Do to all the positive feedback, as well as me and Marla's desire to procrastinate on our homework, we have cranked out this little fun chapter for all of you. Its really just filler, but it was fun to write. This is actually great, because we only ever write one-shots that require an entire story in one chapter, but here we can just sort of roll with it and see what happens.
Oh and we don't own anything in Avatar the Last Airbender. We wish we did though. How awsome would it be to own a Shirshu?
"I am not riding that thing."
"Then don't. Have fun walking, princess loudmouth."
Both girls stood with their arms crossed, Nyla between them scratching at his muzzle with one massive paw. Watching nearby, Firelord Zuko and Lady Mai stood at the top of the palace steps. "Why haven't they left yet?" he whispered as his fiancé was busy investigating the condition of her own nails.
Mai shrugged. "Looks to me like their have trouble with their transportation," she replied with a board sigh. Far off in the distance, sunlight gleamed off over the horizon; indicating that the duo was already far behind schedule.
Curiosity winning out, Zuko left her side and treaded down the impressive stairway until he was within earshot of the girls' conversation.
"Can't we just hook a wagon up to it or something? How could you possibly ride that thing for hours at a time?" Toph's voice protested.
Jun frowned. "He is actually very comfortable." Interrupting their argument, Nyla suddenly nudged a giant, furry head against his master. Her expression sweetening in an instant, the older woman gently stroked behind her Shirshu's ears, before turning back towards her new partner and scowling once more. "Now are you coming or not?"
The earthbender pouted. "Of course I'm coming. I'm just not gonna squeeze onto a tiny saddle, where I can't even see anything, and hang on you for a whole day."
"Then I guess you're out of luck than aren't you? Don't worry, I'll send you a souvenir."
Finally reaching the bottom of the palace's ridiculously tall staircase (or at least it was in his opinion at that moment), the Firelord stepped between the both of them, slightly out of breath. After a second of heavy breathing, at which both women just rolled their eyes, Zuko butted his way into the conversation. "Maybe we could all just reach a compromise. Would a bigger saddle help?"
"No," the oldest of them deadpanned, still stroking her pet with one hand. "I don't want Nyla to be uncomfortable."
The earthbender scoffed. "Oh yeah, I wouldn't dare imagine upsetting that drooling monster. How about we just toss me in a sack? Would that make you happy, man-hands?"
Breaking her cool demeanor for a split second, Jun self-consciously adjusted her black gloves and snapped back. "Your one to talk!"
Toph smirked at the woman's slight break in defenses. Meanwhile, Zuko, sensing the potential danger in the air, racked his brain for ideas. "Well…how did you get here yesterday Toph?"
She shrugged. "I took a ferry to get across the ocean, but otherwise I usually just run."
Jun flashed her an inquiring look. "I don't think you could keep up with Nyla no matter how fast you are, kid."
"Well, its not normal running. I use my earthbending to kind of skate across the ground really fast. It wears me out after a while, but I can cover more ground that way."
Zuko glanced between the two of them. "Enough to keep up with a full-grown shirshu?" he asked hopefully.
"I don't see why not."
Finally he smiled, clapping his hands together as the matter seemed resolved. "That's it then. All you have to do is ride him when you need to cross water or something, but otherwise, Toph, you can just do that."
Jun seemed to relax, content with the solution. Toph however, visibly tensed and tilted her head down. Bangs that had been once been tucked securely behind her ears cascaded into the blind girl's face. "Uh…sure, right. Sounds great."
"What now?" the bounty hunter groaned, twisting Nyla's whip between her fingers as her impatience grew.
The girl nervously began rubbing at her arm. "Well…I would rather not have to ride it at all…" she replied uneasily, a strong sense of discomfort in her words. "I can't really see, so it would be kind of easy for me to fall off, you know? Plus if it's over water…"
Zuko offered an understanding smile and patted his friend's shoulder. "It's okay Toph. Jun wouldn't let you fall." He turned to face said bounty hunter, his expression almost skeptical. "Right Jun?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can we go now, or am I gonna have to listen to more of your blind-girl pity party?" she replied coolly, reaching into a small saddle bag and pulling out one of the shoes that Zuko had given her the other day. The shirshu sniffed it, then tilted his head into the air to locate a scent.
The others frowned. "Gee, that's reassuring…" Toph mumbled, feeling the other girl lift one foot into Nyla's stirrup and leverage herself onto the his back. "See ya Sparky. Don't be surprised if I show up with your mom alone after brutally murdering man-hands, over here."
Jun again couldn't help but glance down at her palms, scowling at the girl's comment reguarding them. "Let's just go already," she growled. "There are some docks up ahead so you should just climb on now and save us the trouble later."
Nodding, Toph took a cautious step towards the creature before her and gently touched his side. Nyla tensed, caught slightly off guard from the contact. "Easy boy…" the bender mumbled, reaching up blindly for her partner's hand to help hoist herself up.
Jun grabbed it, and with one arm, slung the petite girl up into the saddle behind her. "Hold on," she warned, smirking as she lifted her whip-welding arm up in preparation. Obeying, Toph security fastened her arms around the woman's waist and took a deep breath. Zuko offered a few parting words before they left, of which neither girl really cared to listen to.
Then Toph heard the crack of a whip, followed by Nyla bucking slightly backwards in response. She cringed and hugged the older woman tighter, burying her face into the back of her shirt. Jun just chuckled. "Nice to know there's something that can shut this girl up," she thought before snapping the whip again and commanding her pet to spring into action, taking off and kicking up dust in his wake as Jun ordered him forward at full speed.
Zuko, after watching the pair disappear off into the distance, was surprised to find that Mai had, at some point, followed him down the stairway at a causal pace and was just now stopping at his side. "They're going to kill each other, you know," she stated as a matter of fact, leaning into his arm.
He sighed. "I hope not. I've already sunk six thousand in gold just for their travel costs."
Mai raised a brow. "Six thousand?"
"Those two can be very persuasive…"
She stared at him blankly for a moment. "…I'm handling all of our financial transactions from now on," was all she responded with, before turning around and gracefully walking up the palace's grand staircase.
Hurray for short filler chapter!
Oh and if Jun seemed a little harsh with the 'blind-girl pity party' comment, keep in mind that she just watched a thirteen year old girl singlehandedly destroy the Firelord's throne room without even breaking a sweat. The last thing she's going to feel for Toph, is pity. Ever hear of bender envy?
Plus sorry for the random man-hands comment. We needed something that Toph could say about Jun that might upset her. RubyT wrote it to fill space, and we just kind of ran with it. We realize Jun probably doesn't really have man-hands.