Disclaimer: Not mine, making no money, blah, blah, blah.
Summary: "I try not to think about it, but when I left, I probably really hurt them"

CHAPTER ONE

Lao and Poppy Bei Fong had been in an absolute panic when their precious, delicate young daughter had been kidnapped, first by criminals, who were probably insane criminals at that, claiming that Toph was the Blind Bandit from an underground fighting ring, and then by the Avatar.

It had been this panic that prompted Lao to be so stern with Toph when she returned from the first kidnapping and confessed the facts to them. They had been giving her far too much freedom in doing as she wished, if she thought that a twelve-year-old sneaking off to participate in an Earth Rumble competition was in any way a good or acceptable idea, no matter how talented a bender she was.

Poppy, once she recovered from her own shock, calmed him down, as she always did, and they resolved to sit down with Toph in the morning, when they had all had time to think about the night's events and were ready to talk rationally.

That plan had been promptly de-railed when the woke to find a hysterical nursemaid with a tell-tale bump on her head and a note that she had helped Toph write, thinking it part of an odd game. The note informed them that Toph was going to teach the Avatar Earthbending, and be with people who weren't ashamed of her and didn't treat her like she was helpless.

Poppy actually fainted, something she hadn't done since her pregnancy. Lao immediately sent for Master Yu, ordering him to do whatever it took to find and retrieve Toph, to bring her home where she would be safe, as soon as possible, and then gone to comfort his wife.

Toph's letter had held some degree of truth to it, but also more than a little misunderstanding, and a great deal of hurt.

Had they failed so badly as parents that their daughter would run away and imply that she might never return? Did she actually hate them, when all they had ever wanted to do was love and protect her, even if they had gone to extremes?

When Toph had been born, after a pregnancy and birth that had nearly cost the life of both mother and baby, the midwives had warned Lao that he might still have to look for funeral shrouds and sages, rather than baby clothing and celebrations.

For weeks, Lao had barely moved from Poppy's bedside, leaving business to his assistant as he kept vigil over the both of them, for Poppy had refused to be parted from their daughter for even a moment, breaking with conventional traditions for the wealthy and feeding Toph from her own breast, rather than entrusting her to a wet-nurse.

When Toph, still so much smaller and frailer than any baby should be, finally opened her eyes, the green orbs were a sightless pale jade. Still, the doctors warned that she would be lucky if she even lived through her childhood and a near-miracle if she made it into her teen years. Refusing to accept such a thing, Lao and Poppy agreed with each other that Toph would be sheltered from the world, until she was strong enough to face it.

In the world of business and politics that the Bei Fongs inhabited and ruled, nearly everything was something to be traded, be it favours, influence or goods. Lao and Poppy loved each other, and had a happy marriage, but they also knew that they were the exception, rather than the rule, and that few arranged marriages ended so well. If the circles they moved in knew that the Bei Fongs had a daughter, many of them would try to arrange a marriage, seeing a blind girl as a stepping stone to wealth and power, rather than a girl in her own right. They would not allow Toph to be put under such pressure

As she grew older, Toph also grew stronger, to the point that her parents no longer feared that she might perish if they dropped their guard for even a moment, but she showed no signs of growing strong enough for them to treat her as a normal child, either. So they kept her hidden, safe in anonymity.

Neither of them were benders, so they hired the greatly-recommended Master Yu, who consistently told them that Toph was not ready for more than the most basic of bending exercises. Poppy and Lao knew very little about Earthbending, except that many of their Agricultural endeavours hired them whenever possible, and even less about the theory behind it, so they trusted his word, rather than moving her on to a more advanced or specialized tutor.

The maid who had given them the letter had been under long-standing orders to do whatever Toph needed or requested, as long as it didn't endanger her health, so they couldn't really fault her for helping their daughter write the note. They wouldn't be planning to entrust her with anything that required even a hint of common sense at any point in the near future, though.

Perhaps they had treated Toph as helpless, but she had never shown them reason to think otherwise. If Toph was capable of evading the guards to sneak out to Earth Rumbles and participate without giving away her real identity, then she was clearly intelligent enough to find a way to show them that she was capable, and strong enough to face whatever the world threw at her.

There were ways to work around her blindness, especially if Toph did 'see' through her bending, as she claimed, so why had she kept it hidden from them? They might have been cross that she had hidden things from her, but Lao and Poppy would always love their daughter. They could no more hate her than they could fly like an Airbender.

But now she was missing, and all that they could do now was worry, and wait, and hope that Toph would listen to their explanations when she eventually returned home.

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A/N: My sister and I were born three months premature. Sally could literally fit in my father's cupped hands, and spent months in the hospital before they thought it was safe to take her home. She did come away with learning difficulties, and my parents treated both of us as extremely delicate and fragile. Once we proved that we were capable of something, however, they let us participate in things like physically rough sports, if we wanted to.

Toph's parents are influential enough that the family seal gets the officials as far away as Ba Sing Se to bend over backwards to assist her. If nothing else, that implies a powerful influence, which means that they are probably not stupid, blind or self-deluded, and we've seen that Toph is pretty good at getting things past people. However, they seemed truly ignorant of Toph's talents, and genuinely believed that she was helpless. I can think of a dozen ways that Toph could have proven herself, which leads me to think that her relationship with her parents was more misinformation and miscommunication on both sides, than neglect.

Thanks, Nat.