"The Water Tribes weren't meant to go to places like these," Sokka grumbled, wiping the sweat off his brow as they descended deeper into the mine. He glanced at Toph and Satoru ahead of him, who were also sweating, but nowhere near as bad as him.

"Stop being a baby," Toph called back to him, although she was starting to get very annoyed with her bangs clinging together and sticking to her forehead.

"Actually, he's right, there's a reason we don't have the Water Tribe people mining down here," Satoru explained as the path began to level off. "Pretty quickly, we saw Fire Nation people, especially the firebenders aren't as affected by the heat as the Water Tribes or Earth Kingdom, although the earthbenders aren't too bad. I don't think I need to explain why firebenders are best suited to this place."

"Those baths outside the mine seem like a wonderful idea right now," Sokka stated as they reached flat ground. He uselessly fanned himself with his hand. "Why are you even mining so close to a volcano, doesn't that seem like a terrible idea?"

"That's the job of the waterbenders, they keep the water cool for when miners come out, not the most tasking of jobs but an important one," Satoru told him as they continued along the path. He pointed to different streaks of colour along the wall. "We've found huge deposits of minerals. Zinc and copper is plentiful, along with silver and many different gems. Of course, the main reason we're here..." Satoru trailed off. Sokka's jaw dropped as they stepped into a large cavern, lit up by small green glowing crystals. Reflecting the green light and helping illuminate the cavern, golden streaks and patches lined the walls and roof.

"Gold," Sokka finished for him, looking around the cavern, miners walked from place to place, grabbing different tools or using bending to further a dig. They walked towards the middle of the cavern, where a large, muscular man stood looking down over plans. He glanced up to the trio, showing his deeply lined face, and broke into a smile.

"Satoru, good to see you!" the man boomed as the two embraced.

"You as well!" Satoru said as they let go. "This is Honghui, he detailed, and runs the entirety of this operation. Honghui, this is Sokka, of the Southern Water Tribe." Sokka stuck out his hand, and was grasped by the forearm.

"I know the name, you accompanied the Avatar in his journeys during the Hundred Year War and took down a fleet of airships, if I remember correctly." Honghui noted, an impressed look on his face. He glanced at the short, young girl and frowned.

"I don't think this one needs an introduction," Satoru said as he watched Honghui's eyebrows shoot up.

"Toph Beifong." Honghui said, bowing to the girl. "It's an honour to meet you." She returned the bow, but a cocky grin was plastered across her face as she came back up. "Satoru, if you have a moment." Satoru nodded and followed him to the table. Sokka glanced down at Toph, who had her head slightly tilted.

"You okay?" Sokka said and Toph's head went back to the normal angle.

"Yeah, just checking out this room," Toph told him, giving a more exaggerated tap of her foot. "I can't bend certain metals like gold, maybe I'm not good enough yet, but I can still tell they're different to normal rock, and so it gives a strange... feeling when I focus on it."

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked, looking along the gold veins in the walls. Toph thought for a moment, trying to find the right way to describe it.

"I can feel all the earth around us, and I can reach out and grab it, move it, do whatever I want with the earth." Toph explained, giving the ground a light stamp and making a small rock come to her hand. "I can feel the gold and other metals too, but it's like they're just out of my reach." She frowned and left out a small huff. "Every time I try to grasp them, they seemed to move away." She crushed the rock in her hand to dust. "If I could just work out how to get a hold of those metals in my head, I bet I could become an even more powerful metalbender."

"Considering the fact you invented metalbending, I'm sure you'll figure out a way," Sokka told her, a grin coming to his face. "I'll lock you in a solid gold box one day and you'll have to figure out how."

"Good luck trying," Toph said as Satoru walked over to them while Honghui walked away to a group of workers.

"Honghui told me we may have to hire some new firebenders to help keep the place lit up," Satoru said with an annoyed frown.

"What about the glowing crystals, they seem to be doing a fairly good job here," Sokka noted as he looked around the room.

"Yes, but we've been having trouble trying to work our way through the caves here. There is a lot branching off from this cavern, but many are too small for us to fit effective crystal lighting." Satoru stroked his chin as he thought, Sokka doing the same.

"Back when Katara and I were investigating that hidden mine your uncle had, I tied a crystal to my head so I could have both hands free," Sokka began, getting Satoru's attention. "What if you attached them to the helmets your miners wear?"

"That's not a bad idea, Sokka!" Satoru pursed his lips before his eyebrows shot up. "Or..." Satoru trailed off, grabbing a crystal from a lantern on the table. "Toph, would you be able to crush this down?"

"Easy," Toph said, clenching her fist and causing the crystal to break. It quickly turned into a pile of tiny shards. Sokka and Toph watched Satoru grab a helmet and begin tinkering with it. A few minutes later and he had a small circular indent in the front of the helmet. He gathered the tiny glowing shards and dropped them into the hole. He held his hand over it as he pointed it towards a dark corner of the cavern. Moving his hand out of the way, careful not to allow the shards to spill out, the corner lit up.

"This is perfect, I just need a clear cover to hold the crystal in," Satoru said as he put the helmet down. "You're a genius, Sokka." Sokka's eyes widened at the compliment but he smiled in thanks, until Toph burst out laughing.

"Oh yeah, Meathead's a genius. I knew you'd actually make his dumb ideas work," Toph said, and smirked when she felt Sokka glare at her. "You'd have everyone walking around with cloths tying crystals to their heads."

"I'm going to show Honghui this, if you'll excuse me," Satoru told them, grabbing the helmet and walking towards the bossman.

"Genius huh... Finally someone sees it," Sokka said, raising his chin and folding his arms across his chest.

"Told you that you would get on with him," Toph reminded him. "I should probably talk to some people here, see if they need any help repairing or moving stuff. Don't break anything." Sokka went to follow her and opened his mouth to protest, quickly shutting it as he knocked over a lantern.

About fifteen minutes later, Toph came back and made a chair and footstool for herself. She made a small stone stump for Sokka after another few minutes of him complaining to her. They waited another while, until Satoru walked towards them.

"Well, everything seems to be in working order," Satoru announced as he neared them, a wide smile on his face.

"Thank Tui and La," Sokka mumble, breathing a sigh of relief as he stood.

"Just one last thing," Satoru said, placing a small box on the table. Sokka sighed again, although this time sadly, and collapsed back down on the stone stump. Satoru chuckled while lightly tapping the box. "Toph, would you come over here."

"Fine," Toph muttered as she heaved herself out of the chair and stepped over to Satoru.

"I had wanted to get you something for quite some time," Satoru started, getting an interested look from Toph and a cocked eyebrow from Sokka. "The partnership between you and I — or Earthen Fire and the Beifong Academy has been amazing." His cheeks lightly flushed as he misspoke. "With you and your students' help, we've made huge progress, and personally getting to see you metalbend has been incredible." Sokka couldn't help but roll his eyes at the praise. "Getting to know you has also been a pleasure, and as a business partner… and friend, I wanted to thank you." He opened the box and Sokka's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Satoru handed the gift to Toph.

"It's beautiful," Toph quietly said as she began to turn it around in her hands and run her fingers along it. Sokka had to agree with her. The large golden bracelet, with a pair of rubies on each side and an emerald on top, shined brightly in the green lighting. Intricate carvings wound around the bracelet, providing a connection between each of the three gems.

"I'm glad you liked it, I remember you showed me the one on your arm, space earth or something like that. I thought you might like a new one," Satoru explained. Sokka glanced down at his gear, which he had put under the table, and spotted the tube he had brought with him. He felt a strange urge to say something.

"I had actually brought something I wanted to..." the word "show" died on his lips, remembering how Katara had laughed and reminded him Toph was blind when he got back to the house. He could never work out why he kept forgetting.

"I don't know why everyone is giving me stuff but I like it, can this be a new thing from now on?" Toph asked, grinning excitedly.

"I've been trying to think of a way to allow you to see it," Sokka continued as he grabbed the tube and opened it. "I painted — stop giving me that look — I painted the Beifong symbol.".

Toph held in her laugh. "Yeah, and if you painted it then I doubt it looks like it," Toph joked, hearing Sokka shake the tube.

"Hey! Katara says my painting skills have gotten pretty good," Sokka shot back, sliding the painting out of the tube.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Toph retorted, grinning up at him. He unrolled and held it up. He sheepishly pointed it more at Satoru than Toph.

"That's actually quite well done," Satoru said, looking at the painting intently. Sokka smiled brightly at him.

"Wait..." Toph said, her eyes wide. "Did someone actually compliment Meathead on his artwork?" She began panically looking around the mine. "Quick, get everyone out, I think the volcano is going to blow."Sokka rolled his eyes and began to put the painting back into the tube, angry with himself for forgetting she wouldn't be able to see it. Although, he hadn't even realised he was painting it at the time.

"That reminds me actually, did you check the bottom of the bracelet?" Satoru asked, and watched as Toph turned it around and ran her fingers down along it. She stopped at the first engraving, her excited grin coming back. She ran her finger along the familiar grooves of the flying boar. "Keep going," Satoru told her. She did so, and her smile grew even wider.

"The Earthen Fire symbol," She said to no one, tracing the engraving.

"To symbolise our partnership," Satoru said. Toph took a cautious step towards him before giving a quick hug.

"I love it, thanks Satoru," Toph said as she hugged him.

"Let's see how it looks on you," Satoru said excitedly. "Take off that other one and try it on!" Toph's hand immediately went to the space bracelet underneath her sleeve and turned her head towards Sokka, who seemed like he'd had enough of being down in the mine as he lazily watched a group of workmen. His eyes flicked to her hand on her space bracelet, then to her eyes, which were unsure. Satoru spoke again. "Toph?" She turned back to him, who looked concerned.

"That's not happening," Toph told him strongly.

"Oh..." was all Satoru could say for a few moments. "I had just thought that you'd like something new," Satoru mumbled, his eyebrows knitting together. "It's just that the bracelet you have is a bit... bland, I thought something with a bit of colour would look nice, change it up a little."

"A bit bland?" Toph repeated. Sokka had been paying attention to their conversation after Satoru told Toph to take off Sokka's gift. He spotted her eyes go wide in a very familiar way, one that she always did when she was about to yell at him. Toph was about to unload on the annoying engineer, when Sokka stood in between them.

"Why don't you just put it on your other arm," Sokka suggested, hoping he wasn't too late. Toph's mouth hung open for a few seconds, until she closed it and pulled up the sleeve from her elbow on her right arm. She closed the gold bracelet over her upper arm. "Looks lovely." He stepped away from them, openly glaring at Satoru as he did so. Satoru was surprised at the look, but quickly turned his attention towards Toph.

"Looks like the fit is perfect too," Satoru added. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suggest anything." He glanced back over to Sokka, who was still giving him a somewhat annoyed stare, and spotted Honghui over his shoulder. "I actually have one more thing to discuss with Honghui. You two can make your way up and get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll head into the village. I heard there is this wonderful fortune-teller that I would like to visit."

"Aunt Wu," Sokka told him as he began to walk away. "I'm pretty sure she's a con artist." He heard Toph laughing and turned to her with his eyebrow raised.

"I heard about that, something about struggle and anguish," Toph said as they began walking along the corridor to the underground hill.

"Yeah, most of it self-inflicted apparently," Sokka grumbled, remembering how she had just skipped over him.

"Sound pretty accurate to me, Snoozles," Toph teased, grinning back at him as she began climbing.

"I was an uncoordinated teenager with-" Sokka didn't get any further, as the next step he took he felt the ground move out from under him and fell flat on his face. He looked up at the smirking face of Toph, and spotted her clenched hand. "That doesn't count!" he shouted after her as she took to running up the incline, her mocking laugh filled the mine. After a few minutes of climbing, They reached fresh air and Sokka was nearly overwhelmed with emotion. He gulped at a fresh water jug, spilling half of it, then pouring the remaining over his head.

"Hurry up Meathead!" Toph called, wanting to get back to the airship to wash up. She felt him start to walk towards her, then veer off, towards the baths for the miners.

"Just give me a minute," Sokka told her as she stood there impatiently. She was about to argue, when she felt the vibrations of his clothes hitting the floor. Other than his loincloth, he was pretty much naked.

Whoa... that's new. Toph thought to herself as she focused on Sokka. Each step brought a picture of the athletic and muscular body of the Water Tribe boy. Man Toph's mind corrected her. She remembered feeling his bicep back in the Fire Nation, but this was a lot more interesting, and fun! The image disappeared as Sokka let himself fall into one of the free baths. She was no longer focused on Sokka, and a small tap on the ground made her realise that a couple of the other women around had been looking at him. You're staring at him... Toph's mind mentioned. You're staring at him! It shouted this time. She quickly turned and began walking towards the airship. She violently snapped her head down, bringing her bangs right over her face, and pulled on them to try and further hide the deep blush that had set in, praying Sokka hadn't noticed.


Told you chapter 4 was close to being finished ^^ Chapter 5 is mostly planned out, although still has some stuff to be looked at. Writing has began as I pretty much have the beginning plotted. Chapter 5 will pretty much be the trip to Aunt Wu's Fortune Salon, so look forward to that :D

I'll try and keep the updates coming but school and homework will of course take priority. If you ever want to get an idea of what the current situation is like, feel free to pm me. This also goes for any questions you may have.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Consider following if you'd like to keep up with the story. Thanks for reading!