A/N: Hello everyone. I know what you're thinking 'Gasp! This can't really be an update, can it? It's only been like forever!' Rest assured it totally is an update. I don't know how often I'll update (after all this one took me 2-ish years) but know that I am not giving up on this story. So…without further ado, here is that chapter!

Of Fire Chapter 27

The carriage came to a full stop before Detia got out, unlike Toph who jumped out once they entered the courtyard. The lightning bender secured the book in her tunic, adjusting the small bag she carried on her person as a guard picked up Lin. She kept an eye on the guard but most of her attention was on the Earth Queen who was being thoroughly chastised by the head guard, at least that's who Detia assumed it was. Toph rolled her eyes and placed her hands behind her head, intentionally infuriating the captain of the guard with her nonchalant attitude.

Detia chuckled softly to herself, but she didn't miss Toph's smirk. The captain gave up eventually as he threw his hands up into the air and rolled his eyes. "You finished?" Toph inquired.

He almost growled in frustration but answered, "Yes."

"Good." Toph remarked as she turned towards her new advisor and her family. "I'll show you to your rooms. If for some reason you don't feel like living in the palace I can have a house prepared in the upper ring, but it could take a minute. We love our paperwork."

Azula smirked at that statement, she knew it was true. "I think we'll be fine in the palace."

"Excellent." The Earth Queen remarked as she turned back around and headed towards the palace entrance. "Let's get things settled."

The trip through the palace was swift, seeing as Toph knew exactly where she was going. The rooms they would be staying in where close to each other, but not side by side. They reached Azula and Ty Lee's room first, opening the double doors to reveal a room decorated in Earth Kingdom greens and yellow. Azula was not amused by this as she entered the room and fingered the green silk sheets on the king sized bed as she examined the hard wood frame and light green canopy. Glancing over to her wife – who was inspecting a vanity made of the same dark hard wood, though it had a bright yellow trim – it seemed, at first, that the acrobat had no problem with the color scheme. That was until she turned to Toph and accused, "You did this on purpose didn't you?"

Toph smirk and shrugged in reply. "I have no idea what you're talking about." The Fire Nation royal couple only stared at Toph, who gave nothing away. "Anyways, all of your luggage was shipped a couple of days ago. Most of your clothing and such were put up in their appropriate places. Whatever the servants didn't put up is located in the closet."

Ty Lee nodded as her attention was drawn to the intricately designed doors located on the far side of the room, away from the bed and in the direction of the little sitting area of the room. Azula's attention had also been drawn to that area but for a different reason, the fire place. It was large and the only thing in the entire room that had red in it. She noticed, quite amused, that the mantel of the fireplace was designed with a Fire Nation occupant in mind, what with the dragons racing up from the base to meet in the middle of the top board. Sunstone, who had remained silently wrapped around Azula until this point approved greatly of the design and quickly disentangled herself to stretch along the length of the mantel, the fire that already lit the room casting her golden scales in tones of orange and red. Sunstone squawked in pleasure as Azula rubbed between her eyes.

Toph and Detia stood at the doors, allowing Azula and Ty Lee to get comfortable in their new room. Ty Lee, after being lost in the closet for a minute, came out and immediately went to the floor to ceiling windows and threw them open. The cold winter air entered the room quickly, but it was ignored as the acrobat walked out onto the balcony. It wasn't nearly as high as the one they had at the Fire Nation, the room being only on the second story, but it was high enough to see all the way to the outer walls. "Wow." Was the only thing she said as she breathed in the crisp cold air. "I like the view."

"I thought you would." Toph admitted. "But if you guys are ready I'm going to show Detia her room."

Azula and Ty Lee nodded and moved back to the entrance, they could discuss how to change the room into a homier place later. Detia's room was down the hall and around a corner on the opposite wall. The doors themselves stood out against the stone walls and floor. The doors were made of soft white marble and despite being large and made of marble they were light and easily opened. Carved in the marble in the very middle where the doors met was a circle and in the middle of that circle was the image of a thunderbird. Toph smirked as Detia ran a hand over the smooth surface. "This is beautiful." Detia intoned, the amazement in her voice noticed by everyone.

"Wait till you go inside." Toph remarked, prompting the lightning bender to open the doors.

Detia gasped as she took in the white room. It was spacious with very few pieces of furniture. The bed, covered in white silk sheets and light blue and white pillows, was the dominate item in the room, hanging from the ceiling in the very middle of the room by thick large silver chains. Curtains hung from the chains, drawn to with a thick silver rope, giving the bed a mock canopy. Though, there was no roof to the canopy. The bed hung directly under a large domed skylight, allowing the sleeper to view the sky as they lay down. Detia went to the bed first, using the chains to help her crawl up into it, testing it stability. The bed rocked gently until the child settled. "Where did you come up with that?" Azula inquired, truly impressed though you couldn't tell from her tone.

Toph smirked and answered, "My memory."

"You spent a lot of time in Arjuna's room, did you?" Azula inquired the suspicious glare so strong the blind Earth Bender could practically see it.

Toph shrugged noncommittally as Ty Lee followed her daughter to the far wall leading to the balcony. The doors were made of a multitude of stained glass pieces that had no pattern until the doors were closed, even then Ty Lee couldn't figure out what the image was. All she had to do was point at it to get Detia to answer, 'Hisou Raikou' she pointed to the brown glass, moving her finger along to create a rough upside-down triangle. 'this is the base, it was a floating island, remember?'

Ty Lee nodded, as her mind adjusted to the image. "Wow, this is amazing."

Detia agreed with a nod as she moved beside the doors where a window seat was placed on both sides of the doors. The windows reached all the way to the top of the high ceiling, giving the viewer a nearly endless view of the outer wall and beyond that to the ocean. Toph, who had followed Azula to the balcony doors, remarked, "I had this room added." Detia looked back at the Earth Bender as she continued to explain, "There simply weren't any rooms that faced the ocean. At least none that fit properly."

'Considering how much time you had to make it, this room is wonderful.' Detia intoned gently. 'I love it.'

"I thought you would." Toph paused for a minute as old emotions filled her chest. It surprised her how much Terren had loved Arjuna. Every time it happened the emotion overcame her and she had to stop to let it calm down and the most random things could trigger it. Really, she wished it would stop and hoped that with Detia around it would do just that. After all, Detia was a child and though she wasn't nearly as similar to Arjuna as it seemed she was just similar enough to maybe kill the romantic emotion. Toph wasn't lying when she told Azula that she didn't feel that way about Detia. The earth bender could feel Detia's golden gaze on her and she wondered just how much the Lightning bender had heard from her thoughts. If she heard anything Detia didn't say. "Anyways, there's a nest on the roof, just beside the skylight. I believe Thunder's there now."

Detia moved back to her bed and looked up but couldn't see the thunder bird, not that she really expected to. She shrugged as her attention was turned to another piece of furniture in the room. A vanity, made of light-colored metal and draped with white silk, rest to the right of the entrance in the corner. Beside it were two large doors, though they were smaller than the entrance doors. Where those doors lead Detia quickly found was her closet, her red and white Fire Nation royal attire along with several green and yellow outfits hung neatly inside. Detia didn't ask where the green and yellow outfits came from, she figured that Toph had her seamstress' get her measurements from the clothing she sent over and made her Earth Kingdom appropriate clothing from that. Her parents more than likely had Earth Kingdom clothes in their closet as well.

A flicker of red reflecting off the mirror on the vanity caught Detia's eye and drew her attention to the other side of the room to what appeared to be a wall. She heard Toph chuckle as she walked to it. What she saw upon closer inspection truly surprised her. It was an opening in the wall, with a wall the same color about six feet behind the opening – giving the appearance of one solid wall. Azula and Ty Lee chuckled when they realized what it was. "That's funny." Ty Lee praised and followed her daughter through the opening in the wall to a small living area.

The fireplace, with a fire blazing, was the main focus point of the room. Even though a metal desk, two shelves made into the wall, and two comfortable lounge chairs were also in the room. The desk and the selves where on the opposite side of the room, their light colors making them blend into the wall. Just like her parent's room, the mantel on the fireplace was crafted into dragons. Well, Detia's fireplace had a dragon crawling up one side and a thunderbird going up the other side. Detia walked over to the fireplace, noticing the ornate purely Earth Kingdom rug laying under the chairs vaguely, as she touched the carvings.

A cough from behind the group made everyone turn towards the guard who had followed them. Detia blushed, having forgotten all about Lin. "You can lay her on the bed." Detia informed and the guard nodded and laid the sleeping child on the bed before leaving the room.

The Earth Queen grunted, "Hm. I wasn't expecting that kid. It'll take some time to get her a room of her own."

"She can stay with me until then." Detia answered suspiciously as she eyed to taller woman. "You didn't have very long to get this room ready." She started. "How did you manage to get all of this done?"

Toph didn't answer but her shoulders tensed. She wasn't about to admit that she had built the room almost as soon as she became Earth Queen. Though Detia may not know it, this room was identical to the one Arjuna had in her palace. And sometimes, when loneliness would suddenly creep up on the Earth bender, Toph liked to come into this room and remember that once upon a time she knew unconditional love. Of course this was the first time she had let anyone, aside from the builders, come into the room. Most of the metal work on the bed and desk and carvings in the stone were Toph's own doing, though.

When she learned that Azula and Ty Lee, and by extension Detia, would be coming to live in the Earth Kingdom Toph figured she could give the room to the lightning bender who could and would appreciate it. Again this was not something Toph would admit so instead she said, "Well, not long." And it wasn't a lie because the room had taken about three weeks to complete, "But anyways, I'll leave you three to get settled. A servant will come and get you when Dinner is ready."

With that the Earth Queen made a quick retreat. The three Fire Nation royals looked at each other before shrugging. "I'm gonna take a bath." Ty Lee informed as she took to Toph's trail at a much more leisurely pace and headed towards her own room.

"I'll join you." Azula offered, making Ty Lee smile at the offer. "You'll be okay here?" Azula asked her daughter who nodded. "Alright, you know where to find us."

Detia watched them go before heading to her closet and the boxes that had yet to be unloaded. It wouldn't take long, besides her clothing she really didn't own much. Knowing this, she took one look at the boxes in her closet and closed the closet door. She could do it later. Instead she made her way back to her bed, crawling up into it gently. For a moment she looked down at the small child seemingly sleeping beside her. Moving a golden strand of hair from Lin's face Detia's mind raced. What would the child be like? Who would she act like more, Sara or Linka? Would she recognize Detia as her grandmother or a simple lightning bender? Would they even speak the same language?

The lightning bender shrugged, these were all questions that could only be answered when Lin awoke. Detia leaned against a pillow and pulled Linka's diary from her clothing and opened it to the last page she read. She could at least do something productive as she waited for dinner.

~x~

Linka picked up a random sheet closest to her, while mentally deducing that Sara was right. She did have a slight concussion. The numerical equations and scribbled words on the paper meant nothing to Linka, not that she really expect it to. For the life of her she couldn't remember what Sara's field of expertise was. The princess put the paper down and stood, stumbling for only a moment as her vision blurred. She growled inaudibly as she gingerly made her way to the water. To her immense pleasure the water was cold, clearing her senses as she splashed it on her face, but not cold enough to be uncomfortable to take a bath in.

She glanced over to the doctor, still lying on the pallet though she wasn't sleeping. "Sara." Linka called as she moved into the slowly moving water, not making a sound as she did so. It came to her waist, which again pleased the princess. When Sara didn't immediately answer, Linka tried again, "Sara." She moved to the clothes hung over a thin piece of rope in the water. They were frozen solid, which confused the princess to no end. "Sara, what on Earth were you doing down here?"

Linka pulled at one of the shirts and it snapped in her hand. The sound caused a reaction from her mute host. Sara jumped up from her pallet, the look of frantic horror plastered on her hallow features. "What are you doing!?" the scientist demanded, nearly running to the edge of the stream. "You're ruining the experiment!"

A lifted eyebrow was the only response Sara received. "It's a frozen shirt…" Linka remarked evenly, not seeing how frozen clothing could possibly be an experiment.

Sara scowled as she jumped in the water, it reaching just below her ribs. With force that surprised the lightning bender Sara began to pull and then push Linka away from the 'experiment'. "You're adding unnecessary and unforeseen factors. If you must stay in the water do so away from the line."

"When was the last time you took a bath?" Linka asked, the question so unexpected Sara stopped what she was doing.

"Why?" the scientist questioned suspiciously.

Linka shrugged but turned and in an instant pulled Sara's tunic over her head and burned off the band holding her hair. Never had Linka found another woman attractive in a sexual sense. Of course on that token she had never found a man attractive in a sexual sense either. Aesthetically was another matter. She had no problem telling someone they were beautiful or handsome and had done so on many occasions in the past. Most people on the receiving end of her compliments thought they meant something more than what she said and were sorely disappointed when they found out the truth.

That was half the reason she came up with that whole Blazing White Warrior story, to get people to leave her the fuck alone. As she examined the scientist's partially nude pale form, her dark golden hair falling in thick tangles to the middle of her back, Linka felt very little sexual desire. Her critical mind quickly overrode whatever response her body had to seeing someone in an intimate manner. Sara was far too thin, her ribs and the bones in her shoulders were clearly seen over taunt ghastly pale skin. To her credit whatever little amount of weight she had was pure muscle. How she managed to retain that muscle Linka didn't know, but then again people from her kingdom usually had great muscular.

As soon as she realized her state of undress Sara covered her breast, the only part of her body that looked healthy, and turned away. "What the hell!" she declared, glaring hostilely at the lightning bender.

"You need a bath." Linka deadpanned.

"I don't need your help taking a bath."

"Clearly you do." Linka countered, moving towards the shorter woman like a predator. "When was the last time you ate?" Sara didn't answer, only backed away against the current. "Okay, how about an easier question, where do you keep the soap?" again Sara didn't answer, but her pale golden eyes shifted to a small concaved part of the rock on Linka's right. The lightning bender smirked and grabbed the bar of rose scented soap from its notch as she continued towards the scientist. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be, Sara." Linka warned. "You'll feel much better after you're clean."

"If I told you to stop would you force me?" Sara asked bluntly.

"Yes." Linka answered evenly, reaching out a long arm and extending her hand. "But it'll be much easier if you don't fight me."

Sara weighed her options as she glared openly at the princess, clutching her hands to her side to give her thin form a little bit of warmth. The chances of her outrunning Linka and getting away were about 1 to a million. The scientist's scowl deepened. She did need a bath, honestly having no idea when she last bathed. But she'd be damned if she let the princess know that. So, since physically getting away was out of the question Sara decided to use the method she was good at. Her intelligence. "You can't just come in here and start making demands and taking off people's clothing."

Linka smirked as if the argument amused her, which only infuriated Sara more. The lightning bender tisked lightly, mockingly, before saying. "Sara, I'm a princess. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want to."

"Bitch." Sara cursed under her breath, making Linka's smirk widen.

"Well, since that's been clarified, we can do this one of two ways…" she trailed off purposefully, wanting nothing more than for Sara to fight her.

"I hate you." Was Sara's reply as she backed up a step, matching Linka's step forward.

"Hate is such a strong word." Linka intoned, very much enjoying this little game of cat and mouse. "It would be best if you stopped fighting."

Linka could see the emotions pouring from those pale eyes as clearly as the water around her. The anger made her smirk, fueling the monster that awakened in her. Sara stepped back again, even though Linka did not step forward. "Fuck you."

The lightning bender frowned slightly on the outside, inside she was ecstatic, her blood pumping quickly through her veins. She would get her fight. "So the hard way then?"

Sara wasn't a lightning bender, having never had even a little inkling towards the ability, and in all her time in the kingdom she had never wasted time watching lightning benders practice. Given this, Linka's next move surprised her. Quicker than her eyes could follow, Sara found her back pressed against the uneven rock, her wrists held by a single hand above her head. Deep golden eyes flashed dangerously as a smug smirk marred the otherwise attractive face, sending a shiver of fear down Sara's spin. But the fierce competitiveness Sara had always possessed didn't allow the fear to show on her face as her brain worked out every possible solution to this problem.

A smirk of her own turned her lips up and caused Linka's to slip just slightly. With a harsh burst of energy Sara rammed her head into Linka's. She hypothesized that even if Linka had a harder head than she did that the concussion would work in her favor. And she wasn't wrong. The second jolt to her head had Linka seeing black.

~x~

Detia laughed, feeling only a little guilty about it. After all she was laughing at her daughter. It served her right though, Linka was not raised to treat others like that. She flipped the page gingerly, glancing over to her granddaughter before continuing to read.

~x~

Linka was only aware of a few things. One, she had the worst headache in the history of headaches. Two, she was laying on the floor. And three, she was soaking wet. She set up gingerly, immediately regretting the action as her vision blurred and stomach churned. Laying back down seemed to be the best option, so she did. It took her a minute to remember where she was and what had happened that landed her in her current position. Her eyes snapped open as the memories hit her. That thin, half-crazed scientist had knocked her out cold. Grown men ten times her size and far healthier with battle experience that was just ridiculous had never even come close. Linka smirked, wincing only slightly as the action caused her headache to worsen. She deserved what she had gotten, she knew that. Never had she treated another human being the way she treated Sara and it made her feel a little guilty. But only a little, apparently a half-crazed scientist could hold her own in a fight. The smirked widened as Linka thought, 'Guess I'm going to have to marry her now.'

The soft padding of feet on the hard floor drew Linka's attention, though she didn't look in the direction of the sound. "Good, you're awake." Sara's voice was crisp and clear and shot hot needles into Linka's head. The scientist knelt and took one of Linka's hands, placing a warm cup in it. "This will help with your headache."

With help from Sara, Linka set up enough to drink the disgusting substance in the cup. She didn't say a word about it, not that she needed to given the look on her face. But to her infinite relief the concoction worked instantly. With the headache subsided Linka took the opportunity to look at Sara. She couldn't help but smirk at Sara's clean appearance, her dark golden curls organized in a stylish tight bun at the back of head, her clothing clean and fresh. It seemed that she had taken Linka's advice and taken a bath. "I'm going to assume." Sara started, choosing to ignore the princess' smirk, "That your lack in manners and abhorrent behavior was a side of effect of your concussion. But I would ask that you please refrain from such actions in the near future."

Linka held up her hands in defeat, "It won't happen again, you have my word."

Sara nodded as she stood, stuffing her hands in the pockets of the lab coat she had on over her short dark chiton and black leggings. "See that it doesn't." Sara said evenly and Linka had to wonder if she was always so stuck up or if this was a special occasion.

The lightning bender went for the latter as she watched the scientist knell to pick up random sheets of paper, reading over them before either putting them in a neat pile or balling them up and throwing them over toward the bed. She could do worse for a partner, Linka concluded. Immediately after thinking this she did a double take when Sara picked up a pair of spectacles and placed them on her nose. The immediate thought that entered Linka's head was 'holy shit, the girl couldn't see.' "Are you near sighted or far sighted?" Linka questioned.

Sara's raised eyebrow and confused expression told the princess how random she thought the question was. Sharp golden eyes widened as an odd feeling shot through her body. Linka shook her head lightly, surely she did not just feel desire shoot through her veins. That wasn't even possible, she did not feel these emotions. Her inner monologue was interrupted when Sara finally answered, "A little of both."

The scientist bent over again to pick up her stack of papers, giving the princess a fairly good view of her backside. And for the first time Linka allowed her eyes to roam over another person's body. A small smirk donned the princess' lips, 'Oh yes, this woman would be hers.'

~x~

Detia scowled at the book, finding it hard to believe that her eldest daughter had turned out to be such a self-centered bitch. She let the word slip from her lips as she closed the book and set it down between her legs. "What's a bitch?" a young voice questioned innocently.

The princess, not really paying attention, almost answered. Her mouth closed with a snap as her mind reminded her that there was only one other occupant in the room. When she turned, her golden eyes locked with wide, curious grey eyes. "Um…" Detia faltered, her mind racing with words that simply seemed resistant to be spoken.

Tbc…