Chap 5- Toph and Aang

"Avatar Aang," one of the Fire Sages announced, "Sokka of the Water Tribe and Captain Suki of Kyoshi Island, welcome back to the Fire Nation."

The crowd cheered as the Fire Sages continued with various other greetings, but Toph wasn't listening anymore. The initial elation that appeared upon sensing those footsteps quickly gave way to something else, something she wasn't expecting. But she could feel it lodged in the pit of her stomach. Toph crossed her arms over her chest because more than anything else at that moment, she was angry. Pissed off. Ready to raise and bury the whole stinking palace on itself.

But she didn't do any of that. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked away from the whole production.

…

"Is that Toph?" Suki asked, "Why is she leaving?"

Aang knew it was Toph. He recognized her the moment he stepped out of the palanquin. "She's mad at us..." he replied, the guilt weighing him down.

Sokka shook his head. "I don't think so. If Toph was mad at us, she'd say so to our face."

Why was she leaving then? Aang wondered.

…

Toph didn't get far.

"Where are you going?" Zuko whispered. "You promised, remember?"

She had, but that's not why she chose to stay. She stayed for one reason only. Since he had made her mad, he was going to know it.

At least that was her plan, but when her friends reached the top of the stairs and Aang practically ran to embraced her, she became very aware of the fact that though sheshould be mad at him, she suddenly wasn't. Sokka hugged her next, as did the Kyoshi Warrior and it was as though no time had passed. Instantly, they all fell back into their usual roles. When the hugs subsided, Toph was the first to speak.

"It took you guys long enough!"

"I told you she was mad," Aang said and was rewarded with a swift punch to his arm. It hurt more than he remembered and he wondered how he could have ever missed the painful act.

A collective gasp was heard throughout the crowd at the Avatar being struck.

"Maybe we should go inside," Zuko suggested. The last thing he needed was a riot starting because of the small earthbender's maltreatment of the Avatar.

"We got here as quick as we could," Aang promised, "We wish we could have gotten here sooner."

"Obviously, we didn't get here soon enough," Sokka smirked. "Look at what the jerkbender has done to Toph! I didn't even recognize—"

That was the last anyone heard of Sokka because the ground opened up and swallowed him whole.

The crowd gasped again and Suki ran to Toph's side. "He was only kidding. I love your dress, Toph! And you look so cute," she said looking around for help but since Katara wasn't there, she turned to the next best option. "Doesn't she, Aang?"

"Uh, yeah," he stuttered. "Very, um, cute."

"Can I have him back? Please?" Suki asked. Then quickly added, "I promise he won't say anything else about your dress, which I really, really like. Know where I can get one?"

Toph seemed to think about it for a while. Finally, she stomped on the ground. Sokka sprouted from the earth like a fire lily.

"That was so not fun," Sokka coughed and dusted off pieces of earth from his clothes. "And now I'm all dirty!"

"You look fine," Toph said.

The Water Tribe warrior smiled at her. "You really think so?" he asked, obviously out of practice. Then, he made a face at her, "Why do you—? Never mind. I asked for that, didn't I?"

"Yup."

"Yeah."

"You did."

"Come on," Zuko said, happy the whole ordeal was over and another Toph indused riot was averted. "You must be hungry."

…

Aang drank more of his tea as he marveled at the small, but extravagant dining hall. The one huge ballroom he had seen the last time he was there was impressive, but this—the Fire Lord's personally dining room— might easily have it beat as far as inspiring awe was concerned. The craftsmanship of the table and chairs, the carvings along the wall boarders, the paintings hanging on the wall, the large windows letting in the afternoon sunlight, it was all so beautiful. No one else seemed to appreciate it though.

"That," Sokka smiled, patting his full belly, "Might have been the best meal ever!"

Zuko looked across the table. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"No, really," Sokka leaned forward towards the Fire Lord. "It was delicious. Got seconds?"

Suki raised an eyebrow, "Don't you mean thirds?"

"No one is keeping count, woman!"

"Woman?" Toph snorted, "I thought you'd have him better trained by now, Suki."

"Give me some credit," the Kyoshi Warrior replied. "At least he asked for more this time."

Aang laughed. The others joined him. He looked around the table and though he missed Katara, he was happy to have the rest of his friends all there together. Only… something was bothering him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something off about Toph. And it wasn't the way she was dressed. He had admitted out loud she looked cute and found himself embarrassed to have actually meant it. But that wasn't it.

Sure, Toph had hugged him and the others when they arrived, but since then, her focus had been solely on Sokka and Suki. She laughed and talked with them, but any question he asked her, she was quick to ignore or change subjects. But maybe it was only his imagination.

"Sokka's right," Aang agreed, "Everything is delicious. Thanks, Zuko."

Suki wiped her mouth with her napkin. "Yeah, everything was great."

Zuko smiled at them, relieved everything had gone well so far.

Aang turned to Toph then. "Must have been nice having lunch like this every day, right, Toph?"

Without acknowledging him at all, Toph turned to Sokka and began another conversation.

"Is it just me, or is Toph acting…weird?" Aang whispered.

Zuko leaned to his right and lowered his voice. He was very well aware that Toph had beyond excellent hearing. "What do you mean?"

"It's just, I don't know. She's not acting like herself."

"Really? As long as I've known her, she's always been this rude."

"No," Aang shook his head, "I mean—"

"You got something you wanna say, Twinkletoes?"

Both Aang and Zuko jumped in their chairs.

"What? Me? No, nothing," Aang chuckled awkwardly. "Heh."

"'Cause it sounds to me like you do."

He debated whether to ask her in front of the others and decided against it.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go with me to check on Appa and Momo. I'm sure they'll be happy to see you."

"Good idea, Aang," Sokka stood once the table was cleared away. "You guys can check on them and Zuko can give us a tour of the palace."

Suki raised an eyebrow. "You want to see the kitchens, don't you?"

"As a matter of fact, I don't. The times we've been here, we were either invading or short on time, and we didn't get to appreciate everything this place has to offer. Now that we can, it would be nice," Sokka explained.

Zuko stood as well. "I have some time before my meeting. We can do part of the Palace now and the rest later."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Suki said. She desperately wanted a bath and the shorter the tour, the better.

"How about we start in, oh, let's see… the kitchens?" Sokka asked as they walked out of the small dining hall.

Smiling, Aang turned to Toph. "So, want to go down to the stables?"

She did want to see Appa and Momo, but there were two things keeping her from going. One, she had somewhere else to be and, two, she didn't feel like being around the airbender at the moment.

"I'll stop by later," Toph replied, making him frown.

"Okay."

He watched her get up from the table. When she was nearly out the door, he remembered that with Toph the direct approach was best. So he took in a deep breath and asked, "Are you mad at me, Sifu Toph?"

She paused for a second and Aang half hoped she would laugh and brush it off, but she didn't.

"Yeah," she replied. It might have been a little irrational - he and the others were trying to ensure peace throughout the world, after all - but it hurt that they were gone so long.

Aang airbended himself over the table to stand next to her. "Why?"

"Oh, I don't know, Aang, take a guess."

"But you're not mad at Sokka or Suki!" he argued, "They were gone, too!"

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting them to come at all. But you and Sugar Queen…" She didn't finish. She didn't want to because obviously Toph valued their friendship more than they did hers. Maybe she shouldn't be mad at Aang, at least he bothered showing up.

"Toph, I'm sorry we couldn't get here sooner. We didn't want you to be here all by yourself, but it took so long to get everyone in the Water Tribe to agree. Most of them still carry so much anger and hate towards the Fire Nation. Right now Chief Hakoda and Katara are in the Earth Kingdom trying to convince the Earth King to sign the treaty, too. Katara really wanted to come. She missed you. We all did."

"I bet," Toph replied, then made a face at how bitter she sounded even to herself. "Look, it doesn't matter, okay? You guys are here and I'm glad." That was about as forthcoming as she was willing to be. "Now, I gotta go."

"Where?" Aang asked, following after her down the hall.

"Out."

"Out where?"

Toph stopped abruptly and turned to face him. Aang almost bumped into her, but stopped himself in time.

She shoved a finger into his chest. "If you feel guilty, don't! You don't have to pretend—"

"I'm not pretending!" Aang yelled. "I want to know! All through dinner I asked you about your time here and you never replied! Not once! You ignored me and kept talking to someone else!"

"Well, you were asking stupid questions!"

He didn't want to fight with her, especially because he knew she had a right to be upset. Not about his questions because they weren't stupid at all, but about everything else. How would he feel if his best friends abandoned him for so many months? They wrote letters often; he sent one every chance he got even though he knew she couldn't read them and wouldn't ask for help. Still, they didn't make up for their long absence.

Looking straight into her pale green eyes, he spoke. "You can be mad at me if you want, but don't think I don't care, all right?"

"You can bet your bald head I can!" she yelled, but somewhere deep down, she was incredibly pleased with what he just said.

Aang watched her. He could practically see the anger leaving her body. "Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Was it really that bad here?"

For the first time since their arrival, Toph smiled at him.

"Nope," she replied, "Actually, it's been pretty great!" And before Aang could argue she quickly added, "But you guys didn't know that!"

...

"Fire Lord Zuko?"

Zuko turned towards the door.

"The generals await your arrival."

"Tell them I'll be there shortly."

The servant bowed and left the kitchens.

Zuko turned to Suki and they both looked at Sokka. How one person could eat so much neither could fathom.

"We can continue the tour later?"

"Sure thing," Suki replied, then glanced over at her boyfriend again. "We'll probably still be here by the time you're finished."

...

"I wish you could have been there," Aang smiled weakly.

"And freeze to death? No thanks," Toph laughed. Aang joined her, but she sensed the underlying sorrow in his laughter.

"It would have been a lot more fun if you had been there, though."

"Of course it would've!" she smirked and figured the reason it wasn't much fun for him was Katara. Well, she wasn't in the mood to cheer him up, so she changed topics instead. "Still wanna know where I'm going?"

"Yeah!"

"I'll show you. But first, I gotta get outta this dress. Sparky didn't tell me it was you guys coming. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered regardless of what he promised."

"But you look nice," he said and wished he hadn't. He expected a hard punch to land painfully on his upper arm at any given second, but it never came.

Instead, she grabbed the front of his robes and yanked him towards her.

He was close enough to get a really good look at her. Without the healthy coating of earth she always wore, her skin looked flawless and with her hair out of the way, he could see the entirety of her face. She was surprisingly pretty and Aang's throat went dry while he wondered why he had never noticed before.

"What are you wearing?" Toph asked.

"Uh, just my clothes," he replied, suddenly nervous at their close proximity.

Toph knocked on his head. "I know they're your clothes you dunderhead, I meant do you look like the Avatar?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He wore the ceremonial robes that were required of him when meeting the head of any nation.

"Then you have to change, too," she released him and he could breathe again, "C'mon."

She led the way down the hall and he followed.

…

Aang glanced at Toph then looked down at himself. They were dressed a lot like they had been back when they first travelled through the Fire Nation together before the war ended. Only the temperature had been pleasant then, now it was extremely humid. And, it looked like it would rain soon.

"I still don't know why I couldn't wear my clothes. They're a lot more comfortable than this."

"Hey, you wanted to come along, remember? So deal with it. At least I let you bring your staff. Now, quit whining before I take that away, too."

"Fine," Aang muttered. The clothes weren't so bad, but he didn't see why he couldn't wear his own. The war was over and people liked seeing him. Well, all the people he'd encountered in the Southern Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom had.

At least the walk through town had been nice. A little on the warm side, but nice. There were a few clouds and he wondered if they would make it back to the palace before it started to rain.

In town, everyone was happy and friendly. But after one too many "Hotman" greetings on his part, Toph threatened not only to take away his staff, but to never give it back. So, Aang walked alongside his Sifu simply smiling to the people they passed. Until they reached a different part of town. The smiles were gone, replaced by suspicious stares.

"What are we doing here, Sifu?" the Avatar asked. He sounded nervous.

"We're going to look for someone who's been trying to avoid me and needs to pay up."

"Pay up for what?"

Not bothering to explain further, she walked into a place called The Fire Dragon. Hesitant he followed her in. It was dark and full of people, but the music was actually good and it was a lot cooler in there than outside. The tables looked like they were ready to fall apart though and the stools weren't in much better condition.

Toph sat down near the door and Aang took the empty seat across from her. Every pair of eyes was on them and Aang knew then why Toph made him change clothing.

A thin, older man approached their table.

"This your new boyfriend?"

"This the last day you want the use of your legs?"

The old man laughed. "Fair enough. Anything to drink?"

"No. Is he here?" Toph asked, not bothering with pleasantries.

"He was. You might want to check his office."

Nodding, she turned to Aang. "Wait here," she told him, then leaned in to whisper, "Don't drink anything anyone gives you."

In the blink of an eye Toph disappeared into the crowd. Aang stood and craned his neck to look around, but he couldn't see her anywhere. Feeling uneasy, but knowing she could take care of herself, he decided to give her a few minutes. If she didn't return soon, he'd ignore her orders to sit still and go in search of her. When he sat back down the thin, old man approached again to place two cups on the table.

"This is from your friend," he smiled.

Aang reached for the cup closest to him. "Thanks," came his immediate reply. Then he remembered Toph's parting words and returned the cup to the table. "What friend?" he asked suspiciously.

"The girl you came with. She's your friend, right?" the man answered, then seemed to think of something and picked up the cups again. "I'm sorry. Maybe I got the wrong table. Toph'll be mad if I give these to the wrong person."

"No, wait," Aang yelled, taking the cups back. "I am her friend. I'll let her know you brought these over, thanks."

The old man turned away before the gullible airbender could see the sly smile that appeared on his weathered face.

Thirsty from the long walk, Aang took one of the cups and drank.

"Okay, Twinkletoes, we can go now."

"Did you find the person who needed to pay up?"

Toph smiled, "Sure did." Thunder struck outside and she couldn't help grimace. "We should get going."

Aang stood up and felt it instantly.

"Whoa…"

"What?" she asked.

"You see that?"

His voice...he sounded strange.

"See what?"

"My hand. It looks like it's on fire, but I'm not firebending. And you, you're covered in flowers."

Green eyes went wide. "Oh, no, you didn't drink anything, did you?!"

"Only from this," Twinkletoes replied as he fell to his seat to stare at the empty cup on the table. "Look at all the rainbows! They're so pretty…"

"Who did this?!" she demanded to know. The ground trembled and the entire tavern shook.

Suddenly, Aang sprang up from his chair. "Come on, Toph, the rainbows are leaving! Let's get them before they disappear!"

Promising to make those responsible pay later, she ran after the monk.

"Twinkletoes, wait!"

"Hurry, Toph, they're getting away!"

Thunder struck again, but she managed to grab Aang's sleeve. "Where do you think you're going? It's raining! You can't fly in this weather!"

"But the rainbows, Toph, we have to get them," he insisted. She heard Aang's glider open up seconds before he added, "Hold on to me. We'll reach them faster this way!"

"Aang, stop!" Toph yelled. She tried to keep him from flying off, but before she could secure him safely to her element, a powerful gust of wind ripped them off the ground and elevated both up into the air.