Chapter 7 - Lights
A/N: Heey!~ Yep, Toph and Zuko are back! Decided to update this one slightly earlier cause... Well... Just wanted to make up for not updating regularly. (This actually makes it worse... But...) I really wanted to ask if anyone could guess Kazuya's role in the story (it's probably kinda obvious... I'm not sure.) I may not be able to update soon after this chapter. Depends really. *mumbles* Really hoping you guys like this chapter! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA, although I wish I did.
The annoying ostrich horse bounced up and down, leaving her butt sore as they traversed the land. Toph scowled as she gripped the reins tighter. This just made her appreciate Appa more than she already had, and nearly - very nearly - miss flying in the air.
The various toilet breaks she called for only served to delay the 'inevitable', as Sparky called it. She set up booby traps during these breaks wherever possible, quicksand, landslides, the like. Once, she pushed Zuko off the ostrich horse, causing him to land butt flat on the ground. Sadly, it did not deter him, nor did it frighten the stupid ostrich horse. What made it worse was that Zuko insisted that she stay on the animal so that she could not run off.
Me? Running off? She thought coldly. How insulting.
Toph could only assume Zuko was nearby, following the two sullenly. She would've offered him a chance to recover his seat, if it wasn't his own fault he ended up like this.
Then, she heard it, the dreaded noise of a bustling town in the day. Her hometown. Her ostrich horse probably sensed how tense she was, picking a slower gait instead.
"Here we are, finally. I thought the torture was never going to end. With your lengthy so-called 'toilet breaks', I didn't think we would manage to reach here before sundown. Call yourself lucky," Zuko groaned.
"Quit whining, Sparky. I suffered way more than you did."
"Oh really? Anyway, let's stop by an inn and get changed. I'm a mess after that stupid quicksand."
"Serves you right," Toph replied, hopping off the ostrich horse.
Since she was here already, no point delaying. She'll have to face them sooner or later…
"Follow me," Zuko stretched out a hand towards her.
"For the last time, I may be blind but I can 'see' through my feet!" Toph said with an annoyed tone, slapping his hand away.
Sparky was still undeterred, reaching out for her hand and taking it. Toph turned away from him immediately.
"I know. I'm just making sure you don't run off."
Toph huffed in indignation before letting him drag her towards the inn.
"Room for…" Zuko glanced down at Toph before meeting the innkeeper's gaze again.
"Two."
"Alright. Here, come with me," The innkeeper answered, flashing them questioning look before taking a key.
"Enjoy your stay," He said, passing Zuko the keys.
"Thank you."
"The lady from the previous inn was nicer…" Toph muttered offhandedly.
"You brought a change of clothes, right?" Zuko said, rummaging through his own bag for a clean set of clothes.
Toph smirked, "Nope."
Zuko frowned. He remembered he asked Mai to pack Toph an extra set. He went over to her and checked her bag. He searched the bag, before fishing out the set. Yep. There it is.
"Argh!" Toph scowled as Zuko handed her the set.
"Change into them!" He ordered.
"Fine!" Toph shouted in reply.
"Say, I really think you need to have your hair done like this more often."
"Oh, keep quiet."
Kazuya shrugged and nonchalantly threw his arms to the back and stretched. Mai looked around the colony. Xuanwu Gu… A Fire Nation colony. Just like New Ozai. Mai wondered how her family was doing. King Bumi had recovered Omashu, driving away her family and other 'unwelcome inhabitants'. They returned to Fire Nation to stay, but Mai had not contacted them in a while.
"My mom is really good with her hands, isn't she?"
"Yes," Mai agreed. "She is talented."
"My dad and her… They loved arts and crafts and the like. I remember when I was younger, they made all sorts of things. They made toys for the children in the district and all…"
"I haven't seen your dad around."
Kazuya fell silent and slowed his footsteps. Mai stopped as well in response and walked back to him.
"My parents were…" He said finally, "Separated."
"Oh." How drab.
He bore into her eyes, and she returned the favor. This person was too weird.
"Aren't you going to ask me why?" He asked, finally tearing his eyes away from her.
Mai examined some wind chimes that were being sold at a nearby stall. "No."
"How boring," Kazuya pouted.
"If you want to say it, just say it, then," Mai scowled.
"Alright, I will," Kazuya grinned. "In fact, I'll show you."
"Ready?" Zuko glanced at Toph.
She looked highly uncomfortable in her new robes. Zuko smiled, it wasn't everyday one would get to see Toph in such an outfit. Interestingly, Mai had good taste. Zuko had helped her brush her hair and plaited them simply like Song's and many others in Earth Kingdom. Toph certainly did not hide her surprise when she found out about his knowledge of hair braiding. Definitely, it would not be a skill Zuko would be eager to show off. He watched Toph trace her two braids slowly as she scowled.
"No," She said shortly.
"You'll have to be," Zuko shrugged, stepping out of the room. "Come on."
She chewed her lip as she followed him out of the inn before he closed his hands around her left arm.
"Alright, bring me to your home."
Toph furrowed her eyebrows a little, weighing her options.
"I honestly don't care how many 'detours' we have to make, just know that I'll bring you to the Bei Fongs' doorstep by today."
"Fine. But I want to do something else first. We can visit my parents later tonight."
Zuko smirked as Toph told him to take a turn to the left and head straight. He knew that Toph had given up by the time they entered Gaoling.
… All right. He admitted. 'Given up' wasn't exactly the most accurate phrase. It was more of a 'given in to what she had suppressed for the few weeks she had stayed in his palace'.
Toph gave a smile as she pointed towards a building, where its front yard was full of earthbending students. "Come on, I wanna visit someone."
She scanned the place with her feet. Where was he…?
"Toph?"
She felt Zuko tense up and motion to step in front of her. Right, he didn't know him.
"You…" Zuko began. "You were following Uncle and I that time. With the other guy."
"Sparky… You know him?" Toph said, shocked.
"Yes, a bounty hunter, is he not? How do you know him?"
"Actually, I'm an earthbending teacher," Master Yu corrected. "That was a side job given by Toph's parents."
Zuko turned his head to look at her. She ignored him, feeling Master Yu contemplate the two of them for a moment before taking a step back.
"He was my earthbending teacher," Toph explained quickly.
"Didn't you learn from badgermoles?"
"I did," She nodded. "He was the earthbending teacher my parents assigned to me. All he ever taught me was how to breathe."
"I did as your father accorded!" Yu protested.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Toph asked, frowning, "How did you break out of the cage?"
"Well, we had to wait until someone passed by. It wasn't easy at all. Imagine waiting two days to go to the bathroom…" He trailed off. "Xin Fu is definitely not a nice companion. Anyhow, we returned to Gaoling empty-handed. Your parents were not pleased."
Toph grinned. "Hah! Serves you right. Anyway, old grudges aside, I was thinking of becoming a teacher here."
"Do your parents approve of this, Toph…?" Master Yu questioned.
"I don't care whether they approve of this!" She said. "I've had enough of this hiding. I want to teach metalbending! I figured this academy would be a good place to start before I set up my own school."
Master Yu stroked his chin. "… Alright. As long as your family agrees."
"What's this?" Mai asked, studying the crowd before her. "Where are we?"
"This is a gunpowder factory. I work here."
Mai flashed a look at him. A gunpowder factory… Working here would be highly risky. Especially for firebenders…
She examined the rows and rows of explosives that lay in front of her. Smelling the sooty air that hung in the factory, she could not help but think that there was an accident here of recent.
"Well, the people here don't know about it yet. That I'm a firebender. But I really need the work. I need to support my mom."
"Is this the reason your dad…?" She trailed off, as he looked into her eyes.
She didn't really want to say it.
"No, not really," He admitted. "About that, I'll tell you about it some other time. Today is the Moon Festival! Everyone should be focusing on happier thoughts!"
Mai raised an eyebrow at him. His tone, it was strained. His smile was forced. Kazuya avoided her gaze and fingered the small black pocket he strapped to his right thigh.
He wanted his dad back.
Badly.
"Can you tell me what exactly are we doing here?" Zuko asked her.
"Stop being so nosy, Sparky. Just do as I say."
Zuko grumbled as he kept up with her. He followed her into the back of a crowded shop. The customers were snatching up the lanterns almost as soon as they were displayed. Some shouldered their way through, causing Zuko to crash into a peddler just outside the shop.
"Ah! My kites!" The man cried out.
Zuko apologized immediately, helping him to clean up the mess he made.
"Miss Toph! You're finally back! You had the master and mistress so worried…!"
Toph silenced her by pressing a finger to her lips. Lin nodded empathetically.
"Sparky, this is Lin. She's my servant, but also a friend. Her dad makes lanterns. Lin, this is Sparky."
"It's Zuko," He corrected, scowling.
"Yeah, whatever."
Zuko nodded towards Lin as she bowed to him before questioning their reason for being here. Toph explained that the two of them were going to make lanterns.
"Lanterns? What for?"
Lin giggled. "Not just any lantern. You're going to make sky lanterns, sir."
"… Sounds fun."
"I bet it is!" Toph agreed eagerly. "Come on, then, Lin!"
Lin displayed the materials in front of them on a table. She pointed at each one, placing Toph's hand on the material.
"Wire… Rice paper… Wax…" She listed.
"I'll demonstrate, then you guys follow, alright?" Lin waited for them to nod before continuing. "Alright. First, you begin by cutting the rice paper…"
Toph knitted her eyebrows together as she felt the edges of the paper and attempted to use the scissors to snip off the unwanted parts.
"You're making the edges all jagged," Zuko nagged. "Here."
He reached for the scissors and the rice paper but Toph snatched them away, clutching them close to her chest.
"I'm going to finish this myself!" She insisted.
"Fine," Zuko snapped. "Don't blame me if it can't even leave the ground an inch."
Toph stuck out his tongue at him and continued to work. I'm gonna show him..!
"All right, it's time. Let's go, Sparky!"
Zuko reached futilely for the last piece of moon cake, but was stopped by Toph, who dragged him off the chair by the collar, causing him to collide with the floor. He yelled in pain.
When they reached the main street of Gaoling, or at least, the busiest, the sheer number of people carrying lanterns stunned Zuko.
"I hate these stupid festivals," Toph grumbled, threatening to toss her lantern away.
There is a festival today? Zuko thought, raising an eyebrow once again at Toph's 'intricately-designed' lantern.
It was as if Toph read his mind. "Today is the Moon festival. People celebrate their family's union, and to appreciate the beauty of the moon. It's also the reason why the restaurant had served us mooncake."
Zuko nodded, looking out towards the full moon. It was pale yellow, and humongous. Most of the time, when he looked up towards the night sky, it was far away from him. Very distant and very cold. Today…
He glanced at Toph again. Her scowl grew deeper, scaring a little boy as she walked past him. Right… She couldn't see this beautiful scene before them… He creased his eyebrows in thought, aimlessly following the twelve-year-old in front of him.
"Are all the pairs ready?" He called to the people behind them.
They yelled in agreement. Kazuya looked towards Mai, who nodded. She scratched the match against the side of the matchbox and watched the tip burst into a small flame. She shielded the weak flame from the winds with her hand. Mai glanced at Kazuya and the others. With a flourish of his hands, Kazuya ignited his fists and gently touched the ends of the fireworks. Similarly, she touched the tip of hers with the matchstick.
Mai reflexively covered her ears as they screeched to life, rocketing into the sky and exploding into showers of colored light. The people below cheered.
"Come on, Mai."
Kazuya grabbed her arm and hauled her up to a nearby high spot and the two settled there. They watched the rest of the fireworks slowly flew up into the dark night sky and exploding into sparks. He pulled out a piece of pastry from his bag.
"Here."
Mai regarded it skeptically. How clean was his bag, exactly?
"Don't worry. I had mom wrap it up for us." He reassured her before adding, "You may not have heard of it before. It's mooncake. My mom made it. It's delish. I assure you."
She studied the cake again, before looking at Kazuya. The light from the fireworks illuminated his smile. Cautiously, she plucked off a bit from the cake and popped it into her mouth. She chewed carefully before swallowing. She looked up at the night sky again. She suddenly longed for Zuko's presence.
I haven't seen anything like this in a long time.
"Come on, come on! Everyone's going to release theirs already!" Toph shook his arm hard.
"Don't rush me! I don't want to burn it up accidentally!" Zuko silenced her, studying the lantern more closely. "I don't even get what's the big deal about this!"
Toph sighed and shook her head, as if she was talking to a slow-witted child.
"Just do it already!" She insisted. "I'll explain later!"
"Fine." He said, "Hold out your lantern, Toph."
She did as she was told, looking at him expectantly. He carefully placed a hand underneath the lantern, lighting a flame inside it. It started to float skywards already, but Toph gripped it gently to prevent it from continuing.
"It's very warm…" She breathed, her face highlighted by the warm light emanating from the lantern.
Of course it is. He bit back a chuckle, before frowning slightly. He realized that this might have been the first time she properly felt a lantern in the twelve years of her life. For him, this was truly his first Moon festival. His nation was too focused on war to think about such festivities.
He mentally added "introduce more festivals" to his to-do list for his nation.
He took his lantern and did the same, lighting it up.
"So," He started. "What do we do now?"
"Release it, dummy. Come on," She stood on tiptoe on the edge of the balcony. "On the count of three."
"One…"
"Two…"
"Thr-"
He was about to release his hands when she stopped him.
"Wait! I forgot! Make a wish first!" Toph ordered. "Close your eyes!"
Zuko raised an eyebrow before he nodded. He closed his eyes and wished for his nation to prosper under his rule alongside the person he loved most. It may not have sounded like much, but it was his earnest wish.
"Done, Sparky?"
"Yeah."
They released their lanterns, one covered in ink splats and messy scrawls and the other one with the words "world peace" written on it, letting them spiral upwards, joining the others already in the sky.
A/N: That's all folks! Thanks for reading! Thank you for all your reviews! Please do keep reviewing! Reeally appreciate them. On a side note, Toph sets up an earthbending school in Yu Dao in The Promise, right? Well... For this fic, she's gonna be starting one in Gaoling first. What better place to start than from home, eh? ._.