Careless words
It was shocking to see her again after so many years. I barely recognized Toph Bei Fong, who had turned into an old – hag – there was no better word for it. She seemed so fragile and childlike compared to the strong and steadfast woman she had been in her sixties. I was feeling troubled, on the one hand I was happy that Lin could spend some time with her mother, but on the other hand I was envious. Yeah – that sounds quite pathetic, I know. It would, however, be far more pathetic to not admit these feelings, am I right dear readers? Lastly it was quite embarrassing to have a trembling bottom lip and piss welling in your eyes – at least when you`re a man. Therefore, I decided to chrm… study the very ornate tapestries of Chief Bei Fongs guest room. They were colored in a friendly orange, broken by almost bronze seeming patterns! And then Lin started apologizing, I heard her knees thud on the floor. She sounded so desperate and hurt I couldn´t stand it. She hadn´t done anything wrong - being weak – what kind of nonsense was that! As if bad luck cared about strength – I would have laughed about it if she hadn´t sounded so sincere! A simmering fury was rising in my innards – how could an upright, brave and selfless person like her be so damn angsty!
"GODS DAMMIT! You disappointed nobody, you stupid dumbass!" I raged in fury. If somebody did disappoint Chief Bei Fong that was me – since I hadn´t held my word. Lin never had been cocky enough to promise things to a dying man! When the Chief finally noticed my existence the heavy guilt that had rested upon my shoulders since I had been noticed of her presence in Rep City became even more crushing. I had no idea how I should apologize. Not being there for the Bei Fongs, at least for Lin and her mother, was one of the few regrets I held. "I´ve…" my voice failed me as I tried to squeeze out the words that had rumbled through my head for a thousand times. They didn´t come out and the Chief simply blabbered on. I never had been one to easily express my emotions, not when it really mattered. So I mumbled some quite incomprehensible things. Much to my astonishment the Chief was not angry – actually she thought I was dead. Dragonvines and seeing people – somehow that sounded quite suspicious for me. Toph Bei Fong never had struck me as being the spiritual type of person. Obviously, I had been wrong. My voice got stuck in my throat again. How could she know I had changed myself in the past decades? I wasn´t looking that different from my youth and I also had not started telling stories to anybody she could have spoken to. I felt creeped out and exposed as this old woman obviously looked straight into my heart. Nevertheless, it was strangely reassuring that somebody knew me so well. "Yeah." I blurted with a suppressed sigh. "Hah – so you´re some kind of pacifistic guru nowadays? Come on and tell Lee – I could use some fun after all this emotional debris." She quipped cynically. Lin gulped "Mother I don´t.." the Chief frowned the annoyed frown at her pitiable looking daughter. "Don´t say you´re friggin sorry! Nothing is your fault Miss clanky clank." she griped. Lin looked at me apologetically and blushed even further. Her face softened. "Damn – I´m bad at this – I wish Meathead was here." She sighed and pinched her nose, while throwing a punch at Lins arm. Both Bei Fongs had faces that rivaled ripe plumatoes and under other circumstances I would have laughed myself silly about it. But I didn´t feel like laughing, since I was reminded of the heavy losses I suffered since the good years we all spent together. "Me too." Lin sniffled almost inaudible, her mother punched her again – this time the young Bei Fong flinched. "I´m still willing to kick some ass if necessary." I responded dryly. "Actually - I believe that my bending skills finally caught up with Ten Tens, but I don´t give a fuck about that anymore." I responded with a guarded voice. Toph Bei Fong noticed that I wasn´t really comfortable talking about the last twenty years or so I thought. "I know I was a coward Lee, you don´t need to slap some sense into this old lady. Not that you weren´t a century too early for that." Toph Bei Fong cleared her throat and continued bitterly "Life´s done that already... But…I just couldn´t stay in the city after Sokka died. It – just everything reminded me of him. The buildings, the bars – even the noisy traffic!" she tried to justify her squeezed her mothers hand. The young Bei Fong looked at her mother, she tried to understand, but luckily she could not. "Yeah I know that sounds stupid but…" I snorted. "Get cha Toph. Get cha…" I responded tugging on my beard decisively. Toph wanted to give a snarky retort, then her face looked grieving. "You´re not lying." She responded, gulped dryly and closed her eyes. "My condolences kid." She bowed while my heart was thundering in my chest and tears were silently sliding out of the corners of my eyes. Then the Chief decided to embrace me and all I could do was stiffling the sobs I wanted to let out. "The best die young – it´s so unfair." She murmured. I just squeezed back, my hands interlocking behind her shoulders. "You´re right, it´s not fair. But I believe they´re happy – uncle Sokka and Yumi I mean." I responded. Lin was stood there like a log of wood, her fists balled and her body unnaturally rigid and stiff. I steadied my shaky breath. "Well – it´s better since I´m away from Lau an, too. Don´t cha think it´s time for a new page in the book Chief?" I asked her feeling a tad more at ease. The old woman shoved me away with a surprising strength. "My ass – just how many pages is my book going ta have! Nobody´ll read such a bummer!" she wiped her eyes with a gnarly, calloused hand. Then she cocked her head, as if listening to something. "You annoying little pests! Don´t you think I can smell your flowery farts from a mile away? You tiptoing nosy bastards!" Chief Bei Fong suddenly griped. I was plainly disturbed. The old woman just tore the door out of it´s hinges with a sharp, pulling motion. Ikki stumbled into the room, her face even more puffy and red eyed than before. My tall little brother also looked quite indignated as he was caught red-handed. "Ahem…" Tenzin stammered. "Ahem… is all you´ve got to say you nosy eavesdropper?" Toph quirked an eyebrow. "Aunt Toph!" my brother stammered flushing. "Mom.." Lin tried to intervene. "I´m NOT your aunt Tenzin. Stop behaving as if I´m a cultural heritage site that has to be cleaned and conserved for the public." Toph bitched. "I´m old and maybe I´ll drop dead at dinner, but that´s no excuse to treat me like a friggin child!" she cruelly stated the obvious. "B-but…" he stammered. Toph snorted annoyed. "Careful baldy - I still could wipe the floor with your sorry ass. And no - for the last time - I´m not angry at you, or have a personal dislike against your children and your wifey! It´s not my business that you decided another gals snatch is better than my daughters!" She rumbled. Lin just stormed out of the room at that, while Ikki´s jaw dropped as she stared at her father disbelievingly. "Toph!" Tenzin looked really flustered now. I never knew that a human being could cringe so hard. "NO!" she waved her hands decisively "I´m pissed because you think I can´t make my own decisions anymore! Decisions like; what do I want for breakfast! I don´t care that fried pork-chicken is unhealthy – gods dammit, I´ve lived to be more than eighty years old! And since my sixteenth birthday NOBODY has ever had the impudence to patronize me like you annoying leavesblowers do! So what´s your excuse this time? You´re afraid that I´d die on you because seeing my little badgermole would give me a heart-stroke?" she blurted. "No I – I just wanted to see Lin! B-But then it was inappropriate to enter.." Tenzin tried to justify his eavesdropping.
It seemed the old woman was not finished, actually my mood was lightening drastically at the almost comedic display. "Yeah and of course you couldn´t have knocked on the door like a civilized person! The hell, we´ve not been discussing a murder in this room!" she added snidely. Tenzins head dropped, he looked like a scolded schoolboy. "Y-You were together with auntie LIN - dad? Like IN LOVE?" Ikki processed the new information. "Chrm… well… hrm.." Tenzin was behaving quite hilarious. "Definitely – they were totally into that romance mumbo jumbo." Toph stated with a superior smirk, while his daughter was quite eager to know more about this topic. Tenzin flinched again. Since it was on the table I could make the most of it, didn´t I? "They were sappycrapping and slobbering around so much they put Love amongst dragons to shame. And I couldn´t say anything because I was the dork who set them up in the first place." I responded neutrally. Toph´s face lit up in devious joy. "Elder brother Lee.." Tenzin growled angrily, his patience was running thin. I grinned, if he wanted to play rough it´d be not my fault if my hand slipped – right? "Are we angry about people speaking the truth in this house TenTen?" I cracked a crooked smile. "Well – if you want to behave like a teenager… I wouldn´t mind to do the same and bend the shit out of your sorry ass! That actually would be my job, since uncle Sokka wasn´t around when you dumped her." I mused cockily. The Chief just smacked a hand to her forehead.
"Geez… men!" she muttered with an annoyed sigh. "As if you could Bei Gao Lee." Tenzin responded staring down on me. "DAD!" Ikki´s voice was shrill and loud. " Stop behaving like a chest huffing idiot. It seems almost as if you still have feelings for her!" She accused her father. Tenzin let out an annoyed huff. Well, I had no idea if Ikki had hit home or if my brother finally realized how childish he behaved. I was not much interested in this topic – he had made his choice years ago and that was that. He at once got a hold on himself, like any good politician. "Yes, I had a relationship with Lin and it didn´t – work out the way we intended it to." He trailed off in a neutral and polite politicans voice. "But since this was a long time ago, before I got to know your mother we decided to let the past be the past and continued as childhood friends." He explained his daughter. Obviously Ikki was dissatisfied with the brief answer her father gave. The teenage girl without a doubt was into angsty romances – like way too many teenage girls! "So it was just a summerly love affair amongst teenagers? Uncle Lee?" Ikki asked, the girl ignored her fathers cringing. "Ikki – please. What does this matter to you?" Tenzin wanted to know. "Matters? Matters? It´s you who always wants to know where I and Toza go to, so I´ve got the same rights father!" the girl irked and locked her arms in front of her chest. "T-this is something different." Tenzin tried to justify his behavior, while Toph Bei Fong laughed heartily. Tenzin just sighed and turned around in his flowing robes. "I don´t have to listen to your childish nonsense. It´s not as if I have dirty secrets!" he responded in a haughty voice. There was a short silence after his exit. Toph scratched her disorderly, whitish bun. "Umm…maybe I was a bit blunt." She responded thoughtful.
I opened my mouth and closed it again. I had remembered it was senseless to lecture this woman about anything related to appropriate social conduct! "I-I guess I´ll have a chat with the squirt." She muttered and just disappeared into the hallway. Just me and Ikki were left. "So – you want to hear some cringy stories about your father?" I asked her with a devious grin. The teenagers dark eyes glowed like coals from the pits of hell. "Tell me everything!" she squealed delighted while cutishly clapping her hands. We took a seat on some orange cushions. "Well Ikki – first off – you´ll never tell any of this to Lin, please." My eyes narrowed "She´s still fawning over your dad like some kind of lovesick princess. It´s something that really irks me but the blockhead could be locked up with the most beautiful men of the world – she would still mope around and don´t touch the goods." I responded. The girl yipped in surprise. "So it´d be better if you just kept your mouth shut, it´s not that the two of them would ever have an affair. Lin is a proud woman and definitely won´t settle for being a concubine…or something along the lines." I stated. "That´s so sad." Ikki almost started crying again. "But I – I can´t understand how they even fell in love in the first place! I mean, I always thought aunt Lin either was into girls or into obnoxious loudmouth guys like you or uncle Bumi! Or maybe both…" she giggled playfully. I frowned subconsciously. I wasn´t obnoxious! I scratched my head, what had I maneuvered myself into? "Well, the Lin you know is very different from her past self. When she was about eighteen, that was when the two of them realized they were more than childhood sweethearts, she wasn´t that talk no nonsense woman she´s today." I responded. "Lin was quite tomboyish, but that was solely related to her upbringing – she basically had two fathers so it was to be expected she turned out a tad um…manly. Furthermore, she was an illegitmate child like myself and that didn´t sit well with people. I guess she was bullied quite a lot, especially since her mother was quite well known to be a slut!" I responded. "H-How can you say that! If Chief Bei Fong heard you!" Ikki responded. "It´s true – I´m not telling a fairy tale here. Also there are a lot of worse things to call a woman – at least in my humble opinion…Golddigger for example." I responded dryly and continued. " Since Lin always wanted to please her mother she avoided a lot of things she herself would have loved to do. For example, painting was one of her favorite pastimes, she also loved sewing dresses and wearing girly clothes like peachy yukatas. She even sneaked off into plays like love amongst dragons." I elaborated. Ikki squealed again. It seemed Lin had gotten a fangirl, a terrifying one at that. "When she was in school she took everything extremely serious, just like your father. And like your father – who even as a seventeen year old was the prude old man he is right now- she was convinced she had to become the successor of her mother." "My father is not prude." Ikki pouted. She giggled as I quirked an eyebrow. "Yes he is." She responded." Tenzin on the other hand was convinced he and he alone had to carry on the air nomads legacy – his fathers legacy! He also loved painting and writing poems. I bet he even read romance novels." Ikki just stared at me.
"What?" I grinned. "Yeah – It´s difficult to imagine but, I myself also was an angry, foul mouthed and violent streetrat with superiority complexes and mommy issues back then… But hey – we all have our faults." I admitted. "Tenzin was extremely polite and kind of good looking. At least if you have a thing for girly milksops in orange robes." I explained. Ikki frowned. Obviously she didn´t like the idea of her father being a milksop. I cleared my throat. "Even if your father would decline it today he admired Lins stern attitude and rebellios behavior. That also just was true from his perspective – Linny never took any drugs, skipped school and had shenangians with grown men. Her little sister was not so innocent in this regard – by the way. Your dad howewer, well… his mom walked him to school until he was fifteen!" I blurted. I still felt a twinge of jealousy at TenTens beautiful childhood."MOTHER OF FACES! That´s kinda embarrassing." Ikkis eyes were bulging. "And yeah – also Lin was quite the shiner." I responded. "She still is." Ikki added dryly. I smiled deviously at the pleasant memories "Even as they were attracted to each other both of them were quite shy about it, mostly because your father is almost two years younger than Lin." Ikki nodded. "And Lin had as much experience in love as a five week old rabbiroo." I added. "So she was just admiring your father from afar and he was contemplating in his sousanoo temple if love was something befitting of the worlds last airbender. He also was asking himself if a Bei Fong could give birth to airbenders I guess. He wanted to make me a monk, too because he thought it was his duty. It´s weird how serious TenTen was about all of this back then." I responded. "Still their self pitying swooning went on for months." "Gods…how stupid! I don´t get what dad always has with tradition but hell – must be an old people thing!" Ikki exclaimed. "My thoughts exactly – and that was why I decided to do something about this real live second act of Love amongst Dragons. Of course just after your dad threatened to beat me up if I wouldn´t stop hitting on Lin Bei Fong." I smiled and rose my hands. Ikki sputtered in dispelief "Dad did WHAT? I mean – he -he threatened somebody with violence? He didn´t even do that to Toza!" she was disturbed. I chuckled, lovestruck people did a lot of out of character things after all. I just continued "I wasn´t interested in Lin, since I had already been with my later wife for some years, but tell that to a lovesick teenager when you´re a damn attractive twenty year old badass." I quipped. Ikki snorted. "Yes you´re not biased at all uncle Lee." I simply ignored the irony. "So I just asked Lin if she liked Tenzin and why she didn´t do anything to get into his pants." I summarized my course of action. " Of course she was adorkably flustered and whiney. I gave her a little peptalk and even went as far as telling her how me and Yumi got together." I shrugged. "Since she wouldn´t adopt the Adachi style – which meant drinking a ton of sake and have sex with the person of interest…" Ikki´s eyes sparkled even more "She wrote a three scrolled love letter. That thing reeked of more perfume than a whores matress!" I cringed internally, while Ikki sighed dreamily. "And then they started it off. Gods, your father used so many petnames I got sick! Of course he would never be flirtatious and defended Lin against any kind of "indecent" remarks. Teasing them was so much fun – for example…" I now started to tell some anecdotes, which Ikki soaked up like refreshing spring water. We had been talking for a quite long time as the gong sounded and Ikki had to hurry off for lunchtime. I also should follow her but hastily declined. Even though I had enjoyed my time as a storyteller I really should have a closer look at how Lin was faring. Furthermore I had not been invited to lunch by the master of airtemple island, which was enough reason to decline! I left the guestroom and wandered through the gardens. Nobody was to be seen since all inhabitants of airtemple island – minus the guards of the white lotus – were having their meals together. At first I found a grumbly Toph Bei Fong who was chatting with a hovering, prune like spirit. "I tell you Tatu this girl is such a queen fussy bridges - it drives me up the wall! Can you believe it – she told me I´m being indecent! What´s indecent about telling the truth!" she bellowed at the bluish glowing thing before she noticed me.
"Oh hey Lee." She greeted me. "That's Tatu – the only person with commonsense on this bloody island." She introduced the humming spirit. The spirit rested itself on her ancient neck as if to underline her statement. "Well – you just drop verbal avalanches and are disturbed that Linny has hurt feelings? I mean – if we didn´t know better we would think that your daughters only love affair was a romp in the bathroom… not something that lasted longer than ten years and ended in a quite onesided breakup." I responded dryly. She actually flinched and huffed. "Gods don´t be so stingy about something so trivial as the choice of words!" she cocked her head. I sighed. "It´s not trivial for Lin and you know that." I responded. "Well – I´m sorry, ok – but she´s just being dramatic about it." The old earthbender fussed. "How did she stand being Chief of police if she has such a baby-skin?" she asked. I was not ready to thread on this thin ice yet, so I just shrugged. "Lin wasn´t very close to her colleagues – do nobody did tease her like that." I responded. Tophs eyes widened for a split second. Obviously, she hadn´t wasted a thought about Lin being anything but totally adored in the force. "She´s on the cliff?" I asked a rhetoric question and strode off. "Yeah – like always." Toph responded. "Hmpf not close to the colleagues she spends most of her time with– can you imagine that Tatu? And she doesn´t even tell me -Fuck…" she sighed obviously shaken. I sighed, it seemed the problems of my little family were even graver than I had assumed. Lin was sitting on the cliff like so many times when she and Su Yin had quarreled. This time she was not painting but silently staring out into the sea. "Hey Lin." I greeted her. She responded with a head sized lump of earth, which was listlessly aimed at my head. I only had to shift my weight to avoid it. "Go away." He voice was gruff. "I want to be alone." She hissed obviously hurt. As I approached further, she didn´t throw any more earth at me. "Your mother is stupid sometimes." I stated a fact. "and selfish." Lin added bitterly. Well, I couldn´t deny that – but who wasn´t? I just took a seat next to her. Lin looked horrible, her eye was puffy and her face mangled with a mixture of anger and sadness. She didn´t look at me but continued to stare into the muddy, brownish waters of yue bay. I had no idea what I should respond. We just sat there for quite some time, while she sometimes stared on her hands. "Why´re you here?" she suddenly asked. "Why wouldn´t I – I´m not into vegetarian food and nomadic stories. I also wasn´t invited to lunch since I might have been a bit rude to Tenzin. And lastly I would be quite an asshole if I weren´t here" "Did you destroy anything important to him?" Lin asked while eying me sternly. I chuckled a bit too loud. "Lee – please tell me you didn´t start a brawl." She responded. I shrugged disturbed. "Why the hell should I? I just might have damaged my little brothers almost otherworldy reputation – which was high time!" I responded. She just continued to stare at me until I slipped.
"I just said that I didn´t refuse his challenge if he insisted on behaving like a teenager." I admitted. Lin let out a deep breath. "Please don´t ruin your relationship with your brother because of me, it´s not worth it." She advised me, obviously uncomfortable. "I´m not ruining anything." I snapped. "If you want to be angry at me as well – please go ahead." I slowly was turning frustrated by this straining day. "I – I ´m not angry Lee." She responded. She stared at her tattoed hands. "Tenzin didn´t even follow me, he was embarrassed." She accused her former lover. "Well – you know better than me that TenTen is a little coward." I responded. "Furthermore, I´ve got no idea what his situation would feel like. I mean, I´ve never remained friends with one of my former love affairs." I responded. Lin punched my arm; her punches were far gentler than her mothers. "You´re right – it is kind of weird. I mean, we´ve just pretended for years that nothing happened. He just married Pema and I remained there like some creepy lovesick weirdo." She seethed. I nodded. "It´s funny I didn´t even notice it. I mean – it´s hilarious!" she responded bitterly "I didn´t want to notice it. And – and even after he became a father I couldn´t stop gazing at him like some princess in an ivory tower! I didn´t even try not to because I just worked until I thought about nothing anymore." she rambled. Even if she was rather harsh to herself I was happy. She at least admitted that we were right! Me and her mother had tried to tell her that the truth had to be spoken. Sadly we were really bad at picking emotional daisies. My thoughts drifted as Lin didn´t add anything. Even if I had not apologized properly, I had the feeling that Toph would be able to forgive me – I was thankful that the bond between us was strong enough to survive the harsh strain we both had put upon it. The reason I knew that was beating herself up less than an arms length away from me. I felt grateful. "Thank you Lin." I responded with a stinging, yet warm feeling in my chest.
"Huh?" she was startled. "For making me come here I mean. It´s not been half as bad as I thought it would be." I admitted silently. She smiled a wry smile. "You´re a hopeless case Lee." She responded and I knew it was true. Toph Bei Fong could mold me like a clay puppet if she wanted to. She was the mother I never had, even though she had her faults. "I know Lin – but I never could ask my mother for advice." I responded wringing my hands, by all means I couldn´t be more direct. She patted my shoulder, it was a gentle touch. "You shouldn´t scratch your arms, even though they are icky, the tattoos will just become inflammated, which can be dangerous." I reminded her as she was scratching on her hands. "they´re so gross." Lin wailed in despair. I sighed. "Why? I think they look nice. They´re well done and quite unique." I smiled. "You LIKE this kind of barbarian stuff?" she asked disturbed. "Well I´m a hard tribal guy. I loved the whole wet´s warrior shit before it became a thing, you know." I responded chuckling. Lin chewed on her bottom Lip. "No – I didn´t. " Lin responded. "Well it´s just that people think I´m a slut. Or a criminal and they – they stare at me." She mumbled silently.
"So what? People think all kind of dumb things – like airbenders are all clean shaved pacifists!" I responded. "You´re anything but a criminal and people who actually know their shit know that these ancient Wushu ornaments are not related to the terras at all." I pointed on the overly ornate terra band like patterns that wound up her arm. "Y-You know that these are of the Tian Lang school?" Lin asked disturbed. "Yeah – you know, after Yumi was gone the dojo wasn´t going that well anymore and I just wasn´t that much interested in martial arts and being a sifu to begin with." I narrated. "Sokka had a strange art teacher who deemed it her mission to help a poor half orphan by taking care of her father." I chuckled. "She taught me the basics of art and most likely would have liked to teach me other things I didn´t want to learn." I smiled. Miss Tomasu had been a very charming and good looking woman but she had been there a few years too early. "Ahhh – so you´re a heartbreaker as well." Lin chided me. I felt rather irked. "I´ve voiced it rather clear that we wouldn´t become more than friends." I muttered grumpily. Lin didn´t respond anything. Of course she didn´t like this topic I scolded myself. "I´ve never tried to be one and I would say my brother didn´t chose to this to you as well. He´s just a fluttery stupid kid." I responded bluntly. "Why stupid?" she frowned. "Well – you should know what you want when you´re hitting the thirties!" I stated dryly. "Did you?" Lin asked shyly. "Yes, I wanted Yumi, good health – your stuck up, flowery self as well as the rest of my family. And I also thought about kids and expanding the company." I responded honestly. Lin didn't look at me. She sighed. "Well – you´ve had no legacy to live up to." She responded. "The only one who´s been crazed about this legacy bullshit has been you Lin – your mother ran away from HER legacy! She´d never have said anything if you had decided to do things IF she had uncle Sokka would have given her one hell of a time, you know that! Hell – she didn´t even say a word as your sister decided to sell the family estate in Gao Ling to build an oversized metal dome." I responded not noticing how inappropriate I was behaving. Lin buried her face in her hands, her voice thick with unshed tears. "You´re such a bastard Lee." She accused me, got up and left. I remained sitting on the cliff feeling quite bad. "Yikes – that was just perfect Lee." I punched the ground angrily.
I also left the cliff because staring at the sea was dumb and unproductive. Maybe I should just visit Ping, in his company I didn´t have to be afraid about blurting nonsense. Finally Sokka could need more attention, I guess I´d neglected my daughter for the first time in my life. Luckily she was in the age at which young people loved being neglected by their parents! But before I could do this I would take a nap. I was emotionally drained and therefore sleeping was quite easy, until something repeatedly hit my cheek. "Ugh.. what the hell!" I groaned and propped myself up on my elbow. Toph Bei Fong was towering over me. "Yeah – you´re really good at soothing my daughter. Much better than the plain old me!" She commented sarcastically. She rose herself an earthen chair to sit down. "Yeah I screwed it. Well – your daughter has fucked up her life and I just told her!" I huffed. "She obviously can´t stand that nobody besides herself is responsible for it. It´s natural I – I also snapped as Yumi died and nobody besides my squirt could calm me. Pfft and Lin doesn´t even have child to get her back on track. I´m worried." I responded. Toph grit her remaining teeth. "Are you implying it´s my fault that my daughter has made bad calls?" she asked silently. "It´s not about fault Toph – it´s about how we get her to snap out of this stupid obsession with the Bei Fong legacy." I answered. The old woman obviously was shaken. "What´re you always talking about. What is the Bei Fong legacy? I mean yeah – awesomeness is hereditary in the family but I never told my daughters to do anything they don´t want to !" she trailed off knowing exactly what I was hinting at. I still was holding way to much respect for Toph, otherwise I would have told her much more bluntly what part of her daughters life was her fault. However, it wasn´t necessary as I noticed from her sagged shoulders.
"I -I just´ve held a promise I made when she was born." She tried to justify herself. "i´ve promised I wouldn´t be like my parents!" she hissed. "it wasn´t easy see – especially with Su it wasn´t. But do you know how hard it is to raise kids. When you´re the only thing keeping your home from turning into a heap of violence and murder." She paused. "When everybody always questions you and states you´re an - an abomination just because you do have tits and no cock? To know that your parents are disgusted by your life, while they would been bursting with pride an adoration if you just had been a SON!" she blurted at me. Of course I had no idea how that felt like but I was too drained to start another fight today. "You just make mistakes, serious mistakes." She cursed in ancient Guang Zhu. "I´m not blaming you chief, I – I´m really not because that´s not my place and I can´t say I´ve been a perfect father myself. Nobody can that." I responded.
"So you´ve got a kid. Heh." She stated a tad less frustrated. "Yes, even though I never thought that I´d have a daughter." I responded. "How old is she?" Toph responded. I flushed a bit "Sokka turned nineteen three months ago." I responded. "Ouch." I rubbed my arm that was throbbing terribly. "How the fuck could you name a girl Sokka." Toph grumbled with a hoarse voice. "That was Yumi´s decision – I didn´t have much of a say..." I replied. I could see she was deeply moved. "Stupid Snoozles would be grinning the whole day if he knew." She responded in a faraway voice. I nodded in consensus. "How´s she." She wanted to know. "You could see yourself, since I intend to visit her. If you take a bath previously!" I insisted as I caught a whiff of her fragrance. "Geez Lee, what´s your problem with a healthy coating of earth?" she whined. "You´re stinking like a cow swine – this can´t be healthy!" I responded. "You´ll buy me dumplings – extra spicey." She retorted and launched herself towards Tenzins house. Actually, I had no idea if Sokka even was at home, and if she was interested in getting to know the quirky old Toph Bei Fong. Well – I didn´t bother her with annoying old people stuff as frequently as most parents did, so I hoped that she would show some understanding. The old woman was rather hyped as she reappeared with an orange robe and clean white hair. "So – let´s run on the docks." She responded waving around a tiny purse that she never would have bought herself. I shook my head laughing.
"Geez Toph, I don´t intend to get wasted before visiting my daughter. Also I´d like to know if Lin´s doing bullshit again, like moving out of my flat without leaving an address, getting herself drunk in the dragonflats – ya get me!" I responded. "Wait a moment…" Toph just jumped and then sunk down into the ground. She just stayed there, her eyes staring into nothingness. Suddenly she spoke. "Lin´s – ok." She responded with a strange pause. I didn´t pry any further. "So, I shouldn´t stop by at home to fetch some dumplings for Sokka?" I asked. "You´re spoiling your kid with home cooked food? Never thought you´d be the daddy mooselion type." Toph responded snippy. I almost felt insulted. "Well, she hates cooking." I sighed. "Sometimes I thought she was your airbending reincarnation. Luckily she´s law abiding at least!" Toph cackled. "That´s impossible. There aint a single girl in the world that can throw a punch like me!" she bragged. "Sokka actually can throw much harder punches than you. She´s hellbent on mastering iron palm Kung Fu." I sighed. "I just don´t understand why a woman would waste their youth on such bullcrap – she´s a bender for fucks sake! That should be enough to kick people´s butt! I´d be scratching together my last coppers if she wanted to attend university – even if it was for something stupid like public jurisdiction or an earth nation history degree!" I whined. My daughter obnoxiously threw opportunities away that I never had, which bothered me more than I wanted to admit. "It´s good that you let her do it Lee. I guess I´d have turned out very different if my father had just tolerated my wishes partially." Toph responded thoughtful and somehow, I swelled with pride at the simple statement. We walked towards the ferry to cross Yue bay. "By the way Lee – are you also invited to this stupid garden party that my grand niece is hosting? Cause if you´re not you´ll come with me – I at least need one decent drinking partner there. And somehow it feels cringy to get blasted with my own daughter…" She responded matter of factly. I had no idea what she was talking about. "I think not." I responded.
"Well, she´s sent the invitations before Lin disappeared and Bumi died…so the party is being held." Toph responded. "I don´t know your niece and actually I´m far from thrilled to meet Su Yin, you know that she and I do not work out properly. I think I´m too old to either jump into the sheets with her or beat her up for a second time." I responded grumpily. "I know you´re a toxic mixture but that´s true for any backbone having person and Su." Toph responded nonchalantly. "The kid has an even larger ego than me – which proves that nothing under the heavens is impossible!" she responded. "Also the little girly girl wants to take me in as if I were a toddler." She grumbled. "Su Yin is in town?" I asked. "Not directly in town. She is with her daughter and Bo Lin somewhere in the countryside of the Republic. They´ve built a grand estate there – ugh – I´ll vomit as soon as I set a foot in there. At least if Avatar frizzyfoot is right." She quipped. "Under the condition that you tell Linny you don´t want her to reclaim her seat as Chief… I might consider this party, which definitely is far too uppity for me." I responded. "You´re worrying about my squirt a bit too much, don´t cha think Lee…" she wiggled her eyebrows suspiciously. Was she implying I wanted to get into Lin´s strangely cut underwear? "Huh?" I quirked an eyebrow. "Well – I´d like if she had a lover who could take over the worrying part from me... If that´s what you´re hinting at Chief. You should know quite well that I´m as close to Lins tastes as firelord Zuko is to yours." I responded. Toph let out a cackling laught.
"Ugh…that´ve been so Oogie! Gods Lee – I´m getting goosebumps for all the wrong reasons!" she responded loudly while shaking her head fervently. Me and Lin – that was hilarious! We were pals for decades and I was radically different from Tenzin, which without a doubt was the gold standard every potential candidate had to measure up to. Toph snorted obnoxiously. "Well – if you say so." It seemed the old woman was not believing me even if I had responded perfectly truthful! "Yes, I say so!" I added determined. "And if you start blabbing such nonsense to my daughter or her friends I will kill you Toph – that girl´s stopping at nothing!" I responded sharply, actually Sokka could be quite fearsome. The date she had set up with some grocery store owner in Lau an – it still gave me the creeps occasionally! Toph huffed. "Come on stormy hotpants – I´ll bet it´s quite easy for you to get laid so enjoy it as long as you still can!" she teased me. "I´m picky, but you´re right compared to the trash that calls itself men in their golden years nowadays I´m top nodge!" I beamed. We entered one of the boats after Toph had a shouting contest with the white lotus guardsmen. They had dared to voice the opinion that the Lady Bei Fong should not venture into the city without some kind of escort – a grave mistake! The way to the docks was familiar, as was the old wooden pier that still was reserved for the airtemples boats. We then got ourselves a cab and drove as close to the spirit portal as possible. We still had to walk some blocks to reach my daughters address, since the driver wasn´t trusting in his arrangement of earth nation idols anymore. "Oh – that´s a beautiful place." Toph said to nowhere in particular. I was wondering, since the clay brick houses looked quite run down and the people mostly barred their windows with heavy wooden planks.
"You kiddin – right?" I responded. "no – don´t you feel how alive the soil is – it´s almost otherworldly." The woman piped happily. I shrugged clueless. The air close to Sokka´s home might be a bit chillier than elsewhere but it was still the muddled wavering soup that was typical for Rep City. It took a while until we arrived at Sokkas place, mainly because a certain someone had to dig her toes into the ground for half an hour. It was almost dark as we arrived and I knocked on the door loudly. Of course, it wasn´t Sokka but the oldest of the watertribe women who opened the door. Kayar was pleasantly surprised to see me. "Hello, Mr. Lee. It´s been quite a while." She greeted me politely. Toph chuckled deviously – that vile old brat! "Ah - he was busy chasing skirts missy." I just frowned like an angry schoolboy as Kayar giggled melodically. "Shut up!" I hissed. "So that´s Sokkas grandmother?" she asked innocently. "WHAT! DO I LOOK LIKE THIS SILVEREYED MILKSOP! Bah, as if some prissy like him could´ve slipped outta me bottoms." Toph blurted. I just rolled my eyes. "I´m the great and only Toph Bei Fong cutie!" she added bragging. Kayar was staring at her quite skeptically. "She is impolite but – she´s indeed Toph Bei Fong." I stated dryly, while nudging her with the elbow. The nurse obviously needed her time to process that a legendary warhero was standing in front of her and behaved like a rugged sailor. "Eh… I- It´s a great honor to welcome you Lady Bei Fong!" her voice was almost toppling and the worlds mingled into some kind of insanely fast, blurred snarl.
The old woman just smirked, mirthfully. "It IS so if ya lil fussybridges have calmed yer twisted panties… It´d be great if we could have some tea." I barely managed to stop her from simply strutting past our hostess. Just how corrosive had this damned swamp been to the Chiefs already strongly corroded manners? "IF we´re welcome. Of course, we´d like to meet Sokka, if she´s home already." I asked. Kayar sighed. "She´s in the cellar, punching wooden boards." she frowned a motherly frown. "That can´t be healthy for her hands." I would have loved to hug the nurse an tell her she was a most beautiful lady but luckily I wasn´t as impulsive as my late brother. "Wrong, it´s good for the bones, they get earthier and stronger with that." Toph stated. I was startled. "What are you talking about?" I inquired. And with that the old woman started lecturing me about how she was able to feel where people were moving. Obviously martial artiests had different bones from common humans, due to the fact that they were punching hard thing day after day. Well – it made sense but I actually had not wasted a thought about it. I also had never tried if I could learn how to split rocks like the great masters. We followed Kayar into the orderly living room. Toph´s muddy feet left darkish footprints on the gleaming wooden floor. Kayar didn´t offer the old woman house slippers. Most likely Sokka was responsible for this innovation, since the water tribes were wearing their boots everywhere, for obvious reasons! We indeed heart a rhythmic banging sound from the cellar. The most of the other girls seemed to be absent.
Luckily that was true for Indra as well. The curly haired northerner still seemed to have a crush on me. Whenever I visited, she handed some home cooked meals to me, while being close to swooning. Toph plopped herself down onto the worn Sofa, while Kayar went to fetch my daughter. I also seated myself and hoped the chief would be merciful. "Really sweet little things." She quipped as her calloused hands played with the mollusk shells that were decorating the table. Sound steps heralded Sokkas arrival. My daughter darted into the room. "DAD!" she yelled and hurled herself at me with an uncharacteristic fervor. I was quite startled, as my squirt hugged me tightly without caring about the old woman. Even her chest was losing some of its softness and her arms felt as hard as my own. At least her face still looked like a woman's, she also wasn´t wearing men´s clothing. "Hey – um I know I´ve not been visiting much recently." I trailed off apologetically. Sokka loosened her hug and smiled at me happily. Her eyes were sparkling. She was sweat drenched and fidgeted with her calloused hands. "You´re looking good." She responded observative. Toph piped up. "So that´s Yumis kid." She stated. Kayar had disappeared form the room, dragging the two remaining girls with her.
Sokkas head turned. "An who´d you be – Kayars long lost grandma ?" she asked in the same, mocking tone. I sighed internally and prepared myself for a very pleasant time. "No – I´m Toph Bei Fong. Don´t dare to call me auntie Toph, grandma Toph or some other bullshit!" she responded. My daughters' eyes widened for a split second as she stared down at the tiny woman. "Oh – I – uh – thought you were taller." She blurted, while I facepalmed. Toph chuckled. "In a dogfight it´s not about the size of the dog but of the fight in the dog." She responded bragging. "And I´ve more than enough spunk in my days." She responded. "Gimme your hands." She simply grabbed the squirts hands. Sokka wanted to pull back, which resulted in Toph being pulled from the couch easily. "You´ve quite the hands child." She responded in a tone that made Sokka flush. "Have you done it yet?" she asked grinning. Sokka seemed as clueless as I. "Did what?" she responded. "Broken the forty." She stated dryly. "Come on Toph Sokka´s nineteen." I responded. Breaking glazed rooftiles was an ancient tradition amongst the martial artists of the kingdoms. Yes, Sokka had calloused hands but breaking forty tiles wasn´t something a nineteen-year-old girl could be capable of. "You don´t need to go all daddy mooselion Lee." Toph rolled her eyes. "I´ve broken thirty-three. Well – we don´t have the money for so many tiles so breaking isn´t something the dojo does regularly." Sokka explained proudly. I let out a gasping sound. Thirtythree clay tiles – I really wanted to check if her hands were ok. Still there was a frog twisting in my throat.
I should´ve been proud of my daughter but I actually could not help but feel a twinge of uneasiness as well. Toph laughed at me. "Whoa…. Um that´s quite the think." I admitted. Sokka didn´t swell in pride. "It´s nothing. I´m too weak. I can´t win the golden fan with that halfassed dedication I´ve shown." She grumbled dissatisfied. "Sokka – most people need decades to get that far." I tried to assure her. "I know dad, I know." She responded slightly disappointed. The squirt looked at Toph, marveling what the old woman wanted form her. "So – you´re not dead?" she responded. "What´re you doing here?" she asked trying to make some smalltalk, she was even less talented then my late wife. "I´ve spent most of the last twenty years in a swamp – does wonders for your skin." The Chief responded with a wary chuckle. Obviously Toph didn´t like to talk about her time of seclusion and if she didn´t want to do something she wouldn´t do it. "And I came here to find out if my daughter still was alive – parents tend to do that y´know." She quipped. Sokka stammered a quite embarrassed apology. "Well your father did all the work for me." Toph suddenly responded, I could hear the gratitude in her voice. Sokka closed the distance and whispered in my ear.
"Did – did you find her body?" she asked with a slightly lilting voice. Toph frowned, maybe she had managed to understand my daughters' words. "No – Lin´s pretty much alive. She´s staying at my place at the moment?" I asked Toph, who nodded silently. Sokkas eyes were wide as marbles. "That's beautiful." She responded in a giddy tone. "Dad´s been terribly worried since Chief Bei Fong disappeared." The damn squirt blurted. "I know. He always had a biiig soft spot for lil Linny." The vile old hag smirked. Sokka´s eyes flared like silvery hellfires, while I barely stopped myself from cringing. "You´ve gotta tell me more bout that. Some tea – sake, whatever you want!" Sokka offered the old woman. "Sake – that´s one decent kid you have Lee." Toph responded as Sokka eagerly hurried off to fetch some rice wine. When she reappeared with a plain, cord wrapped bottle and three clay cups I had already resigned myself to an unchangable fate. Toph bei Fong started telling stories about my youth and I could do nothing but interject when she overdid it….
Authors note: A happy Christmas you, dear readers. I hope you spend the days with your loved ones. I too have the privilege to do so this year but I still wanted to give a contribution like almost every active autor does on FF. Greetings in the hood