The Promise of Entertainment

Just after the fancy word contest that Snoozels and Sparky had a couple nights ago, Toph noticed two things- one was that Zuko was uncommonly happy, though it probably didn't show on his face, as no one else seemed to notice. The other thing was that Sokka was, somewhat less uncommonly, not happy- and that he didn't sleep that night. Or the next.

After the first night, she was curious, and after the second night, she became slightly worried too, so she decided to watch him. Around midday, she noticed Aang go up to him, but missed the conversation when Katara started preparing lunch and asked her what she would prefer to eat, and her thoughts turned to food as she thought of a bunch of different types of meat- there were priorities to be met.

Then she noticed Sokka wandering from the campsite, and followed, passing Aang as he went to, presumably, help with the vegetable part of food. She followed Sokka until they were almost out of site of the camp, when he stopped and started pacing back and forth, one hand under his chin, muttering to himself. Toph, staying hidden behind a small hill, was too far away to hear what he said, but through the earth, she felt his emotions and tense body, as he was completely focused on his thoughts. It was strange.

Just when she was starting to get bored, Twinkle-Toes suddenly snuck up on her, with the question, "Why are you starring at Sokka?"

Her heart leaped, but she played it as if she heard him coming the entire time, and replied that it was because he was thinking for once and it caught her attention, so she was curious. He then proceeded to annoy, then intrigue, and then annoy her again, so she sent him back to Katara.

With the new information that she got from him though, she was motivated to enjoy Sokka to the- er.. help him to the best of her ability. As she got closer, Sokka looked up, and lowered his hand to his side. "Hey." he greeted, his tone distant.

"Hey." she replied. "So what's up with you- muttering instead of shouting, and staying up all night instead of sleeping into the middle of the day- you feeling alright?"

She felt his face turn from neutral to irritated. He waved her off. She didn't like that, so she shifted the ground under him, causing him to fall on his side with a "Oof" as she lifted a large amount of earth directly above him. "What's wrong?" she asked again.

He just sighed, then said in a calm, but tired voice, "Alright Toph, you don't need to threaten me. What do you want me to say- that I'm upset about Zuko beating me? You already know that."

"She dropped the earth next to him, and he stood up and looked at her. She crossed her arms, "I suppose you're right. I'll change my question then.. what are you going to do about it?" She paused, then smiled. "And how can I help?"

"Sokka stared at her a moment, before he replied cautiously, "If you're serious, then I'm wanting a rematch with Zuko." He seemed to think for a moment. "Oh, would you happen to know how to turn dirt into gravel?"

"What? Yeah, I could pull up some rocks and break them into gravel if that's what you mean. But.. why?" Toph replied confused.

"Great!" he replied too cheerfully. "Then if you want to help, I'd like it if you could make a medium sized field of loose gravel. Oh, and also fill it with several tall but thin stone pillars." He grinned broadly.

Toph just stood there for a good two minutes. "Why?" she finally asked.

"Because I'm going to challenge Zuko to SwordBending again!" he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You see, last time I didn't use the surroundings to the best I could've, so this time, I'm going to create the surroundings." He paused. "I was just wishing there were trees, but sense there's not, then stone pillars should work; they limit the range of his dual swords, so a lot of his attacks will be more awkward, and hopefully slower too, on account of trying to avoid hitting the stone." he explained.

"Why gravel though?" Toph asked, still lost. This wasn't turning out to be very entertaining.

"Because you have absolutely terrible footing in gravel. And I noticed when I fought him last time, that he tends to-" he stopped, and all sense of enthusiasm left him.

Toph, feeling his stare on her, asked, "What?"

"Last time me and Zuko sparred.. you took his side." he said slowly. "Why would you help me now?"

"What? Is that all? I voted on Zuko because he was clearly going to win."

"What?!" Sokka huffed indignantly. He quickly regained composure though and continued. "But.. even if you knew that.." She felt him look down at her suspiciously. "You looked so happy about it."

"Of course." she replied. "It's fun watching you get beat up; I'm always the one doing it- used to be that Katara would too, but then she had to go and focus her anger on Sparky for a couple weeks, and Aang's always been way too nice to you." She frowned for a moment before continuing. "But then you challenged Zuko to a sword fight, something you could never win, so confidently like you were just begging for another person to start humiliating you.. it was great." She beamed up at him. "So thank's for being a complete idiot and all- it was pretty entertaining."

He frowned at her. "And why help me now?" he asked, seeming to just ignore most of what Toph had said, which was disappointing- she had been hoping for a stiff, stuttering, unbelievably angry Sokka, but.. he was in a different mind currently. She sighed. "Because I think this will be entertaining, obviously. And I knew it had something to do with Sparky when I felt him was starring at you for a few minutes earlier before heading off to go hunting- considering that you're a bit useless right now, that you don't even do your one daily chore.. seriously Not-So-Snoozles, Sparky's so bad at hunting that he brought back a single rabbit-turtle after hours yesterday, and still isn't back from when he left this morning."

He tilted his head to the side. "Not-So-Snoozles?"

"I can't very well call you 'Snoozles' when you don't snooze." she replied, prodding at the fact he hadn't been sleeping. "You know, you're dragging this out a lot, changing the subject, and not making any sense; do you want help or not?" she demanded.

"Yes!" he answered quickly. "Okay, sorry, I want your help.. thanks. Although Zuko staring at me is a little creepy.. but anyways." He shrugged and smiled. "But we should go a little further so they can't see us from tents." he said, looking behind them back at the camp. "And then soon we can do some more SWORDBENDING!"

Toph winced, and rubbed her ears, but then smiled as she turned and started following him further from the camp. "Lead the way then, great bender of swords."

Sokka's enthusiasm was a promise of entertainment to Toph.

Notes: Toph.. you can always count on her to do anything in her power to help.. so long as it's amusing.

Remember to rate and review please.