I'll Walk You Home pt. 54

Chapter 19 pt.1

Letters

Toph was awake. It took her a moment to recall where she was. She managed to disentangle herself from Sokka, not an easy task, his long arms and legs enveloping her, as they lay on their sides facing each other.

"What?!" The boy asked, moving to grab his sword.

Sokka always surprised Toph with how fast he would wake up. One instant he was asleep and the next he was awake and moving. Of course he could fall asleep just as quickly, and often times did in the morning.

"Have to get back to my room." She explained, moving to the edge of the sleeping platform and swinging her legs out and planting her feet on the solid ground.

"Oh... Right." The tribesman said moving to his side of the bed.

Toph stood up, pulling down her sleeping robe, where it had bunched up around her waist in the night. She sent out a quiet wave of bending to feel what was going on around the estate. The garden was clear. She sent out a slightly stronger wave toward the mansion, and felt the tell-tale movement of a few servants moving in the kitchen.

Still early. She told herself. Plenty of time to get back to my room.

"All clear?" Sokka asked.

He had felt the vibrations of her bending beneath his feet.

"All clear." She agreed. "What are you doing?"

"Getting dressed." He answered.

"What for?" She asked

"So I can walk you to your room." He explained.

"I can find my own way, Snoozles." She told him with a little sharpness in her tone.

"Yes of course you can." He told her as he walked around the sleeping platform. "Better than I can, I'm sure."

She felt his arms encircle her as he pulled her into a hug; she sent her own arms around his waist and hugged back.

"I just don't like to say goodbye, even for a little bit, and want to put it off for as long as I can." He said the side of his face against the top of her head.

They stood holding each other for a time.

"I gotta go." Toph finally said.

"Right." Sokka agreed letting her go.

She took his hand and led him into the garden. The moon was not quite a quarter full and high in the western sky so he had no problem following her as she led him to her window.

"This is me." She said turning towards him.

"Right." He told her. "It's maybe an hour... or a little more before sunrise."

The two of them stood for a moment holding hands in the early morning mist.

Toph pulled her hands away and spreading her feet made a downward gesture with her fists. Sokka felt the familiar trembling, and then he felt the earth fall away beneath his feet, and found himself standing in a shallow hole in the ground.

He looked up to see Toph step into him. Her hands found his face and her lips found his as she gave him a long loving kiss, which he returned with all his heart. One of his arms around her waist and the other up her back to her shoulders pulling her tight in against him.

Finally she stepped back, breaking the kiss.

"I love you Toph." Sokka told her in a whisper.

"I love you Sokka." Toph told him in reply.

"See you at breakfast." He said letting her go.

She just stood for a moment, giving him a frustrated look.

"Right..." He said, blushing. "I'll see you and you'll feel... sense me."

"Smartest guy in the world." Toph muttered getting into her bending stance. "And he's still a complete idiot."

An earth pillar shot from the ground and launched her into the air towards the stone balcony of her room. She landed easily and silently. She turned back, and with a gesture the pillar returned into the earth and Sokka's hole pushed him up leaving no sign that the earth near the window had ever been disturbed.

"Don't forget to mess up your bed." Sokka whisper shouted to her.

"I've done this before." Toph whispered shouted to him, leaning over the railing, in as scathing a tone as she could manage in such a quiet voice.

"Right! Sorry!" Sokka whisper shouted back, turning his head down and away from her.

"Now what are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm not looking up your robe." He answered, keeping his head down.

"Oh..." She said pushing the skirt of her robe between her legs.

She could feel the blood rush to her face. Her loin cloth still felt a little damp from last night.

"Toph!" The young man whispered called to her.

"What now?!" She asked letting some irritation enter her quiet question.

"I love you." He answered.

"Go away!" She commanded him. "Or I'm gonna get caught."

"Sorry!" He said a sad tone in his whisper.

He started to walk away.

"Sokka!" Toph whisper called to him.

"Yeah!" He answered looking up, and then quickly looking down again when he realized just what he was seeing.

"I love you too, Meathead." She told him. "Now go away!"

"Right!" He called back running off.

Toph sent her bending after him, and felt him run back towards the earthbent guest house. About half way there he suddenly jumped into the air, spinning around once with his arms held high over his head. He landed at a run and continued on his way.

"What an idiot." The blind girl said under her breath, but with a little smile on her face.

She walked back into her bedroom and closed the window door and latched it. She climbed into her bed and pulled the covers over herself. She lay there for a few seconds, before remembering something.

"Ah... Fuck!" She cursed throwing the covers off and getting out of the bed.

She took her horse stance and felt for the stone under the carpet. She had to metal bend the lock on the door to the suite to release it, but she didn't feel like walking all the way to the door to do it.

Toph had never metal bent from a distance before. Normally she had to be in contact with the metal to bend it, unlike her earthbending, which she could do at a distance.

But why? She asked herself. Metal bending is just another form of earthbending.

She was grumpy at having to sneak around now that she was home, and she just didn't feel like walking through the bathroom, through the school room, just to touch the stupid door. She sent her bending through the stone of the floor to the front door of the suite. She found the door. The blind girl shifted into her forward stance, her right hand forward, and felt for the metal of the lock.

There!

Toph turned her hand, bending the small steel parts, and allowing them to move once again. It was a simple, subtle bit of bending that took concentration not power. She felt the metal slip, and a smile moved across her lips.

I am the greatest! She told herself raising her arms over her head in triumph.

The nearly thirteen year old girl climbed back into the bed and pulled the covers over herself. She had time for a nap before the official start of her day. She lay in the cold stiff sheets, in the too soft bed, that cut her off from the world, and gave a sad little sigh as she closed her eyes. She missed Sokka already.

XXX

Madame Wang paced up and down the corridor angry and unsure. She had arrived early to make sure her precious little child was safe and comfortable, but when she had tried to open the door the latch had not moved. It was as if the mechanism was frozen in place. The servant had tried her key, but even that did not move in the lock. And so for an hour she had paced before the door unsure of what to do next.

Had they changed the lock? She wondered.

She could go down and ask Butler Hong to unlock the door for her. He had the master keys for all of the house. But why would he change the lock and not inform her and give her the new key.

Ever since mistress Toph had runaway Madame Wang had been unsure of her place in the house. The blind girl was her responsibility and the servant had failed in her duty. From that moment the governess had been unsure of her place. She had even feared that she might be let go, since her charge had runaway, which had been a failure on Madame Wang's part on many different levels.

Perhaps Hong wants to get rid of me? She wondered pacing. All the servants may be against me.

She wasn't sure but she was a privileged servant, the governess with access to the Grand Duchess and even the Grand Duke occasionally. The other servants must be jealous of her. They could be trying to get rid of her, get her out of the way.

She continued to pace up and down the hallway.

.

Poor girl stood, holding a rattan cane in her hands, out of the way across from the door and waited.

Poor girl was very good at being out of the way. It was her second greatest skill.

Her greatest skill was her ability to wait. She spent most of her day waiting. Waiting for the order to pick something up, or to put something down. To walk here or walk there. To prepare herself for a beating. For many things. She had years of practice and she was an expert at it. A true master of the art.

To many it would seem that waiting would be easy, but to the true master it was a subtle and complex art. You couldn't just stand and let your mind wander. You had to train your mind to listen for the certain words that you had to respond to. You had to flow into action, as if you had been alert and waiting for that exact command. You could not pause or appear startled.

You could not lean on things, no matter how tired you were, or how little sleep you had had, or how much your knees and back ached from standing in one place for hours. You had to be alert yet relaxed, conscious, yet uninvolved. No matter how much you wanted to you couldn't let your mind wander too far.

Over the years she had learned all these skills and had mastered them. Her eyelids fell in a slow blink. Her mind drifted for a quarter of second in the darkness of her eye lids. To the dark face of a young man, with beautiful blue eyes, who struck out at the strong to save the weak. Even a poor servant girl. Then her eyes opened and she was back in the hallway, staying out of the way and waiting for Madame Wang's next command. Waiting for her eyes to close again, and the handsome vision to return.

.

Madame Wang paced by the door. She hated that door. It was an insult to her, and all the love she had for the little girl who was her responsibility. It was a symbol of her shame and failure.

She would have to go down to the servant's hall and wait for Butler Hong to rise. The other servants would smile and whisper about her failure, her newest failure. But she could see no other way. The door was locked and she had not been informed and her key no longer worked.

Out of frustration she grabbed the door handle one last time, and to her shock, she felt it move under her hand. Before it had been frozen, as if all the various parts of the latch had been welded together, but now it moved and she felt/heard the click as the door opened to her.

The servant pushed the door open with authority and walked into the room. One of the advantages of having a blind girl as her charge was that Toph's rooms were always well lit with glow crystals. Even at night when the nobleman's daughter was asleep.

Madam Wang moved to the bathroom door, turning back to see the servant girl closing the outer door and then scurrying to hang the new cane from its hook on the wall.

Seeing that everything was now back to normal, the governess, with only a slight hesitation, placed her hand on the door handle and felt the mechanism shift as it should. She opened the door, and moved through the bathroom to the bedroom door. She found this one unlocked as well, and opening it quietly she stepped into the room.

There on the bed was her beautiful little girl. The woman felt her throat close and her eyes burn with joyful tears at the sight. For month after month she had made this pilgrimage and the bed had been empty. Her delicate little flower gone. But now everything was as it should be and her world was safe again.

She silently crossed the room and sat in the chair next to the bed where she would watch and wait for the sun to rise.

Poor girl quietly closed the door behind her and took up her place by it, near but not touching the wall, and stood out of the way and waited. Waited for her eyes to blink, waited for another quarter second of beautiful blue eyes and smiling lips to appear on the inside of her eyelids.

XXXX

Sokka was awake and full of energy after what Toph had told him. He ran around the garden for a while, jumping up in the air and trying to use the gymnastic skills that Ty Lee had tried to teach him. He ran leaping up onto benches and doing front and back flips off of them, while trying to maintain his momentum as he ran.

Finally tired and panting from all the running and leaping, he just stood in the garden and stared up at the moon high in the western sky. It was just a little shy of a quarter full. The young man stood and stared up into the sky for a time.

"I hope you can forgive me." He finally said to the cool white sliver in the sky.

He stood and stared, the sweat turning cold on his skin. It was fall and the garden had lost its blooms. The color now just shades of green and brown as the breeze caused the last few leaves to fall from the trees.

"I don't know." He finally said. "I went after you and you pushed me away. I don't mean like pushed… but yeah… I mean being betrothed and all… but I really loved you. I still love you."

"Suki… Well Suki came after me and I felt like I had to love her back. It seemed only fair. If someone loves you, you should love them back, right? But now… now we just don't seem to fit right… like were two stones that are just grinding against each other, wearing each other down. Maybe I was trying to love her, instead of just loving her. I mean… I still love her… I don't know… Maybe I never really… no… I don't know…"

His head dropped and he stared at the grass for a time. Finally he looked up into the sky again.

"I really love Toph. I mean really love her. It's weird… I don't love you any less… It's just that I love Toph. It's like she makes my heart bigger somehow. Like loving her makes it easier for me to love more. I can love her and you and Gran Gran, and dad, and Katara, and everyone. I just really love her."

"Maybe…" He said thinking aloud. "Maybe the more you love the more you can love. I don't love you any the less it's just that I really love Toph and she loves me back. Maybe if I had never loved you, I wouldn't be able to love her. I'll always be grateful to you for that, letting me love you, letting me love."

He looked back at the earthbender's balcony and smiled. Then he turned once again to the night sky with a sheepish little smile on his face.

"I'm jealous of Aang." He confessed. "He told me how he got to see you and talk to you that time he was out on the ocean. I was a little hurt too when he told me. I mean you came to him but you've never come to me, except for that time in the swamp, and from what I understand that wasn't really you, just the swamp playing with my head. I know he's the Avatar and he can talk to spirits and stuff and I can't. So… Yeah… I'm jealous of Aang."

"Well it's getting late." He told the moon. "Or early really, should be starting my day. Talk to you later."

With that, the young man walked into the miniature library. He returned a few seconds later with his sword and began to practice his forms under the moon light in the dark garden.

.

Toph had fallen back asleep while lying in the bed, and was in the middle of a dream when Madame Wang pulled the covers off of her, and announced,

"The sun is up mistress! You will not be some spoiled little girl who sleeps the day away."

Toph's eyes shot open and her heart began to race. The old routine, with years and years of re-enforcement caused her mind to race. She had been dreaming of Aang and Katara and Sokka, back in their time together during the war. Now she feared that it had all been a dream. That the months of freedom and adventure and love, were just a dream.

She pushed herself up in the bed, unable to breath.

She felt something slid and tap against her throat. She reached up with her right hand and found the jade coin pendant that Sokka had given her. She took a breath. Her hand moved to her left bicep and found the space earth armlet. It had not been a dream. She sighed in relief.

"Up!" Madame Wang commanded, irritated that the girl had yet to get out of the bed. "You have a busy day ahead of you and the sun has already risen. We need to get you out of that... peasant's robe, cleaned up, and into some proper clothing."

Toph felt the cold hard fingers of the governess on her wrist pulling her hand away from the armlet, and her body from the bed. She tried to pull free but the woman just clamped down harder till it was painful. Finally she was dragged from the bed. The girl's resistance only irritated the older woman more as she pulled the earthbender from the bed.

The blind girl's feet hit the carpeted floor. She sent her bending out and recognized Madame Wang holding onto her, and felt Poor Girl over by the bathroom door.

The governess began to undress the twelve year old, none too gently. She pulled the water tribe top off of the girl. Now that the woman had the robe in her hand she realized it was some sort of thin animal hide. It made her skin crawl to be in contact with it.

"Girl!" Madame Wang commanded, as she threw the robe at the younger servant standing by the door. "Don't just stand there. Make the bed! And then get rid of that!"

"And what is this Thing on your arm?" The governess demanded of the blind girl, grabbing for the armlet. "You are the daughter of the House of Bei Fong, not some wild savage that wears old bits of iron, and animal skins."

Toph tried to pull her arm away, which only infuriated the older woman even more. The Governess pulled the armlet off of the girl and threw it on the night stand.

"I don't know what you and that wild beast have been doing for the last months…" Madame Wang proclaimed as she began to pull the girl's loin cloth down. "But it is going to stop right now.

Toph felt cold hands on her loin cloth pulling at it, tearing it off.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Toph shouted lashing out at the governess and shoving the woman away, with both hands.

Taken by surprise Madame Wang stumbled back losing her footing and falling to her knees. The older woman felt the floor under the carpet role beneath her.

Poor Girl who had begun to make the bed stopped, and tried to remain on her feet as the floor shifted.

The Governess looked up, fury in her eyes. She watched as Toph swept her right arm up, and the black metal armband flew from the table into the girl's hand, then the earthbender pushed the circle onto her upper left arm.

The woman struggled to her feet, using the wall to support her. The only sound being the metallic clicks of the ornaments dangling from her long hair pins.

Toph stood nearly naked and shivering in the cold room. The small girl forced the vomit rising in her throat back down into her roiling stomach. Terror, hurt and anger raged within her.

"How DARE you!" The woman cried. "I'll teach you not to strike your mother, you spoiled little bitch!"

Madame Wang advanced on the girl, her right hand raised and ready to strike. But Toph shifted her stance and swept her hands forward. The floor under the governess rolled again, throwing her off her feet and against the wall, causing lights to dance in her vision and her knees to give way as she slumped to the floor again.

"Now listen to me you little cunt!" Toph said in a tight breathy voice, pointing at the Governess. "By Oma and Shu if you ever touch me again, I will bury you so deep that they will need badger/moles just to find the body."

"I will decide what I wear, what I do, and who I do it with!" The blind girl went on, her voice growing stronger. "You are never to enter my bedroom again without my permission. Now get out of my room, before I do something that I will not regret in the least!"

"Wait till your Father hears about this." Madame Wang said, the venom evident in her voice as she pulled herself painfully to her feet.

"I'm sure he will be very interested when I tell him all about it." Toph replied. "Now get out!"

Madame Wang gave a short nod of a bow and left the room, the silk of her robe sounding like a heavy rain on a cold night, the metallic clack of the hair pins adding a quiet counterpoint.

Toph stood shivering, not from the cold air but from the storm of emotion running through her. The floor even seemed to be rolling though she was no longer using her bending to move it. The room spun around her. She had to struggle to keep from being sick.

I would have killed her! She realized, but she didn't know why.

The knowledge sent another wave of nausea through her already shaking body. She bent over fighting the need to vomit, wrapping her arms around herself to hold herself together.

The blind girl started as she felt something touch her shoulders. It was a bathrobe, soft and fuzzy and warm. She straightened grabbing at the cloth.

"Are you alright mistress?" Poor Girl asked, wrapping the robe about her.

The young servant had stayed behind more out of surprise than anything else. Madame Wang had not made any sign to the young servant, nor had the governess given any command when she had left the room, so Poor Girl had just stood there.

It took a moment for the thirteen year old to come to her senses. Then she saw the blind girl standing cold, naked and alone shivering on the far side of the room. The servant grabbed the bathrobe from the hanger, and rushed to the younger girl.

"Fine!" Toph answered pulling the robe on.

"Can I get you anything?" The servant asked.

"No." The blind girl replied, closing the robe.

Toph realized as she cinched the robe closed that she was covered in a layer of cold sweat and was still shivering. What she wanted was Sokka to be here, so he could hold her in his strong arms, to have his warm body against hers, warming and calming her.

"Is there any hot water?" She asked the servant.

Toph had never really cared for taking baths, until her last one. That hot bath with Sokka there helping her, had changed her attitude. If she couldn't have her boyfriend, well at least she could have the hot bath.

"Oh yes mistress." Poor Girl answered. "But it is a little different now. They just installed a new way of washing yourself."

.

Toph stood under the streams of hot water as they poured down onto the back of her neck and her shoulders, willing her muscles to relax.

A Rain Bath! She smiled.

It was smaller than the one they had in Ba Sing Se, but in every other way it was the same. Poor Girl had told her it was new, having only been installed last week along with a number of others in the big house. Toph didn't really care. She just let the fall of hot water pound the emotions from her body.

This was good, not as good as having Sokka there holding her, but still good.

The thought of her boyfriend eased the tension inside her even more. She wrapped her arms around herself and raised her head, the hot water spilling off of her shoulders and now down her chest and stomach covering all of her in the wonderful heat.

That would be better. She thought wickedly, as blood moved up into her cheeks heating them even more.

Yes if Sokka was here with her, their two bodies slick with water and soap, his long arms around her, his chest against hers, his lips on her own.

"Hmmmm… Sokkaaaa…" Toph hummed.

"Mistress?" Poor Girl called from the bathroom, where she had been laying out towels and the robe.

"Nothing!" Toph answered, blushing furiously.

The earthbender returned to actually washing herself.

.

"Nothing fits!" Toph complained the frustration evident in her tone.

"I'm sorry mistress." Poor Girl apologized.

The servant had laid out sets of clothes for the young girl as she had seen Madame Wang do hundreds of times, but as Toph tried each item on it was evident that everything was too small, from the underclothes to the outer robe and pants. It had been nearly a year since Toph had worn any of these clothes, and obviously it had been a year with a lot of changes.

"Where's my pack?" Toph finally asked in frustration.

She was standing there naked which she hated.

"I put it and the rest of your things under the bed." Poor Girl answered. "Madame Wang ordered me to get them out of the way."

Toph used her bending to shoot her bags out from under the bed and up against the wall where she could get at them.

"Just leave them here from now on." The earthbender commanded, opening the backpack.

Toph pulled a set of underclothes out and tossed them onto the bed. Poor Girl unrolled the bundle and separated out the individual items in preparation to putting them on the younger girl.

"Oh dear!" The servant exclaimed looking at the under shorts, then at the breast wrapper. "These have been torn and repaired. And whoever did it did not do a very good job. These really should be thrown away Mistress. Do you have any others?"

"Fine." Toph said pulling out a second bundle and tossing it on the bed.

"But save those." The twelve year old said, indicating the first items. "I want to keep them."

"Yes Mistress." Poor Girl answered bowing.

The servant rolled up the first set and handed it back to her mistress, who returned it to the backpack. The second bundle was a set Toph had bought at the fair, and was much more acceptable to the servant.

Toph felt much better in her underclothes, even if the under tunic and shorts were a little smaller than she liked them, but that was the new style according to the shop girl she had bought them from. The only outfit she had, that she was willing to wear today at least, was the one she had on yesterday. Poor Girl pulled the clothes from the dirty clothes hamper and helped her mistress put them on.

"This belt is so heavy, mistress." The servant commented as she carried it from the wardrobe. "Do you want me to look for another one that is lighter?"

The earthbender felt a cold shiver run up her spine.

"I like that one." She told the older girl pulling the belt on.

Poor Girl secured the belt at the back.

Toph nervously fingered the coins in their pouches inside the belt for a few seconds.

"If you…" The blind girl haltingly began but then took a breath and went on. "If you ever need any money just ask me for it."

"Mistress?" The servant asked, surprised and confused.

"I have lots of money." Toph explained. "So if you ever need any just ask me for it."

"Oh no, mistress. Madame Wang would whip me bloody if I ever asked you for anything." The servant explained to the smaller girl.

"She is never to touch you ever again!" The daughter of the Grand Duke commanded, turning toward the older girl.

"What can I do, mistress?" Poor Girl asked. "I'm a servant here, I have to do what I am told. I have no choice."

"I'll think of something." Toph reassured the older girl. "Don't worry."

Toph entered the dining room followed by Madame Wang and Poor Girl. Her parents were already seated at the table. Sokka, who had been standing uncomfortably by the table moved to her and gave her a hug,

"Sleep well?" He asked, giving her a little kiss.

Why is he asking me that? Toph wondered for a second, after all they had slept together last night. Then she realized, and thought, Good one Meathead.

"Fine." She answered. "And you?"

"Fine." He replied, as he escorted her to her chair by the table.

Before she could sit she was met by her father who had nearly knocked his chair over as he stood.

"Toph, it is so good to see you this morning." He told her giving her an awkward hug and a little kiss on the cheek.

"I wish I could say the same." She replied with a little laugh and an answering kiss.

"I'm so sorry." Lao said, his face falling into an embarrassed frown.

"It's ok father." She told him with a laugh, as she gave him a little punch to the shoulder.

The Grand Duke rubbed his arm and stepped away from his daughter, a look of concern overtaking the frown on his face.

"Meathead is always forgetting that I can't see, aren't you stupid?"

"All the time, your grace." Sokka answered. "She makes it too easy to forget."

"Yeah, but I still love him." Toph said, giving her boyfriend a much harder punch.

"And I'm glad you do." The young man told her, pulling out her chair.

Toph sat down. Lao returned to his own chair, still rubbing his shoulder, but now with a small smile on his face.

"You wore that yesterday." Poppy said in an unhappy voice from her end of the table.

"Yes mother." Toph replied. "It's the only thing I have that fits."

This last was not exactly true but she did not think her mother would appreciate any of the other outfits she had bought at the fair.

"Well whose fault is that?" The Grand Duchess remarked in an irritated tone while sipping her tea.

The other three people at the table turned to the Grand Duchess at her statement, but no one made a comment.

"At least we can have Weimin make you some everyday clothes now that you are home." Poppy told her daughter. "And he can design something for you as well." She added looking to Sokka.

"Thank you, your grace." The young man replied, bowing his head to the woman. "When you have to carry everything on your back you tend to leave your best clothes at home. My sister will be bringing the rest of my things with her on Appa when she and Aang come down for the party."

"Yes of course." Lao said. "When traveling on your own, without servant's, you have to strip yourself of all the superfluous things you have taken for granted. It must be very liberating, returning to just the essentials like that."

"Yes your grace." Sokka affirmed. "Though when you have to wash yourself and your clothes in a cold mountain stream, I'm not sure liberating is the first word that comes to mind."

"Servants!" Toph exclaimed.

The three other diners looked in surprise at the outburst.

"I was just thinking…" The earthbender told her father in a more normal tone. "…that I should have my own servant, like you and mother do."

"You have Madame Wang." Her mother pointed out, a little irritation entering her voice.

"I think she means a personal servant." Sokka added, he had an idea of what his girlfriend was really after. "You mean someone close to your own age, who would answer only to you, and could help you through the day."

"Yes." Toph agreed.

"After all…" Sokka went on. "…Madame Wang is her governess, and as such her duties are to educate and instruct not to act as a servant."

"Exactly!" The blind girl said, smiling at her boyfriend.

"Do you mean like a lady's maid?" Lao asked.

"Yes, a lady's maid." Toph jumped on the idea.

She wasn't sure what a lady's maid was but she knew her mother had one, and it sounded good.

"Like that girl that helps Madame Wang." Sokka suggested. "She would already know what was required of her and could step right into the job."

"She would be perfect!" Toph exclaimed, clapping her hands, and smiling at her young man.

Sokka smiled back at her. He felt a little guilty, since the two of them were pulling a scam on her parents, at least it felt like a scam, but that smile from Toph was more than worth any guilt he might feel.

"I don't know…" Poppy said from the end of the table. "Toph is a little young to have a lady's maid. And I don't want to upset the household."

"Well Toph is turning thirteen, wouldn't she be considered a young woman at that age?" Sokka commentated.

"Please father, can't I have a lady's maid." Toph begged.

Sokka had never seen Toph use puppy eyes to get her way before and he had to admit she was very good at it to his surprise.

"It could be an early birthday present." The tribesman suggested.

"I don't know." Poppy said, looking to her husband.

"I still remember the first employee I hired." Sokka mused, stroking his chin.

As he was doing it he realized that the whole chin stroking was a little too much, but he had already started so he was committed to the gesture and continued with it.

"It was a very maturing experience…" He continued. "Knowing that you are responsible for someone's work and income. I have to say it changed me for the better."

This last was not just part of the scam, it was true, hiring an employee had been a sobering experience for the young tribesman.

"It is her birthday in just a couple of days." Lao told his wife.

Except for his own valet, servants and the household were Poppy's concern, and he rarely interfered with her on these decisions.

"Well…" Poppy began.

"Please mother?" Toph begged.

"How old were you, your grace when you got your first lady's maid?" Sokka asked.

"Oh all right." Poppy finally relented.

"Thank you so much, mother." Toph said, in all sincerity. "And you too father."

With this last the blind girl rose from her chair, rushed over and kissed the Grand Duke on the cheek, which caused the older man's cheeks to gain color and a large grin to come to his mouth.

As Toph returned to her chair she decided that she would have to punch Sokka really hard when she got the chance for all his help. Then tonight, she would stick her tongue into his mouth. This last thought sent a little hot thrill through her, as she sat down.

Sokka was just returning to his food, when he felt a pair of eyes on him. He looked up to see Madame Wang staring at him. Her face wore the usual harsh expression that she normally showed to the world. But her eyes were filled to overflowing with hate. Specifically hate for him. He just smiled back at her, raising one eyebrow jauntily. After all he had faced down Azula during the Day of Black Sun. He was not going to be intimidated by some governess.

Of course Azula had been secured to the wall by Toph's bending, and the princess was unable to bend fire, because of the eclipse. Even so he had still stared eye to eye with her on that day, for a few seconds. So he held Madam Wang's eye now, until the governess was the first to look away.

Toph was standing in her mother's sitting room, where the Grand Duchess had dragged her after breakfast. The blind bender had forgone the offered chair so she could keep her feet on the ground which allowed her to sense the room and her parent as the noble woman paced anxiously up and down the small space.

She felt the door open and Madame Wang step in.

"Master Weimin has arrived, your grace." The governess announced.

The bender noticed that Madame Wang stepped in and whispered something to the Grand Duchess. Her mother looked at the servant, who nodded in confirmation. Poppy stalked quickly to her daughter, bent down and pulled up Toph's pant leg.

"Oma and Shu!" The woman exclaimed.

"What?" Toph asked pulling her leg away from the grabbing claw.

"Toph! You're covered in… hair!" Her mother exclaimed.

"Oh crap!" The young girl cursed.

She had forgotten to shave this morning, well for the last two or three months really.

"Young lady you are a complete disaster!" Poppy accused. "That wild man may like you covered in fur, but you will not appear in public naked looking like this."

"?!Naked?!" Toph nearly shouted.

"They have to measure you for your new outfits, and they can't do that with your clothes on!" The Grand Duchess explained, grabbing onto her daughter's arm. "Madame Wang, inform Miss Gao that we have an emergency and to get everything ready. We will meet her in the Spa."

"You!" Poppy said pointing to Poor Girl with her free hand. "Tell that Water Tribe barbarian to meet Master Weimin in the audience chamber immediately. That will keep him busy while we try to turn my daughter back into a human being."

"Yes your grace." The servant girl said bowing and running down the hallway.

"Toph, you are such a disappointment to me." Poppy scolded her daughter as she dragged the young girl off to the spa by the arm.

Sokka followed Grand Duke Lao into the library. While his host took his seat behind his desk the tribesman went to the hawk as it moved from side to side restlessly on its perch. The teen had brought a small bowl from the breakfast table with bits of meat for the bird, and fed the raptor now from his fingers. Sokka crooned and squawked at the bird who answered in kind.

"It sounds like you two are having a conversation." The Grand Duke commented looking up from the work on his desk.

The younger man just smiled, stroking the birds head, and then dumping the last of the meat in the food bowl attached to the perch.

"Hawky and I are friends, your grace." The teen told his host.

"I believe you are." The noble replied with a smile, going back to his work.

Sokka sat down at the long table and looked at the stack of mail still waiting for him. He had taken care of all the business letters he had received yesterday, and had even gotten through most of the political scrolls.

Zuko wanted him back in the Fire Nation to help him with the military, the Fire Lord wanted his blue eyes and big ears back.

Iroh wanted him to go on a "Tea Buying" expedition in the western Earth Kingdom, between the Fire Colonies and the territory controlled by the Earth Army (Which to Sokka sounded like a job for the Black Lotus).

Bumi wanted his help in Omashu with the "Tinky Tumbles" and "Rolly Gnolies" left from the war. The young tribesman had no idea what the mad king was talking, well writing, about.

Chief Arnook wanted him to return to the North Pole, the chief wouldn't tell him what he was needed for, but Arnook insisted that it was important, so important that the Chief of the Northern Tribe had sent a delegation down to bring him back with them.

Aang wanted him back in Ba Sing Se. The Avatar was worried about the Ruling Council and their plans to take over the kingdom if Kuei did not return, or perhaps more importantly even if the king did return.

Even Gran Gran needed him. She wanted him to return to the South Pole with the Water Tribe Fleet. She was having problems with the Northerners who had come down to help the Southern Tribe, but apparently they were now causing more trouble than they were helping.

Sokka looked at the pile of scrolls and sighed. During the war he had gone and done what he had wanted. Yes he was helping Aang and all that, but the teen had really felt free for the first and last time in his life.

Now everyone he knew had something for him to do. He was convinced it was because he was the least important person they all knew. He was the only normal, non-bending guy around. He was sure that Toph and Katara were not getting requests like this. They were too busy doing important bending type things, which left all the little dirty jobs of making the peace up to "Mr. Normal".

What he really wanted was to hang out with Toph, maybe travel some more and have some fun with his girlfriend. After a couple of years of adventures, maybe he could go to the University in Ba Sing Se, he would like that. Then he and Toph could settle down somewhere in the Earth Kingdom and get married and make babies, lots of babies. He better talk to Toph about the babies thing. He made a note in his book.

Sokka grabbed the next letter in the pile, recognized it, and like the last five times he had grabbed it he put it back in the pile. He had been avoiding that particular letter since last night. It was from Suki and he just didn't have the courage to read it yet. The only problem was that he was running out of other letters to read.

He looked at the next letter and saw that it was from Ty Lee. He was about to break the seal when the door to the library opened and Hong and another servant walked in. The butler had a stack of scrolls in his arms, the younger servant behind him, was carrying two wooden trays with more scrolls in the top one.

Hong walked to the Grand Duke's desk and deposited the letters in a tray.

"The morning mail, your grace." The butler intoned.

"Thank you, Hong." Lao replied with a nod.

The servant then led his small procession to the table occupied by the tribesman. Sokka stood and bowed, and received a deeper bow from both servants in reply. The younger servant placed the two trays on the table. Sokka noticed that the one containing the scrolls was marked "IN" and the empty one had "OUT" written on it.

"You may place any mail you wish to have sent out in this tray, sir." The butler explained pointing to the one marked OUT. "And any new mail we receive for you will be placed in this tray."

With this last the older man indicated the tray containing the small number of scrolls.

"Thank you, Hong." Sokka said, bowing to the man.

"And allow me to introduce Shen, my lord." The butler said indicating the young man with him, who bowed to the tribesman at the mention of his name. "I have asked him to look after you while you are with us."

"Thank you, but I don't want to be any trouble for you." Sokka replied with a bow.

"It will be my honor, your highness." Shen explained, bowing.

"I don't actually have any title." The tribesman told the servant.

"You should address our guest simply as 'sir'" Hong explained to the younger servant.

"Yes Master Hong." Shen replied to the rebuke from the butler with a bow.

"Young sir." Hong now addressed Sokka with a bow. "With your permission I would like to make some changes to your accommodations in the hopes of making you more comfortable. I took the liberty of checking them this morning and found them quite rustic."

"Whatever you want would be fine with me." Sokka told the servant.

"Is there anything that young Shen could do for you at this time?" The Butler inquired.

"No, thank you." Sokka answered with a bow. "Everything is perfect."

"In that case, with your permission, we will take our leave of you, sir." The Butler informed him with a bow, Shen following suit. "If you need anything please don't hesitate to ring."

With this last Hong pointed to the bell pull by the desk.

"Thank you, Butler Hong." Sokka bowed. "I will not hesitate in the least."

There was more bowing and the two servants eventually left. Sokka sat down with a quiet sigh.

"Servants can be a burden." The Grand Duke said with a chuckle. "But I'm sure there are a hundred things that Hong does for me every day that I am unaware of but that make my life better and easier."

"No doubt, your grace." Sokka responded with a smile.

.

Toph lay on the cold marble slab that was the massage table of her mother's bathroom, sorry spa. The room was the size of Toph's entire suite of rooms put together. She had been stripped to her loin cloth and breast wrap by Poppy's servant women, and she was shivering slightly on the cold stone slab. Well at least she could use her bending on the stone.

She felt the women moving purposely about the room and could smell the wax heating on a burner set on a small table by the foot of the slab she was on. She had only had to go through this "waxing" a couple of times before she had run off with the Gaang. As she remembered it was not a lot of fun. It made her wish she had shaved that morning.

"Everything, your grace?" A servant asked.

"All of it, arms, legs, everything." Poppy told the woman.

Toph felt cold hands begin to pull at her loin cloth. She just clutched the sides of the slab and grit her teeth. Protesting would be pointless.

.

The blind girl let her mind wander back to Ba Sing Se to distract herself. It was a morning when Mai was still with them. All of the girls sharing one bedroom. Mai was in a dressing gown, sitting in front of a small mirror plucking her eyebrows with a pair of tweezers. Suki and Katara were partially dressed and Ty lee had just come in from the bathroom.

The acrobat pulled off her robe and stood naked deciding what she should wear that day. Ty Lee and Suki had no problem being naked in front of the other girls. To be truthful, Ty Lee didn't seem to mind being half naked in front of the boys either. Toph hated being naked in front of anyone.

"Ahhh… Ty… I've been meaning to ask you…" Katara reluctantly questioned the other girl. "…Why do you shave down… there too?"

"You mean here?" The acrobat asked, rubbing her lower abdomen.

"Well… yes, if you don't mind me asking?" The water bender answered.

"I don't know I just always have." Ty Lee answered with no trace of embarrassment. "Don't you?"

"No!" Katara replied in shock.

Suki gave a little snicker over in her corner.

"Why not?" Mai asked in her dour way, pulling a hair from her face. "It's hair after all, and no one sees it, you might as well get rid of it. If my parents wouldn't go crazy on me, I'd shave my head. Hair is such a pain."

All the girls knew that Mai shaved every day, though Toph thought it had more to do with the girl's desire to scrape her skin with really sharp blades. Mai had once sharpened Toph's razor for her and the edge was so keen that the blind girl had been afraid to use it afterward.

"Well…" Katara said defensively. "It's just that it took me fourteen years to grow that hair. I don't want to look like a ten year old again."

"Me neither." Suki agreed with a laugh. "Going through puberty once was bad enough. I can still remember how much it itched growing in the first time."

"So… Katara…" Mai said abandoning her mirror and turning to the tribeswoman. "I've always wondered about something, myself."

"Yes?" Katara asked with a little bit of trepidation entering her voice.

"Well to be honest, I've always been a little jealous that your boyfriend shaves his head. I can't wait till Zuko starts shaving up there again." Mai said with a small smile. "But I was curious does Aang shave everywhere?"

"How would I know?!" Katara answered flustered and embarrassed by the question.

"My question is... " Suki asked the knife thrower pointedly, coming to the water bender's aid. "... does your boyfriend?

Mai turned to the warrior and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, he does." She answered with a smirk.

"What I want to know…" Ty Lee, who was still naked, asked bouncing on the balls of her feet. "…Does Sokka?"

"No!"

The answer was not unexpected though who gave it was. It was said simultaneously by both Katara and Suki.

Katara said it in an irritated tone, with her fists on her hips and a reproachful frown on her face.

Suki had said it in a more thoughtful tone with a small knowing smile on her lips.

Katara, her eyebrows rising up towards her hair, turned a shocked face to Suki, who responded with a single raised brow and the knowing smile turned into one of defiant smugness.

The performance of the two earned a quiet laugh from Mai, an excited giggle from the hopping Ty Lee, and an embarrassed head turn from Toph.

"Then maybe you two can tell me something else about cutie." Ty Lee said in her sly yet coy little girl voice.

"Don't worry!" Suki cut the younger girl off, turning on her angrily. "The way you keep bouncing those huge boobs of yours all over the house you'll get all the answers you need directly from 'Cutie' himself."

The acrobat stopped bouncing and her smile was replaced by a hurt angry frown.

"I don't bounce my boobs." She told the older girl, stomping her foot down for emphasis, which unfortunately caused her breasts to jiggle, she cross her arms over her chest to cover them.

Toph wasn't sure what the two girls were talking about, but she decided that now would be a good time to head off to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Alright, alright I think everyone should calm down." Katara said as the blind girl was heading for the door. "Ty Lee, put some clothes on, Suki, hurry and finish dressing we have to get breakfast started. Toph make sure the boys are up and ready, and Mai go back to… whatever it was you were doing."

"Anything you say Sugar Queen." The earthbender had answered while leaving the room.

.

Toph was brought back to the here and now by the feeling of warm wax being spread over the top of her right leg. Then she felt it on her left. There were two of her mother's women working on her. She was such a disaster, as her mother had pointed out.

The cloth followed and then the pain as it was ripped off. She gave a hiss to relieve the tension. Tui and La she had forgotten how much this hurt.

"Oh please!" Poppy scorned her daughter. "A woman's lot is nothing but pain. This is nothing compared to what you'll have to go through every month when your blood starts to flow."

"Oh please!" Toph mocked her mother. "I've already been through all that. I've given my gift to Tui, and worn my hair up. Oh and thanks for the warning on that! Luckily my boyfriend was there to explain it all to me, and all of Tui's other wonderful gifts to women."

The young girl gave another hiss of pain as another strip of hair was torn from her leg.

Tooee! The Grand Duchess thought.

She knew the name. It was the name of the Water Tribe Moon Spirit. The spirit that was rumored to have come to the earth as a beautiful girl with white hair and become this Sakka's lover. Giving him strange powers.

And now this barbarian, this beast, had turned her own daughter into a worshiper of this pagan spirit. Turning her from her own true faith, into something foreign and evil. Poppy decided she had to do something, had to talk to someone, to save her daughter. There really was only one person who would be able to help her.

"Madame Wang, I need to speak to you privately." The Grand Duchess said motioning the governess over to her and away from the rest of the servants.

Toph gave another hiss of pain.

To be continued:

Disclaimer: "Avatar the Last Airbender" the characters and the world were created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom or Paramount or some huge corporation. This is purely a work of fan fiction because I wanted to play in their world and I love the characters that they created.

Author's notes:

Hi All,

Yes another very late chapter and this is only the first part of it. I was really sick for about a month with a very nasty flu bug, I still have a lingering cough from it. Then a friend asked me to help him with a project he was doing, and that took another month. But that doesn't explain the last month. I just had a hard time getting my head back into the story and getting the words going again, and for that I apologize.

I hope you enjoyed what I have here. As I said above this is only the first part of the chapter. I was already over 9,000 words with a long way to go, so instead of waiting for the rest I decided to start putting out the chapter in parts. I hope to have the next part out faster.

Thanks so much for reading.

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New FanART; Sicksketch has done some wonderful sketches over on Tumblr. Please take a look, just search under the tag "ill walk you home" and you will find them.

Fanart; There is fanart for the story on DeviantArt; Totalfanboy21 has a great picture of an older Toph and Sokka inspired by the story and Abi-chan14 and Cutubulla as well as Kawayui-Kage have created Fanart for the story. I am really honored that talented artists have liked the story so much that they have actually made art based on it. Please check them out.

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Thank you all so much for sticking with my story.

I have to thank everyone for the really generous and kind reviews. You guys keep me going and I really appreciate all the support. I always try to answer all reviews. If I missed any one please forgive me.

I'd like to thank all the guest reviewers for their criticism and support. I really am trying to get better at this and need all the help I can get.

To tokka lover; Thank you very much, I will try.

to bvbarmy; Hi Sha, Thank you very much. Hope you like this next chapter.

to fan2099; sorry for the long delay, but here it , we'll have to see what Poppy get's up to but not quite yet.

to Kat; Thank you very much.

To That Other Guy; Thank you, I'll try.

To Guest; Yeah... sorry about that, but when you look at a page and you see the characters names at the start of every paragraph I get a little crazy. I hope I'm doing better in these most recent chapters.

To Lillian; Thank you very much, I'm glad you are enjoying it. Your English is amazing, I would never have the courage to try and write in another language. Well, we'll just have to see what happens.

To Abby; Sorry for the long delay, and thank for the generous words.

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Once again thank you to all those who have added this story to their alerts and especially their favorites, and a very special thank you to all who have added me to your author alerts and favorites. That is a real honor for me. I hope I have not disappointed you with this chapter.

Thank you to all for reading

All comments and/or criticisms are more than welcome.