Wandering Prince

Avatar the Last Airbender, Zuko SI

22

The world was dark and Toph once more relied upon her bending senses to see the world around her. She went to sleep under the moon and stars last night—things she had heard described, but had no idea what to expect until she looked up and saw them up there, glittering in the vast expanse that was the sky. Like the fire, the moon was bright, but its light was a different color. Cooler, she felt. It only made her squint a little when she looked up into it, whereas she could barely look at the fire directly for a few moments before she had to turn away.

When morning came, pain came with it. Yue and Zuko called it bright, and the black she saw when she closed and covered her eyes with a piece of cloth Yue had made into a blindfold as dark. Even with the pain, she was still happy. They told her she would adjust eventually—that she would get used to it and it'd just take time. Toph wanted to see everything now, but she wasn't dumb enough to hurt herself more than necessary trying.

"Alright, break time," Zuko called, pulling off his pack and dropping it to the ground before taking a seat. "Toph, come here. We're gonna try this again."

"Sure," she agreed, moving over and sitting down beside him. Yue sat down beside Zuko, leaning against his other side. Toph squeezed her eyes tightly shut and Zuko took off the blindfold. Everything went from dark to red—the color of seeing light coming through her eyelids and the blood in them. It didn't hurt, though—possibly because they were sitting under a tree, in the shade as it blocked much of the sun's light.

"This is so weird," Toph sighed.

Yue giggled. "Just give it time."

"Open them slowly," Zuko instructed from beside her, and Toph slowly cracked her eyes open. It was bright and it stung her eyes, but it didn't actually hurt. So, she kept going until they were fully open. "How's it feel?"

"I keep blinking," Toph muttered, trying to keep from blinking and flinching so much.

"That's normal," Yue nodded.

Humming, Zuko considered the blue? Toph thought it was blue. Either blue or green. He looked at the blindfold he was holding.

"What color is that again?"

"Blue!" Yue answered with a smile. "Like my eyes."

Right. Her eyes are blue. Zuko's are gold. Mine are green, like most of my robe and Yue's, except for the gold parts.

Zuko tossed the blindfold to Yue. "I think the blindfold is too thick. She needs something to let in more light, to force her to adjust faster. It's probably going to suck, but better a headache from a bit of eye strain than taking months to adjust."

Yue hummed, considering it for a moment, before nodding. "I have something that will work on the boat. Some lace that I kept when we raided the pirates. I can layer it a few times and it should be good for a while. Just remove a layer every day or so until we remove the blindfold entirely."

"Sounds good," Zuko agreed. "Toph, you ready to start?"

"Mm," Toph nodded. Looking around, she pointed. "What's that? Feels like a bug?"

A tentacle of water flicked out and caught it, before bringing it close. "It's a… Actually, I'm not sure," Yue admitted.

"Right, you wouldn't have had many bugs up north. It's a ladybug. What color is the shell?"

Toph studied it for a few moments. "Black and… gold? Like, really light gold."

"Yellow," Yue corrected. "Gold is actually a shade of yellow."

"'Shade' like," Toph gestured around them.

"No, that kind of shade is a shadow," the princess smiled. "It's part of a range of colors. Colors aren't like… numbers. They aren't precise. It's more like…"

"Temperature," Zuko supplied. "That's how they measure the shade of colors. They call it by temperature, because of the wavelength of the light…" He trailed off, then shook his head. "Never mind. So, you know the primary colors?"

"Um," Toph winced, closing her eyes as she thought back. "I mean, they never really applied, so I didn't bother memorizing them."

"That's fine!" Yue giggled. "You can learn now. There are seven—"

"Ten," Zuko countered, his tone sounding amused.

Yue sent him a look and Toph tried to figure out how to call it. Her eyes narrowed, lips thinned, eyebrows drew down a bit. After a moment, Toph had to decide it was probably annoyed. Looking at him like she knew he was messing with her. When Zuko continued, Yue's face relaxed and she rolled her eyes.

"There are ten you should know. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, black, white, and clear. Yue, do you have something with more…?"

Yue opened her backpack and began pulling out clothes. One by one, they went over them and Toph began learning what to call things.

Eventually, they ate lunch and, when her eyes started to ache, the blindfold went back on and they started walking again. Eventually, it started to cool off and Toph sensed that the sun was setting. Zuko called another halt to set up camp and he and Yue quickly busied themselves. Hesitating for a moment, since there was nothing obvious for her to do, Toph eventually decided to ask.

"Hey, uh. What should I do?"

"Hmm," Yue hummed, looking up. "Feels like it's going to rain?"

"Yeah, think so," Zuko nodded. "Can you help me set up the tent?"

"Sure. How do we want to do this?" Toph asked, a grin on her face as she felt useful.

Before long, they had a bit of a raised platform of level stone to keep them off the ground, with the pitons for the tent sank into the corners. Because they were worried it might get windy, Toph closed it off over the top and back with angled stone and, once they turned in for the night, she would close up the front as well. She noticed there was only one tent and she hadn't exactly prepared for this, so she didn't have a bedroll of her own, nor was Zuko making any preparations for her to sleep separately.

Well… Guess we're going to be getting close tonight, then, she mused, fighting off a smirk as a bundle of nervous energy settled in her stomach—along with a tingle of arousal. She had so much new material to go with the little fantasies she'd been entertaining herself with at night, now that she could actually see what her friends looked like…

"Clothes are finished," Yue announced as she began packing them away in her and Zuko's bags. "Toph, do you want me to wash yours, after we take a bath?"

Lifting her arm, Toph sniffed herself and winced. "Would you?"

Yue giggled. "Sure."

Sighing, Toph reached up and began undoing her blindfold. "Maybe we should head back to Gaoling and pick up some things?" Getting the piece of cloth off, she slowly opened her eyes. The light was fading fast and not nearly as harsh as it had been during the day. Everything was lit by a kind of reddish orange glow. "I'd kind of like to show off being able to see."

"Nn," Zuko winced. "You uh, you think you can put a pin in that for a while? Let things settle down a bit? Give people some time for forget about me and Yue?"

Considering it, Toph shrugged. "Sure, I'm not in a hurry. They can wait. Let 'em sweat a bit, wondering where I went."

Looking up through the trees, Toph's mouth fell open as she took in the sky—full of bright pink, red, orange, and other colors. And there were clouds—big, dark clouds rolling in. How can anything be so huge?

Yue paused in setting up some food over the fire to look over at Toph. Standing, she moved over and rested her hands on Toph's shoulders. "It's a beautiful sunset," she murmured, pressing herself into Toph's back and resting her chin on top of Toph's head. "Zuko and I liked to go up to the top of the wall surrounding Agna Qel'a and watch them together."

"Those were nice," Zuko chuckled. "Froze my ass off, but it was worth it."

They enjoyed the sunset a while longer before they all sat down to eat, with Toph providing plates, cups, and forks, while Yue provided water and Zuko heated tea for them. Patting her full belly, Toph turned her plate and cup back into dirt, kicked off her sandals, and dropped her feet into Zuko's lap as he finished up his tea. A belch worked its way up and she grinned as Yue made a disgusted face.

"Nice one," Zuko chuckled.

"Not at all ladylike," Yue sighed.

Toph stuck out her tongue. "Just because I can act like a lady doesn't mean I want to. I'm not trying to impress you guys."

"Well, you already have," the princess sent her a smile. "So I suppose it's fine, if you want to let your hair down and just be yourself."

"Glad I have your permission, princess," Toph rolled her eyes, earning a pout from Yue. Not getting the reaction she wanted, she wiggled her feet in Zuko's lap, completely by coincidence rubbing the top of her foot against his crotch. "How about you finish that foot rub you started the other day?" Smirking, she added, "Not many people can say they got the royal treatment."

"Is this gonna be a thing?" Zuko asked, his tone exasperated, and Toph memorized the look he sent her way for future reference.

"Mm… for a little while. Or any time I want to poke you," she smirked, shifting her foot and thumping his crotch again, only to blush as she felt something hard in his pants. Oh crap, that's… That's big. Su told me what they look like, even drew one out in the dirt for me so I could 'see' it, but feeling it for myself is way different! Maybe I should stop?

She wondered over stopping while she was ahead for exactly two seconds, before grinning. Nah! Let's see where it goes! Hopefully all the way! Yue keeps flirting and hinting. I don't think she minds. Actually, she looked over towards Yue, whose blue eyes had locked on Toph's feet on Zuko's lap, and where her foot rested on his cock. The water tribe girl sported a light blush as she licked her lips. Yeah, I guess she's weird like that. She's into it.

"We uh, we should take a bath! Before the storm gets here!" Yue suddenly jumped up, turning and rushing towards the small stream they'd camped beside. "Toph, are you coming?!"

"Not yet," Toph murmured, meeting Zuko's eyes and wagging her eyebrows, before pulling her feet off his lap and going to make a tub for them.

Behind her, she heard Zuko quietly mutter, "Give me patience. Don't give me strength, or I'm going to correct this brat."

Pfft. I'd like to see that. That sounds like fun.

A few moments later, Toph had a tub made, Yue had filled it, and Zuko heated the water until it steamed. Without a care in the world for her friends seeing her, Toph pulled her robes over her head and tossed them aside, before grabbing the sides of the tub and jumping in with a splash. She popped up to the surface a moment later, her long hair sticking to her body. Grabbing the long, black mess it had become out of its bun, she pulled it back until it hung down behind her. Turning her gaze on Yue and Zuko, she grinned. "Well? What're you waiting for?"

Yue sighed, shaking her head and gathering up Toph's clothes, before tossing them into the tub as well, before pulling hers off and neatly laying them over a nearby tree limb. The water tribe girl climbed in a moment later and settled in beside Toph. Toph was certain Yue's hungry look mirrored the one on her own face as they turned their gazes towards Zuko. The prince considered for a moment before shaking his head.

"I'll wait until you two are done. It won't take me long—"

"So, now that I can actually see you, you're too scared to get in?" Toph taunted, smirking.

"You should join us, Zuko. There's no point in fighting it~," Yue giggled, shifting closer to Toph and pressing herself against the smaller girl's side.

Reaching up, the firebender pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright. Fine." He looked up and met Yue's gaze. "You win."

"Good!" Yue grinned, and Toph got the feeling that they'd just had an entirely different conversation. What that was however was pushed to the back of her mind as she watched Zuko move over to the tree with Yue's clothes and strip. Her eyes took in all the little details that she'd never been privy to before. All of the things her bending didn't allow her to see as more than fleshy sacks of water over bones.

Now, she could see the lines and curves of well-defined muscles. The way those muscles moved on his arms, legs, back, chest, ass. And then the thing she had been hoping to see as Zuko turned and walked to the tub, the thing her foot had found swinging between his legs.

Not that Toph was only studying Zuko—he was just her focus for the moment. Yue was plenty nice to look at as well. The contrast between the two was nice, between Yue's soft curves and Zuko's hard lines, even down to his light skin versus Yue's darker shade of light brown—Toph wasn't sure whether it was tan or just something to do with the water tribe, and didn't particularly care. They were both darker than her, whose own skin was so pale that it looked like snow even under the light of the fire.

Yue giggled and squeezed Toph's hip as Zuko climbed in and settled down across from them. A moment later, the water started moving and Toph sighed as she relaxed, leaning into Yue's side. The other girl reached up and began combing her hands through Toph's hair, scrubbing in soap and washing it out with tentacles of water.

"You should let your hair down more often. You look good with it down," Yue said, and Toph could hear the smile in the girl's voice.

Toph blinked. "I keep it up to get it out of the way," she murmured. Shifting slightly, she glanced between Zuko, who had his eyes closed and was resting his head against the lip of the tub, and Yue behind her. "…I do?"

"Mm! You do!" Yue nodded.

"It'd be good for a change of pace," Zuko threw in, not bothering to look up as he yawned. "You know, something to do if you're not expecting a fight, or if you want to dress up nice for something."

"I don't even know what it looks like," Toph admitted, before chuckling. "I don't know what I look like."

This time, Zuko did raise his head, meeting Yue's gaze in another of those silent conversations. Toph's eyes narrowed. "That better not be pity I see!"

"It's not!" Yue assured her. "Here, I'll just…"

Toph raised an eyebrow as Yue pulled some of the water over and made something out of ice, as she shifted behind Toph and pressed herself against the smaller girl's back. Toph blinked as she saw something on the surface of the ice, until Yue turned it and it showed her… Yue, and a pale, green eyed girl with wet hair plastered to her hair staring back at her in shock.

"Huh?" Toph asked, watching as the girl in the ice sculpture's lips moved, then eyes blinked as Toph blinked, mimicking her movements. "That's me?"

"It's a mirror," Yue nodded behind her, smiling as she pressed her face up against Toph's, smooshing their cheeks together. "You're beautiful. We just need to fix your hair when we get out," Yue stuck out her tongue and grinned.

"Alright. Give me those feet," Zuko said, moving over so he could start working on Toph's feet.

Toph opened her mouth to say something, only for a flash of light in the distance to draw her eye up. Somewhere in the sky, something bright blue and jagged arched down towards the ground. "What was…?"

"Nope. Never mind." Zuko immediately got out of the tub, green fire flickering over his body for a moment and sending steam rolling off of him as he went to collect his clothes. "Time to get out."

"Huh?" Toph asked as Yue began moving behind her, urging Toph to get up and climbing out herself. "But my feet!"

"That was lightning," Yue explained, as she bent the water off of her body and out of her hair. "Come on, we need to get out. It's not safe anymore."

"That was lightning? I didn't hear any thunder?" Toph asked, quickly climbing out behind Yue. For just a moment, she felt her heart thump as Zuko's head turned slightly, his eyes running over her body with the same sort of attention she had given him when he'd taken his clothes off. It made her feel… proud. And excited. Happy that he was paying as much attention to her as he did Yue. She wasn't jealous of Yue, but she was quickly discovering that now that she could see what other people were like and how they looked at each other, that she liked the attention.

"Give it a minute," Zuko shook his head, bringing Yue's clothes over and handing them to her as Yue quickly dried Toph and pulled the shorter girl's clothes out of the tub, before pulling the water out of those and handing the robe to Toph. "That strike was miles out, but the rule of thumb is, if you can see it, you're not safe."

Toph held her robe against her chest and followed them to the tent under her stone shelter, not bothering to pull it on since she was just going to get changed to sleep in a moment anyway. They were nearly in the tent when Toph felt the familiar rumble of thunder through her feet and, a moment later, heard it in the air—a distant, long, drawn out rumbling.

Once inside, Zuko held out a hand and created one of those balls of chi that lit up the tent and he and Yue stripped down again, Zuko down to his under clothes, Yue nude as she dug in her bag until she found a much thinner, blue silk robe that she pulled on. Toph sealed off the entrance, leaving cracks along the sides for air but otherwise making sure they'd be safe from the storm.

Considering the sleeping bag and her lack of other clothes, Toph shrugged and tossed her robe on top of Yue's bag, leaving her nude as she climbed into the middle of the bag. Settling down on her back, she sent the pair above her a smug look as they finished their preparations for bed. "What's taking you two so long?"

Yue giggled while Zuko chuckled quietly. The other girl continued digging in her bag however, until she came up with a comb. Moving over to the bag, she urged Toph to sit up and sat down behind her, then began gently pulling the comb through Toph's hair. Yue's bending water moved, freezing into another mirror on a stand in front of Toph, letting her see herself and Yue behind her as Yue worked. Zuko sat down beside them and Toph raised an eyebrow as a leather bound book somehow found its way to his hand—absent one moment, there the next. He opened it up and the pages flipped themselves for a moment before stopping. He took out something that looked kind of like a fountain pen but not quite and began scribbling in the book.

"What's it say?" Toph asked, curious. She technically knew how to read—by shape, with her seismic sense. She could read shapes in the dirt, or in signs that were dense enough for her to see, like stone or metal. She couldn't actually read ink on paper and wondered if she would have to relearn everything, or if she'd be able to recognize the squiggles she knew.

"This book's a bit special. It remembers things it's seen and it can store far more than a normal book of its size can," Zuko explained absently as he wrote. "And I've been busy copying things with it, so it says a lot. Right now though, I'm getting started on basic lessons to teach you how to read." He paused, then looked up. "You don't already know, do you? I figure it would've been difficult, but not impossible, to learn."

Toph grinned. "I know some. I can recognize signs. But seeing and feeling with the earth are different, so I guess we'll see."

Zuko turned the book so she could see it. "What do you see?"

Studying it for a moment, the earthbender shrugged. "Squiggles."

Nodding, Zuko took the book back and went back to writing. "Then we'll start from the beginning. That was the main reason your parents didn't want to turn things over to you—that you couldn't read the contracts and other documents you would need to, in order to run the company."

"So when we come back to show off how I can see now, I can show them I can read too," Toph grinned. "I like it."

By the time Yue finished up with Toph's hair and Zuko closed up his book, it was pouring down outside. Water beat down on the stone over the tent and wind howled, shaking the trees around them as lightning popped frequently. Zuko reached out and did something with the floating sphere of chi and it disappeared, leaving the inside of the tent dark. For just a moment, Toph's heart clenched as she found herself blind again. Gritting her teeth, she shook her head as Yue pulled her down into the sleeping bag and promptly wrapped around her side, latching on and squeezing her tightly.

I've been blind my whole life, so why does being in the dark suddenly bother me? …I hate it.

"I don't like storms," Yue murmured, shivering against Toph, as Zuko settled in on her other side with a yawn. "We never got them like this in the north."

"I love it. Perfect sleeping weather." Zuko yawned again, stretching a bit and making himself comfortable. "Try to get some sleep. We should reach the boat tomorrow, then we can head out."

"Where are we going next?" Yue asked, and Toph found herself curious to hear the answer.

"Hmm. We need to circle back around to Omashu here soon, but we've got some time. As for how we get there, we can go east or west. West takes us back out over the ocean. We're near Kyoshi Island, so we might stop there. Take a month or so for Toph to get used to things and adjust to being able to see in a fight somewhere relatively safe."

"What's the alternative?" Toph asked, rolling onto her side in Yue's clingy grasp, onto to have the taller woman pull her in closer, until she was spooned up against Toph's back.

"East, into the Si Wong Desert. There's a library hidden somewhere in the desert said to belong to a spirit that I want to visit."

Toph made a face. "I hate sand."

"Why's that?" Yue asked, right in her ear, and Toph shivered from head to toe, stifling a yelp in response.

"It's too loose. Hard to sense anything. Hard to manipulate."

Zuko hummed, then nodded. "Kyoshi, then. There'll be sand on the beach and you can practice until you overcome that hurdle, somewhere we can get a steady supply of food and water."

"Sounds good," Toph yawned. "So, does the desert have rivers through it or something?"

"No rivers."

"So we'd be walking? Screw that!"

Yue giggled while Zuko chuckled. "We'll just take the boat!"

Toph blinked. "I'm blind, not stupid. Was blind. Whatever. Boats go on water, not sand."

"Actually, there are apparently sandbenders in the desert that use boat-like craft specifically for the sand," Zuko shook his head.

"But that's not what we're doing~," Yue's tone was teasing.

"Then what…?"

"You'll see~!"

"Ugh. You suck."

Toph squinted, under the shade of numerous trees as she took in the boat hidden well up from the shore. "This is it?"

Zuko sent her one of those looks she didn't have a name for yet. His tone, however, told her all she needed to know. "What were you expecting?"

"I don't know. Not a big hunk of metal?"

Zuko sighed and turned back to cutting away branches and fallen trees, clearing the debris off of the boat. Toph turned as she felt Yue approaching from the river behind her, bringing water with her. In just a few moments, Yue had the boat lifted off the ground and moved gently back out of the mess it had been hidden in. The waterbender dragged it down to the water and Zuko took a moment to tie it off. Toph had to close her eyes and put on her blindfold at that point, as they had exited the trees and it was nearly noon—the sun was beaming down from overhead and it hurt to be in.

With nothing else to do at the moment, Toph sat on a rock on the shore and waited as Zuko and Yue cleaned off the boat, moved their things inside, and got it ready to travel. She heard, and smelled, as Zuko fired up a coal engine on it and he and Yue moved around on top of the boat for some reason.

"Are you ready to go, Toph?" Yue called, and Toph nodded.

"Just waiting on you."

"Oh! I just remembered! Give me a couple of minutes!" Yue ducked into the cabin and Zuko chuckled, jumping down onto the beach. "Come on, let's get on. Can you get on yourself, or do you want help?"

Toph considered it for a moment, before a mischievous grin spread over her face. Pushing herself to her feet, she made her way over to Zuko and put one hand on his shoulder, then jumped. He caught her reflexively, as she had hoped he would. "Carry me."

Zuko snorted. "I should throw you in the river."

"Sure, if you wanna die," Toph glared up at him, much of the expression lost to the blindfold.

Laughing, Zuko jumped and landed lightly, before setting Toph on her feet. Yue joined them at the back of the boat a moment later and began pulling off Toph's blindfold. "Here, try this."

The heavier blindfold was quickly replaced with something lighter, leaving Toph's eyes and face feeling cooler under it. It let in enough light that Toph could tell it was daytime, but not so much that it hurt her eyes. "Huh. That's pretty nice. Thanks, Yue."

"You're welcome. Now, let me just…" Yue untied the blindfold and did something, before pressing it back to Toph's face but not tying it. It let in more light than before, but wasn't what Toph would call painful.

"That's good. I can deal with that."

"Great. Now open your eyes," Yue instructed.

"Huh?" Toph asked, confused.

"It's lace. It's got holes in it. You can see through it," Zuko explained.

Slowly, Toph cracked open her eyes. She winced slightly at the burn, but after only a few moments, she got used to it. "It kind of hurt at first, but it's fading. I can kind of see. It's blurry. Hard to make out anything specific. But it's better than nothing!"

"Try another layer," Zuko instructed, and a moment later, Yue unrolled the blindfold again.

This time, Toph could see better, but it left her with a persistent sting and, after a minute or so, her eyes started to ache. "That's about the limit."

"Okay, I'll cut it here," Yue nodded, and Toph closed her eyes again as Yue pulled it away. She heard scissors and then, a moment later, Yue handed her the blindfold.

Toph tied it into place and briefly opened her eyes, only to close them again a moment later. "I guess I'll have to get used to it a little at a time."

"We expected as much," Zuko agreed, before moving to sit down on one of the boat's seats. "Everyone ready?"

"Ready!" Yue giggled, grabbing onto Toph and holding her tightly from behind, before slowly marching Toph up to the edge of the boat.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Toph asked, wondering if it would be Yue who threw her overboard and sent her into the drink. "Just so you know, I can't swim."

"Hm? I'm not going to throw you into the river, silly! I'm holding you so you don't panic and fall."

"Why would I panic and fall?" Toph wondered. "It's just a river."

Instead of answering, Yue giggled quietly and Toph heard and sort of felt Zuko move behind her, adjusting something. And then, the whole boat moved under her, forcing her down. "What the fu—?"

No, I didn't go down, the boat went up?

"Quick! Open your eyes!" Yue whispered.

Toph did so and her jaw fell open. The ground fell away below them, as did the trees. The entire boat rose into the air. Uncaring of the pain, Toph reached up and jerked her blindfold off as they went up, and up, and up. Her eyes burned, tears streaming down her cheeks and forcing her to blink, but she didn't want to look away. Trees, animals, the river, valleys, mountains—everything unfolded before her as the boat rose. Until eventually, in the distance, she thought she could make out a blurry smudge that might be Gaoling.

Yue's hands came up and cool water ran over Toph's eyes, making her blink again, but relieving the strain for a moment. They stayed like that, Toph forcing herself to look even as it hurt and Yue easing the pain so she could, until they stopped rising. Something thrummed above them and the boat began to move, the world below them shifting as the boat turned in the air as easily as it might on water.

After a few moments of watching, Toph felt her knees go weak. Yue guided her over to sit beside Zuko and Toph collapsed into the seat, with Yue dropping down on her other side. Slowly, Toph pulled the blindfold back on.

"I feel like I just stepped into one of the fairy tale books Su read for me," Toph murmured, for once almost entirely at a loss for words.

"Hehe! That was how I felt, the first time I saw the tops of the clouds," Yue nodded, and Toph could hear the smile in her voice.

"You'll be able to see more and for longer when night falls. We should be over the ocean by then," Zuko told her, and Toph blinked slowly.

"From Gaoling to the ocean is days of travel by cart."

"That's the benefit of air travel." Turning, he looked at Yue. "Did you get what I asked for?"

"Here," Yue pulled something out of her belt and handed it to Zuko. It was metal, whatever it was, judging by the clinking.

A moment later, Toph knew for sure as Zuko took her hands… and fastened them into a set of steel bracelets joined by a short chain. Shackles. The kind used to bind prisoners. Toph blinked, turning a confused look up at him. Her mouth ran off ahead of her brain. "…If you wanted to tie my hands up and have fun, all you had to do was ask."

Yue made a strangled sound and covered her mouth as Zuko laughed. "Maybe later. No, this is for a different kind of fun. Training. Bend your way out of them."

Toph's reply was flat. "It's metal."

"Yep. I believe you can do it."

Pressed into his side as she was, Toph could feel his heartbeat. She could hear his voice. He was lying. Zuko didn't believe she could do it, he knew she could, somehow, and it was like he was just… waiting for her to figure out that she could. And some part of her, a large part of her in fact, didn't want to disappoint him.

So, Toph turned her attention down to the shackles on her wrists and closed her eyes. Before she started however, she elbowed him in the ribs. "We're keeping these when I'm done. I wasn't kidding."

"You keep saying things like that and I'm gonna call your bluff," Zuko threatened.

Toph smirked. "Who said I was bluffing?"

"But, why shackles?!" Yue squeaked, and Toph could hear the blush.

""Because it's fun.""

Toph's eyes opened and she turned to look at Zuko, who in turn turned to look down at her. She could just make out a smirk on his lips that almost mirrored her own grin.

Stupid sexy, nnf. Bending first, 'bending' later!