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Voice of the Earth: Land of Fire and Stone 2

Chapter One

Zuko woke up with the sun as usual. Before opening his eyes, he reached out beside him until his fingers met the soft skin of Toph's shoulder. After six months of marriage, it still took him by surprise each morning that she was really there and it wasn't just a pleasant dream.

With a contented sigh, she snuggled closer into him. He opened his eyes and looked down, brushing back her dark hair so he could see her face. Each morning he couldn't help but marvel that someone so lovely and so talented had actually chosen to be with him.

He gave her a kiss on the forehead, then carefully extricated himself from her arms to begin his morning firebending forms. Months of waking up next to her had taught him one thing—his beautiful, gifted wife was not a morning person.

He headed down the flight of stairs that led down from their bedroom to the sitting room below and out into their private courtyard. He stood in the middle of the stone patio and turned his face up to the warmth of the sun. The heat and light that soaked into him kindled an answering fire inside him, a fire that ran in his blood and across his skin and out his fingertips.

Half an hour later, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked up from his exertions to see Toph leaning over the balcony, one hand trailing along a stone trellis he'd had installed. It ran in an unbroken line of stone and earth from the balcony to the ground below. She was watching him.

"Pretty good, Sparky," she called down to him. "You might be losing your edge though. Do you need me to come push you around a little?"

"How about I come up there and push you around a little?" he asked with a suggestive wink.

"Come on, if you think you're man enough," she teased.

He took the stairs two at a time.

Later, over breakfast, they were discussing their plans for the day when a servant knocked on the door of their suite. He bore a rolled up hawk scroll on a black lacquer tray. Zuko picked it up with a word of thanks, interested to see that the scroll bore Aang's seal.

"It's a message from Aang," he told Toph as he slit the wax seal with a small knife from his desk.

Carefully unrolling it, he could tell that the little scroll had been through a pretty serious journey.

"He and Katara have been touring the Earth Kingdom, he says," Zuko summarized as he glanced over the columns of characters.

"How's little Bumi doing?" Toph asked, peering over his shoulder in hopes that the scroll was written in the earth-based ink Haru and Teo had invented for her. Unfortunately, the scroll was all but invisible to her there on the gan wood desk. Only the metal tips of the scroll's wooden rod were truly visible to her earthbending sight.

"It doesn't say," Zuko said absently as he continued to read. Then he looked up at her. "Listen to this," he began. "'King Bumi is abdicating his throne to take on more responsibilities in the Order of the White Lotus. His successor will be decided by a series of challenges open to all residents of Omashu and he has requested Toph's presence.'"

"Why?" Toph asked. "What does he want me there for?"

Zuko looked up from the scroll. "Aang says Bumi wouldn't say why. Just that he wants you there. He says if you're willing to come, just let him know by return hawk and he and Appa will come for you.'"

"Wow, I'd love to go to Omashu!" Toph exclaimed. "Please, Sparky, sweetie, let's go!" she put one hand on his shoulder and turned those big green eyes up to him hopefully.

"It doesn't say anything about me being invited," Zuko replied with a little sideways smile.

"Well, I won't go without you. If King Bumi wants me, he'll have to take you too," Toph answered firmly.

"Maybe King Bumi won't mind if I tag along," Zuko said, pulling out a scroll. "It would do some good to make a state visit to Omashu anyway. I need to find out how our Fire Nation representative is doing. I have to admit, I was surprised when I heard that Mai had actually requested the post."

"Mai? Your knife-throwing ex-girlfriend?" Toph nearly choked. "I had no idea Mai was the Fire Nation's representative to Omashu. Wasn't her dad the Fire Nation governor? I am surprised the residents didn't rise up in protest."

"It was actually pretty strange. Mai's dad turned out to be a very reasonable governor and most of the residents who fled the city during the war returned even before the war was over. He and King Bumi actually became good friends," Zuko explained as he began to arrange his brushes and ink to send a reply to Aang. "I heard that he even released King Bumi to join the Order of the White Lotus when he heard that my father planned to burn down the entire Earth Kingdom during the comet."

"So when did Mai go back there?" Toph asked, picking up a brush and twirling it between her fingers idly.

"A couple of years ago at least," Zuko said. "King Bumi invited her dad to stay on as representative after the war ended. So I guess Omashu was kind of her home. When her dad was asked to move to Ba Sing Se, Mai asked to take his place." Zuko's head bent over the desk as he began to write.

While he worked, Toph got up and walked around the room pretending to study the furniture, all made of gan wood whose high mineral content made it visible to her earthbending. Ever so often she'd glance back at her husband, his attention held by his calligraphy. Mai, huh? She thought to herself. She hadn't thought about Mai in years. She wondered how often Zuko thought about Mai.

So, she asked. "Whatever happened with you and Mai?"

"Nothing, really," Zuko replied as he blew softly on the freshly inked page to dry it.

"Well, as I recall, you guys were pretty tight there at Fire Lord Iroh's coronation. We all kind of figured you were an item," she continued.

Zuko turned to look at her, wearing that little grin that meant he was more amused than he was letting on. Not for the first time, she was so grateful that she'd become able to see him, really see him. She wondered how different her vision of him through earthbending was from what anyone else would see. To her he looked like living metal, moving, sparkling—like a statue made of precious minerals—only alive.

"Toph, are you jealous?" he asked with a laugh.

"No, of course not," she scoffed. But deep down she knew otherwise. "I'm just curious. What happened?"

Zuko got up and came to stand in front of her, his hands encircling her waist. "The honest truth is that once all the war drama was over, we bored each other silly," he said, looking down at her upturned face.

"But I'm not a bit boring, am I?" Toph asked softly.

Zuko bent down to kiss her, then caressed her soft cheek with his thumb. "You are a lot of things, sweetie," he teased, "but no one could ever call you boring. I am completely captivated by your beauty, your talent, and your wit. I can't even remember what Mai looks like."

"Good answer, Sparky," Toph replied pulling him close to her for another kiss. As she enjoyed the feeling of her husband's strong arms around her, she resolved that if Mai wanted to get back together with Zuko, she was welcome to try. Toph just hoped Mai would be happy being imprisoned in a tiny stone box for the next century.

A few days later and hundreds of miles away in Omashu, Aang and Katara were enjoying a lovely afternoon on the balcony of their guest suite when Zuko's hawk arrived bearing the message that he and Toph would be happy to come to visit King Bumi.

"Wonderful!" Aang exclaimed as he read it. "Now maybe Bumi will get off my back."

"What about?" Katara asked as she got up to stop their one-year-old son, little Bumi, from eating the flowers he was busily pulling from one of the many potted plants that dotted the terrace.

"Toph and Zuko have agreed to come visit. Bumi keeps asking if we've heard from them," Aang said, rising from his seat to help her move some of the smaller plants out of little Bumi's reach.

"What does he want with Toph anyway?" Katara asked. "Has he ever said?"

"No, just that he wants her there during the contest." At the word 'contest,' Katara could hear the frustration in Aang's voice. Her husband had tried repeatedly to convince Bumi that an open call contest was no way to decide who would be the ruler of Omashu when he stepped down. But King Bumi was not to be swayed.

Whenever they speculated on the kinds of events the old king would concoct, Katara always got a vivid mental image of the growing crystal threatening to engulf her and Sokka. She definitely felt sorry for anyone who chose to get involved in Bumi's scheme—and that included her and Aang. And now apparently Zuko and Toph.

A knock at the door of the suite stirred her from her thoughts. She opened it to see her tall, muscular brother Sokka, his dark hair escaping from where it was tied back with a blue leather thong, his hands full of luggage and squirming child.

"Sokka! What are you doing here?" Katara reached out to take her little nephew Toma from Sokka's slipping grasp. Almost immediately the toddler slid to the floor to stand toe to toe with Bumi. The two little boys sized each other up, then began babbling in a language only another baby would understand.

Suki then came through the door, a beautiful little girl entering just behind her. Zutara's bright blue eyes took in everything at a glance. "Hi, Aunt Katara! Where's Uncle Aang?" she asked in a sweet piping voice.

"He's on the balcony," Katara replied, but Aang had already entered the room, his gray eyes brightening at the sight of the new arrivals.

"So you did make it!" Aang cried joyfully as he stepped forward to take some of the many bags from Sokka's hands.

"Barely," Sokka groaned as he helped Suki with the bags she carried as well.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Katara asked, her accusing glare taking in both her brother and her husband.

Suki wearily sank down onto the sofa and sighed contentedly. Then she patted her belly. "I didn't know if I was going to be up to such a trip. I have never been so sick in all my life. I told Sokka not to tell you we were coming in case I just couldn't handle the travel."

"You mean?" Katara asked, excitement shining in her eyes.

"Yep, baby will make five this time," Sokka said with a proud smile. "One of them can be a warrior, one can be an earthbender, and one can be a waterbender. Then we'll have all the bases covered."

"Congratulations to you both!" Aang said as Zutara and Toma crawled all over him, vying for his attention.

"Do a trick for us, Uncle Aang," Zutara begged. "Please!"

"Give Uncle Aang a break, kids," Sokka instructed with a stern look. Katara was impressed to see that both children immediately backed down.

"That's okay, Sokka," Aang said with a grin. "Here's one Bumi likes." Without any perceivable effort at all, he created a cushion of air underneath the three children. As they rose about three feet off the floor, Bumi immediately began to jump up and down, tumbling and laughing. Soon the three of them were bouncing and giggling, leaving the grown ups some space to catch up.

"I was just telling Katara that Toph and Zuko are coming too. I was going to take Appa tomorrow and fly up to get them," Aang explained.

"I wish we'd taken you up on an Appa ride instead of going by boat," Suki sighed with a glance at her husband.

"Honeycakes, I have apologized as many ways as I know how," Sokka said wearily. "I swear to you, I'll make sure you and the kids go home on Appa."

At the looks of confusion Aang and Katara gave the pair, Sokka explained, "I wanted to take a new boat out for sea trials. This looked like the perfect opportunity to make a nice run up the coast."

"The first week was great, but the weather got rough the second week," Suki continued. "The kids went cabin crazy since they had to stay below, and between morning sickness and seasickness I thought I was going to die."

Sokka looked genuinely contrite. "I swear—Appa will take you guys home," he promised solemnly. Then he gave a quick questioning look at Aang. "Won't he? Please?"

As much as he'd have enjoyed keeping Sokka in trouble with Suki, Aang just couldn't ignore the pleading look on Sokka's face. After all, he had a little one too. "Of course he will. But not too soon. King Bumi has something planned for all of us, he says."

A knock at the door prompted Katara to leave her seat. As she went to open it, Sokka kept talking. "It'll be good to have some time to visit with everyone at least. I hope Bumi's big event will be less pompous than Zuko and Toph's wedding. The food was good, but boy, what a production."

Suki laughed. "It'll be fun seeing everyone again. I'm glad Toph and Zuko are coming."

From the doorway, a deep female voice spoke with a hint of amusement edged with irony. "So Zuko is actually coming to Omashu. It's been a while."

Everyone looked up to see a tall brunette standing there, her glossy hair pulled up in an elegant twist, leaving a few tendrils to frame her heart-shaped face. Her gray eyes swept over the group and she smiled. "Looks like the entire gang is here."

"Hello, Mai," Aang said. "You remember Sokka and Suki, don't you?"