Zuko stood stunned, did he really just hear what he though that he heard? Toph couldn't have possibly been serious, right? "Um.. Toph are you sure about this? What about Sokka I thought that you would have gone to him first."
"I think that ship sailed when you fell asleep on my lap." Toph looked away with a heavy sigh.
"Oh.. Sorry about that I didn't really mean to." he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"The damage has been done"
"Look, how about we make a deal."
"Deal? What kind of a deal?" Toph tipped her head as she spoke
"The deal is, you have to go and ask Sokka what you asked me and start building a relationship and if he refuses all together then I will do as you ask." Zuko thought that it was a fair deal, he didn't know how things would go one either end but it was worth a shot.
"Sokka is still with Suki." Toph didn't want to make Sokka unhappy and force Suki to break up with him if it wasn't necessary.
"No they aren't. When Suki and her warriors came to be my guards she told me that she wasn't ready to settle down yet and that's all Sokka wanted so they broke up." Zuko could see in Toph's eyes that she was excited about the news.
"Oh… Well that is interesting. Alright fine, we have a deal." she shook his hand rather roughly "go get some sleep Hot Pants, and spend some time with Mai! It won't kill you." she laughed but was suddenly stopped what Zuko pulled her into a warm hug before he departed.
"I'll see you again soon Toph, don't torture your students too much even if they deserve it." he chuckled and boarded his ship.
"Yeah yeah!" Toph shook her head and headed back to the Academy. She listened to the street as she walked, there was some commotion down one of the allies that quickly stopped as she passed. It was nice being the Chief, she had power over almost everything.
When she got back to the Academy her students were working hard on their Earthbending, which was a pleasing sight that they had actually followed orders. She walked around her students examining their technique and hoping that they would soon be able to Metalbend.
When she finished observing her students she headed into her office to see if there was anything she missed while she was out. When she walked into her office however there was a strange heartbeat that thumped and vibrated through the room.
"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to come back from your "date" with the Fire Lord. Who has a girlfriend you know" Sokka's voice came to her shortly after she entered, now the heartbeat made sense.
"It wasn't a date. I thought that you would have headed back to the Southern Water Tribe or gone to see Sugar Queen by now." Toph crossed her arms and kicked the door shut behind her.
"Oh so seeing you is out of the question" Sokka dropped his feet off her desk making a loud thud on the floor.
"You haven't done it before." Toph rolled her eyes "so I wasn't expecting company."
"I see." he turned his attention to the desk in front of him
"I'm sorry to hear about you and Suki. Some girls just can't handle settling down" Toph crossed the room and stood by her desk, wanting him to move so she could have her chair.
"How did you find out about that?" Sokka raised an eyebrow.
"Does it matter?" she could tell that it was a sore subject, but she hoped that she could take Suki's place.
"I guess not." it did bug Sokka that she knew about it but he was going to tell her since he was here. It must have come from the loud mouth Fire Lord or the Kyoshi Warrior, either way it wasn't all that important what was important at this moment was rebuilding a relationship with Toph.