"Papaya juice, miss?"
I look at the tray in front of me and scrunch up my nose.
"Ugh…no thanks." I say, pushing it away. Toph quickly shoves me to the side.
"Well, I'll have some!" She says, taking a cup from the caterer. Suki pops up behind her and takes a glass as well.
"I want some!" Sokka says, making his way over to the poor man, who was slightly feeling ambushed. Only to Sokka's dismay, the glass tray was empty…
"Who took the last one?" He says, an angry scowl on his face. "When I find out who took the last sweet glorious cup of papaya juice, they will be in a world of hurt!" He pulls out his new boomerang menacingly.
"Ahem, Captain Boomerang." Toph says, with a big grin on her face. "Your little fangirl was the one who took the last 'glorious cup' of papaya juice."
"A world of hurt huh?" Suki says, tapping her foot on the ground.
"I…I…didn't mean that!" Sokka says, anxiously biting his nails. Suki slowly begins walking away, to our dinner table.
"Wait! Suki! Come back! I was joking! I don't even like papaya!" He yells, chasing after her.
Toph begins snickering. "You've really done it this time Snoozles!" She pretends to wipe a tear from her eye. "Oh man…that never gets old." I roll my eyes and scan my eyes over the sea of people. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, laughing, dancing, drinking, and eating the night away. The food was wonderful. To celebrate the end of the war, and the coming together of all four…well…three nations, many diverse dishes were prepared.
Toph and I walk back over to our reserved table, and sat in our spots. I was really excited about not only trying different kinds of foods, but I initially looked forward to getting a nice serving of my stewed sea prunes. I look down at my untouched bowl, the hot steam that was there not even minutes ago long gone. I guess I wasn't hungry anymore. I looked back into the crowd of people, straining my eyes for a particular person.
"Sheesh, can you be anymore of a downer, Madame Fussy Britches." Toph says, picking her teeth with a toothpick. She lifts her feet up and places them on the table, soiling the white tablecloth.
"Toph! Put your feet down!" I say, looking around nervously to see if anyone is looking at us.
"Nah…" She nonchalantly says, her index finger slowly reaching for her nose. I catch her wrist and push her hand down.
"Your feet are enough for me to handle! You can dig for gold on your own time!" I angrily say, pushing my cold bowl of food away from me. Yeah, definitely lost my appetite now.
"Ugh, where is Twinkletoes when you need him!" Toph groans, throwing her hands in the air.
"What's that supposed to mean, Toph?" I say, glaring at her. Even though she is blind, maybe she can feel the anger radiating from me.
She laughs, and brings her hands to her feet, gently massaging them. "Oh nothing…"
I lean back and cross my arms over my chest, giving her a loud huff.
"Oh no. It's something. Please, feel free to elaborate." I grumpily say.
"Well…if you insist." She says, putting her feet down on the floor. I patiently wait for her to respond.
She stands up and points her finger directly in between my eyes.
"You've been nothing but a little old grump all night! I'm trying to have good time, and so far, instead of hearing laugher, joy, and fun, I've been hearing YOU complain all night!" I push her hand away, due to her finger getting a little too close to jabbing my eyeball.
"For your information, I am full of joy! See!" I pick up a colorful festival hat and put it on my head. "Look, joyful!"
"Oh, it looks good on you!" She says, her voice quieter.
"What…really? Thanks-." I furrow my eyebrows and rip off the hat. "Yeah, thanks, Toph."
She gets up from her chair, and grabs the last bread roll from the basket.
"I just can't wait for Twinkletoes to get here…"
I open my mouth to agree with her, when she decides to finish the rest of her sentence.
"So he can lay a big one on you already. That way you'll be literally forced to shut your yap!"
I open my mouth in disbelief, as I watch her walk towards Sokka and Suki, who were still arguing about the papaya juice incident.
"Lay a big WHAT?" I say, rising from my chair.
"You heard me Sugarqueen!" She yells back, "A big, wet one!" She laughs and stomps her feet on the ground, sending a small shockwave, knocking me on the floor.
"Oh, no she didn't…" I mumble to myself, getting back onto my feet. I look over to the punch bowl, and bend a small steam of fruit juice to me. I aggressively shake my hands and send the punch flying, whipping the back of Toph's head, and knocking her to the ground. People gasp, their eyes nervously glancing between Toph and me.
She lifts up a chunk of earth and holds it over her head. I bend more punch out of several bowls and form a giant orb of it to my side. I am just about to clench my fists together, when the gong echoes across the courtyard. Toph drops her rock in front of her and I reluctantly bend the punch back into the bowls. She is so getting it later on.
"Ladies and gentleman… I would like to formally present…Fire Lord Zuko!" One of the Fire Sages says, hitting the gong again. Zuko walks down the back steps, one hand waving, and the other firmly attached to Mai. I give a smile small, admiring the couple.
"Who knew Zuko got game?" Sokka says, now standing next to me. I raise my eyebrow and inspect his face more closely.
"Sokka…what happened to your cheek?" I look to his side, and see him and Suki holding hands. I look back to his cheek, and start giggling. He had a red mark that took the shape of a closed fan, ridges and all. Suki must have taught him a lesson.
Sokka hung his head low, and quietly muttered. "Never threaten a Kyoshi Warrior, Katara…bad things." I let out another chuckle.
"So, Sugarqueen, you better sleep with both eyes open tonight. Not even one eye will do you justice." Toph says, punching me in the arm.
"Hmph. You better watch your back too." I say, a sly smile slowly spreading on my face. "Oh wait. You can't!"
"That does it!" She says, grinding her teeth. Sokka grabs her shoulder holding her back.
"Shh you two! Aang's coming!"
I instantly forget about Toph and shift my eyes quickly to the back of the palace. Aang slowly walks down the steps, and the crowd of people cheers once again, like they did at the coronation. The gong is struck twice, and the Fire Sages announce his arrival as well.
"Together, the Avatar and the Fire Lord proposed a great movement, that will hopefully bring peace to this broken up world. We welcome them with open minds and open hearts, hoping this great era of peace, will soon become."
Aang slowly walks up to the center of the and patiently waits for the crowd to die down, a big grin spread across his face. I feel my heart pounding inside my chest, and I anxiously wait to hear his voice.
"Bringing peace out of the ashes is going to be hard. But I promise, Zuko and I will do whatever it takes to bring the four nations together in harmony once again. So please, enjoy yourselves tonight, try different foods from other nations. It is the first step in our understanding of one another." He says, everyone quiet in awe over his speech, waiting for him to continue on. Momo flies down from the roof, landing on Aang's shoulder.
"Try the fruit pies! They're an Air Nomad delicacy!" Aang says, an innocent ring to his voice. Momo chirps loudly in agreement, licking his wing.
Aang's eyes slowly scan the crowd, quickly finding mine. I look at him, giving him a shy smile. His grin lifted his cheeks bones, his grey eyes lit up by the colored lanterns hanging above him.
Our lingering gaze doesn't break, and soon, we are slowly gravitating towards each other.
"Here we go…" I hear Toph mumble behind me, but I choose to ignore it.
Aang is making his way down the steps, his handsome new air nomad clothing moving with the cool nighttime wind. I stop at the bottom of them, my hands twisting together nervously behind my back. I feel eyes on me that don't belong to Aang, and I begin feel heat creep up from my neck to my face. He stands on the last step, creating a perfect height differentiation, putting him about an inch taller than me. I instinctively lean forward and he catches me in an embrace.
I lean deeper into the hug, his arms snaking around me protectively. I hear a few people clapping, and a whistle, which I am positive belonged to Toph.
He leans back, pulling me out of my trance. I glance around and realize that all eyes were on us. I feel myself blush, and giggle a little when I see Aang's face, which was as red as a fire flake.
I lean closer to him, our lips mere centimeters away. I brush past his cheeks and put my lips by his ear.
"So…how about that date?"