Ever After Seven
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"Suki!" Toph shouted as she felt the Kyoshi warrior tumble to the ground.
"Sorry, sorry," Suki sat up, brushing her short brown hair out of her eyes. She pouted her red bottom lip. She'd tripped over a box of decorations. "I'm having a hard time setting everything up."
"I can tell, and I'm blind," Toph raised her eyebrows. Suddenly, a loud voice interrupted their sad conversation.
"I gave the order for the cake," Ty Lee announced. "It should be here in two days. Look at the design." In her arms was a giant replica of the actual cake. She thrust it towards Toph.
Toph stared at her blankly.
"Oops," Ty smiled apologetically and set it on the table. Suki stared at it. Ty Lee's smile fell. "What? It's not good?"
"It's . . ." Suki sighed. "A little too circus-y. Why are there two bears on top?"
"It's because of all the adventures they had together!"
"When did bears come in?"
"When we hijacked the earth palace and threw Zuko and Mei, and Katara, in the dungeon."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
Suki sighed. She needed to say something now, but without being offensive. She didn't want to hurt one of her closest friends.
"Ty, I think the bears are a little to much." There. She said it.
Ty Lee's face changed, but not in a disappointed way. "Yeah, I kind of figured. It was worth a try. It could symbolize their fierce love for each other," she winked. Suki rolled her eyes.
"Or a crown could go on top. Can you believe that Zuko crowned her even though they're not married?
"I know! I wonder what he's planning."
"I heard," Toph interjected, "and I hear a lot things, by the way," she added, referring go her lack of sight, "that he's not giving her the crown of the Fire Nation princess at the wedding because he's planning to give her something higher."
"But there's no status higher than that," Suki said, pulling up a chair to take the bears off the fake foam planning cake. She plucked them off and continued, "When you marry a Fire Lord, you become a princess. That's it. But when they got engaged, he have her the crown of the princess. She already is a princess even though they're not married. Is he making a whole new status for her?"
"As a queen?" Ty Lee gushed. "Oh my goodness. This is the love story I want. How can he be so dark yet so freaking perfect?" She traced her finger across the gold designs on the cake. The fires blazed as if real, twisting and turning around the tiers. And then, her face brightened and she jumped up, clapping her hands together. "I know exactly what should go at the top of the cake."
"What?" Toph and Suki asked in unison.
Ty leaned in as if telling a very deep, dark secret. "The crown Ayame is going to wear when they get married. She's already wearing the crown of the princess, right? So it's definite that that's not what she's going to wear after the wedding."
Suki pursed her lips, tapping one of the plastic bears against the table. "How on earth are we going to do that? How will we find out?"
But even Toph understood. A smile spread across her face. "This is Project Badgermole. We're going to make Zuko tell us."
"And what on earth makes you think he will tell us?" Suki raised an eyebrow.
"That's exactly it. He won't know he's giving it away. That way, when the cake comes in, it'll be a surprise to both of them," Ty Lee said, flipping her long braid over her shoulder. "We have to hurry though. Come on. We need to talk to Zuko."
