White Hot Flames (ZukoxOC)

24

        The next day Aang arrives back at the cave panting, as if he'd run all the way from school. "Aang?" Rezalia asks, coming down to the floor from her handstand. "What happened?"

"They want to talk to my parents!" Aang exclaims and Toph promptly bursts into laughter. Sokka and Katara seemed to be the only ones suitably concerned as Rezalia simply returned to her gymnastics and Toph was cackling.

The three worry warts began more or less hyperventilating until Rezalia spoke up as she slowly lifted one hand from the ground. "Why don't you two just pretend to be his parents?"

"Oh," Sokka says, stopping his pacing abruptly. "Yeah that could work. I can wear my fake beard! But I don't have one for Katara..."

"Why would I need a beard you moron?!" Katara snaps. "I'll just pretend to be pregnant. Oh, Aang what did you tell the school your name was?"

Aang tells her the name and they get to work on their disguises. Rezalia flips onto her feet so that she can help Katara adjust her skirt so that it covered her fake baby bump. Sokka seemed a bit too into his beard as they left, going over their own fake names once more just to be sure.

"Just us," the firebender murmurs to Toph, Appa, and Momo. Appa makes a sort of humming noise while Momo curls around her neck. He was a fan of Rezalia since she was naturally warm.

Toph tossed a rock up and down as she spoke. "Can I ask you a question?" Rezalia hums her consent as she settles against Appa's side. "When I first joined the group they mentioned you, said you were loud and funny and Zuko's best friend. What happened?"

"He...he told me and his uncle that he was done hunting the avatar. We were going to have a new, normal life in Ba Sing Se and then he turned his back on us the first chance he got. He had a clear choice and he didn't choose us. But I was done. I'd followed him into banishment but I won't...wouldn't follow him back to the Fire Nation. He made his choice and I made mine."

Toph was quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

Rezalia smiles slightly despite the fact that Toph couldn't see it. The action felt foreign on her face now. "It's okay. I need to stop being so pathetic about this."

"You aren't being pathetic, Lia," Toph protests. "He fucked up. You're allowed to be mad or upset or whatever. Now, is there anything to do in this place?"

The purple eyed girl pulls one leg under her. "Not unless you want to mess with Sokka's boomerang." Toph makes a face.

"What did you used to do for fun?"

Rezalia thinks for a moment. "On the ship we used to do a music night every week. I didn't usually participate but it was fun when I did."

"Did you play an instrument?"

"Yeah. Guitar. But it was destroyed when Zhao tried to kill...tried to kill Zuko."

"You'll have to tell me that story later but for now we're going into town," Toph announces as she gets to her feet.

Rezalia doesn't struggle as she's pulled up. "What? Why?"

"We're getting you a new guitar."

~*~

Aang, Sokka, and Katara returned about ten minutes after Toph and Rezalia had gotten back to the cave. Rezalia was smiling at Toph who was attempting to play some kind of song with the guitar. "I'm blind, so I don't know why we thought this was a good idea."