Yay intro to Toph, Sokka, and Hakoda in this chapter! I really hope you guys aren't offended because I changed a their characters quite a bit. But I hope I did capture at least some of their personalities; except, just a warning, Hakoda is pretty much a completely person then in the ALTA series.

Please review and let me know if I did ok!

Enjoy!

Katara bowed slightly in respect to her father. It was clear by his voice that he wasn't very happy to see either of them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir. But this matter needed direct attention." She said stiffly. She stood up straight to see disapproval written clearly in his eyes as he looked at her, she felt disappointment flutter in her chest. All she did was to please her father, but she'd failed again.

"In case you were wondering, we were just discussing a very important matter regarding the war," He said angrily. Katara flexed her jaw, she would not allow her father to make her look like a fool in front of all these men.

"I truly am sorry, sir; however, this man's judgment must be top priority. He is extremely dangerous." She said raising her chin slightly to indicate that she wouldn't back down and dropped the mans bow and swords on the ground and the weapons clanged of the solid floor; never removing her eyes from her father's. The other men around the table glared at her lack of respect and she saw her brother giving her a look that warned her to be careful. But she wasn't backing down.

He stared at her for another moment before turning to size up the Fire Nation man again.

"Very well," Hakoda stated, "I trust that you've at least had the sense to send for Toph?" He questioned her harshly. She flinched at the coldness of his voice.

"Yes, sir" Katara replied steadily, not allowing her pain to be shown in her voice. Suddenly the stone beneath them began to shake and a teenage girl with black hair and clad in green popped up through the earth that formed a hole around her. A few of the councilmen gasped at the sudden appearance before composing themselves.

"This had better be pretty dang important, Sugar Queen." The girl stated.

"Thanks for coming, Toph," Katara replied with a smile in her voice but not on her face.

Zuko kept his face calm but on the inside he was laughing hysterically.

Sugar Queen?

He could think of nothing more ill suited to describe her.

But maybe that's the point?

He didn't have long to contemplate this because he soon realized that the girl that Kya had called Toph was glaring at him. Well, not at him. She was glaring in his general direction but not actually focusing on him. It was then that he saw the milky grey sheen over her eyes.

She's blind

He couldn't belive it, she not only managed to see herself into the room on her own, she earth bended herself into the room. Zuko didn't even know how that was possible. Her glare didn't stay on him however but turned back to the water bender next to him.

"Do you have any idea what I was doing before a screaming Song interrupted me? " The girl asked angrily. Katara opened her mouth to answer but was cut off. "Of course you don't. Well I was training with those jelly bellies that have the nerve to call themselves earth benders. I almost accidently crushed one of my students!" she yelled raising her hands above her hands above her head for emphasis. "C-R-U-S-H-E-D, crushed and no amount of your healing abilities can fix that!"

Hakoda chuckled behind the blind girl slowly shaking his head back and forth and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"That would have truly unfortunate, Toph." He stopped laughing and raised an amused face to her. "But right now it seems we have great need of your unique talents."

"Of course you do, where would you be without me? " She asked in a huff crossing her arms and turning back to Zuko. "So whose this sorry soul who got on Kat's bad side?"

Kat?

Zuko thought that that was a strange but pushed it out of his mind.

"My name is Zuko." he stated simply

All eyes instantly widened in shock. He even saw the young water bender's jaw drop slightly. A young man sitting next to the chief instantly stood and gave Zuko a look that cold kill.

"Father, with your permission I'd like to handle his death personally." his voice held the sound of pure hatred and murder.

"No, Sokka, " Zuko was surprised to hear the girl next to him speak, "Not until his story is told, you know the law." He heard a twinge of defensiveness in her voice.

Good, good just keep trusting me, Sugar Queen.

He smirked inwardly at the surprising turn of events.

"Before you even think of twisting the facts, you should know that I'll be able to tell if you're lying."
The blind girl said with a growl in her voice.

Zuko felt his heart stop. That explains why they'd wanted her present. If it was true then there was no way he was going to see the next sunrise.

Just then he remembered something Azula had told him when he returned home, she'd said she passed the ultimate lying test. That a girl who could tell if you were lying with earth bending, because she could feel the physical reaction that lying caused, couldn't tell the difference between lie and fact when it was coming from Azula's lips.

"The trick ZuZu, is that you believe what you're saying." she said poking him in the chest when she said "you". She backed away snickering, "Who am I kidding, you'll never get it. You've always been such a terrible liar."

Let's hope you're wrong Zula.

Katara watched him as he nodded in understanding. He seemed completely unfazed by what Toph had just said. Was he telling the truth, or did he not believe Toph?

"I told this girl my story, I came to train with master Katara." He said it so evenly, even Katara herself starting to doubt her suspicions. He seemed so sure of himself when he spoke. She turned to look at Toph who glared harder and nodded, indicating that he was telling the truth.

"So you expect me to believe that, Zuko, the prince of the Fire Nation doesn't wish to bring any harm to my people?" Her father asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

She turned back to Zuko in complete shock when she heard him laughing. It was such a pleasant sound, full of humor and joy.

Focus Tara

She scolded herself for becoming sidetracked and plastered a glare over her surprised expression as he calmed his laughs to a chuckle, he wore a smile now.

It's such a beautiful smile... No, enough of that!

She glared harder and reminded herself of how much his people had stolen from her. She hated his leader, she hated his people, she hated him.

"Care to explain that ridiculous outburst?" She asked coldly, he looked at her with slight surprise before cracking a grin again. He turned his attention back to her father.

"Of course, " he started his smile beginning to fade, "Sir, I found it funny that you think me the Fire Lords son."

"Aren't you?" The chief said raising an eyebrow and rubbing his slightly bearded chin thoughtfully.

"No sir, I was born of an Earth Kingdom women," he said somewhat flatly. Katara wasn't surprised, she wouldn't doubt that she would hate speaking of such a sensitive topic too. But she still wasn't sure if she believed the man next to her.

"Toph?" Katara asked quietly. The young earth benders moved toward Zuko and placed her hand on the ground near his feet and her eyebrows wrinkled together in concentration.

"I don't know, Sugar Queen, I'm getting a lot of conflicting emotions at this very moment." she replied. Katara knew the exact reason why.

"Zuko?" She waited until he turned to look at her, she saw the anger and pain in his eyes, "Tell them why." she said it as a command, she wasn't asking him to she was telling him. He turned his head back to the group of men, all of them were fully facing them now rubbing their chins or foreheads in thought. Sokka still stood with a look of death written all over his face.

"My mother lived in an Earth Kingdom town that was occupied by the Fire Nation. She was quite beautiful and caught the eye of the general in charge of the occupation. She was powerless to do anything to stop him from claiming her as his own," He stopped and let out an angry huff, "The other villagers were furious and somehow blamed my mother for what happened, when she found out she was pregnant she relocated to the Fire Nation to protect me. We'd lived there since I was a baby."

The room was silent. A few of the men, including Sokka, wore shocked expressions; the others had pain etched into their features. Katara turned to see Toph had her eyes closed and head hung in sorrow, still in her place crouching on the floor. Zuko turned to face her, and she saw the hurt in his golden eyes. She didn't need Toph to know he was telling the truth.

Toph stood and faced the council men.

"I almost wish he wasn't," she started quietly, "But he's telling the truth."

Zuko couldn't believe that he'd truly fooled them, it was just like Azula said, he had to believe what he was saying. He'd channeled all of the emotions he felt from when he truly losing his mother.

The chief's eyes softened, but he still looked at him with slight suspicion.

"Toph, how can you be sure he's telling the truth? Isn't it true the prince Zuko's sister has fooled you before? How can you be sure it's not just a family trait?" he said never taking his eyes from Zuko.

"Exactly, it's not like Toph hasn't been wrong before," The man made known as Sokka added. Zuko could see how angry this made Toph, even though she was an earth bender he could almost see the steam coming out of her nostrils.

"Shut it Snoozles!" she yelled pointing at him, "That chick isn't even human, she's always smiling like death is her favorite pastime, she shoots the crazy blue fire, and she killed Aang!" she yelled. The whole room fell as silent as the grave.

As soon as the girl realized what she said the rage left her face and pure sadness took its place. Zuko noticed that chiefs son and the water bender also wore these looks. The downcast eyes, the slumped shoulders, and the sheer lack of life.

"I'm so sorry guys." the blind girl whispered. It was clear it was only meant for the other two teens. Zuko looked at Toph more closely and saw a single tear slide down her cheek. He watched the water bender straighten up as she left his side and went to the smaller girls side. She simply put a comforting hand on the girls shoulder; the chiefs son simply sat back on his mat and stared at a scratch on the table.

"It's okay, Toph." the water bender whispered. Zuko grew increasingly uncomfortable in the room and decided to end the debate quickly.

"Sir, it wouldn't be physically possible for me to be the Fire Lords son. I'm sure you've heard of his scar? " Zuko asked simply. Hakoda looked up at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Yes, though I never knew if it was true." he said flatly.

"It is, sir. I've seen it in paintings with my own eyes." One of the councilmen assured him. But Hakoda's eyes still bore into Zuko.

"It would be impossible to hide that, sir"

Thank you all for the reviews on the last chapter! I would like to especially thank Kiren for the devoted reviews and for telling me specifically what you like about the chapters!

You guys are extremely beyondly cool;)

Kmsitterley