Book Four: Air

"Yeah. Have fun talking to Angry Jerk," Sokka told Toph with a grin as he headed into the manor. He should really see Suki before going to bed if she wasn't already asleep.

IC: Toph

She sighed once he was outside her field of "vision." She had had a great time, not counting the freaky guy and whatever he did to her, and was sorry to see it end so quickly.

But Toph was also glad that they had had the chance to catch up a little and have some fun, just like the good old days. She missed that.

Not the War so much, of course, but her friends, and especially her best friend Sokka.

She was looking forward to tomorrow. They could pull off some pretty sweet mischief together.

Toph returned to her post. "Thanks, big guy," she said to Samanya. "I can take it from here."

Toph leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.

Iroh sighed deeply. He thought the man recognized him and was going to make a run for it. Thank God he didn’t.

“Oh thank you! I’ve been lost since last yesterday in the evening and haven’t had anything to eat in so many hours, thanks for your kindness”. Iroh was relieved he had found someone like this. They walked up to the house, where Iroh was provided with food, clothe, and a bed. But Iroh refused to the bed.

If he stayed too long, the men might catch up to him and the family that was sheltering him might get to be in danger.

“Oce again, I thank you for everything” Iroh said as he turned back and walked over to the nearest town, guided by a map give to him by the fisherman and his wife.

IC: Toph

She started awake from her post without knowing the reason why. Toph rubbed the back of her head.

Weird... I couldn've sworn it felt like somebody was watching me.

But Toph could not sense anyone around her. She sighed, and leaned back against the wall. She cuddled into the cloak Sokka had given to her.

Oh! I still have his cloak! He'll want that back.

Toph rubbed her fingers along the cloth. She had always enjoyed touching fabrics. She was rather tactile in that way. The cloak was worn but warm and soft. It was no wonder she had fallen asleep so easily.

Wuong

"It is, Fire Lord. Oh, it very much is. We have a new situation on our hands. Read this, please." Wuong said, handing Zuko the letter. This....was bad. This event would only make things worse.

IC: Azon

"Love is quite a marvelous thing, isn't it Milady?"

Azon was sitting directly beside Toph, his back against the wall as well. Somehow he had gotten there without entering her sight at all, as if she had been blind to him. Now her "sight" could see him fully, as if he had just appeared beside her.

"Are you well? I was concerned."

IC: Toph

She jolted back and away from the new set of vibrations. Toph felt her heart hammer in her throat.

How... How come he can just sneak up on me like that!? He came outta nowhere!

The emotions she had felt not too long ago came raging up within her again. A flush stole over her scowling face. Toph brought up her arms into the basic stance of her earthbending style.

"You think I care? You can shove that concern up your butt! Leave me alone!" she growled. "Now take a hike, or I'll make you!"

Zuko

Zuko eyes began to read the letter, and as he read on, his hands held it tighter and his eyes became more full of shock. "This can't be," he said, shaking his head. "A riot. I didn't think that the colonists were so upset." He sighed and threw the letter down. "I can't let this go, if the rebellion and other colonies think I won't do anything against these events, they will just keep happening. But I can't allienate the colonists, I need to make them understand that I am not their enemy."

IC: Azon

Azon did not move from his sitting place against the wall. His hooded head turned to look up at the young Earthbender with a shake of his head before staring forward.

"Oh, will you please sit down? I mean you no harm. We're much alike, you and I, and yet different at the same time. We both blind our eyes; yet I do so willingly, while you do not. Like you, I see the world differently; yet still...it is different than how you perceive it."

He turned his hooded hood back up towards Toph, his blindfolded eyes just visible inside his hood.

"I know you are curious of what I did...come, sit down, just for a moment, then I will leave willingly if you wish me to."

Toph did not like it, but he was right. He had made her curious. The knowledge of that ground in her gut. She spat a few choice curse words.

She lowered her arms. She could always knock him around later, if she took the inclination.

"I'll stand, if it's all the same to you," she said. She did not look at him, could not look at him, but her attention was all on him. "Now can you tell me what you did, and why you think it's funny to stalk me?"

IC: Azon

"As I said, Milady, we are very much alike. Just as curiousity keeps you here; it is also what brings me to you."

He stood, approaching Toph and grabbing hold of the end of Sokka's cloak. He brought Toph's hands up so they both were holding it.

"You feel this cloth upon your hand," he said.

"You feel its texure, smooth and warm. People like your friend see more than that; they see color, design, and depth. But what I see...I see a year of sun and sky, of fire and water, swords and steel. I see love, and determination, sacrifice, and grief. I see fresh mud and earth, I see a warrior's strength and courage, I see happiness, and I see life itself...all upon this simple cloth..."

Toph snorted. "Spirits. You sound like some stupid fortune cookie." She jerked her hand, and Sokka's cloak, away from his. "Get to the point, before I decide I want to kick you around again."

She really could not understand this guy. Nothing about him felt right, or even familiar. It bothered Toph a great deal.

And why the heck was he so interested in her? It was creepy.

Wuong

"We face a difficult situation right now, Fire Lord. Thanks to this riot between pro-successionists and soldiers from the anti-successionist government in New Sozin, the relationship between the colonies and the Fire Nation are only going to get more strained. I would like for us to succeed peacefully, but I also want what's best for my people. If succession is not the future for us, I can accept that. However, members of the Colony Council will not see things as I do.

Many will cry for succession even more. Some of the more...extremists may call for action. I wouldn't be surprised if the governor of New Sozin was found dead in a few days. We must find a way to calm this situation, Fire Lord. I'm willing to work with you on this. I want to do everything I can to prevent a war." Wuong stated.

Suki

"So, where have you been all day Sokka?" Suki asked, walking over to him.

IC: Azon

"You are an Earthbender, Milady," said Azon.

"You know your element as substance; solid, and immobile. But behind your earth, behind water, fire, and air, there is energy that flows freely. It connects us and this world together; we share it...exchange it. Even this simple cloth has energy you never would have dreamed existed. It has traveled with your friend, and therefore has upon it his very life, his travels, his feelings and his struggles."

He looked back to Toph.

"I...I think this would be easier if I simply showed you..."

Azon reached forward, and just as before, pressed his hand gently to Toph's forehead before she could resist.

The world around her came to life in a flash of color. Every detail upon Toph's clothing was now seen by her; every detail upon her skin and body. Azon's hooded form and blindfolded eyes, the extravagance of the surrounding mansion. The stars sparkling in the night sky outside, the leaves upon the trees slowly blowing in the wind.

And yet, there was something even more. It was as if everything was alive in a way undescribable. A faint energy could be felt from every object, from every breath of air she breathed. It was as if Toph were intune with the entire world, all in perfect harmony and peace.

Azon brougth Sokka's cloak up once more and showed it to Toph. And in an instant everything he had described was flooded through her like a great typhoon; the sun, the earth, the determination, the courage and strength, so many sensations swelling all at once in a wonderful feeling of eternal bliss, peace and harmony.

And then, Azon removed his hand, and everything was gone, Toph's sight back to what it was.

"Oh, I was just hanging out with Toph," Sokka told his girlfriend with a shrug, "It's been awhile since we saw each other so we decided to catch up."

She was quiet for a long, pensive moment. The only sound was that of her sharp draws of breath. Unlike last time, though, she was not so much confused and upset as she was curious and taken aback by the wonder of it all.

This time... She had fell into it. It had taken over her. It had hurt to see it vanish again.

"Why're you showing me stuff like that?" she asked. The stubborn atittude was gone. She was almost meek. "Why are you so curious about me?"

IC: Azon

"Yes, that is the question, isn't it?" replied Azon.

"Why would I be curious about you? You, whose sight is in every sense...less than mine. I'm afraid, Milady, that is something I can not tell you. At least...not yet...you're not ready for what I have to say...and neither am I."

He looked around, his smiling lips just being made out from inside his hood.

"Well then...I gave you my word. Would you like me to leave, Milady?"

Toph scowled.

"You'd better. You lead me on and then just give me some "maybe later?" crap? Screw you! Get lost, loser, and leave me alone!"

She stomped the ground to prove her point. It shuddered.

IC: Azon

Azon bowed his head to her.

"As you wish, Milady. I will be easy to find when you seek me out again. We both know that you will..."

Suddenly, he vanished from her "sight", until his vibrations reppeared beside her.

"You did not get a long look at his face...did you?" he asked.

"The fool...the one you wish to see and know more than anything. To look upon his face, to see every detail, to see him like you so desire to. And what of your other friends? Think of all you wish to know; you wish to experience. I said it before, Milady...I am at your service."

He turned from her.

"But for now, I believe I will take a walk through this mansion. There is a strange energy...so vast...so deep...it has been blinding me."

"I don't think so."

Toph slid around in front of the strange man. She held up her arms again in a mantis position. Her scowl bored into his chest. Muscles tense and vibrations pulsing all around her, Toph was ready for a fight if it came to that.

"You're not going anywhere but out the door, buddy. So you might want to get while the getting's good."

Was she angry? Oh, very much so. This jerk had yanked her chain, dragged her along and shown her something confusing but also wonderful, and then left her to fall. He beat her earth-sense, admitted to being curious about her and refusing to explain why, and spoke of things she kept near and dear to her heart.

Of course she wanted to see the world. Of course she wanted to see her friends. Of course she wanted to see him. She was glad for her earth-sight, but sometimes she did want more.

And maybe if she could look at him, really and truly look at him, he would think of her as more than "just another one of the guys."

So, yes, she was angry that this stranger would toy with her heart like this.

IC: Azon

"I do not wish to fight you, Milady," said Azon.

"You will have noticed by now that I can vanish from your Earthbending sight. I mean no harm to anyone; but I will go where I please."

He raised an open palm out towards her.

"We do not have to be enemies, Milady, I have no desire for one. And yet...you seem intent on trying to make me yours. Anything you wish to see, to experience, I can show you...come now...don't be so stubborn."

Zuko

"What can we do, short of allowing sucession, to calm these colonists," Zuko asked. "It's not something that I will allow, nor can I authorize on my own. If there is anything else that can be done, I'll do my best to do it. But I can't do anything if they don't trust me. I'm afraid that the colonists are edging to only having two solutions to this problem, and neither of them are acceptable."

"Then just leave, and everything's hunky-dory," said Toph. She did not move or back down. "Sorry, freak, but my job's protecting this old guy and everybody else here. I can't just let you walk around like you own the place. It'll make me look bad.

"And besides," she said, a bit harder, "you say you can give me experienced, or whatever, but then you just walk away. That doesn't give me much reason to trust you."

IC: Azon

"Trust?" repeated Azon.

"I've never found need for it. Very well..."

He lowered his hand.

"I would like to say that you can trust me, Milady, but I also do not wish to leave. I think...I think I will aid you and your friends...for a while longer."

He slowly backed up until he hit the opposite wall from Toph, and slowly lowered himself to the ground.

"I will go no further, but I must request that I remain here. You are very...interesting, Milady."

"There you go again with that creepy stuff," said Toph, irritated. "Why can't you just say what you mean? And why right there? You're just gonna cause trouble! People are bound to notice you don't belong here, you idiot!"

She fell out of her stance, all the same, and blew irritably at her bangs. She sat back down, but kept a foot on the stranger.

For good or ill, her curiousity won out over her more cautious nature.

"And quit calling me Milady," she added, belatedly. "It's annoying."