Ty Lee's waist, pulling her back into the water. In one swift motion Ty Lee found herself turned around facing the devious gold of her lover's eyes, the back of her upper thighs pressed against the edge of hot spring, trapped between Azula's arms. "Did you think you could get away so easily?" Azula purred, her face mere inches from her wife's.
"I hoped." She admitted meekly, slightly afraid and highly aroused by the look of lust in her wife's eyes.
A spark of electricity jumped from Azula's hand. "You'd hoped? Well you should have known better." Azula leaned forward, placing her mouth on Ty Lee's neck and bit lightly at her pulse point.
A light whimper emitted from Ty Lee's lips as she braced her hands against the edge. "Azula" she moaned lightly when Azula's tongue soothed the bite mark on her throat.
"I think you're wearing too much." The ex-princess purred, bringing one hand up to the bottom on her wife's shirt.
Ty Lee saw the light blue light of Azula's lightning and couldn't help but worry. They had used Azula's firebending during their alone time before, mostly with Azula heating her hands and breathe, but they hadn't used her lightning in the same manner. Azula admitted, grudgingly, that she wasn't secure enough in her lightning bending to use it in that manner. After all she didn't want to hurt her wife. So it surprised and frightened Ty Lee when Azula's two fingers lit up. Had it been fire she would have been fine, Azula had burned her clothes off often enough for her not to worry. But lightning was not fire. Water did not conduct fire. Water did conduct electricity. And her clothes were soaking wet.
She couldn't stop the whimper when the smell of burning fabric reached her nose and she closed her eyes. "I'd never hurt you." Azula assured lightly, kissing her wife's jaw.
Ty Lee nodded. She knew that and she believed it whole-heartedly but it didn't stop the small doubt that crept into her mind. As the light got brighter, closer, she noticed a tingling sensation running over her skin, almost similar to the feel of tiny legs running all over her skin. It didn't hurt, in fact it felt kind of nice and Ty Lee felt herself relax at the same time she felt Azula smirk. The tingling sensation got stronger the closer Azula got to her breasts, feeling like many fingers skimming over her skin, and Ty Lee stifled a moan. Before she knew it her shirt hung limply down her arms, her breast bindings floating in the water.
Heat blossomed to her face, traveling down her neck and it had nothing to do with the hot water they were standing in. Two hot fingers pinched an erect nipple, sending an electrical current through Ty Lee's body to pool pleasantly in her lower stomach while an equally hot mouth found purchase on the twin and a strong muscled thigh pressed against her core. The acrobat shuddered and moaned, eyes rolling to the back of her head. Her hips bucked automatically as a cool palm replaced hot fingers and a cry ripped from her throat. The princess chuckled; the vibrations going through Ty Lee like the electricity did before.
The hot mouth unlatched, trailing warm open-mouthed kisses up her lover's chest and neck. Lingering only long enough to lavish a dark mark on the sun kissed column before moving up a defined jaw, finally taking a sensitive lobe between her lips and biting lightly. Ty Lee shuddered, the smile on her wife's lips felt through contact. "You're going to like this." Azula husked, her hot breathe whispering over Ty Lee's ear.
Glazed dilated gray eyes met pitch black rimmed in molten gold. She wasn't sure what was going to happen but from the descent of Azula's free hand she could imagine it would be amazing. Azula's smirk widened, feeling the muscles of her lover's ads jump and tense at the contact of her hand. She'd mapped the terrain in front of her several times, knew every dip, every curve, every scar and at one point or another had lavished and conquered it all. As such it didn't take Azula long to find that rough patch within her wife, eliciting a loud cry from the vocal acrobat at the sudden and welcome intrusion. Azula withdrew and plunged back in a few times, her wife's hips meeting every thrust as Ty Lee's hands found purchase on Azula's shoulders and a strong leg wrapped around her slim waist.
She felt her love's inner walls contract around her fingers, knowing that she was close. On that last thrust as her fingers touched that most sensitive of areas and her thumb descended on her clit Azula sent a low electrical pulse through both. Ty Lee didn't even scream before her body went limp in Azula's arms.
For a moment Azula wasn't sure what had happened and withdrew from her wife, cleaning her fingers with her mouth, and gently placing Ty Lee down on the hard stone edge. Upon seeing the satisfied smile plastered on Ty Lee's damp face a smug smirk quirked Azula's lips. "Well, I didn't expect that."
~x~
Ty Lee woke feeling pleasantly sore. It took her pleasure induced foggy mind a minute to figure out where she was. Once she did she noted that the bed was large and super fluffy and that her clothes were dry and not the ones she had worn to the cabin. The other things she noted almost immediately were that the sun was warm on her skin and she was alone in bed. Grudgingly the acrobat got out of bed, tentatively testing her legs to see if they'd hold her up. Fortunately they did but walking proved a little painful, but the more she walked the easier it got. A quick look told her the house was empty. "Azula." Ty Lee called loudly.
"Out here." Azula's silky voice answered, leading Ty Lee to the front door.
Azula was sitting on the lawn in a meditative form. She no longer felt the sun ignite her chi. The energy within her did not flow like molten magma through her veins when she sun rose. It took her much longer than she would have liked to get use to no longer feeling that boost of energy, though she never told anyone about it. Now, instead of the sun, she focused on everything. Electrical currents were everywhere, one just had to know where and how to look for them. She could feel the electromagnetic pull of the earth and the objects around her. She couldn't see it like her daughter could but she could feel it well enough.
Ty Lee smiled at her wife, though Azula wasn't facing her, and stood for a moment just to take in the ex-princess. As it always was the sight was magnificent and stole the acrobat's breathe away. The tight red top that clung to Azula's pale damp skin emphasized the taunt muscles in her abdomen, arms, and back. And though the pants were somewhat loose it didn't take much for Ty Lee to imagine the strong leg muscles hidden beneath. She assumed Azula had just finished practicing, seeing as her skin glistened like diamonds against the warm rays of the morning sun. Sometimes, though she never ever ever told anyone, she wondered how she had gotten so lucky to be married to such a perfect person. How someone so amazing would want someone like her. She wasn't the brightest candle, she knew and accepted that, though she wasn't as stupid as most people believed her to be. The only thing she really had going for her were her looks, even though she had found a gray hair just last week and the lines around her mouth were becoming a bit more defined.
"That's unbecoming." Azula quipped as her finger touched Ty Lee's lips, which had unknowingly turned into a scowl. Ty Lee hadn't even realized Azula had walked over to her, better less the downturn of her lips. "What were you thinking about that put that look on your face?"
Ty Lee looked up into warm golden eyes filled with amusement and just a hint of concern and felt the smile break on her own face. "Nothing really."
An arched eyebrow was the reaction she received, her lover's eyes filling with disbelief. "If you say so." She wouldn't push, if it was important Ty Lee would tell her. So instead she draped her arm around her wife's shoulders and turned them towards the cottage. "Why don't we get breakfast started?"
Ty Lee's smile widened as she wrapped her arm around her wife's slim waist and nodded. It wouldn't be till later that night as she set cuddled into Azula's side sitting on a blanket and watching the Moonflowers bloom under the half-moon that Ty Lee broached what had bothered her before. The Moonflowers had been the best surprise she could have asked for and it made her feel unworthy. "Azula," Ty Lee all but whispered.
"Yes?" the woman intoned normally.
"Do you love me?"
The question wouldn't have bothered Azula much but it was tone that had Azula turning away from the glowing flowers and facing her wife. A tone full of uncertainty. "Where is this coming from?" She asked instead of answering.
"Nowhere really, just do you love me?" the acrobat answered.
Azula tilted her head just slightly before answering, "Yes, Ty. I love you."
The shorter woman nodded, bit her lip, and looked down. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to her next question but she asked it anyways, her eyes moving up to meet her lover's - noting how they glowed in the soft moonlight. "Why?"
The question startled the ex-princess. What was going on? Had she done something to make her wife think that she didn't love her? No, no that was ridiculous. She couldn't think of one thing she could have done that she hadn't made up for during this trip. With the panic alleviated for a moment another more rational question popped into Azula's head. 'Fuck, what should I say? I can't say the wrong thing or I'll hurt her. I'm no good at this emotional bullshit, damn it!'
She calmed her breathing and actually thought about why she loved Ty Lee. Why did anyone love anyone else? "Because," she started slowly. "Someone as perfect as me deserves someone as perfect as you."
What? No, that's not what she meant to say. Shit.
Ty Lee smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm not perfect."
"But you are!" Azula remarked instantly, cupping Ty Lee's cheeks in her hands and kissing her lightly. "You are so perfect. You're kind and patient and understanding. You could have anyone you wanted, anyone at all, but you chose me. And there's not a day that I'm not grateful for it." Ty Lee didn't look convinced. "Do you know where I'd be without you?" Ty Lee shook her head, her eyes glazed with unshed tears. "I would be dead, Ty Lee."
"No." Ty Lee refuted.
"Yes." Azula responded instantly, "Without you coming into that filthy cell and saving me I would have died in there. One way or another it would have killed me." She sighed, so far so good. "But it didn't, because you loved me enough to be patient with me, to be kind to me, to love me when no one else would. So never, ever doubt that you are worthy of my love. Because there is no one more worthy than you." She paused, swiping her thumb over the small rivers that flowed from pools of silver, making sure her words sunk in. "Except for maybe Detia." Azula amended, earning a watery chuckle from her wife.
Ty Lee lunged, sending them both to the ground, as she wrapped her arms around her wife's neck and burred her face in the crook of her shoulder. "I love you." The whispered words were music to Azula's ears and confirmation that she hadn't done too bad at the emotional bullshit.
"I love you as well." The ex-princess said, wrapping her arms around her wife's back and shoulder and holding her tighter.
They'd need to get up soon and return to the cabin but until then they just lay on the blanket and held each other.
~x~
The day had started out well. Toph had ushered Detia into her office, motioning to the small desk and chair placed near Toph's with papers stacked on it, making a quip about using her while she could. Detia loved being in Toph's office, though she wasn't sure why. There wasn't much in the way of furniture in the office, mainly Toph's desk, the chair she set in and the two chairs in front of her desk and now Detia's small desk and chair. There looked to once have been shelves that probably held books in the room but they had been moved out and more than likely placed in a different room. From what Detia remembered Toph told the person in the room with books what she was looking for and that person would find the book and give it to the Earth Queen. That way Toph wouldn't have to go through the entire library looking for one book. There was a fireplace, as there was in almost every room in palace and two tapestries, one of the Earth Kingdom flag (on the right of the fireplace) and another of Toph's family crest (on the left of the fireplace). Detia thought they were particularly useless since Toph couldn't see them. The fireplace was lit and was keeping the office warm, so that was a bonus. But really there was no reason why Detia should like the room as much as she did.
Instead of pondering this conundrum, Detia set at her seat and began going through the papers on her desk, sorting them into two piles, ones she could read and ones that were written by an infant. When asked what she was doing, Detia informed the queen that since she was the queen she could demand the writing actually be legible and that the ones in the smaller pile would be the ones she'd be returning with such a demand. Toph nodded, agreeing whole-heartedly, and silence returned.
It was just before midday when a guard knocked on the door. "Enter." Toph's authoritative voice boomed.
The guard entered, bowed deeply, and said, "My Queen, the Avatar has arrived."
"Good, send him in." She answered, completely forgetting how Detia felt about him.
The Avatar entered the room with a warm smile, his light eyes instantly going to Detia, whose glare sent shivers down his spine. If looks could kill the look she was giving him would have killed him and anyone standing around him it was so hostile. Detia stood quickly, her chair scraping the ground, and walked towards Aang, almost enjoying the way he flinched. She left without saying a word to him or Toph for that matter. Aang visibly relaxed once she left room, slumping into a chair in front of Toph's desk. "I've never been stared at with so much hate before." Aang admitted with a sorrowful sigh.
"You want me to talk to her?" Toph offered. "I don't know how much it will help but it might."
"Would you? I'd really appreciate it." He sighed again, this time in relief, as Toph nodded. He could always count on her. "So," he said getting down to business "is it true what I'm hearing?"
"It's true." Toph confirmed with a warm smile. "A small school has been started by those followers of yours to teach them."
He leaned back in his chair, dazed but happy. "Really, Airbenders? Real Airbenders."
Toph laughed lightly, "Yep, real Airbenders. How does that make you feel twinkle-toes?"
Aang smiled. Ecstatic. It made him feel ecstatic.
~x~
The meeting with Aang took ten minutes before he decided to see for himself and once he left the office Toph went in search for her little assistant. She found Detia meditating in the Royal Garden and wordlessly joined her. After an hour and half of meditation, when Toph felt calm and collected, the flow of her energy even and swift, she asked, "Don't you think you're being a little hard on him?"
'Who?' Detia asked, not breaking her form
"The Avatar" Toph clarified.
Detia tensed and without turning to Toph inquired, 'What do you mean?'
"I mean, it was a bagillion years ago, it's not really like you to hold a grudge for that long."
"He took everything from me." Her golden eyes turned to Toph, and even though Toph couldn't see them she could feel the pain and hurt coming from them.
"And everything was taken from him." She reasoned. "I like Aang, okay. He's a good guy. If anything I thought after a while you would realize the error of your ways. I know Terren didn't often intervene in Arjuna's negative relationships with others. He would listen while Arjuna talked about it and she would realize how judgmental she was being. But we are not those people anymore. We're different than we were. Isn't it reasonable to believe that he's changed as well? He has had more lives than us." Detia scowled and crossed her arms stubbornly, refusing to listen to reason. "At least talk to him. Ask him how the avatar thing works and decide for yourself if it's right for you to openly hate him because of something one of his past lives did."
Detia sighed heavily, cursing Toph's reasoning abilities, deciding that Toph had been spending too much time with Azula. "Fine" the lightning bender grit through clenched teeth. 'I'll talk to him but I don't make any promises.'
"That's all I'm asking for."
~x~
The sun had long since set and boredom had found the young lightning bender wandering the Earth Kingdom palace in hopes of finding hidden passageways/doors/rooms/or gardens. She wasn't disappointed. Earlier she had found a map of the palace and had since taken a red, green, and black pen and pretty much scribbled all over it. Red was for the hidden passageways and doors, green was for the hidden gardens and black was for hidden rooms. Her own personal map.
That's how she found herself tumbling through a hidden door and into the presence of the Avatar. He was meditating, as calm as naturally possible, but his eyes were opened and focused on her. She almost turned back to the door and walked out but her promise to Toph was pulled to the forefront of her mind, unhelpfully. So instead of leaving she moved to sit in front of him, mimicking his form perfectly. Now that she was here she wasn't sure what she should say. She had never talked to the Avatar.
"Hi" he started with a warm inviting smile.
She scowled as she looked at his aura. It was just as his smile, warm, calm, and inviting. And she didn't like it at all. A person with that kind of aura was hard dislike. Her mother seemed to do it just fine though (even if she wasn't sure Azula actually disliked the Avatar) so she could to. "Hello," she answered back. "Toph made me promise to talk to you."
"Did she?" he questioned.
"Yes. She said I was being to judgmental." And other things she didn't want to mention.
"Well, I don't know about that. One of my past lives took everything from you." He intoned, making her scowl grow and a white eyebrow lift in confusion.
"That's right, you did."
He nodded and for a moment there was silence, "Was it horrible?"
Surprise flittered over her face, "You mean you don't know?" Maybe Toph was right about not being able to blame him for his past life.
"No." He answered, "I tried to go that far back but he's sealed away tight."
Detia nodded her understanding, casting her eyes to the ground. "I still have nightmares from that day. They were really bad when I was little."
"I'm sorry." The genuine remorse in his tone surprised her and eased the loathing she felt for him. "I wasn't there when my people were massacred. But I sometimes have nightmares of what I saw 100 years later. A bone yard of my people. They had just left them there, didn't burn or bury any of them." His fist clenched and his face contracted and she was impressed at how he suppressed his anger. "I kept thinking, if I had been there maybe my people wouldn't have died. That I could have somehow prevented it."
"You couldn't have." Detia assured. "You were an untrained twelve year old monk who was taught that violence was not the way. At best you would have been forced to escape. At worst you would have died. You should be grateful that you didn't see them being slaughtered, it's worse that way."
He nodded, sympathy showing in his eyes and a silence fell between them until he broke it with a smile, "You're the Balance of the Gods, right?"
A white eyebrow lifts, "Just the balance actually, of everything. But I haven't really done anything balancy, at least not like I use to. There was that one time when Toph and Agni got into a fight." She remarked flippantly, cradling her chin in her hand as if she were bored.
"What did you use to do?"
His genuine curiosity prompted her to answer, "Lots of things. In the beginning I mainly dealt with the other gods, which is how I got the title Balance of the Gods." She rolled her eyes, "But back then every natural disaster; volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and the like could be linked back to a god and it was my job to ensure the casualties were low to non-existent. Or if the deed was already done it was my job to ensure new life and make sure the spirits of said area didn't wreak havoc on the mortal populous."
She could see what he was thinking just by looking into his eyes, that that's what he did now and she hated him for it. She never really loved being 'the Balance' but she didn't hate it and she liked to believe she was really good at it. Peace had reined for a thousand years under her command. But that all changed when Iuguolo Superum attacked. And everything she had built, had worked so hard to maintain, came crashing down around her. Detia looked at the Avatar, the spokesperson for the mortals, and instead of thinking about how he ruined her life a 'bagillion' years ago, as Toph so eloquently put it, she thought about how he didn't ruin her life now.
If she had been the Balance at the very beginning her reception into the world would have been bigger and at a very early age spirits would have come to her with her problems. She wouldn't have known what to do, she was even positive that she would have deathly frightened of them. If that had been the case she could have stayed in her room, hiding as best she could from them and had no time to spend on her problems with her mother. The chances that Azula would still sneer at and ignore her were very high. And Ty Lee wouldn't have any way of arguing Detia's case, seeing as the little lightning bender would be spending all her time hiding as opposed to trying to impress her mother.
A scowl marred her youthful face. She wasn't sure how she would handle the spirits now if they demanded her attention. Probably not well. So maybe she should be thankful that the Avatar was around to deal with them. Maybe. He interrupted her train of thought, "Can I ask you something without you getting offended? It's kinda been bugging me."
'Perhaps.' She answered, 'depends on what you have to ask me.'
"Okay," he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he tried to think of the best way to best ask his question. "So, I don't really know how to say this other than being blunter than a boulder."
"Just ask." She growled, annoyed by his stalling.
"Okay. Um…why are you the Balance?"
Again a white eyebrow lifted, "What do you mean?"
He sighed, "I mean who told you that you had to be the Balance?"
"It's always been that way, since the very beginning. I suppose it's because I'm more powerful than the others."
"Why are you more powerful?"
A wide, almost scary smirk replaced her scowl and Aang almost wished for the scowl to come back. "In order to know that, you'd have to know the story of the Origin of the Gods." She stood. "Maybe one day I'll tell it to you." She opened the sliding door and before she exited she replied, "It was nice talking to you Avatar. I wouldn't be opposed to doing it again."
Aang smiled at her retreating back. That hadn't been nearly as painful as he thought it would have been.
TBC
A/N: As a final note, when I do write the Origin of the Gods story in the story I would like everyone to know that I came up with it BEFORE watching season two of the Legend of Korra. I was ready to write it out back when Azula was thrown into prison before she got her firebending taken away. Just thought I should put that out there.
