Chapter Twenty- Five: Preparing the Fools

Toph was growing impatient with the entire Zuko and Katara situation. She decided to step in and take over the tea hoarder's position. She was surprised with some of the others offering to help. Sokka, by orders of his Gran Gran, was to push Zuko into making the engagement necklace properly. Aang, to Toph's dismay, even decided to help in a roundabout way, but refused to tell her. And of course, the local pink bouncing ball of energy decided she'd help by introducing Katara to the wonders of being a noble lady.

Toph was actually fearful for Katara when it came to Ty Lee. Who knew what the pink wearing girl would come up with. All Toph could imagine was Katara coming back in a similar outfit, bouncing off the walls screaming about joining the circus. She shuddered at the thought. There was no way Sugar Queen would end up like that. She was brought out of her musings by a familiar set of footsteps.

"It's not that much stuff!" Came the agitated voice of her target.

"Katara! I had to get some of the palace guards to help me carry it!" Zuko said just as agitated. "Why do you need all this stuff right now? All you have to do is tell me or Uncle and we can have it brought to you!"

"And make a servant do something that I am perfectly capable of?" She snapped.

"But…. Look!" He growled. "You have the guards carrying it now, so obviously you aren't capab…."

"Finish that sentence and you'll wake up frozen to the ceiling!" She warned.

Toph took this as her chance to step in before it snowballed out of control. "Hiya Sugar Pants!"

It was instant. Katara threw whatever she had in her arms at Zuko, who let out a shout of surprise and tumbled to the floor. Meanwhile, Toph felt like there was a stampede of hog monkeys headed toward her, before she was crushed in a tight embrace by the formally agitated water bender.

"When did you get here? What have you been up to? I love your letters!" Katara started.

"Sugar Queen, before you run out of air, let me talk." Toph stated. "Sparky, Ya alright over there?"

"Shut up mud bug." He mumbled before storming off with Katara's purchases.

"Hmmm. Looks like you've been holding out on him. Did ya even kiss him yet?"

"Toph!" Katara blushed. "Why are you here anyway? There isn't any trouble is there?"

Toph rolled her eyes. "Nah. We just stopped in to see Sparky, and heard you were here. Even brought Snoozles and Pokey."

Katara beamed. "The gang is all back together! We should do something as a group!"

Toph smirked. "Oh, we will. But first, you and I need to find Pokey."

"What for?" Katara asked as she started leading the earth bender to her room.

"Girl talk."

Zuko was trying to balance the water bender's purchases and open his door at the same time. Why he took her things to his room was beyond him, but he just wanted to lie down and relax. While they were in the village, several of the villages had come up and talked excitedly with her. He grew a little annoyed with a few of the men ogling her, but they stopped when they noticed him.

He would have to find a way to make her stay. His people loved her, and she was great with them. He finally got his door open and felt the packages lift out of his arms.

"Hey! Oh, hi Aang, Sokka." He smiled.

"I didn't know you were a shopper, Zuko." Aang smirked.

"I'm not, these are Katara's." He huffed. "Who needs all this stuff?"

"You can never have too much! You never know when it will come in handy!" Sokka chimed in.

Zuko turned and glared at the warrior. "YOU! You're the reason she bought half of the stuff she bought!"

"Really?" Sokka said grabbing the packages from Aang and running into Zuko's room, emptying the contents on the bed.

"Damn it." Zuko sighed. "I was going to take a nap…. Oh well. So, what have you been up too? How's everything in the South and with Toph's parents?"

Sokka was already stuffing his face, so Aang took that as his cue. "Toph's parents are okay. Her dad is still a little pissed at me. He still thinks I kidnapped her and brain washed her. But her mom keeps talking about babies. I'm only thirteen and a half! I'm too young to have kids!"

Sokka swallowed the mouthful of food with difficulty. "Technically, you're one hundred and thirteen and a half….." He frown at the deadpanned look he got from the other too. "What? It's true!"

Zuko shook his head. "Don't feel bad. Ever since I had to take the throne temporarily, the council has been on me about getting a wife even more. Mother keeps telling them I already have someone in mind, but won't tell me who."

Choking brought their attention back to the water tribe teen. "Seriously? I thought you'd already finding a way to propose." He realized he'd made a mistake. They might see his sister and fire bender's attraction, but apparently they were still blind to it.

"What do you mean?" Zuko growled.

"Well, your…. Uncle or was it your mom?" Aang started.

"It was his mom who told Ty Lee." Sokka cut in. "She said you have a girl now, so we came up to meet this girl. So…. When do we meet her?"

Zuko gave them a blank stare. "What? I don't have a girl! The closest thing to a girl that I have is your sister!"

Both Aang and Sokka smirked, but Zuko was too busy ranting to notice. So, this might take a little more work than usual. Toph was right, it would be a pain in the dirt. Sokka pulled out the envelope his dad had handed him and opened it, better now the ever.

"Hey, Zuko. I want to make an betrothal necklace and I was wondering if you could help me." Sokka pleaded.

"Why do you need my help?" Zuko frowned. "We give rings here."

Sokka smacked his forehead. "Because Ty Lee is from the fire nation. Who better to ask for ideas than you. You can even make one too if you want. I have extras. You want one Aang."

Aang, who was also in on the little plan, accepted. "Sure. Toph might like it as a gift, not a marriage thing!"

Zuko took the white stone on the silver band. "Why is mine white? You got pink and Aang has green."

"Well, we didn't know what color to give you, so we picked white. Kinda like snow." Sokka added as an afterthought.

"How am I supposed to make one if I don't have a girl in mind?" Zuko whined.

"It's just for fun." Aang smiled. "Just pretend it's for a girl. Toph's most likely going to smash this anyway."

"Or just make it for one of your closest girl friends." Sokka winked. "Or your mom…. I guess."

Zuko scowled. "Fine. What do I carve with?"

Sokka puffed out his chest, happy his and his Gran Gran's plan would work. "Here you go. Now, Gran Gran gave me a few extra stones to practice on before we use the real one. These stones are a little bigger though so remember that when you design them."

Aang and Zuko nodded and watch Sokka start. Soon all three were busy carving designs into their stones. Zuko found it oddly relaxing, and even asked for another stone to carve. Aang, annoyed with the tools, ended up earth bending his into an odd shape. Sokka laughed and said it suited Toph anyway. This is what Ursa and Iroh walked in on when they were looking for Zuko. But they didn't have the heart to drag him away for a council meeting, leaving Iroh to take the seat again.

Katara was happy. She got to spend time with her adopted little sister and her soon to be sister-in-law. Ty Lee had told her Sokka had something big he needed help with from Zuko, and that's why they had come. The only thing Katara could think of would be the necklace he'd be making for the bouncy girl.

"Is everything alright back home Ty Lee?" She asked. "The bending training and all?"

Ty Lee beamed. "Yes! I even taught a few of them what I taught you and Toph to help them bend better. What about you and Zuko? "

"Don't waste your time Pokey. They're still idiots." Toph stated.

"Excuse me?" Katara growled offended by the comment.

"You're excused. We can't all come away from Snoozles unscathed. And you did spend the most time with him, so it's only fair that his idiocy wore off on you." Toph smirked.

"Hey!" Both Ty Lee and Katara yelled.

"Why are Zuko and I idiots anyway?" Katara huffed.

Toph rolled her eyes. "Come on! Everyone knows it. You two are just pretending!"

"Pretending to what?" Katara hissed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't worry about it." Ty Lee beamed. "We have costumes to make!"

"What?" Toph asked in confusion. "What for?"

Ty Lee bounced up and down excitedly. "Tomorrow is the Founders Fire Day Festival! Every year the people dress in costume and masks and celebrate our first fire bending masters!"

Katara raised an eye brow. "So, you celebrate the dragons?"

Ty Lee stopped. "Huh? No, Agni and his wife silly! Why would we celebrate dragons?"

"Because dragons were the first fire benders." Toph stated as it was common knowledge. "The first earth benders were badger moles. Airbenders were the bison…. I don't know about the water benders…."

Katara frowned. "I think it was the coi fish. I'd have to ask Gran Gran. All our things were destroyed during the invasions."

Ty Lee sat quietly as the two told her about the first benders. "That's it! Since everyone else will be celebrating Agne and his wife, we'll celebrate the dragons!"

Katara giggled. "What about the boys? Who will make their costumes?"

Toph winked. "That's easy. We design them, and give them to Ursa."

"OOOH! But we can't design our own boyfriend's costume! It has to be a surprise." Ty Lee cheered.

"Um… I don't have…."

"You would have gone with Sparky anyway, so drop it!" Toph said straight faced, unlike Ty Lee who fell over giggling.

Katara growled under her breath. She really wanted to make Zuko's costume. She already had the perfect idea. "Fine."

A/N: I am so sorry. I got a trojan last semester that demolished my computer twice. Once before I had it repaired and then a week after it was "repaired" I wasted a lt of money and the never completely fixed it. I lost everything. I had to rewrite all my class work and just finally got things up to date when I checked in and realized it had been so long. I have a small break coming up and hope to get this done by then. I said HOPE, so long as nothing interrupts me anyway. Hope you enjoyed this. I had to reread the story on ff since it was eated by the virus on my computer. Hopefully this chapter fits in. Let me know.

Zar