Day 4-Mirror

"Why are you so sad?"

The question came out of nowhere. Neither expected it, and both were surprised it had come out. She hadn't even realized he was in the room anymore. She had thought everyone had left. They had all been so happy, comparing each other and standing where she was now, smiling and laughing, and having fun before they headed out to the banquet. Toph had dressed up as well, and had smiled and laughed with everyone, especially Katara and Sokka when they had complimented her, but they had left and she had remained, waiting as she stared sightlessly at the…thing before her, wondering why she wasn't feeling the same way as her friends.

"Um…sorry. I came because you weren't with everyone else and…uh, I can leave you alone if you like…"

"Don't go," she whispered, feeling more desperate to understand why she was feeling this way and why he had asked the question.

"You ok?" he asked as he walked closer to her. He stopped suddenly as he moved to be behind her and she knew he was staring over her shoulder at the thing as well. "Oh."

A new thought came into her mind. Whenever someone looked at the thing she faced, they always got happy or thoughtful. But her companion, he got sad and dejected in front of this item, and though the object still confused her, she wondered why he reacted the way he did.

"Oh?" she asked, not moving, just staring ahead.

"You look beautiful," he whispered.

"So I've been told," she sighed.

"Then why do you look so sad?"

She tried to control herself, but it was getting harder. She could usually fool anyone, she had fooled her parents and then her friends for years, but now staring at the dreaded object again, not being able to understand it, she felt her control slipping away. She had a thread left and she was holding onto it for dear life. So, instead of looking inside herself and the danger of letting that last thread go, she did what she usually did; she changed the subject.

"Why are you so sad?" she asked.

She felt his stance change to a defensive stance and his body stiffened. She knew she had touched a nerve and wanted to smile sarcastically at him like she usually would, but it wouldn't come. It hurt her when his tone changed from the soft tone he used only with her when they were alone to the harsh tone he used with everyone when he got defensive.

"I didn't come to be mocked. Or evaded. Answer my question."

"Why? What if I don't want to?" she shot back, getting defensive herself.

It was silent for a time and then she felt him walk towards her, one heavy step at a time, until he was standing just behind her and he laid a hand on her shoulder. She almost winced, wondering what he would do, but the hand on her shoulder was warm, soft and comforting. He surprised her when he suddenly barked out a short laugh.

"Why are we like this? Either we're best friends or we have to fight it all out. For once, can't we answer each other's questions?" Silence ensued and she felt his stance loosen and comforting heat radiated from him. "How about this, you answer me and I'll answer you, though I thought I had explained myself years ago."

Toph thought about it and nodded. "You first," she replied.

She felt him raise his head from looking down at her to looking at the object again. She felt him get sad again and raise his left hand to his face.

"I'm constantly reminded of my failure, of my banishment, of being a traitor to my people, every time I look in a mirror," he stated as he softly touched the side of his face. "Your turn. Why are you so sad staring at a mirror you can't see?"

She felt the last thread slip out of her hands and her eyes started getting moist. "Because…because I can't see it," Toph said as tears started running down her face. "I never could and never will be able to see myself or anyone, or…or anything. And no one thinks that I can't see it. All they can think about is how pretty I look and how they look and I…I just can't take it anymore. I don't even know why I'm blabbering like this, it's something I can not see. I can't even see you. Zuko…why? Why will I never be able to see you?"

He suddenly had both hands on her shoulders and she was turned around, away from the dreaded mirror and pulled into his warm embrace.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as she cried into his chest, straining to gain control of herself. "I didn't know it meant that much to you. You know, you've never seen to have cared about this before. Why now? Why…me?"

She chuckled as her tears stopped flowing. "More questions?" she asked and felt him chuckle, but then silence claimed them both and her thoughts turned inwards. She had always admired him, liked him. Even though he had made peace with everyone, he still made himself be himself, just as she did. But the past year, she had started feeling something else, something…more for her best friend. And the more she was around other women, the more she noticed that she could never truly compare or compete with other women. They told her she was pretty, that she was beautiful, but she could never see it herself and she never would be able to. And so many women who were said to be beautiful threw themselves at him. They said he was charming and handsome, but away from him, she heard them talk in disgust about his scar and how he was a traitor. She had beaten a few of the more outspoken ones into submission and they had never come near her or her friend again, but the words still haunted her.

"So, am I going to have to answer another odd question in order to get you to speak again?" Zuko asked quietly.

She pulled away from him, just enough to tilt her head up towards him. She knew people like to look eye to eye with others when they spoke, and he more than most people, though he let her get away with not looking eye to eye with him since she never looked anyone in the eye since she couldn't see them. "Yeah. How…how do you feel about me?"

That stopped him suddenly and she felt him shift towards defensive again, but then he stopped as if he was really thinking over the question. Then he did the unexpected. He relaxed and pulled her closer and up, off her feet as his head lowered. Then his lips were touching hers and stopped for a moment, as if waiting for her response. She could feel his arms shaking as if he wanted to do more, but was barely holding onto his control. "Why me?" he asked again, and she could hear in his voice that he was barely maintaining control of himself.

"Because I think I love you," she whispered back before she pulled an arm out of his grasp on her and grabbed his head, bringing it to hers and kissed him soundly.

XXXXXXXX

Aang and Katara walked calmly down the hallway, looking for their friends. Toph had not even shown up to the festival and Zuko had left shortly after arriving. Katara had whispered to Aang that Toph seemed preoccupied when the Avatar had first asked where the earthbender was and had noticed that Zuko had heard it and had disappeared shortly afterwards. Now it had been several hours and neither had appeared. Katara heard mutters from the room they had met at before going to the festival, the last place she had seen Toph and turned to question Aang. She instead found her boyfriend smiling slightly with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and winked at her before holding a finger to his mouth to signal silence. Katara nodded once before they snuck up to the door. The first thing she saw was that the grand mirror she and Suki had awed in front of and adjusted their make-up was covered with a sheet. Then she heard a deep laugh and peeked her head in even more.

"Ok, I promise to remove all mirrors from my…ow, ok, our rooms, but there will have to be one in the bath to make sure I can get everything to look right. Yes, a small one. And the guest rooms will have mirrors, but none of the hallways or grand rooms. Most of those don't have them anyways. And I won't complain if you don't. Ok…fine, you can destroy the other mirrors, as long as you pick up afterwards. I do not want anyone to complain about glass shards. Sound like a deal?"

Katara was amazed that Zuko was speaking so pleasantly and so familiarly with someone and peeked in even more, trying to find out who he was speaking to. She was surprised and almost gasped when she saw Toph sit up on the couch and smile at the Fire Lord. "It's a deal," the earthbender said before kissing Zuko. Aang suddenly pulled her away and back towards the festival.

"What…? What's going on Aang?" Katara asked as her boyfriend led her away.

"I think they're going to be ok," the Avatar said with a grin. "Though I feel sorry for the mirrors in the palace. Sounds like half of them are about to face the wrath of a certain earthbender."