To shape a new destiny (Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfiction)

I wanna kiss you

            I guess you couldn’t really call Tophs new little gang an ‘academy’, but she insists it will be something. Then again, it’s hard to argue with such a ferocious thirteen year old warrior. Ever since she’s been in Ba Sing Se she’s kept to herself, held back on the sarcastic smart ass comments that usually fuel her position here in our family. She’s kept quiet. It’s like she’s planning, or plotting… Or at least that’s what I thought until I was told about what she was doing with these kids.

            “I get it,” I grin, glancing in her direction before returning to my conversation with Aang.  “I think it’s great.”
            “I do, this really needs to be recognized. I hope her parents are as proud as we are,” Aang says, looking down for a moment before realizing she could probably hear us. Well, we were in the same room…

            “I hope so too,” she says as she comes over, sitting at the table with us in our small apartment. We had never stayed in the same place so long, not since we lived on Ember Island.

 It was a day where we woke up and had no idea what we were doing, playing everything by ear. We were all still in Ba Sing Se, and I think Sokka is really warming up to the idea of staying for a while. He’s found that his leadership qualities make him restless when he’s not helping out with the aftermath of the war, and I know that will follow him. He’s going into the government with Aang, there’s really nothing else I could see him wanting. He couldn’t live quietly in the South Pole knowing that he could make a change in the earth kingdom. Visiting GranGran will have to be enough, for now. It makes me sad, but it’s the way our lives took us, she knew this was our destiny.

“Metalbending is gunna be the future of the world, the new element,” Aang grins. I had never met anyone as encouraging as him. Well, with the exception of Iroh. If I didn’t know Aang as well as I did I wouldn’t be able to determine between which one is kinder. They’re both happy souls, troubled past only helping to shape who they’re to become. It was only because I’d been there with Aang through those troubling times that I knew he could occasionally grow a temper. But of course, it was nothing compared to the average person. With the way Toph and I used to act towards each other Aang is a saint.

“I’ve been wondering when the right time to go home is…you know, just for a little bit to check in,” Toph says, searching for a bit of guidance.

“Whenever you feel you’re ready, just don’t forget to tell your students that you’re going away for a while,” he tells her.

“They’ve only been with me for a week; we haven’t even started bending yet. They’ll handle,” she retorts, and Aang chuckles.  Sokka walks in and drops his bag on the couch, stretching and yawning.

            “Yep, another long day in the big bad world,” he says, rubbing his butt as he walks past us into the pantry.

            “So when are you planning on leaving?” Aang resumes our conversation after greeting Sokka.

            “Whenever you’re willing to fly me out there…,” she says quietly.

            “Would you be ready today? There’s time to get out there and back by sunset,” he says. “I calculated the distance; it’s really not that far from here. But we’d have to leave quickly.” Aang stands and glances out the window at the sun. It was still early in the morning, a few hours after dawn. So I guess Sokka hadn’t really gotten back from a long day, just a really long night. I felt bad for ditching him and Suki and Zuko with the soldiers, but I couldn’t handle another night away from safety, and Aang…

            “I’ll pack. I’ll send you a hawk when I’m ready to come back.” And with that she was off to her room, closing the door roughly behind her. Aang turned to me and started to speak before Sokka dropped down rudely between us, crunching on an apple.