Fall of the White Lotus [Zutara/Taang]

17 | Flaunt

Music: Ocean Princess, Thomas Bergersen

                    The living room in General Iroh's modest house in Ba Sing Se's Upper Ring was shrouded in darkness when his quiet Earth Kingdom manservant soundlessly came in and looked around. The old general, who had retreated into his study for the remainder of the evening, had asked him to check on the young Avatar and Lady Beifong once in a while.

He blinked blindly, and it wasn't until his eyes began to adjust to the darkness that he saw their silhouettes by the window, their attention fixed on the Pai Sho board between them. Immersed as they were in the game, they hadn't noticed that now only the murky, false light coming from the window helped the young Avatar in deciding his next move. Shaking his head, the Earth Kingdom man shuffled further into the living room and started to light some candles.

Aang didn't look up when the warm light of an oil lamp suddenly cast a golden glow over the game. Fascination shone from his lively features as he continued to watch the pair of small, fair-skinned hands tentatively moving across the Pai Sho board he'd made for her. Sensitive finger tips followed the filmy ridges and touched the tiles as glassy eyes stared into endless nothingness. The concentration on the petite girl's delicate features broke when her lips curled into a satisfied smile.

Watching her expressions, Aang unconsciously mirrored her smile when her hand, strong enough to crush a mountain range, now took one of her Red Rhododendron tiles with infinite care and reached for his White Jade tile. The unfortunate tile was flipped over before landing in the pot.

It had been a week since Iroh had told the young people about the Order's connection to the Avatar and how he'd become its grandmaster. It had given Aang a lot to chew on. He had needed to change his perspective on his upbringing and the ties that existed between himself and the Order. He also had a strong feeling that Iroh hadn't told him everything there was to tell. Apparently the grandmaster thought he had to figure out some things for himself.

As the season of the Air Nomads slowly drew to an end and the cherry tree outside Iroh's modest house in the Upper Ring lost the last of its leaves, Aang started to realize that Zuko and Katara weren't the only tiles on the board in this mysterious game the grandmaster was playing to secure the future of his Order. And he did not like it.

Being the Avatar, he strongly objected to being subjected to anyone's schemes, especially since Iroh downright refused to clarify his plans, plainly claiming that he didn't have one in the first place. If it weren't for Toph, Aang would have left this place a long time ago.

Absentmindedly, Aang's gaze trailed from the painful situation he'd manoeuvred himself into on the Pai Sho board to the victoriously smirking earthbender across the table. And as Toph picked up one of her tiles, he felt that before the end of the season, both he and Toph would have been moved into their final positions as well.

"I win."

The sound of Toph's triumphant voice breaking the silence pulled Aang from his musings. He looked up and noticed that Toph's smirk had changed into quite a charming smile. Then his gaze was drawn towards the board and he noticed that almost all of his tiles had vanished from there.

"Oh," he said, a little taken aback as he scratched the back of his head. His thoughts must have been miles away, given that he hadn't even consciously noticed that the petite earthbender had cut him to ribbons.

Toph stood up and cleared the board in one neat movement. "You'll never win a game against me if you don't start paying attention, Twinkle Toes!"

Aang nodded, a vague smile playing on his lips. Since he had made Toph the Pai Sho board, it had become almost impossible to defeat the earthbender at the game. He knew, though, that part of her success was due to his wandering thoughts.