I'll Be Your Family

Similar People pt. 4

Toph was leading Scruffy toward the Northern mountains where her masters lived. It was getting pretty awkward though, so she decided to talk and annoy him out of his probably gloomy thoughts.

"So Scruffy, you got a name I can call you?" She asked, hoping to ease the tension a little. It had the exact opposite effect, as his heart rate spiked like he just got caught doing something bad.

"Li." He blatantly lied to her face. She decided not to press it though.

He's a noble from the Fire Nation, he probably thinks I'll turn on him if I know his name. I wouldn't, but it's not like I can get him to trust me right away. He has some serious trust issues. I can be patient though, it's not like he has to trust me right now.

She tried to distract herself from the depressing realization that he would be leaving before she could get him to trust her.

"Well Li, my name's Toph. Nice to meet you. I'm still gonna call you Scruffy though so don't get used to me saying your actual name." She chuckled as he seemed to contemplate whether to be grateful or annoyed at her.

"Seriously, why do you keep calling me Scruffy, can't you just call me Li." He asked indignantly.

"No dice Scruffy, your hair is short and scruffy so it's the perfect name for you. I'll call you Sparky once your hair grows out though if it makes you feel better."

Zuko clenched his teeth in annoyance. "It doesn't. I'd prefer it if you didn't call me either name. I'm trying not to get arrested and I didn't exactly get this haircut by choice."

She pondered whether to keep poking fun at him to see if he would get angry for real.

It's hard to tell his 'I'm annoyed' state from his actual anger. Oh well, only one way to find out.

"What do you mean you didn't choose that haircut, Scruffy? I think it suits you"

He glared at her before realizing once again that she couldn't see him, and just sighed. He decided to accept that she would be calling him stupid nicknames for as long as he was in Gaoling.

She already knows I'm Fire Nation but I'd rather not give her any other information. I've never been good at lying so she probably knows Li isn't my name. I guess she doesn't want to push it though. I'm thankful for that at least, even if she is annoying.

"I didn't choose this haircut, I got it when I came to the Earth Kingdom. I didn't want anyone to recognize me." He stated, making sure everything he said was technically true.

"How'd you even know it was scruffy anyway, you're blind aren't you?" He asked, finally giving in to his curiosity.

"I told you, I don't need vision to see. I sense vibrations through my feet, it allows me to see using my bending instead of my eyes. I can even feel heartbeats if people are close enough, which makes it easy to tell when people are lying." He looked away guiltily as she puffed her chest proudly.

"I thought you figured it out already. That was how you hit me with your sheath when you were in the air. I couldn't see you because you weren't on the ground." She explained, moving through the crowded town better than some of the not-blind pedestrians.

He nodded, "I had my guesses, but I didn't know for sure. I figured you used your bending to make up for your blindness but I didn't know how. The only reason I threw the sheath in the air was that I didn't want you to try and hit me again when I landed."

He rubbed his neck as he remembered how surprised he was when the sheath hit her. He felt kind of bad about it at first. He felt less bad when she launched him out of the ring.

She laughed as she remembered how she was planning on doing exactly that. "That was still smart, Scruffy. You fought well considering you couldn't even bend. I wasn't kidding when I said no one else has injured me, that was the best fight I've had since I learned real Earthbending."

He felt uncomfortable at the fact that she was praising him for their fight. He honestly thought he did a lousy job, the fact that his shoulder was still a mess being the primary indicator.

He sighed and decided to just change the subject. "It's not like I couldn't bend. I just knew that the second I did I'd be outed as Fire Nation. I'd rather avoid that."

"Yeah, that's fair, the fewer people who know about you the better. Who knows what Earthbenders would do to you if they found you." She spoke in a grim tone.

Zuko shuddered, thinking back to how Uncle almost got his hands crushed by Earthbenders.

"Nothing pretty." He replied, looking at the girl who seemed to understand how much people like him were hated in the Earth Kingdom.

Why doesn't she hate me then? It's not like I've done anything to earn her being nice to me.

He decided to just ask outright since he had wondered about it for a while.

"Why haven't you turned me in? You already know what I am, I couldn't get away from you either without exposing myself. Why are you being nice to me?" He asked, curious as to what her answer would be.

"Because you haven't tried to hurt me Scruffy. I know everyone in the Earth Kingdom is supposed to hate you guys because of the war, but I haven't met anyone from the Fire nation. Hell, I haven't met anyone outside of Gaoling. I still think you guys are jerks for trying to take over the world, but I'm not gonna judge you for something you didn't do."

He thought it over a moment before responding.

"We aren't trying to take over the world, we're trying to spread our knowledge with everyone. If the Earth Kingdom just surrendered everything would be easier."

Toph frowned as she tried to calm her rising anger.

He's probably been brainwashed to believe that. It won't do me any good if I yell at him. I have to take this slowly if I want him to stop being an idiot.

She took a breath and tried to keep her tone neutral. "Tell me Scruffy, does Gaoling look like it needs any help? We haven't been touched by the war, and even though it's boring, everyone here is happy. People aren't starving and it's not like we're incapable of taking care of ourselves. Do you think this place would get any better if the Fire Nation brought the war to our doorsteps?"

Zuko stopped walking as he thought about what she was saying. He looked around the bustling streets of Gaoling and realized she had a point.

Gaoling is a beautiful city. The fact that it hasn't been touched by war is a testament to that. It doesn't look like anyone in this city needs our help. They're doing perfectly well from what I've seen. The fact that it reminds me of Caldera proves how well-off they are. Would all Earth Kingdom villages look like this if there wasn't a war? But what about what Father told me? What about everything I've been taught? If the Fire Nation isn't helping the Earth Kingdom then what are we doing?

He tried to defend his nation but his voice sounded hollow.

"My father told me that the Fire Nation had to help the other nations. That without our technology and our greatness they would destroy themselves. We had to save them and the Air Nomads tried to destroy us for doing so. That's why Sozin used the comet to destroy their armies before they attacked the Fire Nation."

Toph looked back at him with something akin to sadness, connecting his blind faith in the Fire Nation with his earlier beliefs about himself.

"Is he the one that told you that you couldn't be strong unless you mastered Sozin's Style like your sister?" She waited for him to come up with what she was trying to say on his own.

At his silent affirmation, she turned back and started walking towards where her masters were living, telling him one last thing before they got to the Northern Mountains.

"If he's wrong about that don't you think he could be wrong about the war too."