Surprise! It's tomorrow :) I'll post chapter 26 either Tuesday or Wednesday. I have to work Monday but I'll try to finish it on Tuesday for you guys.
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Chapter Twenty-Five: Aang
The week flew by.
It was anything but exciting. Meetings and plans for Ba Sing Se were albeit important, but overall boring. Iroh did most of the talking, the war chamber always deathly silent when he did. A man of such wisdom commanded attention. The people, myself included, clinging to his words as he spoke.
But I often found my gaze faltering. She sat across from me, two seats to the left and looked as fearsome as ever. Long gone were the dresses from the wedding, now Toph stood in a suit of metal she constructed herself. It clung to her curves in the most flattering of ways.
A breastplate and a backplate protected her most crucial organs. And she had smaller pieces on her forearms and calves. Should the need be dire enough, she could use them as a weapon. Then my eyes snagged on her signature bun that seemed to defy gravity, at least that was the same.
If she was thinking about me or our kiss she certainly wasn't showing it. Her blank eyes looked almost bored while she picked at the dirt beneath her fingernails. Toph's bare feet were propped right up on the war room's table; almost daring someone to make a remark about it.
No one ever did.
Today was the last meeting; it was mostly filled with trade agreements and what to do about the strong presence of Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom. Many have been there for almost a century, Fire Nation citizens who lived and died and started families.
It was a touchy subject no less. And it would be a topic for another night. The sun had almost set and we have yet to reach an agreement. But Zuko sat as stoic as always at the head of the table, listening to every gripe and concern that would befall his and the Earth Kingdom's people.
He wrote them all down and we agreed on another date to meet and discuss, this time in the Earth Kingdom.
People seemed disgruntled but ultimately agreed that another meeting was in order. Thank the spirits. It was a five hour flight back to Ba Sing Se and I didn't want to spend the whole night flying and not sleeping. Between the all day council meetings I haven't had the chance to speak to Katara. I had barely even seen her.
As I rounded the corner out of the war chamber I noticed Katara at the end of the hallway. I needed to speak with her before I left. I still wasn't sure if I was going to tell her about my 'interactions' with Toph.
It seemed like the right thing to do, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, at least not yet. "Katara, I need to talk to you about something." Her face flushed as I grabbed her wrist and ushered us onto the closest balcony.
She looked nervous, distraught even, as the fall breeze carried off the ocean pushed her chocolate curls around her beautiful face.
"Katara, you know you mean a lot to me. You've been there since the beginning, and I trust you with my life, with everything actually. I'm sorry I haven't been able to talk to you since I came here, I've been so busy.
"And I can't help but feel like you are too. I heard some of the reforms you passed in the war room the other day. You're doing incredible things for your nation and I'm so proud of you.
"As hard as it is for me to say this, I can't help but feel you and I are too busy for…" I said gesturing to the space between us with my hand, searching for the right words. "Too busy for us?"
She looked at me quizzically, her left eyebrow so high it almost reached her hairline.
"I'm not saying that I don't want to be with you, because Katara I'm fairly certain I love you, and I always will, but I just don't think it's working with us right now. But maybe after we make a plan for Ba Sing Se and you finish out your duties in the Fire Nation we can see where this takes us?"
Her mocha cheeks were a bright red, probably from my declaration of my love for her. "I love you too, Aang. And I think you're right, now isn't the right time for us." I smiled back at her unable to stop it. I don't know how long I've waited to hear those words and when she finally says them I'm choosing to walk away from her.
We embraced, a long comforting hug that had all my anxieties washing away like the tide. "Send a hawk once you get back to the Earth Kingdom so I know you're safe."
"I will Katara, I will."
I left to find Appa in the stables.
When I got to him Toph was already there. Her presence was enough to increase my breathing. Her intimidating metal armor was gone, replaced by a simple tunic and trousers she often wore, her long obsidian hair was in a high ponytail, she looked as lovely as ever.
Toph stroked the bison's fur affectionately while she whispered sweet nothings in his ear. It was a sight for sore eyes, especially considering she couldn't stand the beast for most of our adventures.
"Are you ready to go?" She said nothing, just launched herself into the air from a rock pillar, I watched as she landed softly in Appa's saddle. Joining her, I leapt up and took Appa's reins.
"Yip yip!" And just like that we were in the air. I set our course before clambering to the back of the saddle and joining Toph.
I said nothing for a long while, whether it was because I was waiting for her to speak or for me to think of something to say.
"I spoke with Katara." I watched as her head perked up showing me she was in fact listening.
"Her and I talked about how it was difficult, even impossible, for us to be together right now. Her and I are just so busy, our lives don't line up. We broke it off, whatever her and I were...it's over."
Toph nodded slowly, "so what happens when your lives do line up?" Her seismic senses did Toph no good on Appa, but she still managed to lock eyes with me. The question made my skin crawl. What would happen if Katara and I got back together? I was thankful Toph couldn't feel my heart beat faster and sense my uncertainty for what it was.
"I don't know honestly, I don't want to think about what could happen. I want to think about what is happening." I moved closer to Toph, as close as I would dare. She sat right in front of me, our knees practically touching and I watched as the wind whipped her hair around.
The silky black locs blurring with the starry night sky, the moon glowing behind her. My heart skipped a beat as I reached for her hand. It was cold but familiar and I relished in her touch.
Her blank stare went down to our entangled fingers then back up to my face, "what is happening, Aang?"
It was a fair question, but one I didn't know how to answer. My hand left hers and found her neck, my thumb rubbing her porcelain skin. "I'm not really sure Toph, but what I do know is that I can't be around you and not touch you. I can't not talk to you. I can't be in the same room as you and not stare at you the whole time.
"Even when you're nowhere near me I think about you. I worry about your safety; then remember I don't need to, that I should really worry about anyone who dares to challenge you, I wonder what you're doing and who you're doing it with, when Naoki took an interest in you it bothered me-"
"That's because you sensed who he was-what he was…" Toph said, cutting me off. I smiled slightly wishing that's what it was that irritated me.
"That's not at all what I thought. When I saw his lips on yours I wanted to slip into the Avatar State and teach him a lesson. It bothered me that he was touching you. And I realized it was because he was doing what I couldn't. Taking you out on dates and kissing you.."
I watched as her cheeks flushed a pretty pink, but I kept talking. "Iroh said something to me that night, he said that I didn't have to worry, that you could take care of yourself. But I already knew that, you're one of the most capable benders I've ever met. I don't need to worry about someone hurting you physically.
"I was worried he would hurt your heart. And it made me so mad. He didn't deserve your brilliance, your beauty, your selflessness, your stubbornness."
Her giggle was music to my ears, the airy laugh I hadn't heard since the spirit realm. "He didn't deserve you, Toph. I'm not even sure I deserve you. Iroh told me to look inward and really ask myself what I wanted...who I wanted.
"I told him I loved Katara, and it's true Toph, I love that woman I really do, but Iroh said, 'there are many different types of love,' and I can't help but feel like he's right.
"I can't help but feel that it explains so much about how I feel about you. You make me giddy, Toph, you make me feel like I can't breath. And when you kiss me I feel like I can do anything. When you kiss me, or look at me, or talk to me, I feel like I'm just Aang. And that's something I've wanted since the day I found out I was the Avatar.
"You made me realize that I started falling for you the moment I saw you in that vision in the swamp. I had to find you, I was almost obsessed with it. I needed to know who you were to me and it was the swamp that showed me for the first time.
"The first time we met you didn't care that I was the Avatar, you didn't care that I wanted you to teach me how to earthbend. You saw me for who I was from the very beginning and I am beyond grateful for it. Grateful for you.
"I don't know a lot about love, Toph, but I can't ignore how I feel about you even if I wanted to. And I don't want to."
I sat there with my hand on her neck. I wasn't sure how to continue so I just waited for her to say anything that would make me feel like she felt the same way.
"Aang?" She spoke, I loved how my name rolled off her tongue. "Hmm?" I couldn't bring myself to speak, I was too nervous about her telling me I was crazy, that she felt nothing close to what I was feeling.
"Kiss me." The wind stole her words from her mouth. But it didn't matter, I had already heard her. My lips touched hers hesitant at first. It was a gentle, slow but deliberate, kiss but it still left me panting.
I pulled away to catch my breath, but she captured my lips a second later. Kissing Toph felt as natural as flying and I couldn't stop my other hand from joining my first one around her neck.
Her dainty hands were planted firmly against my chest. A moment passed before I realized she was in fact trying to push me backwards. I allowed the movement, my back meeting the hard leather of Appa's saddle.
She laid next to me, we stared at the sky for a while. I began counting the stars before she rolled on her side, facing me. I joined her. She couldn't see me, I knew that. But it didn't seem to stop her.
Toph leaned in once more, our lips touched and I revealed in the softness of them. My hand ghosted down her arm and stopped at her hips. I felt her shiver. I was unsure if it was from the cold or our recent activities.
I watched as she pulled away, clutching her arms, the shivering continued. Smiling sweetly I pulled her into me hoping my body heat would warm her.
I don't remember sleep taking me.
