Summer of Change

Unexpected Guests

Unexpected Guests

Toph stretched the knots out of her back and neck. A long ride in the car was not the most comfortable way to spend her first day of vacation, but the destination was, without a doubt, worth it. She could hear the boys' chatter coming from the house as they unloaded the bags, and she knew that Ty Lee would be showing Katara and Azula around the building so they could decide on rooms. Her only concern about the girls was the way Ty Lee and Azula would take to each other.

Toph did not really care where she would be sleeping. For now, she was content to just sit on the sandy beach with her toes curling into the warm sand. The feel and smell of the ocean were intoxicating, and the sounds of the waves lapping against the shore was music she had nearly forgotten in her five years absence from this place. The last day she had spent at this house still lived fresh in her memory, even though it was a day she would rather forget.

Toph shuddered lightly at the thought. That was a bad day to say the least. As her mind began to dwell on it, she felt the sand shifting around behind her under the weight of someone's steps. As much as she loved coming to this beach, it did hinder her ability to feel her way around and she could not tell who it was until he sat behind her.

"We're done unloading," Twinkle Toes told her as his legs spread around her sides. He placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her gently to rest on him. "Kinda warm out here to be shivering. What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing," she lied. "It's not important. So what do you think of my beach?"

"Your beach?"

"Yeah!" she grinned. "My beach!"

"It's nice," he smiled in response. "The house is nice too. I tried to put our stuff in the same room, and you should have seen the look on Kuzon's face!"

"Did he tell you what Dad said?"

"We get separate rooms on either side of Kuzon, that way if I try anything I gotta get passed him first," Aang recited.

"Good boy," Toph said as she reached up and patted Aang's bald head. "Just be glad I got you that much. Dad almost insisted that you share a room with Kuzon."

"Tophy! Aang!" Ty Lee called. "Come inside, we have to get unpacked!"

"We're coming!" Toph answered. "Come on, Twinkle Toes."

Toph stood and held out her hand for Aang to take. She pulled him to his feet and followed the sound of Ty Lee's voice to the rocky wall that the house sat upon at the beach's edge. The stone steps that led their back up to her porch burned against her feet, but she did not care. She was glad to be back, and she was glad that her friends were there with her. Like he knew what she was thinking, Aang squeezed her hand as if to reassure her of that.

As Toph strolled over the hard wood floors with Aang in tow, memories of running around the house played through her mind. She could hear her own laughter so clearly that she nearly laughed out loud. The soft melodies of an ivory piano played in her ears and Toph could not help but smile. As a child, Toph remembered this house as the only place she really had fun. Of course Kuzon had started coming with her after he was hired on, and Ty Lee too the last couple of times. Even so, before that Toph had enjoyed coming to this summer house. Toph pulled Aang up the stairs to the second floor where the rooms were being decided.

"So except Toph and Ty Lee, we all get separate rooms?" Zuko could be heard asking.

"With the exception of the master bedroom, the rooms are all to small for more than one person," Kuzon explained.

"What about the rooms on the first floor?" Katara asked.

"No!" Toph found herself shouting. "I mean, those aren't bedrooms."