In Which Toph is Always Right

While Toph was glad they were finally getting the royal treatment befitting an Avatar and his companions, she really wished it didn't include the palanquin.

"I can walk just fine," Toph grumbled to herself as she lay across one of the seats. She hated riding in anything that she couldn't sense things through. Why couldn't more transportation be carved out of stone? Maybe she should start a business.

"Uh, no you can't," Katara said firmly from where she was sitting next to Yue and TomTom across the palanquin from her. "I just sealed your wound. You're not going to be walking until I say so."

Toph opened her mouth to argue, but Yue said kindly, "Don't argue with a healer on things like this, Toph. You never win."

Katara was very smug about that.

Toph grumbled under her breath but took Yue's advice and didn't pick a fight. She hated the fact Xue Yang had gotten her once again. It was an embarrassment! All the power she had now, and he still made her feel like a scared little girl.

(She resolutely ignored the fact that in that moment, she had, in fact, been a scared little girl.)

Finally, the palanquin came to a stop, but Toph still wasn't allowed to walk. Instead, she was lifted onto a stretcher and taken to an infirmary.

Katara followed while Yue took TomTom to find the rest of their friends. From the tone of her voice (because Toph couldn't sense anything on a stretcher any more than she could in the palanquin), Sugar Queen was a bit huffy her healing skills seemed to be in question until the doctor examining Toph began complimenting her on how well she'd done, and that Toph would heal within a few days instead of weeks like the wound would usually take. She was once again smug after hearing that.

Finally, they were taken from the infirmary (this time, Toph was put in a wheelchair, but at least the wheels were in reach and made of stone) and taken to a big fancy room with all their friends and a new person.

Turns out the king was the reincarnation of Sect Leader Lan. Someone A-Qing had never met and had no opinions on, but that made him Mai's older brother, so that was neat.

"Sokka tells me you have a skill that allows you to discern the truth from lies," the King said politely to her after greetings and introductions were said and done, and the king had cooed over the fact TomTom was his nephew for a good few minutes (even now the toddler was still seated in his lap).

"I can, what of it?" Toph said bluntly.

"In light of Long Feng's corruption, I've found that the palace staff may be in need of an overhaul," the King said more directly, seeing that Toph wouldn't put up with it (smart of him). "I need to know who I can trust."

"And you think you can trust me?" Toph asked.

"I think I can trust the people around you who sing your praises, both in this life and the last," the King said. "Your bravery as A-Qing was quite moving to our junior disciples, as TomTom here once attested, and Mai and Ty Lee have always spoken highly of you in both the past and present. Even now, the rest of your 'Team Avatar' proclaim their trust in you and your integrity."

Toph felt the heat rising in her face at all the compliments and could only hope the others couldn't see it. (They could.)

"Well, when you put it like that, sure. I'll help you out, your kingliness," Toph said, glad to be appreciated.

The King let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, that is a weight off my shoulders."

The talk then turned to finding the Water Tribe leaders to get them on board with their plan. Since doing that involved reading the scrolls Jin stole from the Dai Li, Toph was exempt from helping.

She wasn't going to complain. It finally gave her a chance to actually talk to Smellerbee.

Of course, now that the two of them were in front of each other, neither knew what to say.

Finally, Toph pried her jaw open. "Dàozháng," she said.

That was enough for Smellerbee to melt into tears and throw her arms around Toph. "I'm sorry!" she said. "I'm so, so sorry!"

Toph slowly reached up to hug her back. "For what?" she had to ask.

"For bringing Xue Yang into our lives. For not listening to you when you told me he was bad. For leaving you with him because of my own guilt. For getting you stabbed," Smellerbee listed off miserably. Clearly, the guilt of her life as Xiao Xingchen still weighed heavily on her.

This was the part where Toph told her something sweet that would calm her down. Unfortunately, 'sweet' isn't really in Toph's wheelhouse, but she did her best.

"Then let's just agree that I'm always right from now on, okay?" Toph said.

Smellerbee managed a small laugh hearing that.

Nailed it.

Smellerbee reluctantly pulled back and brought over her silent friend. Toph found it ironic that he was so quiet in this life even though he had his tongue back. Toph was happy to talk all she wanted again.

"I don't know if you've met, but this is Longshot. He's my closest friend both in this life and the last," Smellerbee said.

"Yeah, we've met," said Toph somewhat awkwardly. "Sorry I got you killed."

"It wasn't you. I knew Xue Yang fought dirty. I should have been better prepared," Longshot said firmly.

Okay, guess he wasn't totally silent. Good for him. Toph said as much.

Smellerbee laughed, and Toph could feel the amusement from Longshot as well. She could get used to this.

Reincarnation may be a bitch, but… getting to meet friends from more than one lifetime was worth it.

From the crowded streets of Ba Sing Se, Yu and Xin Fu stood among thousands as they stared up at a parapet jutting out from the wall of the Earth King's palace.

The onlookers watched in awe as the Earth King appeared above them for the first time since the start of his reign to address his people directly, finally breaking the taboo they had been under for years.

There was a war. The Fire Nation was a threat. And recently discovered corruption in the Earth Kingdom elites would not be tolerated. The King vowed to be diligent in rooting out all the bad seeds and asked the public not to hesitate to come forward if they knew anything of value.

(A request that not many would likely take. They'd spent far too long living in fear of the Dai Li. Hearing a call for their arrest was great, but the King still needed to earn their trust before they were willing to speak up.)

But while most citizens were staring in awe at their monarch, Yu and Xin Fu's eyes were locked on a different target.

Behind the king, wearing finery (and not appearing happy about it) and standing next to an equally lavishly-dressed girl with braids, was a very familiar small, blind girl.

And she had just been introduced as one of the king's two new advisors on top of being Avatar's Earthbending Master.

Hearing that, Yu threw up his hands and turned away. "That's it, I quit," he said.

Xin Fu did a double-take hearing that. "What? You can't quit! We know exactly where she is! We almost have her!"

The earthbending teacher gave Xin Fu a look as if he were one of his stupidest students. "Yes, I see right where she is, and it is at the right hand of the king," said Yu disdainfully. "And I am not about to commit treason for a few chests of gold."

Xin Fu didn't appear to understand what he meant.

Yu let out an impatient huff. "She is the advisor to the king himself! She is under his protection. Even if we do get her. That is an entire army out for our heads, and unless you plan to move to the Poles or the Fire Nation, that gold will not do us much good if we become the Earth Kingdom's most wanted fugitives."

It began to sink into Xin Fu that he was right.

Nabbing a little runaway daughter was one thing.

Kidnapping the King's right hand out of his own home was a different story entirely.

And the Beifong's may be wealthy, but even they wouldn't be able to pay Xin Fu enough to kick that hornet's nest.

Xin Fu spat out all the foulest curses he'd learned from Earth Rumble tournaments, and Yu looked like he agreed with him even if he was too prim and proper to say so.

Once Xin Fu had run out of steam, Yu waved for him to follow him. "Come, we'll go back to the Beifongs and tell them their daughter has managed to raise her status all the way to the King's courts. A high position that will bring honor to her family, and serve them well if they use their connection to her right. If they still wish for her back, then petitioning the king for her return is their problem. Not ours."

Xin Fu huffed. "Fine," he grunted. "But we're keeping an eye out for any other bounties we can find on the way back to Gaoling. I will not let this entire trip be a complete waste."

"Oh, certainly," Yu agreed. "There are so many bounties out there, I'm sure we'll catch some on the way home. Perhaps we could start by finding that Blue Spirit fellow. I hear he's caused quite a bit of trouble…"

With that, the two bounty hunters left the city.

Some prizes just weren't worth it.

A/N A short one. Mostly Toph's reunion with Smellerbee and Longshot and tying up that loose end involving Xin Fu and Yu going after her. However, this brings up a problem. With them no longer going after her, the catalyst of her learning metalbending is gone. Will something else replace it? We'll see.