AN: So here we are, part two of Black Flame, Blue Fire. I don't really have an estimate on how long this one will be, but I can offer two disclaimers: firstly, this is indeed a sequel, to those of you just seeing this without having seen the other. You're more than happy to start here, but some things might be a little confusing XD. Secondly, and fair warning, this WILL dip several shades darker and more mature, which hopefully is expected since I literally split this story in two in order to allow the second half an "M" rating. I was already pushing the "T" rating last time I feel like, so this is going to let things really open up.

But with all that being said, thanks so much for stopping by, especially to those of you joining along from part 1, glad to have you back! As always, very happy to hear your thoughts and hope that you're having a relaxed and enjoyable holiday! Merry Christmas to all!

(Coverart was done by the same lovely supporter who did the art for part one, for all those wondering.)

"When a man learns to love, he must bear the risk of hatred…

(H)atred is born to protect love."

Chapter 1: The State of Things

Toph just had time to feel the heat of the fire coming her way as she turned into the burning sensation, erecting a slab of stone to come bursting from the ground by her feet, rendering the attack worthless. Before her hands had even left the ground, however, the wall exploded beside her as a result of an intense burst of combustion and Toph had to summon the earth at her feet to propel her into a backflip as her attacker flew through the rubble of her defense and sent another blast of flame her way.

She felt the nimble feet of her opponent touch down a dozen feet from her as she touched down as well.

She's gotten faster.

Sending two boulders lancing like missiles, Toph leapt backwards as the rocks went racing towards their target; the first was blasted from the air and second one was dodged and Toph felt her opponent rushing towards her before jumping up with an excited shout, no doubt about to send another explosion of fire her way.

In her excitement to land a hit however, she must not have paid attention to the detail that was how Toph's feet had hit the ground. With just the subtlest touch, she had raised a slab of earth behind her attacker, and with a twitch of her finger, she sent it slamming into the firebender's back, not hard enough to leave any permanent damage, but enough so that her opponent went skidding into the dirt ahead of her.

Feeling her heart beating rapidly, Toph blew some stray hair out of her face and allowed herself to smile.

"That was pretty good. Breaking through the wall instead of going around it was a nice touch."

She heard a grunt ahead of her, rich with annoyance.

"Oh please. You let me do that. Any other firebender would have been turned into a pancake the minute they got that far."

Toph shrugged. "Well, I can't imagine your mom taking it too well if she found out I turned you into a smear between two earthbent walls."

She could practically hear the grin on her opponent's face as they got to their feet. "Yeah, well, I guess that's something to be happy about with her overbearingness."

The words that Toph felt come out of her mouth next felt akin to having to rusty nails jammed in her mouth.

"Your mother's not overbearing, she just wants what's best for you and to protect you."

"Ha! Those words coming out of your mouth, Toph? Even Auntie Mai has mentioned before she thinks mother is too watchful of me than is healthy, and she's as close to her as they come! And I know for a fact you think the same."

It would have done her heart so much good to concur with what 'Auntie' Mai had apparently let slip before, though her words were as much a surprise as anything, but Toph could only cross her arms and lie through her teeth.

"I don't have such an opinion of your mom, Soza, it's not my place to say."

Soza made a fussy noise and walked a couple paces away, and Toph could tell by her voice that she was wearing that pouty face that Azula had put so much work into moving her on from.

"Whatever. I bet she made you say that."

Toph gave no reply to this as she let Soza get past her annoyance with her mother; it was remarkable how quickly these things passed for children, and within less than a minute, Soza's usual upbeat tone had returned.

"Anyway, you wanna go again?"

"I don't know we should; we probably should get you back to the—"

Soza made another disparaging noise, clearly not happy to be reminded that they were on something of a time crunch.

"Ugh! Why do I have to be stuck at the royal suites all afternoon? I'd rather just hang out with you all day then get all dressed up for no reason."

Listening to Soza gripe about the necessity of having to get all freshened up for a long night of fine dining and high-brow socializing hit home for Toph just about as hard as anything could, but as it was, she had to be the adult here, and if Soza wasn't ready at the city by the time Azula showed up, she would no doubt raise heaven and hell to find her missing child.

"You know why," she said, doing her best to stay patient, "Tonight is the first day of the anniversary of the Hundred Year's War's end. Two weeks of celebrating the war being officially over for ten years, and—"

"Sheesh, Toph, you sound like my mother."

Here we go again.

"Well, Soza, if you think so, what would your mother say next?"

"Probably something like 'my darling little lotus, you know that this celebration has been being planned for the past couple years and everyone of note needs to attend and be a part of the festivities. It's our place as royalty to blah blah, something about superior blood, blah blah and to remind the people of the Nations who they ought to look up to.' How was that?"

Toph felt a smirk cross her face as she asked, "And?"

Soza groaned again. "'And don't forget your birthday takes place during all of this, sweetheart.'"

Nodding contently, Toph smiled as she imagined the exasperation on the girl's face. "I think you've about covered all the bases with that."

Walking absently in no particular direction, Soza kicked at the ground in annoyance. "I hate how she treats my birthday like that… like its her chance flaunt me in front of everyone like I'm some kind of trophy. It never feels like it's about me, it's always just about 'ooh, look at my perfect daughter, did I mention she's a prodigy at firebending? She turns eleven this week, and I'm oh so proud of her.' I know she loves me, I just… sometimes it's like I'm not even there, even when I'm being talked about."

Toph's smirk had long since dissipated at this point as she considered what she was hearing. At ten going on eleven, Soza was as mature for her age as anyone could have been; Toph knew for a fact that she had been far less progressed at that age and Soza was even younger than she had been before she joined Aang's company for what would become a life-changing journey. She knew a great deal of it came from how little Azula had pampered and babied Soza as a child, though in fact, she seemed to coddle Soza much more now than she had when she was younger. Her daughter had grown up very quickly underneath Azula's watchful eye, her bedtime stories and playtime being harsh firebending lessons and commands to be better. Azula hadn't let anyone anywhere near her daughter until even the point where she had started speaking in full sentences, and even then, it had been a slow effort trying to be a part of Soza's life. There had seemed to reach a point a few years back however when Azula had become more than amenable to let Soza mingle with Mai, with Ty Lee, with Zuko, and then even with Aang, and Toph and others. It was like she had reached a point where she no longer felt her daughter could be led astray by the words and actions of others.

Soza feels resentment… but she loves her too.

There were a great many things that Toph wished she could say to Soza about what she thought of her mother's treatment of her, but even though it was Azula, one of the most twisted and dangerous people Toph knew she would ever meet, she had done something right somewhere along the way. Despite Soza's attitude and occasional flashes of more worrying traits, Toph would never forget how she had felt when news had broken that Azula's mysterious absence had been a result of a pregnancy. She had been so sure, and also knew she wasn't alone in thinking, that a child birthed from Azula would be nothing short of a chaotic monster, especially since Azula returned to civilization from her self-imposed exodus refusing to name a father and placing herself as sole guardian of the baby girl she named Soza. But the years had passed and not only had Azula seemed to grow at least marginally more levelheaded and responsible, but her daughter seemed to have followed in those footsteps. There was much that Toph was still unsure about, but she had been granted time over the past couple years to spend with Soza and knew there was much more there than the monster she had suspected would evolve as a result of coming from Azula's womb.

But much mystery still surrounded the girl just as much mystery surrounded the pregnancy that had borne her as well.

It's not my place.

Those were the same four words that Toph always forced herself to come to grips with any time that there was a moment wherein her mind started running away with potential reasonings for why's and how's. For all the time that she had spent training by herself for most of her young adult life, she had no business intruding such as that.

Toph walked over and put a hand on Soza's shoulder, "C'mon. Your mom loves you more than anything on the planet. It's just that she was… you know, she was…"

Ever the common occurrence, Soza sighed. "I know, I know, Fire Lord Zuko has been telling me since as long as I can remember that mother had a tough childhood and doesn't maybe know entirely how to react to dealing with me sometimes. And Auntie Mai and Auntie Ty always tell me that she does everything she does for my own good, even if I don't understand it."

Frowning, Toph gave her a gentle push on the shoulder and they started to walk back towards the walls of the city.

"Soza, why do you call Ty Lee and Mai your 'Aunties' but with your mom's brother, it's always 'Fire Lord'?"

Beneath her hand, she felt the shrug of a small framed shoulder. "Mother always said that with him, it's not our place to refer to him with familial affection since his position as Fire Lord comes above him being family. It's proper respect to call him Fire Lord instead of uncle or brother."

Respect. Yeah, I'm sure that's totally what you feel, Azula.

Hearing the explanation brought bile into the back of Toph's mouth, but she said nothing. Azula may have been willing to let Soza spend time with her, but she knew there were more reasons to that than she would ever admit. She had a feeling that every time after Azula let her daughter spend time with any of them, she was questioned closely upon being behind closed doors with her mother again, trying to get ahold of any juicy things that might have been said by whomever Soza had been with. With Azula, things were never as simple as just allowing her daughter to spend time with people who cared about her.

As they walked, Toph felt a slight spring in Soza's step as they walked.

"Do you know if Suki is at the city yet?" she asked excitedly. "She wasn't there when we left to have lunch and spar, but do you think she's there now?"

Toph waited a moment as she felt the sun burning down on them from above as she considered the time of day.

"Maybe," she said. "She and Sokka were supposed to have left early this morning and I know they wanted to stop by Jin's shop right when they got here, so we can drop by and see if that's where they're at, or if they've stopped by already."

Soza made a sound of mild annoyance laced with disgust. "I don't get how all you guys are friends with some dirt-poor commoner. You were all war heroes, right? Even those Water Tribe siblings? And then you go hanging out with her, I don't get it."

Hearing that was enough to make Toph run her tongue against the edge of her teeth as she tried to keep herself from forcefully telling Soza off.

"She helped in the war effort too. She was just a civilian but she put aside her own fear and lack of experience to do everything she could to help the injured and save lives," she managed to let out in a calm tone; she had no doubt of where this particular mindset of Soza's had come from, but knew there was nothing she could do about it beyond gentle nudging in trying to break down Soza's prejudice. It likely wouldn't work, but Toph knew she might explode if she didn't at least say something refuting the relative slander of someone who she had become rather close with over the years.

"Yeah, but she didn't fight, did she? She doesn't even have any noble blood like you, does she?" Soza pressed. "I don't know, just doesn't seem right."

Well, your mom tried to kill her a while ago, Toph almost sarcastically muttered. And she clearly hasn't forgiven her yet, even after everything that's happened.

It was hard to tell though if that was still the reason that Azula still had such reservations towards Jin; it was just as possible that it was merely a byproduct of her absolute disdain for people not of higher class that she had passed on to her daughter.

"No matter," Soza said, somewhat haughtily. "I just want to show Suki the new hand to hand moves I've learned since I saw her last year. I think she's going to be super impressed."

Her proud voice slowly began to take Toph out of her mental grudging towards Azula's mindset and she cleared her throat before replying.

"I know she will be. Some of those moves were almost enough to get the upper hand on me just now."

This rewarded her a swift punch in the side that she winced at even as she grinned.

"Would you stop it?"

"Stop what?"

"Stop pretending like I ever had a chance to beat you."

"I didn't say beat. I said get the upper hand."

"Whatever."

Toph smiled as they walked side by side back to the city. It had been just about a year since she had seen this girl and it was like no time had passed at all.

But you're turning eleven this week, Soza… where does the time go?

She said nothing more however, as they walked leisurely back towards the walls of Ba Sing Se, where the anniversary celebration was to take place. She had already met Aang and Katara who had been the first to arrive, and Suki and Sokka were due in any time if they weren't already in the city. Zuko would likely be arriving himself in the next few hours, and that evening, Ty Lee, Mai and Azula herself would be joining them. Toph would have been lying to herself if she had denied the nerves that were eating away at her at the thought of seeing everyone again; it wasn't as though there was some bad blood that she was worried about encountering, but it had so long since she had seen some of them and she wondered what, if anything, would have changed about them.

Oh God, Toph, stop lying to yourself.

It was Azula, that was really all it was and she knew it. Every time she had ever come to stand within Azula's presence, she had known nothing short of strong dislike and fear. These had been feelings born back when they were much younger of course, but ever since Soza had arrived, something had been so much different about the princess.

Toph could remember all those times when they had been traveling all over the place on Appa's back when she had still been barely more than a child, and she had been waiting in nervous anticipation for something to happen as a result of Azula's obsession with…

Him.

She nearly felt herself come to a sudden grinding stop as they walked; how long had it been since his name had passed through her head?

Ha.

Another attempt to try and pretend things weren't the way they were. Hardly a day went by before she didn't think at least vaguely about him. He was the reason so much of her life was the way it was now, why she had never pursued feelings that would occasionally sprout up from time to time. Because every time she found herself even thinking remotely about one of the young men working in the mines where she trained, or any of the young earthbenders who trained in the garrisons where she worked as an assistant teacher, her back would start to tingle and she would turn away. She told herself she couldn't act this way forever, but for the time being, she couldn't bring herself to try and change things.

She had more than enough to worry about right then anyway, because of Azula. She had come back with Soza in her arms to the shock of all, and things had immediately been called into question. No one knew what had become of the handmaids that had been with her on the island where she had been pregnant, for starters. Shortly after Azula had rejoined society with her child, Zuko had privately summoned Toph, Mai, Ty Lee, Aang, Sokka and Katara to a private audience aboard his airship under the guise of accompanying him on a diplomatic mission to the north of the Earth Nation; Suki had been with a sect of Kyoshi warriors at the time, suppressing a group of radical Ozai loyalists near Omashu and it had been silently agreed upon that Jin shouldn't be worried about such matters, even with how close she had grown to both Toph and Katara in the year since Azula had all but vanished. Aboard, they had discussed much of the curiosities surrounding Soza's birth.

"Maybe she had the baby by herself, sent all the handmaids away prior to giving birth," Ty Lee had nervously suggested in the dimly lit space of Zuko's chambers. The Fire Lord's voice sounded to Toph like he had given her a look with a raised eyebrow following her thought.

"I was in regular correspondence with one of them right up until a week or so before Azula came back," he had said grimly. "I had a small force recon the island in the following days, and though there was evidence that there had indeed been more people there than her, no one could be found. And I know that even with as strong as my sister is, she was in very good condition coming back, and that tells me she had as much help as she needed with the delivery."

"So, she sent them all away after she gave birth," Mai had tried, her voice clearly trying to sound more confident that the reason was less malicious than they all suspected. Zuko's reply to this hadn't aided that hope at all.

"I sent an emissary to the families of each of the handmaids chosen to accompany her to the island. None of the families have seen them back since."

There had been a long pause at that point as everyone considered what that might have meant. Katara was the first to suggest it aloud, her voice level and just as grim as Zuko's.

"You think that she let them help her give birth and then killed them all?"

"I don't see why that's a far-fetched possibility," Zuko had muttered darkly. "I don't think anyone here doubts my sister would be capable of something like that."

"But why?" Sokka had asked, voice thick with confusion. "That doesn't make sense, what reason would she have to do that? It couldn't have been out of fear they would spread the fact that she had a kid, she came back right after the kid was born. What's the point of killing them?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Zuko had said with a sigh. "All I know is that they're all still missing and as such, I have to assume that they either witnessed something they shouldn't have, or knew something they shouldn't have."

"Maybe who the father was?" Toph had suggested, trying not to sound as eager to get to this point of discussion as she felt. It had been a few weeks since Azula had come back to the Fire Nation with news that had all but brought everyone everywhere to a halt; the princess of the Fire Nation having a child out of wedlock had been a shock to everyone, but of all the rumors and gossip she had heard, Toph hadn't heard a single positive idea on who exactly might have been the man lucky, or unlucky, enough to bed Azula.

"Maybe," Aang had replied nervously. "I don't suppose anyone has any thoughts on that either?"

There was a pause then, as everyone's mind immediately went to the conclusion that Toph's had, and everyone waited to hear who would offer the idea first.

Ty Lee's voice had been the one to sound then, quiet and nervous, almost inaudible in the suggestion.

"Sasuke…?"

It was strange hearing it spoken aloud again then; there had been a good deal of unspoken bitterness it seemed abundant among them after Sasuke had unceremoniously left and disappeared on his quest to return home. It had only been weeks at that point since, but it was long since clear that despite the relative ease that everyone had allowed him to walk away with, several of them were unhappy about the fact of the matter. Toph knew that she spent time everyday wishing it had gone otherwise, that she could get up from bed and feel the weight of his footsteps walking down the hall; she knew then that her dwelling on it so intensely hadn't been healthy, but at the time, he was all she could think about. Katara had fallen into very sour moods any time he was brought up and it had become common knowledge to avoid doing so unless the moment explicitly called for it. And though she knew that this might have been privy only to her, Toph had felt how Mai stiffened anytime Sasuke was mentioned as well. And overall, the change in the attitude of the room every time Sasuke's name was let fly was such that everyone had slowly started to forgo mentioning him at all. Only a couple weeks into his absence and it was already like everyone had been doing their best to forget him, and now almost a year later, he had been brought back up and it was like he was an alien to them.

But as his name was uttered aboard the airship, Katara's voice snapped in immediate response as though she had been waiting her whole life to respond to this.

"No. It wasn't him."

"How can you be sure?" Mai had asked in a low tone, almost like a challenge. Toph had felt Katara's slow and deep breathing, labored and unsettled.

"I just know."

An awkward pause had followed as Toph was sure everyone was watching Mai and Katara stare daggers at each other.

"Sis is right, I think," Sokka had said then, alleviating the intensity in the small chambers that had quite suddenly fallen over them all. "Look, I know none of us knew Sasuke for very long… but he was a responsible guy, you know? Like, he did everything his way, but he never shied away from things that required his attention."

"Sokka's right," Aang had chimed in. "For all his faults, he wasn't a bad person at his core. And if he and Azula had been together and he had…"

Being a room full of teenagers at that point, Toph had imagined that it hadn't just been her cheeks that flushed just then.

"… done the thing that would need to happen for her to get pregnant," Aang had managed, "I know he wouldn't be the type to run off on her if that was a possibility. That's not who he was… is."

Ty Lee had let out a melancholy sigh that was laced with mild desperation.

"I want to believe that," she had groaned. "But none of us can really say we knew him, can we? Maybe one of those nights they… did it. And he just decided to be on his way."

"No," Katara had reasserted firmly. "Sasuke wouldn't leave if he had done that, not with Azula, not with any of us. He's… he's more than that."

Toph had tried to hide her cheeks behind her hands then as the implication of what Katara had suggested filled her mind; still a little too young to quite understand all the ins and outs, she still had felt a wild image race through her mind of her and Sasuke sitting on the porch of a house far in the countryside, a young child running around in their lawn, laughing and smiling.

Stop it, you idiot, was the first thing that had entered her mind following that.

"Alright," Zuko had said with some level of finality. "I had similar thoughts. But if not Sasuke, then who?"

He had spoken to Mai and Ty Lee then.

"She was in the Fire Nation for at least a couple days after the hearings; did either of you see her go anywhere special, or talk with any guys? Someone we met at the beach maybe at the summer home who she might have remembered and followed up with?"

"You're thinking she might have just grabbed one of them for a night, and used them?" Ty Lee had asked nervously. Zuko had shifted where he sat, clearly uncomfortable with this topic.

"I'm thinking perhaps she was so… upset over Sasuke denying her and leaving that, yes, she used some random guy to get pregnant and…"

He had trailed off, prompting Toph to gently ask.

"You think she killed whoever that guy was, too?"

She was able to hear the consternation in Zuko's voice then as he let out a labored sigh before replying. "I don't know, it's possible. I don't think it was Sasuke and I don't think it was anyone she knew all that well, if she's this okay not naming the father. I'm thinking she might have visited one of the brothel's in the lower districts of our capital; a lot of those places are filled with just… extremely intoxicated and lustful people, she could have gotten in and taken care of business before anyone even recognized her."

"I think you could be right," Mai had granted him. "But even if this is what happened, I think you know Zuko that your sister would never bed just any random guy. Even if this was done all in some twisted response to how angry she was at Sasuke, she would pick someone strong, powerful, aggressive maybe, traits that she would want for a child growing inside her. That said, I don't think it's unreasonable at all to assume that she killed him immediately afterwards. She clearly wanted to do this by herself, and removing all evidence of a father would be necessary."

They had talked for a good while longer, but nothing of any great consequence was said. Toph grew accustomed along with the rest of them to what she thought was the most solid theory: Azula had quickly selected a man that she found to have appealing traits and then had either killed him off after she had taken him, or had paid him off and perhaps sent him out of the nation. By the end of the flight, Zuko had thrown together a list of things he would do to try and narrow down the father, checking the list of fatalities listed in the Fire Nation over a period of a month after Azula had returned to the capital, gather a list of all those individuals or families that had moved, or most critically, any males who had gone missing during that period as well.

Toph had waited for Zuko to reach out with any news, but while she was kept in the loop on leads that were being followed, nothing quite matched up, but there were so many possible men that could be responsible. Eventually, knowing that he would get no hints or answers from his sister, Zuko had left the secret investigation in the hands of a small group of military inspectors that he trusted, but after one turned up dead with a hole scorched through his chest, it wasn't hard to tell that Azula was wise to his act. He had called things off and miserably informed everyone of the dead ends that had just piled up and it had slowly come to be accepted between them all that Soza's father would be someone they never would come to know. According to what she had been told by Ty Lee and Zuko and everyone she asked, Soza was a spitting image of her mother, ruling out any real chance of using her visually to try and link her to a potential father, but Toph had been relieved to hear that there were no signs of strange eyes, or weird abilities. Just a energetic and wild firebender that entirely resembled Azula in her youth. That confirmation that Sasuke wasn't the cause of her existence brought Toph more relief than she knew what to do with.

But what Soza had done to Azula was an entirely new realm of concern.

As the years had gone by, the princess had certainly seemed to act less manic and frightening than she had been during the war, particularly during the period that Sasuke had been among their number. When she was with the group for the occasional meetups and events that they attended, she had become worryingly formal, cordial and polite. Toph could always still hear the smirking malice in her tone, but she never instigated verbal spats, even if her haughty and superior attitude would shine through from time to time, never grew angry or violent, and never once reacted badly whenever Sasuke's name was brought up. It was as though having a daughter had changed her as a person.

But had it been so easy for that to be the only thing that Toph had taken away from Azula growing into a proper young woman.

The first rather intense dispute had come up just after Soza had turned six. There had been a series of small rebellions in several of the outlying Fire Nation colonies where Ozai loyalists protested and engaged in often violent sorts of modest uprisings. For the most part, they were dealt with quickly, but one day, while she was visiting Ty Lee, Mai, Zuko, Azula and Soza at the Fire Nation capital alongside Suki, there had been an incident where several of the loyalists had taken several civilian women from a sightseeing boat, raped, and then strung them up. The news spread quickly while Toph was there, and the whole of the nation was outraged by the atrocity; demands were made of Zuko to have the loyalists responsible arrested and brought to the capital for a public trial, as along the islands where the catastrophe had taken place, there was no imposed law or military force that could do so on their own. Toph had been there with Suki, Mai and Ty Lee, playing with Soza, when Azula had come up to Zuko and very smoothly and emphatically told him that she would take the situation under her own control; she believed that the nation seeing the Fire Lord's sister imposing the apprehension of these barbarians would send a strong message to all those who doubted her loyalty to the nation rather than her father, and would also show that no quarter would be given to those who performed such cruel acts.

Azula had gone on more than one of these errands since Soza had been born, often taking Ty Lee and Mai with her as her only backup. The journalists and newspapers were quite fond of the three of them occasionally acting as enforcers and lawbringers and arbiters on the occasions where they went into action. Since Ty Lee had finished her time on Kyoshi island and had become a reserve warrior, this was often called into consideration as well, granting a good deal of even more positive feedback for the three fierce women who weren't afraid to interject on behalf of the law or the Fire Lord's orders and up until then, their escapades were never met with anything but positive reactions. There were times when their ruthlessness might have been the topic of conversation, but these were always after the three of them had needed to intervene and stop a gaggle of terrorists from assassinating the Minister of the Treasury or the now famous spy to the Earth Nation, General Ixa. This mostly shining track record was likely why Zuko had given Azula the okay to travel to the island and bring back those responsible. Ty Lee and Mai had fallen in line behind her as she left the room, almost like hounds following their master on a hunt and Toph had felt them leave, trying to ignore the feeling of trepidation that came over her as Soza had tried to pull her and Suki into a game of hide and seek, a game that was altogether heavily weighted in Toph's favor.

A day later, the nation was blazing with the news of what had happened. Azula had traveled to the island where the crime had taken place and ordered the loyalists to the town square where she commanded that they give up those responsible for the rape and murder of the women. Six men were pushed forward by an abashed crowd of loyalists, and immediately, Azula had ordered the crowd to kill them. In shock, no one had come forward and Azula had proceeded to burn alive every single person before her in the square. She was met with little resistance and the few that tried to attack her back were swiftly dealt with by Ty Lee or Mai. Every loyalist on the island was killed and the three women had returned to a nation in vociferous shock at what had happened. Toph had been with the aghast Zuko as the news flooded the streets and papers, but the most shocking thing to her was how split the nation as a whole seemed.

Of course there had been an expectable and immediate decrying against the savagery raised towards the loyalists, but there had been what seemed like any equally intense reaction by those in the nation who actually supported Azula's actions. There was talk that the only way to deal with a few bad apples and make sure more didn't spoil was to set fire to the whole lot of them; some saw Azula's radical actions as necessary, brave and even heroic, and one paper went as far as to call her, Mai and Ty Lee 'The Fire Nation's Angels' much to the consternation of Zuko and his newly appointed cabinet. While he was desperately trying to find an appropriate response to what had been done, the three women had returned to the Fire Nation amidst a great dead of both hissing and cheering.

Toph had managed to catch up with Ty Lee as she had returned to the palace and hoping her friend could shed some light on what happened, she had angrily whispered,

"Why didn't you stop her?!"

She had never been able to see the acrobat's expression, but the reserved tone of Ty Lee's voice had almost made it seem like she was both terribly depressed and in shock as well.

"We did. If we hadn't, she would have killed everyone on that island."

The most frequent explanation and attempt to grant Azula lenience for her actions was that she had been so furious over the abuse and murder of Fire Nation civilians that she had simply snapped and killed them all out of anger, and there came a steady growth of unauthenticated reports that she had actually been attacked by the loyalists first and her assault had been partially fueled by self-defense.

"Bullshit," Mai had later said one late night when she and Toph were sitting on a rooftop veranda, drinking a fair bit. "There was no self-defense, there was no anger. The couple reporters that witnessed it were watching from the bay; they didn't see her face."

"What about her face?" Toph had asked.

Mai had given a humorless laugh then.

"Toph, I haven't seen her that happy in years."

And so though they were few and far between, stories of Azula's cruelty in leading enforcement assignments would sometimes could to light, and Toph heard plenty of stories that she knew never would or could reach public attention. Amongst her daughter, her friends and her social life, Azula had become a striking, formal and seemingly respectable woman, but on those times where she would pull Ty Lee and Mai away, to disappear on missions that Toph often never heard the particulars of, it seemed rather like she reverted to her old self. Perhaps becoming worse than her old self in all actuality; Toph had long since stopped trying to coerce details from Mai and Ty Lee as they had become rather mute over the years in being willing to voice what exactly it was they were involved with for Azula, be that for moral, mental or perhaps legal reasons.

Regardless, it had reached that point where Toph always dreaded being in Azula's presence again, knowing the princess was smirking at her behind what she knew was a façade of cordiality, no doubt imagining all the ways she could burn this pathetic little earthbender who deserved to have every one of her digits seared off at the—

"Hey, Toph?"

Shaken free from her less than uplifting reminiscing, Toph replied after quickly clearing her throat.

"Yeah, Soza?"

"You okay? You're squeezing my shoulder awful tight."

Realizing that she did indeed have the girl's shoulder in something pretty close to a vice grip, Toph released her and gave a sheepish chuckle.

"Sorry."

Soza didn't say anything immediately, but after a few more seconds of them walking, she quietly asked, "Are you worried about seeing her?"

Toph honestly hated how in tune Soza seemed she could be with the emotions of the people around her, for in that moment, she truly had nothing she could say since what she had just been asked was completely true.

"I know," Soza continued quietly. "But it's okay. There's no reason to be scared of her."

Angrily biting at the inside of her mouth, Toph hated how much it sounded like the ten year old was talking to her like their positions were reversed, like she was the child and Soza was the adult.

You may not have anything to fear from your mother, Soza, and it's because she treasures you more than life itself. But for the rest of us, things are a little different. I'm scared of her.

She knew that went for everyone, not just her.

But…

There came that single, solitary point that Toph had always come back to keep her anxiety at bay whenever thoughts of Azula as a threat became overpowering.

She let's me spend time with her daughter.

Would Azula really let Toph get close to her daughter if she hated her as much as Toph feared? Soza, her greatest pride and her whole world, being allowed to be with someone like her, a disgusting, lower class earthbender? Toph had spent the past half decade of her life being a consistent, if occasional, part of Soza's life, and without Azula's consent, that would never have come to be.

Maybe things are different than I think.

She tried to keep that thought in mind as they neared Ba Sing Se, falling back on that one line of defense that maybe Azula wasn't as interested as burning the life from her as she had once been.

Aang walked up the steps to the palace and let out a sigh as the babbling of the reporters died away behind him as the great doors closed behind, leaving him standing nearly alone in the massive entrance hall. Great pillars reached for the ceiling as he walked over to lean against one, closing his eyes and rubbing his palm absently against the beginnings of some facial hair on his chin that he had been thinking about growing out.

"Don't worry, you won't have to answer any questions until tomorrow."

Wearily opening an eye, Aang couldn't help his heart from soaring as Katara approached him, the only other person in the vast hall other than himself.

"I'd almost just rather get it out of the way now, keeps me from stressing about it all night."

"You wouldn't rather have Zuko here to bail you out if you get hit with a question you just don't know how to answer?"

He ran a hand over his shaved scalp, letting out a low groan. "I guess."

As Katara came to stand next to him, he pulled himself away from the pillar to smile back at her.

Of all the men in the world, he knew he had to be the luckiest; Katara had blossomed and matured into the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and every day, he had to remind himself how fortunate he was. Being in Ba Sing Se, she was dressed in an elegant dress of dark green to honor the nation they would be attending the celebration in, but though Aang would always prefer her blue robes, he couldn't imagine her wearing a single outfit that would at all tarnish her beauty. Her thick, dark hair was down behind her back and she tucked some loose strands of it behind her ear as she smiled at him, warming every part of his soul.

"I swear, Aang, you come from bringing peace between those two feuding Earth Nation villages, a task I'll remind you was about one nasty look away from turning into a full-on battle, keeping your calm and composure through the whole thing and forcing them into working something out peacefully… and now, a couple of reporters looking to ask you questions has your stomach in knots."

"I hate the press," Aang muttered as he glanced darky back towards the now closed palace doors. "They already have all the facts they need, but they try to get me to say just one little thing they can take out of context, and then I get to read in the morning paper that 'Avatar Aang endorses the construction of a twelve-million yuan highway between Ba Sing Se and Omashu' all because I said something about liking the food here."

Katara laughed, a powerfully charming sound.

"You're exaggerating," she said and Aang rolled his eyes.

"Only a little bit."

Eager to move on from talking about the dreaded press outside, he started towards the massive staircase that curved up and around the hall.

"Do they have our room ready yet?"

Katara laughed again. "Are you kidding? The Avatar is coming to stay in the royal palace; they had a room for you ready a month ago."

Aang chuckled in response to that as he slowly pulled his way up the stairs. "Thank goodness. I think I need to have a lie down before we go meet up with the others."

Nudging him with her elbow, Katara gave him a reproachful look. "Aang, you haven't seen Toph in four months and Sokka in at least three."

"All the more reason to be well rested when I have to deal with their crazy antics," Aang said, stifling a yawn in his sleeve. "The last time the two of them got together, that hippo cow stampede nearly took out the Fire Nation's royal palace."

"Hmm," Katara said with mock thoughtfulness. "If I recall, that stampede only started because you went out and showed the both of them where the herd was in the first place."

"Oh," Aang murmured to himself. "You're right."

The both of them chuckled their way up the stairs and down the ornate hall where the luxurious and vast guest rooms lined the palace's insides, nodding politely to the occasional passing servants who bowed low, their eyes shocked at seeing the Avatar gracing their halls so unexpectedly.

As they neared their room, Aang looked back and forth with a frown. "Where is everyone?"

"No doubt seeing to all the preparations that have to do with the celebration this week," Katara said.

"Eh, even better," Aang muttered as he pushed his way into their room. "Less people I have to deal with when all I really want is to—"

The door behind him slammed shut and he turned barely in time to see Katara shove him roughly towards the bed which he stumbled into unceremoniously. He barely had time to react before she had jumped on his lap and pressed him into a deep kiss. Several seconds later, they broke apart and Aang smiled up at her, murmuring quietly against her lips.

"Really? Right now?"

He looked back into her beautiful eyes that shone with an almost predatory gleam as she muttered back, "Aang, for the past two weeks, we have trekked on that 'peace tour' the council sent you on through many different villages, in all of which we stayed in cramped tents or shacks, surrounded by all manner of people just waiting to get a look at you and hear what you have to say. Now, we finally have some privacy, with a giant, soft bed no less, and you're going to ask me that?"

Aang laughed.

"I guess if I'm going to take a nap, you're going to give me a reason… Katara, wait just a second though—no, be careful with the—ah, hell with it."

Mai stood on the observation deck of the airship, embracing the relative quiet that the vessel made as it cut its way through the air. It was one of their shipyard's newest models; though it could sport not a great many people, it was heavily armed and almost as silent as a cloud. This was the only one in commission at the moment, with several sister ships waiting to finish construction, but Azula had personally overseen the swift development of this ship in particular; no doubt the idea of traveling to Ba Sing Se and touching down in such a state-of-the-art craft would simply add to her dazzling arrival, another attempt to outshine her brother, the Fire Lord no less.

She stood shoulder to shoulder with her best friend as they gazed out on what was really an incredibly beautiful day; they hadn't seen each other in almost two months and had reunited just before boarding the ship, but Mai found there was very little she wanted to talk about with Ty Lee as they made their way towards the Earth Nation to arrive for the anniversary of the war's official end. Being a part of Azula's official escort made Mai hard pressed to want to partake in anything other than a grudging silence, something common of her these days, but of course, this didn't stop Ty Lee from trying to target down that norm anyway.

"I hope Soza made it to the city okay," she said, by way of wanting to start a conversation, prompting a very compelling response from Mai.

"Hmm."

Ty Lee looked at her out of the corner of her eye and shifted her weight. All that training under the Kyoshi warriors, all the discipline she had acquired from all the trips they had accompanied Azula on, and this girl still just couldn't quite sit still.

"It's rare for Azula to ever let her go outside of the capital without her, I just thought it was weird she was willing to do it now. Maybe she's starting to get a little more comfortable with the idea that—"

"Ty, she sent Soza to Ba Sing Se with six battalions of Fire Nation elite benders, an honor guard and a dozen tanks, she's not comfortable with anything."

Mai felt herself snap off the response almost automatically and only felt the smallest bit of regret at the sight of Ty Lee lowering her head slightly with some level of hurt in her eyes.

"They why'd she bother sending her ahead of time at all?" she still persisted. "What's this supposed to prove?"

"Probably so she can send her little spy to pick up some sound bites for her from Aang, or Toph, or whoever she goes and hangs out with today," Mai muttered and she saw Ty Lee look over at her reproachfully.

"Soza is not 'Zula's 'little spy'," she growled which prompted Mai to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure, and Azula isn't certifiably crazy," she said in response, which drew no immediate response from Ty Lee who only put her hands on the railing and looked down at her feet with consternation on her face.

"Did something… did something happen at the capital before I got back?" she tried and Mai gave her head a disgusted shake which only caused Ty Lee to pry further.

"I only ask because… well, I know things have been hard on you with how busy Zuko has been and with Azula… well, being Azula. I just want to make sure that—"

There was nothing more that Ty Lee needed to politely imply and Mai wasn't going to go through this whole trip being passively questioned on her mental state of mind.

"Zuko and I are putting things on hold for a bit," she said simply and for the first time in recent memory, Ty Lee stopped moving for a moment.

"Wait…" she breathed. "Like… done? Or what?"

"I just said, on hold," Mai snapped. She immediately regretted having brought this up; the argument she had undergone with Zuko, or rather the full blown fight they had experienced still was stinging at her insides. There had been a part of her that had hoped desperately that as she had gotten older, the hurt that came as a result of affection, intimacy and love would dwindle and become easier to bear, but if anything, it had gotten worse. Ty Lee had been on Kyoshi Island, no doubt actually making the world a better place, while Mai sulked about being less appreciated than she thought she ought to be.

She knew it was selfish, she had known that years ago when she had started really experiencing the feelings of inferiority and carelessness. But she couldn't help that was how she felt then and it was how she felt now. And when the only two people she had to talk to about it were the young Fire Lord with whom she was having issues with and said Fire Lord's sister who would likely have laughed in her face for coming to her with such a ridiculously emotional problem, she had been given no choice but to silently stew in her feelings of resentment, questioning her own worth.

This is just like you, isn't it, Mai, she thought angrily to herself. You finally have someone you can talk to about this, someone who will listen to you and wants to help deal with your problems, and all you can think to do is shut her out.

"Oh, thank God!" Ty Lee suddenly groaned, half-collapsing against the railing and Mai stared in stunned silence at her friend. For a long moment, Ty Lee simply leaned out over the edge of the ship, pulling in relieved breaths before she finally realized that Mai was staring her down and her cheeks reddened as she straightened and tried to look somewhat casual, a feat that was more hilarious than anything after the outburst she had just had.

"What was that?" Mai asked, when she didn't comment on her reaction.

"What was what?" Ty Lee asked stupidly after a moment and Mai narrowed her eyes.

"Don't give me that. What was that all about?"

Completely refusing to even meet her gaze now, Ty Lee resumed shifting weight from her right to her left over and over, and Mai could tell she was trying very hard not to resort to her old habits of doing cartwheels when she was made nervous by something.

"Nothing, I just—"

Not at all in the mood to be fed awkward lies, Mai cut her off immediately.

"Ty, tell me what's up before I go to Azula and tell her you took Soza out on Appa the last time Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph visited the capital."

Just as quickly as she had blushed, Ty Lee paled.

"You wouldn't."

"Want to find out?"

"Alright, alright!" Ty Lee yelped; she knew just as well as Mai that, despite the danger that Azula had put Soza through while training her, she had made it exceptionally clear she didn't want her daughter being taken on any of what she called 'senseless and childish pleasure cruises' which included rides on Appa, barrel surfing in Omashu, and going out up on Aang's 'ridiculous' gliders, to name a few. It had actually been more a combination of Ty Lee and Soza wanting to try and help Toph conquer her fear of flying as she hadn't willingly gone up on Appa since the war ended, but that would surely not be how Azula would see it. And though Mai would never actually have told her that her daughter had gone up on the flying buffalo, Ty Lee didn't know that and despite the fact that it was a pretty serious threat, Mai had no intention of backing down from the bluff.

"It's just… I actually got in late last night, rather than this morning, thinking maybe we could have a girl's night out or something, hit up some of the sights and do whatever, you know, just before we had to get aboard the ol' doom and gloom ship as Azula's escort."

Mai's mind had gone somewhat blank; no comprehensible thoughts passed through her brain, but a feeling of very real dread was starting to spread through her insides.

"And well… it took a while to track you down but I finally… you know, I did find you… with a bunch of those other women… in the…"

Before another word could escape her mouth, Mai was on top of her, a hand over her mouth; she looked around quickly behind them as though expecting to see someone eavesdropping on them, but when she confirmed what she already knew, that they were alone on the deck, she slowly took her hand from Ty Lee's mouth and looked to see her friend staring at her with wide and worried eyes.

"Did you tell anyone else what you saw?" she asked bitingly and Ty Lee shook her head empathically.

"No, of course not!"

Mai turned away and closed her eyes, embarrassment, shame and anger flooding her all at once. She had done so much to be careful about it, surgically planned her route, made sure she wasn't seen by anyone walking her way into the lower district… but Ty Lee had seen her anyway, somehow. Seen her at what had surely been one of the weakest points she had ever been in her life.

"So… when you were just rather relieved just now…" she muttered out.

"I was just happy that you weren't… well, you weren't with Zuko still when you were… doing all that," Ty Lee confirmed quietly and Mai gave a humorless laugh.

"What are you, still sixteen, Ty?" she asked. "You can just say it."

She heard the gentle sound of her friend walking up behind her, and slowly, Ty Lee's arms wrapped around her midsection and she felt her friend's head press against her back.

"I'm sorry things have been so hard," she murmured quietly. "I know that things with you and Zuko haven't been easy since he became Fire Lord… but if things need to change, you need to let that happen, Mai. It's been so hard watching both of you try and make this work; I know he wants to give you the time and attention you want and deserve, but you gotta know how busy he is, right? I'm not saying you don't deserve what you want from him, but if you both aren't able to be happy… Mai, you gotta move on."

With a start, Mai realized that Ty Lee was crying against her back.

It had been so long since she had seen her friend get emotional like this. Not since the first time they had come back from one of Azula's assignments years ago, and slowly over time Ty Lee had been mellowing out anyway. After the war had ended, she had started to regain her more bubbly and upbeat personality, but Mai rarely saw her get teary eyed or upset after that.

"Every time I came back to the capital after training with Suki and the warriors, or after I had gone on assignment, or anytime I saw you after it had been awhile, it was like… you were growing up, but you were also growing more empty! You don't know how hard that's been to see!"

She gave a great sniff. "I love you, Mai. I can't stand seeing this part of you open up like this. I mean…"

Letting out a wet laugh, Ty Lee hugged her tighter from behind.

"I mean you've always kind of been a glum and pouty bitch… I just don't want that to be all you turn out to be."

Surprised at her friend's joking insult, Mai finally allowed herself to let out a long and relieving sigh. She didn't want to talk about this right now, but she needed to make sure Ty Lee was off her back, at least for the time being.

She shifted in her friend's grip to turn around and hug her back, feeling Ty Lee's hair tickling her chin.

"I don't want you to worry about me. Everything's going to be fine, last night was just… something I had to do to let off some steam is all. I'm going to be fine."

"But—"

"No buts. For now, let's just think about seeing everyone again and how much fun we're going to have; it's been a while since you've seen Soza, right? And Toph?"

She could practically sense the change in her friend's attitude right on the spot.

"Yeah… yeah, it's gonna be fun. We should probably go get dressed, put our makeup on and everything, we're not ready soon and Azula's going to lay an egg."

Mai groaned. "Oh gosh, not another, please."

As Ty Lee looked up questioningly at her, she gave a sigh. "You've clearly forgotten how much of a handful that kid is."

Ty Lee laughed and pulled Mai by the hand towards the door that led to the deck. And while Mai's heart was warmed at the sight of seeing her friend happy, she couldn't deny that the miserable feeling that she had been carrying in her gut for what felt like years, as it continued to eat at her insides and remind her just how lonely she felt.

But at a squeeze from Ty Lee's hand, she felt a smile almost involuntarily begin to slide onto her face.

Thanks, Ty.

The streets of Ba Sing Se were expectedly bustling and Toph felt the pounding of so many feet rumble around her. As she had gotten older and her training had gotten more and more elaborate, she had noticed her senses had heightened even more so as such. If someone had asked, she could have easily pointed out which people around her were stressed, which were leisured, which were happy, and which were depressed. Siphoning emotions from how someone walked had become secondhand nature to her, and she had reached a point where even surrounded as they were by dozens of shoppers and citizens moving about in preparation for the festival and celebration, not a single person there might have been able to hide their feelings from her, though none were surely trying. She had played around with Ty Lee a good bit, her friend trying to fool her sense of perception and it sometimes worked. Here, though, it was though the entire city was bearing their feelings and emotions to her. It might have been rather awing if it hadn't become such a tiring gift.

Toph was thrown off from this heightened state of mind as what felt like a child came barreling into her, clipping her side and toppling to the ground as Toph staggered slightly. She waited with clenched teeth for the kid to start bawling and making a scene, but he was likely merely stunned by the impact; Toph listened as he got to his feet and felt him drag his feet awkwardly against the ground.

"Sorry, miss," he said almost too quiet to hear and Toph smiled as she heard something in his voice she had heard more than once from young men in the earthbender trainee garrison that she helped instruct. She had long since come to terms with not being able to see, but since she had grown into a young woman, she had heard more than a few things in the tones of young men around her that made her wish she could see if she was really all the made it sound like she was. Ty Lee had openly voiced her annoyance with her before that she had grown into such a beautiful woman and Toph had laughingly turned to Jin to refute that, and her other friend had only admitted that Ty Lee was extremely correct in her assessment.

"It's no problem," Toph said warmly to him and smiled further as she felt the kid's body tense. She guessed he couldn't have been more than four years old and she felt much heavier steps as man's voice sounded ahead of her.

"I'm terribly sorry! He gets quite riled up during festivals and things like that, and I know he's quite excited for the anniversary, he got away from me."

As the kid's father picked him up, combining their weights, Toph smiled again, but before she could assure the man that no harm had been done, Soza's voice picked up in a lofty snap next to her.

"Perhaps if you were a more responsible parent in teaching him, he wouldn't be prone to such wild tendencies."

Toph felt the smile slide from her face as quick as anything as she ground her teeth at the sudden rudeness. She could only imagine the expression on the father's face as he replied in a voice that was rich with confusion and mild offense.

"Excuse me?"

Leaping in, Toph spoke quickly in an attempt to defuse the situation.

"She didn't mean it, sir, I apologize for—"

Soza fired up beside her.

"Don't apologize for me, Toph! I meant exactly what I said! If he's going to be a lousy—"

"Soza!"

Toph barked her name then, prompting the girl to fall into silence; Toph knew that she was treading on thin ice and felt her heart hammering in her throat. Before her was the potential of a colossal spiderweb of devastating proportions. Soza had spent her entire life not being ordered around or reprimanded by anyone but her mother, and despite how mature for her age she was, Toph had heard more than a few stories about her burning off the fingers of a servant in the royal palace who hadn't brought her tea in a timely manner or who had accidentally pinched her while changing her into her evening dress. She knew that Azula had surely encouraged this when she was younger and now that Soza felt confident assaulting those who wronged her without fear of punishment, Toph had no doubt her mother did nothing more than smile when such incidents were reported.

Now, she had just shouted Soza into quiet and she knew that the girl had permanently injured people for well less than that. It wasn't that she was worried that Soza was going to attack her, but if she took it to Azula that Toph had 'disrespected' her in any way… she had no doubt that things might get ugly if the princess found her daughter to have been mistreated.

But had she done nothing just then, Toph had no doubt that Soza would blast the life from this man and his child without a second's hesitation.

Trying to get ahold of her now pounding heart, she risked giving Soza a push forward, angling her past the two of them.

"I really am sorry, excuse us," she said apologetically as she followed after the girl and urged her further into the crowd, a mob of people surely ignorant to the fact that murder had very nearly been committed just a moment before.

I can't take her in public, Toph mentally chided herself. How could I have been so stupid? She's not someone that's at all integrated into regular society, she would kill someone just for looking at her funny.

It was mind-boggling to her that she hadn't even considered that upon going to see Soza early that morning. The girl had arrived with a massive consort and had immediately been put in the palace the previous day, and that morning when Toph had picked her up to go on their girl's day out, the streets had been deserted for the most part with how early it was. Not once had Toph ever thought about the fact that not only was Soza getting older, but she had no idea what the real world was like, real people and real interactions. Not beyond what her psychotic mother had taught her anyway. Toph's enhanced hearing allowed her to pick up on something the father behind them muttered, something about 'Fire Nation' and 'superiority complex' and she found herself very glad that Soza wasn't able to hear such things.

She kept a brisk pace, eager to make it to Jin's teashop and meet up with everyone before getting this girl back to the hospital as soon as she could, before any other close calls happened. As they walked though, she noticed something rather curious to her, something that eased her away from the mild panic that had just gripped her.

Soza's footsteps were angry like she expected, but they weren't overly aggressive, like she was looking back and hoping for a fight. They were heavy and tight, and Toph knew she had felt these kind of steps before. She had felt them sometimes from Ty Lee after she would come back from one of Azula's outings, and she had felt them from Aang when a peacekeeping mission didn't go as planned. There was anger at something present and anger at something deeply internal and this was what Toph felt from Soza just then.

"Hey, Soza," she tried and as she might have expected, the girl gave her no reply.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry for snapping at you, I just didn't think it was anything to get so upset about and after all, I—"

"His son was out of control; he should be ashamed of such bad parenting," Soza snapped then and Toph knew immediately what this was actually about. Actually, she probably should have seen this coming based on the two people they had encountered; Soza was probably hurting about this more than she could realize, and Toph knew that despite the fire within her, she would never dare speak to her mother about the subject.

I wish I could tell you something that would put you at ease, Soza… but I guess we're both blind to this.

Taking a last chance, she slid her hand into Soza's and felt a beautiful wave of relief when the girl, despite her continued angry marching, returned the motion and squeezed her hand.