A/N: I had a feeling so peculiar that this pain would be for evermore. Love and be loved. Read… and review!


The Woman with No Eyes

[Late Summer/Early Fall 148 AG]

About two and a half years ago Azula wandered into a bar near Omashu in what happened to be a trap lying in wait. She defeated a pub full of benders, nonbenders, soldiers, and police officers. It was an entirely disappointing and exhausting experience. Tonight she ambles her way into The Rusty Anchor, the most popular bar in all of Lanxi. She had paused more than a few times on her way through the town. She stopped before she crossed the famous bridge. Then she stopped while she was across it, recalling the time she rescued so-and-so from jumping to her death, and when Ty Lee turned around. She imagines that all of the old wise women who had looked out for her in those early days must all be gone by now. Probably buried with Alane.

She had not gone to see Po Boh, too scared he would talk her out of her current course of action and feeling she was particularly susceptible to such ideas. She saw old signs around the town. A decree by their great Councilperson stating she would have amnesty here, dating all the way back almost 10 years - when she was first discovered. It was an unexpected but welcomed sight. It warmed her heart and touched her deeply. She did wonder how much good it would've done if push had come to shove, making her feel uneasy even if a place was determined to protect her.

She wants to find Lonou and Roland, and above all else Yasuko, but first she needs the liquid courage. So she goes to the Rusty Anchor, where once upon a time she, Ty Lee, the Fire Lord, and the Fire Lady got royally fucked up and then stumbled home to play drunken pai sho. She can't help but smirk at the memory as she sits down at the dimly lit bar.

"What can I do for ya, Stranger?"

"Double. Cactus." She curtly replies as she tosses a few coins onto the bar.

"Sure thing, coming right up."

The bartender steps away and Azula is left alone again. It seems to be a quiet night, with sparingly little patrons. A few adult men in the corner, they look like they work manual labor jobs. A pair of young girls in the corner, one clearly consoling the other. An old woman sitting alone on the other side of the half-rectangular bar. A man who is clearly overserved and chattering to himself. Finally, a woman with her head hung low and a half eaten meal growing colder by the minute. Sadly no faces that Azula recognizes, which shouldn't be all that surprising given that she hasn't set foot in this village in almost thirty years. For a moment, Azula's mind travels to how leaving Lanxi allowed it to remain standing, while leaving Lonlhai had doomed it. Before her mind can linger over this idea the bartender interrupts her.

"So, business or pleasure?" He cleans a glass as he stops in front of her.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well, you're not a regular, and you don't strike me as the type to have moved in recently. So, are you in Lanxi on business or pleasure?"

"Ha. Neither. I used to live here. Long time ago."

"Oh? What's your name? Maybe we met?"

Azula always lies.

"Jin of Ba Sing Se."

"Jin of Ba Sing Se, huh?" He ponders. "Doesn't ring any bells."

"I moved out of here long before you were probably even born, sonny."

"Yeah? When did you head out? I'm 26."

"Ships passing in the night. I left thirty or so years ago."

"Well," he pours her a free shot. "Welcome home, Jin. Glad your ship passed me and came to shore with the Rusty Anchor tonight!"

She gladly takes the glass and cheers to that. Azula revels in the captive audience. She spends the next 20 minutes or so weaving an endless yarn of stories. She tells him a myriad of lies and partial truths. In the short time her words slur a bit and she feels tipsy. It's a good feeling for her last night of true freedom. A few new people enter the bar and when they do the old woman sitting across from her rises. She glides her feet along the ground and comes to a stop beside Azula.

"Say, those are some good stories you've got. Mixing the truth with so many lies. I wonder what you're hiding from?"

"Huh?" Azula steals a glance at the short, white haired woman. She has light skin. She doesn't look directly at her as she dismissively asks, "Do I know you?"

"Your voice is what gave you away. I never forget a voice."

Azula finally turns to give her full attention. She stares at the woman for a while. She's so short, even shorter than Azula. She has a shit eating grin on her face. It is not until now that she notices how she has a glossed over expression about her. She is a woman with no eyes. She connects the dots in her distant memory.

"I've seen you before." Azula mumbles.

"Funny. I've never seen you before." Toph quips.

Realizing the gravity of the conversation and the moment, Azula steals a glance around the room. She gulps as she stands up, "Perhaps it's best we take our conversation elsewhere."


"You've come a long way since being a 400 foot tall platypus."

The two women quietly roam the streets of Lanxi, Azula quickly sobering up while Toph makes light of the situation. The blind bandit goes on.

"So seriously, what's the deal? What happened to your prolific lying skills? Old age dulled your blade?"

"Uhhh, something like that, sure."

"What's the matter?" Toph asks, sensing the apprehension in Azula's tone. "You nervous?"

"I suppose that depends. Are you going to arrest me? I was hoping to go out on my own accord, but maybe this was how it was always going to end."

"Ha! Relax, Princess. I disgracefully resigned from the force about 5 years ago. No arrest power here anyway. From what I've gathered Councilperson Roland wouldn't be too keen on extraditing you anyway."

"So you're not going to start a fight or try to 'bring me to heel?'"

"Do I look like Katara to you?"

Azula doesn't reply, understanding her point.

"No, seriously, do I look like her? If so, I got ugly quick."

Azula lets out a laugh instantly and after a moment Toph allows herself to laugh as well.

"On a serious note, Princess-"

"Please don't call me that."

"-you're not the same."

"Not the same? As I was when? Like when we were 15 or 16?"

"You look like yourself, but you're somebody else."

'Oh.'

"Underneath. You sound like the Princess, but I hear someone new now."

"That girl you knew is gone. Now she's just somebody that you used to know."

"Yeah?" She asks as they mindlessly wander. "The somebody that I used to know was the empire of fire and sparkys lady."

"Funny that you recall that. I can't even bend anymore."

Toph punches her arm. "No shit! You pulling my leg?"

"Going on two years without the flames. It's been a difficult adjustment."

"Did you know that happened to your brother?"

"Hmmm? It did?"

"Yeah! When he first came to our side in the War. He was all like, 'I will be your Sifu!' And then all of a sudden he couldn't get it up."

"Ha! Classic Zuko."

"Classic men." Toph spits.

"I wouldn't know."

"Ayyo!" Toph laughs. "Gender betrayers were right all along."

Azula hasn't laughed or smiled like this in a long time. It's all very ridiculous and hard to believe. As they round another corner she asks a question, "What are you doing in Lanxi anyway?"

"I could ask you the same thing. History's most wanted woman and I found her in a rinky dink pub just by the sound of her voice."

"I asked you first."

"Alright, fair." Toph concedes. "I'm headed towards Zafou."

"Zow what? Never heard of it."

"It's a city of Metal that my daughter built. It's in the far west, along the coast of the Mo Ce Sea. On my way to see some of my family."

"A blind woman just walking the Earth, huh?" She asks.

"It's not the best, but I've done it many times before. Now, how about you, Public Enemy #1?"

"Well, if you must know, I'm finally giving up."

"Oh yeah? Gonna jump off that bridge? I heard it's a steep fall. Haven't tried it yet myself."

"No, no. Not the easy way out. I'm going to take the first boat out tomorrow to Wolf's Cove, or Republic City, or Kyoshi Island. Wherever I can go, and finally surrender."

"No shit?"

"No shit."

"What gives?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"I mean, you've been on the run for like 50 years. I happen to run into you the night before you finally quit? I just can't believe it."

"I'm just so tired. Don't you get tired?"

"Sure. But are you fulfilled? Have you had your fill of life?"

"I've lived many lives."

"That's not an answer. You don't seem tired, you just seem lost."

Toph cuts deep. Azula doesn't know what to say so she returns to her main point.

"I'm ready for it to all just end."

"Well, that's stupid if you ask me."

"Ha. Well, I didn't ask you."

"No, seriously. You shouldn't do it."

Azula comes to a stop by the bridge of Lanxi, where one of the most massive moments of her entire life took place. In the eerie quiet of the late night Earth Kingdom air, a wind blows and Azula looks at the woman with no eyes. She offers her a lifeline.

"Listen, when your brother first came to our team, he took the others on these field trips."

"Field trips?"

"And they changed their lives. Aang, Sokka, -"

"Changed their lives?"

"-even Katara. Everyone, mind you, except for fucking me."

"He always was such a little shit." Azula jokes.

"Join me."

"Uh?"

"Seriously. Join me."

"And go where, exactly?"

"To Zafou."

"No. I'm surrendering. Tomorrow."

"You in a rush to sit in a padded cell for the rest of your days? Or worse, get killed?"

"No, but I've made up my mind."

"And I'm not saying you have to change it. I'm just saying, delay it. For a few months. And maybe when you're done you'll realize you're not ready for that."

"Well then what am I ready for?"

"I can't tell you that. But I can help you find it."

This is all very persuasive and Azula doesn't like it. This is precisely what she was looking to avoid by not going to find Po Boh.

"C'mon. It'll be four months, tops, to get to Zafou. I'm blind, you can help guide me. I can help guide you on a life changing field trip. I get to have my own, finally, with the better Royal Fire sibling. And when we're done, then you can go straight to Kyoshi or Wolf's Cove or wherever you want to ruin whatever is left of your pathetic, miserable life."

Azula finds it all preposterous yet all so convincing. She nods her head.

"Whatta ya say, Platypus? Shall we?"

Toph extends a hand and leaves it between them. Azula thinks about it for a few moments. Finally, she takes it.

"Alright. Let's do it. Field trip to Zazu!"

"It's Zafou, you moron."


Azula and Toph approach a door late in the evening hours after agreeing to travel together. Azula had said she needed to do one thing before leaving. She'd told Toph that she didn't finally come all the way to Lanxi just to show up and not see her "little dragon." It's a home she knows well, even after all of these years. She envisions Lonou being an old man now, and Yasuko an adult. She figures that Yasuko probably moved out and has her own home somewhere else in Lanxi, but Lonou is too stubborn to move on. He would linger. She approaches the door with Toph in tow.

Azula is the one who knocks.

The anticipation and excitement is palpable. She hangs her head a little low so she can make a dramatic show when the door opens.

"It's been a long time," she says, head bowed. Slowly she tilts her head upwards, "Old Friend."

Azula finds no such familiar face. A strange man stands opposite of her, wearing a perplexed expression.

"Sorry, do I know you?"

"Oh no." Toph whispers to herself.

"I'm sorry. Excuse me. Does Lonou not live here anymore?"

"Lonou? Lonou? You mean -? I'm… ma'am, I'm sorry. I don't know how to tell you this, but he passed. Many years ago."

Azula gulps.

"Come on, Princess." Toph tugs at her shirt.

In her years, Azula knew this was possible. She was not so delusional to not foresee this as a possibility. She just thought it would be Yasuko to be the one to greet her with the news.

"His, um, his daughter? Yasuko was her name."

"C'mon, girl. Let's let them be."

"No, I need to know!"

They begin to argue. The stranger gives hope.

"She left for the Dreaming City. Or at least that's what they say."

"The Dreaming City?"

"The what now?"

Azula grows deliriously happy. Of course her little dragon spread her wings and flew off to the Dreaming City.

"Thank you. Thank you!"

The stranger never gets to ask who the women are and they disappear into the black of night before another word is shared.


The next day, Azula and Toph cross the bridge out of Lanxi together. Toph has more coin than Yue herself and she spends it liberally for them to gather supplies. Azula decides against finding Po Boh to play pai sho, or seeking out Chairperson Roland for details on Lonou's death. She fears they too have passed on. She prefers the idea of them, and knows that if she reveals herself to them they will be in for a world of trouble no matter how it plays out.

So out they go, across the bridge and into the vast Earth Kingdom deadlines. They head west, the sun at their backs. Azula, 62, and Toph, on the cusp of turning 60, wear light clothing that won't retain much heat nor sweat. Azula leads the way, but it's clear that Toph doesn't need a guide as much as she let on. They are making idle chit chat about their various travels.

"A friend of mine in Ba Sing Se once told me that after moving around a lot she learned to travel light."

"Oh, that's a good one-liner."

"I agree."

"I'm gonna steal that, for sure."

"Steal what? It was your saying to begin with. Did someone say otherwise?"

"I like that attitude, Princess."

"Thank you."

"So, how long have you been 'traveling light?'"

"Ah. Well," she thinks for a second. "Do you mean this most recent version or the early days or the middle days? I've been traveling light my entire life, it feels like."

"Let's start with your most recent, I suppose."

"Well, it's been two plus years now. I believe I was in search of enlightenment. I, uh, well. I mean, you've probably heard all about it anyway, right?"

"I don't play much political games since I retired, but I think I know what you mean, yes. There were stories told."

"What did they say?"

"That you killed an 'innocent' man in cold blood."

"You seem skeptical."

"Skeptical is my natural state of being."

"That's fair, but why this?"

"Killing innocents was never your thing," Toph explains. "You gotta remember, I tracked you for a good long time as the Chief. I was hot on your trail with Aang at my side when you left town. All that power just vanished overnight."

'No bending.'

"Yeah. Then it vanished on me overnight 35 years later."

"You're really hung up on this, huh?"

"And why shouldn't I be? My whole life I was told and I believed I was special because of my fire. Now?" She holds her palm out and tries with all of her might. She thinks about the passion and the fury. Nothing spurts forth. "What am I without my bending?"

"Oh cram it with the pity party."

Azula chuckles to this as she pulls Toph's arm towards some shade. The canyon walls of the Earth Kingdom desert are a great escape from the summer sun and for the first time she feels like a real help to the blind woman. Toph doubles down.

"No, seriously. You got your nicknames and monikers and such - "

"They were titles."

"-not because of your bending. It was always more than just your bending. It was your mystique and the aura. It was the idea of you. People pissed themselves at the very idea of you."

These words ring true in her mind. She recalls the specter of her Uncle telling her much of the same.

"Was it your bending that made you what you are?"

"If I'm being honest?" Azula prepared to admit something embarrassing. "I don't even remember all of them anymore."

"Ha!" Toph belly laughs. "Oh, in that case, I'll happily remind you."

"You remember them all? No way. It was thirty some whatever years ago."

"I was chasing you with Suki and Ty Lee. Of course I remember them. It was printed on my brain. It's like a nursery rhyme as a kid - you never forget them, no matter how much time goes by."

"That's preposterous, there's no way you-"

Toph summons all of her sarcastic bravado, drops her voice low, and tries to jokingly intimidate.

"You stand in the presence of Empress Azula, the first of her name. Rightful heir to the, wait, wait," she stops herself as a thought comes to her mind. "You know what? Oh, I'm so disappointed in myself. Calling you Princess. I gotta call you Empry. All of them. They all deserve some time in the sun."

"Yue, you are going to be such a pain in my ass, aren't you?"

"No, what I'm learning, Empry, is that one of us fought on the wrong side of things."

"Huh?"

"If we had been on the same side of the war or the criminal empire life, we would've been lifelong partners. Unstoppable. With my bending, tactical acumen, genius strategy, prolific fighting ability, and you with your eyes? Not even Aang could've stopped us."

Both women laugh hysterically as they continue to meander through the desert together.


They are sitting at a campfire after sunset on their first night. Azula cooks some beans for them. Toph rests her feet up and just listens to the nightly going ons of the middle of nowhere Earth Kingdom. She has been thinking about something for much of the day after their conversation earlier. She finally blurts out her question.

"So, what did happen in Honan?"

Azula stares at the red fire that cooks their food. She sighs heavily as the memory of Sayaka haunts her. She now wonders and fears if Yasuko had joined Sayaka, Siq, and probably Senna in the long line of young people to follow behind her and perish along the way. She pushes the thought aside and tries to explain.

"There was a girl. Teenager. Her name was Sayaka."

"Pretty name."

"For a pretty girl. Who was misunderstood and mistreated. The flames spit from her hands and she wanted to control it."

"So you taught her fire bending."

"Aye."

"From what I recall, things didn't end so well for her."

"No, they didn't."

"I always wondered if the father…"

"The father did it."

"Fuck." Toph curses under her breath as the truth unveils itself.

"I only saw red. He had to pay."

"Judge. Jury. Executioner."

"Aye."

"That's some heavy shit, Empry."

"I became what they thought I was as a teenager."

"You think so?"

"In my early days, they said I could turn into a dragon. People thought that I "burned with such a fire" that I could melt the bones of a person."

That was the other part of the story that Toph wondered about. She does not press for more information. She knows the answers.


The next day Toph accidentally uncovers Azula's favorite topic to talk about in idle time. The number one thing that no one would ever get her to shut up about. A value lesson learned going forward for the Woman with No Eyes: If Azula is being reclusive, just bring up Ty Lee.

"And she was a damn good tracker too. You know, this one time, at Ember Island, she found my hideout and-"

"You know, I had my own adventure with her myself, right?" Toph finally just tries to shut her up by inserting herself without proper segue.

"You did?" Azula is surprised.

"Yeah, after the war. I helped her to reconnect with her sisters. And like I said the other day, we also worked together tracking you down. Or trying to anyway. I always knew she was in love with you."

"Might I add, I feel like you "always knew" a lot of things."

"What can I say? I know a lot of things, always."

"I think you're full of shit."

"Aren't we all?"

The two are headed for the mountainside passage. After some debate they decided the extra time added would be worth it to not die from the heat.

"I do faintly recall the sisters thing with Ty Lee. I heard about that at some point. Of course, while it was going on I was languishing in a psych ward."

"Yeesh, I sort of forgot about that. Bad look for Zuko, very bad look."

"What else were you doing with that time?"

"A lot of this actually."

"Nearly dying from heat stroke?"

"Basically, yeah. I was wandering the world, teaching metal bending."

"So you could join me permanently!"

"No."

"Why not? You're the one who just said yesterday that we'd be unstoppable."

"Har-har, Hairy," she calls her, picking on the 'heir' to the throne part of her old speech. "But in all seriousness, I can't do that. My daughter Su has built this incredible city and I've got potential grandkids on the way."

"Exciting. Any names?"

"If it's a boy, they'll name him after the father. If it's a girl, they like Opal."

"Lovely names."

Toph reaches maybe beyond her purview but speaks nonetheless.

"You know, if you want to stay at Zafou, I'm sure I can convince her to just let you be. A city of safety. Roof over your head, food in your belly."

Azula declines politely.

"Thank you, but I couldn't. Formal places, not really my thing. Not anymore."

"Understood."

"Although I did spend a few months in the Earth Kingdom prison system for theft."

"Oh, I gotta hear this story!"


[Early Fall 148 AG]

The two adventurers are a few weeks into their cross continent road trip when Toph has finally had enough. She didn't realize it for the first few days but after four or five days she awoke in the middle of the night and overheard it. Her travel companion suffered from night terrors and mumbled in her sleep about them. The first time Toph thought it may be a one-off. Two nights later when she awoke again to the low voice of Azula talking to herself, she realized it was a pattern.

She didn't want to address it, knowing full well that the woman had suffered her fair share of traumas. However, given how much time they have in front of them and the fact that the behavior is grating on her already, she knows she has to do something about it. So she walks over to her sleeping body and rouses her with a swift kick in the shin.

"Ughhh! Owww!" Azula wakes and looks up at the blind woman. "What the fuck was that for?"

"You were having a nightmare. I stopped it. You're welcome."

"I was? Fuck. Not again."

Toph sits down on the ground beside Azula's sleeping bag. "So you're aware of the problem?"

"Yeah. When I first moved to Lanxi, it happened a lot. Things about dragons, birds, my loved ones telling me they hate me and such. Ty Lee helped to end them."

"What did she do?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean," Toph shifts her weight. "What did she say? How do we stop them?"

"You want to help?"

Toph scowls and waves her hand about dismissively. "I want you to stop waking me in the middle of night. The decision is wholly self-serving. Do not get it confused."

The two former enemies stay up all night talking about Azula's nightmares and how to make them stop.


[Fall 148 AG]

They were supposed to be halfway there by this point, but two months into the expedition and they're more like one-third. Not like either of them mind, they have been swapping stories and insight and having a blast talking about their shared past and individual journeys. Today's topic is about how Azula nearly ended up a Kyoshi Warrior.

"That little minx, Suki!" Toph complains as they walk together. "She met with you in private? When she was supposed to be helping me track you down?"

"She sure did. I fucking love Suki. If I wasn't married, oooh. I would've tried to bed her so many times."

"What am I? Spare rubble?"

"Do you want to swing my way, Melonlord? We're old, but it's never too late for that."

"I'm kidding, cool your pants, Mother Dearest."

Getting back to the main topic, Azula continues, "Yeah, Suki and I had a long history together. She rejected my request to become a Kyoshi Warrior, she found me in Lanxi, she brought it up to Zuko, attended our wedding. So many other things I've probably forgot. Oh yeah! We brokered a deal for the fate of Kyoshi Island. I did it for free but we played pretend that she was going into my debt for it."

"I've had my own complex background with her." Toph admits freely. There's something comforting about talking to the world's most wanted woman. She already has so many secrets so it didn't seem to matter to give her a few more. "But she's in a bad way now."

"Oh? I hadn't heard about this?"

"Yeah, it stems from your whole thing. All the stuff you just explained. That whole gang has more or less disavowed her. In fact, the whole crew kind of blew up when Katara found out about you."

"Care to explain?"

"Well, Zuko and Katara had a pretty serious falling out. I'm sure I don't need to break that down for you."

Azula is surprised to hear that despite everything Zuko still defended her publicly. She replies, "Okay. And then?"

"Suki was quickly blamed for you and Ty Lee being able to disappear. She was the scapegoat. So Katara cut her off and forced Aang to do the same. Well, I feel like she forced him but I don't know. So now Zuko and Mai do their own thing. Katara and Sokka and Aang are their own deal. Sokka and Suki have that girl-"

"Hana, I know. I've met her."

"And so that makes things weird for Sokka and Katara. And I don't really talk to Sokka anymore, not since. Well."

"Not since what?" Azula asks, sensing something underneath the surface.

Toph hasn't shared this with anyone. But she feels such a connection and that this secret will be a vault with Azula. She admits her secret.

"Well, Suyin is his kid. Sokka's."

"Oh."

"But I never even told him."

"But surely he must know?"

"Oh, I'm sure he knows. But I didn't want anything to do with him as a father to her. So I wouldn't admit it. The two of them were happy, and I ain't no homewrecker. So she can have that boy."

"I understand. He was always such a pain in my side." She pauses and thinks about all the other things that Toph outlined. She tells her, "I'm sorry that my life ruptured all of these important relationships in your life, Toph."

"Oh, spare me." She replies and turns her head in Azula's general direction for emphasis. "All you did was move the Earth. The fissures were always there underneath. It just took something like your rebirth to bring it all to light."


[Late Fall/Early Winter 148 AG]

It's a few weeks later when Toph gets into the story of what happened to the Dragon Slayer.

"So, basically, I don't know, 120, maybe early 121 AG, Zirin tried to double cross Yakone too. If the rumors are to be believed, she was still looking for you and he was sick of the shit. So he tried to kill her."

"Tried?" Azula asks, climbing over a ledge before turning back and grabbing Toph's arm to pull her up onto it as well.

"Yeah, I never really believed she was dead."

"Good, because me neither."

"But, much like you, no body, no crime. We have a missing persons report. Word spreads that she's dead, and she's definitely left the city. So we don't really have much of a say at that point. The story just grows and grows on its own while we have to sit on evidence one way or the other. So I suppose she could be dead, but I doubt it, personally."

"What about Yakone?"

"Another major failing in my tenure. He gets broken out of jail and quickly disappears, never to be seen nor heard from again. Now him? Him I would believe he died. He had enemies just like you and Zirin had but he was just more violent and lasted longer. In fact,-"

Toph keeps going but Azula's mind wanders. Once upon a time, in the immediate aftermath and in those first few months, maybe years, in Lanxi, she had pictured getting her revenge on them. She imagined and daydreamed about killing them both in a great, big, dramatic show. The way they had nearly ended her own life. It was a surefire sign of growth that prevented her from ever seeking it out. Lin and Ty Lee had that effect on her.

However, the thought that both of them may be dead settles over her. She pictures it and really tries to accept it, or at least pretend momentarily. The idea of Zirin in the city and Yakone similar or at least without any power, surprisingly it does not bring her much peace. It was a little underwhelming, as if she didn't care for it so much.

'Maybe because I don't need it to have peace. Not anymore. Not for a long time.'


[Early Winter 149 AG]

"How do you want to die?"

"Oh, in a blaze of glory. No doubt. Massive fireball, or whatever. Blowing up some bad guy. I wanna leave behind a sexy corpse."

"That's the most complete answer I've ever received to that question."

"How do people not have an answer already ready? What else do they think about in their spare time?"

"To be fair, I'm not sure how I want to die?"

"You'll figure it out. It's not that hard. The simplest answer is often the correct one, Leader of the Fire Weenies."


[Winter 149 AG]

It's been five months and they're still a few weeks away from their end destination. Azula sits by a campfire and looks out at the stars. Toph rests with her feet up, another glorious day under her belt. Azula had spent the day thinking back to her first real adventure with Zirin, the Kemurikage, and the Fire Warriors. Aboard a ship on the Mo Ce Sea and looking for lost treasure. A quote that was said at the time sticks to her for some reason.

"About legacy. About leaving something behind that lives beyond us. I don't think we get to choose what stays and what fades away, Azula."

"Toph?"

"Yes, Bluey?"

"What do you think about legacy?"

"You mean how we'll be remembered or …?"

"Just… all of it. What we leave behind. What we've done. Who will remember us, who will tell our stories."

Toph is reminded of a poignant moment with the Gaang. It's so precious that it almost hurts her knowing the current state of affairs. She puts that aside and replies to her friend.

"I think it's possible for us to transcend lifetimes. Our spirits carry on long after we're gone. Friendships, legacies, achievements in bending, even small things. What we do with our time, how we choose to spend it, and especially who we choose to spend it with dictates what we're remembered for in the next life."

A different sort of answer. One that Azula appreciates, even if she doesn't fully understand the scope of it.


[Late Winter 149 AG]

"Alrighty, I think it's time to go through all of them! Whatta ya say?"

"Yue you're so annoying. You know that?"

"You're not the first person to tell me that, and you won't be the last."

"I will be if I kill you right now."

"You and that bending? Whatta ya gonna do? Punch me to death? Good luck with that!"

"Alright, I get it. Just get on with it."

"Thank you! Now, where was I? Oh yes!" Toph takes in a triumphant breath before unleashing all of her jokes at once. "You stand in the presence of The Princess, first of her farts. Rightful Hairy butt on the throne. Rightful Ruler Stick of the Fire Folks. The Son of a Bitch. The Bluey with No Flames. The Mommy of the Kemuri-Cry Babies. Leader of the Fire Weenies. Founder of the Red Blow-us. The First Place Dummy. The Immortal Sucker. The Puppet-Lady. The Dragy Empry. Friend of A Blind Lady!"

"You're both insufferable and incredible."

"People have been saying that about me my entire life, Sparky."

"I just really can't believe you remembered all of those. I don't even remember all of them."

Toph chuckles at her expense. She replies, "You seem to have forgotten a lot over the years."

Sighing as they pass under some nice shade, Azula replies, "I have. I really have. So much of it. But wherever I was with her? I remembered everything."

Toph knows exactly who she's referring to, having heard practically the entirety of Ty Lee's life story, and at least all of their love story over the last five and a half months. She ruminates on this comment and reflects on it. She does not offer a reply just yet.


[Late Winter/Early Spring 149 AG]

As much as Toph and Azula procrastinated, detoured, and delayed their own trip, the last few days were delayed by no fault of their own. A torrential downpour of rain had swept right through the Silver Sea and across the Foggy Swamp and dumped itself all over them. The muddy slopes were no problem with an Earth Bender present, but the two of them hide inside their shared tent like a pair of wet cats, refusing to budge until the weather lets up. Toph surmises that they're a week or so away from their destination. As they are possibly nearing the end of their time and given their close proximity, Toph decides to ask something that's been on her mind.

"Alright, Puppet-Lady, riddle me this: Why don't you just go home?"

Azula sighs deeply.

"I can't face her. I can't… I'm so ashamed, Toph."

"Hmm." Toph replies, letting this play out.

"And the wrath I'd bring down upon her? The whole world must be watching her like a hawk. So if I ever even showed up on Kyoshi Island, I just know the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe would crash down."

"Yep. You're right about that. Kyoshi in particular, from what I've heard it's got impenetrable defenses now."

"I've thought about it. When we started this whole thing, I was gonna go back to her as my last act. If I could just have a few minutes alone with her, to talk about everything. I wish I could."

Toph lets her have a moment as the rain crashes and in the distance the thunder booms. After a few seconds she breaks the silence between them.

"That's great, but that's not what I meant."

"Oh? What did you -"

"I meant the Palace. I meant the Fire Nation. You never went home. Just all these places around the Earth Kingdom and even the Water Tribe. Floating around like a woman without a country. Why not go to the one place where you'd be welcomed with open arms?"

This is something that many people have asked Azula over the years. Her answer now is the same as it always has been. She hangs her head and scrunches her face as the crushing weight comes down upon her.

"I can't. I just… can't. I don't deserve it."

The defeatist attitude and the solemn words have led many to accept that Azula's mind is made up on this matter. Like she's chosen her words and decided how this will go. Everyone that she's come across, who has had the courage to broach the topic, has accepted the shut down response on face value. Those people were not Toph Beifong.

"Seems like bullshit to me."

"Huh?!"

"What are you scared of? That you're not a good person? Or that you haven't done enough to offset the bad? What's the deal?"

"I, uh-," she stutters as she tries to formulate words to explain how she feels. "Both?"

"How can it be both?"

Azula tries to explain her great fears to the blind woman.

"I have this great propensity for evil, and sometimes I still lean that way. The nightmares, they came from the things I've done. Honan Bay was not the only place where I've killed based on my own sense of 'justice.' It's just the latest and most famous."

"You're not a villain, Azula. Not anymore. Go home and be with your family for crying out loud."

Outside lightning cracks and thunder booms. The rain does not relent.

"Can I really go back? Is there really something there for me? I've spent so much time away from the Palace, would I even recognize it anymore? Or would I be like a ghost? Haunting the hallways at night, a thing that doesn't belong, taking up space with the people who live there now?"

She takes a deep breath, her amber eyes staring out into space within the sturdy but soaking tent.

"Perhaps that's why I always keep fighting. Not because I'm an immortal soldier, but because I'm running from going home. Running to somewhere that I'm familiar."

"Well you're not dead. Your wife still loves you I bet. Your family is still alive. So go home, while you still can."

A crash of thunder. The tent momentarily lights up from a lightning so bright that it rivals what Azula used to produce from her fingers and palms. The kind of blast she will never make again.

"You don't know what it's like."

"No, but I know those feelings that drive you." Toph says and draws Azula's attention.

These two women have spent nearly half of a year traveling together, spending every second of every day at each other's side. They've slept in the same tent, the same beds, they've shared laughs, meals, moonlight, traveled across deserts, mountains, oceans, and fields. Azula knows her mannerisms quite well now. It took some getting used to but eventually Azula learned to adapt to the blind woman staring out to nowhere as she speaks. It doesn't matter to Toph, and so it doesn't matter to Azula.

This time though Toph's glossed over eyes focus right in Azula's direction. It's unnerving, which is probably how Toph wanted it to be. She has great seismic sense, she knows where Azula is and probably can hear where she's breathing from in the small tent. She bores into her soul with her eyes as she speaks passionately.

"That impossible anger strangling the grief, until the memories of your loved ones are just poison in your veins. And then one morning, shortly after sunrise, you catch yourself sitting quietly with your resentment, waiting to die alone, wishing the person you loved had never existed so you'd be spared the pain."

Azula feels a lump as she tries to swallow. Toph had poignantly and succinctly described so much hurt. The crystalized feelings that she keeps wrapped up inside. She looks at the woman and wonders how she came to this conclusion, to this crossroads. Her heart aches and her throat scratches as she opens her mouth to ask.

"You're referring to Sokka?"

Toph scoffs. She shakes her head.

"I'm referring to a lot of people, Puppet-Lady," she replies, her head turning away. "There are certain people who we have to fight without holding back. That rage inside of you, even without your bending makes you formidable. But left unchecked, like you were as the Empress and to a lesser extent as the Guardian? It will destroy you. Just like it almost did to me."

"How'd you come out the other side?"

A small smile cracks across her lips.

"My family."

At that exact moment Azula swore that The Woman with No Eyes could see her better than anyone alive.


If Azula could stop the fire from spreading she would. She can't though, so instead it rages and burns down everything in its path.

It feels like all throughout her life she has watched fire burning. It is not a new phenomenon, but rather one she is very comfortable with, even without her bending. She has been here before. She has been here since the beginning. She sits on a bench, beneath a tree, facing the west, and in the distance watches a forest fire consuming part of the woodlands. She wonders what could have caused it, but from her position she feels safe and unafraid. She contemplates the flames and how it is so natural for a forest fire to occur. They happen all around the world whenever the forest grows too large for its own good. She finally understands how much good they provide.

It's still early in the morning when a barefoot woman follows her senses to reach the sitting Azula. Like many others before, Toph comes and sits beside her atop a rock formation, under the shaded tree.

"Well, Princess, we're here. Just about anyway. It's only a couple of miles away now."

Azula doesn't question it. She simply replies, "Indeed. This morning I could see metal tips sticking out above some tree lines. Would've given me pause for concern if you hadn't outlined the city for me."

"Aye. It's a real marvel to behold, according to all you seeing people."

Azula sits comfortably in the quiet for a moment. Although it's not summer, the warm temperatures produce many animals and insects. Birds chirping and insects humming in the distance supply the backdrop of their leisurely affair. The Woman with No Eyes speaks.

"So, I've been thinking. You're welcome to join me in Zafou," she starts. Azula opens her mouth to reject the offer but before she can Toph rolls onward. "I know, I know. Formal places and such. Which is why I already know you'll say no to that, and instead I'm offering you something else instead."

The Princess doesn't reply. She sees the bargaining that Toph is engaging in and can accept it. She replies, "Alright. I'll bite."

A smug smile dawns on the blind woman's face.

"What do you know about Mallard Island?"

"Mallard Island? Well, I've never been, but I've heard of them. The islands all the way to the East?"

"That's right. Anything else?"

Azula ponders but comes up empty.

"No, not really?"

"Well, they're a set of islands that are situated on sea cliffs. Closest villages are about 3 or 4 miles from the cliffs."

"Dangerous to live so close to the edge, I'd imagine."

"Especially if you're a blind woman."

"Aye. Do you mean something by that?"

"I do. I own a home right on the edge of those sea cliffs. Miles from the closest settlement. It's about as remote as you can get: isolated islands in far away lands, so East that you might be in the West. And at the very edge of them, a stone house that will survive any weather conditions. I built it myself. I've lived in it by myself. But now? Well, I'm not so sure."

"You're lending it to me?"

Toph reaches into her pocket.

"Not lending. Giving."

She softly tosses the key. She completely misses her target, landing several feet away. Azula goes to collect it. As she does she says, "You don't plan on going back?"

"Nope. You've convinced me. I'll stay in Zafou for a bit, but after that? I'm gonna wander the Earth again."

Azula examines the key. It's sharp edges. It's tiny in her palm but represents something bigger. Toph explains.

"You can hide away there, if you want. Or maybe you can finally go home to your wife on Kyoshi, or your brother in Caldera. I just think you should revisit some of the good memories in your time, remind yourself of your roots. Not just succumb to the weight of the world and resign yourself to a padded cell, or worse."

"My roots? I'm not sure I have any of those anymore. But if I'm being honest, I do regret never having gone back to Lonlhai."

"Then that's the place. Go back and then figure it out. Mallard? Kyoshi? Caldera? Any of them will do after you've paid your respects to the dead. Whatever it takes to keep you from getting yourself killed."

"Yeah. Maybe you're right."

Azula finally yields. Toph smiles that smug smile of hers, knowing she's finally broken the Dragon Empress' iron will.


The two women reach the gates to Zafou together. A security guard runs out to greet them.

"Sifu Toph! Welcome home! We've been expecting your arrival for a few weeks now." He bows his head.

"Yeah, well, my friend and I here took our time along the way."

He rises back to his full height and nods his head, "Understood. Will she be staying with us? Should I alert Master Suyin?"

"No, she won't be staying. In fact, gather an airship for her. Set a course for Gaoling. I don't want her having to travel all that way on foot."

"On the double!" He shouts and then hastily departs.

"An airship? Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely. They're Ba Sing Se airships, developed by the Cabbage Corp. We don't need to register it or anything, although you can't fly it on your own. We'll send 3 of our men with you. They can take you to Gaoling and get there in a day or two. From there to Lonlhai it's a few days, maybe a week at max."

"Hmm. Saving me months of time."

"I know, Sparky. That's why I suggested it."

Azula and Toph share a laugh. The soldier returns and informs them the airship will be ready in a few moments and asks Azula to join him so they can go over safety procedures. The two women say their goodbyes. It's about as emotional as they can be given their personalities.

"This was fun. I'll remember this time fondly, likely until I die." Azula tells her.

"Hopefully that's not any time soon."

"Ha! No. You've convinced me otherwise. I walked into Lanxi thinking my only path left in life was death. I wasn't sure which way that would come but I was ready to go towards it. You've shown me that there may be another way forward."

"There's many ways forward. You'll find the right one with time. But what I do know is this, Sparky: Whatever your original intentions were, you had become truly lost."

Azula nods.

"But you helped to find me again."

"And returning to Lonlhai will hopefully give you some peace at last."

The guard tries to lead Azula away. She stops and turns back to The Woman with No Eyes.

"Thank you, Toph. For everything. In the meantime, if you see Ty Lee or Zuko before I do, please tell them I love them."

"HA! I won't ever see them, you dummy!"

Azula departs with a laugh. Toph begins walking through the gates into Zafou. Just as Azula disappears from eyesight a man walks up.

"Greetings, Sifu Toph! We are most pleased to meet with you again."

Toph groans. She punches him in the shoulder.

"Aiwei, I'm the only person who's a better truth seer than you. No need to pretend that you're happy to see me."

He chuckles.

"I hear you traveled with some "secret company" on your way here? Care to divulge who it was?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore, now would it?"

Toph and Aiwei walk together into Zafou.


A/N: This chapter's OST is "You're Somebody Else" by flora cash.

Love always. Toph forever! MELON LORD FOREVER!

Notorious