Well, I was waiting to hear some opinions about the previous interlude before posting the new chapter, just to have an idea about what you guys think, but The Amber Dragonfly (beautiful alias, by the way) just send me a beautiful piece of fan art and I have to share it. It's the foot smooching scene. Look at his eyes!
http: / / theamberdragonfly dot deviantart dot com / art / Taang-AMoH-Can-You-See-Me-96320946
(copy, paste and delete the spaces or just click on my profile and clink on the links)
I guess I will have to go forward with this without that much feedback. It's OK, I started writing this because it's fun for me and I don't believe in holding back chapters for ransom.
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XVI. The Opening of the Contest
Toph woke up against her will. She had been having really blissful dreams of giant playgrounds full of rocks, with attorneys dressed in aprons running around trying to avoid being crushed by boulders while at the same time serving her fire whiskey. For each drop spilled, a boulder would be shot. "Run, bloodsuckers, run!" she cried happily and then a figure appeared. A man was in the middle of the playground, hovering above the ground, irradiating goodness and warmth, filling the place.
"Toph" the man said in an otherworldly voice "Stop torturing attorneys. You need to forgive, Toph, forgive and be good."
"Shut it, Twinkle Toes!" She said to the man in the dream, throwing a boulder at him. "Why don't you come down and be bad with me instead?"
Toph opened her eyes with a sudden start. She was lying on her bed, on her side. She could feel him wrapped around her like a warm blanket, his firebending now second nature enough to allow him to adjust his body temperature automatically. She understood the complete addiction Katara seemed to have for her own firebender. You can get very spoiled with blankety firebenders at your disposal. She moved her hand behind her and touched him. He was dressed, completely dressed. She was dressed too and she didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. Her feet were naked though. The memories came back and she felt her face turning magenta, deep crimson for the feel of it. Whatever conversations Twinkle Toes had been having with Sparky, the results were just too good. She never knew that her feet would get her into so much trouble, especially when they were usually the ones getting her out of trouble. Also, Twinkle Toes curiosity had been an interesting sight to behold. Well, she couldn't see but the gist of the expression was there. Between the monks' disinformation, Katara's aloofness and the hormones, the modest monk had been keeping all these things inside that suddenly came to the surface and got him behaving very un-monkish. He seemed fascinated by the shape of her body, and for once the euphemistic "blossoming" felt right. At least, he made her feel right, like if she was made of egg custard tarts. Toph moved a bit, adjusting her body to his and closed her eyes again.
"You are awake, Sifu T." He said on her ear, and she wondered how long had he been awake.
"You're too." She mumbled, refusing to move or to open her eyes. He started making circles on her back with the tip of his fingers. She arched her back and thought that if he made a move for her feet she was lost. His fingers looked for her face, found her chin and softly turned her face toward him. Her eyes were already closed when he kissed her again. Not that it made much difference to her, being blind and all. He removed his face from hers and said in the same whisper:
"I need to go. The heads of state are probably already in session trying to figure out your Contest."
She didn't want him to go. Actually, she didn't want him to stay for that matter, but right now that did not make much of a difference. She turned her body completely toward him knowing perfectly well that that would bring attention to her lips. The silly monk did not take the bait.
"I need to go." He repeated, grazing her forehead with his lips. "I'll see you later at the assembly, OK?"
She still did not want him to go, but did not want to say it. She arched her back again, stretching, and the shape of her body with all its curves came into full view, or at least she hoped that it did. The monk stopped with the farewells, obviously at a loss for words. Toph thought that the seducer role was a rather easy one when dealing with teenagers repressed by religion.
"I need to go" he insisted, but his heart was not in his answer, as evidenced by the hands that suddenly grabbed her waist. She smiled, more like a smirk really. He noticed and let her go. "I'm leaving" he announced to the universe, kissing her forehead again and removing his warm body, trying to leave the bed. She had a second to think what to do next to keep him there, and then she acted, purely on instinct. She moved fast and grabbed his ears, both of them, with her fingers. He stopped.
"Let me go, Sifu T." He requested with a scolding tone. She caressed his ears instead. He made a small sound, almost like a whimper. "Please?" he asked with a tiny little voice. She shook her head and caressed his ears again with open-finger caresses that moved firmly, tenderly and possessively. "Stop this … right now …" he moaned and suddenly jumped on top of her blanketing her body with his and kissing her with open mouth kisses. "Forget it!" He groaned. "Don't stop now, please don't let me go." She smirked again.
0o0o0o0o0o
Aang left not much longer after the ear-shattering discovery. Toph stayed in her bed, dressed but with the weird feeling that she wouldn't mind being undressed, particularly by a shy little monk capable somehow of setting everything on fire while keeping things chaste (for the most part). If that wasn't sexy, she did not know anything about shabby romance literature. She waited for someone to show up. Maybe Katara or even Suki. She then remembered that as far as she understood the events of the previous night, her friends would not be showing up. They would be like her: trying to keep blankety companions from leaving. She wondered who would be the most successful and if it would be in bad taste to compare notes. Her first reaction was to think that Katara was probably the winner, taking into account that her firebender had been exiled in frigid Mailand and that the poor guy was probably owed an official pardon. She then remembered her own situation and the Contest, and the fact that technically, she would be comparing notes about her friend's fiancée-on-hold with such aforementioned friend. If that wasn't the definition of bad taste, she did not know what it was.
"Darn" she muttered when it dawn upon her that she would be getting dressed by herself. "I won't be looking good today."
0o0o0o0o0o0
Toph tried to find the great hall to no avail. She wandered aimlessly around corridors when a voice that she liked said:
"Toph!" Bless the Spirits! Suki! "What happened to you?" the warrior asked bluntly. Toph shrugged her shoulders.
"I had to dress myself" she offered as an explanation. Suki came closer and spoke in a low voice.
"Katara was detained?" Toph shrugged. "I assumed when I saw you in your own room last night that you had to run for cover." Toph assented. "Wow!" Suki mumbled, wistfully. "Those firebenders like don't get tired or anything. They are like super firebenders."
Toph nodded. Suki turned and talked to the people that were with her, obviously the other warriors.
"Girls, go to the Hall. I'll be there in a minute." Suki grabbed her hand and started walking in the opposite direction. "Let's get you fixed up a little; we don't want you to scare people."
Toph let herself be led. When they got to her room, Suki was fast and efficient, like a good captain.
"So, Toph." Suki asked suddenly while brushing her hair back from her face. "Are you going to do the favor I asked you?" Toph was at loss. "With Sokka" Suki added impatiently.
Toph jaw dropped.
"Were you serious last night?" She asked, unbelieving it.
"Absolutely. He needs to work out some issues but he's too much of a wuss to do it on his own. He needs some encouragement."
Toph didn't know if to feel offended or flattered.
"You want me to seduce your boyfriend to help him figure out that he only wants you?" She asked slowly. "Why on earth would you choose me, when yesterday you were pondering about me liking boys at all? Why not someone more girly? Ty Lee always had a soft spot for Sokka."
Suki was tying her hair up. It had grown long during the last couple of years.
"Because I trust you, and I don't trust any of my trampy warriors. They've been tarting around for far too long, you on the other hand have only been hussying during the last couple of days."
Toph brought her hands to her heart.
"You really know how to make a girl feel special." She mumbled.
Suki was very matter of fact.
"I'm serious. You have no idea what peace has done to my island. There are no enemies, nothing to defend the island from, and it has been a real problem to keep discipline within a bunch of women with too much time on their hands. Right now, their only entertainment is the Code." Toph had no idea what Suki was talking about. "I should have buried that scroll when it was given to me by my predecessor." Suki added exasperated, still on a roll. "Take Ty Lee for example. When she first joined the Kyoshi warriors I was thrilled with her total commitment to learn our customs." Suki was now fixing her clothes. "Then I found out that the woman took the Code at heart and there is no rock left unturned in the entire island." Toph kept quiet, still confused, waiting for the warrior to make sense. "I'm not only talking about the other warrior girls, that's kind of expected you know, the experimentation. And she is so good at it, I mean with the acrobatics and the chi knowledge, but now she has become the official right of passage in the island." Toph was now playing with her sash, spacing out from Suki's ramblings. "There is such thing as too much enthusiasm. Why do you think I brought almost all of them to the South Pole? To see if the cold calms them down." Suki then noticed Toph uncharacteristic lack of reaction. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" She asked. Toph shook her head.
"Something about Ty Lee being very good at following the Kyoshi Code."
Suki tapped her shoulder with her fan.
"Well, if you may know, our Avatar believed that a happy, satisfied warrior would fight twice as hard." Toph assented distracted. "And she wrote a Code about it." Suki concluded. She then added, to help Toph understand. "Emphasis on satisfaction." Toph suddenly gasped in horror. Her brain rebelled, screaming, against the idea of Kyoshi-the-sexy-kitten-Avatar. Suki kept talking, ill humored. "It's a problem keeping moral authority in an island when your warriors are running around making the Code public." Right now, Toph did not want to know about the Kyoshi Code of (mis)Conduct.
"Suki," she said, quoting Aang talking about airbenders, "there is a reason why the way of the Kyoshi are a mystery to everyone. There is such thing as too much information."
"You're right." Suki said with a sigh. "The point is," Suki finished with her dress. "I wouldn't trust Ty Lee with Sokka for five seconds. That woman knows too much. I may not get him back."
Toph could understand Suki's point of view.
"She knows too much and I know too little." She accepted. "I see your point. I still don't like to be branded the new tart of the Avatar team. I thought Katara had that cornered."
"You are half way there." Suki said logically. "You managed to achieve in twenty four hours what took Katara four years. You may not like it, but you're good. And besides, Sokka is not your brother. You're the obvious choice, you are our friend and you're loyal. You won't let me down."
"Suki I'm not sure you realize this, being as you are biased, but this secret 'Sokka Mission' you want to send me on, SUCKS. Big time."
"Is not that bad." The warrior was almost imploring now. "You just need to keep him from swallowing you, though; he gets very enthusiastic with his …"
"STOP! Right now. I can't hear this. I'll think about it, but no details, please." Toph breathed deeply. "If I decide to try to help, I'll do it my way, OK? My way, my terms, on my own time."
Suki sighed.
"Please," she said putting her hands on Toph shoulders. "Think about it. And when you do, remember that you're holding my heart in your hands."
Toph raised an eyebrow.
"That was the lowliest moral blackmail I've gotten in my lifetime." She told her friend. Suki had the decency to sound ashamed.
"I'm a warrior." She shrugged. "I'm trained to use every weapon in my arsenal."
0o0o0o0o0
When they got to the hall, it was already bursting with activity and life. Toph could hear voices coming from everywhere, but as usual she only looked for the ones she cared about. Suki was guiding her, holding her elbow.
"There is Iroh, and Hakoda, and to your left Gran-Gran and Master Pakku. That guy doesn't leave her alone for one minute. Incredible. Ah, and here comes Aang." Her heart raced. Like a bunny-squirrel. Like a hysterical bunny-squirrel.
"Good morning, Toph." He said serenely. He seemed very poised. Not his usual bubbling-self, oblivious to his effect on the people around him, jumping around or talking happily about minutia. She bowed her head in acknowledgment.
"Good morning, Aang." She answered, with the same evenness. Not her usual acerbic self, all nicknames and verbal jabs. They stayed there, feeling the presence of each other. It was then that Toph realized with certainty that you couldn't just play games at night with impunity. Whatever they were doing was not being erased, like before, just by playing innocent. The bond was growing like a vine, wrapping them with secrets.
Sokka's arrival broke the silence.
"Suki!" he sounded happy and carefree, embracing his girlfriend and kissing her affectionately. Toph and Aang standoffishness went completely unnoticed. "Where were you? You missed having breakfast with dad and me!" He turned to the other two. "Hi guys. Aang, there were some women out there chanting for you. They expect you to make an appearance or something."
"It's not the right moment for this." He sounded mildly panicky.
"I tried to send Zuko in your place but no one seems to know where the Crown Prince is hiding. He's not going to be able to pull things like that when he becomes Fire Lord. Just go and wave or something. That should calm them down."
Suki giggled.
"Be careful with what they throw at you." Suki said.
Toph turned to leave, when she felt Aang's fingers brushing hers tentatively, and then he removed his hand quickly.
"Sokka, I really don't want…" he started, but then stopped. She realized that he had stopped because she had stayed. That was confusing. Since when was dealing with Twinkle Toes confusing? She turned to leave again and he started talking at the same time "… don't want to do that. It's really uncomfortable…" he was saying and she felt the fingers touching hers briefly again. She stopped once more and he stopped talking. She turned to leave. "… those girls can make Fire Lord Iroh blush …" and felt the fingers again. A thought briefly crossed her mind of doing this a couple times more until he finished the sentence, but she was not interested in the conversation.
"QUIT IT!" She yelled at him. Aang jumped on his place, spooked. She could feel Sokka looking at her with dread.
"Toph," he said stepping back. "Are you OK?" She heard him mumbling to Suki "Call for reinforcements. Ask Iroh if he brought some of Azula's medication with him."
She raised her hand. The last thing she needed were Azula happy pills. Rumor had it that whatever concoction Iroh had been feeding Azula had her saying 'please' to people and uttering words like (gasp!) contrition. She could understand neutralizing a source of evil, but making wicked fun malevolence say thank you to the hired help was just wrong.
"I'm OK." She said with an even voice. "I'm not going to flip or anything today, I promise."
Sokka was still standing behind Suki.
"Toph, we talked about your cool factor before…" he started and then exclaimed, relieved "Zuko! My friend Zuko, you're here!" Sokka practically ran to the firebenber's arms. It was really hard for the Fire Prince to keep his dignity with friends like his around. "Come with me, some people want to see you." Sokka dragged Zuko away.
Suki coughed politely.
"Are you OK, Toph?" She asked. "Because Aang was just talking. He didn't mean anything negative about Iroh."
Toph wondered how could Suki get it so wrong, when she was usually very sharp.
"I'm sorry Twinkle Toes." She said politely, lowering her head. "For yelling at you."
Suki was dumbfounded.
"I need to find Sokka." She said hurriedly. "I need to tell him that you just apologized. He owes me money!" The warrior ran, calling her boyfriend.
"Make up your mind, T.T." Toph told him straightforwardly, her hands on her hips. "But stop it with the confusing signals."
"I can't stop it with the confusion, you know that." He answered in an accusatory tone.
She raised her chin.
"Keep talking to me like that and no more ear rubbing for you." She threatened, lowering her voice.
He lowered his voice too.
"Keep yelling at me and no more foot massages for you." He warned back. She gasped.
"That's so low." She mumbled, shaking her head, capitulating. "Holding foot massages hostage. This is no way to treat your dirty little secret. I may not want to play dirty anymore."
He feigned arrogance, a hidden layer of mirth under his tone.
"Please, like that's going to happen…" he started when a known, sweet voice said:
"What's going to happen?" Katara. Katara's voice and Aang's horror. Toph actually felt sorry for Aang, hearing him hyperventilating next to her.
"Katara" he mumbled, and Toph could not see his face but she could hear his blood rushing like a wild river. She had completely forgotten that Aang was fully convinced that he was cheating on his faithful, innocent, spaced out fiancée. Her heart cringed hearing him coughing and choking on his own guilt. "Didn't see you this morning." He was saying, and Katara was silent, probably looking at him intensely and then at Toph, who was completely serene, in "visiting-my-parents" mode, with her hands demurely clasped at her back.
"I didn't see you either." Katara said softly. "Aang, I need to talk to Toph, do you mind?"
He coughed again.
"Not at all. Actually, I need to go help Zuko with some people that wanted to see us. Bye!" Aang ran away.
Katara tapped her chin.
"He turned magenta." She said almost to herself. "Toph, by any chance, have you done any more research lately?"
"In what time?" Not a single muscle in her face betrayed her. "You've been with me almost all the time. Except, of course, when you were with Sparky. Doing your own research."
Katara was impressed.
"Wow, Toph." She said "You must have been really good with that single little kiss the other night. He was asphyxiating on remorse."
Toph shrugged.
"You always underestimated me." She answered. "So, what's up? You wanted to talk to me."
"I've a favor to ask."
"Oh no, not another favor." She groaned. Katara was not discouraged.
"This one is important." She said ominously. "After the meeting, I'm going to break up with Aang, and I need you to be there for him."
Toph had the decency to lower her head like she was looking at her shoes or something.
"You're going to break his heart." She said honestly, because regardless of how good it may feel, you just don't erase almost five years of infatuation with some ear rubbing. You could try, though.
Katara sighed.
"I know. But I need to do it. Better breaking his heart this way than by him finding out what's going on." Toph nodded in understanding.
"What about Sparky? Is he going to break up with Sunshine?"
Katara shrugged.
"I'm not doing this because we're eloping of anything like that. Is not a joint decision, it's my decision."
Toph tilted her head in understanding.
"He hasn't told you that he loves you, has he?" She asked, and even though she was not trying to hurt Katara she felt her flinch, like she had been slapped.
"No." Katara said, sadly. "He hasn't." Toph grabbed her hand.
"Sparky is emotionally challenged, Sweetness." She said. "Most of the time he can't handle his feelings, let's not even talk about articulating them. He either snuffs them out through meditation or conveys them by yelling or burning something. He expresses them, he doesn't talk about them. That's just the way he is."
Toph fought with all her heart against her own 'never tell secrets' code. She hated sensing Katara's doubts, specially when she knew that if there was a trade on obsessive love out there, Sparky was holding the monopoly. But breaching confidences was against the code of blind bystanders. Well, true, she was making that one up, no such code existed, but in earnest, it was against her understanding of friendship to cross boundaries that needed to be breached by the people involved, not by the people on the sidelines. She could try to help, though.
"I'll keep Aang company." Toph promised. "I may even kiss him again just to help both of you, of course, with the, you know, getting over the pain thing, but I need you to promise me something in return."
"What?"
"Give Sparky a chance. Don't go moony on him just because he doesn't say what you want to hear, when you want to hear it." Katara sighed.
"I'll give Sparky all the chances." She said. "I just hope that he does the same, and gives us a chance."
"He still believes in the tree?" She heard Katara shrugging.
"He still believes in his honor, and stealing girlfriends from friends is not honorable."
"So, no monkey philosophy for you?"
"No, I'm letting go of Aang without holding onto anything else."
"You're not, like, hanging with teeth and nails to the other branch?"
"I'm not."
"You're such a liar."
"I know."
Toph then felt Katara doing the shivering thing. That quiver that would travel to the floor and make other people shudder, not knowing why.
"Hello Champ." Zuko said. Not that Toph had any doubts regarding the nature of their relationship, actually by now she was probably scarred or titillated for life, hard to say, but any lingering hesitation got obliterated by the smell. They smelled exactly the same. Same soap, same angst, same happiness, same … determination? "Tara, Gran-Gran is looking for you. The assembly is going to start soon." He leaned closer to her friend's ear, but Toph could still hear him. "You look beautiful." Toph heard Katara brushing against him and realized that they were probably lacing their fingers together, briefly.
"Later?" Katara asked.
"Later." He confirmed. Katara walked away. He stood there, probably looking at her walking away.
"So." Toph asked bluntly. "Are you breaking up with your own fiancée?"
He sounded surprised.
"Fiancée? You mean Mai?"
"Yeah, I mean the future Fire Lady, as such thing is believed all over the Fire Nation."
She heard him shaking his head.
"I'm not engaged to Mai. Where did you hear that?"
"You may not be engaged to her, but word on the street is that she's engaged to you."
"But how? I thought engagements included marriage proposals!" He was starting to sound slightly panicky now.
"The question is, How did you manage to get her to take you back? After dumping her twice under," she plucked the air making quotation marks, "less than fortunate circumstances?"
"I asked for forgiveness, reminded her that we always managed to have a good time together and then I said that we may be able to do so for the rest of our lives."
"To do what?"
"To be friends, to have good times together."
"Sparky, for being such an intelligent, educated man, you're truly rubbish at romance. I mean, total rubbish."
"What did I do?"
"You gave hope to a very hopeless person. Do you know what hopeless people do with hope? They run with it! Sparky, you need to write another letter."
"Oh no, not another letter. Last time I listened to you I had to get protective detail after coming back to the Fire Nation. She was waiting for me behind every corner, I swear. I even found knives in my morning jook. I had to run away and hide with Lee for a month! I'm not listening to you again!"
Toph crossed her arms.
"So, what are you planning to do? Wait to get back to the Fire Nation to break up with her?"
"In an ideal world, yes. I'll face her directly and break up with her like an honorable man would."
"And what are you going to do with Sweetness? Leave her here with a broken heart?"
"I'm not leaving Katara. Ever. Not here, not anywhere else. Wherever I go, she goes with me."
"In summary, let me see if I got all of this right: You think is a good idea to stay in the South Pole cavorting with Sugar Queen while back home you have an involuntarily acquired spooky fiancée who is probably sending wedding invitations right now? And then, you want to go back to the Fire Nation, with Sugar Cakes on tow, and break up in person, after letting such Fiancée run around for a month buying her trousseau?" Toph breathed deeply, before adding "I may not be crazy about Sunshine, but even I cannot come up with a more humiliating scenario."
Sparky shuffled on his feet.
"You make it sound really bad." He sounded deeply confused. "What else is new?" the hag asked.
"It's that bad. Besides, you need to tell Katara about the accidental engagement. I can't believe that happened. Don't you guys do like other nations and give some engagement token or something?"
"Well, I did gave Mai a ring that used to belong to my mother as a reconciliation gift, but not as an engagement ring!"
"You gave her a ring?? And mentioned the rest of your lives as a possibility??"
"I was about to embark for the South Pole to attend Aang's and Katara's wedding, what else do you want from me?"
"You know what's really scary? That you are going to be Fire Lord in less than a year. Think about that: the world in your hands and Twinkle Toes. Wow, I cannot move to another planet, so I wonder if they do tourist packages to the Spirit World."
Sparky was starting to get angry.
"OK, I may have made a mistake. What do you want me to do? It's not honorable to do what you're asking. I mean, again."
Toph thought about it for a moment.
"Maybe we can let Mai down gently, like letting her know little by little what's coming. That way, when you get home with your Waterbender on tow she's prepared."
He, with good reason, was deeply distrustful of the plan.
"What do you mean by 'little by little'?"
She made a gesture with her hand.
"Sparky, leave the logistics to me. I promise, you won't be disappointed. Anyway, you just said that you will face her when you come home, not before, so whatever I may be thinking won't affect your plans." She turned, trying to place something or someone on the hall. "I need a fireguy, where are Yin's men? Need to talk to them."
Zuko was not giving in that easy.
"Toph, I warn you, another singing courier and you will ask to go to Ba Sing Se voluntarily." That was becoming like everyone's favorite threat lately. She shrugged, her face a mask of innocence. He sighed. "Yin and his men are on a corner, chatting up Kyoshi warriors. I'll walk you to them."
Toph remembered Suki's concerns.
"Are your men still under the rules of the Agni Code of behaving properly and soberly at all times?"
"Yes, you know that."
"Just checking."
Zuko grabbed her elbow and walked her to Yin. All the soldiers saluted and Zuko bowed and left. Toph turned to Yin.
"Captain, I need someone I can trust to dictate and then send a letter."
"Of course, Master. To whom?"
"Noblewoman Mai, on the Fire Nation."
She felt Yin's apprehension.
"It's going to be hard to find a volunteer, Master."
"It's OK, it won't be delivered in person. It will go by messenger hawk. Also, it will be an anonymous message, no names will be attached to it."
"What about the bird?" Yin asked. Toph was moved. Yin was a decent guy to the end.
"Let's get the meanest and fastest hawk. One that it's trained to deliver the message, bite the recipient and then flee. Do we have something like that?"
"Yes. It's called El Tuerto. That's foreign for One Eye. It has an eye-patch."
"Sounds like the bird we need. So, what about the letter?"
"I'll personally write it for you. I won't risk any of my men on this mission. After Chin and Lee, the morale of the group is getting low." He did not say it, but Toph had the impression that helping her was decimating Yin's men faster than Sozin's war. She decided against bringing that up.
"Ok, this is the message: Dear Mai: Rule number one of the Girly Code: once you throw something in the garbage never, ever, pick it up again. Signed, The Blind Bandit."
Toph had no problem using her old alias. Mai had never been interested enough in Zuko's friends to actually find out about their hobbies. She tolerated them, particularly Aang because he was the Avatar, Toph because her family was richer than Mai's, and Suki, because Ty Lee was totally into Kyoshis. That pretty much left Katara and Sokka as the ones that Mai would barely acknowledge. She seemed to find them lacking somehow, and Toph resented her snobbishness. To the point that she drafted and entire plan of attack in her brain to start sending anonymous messages to Mai to ease her gently into the fact that her boyfriend will be dumping her aristocratic butt for a Water Tribe babe. (YEAH!!)
"This will be the first of a series of messages, Yin. Once El Tuerto is back, we will send another."
Yin saluted and said in a low voice.
"Consider it done, Master. I'm sending it immediately."
Someone then grabbed her elbow. She knew those fingers and the smell of saffron, sandalwood and summer breeze. She tried to hide her smile while the fingers dragged her away, after briefly saluting Yin. He took her to a corridor or something outside the hall.
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"Some place we can talk in private." Aang said, resolution on his voice. She then said, helpfully.
"Try a closet." That was obviously a new possibility for Aang, because in a second she found herself in a confined space, with him.
"Toph." Aang started, his voice all purpose and resolve. "I cannot do this to Katara. It's not honorable. We need to stop seeing each other."
Toph felt a mix of tenderness, pity and annoyance at his words.
"OK." She said shrugging her shoulders. "I can't see you anyway, I'm blind." He stood there, at a loss for words.
"That's it?" He asked, and there was surprise and anger in his voice.
"What else do you want me to say? You're, I believe, breaking up with me."
She heard him opening and closing his fingers on his staff, debating between the right thing to do and the really confusing thing that he wanted to do. She decided to help. She started caressing one of his ears.
"Stop that." He said, without meaning it.
"That thing with my feet last night, how long have you been thinking about stuff like that?" She asked. His voice was tiny.
"A long time." She grabbed his other ear for leverage and pulled his face to hers to kiss him. That was it for the monk. He let go of the staff and grabbed her instead. When she broke up the kiss, he leaned his forehead against hers. "I've all these thoughts going on in my head, and it's getting worse by the minute. My imagination is killing me. And then, you …" he stopped for a moment and decided to say it anyway "you like me. And I like you. And when we kiss, I can feel you responding to me, and I respond to you and I don't want it to stop."
She felt so sad for him, and was surprised by the fact that she was starting to care more about his feelings and confusions than hers.
"How can something that feels so good be wrong?" He asked to himself. "Is not honorable." He insisted. She tried to help, without breaking the code of secrets.
"Twinkle Toes, if you are really planning to repopulate the temples with airbenders and reinstate the ways of the monks, you cannot afford monogamy." He sighed deeply.
"I'm afraid of that." He confessed. "I'm afraid of facing the fact that I may be a monogamous person. My imagination focuses on one thing, and once I'm set on something it's like I cannot conceive anything else."
She kept caressing his ear.
"That's what makes you an energybender. You cannot bend energy unless you're unbendable yourself. You see, T.T., you being stubborn is your more annoying but most effective trait. If it wasn't because of it, you would not have been able to overcome Ozai and bend his energy."
He kept leaning against her.
"That's the point" He said. "I may not be that unbendable. Lately, I've been focusing on something else. Someone else."
'KNOCK-KNOCK!"
Someone knocked on the closet door impatiently. Aang jumped so high that he hit his head against the ceiling. The inconvenience of being an airbender. Toph opened the door perfectly calm.
"Yes?" She asked serenely. She heard chewing.
"What are you guys doing inside a closet?" Sokka asked, his mouth full.
"Is this a closet?" Toph asked surprised, and a little scandalized. "I'm blind, I had no idea we were in a closet." She turned to Aang. "Twinkle Toes, what are we doing in a closet?"
She heard him rubbing the top of his head.
"We are … hiding?" He said. She heard Sokka nodding.
"Those fan girls really are annoying, ah?" He was still chewing. Aang recovered his composure.
"Sokka, don't let Zuko see you doing that. How many times has he told you about eating and talking?"
"I know, I know. By the way, everyone is looking for you, Toph. We cannot start unless the object of the Contest is in the Hall."
Toph stepped outside the closet.
"Of course." She said graciously, grabbing Aang's arm as a guide. 'Let's go." They started walking towards the hall. The hag on the back of her head started talking. "Not even three days and you got the monk cheating, lying and doing closets. Get him to steal and he may be the love of your life".
0o0o0o0o0o0o00o
"Chief Hakoda of the Now Unified Southern Water Tribes opens the Sixth Session of the General Assembly of the First Official Peace Summit since the End of the One Hundred Year Old War Started by the Fire Nation. The First Order of Things is the Official Opening of the Contest of the Frosts, requested by Kuei, the 52nd Earth King, henceforth referred to as the Earth King, for the hand of Great Master Extraordinaire Toph Bei Fong, First Daughter of the Bei Fong Vassals from the Earth Kingdom Vassal State of Gaoling, henceforth referred to as GM."
Toph was sitting demurely in the middle of what Sokka kept calling her retinue. She had Suki and Katara at either side, and behind her a contingent made up of Aang, Zuko, Sokka, the Pebble, the Hippo, Ty Lee, Captain Yin, Corporal Chin, who had been coaxed out of hiding by a (weirdly) smiling Zuko, Haru, Teo (whose open holding hands had Sokka muttering under breath about the end of the world), the Kyoshi Warriors and Yin's men, all of which were suspiciously intermingled. Somehow, someone had rescued Momo out of the stables, and the winged lemur was wrapped around Zuko. The challenges to the Fire Prince's dignity were becoming more and more of an issue with each passing day in the company of the Avatar's team.
Bato the Herald kept reading.
"The Opening of the Contest of the Frosts starts with the official introduction of the suitors that will be competing for GM's hand. The first suitor, and the one to call on the challenge, is the Earth King. The second…" a polite cough interrupted Bato. By now the Herald was so used to being interrupted that he took it for granted. He stopped reading immediately. The voice of Lu Shi could be heard in the Hall.
"The Earth King will be represented by a champion in the Contest" said Lu Shi. Whispers, exclamations and voices could be heard in the Hall. Chief Hakoda, the representation of Water Tribe dignity (and hawtness, said Suki below breath on Toph's ear), stepped forward.
"This is unheard of!" Hakoda said, with indignation. "The challenger won't fight for the maiden himself?"
Lu Shi was both efficient and unemotional.
"The person of the Earth King is sacred. He is the representation on earth of the divinity of the Earth Kingdom and his life cannot be risked in primitive Contests." The word primitive went really well with the Water Tribes, Toph could feel it. She wished for Hama to hear that pretty clearly, while at the same time feeling like a firebender again, so angry that she was like a fire nation boiler about to explode. "The Earth King invokes the right to a Champion."
"Kuei!" She called from her side, not caring about anyone around her trying to shut her up. "You cannot even fight your own fights? What kind of a wimp are you?" She was surprised that no one tried to shut her up. Her righteous anger was shared by all, obviously.
"I'm not a wimp." Kuei said coldly. "I play to win."
Toph fumed.
"Bastard." She mumbled to her friends. "He knows that even foam guy can beat him, that's the reason why he's doing this. He may be a moron, but he's not stupid."
Chief Hakoda was still offended.
"The right to a Champion? We have no precedent for this!"
"You do." Lu Shi said. "The Dragon Gods chose a mortal to champion the Spirit of the Sun when he was a prisoner of La. And even if that precedent does not apply, there is nothing in the rules prohibiting it, so it is by default, allowed. The Earth King has the right to a Champion."
Master Pakku took a step forward.
"Who is the Champion?"
"The Earth King calls on Avatar Aang, the Last Airbender, to be his Champion!" Lu Shi exclaimed triumphantly. The entire hall came down on an uproar. Aang jumped so fast that even Toph had no time to sense him. He flew to the middle of the hall, and she could see him with her mind's eye, branding the staff and pointing it accusatorily at Kuei.
"I WILL NEVER BE YOUR CHAMPION!" He yelled at the Earth King.
"You cannot refuse, Avatar!" said Lu Shi, stepping forward. "It's your duty to protect and uphold the Earth King's rights, by E.K. 345 you are under a covenant!"
"I DON'T RECOGNIZE ANY COVENANTS WITH YOU! And even if there are Covenants, I'll bet that NOTHING is written about Championing the Earth King on Contests to abuse maidens!" Aang tapped the ice with the staff with so much strength that Toph heard a crack. "Hear me Kuei, and hear me clearly, Toph Bei Fong will NEVER belong to you through me."
"Be careful about your words, Avatar." Lu Shi said. "You may regret breaking ancient covenants that are stronger than you or me!"
"I'll break every covenant that forces me to do this!" His voice was controlled and potent, like his power, which Toph could feel was unraveling in the middle of the room.
She heard the crack again, followed by several smaller cracks, like rushing of feet towards her and suddenly she realized that the ice was cracking. Around her, and only around her. Toph felt it breaking under her, under the bamboo mats that were covering the floor. She stood up in alarm.
"Toph, what's happening?" She heard Katara and then a gasp. The bamboo splintered and she felt fingers made of water grabbing her ankles, which then started dragging her down.
"KATARA!!" She yelled, and felt searing pain while a fireball singed her boots and skin, steaming the water fingers away.
"KATARA, GET TOPH!" Zuko yelled, jumping like a cat next to her. She tried to recoil on her hands and feet, but the ice kept breaking around her and what felt like a thousand iced water fingers kept trying to grab her.
"SWEETN…" Toph tried to scream but iced water ropes enveloped her, covering her mouth. She felt the searing pain of the freezing water choking her senses while she was being dragged to the bottom. She fought for her life and her freedom, against the cold, the fingers and the water, afraid as she had never been before. She could hear Zuko and Katara yelling, she could feel Sokka and Suki hands trying to get hold of her, waterbenders bending the water away while firebenders were trying to steam the water away. She heard a roar and a gust of wind seemed to hit her from under the water and she felt a massive wave bringing her up to the surface. She fell over bamboo, with a painful slam, in a muddle of water, gasping for air. She felt it immediately. The ice was cracking again. Aang was yelling at Sokka.
"Sokka, catch it!" She heard Aang throwing something at Sokka and she knew it to be Appa's whistle. She knew it was that because that was what she would have done. She could feel Katara, Zuko and Aang bending around her like there was no tomorrow.
"I can't hold the water, Aang!" Katara was yelling "It's too powerful!!"
"I know!!" He answered, while she heard Zuko screaming.
"Uncle! Behind you! The Water!" She realized that the water was not only after her now, it was attacking everybody, the entire hall.
"Pakku!!" Iroh's voice was as powerful as the bender himself "HERE!! WE NEED TO EVACUATE THE HALL!!"
Suki was grabbing her arms, while the water fingers were trying to grab her ankles again.
"Toph, we need to run!"
"NO SUKI! While I'm on ice, everyone is at risk! YOU RUN, NOW!!"
Toph pushed Suki away from her, brazed herself and stood up on the ice, letting the iced water fingers grab her legs. Before they could drag her away again, though, a blast of fire steamed the fingers and someone grabbed her by the waist, jumping in the air, flying her away. Before she could react, she felt herself being dropped on top of Appa's saddle. On Air. Away from the ice and the water. She grabbed Appa's fur with so much emotion that tears started flowing from her eyes without her noticing.
"Katara, Zuko, on Appa!" She heard Aang giving orders, while Sokka was steering.
"Suki, take my hand!" Sokka yelled and she felt Suki dropping like a sack next to her. Soon she felt Katara, Zuko and finally Aang on top of Appa. Even Momo was there, curling on top of her.
"What's happening?" She screamed, afraid.
Suddenly there was silence.
"LOOK!" Katara exclaimed "The water is retreating! The ice is mending!"
"I knew it!" Toph said in disbelief "That thing was after me!"
"At least no one else seems to be at risk for now." Aang said, and she felt him fly away, probably to talk to the heads of State.
"Sokka, fly low, I need to jump." Zuko said, commanding tone again. Sokka obeyed, but as soon as they got close to the ice and Zuko jumped, he steered up abruptly.
"That thing can feel you Toph!" He said "The water was coming out again as soon as we got close!"
Katara and Suki embraced her. Toph felt like crying. And a crying Toph was not a sight anyone was used to.
"Lucky me." She said shivering, her teeth chattering from the freezing cold and her wet clothes. Katara quickly bent the water away from her clothes and hair. However, she was still shaking from the cold, albeit this time it seemed to come from inside her. In an uncommon attack of self pity, Toph lowered her head on Katara's shoulder. "I'm being chased by ice. BY ICE! I'm the greatest earthbender in the world, no, wait, the only metal bender in the world, on top of ice, which right now, is chasing me." She hid her head in her arms. "I want my mommy!" Katara gasped. Toph raised her head. "I'm exaggerating." She felt obligated to add.
She then heard Aang yelling from below and Sokka steered Appa again closer to the ice and Aang and Zuko both jumped on the saddle. Sokka steered up fast.
"Fly away, Sokka." Aang ordered, slumping on Appa's back.
"Where to?" Sokka asked.
"The closest island made of earth." Aang answered. "Zuko, you know these waters, you used to navigate around here." Zuko nodded.
"Go North-West, there is a small island before reaching the islands closer to the Southern Air Temple." Zuko said. "It shouldn't take more than a couple of hours."
"So," Sokka asked "What's the plan?"
"I need to travel to the Spirit World." Aang said resolutely. "I need to find out what's going on."
Toph perked up immediately.
"If you go, I'm going too. I have a vested interest in this matter, and it's personal. That thing just tried to kill me."
She heard him nod, and felt him turning towards Zuko.
"Actually Champ," the firebender said. "I just spoke with my uncle and my mom. Precisely about that. We are ALL going with Aang to the Spirit World."