Iroh took the tea that Tia Min poured for everyone but paid it little attention as he studied the faces gathered into the small area that served as both kitchen and dining room for the ship. There was a general air of tiredness and confusions as they mumbled and shifted amongst themselves. Iroh frowned and in his mind calmly counted to fifteen.
When he finished counting and they still had not settled down Iroh was done waiting. "Enough."
Iroh hadn't rose his voice but the tone of command rolled through the room like a thunder cloud. The group froze in the middle of what they were doing and turned wide eyes to the man at the head of the room. All that was but the little earthbender at the opposite end table, who continued to sit with her feet on the edge of the table sipping her tea.
Iroh looked at the girl for a moment but then shook his head as he turned to the others. "I brought you all here because it turns out that members of our respective groups are missing, along with supplies and the War Balloon. I want to know who was the last person to see Kazuya and, or Sokka on this ship is and everything that might tell us where they have gone."
There was a soft murmuring as people thought and whispered to each other about what the General had asked. Again Iroh watched the group, everyone had some thought to add to the conversation, though none of it seemed to be very helpful. Or at least most everyone.
Iroh's eyes narrowed, "Lady Bei Fong?"
The room went quit once more as Toph turned slowly toward the sound of Iroh's voice. "Yes?"
"Don't you have anything to add to this?" Iroh made it a question but his voice made it clear he already knew the truth.
"Hey," Toph shrugged noncommittally, "I didn't see anything."
アエ 父の日 恋仲
A single eyebrow arched as Iroh looked at the girl, deciding how best to approach the situation. He started slowly, "Lady Bei,"
"It's Toph!" The blind earthbender exploded as she jumped to her feet sending her chair skittering across the floor and landed on its back with a loud crash. She glared at Iroh's position. "Lady Bei Fong is my mother, my name is Toph! Use it if you want to talk to me."
Toph stomped the floor and the groaning protest of the metal clad room was the only sound as everyone present was struck dumb. Katara and the White Lotus members looked between the firebender and the small child that couldn't see the look of murder he'd been wearing since walking in. Surly if she was able to see she would never dare to speck to the Dragon of the West in such an insubordinate manner.
"General Iroh, she didn't mean it." Katara spoke up in defense of her friend but Toph wasn't in the mood.
Toph took a defiant step toward the head of the room where Iroh stood staring at her. "Oh yes I did."
Iroh raised a hand forestalling any the comment he saw Katara forming. His voice was a clean and clear as ice and about as warm as his eyes remained fixed on Toph's milky gaze. "Very well Toph, I would like to speak with you. Alone if you please."
"Fine by me." Toph said gruffly, and without direction or hesitation the members of the White Lotus got to their feet and headed for the door.
They didn't exactly make a run for it but it was clear they did not want to be caught in a potential crossfire between the two bending masters. If they had any concern for the child earthbender's safety they didn't show it, instead they started to discuss who would take over Kazuya's watch shift even before the door closed behind them. Only Katara stayed loyalty born of friendship making her step closer to Iroh.
She didn't really place herself between him and Toph, as the girls had been sitting on opposite sides of the table, but there was no way for Iroh to mistake the gesture. He found it commendable as well as endlessly irritating. Did the little waterbender really think her friend needed protecting from him?
Apparently so, "I don't think this is really necessary, Toph can't possibly know where Sokka and Kazuya are. She's just cranky because she got woken up to early."
Iroh finally looked away from Toph to face Katara and was about to tell her that it didn't matter to him at the moment what she thought was necessary when the jade eyed girl bet her to it. Toph stomped on the floor once more sending the metal quivering and groaning. "I'm standing right here Katara, or did you go blind too. I don't need your help, besides what makes you the authority on what I do or don't know?"
"I didn't mean," Katara turned to explain to her friend but Toph stopped her.
"I know what you mean Katara and its fine; but I can handle talking to General Iroh without you holding my hand and doing it for me." Though her words where still a little harsh but they were not said with much anger.
Katara looked watched Toph for a moment, lips drawn into a considering line. Then she looked to Iroh and back, nodding her head. "Okay Toph, I'll be in our cabin if you need me."
Toph's expression clearly sarcastic; their cabin was a floor up and on the other side of the ship from the mess hall, clearly not most convenient place to have to go if you need someone but Toph kept her tone level. "Sure Katara, I'll only be a minute."
Toph watched the other girl walk out and waited for the soft click of the door closing before she turned back to Iroh. She could feel the anger, frustration, and fear that stiffened the old firebender's muscles and held him rigidly as he watched her. She frowned, though she was still angry over the stuff that happened the last few days she didn't feel like fighting. Especially if it was with Iroh, suddenly she wished Katara had stayed.
Too late for that now, Toph thought as she crossed her arms over her chest and turned back to the General. Trying very hard to maintain her tougher than nails look she tilted her head at the older man. "Okay so what now?"
The whiskey eyes of the General didn't miss anything, and his voice lost some of the edge it had since he called the impromptu meeting. Its rumbling warmth echoed off the now mostly empty room, as he walked over to the chair that had fallen when the girl had come to her feet and righted it again. "We sit and we talk."
"Why should I?" Toph clipped though her stubborn posture dropped somewhat.
"Because it is rather late to be fighting tonight and I'm asking you to Toph." Iroh reached out and placed a board hand on the small but surprisingly strong shoulder of the earthbender. "We will have tea, and you can explain to me what has you so angry."
Toph stared straight ahead, not saying anything but Iroh felt her relaxed a little more. He grinned lopsidedly, "If it will help, you can knock me off my feet again."
Toph snorted a genuine smile touching her lips as she reached out for the chair Iroh placed in front of her and sat down. "Tempting, maybe later."
"As you like." Iroh chuckled, The General slipping back a little in favor of The Sage, as he too sat down reaching for the tea pot and their cups. He handed the girl her cup, watched her down the contents in a quick shot, and refilled it before he spoke again. "You know where Sokka and my man have gone, don't you Toph?"
It wasn't a question, Iroh already knew she did but he wanted hear her say it. Toph sipped on her tea this time, turning her head from the intent whiskey eyes she knew would be watching her. "I don't want to tell you."
Her comment might have rekindled Iroh's anger if it wasn't for the small almost frighten way the girl said it. It was so out of character for the little girl he knew that his parental instincts roared to life. "Why not? Toph you can tell me anything, I promise not to judge."
"You never judge," Toph said her voice growing softer as tears she didn't want to shed filled her eyes. "But you don't think."
Iroh's head came back like she'd just punched him. In a way she did; there had been many things that he'd been accused of in the past years. Not thinking was never one of them. "What do you mean?"
Toph shook her head as she shrugged, "I don't know."
Iroh frowned at this, "Does it have something to do with me calling you Lady Bei Fong? I meant it as respect, not insult."
Toph nodded, "That's part of it, you didn't mean it as an insult but it was. When we first met didn't I tell you may name was Toph, and when I met your team I didn't I do the same thing? All my friends call me Toph, except for Sparky and that is only when were playing, but you didn't consider what that meant. You over looked it, you over looked me; everyone is."
So that was the problem, Iroh sighed. "I understand now."
Reaching out Iroh put a hand on the girl's shoulder and pulled gently until she finally turned to face him. Tears drew lines down her cheeks and he used his sleeve to carefully wipe them away. "With all the madness the last few days you are feeling left out."
"Maybe." Toph admitted grudgingly. "It sounds so stupid when it is said out loud, but yeah I guess I am."
"It doesn't sound that stupid." Iroh said completely honest. "You are used to being needed, your opinion mattering, and now that there are so many more people around you think we don't care or need you anymore. Am I right?"
Toph nodded, "When we come to find you and Zuko got hurt and Katara saved his life; no earthbending required. You and Qin decide we have to do this buddy thing; you don't ask me if I want or need a babysitter."
"You, Zuko, Aang, and Sokka go to Capital City on an important mission; again no earthbending. Then Zuko and Aang leave together to protect us from Azula; I have to stay back because I have no bendables. Now Sokka takes a complete stranger with him, instead of me, to rescue is Dad from some place called the Boiling Rock because I can't pass for a prison guard."
"The Boiling Rock!" Iroh hit on the one phrase his jaw dropping and his eyes growing so wide that it might have been comical if the girl in front of him could see his face and couldn't feel the rapid way his heart sped up. "Did you say they went to the Boiling Rock?"
"Yeah," Toph frowned, her heart sinking as feelings of being left out evaporated to fear for her friend's safety. "Is it really that bad?"
"Worse." Iroh got to his feet as The General firmly pushed away The Sage. Before he was completely banished to the back of Iroh's psyche however, he looked down and the frightened pale green eyes that watched him. "Toph I know what this must seem like but we will have to finish the rest of our talk another time."
"It can wait," Toph, her strong fighting nature firmly in place over everything else, stood up as well. "What do you want me to do?"
The General smiled, not a warm gentle smile but a cool calculating one. Finding the right soldier for a job was not always easy, but being handed the perfect one was unheard of. Maybe fate was finally giving him a break. "Have you ever had the chance to bend hot liquid earth before?"
"Sounds like a challenge," Toph smirked, "I like challenges."
