𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 ⚠ slow updates ⚠ *editing*

A series of eventful events

*Toph's vocabulary is tame for now. I love Toph. She's badass. anyway. I hope y'all enjoy this chapter, and I'll try to get the next chapter out---Zuko and Hestia will go through some training.*

Three days have passed since Zuko left them.

Three days since they've been trekking the woods. It was a tough hike. An emotional hike. At least, for Hestia, it was. She tried to be strong for Iroh, and herself. She told herself Zuko needed this to discover himself. He needed to walk that path without them, without the extra voices trying to guide him to do better.

Hestia huffed, stepping over a large rock. "This should be muscle memory by now. Why is it so hard to walk through the woods?"

Iroh chuckled. "It is exhaustion, Hestia. If you are tired, we can take a break."

She considered it. A break from walking sounded so lovely, but she wanted to get out of these woods. Her legs ached, crying out for her to sit and let them rest. "If that's okay with you."

"Of course," he smiled at her. "I can brew us some tea--"

A rumbling interrupted them. The ground uprooted, shooting at Iroh. A rock hit him right in the bottom, causing him to tumble to the ground. He groaned in pain. "Ow...my tailbone..."

"Iroh!" Hestia rushed to aid him. "Are you okay?"  

"Emotionally." 

The teen stood, facing the way the attack came from, rising her hands to fire. "Who's there?! Come out!"

She didn't know what she expected but it certainly wasn't a little girl. The girl must've been eleven or twelve. She had black hair in a bun with a green hair headband, but her bangs covered her eyes. She was dressed green and tan attire, with clothe around her wrists and ankles. But what Hestia found odder than a young girl alone in the woods was that she had no shoes on. 

Why was she barefoot?

"Are you an earthbender?" She asked though she already knew the answer.

"If I said no, would you believe me?" The girl asked in a sarcastic tone.

"No."

"Then I'm an earthbender."

Iroh sat up, still rubbing his back. "Since we have a guest, why don't we enjoy some tea together?" 

"What?" Hestia looked at Iroh. "She's an earthbender!"

"Why would me being an earthbender matter?" The girl said defensively. 

"Let's just say I've had bad experiences with earthbenders." 

"It is okay, Hestia," Iroh stood, brushing off his robe. "Come, have a drink with us."

The girl looked wary, but she agreed after a moment of thinking. "Okay, I guess I can drink some tea."

Later, after setting up a small fire and tea kettle, Iroh brewed his tea. Hestia prepared the cups, handing them Iroh.

He poured the girl, whose name was Toph, a cup first. "Here is your tea." At first, the girl didn't take it, but she carefully reached out to take the tin cup. "You seem to be a little too young to be traveling alone."

"And you seem a little too old." Toph replied.

Iroh laughed, pouring Hestia a cup. "Perhaps I am."

Toph sipped her tea. "I know what you're thinking...I look like I can't handle being by myself."

"You're earthbender," Hestia said, looking at her. "You can take care of yourself. You seem strong."

The old man smiled at Hestia's comment, sipping on his tea too. "I wasn't thinking that."