Toph breathed a calming sigh as the two stood outside the meeting room where the Grand Lotuses would gather. Iroh had travelled with her; there were currently only two people inside, a Waterbender and an Earthbender. There was no Airbender—as if she'd expected one to be there. The only people present who knew about the existence and recovering Air Nomads were her, and the Firebender standing beside her.

"Are you ready?"

"No."

Iroh smiled and gazed at the door. "Remember that we are all equals here. But, since you won't be able to identify them otherwise, the Waterbender's name is Koyu, the Earthbender's name is Saichi. In order, we sit in the same positions as the Avatar Cycle."

"Air, Water, Earth, Fire," Toph murmured. "You better not be suggesting that I sit on Saichi's lap."

Iroh's eyes glimmered with amusement at the thought, but he said, "no. You will sit between Water and Earth, in the fifth seat, facing the door. The meeting will begin shortly. We should head inside."

Once the whole 'what's she doing here?' shebang had gone down again ("Oh I'm the stripper. Didn't anyone tell you?") and the four of them were settled in their seats, Toph did as Iroh had told her and sat down between Saichi and Koyu. She leaned back and held onto the stone armrests on her chair. It wasn't particularly comfortable, but then again if she got too complacent within this meeting, she would zone out and miss most of the stuff that was said.

Nothing was talked about for a while. Well, nothing of importance, anyway. Iroh gossiped frivolously with Saichi, Koyu stared vacantly at the puddle of water with her chin on her hand and flicked at a ball of ice the size of a hailstone, and Toph tapped her foot impatiently against the floor.

"What are we waiting for?" Saichi asked, punctuating his question with a grunt. "We're all here, aren't we?"

"Perhaps," Iroh commented teasingly. "Relax, there's still plenty of time for us to talk about business."

Koyu grunted and turned to Toph. Something about the Waterbender unsettled the Earthbender slightly, and she unconsciously shuffled in her seat, as if trying to find a position more gratifying to sit in. She would have simply moulded the chair, but the rock … she could see on it, detect every slight chip and crack in the weathered old stone, but she couldn't Earthbend it. At all.

"I still want to know what you're doing here," she asked. "But I guess it can wait. Where are you from?"

"Earth Kingdom," Toph sneered. When uncomfortable, Toph became defensive.

"Alright, no need to get snippy." The Waterbender's skin, like Katara's, was fairly dark. But her fingernails were painted blue, the same shade of her eyes, and she had a bit of puppy fat on her stomach from multiple pregnancies. Surprisingly she was still quite young—about mid-thirties. "I'm from the Southern Water Tribe, though moved out when I was a teenager and headed up north."

Toph listened, only mildly interested. "I'm from Gaoling," she said. "But I travel constantly." Adjusting the silvery-white mantle on her shoulders, she picked up a set of footsteps heading for the chambers. 'Glancing' over to the door opposite, she blinked. She recognised those footsteps … but that was impossible. "Iroh, is he coming here?"

Iroh stopped mid-sentence in his discussion with Saichi and followed her unfocused gaze. "Oh, yes, I forgot to mention. He's part of the Order too."

Saichi cast a suspicious glance between the two of them. "And just who are you talking about?"

Toph smiled to herself, and then sat up slightly as Monk Gyatso strode into the room. Atop his shoulders, a silvery-white mantle, and his orange robes were accented by a white obi and blue sash hanging over one shoulder.

"I trust I'm not late?" he inquired, eyes twinkling with a youthful spark. Saichi and Koyu leapt to their feet.

"Wrinkles, you got a Silver Lotus tile?"

'Wrinkles' laughed quietly as he approached his seat. "I have been in the Council for over a hundred years. I have come to reclaim my seat."

"Airbender...?" Koyu whispered in disbelief. Rage burned in her eyes and she slammed her fist down on the table. The water in the ring carved into the table turned into a tiny, swirling current. "What trickery is this!? How dare you take on the form of an Airbender?"

"He is what he appears to be, Koyu," Iroh said calmly. "And there is something which must be announced. It is extremely important you listen carefully."

"It is time that the meeting got under way," Saichi said calmly. "Take your seats, and let us begin."

Toph slid her tile into the small indent embedded into the table. There was enough room for her to slip her thumbnail, short as it was, in to hook it and flip it back out again. There were identical clicks as the rest of the Grand Lotuses inserted their tiles into the indents, and then leaned back in their seats.

"So the Diamond and the Sky Lotus have rejoined us," Saichi murmured with a smile. "Welcome, the both of you."

"It's great to be back," Gyatso purred.

It took hours for Gyatso, Iroh and Toph to explain to the other Lotuses what had happened. While they had heard rumours and short letters, and though they knew about Iroh's summoning of members of the Order, they hadn't received many details.

With Iroh's report coming to its conclusion, attention turned to Saichi, the representative of the Earth Kingdom, who began to explain what had happened since the end of the war. He began discussing the lasting damage to the environment and the repair of the wall of Ba Sing Se.

And then his voice turned grave. "For some reason the outer wall seems to have made little progress. The Dai Li were swift in bringing it down, but rebuilding it is not so easy."

When Koyu's turn came, the Waterbender looked around. There was a slightly accusing look to her eyes which didn't seem to be provoked by anything but her own thought. "I went to the Southern Water Tribe to monitor the situation. Waterbenders from the North had already arrived and started hunting and helping to set up fortifications. The new walls that were built are impressive. I would say that they are designed on the Northern Water Tribes. However..."

Her report went on to explain in depth the lasting effects on the Water Tribe economy.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Was it what you thought it would be?" hummed Iroh as the Ostrich Horse trotted down the path, Toph leaning back against the elderly man's toned chest. "Your first meeting, I mean."

Thoughts went around and around in a dizzying cycle in Toph's mind. They had been doing that ever since Gyatso had spoken about Avatar Aang being at the temple, but her thoughts weren't of Aang. "Boring," she replied distractedly, shaking her head.

Earth, they wouldn't stop circulating.

"I don't think my first meeting was boring," Iroh confessed, mildly amused. He left that statement open and without conclusion, as if inviting and expecting Toph to continue or ask why. So she did. Toph had to admit, she was a bit curious. One brow lifting, she adjusted her seat on the ostrich horse and rooted her hands to the base of it's neck, not really confident that she could keep her balance.

"I went for the Waterbender." Was the reply, which made the corner of Toph's lip twitch. "I had to be pried off of him by Saichi. You should have seen it." Toph remembered how Iroh had not always been the apparent, wise old man who he was now. The thought of him acting bratty much like Zuko made her snort in disbelief. Well, she couldn't see that happening. Not entirely.

Iroh was fierce. She had seen him in action, heard his frustrated growls and dragon-like roars as the famed Dragon of the West proved to his enemies the reason for his namesake. However, she never recalled seeing him instigate violence; he had always been the one retaliating to a pre-emptive threat, or defending himself against it—in any case, provoked.

She had to admit, Iroh was one of the very few people Toph was actually reluctant to fight. Gyatso also fit into that category, as did Kuruk. For some reason all three of them seemed … well. There was something ominous about them all. Gyatso acted so carefree and frivolous a majority of the time, much like a teenager who hadn't yet learned the concept of maturity—or, a wise old man who chose to dismiss it in favour of acting like an unchained hooligan.

Iroh was deceptively powerful, his mind sharper than Toph's sense of touch. He knew exactly what to do and when. Toph's raw power in Earthbending was more powerful than his Firebending, but his experience, forethought and strategy made him a great adversary—and a great ally.

But Kuruk … there was something else there. Something deep, hiding beneath the skin. Something-

"Look out!"

Toph was torn violently from her thoughts. The Ostrich Horse skidded and screamed, Toph let out a startled cry, and Iroh let out a grunt as his hand swept up, slicing through a stream of fire like a hot knife through butter. Embers licked at her feet, the heat so close and blistering it felt like she had just run through a furnace.

"What's going on!?" she shouted, eyes owlish.

Iroh dismounted, firing off a fire punch. "Ambush," he reported, blocking an attack, bring his hands to his chest and kicking out. "We're surrounded. Get off the Ostrich Horse, quickly!"

Toph was thinking that very through herself. The half-bird was thrashing and bucking, and it was all Toph could do to keep her grip. Her brain was telling her to let go, but her hands were like vices. "Dumb bird, stop moving!" Thrown from the startled creature, she landed hard on the ground and cried out in pain as it's talons raked across her skin.

A few seconds passed before she could get up again. Iroh exhaled a wave of fire over her head and grabbed her elbow to help her up. One of Toph's arms hung limply and a sheen of sweat had broken out across her entire body, dripping down her skin.

"My arm," she gasped. "I think … it's broken."

"Not broken," replied Iroh distractedly. "Dislocated. Your elbow-" he grunted. "Don't move it. Raaagh!"

Don't move it? Well what the hell was she meant to do with it? Each breath felt forced and she could hardly move through the pain. It was crippling! And the blood was running down her arm … had she had vision, she would have been struggling to see. She would have noticed when the world suddenly flashed and faded to black.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Wake up."

Toph felt a stir, a body, beneath her own, and struggled to return to consciousness. They were running somewhere—or rather, someone was walking and carrying her somewhere—and she could smell ash. Firebender. But the shoulders weren't broad enough to be Iroh's.

That ruled out Zuko.

"Toph, you must wake up."

The voice didn't match either. Whoever it was was skinny and tall, not as obviously muscular. But they still smelled of old people. So not Azula. Thank the earth and sky, Toph really didn't want to deal with her after dislocating her- wait a minute... She had dislocated her arm! Snapping awake in a heartbeat, she lifted it from around the man's neck.

It ached, it felt heavy and numb, but she could move it. It wasn't dislocated. It had healed! Toph made a stiff motion with it and tried to get a sense of her surroundings, and froze.

"You can't see, can you?" he inquired. "Don't worry. Here, that's to be expected."

How long had it been since Toph had last been completely and utterly blind? "H- here?"

"You're in the Spirit World, Toph," said Roku resolutely. "And before you ask, no, you're not dead. We need your help."

Toph held on tightly until Roku suddenly made a leap and landed on something that made her feel sick to her stomach. It was Fang, his dragon familiar. Fang growled, smoke billowing from his nostrils, and flew higher into the skies. His body was warm, like walking on stones baking in the midsummer sun, and his movements, though graceful and relaxed, were rocking.

Toph gripped Roku's shirt fearfully, straddling the massive reptile. She wanted to throw up. "What's going on? Where are you taking me?" Another, more frightening thought occurred to her. "Is it Aang?"

"No, it's not Aang. Yangchen is collecting him from the Air Temple."

"If it's not Aang, then what's going on...?"

"Toph … I'm afraid I have bad news."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Sh- she … she can't be dying..."

Avatar Kyoshi looked very tormented, lying there on the futon. Sweat trickled down her forehead, the beads turning crimson as they passed through the slightly faded war paint, as a healer dabbed the damp cloth to her face and tried to keep her cool and comfortable. The only thing heard through the occasional silence of the room was the raspy, laboured breathing of the giantess Avatar as the poison scourged relentlessly through her veins.

Weakness came with the venom-induced fever and she could barely move. Every limb, every digit on her hand and foot, burned like fire from Sozin's comet were slowly replacing the blood in her body. From the time she had been bitten, to the point now, she had no recollection. Memories of old drifted into her mind as if though the haze of hallucination, she was reliving her entire life. Of course she knew something was wrong, and she struggled to escape the prison conjured by her own mind in a self-defence mechanism, but her thrashes were growing weaker.

Toph struggled to understand the situation, kneeling beside her mentor. She shook like an autumn leaf being snatched up by a frail whirlwind. She just couldn't stop shaking. The fear of this all being real … she had to be hallucinating, right? This was just some weird drug they'd given her for her arm while they fixed her. None of it was real.

She couldn't see her face. She didn't want to see her face. But she could hear the moans, feel the heat, and sense the agony. It felt so real. "Please, no..."

"How is she?" asked Roku, voice laden with concern. One hand was resting on Toph's shoulder, but the gesture offered no comfort.

Dark amber eyes half-closed as the healer shook his head. His brow knitted together in disappointed fear and his clasped hands fidgeted momentarily as he nodded. "The venom of the spirit cobra is potent and, as you are aware, there is no known cure. Whatever happens now … is dependent on her strength and will to survive. We can help ease her suffering by making her hydrated and as comfortable and cool as possible. I'm afraid I can do no more."

Struggling against her fevered dreams, Kyoshi twisted and gasped. They all felt waves of heat coming off of her, the pain. Kyoshi could sense them hovering. Roku knelt, took the wet cloth in his hand and pushed back the strands of russet hair to gently dab at her face. She swallowed as he pressed at her throat, opening confused, fluttering dark green eyes, glazed over and wild, seeing something they could only guess at.

"N...n-mm... mnn... n... no..."

Roku gazed deep at her. Even if he spoke now, attempting to reassure and comfort her like he desperately wanted to, she wouldn't be able to hear them.

So much made sense now. So many things made sense. Aang's sudden, unexpected illness. It was caused by this, wasn't it? He had sensed Kyoshi's pain? But Roku had told her she was dying. Dying. "I didn't know … I thought you … you were already..."

Roku sighed and knelt down. How did one explain the nature of death to a child? "We are dead. But we are also alive, in a sense. It's too complicated to explain, and it is not the right time."

Toph reached out and patted the side of the futon near Kyoshi's hip. The warrior's hands were gripping the sheets in white knuckles, and she smelled so strongly of sweat it was worse than when Toph had fought, and afterwards slapped her. Feeling her way along, she came across a limb, and tried to feel if it was a hand or a wrist. Kyoshi let out a tormented, growl-cry and recoiled violently.

Talking would help, right? Healers said that talking helped people. But most words escaped her. "Bigfoot? Come on!" Earth, what was she supposed to say? "Bigfoot, stop screwing around. This isn't funny." A groan answered her. Toph grabbed onto a large wrist and shook it, as if that would snap her out of her fevered dreams. "Come on. Kyoshi!"

"She cannot hear you," came the response. From Roku.

"What will happen...? If she..."

Roku was about to answer, but Yangchen swept into the room. Aang ran in after the older Air-born Avatar, and for once Toph was just too worried and angry to bother with her usual taunts. Arms wrapped around her, Aang pulled her close, and that was enough for Toph to start sobbing into his shoulder.

Kuruk sat in the corner of the room. The Waterbender's legs were pulled up to his chest, his sapphire eyes were low with exhaustion, and his arms wrapped around his knees. His thoughts were reflected by the look in his eyes.

It's my fault. It's all my fault.

"It'll be okay, Toph," promised Aang. "We'll find a way."

Through the corner of his eye, Aang gazed at his teacher's mentor. The look in his eye could only be described as uneasy.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"What will happen to her?"

"I'm not sure. An Avatar has never been bitten by the spirit cobra before. When an Avatar dies, she or he passes on and becomes a spirit. When they die in the Avatar State, the entire cycle dies with them. But Kyoshi has passed on, and she is not in the Avatar State. From the laws that govern death in the avatar state, we can only assume … that she will cease to exist."

Cease to exist? Kyoshi? "Y- you don't know what you're talking about." Toph laughed, interrupting the conversation between Aang and the Firebender. A bitter, nervous sort of laugh. "Kyoshi isn't going to … she'll recover. She'll be teaching me again in no time."

Again, Roku sighed. "Toph, there's no known cure for the poison. Those who have been bitten have not survived before, and Kyoshi's immune system has never been as strong as-"

"Stop talking out of your arse, old man!" Toph snarled. She wasn't going to accept this—she wouldn't. "The fuck did you bring me all the way here for if there's no known cure, huh? You bring me here to watch her suffer? You said you brought me here to help!"

"Toph-"

Toph had grabbed Kyoshi's hand so tightly in her own that her arm began to burn like she'd dislocated it all over again. She shivered with fear and rage. Aang grabbed her hand, trying to settle her down, but she was blinded by … something. Something which began to consume her, filling her with a horrifying burning in the pit of her body, spreading like vipers through her veins. Kyoshi moaned right beside her and settled, as if comforted or aided by her presence.

"The healer said there was no cure," she said, quieter this time, aware that her raised voice might disturb Kyoshi. As if she could literally see her, Toph's glazed eyes remained fixed at an angle towards her teacher. Ha, as if she wasn't already disturbed. "That doesn't give you the excuse not to try. Get him back, make him find something—anything."

"We are trying. That's why we brought you here. We think … we might have an answer."

Author's note: Sorry about the delay, my beauties! I just wanted to start the next plot, and I thought I'd share some of my birthday joy by updating another chapter. Well, I don't suppose all of you will be happy. Poor Kyoshi. Poor Toph! I wonder what will happen...