Ch 16- The Bei Fongs

In the last few years she had changed quite a bit and now it was an easy thing to please Poppy Bei Fong. Gone were the days where parties, jewelry, and gaining and maintaining high praise was of the greatest import and essentially all that mattered. A newly returned daughter and a once again healthy husband were her priorities now. Therefore, one had only to refrain from hurting her family (so that they would remain happy) and all would be well. Her husband, however, was of an entirely different mind.

"I don't see why that...that... boy must come here," Lao spit out once they had retired to their room for the night.

Poppy placed a hand on his forearm as she walked past him. Her face remained serene as she replied, "That boy happens to be the Avatar and one of your daughter's best friends."

Lao narrowed his eyes. "I don't like him."

"You don't have to," she laughed a little. "He's not here to see us."

"And that's another thing," Lao whispered, knowing his daughter had excellent hearing and could be lurking outside their room at that very moment. "Why must he visit Toph? For what purpose? She helped him win his war, didn't she? What else could he possibly want?"

"They are friends," Poppy reminded him, gently. "I don't recall you getting this upset over Suki and Sokka visiting."

Lao raised an accusing eyebrow at his wife. "Oh, so it's 'Suki and Sokka' now, is it?"

"Yes," she replied, fighting back a smile. There was time she wouldn't have even dared dream of talking back to her husband, it wasn't who or what she was raised to be, but ever since Toph ran away, Poppy's eyes were ripped wide open to the realities of the world and she began to see things as they were. She realized that their elitist, closed-minded, old-fashioned way of living drove their daughter away. It was a mistake she would not repeat.

"And, his name is Aang," she reminded him. "Please use it when you greet him upon his arrival."

Lao followed his wife to the bathroom. "So, I don't even have a say in my own home!?"

"Of course, you do," Poppy replied as calmly as she could muster, "You have had you're say, dear, but this time you are wrong. Now, please excuse me, I would like to take my bath."

Lao walked out of the bathroom mumbling something about having lost control of his house. Out in the hallway, on the other side of the bedroom door, Toph pumped a fist into the air. "Go, mom!" she thought as she hurried back to her room.

...

Aang had spent his last two days in Kyoshi Island hiding from many of the young girls, none more persistent than Koko. Where at ten she had been cute in her tenaciousness, at thirteen, she was positively frightening. Sokka had laughed instead of helping. "I've been there," the Water Tribe warrior said with a wink and went on his way without any sympathy. Suki had to resort to using the Kyoshi Warriors as the Avatar's personal body guards.

"Boy, I am glad you're here," Sokka had told him before the madness began. "We get to hang out. Do stuff. Manly things."

"Like what?" Aang asked, having given up on meditating while the Water Tribe warrior insisted on talking.

"We can go fishing."

Aang shook his head. "I don't eat meat, remember?"

"That means no hunting, right?

"Right."

"Want to help me sharpen my weapons?"

Aang made a face.

"No? Okay, let's see..." What to do? What to do? While Sokka tried to come up with something manly he and Aang could do, he fed Momo leechi nuts.

"You guys can always go shopping," Suki suggested before giving Sokka a kiss on the cheek and leaving to train with the other Kyoshi Warriors. "The marketplace opens early today."

Sokka tried not to look too enthused by the idea, resisting the urge to clap excitedly.

Aang sighed, but relented soon enough, "Fine, let's go."

But that had been a huge mistake and Aang had been unable to leave Suki's house since then. The girls were relentless! Finally, early on his third morning on Kyoshi Island, he was able to leave without much of a fuss. The girls who were camped outside the house were still asleep. Suki and Sokka thanked him again for his help and he was off.

Now, as he flew high among the clouds on Appa, his mind turned to the one girl he was on his way to see. He'd been excited at first, but that quickly gave way to a strange churning in the pit of his stomach and a lightheaded feel, which he didn't understand. Why was he nervous? It was just Toph. His friend, his sifu. Maybe they hadn't seen each other in a while, but with a friendship like theirs, even decades apart wouldn't change a thing. He was sure of it. Well, mostly.

Maybe he was nervous because he didn't know if she'd want to travel with him. Or, what if her parents didn't let her? Thinking about Toph's parents only made Aang more uneasy. What if they didn't even allow him in their house? According to Suki, they thought Aang had kidnapped Toph three years ago!

Well, he'd find out soon enough.

Appa landed just beyond the grand doors of the Bei Fong estate and Momo chittered excitedly. Aang jumped off, straightened his yellow and orange robes, and knocked on the gate.

...

Toph was starting to get annoyed.

"Mom, stop."

"What? I'm not doing anything," Poppy replied, innocently, while straightening another vase full of freshly picked flowers.

"Yeah, right," Toph muttered under her breath.

"Toph," Lao walked in, "Do not be rude to your mother, young lady."

"I wasn't," his daughter whined, a slight growl to her words.

"She's just nervous," Poppy grinned. In the last few months they had been together, she couldn't recall a time her daughter had looked more so, not even during her fifteenth birthday party. Then she had just seemed annoyed with the whole thing until her two friends arrived. But currently, the young girl was fidgeting, actually fidgeting with the hem of her dress.

Toph scoffed, letting go of her dress so that it fell to the floor covering her bare feet. "I'm not nervous. I don't get nervous. Thought you guys would know that by now," she smirked. "Mom's just being fussy and she promised she wouldn't be."

"I am not being fussy, dear. You're friends are coming over, I just want to make sure everything's fine."

"Everything was fine five minutes ago. Besides, my friends don't care about the flower displays or that the place settings all match, they used to eat seated on the dirt floor, out of small, mismatching bowls." Toph couldn't be sure if the bowls had been different colors or not, but she knew they were different sizes.

Poppy shuddered. "Please don't remind me." Lady Bei Fong liked to think she had developed quite the progressive mindset, but some things she simply did not like to think about.

Toph's smirk turned to a grin. She was going to mention some of their other traveling arrangements (like her once-every-two-weeks bath) just to get her mom to grimace again, but that's when she felt those very light footsteps near the main entrance and her grin grew to a full blown smile.

"They're here, are they?" her mom asked.

In the time Toph had been living at home again, Poppy had made a habit of studying her daughter closely. Never again was she going to let a day pass by where she didn't learn a little bit more of the amazing person her daughter had been and continued to evolve into. Even when Lao suggested she was smothering the girl and should give Toph some space, Poppy ignored him insisting that as a mother, it was her right. And, that smiled Toph was currently wearing only came out on certain occasions, namely when one of her war-time friends was involved.

"No," Toph replied, she could only sense one person. "Sokka and Suki aren't with him." She wondered where they were and she'd find out, but she couldn't help focusing on those dainty footsteps as they got closer.

"Come," Poppy led the way. "Let us take our seats."

...

As he was ushered in, Aang wished he had brought his staff along instead of leaving it on Appa because he had no idea what to do with his hands, which had never been a problem before. He took a few deep breaths to calm his racing mind and within minutes he was introduced as Avatar Aang before stepping into the very room he had been kicked out of years ago.

"Avatar Aang," Poppy Bei Fong smiled from her elegant seat. "Welcome."

"Thank you," Aang replied, barely able to keep his eyes off Toph, who was standing to the right of her father. Zuko had been correct, she was taller, but nowhere near as tall as himself, he noted in triumph. And, Aang swallowed nervously, she was also more mature. She was dressed in an ivory and soft yellow dress with pale green trim, very much reminiscent of the one he first saw her in. Her hair was pulled back showing off her pretty face. Gone was the round baby face of before. Now, elegant, delicate features and pretty, though unfocused green eyes stared back at him. Aang wasn't sure how long he stared for, until Lao Bei Fong cleared his throat drawing his gaze away.

"Avatar," he said by way of greeting, though his voice was cold and reserved. Lao had not forgotten the young man before him had stolen his daughter away - the reasons did not matter. Not to him.

"Master Bei Fong, Lady Bei Fong, thank you for welcoming me into your home," Aang replied, his eyes settling on Toph even as he tried to show her parents the respect they were due in their home.

"You are welcome anytime," Poppy replied. Aang could have sworn Toph's dad muttered an obscene word or two, but the airbender was too busy looking at Toph to care. She looked quite different without her healthy coating of earth, her hair shiny and combed, her figure leaner and also...um... not so lean in certain places. His mouth went dry and Lao had to clear his throat again to snap the Avatar back to attention.

"Hi, Toph," Aang said then, smiling and sounding out of breath.

Though he was still as light on his feet, his voice had changed, she noticed. It was deeper and Toph was sad for a moment because she didn't get a chance to tease him about all the voice cracking she obviously missed. But to her greater dismay, he was much, much taller than the last time she had seen him in the Fire Nation. Well, there went her hope of hovering over him.

"Avatar Aang," Toph greeted, her voice soft, sounding very much like the lady she was meant to be while her head bowed forward in that genteel way of nobility.

Aang nearly tripped over his feet and he hadn't even been walking. With those two words, in that very proper tone, the uneasy feelings of before returned only this time it wasn't in anticipation or joyful apprehension, but dread of whatever had happened to Toph. He stared at her, her father next to her, and her mother next to him - they looked like one of those noble families he saw so often in the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se and he was struck by the idea that the Bei Fongs would fit in perfectly well in court.

His gaze found Toph again.

What if her parents weren't treating her right or forcing her to be something she wasn't? This time Aang would kidnap her and take her somewhere she could be herself. Then, a much more horrible thought entered his mind. What if this was Toph? What if the rough and tough girl he had known was gone? She wouldn't be his Toph anymore... The thought was almost too much to bear and did he just think of Toph as his? Before his musings could drag him down further into despair and confusion, the girl he was still staring at broke into laughter.

"Oh, man, you should see your face, Twinkletoes!" Aang's eyes went wide for a second before he realized what happened. "Didn't I tell you he'd fall for it?" she laughed some more.

Aang grinned sheepishly when he saw Poppy Bei Fong fighting back a smile. Lao still looked ready to kill him, however.

Toph took a step forward, bending the earth under Aang's feet to bring him close to her. "How you been, Twinkles?" she grinned as she hugged him. Then, she landed a precisely aimed fist to his upper arm making him yelp in pain.

The young earthbender ignored her parents' protests of decorum focusing instead on two things that for some reason she couldn't help focusing on. Aang really was a lot taller than her. Punching him in the arm used to be so easy, he had been right at her level, but now she had to reach up, which annoyed her tremendously. And the other thing she realized while she hugged him was that he wasn't the wimpy kid she remembered anymore. The skinny arms were now covered in lean muscle and his scrawny chest felt wider and stronger. She supposed that just as her body had changed his had to as well, but the more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that he got the better deal.

"You better be hungry, Twinkletoes, 'cause we were expecting Snoozles. You know what that means."

"Whoa, you guys must have made a lot of food."

"Yeah," she nodded, "And since he didn't show, you gotta eat everything that would've been his."

"What?" his voice cracked as he paled and panicked. He didn't want to offend her parents, but... "But I don't eat meat!"

His voice cracked again as he apologized and Toph laughed until she wiped tears from her eyes. "Ah, man, I needed that. Thanks," she said, punching his arm again.

...

Lunch was delicious. Aang couldn't remember being offered more sweets at any other time when he wasn't in a palace. Lady Bei Fong had been very polite, making pleasant conversation. Toph, as usual, had found ways to tease him about whatever he said. And, her father still had that murderous look in his eyes.

"So tell me, Avatar," Lao began, saying the name through clenched teeth. "What brings you back to Gaoling?"

Aang wiped his mouth with his napkin- he and Katara had been practicing proper table etiquette since they had to dine with many important and high-ranking people often. After taking a sip of water, he replied, "Our friends are getting married. I think you met them, Sokka and Suki?"

"Yes," Poppy replied before her husband could. "They were kind enough to join us for Toph's fifteenth birthday party."

"At least they made it," Toph mumbled and Aang was surprised by her reproach because he hadn't even been invited, but before he could say so, Lao spoke.

"How old are you, Avatar?"

"I'm fifteen, sir," he said, his gaze travelling around the table at the unexpected question, until it fell back on the man who made it. Aang didn't think that reminding Toph's father that he was technically 115 would be a good idea.

"Same as my daughter, I see." Aang noticed Lao visibly relaxed, then continued, "Tell me, do you get paid for being the Avatar?"

Toph narrowed her eyes not knowing where her dad was going with all the questions.

Aang shook his head. "I don't. It isn't a job like, hmm, like serving tea." Which was something Aang had done sometimes at The Jasmine Dragon. They all had, even Toph. It was fun helping Iroh. "But I have friends who are very kind and generous," the airbender added with a smile. Zuko insisted on having the Fire Nation Palace royal tailors provide the official orange and yellow Avatar robes as well as a yearly supply of clothes, while Bumi urged Aang to accept many monetary gifts whenever they met (which Aang never wanted to take, but knowing he'd need some for food and supplies, would take a small fraction of what was offered), and Sokka and Katara always took care of him when he went to the Southern Water Tribe.

Lao mulled this over silently.

"And who are your parents, young man?"

"Dad!"

"Dear!" Poppy cried mortified, though she smiled politely at the Avatar. She didn't know what had gotten into her husband, but even he had been made aware of the tragedy that had befallen the Air Nomads and just as the whole world knew by now, the boy currently sitting at their table was the last of his people.

Lao Bei Fong did not apologize, he did not comment on his wife's or daughter's outburst, he simply waited with a detached expression for the Avatar's reply.

Toph glared at her dad, then turned to her friend. "You don't have to answer that, Twinkletoes."

"I don't mind, Toph" he smiled at her. Having travelled all over the world after the end of the war, Aang was used to people, usually wealthy ones, trying to diminish his importance as the Avatar. Zuko warned him it would continue happen, especially within the richest circles who might feel they were better than a simply monk. But no matter what they said Aang was to remain calm and answer any questions he wished to as honestly as possible. That way they couldn't accuse him of trying to hide anything. Thus, he turned to Toph's father. "I never knew my parents, sir. The Air Nomads do not share many practices that the other three nations do. Whoever my parents were, they were most likely never married and-"

"So, you were born out of wedlocke?"

"Mom!" Toph growled, standing. The table trembled with her anger.

Poppy leaned over and whispered something in her husband's ear. Lao did not show any signs of having heard his wife, but he did and he knew what would happen if he continued with his planned interrogation. Still, he would continue because Lao Bei Fong may have been born into an affluent and prestigious family, but it was because he wasn't another rich, idle, stupid man that he nearly tripled his family's fortune since he inherited it and he wasn't about to lose it all to a poor, young, orphaned monk, who by the blushing looks he continued to give his daughter obviously cared for her, but had little else to offer.

Before Toph's fifteenth birthday party - where the Bei Fongs literally revealed Toph to the world as their daughter and sole heir - Lao wouldn't have thought much about the Avatar paying a visit, but ever since then he had been feeling far more overprotective about his little girl than usual. Two families - TWO! - presented their sons to him as possible suitors for Toph. Lao had known the day would come eventually, but not so soon, especially since she wasn't of marrying age quite yet. Many of his business partners took one look at the beautiful young woman Toph had become and joked that Lao would have to chase off prospective suitors from his home at all hours of the day. Which is why whatever ideas the Avatar had (having made his intentions fairly clear in Lao's eyes), the head of the Bei Fong family was going to crush them.

"You don't have to be so rude, dad!" Toph yelled.

"Rude?" Lao gave a chuckle. "I am simply taking an interest in your friend, Toph. Trying to get to know more about him." And make both teenagers aware of the fact that they were not equals.

The World's Greatest Earthbender could tell there was more to what her father was saying. He wasn't exactly lying, but he wasn't being honest either. Aang spoke before she could argue with her father about that. "It's okay, Toph," he assured her, smiling though she couldn't see it.

"No, it's not. Don't feel pressured to answer anything you don't want," she added, crossing her arms in annoyance. She didn't understand why her dad was behaving like he was. Since she had been back at home, both her mom and dad had been so good to her. They'd even been polite to Suki and Sokka, whose table manners were nowhere near as polished as Aang's had gotten!

Lao nearly sneered at the Avatar's passive demeanor, but held back because the inconsequential monk simply wasn't worth it.

...

After dinner, once Poppy had apologized, Toph had excused herself from the table quickly after dessert and dragged Aang out to the garden with her. Away from her dad, both teenagers felt better. They took their time walking over the bridge they crossed together years ago and then along a small pond, all the while Aang wondering why Toph's father asked him all those questions. It didn't seem like Lady Bei Fong was aware of the reason either. Her expression had been one of total surprise. Very much like his own, he imagined. Toph was simply glowering in barely contained fury.

A small pebble hit his forehead.

"You even listening, Twinkletoes?"

"What?" he looked up at her. "No, sorry. I, um, I didn't hear that last part."

Toph sighed, but after her father's behavior she felt she owed Aang, so she repeated herself this once. "I said I don't know why he was being so rude. Sorry about the unexpected Q & A," she added, embarrassed. "I don't know why he was acting that way."

He didn't know why either, but Aang smiled at her anyway. "It's not your fault," he shrugged.

"Uh, yeah, it kinda is!" she replied in a mocking tone. "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here and you wouldn't have had to endure that - whatever it was."

"Maybe," he agreed, "But then I wouldn't be here with you now either. So, it was worth it."

For some reason his honest reply made them both blush a little and they walked on without saying anything for a while. Aang was the first to break the silence.

"Hey, um, I was wondering..." He couldn't bring himself to ask if she wanted to travel with him just yet, so he simply said, "You want to go into town with me?"

Toph stopped and faced him. She'd been so busy trying to decipher her dad's odd behavior that she couldn't believe she almost forgot where she planned to take him.

"You bet your arrow I do," she laughed. "Come on, let's go!"

Her complete change in countenance, from foul to utterly pleased, surprised him and he couldn't help laughing, too.

"Wow, Toph, I didn't know you would be so eager to help me."

"What?" she tossed over her shoulder as she moved past the pond towards the southeast corner of the estate.

He ran to keep up with her, then continued at her side. "I mean with the wedding preparations. Sokka said you wouldn't want to help, that it wasn't your thing."

"Oh that? Yeah, it's not. You can take care of it tomorrow." She waved her hand in the air dismissing it entirely from her mind.

"What? Why not right now?" he asked. "It's still early and you just said you'd go into town with me and why are you looking at me like that, Toph?"

She didn't answer, she simply continued grinning at him, stopping near the corner wall of the huge Bei Fong Estate. She earthbended the ground open, grabbing two satchels that seemed to appear out of nowhere and tossed him one.

Aang caught it with ease. "Uh, what's this?"

"There's a change of clothes for you in there," she pointed. "Mine's right here." She threw the satchel over her shoulder. The dusty, brown bag looked out of place next to the pretty dress she wore. "But we gotta hurry!" She grabbed his wrist and bended them both over the wall that only moments ago had separated them from the outside world. "We need to run if we're gonna make it in time."

"In time for what?"

Toph's impish smile only made Aang more nervous and if it was possible, he felt worse when she laughed and said, "You'll see."

Did Lao have to be such a douche? Sheesh! Poor Aang. Good thing he didnt have to dwell too long on it because Toph's got something planned. What could it be, what could it be? If you guess right, I'll write a drabble just for you! Anyway, stay tuned! Same Taang time, same Taang channel! XD

Edit today: It was very late when I finished typing this up yesterday, so I must have been delirious when adding those end notes, hee. The offer for a drabble still stands though if anyone wants to take a stab at it! =D