Fan 'n' Flame; Earth 'n' Sword

Three's Company: Chapter 7

Sokka jolted away as the bed rocked violently from the kick it received. He blinked quickly and half-opened his eyes. Standing above him was the fuzzy image of a cute girl looking down at him.

"Five more minutes, babe," Sokka mumbled as he turned away from the girl, pulling the blanket tight around him.

"Babe?" the girl repeated slowly. She leaned down close to him.

Sokka sighed happily as he drifted off back to the land of dreams.

"You better get your sorry butt out of that bed right now, Snoozles!" Toph yelled into his ear. He sat bolt upright, covering his ears and nearly falling out of the bed as he leaned away from her. She glared at him. "Good. I'm not your babe, either." Sokka rubbed his arm wondering what he did to deserve a punch as she turned and stormed away, a slight blush beginning to form. Once she left, he threw the blanket off him and got out of bed. "Happy birthday, by the way," Toph said, poking her head back into the room.

"Toph!" Sokka shrieked as he covered himself, before grimacing as he saw her give him that common disappointed look, although he didn't move his hands away. "Sorry." She rolled her eyes before heading for the stairs. Sokka quickly got dressed and followed after her.

"Happy birthday," Satoru said, looking up from a report as Sokka came into the kitchen. Sokka gave a short nod and went to pour himself a cup of tea. However, a punch to the arm stopped him.

"We're going to the Jasmine Dragon to see Iroh, you can have tea there," Toph told him, smiling widely as he rubbed his arm again.

"I didn't know tea was worth inflicting pain over," Satoru said as he cleared his stuff away and slung a small bag over his shoulder.

"It is," Toph stated, waiting by the door for the two of them.

"I won't even argue that," Sokka said, giving his arm a shake. "There's a reason Iroh's tea got him a place in the Upper Ring." Satoru gave a short shrug and followed Toph outside. Sokka came last, slipping his boomerang into its sheath on his back. The sun was at its highest point in the sky, brightly shining, despite the slight nip in the air. They had slept right through the morning. They headed towards the Jasmine Dragon, and Sokka raised his eyebrow to Satoru. "So what are you going to do now that they won't leave you open your new mine here?"

"I suppose I'll just have to petition again some time later, maybe see if we can get some more samples to really get an idea of what's down there," Satoru mumbled, although anger bit at his words. "I doubt that bullheaded official would even care, he seemed like he just wanted to shunt us out of his office and finish his work as quickly as possible."

"I told you to give me a minute alone with him and I would have convinced him to allow you to mine there," Toph reminded him, smiling sweetly at him.

"I'm not sure if assaulting an official is where I want to take this company Toph."

"I'm just saying, you have the greatest earthbender to ever live, why not use her?" Toph said with a small shrug. "Or, we could just go there and mine anyway, just really quietly. What's the chance they'd ever check the mountains?"

"Never ever give her any power in any business related matters," Sokka told Satoru, who let out a laugh that drew some looks from the well dressed people of the Upper Ring. Toph just rolled her eyes, still grinning as they walked up the stone steps to the patio just before the Jasmine Dragon.

The aroma of tea filled the square around the Jasmine Dragon. "This has to be the best thing to ever happen to this city," Toph said as she took a deep breath. They walked into the busy dining room and spotted Iroh talking with a customer as he poured his tea. He glanced over to them, his calm face breaking into a large grin. He quickly excused himself and made his way over, his arms out wide. Toph quickly skipped ahead of Sokka and Satoru, embracing Iroh and hugging him hard.