the next adventure

by amukWrites

Toph felt like a stone in the woods, slowly gathering moss. The war was over, the adventure done, and the only villains she fought now were politicians and run-of-the-mill robbers. Even meeting her friends required scheduling in advance, working around children and responsibilities. When she was young, she hadn't realized how boring and lonely a world at peace could be.

Title: the next adventure

A/N: For the ATLA crossroads zine vol II! I wrote Aang last time and wanted to keep filling in the gaps between Korra and ATLA a bit, but with Toph this time. And keep the bits of lore I liked from Korra like Toph's one night stands XD (my headcanon came true)

Summary: Toph felt like a stone in the woods, slowly gathering moss. The war was over, the adventure done, and the only villains she fought now were politicians and run-of-the-mill robbers. Even meeting her friends required scheduling in advance, working around children and responsibilities.

When she was young, she hadn't realized how boring and lonely a world at peace could be.

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…

…

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When Toph was a teenager, there had only been one word to describe the air temples: empty. No matter which of the four they had travelled to, the mountain tops had been silent tombs, devoid of any of the sounds she associated with a city. Instead of laughter, the wind hissed as it ran through the long-abandoned buildings. Instead of neighbours chatting, lemurs trilled. The gang's quiet voices as they tiptoed through the corridors had felt almost too loud.

Now in her twenties, none of that was true. Dozens of feet walked across the old stone paths, people of all nationalities quietly chatting as they wandered between the buildings. Above, Toph heard the low guttural calls of sky bison. A child whooped. A woman chided her friend. And there, on a terrace, she heard a familiar voice coo softly.

Toph quietly padded forward and leaned against a pillar as she listened. Katara stood, her weight shifting unevenly from one foot to the other. Sokka had said she was pregnant; for once, it actually was the case and not just him being paranoid. Aang crouched before her, whispering under his breath.

"Hey there," he murmured. His voice had deepened with age. It didn't suit the silly boy who always played pranks. "I can't wait to meet you."

Clothes rustled. Aang moved his hand across Katara's slowly swelling stomach. Toph wondered what sort of expression he had. Tender, for certain. He had always been a big softie, even when they were kids. Maybe he'd have tears in his eyes too.

Had her father ever looked at her like that? In the beginning, perhaps. These days, even with their relationship slowly mending, she couldn't quite imagine her father acting like Aang did. Then again, she never imagined talking to her parents after she left, so maybe she'd be surprised.

Four smaller feet padded up to Toph, interrupting her thoughts, and Momo plopped down beside her, chattering eagerly. Toph cracked a smile. Some things remained the same no matter how much everything else had changed.

"Toph!" Katara called, noticing her. Her hair was even longer now; these days it gave a small swish whenever she moved. Yet today Toph couldn't hear any of the usual sounds. Maybe Katara had bound it up in a bun. As she turned, her robes swayed in the wind.

Aang jumped to his feet. He bounced as he turned towards her, too full of energy as always. "You made it!"

"Of course I did, Twinkle Toes!" Toph grinned as she pushed off the column and approached the couple. Momo chirped as he followed. "I wouldn't miss you making a fool of yourself for anything."

"Hey!" Despite his protest, Aang laughed. It was deep and rich, and she wished she'd been around when he'd cracked his old, high-pitched voice. It would have been a barrel of laughs.

Katara didn't wait before hugging her, her arms wrapping around Toph tight. "It's so good to see you again."

She closed her eyes, relaxing. Even now, Katara's love felt like a mother's, and it was almost fitting that she was going to be a real one soon. "Can't believe Aang actually knocked you up."

"Toph!" Katara playfully punched her shoulder, giggling. "That's so crass."

"Someone has to be." Toph pulled back, grinning.

"Not in front of the baby." Aang brought her in for a hug of his own now. "I don't want him to end up like you."

"You mean awesome?" Toph scoffed, squeezing him a little harder. He exhaled sharply, almost coughing as the air rushed out of him, and she took it as a victory. "He couldn't do that anyways, not when you're his dad."

"You two," Katara sighed, gently pushing them apart. "Behave." Rolling her eyes, she stepped back. "I'll go get the others. We're all together now!"

"And then we'll par-ty," Toph added, waggling her brows as she waved. Aang tensed, and she turned to him, suspicious. "I know you're both boring, but we're having a party, right?"

"We are." Aang rubbed his neck. He sounded almost embarrassed. "Just…uh, maybe not here."

"Huh?" Toph frowned, unable to believe her ears. "You had me climb all the way up this freakin' mountain and now you're telling me we're not having a party here?"

"It's just…this is an air temple," he explained, still sounding sheepish. If she touched him, she was certain his skin would be hot.

"Last time we came here, we launched fireworks. Which, again, are kinda useless to me because I can't see them," Toph reminded, crossing her arms. Aang had gotten more serious with age, sure, but she hadn't imagined he'd turned boring already. Her partners-in-crime were starting to disappear. "A party isn't going to be much worse than that."

"Yeah, but…" Aang took a deep breath. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gently turned her around and steered her towards the main courtyard. "Back then, there wasn't anyone living here. Now there is."

Pride rang through his words as they passed by several strangers. Whereas before they had skirted around Toph, now they stopped and bowed towards Aang before continuing. It was almost strange to see people being so reverential to her old friend. Even weirder to realize he might have actually earned some of that.

"We've set some rules, and while we're adding in some new twists, there's a few hard lines." Aang paused.

The pregnant silence left Toph with a sense of foreboding. "And?"

He mumbled, "No meat."

Toph barked her laughter. "No meat? Seriously? Katara's got to hate that."

"She still does," he confirmed with a tired groan. "And then she said if she's having a baby, she's eating whatever she damn pleases, so we're going to celebrate a little farther down the mountain."

She could just imagine Katara's reaction, the way she'd stiffen her spine, the furious tap of her foot, the rising tidal wave of her voice. Sometimes, Toph couldn't understand how the two got together. Other times, like earlier, she heard them together and knew there was no other route.

They were cute. Teeth-rotting cute.

Toph would never say that aloud. "You two are going to be such homebodies now." A second later, she corrected, "Actually, you're already homebodies."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Aang snorted defensively. "You know how creative you have to be to prank someone you see everyday? It's a lot of work being a homebody."

"Complaining about doing nothing—even more proof that you're a homebody. You're hopeless." Toph threw her hands in the air sadly. "You're all going to start a book club at this rate. And then I'll catch Sokka knitting a sweater and it'll all be over."

"Huhh?" Aang crossed his arms and cocked his head. Confused, he asked, "What are you talking about?"

Toph raised her hand, ticking a finger as she listed off each offense. "You and Katara are having a baby. Sokka and Suki are getting married. Zuko already has a kid. Seriously, you've all gotten boring. When was the last time we all met?"

"That…" Aang hummed as he mulled it over. Momo clambered onto Toph's shoulder as she waited, his tail curling around her neck like a soft scarf. After a few minutes, Aang reluctantly admitted, "You're right, it's been a while."

"Of course I'm right." Toph sighed again. "No one knows how to have fun anymore."

"Hey, we still—I do!" Aang harrumphed. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. She wondered if he was giving that puppy pout that Katara adored. "Last month, we pranked the mayor. Together. And it was my idea."

"A small glimmer of hope." Toph give him a pitying look. "Your other pranks are terrible."

"They're all great and you have no taste," Aang countered.

She scoffed, turning away. He wasn't entirely wrong. They did still meet, in twos and threes, in well-planned trips that were scheduled weeks ahead of time. It was fun, but not like before. Not in the with spontaneity their journey across the world demanded, not even in the way they'd make do while repairing the world after Ozai's fall.

Part of her felt like she was at a standstill, gathering moss in the woods. Toph fought bandits and small-time thieves during the night, politicians and scummy merchants during the day. It was too banal. Too repetitive.

Maybe wanderlust was in her bones.

"You don't miss it?" she asked.

"Miss what?"

"The adventure." She shrugged half-heartedly, not sure what else to call it. "Fighting villains. Saving towns. Hell, when we cleaned this temple up years ago, we had to fight a ghost."

Aang shuddered. His breathing quickened, his feet turning this way and that as though the ghost would reappear at any moment. "Don't remind me."

She chuckled. "You really hated that."

"It wasn't really a ghost!" he protested, rubbing his arms. "It was…I don't know…I don't miss that."

Toph pressed, not letting him worm away. "What about the rest of it?"

"The rest was great." She could hear the smile in his voice. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, half-hugging her. "It was a lot of fun. Sometimes I wish we'd just all…go on another trip. Leave everything behind and wake up lost in the desert."

Toph burst into laughter, remembering the last time it happened. "Sokka would die."

"He might, and that's a risk I'm willing to take." Aang laughed with her. His hand was heavy and warm as he gripped her shoulder. "It was fun. I miss it. But this isn't all that bad either."

Her heart sank. "Oh."

"Really, it isn't. It's really…it's grounded." Aang struggled to find the words.

Toph bit her lip. She'd heard those words more often than she liked in the Earth Kingdom. "You're talking like an earthbender."

"I'm twenty-five percent one," Aang replied cheekily, jumping back when she swatted him. "But seriously, it's nice. Before we were running around. We barely got time to sleep before we had to move. Now, we have a place to call home. A place we can stay."

"I've never needed that." If she looked back, it was obvious. She had run away from her home. He had been forced to leave. The difference between them had been there from the start.

"I don't think you've ever needed anything." He was serious now, no hint of the joking or teasing from before in his tone. "But you know, there's other ways to have fun."

Toph pursed her lips. "How?"

"Vacations. Trips. Pranks." Aang turned as more Air-Nomads-to-be passed by. "Teaching. It's a different adventure, but it's still fun. There's always something new. Zuko says being a parent's kinda like that too. You still have to face the unknown, but it's not all life and death. And wasn't that what we fought for?"

"I don't want the danger, just…" Toph scuffed her shoe. Those sounded fun, in the way that a holiday sounded fun. A small, temporary reprieve before the mind-numbing boring returned. "I don't think that's enough for me."

"It might not be." Aang squeezed her shoulder. "And that's fine too. If you need to do more, explore further, that's cool. That's just who you are. We're not stopping you from travelling." Mischief coloured his voice as he added, "Just don't forget to invite me sometimes."

It was oddly reassuring. Toph reached up and covered his hand with hers. "I thought you were trying to be a serious Avatar."

Aang shrugged, adding impishly, "I'm serious about everything. Even getting in trouble."

Toph burst into laughter. Honestly, when Aang had said he was going to try living in the air temple, teaching the future Air Nomads, she had thought it was a mistake. A big one. It turned out it had been exactly what he'd needed. "You know, Twinkle Toes, I didn't think you'd be a good teacher. Guess I was wrong. You're not terrible."

"I love you too." He loosely hugged her. "And if you ever get tired of travelling and need some place to stay, well, the door's always open."

Toph shook her hand dismissively. "No way. I know what you eat."

"It's not that bad!" She could hear the pout as Aang protested. "Katara likes it most of the time."

"Uh-huh." Toph rolled her eyes. Honestly, as much as she loved them, between Aang and Katara, their poor kid was going to grow up without a cool bone in their body. If she had a kid—

Toph blinked. If she had a kid.

If.

Who said she couldn't have one?

"You know what, I'm getting a kid too," she announced. Aang yelped in surprise and she ignored him. Honestly, the more she thought about it, the better it sounded. A kid of her own. Someone she could go on adventures with in the future. Someone she could pass on everything she'd ever learned.

Aang had called it interesting. So had Zuko. Maybe she could dip her toes into it herself.

He sharply breathed in, trying to recover before he asked, "Y-You know it's not like you can get one in the store or anything."

"I know." Toph's smile grew broader. It just felt right.

"They're…you know how they're made, right?"

"Duh." She smirked—now that it'd come this far, she wanted to have some fun with it. "We're in our twenties. Obviously, they get dropped off by a flamingo-stork."

Aang's jaw dropped. He took in a sharp breath, but he couldn't say anything.

Toph laughed. "Just kidding. But I'm getting a kid. One that's stronger and better than yours."

He squawked, "It's not a competition!"

"I know." Toph grinned. It wasn't an adventure, but it was fun, and maybe she could see what this parenting deal was like. "You've got no chance at winning."