A/N: I know I missed the double update last Wednesday, and I'm really sorry about that. I hadn't realized how much of my time would be taken up with my AP classes when I signed up for classes this summer. I think taking on three at a time was a bad idea… To try and make up for missing my update, I'm updating with another chapter this weekend and then I'll be doing a triple update next Friday. I'll be sticking to this schedule for sure. I'll also be updating Matters of the Heart this Friday.

It's very hard for me to update between five to six hours of homework a night, college applications to fill out, the SAT to study for, and catching up with an old friend who will hopefully be my roommate when we go to college next year. So I've also got an apartment to find as the move draws closer. I hope that you'll understand and forgive me any future delays in updates.

Shaping Destiny

By: RupertLover09

Summary: Destiny is a funny thing, you never know how things are going to work out… Things change and people change.

Chapter Twelve: Awkward Points

Toph strolled through the forest with ease as her feet collided with her element. She could see everything around her when she put a foot down on the compacted earth. From trees to little animals skittering across the forest floor, it all fell into place as the earthbender made her way back to camp. She didn't know what time of day it was, only that she was hungry. Momo chattered incessantly beside her and Toph pretended to listen, occasionally making a sarcastic comment to the little lemur but never more than that because talking to animals made her feel ridiculous.

As Toph ambled back into camp, she could feel Aang's heartbeat and the crackle of a fire; it must have been nearing dusk, then. She settled herself down on the ground, leaning against a log to lend support to her back. Crossing her ankle over her knee and placing her hands behind her head, she greeted her friend. Aang replied with something that sounded like a hello but might have been a groan of anguish. Toph sighed and rolled her sightless eyes.

"How about we talk about it, Twinkle Toes?"

"I don't want to," came the sullen answer from across the campfire.

Toph sent a small pebble flying in her friend's direction.

"You're gonna have to talk about it sometime."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because the girl I love broke my heart."

"Really? Are you sure about that?"

"What?"

"You keep saying that Katara broke your heart and that you love her. Are you sure you love her the way you think you do?"

"I'm not following…"

Toph heard Aang's clothes rustle as he adjusted the way he was sitting. She turned her head in his direction, picking his heartbeat out of the vibrations of the things around her. Extending her senses to their limits, the little earthbender searched for her friend's exact location.

Small animal… Appa… Momo… Aha!

There he was, facing her and a little to the left. Toph turned more completely in his direction.

"Let's look at this objectively instead of subjectively, Twinkle Toes. Sokka told me the story of how he and Katara-" Toph felt Aang flinch at the mention of the waterbender. "Oh man up, Twinkle Toes!" Toph sent a larger pebble at Aang's head.

"Ow! That hurt, Toph!"

"Good! Now listen to me!" Toph exclaimed, blowing a bothersome strand of hair out of her face. "Sokka told me the story of how he and Katara found you. They were fishing, Sokka cracked a joke, Katara blew up and so did the iceberg you were stuck in. Bang, bang, bang, big earsplitting crack… BAM! They found you. Katara was the first girl you saw. You were twelve, she was pretty and older. Typically, you got a crush on her. But now… Well, are you sure you're not just confused about how you feel about her? I mean, I've been in a room with Sweetness and when Sparky walks in, their heartbeats go absolutely nuts. Lately, when she walks into a room you're in you kinda just sit there."

Silence. Toph scratched at her nose, waiting for Aang to reply.

"How did you come up with that? It's just silly."

"It's not silly; it's the truth."

"I told you, Toph. I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, too bad. We already are." She felt Aang stand up and she held up a hand. "If you go anywhere, I will follow you."

"Why do you want to talk to me about this so bad anyway?" Aang said, starting to sound resigned. "Why do you care?"

Good question, Twinkle Toes…, Toph thought. Out loud, she said, "Because you're my friend, Baldy. I care about you. The fact that you're bottling all this up isn't good for you. If I have to be the one to make you see it, so be it."

Zuko sat in boredom and deep thought under one of the trees in one of the palace's many gardens. This Tsukiyama garden had been another of his mother's favorites. It was spacious and green and different types of flowers took their turns blooming as each season passed through. Oddly enough, large groupings of fire lilies were blooming right now, even though fall was fading into winter and summer had long since passed. Zuko watched as Katara examined the necklace Suki had shown her; both girls were giggling with wide grins on their faces. Sokka sat with his arm draped around his betrothed's shoulders, looking proud and slightly over the moon.

Katara deposited the necklace back in Suki's hand and Sokka snatched it up, tying it back around Suki's neck. A large, dopey smile stretched across the blue-eyed warrior's face. Katara, apparently sensing Zuko's gaze, looked up at him and smiled shyly. He smiled back, trying not to let his worry show.

"It's customary in my tribe that when a man proposes to a woman, he presents her with a necklace of his own craftsmanship," Katara had told him.

Zuko wondered how much time Sokka had spent on Suki's necklace and if Katara would expect one. He cringed. There was no reason for him to expect her to marry him just because the Fire Sages thought it would be fun to create a little chaos.

"You seem like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders," Hakoda said as he approached.

Zuko chuckled darkly.

"You could say that."

"Leadership stuff?"

"Not really. More like…girl stuff." Zuko felt awkward, but maybe Hakoda could help. "Um…," he scratched his head, "from one leader to another, what would you do if your advisors told you that you had to get married in order to keep your power?"

"Well," Hakoda said, looking thoughtful and sitting down, "I don't really have advisors. I consult with my people and we agree on the best thing for our tribe. If I did have advisors, I would be doing what I could to find middle ground and still do what's best for my people. Why do you ask?"

"The Fire Sages are telling me that if I don't get married then I have to share my power with them."

"Interesting. I've never heard of that happening before."

"They gave me two options. The first is that I have to share my power uncle until I'm twenty-one and, after that, I have to share it with the Sages until I get married. The second is that I get married by the age of nineteen and a half and share my power with my uncle until the occasion arises. Either way I have to share my power and get married."

"Which seems the better choice to you?"

"The second, obviously. It gives the Sages no opportunity to sink their claws into my nation and my uncle would be an excellent person to share power with, though he will want no part in it."

"It seems he has no choice."

"I understand his position, though."

"If I may ask, where do girl problems fit in with your situation? Surely that girl with the knives… Mai, correct?"

"Mai and I broke up a while ago. I felt it wasn't fair for her to be with me while I felt differently about her than she did for me. People will expect me to marry her, but there's…um…someone else."

Hakoda nodded.

"That is something I can understand. I was criticized greatly for marrying Katara and Sokka's mother for some time. She was the daughter of a small, unknown family of no social status and I was the son of the chief of our tribe. Naturally, it was arranged that I should marry the daughter of a great warrior. I tried talking to my mother, hoping she could persuade my father to drop the arranged marriage. She had run away from such a situation herself, ending up in the South Pole where she married my father. My father would not be persuaded. He said that we were in a time of war and we could not afford to marry for love, that political marriages would strengthen our tribe."

"So what did you do?"

"I married Kaya anyway," Hakoda said, shrugging. "First, I sought out her father's consent," his blue eyes landed on Zuko sharply and Zuko suddenly felt as though Hakoda knew much more than he let on, "and then we eloped. My father threatened to deny me my rightful position as chief and I surprised him by telling him it didn't matter if I was chief of our tribe or not; my love for my wife was much greater than my love of my position. It took him a while to see my point of view, but he eventually came around.

"You see, there is no reason for you not to follow your heart and do what you wish. A group of people cannot take away your choices. These Fire Sages have already presented you with a compromise. You just have to choose which path you take. A thousand doors may shut when you open a new one, but a thousand more will open along with the one you chose. You just make sure you have my consent, young man."

And then the Water Tribe chief was walking away, his hands in his pockets and a cheerful whistle on his lips. Zuko stared after him at a loss for words. Hakoda did know. How did Hakoda know?! He couldn't wrap his mind around it. Katara's dad had been in the palace for little over a week! How was it that he could have found out about the pair's secret relationship so quickly…? Unless Katara was right and they really did need to choose their supply closets more carefully… Zuko shook his head. He really didn't understand it. Were he and Katara really so transparent?

"Have fun talking to Dad?" Katara asked.

Zuko looked over to see that she had taken Hakoda's place next to him under the tree. She looked vaguely amused.

"Your dad knows about us, doesn't he?"

"…Define 'knows.'"

"Katara!"

"Technically, I wasn't the one who told him. Maids tend to talk…"

"I honestly…I…. This is just really…weird. How long has he known?"

Katara shrugged, looking thoughtful.

"I don't know. Maybe a couple of days. And Suki's kind of suspicious."

"Sokka doesn't know yet?"

The waterbender laughed.

"No. Sokka is oblivious…as usual. Why? Scared he'll hurt you?" She jabbed a teasing elbow into his side and he tried not to wince. Her teasing elbows hurt about as much as Toph's affectionate ones, and that was saying something.

"I could take your brother," Zuko said, insulted that she would insinutate that Sokka could beat him up. Zuko could easily beat Sokka, bending or no bending, swords or no swords.

"I'm just teasing you, Zuko," Katara stated. "Honestly, if you get any more serious you're going to turn into your uncle. You'll be spouting wise sayings and proverbs every time someone asks you for advice."

"You've been strangely happy for the past few days," Zuko said, changing the subject.

"Of course I am! It's a wedding, Zuko. In case you didn't know, weddings are times of joy and happiness. Generally, most people aren't moping around."

Zuko nodded and looked back out at the groupings of fire lilies, watching as they swayed in the breeze that was dancing through the air. Could his life get any more bizarre? People were scarily knowledgeable of his private life, he was friends with his former enemies, he was asking his girlfriend's father for advice about marriage (in a roundabout way), and he was even seriously considering asking said girlfriend to marry him. Not to mention that his girlfriend was a master waterbender who could probably kill him with one flick of her wrist.

Oh, and his father was locked in a high security cell in prison, his sister was a mental patient in an esteemed hospital, and he was still mother-less.

No, things in Zuko's life probably couldn't get more bizarre. Actually, they probably could, but he was hoping they wouldn't.

"You know, if you want to talk about what the Fire Sages said to you, you can talk to me," Katara said, cutting into his rambling thoughts.

Zuko eyed the blue and red anklet on her ankle. It had become a permanent accessory for the blue-eyed girl; he had never seen her without it. He sighed, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I don't think you want to know, Katara."

"Why?"

"It concerns us…in a way."

"What?!"

Zuko cracked open an eye. She was staring at him with a look of incredulity on her face.

"I mean, it doesn't have to concern us, but it really does."

"How?!"

He winced at her loud voice, looking to see if Suki and Sokka were paying attention. The pair had mysteriously disappeared. Zuko wondered where they had gotten to but then decided he didn't want to know. It was probably better for his sanity if he didn't know where unchaperoned, engaged couples went in his home. He turned his attention back to Katara. She looked livid.

"The Fire Sages want me to get married," he said slowly, praying to Agni she wouldn't go ballistic. He bit the inside of his cheek as he watched her expression change from one of anger to one of…well, he didn't exactly know what she was feeling.

Her eyebrows furrowed together and her lips pursed, but Katara looked positively taken aback, wordless and stunned.

"Wh-what?"

Well…it was better than ballistic.

"You're not asking me to marry you…are you?"

Zuko stared at her, mouth agape.

"No!"

"Do you want to get married?"

"Do you?" he shot back.

"Not now!" Katara exclaimed, arms akimbo. "We've only been together for a few months! And not even that long because of the time we weren't together when you decided we should take a break! And it's not like we've told anybody really. They've all just inferred for themselves…"

"Does that make the fact that we are together less legitimate in your eyes?"

She glowered at him, face flushing a deep crimson as her eyes narrowed into slits. Zuko heard the knuckles in her hands pop as her hands balled into fists.

"You would honestly think that I thought that?! How could you possibly think that?!"

"Oh, I don't know! 'It's not like we've told anybody,'" he hissed, standing up as she did so. "Did you ever think that maybe I never went around bragging about the fact that I was with you because I was trying to protect you from the rumors that would spread if people knew I was seeing you behind Aang's back? If they knew I just decided to keep seeing you after you broke things off with him?"

"Maybe I don't care what those people think! Did you ever stop to think that I could put up with a few rumors? I'm not some helpless little girl, Zuko! I'm a living, breathing person. A person with feelings. I like being with you! I want to be able to tell people!"

"Then why haven't you?!" Zuko shot back, anger boiling through his veins as his palms started warming. He noticed the water in a nearby pond splashing violently, reacting to the movement of Katara's hands. Clenching his hands into fists and squeezing shut his eyes, the firebender took a few deep breaths to try to control his anger. It wouldn't help if both of them were angry and ready to fight.

This is stupid. You're fighting for no reason. Calm down. This is an easy fix, he told himself. It's a stupid fight…the worst yet, but still fixable. He took a few more deep breaths. In…out… In…out… In…out…

"This is ridiculous," Zuko muttered, unclenching his fists and slumping his shoulders in defeat. "I'm sorry I yelled."

"So am I… I-I guess I just got scared when you said…what it is the Sages are demanding. At least…at least we're on the same page, right?" She smiled shakily up at him and he smiled weakly back.

"Right. Maybe we should just…take one wedding at a time."

Katara giggled. "Yeah. We're not Sokka and Suki. I mean, we don't need that whole…thing. Now."

"Yep," Zuko said, rubbing the back of his neck and feeling awkward. Bizarre was beginning to sound nice compared to this sudden strangeness that had interrupted what had once seemed out of the norm but was now seeming completely average. "No need to rush."

"Right." Katara was rocking from her heels to the balls of her feet, looking more awkward than he probably looked.

"…Well… Now that this conversation is sufficiently…uncomfortable, I think I'm going to go work on some…Fire Lord stuff." Zuko winced.

Lame excuse…

"And I should probably go…find Suki. She'll probably want help with, you know…things." Katara gave an odd little laugh that was high-pitched and a little bit strained.

Zuko nodded.

"Okay."

She hugged him, and suddenly he was very, very aware of the argument that had just taken place… Had he proposed in a sort of roundabout way? And had Katara rejected him in a similar fashion? He gave himself a good mental face slapping as he watched her walk away.

Idiot!

Toph sighed, bored and wondering what Sparky and Sweetness were getting up to. Maybe they were trying to prevent Snoozles from wreaking havoc upon the palace. He and Suki would be there by now, wouldn't they? Judging from the time Katara's birthday letter had arrived (read by a very uncomfortable Aang), Toph guessed that the couple was there. And probably Hakoda, too. Toph wished she could be there instead of here listening to Aang's silence. While the silence was better than him being gone all the time, she still wished he would talk or yell or…something.

"Look, Twinkle Toes, here's the thing. This whole broken heart thing, it's gonna get better with time. Your problem is that you're not giving it time. Instead, you're moping about, stuck in the past, trying to convince yourself that you're in love with Katara when you're clearly not."

"I am."

Toph groaned, burying her face in her dirt-coated hands.

"No, Aang. You're not."

"I think you're just jealous."

Bingo, said some annoying voice in the back of her head. She imagined herself earthbending that sucker right out of her head.

"I have nothing to be jealous of, Twinkle Toes. Look, I understand the whole 'first crush' thing. It's a big deal, yeah, but a first crush does not mean you love the person your hormones are being all stupid about. Hothead and Sugar Queen…that might have been hormones at first, but now it's something a lot deeper than that. You're still going through the whole puberty thing. Your hormones are all over the place."

"No they're not. I love Katara."

"What about On Ji?" Toph shot back, becoming fed up with her airbending friend's childishness. "You liked her about as much as you like Katara."

"Not true," came the immature response.

"Would you quit being such a big baby? How many times do I have to tell you to man up, Baldy? Quit moping around! I'm starting to think you're doing this for the attention. And I'm not going to give it to you. You are the furthest thing from attention starved I have ever seen!"

Toph could feel Aang's eyes on her and she glowered darkly in his general direction…or what she hoped was his general direction. She was pretty sure she wasn't glaring at a tree or Appa, but she really hoped she wasn't wrong.

"…But…you can't see."

The little earthbender frowned. That hurt, Aang, she wanted to say. It always hurt when others pointed out her lack of sight. Toph didn't mind when she started the jokes, but when somebody else brought her handicap up, she couldn't help but feel a little hurt.

"I'm aware of that fact, Aang," she felt him flinch as the words spurted coldly out of her mouth. "It's called a figure of speech. Those can't see either."

"I'm sorry," Aang said meekly.

"It's not okay," Toph replied standing up. It really wasn't okay. Aang had really hit home with his comment for some reason. For once in a ridiculously long time, she felt like crying and she didn't know why. Rooting a foot deeply into the ground, Toph sought out her earth tent and made her way over to it.

"Toph-"

"I'm packing my stuff. I want you to take me back to Sparky's. I'm tired of sitting around here, trying to make you feel better and to talk to you about it when all you do is push me away," she said, trying to sound sharp and biting while hoping he wouldn't see her rubbing at her eyes with a fisted hand.

There was silence for a few tense seconds and then she heard Aang mumble, "Okay."

Preview

She slipped a foot into the water to test out the temperature. Despite the night air, the water was warm and she dived in, lithe body cutting through the seawater like a knife. Surfacing, she shook her long tresses out of her eyes and stared up at the full moon, eyes wide and drops of water slipping over her skin.

"Do you always swim at midnight?"

The Shaping Destiny Playlist

Theme Song: "Everything" by Lifehouse
01. "All You Wanted" by Michelle Branch
02. "The Diary of Jane" by Breaking Benjamin
03. "So Close" by Jon McLaughlin
04. "So I Thought" by Flyleaf
05. "Faint" by Linkin Park
06. "Just Friends" by Jonas Brothers
07. "Lovebug" by Jonas Brothers
08. "You Had Me from Hello" by Kenny Chesney
09. "A Little Bit Longer" by Jonas Brothers
10. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" by My Chemical Romance
11. "Everybody" by Keith Urban
12. "Better in Time" by Leona Lewis

A/N: Not nearly as long as I wanted it to be, but I like it the way it is. Reviews? Please? Remember, I take questions and suggestions and I try to answer and incorporate as much as possible.

nephertiri

I'll have your two-shot up soon. I'm working on it!

Harlequin Jade

I'm working on your one-shot and I should have it up in the next few days. I'm so sorry for the delay, but no worries. It'll be up soon!