A/N Sorry it took so long.

-shamelesslybeggingforconcrit-

And I must note, on that topic, that when I take it from Toph's point of view, there's almost absolutely no imagery. Because she's blind. So writing well from that perspective is harder, but I'm doing the best I can.

This one is also rather short, but I like it.

I own nothing.

Toph awoke to a kick in the ribs. It didn't hurt very much; the persecutor was obviously a girl. Toph just rolled over in response to face the wall, slowly and purposefully stretching her arms up over her head. She wasn't going to get up unless they made her.

"You really do have a death wish, don't you?" the girl asked, her voice monotone. "I thought they were kidding. Zuko, your servant won't get up."

"What makes you think she's my servant?" Zuko asked irritably from the other side of the room. "I just gave her a job."

"Either way, she's sleeping in your room, and she's not getting up. I am not pulling her off the floor, and I'm certainly not carrying her down to the courtyard."

Toph heard Zuko sigh. "I'll do it then."

Uh-oh.

She had barely a second to prepare herself before Zuko grabbed her arm and hoisted her up into the air. "Let's go, Dirt Girl."

"You should've told me she had a name," the girl said snidely. "I thought she was just 'the earthbender'. 'Dirt Girl' sounds so much prettier."

Toph growled.

It didn't take as long, it seemed, to get down to the courtyard of the night before. Zuko promptly dropped her on to the grass, without even taking the step down on to the path. Toph's feet, still sore and stinging, failed to support her and she fell to her knees.

"Your tools are right here," he said brusquely, taking her hand and placing it on a box nearby. "Start on this side of the—"

"Is that the earthbender?" came a loud voice from the other side of the courtyard. The speaker sounded like he was large in girth. "She'd better not mess up my shrubberies—I'll flay her until she bleeds!"

"I'll tell her that," came the annoyed reply. "That's the Servant Lord," Zuko told her, more quietly. "Please don't cross him. The healer charges quite a lot, and we'd prefer not to spend any more money on you than we have to."

Toph fingered the tools in the box, feeling various metal handles and sharp edges. "I have no idea how to garden," she said flatly. "None at all. How do you expect me to do anything?"

Zuko sighed. Toph had now reached the conclusion that there was very little in the world that didn't annoy him. "Just trim all the bushes away from the paths, and pull all the weeds. You can do that, right?"

"How am I supposed to tell the weeds from the flowers?"

"You still have your sense of touch, if I'm not mistaken."

She heard him stand and turn, preparing to walk away. "Wait," she called after him softly. His steps halted. "What was your uncle's name?"

There was a moment of silence. Trepidation filled her, and she feared that he wasn't going to tell her. "Iroh," the prince replied. "His name was Iroh. He used to read in this garden all the time."

He walked away. Toph was left kneeling in the grass, staring straight ahead, one hand gripping the handle of a tool, surrounded by wild and hostile plants.

She took a deep breath; beginning to decipher which tool was which. It was time for a vegetation war.

-x-x-

He hadn't expected her to give in so easily. She had readily accepted her task, with very little argument except to state that she didn't know how to garden. It must be some trick.

And so, with his suspicions mulling around in his mind, Zuko crept silently back to the courtyard. From his vantage point against the stone wall, he could easily see the entire area. Toph remained kneeling on the ground, her hands busy with the tools. He watched as she traced her fingers over the edge of everything, trying to figure out what it was. As soon as she did, she placed the tools in a certain order, so that she could remember which was which.

She was a rather bright young girl.

Her next task was mapping out the paths. She crawled around them for a long time, tracing them with her hands (since her feet were covered). She went in circles, figure eights, taking every possible turn, obviously trying very hard to memorize where everything was—the expression on her face was one of deep concentration. She bit her lip whenever she wandered out on to the grass, whenever she felt that there was no turn where she thought there was.

Zuko was sitting by this time, watching her with increased interest. He knew that she wasn't used to being blind, and it must have been an odd sensation. It was a challenge to feel your way around, to be unable to use your eyes.

A challenge…

A sudden idea appeared in Zuko's mind, but it was pushed away as Toph went to her tools again. She didn't need to feel the edges of them this time; she had memorized the order in which she had placed them. The first tool she grasped were the miniature shears, and even in miniature size, they were still big in her hands. She felt her way over to the first shrub, looking like a monkey as she tried to find her way with her hands.

Her fingers grazed over the bush, tracing the edges of every leaf, every stem. Her other hand sought the edge of the path, far beneath the overhanging branches.

"We have some work to do, don't we?" she said, apparently to the bush. She took the shears, beginning to carefully clip select branches that she felt were too long. "You went too far. The path isn't yours; it belongs to the people who walk on it. Little thief."

Zuko's forehead furrowed into a frown as he listened. He had never heard her put so many words together at once. His frown faded into an expression of surprise as she continued to scold the bush.

"You're just like the Fire Nation, thinking just because you can take things that you should. The Earth Kingdom wasn't theirs, but they stole it anyway just to show that they could." Her clipping became faster, and she snipped the branches with more ferocity. "Just stay where you are, stupid bush! Isn't your own lot good enough?"

She obviously wasn't talking about the bush anymore, as much as she was talking to the bush.

Zuko stood silently and left, feeling troubled without knowing why.

-x-x-

Toph heard Zuko's footsteps fade away, and smile. She hoped he had enjoyed that little play, meant for his benefit. It was rather fun to perform.

Her clipping slowed, and became more deliberate. This wasn't so hard. Of course, the bush would look ugly for a while, with no leaves on one side—but it was a necessary sacrifice. Mr. Flay-Her-Till-She-Bleeds would have to live with it.

"Just you and me now, hm?" she told the bush, not altogether unkindly. "Prince Pansy left us all to ourselves. Sorry I had to yell at you before. I just thought I'd give him something to think about, since he had the nerve to eavesdrop on me."

Snip. Snip. Snip.

"Do you think the Fire Nation is right, in conquering others? Of course you do, you're a Fire Nation plant. But what if it wasn't right? What if they were just doing it for their own gain? Would you still agree with them?"

Toph actually stopped her clipping, almost half-expecting an answer. Then she dropped the shears.

"I'm talking to a PLANT!" she exclaimed, rubbing her forehead hard with the heel of her hand. Her words echoed in the empty walls of the courtyard, coming back to hit her gently. She sighed, closing her eyes.

Well. One plant down, twenty-nine more to go.