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This is the highest of compliments, trust me... But Tangi reminds me of the type of lawyer that @October Daye would create.
Avatar: Between Two Doors
- Thread starter veteranMortal
- Start date
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- atla
Callmesalticidae
probably not a spider
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I like the way that you alternated between their scenes, especially the descriptions of Toph and Tangi.
Chapter 35: Earth
New
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 35: Earth
"Earth is the element of substance. The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring."
Blessed are the heavens and the earth alike, to one who knows the Jing and seeks to use them to triumph. This is what the General had been taught, and it had allowed him to survive through the war, through decades of conflict. But now, what Jing was there for this? For a battle with the Fire Nation for the sake of millions of souls, this delegation could not fail.
General Faan Cha understood what was meant by all of this. He understood that the Fire Lord was more clever if less vicious than his predecessor. He'd use the language of "kindness" or "choice" to enslave Earthbenders as fifth-class citizens and use his mastery of the colonies to become the richest of the Nations, and with this wealth in a generation or three his people would simply take control of the world without having to do anything so crude as the extermination of the other peoples.
It was obvious that was his plan, because who could accidentally do such moves as to try to enforce Fire Nation rule in the colonies while presenting himself as the kinder version of the old lies.
But now he, and all those who thought like him, were going to talk to the several people who could stop him.
He and his son, and several others were here; other allies would be talking with Katara and Avatar Aang.
Toph Beifong, though, was their best bet. Someone actually from the Earth Kingdom. The Avatar's whole people were dead because of Fire Nation interference, but considering how they valued detachment over family bonds, no doubt he'd forgiven the Fire Nation and now had nothing to fight for, no reason to care. That is what a lack of attachment meant, after all. And at the end of the day, parts of the Fire Nation army were still in the colonies, "Keeping order."
This told just what the Fire Lord's motivations were.
But even though Beifong was a woman, she was by all accounts the most Earthbender of Earthbenders. So, tugging on his beard, Faan sought her out. But it was harder to find her than expected. He found himself wandering the halls of the palace, an official guest but dressed differently from these flame-bearing monsters, who whispered and sniggered behind their pitiful sleeves at him as he marched about. The colors were all so harsh and brutal, just like the heart of the average Firebender, and he found himself having to keep from jumping at this or that sound.
Toph Beifong was somewhere around here, and he needed her support. The colonies rightfully belonged to the Earth Kingdom. The colonization was an act of cruelty and evil that needed to be corrected now.
But to get to any of that, he first had to be able to actually find Toph. It was as if she was hiding from him, for all that he was all but certain that was not actually the case.
But where could she be?
Tangi did have a life, for all that quite a few people, including the woman she loved, seemed to think otherwise.
She was not even particularly working on the case that day, just going over a few old precedents and taking an early lunch. Admittedly she was doing this rather than accepting her girlfriend's cousin's offer of a trial expedition. He was trying to start up a camping organization, something that'd let people who enjoyed the not that great outdoors together. He'd gotten a very distant cousin of his involved, who was the maid to Toph Beifong, who it seemed clear was… some kind of friend to Princess Azula?
The world was a very, very small one when it came to the quasi-incestous entanglements of the middle and lower ranks off the palace sorts. Ah well. She rubbed at her eyes, and put away what passed for light work. She stood slowly, a little delicately. She'd had her leg cramp when she got up from a long day of work, and the experience and the pain of it, on a day where everything else in her life was falling apart, had stuck with her. She moved more gingerly now, andi she could only overcome this with less gingerness in all other parts of her life.
She stood, and almost sneezed at the dust. But it was more the air of spring and summer that left her coughing, for reasons the doctors were still debating when they bothered to. As it was, she glanced around the small side room and moved toward the door.
Before she reached it, there was a knock.
Who?
She considered the door and opened it.
On the other side was someone she'd been expecting for a while.
Tangi, of no clan name that would claim her and that she would claim in turn, took in Toph Beifong.
To hear the rumors, she was still at least nominally the heir of one of the richest men in the lands of Earth outside of a few powerful colonial governors and of course plenty of nobles in Ba Sing Se. There were probably a few others, but she looked at this girl and understood that it didn't matter. She'd not bother to spit, let alone smother with her earth, all the wealth she was to "inherit" even if it were on fire.
It was a familiar observation.
Toph Beifong, for all of that, seemed marked by her life as what she was. She was starting to grow. She was still short, but not as short, she was still small, but not as small. She was dressed in practical green clothing, her bare feet tracking dirt into the room, her eyes pale and blank as she stared in Tangi's general direction. She smelled faintly of soil and swear, and her expression was a careful one.
"What is it, Miss Beifong?" Tangi asked, and realized at once that perhaps some part of her really did want to start a fight.
She couldn't dislike the girl, hero as she was. But she did wonder at the friendship she thought existed. After all, Azula had asked her to leave sometimes, even in the middle of a conversation, because Toph would probably be around. Once or twice she'd been able to tell that Toph didn't show up by Azula's foul mood hours later.
It was actually, truly impressive.
She never would have guessed that at all. It was not her concern, really, but she had the feeling that the Princess may be more invested in their friendship than Toph. She was almost certain that had never happened before. Or perhaps it was a sign that Toph was not particularly invested. It was hard to be sure.
But now, looking at this girl, she wondered if she had it wrong. "I need you to tell me the truth," Toph demanded. And it was a demand, this much was obvious. "I'll know if you lie to me. I'll know it." Her voice grew harsher, but she didn't move to threaten Tangi.
Tangi realized she didn't have to, that the undeniable fact was that she was sort of a wimp and Toph could fight an entire army and win. But, she had a brain.
Everyone said Toph could tell when someone was lying. But how? Obviously, she was blind, so it was not a matter of reading facial expressions. So it had to be… ah. The information given by her Earthbending.
The only way that could make sense is if it was picking up something. Pulse? Heart rate? Oh, then…
Tangi considered how best she could fool it, aware that her mind was skipping right over the question of whether she should bother trying. Why had she given everything up, why had she made all of these choices, if not to do her best?
And it felt like a challenge.
She crossed her arms, and then where it couldn't be seen she put her nails to work. Scholars often had longer nails to signal that they didn't need to do manual labor, though it was a habit that had been lost in the rush of militarization and removing any remaining elements of "inferior earth culture" from the Fire Nation. She'd grown the nails on her left hand out since the fall of Ozai, and so she was able to do just what she needed.
"You can tell when I lie? Sure, I believe you," and as she said those last words she dug her nails into her sleeve and let herself feel the pain. It hurt a lot.
"Lie…? No, Truth…? No…"
Toph looked genuinely baffled, frowning and a little lost.
"There's several ways to fool your trick, and one of them is simple: pain. Pain makes the heart rate spike, as does running and moving, and that can cover the shifts when lying. But also, there are others: if someone is a fabulist, able to lie to themselves, that works. If they are able to lie without focusing on it, that ends the same. If they're given to panic, I bet they could hide it by panicking about something unrelated… albeit only that'd be a way to tell the truth and be called a liar. But, isn't that half of what the world is?" Tangi asked it with a tilt of her head. She knew that it was petty to feel triumph at getting one over on someone who is, again, a child. She's fourteen, and she cannot quantify how much of an idiot she was at fourteen.
But she kept on talking. "There are other tricks. The one I used is simple: pain. Pain spikes the heart just like a lie does. If I can think of them, others can. So, I can lie to you, it's just difficult."
Toph looked shocked. "I've only met… three or four people who've even figured any of that out a little. None of them were as good as Azula used to be. She'd lie by saying the most absurd things and her heart would not budge an inch. Then when I met her again, just to see, she couldn't lie to me. She still can't. I know her too well," Toph said, and she sounded sad.
Tangi might even go so far as to say that she sounded sad enough that tears might fall, that the heavens might water the earth. But there was not a tear in those eyes, and barely a hitch in the voice. But it was the tone.
"So, sometimes she tells me things will be fine, and sometimes she believes it and sometimes she doesn't. But mostly, she doesn't talk about the trial. So what's what I'm here for. I wanna know, does she have a chance?"
It was a plea, a plea from the heart.
She wanted the truth, and Tangi realized just how deeply and how powerfully she did care.
It was honestly a little sad, though she did not let it penetrate too far into her. She was not acting as Azula's lawyer out of sentiment, whether political or personal. But it still at least answered an important question.
"Define 'a chance'? She's almost certainly not going to be convicted of everything she's charged with, but she's probably guilty enough to just barely justify a death sentence if one was stretching and life in prison without any… need for fabulation and politics. When one counts what she'll be found guilty of, a larger list in part thanks to politics, and in part her own stubbornness, then the odds are. Yes." She concluded this simply and said, "The fight has yet to be concluded, but by those standards we will probably--"
"I asked the judge if he'd be fair, and he said he would," Toph blurted out. "He was lying."
"Another problem, yes," Tangi said, with narrowed eyes. "One I was largely aware of, but the fact that he promised fairness and was lying could matter… except that your ability is almost certainly not admissible in any court. It does not matter how trusted you are, you could be lying about him lying."
"I wouldn't!" Toph shouted, then paused. "Okay, honestly I kinda would? Not that I'm lyin', but yep. That's something I'd do if it saved Azula."
It was an amusing sort of honesty. Tangi sighed. "I can use this, but if we're being honest it'd be better for you to convince Azula to stop claiming she was more involved in the extermination plans than she was. What the actual records show is that she carelessly and somewhat cruelly suggested burning down the whole Earth Kingdom, did not regret this advocacy at the time, but was not in meetings planning the mass burials once they burned entire villages down with the people in it." Tangi saw the look of brief horror on Toph's face. "She gave an unreasonably cruel suggestion, but she was distracted by other matters. It became an abstraction for her, and yet if she admits she was too busy she'd be admitting…"
"No, not too busy," Toph said. "Not let into meetings. It'd make her seem less important, and she's almost as proud as I am." Toph grinned as if this pride was a strength, rather than a damning fault.
But then again, Tangi was damned as well, she decided. Pride was a fault that she had enough of to press and pin between a hundred books, like all the beautiful butterflies of self-regard. Beautiful butterflies of self-regard? What was that nonsense, she thought. It was hardly a proper metaphor. But no matter, she was not in this world to make beautiful metaphors but succinct and persuasive arguments.
"Yes, she is. It's a strength, but all strengths are also weaknesses."
"Retaliatory Jing," Toph said to herself, "Or perhaps 'Tortoise Shell' Jing?"
"Excuse me?"
"Nah, not excusing you, sorry," Toph said, grinning. "C'mon, let's go and see if we can talk to Azula, tell her to stop being such a dumbass."
Tangi was on her day off, and opened her mouth to make it very, very clear that she was trying to enjoy a few hours rest and even had somewhere to be. "Briefly," she found herself saying instead. "Then I need to go visit my girlfriend. Actually visit her, not just get so caught up in work I forget."
"Cool," Toph said, though Tangi hadn't expected much besides that. Yes, the Earth Kingdom had a reputation of being intolerant towards a lot of things, but it had been Toph's friend Zuko that had removed the laws, after all. No doubt the Avatar's whole circle was better on these issues than most. "It'll only take a minute. You hold her down and I'll start punchin' her."
She was joking, grinning if not directly at Tangi's face.
"Fine, I'll do it," Tangi said. Better to just try to get it out of the way. Maybe she'd get to see just what kind of hold Toph had on Azula, and whether it was enough to get her to actually try to save her own life.
General Faan found her coming out of a room with some Fire Nation woman, somewhere in her twenties or thirties with glasses and an imperious look about her. He stepped forward, and saw the moment where Toph realized that he was looking for her. She was dressed just the way he'd been imagining, in Earth Kingdom colors, her feet bare and a little bit dirty, her gaze blank and yet somehow thoughtful and controlled. He decided at once that this was the face of a true patriot, because this was the face of someone who looked so obviously Earth Kingdom.
The color of her eyes was unusual, but their shape was familiar, the set of features vaguely aristocratic but in the mold of the Earth Kingdom, her skin tone faintly and marginally less pale than the norm among brutish and murderous Firebenders. This was the salvation of the Earth Kingdom, stuck here trying to convince her friend to be less harsh and cruel in enacting the alternate means of victory that the Avatar had decided was compassionate.
Say they kept the colonies and exploited them further, giving scraps of recognition and equality but maintaining the nobility? What would happen next? He could tell anyone: with those resources the Fire Lands would grow richer, and indeed they would be well-placed to suck in all the trade from the South Pole, though the North would probably still go at least partially through Ba Sing Se. It would not be hard to push off dissent from the stupid masses: all he had to do was grant them legal equality and happen not to mention that all of the powerful nobles, all of the conniving merchants, and indeed every possible concentration of power was in the hands of Firebenders.
This, he had no doubt, was exactly the kind of equality that would ensue.
"Greetings, Lady Beifong," he said, stepping forward and deciding to ignore the Fire Nation woman. She probably wasn't important.
"It's Toph," she said, her nose scrunching up as if she smelled something foul.
Ah right, she was at odds with her family for the moment. No doubt it would be settled, it was not as if there was anything more important than family, except perhaps the Earth Kingdom. "I see. I am from the Commission to Protect the Homeland, and I'd like to talk to you about the so-called colonies."
"Perhaps I am not needed for this," the Firebender said, frowning.
"No, no, this joker is…" Toph began, but whoever it was, they were already stepping away as he could see that there was an audience. He'd intended for there to be an audience, really. Several servants were running off to tell others, and a few of the courtiers were now crowding in. This was exactly where he wanted her. She wasn't a coward, she wouldn't back down because she had an audience or else she wouldn't have apparently broken from the Avatar right in front of him in a public way.
She turned, look closed in and said, "The Commission to Protect the Homeland?"
"We're a group of concerned generals, officers, soldiers, and patriotic merchants who all seek the same goal," Faan declared, firmly. "We want to make sure that the people of the so-called colonies are not oppressed by the Fire Nation caste system."
"Oh, great," Toph said, and she didn't sound sarcastic. She stepped forward. "So you wanna make sure that there's not all those stupid things where Earthbenders or those with 'Earth Blood' are less than human, the way half the people here woulda sworn they believed a few years ago?" She gave a contemptuous gesture towards some of the sniveling courtiers, and of course her point was quite clear. It was the law of the land, an established fact, even a few years ago that people with Earth blood were inferior, as if the Earth Kingdom was the one barbaric enough to engage in so many mass murders. If anything, those of Fire blood were entirely untrustworthy, though still human… which is more than the Fire Nation had been willing to grant.
"Yes, exactly! They are rightful Earth Kingdom subjects, and we should move in and restore the proper order of things."
"What will be done with the serfs and peasants?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Well, they would continue in their properly appointed places--"
"So, you're not going to make anything better for anyone, you're just going to change who is in control?" Toph asked, and he balked at that. "Cause I'm sure that if it's just promises of being technically equal, the Fire Nation has y'all beat."
He felt the audience pressing on him all at once. He was speaking words that he could hardly take back, but at the same time he couldn't believe it! He felt the absurdity of what she'd said press down on him, as if she were trying to crush him with her nonsense. "Are you saying you'd prefer the Fire Nation to be in charge?"
"You should clean your ears out, old man!" Toph said, and he bristled. He wasn't old at all! But he was also aware that the young sometimes had a skewed impression of age, and not to hold it against her. Even if she appeared to be a complete brat.
"No, duh? Half of them suck, and those that don't still don't get to boss other people around just because they're not terrible," Toph said, actually rolling her eyes. "Why should a buncha Fire Nation nobles or Earth Kingdom Generals get to decide what the people around there wanna do?"
"The Fire Nation would simply bribe them with the idea of equality, but without any chance to get rich or strive forward to unseat the Firebenders who rule everything--"
"And you guys are gonna let peasants rise up and make their own decisions?" Toph scoffed. "Yeah, sure, you're right that the Fire Nation could just say 'everyone is equal' and then do nothing. Though Zuzu's a little too nice to do that on purpose--"
"What, you trust the Fire Lord?" he asked, and he stepped forward, feeling the fury in him, not hot like a Firebender but solid, steady, and undeniable, like an avalanche that would come down on… on the Earthbender who could fight an army.
"Nope! I trust Zuzu, but the Fire Lord, not really?" she said, scratching her arm a little and stepping forward. "And what would happen to those with 'Fire' Blood? There's a lot, ya know? All sorts of things happened, some of them really, really bad, but some of them just… the normal things that happen?" She wrinkled her nose, and no doubt it was at the thought of sex, or… or something.
He now no longer knew how to read her. If he ever did.
"Of course they'd be subjects just like anyone else, though those who sympathized with the oppressors would be asked to leave, to go back to the Fire Nation where their hearts belong," he said, furious and stepping even closer.
"Seems to me as if their hearts don't belong in the Fire Nation, right? Or the Earth Kingdom," she said. "Why not give 'em a choice, and make one of those choices none of the above?"
"None of the… above?"
"If some city decides it wants to be, I dunno, a Magma City or something else in-between, independent but with Earthbenders and Firebenders and who knows, other kinds of Benders too, then why shouldn't it? If that's what everyone gets together and decides they want. Not just the nobles, not just you generals, or… any of that!" She had started to raise her voice and she stepped forward as well.
"That breaks all traditions! It was the shattering of the division between the Elements that led to the Fire Nation's imperialism!"
"I dunno if you noticed, but a lotta things are broken. Can't exactly go back: Airbenders are almost gone, though I bet they can come back. Northern Tribe can't keep on hiding away, Southern Water Tribe hasn't been hiding at all, Ba Sing Se's kinda a pit of annoying court scheming that tried to control the whole Kingdom," Toph said. "Only way's forward. I have no idea how, really, but Zuzu's trying his best jus' like everyone else, right? That's how it goes." She shrugged.
"Really? He's trying his best."
"I toldja. I trust Zuzu. Don't really trust the Fire Lord, but why should I? But Zuzu, he's trying," Toph said. "...almost enough." She shook her head, and for a moment he thought she might cry and he had no idea why.
"Is he? Magma Cities? Bah! I thought I was speaking to the powerful Earthbender who helped save the world, not a whiny--"
"I challenge you," Toph said, cracking her knuckles. "To a fight. You've already ruined my day, might as well kick your butt."
"Fine. Here? Now? Or elsewhere." He wasn't afraid of someone who so clearly had gone soft!
"Here's fine--" she said… then stopped.
"Nah, actually, let's do it in the garden so I can really beat you up. Tangi probably wouldn't want me to do it right in front of her door."
…General Faan Cha, Hero of the third sally out of Ba Sing Se, began to get a sinking feeling.
He heard of the argument within an hour of it happening. People muttered and gossiped about it endlessly. "What had she meant?" they asked themselves. What were the Magma Cities? What about the fact that the General would need crutches for the next few months after she'd tossed him around and almost not even heard him saying he surrendered? What about…
Zuko had a full slate of meetings for the next few hours, but he spent the whole time half-listening and half thinking about the words that Toph supposedly said. He did not know how to interpret them, though he had a feeling that perhaps Toph didn't either. What even were Magma Cities? Was this why she hadn't taken the Chief Shire Reeve job? At the time she'd only said that it was about… well. Toph didn't lie. He didn't think she'd be deceiving people here. So, she liked him, but she didn't trust the Fire Lord?
He… he could work with that. He didn't like or trust having to be the Fire Lord either. Uncle had assured him that this was at least part of the reason why he should be the Fire Lord. So he sighed and thought about it. Magma Cities? Neither side ruling? Honestly, he wasn't as against it as she probably thought. Why not let them run themselves?
He bit his lip and considered it. He could hardly promise every single city or region had Firebenders willing to accept equality in all it meant, and honestly the General had had a point that 'freedom' when one side was rich and powerful could easily go wrong. He'd seen it often enough, the way that nobles were…
Well, say anything bad about nobles in general, regardless of the morality of any particular nobleman or noblewoman, and he'd probably agree with you. Zuko considered all of that, and considered that he was nobility and Toph was nobility and Mai was too, and for that matter Katara was the daughter of the chief of the Southern Water Tribe, and so was Sokka…
The son of the chief of the Southern Water Tribe, not the daughter! How was he this awkward even in his own head?
But, he decided to track down Toph and see if they could talk. He'd done enough being awkward for today, and so he sought her out. He found her on the practice fields, rearranging the entire area. The ground was shaking from a thousand feet away or more, and the servants and others in the area were cringing and running in the other direction.
He found her on the practice field, stomping her feet and throwing around giant boulders. A single hit from one of those could leave a noncombatant… well, dead. She didn't seem to even strain with them, moving fast and seeming to have only gotten stronger on top of cleverer since he'd stopped training against her.
"You're rearranging the landscape," Zuko said. "I heard you also beat up that General."
"Yeah?" Toph asked, not turning to face him.
"Do you want to spar? I know I'm not going to be much of a match, but we could add in some people?" He laughed, at this point Toph should practice going two or three on one, because one on one he was pretty sure that he'd lose ninety-nine times out of a hundred. Though he had to have pushed her pretty far at least a few times. He was at least sure she hadn't been holding back before, but now she'd kind of have to…
Toph snorted. "What? You and Mai versus me?"
"We could," Zuko said, and then admitted, "Though we haven't really fought together before." It was odd, and not odd at all, that they hadn't fought side by side before. Of course they hadn't! But Sokka and Suki had, and so had Aang and Katara. But at the same time, that wasn't normal. "But, we could do it. I miss you," he said, and as he said it he realized just how true it was. It was like a knot in his stomach. They weren't incredibly close friends, but they were close friends and Toph had been there. She understood what it was like to have terrible parents. She understood what it was like to feel you always had to get better. He'd felt that too, though it seemed as if he was further on the other side of it than she was.
Toph sighed. "I miss you too, but… Azula…"
"We're not going to agree on that," Zuko admitted, and he hated it. Perhaps she saw herself in Azula. Perhaps she was even right to. He had to be glad that Azula had a friend, and he'd seen the way she was hurting. It didn't feel right for him to feel bad for her, when he was the one doing it. He was making it worse, and yet… yet there were consequences. He had to believe in redemption, but what about her words seemed like it was seeking redemption rather than simply being exhausted?
Of course, he'd been exhausted and worse right before he'd finally realized he was going down the wrong path.
Azula always lied, but maybe this time she was actually feeling doubt for the first time in her life.
"But, there are other things we can talk about… what's this Magma Cities matter?"
"Oh, I kinda just made up the name on the spot. Sounds kinda spiffy, doesn't it? Like Sheriff," Toph said, and she turned to face him and stuck her tongue out in his general direction.
"It does," he admitted, with a laugh. "You always did give people and things names." Some of them were pretty terrible.
Toph hesitated and said, "How are we supposed to just… I." She took a breath, and seemed to be gathering as if she were about to move into a stance and fight. "The judge will probably sentence her to death, he's biased and she's done some bad things." She grinned a little, as if to say: I kind of like that.
But then, Mai had liked Azula partially for how mean she could be sometimes, but in the end had that protected his girlfriend, the woman he loved, from being hurt by her?
Yet, he could understand it. He didn't blame her, and he was sure that in the end they'd… that it'd all work out. He wasn't sure how it'd work out, but he had to believe that.
"She has, but. I. She's my sister. Even if a lot has happened, I don't want to…"
"Has it ever been about what you want?" Toph said, and she sounded annoyed by the fact. "I told you Zuzu: I trust you, I'm just not sure I trust the Fire Lord."
He nodded and said. "I believe it will work out, and I believe we can still be friends despite the disagreement. I have to believe that." They'd been so much together, it couldn't just… fall apart. "Even if something drives us further apart, we're friends, aren't we? And we'll figure it out, eventually."
"Even if something drives us apart," Toph said, quietly, and she thought about it and seemed to perk up. "You promise?" she asked. "You, Zuko, not the Fire Lord."
"Yes, I do," he said, firmly.
Toph grinned and said, "I'll prolly have to hold you to that. And I'm probably gonna head off eventually. Maybe not quite yet, but I do kinda want to… just wander a little bit, you know?"
He knew what she meant. There would be a point when Azula was convicted and locked up for life, when it all came to its end, where she would not be able to forgive him immediately. But if she believed they could work it out…
They were all so young. Even he was only eighteen. They'd have plenty of time in the future.
"I understand. But understand, Toph, this palace will always have a place for you. And so will I." He knew that she'd grow up and do her own things, he knew that the "Gaang" would probably drift apart, but he believed it with everything he had.
He saw it, the way Toph listened to him and finally heard the truth, the truth he meant more than anything. He saw the way a real smile, not a smirk, not a grin, but an actual, genuine, full-mouthed smile stole across her face. It was a bandit, and it seemed for a moment to steal all of the doubt and anger he knew would still be there tomorrow: it wasn't so easy to change entirely. But he had to hope, and he thought perhaps she was hoping too. "Thanks, Zuko."
He knew she would not want to hear that there were tears in her eyes, and if he told her she'd probably beat him up extra hard the next time they sparred, but he saw it.
VM AN: At base, Zuko and Toph are still broadly in agreement on most things, such as "fuck that guy".
TL AN: Magma Cities? What kind of name is that?! It'll never catch on!
"Earth is the element of substance. The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring."
***
Blessed are the heavens and the earth alike, to one who knows the Jing and seeks to use them to triumph. This is what the General had been taught, and it had allowed him to survive through the war, through decades of conflict. But now, what Jing was there for this? For a battle with the Fire Nation for the sake of millions of souls, this delegation could not fail.
General Faan Cha understood what was meant by all of this. He understood that the Fire Lord was more clever if less vicious than his predecessor. He'd use the language of "kindness" or "choice" to enslave Earthbenders as fifth-class citizens and use his mastery of the colonies to become the richest of the Nations, and with this wealth in a generation or three his people would simply take control of the world without having to do anything so crude as the extermination of the other peoples.
It was obvious that was his plan, because who could accidentally do such moves as to try to enforce Fire Nation rule in the colonies while presenting himself as the kinder version of the old lies.
But now he, and all those who thought like him, were going to talk to the several people who could stop him.
He and his son, and several others were here; other allies would be talking with Katara and Avatar Aang.
Toph Beifong, though, was their best bet. Someone actually from the Earth Kingdom. The Avatar's whole people were dead because of Fire Nation interference, but considering how they valued detachment over family bonds, no doubt he'd forgiven the Fire Nation and now had nothing to fight for, no reason to care. That is what a lack of attachment meant, after all. And at the end of the day, parts of the Fire Nation army were still in the colonies, "Keeping order."
This told just what the Fire Lord's motivations were.
But even though Beifong was a woman, she was by all accounts the most Earthbender of Earthbenders. So, tugging on his beard, Faan sought her out. But it was harder to find her than expected. He found himself wandering the halls of the palace, an official guest but dressed differently from these flame-bearing monsters, who whispered and sniggered behind their pitiful sleeves at him as he marched about. The colors were all so harsh and brutal, just like the heart of the average Firebender, and he found himself having to keep from jumping at this or that sound.
Toph Beifong was somewhere around here, and he needed her support. The colonies rightfully belonged to the Earth Kingdom. The colonization was an act of cruelty and evil that needed to be corrected now.
But to get to any of that, he first had to be able to actually find Toph. It was as if she was hiding from him, for all that he was all but certain that was not actually the case.
But where could she be?
Tangi did have a life, for all that quite a few people, including the woman she loved, seemed to think otherwise.
She was not even particularly working on the case that day, just going over a few old precedents and taking an early lunch. Admittedly she was doing this rather than accepting her girlfriend's cousin's offer of a trial expedition. He was trying to start up a camping organization, something that'd let people who enjoyed the not that great outdoors together. He'd gotten a very distant cousin of his involved, who was the maid to Toph Beifong, who it seemed clear was… some kind of friend to Princess Azula?
The world was a very, very small one when it came to the quasi-incestous entanglements of the middle and lower ranks off the palace sorts. Ah well. She rubbed at her eyes, and put away what passed for light work. She stood slowly, a little delicately. She'd had her leg cramp when she got up from a long day of work, and the experience and the pain of it, on a day where everything else in her life was falling apart, had stuck with her. She moved more gingerly now, andi she could only overcome this with less gingerness in all other parts of her life.
She stood, and almost sneezed at the dust. But it was more the air of spring and summer that left her coughing, for reasons the doctors were still debating when they bothered to. As it was, she glanced around the small side room and moved toward the door.
Before she reached it, there was a knock.
Who?
She considered the door and opened it.
On the other side was someone she'd been expecting for a while.
Tangi, of no clan name that would claim her and that she would claim in turn, took in Toph Beifong.
To hear the rumors, she was still at least nominally the heir of one of the richest men in the lands of Earth outside of a few powerful colonial governors and of course plenty of nobles in Ba Sing Se. There were probably a few others, but she looked at this girl and understood that it didn't matter. She'd not bother to spit, let alone smother with her earth, all the wealth she was to "inherit" even if it were on fire.
It was a familiar observation.
Toph Beifong, for all of that, seemed marked by her life as what she was. She was starting to grow. She was still short, but not as short, she was still small, but not as small. She was dressed in practical green clothing, her bare feet tracking dirt into the room, her eyes pale and blank as she stared in Tangi's general direction. She smelled faintly of soil and swear, and her expression was a careful one.
"What is it, Miss Beifong?" Tangi asked, and realized at once that perhaps some part of her really did want to start a fight.
She couldn't dislike the girl, hero as she was. But she did wonder at the friendship she thought existed. After all, Azula had asked her to leave sometimes, even in the middle of a conversation, because Toph would probably be around. Once or twice she'd been able to tell that Toph didn't show up by Azula's foul mood hours later.
It was actually, truly impressive.
She never would have guessed that at all. It was not her concern, really, but she had the feeling that the Princess may be more invested in their friendship than Toph. She was almost certain that had never happened before. Or perhaps it was a sign that Toph was not particularly invested. It was hard to be sure.
But now, looking at this girl, she wondered if she had it wrong. "I need you to tell me the truth," Toph demanded. And it was a demand, this much was obvious. "I'll know if you lie to me. I'll know it." Her voice grew harsher, but she didn't move to threaten Tangi.
Tangi realized she didn't have to, that the undeniable fact was that she was sort of a wimp and Toph could fight an entire army and win. But, she had a brain.
Everyone said Toph could tell when someone was lying. But how? Obviously, she was blind, so it was not a matter of reading facial expressions. So it had to be… ah. The information given by her Earthbending.
The only way that could make sense is if it was picking up something. Pulse? Heart rate? Oh, then…
Tangi considered how best she could fool it, aware that her mind was skipping right over the question of whether she should bother trying. Why had she given everything up, why had she made all of these choices, if not to do her best?
And it felt like a challenge.
She crossed her arms, and then where it couldn't be seen she put her nails to work. Scholars often had longer nails to signal that they didn't need to do manual labor, though it was a habit that had been lost in the rush of militarization and removing any remaining elements of "inferior earth culture" from the Fire Nation. She'd grown the nails on her left hand out since the fall of Ozai, and so she was able to do just what she needed.
"You can tell when I lie? Sure, I believe you," and as she said those last words she dug her nails into her sleeve and let herself feel the pain. It hurt a lot.
"Lie…? No, Truth…? No…"
Toph looked genuinely baffled, frowning and a little lost.
"There's several ways to fool your trick, and one of them is simple: pain. Pain makes the heart rate spike, as does running and moving, and that can cover the shifts when lying. But also, there are others: if someone is a fabulist, able to lie to themselves, that works. If they are able to lie without focusing on it, that ends the same. If they're given to panic, I bet they could hide it by panicking about something unrelated… albeit only that'd be a way to tell the truth and be called a liar. But, isn't that half of what the world is?" Tangi asked it with a tilt of her head. She knew that it was petty to feel triumph at getting one over on someone who is, again, a child. She's fourteen, and she cannot quantify how much of an idiot she was at fourteen.
But she kept on talking. "There are other tricks. The one I used is simple: pain. Pain spikes the heart just like a lie does. If I can think of them, others can. So, I can lie to you, it's just difficult."
Toph looked shocked. "I've only met… three or four people who've even figured any of that out a little. None of them were as good as Azula used to be. She'd lie by saying the most absurd things and her heart would not budge an inch. Then when I met her again, just to see, she couldn't lie to me. She still can't. I know her too well," Toph said, and she sounded sad.
Tangi might even go so far as to say that she sounded sad enough that tears might fall, that the heavens might water the earth. But there was not a tear in those eyes, and barely a hitch in the voice. But it was the tone.
"So, sometimes she tells me things will be fine, and sometimes she believes it and sometimes she doesn't. But mostly, she doesn't talk about the trial. So what's what I'm here for. I wanna know, does she have a chance?"
It was a plea, a plea from the heart.
She wanted the truth, and Tangi realized just how deeply and how powerfully she did care.
It was honestly a little sad, though she did not let it penetrate too far into her. She was not acting as Azula's lawyer out of sentiment, whether political or personal. But it still at least answered an important question.
"Define 'a chance'? She's almost certainly not going to be convicted of everything she's charged with, but she's probably guilty enough to just barely justify a death sentence if one was stretching and life in prison without any… need for fabulation and politics. When one counts what she'll be found guilty of, a larger list in part thanks to politics, and in part her own stubbornness, then the odds are. Yes." She concluded this simply and said, "The fight has yet to be concluded, but by those standards we will probably--"
"I asked the judge if he'd be fair, and he said he would," Toph blurted out. "He was lying."
"Another problem, yes," Tangi said, with narrowed eyes. "One I was largely aware of, but the fact that he promised fairness and was lying could matter… except that your ability is almost certainly not admissible in any court. It does not matter how trusted you are, you could be lying about him lying."
"I wouldn't!" Toph shouted, then paused. "Okay, honestly I kinda would? Not that I'm lyin', but yep. That's something I'd do if it saved Azula."
It was an amusing sort of honesty. Tangi sighed. "I can use this, but if we're being honest it'd be better for you to convince Azula to stop claiming she was more involved in the extermination plans than she was. What the actual records show is that she carelessly and somewhat cruelly suggested burning down the whole Earth Kingdom, did not regret this advocacy at the time, but was not in meetings planning the mass burials once they burned entire villages down with the people in it." Tangi saw the look of brief horror on Toph's face. "She gave an unreasonably cruel suggestion, but she was distracted by other matters. It became an abstraction for her, and yet if she admits she was too busy she'd be admitting…"
"No, not too busy," Toph said. "Not let into meetings. It'd make her seem less important, and she's almost as proud as I am." Toph grinned as if this pride was a strength, rather than a damning fault.
But then again, Tangi was damned as well, she decided. Pride was a fault that she had enough of to press and pin between a hundred books, like all the beautiful butterflies of self-regard. Beautiful butterflies of self-regard? What was that nonsense, she thought. It was hardly a proper metaphor. But no matter, she was not in this world to make beautiful metaphors but succinct and persuasive arguments.
"Yes, she is. It's a strength, but all strengths are also weaknesses."
"Retaliatory Jing," Toph said to herself, "Or perhaps 'Tortoise Shell' Jing?"
"Excuse me?"
"Nah, not excusing you, sorry," Toph said, grinning. "C'mon, let's go and see if we can talk to Azula, tell her to stop being such a dumbass."
Tangi was on her day off, and opened her mouth to make it very, very clear that she was trying to enjoy a few hours rest and even had somewhere to be. "Briefly," she found herself saying instead. "Then I need to go visit my girlfriend. Actually visit her, not just get so caught up in work I forget."
"Cool," Toph said, though Tangi hadn't expected much besides that. Yes, the Earth Kingdom had a reputation of being intolerant towards a lot of things, but it had been Toph's friend Zuko that had removed the laws, after all. No doubt the Avatar's whole circle was better on these issues than most. "It'll only take a minute. You hold her down and I'll start punchin' her."
She was joking, grinning if not directly at Tangi's face.
"Fine, I'll do it," Tangi said. Better to just try to get it out of the way. Maybe she'd get to see just what kind of hold Toph had on Azula, and whether it was enough to get her to actually try to save her own life.
General Faan found her coming out of a room with some Fire Nation woman, somewhere in her twenties or thirties with glasses and an imperious look about her. He stepped forward, and saw the moment where Toph realized that he was looking for her. She was dressed just the way he'd been imagining, in Earth Kingdom colors, her feet bare and a little bit dirty, her gaze blank and yet somehow thoughtful and controlled. He decided at once that this was the face of a true patriot, because this was the face of someone who looked so obviously Earth Kingdom.
The color of her eyes was unusual, but their shape was familiar, the set of features vaguely aristocratic but in the mold of the Earth Kingdom, her skin tone faintly and marginally less pale than the norm among brutish and murderous Firebenders. This was the salvation of the Earth Kingdom, stuck here trying to convince her friend to be less harsh and cruel in enacting the alternate means of victory that the Avatar had decided was compassionate.
Say they kept the colonies and exploited them further, giving scraps of recognition and equality but maintaining the nobility? What would happen next? He could tell anyone: with those resources the Fire Lands would grow richer, and indeed they would be well-placed to suck in all the trade from the South Pole, though the North would probably still go at least partially through Ba Sing Se. It would not be hard to push off dissent from the stupid masses: all he had to do was grant them legal equality and happen not to mention that all of the powerful nobles, all of the conniving merchants, and indeed every possible concentration of power was in the hands of Firebenders.
This, he had no doubt, was exactly the kind of equality that would ensue.
"Greetings, Lady Beifong," he said, stepping forward and deciding to ignore the Fire Nation woman. She probably wasn't important.
"It's Toph," she said, her nose scrunching up as if she smelled something foul.
Ah right, she was at odds with her family for the moment. No doubt it would be settled, it was not as if there was anything more important than family, except perhaps the Earth Kingdom. "I see. I am from the Commission to Protect the Homeland, and I'd like to talk to you about the so-called colonies."
"Perhaps I am not needed for this," the Firebender said, frowning.
"No, no, this joker is…" Toph began, but whoever it was, they were already stepping away as he could see that there was an audience. He'd intended for there to be an audience, really. Several servants were running off to tell others, and a few of the courtiers were now crowding in. This was exactly where he wanted her. She wasn't a coward, she wouldn't back down because she had an audience or else she wouldn't have apparently broken from the Avatar right in front of him in a public way.
She turned, look closed in and said, "The Commission to Protect the Homeland?"
"We're a group of concerned generals, officers, soldiers, and patriotic merchants who all seek the same goal," Faan declared, firmly. "We want to make sure that the people of the so-called colonies are not oppressed by the Fire Nation caste system."
"Oh, great," Toph said, and she didn't sound sarcastic. She stepped forward. "So you wanna make sure that there's not all those stupid things where Earthbenders or those with 'Earth Blood' are less than human, the way half the people here woulda sworn they believed a few years ago?" She gave a contemptuous gesture towards some of the sniveling courtiers, and of course her point was quite clear. It was the law of the land, an established fact, even a few years ago that people with Earth blood were inferior, as if the Earth Kingdom was the one barbaric enough to engage in so many mass murders. If anything, those of Fire blood were entirely untrustworthy, though still human… which is more than the Fire Nation had been willing to grant.
"Yes, exactly! They are rightful Earth Kingdom subjects, and we should move in and restore the proper order of things."
"What will be done with the serfs and peasants?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Well, they would continue in their properly appointed places--"
"So, you're not going to make anything better for anyone, you're just going to change who is in control?" Toph asked, and he balked at that. "Cause I'm sure that if it's just promises of being technically equal, the Fire Nation has y'all beat."
He felt the audience pressing on him all at once. He was speaking words that he could hardly take back, but at the same time he couldn't believe it! He felt the absurdity of what she'd said press down on him, as if she were trying to crush him with her nonsense. "Are you saying you'd prefer the Fire Nation to be in charge?"
"You should clean your ears out, old man!" Toph said, and he bristled. He wasn't old at all! But he was also aware that the young sometimes had a skewed impression of age, and not to hold it against her. Even if she appeared to be a complete brat.
"No, duh? Half of them suck, and those that don't still don't get to boss other people around just because they're not terrible," Toph said, actually rolling her eyes. "Why should a buncha Fire Nation nobles or Earth Kingdom Generals get to decide what the people around there wanna do?"
"The Fire Nation would simply bribe them with the idea of equality, but without any chance to get rich or strive forward to unseat the Firebenders who rule everything--"
"And you guys are gonna let peasants rise up and make their own decisions?" Toph scoffed. "Yeah, sure, you're right that the Fire Nation could just say 'everyone is equal' and then do nothing. Though Zuzu's a little too nice to do that on purpose--"
"What, you trust the Fire Lord?" he asked, and he stepped forward, feeling the fury in him, not hot like a Firebender but solid, steady, and undeniable, like an avalanche that would come down on… on the Earthbender who could fight an army.
"Nope! I trust Zuzu, but the Fire Lord, not really?" she said, scratching her arm a little and stepping forward. "And what would happen to those with 'Fire' Blood? There's a lot, ya know? All sorts of things happened, some of them really, really bad, but some of them just… the normal things that happen?" She wrinkled her nose, and no doubt it was at the thought of sex, or… or something.
He now no longer knew how to read her. If he ever did.
"Of course they'd be subjects just like anyone else, though those who sympathized with the oppressors would be asked to leave, to go back to the Fire Nation where their hearts belong," he said, furious and stepping even closer.
"Seems to me as if their hearts don't belong in the Fire Nation, right? Or the Earth Kingdom," she said. "Why not give 'em a choice, and make one of those choices none of the above?"
"None of the… above?"
"If some city decides it wants to be, I dunno, a Magma City or something else in-between, independent but with Earthbenders and Firebenders and who knows, other kinds of Benders too, then why shouldn't it? If that's what everyone gets together and decides they want. Not just the nobles, not just you generals, or… any of that!" She had started to raise her voice and she stepped forward as well.
"That breaks all traditions! It was the shattering of the division between the Elements that led to the Fire Nation's imperialism!"
"I dunno if you noticed, but a lotta things are broken. Can't exactly go back: Airbenders are almost gone, though I bet they can come back. Northern Tribe can't keep on hiding away, Southern Water Tribe hasn't been hiding at all, Ba Sing Se's kinda a pit of annoying court scheming that tried to control the whole Kingdom," Toph said. "Only way's forward. I have no idea how, really, but Zuzu's trying his best jus' like everyone else, right? That's how it goes." She shrugged.
"Really? He's trying his best."
"I toldja. I trust Zuzu. Don't really trust the Fire Lord, but why should I? But Zuzu, he's trying," Toph said. "...almost enough." She shook her head, and for a moment he thought she might cry and he had no idea why.
"Is he? Magma Cities? Bah! I thought I was speaking to the powerful Earthbender who helped save the world, not a whiny--"
"I challenge you," Toph said, cracking her knuckles. "To a fight. You've already ruined my day, might as well kick your butt."
"Fine. Here? Now? Or elsewhere." He wasn't afraid of someone who so clearly had gone soft!
"Here's fine--" she said… then stopped.
"Nah, actually, let's do it in the garden so I can really beat you up. Tangi probably wouldn't want me to do it right in front of her door."
…General Faan Cha, Hero of the third sally out of Ba Sing Se, began to get a sinking feeling.
He heard of the argument within an hour of it happening. People muttered and gossiped about it endlessly. "What had she meant?" they asked themselves. What were the Magma Cities? What about the fact that the General would need crutches for the next few months after she'd tossed him around and almost not even heard him saying he surrendered? What about…
Zuko had a full slate of meetings for the next few hours, but he spent the whole time half-listening and half thinking about the words that Toph supposedly said. He did not know how to interpret them, though he had a feeling that perhaps Toph didn't either. What even were Magma Cities? Was this why she hadn't taken the Chief Shire Reeve job? At the time she'd only said that it was about… well. Toph didn't lie. He didn't think she'd be deceiving people here. So, she liked him, but she didn't trust the Fire Lord?
He… he could work with that. He didn't like or trust having to be the Fire Lord either. Uncle had assured him that this was at least part of the reason why he should be the Fire Lord. So he sighed and thought about it. Magma Cities? Neither side ruling? Honestly, he wasn't as against it as she probably thought. Why not let them run themselves?
He bit his lip and considered it. He could hardly promise every single city or region had Firebenders willing to accept equality in all it meant, and honestly the General had had a point that 'freedom' when one side was rich and powerful could easily go wrong. He'd seen it often enough, the way that nobles were…
Well, say anything bad about nobles in general, regardless of the morality of any particular nobleman or noblewoman, and he'd probably agree with you. Zuko considered all of that, and considered that he was nobility and Toph was nobility and Mai was too, and for that matter Katara was the daughter of the chief of the Southern Water Tribe, and so was Sokka…
The son of the chief of the Southern Water Tribe, not the daughter! How was he this awkward even in his own head?
But, he decided to track down Toph and see if they could talk. He'd done enough being awkward for today, and so he sought her out. He found her on the practice fields, rearranging the entire area. The ground was shaking from a thousand feet away or more, and the servants and others in the area were cringing and running in the other direction.
He found her on the practice field, stomping her feet and throwing around giant boulders. A single hit from one of those could leave a noncombatant… well, dead. She didn't seem to even strain with them, moving fast and seeming to have only gotten stronger on top of cleverer since he'd stopped training against her.
"You're rearranging the landscape," Zuko said. "I heard you also beat up that General."
"Yeah?" Toph asked, not turning to face him.
"Do you want to spar? I know I'm not going to be much of a match, but we could add in some people?" He laughed, at this point Toph should practice going two or three on one, because one on one he was pretty sure that he'd lose ninety-nine times out of a hundred. Though he had to have pushed her pretty far at least a few times. He was at least sure she hadn't been holding back before, but now she'd kind of have to…
Toph snorted. "What? You and Mai versus me?"
"We could," Zuko said, and then admitted, "Though we haven't really fought together before." It was odd, and not odd at all, that they hadn't fought side by side before. Of course they hadn't! But Sokka and Suki had, and so had Aang and Katara. But at the same time, that wasn't normal. "But, we could do it. I miss you," he said, and as he said it he realized just how true it was. It was like a knot in his stomach. They weren't incredibly close friends, but they were close friends and Toph had been there. She understood what it was like to have terrible parents. She understood what it was like to feel you always had to get better. He'd felt that too, though it seemed as if he was further on the other side of it than she was.
Toph sighed. "I miss you too, but… Azula…"
"We're not going to agree on that," Zuko admitted, and he hated it. Perhaps she saw herself in Azula. Perhaps she was even right to. He had to be glad that Azula had a friend, and he'd seen the way she was hurting. It didn't feel right for him to feel bad for her, when he was the one doing it. He was making it worse, and yet… yet there were consequences. He had to believe in redemption, but what about her words seemed like it was seeking redemption rather than simply being exhausted?
Of course, he'd been exhausted and worse right before he'd finally realized he was going down the wrong path.
Azula always lied, but maybe this time she was actually feeling doubt for the first time in her life.
"But, there are other things we can talk about… what's this Magma Cities matter?"
"Oh, I kinda just made up the name on the spot. Sounds kinda spiffy, doesn't it? Like Sheriff," Toph said, and she turned to face him and stuck her tongue out in his general direction.
"It does," he admitted, with a laugh. "You always did give people and things names." Some of them were pretty terrible.
Toph hesitated and said, "How are we supposed to just… I." She took a breath, and seemed to be gathering as if she were about to move into a stance and fight. "The judge will probably sentence her to death, he's biased and she's done some bad things." She grinned a little, as if to say: I kind of like that.
But then, Mai had liked Azula partially for how mean she could be sometimes, but in the end had that protected his girlfriend, the woman he loved, from being hurt by her?
Yet, he could understand it. He didn't blame her, and he was sure that in the end they'd… that it'd all work out. He wasn't sure how it'd work out, but he had to believe that.
"She has, but. I. She's my sister. Even if a lot has happened, I don't want to…"
"Has it ever been about what you want?" Toph said, and she sounded annoyed by the fact. "I told you Zuzu: I trust you, I'm just not sure I trust the Fire Lord."
He nodded and said. "I believe it will work out, and I believe we can still be friends despite the disagreement. I have to believe that." They'd been so much together, it couldn't just… fall apart. "Even if something drives us further apart, we're friends, aren't we? And we'll figure it out, eventually."
"Even if something drives us apart," Toph said, quietly, and she thought about it and seemed to perk up. "You promise?" she asked. "You, Zuko, not the Fire Lord."
"Yes, I do," he said, firmly.
Toph grinned and said, "I'll prolly have to hold you to that. And I'm probably gonna head off eventually. Maybe not quite yet, but I do kinda want to… just wander a little bit, you know?"
He knew what she meant. There would be a point when Azula was convicted and locked up for life, when it all came to its end, where she would not be able to forgive him immediately. But if she believed they could work it out…
They were all so young. Even he was only eighteen. They'd have plenty of time in the future.
"I understand. But understand, Toph, this palace will always have a place for you. And so will I." He knew that she'd grow up and do her own things, he knew that the "Gaang" would probably drift apart, but he believed it with everything he had.
He saw it, the way Toph listened to him and finally heard the truth, the truth he meant more than anything. He saw the way a real smile, not a smirk, not a grin, but an actual, genuine, full-mouthed smile stole across her face. It was a bandit, and it seemed for a moment to steal all of the doubt and anger he knew would still be there tomorrow: it wasn't so easy to change entirely. But he had to hope, and he thought perhaps she was hoping too. "Thanks, Zuko."
He knew she would not want to hear that there were tears in her eyes, and if he told her she'd probably beat him up extra hard the next time they sparred, but he saw it.
VM AN: At base, Zuko and Toph are still broadly in agreement on most things, such as "fuck that guy".
TL AN: Magma Cities? What kind of name is that?! It'll never catch on!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Lexica
Persevere
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Somehow, I get feeling that Zuko and Toph are thinking of very different "things that would drive them apart" here.
PrognosticHannya
Far Too Enthusiastic About Etymology
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Did Tangi and Toph actually go to see Azula?
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Nope! The General distracted Toph, and Tangi got away while she was busy because she didn't want to be in the middle of this. So it wound up not happening, which is another reason why Toph took it out on him.
- Pronouns
- She/They
curses! It really feels like that visit was needed. :/
Chapter 36: Cycles/Endings
New
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Chapter 36: Cycles/Endings
Things were better, Kiyi decided. It was easy to just assume that because things were still awkward, they weren't better. Toph at least talked with Zuko every once in a while, though Kiyi had never heard them bring up anything that mattered to Toph other than bending. But "other than bending" was still enough to get them through painfully awkward conversations. The friendship was still there, like seeds from a flower in winter. Kiyi believed she could see them bloom. But it'd take time, and it'd take warmth, and it'd take rain.
Was Zuko going to provide it? Was Toph going to accept it? Who knew?
In her experience, most prodigies didn't wind up happy.
Toph's mood still shifted, and it was never very good for two days straight, and rarely good for a full day either. The next few weeks did not pass slowly, but it was clear that they were dragging just a little bit. Time marched onward, and cycles continued.
At times quite literally. Toph's first menses came and went, to a great deal of complaint that Kiyi tried not to find hilarious for someone who was usually so tough. But still despite everything, despite the jokes and pranks, the talking and the easy conversation, the trial loomed.
Days passed, and then the two weeks, and then a little bit more, and the start of the trial got pushed off by challenges but couldn't be forever.
Somehow, somehow it was visiting Azula that had Toph walking with head held highest, confidence strongest… if mixed with a growing sense of uncertainty.
Toph had moments of amusement otherwise.
("Don't feel so bad," Kiyi said, as she considered the boiling water and the other tricks she knew, and Toph. "Many women have been felled by the moon."
"The moon?"
"The cycles?" Kiyi asked, confused at the baffled look on Toph's face.
"What does this have to do with the moon?" Toph asked.
"I… don't know, but everyone says it does," Kiyi said.
"Only thing I know about the moon is that it controls Waterbending. Before I met him, Sokka apparently had a girlfriend who turned into the moon."
What did you even say to that? "That… sounds rough," she finally managed, but only after a long pause.)
But for the most part, it was only Azula who could bring out that laughter and levity.
So Kiyi, who could be many things for Toph but could hardly solve her problems, watched the cycle and thought: this isn't going to end well.
Tomorrow the trial would begin, though of course it wouldn't be much of a start. It'd all be a matter of volleying back and forth at this point, and she had at least a week and maybe more of procedural wrangling she could drag it through before it even had to get to a single charge. Tangi rubbed her eyes, and knew that if she revealed how much triumph she felt at it, most people would think she was crazy.
But she was really looking forward to it. She didn't think she could win, not between the biases of the judges, the Fire Lord, and indeed of her client toward preferring to look powerful to looking innocent. Yet, Tangi didn't think she really cared. She'd fight as hard as she could, and part of that would mean trying to do what Azula wanted.
She would drag it out. Tangi would make this hurt for everyone involved, because the alternative was that it'd hurt for only Azula, not that Azula would be alright.
All the same, she still had to fight as if there was every hope of victory. She could hold nothing back.
"Azula, the trial begins tomorrow, as I'm sure you know. I need to ask again about the matter of the extermination meetings," Tangi said. "Consider it my due diligence, in terms of trying to help you."
"I've already answered you," Azula said. Her voice sounded rough, but Tangi knew better than to ask about it. She was not going to provide anything like truth when it came to this.
Tangi respected this urge, as stupid and juvenile as it was. It was the kind of self-defeating idiocy that she'd engaged in a few times in her teenage years.
"I do wonder… are you giving me good advice?" Azula asked. "I don't even know why you agreed to represent me."
Tangi considered lying, but decided that there was no point. "It seemed like an interesting case, and one that could raise my profile. You needed representation, and when I looked at the case it was one I thought I could win… or at least fight to a far closer standstill than expected. The Fire Lord gave me the opportunity, but then he was also the one who took away my opportunities?"
"How did he do so?" Azula asked, and it did seem as if being able to hear that Zuko messed up allowed her to sneer.
"Shortly before Sozin's comet, I broke off an engagement with a member of the lower nobility in order to continue my career, and because I was already dating someone and had been for a while. She and I--"
"She?" Azula asked, sharply.
"Yes, she," Tangi said.
"Oh."
Azula sounded oddly small, as if she'd curled up into a ball and hidden her softer, squishier parts. If she had them.
"She and I are still together, but what matters is that my family attempted to prosecute me. The prosecution fell apart when Zuko removed the laws, but they were able to blacklist me. They are some of Zuko's strongest supporters. They saw where this was going and were all but the first to embrace whatever he did and said. So he didn't notice, or didn't care, that they were using that influence to make sure that I was getting no work at all. At first."
"And then he noticed and… offered you this?"
"Yes. A chance to make my mark," Tangi said. "A choice I made, to defend you. I am glad I got the opportunity, this is an interesting case."
It truly was.
"I understand," Azula said, then considered it. "You can deny I was at any meeting if it was a less important meeting that overlapped with a more important one. Not that it matters."
Tangi had no idea why the concession sounded so… odd, but she'd take it. There were at least a half-dozen cases she could put to, in order to at least call into question her involvement.
Though, in the end, Azula was probably right.
This was a losing battle.
Tangi knew how it was going to end.
"I think I've figured it out," Azula said as soon as she felt that comforting squeeze of the bracelet. It really was a useful tool. Of course, she wouldn't need it once she was Fire Lord. It'd be a sign of weakness. But until then, she appreciated how practical it was. She was sitting at her bed, but she'd made sure to put her feet on the ground so that Toph could easily sense her. She had pages and pages of writing. "I bet your character's going to want to confront the heroine… or the heroine of her story, whatever. I'm sure you understand what I mean."
"Yeah. Have a big smash-down against her. He's blind because of their fight, he's risen to become a big-time General, and he needs to beat her if he wants to free the whole province. And take it over, but that's kinda just what the bosses want. Either way, he wants to win that grudge match, because there's not a single other bender in the army that can stand up to him."
Azula smirked, but though lately she'd felt weak and instead, now her heart was as even as it had always been when she'd lied to others. She wasn't going to lie, not really. Everything she said would be the truth. But she had to convince Toph of this. Even though she was the one doing all of the writing, it did feel as if it was Toph's story as well. By this point she had an entire novel, and it might just be the greatest novel that had ever been written, not because of its quality (though that of course was perfect) but because it had been written by a rightful Fire Lord and that made it clearly superior.
(When she had more or less said that, Toph had said, "Oh, like how if there's a bear that can dance, it doesn't matter if it's a good dance it's still funny?"
Azula had sniffed and said, "No" and Toph had laughed at her.)
"So, they're going to fight. You know the landscape, I told you about that. Right now I'll fill in the details and the beauty of the fight later, I just want to figure out the 'moves.'"
"You said I could read some to Kiyi, and when I did she said it was 'purple.' What's that mean anyway? She didn't make it sound good."
Purple? Purple! Azula would show her purple. Just for that she was going to demand Toph obtain for her a thesaurus to allow her to elucidate all the ways in which her prose had been absolutely flawless.
She'd do it just to annoy Kiyi. She'd rather not have to deal with the strong and stirring evidence that Toph could be friendly even to the servants, and that therefore her tendency to joke around and argue with people extended to literally everyone who hadn't driven her away. It rather revealed, like scratching a cheaply gilded statue, the bare and barren reality beneath her association with the Earthbender.
"It means nothing at all. She is hardly an author of any kind, even one who dabbles in it as something beneath them," Azula said. "But I'm going to go through the moves, because they're fighting in the gulch, right? That's where your character would want the confrontation to be. It helps his pitiful chances of victory, does it not?"
Except, Azula was almost certain that Toph's character was going to 'win.' She slipped off her shoes, so that Toph could 'see' her better. Because why not? She wasn't trying to fool Toph any which way except by telling the truth all the way until the end she thought was both likely and most excellent.
She wiggled her toes and admitted, "How do you do this in the winter? Walking on cold stone cannot be pleasant."
"You get used to it," Toph said, laughter in her voice. It was clear to her that Toph was as unaffected as anything by the events of the last few months after her brief attempt to 'save' Azula, because other than a few moments of tension she always sounded lighter and easier than Azula would have expected. "Besides, it's not like I'm ever gonna go to the North or South Pole, anymore than Katara's going to go on a vacay to the desert."
"Not even to find those foxy knowledge spirits that seem as if they'd be more intelligent conversation than the Avatar?" Azula asked, with a smirk.
"They couldn't talk."
"Exactly."
Toph snorted, despite the fact that she 'should' be offended or whatever in the name of her friend.
"So we'll just do the moves. I'll show you them, and think about what your General'd actually do. He's fought her several times, and she's fought him. So she's going to begin by launching herself upward because his first move is--"
"Destroying the ground beneath her feet," Toph said, because her General had done that the second time they fought, and he wouldn't change a good idea just because there might be a counter. Sometimes the point of a move was to force the opponent to have to play and reveal their counter. You couldn't actually win a close match like that entirely with surprises. At some point you just had to execute things better.
"So then she shoots forward using the flames, and does… this." She leapt, and did a low fire-kick, a showy and flashy technique that was rather pointless. But why not? It definitely surprised Toph, who had her character backpedal and begin throwing up walls.
Azula grinned and began to move, the room heating up with every attack she simulated against a blank wall, and with the speed of her motions. The faster she moved, the faster Toph was giving replies, until it was as if the two of them were fighting. Sometimes, she'd protested when Toph did some move that shouldn't be possible for a big guy to manage, but this time she let it ride and pushed.
"He'll go down to one knee, because those are bad burns," Azula said, "But I doubt that'll slow him down except for a moment."
"Not even a moment, he'll turn it into another bending move. Fight through the pain." Toph added, "It's what I'd do."
Toph was relentless. If there was anyone who could fight with her arms and legs falling off and still find a way to win, it was her. Well, and Azula, but that went without saying.
"So then, what about this?"
Back and forth the fight went, and Azula found herself feeling more and more confident even as she began to lose. Well, not she, but the character she was using. This was a rough fight, and both sides wound up beat up. This was a fight to the death, after all, and so soon her leg was not supporting her right, and his right arm would not fully extend without too much pain for him to bend.
"What do you think is going to happen next?" Toph asked. "Your character is gonna lose."
"No, she isn't," Azula insisted. "She's aware of what she's doing."
Azula knew what she was doing. She'd made her choices, and they were not the same as the ones that the character made. She knew that Toph thought they basically were, but the future General she controlled made far more friends than Azula had. She'd made them, and drifted away, alliances and temporary plans all running into the stranglehold of the war. It was a worthy war, perhaps, but it was hard to focus on anything except the next fight, the next time she'd be face to face with the Earthbender General.
It was all that mattered, especially as all of the opportunities fell apart. Okay, maybe she'd discovered that late because she kept on introducing new characters to be the protagonist's friend and ally only to forget to include them later… but she had turned it into something, and as she danced her way through her perfect forms, her perfect stances.
Even her mistakes were not actually mistakes, because she was Fire Lord Azula. She'd made her choices, and she knew now. She knew.
"She moves, as if she's going to shoot Lightning--"
"He laughs and braces himself," Toph said.
"She's not going to do Lightning, though, and so he gave her a free moment. Only the family of the Fire Lord can do that," Azula pointed out. "And there's this one duelist, according to some rumours? I heard about him in Omashu."
"A… rumored duelist?" Toph asked.
Azula grinned, "He was a soldier in the army, but he took the job as 'duelist' who'd show up for Angi Kai to the death instead of whoever hired him. Everyone said he might have figured out how to redirect Lightning, but he was smart: he burned the bodies after the fights so nobody could tell for sure. Can't remember what happened to him," Azula said cheerfully. "But I don't think he was being charged for stealing Lightning."
"Stealing lightning?" Toph asked, and sounded confused. "What do you mean?"
"It's supposed to be a special move," she said, looking around at the room, illuminated and transformed by the light of her own effort. In the darkness of this place she had spent what felt like most of her life. It wasn't, but the days had passed so slowly, and then all at once quickly. Now, she was here. "Something only reserved for the worthy." She'd heard all sorts of stories, listening to them eagerly and happily, when she'd been young enough to pretend to listen to nannies if it would get her a good tale of glory… or a good gory tale. Either had worked for her.
Now she was telling her own tale, and she was not going to be like that one stupid nanny she got fired, who censored the blood and guts. (Her Mom had frowned at that, as if it wasn't entirely usual and typical, and that had been just another bit of evidence that she was a monster.)
She was going to show all the details. The fight continued, and she could tell that her character and Toph's character were both staggering, exhausted. "She darts forward," Azula said, and in her head she was chanting: stab, stab, stab. Because if Toph did what she was expecting, then this battle was over.
"He doesn't have to do anything fancy, Sparky," Toph snorted, "All he has to do is stab you through and then he'll get you to give up."
"Give up? No, this is a fight to the death. That's how this ends." Azula purred it, felt--or rather guessed and was sure--Toph's momentary shock. "She's going to take the blow and then pour fire on your General, pushing herself further onto it. There's nothing but duty, and you know how much death weighs against it?"
It was Azulon's famed creed, one that was recited and repeated to each and every recruit who fought and died for the victory of the Fire Nation.
"No," Toph breathed out, as if it were Azula and not some character in a story who was being pierced through.
"The burns, the damage… it's hurt him pretty badly, hasn't it?" Azula could not help but grin, because if art was truth then this was the highest art. Of course it'd always have ended like this. She stared at the door, and behind it was Toph, and behind it was another door, and she could get through neither door.
But, she could get through Toph. Could make her flinch even now. Even after she'd lost everything, there was that.
This is how it would always end. That kind of rivalry? This was war. Someone had to die.
But it would not just be 'someone' who would die.
"You won… the fight," Azula said. "That's what she says, that's what her face says in death. She has given everything, and it does not seem like it was enough, was it?" It's never enough. Azula's smile was cut onto her, a slash of red.
"You're right, he's stronger than any single Firebender in the army. He's even stronger than her. But is he stronger than the entire enemy army while nearly mortally wounded?"
She wanted to will it into existence, the outcome she wanted, the world she wanted. But she couldn't do that.
She could only hope that Toph said what she knew Toph would say. She could stare in the darkness and hope that in all this world there was one person she understood well enough not just to predict, but to work together almost by accident. Come on, say it…
"He'd fight," Toph said, her voice quiet and just a little small. "Even if it was doomed, he'd set his feet and he'd roar out. ' Come fight me!' It doesn't matter if he's sure to lose, there's nothing left but the fight, isn't there? He brings up his hands, he gets into stance, and he begins to bend."
Exactly!
"Yes, yes, exactly. The cause is doomed, the rival is dead, the purpose is ended… and he's still going to fight and die, but you can't see it because it's just out of view."
"That's so miserable," Toph complained, kicking the floor.
"Yes, it is, that's the ending of all of this," Azula said. "All the games they played together, all their rivalry, all their battles to the death, end in the place war always ends: death. It's not something to condemn--"
Though she knew that sometimes it was something to praise.
"It just is."
Toph seemed frozen, and Azula pressed the moment, said what she'd been thinking for a long, long while.
She said what they both had to already know, the moment the story had gone this direction, the moment the tale had shifted as it had.
She said it with triumph and bitterness and a half-mad laugh, her grin no doubt devouring her face entirely. But not one hair out of place.
"That is how this story ends! It has to."
VM AN: Azula seen here employing the subtle art of allegory.
TL AN: That's rough, buddy.
(Prodigy)
NSMS
Probably evil, unfortunately.
- Location
- A rapidly widening tear in the fabric of reality
Don't you mean dancing platypus-bear?
- Pronouns
- She/They
Oof, my emotions. Good chapter.