It was grey, dreary day outside and little Lin Beifong was all holed up in her mother's office, still wearing her school uniform. Classes had been suspended at the last minutes owing to the inclement weather, and her mother, Chief Toph Beifong, had no other choice but to bring her five-year old kid to work.

Presently the little girl amused herself by counting the automobiles that passed by her mother's office window. It was raining so hard, all Lin could see were blurry silhouettes and headlights made dim by the steady downpour. She watched as the few unfortunate souls that were out in the rain huddled in their coats, trying to keep warm, if not dry. "No fun," Lin whispered. "No fun at all."

Toph looked up from her reading – which meant raised dots on paper for her – and tilted her head towards her daughter. "What did you say?"

"It's not fun being here," Lin replied.

Toph had to agree – even the bustling police headquarters was unusually quiet that day, and all she could hear was the constant drumming of the rain against the building, and the rattling of the windows whenever the wind blew. The quiet, rather comforting atmosphere coupled with the cold weather made her rather sleepy, too – and the absence of her daughter's usual chatter did little to shake away Toph's drowsiness.

Lin stretched on the office couch and sighed. "I want to go home, Mommy."

Her mother yawned and left her reading to join her daughter on the couch. "We can't go home because the weather is bad, darling. And besides, I have four more hours left on my shift."

"So?"

"So we have to stay here until the rain lets up or until my shift ends – whichever comes first," Toph replied. "Since I'm not doing anything else, let's go find something fun to do – how about we pretend we're pirates?"

Lin shook her head.

"No? What about hide and seek?"

"We'll find each other easily, Mommy!" she replied.

Toph shrugged. Of course they'll find each other easily – Lin's seismic sense is almost at par with hers – and besides, there was no way they could play hide and seek without it ending with the two of them hurling rocks at each other – or filing cabinets, now that Lin can metalbend. "Okay – so what do you want to do?"

"Tell me a story," Lin said. "I don't want scary ones, Mommy, because we only tell those during Fridays and it's a Tuesday today. I want a happy story."

"A happy story, huh? Let me think of one first." Toph wasn't much of a storyteller, but during the rare moments that Lin asked her for a story, as kids her age were wont to do, she made sure she had one ready. "Okay – come here, pup. Let me tell you a story."

Lin eagerly crawled onto her mother's lap, making herself comfortable against the cold steel of her mother's armor.

Once there was a princess –

"Was she pretty?"

Toph smiled. "Everyone told her she was pretty, Lin – but she had no idea because she was blind."

Lin pouted. "Well, if she was blind, she should be an earthbender. If she's not an earthbender, she won't be able to care for herself."

"Okay."

So, there was once a beautiful, blind warrior earthbender princess who lived with parents, the king and the queen, in a faraway land. Even though the king and queen gave her whatever she asked for, the princess was sad because they would not let her out of the palace to –

"She should earthbend herself out of the palace!" Lin added.

"That's exactly what she did," Toph said.

They wouldn't allow her to go out and have friends, so the princess used her bending to get out of the palace. Outside, she met three people who became her closest friends. Together with them, the princess brought down an evil ruler and saved the whole world.

"How?"

"She wrecked the bad guys' airships."

"Wow. Can I wreck airships, too?"

"Sure, pup – wreck all the airships you want when you grow up," Toph smiled.

After saving the world, the princess went on her own way and began sharing her talents to other people. She explored the world for a long time, but soon she realized that she was getting very lonely.

Packing up her things, the princess decided to join her friends once more.

"Does she have lots of friends?"

Toph gently shook her head. "Well, she met a few new friends along the way, but she went back to the friends who saved the world with her."

When they got together once more, the princess and her friends decided to build a city where everyone could live in peace and harmony.

Because she was a powerful earthbender, the princess decided that she would take care of all the people in the city. She made sure that everyone was safe and secure. It was in this city where she met Kan – I mean, the captain.

Lin shifted on her seat. "What does the captain look like?"

"Well – the princess can't tell, because she was blind. But the captain was very tall, and he had a deep, beautiful voice that sounded like the rumbling earth," Toph smiled.

The captain and the princess became very good friends, and soon enough they fell in love. Even though the princess was mean to him, the captain was very kind to her – and he gave her all he had because he loved the princess very much.

"Did she love him, too?"

Toph looked up and smiled, absent-mindedly stroking her daughter's hair.

"Mommy?"

"Oh, yeah – where was I?"

"The captain loved the princess even if she was mean – but did the princess love him too?"

"She did… very much."

"And then?"

They got married soon enough, and everyday they prayed for the spirits to give them a baby so that they may love and care for her as well.

The spirits, seeing how much the princess and captain loved each other, decided to grant their wish. A year after they were married, the princess discovered that she was going to have a baby soon – and because her tummy was getting bigger and bigger, everybody decided that it was time for the captain to take over for a while.

Lin placed a hand on her mother's chest, feeling the subtle change in Toph's heartbeat. "Are you okay? Why are you sad?"

"The story makes me sad," Toph sniffed.

One day, bad men took the captain away. Despite her condition, the princess went out and looked for him. Soon, they found the captain – but he was badly beaten up and was really sick.

The princess took him to her healer friend, but even her friend's exceptional powers of healing could do nothing for the captain except lessen his pain.

"They –" Lin yawned, "- should have gone to Auntie Katara. One time, Ten-ten broke his arm, and Auntie fixed it right away."

The princess once again prayed to the spirits. 'Please save my husband,' she cried.

But the spirits weren't kind this time, and before the moon was full, they too, took the captain away. The princess never saw him again. Naturally, the princess was heartbroken, and her heart was aching so bad she thought she might die.

"I thought it was a happy story," Lin told her. "The princess should be happy in the end."

Toph wiped a tear from her eye. "It is, sweetheart."

After the captain died, the princess gave birth to a beautiful baby girl who brought sunshine and happiness and love back to her life. The baby girl grew up to be just like her mother, and the princess was never lonely ever again.

"The end. Did you like it?" she asked.

"Did the baby love the princess?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good – because baby girls should love their mommies. I love you, Mommy," Lin said, kissing her mother's cheek.

"I love you too, baby," Toph said as she closed her eyes and allowed the steady drum of raindrops calm her down. Someday, Lin would ask her the inevitable, and she hoped she'd be strong enough to tell her the truth.