Blinded By Your Love

Toph

They stayed in the fire nation for a few days, Katara and Aang helping to douse the fires out with their water bending. Zuko and Mai had gone to Iroh's home while the palace was being rebuilt and the others had gone along with them. Toph was delighted with the plans, she had missed Zuko's kind, warm-hearted uncle who ran a successful tea shop in the Capital City and in Ba Sing Se. Although she didn't let it on, Iroh was like a second father to her, seeing as her first was such a failure.

The house was just large enough to sleep the seven of them as Zuko and Mai shared a bed, as did Katara and Aang. When Toph heard that she grimaced slightly, suddenly dreading the nights to come.

Two days after they arrived, Toph found herself strolling through the gardens just as evening was turning into night. She walked slowly, barely making a rustle as she reached her hand out to drag it through the leaves on a overhanging vine. She could hear the insects buzzing and clicking in the bushes but there were too many to tell where each noise was coming from. She heard to caw of a messenger hawk overhead and she tilted her head back to the sky as if she could see it. Inhaling a deep breath she tapped her bare feet lightly on the ground, and felt the vibrations hit a large object just off to her left. It seemed to be a stone bench, overlooking what she suspected to be a pond.

Walking over, she sat, crossing her legs in front of her and concentrating on the sounds around her. It felt like the whole world had gone to sleep and it was just her, the breeze and the insects that buzzed lazily, like they too were slowly falling into a slumber. The hawks cry pierced the night again as the wind carried it for miles and miles, like the vibrations she sent into the earth with every step she took. It cried again and then all was silent. Suddenly the insects stopped buzzing, the wind stopped whispering in her ear and the leaves stopped rustling their secrets. An eerie stillness settled over the world, the silence roared in her ears as her heart pounded like a drum in her chest, a consistent beat in a world of unknown surprises.

A rustle behind her was muffled in her ears and she didn't notice the figure walking towards her until he was standing next to the bench. When she did notice however, she didn't jump as their warm breath caressed the back of her neck. Shivering slightly they moved to sit next to her and Toph shifted to give them room, levering herself on her arms to move on the hard cold stone.

"Toph," they whispered. It was Sokka," Toph we need to go." there was a dangerous urgency in his voice that made her blood run cold.

"What's happened?" she tensed. When he did not reply she grabbed his shoulder, digging in with her nails, he hissed and winced but she did not slacken her grip as she forced him to face her as if she could see the sorrow in his voice.

"I'm so sorry," he voice broke as a small sob escaped his mouth, "The Earth Kingdom's been attacked and they targeted your parent's house

As those last few words left his mouth, Toph felt her entire world shatter.

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It didn't take them long to get to the Earth Kingdom, they'd left most of their stuff at Iroh's house in the Fire Nation. The entire ride Toph sat so still, frozen in place from the terror causing through her veins. She was told numerous times by Katara that everything was going to be fine but something told her different. She couldn't quite place it but she felt that something terrible had happened.

After an age, they finally arrived and Toph felt a soft warmth on her face, like the heat of a morning sun. Surely it couldn't be sunrise yet, she thought. As they got closer the warmth got hotter and hotter, the air felt clogged and humid and when she sniffed the air the smell of burning wood and fear was the last cut to the string that tethered her to sanity.