Chapter Text
Zuko really is not sure what he is doing.
Underneath the shade of the palace roof eaves, the eleven-year-old peaks his head out from the side of a column, hands pressed against the smooth surface and body leaning off to the side.
There, within the gardens of the royal courtyards, stands a small girl who barely reached the waist of the palace servant by her side.
Zuko watches the small girl be guided around the garden slowly, her hand held by the servant walking next to her.
She is super tiny after all, so she must walk super slow.
The dress she wore was super long too, no doubt slowing her down even more.
She kind of looked like a really big fish, like the ones his uncle keeps paintings of in his room within the palace. He can’t recall what kind of fish they are, despite the numerous times his uncle has spoken about them, but the image of them has always stuck in Zuko’s mind.
Keeping a far distance, the boy continues to follow around the slow girl and her equally slow servant around the gardens. He had been doing so since she had exited the palace throne room, along with the rest of them at the demands of his grandfather.
Is this really the girl that his uncle found during his siege?
After all, why would such a small and slow girl be at the warfront? That’s where soldiers like his father and uncle were meant to be, not tiny girls who barely knew how to walk around a garden, let alone in a war.
Seeing her and the servant walking farther away from where he stood, Zuko quickly rushes behind another column a bit closer to where the two have paused in their walk once again.
If only the shoes his mother picked today were a bit quieter, he would have felt much more confident in approaching the girl without notice.
Suddenly, Zuko hears a faint call from afar and freezes up behind the column, posture forced unnaturally straight but straight enough for courtesy’s sake.
His father had been more strict as of lately, in terms of his and Azula’s conduct around the palace for some reason. While his father always held them to high standards, it’s become even more suffocating since his uncle had returned from the Earth Kingdom warfront after ...
Zuko lets out a shaky breath at the grim reminder, trying to bring his attention back to the moment in front of it.
He takes another look around himself, just to make sure no one is around to catch him as he relaxes his posture. Taking a peek out to the gardens, Zuko realises that the distant call from before was only another palace servant rushing over to where the little girl and her guiding servant stood instead.
The newly arrived servant waves her hands wildly in front of the other, and Zuko squints his eyes at the sight.
They were too far for him to properly hear the servant’s crazed-looking ramblings.
Squinting his eyes once again, Zuko watches as the first servant guides the little girl towards a nearby wooden bench under a large tree. After seating the girl on the bench, both servants then leave quietly, looking to be in a rush as they make their way across the gardens and back into the closest building.
He wonders what the rush was, but Zuko does not allow that to distract him for long. Returning his gaze back to the little girl, he only grows more confused when he sees her reaching down to the ends of her long skirt and ... taking off her shoes?
With enlarged eyes and an even larger question in his head, the boy blinks at the sight of the girl hopping off the bench and just ... standing still there.
For a long time.
Why is she just standing there?
Isn’t she going to do anything?
He quickly gets his answer as the girl finally begins to move.
She bends down and drops her shoes by one of the bench’s legs. Straightening up, she begins to make her way deeper into the gardens. She moves farther away from the veranda he stood on, at a much faster pace compared to before.
Huh, why was she moving so slow before if she could move like this?
Impressed at first, Zuko reminds himself that he was meant to follow her. He quickly rushes over to the stairs, the sounds of his shoes much louder to his own ears with each step. However, before he reaches the pavement on the gardens, he reminds himself to slow his pace to avoid giving himself away by noise alone.
After all, this was what his uncle had asked him to do, so what would he think if Zuko was unable to do this properly?
Passing by the bench she was just at, the boy pauses at the sight of her shoes beneath the bench. Before he can even hesitate, Zuko snatches up the pair of tiny shoes from where they hid, or more like stood out, and follows after their owner.
With slow steps, the boy watches her approach the turtle duck ponds. Pausing at a distance, Zuko watches as the turtle ducks near her in the pond quack loudly and swim away from her hand dipped in the water.
Feeling his mouth curl up, Zuko is reminded of how the turtle ducks in the pond like him much better than Azula, obviously because he was better than his sister.
Really, it’s the only thing he can hold over his sister.
However, the turtle ducks keeping their distance do not seem to bother her as much as it does to Azula, as quiet giggling rings lightly in the air. Zuko pauses at the sound, not daring to approach further as her giggles are joined by the loud quacks of the turtle ducks.
Usually, people aren’t really happy when the turtle ducks swim further away from them.
Ty Lee had screeched out loudly when she and Azula had approached, only for the turtle ducks to start fleeing very far away from them.
His ears could still feel the piercing sensation stabbing though his head.
And Mai had dumped the whole stick of bread in the water after a minute of standing by the pond with no results, finding it all boring in her own words.
Compared to Azula and her weirdo friends, maybe this girl wasn’t too bad.
Digging into his pockets, Zuko finds a smile stretching on his face when he feels a familiar roughness in his pocket. With the girl’s shoes cradled in his elbow, the boy begins to approach the pond, keeping some space between them.
“The turtle ducks here don’t come close to you unless you have bread,” Zuko starts, his eyes following the said ducks as he avoids looking at the girl directly.
He pauses as he crouches down.
“Or if you’re my sister, they’ll instantly swim away.” The shove at Azula makes him grin to himself, but it slowly drops off his face when he hears nothing from the girl at all. “She’s super scary,” He tacks on abruptly.
Zuko pauses again. “–but I’m not scared of her!” The boy adds on even more abruptly.
He feels the silence laugh at him.
Not sure how to continue, Zuko pulls out the bread in his pocket and relaxes when the turtle ducks quickly overcrowd the silence.
With them all fast approaching him, the boy breaks off pieces of bread to throw towards them gently. He glances over to where the girl is crouched down, face obscured by the angle that her dark hair lays at. Her hair was similar to how his mother’s is usually done, half of it put up into a top-knot and the rest of it left out to drape upon her shoulders.
With the skirt of her dress almost touching the pond, no turtle ducks come near where her tiny hand is dipped in.
She finally moves, her hand retreating from the water.
Zuko quickly looks away at her movement, back to the turtle ducks before taking in a deep breath. “If you’d like, I can give you some bread?”
No movement from her.
Zuko shuffles around. “Um, did you hear me? I said I can–”
The girl straightens up, standing tall before turning away from him to stomp off.
“–Ah, wait!”
She most definitely does not.
Stuffing the remaining bread in his pocket, he rushes after her. Definitely not almost tripping on his feet when doing so.
“Hey, were you not listening?”
Her stomps on the grass are all that respond to him and he feels an uncomfortable bubbling in his chest, his hands tightening their grip.
In an even louder voice, he yells out, “Hey! Can, you, hear, me!?”
At the last emphasised syllable, the girl stops in her stomping and Zuko feels a short jolt of relief.
That quickly changes however when she twists around to shove her face in his.
“I’m blind, not deaf!”
Zuko freezes.
Her eyes.
They were ...
... blank and foamed over.
Mouth gaping and eyes wide, Zuko continues to stare.
He then recalls what his uncle had told him upon returning from the warfront.
“She’s a small precious girl who lost her family at war. She isn’t able to see so I hope you are able to take care of her when she comes by, Prince Zuko. It would make this old man very happy!”
Right.
She’s blind.
He forgot that part.
Why did he forget that part?
Coming back to himself, Zuko looks down at his feet to avoid her sharp expression and tightens his grip on her shoes even more.
“S-sorry, I ... um ...” Before he can continue, he hears a light gasp come from the girl.
“And are those my shoes?” She questions, her tone reaching a level he never liked hearing from anyone.
This was the worst.
But then he takes in her words.
“Wait, but aren’t you blind?” Zuko asks, watching as the girl herself goes rigid at his words with her eyes widening .
In less than a second, her expression purses and her glazed eyes widen.
With a closer look at her eyes, Zuko was almost reminded of the seafoam he would see at the beaches of Ember Island. A light shade of blue, leaning towards the green with the grassy terrain that surrounded its cliffs.
However, he quickly snaps out of his daze to realise the heavy silence between them.
Nope, this is even worse.
Zuko finds himself preferring her tone from before despite his earlier complaints.
Luckily, before it can get even more worse, he sees his mom and uncle coming down the veranda stairs towards them in the gardens. Feeling the pressure in his chest lighten, Zuko quickly rushes over towards his mother who pauses in her conversation to return his running hug.
“Why, hello there, dear.” She says softly, patting his head gently. He hears his uncle chatting to the girl but he tries not to focus too hard on it. His mother separates from him, bending down to meet his eyes only to pause when she lowers her gaze.
Confused, Zuko follows her eyes to see the girl’s shoes still in his arms.
“Zuko dear, why do you have a pair of shoes?” His mother’s expression twists into that of concern.
Feeling the same uncomfortable feeling making its return, Zuko stumbles upon his words awkwardly with no real answer coming out.
His mother’s lips tighten at his lacking response. “Zuko, did you take the girl’s shoes from her?”
Zuko gasps at his mother’s words.
“No, I didn’t!” His mother’s scolding expression does not change. “She-she took them off!” He points over to where the girl stands by his uncle, her hands clutching onto the man’s robes.
At his uncle’s gaze, Zuko snaps his pointing arm back to his side in shame.
“Tell them! Tell them you did it!” He insists towards the girl, her expression remaining blank towards his growing stress.
Holding his gaze on her to avoid anyone else’s, Zuko startles when the girl chooses to turn away and hide her face in his uncle’s robes, rather than defend him.
The rumbling laughter that escapes his uncle makes his flush become even stronger.
“Zuko, please do not try to speak for the young girl, dear. She’s mute, she won’t be able to do so for herself.” His mother explains, but the boy’s head quickly snaps up to meet her gaze.
“No, she isn’t! She can speak! I heard her!”
“Zuko.”
“She ... she’s just not speaking to spite me!” Zuko spits out from his tight throat, but he quickly regrets doing so when he sees his mother’s expression.
“Zuko! I do not want to hear such language from you!” She scolds loudly, making the shame squeeze his throat even more. “Now apologise and return the girl’s shoes to her, right this instant.”
Knowing not to go against his mom despite her being wrong, Zuko turns around to see his uncle approaching them. With a large frown on his face that his mother luckily cannot see, he stares at the girl still clutching at his uncle’s clothes, as if she were the one in trouble and not him.
“Oh, Ursa. Prince Zuko meant no harm, I’m sure.” He hears his uncle reassure, and the boy huffs out.
He wasn’t a little kid, he was the one in the right here!
“Iroh, I’m so sorry. I really don’t know where he learnt such language from ...” His mother mumbles off, and Zuko feels even more ashamed.
Deciding to push through, he raises the girl’s shoes in front of her and forces out an apology.
“Sorry, I guess.”
He can feel his mother’s gaze on his back.
It really wasn’t his fault!
He’s not going to change his apology!
Zuko tried to stay strong in his decision, focusing on the girl’s seafoam eyes instead. However, the girl remains silent and makes no motion to move away from his uncle’s robes to accept them.
See!
She’s doing it to spite him!
Zuko bites his lips.
Luckily, he made sure not to yell that aloud.
“Thank you, Prince Zuko. Let me take them from your hands and help the little one out.” Uncle Iroh cheers, and he takes the shoes out of his fist gently
“Oh spirits, I almost forgot.” He hears his mother mutter apologetically.
Why would she be sorry?
He watches as the older man guides the girl by hand to a nearby smooth rock to sit upon, dusting off her feet and slipping on her shoes for her.
Oh, blind.
... Right.
He glances over to his mother.
At least he wasn’t the only one who forgot that part.
Zuko shuffles in place, now really feeling his mother’s eyes back on him.
“Zuko dear, thank you for apologising. You did well,” His mother encourages, but he still feels the urge to make sure the truth is told.
“Mom, I swear! I heard her talking!”
“Zuko.” The scolding tone returns again, and the boy holds his tongue. “That poor girl is going through a lot right now. She’s in a completely new place, with so many strangers.” Her hands caress his face gently, sliding down to his shoulders to grip them tightly.
Zuko feels himself relaxing and his frustration melting away.
“She’s so young, much smaller than you. Please take care of her,” She requests softly. “Think about your uncle, try to be considerate to him.” At the mention of his uncle, he feels himself give in and slowly nod his head to his mother’s words.
“... Okay, I’ll try.” He relents, and it’s enough to make his mother smile.
“Now why don’t you go over and play with the girl. Don’t worry, your uncle and I will be nearby.”
Zuko rolls his eyes at his mother’s words.
He didn’t need them there, but whatever!
His uncle and the girl come back soon after, the expression on the girl’s face looking a bit more tense than before.
Her blank eyes stare past him, and he fidgets his fingers.
He takes back what he thought before.
Girls really were the worst!
With his uncle now sitting at a nearby bench with his mother, Zuko really can’t tell if their distance makes him feel more or less confident. The pressure in his stomach doesn’t help either but the prince reminds himself of his mother’s words.
“Hey, um ... sorry about yelling at you before.”
No movement, again.
Staring at her eyes, the girl stares downwards towards the ground with her hands resting above her skirt.
Zuko takes a deep breath.
Think of Mother, think of Uncle.
“Uh, so ... what’s your name?”
More silence.
He can feel the wind laughing at him. “I’m Zuko,” He starts, “–but you probably already knew that.”
She blinks and Zuko stiffens up even more.
“... or maybe not.”
Deciding to break his gaze from her, he glances over to where his mother and uncle are seated, seemingly conversing much more nicely than they are.
After all, conversation needed two people to actually work.
Returning his eyes back to the girl, Zuko shakes off the nerves and asks the big question. “So why aren’t you talking?”
Annnnnddd yep, more silence.
“You were yelling just fine before ...” He adds on slowly, wondering whether she might burst out suddenly like she did last time at the jab.
He hears some laughter coming from the bench, but keeps his eyes on the girl as her hands begin to grip her skirt.
“Did you ...” Zuko does not know what made him come to the question, but he doesn’t let himself pause again. “Did you want to go back to the turtle ducks? I can ... give you bread?”
Finally, after a few more moments of silence, she nods her head.
Zuko can barely stop the smile breaking out on his face.
“Great, let’s go!” Quick to rush off, the boy pats the pocket holding the bread and takes off.
He stops after a couple of steps however, realising there was not another pair of footsteps following him. Turning around, he sees the girl is still standing in the same spot, looking even tinier than before somehow.
But she seemed to be stomping around just fine before?
The sight of her eyes makes him remember once more, and he quickly rushes over back to her side.
“Um, did you want my hand?”
Holding out his hand in front of her, a few moments pass before he hears a soft sigh escape her. Her small hand raises from her skirt, waving around unsurely until she taps against his knuckles.
On contact, she quickly grasps his hand like a lifeline.
Blind, right.
Why does this keep happening?
Trying to push down the mistake he made from constricting him, Zuko tries to find something else to distract him as he slowly walks forward with her hand in his.
Her hand.
It was ... tiny.
Very tiny.
And much colder than he was used to.
His mother was always a warm presence on his shoulders, while his sister’s a fiery one that was like a burn that would never heal.
His uncle was like a toasty hum, a smoke that surrounds but never suffocates.
And his father ...
He never really liked to come near Zuko for long.
Forcing the thought away, he continues his way towards the turtle duck ponds, a hand that is much smaller than he is used to in his.
With the both of them now at the pond, a bit further from where his mother and uncle are, the pair are bent down once again. Zuko breaks off small bits from his half of the bread, with the girl beside him doing the same at a slower pace.
During this, the prince finds himself listing off the names of the nearby turtle ducks, pointing them out as they gulp down the floating pieces of bread.
“That one is Diver, and the one next to him is Squirrel.”
A sigh comes from the girl.
Zuko looks up to her eyes, staring blankly and quickly realises his mistake. “... Sorry.” The silence that he was trying to fill up returns, and his fingers twiddle around in front of him after finishing his piece of bread.
In the pond, Diver makes a big splash in the water for a large piece.
Beside him, Zuko notices the girl fiddling around with her piece of bread, no longer throwing pieces towards the turtle ducks.
“Um, I named him Diver because he always likes to dive his head for bread. None of his other siblings do it, so it’s kind of a him thing.” He continues to force out more words, despite his neck growing a bit flushed. “And Squirrel is because sometimes, he holds pieces of bread in his mouth like a squirrel toad."
Hearing a huff from the girl close to a laugh, makes his chest feel a bit lighter. “A-and the mother duck is called Blossom, ‘cause she always likes to sit under the blossom tree when it’s in season!”
Finally looking up towards the girl, a small smile now sits on her face.
A warm feeling grows in his chest at the sight.
The quacks of the turtle ducks swimming around grow loud, protesting at the lack of bread being thrown. Zuko quickly returns his attention back to the turtle ducks. “Though Azula likes to call her menace, because she’s mean like that.”
“Toph.”
“S-sorry?”
Another sigh comes from the girl.
“My name. It’s Toph.”
“I knew it!” Zuko cries out, pointing a finger at her. However, he quickly notices the gazes of both his uncle and mother staring at him. He immediately returns his arm back to his side, avoiding their gazes as a couple seconds pass in silence.
“They’re not watching us, right?” The girl asks quietly, her piece of bread now gone from her hands.
At her question, Zuko hesitantly raises his head to look back at his mother and uncle who are thankfully no longer staring at them after his embarrassing yell.
He holds back the urge to let out a relieved sigh.
“Uh, no. Not anymore ... Why?”
“None of your business.” She spits back, and Zuko is not sure how to react.
The attitude she has is really, really different to how she was acting before.
“And don’t tell anyone about my name.” Toph demands.
“Um, why?”
“Are you an iguana parrot or something?”
Zuko decidedly keeps himself quiet this time.
Silence returns once again, and he makes sure to not interrupt it like an iguana parrot would.
And it was not because he felt scolded by her words!
He chose to, as the more mature person here obviously.
“Who’s Azula?” The girl asks, breaking the silence.
“None of your business.” He feels a bit of satisfaction curl up in his chest nicely. He expects to hear a yell, an insult back like he is used to but a laugh escapes the girl instead.
The warm feeling returns once again, even stronger than before.
“Guess I deserve that.” She mutters quietly, before the smile on her face falls and she returns back to the quiet sharply. Zuko watches her become more passive, the small bit of satisfaction now dashed after the abrupt end to their conversation.
“Um, she’s my little sister.” Zuko starts, thinking of how to describe her. “She’s horrible, and annoying, and mean ...”
“Wow, that’s nice.”
“And her friends are weird too. Ty Lee always tries to put these ugly hair clips in my hair, and Mai always stares at me when I’m not looking.” As he speaks of them, he recalls how they all tricked him into falling into the water fountain a couple weeks ago.
His face twists at the memory.
“Girls are crazy.” The silence nudges him to look back up at Toph.
He freezes. “Um, b-but you’re not bad! Definitely wasn’t talking about you.”
“Hm, then what am I?” She asks innocently and Zuko is unsure of how to respond, taking his time to think about his response.
“I guess ...” He trails off, eyes staring at the turtle ducks who have now finished all the bread they had. “... you’re my friend?” His voice pitches up unsurely at the end, and he forces himself not to wince at it.
That’s been happening more recently ...
“Friend?”
Her expression is hard to read, her tone even more so.
“... sorry.” He is quick to retract his words.
“No, don’t. I ... I’d like that.” A smile returns to her face, and the pressure quickly flies away from his chest.
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’ve ... never had a friend before.” She says with a soft pause, curling her arms around her bent legs. Zuko can’t stop himself from matching the smile on his own face.
“M-me too.”
“Really? What about your sister?”
“Oh ... she was able to go to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, which is how she met Ty Lee and Mai. I ... didn’t get to go this year.” Zuko explains, hesitant to even add the last part.
“Well, duh. You’re not a girl, sorry to break it to you.” Her words make him flush.
“No! There’s a boys school too.” He explains in a rush. “I wasn’t allowed to go this year because of a training injury I got at the start of the year. I didn’t get to leave home for months because of it.”
“I hate that. My parents never let me take even one step outside of mine.” The words bring some comfort to him, but it’s quickly wisped away when he sees Toph’s smile drop off her face. Her hands grip at her skirt tightly, and Zuko feels a chill go through his body at how ... small she looks.
“Toph? Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Her response was shaky, and didn’t match her tone at all. “Y’know, you’re kinda lame for my first friend. Are all friends like this?”
“How would I know?” He jabs at himself, hoping to clear the tone that suddenly dropped.
Her laughter makes it worth it. He can’t even find it in himself to hate it like he usually does when Azula insults him, the flighty feeling in his chest making it impossible.
“Yep, definitely lame.”
Her added emphasis makes his smile stronger instead.
Toph hates it here.
The tight shoes that make her senses all fuzzy.
The overly-layered dress that kept making her trip over her own feet.
The servants that are whispering and scurrying all over the suffocating place.
She can’t tell if they really are all over the place, but the low mumblings and pattering of footsteps tell her enough.
Feeling her patience thin at all the different noises, Toph tries to ignore the memories that are brought back by the familiarity of it all.
With her hand in another servant’s, Toph continues to walk forward endlessly with their guidance. The servant had not said a word since leaving the throne room, a room that was way hotter than it should have been.
She had only been in there for a couple minutes, but her palms were still sweaty from the heat that permeated in that suffocating room.
“Watch your step.” The servant finally decided to say something and with the lady servant’s warning, Toph slowly made her way down the stairs to ...
Earth!
Finally, real ground!
It takes everything in Toph to not immediately chuck off the annoyingly-flat shoes on her feet, but she lets the heat around her hand ground her.
She has to remember the old man’s words.
“You must be careful around my family, the entire royal palace in fact. They must never know where you came from, and what you can do. Please, for your own safety.”
Taking in a deep breath, she lets herself breathe in the fresh air around her and the trembles of the ground that tap at her soles insistently. With another step forward, Toph almost stumbles on the ends of her skirt.
Again.
If only she could take off her shoes for just a brief moment, no one would even notice with this whole dress covering her feet.
The very slow walk around the garden begins, with the sun toasting her skin nicely. A warmth she prefers much more to the stuffy palace building. Despite how much comfort the outside brings to her, Toph feels less and less hope of ever slipping her shoes off with the servant stuck by her side.
“Madam! Madam!” A woman’s voice shrieks out from afar, stopping the servant guiding her around.
“Why are you so incessantly yelling? Have some courtesy on the palace grounds!” The servant guiding her snaps, and Toph hears the loud steps of the approaching servant come to a stop before them.
“I ... I’m so sorry, Madam!” The new servant pants out, taking in many deep breaths before her next words. “It’s just – There’s an emergency in the kitchens, and I was instructed to get you as soon as possible!”
“An emergency? What has happened?”
Toph quickly finds herself losing interest in the loud yapping of the servants beside her, taking in a small breath.
However, she suddenly finds herself being tugged by the very hand in the madam servant’s grip. Following the strong pull, Toph finds herself stopping somewhere out of the sun, her body feeling a bit more colder than before.
Hands nudge at her and she holds down the urge to let out a yelp at their forceful shoves.
“Now, stay here at this bench and wait. Another servant will come back to collect you in a moment.” Toph feels out a wooden surface in front of her, and she climbs up to sit upon the bench at the servant’s insistence.
With excitement brewing in her, the girl keeps her focus on the sounds of the chattering servants leaving. Their voices get quieter and quieter with each second, and she feels a smile come to her face at the eventual spread of quiet.
A couple more seconds pass.
Silence, perfect!
Leaning forward, her hands dig under the ends of her skirt and she yanks off the shoes constricting her senses. Before another moment can pass by, Toph pushes herself off the bench and her feet finally touch the sweet, sweet ground.
She feels the pulse of her landing echo throughout the earth below, and the ground loudly claps back at their reunion.
She could see it all now.
The tree roots that spread throughout the earth shake lightly.
The ants that crawl around in their colonies greet her with each step they take.
Now, this is the stuff!
Feeling the vibrations return back to her feet, Toph now sees that she’s in an enclosed courtyard area that has a bunch of large buildings scattered around.
All making up the place that was called the palace as she knew.
She senses a shallow but spacious dip in the ground nearby, and the sound of running water gives her the reason for such an absence in the earth. Listening a bit more closely, light quacks reach her ears and the girl can barely contain herself.
Time to take advantage of her new freedom while she can!
Bending down, she drops the pair of shoes beside one of the bench’s legs, reminding herself to collect them before anyone catches her. More than eager to enjoy the pleasant hum in her mind, Toph quickly makes her way through the garden towards the dip in the ground.
The soft blades of grass all around tickle her feet cheerily.
Sensing the dip to be right in front of her, Toph stops right in front of the assumed pond. She bends down at the stone edging around the dip, hearing the turtle ducks squawk loudly in return as she slowly reaches her hand out.
The water that greets her finger is cooling, and the girl can barely contain her giggles at the sound of the offended turtle ducks.
The quacking of the turtle ducks, the swishing of the water, and the rustling of the grass all surround her.
If she ignored everything else, it almost felt like she was back at ...
With a sigh, Toph stops herself from finishing that thought.
Suddenly, she senses a presence behind her and her body tenses up, toes curling into the ground.
Maybe she was a bit too distracted on her soiled reunion with the earth.
However, as the vibrations echo back to her feet, Toph soon recognises the approaching person to be a young child.
Maybe if I just don’t move, he won’t say anything ...
“The turtle ducks here don’t come close to you unless you have bread,”
Down goes that plan, but Toph remains resilient in her silence.
After all, it’s not like she hasn’t been doing it ever since she was found.
The boy crouches down nearby to her, his scratchy voice a bit shaky as if he had something to fear from a seven-year-old.
Toph really does not understand what the boy is doing here.
Just pretend he’s not there.
“Or if you’re my sister, they’ll instantly swim away.”
Just pretend he’s not there.
“She’s super scary,”
Just pretend he’s not there.
“–but I’m not scared of her!” The erratic thumps of his heart rate says otherwise, and Toph now understands where his fear towards seven-year-olds might come from.
The kid’s shuffling echoes to her feet, and Toph senses him pulling something out from his pocket.
The light crinkling of something being torn and the excited quacking of the turtle ducks tell her all she needs to know. She tries to keep her expression from showing any of the annoyance bubbling up in her chest.
Toph pulls her hand from the pond, letting the cold sensation distract her as her toes wiggle against the soil.
“If you’d like, I can give you some bread?”
First, he crashes her one chance to enjoy herself with the earth.
Second, he distracts the turtle ducks away from her after interrupting.
Sure, she didn’t know if they were actually close to her but whatever!
“Um, did you hear me?”
Now, he keeps trying to chat to her despite her making it very clear she was not interested.
“I said I can–”
That’s it.
Toph forces herself up, her knees feeling a bit tingly after staying stuck in a bent position for a good while. But before she can let the numbing sensation distract her any more, she turns around and makes sure to keep her back towards the boy as she walks off.
“–Ah, wait!”
No way is she going to listen to him!
Her fists tighten in her skirt, and she forces herself to walk away even faster despite how her legs protest. Her feet tell her that he’s following her now, almost tripping over his own layers of clothes like a dunderhead.
“Hey, were you not listening?”
Toph really did not want to hear any more questions.
She walks even quicker.
“Hey!” He yells even louder.
Toph tries to stop herself from flinching at the volume, focusing on anything else instead.
“Can,”
Focus on the ground below, the ants crawling around and the small specks they are carrying.
“–you,”
Focus on the rustling of the grass at her feet, the branches that shake and the leaves that are trembling.
“–hear,”
Focus on the breeze that wisps through them, her hair whipping back and the boy who pulls back a gasp before yelling out a loud–
“–me!?”
That’s it!
“I’m blind, not deaf!”
Toph yells out without another thought, now facing the boy in front of her as to stop him from chasing her with his loud stomps. The very same boy who has suddenly learnt how to be silent.
Finally, peace and quiet!
And yet, Toph feels anything but peaceful after getting the quiet she wanted.
“S-sorry, I ... um ...” Now focusing on him, Toph senses that the items in his arm aren’t more pieces of bread that the boy has on him conveniently, but a very familiar pair of shoes instead.
“And are those my shoes?” She asks, checking once again with the vibrations that echo back to her feet when he takes a step back.
Yeah, he better be intimidated!
“Wait, but aren’t you blind?”
She freezes at the boy’s question.
Dammit, this is exactly what she was trying to avoid.
Back to Plan A.
Toph returns back to being quiet and silence welcomes her like an old friend. One she didn’t want around but is going to be stuck with for a very, very long time.
However, she soon senses two individuals approaching them, one of them being the old man.
The boy quickly rushes off to the other person, as Iroh makes his way towards her. She tries to ignore the relief that washes away the heaviness chaining her feet, after leaving him behind in that absolute sauna they call a throne room.
“And how are you doing?” He asks as he steps towards her.
Remaining silent, Toph simply reaches out when he nears her. She clutches his robes, which are much warmer than the cold that breezes by her skirt. She pointedly ignores the light-hearted rumble that escapes his chest, tightening her grip on him instead.
“There, there. It’s good to see you getting along with Prince Zuko.” He comments happily and Toph pauses.
Prince?
That boy??
Ugggghhhhhhhh.
“No, I didn’t!”
She hears the so-called prince yelp loudly, and she senses Iroh turn himself back towards where the prince boy and the other person stood. “She-she took them off!” His childish stomp on the ground echoes back to her feet, and she can see the finger being pointed towards her.
She ignores the gazes of everyone on her.
After all, she was blind so it’s not like facing them means anything anyways.
“Tell them! Tell them you did it!” He stresses out but Toph shoves her face into Iroh’s robes instead.
The earthy scent on his robes envelopes her senses, and she only jumps lightly at the hand he places on her back to give her a soft pat. Chewing at her mouth, she ignores the memories that try to force themselves into her mind from such an action.
The old man gives a bellowing laugh, and the way it echoes through his body down to the ground below relaxes her.
Much more than she wished it did.
“Zuko, please do not try to speak for the young girl, dear.” So the other person was a lady, judging by her voice. “She’s mute, she won’t be able to do so for herself.”
Hah! Take that, whiny kid!
She lets the self-satisfaction overtake her discomfort with the lady’s words, reminding Toph too much of home.
Everything around here is reminding her too much of home.
She hates it.
“No, she isn’t! She can speak! I heard her!”
“Zuko.”
At least one thing here doesn’t remind her of home, and it’s a whiny prince kid of all things.
“She ... she’s just not speaking to spite me!” Zuko claims, and Toph shoves her face even deeper to hide any of her expressions.
What a drama queen!
The apology he is forced to give her following his dramatics boosts her smugness even more.
However, that quickly disappears when Iroh calls her out on it.
After collecting her shoes from the prince boy, he leads her to a nearby rock to lean her weight on.
“Now I understand you little ones have many different ways of having fun, but don’t tease the young boy too much, okay?” He asks softly, as he dusts the dirt off her feet and slips the annoying shoes back on her.
Staying silent, Toph lets out a deep sign, pointedly not responding back to his words.
Iroh doesn’t let that bother him clearly, like he has been in the past as he continues talking. “I know you want to get back to the ground as soon as possible but please have patience until we leave, for my sake.”
She does her best to stop herself from reacting to his words.
The small huffs of amusement from him tell her she didn’t do very well in hiding her expression, making her more embarrassed at even trying.
“Come now, Prince Zuko is a sweet boy when you get to know him.”
Like that will make him any less annoying ...
But Toph keeps that thought to herself as he guides her by the hand, back to where she assumes the boy and his mother are.
With the shoes back on her feet, Toph’s senses return back to feeling fuzzy once more. Every step was one she took with a bit of hesitance. She was already missing how free she felt when running barefoot across the gardens.
The only thing she could depend on was the very warm grip of the prince boy that was wrapped around her hand.
It was weird.
The people here seemed to run hot.
Very hot.
And the clothes they wore reflected that, including the ones she was put into for her visit to the palace.
They were extremely layered, but smooth and cooling to the touch.
Too cooling for her tastes, but she wasn’t going to say that to anyone.
She could take care of herself!
Distracted by her thoughts at the time, she almost found herself crashing into the boy guiding her when he made his stop.
Zuko, she reminds herself.
“Ah, sorry ... I should have said something.” He says hesitantly.
Yeah, he really should have.
Toph lets out a huff, flicking some loose hair over her shoulder with her free hand.
“Um ... We’re at the pond now.”
The sound of running water and light quacks from the turtle ducks are all that answer him.
This is not going anywhere.
Toph lets go of Zuko’s hand and bent down, ignoring the gasp that escapes the boy at her sudden action. Patting the space in front of her hesitantly, she gains more confidence when feeling the stone lip of the pond.
Hands feeling much warmer, the cooling roughness of the stones are soothing, just as much are the vibrations that greet her palms.
Reunited with the ground once more, Toph sees Zuko crouch down beside her as he digs around in his pocket. He pulls out the same piece of bread from before, and she pretends to not hear him struggle to tear it in half. After some silent struggling, he finally manages to tear the bread and Toph holds out her hand towards him.
He pauses at her raised hand and when nothing happens, she shakes her extended hand closer to his face.
His slowness is really making her wonder who the blind one is.
Finally, he slowly places one half of the bread in her hand quietly and Toph begins breaking small pieces of bread off. The turtle ducks quack happily, the sound of them flapping around in the pond smoothing the tenseness in Toph’s shoulders almost instantly.
A particularly loud plonk in the water makes her pause.
What was that?
After a couple seconds pass, the same sound happens again amongst the quacking and Toph lets out a breath.
Like she was ever going to find out.
“Um ... uh ...” Zuko mumbles out awkwardly. “I gave all the turtle ducks different names, they’re all siblings except for the mom.” He explains, and Toph gives some of her attention to him to at least hear his words out. “The one closest to us is Junior, and the one beside him is Con.”
Yep, that’d be good to know if she could actually see them.
She slowly stops picking at the small piece of bread in her hands, as he continues.
With his words becoming a mumble in the back of her mind, Toph considers touching the ground to see what is going on around her. However, she quickly dashes the thought out of her mind with a sigh.
It wasn’t like she was going to be able to see the turtle ducks, earthbending or not.
Realising she got lost in her thoughts, she returns her focus back to what she knows is around her, only to notice the sudden silence that fell upon them.
“... Sorry.” Zuko apologises softly beside her, sounding very sad for something Toph has no idea about.
What is she meant to say to an apology like that?
What was he even saying sorry for??
Did she miss something here???
Only another plonk in the water taunts her, and she squeezes the piece of bread in her hands in annoyance.
“Um, I named him Diver because he always likes to dive his head for bread.” Toph pauses at his words.
That must be the reason behind the plonking noise from the water. Toph can imagine the enthusiastic diving of the baby turtle duck.
“None of his other siblings do it, so it’s kind of a him thing.”
She remembers one of the turtle ducks back at home doing the same thing, though it was mostly diving out of her hands rather than in the water. Honestly, he was her favourite out of all of them, because of how loudly he would flap around whenever she managed to get her hands on him.
The memory makes her mouth twitch.
“And Squirrel is because sometimes, he holds pieces of bread in his mouth like a squirrel toad.”
Not much really comes to mind when she tries to recall what a squirrel toad is or any of its features, but she’s willing to bet it looks really stupid with so much food in its cheeks.
She reacts unconsciously when the thought comes to her mind, a smile now on her face.
“A-and the mother duck is called Blossom, ‘cause she always likes to sit under the blossom tree when it’s in season!” He sounds much more excited in sharing the turtle duck names he’s come up with now.
Toph wonders why that is.
But the name Blossom does make her feel very light on her feet.
She thinks back to the joys of laying on the earth during the middle of spring. Petals would fall all around her and upon their landing, the soft vibrations would tickle at her senses lightly.
Suddenly, the turtle ducks get loud very quickly and Toph snaps out of her memories once again.
Oh right, names.
He doesn’t know hers yet, does he?
Well, no one around here does and she honestly prefers it that way.
But ...
Toph didn’t find herself uncomfortable at the idea of sharing her name with the boy beside her, strangely enough.
After all, she’s already spoken to the boy before.
“Toph.”
But now that she’s said it, she finds the regret slowly inching itself back to her instantly.
“S-sorry?
Can’t take it back now.
A shaky breath comes out, her nerves getting the best of her.
“My name. It’s Toph.”
“I knew it!”
She flinches at his sudden yell, dropping her small piece of bread as the regret hits her even harder now.
Dammit, if the old man hears ...
With her hands now free, Toph flattens them on the ground to get a fuzzy understanding on where everyone is. She can sense both Iroh and Zuko’s mother facing their direction, but can’t tell whether that means they’re watching them after the kid’s ear-shattering yell.
They’re probably still watching them but just to make sure ...
“They’re not watching us, right?” Toph asks in a light whisper, doing her best to keep her face hidden from the view of the adults. She senses the kid stiffly look back to where Iroh and his mother are, before shuffling back into his crouch.
“Uh, no. Not anymore ...”
Meh, so she was half-right on them watching.
“Why?” He asks, and Toph feels a spiteful burning in her chest after his deafening yell.
“None of your business.”
The boy is silent at her words, and she stops herself from smiling at his apparent shock. “And don’t tell anyone about my name.” She adds on, just to be safe.
“Um, why?” The kid repeats, and Toph finds herself reminded of stories about pirates and their squawking pet birds.
“Are you an iguana parrot or something?” She asks as a joke, and the boy suddenly chooses to become quiet this time.
The conversation quickly comes to a stop from there.
Toph can sense the boy’s awkward fiddling with his hands through the ground, making her sigh lightly before thinking back to what he was talking about before.
He was talking about ...
The turtle ducks ...
How they got their nicknames ...
And a person called Azula.
Well, might as well try to continue the conversation after the boy tried so hard.
“Who’s Azula?” She asks, wiggling her fingers against the dirt to encourage herself.
“None of your business.”
The amount of smug attitude he puts in his response makes her palms pause.
Pffft, Toph could tell he was really proud of that one.
She starts laughing before she can even stop herself.
“Guess I deserve that.” She mutters to herself, moving her hand around on the ground once again. She senses some birds landing on the ground nearby and the want to take off her shoes to see more returns stronger.
“Um, she’s my little sister.” Zuko explains, and his words make her wonder how much older he is compared to his little sister, or to herself even.
Sure, her senses tell her that he’s taller but she’s still growing!
There’s no way a boy this immature could be older than her ...
“She’s horrible, and annoying, and mean ...” He mumbles off, his tone growing less and less confident as he does so.
Yep, no way he could be older than her.
“Wow, that’s nice.” She says quite blandly, not sure how to respond to his description of his sibling.
“And her friends are weird too.” He begins to rant, and Toph asks herself whether this was better or worse than the silence from before.
“Ty Lee always tries to put these ugly hair clips in my hair,”
Bleh, can she relate with hating the annoying hair stuff! The hairdo she had right now tickled at her neck way too much.
“–and Mai always stares at me when I’m not looking.”
Not like she can tell if she’s staring at someone straight on, for sure. Maybe she should do that at Zuko to make him freak out like before, that’d be funny.
“Girls are crazy.” He huffs out, having finished his mini rant session on how much he hates girls.
Good for her, maybe it means he’ll stop annoying her soon.
She senses the boy look over towards her and stiffen up.
“Um, b-but you’re not bad! Definitely wasn’t talking about you.” He stutters out, sounding as if he didn’t believe his own words, judging by how his heart rate seemed to rise at his own words.
“Hm, then what am I?” Toph can’t help but tease with a fake tone of naivety, feeling his heartbeat echo crazily through the ground to her palms.
“I guess ...” Zuko mumbles off, his heart rate struggling to return back to its usual pace. “... you’re my friend?”
Friend?
“... sorry.” He apologises again, but Toph doesn’t allow herself to wallow in questions behind why he’s saying sorry again so randomly.
“No, don’t. I ...” She struggles to find the words but pushes through. “I’d like that.” A smile is on her face before she realises, as bittersweet memories of home come to mind.
Her first friend ...
The sound of that is nice.
“Really?” The boy asks unsurely, fiddling around with his fingers once more.
“Yeah, I’ve ... never had a friend before.” She reveals, feeling a bit confused herself by the wave of emotions that overcomes her at the confession. Lifting her palms away from the ground, the momentary freedom from the earth’s eyes allows her to ground herself a bit better.
“M-me too.” Zuko responds, sounding relieved at her words.
Toph can’t help but wonder if he really does mean that, now slightly regretting her choice in removing her palms from the ground.
“Really? What about your sister?” She asks, mostly as a distraction for herself than for him.
“Oh ...” His tone grows low, and Toph feels a sour feeling in her chest again for some reason. “She was able to go to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, which is how she met Ty Lee and Mai.”
Well, she was more so asking whether his sister was his friend ... but Toph guesses the lack of answer to the idea says it all.
“I ... didn’t get to go this year.” He sounded almost scared to mention that part, and Toph feels the urge to try and keep it light-hearted.
“Well, duh. You’re not a girl, sorry to break it to you.” She grins at her own words, and his quick correction makes her want to laugh.
“No!” He sounds so offended, it makes her smile even more. “There’s a boys school too.” He speeds through quickly, and Toph is willing to bet his heart rate sped up just as much as his speech.
However, he takes in a short breath and quickly returns back to a more normal pace.
“I wasn’t allowed to go this year because of a training injury I got at the start of the year. I didn’t get to leave home for months because of it.”
For months?
What a rookie!
But Toph feels her chest lighten at how much she understands the feeling.
“I hate that. My parents never let me take even one step outside of mine.” She reveals, thinking back to how much they want to keep her in at all times.
Or more like, how much they had wanted to keep her in ... before ...
“–you okay?” She hears only the end of Zuko’s words when she tries to keep herself focused on right now, rather than ... back then.
“Yeah.” Her voice almost cracks, and she almost wants to yell out because of it. “Y’know, you’re kinda lame for my first friend. Are all friends like this?”
She makes fun of the boy beside her instead, her words already loosening the sudden tightness that squeezes at her throat.
“How would I know?” She can hear the pout in his voice at his own words. The strong whininess in his tone throws her off-guard for a good moment, and a laugh comes out before she can even think about it.
Her palms and bare feet might not be touching the ground, but she feels as grounded as she could be in the moment after that.
“Yep, definitely lame.” She teases back, hoping the boy doesn’t react too badly to it.
Or maybe she does, who knows?