I'll Be Your Family

Travel Stories pt. 1

1 day after leaving Gaoling

Toph was sleeping in her dirt tent when she felt something moving outside. She got up and walked outside. She felt the sun on her skin and realized that it was dawn.

"What the hell Sparky, why are you up?"

She felt Zuko stop moving and look toward her.

"I woke up an hour ago to meditate. I'll make sure to move farther from camp next time so I don't wake you."

Toph was a little shocked by his answer, "What? Why train so early? We didn't make camp till midnight yesterday. You could've just trained later."

She felt him sigh, "Fire benders get their energy from the sun. I feel when the sun comes up so I always wake up at dawn."

She shivered, "That sounds awful. Why are you training though, couldn't you just, you know, go back to sleep?"

Zuko snorted, "I wish it worked that way. I would have to be disconnected from the sun to do that, and even then it would be difficult to do. After I got my bending I was taught to train after I wake up."

She whistled, "That's impressive, Sparky. Can I train with you since you're already up?"

He thought about it, "Sure, we can spar if you want. I'm trying to mix my sword fighting and my bending, and you're a good opponent to test it on."

She smiled and got ready to fight him.

"Try to keep up Sparky."

He smirked and took out his swords, lighting them on fire as he got ready to fight.

"Just watch me."

.......

two hours later

They were both on their backs, exhausted after ten rounds of sparring.

Toph looked over to where he was, "That was pretty good Sparky. You got pretty close that last time."

Zuko groaned, "Ugh, you don't get to say that until after I've beaten you at least once."

Toph snickered, "Yeah good luck with that, there's nothing but rock out here. You would've had a better chance beating your girlfriend in that blizzard."

"She's not my girlfriend!"

Toph chuckled, feeling the temperature around him rising due to embarrassment.

"Sure Sparky, whatever you say."

She heard him groan and mutter something along the lines of 'I regret ever telling you that.

Toph chuckled and quieted as she thought back to the spars.

As fun as it is to make fun of Sparky, I can admit that I may have exaggerated a bit. He got better at combining his fire and swords toward the end. He said after he can do it efficiently he'll switch to bending only. He's already good with swords so he'll probably beat me at least once in the next week. If it's just bending he might be able to beat me in a month or two if he keeps improving at this rate.

She sighed and got up, stretching and packing her things so they could start moving again. She felt Zuko stiffen and looked toward him curiously.

"What was that Sparky?"

Zuko put the rest of his things on his horse and answered, "Nothing major. Do you think we could spar every day like this? I'll wake you a couple of hours after sunrise so you can rest."

She raised her eyebrow, sure she felt something but figured she must have imagined it.

"Yeah, we can keep sparring Sparky. Now let's go, we're burning daylight."