Toph let out a low whistle, stopping mid-stride and allowing her feet to give her a better view of what lay before her.

"Wow…I've gotta hand it to you, Sokka, this seems like the real deal," she told her companion after absorbing what she could see of the city.

Sokka grinned. "It took a lot of planning and a lot of help, but it's really coming together!" he said proudly.

They had just gotten off of an ostrich horse that Sokka had rented, and Toph could finally see the city her friends could never stop talking about. They were standing in the heart of downtown Republic City, and Toph could already tell that this city was unlike any she had been in before. The varying shops and businesses that stood before her were multilevel, although many of them appeared to be under construction to build second, third, and even some fourth levels. Even in Ba Sing Se, the multiple level buildings were exclusively held for the residents and businesses of the Upper Ring, and more often than not, the more palatial buildings appeared to be giant stone boxes with layers and levels within them. Here, in Republic City, the buildings appeared to be nestled together, each one a different size, shape, and layout depending on the wishes of their owners. Toph could even sense the difference in architecture between some of these buildings: one of the shops closest to her she could sense immediately had an Earth Kingdom feel to it with its design, while immediately next to it a Fire Nation type business, with raised edges on the outer rim of its railings, resembling flames.

"So people from different nations can all just get along here, huh?" she asked her guide after observing the new architecture.

"Well, yeah, that's the idea of the United Republic, right?" he stood next to her, hands on his hips as he, too, observed the variety of the buildings before him. "Anyone can come here and make a life for themselves, and instead of being an outcast, they're accepted like anyone else…This city was a Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom, after all, so there's been mixing and blending going on here for decades."

Toph let out a skeptical snort and turned to face her companion. "So why do I need to be here, exactly?"

Sokka dropped his arms and let out a heavy sigh, his demeanor changing rapidly. "Well, just like any other major city, there are some…issues…" he began.

"Issues, huh?"

Sokka nodded. "In particular, we're having problems with crime. As in, really bad problems with crime. I don't wanna discuss the details here, but let's just say if word gets out Republic City may not last very long."

"Good afternoon and greetings, everyone!"

Toph tried to contain her laugher at Sokka's sudden "business-like" charm.

"I've finally been able to bring along with me my esteemed associate, the creator of metalbending and the founder of the Beifong Metalbending Academy, the one and only, Toph Beifong!" Sokka ended his glowing introduction with a flourish, bowing and giving Toph a gentle push in the center of her back to get her moving forward. She rolled her eyes but didn't complain about the short applause she received.

She was standing before the committee that Aang, Sokka, and Zuko had come up with when they decided they would need counseling when it comes to governing the city. At least that was how Sokka explained it. To Toph, it seemed like a hodgepodge of people with nothing in common except that they were all sitting at the same table, presumably staring at her.

Sokka introduced them to her one by one: "We have Lieutenant Jee, he served Zuko back when he was still a banished prince with an anger problem-" Jee nodded in Toph's direction "-then we have General Shi, he served Earth King Kuei on his Council of Five before Azula took them ou- er, sorry-" Sokka cut himself off after noticing Shi's pointed glare "-next up is Bato of the Southern Water Tribe, you should remember him from the Day of Black Sun-" Bato smiled and gave a quick wave "-and finally we have Kata, a representative from the Foggy Swamp Tribe. She also fought with us on the Day of Black Sun," Kata smiled at Toph, although she couldn't tell.

Sokka brought a pair of chairs over to the table and gestured for Toph to have a seat. The table was rounded, and she sat directly across from General Shi, with Sokka at her left and Kata at her right.

"Now," Sokka began, clearing his throat. "The reason why I've sought out counsel from Toph is due to our recent spike in severe crime." He pulled out a few paper reports from his bag (is that the bag that matches his belt? Toph asked herself), and placed them on the table for his fellow committee members to survey at their leisure.

"All cities have problems with crime," General Shi stated. The tone of his voice told Toph that he thought this meeting was a waste of time already.

"True," said Sokka, "but we're dealing with more than petty theft and muggings. If you look at this report from the Guard-" he pulled out a small stack of papers from the center of the table "you'll see that within the past month we have had a huge increase in sexual assaults and murder. Many of the murders seem random, and the Guard is having a difficult time finding evidence that will trace the crimes back to the perpetrators."

"Perhaps we need to increase the number of the City Guard?" Bato suggested.

"I'm not quite sure that would get to the root of the problem," Sokka explained, a frown on his face. "If we increase the guard, we'll have more men on the streets, sure, but I'm not sure that will help much. The people committing these crimes are leaving next to no evidence- we don't know if they're assassins for hire, benders, non-benders, psychopaths killing for fun…we have no clue what we're dealing with here. All we have are dead bodies turning up with different causes of death. I honestly don't think the team we have on the Guard right now is equipped to handle the people behind this."

The table grew quiet as everyone tried to think of an answer to their current problem.

"Where I'm from," Kata started, with a bit of the country twang in her voice, "we don't have many problems with crime. Everybody gets along as a big family. Why aren't cities like that?" She looked around the table and saw the skeptical looks her peers were exchanging.

"What I'm tryin' to say," she continued, "Is that when people feel like they're involved, like they're a part of the bigger picture and that their voice matters, they might not be so inclined to be out committin' these crimes."

Lieutenant Jee nodded, agreeing. "She has a point. I'm not sure if the people committing these crimes are just being opportunistic and pouncing on a young city who is still figuring out the rules, but if people feel like they're a part of the community, they aren't likely to want to hurt it. They'll want to see the city grow and prosper."

"While I'm not sure that this will address the people who are out there murdering people right now," Shi said gruffly, "That's not a bad suggestion to keep the situation from getting worse. In the Ba Sing Se, in the Upper Ring people had no issues with crime because they felt they were valued-"

"That and you literally walled off the poor and hungry who you didn't value, so there was only an issue with crime in the Lower Ring. Imagine that," Toph interrupted, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She drummed her fingers on the table as Sokka slapped his hand across his face.

"Toph-" Sokka groaned.

"What? I'm not wrong," She said with a disinterested shrug.

"Listen here, little miss," General Shi cut in. "You shouldn't go spouting off nonsense when you have no idea what was going on-"

"Oh ho, really?" Toph let out a belly laugh. "That's rich! You realize I'm a Beifong, right? I've known how the upper classes treat the lower ones in the Earth Kingdom since the day I was born. Ba Sing Se is only different from the rest of the Earth Kingdom in that they concealed their problems with the poor by building walls to keep them out!"

General Shi let out a low growl. "It kept our city safe; I wouldn't be opposed to other cities following Ba Sing Se's suit."

"Right, because that worked out so well for all of its citizens who had no clue there was a war going on for a hundred years," Toph retorted with a roll of her eyes.

Shi stood up and was prepared to continue defending his beloved city when Sokka stood up and put his hands out to silence the two parties.

"Arguing will get us nowhere," he calmly stated, eyeing Shi and Toph, hoping they would calm down.

Shi sat down with a huff, crossing his arms in irritation. "What does she know about any of this, anyway? What has she done to protect this city?"

"Well, I certainly helped Yu Dao out by capturing some of their most wanted criminals, didn't I?" Toph smiled. "I probably have more battlefield experience than you, General."

Sokka let a strangled noise escape his throat while the table fell into a short-lived chaos. The committee, which had begun shouting their opinions at each other, was interrupted by a loud banging on the door.

A fire nation solider cracked open the door and peeked his head inside the meeting room, staring curiously at the group of people, who had suddenly frozen in place.

"Can we help you?" Sokka asked, his voice nearly cracking.

"Sorry," the solider said, his face growing lightly flushed. "I'm here to announce the Fire Lord's arrival."