Chapter Nine
"Rule Omashu or die?" Toph blurted with an incredulous laugh. "You have got to be kidding! Where the heck am I anyway?"
"You are in the spirit world, and I do not kid," came the cold answer. Around Toph the wind began to pick up and the tree branches overhead began to sway violently.
"Okay, okay," Toph soothed. "You don't kid, and I'm not dreaming." The wind began to die back and the branches settled once again.
This green chick is more of a drama queen than Katara ever dreamed of being, Toph thought to herself. She decided the diplomatic route might be wise. "The thing is," she began more cautiously, "I'm not Toph Bei Fong anymore. I'm Princess Toph of the Fire Nation. I kind of have a job already."
"Fire Nation?" the woman jeered. "You would exchange one of the greatest, most ancient cities of the Earth Kingdom, the home of earthbending itself, for the Fire Nation?"
"Well, it's not so much the Fire Nation as it is my husband, Crown Prince Zuko," Toph explained. "I've already made a promise to him before the Fire Nation, the avatar, and the spirits. I won't break it."
"Why not?" snapped the green woman peevishly. "You have been selected to rule Omashu. It is your destiny."
"My destiny is with my husband. I love him," Toph replied.
The woman gave her a disbelieving look. "Let's just see what's so special about this—Zuko, was it?" she stated, then gave little wave of her hand.
Out of nowhere Zuko appeared before them, staggering a little with the abruptness of his arrival. Then he quickly gained his balance and his bearings, zeroing in on Toph.
"Sparky!" she cried, running for him. Unfortunately, the angry green lady intervened, freezing the two of them into place. But if Toph couldn't run into his arms, at least she could see him. The first thing she saw was his eyes, gold like the fire that burned beside her, gold like the sun above her. She'd never understood gold until that moment.
Everything about him was fiery—his flashing eyes, the scar that ran across his face like the tongue of an angry flame, even the color of his clothing spoke heat and blaze to her. Not to mention the fact that he was furious at being held immobile.
"Please," she begged the spirit. "Please let me go to him, just for a moment."
The spirit looked at her with supreme disdain, then waved her hand dismissively and Toph was free. She ran into her husband's arms, alternating between holding him and looking at him.
"Toph, sweetie," he murmured between kisses to her face and lips. "Are you okay? I was worried sick about you."
"I'm fine, Sparky," Toph replied, drinking him in with all her senses. "Oh, you are so beautiful, you know that?"
"Let's get out of here," he stated firmly.
"And how do you plan to do that?" the green spirit asked disdainfully. "Stupid human. I brought you here—you will depart at my pleasure alone."
Zuko turned and looked at his hostess for the first time. His eyes widened the slightest bit as he took in his true surroundings. "My pardon," he replied politely with the most courteous bow imaginable. "I meant no disrespect."
"Suck-up," Toph sniggered beneath her breath.
To her surprise, the green spirit actually seemed impressed and preened a little at his obvious show of lowliness. "Finally, someone who appreciates his position," she stated with a sharp little glance at Toph. Toph barely restrained herself from sticking out her tongue. She didn't know who this spirit lady was, but she was heartily tired of dealing with her.
Zuko, on the other hand, had grasped the politics of the situation pretty quickly. He'd been around enough petty tyrants and spoiled ladies of privilege to know how to placate them long enough to get what he really wanted.
"My lady, I thank you for allowing me to come here as your most humble guest. My uncle, Fire Lord Iroh, has spoken to me of the wonders of the spirit world. I never dreamed I would one day be granted the privilege of seeing it myself," Zuko bowed again even more deeply as he tried to ignore Toph's little snickers beside him. He knew what he was doing.
"Iroh?" the spirit asked gesturing for him to take a seat. "Your uncle is Iroh of the Fire Nation?"
"Yes, my lady, he is. I am his heir," Zuko replied, sitting next to her. Toph settled in close to him, her newly found vision examining every inch of her beloved Zuko. She hoped they'd talk a long time, so she could commit each detail to memory.
Meanwhile, Zuko racked his brain for everything his uncle had let drop over the years. A few times when Iroh was completely inebriated, he'd talk about the beautiful green woman he'd met in the spirit world after Ba Sing Se. This had to be her—but what was her name? Beside him, Toph kept looking at him with the strangest expression on her face. It was almost like she was really looking at him with her eyes. Strange.
"Iroh came to me many years ago on his travels through the spirit world," the spirit said dreamily. "He was a very entertaining guest."
"He spoke of you in the most glowing terms possible, my lady Lian Shen," Zuko replied with another bow of his head, hoping the name was correct.
"He remembered me!" Lian Shen gushed with inhumanly beautiful smile.
"How could he forget your beauty, your courtesy, or your understanding in a difficult time?" Zuko asked, leaning a little toward the spirit. "He spoke of how you ministered to him in a time of great sorrow."
"Poor Iroh," Lian Shen sighed, reaching out to take Zuko's hand. Toph began to grow suspicious. "He was so distraught when he came to me last. I can't really remember what about—some human trouble or another. But I nursed him through it."
Zuko nodded in sympathetic gratitude. "He came to you when his son, Lu Ten, was killed at Ba Sing Se," he explained.
"Yes, that was it," Lian Shen gushed sympathetically, moving one of her hands to Zuko's thigh and leaning closer as if to comfort him too. "He was terribly upset. I did my best to take his mind off things."
Toph thought she was going to throw up—especially if that green witch didn't take her hands off her husband. She wondered if she could bend an earth box around her that would hold long enough for them to find their own way out.
"Zuko," Toph interjected in hopes of diverting Lian Shen's attention away from Zuko, "this nice lady thinks I should be the ruler of Omashu. But I told her I already have plans with you."
Zuko gave her a little nod, then turned back to Lian Shen. "Please, my lady, allow Toph to return to the Fire Nation. My uncle is counting on me to be the heir he lost at Ba Sing Se," Zuko continued. "Toph is the bride he chose for me so that his family line would continue unbroken." Zuko looked at the willowy green spirit with all the seriousness he could manage.
"How sweet of Iroh to select your bride!" Lian Shen cooed. "Well, of course his family line should continue to rule the Fire Nation. And it will." She reached out to take both of Zuko's hands in a possessive grasp. "Don't worry, young prince. Your Toph is carrying a child right now—a boy, in fact," Lian Shen offered in a quiet voice, as if Toph was not to hear.
Toph heard herself take a little breath in surprise and felt Zuko do the same. However, he hid his reaction better than she did and smoothly continued, "For my uncle's sake, my lady Lian Shen, please allow us both to return to the Fire Nation to make his joy complete by telling him the wonderful news that his family will continue to grow."
Lian Shen seemed to think a moment, then magnanimously stated, "Zuko of the Fire Nation, I grant your request. Toph is released to serve as your wife and the mother of your children."
Toph nearly choked on her indignation at the spirit's version of her marriage. But she held back as the two of them stood and bowed gratefully. Then the spirit rose majestically and held out her hand to Zuko.
"You are welcome to return to me at any time, young Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation," she said suggestively. "If you come into the swamp, I will feel your presence and call you to me." He bowed again, more to hide the blush that rose to his face than anything else. "Farewell, young firebender," she said with a sly smile, and he vanished with a wave of her hand.
Then she turned back to Toph, her demeanor slipping back into piqued swamp spirit mode. "You must find us a new ruler of Omashu. An earthbender who understands the importance of--"
"Neutral jing," Toph cut her off brusquely. She was really out of patience now with this spirit hussy. "I've had this chat with Bumi already."
Lian Shen drew herself up to her full height and looked down at Toph with an unearthly sternness. Toph actually became a little afraid that she'd crossed the line. She wondered how it would feel to become a swamp plant.
"Toph Bei Fong," the spirit growled, "you will not take this mission lightly. I expect a ruler to be found—one that will meet with my approval—and quickly. You will not be out of my sight, disrespectful human girl. If not for the fact that you carry the child of Prince Zuko—heir to my beloved Iroh," she sighed indulgently at the thoughts of the two firebenders, then her eyes turned back to Toph and flashed menacingly, "I would strike you down. Do you understand me?"
Toph forced herself into full obeisance mode. "Yes, my lady Lian Shen. I meant no disrespect. I will search long and hard for the right candidate for the most important post of ruler of Omashu," she said with a humble, deep bow, one hand pressed to her belly at Lian Shen's reaffirmation of her pregnancy.
Lian Shen looked at her for a long moment, then with a wave of her hand airily said, "You may depart."
With a start, Toph opened her eyes in some kind of hut. She was dismayed to see that her vision had returned to normal—normal for her at least. A glance to her side revealed Zuko lying on a cot next to her, moaning feverishly as an old woman attempted to soothe him.
"Quiet now," she said. "It'll be over in a minute, boy. I've got good sharp knives here. You won't feel a thing—much."
"What's going on?" Toph asked, shaking bits of crumbled dried slime from her arms.
The old woman ran to her side, leaving Zuko in the care of another man, one she recognized immediately—Jet.
"So yer awake at last," the woman said. "I'm Dei Zi, the village healer. Your young man here got bit by a cottonmouth gar. He's gone all feverish. We're gonna have to take his leg off."
"Wait just a minute," Toph exclaimed, pushing back the covers and staggering over to Zuko's bedside. "You're not taking anything off my husband without my approval."
Then she looked down at Zuko's leg. Her improved earthbending abilities where he was concerned gave her the seriousness of the situation immediately. The venom was destroying muscle and nerve tissue rapidly—and worse, it was spreading.
"Take it off," Toph said grimly.
"Here," Jet spoke up. "Use this. It's the sharpest blade I've ever seen." His sword sang as he pulled it out of its simple sheath. Toph immediately recognized it as well.
"Where did you find this?" she asked with a gasp.
"In the forest a few years back," Jet answered. "Why? Do you know where it came from?"
"It's Sokka's meteor sword," she replied, stroking it reverently with one finger, careful of the edge of the blade. "He dropped it in the battle over the Earth Kingdom on the day Aang defeated Ozai."
"I found it in one of the burned over sections of the forest," Jet answered. "But we'll discuss it later. Right now, it's the best blade available to do what has to be done."
Zuko groaned and mumbled, clearly delirious with pain and fever. "Shhhh, baby," Toph said softly, taking a cool wet cloth to his brow. His eyes flew open to look at her. For a second, she could still see the gold.
"Toph, where were we? Who was that woman?" he asked in confusion. "I looked for you everywhere." His voice drifted off weakly as his eyes fluttered shut.
"He ain't getting no better," Dei Zi said grimly. "We better get ready to take that leg off. I just hope we can get above the poison. Otherwise he might bleed to death on us."
Toph shuddered. She couldn't believe she was about to place her husband's life in the hands of some backwoods swamp healer. As much as she agreed that something had to be done, she wished desperately Katara would suddenly show up on Appa to help. She tried to stay calm as Dei Zi began to probe the angry tissue on Zuko's leg.
To Zuko it all seemed to be a dream—or a nightmare. Images of a garden and Toph flickered before him. Then he could only see the inside of a dark shack where Toph lay so still. Ever present was a searing pain down his leg.
Had he gone somewhere? What had the green woman told him? It was something important. Was it real? Everything seemed to fade in and out on him. He wasn't sure if that was reality and this was the dream.
A soft voice was speaking to him, Toph's voice, but he couldn't make out the words and he didn't have the strength to open his eyes. The one thing he clung to was that Toph had been present in both places and that she was fine.
And he hurt so bad. His leg felt like it was being blasted with blue fire. The slightest movement, the lightest touch sent excruciating blazes of pain that ran down his leg and back up into his spine, as if his nerves were on fire as well. Worse, he was beginning to hurt all over, not just his leg.
He tried to breathe through it, tried to call on the healing heat of his element, but the heat and energy only seemed to feed the agony, making it exponentially worse. He thought he might pass out.
All around him voices buzzed, some he thought he knew, some he didn't. He managed to open his eyes, hoping to see Toph there, hoping that she really was awake and that he hadn't been dreaming.
She was there.
He held her with his eyes and tried to listen to what she was saying, but nothing made sense. Behind her, other people stood, but he couldn't make out their faces. Only Toph mattered.
Then there was another burst of pain from his leg as he felt someone touching him, sending white hot daggers into his nervous system.
His vision grew spotty and again his consciousness began to slip away. The last thing he felt was something cold against his skin, followed by another sharp pain. Then darkness took him.