Toph was ready to scream in frustration. It felt like she and Aang had been sitting in silence for ages. How much longer does he need to pout? Jeesh! "Aang?" she quietly prodded, gripping his shoulder lightly.

The Avatar stirred abruptly, and lifted his head from his knees. "What?" he asked in a surprisingly stable voice, trying to fool Toph into thinking he had not fallen asleep.

"Are you ready to go back?"

He sighed heavily and looked away from her. "I don't know."

"Well, how much more time do you need?"

"I don't know!" he growled. He looked at her now, and the anger in his eyes quickly melted away to desperation. "Sorry," he muttered.

She gave a slight grin. "It's okay; I understand. It's gotta be tough."

"I just..." Aang gave a combination of a sniffle and a gasp. "I just thought we'd always be together."

"So did I," remarked Toph in earnest, stunned to think of a time when Aang and Katara wouldn't be a package.

"What went wrong?" he muttered.

"We grew up."

Aang ignored her and went on. "We seemed so perfect together. It made so much sense to me."

Toph leaned forward to study him for several seconds. "Maybe that's the problem," she said, watching his expression closely.

Finally, he looked up at her. "What do you mean?"

"Aang, just because it made sense to you doesn't mean it made sense to her."

Something glazed over his eyes, and Toph struggled to read his face. She searched his expression for clues to his thoughts and emotions, but came up empty. She continued cautiously, "I mean...maybe it didn't mean as much to her as it did to you. You loved her, but did she love you?"

"Yeah," he replied strongly. After a moment, his voice seemed to falter. "I know she did," Aang murmured, more to himself than to Toph. "Why else would we have been together?"

Toph stared at him as she assembled her thoughts. "Well, things change. People grow up." Becoming confident of her next words, Toph let herself relax a notch. "Think about it, Aang: we were kids. We were just a bunch of stupid kids who had to stop a war. We didn't have time to think about what we wanted. We were too young to even know what we wanted." She looked over to see Aang staring out into the distance as he processed what she had said. His face wrinkled, then smoothed; his eyebrows furrowed, then relaxed; his mouth started working a response, then stopped. Finally, Aang's shoulders dropped in defeat, and when he met her eyes, his face looked forlorn and empty. "Maybe you're right," he replied in a small voice. "Maybe it wasn't real."

Her eyes widened, and she almost lurched forward as if to stop his thought. "Don't do that to yourself, Aang. It was real; we all felt it. But...maybe it just wasn't meant to be forever."

"Yeah, maybe," Aang sighed, and forced himself to chuckle. "I mean, what are the odds of marrying the first girl you've ever seen?"

Toph chuckled too. "Pretty slim, I would say." She watched as his expression gradually relaxed. "You'll get through this, Aang; I know you will."

A sliver of sorrow shone in his eyes. "It doesn't feel like it."

"I know." Toph snorted as she recalled the past. "Remember that crush I had on Sokka? I was downright crazy about him. When I finally realised that Sokka and I were never gonna happen, I felt so crappy and so silly, but I got past it."

"How?"

Toph was quiet for a second as she pulled forth her memories. "Well, it took a while to get over it, actually. But I started to realise that we still had a good friendship, and that was all we needed." She pulled on his shoulder to make him meet her gaze. "You and Katara have a past, and you still have a future as friends, and no one can take that away from you."

Aang's lips hesitantly stretched into a smile, and the look in his eyes softened. "Thanks, Toph." There was still uncertainty and sorrow, but he looked significantly less troubled.

The earthbender let go of his shoulder and started to her feet. "We need to go back," she said rather suddenly. "There's been some stuff going on out there."

"What stuff?" he asked as he took her hand and rose to his feet, straightening out his robes.

"At the festival." Toph paused, debating whether to tell him the truth now or wait for him to find out for himself.

"What stuff?" the Avatar prodded, stress returning to his voice.

"Bad guys crashed the party. Zuko was attacked. The usual." She struggled to maintain her nonchalance, but her heart started racing as she recalled the events—the intruders, the smoke, the panic in Katara's voice, the alarming stillness of the Fire Lord's body.

"What?!" Aang almost yelled. "Let's go!"

"It's about time," Toph muttered before falling in behind Aang as he raced to the edge of the grove.

"How do we get out of here?" panted Toph, struggling to keep up with him.

"I know the way," he called back. He led her through the misty grove, over thick, gnarled roots and under glistening canopies of weeds and branches. Finally, Aang stopped in a still clearing. Spiritual sunlight beamed through the trees, illuminating the tiny particles of dust and mist. The Avatar sat down and brought his fists together. Toph watched with awe as his tattoos started to light up, and the swamp seemed to hum to life. Ribbons of fog swirled around him, and Toph saw Aang's memories dance on the mist. She watched the scenes of Aang and Katara, studying their faces and practically feeling the emotions passed between them. The earthbender felt a pang of jealousy that she had not yet had such a bond. She tore her eyes away and focused on Aang, whose tattoos glowed brighter as the memories on the mist seemed to glare. "Aang?" she said, her voice trembling. The entire swamp was shaking now, and the spiritual energy was heavy in the air. Toph's skin tingled, and the spots of sunlight danced wildly around them. "Aang...!" She lunged forward and gripped the Avatar's shoulder, hoping to rouse him from whatever bad thing might have possessed him. Heat surged through her hand and arm, but she couldn't break herself away from him. Toph looked up, and noticed that now the scenes from the Avatar's mind were starting to break apart. As the spirit swamp shook, the memories on the mist crumbled away, and the Avatar's glow was blinding. Toph tightened her grip on his shoulder just as the world around them exploded in light.

The smell of fresh, dewy grass filled her nose, stirring her mind awake. The chatter of various little creatures echoed in the distance of the swamp. Darkness had fallen back over her eyes, and she knew they had returned.

"Aang?" She prodded the boy beside her, and he also stirred to consciousness.

"I'm awake," he said quickly, and leaned forward to rise. Toph took his hand as he then pulled her to her feet. She staggered for a moment, collecting herself and her senses. The sudden need to rely upon her earthbending again was dizzying. When she was finally steady on her feet, she turned to Aang. "We have to get back to the palace."

"Was everyone okay?"

Toph was quiet for a minute. "I don't know," she said weakly. "Zuko was in pretty bad shape when I left. It's been a couple weeks, and..." She trailed off, refusing to entertain whatever theory might come next. In an attempt to be optimistic, she added, "Katara's been with him, so I'm sure he's—"

"Katara's with Zuko?" Aang cut in. Toph tried to discern his mood, but his voice was smooth and flat. She immediately regretted having mentioned his ex-girlfriend and the Fire Lord in the same sentence, and could only imagine what must have been churning through Aang's mind now. Toph grabbed his arm and started leading him away, as if to also lead him away from his thoughts. "Let's just get out of here."

It was evening when they returned to the Fire Lord's palace. Aang's heart dropped when he saw that the gardens still bore signs of the attack. The ground was scuffed and burnt, and the stage Zuko had stood upon was torn apart. The attack had been nearly three weeks ago, but the fear was very fresh. The air was still, eerily so—Aang could almost feel the anxiety and anticipation of another attack. He found himself very aware and cautious of where he stepped, even though his earthbending told him the coast was clear. "What happened out here?"

"I'm not exactly sure," replied Toph. "I felt a bunch of people rushing through the crowd and homing in on Zuko. There was a commotion. Zuko screamed. Katara screamed. Everyone screamed." Toph paused as the memories came to the fore of her mind. "I don't know what happened after that. Katara sent me to find you while she went up to help. I don't know who it was, or why, or what happened to Zuko." Fear tugged at her heart, and Toph quickly tried to shift her thoughts.

Aang and Toph continued through the scarred gardens to the grand front doors of the Fire Lord's palace. Before Aang even had the chance to knock, a palace guardian appeared and stood in front of him defiantly. When he noticed the Avatar's tattoos, he bowed his apology and stepped aside. Aang asked him to bring them to Zuko. A Fire Sage came and led them inside, dropping them off in the foyer as he promised to fetch the Fire Lord.

A few minutes later, a tall figure in crimson robes came limping into the foyer, a crutch on one side and Katara on the other. Aang quickly averted his gaze when the waterbender neared.

"You found him," she said to Toph as she guided the Fire Lord to a chair. Aang snuck a glance when Katara had her back to him. When Zuko was settled, she turned to Aang. "Where have you been?" she demanded, but her voice was tired and troubled.

Aang ignored her and asked the firebender, "How are you holding up?"

Zuko groaned perfectly on cue, and leaned back to show the bandages around his chest and abdomen. "I feel like hell," he chuckled. "But I'm still kicking." Aang tried not to notice the appreciation in Zuko's eyes when he exchanged glances with Katara, and he tried not to notice the jealousy boiling in the pit of his stomach.

"Well," he began, struggling to keep his tone positive, "I'm glad you're doing better."