So heres another chapter. I'm pretty impressed with myself, another chapter. But that's only because I don't have school at the moment. It'll be pretty slow going later on.
This one's also a friendship one with Zuko, except with Toph because I don't think they did enough with them, and the entire time, I knew they'd be hilarious together. This one's in Ember Island, sometime before 317.
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It was time for Toph to experiment with her sandbending.
She had been practicing every day since they had arrived on the Fire Nation holiday island. There wasn't much else for her to do. Sokka was always with Suki, either being mushy and couple-like, or sparring. Aang was still learning firebending from Zuko and Katara was helping them train.
Today they had decided to take a break on the beach. Zuko had wanted to continue with their training, but he was overruled by the majority vote. He had taken the opportunity to meditate on the sand while the rest of the gang splashed each other in the water, with the exception of the sneaky earthbender.
Wordlessly, Toph dropped down beside Zuko and sat cross-legged to imitate him. Though he didn't acknowledge her presence, he knew she was there. Perfect.
Using all her concentration, the young earthbender started making Zuko clones out of the sand behind them and had them all sit around the Fire Nation prince. Soon, they had a huge crowd of sand Zukos sitting on the beach, meditating.
The entire time, Toph had been holding in her laughter, but after the fifteenth sand boy had settled himself down, a snort escaped her. Zuko registered this immediately and glanced down at her, irritated at the interruption. In that moment, he saw the shapes of people behind and beside him. His head snapped round to the sight of life-sized replicas of himself, meditating on the sand.
Simultaneously, they all looked up and waved at him. Zuko yelled and jumped up without thinking, his eyes wide and his heart beating rapidly. The clone crowd disappeared into a cloud of sand as Toph dissolved into hysterical laughter. The firebender just stared down at her, partly still in shock, but partly in amazement.
"How...?"
Toph calmed down a little. Explaining the genius of her prank would also be enjoyable. "Sandbending." She hadn't calmed down very much.
"But...how did you know what I looked like?"
"I might be blind, but my way of seeing works pretty well. Dust and sand blows into your face. Vibrations. Earthbending. It wasn't too hard."
Zuko continued to stare at her.
"It was the walking and the sitting that was hard, but it worked didn't it? It looked like you right?" She smirked, then started chuckling to herself, remembering his reaction.
"Yes, it did..." He finally managed to reply. Yet at the same time, they had also looked completely different. The figures that had been sitting so peacefully around him looked exactly like him. They had taken the same stance, they were wearing the same clothes, they had the same build and their faces even had the same features.
"Of course, they weren't totally accurate. I can't see a scar with vibrations," Toph said thoughtfully, almost to herself. She had echoed his thoughts exactly.
Zuko knelt in front of his young friend and took her hand. Without knowing exactly what he was planning Toph didn't react. Silently and slowly, he brought her hand up to his scarred eye so her fingers softly brushed against the old wound, like Katara's had all those months ago. He half expected her to recoil from his face, so he let go of her arm but instead, Toph traced the edge of his eye and his ear, as if committing each detail to memory.
Without a word, she took her hand away and stretched it outwards beside them. Her fingers moved as if they were moulding clay, then she brought up an image of Zuko, complete with his scar, out of the beach like someone coming up for air in the ocean.
Zuko's burn was a reminder of the struggles he had to overcome to transform into the person he now was. It was part of his history and part of his identity. Toph's sand sculpture was now an exact portrayal of the Fire Nation prince.
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Always wanted Toph to make people out of earth or something. A little bit random, but I wanted there to be a nice moment at the end. Reviews would again, be appreciated.
