Disclaimer: I really need an auto stamper that says I don't own Avatar.
A/N: Bad RPG type stuff in this one. (such as blacksmith and cooking skills)
The Inn's common room was mostly quiet that morning. Light chatter could be heard by people talking over their coffee, but it was all contained usually at their own tables. Aang sipped his own drink and leaned back in his chair. He cast a look over at his breakfast companion. The necromancer was also leaning back in his worn chair. Watching the quiet Inn as it slowly came to life. With the foot falls of Katara coming down the stairs, Aang knew that quiet wasn't about to last.
The priest made her way over to the bar to get some coffee of her own. Normally, you could count on serving maids, but it was pretty common practice in this area that the maids worked only from afternoon to night while the Inn keeper himself worked the mornings. It kept down the cost of the paying them while also giving the keeper a better chance to deal with their Inn. The group had found early on that Inns that followed the practice were often cleaner and had better service. When the keeper returned with the Katara's coffee, she took a drink and took a moment to compliment him on it before finally making her way over to their table.
"Have either of you guys seen Toph? She got up before the sun and took off," Katara said.
"Same for Sokka," Zuko informed.
"Did he say anything to you?" She asked.
"Nope, but Aang said he mentioned something about working on their blacksmith skills," Zuko answered.
She turned to Aang in hopes of a better explanation, but only got the shaman to nod at her.
"Let me get this straight. Since before dawn some time, they went over and have been working on some secret project together?"
She looked between the two of them, but only got more nods.
"Do either of you remember the last time we let the two of them cook?" Katara questioned with concern in her voice.
She was at least rewarded by a grimace from each of them.
"This is nothing like cooking though. Sokka forged his own sword. He has great blacksmith skills. Toph has her metal magic. Between the two of them, I'm sure they wont blow the place up," Aang pointed out.
Katara seemed to relax a bit in her chair and took a sip of her coffee.
"This is really good coffee."
Katara was acknowledged by two bobbing heads in agreement. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and shoved the cup away from her on the table. She turned to them and gave them each a stern look.
"We can't just leave the two of them alone. The last time they were left alone in a town together, they nearly caused a riot and we can't even show ourselves in that town again. Just think, if they do that here, we can't come back and stay here again. No more good coffee then."
Zuko and Aang both rose from their chairs. They drained the last of their cups before putting them back on the table with a tip. They made their way out the door with Katara following. The blacksmith shop was just down the way. Katara figured they had it handled and walked over to the bakery to grab some food for the rest of the day for the group. The duo made it to the door and knocked loudly before walking in. The pair stood in front of a work table that seemed to have nothing on it. They looked worried.
"Katara wanted to make sure you weren't going to cause another riot," Zuko bluntly said.
Toph waved a dismissive hand before saying, "I had an idea for new armor. Just suddenly, came to mind and I really wanted to test it out, but I needed someone used to working with various materials so I grabbed Sokka."
"What kind of armor is it?" Aang asked looking around.
"It is either the best armor or the very worst, I have not yet decided," Sokka answered.
Zuko raised one eyebrow as he said, "Are you guys already finished?"
"Yeah. Got it right here," Toph said with a gesture to the empty work table.
"Can I see it?" Aang asked.
Toph and Sokka both burst out laughing. Aang turned to Zuko silently questioning if he had said something wrong, but the necromancer just shrugged at him.
"Catch!" Toph shouted and grabbed something off the table and threw it at Aang.
Aang couldn't see what she grabbed and threw, but he was accustomed to being told catch so he automatically held his hands out. He had never been so glad that it was a natural reaction, because his hands grabbed on to something very solid, but his eyes told him there was nothing there. He tilted his head to the side as he ran one hand over the armor and felt it shift between hands. His eyes still trying to puzzle the fact that he couldn't actually see it. According to his hands, it seemed like some sort of ringed chest armor. His ears could hear the light clinking of the rings as he jiggled the thing. He turned to Zuko and found the man staring with wide eyes at the empty space between Aang's hands. He handed it to him and let him feel it. Aang walked over to Sokka and Toph.
"That is totally amazing. It feels like chain mail, but doesn't look like anything. What are your plans for it?" Aang questioned.
"Mass market and sales of course," Sokka answered.
"It will be the emperor's clothes all over," Zuko said still shifting the arm through his hands.
"The difference is that we wont be swindling the people, we will be actually selling the armor," Toph pointed out.
"Who is going to buy invisible armor?" Zuko questioned.
Sokka looked downcast and he bet that was what they had probably been talking about for the better part of the morning. Zuko could tell from the structure under his hands that it was finely crafted and probably much better then the chain mail Sokka was currently wearing, but when you couldn't actually show it to anyone it made things a lot more difficult.
"It's a shame that you can't see it," Zuko said.
"I got it! I know our market!" Toph said excitedly.
All eyes turned to her and she grabbed it from Zuko's hands.
"Its Blind Armor already, makes sense that it be for blind people. They would have to feel it any ways," Toph pointed out.
They stared at her, but Aang questioned, "Blind armor?"
"Yeah, Toph's brilliant idea was to cast magic on it so that it would stop the blinding effect that monsters have. Just turns out that it makes the armor go fully invisible in the process," Sokka explained.
Zuko gave her a pat on the head before heading back to the door where he said, "Only you, Toph. Only you."
FN: Prompt: Selling invisible armor (#12 of 50)