the legend continues ch6

Secrets Revealed

How did she know?” asked Aang. He was pacing in front of the fire place, his hands clutching on his hair. Suki, Zuko, and Sokka were scouring the city, trying to find Azula. They decided not to bring Aang with them because he had been fuming about what had happened in the palace. If he were to lose his temper again, who knows what would happen. Katara had stayed behind to make sure Toph was feeling well. They were all still wearing their formal wear.
“Calm down Aang,” said Toph, who was lying against the wall. “You need to relax. We are not going to get any answers yet. Pacing back and forth like that is not going to find Azula, and unless you want to go bald again, I suggest you stop pulling on your hair.”
“She’s right Aang,” said Katara. She brang over a tray with cups filled with tea.
“Zuko knew something,” said Aang, as he continued pacing. “He was too quiet in the palace and on the way out.”  Katara spilled some tea when he said this. She quickly water bended the tea back into the cups and handed one to Toph, who was looking at her pointedly.
“So does Katara,” said Toph bluntly. Aang quickly turned around to face Katara.
“Don’t be silly!” said Katara. “What could I possibly know?”
“Don’t bother lying to me Katara, your heartbeat is way off. Plus, you’re engaged to Sparky, so you’re bound to know more than us. It’s not bad if you know by the way.”
“Katara,” said Aang firmly, “did you or did you not know about this? Tell the truth” Katara looked from Toph to Aang, and knew that there was no point in hiding it anymore. She sat on the floor, looking hopeless and frail.
“Yes,” she said decidedly, “I did.”
“When?”
“She escaped two weeks ago. Zuko found out the night you guys arrived.” There was an awkward silence that lasted a while before the peace finally broke.
“How could you not have told us!?”
“Because it wasn’t my story to tell!”
“It was mine to know! Do you know how much damage she can cause? It was…foolish for you and Zuko not to tell me! Look what happened to Toph!”
Tears were starting to run down Katara’s face. “I’m sorry Aang. I’m sorry that Toph got hurt and your night with Bumi got ruined and that we didn’t tell you,” said Katara. “But don’t you dare call Zuko foolish. He was trying to be considerate of you; he wanted you to enjoy yourself, at least for a little bit.” Aang looked like he just got slapped on the face at this point. “He wanted you to go to your old friend’s party and take off avatar duty because he knows how busy it is for you. And I am not going to be sorry for that.” Katara stormed off upstairs and Toph and Aang heard her slam her room door.
“I’m fine Aang,” said Toph quietly after a moment.
“What?” asked Aang confused.
“You told Katara, ‘look what happened to Toph’, but I’m fine.” She gazed down at her tea, feeling its warmth through the cup. “You shouldn’t have gone off on her like that.”
“They should have told me.”
“I know they should have. Come here, twinkle toes, you’re breathing way too hard. Have some tea.” Aang stood there dumbfounded at the simplicity of the statement after what had just happened before he sat down next to her and picked up a cup from the tray. “They should have told you,” continued Toph, “but you have to see that they were trying to protect you. You doubting Zuko’s abilities doesn’t help either because it took us a while to warm up to him at first. Katara still thinks that sometimes we doubt him and don’t include him in conversations as much as we should. She’s very protective of him.”
“I don’t…”
“You might not Aang, but you called him foolish just a second ago. That doesn’t send the right message.”
“Oh…” Aang felt like a complete idiot now. “I’m so stupid.” He buried his head in his hands.
“Yeah, you are.” Aang looked up immediately at Toph’s face to find that she was smiling. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “But we’re all an idiot at one point in our lives or another. Don’t worry, she’ll come around.” She took a sip from her cup and Aang followed suit. The tea worked wonders.  
“Thanks Toph. You’re a good friend.”
“Don’t get too mushy on me Twinkle Toes.”
“Haha…fine, I won’t.” Aang looked down at his tea. Half of it was gone but the water was still rippling in the cup. He said he was going to tell Toph tonight he would, so he decided to tell her now. “Toph there is something I need to tell you…”
She could sense an uneasiness in his voice. “What is it Aang?”
“We have kno-” Before Aang could finish his sentence, the door burst open. Sokka and Suki walked in, immediately collapsing on the floor cushions, exhausted. Katara heard this from upstairs and came running down. She went to the kitchen and got three cups of cold water to give to Sokka, Suki, and Zuko. And that’s when she realized:
“Where’s Zuko?”
“He had an urgent letter to deliver. He went to the market to buy a messenger hawk,” said Suki.
“What happened? Why are you guys so exhausted?”
“Well, we have been running around all of Ba Sing Se looking some maniacal firebender! What do you expect!” said an irritable Sokka.
“This can’t be good for me…” said Suki, placing her hand on her belly.
“Why? Is something wrong?” asked Sokka, concerned.
“Oh, nothing!” said Suki, blushing, “I’m just extremely out breath, that’s all.” Sokka eyed her for a second, but didn’t push the subject.
“What were you guys doing anyway?” asked Toph.
“Trying to find Azula and her minions,” said Sokka.
“We went all over,” continued Suki. “We split up, and we mainly searched the suburbs and the market because there is no way that Azula can have enough money to survive in the upper class area. She just got out of prison. Zuko said he had received a letter from Iroh saying that Azula escaped. He said he was planning on telling us and the only person he did tell was Katara. Don’t give him a hard time you guys, he’s feeling really bad about this whole thing.” Katara looked at Aang.
“It’s alright,” said Aang. “Zuko didn’t mean any harm and these things happen.” Aang looked at Katara in an apologetic way, and all previous resentments disappeared.
“It’s good to hear you say that, Aang,” said Zuko, stepping in the house. He also seemed exasperated. He flopped down next to Aang. “I messed up big time, didn’t I?” he laughed bitterly to himself. Katara knelt down next to him and hugged him.
“Something tells me that she would have escaped even if we knew she was coming,” said Aang. “She was swallowed into the earth, so an earth bender was definetly involved in this. But neither Zhao nor Mai are earth benders.”
“That reminds me, what was Zhao doing there?” asked Katara. “I thought he was dead.”
“That’s what I thought too,” said Zuko. “But I guess I assumed. The last time I saw him was at the North Pole, when the fire nation attacked. I never saw him die though, just taken into the water by the Ocean Spirit.”
“What does that mean?” asked Toph.
“He was taken to the Spirit World,” said Aang after a moment. His eyes were wide with sudden realization and shock. “How could I have missed something this big!” He smacked himself on the head.
There was a silence in room for several moments as everybody started contemplating what could happen. After a hundred year war, could there only be a three-year peace? Would everything go back to the turmoil it once was? Aang couldn’t take this, would the world fall to pieces because of him again? He got up suddenly. He needed some fresh air and he needed to meditate. “I got to go.”
“Where are you going?” asked Suki.
“For a walk.” Katara made to get up to follow him but Zuko put a hand on her shoulder and made her sit down, understanding that sometimes, you need time alone. Aang went out the door and disappeared into the night. Toph quietly got up.
“Toph, I don’t think you should follow him,” said Zuko.
“Oh I wasn’t going to follow him, I was going to go upstairs and change out of this stupid dress. It’s late and I suggest we all get some sleep,” said Toph.
“You know what, I think you’re right. It is late,” said Sokka, as he got up. He took Suki’s hand and together they went upstairs. Zuko pecked Katara on the cheek and made to go upstairs as well.
“I’ll help you out Toph,” said Katara.
“Thanks Sugar Queen.”

Toph was lying on her bed, staring at what she knew must be the ceiling. It had been almost 2 hours since Aang left and he still hadn’t come back. Toph was feeling anxious, worried that Aang might have done something stupid and foolish. She remembered he had taken his glider with him, what if he left? What if he got hurt? She tossed and turned, trying to not think about Aang, attempting to convince herself that Aang was the Avatar, he could handle himself. “But what if he can’t?” Toph said aloud to the dark. She decided that enough was enough; she was better off looking for Aang than lying here and worrying about him. She got out of her bed and walked to her dresser. Sure enough, she felt her silk night robe right where Katara had said she put it (she couldn’t go outside the house in her underwear…). She walked down her balcony stairs to get to the ground instead of using the front door and started walking blindly around, trying to feel Aang’s vibrations. She roamed around the grounds (which were very large, at least 3 acres) until she came to the edge of the forest. She was hesitant at first about going in, but thought of Aang and went in anyway. As soon as she entered the forest, she felt the vibrations of all the living things around her. Except it wasn’t the same as when she felt all the vibrations in the market place, this was much more serene, with the sound of the birds chirping and distant water falling. She knew Aang would be here. Toph had walked only a little way into the forest when she felt familiar vibrations at the edge of what seemed like a pond. She ran toward the area and started hearing the sound of a waterfall. She walked toward the waterfall and felt Aang sitting, fists together and eyes closed, on a ledge behind the waterfall. Toph didn’t know if he was in the spirit world or not, she couldn’t tell if his arrows were glowing. She simply walked towards him and sat down silently next to him, letting her feet dangle beneath her. “Hey Aang,” she said quietly.
Aang jumped a little and turned around to face Toph. “Toph!? What are you doing here?”
“I was about to ask you the same question. How come you didn’t come back Aang? It’s been hours and you are still sitting here.”
“I needed to think,” Aang murmured.
“For two hours?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Maybe if you told me what was bothering you I would.”
“It’s too complicated.”
“Our lives were never that simple.”
“Why do you want to know?” asked Aang bitterly. Toph was a little hurt by the question. She stuck one of her feet in waterfall and felt the slight pressure of the water pushing her feet down.
“Because you can’t keep everything bottled up. You don’t have to save the world by yourself.” Aang was quiet, so Toph continued. “How did you know?”
Aang knew she was talking about Zhao being in the spirit world. “For a long time now, I haven’t been…feeling well. I’ve been battling with my self about a lot of things. It’s been hard. And part of me is connected to the spirit world, so whatever happens there effects me too. I guess I got so carried away with everything being peaceful, that I didn’t want to think about something bad happening. I just wanted my life to be normal...”
Toph took in everything he said. “Aang, as much as you don’t want to be the Avatar, you can’t. It’s just the way things are. My life has never been normal. I’ve always been sheltered and hidden from the rest of the world because I’m blind. Aang, your life may not be normal, but what would your life have been like if you weren’t the Avatar? You would have died along with the rest of the Air Nomads a hundred years ago! And I don’t know about you, but I like you being alive right now. You have a destiny to do great things Aang.” Aang looked at Toph. She seemed to be speaking from the heart as she gazed at the waterfall. She shivered from the cold, wearing only her silk robe over her underwear, and the robe was slowly getting wet from the water that would occasionally spray on to them from the waterfall. The wetter the robe got the more it hugged on to her slight curves, showing off her slender figure. Her long wavy hair was down and let free, she wasn’t even wearing a head band. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” asked Toph suddenly.
“What?”
“I’ve seen you so many times in the past few months. How come you never told me about this before?”
“I don’t know.”
“Please Aang. Don’t lie to me.”
Aang was hesitant. “Well…I didn’t always think it was that I was feeling the way I was feeling because of the spirit world or anything Avatar related.”
“What did you think it was before?” The way she asked was innocent, and she sounded so concerned that Aang couldn’t help but to tell her.
“I…I…I was having these feelings that I had…it occurred to me that it might be…I thought it was because I liked you.” He looked at Toph and corrected him self, “ because I love you.”
Toph’s cloudy eyes were sparkling under the bask of the light of the full moon as she smiled to herself. Her cheeks were blushing faintly when she turned to face him. She scooted towards him and slowly took her hands off the ledge and put them on what she knew to be Aang’s face. She moved her hands around his face until she found his eyes, then she slowly moved them down and felt the curves of his nose. Finally, her hands ventured down to his lips, and Aang’s heartbeat quickened. Toph’s moved closer to Aang as Aang took Toph’s hands off his lips and leaned down toward Toph. Then, their lips met. The kiss was chaste yet had so much passion as well, revealing longing and innocence and love. They held the kiss for what seemed like lifetimes, but it ended all too soon still. Toph pulled back and then punched Aang on the shoulder and said, “Took you long enough Twinkle Toes.” Aang only laughed as he kissed Toph again.