THANK YOU so much ALL of you that have reviewed and/or PM me. It helps me SO MUCH. English is not my language. I'm a Foreign speaker. So please accept my apologies for the mistakes. I'm working and learning from this. So this is a grammar exercise as much as is an exercise on creativity to figure out what I should be doing with my life. The best? The never ending talent of the people I've met through here and DeviantArt.
ALSO, I added a note at the end of Chapter 18 where I explain my LOVE for TERRY PRATCHETT and the relationship between him, my family, broccoli and chocolate. I think Fanfiction never sent the alert when I posted that chapter, so if you haven't read it go and check it out.
And now, for something completely different, FANART!!
(1) Beautiful Katara by the Amazing Gaby
http : / / gabzillaz dot deviantart dot com / art / AMoH-Katara-97238285
(2) Adorable and Snappy dressed Aang in color by the best designer Luna!
http : / / luna-wannabe dot deviantart dot com / art / Aang-MoH-Planning-97333903
(Copy, paste and delete spaces or just click on my profile for the links)
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XIX. Overcoming Technicalities
The trip back to the South Pole felt shorter than the trip to the island. Every minute that took her back to the ice made Toph cringe with apprehension. To distract herself, she decided to draft an anonymous message to Mai:
Dear Mai: Second Rule of the Girly Code: Why do a wedding, when you can do the best man instead? Signed, The Blind Bandit.
She thought for a moment about the message, and then leaned towards Sparky and whispered on his ear.
"Hey, Sparky, who was supposed to be your best man at your wedding?"
"I'm not marrying Mai." He answered tiredly.
"Okay, in an hypothetical world, if you were getting married, who would be your best man?"
"Aang, I guess. Or Sokka. Why?"
"Nothing." OK, scratch this message. We don't want Mai doing the best men. She then thought hard and made a mental note for the next one:
Dear Mai: Second Rule of the Girly Code. Always, always, have a Plan B. Signed, The Blind Bandit.
They finally reached the South Pole when the sun was setting. Autumn in the rest of the world meant Spring in the South Pole, so the days were slowly getting longer. Toph had no idea that the sun was setting until Suki said: There goes Agni. They landed Appa in the stables, and made their way to the Hall. The session of the assembly had obviously ended, because they found Chief Hakoda in the middle of the hall drinking tea with Fire Lord Iroh, Lady Ursa, Chief Anook, King Bumi, Master Pakku, Gran-Gran, Bato and the rest of the White Lotus contingent. The young people stood at the entrance when they were noticed by the older generation.
Fire Lord Iroh stood up and came to them.
"You're back." He stated and Toph felt him hugging Zuko. "I'm glad you're all back." The older firebender then leaned forward and she heard him whisper. "I need to talk to you and Avatar Aang. Immediately." Next to her she felt Zuko and Aang bowing, before leaving with uncle Iroh. Someone came to her and grabbed her hand. Gran-Gran.
"Come children." She beckoned. "You all look that you could use some tea and some food. Your father wants to talk to you." She said to Sokka, before steering the young women away.
Gran-Gran took them to a different room with Lady Ursa. The two older women boiled tea and gave cups to the girls, with small bowls with rice and dumplings. Ursa then asked, while they were sipping their tea and eating:
"How is my grandfather?" like it was the most normal thing in the world to travel to the Spirit World and talk to an Avatar that passed away almost 117 years ago.
"He is fine, Lady Ursa." Katara answered respectfully. "Zuko was really happy to meet him." Toph heard the Lady Ursa sighing with content and then mumbling
"I'm so glad Zuko got to meet my grandfather." They sipped the tea in silence. The pervading feeling in the room was overcast.
"So, what's the word from the Spirits?" Gran-Gran finally asked.
"Not good. La says that the Contest must go on. Avatar Kyoshi says that Aang must champion the Earth King. Aang is the most powerful bender in the world, no other suitor will be able to defeat him." Katara answered with sadness.
Lady Ursa sipped her tea.
"Why doesn't the Avatar just fights for the hand of the maiden himself? If he is a contestant, he doesn't have to champion the Earth King."
That sounded good, until Gran-Gran intervened with that bad habit old people tend to have of finding the fly in the soup.
"The Avatar cannot participate in the Contest. He's engaged to Katara. He's already committed, and whomever wins the contest, wins the maiden."
"No one is winning me." Tohp grumbled.
"It may have been possible for Aang to do that before the Earth King exercised the covenant" Katara corrected, "but Aang is now bound by the honor of the Avatars to help the king. I don't think he can betray the covenant by becoming a contestant."
Lady Ursa took this in. Toph could feel her looking intently a Katara.
"So, dear nu-er, is that true? Are you getting married to the Avatar after all?" Katara shifted uncomfortably.
"I'll be doing what is right." She answered evasively, quoting Fate. Gran-Gran sipped her tea again.
"What is right." The older Water Tribe lady repeated. "What is Right. Well. I guess you should, then. You're going to be 19 soon and have been running around with that kid since he was 12. I guess it was about to happen. Didn't think that the kid had it in him, though. Deceiving little thing, the flying kid, with the innocent look and the strange tattoos. I guess your Water Tribe heritage got the upper hand finally."
"What do you mean Gran-Gran, my Water Tribe heritage?" Katara asked confused.
"The Water Tribe heritage that make our women really passionate. In my time it was a real problem up North. Then some of the male elders came up with the idea of teaching the girls that 'Abstinence Only' was the ideal way of dealing with the heritage. The result was that the elders had to lower marriage age to 16 because most girls were already in the family way by then."
The girls gasped.
"I'm not in the family way!" Katara said with horror.
"You're not? Good. Don't feel like having to explain the ten-pound-and-head-full-of-hair premature baby."
"We have a similar problem in the Fire Nation." Ursa said casually.
"With the Abstinence Only Education?" Gran-Gran inquired.
"Oh no, not that. We teach our girls everything that they need to know. No, I was referring about the passionate heritage. Interesting, isn't? How similar our cultures can be." Toph felt Katara shifting uncomfortably again, and wondered if Ursa was looking at Katara. She wondered as well how much had Zuko confided in his mother.
"Well" Gran-Gran was still talking. "Now that we are on the topic of passion, and because you girls keep running around with those boys, I want to offer my advice in case there's anything that you would like to know."
"Like what?" Toph asked, and she felt Suki and Katara giving her a little push, not wanting to accept the offer.
"Like Abstinence Only sucks. At your age, there's no much abstinence to go around. Abstinence Only works in people my age, and that's because we have no other choice. Well, not me really because I re-married and we are still in the honeymoon phase. Don't make that face, Katara, one day you'll be my age. Girls, you need to be prepared. There are precaution herbs. Waterbenders like you, Katara, can practice bending on themselves."
"Gran-Gran, you're mistaken." Katara's voice was full of embarrassment. "My relationship with Aang is not like that."
"Is not?" Gran-Gran sounded surprised. "But you're from the Water Tribes, you need an outlet!"
"Gran-Gran, I'm not having this conversation!" Gran-Gran sipped the tea, pensively.
Someone knocked on the door. Suki stood up to open it and Toph heard Zuko.
"Good evening mother, Gran-Gran. Katara, I need to talk to you." He said with determination. The Waterbender practically ran out of the place. Toph heard Zuko's voice trailing while leading Katara away. "We need to make this decision together."He was saying before getting out of earshot.
"So, if that's true about the Fire Nation heritage, how do you explain Mai?" Toph said before common sense kicked in.
"Mai can be passionate about certain things." Ursa said placidly. "I'm not sure that her type of passion matches my son's though. He is a stoic, serious boy. He needs a different balance." Toph discerned then that Ursa knew everything that there was to know about her son and his secret girlfriend.
Gran-Gran was still ruminating.
"Hum. That girl is outletting somewhere. She must be." Ursa sipped her tea calmly.
"There is a poem in the Fire Nation that goes something like this: 'Look at her Sage, if thou have eyes to see, she has deceived her father and may thee'."
Someone came to the door again. It was Sokka.
"Suki, I need to talk to you. Come." Suki jumped and left the room. Gran-Gran turned to Toph. She could feel the older woman gaze on her.
"I'm blind, I don't have eyes to see anything." She warned the two ladies.
"Abstinence Only only works if there's abstinence." Gran-Gran insisted. Toph thought that the lady had a lot of common sense.
"OK."
"You're the only one that looks to me that needs some advice. The other two are obviously passed the point of advice."
"What makes you say that?"
"They were neither offended nor curious. Just embarrassed. You're curious. So, I'm going to give you a tip. I've noticed that my future grand-daughter in law gives tea to her warriors every morning. It's compulsory for those girls to drink that tea." Gran-Gran drank hers. "If I were to have doubts about abstaining, I would try some of that tea. My grandson is not that bright sometimes, but he has excellent taste in girlfriends."
Toph assented gravely, chewing her food. The dainty conversation replayed in her head together with La's threats. She may be running out of time to find out about certain things before facing impending doom. Some tea may be good. Or maybe unnecessary, if death was the final destination. But deep down, Toph was an optimist. Better drink some tea than having to explain a lot of things if the end of the world did not happen.
"Maybe the flying kid also needs an outlet, and I don't think my grand daughter is interested." Gran-Gran was one track mind lady. She was not quitting the topic. "If she were, she wouldn't have been complaining so much about my herring bone collection for the past ten months. No way to get that girl to relax." Gran-Gran turned to Ursa. "So, how do Fire Nation kids deal with the heritage?"
"They also find outlets and act like the rest of the world is dumb." Ursa answered elegantly.
Someone knocked on the door. Toph immediately recognized Aang's light movements.
"Good evening." He said gravely. "May I speak with Toph?" She heard Gran-Gran moving her arm.
"She's all yours. I did my duty." Toph ran out of the room. Aang grabbed her arm and started walking along side her with purpose.
"There is something you need to know, Toph." He was saying and she heard anger in his voice. Real anger. "It has to do with Kuei." He then added in a very low whisper. "After this is over, Kyoshi has some serious explaining to do." He took her to a room. She sensed other people in the room. Iroh was there, as well as Hakoda, and Bumi. There were others, but she wasn't sure who because she was back on ice.
"What's going on?" Toph asked, expecting the worse.
"We intercepted a messenger hawk from the Earth King." Iroh said simply, without bothering with excuses about why they were intercepting messenger hawks from the Earth King or who were 'they'. "The message is not good."
"Why, what's in the message?"
"There were instructions regarding some new construction the Earth King is doing in his palace."
Toph was nonplussed.
"Oh, I know about that. He's building a rock garden off the west wing."
"No, he's not. He's building an entire new wing. For you. He's only using wood."
The news sunk in.
"What?"
"He's building you a wooden palace. Everything is wood, including the locks and down to the screws."
She felt dread down to her toes. Followed by anger up to the roots of her hair. For the first time since the entire thing started the thought struck her that, maybe, just maybe, she needed to take Kuei seriously. Kuei and the Fish. And that made her really, really upset.
"WHERE IS THAT GOOD FOR NOTHING ABNORMAL CIRCUS MORON??" She yelled, before heading to the door. Aang halted her.
"Toph stop! Screaming at him will only make him want you more!" He tried to explain. She stopped on her tracks.
"You're the most powerful bender in the world and you're championing him!" She said, with despair. "What am I going to do? He's going to lock me in a wooden cell!!"
"No, he's not. You're getting a new suitor." A voice said suddenly and determinedly. It was Katara's.
"What?" Toph was confused.
"I just put my name on the list." Zuko added.
"Are you crazy?" Toph jumped, trying to process the horror in her brain.
"No." She heard Sokka. "None of us is. We are entering as a team. Like the Rough Rhinos."
"Who is we?"
"Team Avatar, of course. Minus the Avatar. The other team had 'first pick'." Toph had to grab Aang for balance. He held her and walked her to a sit. She sat, shocked.
"You mean, you guys are going to enter as contestants?"
"Yes." Sokka said. "Katara, Zuko, Suki and me."
"Who gets to marry me if you guys win?"
"I do." Zuko answered and his voice was final. Toph gasped. She shook her head.
"This is absurd. Absolutely absurd. This means, that you guys will be fighting Aang for me?"
"You just said it. He's the most powerful bender. The only ones who can take him are his teachers." Sokka reasoned, sounding lucid for once. "And those who know him well. Like Suki and me."
Toph kept moving her head. She then raised it resolutely.
"If you guys are taking on Twinkle Toes, I want to help." She tried to place someone. "Chief Hakoda, can I enter the contest as my own contestant? To win myself?"
"No. You cannot marry yourself. That's the only other rule that we have managed to figure out." The Water Tribe warrior answered sadly.
"Well, can I support a team within the Contest? I mean, can I help a team?"
"There's nothing that prohibits it, even though it has never been done before. Usually, the maiden is not supposed to prefer one suitor over another. So I guess you can."
"It's official. I'm also Aang's teacher. If we are taking on the flying monk, I'm in. I'm part of Team Avatar." She heard Aang mumbling to himself 'Flying monk?'
"Toph, there's not much bending you can do on the South Pole." Sokka remind her. She shot a venomous look to the world, because she couldn't focus her eyes on anything.
"I know. But I still have a brain, a good attitude and I'm utterly aggravated. I can be of some help. At least, Sokka, it will keep me sane." Sokka understood the value of a sane Toph.
"You're in."
"And now that we're on topic, I need to talk to the other two teachers. Alone." Toph stood up and shot a finger towards where she had heard Zuko and Katara's voices. "Sparky, Sweetness, we need to talk. NOW." Katara grabbed her arm and the three of them walked out of the place. When they were out of earshot, Toph said. "Let's go to your room, Sugarcakes, we need some privacy."
They reached Katara's room and Toph sat on the bed. She heard Sparky bending fire on the stove and the room was immediately filled with warmth.
"Are you two imbeciles mentally disturbed?" She asked, throwing daintiness through the door. To be honest, not that there was much to begin with.
"No, we are not." Katara answered. "We're doing the right thing, and you for once should be grateful instead of insulting us."
"So, you two don't have enough with Aang that you want to adopt me now?" Toph asked in disbelief.
"Is not that. We're trying to save you from Kuei. There was something else in the message." Sparky's voice was somber.
"What, what else?"
"Kuei likes to be manhandled and ordered about. So there were instructions regarding … things that he wants in your wooden wing." Toph took her hand to her mouth. That was it. She was so disgusted that she felt like her stomach was about to join the circus.
"The instructions were specific. He seems to think that the wooden cell will make you both, angry and desperate enough that you would want to … play. He also thinks that eventually, you will fall in love with him." Katara had sat next to her and was grabbing her hand.
"How can someone be brainsick enough to get that idea?" She asked, in desperation.
"He got the Dai Li to spy on you. Some of the reading material you've been favoring lately included implausible and stupid stories of women being forced to marry, or held captive by, arrogant and distant men. Seems like the heroines in those stories like to be verbally and emotionally mistreated by mysterious and detached men, who are invariably royalty. Against all logic, those heroines fall in love with such men while fighting them, and everything culminates in badly written ravishing scenes."
Toph gave Sparky her most irate face.
"Ok, I give it to you. You were right. Those romance scrolls are garbage, OK? Garbage!! But now is not the time to go after me because I have lousy taste in literature. The ravishing scenes are usually good!"
"Not when Kuei is getting ideas from them." Sparky concluded and Toph felt like crying.
"But Sparky, you and Sweetness, you guys are finally together and figuring your stuff out. You guys cannot do this. If you win this absurd contest, the Fish is going to force us to marry because there is no better way to make a person miserable than making her the cause of the unhappiness of two of the people she cares for the most in the entire world."
Katara hugged her.
"What do you think we feel when we imagine you in a wooden cell, alone with a Kuei full of ideas from romance scrolls?" She said. Sparky sat on the other side of her and hugged her too. Katara's constant requests of Public Displays of Affection were starting to take effect.
"At least with us in the Fire Nation you will be able to bend your own furniture in your room." Sparky said. "And you will have Yin and his men to keep you entertained with gambling and fire whiskey." Toph tilted her head.
"Us? Are you coming to the Fire Nation too, Sugarcakes?"
She heard Katara making a small noise, and then a resolutely:
"Yes. We talked about it. It's going to take a while to figure this out, and Zuko was only willing to do this if I came along."
Toph sighed deeply.
"Aren't you guys the romantics? Proposing marriage to me together. We may need to build a temple for Tlatli in the middle of the palace, Sparky. What, with you coming with wife and mistress on tow at the same time. Sweetness, I want the big room that's on the other side of the palace from Sparky's. Very far away from you two. You can keep the pretty one with the inner garden next door to his." Toph touched both their faces. "We're going to revolutionize that stuffy court of yours, Sparky. Let's show them!"
She felt them smiling sadly.
"Toph, we're not crazy." Sparky said. "We're as blind as you right now. The only guidance we have is the advice of an unhinged Goddess who likes to gamble with the future of my islands. That and weird visions from a tree that likes math. We both decided to follow our instincts regarding what feels right and what doesn't. You in a wooden cell with Kuei equals very wrong. Us trying to save you from such a fate, equals very right. That's as far as we are getting right now. There's no way to plan this through and Sokka said it best: we need to improvise and that's what we will be doing."
Toph lowered her head.
"What about Aang?" She asked and she knew the answer before Katara said it.
"If there is something we cannot do right now, is to give Aang any reasons to be angry at any of us. We don't want him confounded and winning this by mistake."
"So, you won't be breaking up with him?"
"Not for now. Aang seems very confused lately. Maybe you kissing him has something to do with that, I don't know. But he's still Aang, he's still stubborn and he stills professes love for me."
"Take it from someone who knows." Sparky added, levelly. "Even if he's confused about his feelings right now, nothing spurs certainty faster than the idea that he may be losing his girlfriend." Sparky stopped for a moment. "You kissed Aang?"
Toph decided not to even attempt the research argument. She ignored the question instead.
"So, I guess this is it. On one hand, I get to be Fire Lady. On the other, I get to be Earth Queen. If I'm lucky, I become the teenage bride of a very creepy Firebending Master who needs money." She stopped. "That's it! Chin says that for seven copper pieces Fire Nation citizens can undo their vows. You can repudiate me Sparky. You can accuse me of being too cool for your palace or something." She stopped and raised a finger. "Do not kick me out for any of the lame usual reasons, like being barren or an adulterer. Let's make up a good one. Like I'm too smart for you and may throw off the Fire Nation heritage."
He chuckled, throwing himself in the bed. She felt Katara throwing herself in the bed too. Toph was still sitting in the middle of them, but she felt how they extended their arms, lacing their fingers together. She then remembered Katara telling her about the long conversations with Sparky in the swamp. The way she had described them spoke of freedom. Free to be whomever she was, all the time, with him. With Aang, that was probably a luxury for her. And Toph felt incredibly sad for herself and for the vibrations she was getting from them. Like suddenly, they had forgotten that she was in the room.
"I love you." Katara said to him, and there was this thing in her voice that told Toph that she was not expecting an answer.
"I love you." He answered. Silence fell in the room. Toph stood up and left the room to give them privacy, but she heard Katara gasp a sob. She closed the door softly behind her and leaned against it. She still could hear Sparky. "I love you with everything that I am. And I want you with me, until the last day of my life, and the last day of yours."
Toph walked away.
__________________________
Toph wondered what to do and where to go. She was still hungry and she could use some fire whiskey. Why with the fact that she had just gotten practically engaged to both, her best friend and her best friend's clandestine boyfriend, she was talking about 24 year old fire whiskey. She could picture Tlatli dancing. She made a mental note about Chosen Ones. In her books, it was right there next to Abstinence Only as far as she could gather in lousiness. She did not want to go back to where everyone else was because she didn't want to highlight the fact that Zuko and Katara were alone together. They deserved their privacy and their need to celebrate that Sparky had finally uttered the Three Letter Phrase, probably arm-wrestling himself. In the face-off of Water Tribe heritage versus Fire Nation heritage that was probably going on right now, there were probably the same amount of losers than winners and that deserved some peace.
Toph wished for Twinkle Toes to show up. She was really missing his fleeting caresses and deep kisses. When he kissed her, she could feel that his lips were acting against the advice of his conscience but dragging along the rest of his body. T.T. had come a long way from the shy first kiss from several days ago. He was becoming a really, really good kisser. Her feet could tell, her toes would jump on their own only with the sound of his voice. Toph wondered if she would be able to get the rest of him to follow his lips in shameless behavior.
She found herself back at the only place she had been feeling comfortable lately in the entire South Pole. In front of the armoire. If she were back in the Earth Kingdom, she would be bending herself a rock-tent and hiding away from the world in confidence. Being in the South Pole meant a smelly armoire. Whatever. Better than nothing. She climbed inside the armoire and closed the door. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the memories of Twinkle Toes kisses and not in the abysmal situation she was currently in.
She heard people coming into the room. She did not make a noise. It probably made sense that if she was in the armoire, random people with random secrets would show up. Those were the odds. She perked her ears, trying to place the voices. A man and a woman. Elegant voices, controlled and mature. Voices that carried history together, but not a future.
"It was evident. They are together." The woman was saying. Lady Ursa. "Even your mother noticed it."
"But they are competing! They may actually win. What are they trying to do?" Hakoda. Freaking Chief Hakoda of the Unified Southern Water Tribes.
"It's not our place to dictate the lives of our children, but to guide them with advice. Most of the time, they don't want and won't heed our advice. My son and your daughter, though, it's all over them. You can cut it with a knife."
"I know. I noticed it too. The way she reacted when he arrived. So different than the way she has been acting around the Avatar."
"The Avatar seems distracted too. By Agni, why would these young people continue with this charade? Whom do they think they are deceiving?"
"Just themselves. They're trying to do the right thing. They are protecting a friend. And the way this thing is shaping up, their friend needs some protection."
"It breaks my heart. All of them so confused. None have mastered the art of deception."
"No." Silence. Toph then heard someone moving. Rustle of clothes. "Not like us. If your son is the same kind of lover you are, my poor child is lost forever." Hakoda said.
"If your daughter is like you, he won't let go. I haven't."
Toph hung her head. She would be banging it against the walls of the armoire if it wasn't because she didn't want to call attention to herself. She then heard something else. Like tiny voices that could be heard from afar, no more than an echo in her head.
"Pay up!"
"No, you promised fireflakes and there aren't any. I'm not paying until I get my fireflakes. What kind of show is this one?"
Toph whispered, almost to herself.
"Hello?"
"Crap. I forgot. She has been to the Spirit World. She can see us now."
"She's blind, she cannot see us. She can hear us, though."
"Tlatli? Fate? What are you guys doing?"
"Spreading some love? Oh, my, look at that, how are they kissing! Where are the fireflakes?!"
"I can't believe this" Toph was whispering furiously, making sure not be heard outside the armoire. "You guys have waaaay too much time in your hands! Can't you focus your energy in famine-ravaged villages or something?"
"War is over. No more famine, pestilence or death."
"And for your information, this counts as charity. Totally."
"He needs some sugar. She does too. I've seen her current husband. Good looking but Really Scary. This one, hawt and sweet. Like strong tea."
"This is good charity."
"Could you two be any more crass?"
"Refinement is Not a pre-requisite for divinity."
"Religion in general is a very unrefined exercise. Shut up, they are leaving!"
Toph heard Hakoda.
"I need to talk to some of the heads of state. This infernal contest starts tomorrow and we still need to shape-up the first task. Later?"
"Always. You know, if our children manage to sort their situation out, we will be seeing each other often." She paused. "I can't leave Azula or Ozai."
"I know. I knew it from the beginning. Let's enjoy what we have while we have it."
"Ooohhhh!! See? We are soooo Kind. HIGH FIVE!! Hey, where are you going?"
"To the other room. The other two are celebrating that he finally confessed his love."
"Yaai!! More charity!!"
The Spirit voices disappeared. Toph hugged her knees waiting. For something. It was bound to happen. She was in the armoire, those were the odds.
"Knock-knock"
She opened the armoire door, trying to place who was knocking.
"Great Master?" Chin. Thank the Spirits! Good, reliable Chin. "Master Suki told me that I may find you here. She did tell me not to tell anyone else. Are you OK?"
"I need some fire whiskey, some food and a place where religion cannot find me. Can you provide any of those?"
"Fire whiskey and food. Don't know about religion. Not big on worshiping."
"That's my guy." She jumped outside the armoire. Chin, like the good despicable firebender that he was, had a huge flask of fire whiskey and salted dumplings with him. He heated the flask and gave her the dumplings. Everything tasted like nirvana to Toph. It took her a moment to notice something else. There was an extra presence in the room. A foreboding presence that reeked of boldness and wickedness. Ah, yes, and a lack of baths. Probably since forever.
"What's that smell?" She asked, covering her nose.
Chin sounded hurt.
"Why, who else but El Tuerto, Great Master."
"El Tuerto?" Toph was surprised. "You mean the hawk that was supposed to deliver the message to Mai in the Fire Nation?"
"The bird that delivered the message to the Fire Nation." Chin corrected. Toph couldn't believe it.
"You're joking. It haven't been a day. Do you mean to tell me that the hawk went and came back?"
"El Tuerto is very fast, Great Master."
"I think El Tuerto is pulling a fast one on you. No way he delivered that message to Mai."
Chin sounded now sorely offended. Almost on the brink of tears.
"Great Master, don't say those things about El Tuerto. Of course he completed the mission, he always does. When he came back, he had this on his beak." Chin put something on her hands. A shuriken, one of Mai's scary knives.
"You mean to tell me that it caught this with his teeth?"
"Yes. Never underestimate El Tuerto. He's actually the reason why I was looking for you. Captain Yin told me to find you to get the next message." Toph was happy that she had drafted the message that afternoon. Her life may be a mess, but she also understood the value of charity. Sending messages to Mai to let her know what was coming totally counted as charity. She dictated the message to Chin, who immediately placed it on El Tuerto's leg.
"You seem very attached to this hawk." She mentioned casually. Chin was surprised.
"But of course, Great Master. El Tuerto belongs to no one, but we have been together since he broke me out of jail. We joined the Fire Nation army together."
"You're an ex-convict?" Somehow, it made sense. She wondered why she never knew this before.
"Not the way you make it sound, Great Master."
Chin told her the story. It had happened when the Fire Nation was still at war. He was dodging the draft and ended in this border town between the Earth Kingdom and Nowhere. One of those towns where people speak Foreign, make mean drinks with limes, and manage to really enjoy life playing maracas and dancing all night. After several days of partying non stop, Chin had pulled a muscle while trying to firebend an entire possum-pig for the roast. The locals gave him some medicinal herbs as a pain-killer. Ill-advised by some of the guys at the Cantina, he decided to smoke the tea instead of brewing it and ended up in jail. Because while making tea was perfectly legal, smoking it was prohibited. Chin had managed to escape jail thanks to an evil bird missing an eye with which no one wanted to share a cell. In this border town, misbehaving animals were put in prison. Chin never knew exactly what had El Tuerto done to warrant incarceration. The bird never talked. But it was a cunning bird and it managed to break them out and guide Chin to the safety of the Fire Nation. They became inseparable.
El Tuerto was not really a hawk. It was the byproduct of an alley cat that got frisky with a chicken, but what El Tuerto lacked in physical beauty it compensated with attitude. When mating season was on, no animal (or species for that matter) was sacred. El Tuerto was an equal opportunity ravisher. Chin once found an alligator cowering under the bed, trying to hide from El Tuerto's advances. Chin liked El Tuerto immensely.
"When we joined the army," Chin continued, "El Tuerto was discriminated by the other hawks. They gave him the cold shoulder, Great Master. But he didn't let those uppities get the better of him just because they know what species they are. Not my bird, no. He soon had the entire coop obeying his commands." Chin lowered his voice. "They are like his orderlies now." Toph noticed that Chin always referred to El Tuerto as "he". The description and smell of the bird qualify it as "it" in her opinion, but she knew that love was as blind as she.
"If there is an individual in this world that can avenge Lee is my bird, Great Master." Chin continued. "He bows to no one. And no scorned woman is going to make El Tuerto cry."
Toph raised the fire whiskey flask.
"To Lee. A brave man. So brave, that he was too afraid of Sunshine to run away." She drank deeply. "I need to get Sparky to dump that witch."
"It was El Tuerto who intercepted the messenger hawk from the Earth King, Great Master." Chin added. Toph perked up immediately.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I don't really know what was El Tuerto trying to do. He was on his way back from the Fire Nation, probably upset that Noblewoman Mai tried to kill him or something, I don't know, but he took down the Earth King messenger hawk. That's how we found out about his plans." Chin was too polite to mention it, but she could picture the Earth King hawk totally dishonored, albeit probably happy about it. "We took the opportunity to do some counter-intelligence."
"Meaning?"
"We changed the message. The Earth King was requesting some weird stuff, so we substituted those things for stuffed animals and gave orders to place metal screws and locks all over the wooden wing. You deserve a chance, Great Master."
Toph wiped a tear. These fireguys kept moving her inner tenderness. She punched Chin in the arm in response, and he seemed happy.
"Why did you punch him?" She heard Aang ask, and she leaped where she was sitting on the floor.
"Because they were the ones that intercepted the message from Kuei." She answered a bit defensively. She had already drank her fair share of fire whiskey, which was probably affecting her senses and making her act weird. Particularly because she felt like explaining herself, and that was not something she wanted to do for anyone. Ever.
"Chin, I was looking for you. Master Suki told me to found you here." Aang said instead, coming over and sitting on the floor next to the soldier. Toph heard Momo chattering on Aang's shoulder and heard the airbender taking something out of his robes. "I need you to read this carefully. It's the covenant between the Water Tribes and the Spirit of the Ocean. I need to know if there are any weak points in the covenant. Also, I need you to review this one. It's a copy of the covenant between Avatar Kyoshi and the 46th Earth King. I need to know exactly what it says before the task tomorrow."
Chin scratched his arm. Toph heard El Tuerto flapping his wings. It was probably sitting on Chin's shoulder.
"No offense, Avatar, but I'm just a law school drop out. Shouldn't you look for a real attorney?"
Aang was adamant.
"I choose my teachers and I choose my attorney. No one wanted to believe that I was right when choosing an inexperienced waterbender, a blind little earthbender or my former enemy as teachers. And they all exceeded expectations. I know what I'm doing. I trust you. I don't trust other attorneys." Toph heard Chin bowing.
"I'll be honored Avatar." Chin stood up. "I need to say goodnight. El Tuerto has a long trip ahead, and we all need to go to bed. The first task is tomorrow, and you need my help."
Toph extended her arm to give Chin the fire whiskey flask. The soldier took it, she heard him bowing, and leaving the room with El Tuerto still flapping.
"That bird was looking at Momo in a weird way." Aang, the Equally Opportunity Lover of All Animals, said. "I think Momo was nervous."
"If I were Momo, I would be." Toph answered cryptically. Aang passed an arm across her shoulders.
"I was looking for you too. How are you feeling?"
"Like hell. First task is tomorrow, and for the first time since I know you, no, wait, second time since I've met you, I want you to lose. Really, really lose. But I don't want Sparky to win either. This is a horrible mess."
"When was the first time that you wanted to me to lose?"
"At the Earth Rumble Six where you cheated with your airbending and stole my champion belt."
He did not explain that one again. They've been through that discussion countless times.
"I don't want to win. I've the impression that the covenant is going to request me doing my best or something like that, but I don't plan on winning." She leaned her head on his shoulder. She was tired but happy that he had showed up. She had been missing his touch and was hopeful that he would kiss her. He did something else. He said:
"Should we go to my room?" She raised her head surprised.
"Why your room?"
She heard him scratch his head.
"No one is going to look for you there tomorrow, and that would give us more time."
"What about Kuei's people looking for you?"
"I spoke to Kuei tonight. I went to see him to tell him that I spoke with Kyoshi and that I will uphold the honor of the Avatars. And that I wanted a copy of the covenant. You were right, his attorneys had several copies. I also told him that neither him nor anyone from his retinue is to look for me or try to reach me outside of the tasks of the Contest. I'll do my duty, but he's not to contact me outside of it."
Toph leaned her head against his shoulder again.
"Are you going to reach out to your inner firebender and make sure I'm warm all night?"
"Among other things." She tried to stand up and he stood up with an easy breeze. He grabbed her hand and help her up.
They started walking to his room. He was holding her hand, not her arm. She wondered what would anyone say if they happened to see them, but then thought that most people just saw what they wanted to see, and that no one would believe anything improper between her and the Avatar. Which proved that most of the time people's perceptions were wrong. Probably because they would only use their eyes to see.
They reached Aang's room, and the stove in the middle of the room was on. The place was warm. She threw herself on the bed, while Aang sent Momo away, giving him instructions to reach the stables and stay with Appa. He then laid down next to her, caressed her face and kissed her.
"What other things?" She asked, her eyes closed. He kept kissing her, opening her mouth with his, exploring her.
"I'm going to warm your feet." He said.
"Good."
"And I'm going to warm your legs, and your arms, and your waist, and every bit of you that needs warming."
"Good too." She wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt his hands opening her robe carefully and exploring from her waist up, to her chest. She made a small sound, slightly anxious. He was not taken aback.
"You're scrumptious." He said and she stopped kissing him back, astonished. That was a word for you. Actually, she thought, a rather sweet word, that echoed cravings and wants. "It's true" He said kissing her eyes, and her nose and her lips. "You are."
She then realized that they were moving towards the serious making out stage. She had heard of it. The stage were inexperience meets enthusiasm and there is a lot of kissing, and touching, and sighing as a result, but there is also a carefully drawn line in the beach of desire. A line that does not get crossed unless both agree beforehand. And she was happy with having that line tonight. It made sense to explore and recognize before stepping through a one way door.
She thought she heard something when he removed his own clothes and put her hands in his chest so she could explore his muscles, his stomach, his navel. She traced the mounds of his anatomy with her fingers, including the scar on his back. Just when he was carefully removing the bindings of her chest, she heard it again. A faint noise, that sounded like:
"What the hell did you do with those fireflakes, girl?"
Aang stopped.
"Did you hear anything?" He asked, bewildered.
"Crap! I forgot, he's the Avatar!"
Toph shook her head.
"No, nothing." She said with a straight face. He was still doubtful.
"I'll swear I heard..." Toph refused to get distracted. She pressed her now naked chest against his. He immediately forgot about the voices.
"Let's go, let's go. He can curse us or something, he's a powerful Avatar."
That night, also, Toph and Aang discovered that heavy petting meant something more than patting Appa very hard on the head.
.
Fire Nation poet: Shakespeare, Othello. act 1, sc. 3, l. 292-3.
I found a promising fanfic by Loiel called "In the Cover of Night". Rated M. 2 chapters full of angst, adultery, and romance. (Yeah! Who likes Vanilla? Not me!) Zutara.