Toph ate her ice cream with sacred silence.

Whoever came up with the idea of ice-cold milk and mixing it with matcha deserved only the highest praises. The smooth and creamy ice cream melted delicately in her mouth spreading the light sweetness of clean and pure sugar in contrast with the earthy and complex bitterness of the amazingly refined matcha powder that she couldn't pick out from the overall experience. The cold also presented a very new and pleasant sensation, very much a welcome retreat from the intense Fire Nation summer.

Matcha was something she'd only ever experienced in the fanciest parties in Ba Sing Se, and there was always a stray too large piece of leaf here and there. The other nobles praised only the purest of powders, though she had to admit the differences in texture helped create an uneven flavor experience since some sips of the traditional frothy drink might be more sweet or bitter depending on how the leaves mixed or who mixed them.

Sweet being relative to how bitter some cups could be.

That was something she didn't notice as much with it in ice cream. The matcha powder was so evenly fine that it lost that variation, but it didn't completely remove from the overall experience. It could just be better. The ice cream though, that was new. Apparently it was one of the things the royal family came up with to bring together the different cultures. The change she did welcome however, was this actual sweeter version of matcha.

And for the low price of five copper pieces a scoop!

All in all, the Fire Nation was a lot of things, but they always did everything with such a dedication to detail that it bordered on obsession. Granted the person manning the booth didn't stand like Fire Nation. Fire benders placed most of their weight in the balls of their feet since they liked to move around while earth benders always had at least one foot firmly rooted in the ground. His weight didn't favor either, which meant either a non-bender or a water bender.

Everyone had some piece of their heritage with them at all times, even the non-benders. Anyone fire nation shared some semblance of that headstrong determination, most were aggressive when they wanted something, like when those hawkers at the markets would grab the well-dressed little lady's attention with their sweet talking to try and sell something. A certain giggling pink mess who wanted very much to be friends with everyone came to mind, and so did a very stubborn stick in the mud who likely couldn't be bothered to get out of bed for anything if she could help it.

It was surreal when she'd first set foot in the Fire Nation so many years ago and met so many different people. She'd flown for the first time in her life that day. Even met a strange and very intense old fire bender. It was the day her family ran away from Gaoling out of fear of the many uprisings and bandits happening all around them.

Because the Fire Nation apparently decided to just stop fighting.

Yet at the same time her father was also employed by the Crown as an advisor on Earth Nation matters. Nation, not Kingdom. The nation was different from the state, in that a kingdom meant a people living on established land, while a nation referred to the people living on the land of the Earth Kingdom.

Which struck her strange now that the Fire Nation had taken in more people from the other Nations, though Crazy argued that since those people now lived in the state of the Fire Kingdom—a name no one really used anymore—anyone who lived in Fire Nation lands and had the permission of the Fire Lord was part of the Fire Nation, regardless of whether they were not fire benders or not born there.

It was a strange idea she still had trouble wrapping her head around.

People were born to their parents, and their parents were born from their parents. Toph was born from people who were Earth Nation, and lived in the Earth Kingdom, but apparently her family were now people of the Fire Nation—or at least treated like they were—because they now lived in the lands of the Fire Nation. Moving the place where she lived didn't change who she was when she was born, and it didn't change either that her parents were born as Earth Nation. So, how could the Fire Nation still be called that if not all of the people who lived in the lands of the Fire Kingdom were born from people of the Fire Nation?

Thinking that and feeling it was his duty was probably what made Crazy, crazy.

She didn't care how much time it took for her to finish her dessert, ice cream deserved nothing but her utmost respect.

"I'm sure Uncle Iroh would really love to meet you," Crazy said.

"She does kind of zone out when she eats," Broody added.

She punched Broody for the slight.

"Hard to blame her," Zula said.

Crazy was having the same flavor as her, while Broody was more traditional with the sweet cream and Zula was having fire salt. Toph didn't really consider spicy as a dessert or snack but people were weird like that.

Speaking of stances, Crazy didn't stand like a fire bender either. He instead carried himself like a non-bender, though not one she could recognize. Hence, Crazy.

"Why would the Crown Prince bother with little old me?" Toph didn't make a habit of meeting royals, she just didn't have a choice because of how close her father was to them in terms of employment.

Broody shifted his weight towards his sister. "Is that a good idea?"

Ever the calmest of her siblings, Zula answered with, "He's just as bad as Raizu when it comes to tea, do we really want to inflict that on Toph?"

"Hey, I'm not that bad."

Crazy's siblings disagreed with that, the silence was damning enough.

"Besides, I'm not a fan of all those fancy teas either," she said.

She'd already had enough of those stupid displays of pointless spending. Snooty Earth nobles paid more attention to the fancy stories and prices of the teas they bought, singing praises about the subtle differences of leaves harvested from the mountains around Gaoling, compared to ones from the Kolau, and especially those from the artificial mountains of Ba Sing Se, when they all smelled and tasted almost exactly the same save for some subtle notes of other herbs.

Her father showed her what teas coming from different places were really like. Some roasted their leaves immediately after harvesting, leading to a deeper stronger smell and flavor that left a persisting aftertaste. Others fermented them for weeks, some months, and the really fancy ones sometimes as long as years, and each one had very distinct differences in flavor.

Still, matcha held a close place in her heart.

It wasn't just the taste, but the experience overall. She could feel how different it was against her tongue since it left a gritty fresh taste and was closer to drinking thick bold soup compared to tea which was just fancy water. The preparation itself was also very different since normal tea was just putting dried leaves in a pot and letting it boil.

Matcha, wasn't just a drink but an event. It was always so interesting to her how much work was put in for each cup, how the servers would churn the powder with water, the rhythmic brushing of the bamboo whisk against the tea cup adding only to the anticipation.

"Hey, getting all those farms set up was not easy," Crazy added. "I'm sure Uncle would appreciate seeing a cute little girl—"

She kicked the earth and the tile beneath Crazy's foot shot up—but didn't put him off balance. Toph clicked her tongue.

"—enjoy the fruits of our efforts."

Crazy was the—wait, yes, that did make sense to her. But she still had to know. "You helped make this?"

"And I'm glad you like it, but really, Uncle was the one who did most of the work."

She punched him.

"Ow."

"Take that as me being cute."

"But you are cute," Broody added.

Toph punched him too.