XI Ambidextrous

The Gaang couldn't stop noticing how much Toph had grown since she had they had separated. She was now taller and leaner, and was glowing with her own curvaceous glory. But her hair hadn't really changed. She still had the long ebony bangs in front of her jade coloured eyes. But now she had traded in her tiara for a green head sock that kept all but two long tufts of hair behind her head. She still sported her little white puffs near her ears as well.

"I can't tell you how good it is to see you again Toph." said Katara as they walked up the stone steps that led into the palace. "I mean, look how much you've grown!"

"Comment on how much I've grown and I'll feed you to Bosco." she joked, and they all broke into a happy laugh.

Huso, who was obediently walking behind them couldn't help but join in their infectious chuckle, and no one seemed to mind that he did, if anything, they welcomed it.

Sokka, being the curious man he was, dropped back and hung an arm over the young man's shoulders. Huso looked a bit uncomfortable at first, but relaxed when everyone else seemed to take it as normal welcoming behaviour.

"So, Huso, did you stay in the sun too long or something?"

Suki quickly dropped back and laced her arm around Sokka's elbow, effectively yanking him away.

"Sorry Huso." she said, but Huso was busy watching the curious warrior poke his arm, almost like he was inspecting for a layer of mud.

"Its okay. Actually, I was born like this, and so were my parents." he said subconsciously pulling away from them.

Sokka rubbed a hand through his small beard thoughtfully. "Really?" he said, wishing he still had his investigator props. "Well, I like it. It's very different." A very large smiled plastered on his face and he held onto Suki's arm tightly as they walked through the large doors.

Before going any further Huso ran up to Toph. "I'm going to take some of the newbies out for patrol while you catch up." Toph seemed happy with his suggestion as he marched off down an opposite hallway. Everyone watched him until he was out of sight, before once again following the smell of food through the palace.

Aang held onto his staff tightly as they walked through the large stone corridors. His eyes had been glued to Toph the whole way, he thought no one had noticed until she stopped in front of the dining room entrance.

"Stop staring Twinkle Toes. You don't think I can feel your eyes groping me?" she laughed pointing an accusing finger right at his nose. Aang wondered how she always seemed to point at the right mark but never look at it. It must have been the fact that she didn't need to, her finger was scary enough.

"Sorry Toph but you said we couldn't comment." he smiled.

She accepted his answer and pushed open the large oak doors, revealing a long dining table lined with worldly foods. Sokka and Katara seemed to sit at their own corner with all the sea prunes. Aang completely avoided that area, and so did Toph.

Aang found the custard tarts and sat down on one of the cushions that surrounded the table. Momo ran in after him and planted himself in front of a large plate of fruit, and started to dig in without remorse.

Toph continued down the length of the polished piece of furniture and stopped right at the end. She didn't sit until Kuei came in with Bosco and took the royal set up of pillows at the end of the table.

Suki followed Her boyfriend and sat down next to him, having no interest in the plate of steamed cumquats in front of her

"Aang, Katara, Sokka, its good to see you again." Kuei announced as Bosco planted a big wet kiss on the avatar's cheek.

"Its good to see you too Kuei." said Katara, performing her own little version of a bow. "I hope all your travelling went well?"

"It was great master Katara." Sokka stifled a laugh as the king continued "Bosco and I went everywhere, even to the north pole! We would of gone to the south pole to see you but I had to return here."

"We understand your majesty." said Sokka through a mouthful of meat.

Suki elbowed him casually and Sokka managed to swallow all that he had stuffed in his cheeks. "Did you go to the fire nation?" she asked, satisfied that Sokka had refrained from talking while eating.

"Sadly, I was advised not to." Kuei answered with a glum look. "It seems the crime rate in the fire nation has risen since the fall of Ozai, though I'm sure fire lord Zuko can find a way to bring it down again." he smiled encouragingly, though everyone could see the worried look in his eyes.

Sokka wiped his mouth along his sleeve before impaling another cumquat with a chopstick. He rested his forearm on the table in front of him and leaned forward towards the Avatar.

"So Aang...how did you know what was in the vile back at the south pole. You know, the one with the....dragon whiskey was it?" he asked turning towards Suki and waiting for a conformation nod.

But before Aang could answer a series of loud splutters came from the far end of the table. Everyone stared as Toph desperately tried to bring up the liquid she had just inhaled by accident. "Uuhhh...I'm going to take Toph to get a drink of water." said Aang and he quickly took her arm and led her out of the dining room.

He moved so quickly that Katara didn't have the chance to tell him that there was water on the table.

"So Kuei," said Katara, replacing the water jug back onto the table. "how long has Toph been working for you?"

"Oh master Katara please. She is more working with me than for me." he smiled, placing a dumpling delicately in his mouth.

There was a moments pause as everyone took a chance to digest some food. By the time everyone was done chewing, the conversation was ready to fire back up again.

"Toph tells me that you found yet another person in an iceberg? I hope its not another avatar." he chuckled and everyone felt obliged to join in.

"Actually, this time its just a normal person." said Suki from behind a napkin as she dabbed at her mouth. "Well, as regular as frozen fire benders come anyway."

"I see." the king looked genuinely interested now, and slowly put the bowl he was eating from down again before folding his hands on his lap. "And what is this icy-fire bender's name?"

"Tiao." the three of them spoke in near unison and the king looked up at them all.

"Tiao you say? Are you sure?" he adjusted his small glasses, his face now more serious than curious. He clicked his fingers and a servant waiting in standby near the door came over to him. Kuei whispered something to the boy and he took off through the door both he and Bosco had entered.

When he continued eating, everyone just assumed that it was nothing and ate through their lunch once more.

- - - -

- - - -

Aang held tight to Toph's forearm as they walked through the corridors. She had long sinced coughing now and was just going along with it. Though she had grown, so had Aang, and she found it a lot harder to push him around now that he had gone through his growth spurt.

They reached a door and Aang opened it up. He had been trying to lead them to a bathroom, but by the looks of all the clothes strewn across the floor, he had stumbled upon Toph's room.

Without hesitating, Toph walked through the mess, breaking free of the avatars hold, and walked over to a freshly laid basin. She took a drink and splashed her face before pretending to look at herself in the mirror in front of her. Aang wondered why the servants even bothered.

"What was that?" he asked sternly as she stopped trying to fix her hair. She walked over to her bed and sat on the edge, crossing her arms in an 'I-don't-care' manner.

He walked across the room towards a chair, picking up some of the clothes as he went.

"Don't do that twinkle-toes, my feet won't be able to find anything."

Aang dropped what he was carrying and sat in the chair , dragging it across to her. She didn't have to have eyes to know that he was staring right at her.

"Well, what are you doing tasting dragon whiskey anyway?!" she said after a passing silence between them, wildly throwing her arms up in the air and narrowly missing Aang's forehead. "I thought we took an oath never to touch that stuff ever again."

Toph let herself fall backwards so that she was now sprawled across her bed spread.

"I wasn't tasting it, I sniffed it. No body knew what it was and Tiao was giggling and falling down in the snow. I had to fill them in."

Toph knew he was taking about the girl he had found, so she needn't ask. Instead, she continued to stare blankly at the ceiling, her arms folded across her chest.

"I didn't know what it was until I took a whiff. If I did, I wouldn't of gone near it."

He waited for a response, but when none came he got out of the chair and headed for the door.

"Wait Aang."

The avatar stopped. Toph only used his real name when she was being serious. He turned and face to see her sitting on the edge of the bed again, staring at the floor. But as he waited, there was still no response.

"I'd get back soon, it would look odd if I came back and you didn't." With that he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, trying to ignore the silence still emitting form behind the door.

- - - -

- - - -

There was a loud clink as something metallic hit the ground. A figure bent down to pick it up, but through the blindfold she could for the life of her see who it was. She tried to curse them but her mouth wouldn't move. Only a angry mumble made it through her clenched teeth.

There was a strange pain going up and down the right side of her body, like it was being burnt continuously. She could see the blocked out figures against the flickering candlelight that was illuminating the room. One of them came close to her and grabbed her arm, undoing a strap which was the cause of her immobility.

She seized this opportunity and pushed the person away effectively gaining back the control of her left arm. She seized the piece of silk covering her eyes and yanked it off, ripping out strands of her hair as she did.

The room was small and dark, with a lone candle in the corner. There were people all around her, though they had retreated now that she had unbound one of her limbs. They were dressed in long red robs with large pointed hats. They were all men except for one woman who was dressed in brown and carried some metal tools.

She quickly yanked at the gag in her mouth but couldn't pull it free. The leather straps holding it in place were pulled tight and almost impossible to get a finger behind it.

Enraged, she shot a small blue fireball at her head, catching the strap alight along with a large tuft of ebony hair. She could smell burning flesh before one of the men threw a bucket of water over her, extinguishing the flame. Two more men rushed forward and held down her free arm as the woman in brown came over and stuck a small porcupine-boar quill under her skin.

Suddenly, the room was swaying and the candle fell dimmer as her eyelids closed. She fought to keep them open but her body was forcing her to shut down. She felt the pain in her side fade and the feeling in her limbs perish as she closed her eyes.

"Now do you understand how dangerous she is?" was all Azula heard before she blacked out.

- - - -

- - - -

Tiao parted two of her fingers to allow her to see what the man was doing now that he had seen her. But he had simply gone back to making tea, and she pulled her hand away, blushing for her profanity.

The old man took her cup and filled it up with some more of the jasmine-smelling tea. He held it out to her, smiling. "I'm sure you will enjoy it more now that you've rid yourself of that parka."

Tiao nodded and tried to take the cup. But she had feared the mans reaction and her hands were shaking. She fumbled with the small porcelain handle and the cup fell and smashed on the ground.

She looked up with wide eyes.

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to break it." her words seemed to fall out of her mouth as she tried to construct a coherent sentence. But the man smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. She felt a strange comfort from his contact and her shaking hands fell to the bench she was sitting on.

"No need to cry over spilt tea. Though, my back isn't what it used to be. Would you mind helping me clean up?"

Tiao thought she owed the guy. He had taken her in because of her dilemma and given her tea. What she had done in return was give him outdated money and break his tea cup. So she had no second thoughts about helping him clean up the mess, though he looked more agile than he let on.

She lifted a hand and took a deep breath. The old man took a seat near his brewing tea pots and watched with interest as her fingers splayed. The tea rose in a mound but fell to the ground again. Tiao took another deep breath and moved her hand in a figure-8 motion. The tea lifted off the ground and moved itself to an empty cup across the room.

Her fingers relaxed and and the man clapped enthusiastically. "I was certain that you were a bender. Your eyes have that certain glow about them. Though they are much brighter than a normal waterbender." he smiled and dug into the pocket of his robe and pulled out the small golden coins she had handed him earlier. "For the show." he winked

"My name is Iroh."

Tiao's hands went limp and the coins clattered on the ground. She hurriedly picked them up and stuffed them back into her bag before picking up her coat and folding it on her lap.

"Why didn't I listen to Aang." she said under her breath as Iroh waited for her to introduce herself.

Chapter 11

This is officially the longest story I've ever written :D

And for those who don't know, being ambidextrous means you can use your left and right hand as effectively as each other. I thought it was appropriate ^_^

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