Chapter 34
Azula tried her best not to show the nervousness that had started to slowly build up ahead of the matches of the seventh round. All the games of the previous round had been drawn so the tournament standings hadn't shifted. Yue had faced off against Aang, however, so Azula privately considered a draw as something of a wasted opportunity. Yue was sharing the tournament lead, which was certainly commendable, but Azula was very much aware that Yue needed to be at least a couple of points clear by the time the tournament reached its halfway mark. At that point, the agreement between their friends would kick in and either Zuko or Toph would end up receiving the mandate to go for the title, and the others would start feeding them free wins. Yue needed to break clear of the pack by the time that happened.
Of course, Azula was aware that engaging in some sort of mind games to disrupt the arrangement between the others and thus helping Yue was an option. Azula had recently learned some very interesting information that could be used to sow dissent and create strife under certain conditions. However, Aang and Toph were good friends and she had spent so much time building a healthy sibling bond with Zuko. Playing mind games and turning her friends and family on each other was not something Azula wanted to do, or at least it wasn't something she wanted to do lightly. However, it would all be to help Yue, and she'd sworn to do everything within her power to help her wife win, hadn't she?
And while it was too early to turn to such desperate methods, Azula found it comforting to have certain options at her disposal. As she watched Yue sitting down to face off against Zuko in a crucial game between the two current leaders, Azula was painfully aware that this was a contest that Yue could not afford to lose. Still, the preparations had gone well over the past couple of days, and Yue looked relaxed and confident as she appeared to be joking with Zuko ahead of their game. Nearby, Toph was similarly getting ready to face Aang, with Piandao and Zhao completing the lineup of games.
"I'm really nervous," Katara confessed, reaching out to take Azula's hand in hers as the game between Yue and Zuko began. Azula responded with a reassuring squeeze of Katara's hand. Even if they were not openly discussing the implications of the tournament standings for fear of putting undue pressure on Yue, Azula did not doubt that Katara understood the importance of this particular game.
"She's going to do it, I have a good feeling about it," Azula replied without much thinking, her attention already focused on the displays replicating the moves made on the actual Pai Sho boards.
"I wish Yue well, but I still hope my guy takes it," Sokka said, having overheard their quiet conversation. They were sitting together with Sokka, On Ji and Teo. Suki had smuggled Mai into the press box with her, having managed to come up with fake reporter credentials for her girlfriend. Kori was staying with Jet to help out. The swelling around his eye had gone down almost completely, but Haru's lucky punch must have rattled something in Jet's cage because he kept complaining about problems with his eyesight. They were scheduled to see a specialist in a few days to hopefully get to the bottom of the issue.
As the game between Yue and Zuko unfolded, Azula's nervousness slowly began to fade. All signs were pointing to Yue having a very sharp focus today. Azula and Katara had both recommended a more attacking approach for Yue, since she had been successful in the past when trying to beat Zuko at his own game. Also, Katara had pointed out that because Zuko had won the first game between them, he would likely expect Yue to play cautiously and perhaps push for a draw. As things stood in their game now, Yue's aggressive counterplay had led the encounter down a path that they had been preparing for the day before.
"Can you explain what's going on to this Pai Sho layman?" Sokka asked anxiously. "Zuko seems to be winning, right?"
"Not really," Azula shrugged. "Zuko is in a very dangerous situation right now."
"What? Are you trying to scare me?" Sokka looked surprised. "Zuko has a whole tile more than Yue! Correction, that's two tiles!" he added when Zuko's Chrysanthemum removed Yue's Jasmine tile from the board.
"Yue is sacrificing some of her tiles for initiative," Katara explained patiently. "Unless Zuko defends his position with great precision, Yue is going to break through."
"I think you're just messing with me. I like Zuko's position. It looks solid like a rock," Sokka decided. He then turned towards On Ji and Teo, probably to ask for their input, but the two of them were immersed watching a contest between their loved ones, not paying much attention to the other two games. It reminded Azula to briefly check on the other encounters, and she quickly realized that Aang and Toph were both playing quite passively, showing little interest in taking risks, so the game was most likely going to end in a draw. Piandao and Zhao were having a much fierier encounter. The bloody middle game exchanges had clearly gone Piandao's way, however, and he was now pressing his considerable advantage home. Piandao was back in business, not that this in any way surprised Azula.
"You might want to reconsider that, Sokka," Katara said, sounding a little gleeful. She had a good reason for being gleeful, as far as Azula was convinced. Yue had used her initiative well, cracking Zuko's defenses on the left flank like cracking a soft-boiled egg. There was only one way that Zuko could hope to stem the tide, and it was to return his captured material with a few timely sacrifices of his own. Much to Azula's annoyance, Zuko managed to find the only optimal line of defense and after his sacrifices had messed up Yue's own defensive formation, Yue was forced to halt her advance and spend some time to reorganize her lines.
"Ah, what are you doing, Zuko?" Sokka complained. "What did he do that for? He just gave up a couple of tiles for nothing!"
"Believe me, Sokka, if Zuko hadn't returned those tiles, they would now be shaking hands and Zuko would be congratulating our girl on a fine win," Katara chuckled.
"I have a feeling that Zuko will be doing that eventually anyway," Azula said confidently. Zuko and Yue were both playing very well, two elite players near the very peak of their game, but Yue seemed to truly have the wind in her sails today. Yue had somehow managed to reorganize her lines faster than Azula had thought possible, and Zuko had simply not been given an opportunity to take advantage of this momentary distraction. Soon enough, Yue was back and poking at the open wound in Zuko's defenses that he hadn't managed to close in time. The breakthrough seemed close at hand now.
"I have no idea how that happened, but suddenly it doesn't look so good for Zuko anymore," Sokka sighed. "Bummer."
"Sorry, Sokka," Katara smiled, gently patting her older sibling's shoulder. In the meantime, Toph and Aang had finally admitted their unwillingness to take risks by agreeing to a draw and Piandao had Zhao in an indefensible position. By now, Zhao was simply showing disrespect by not surrendering a clearly lost position and Azula did not doubt that the tournament officials would soon be having a word with him.
"And Zuko was feeling so confident this morning," Sokka groaned, looking on as Zuko's defensive structure started to crack and soon Yue's tiles poured through the breach in numbers and began to wreak havoc behind Zuko's lines. Zuko tried one more last-ditch effort to throw everything he had in a desperate counterattack, but Yue defended with great precision, snuffing out all of Zuko's attempts to hang on. Shortly afterwards, Zuko and Yue were shaking hands as Zuko finally conceded in the face of the inevitable outcome. Despite being Zuko's fiercest supporter, Sokka still applauded respectfully, so Azula decided not to rub it in, limiting her expressions of joy to a tender embrace shared with Katara.
"That was beautiful," Katara said quietly over the chants of a small portion of the crowd prematurely declaring Yue the new world champion.
"Certainly, but the job is far from done," Azula replied. This round had really played out to their advantage with all the results going their way. Yue now had a sole lead of the tournament, and it was a solid gap of a whole point. The rest of the pretenders were bunched up within half a point of each other.
"If we prepare well for Piandao, this could be the break we were hoping for," Katara said, echoing Azula's thoughts. Indeed, another win in the next round could really cement Yue's lead. If Yue could pull away even further, the others would feel growing pressure to catch up and it would force them to take more and more risks. Still, Azula was aware that the game everyone would be watching in the next round was the showdown between Toph and Zuko. The winner of that game was likely to end up being Yue's closest rival for the title.
As Azula continued to hold Katara's hand as they watched Yue waving at the crowd, she couldn't help but hope that in a couple of days it would be Toph who prevailed against Zuko. Even though Azula's support for her wife would always remain unwavering, she knew that it would be much easier for her to focus on Toph as their main rival, instead of her brother. The race for the crown was bound to become tense down the finishing stretch, and Azula still hoped against hope that perhaps Yue's world title wouldn't come at the expense of a ruined sibling relationship.
Despite the reputation of having nerves of steel, Toph was definitely feeling the tension as she sat down to play her game of the eight round against Zuko. Even people who were not aware of the arrangement between her, Zuko and Aang were talking about how it was a make-or-break game that would determine their tournament fortunes, but of course, it was so much more for Toph.
The arrangement came down to her or Zuko making it to the halfway mark ahead of the other. If Zuko had more points at that stage than she did, then Toph and Aang would be bound by their agreement to throw their games against Zuko in the remaining rounds, giving Zuko's world championship hopes a massive boost. But if Toph managed to reach the halfway mark ahead of Zuko, then he would be forced to similarly support her. The one who managed to win this crucial game between them would be almost guaranteed to reach the coveted halfway mark first. Toph knew that if she were to lose to Zuko today, her chances to catch up and overtake him in the next two rounds would be purely theoretical and not really practical. This all added extra pressure on Toph, but then again, it surely had the same effect on Zuko.
What Zuko was not dealing with was the additional pressure that Toph was feeling because of the financial situation of her family. The words of her father about losing the estate, the place of her birth, if she failed to win the world title, kept ringing in Toph's ears, making it more difficult for her to focus. Lao Beifong hadn't meant for her to overhear his tacit admission that the family finances were in dire straits, but it had still happened and Toph was struggling to put it out of her mind as her match against Zuko finally began.
Almost all of her games with Zuko followed the same pattern. Zuko would attack and Toph would stubbornly defend. If Zuko managed to break through, he would usually end up winning. If Toph managed to hold out, chances were good that after Zuko's attack had petered out he'd be vulnerable to a counterattack. This wasn't a pattern that seemed smart for Toph to try and break. She was very aware of the limitations of her offensive game. She was never going to attack Zuko aggressively from the start.
Zuko's initial attack was tentative, suggesting that he too was struggling with nerves and having trouble focusing. Even though Toph did not feel at her sharpest, she had no trouble defending against Zuko's weak efforts to undermine her position. Zuko tried again and again, but all of his attacks lacked bite and they simple weren't focused enough. After several more attempts, Zuko appeared at a loss, as if he had exhausted himself already.
This made Toph pause and reconsider her options. It was still early in the game, and Toph usually didn't launch her counterattack until much later, when there were fewer tiles on the board. On the other hand, Zuko looked like a very soft target on this particular day. Perhaps there was no reason for her to wait until Zuko made more ineffective attacks on her position. He already looked very vulnerable to a potential counterattack.
Toph decided to go for it. With Zuko in no position for an immediate strike, Toph opened her defensive lines and amassed her tiles to launch an attack. Toph had already committed herself to an attack when she suddenly noticed that Zuko had completely transformed, both in his posture and in the way he was playing. Zuko was scanning the board with an intense look on his face and his every move now seemed to have a newfound purpose. Suddenly, Zuko was playing with focus he had seemingly lacked before. Playing with great precision, Zuko managed to reorganize his defensive lines and Toph's attack soon ground to a halt. Not long after, it was Zuko's turn to launch a counterattack. With Toph's main force bogged down by Zuko's defensive traps, Zuko had an easy time smashing through Toph's depleted defenses. In less than ten minutes, it was all over and Zuko was reaching out to offer her a handshake.
"Sorry about that," Zuko grinned at her, obviously not feeling sorry at all.
"Seriously?" Toph growled. "Fuck you, Zuko." She felt totally incandescent with rage for having been tricked, clenching her fists and wanting to grab a bunch of tiles and throw them into Zuko's face. The moment passed quickly, however, and she regretted her angry reaction almost immediately.
"Ouch, really?" Zuko looked upset. "I'm sorry, I thought I executed that really well."
"Ugh, no, you did," Toph sighed. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I'm not angry at you. I'm angry at myself for falling for it."
"Well, I obviously knew that," Zuko grinned annoyingly. "I'm just surprised you blew up like that."
"Yes, well-" Toph began, pausing. She didn't want to admit to Zuko's face that because of this defeat her chances to reach the halfway mark ahead of Zuko were as good as gone. If Zuko knew that she had given up already, he would be less likely to blink and stumble. "I just really thought I had you," she said instead. "You usually suck at deception."
"Thanks," Zuko snorted. "And you suck at giving credit where it's due."
"Just making sure my friends never become too full of themselves," Toph forced herself to grin. "Anyway, how are the others doing?" she asked as they stepped a little aside. As always, Toph was struggling to see the large display boards, but she could see the other tables well enough to realize that the two other games were still ongoing.
"Yue is winning against Piandao," Zuko said, not sounding too happy about it. "It's too close to call between Aang and Zhao, but I think Aang stands a good chance of winning."
"That would be something to celebrate, I guess," Toph said. "Anyway, excuse me for not sticking around. I've the next game to prepare for," she added, leaving Zuko behind as she walked away, ready to snarl at and scare off any reporters thinking about giving her a hard time. She would face Piandao next and the reigning champion was sure to come out swinging, having suffered yet another setback.
"That was great, wasn't it?" Katara grinned at Yue as they left the movie theatre following a private screening of The Dark Crystal, one of her and Azula's gifts for Yue's thirty-second birthday. "Don't tell me it didn't put you in a better mood," Katara said, referring to Yue's miserable state of mind through much of her birthday, following her unexpected loss to Zhao earlier in the day.
"I guess," Yue managed a small smile. "It was a little darker than I expected from a movie with puppets, but in a good way, I think."
"Absolutely," Katara nodded in agreement. "Also, can we just agree with the objective truth that Fizzgig is the best character?"
"Oh, no question about it," Yue's smile brightened as they set out on a slow nightly walk from the movie theatre back to Kori's estate. "Definitely the best character. Also, now I think we should get another cat and name him Fizzgig."
"Yes!" Katara laughed. "We need to do this! As soon as we get back to Ba Sing Se!"
"Excuse me," Azula spoke up in her slightly haughty tone of voice. "While I agree that Fizzgig would be a very appropriate cat name, I reject the notion of that furry idiot being the best character in the movie. All the Skeksis were far better and way more interesting characters than Fizzgig."
"Oh, those are fighting words, Azula," Katara glared.
"Well, let's just agree to disagree, shall we?" Yue spoke up quickly, as always playing the role of the peacekeeper.
"That's something always said by the people who know they're in the wrong," Azula rolled her eyes. "Anyway, since we're not going to agree on that, can we at least agree that the gelflings were annoying and deserved to be subjugated?"
"I don't know about that, but there was something off about how their puppets looked and moved," Katara said.
"Yes, definitely uncanny valley time there," Yue said. She then let out a brief sigh. "Anyway, yes, the movie did put me in a much better mood. Still, I'm really sorry about what happened this morning. I'll make sure that it doesn't happen again."
"Why are you apologizing?" Katara asked. "You're going to lose the occasional game, we accept that."
"Unfortunately true," Azula nodded in agreement. "You need to do what you always do, Yue, and that is to not dwell on it and just move on. By now you should be already thinking about the game against Toph. I plan for us to prep really hard tomorrow, and I need your head to be in the game."
"I'll be ready, Azula, I promise," Yue said. "I don't know, this just stung more for some reason." She paused for a moment. "No, I actually know why this feels so upsetting. I lost to Zuko on the eve of your birthday, Zula. I really wanted to make up for that and deliver a nice win for my wives. But I simply got too carried away yet again! I can't believe it's happened to me twice."
"Yes, you seemed to be going for a bit too much against Zhao," Katara admitted. "You have to remember that it's your patience and timing that makes you such a formidable threat. Unfortunately, it seemed to be a little bit off today."
"I agree with Katara," Azula nodded. "You wanted it a bit too much. And that's a dangerous mindset to have. The key is to remain consistent and approach every game the same way. And I'm sure it didn't help that you were playing Zhao. It must have amplified the desire to crush him." Yue nodded silently at that.
"Well, at least we still have the lead," Katara said, trying to project all of her positivity. Toph had managed to outlast Piandao, while Aang and Zuko had played out another fighting draw. Yue was still ahead of the pack, but her lead over Aang and Zuko had melted away to a mere half a point. Katara was of the opinion that Yue was doing very well, but Azula seemed to be a little disappointed by some of the missed opportunities. Katara was glad that Azula was not sharing these considerations with Yue, though.
"Hopefully I won't suffer another failure like this on your birthday, Kat," Yue sighed. "Now that would really be too much."
"Well, that's why I keep saying that we should just cancel any special plans for my birthday," Katara said. "We can celebrate once we're back in Ba Sing Se. Then we can have a big party to celebrate both your title and my birthday."
"I don't know about that, it seems wrong not to do anything for your birthday," Yue frowned. Azula didn't say anything, probably not wanting to give away that she had already made some plans.
They'd celebrated Yue's birthday in a very similar way to Azula's, a private party at a restaurant and then a private screening of another movie at the local theater, with the only exception of the movie not being horror. The local businesses were making some good money off of their extraordinary requests, but Katara thought that her wives were more than deserving of some slight excesses.
Another change from Azula's birthday was that Kori and Jet had attended the party, after Jet and Suki had met and made sure there were no hurt feelings between them. Katara reckoned that them both being happy in their new relationships must have helped a lot. Kori had also insisted on making her estate available for Katara's birthday party, a suggestion that had been warmly embraced by everyone. Now that everyone was already looking forward to the party at the end of September, Katara knew that there was no way she would be able to convince her wives to cancel the celebrations in order to let Yue maintain her focus. Katara would just have to somehow make sure that Yue didn't become too excited, as that had already tripped her up twice.
"It was a fun party, though, wasn't it?" Katara said, breaking out of her thoughts and putting her arm around Yue's waist.
"It certainly was," Yue said, flashing a quick but genuine smile at Katara. "Even if Jet was being completely ridiculous."
"Well, that's just par for the course with Jet," Azula snorted. "Ridiculous is the first word that comes to mind when someone mentions Jet."
"I agree, especially when he's acting like this," Katara laughed. It was clear that Jet was having some serious problems with his eyesight, and yet during the party, he had tried to act completely normal, ending up bumping into people, constantly spilling the drinks and dropping spot, with Kori needing to look after him the whole time. The ophthalmologist had apparently proscribed Jet glasses, but he was very resistant to that idea, even if Katara had no idea how he imagined his day-to-day existence when he could barely see without glasses.
"I enjoyed the way Kori called him out, though," Azula said.
"Oh yes, that was perfect," Katara grinned. Apparently, Jet's main point of contention with the glasses was the ridiculously chauvinistic idea that glasses would make him appear less masculine. After Kori had heard this comment, she had pointed out that she would always choose a guy with glasses over a dumb idiot who believed that glasses made him less masculine.
"I think we'll see Jet attending your birthday while wearing glasses," Yue giggled.
"Oh, that's going to be so funny to see," Katara laughed. That possibility certainly made her less eager to cancel the entire birthday party. "But we must remember not to be mean or even tease him too much, agreed?"
"Agreed," Azula nodded. "For all his bravado, Jet is a surprisingly thin-skinned guy."
"So is Zuko, really," Yue spoke up. "And it felt like you were needling him the whole evening."
"I have no idea what you mean by that," Azula tried to deflect.
"I think you do, and it's something I wanted to talk to you about," Yue continued. "You were going after both Toph and Zuko during the party."
"It was just friendly teasing," Azula shrugged. "I do that all the time, you know that."
"It felt like more than that, Zula," Yue sighed. "It felt like you were trying to play mind games with Toph and Zuko. Like you were almost trying to turn them against each other."
"That's ridiculous," Azula huffed, turning towards Katara. "Please tell her that she's being nonsensical."
"I can't," Katara shook her head. She had felt throughout the evening that Azula was trying to get under the skin of both Toph and Zuko, but she hadn't been certain. Azula's attitude now confirmed that she had indeed been trying to play mind games. "I don't think Yue is being nonsensical, Zula."
"Listen, I know you're only trying to help me, love," Yue said softly, taking Azula's hand. "But please don't do anything that would ruin friendships among our little group. Please? The title of a world champion is not worth it."
"Even if we both said that we'd do anything to help Yue win, I think we have to draw the line somewhere," Katara spoke, nodding in agreement. "I know that you are miles above the things that your father and Zhao would do. We just want to make it clear that ruining our friendships is not a path we want to go down."
"Believe me," Azula said in a voice that sounded sincere. "Ruining our friendships has never been a part of my plan."
Zuko still felt himself shaking at the end of the tenth round of the championship finals, despite all the comforting he'd received from his boyfriend following the conclusion of play. With the halfway mark of the tournament in sight, Zuko had only needed a draw to make sure that he stayed ahead of Toph. It would have secured him the support of both Aang and Toph through the remaining rounds as they would be honor bound to abandon their own ambitions for the title and instead focus on helping him win. However, with so much at stake, Zuko had once again crumbled under the pressure, losing his game against Zhao.
Zuko had then spent twenty anxious minutes of waiting for the outcome of Toph's match with Yue. The feeling of his fate not being in his own hands was a terrible one, and it had absolutely ruined the rest of his day despite the immense relief he had felt when Yue eventually managed to withstand Toph's assault and forced a draw. This result suited Zuko and he knew that he owed Yue so much gratitude for holding off Toph. Zuko's championship hopes were still alive, but the fact that he had once again collapsed under pressure filled him with dread.
The other results had gone his way, but it was also clear that the rest of the tournament would not be a cakewalk. Yue was leading the tournament on six points. Aang was placed second, half a point behind. Aang had actually looked rather smug after he had reached the halfway mark ahead of Zuko and Toph. It was almost as if his smile had said 'I know I'm not supposed to go for the title myself, but look, I'm still better than you two'. Zuko, Toph and Zhao were all on five points, a whole point behind Yue. Now that Zuko could count on Aang and Toph handing him some free wins, he was confident of quickly catching up to Yue. Piandao was lagging behind on three and a half points, struggling to catch up and probably already kissing goodbye to the title he was currently holding.
Come the evening Zuko finally felt a little more relaxed, which was just as well, because an hour after the dinner at the hotel's restaurant, Aang and Toph showed up at his room to discuss strategy. Unwilling to get bored from all the Pai Sho talk, Sokka slipped out to engage in one of his favorite pastimes, namely hunting for snacks. There was a good reason why Sokka's side of the bed was more noticeably covered in crumbs than Zuko's side.
"So, here we are at the halfway stage," Zuko began once they had all sat down. "I'll do my best not to let you guys down like the last time."
"About that," Aang spoke up, looking a little uncomfortable. "Toph has something on her mind that she wanted to share."
"Damn right," Toph nodded. "The thing is that we both finished on equal points. I don't remember us actually discussing how we're going to break a tie under those circumstances. And I feel like I have actually been playing better than you have. Maybe we need to have a discussion here. I think it would make more sense to support my bid for the title this year."
"What is this bullshit?" Zuko exploded at the impertinent suggestion. "You want to renegotiate now? Like you wouldn't know how tie-breakers work in international tournaments? If two players are on equal points it comes down to their head-to-head. And I beat you fair and square!"
"Well, we never made it clear that the same rules would apply for our agreement," Toph insisted stubbornly.
"And somehow you never thought to clarify it until now?" Zuko demanded angrily.
"It never came up," Toph shrugged irreverently.
Zuko was left clenching his fists in helpless anger when Aang spoke up. "I have a solution, actually," he said, grinning. "Since I'm ahead of you two, maybe you should support my bid for the second title instead."
"Shut up!" both Zuko and Toph yelled at once, making Aang shrink and cover. "Anyway, Toph, there is no way I will agree with your new narrative. I'm ahead of you at the halfway mark. There, that's all we need to know."
"Well, I don't agree with that narrative," Toph repeated stubbornly.
"Alright, then we're at a stalemate," Zuko sighed. He should have known that Toph would make this weird and difficult. "What do you propose?"
"Why don't we play each other right here and right now?" Toph suggested. "Let's have a decider. The winner takes it all, or at least gets the backing of the others."
"I don't like it," Zuko frowned. He then realized something. Toph had gone back from insisting that she deserved to have the backing of the others, to putting it on the line for a winner takes all high stakes contest. And while Zuko felt confident about beating Toph when it mattered, this also told Zuko that Toph understood perfectly well that she didn't have a case here. "I just don't think I should be doing this, not after finishing ahead of you. What do you think, Aang?" he turned towards their Air Nation friend. Zuko was quite certain that if he put Aang on the spot, his moral compass would lean towards supporting him because Toph was so clearly in the wrong.
"I don't know," Aang shrugged, clearly not wanting to be dragged into the matter. "I'll go along with whatever you two decide."
"Well, Toph and I are both insisting upon our own truths, so we kind of need someone to settle our argument," Zuko sighed.
"If you want my honest opinion, then it's that we should just dispense with this entire arrangement," Aang snapped, looking annoyed with Zuko's insistence.
"That would be ridiculously unfair and you know that," Toph shot back.
"Alright, fine!" Aang exclaimed. "Look, the head-to-head result is a universally accepted solution for breaking a tie. I'm sorry, but I don't see how you can argue against that, Toph."
"So, that's how it is, Twinkletoes," Toph spat, looking furious.
"I know it's no fun doing the grunt work for someone else, Toph-" Zuko began, only to be cut short by Toph.
"Yeah, it's really fun, and I'm being forced to do it for the third finals in a row," Toph snarled. "I've done it for Aang, and now I'll be doing that for you the second time. My time better come soon."
"I promise, it will," Zuko tried to sound soothing, but Toph was clearly not in the mood.
"Whatever," she exclaimed, heading for the doors. "You're going to have my support, Zuko. Just don't expect me to be happy about it."
Zuko and Aang exchanged guilty stares. "That was… not good," Aang sighed, shaking his head.
"That was rough, buddy," Zuko nodded. "That was really rough."
"You can say that again," Aang said. "I'll be glad when this arrangement between us is finally done and over with."
Zuko didn't have much to say to that. It was becoming painfully obvious that wanting to benefit from something that he privately hated was not the best feeling in the world.