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Flint and Spark Chapter 8/??
Title: Flint and Spark
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Content tags: Azula/Toph Beifong, post-series, slowburn (emphasis on burn), bonding through property damage
Summary: Five years after Sozin’s Comet, a tenuous balance is on the brink of collapse. A Southern Water Tribe diplomatic envoy disappears in the middle of negotiations with the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom. Each side blames the other, ready to send the nations back to war. Toph can stop the conspiracy, but with her only help being the manipulative exile, Princess Azula, her enemies may not be the biggest problem.
Azula was up on her feet in an instant, a torn piece of cloth collected in one fist and the metal canister in the other, ready to fight. Toph had the urge to tell her to calm down, which was a remarkably tame reaction since she would have thrown a boulder at her two days ago.
Azula whirled on her defensively. “Where—?!”
“Nice of you to drop in!” Bumi said by way of greeting, reaching out to pluck the container from Azula’s hand. “Thanks for keeping track of that. You know, Omashu has a wonderfully efficient shipping network, but we still lose the little ones every once in a while.”
Toph only had a slight lead on Azula in regards to comprehending the chaos of the moment. But it was still an advantage, and she didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to annoy her. “Hey, Royal Pain.”
“You,” Azula whirled on Toph, irritation rolling off her like heat. They were probably physically linked, if Toph’s temperature checks of a flustered Zuko were anything to go by.
“We were just talking about you,” said Bumi.
Now aware she had not fallen into a second trap, Azula turned her fury back to Omashu’s king. “That was your doing! The thief, the explosion!”
“Fireworks! And a barbeque I set up as a welcome party! But I wanted to make sure you’d stick around for it, so I organized a little training exercise to keep you busy while Toph and I reminisced.”
Toph tried to hold back a grin. Despite his ridiculous excuses, it was obvious that Bumi had set up that elaborate chase as a test. Azula could offer nothing but her word of honor that she would not betray them, but since her word was useless, it meant they had to prove her commitment some other way. So maybe Bumi was right; depending on others wasn’t always a matter of trust but understanding the circumstances. By giving her a real opportunity to escape, Azula had unknowingly shown her conviction by chasing after Bumi’s thief instead. The dedication was heartening to know.
But not as satisfying as witnessing the princess completely flummoxed.
“What are you grinning at?” Azula snapped at her.
Toph shrugged, since apparently her attempts to hide her smile didn’t work, she let her enjoyment show. “Like he said, we were just talking about you. So when you dropped in, I thought you had perfect timing.”
“It’s true,” said Bumi. “I waited for just the right dramatic moment to let you through.”
Azula tossed the torn piece of clothing to the floor. “This is how you run Omashu? Wasting time as you both playact and scrap about like children instead of planning a counteroffensive...”
“Because we were waiting on you. We couldn’t start talking about real strategy without our secret weapon here.”
“Yeah, since you’re so good at being offensive,” Toph added.
“And since you were so careful about bringing along this important part of the plans,” said Bumi as he rattled the metal container. “Toph, will you do the honors?”
Toph took it and metalbent the end of container free. She pulled out the scroll and handed it to Bumi, taking the opportunity to palm the small clay vial in her hand as she reworked the metal back into a wrist guard. It was an expert sleight of hand, learned from years of back alley grifting games. Even so, Azula kept her gaze exclusively on the earthbender’s movements.
“Hmm…” Bumi hummed thoughtfully, rustling the paper as he held the scroll up to the light offered by the cavern’s crystals. “Hmhmn hmm!”
Both of them waited impatiently as the old king examined whatever was on the scroll. Bumi turned the paper one way then another, then back again, still making vague humming noises. It continued for a couple minutes, until Azula and Toph shouted in overlapping voices, their patience snapping at the same time.
“Get on with it!”
“C’mon, Bumi!”
Bumi looked up, as if he had forgotten they were there. “Eh? Oh, yes, you were waiting for an explanation?”
“Yeah, sometime today,” Toph replied, before Azula could get a word in.
Bumi waggled his eyebrows. “It’s…a map!”
“Okay, and…” Toph nodded, trying to prompt him to continue. “Of what?”
“The Earth Kingdom continent. Very detailed. It even has the little islands. And some very interesting additions.”
Azula strode past Toph to peer over Bumi’s forearm. “What additions? That’s too large an area to provide accurate details.”
“Like these,” Bumi replied and swept a gnarled finger across the paper.
Toph sighed exasperatedly. “Is anybody going to remember that I can’t hear what’s on the map unless you guys explain it to me?”
Giving a shrug, as if to wordlessly defend her actions as indifference rather than forgetfulness, Azula glanced expectantly at the King of Omashu.
Bumi nodded and made a shooing noise, gesturing for Azula and Toph to step back as he began a complicated series of earthbending movements. The ground beneath them began to undulate, stone transforming into malleable clay. With each kick of his heel and twist of his torso, the cavern floor rose into familiar mountain ranges and plains. Toph felt the soles of her feet tickle with the vibrations as a miniature coastline appeared where she stood a moment earlier. When he finished, it resembled a topographical map of the Earth Kingdom, with Azula and Toph standing next to the southwest coast of Omashu.
Toph tapped the edge of it with her big toe. “A model?”
“Roi Se was very precise about details. Which is why it’s odd that his map is so accurate except for these points here,” and with a gesture Bumi raised up a dozen miniature obelisks that looked as if he had randomly created new Jing-ah towers for a second round. “These are markings that show an extreme change in the surface, like a sheer cliff face suddenly springing up. But many of them are in places where mountains or even hills simply don’t exist. This one is in the desert, here’s another smack in the middle of a swamp…” He trailed off, earthbending each specific area to show how out of place any large geographic novelty would be. “There’s even one where there’s already a mountain. A whole range in fact. This one at Ba Sing Se, near the outer wall, at the base of the Taihua Mountains. Very peculiar!”
“What’s strange about marking a mountain at the base of a mountain range?” Azula asked.
Toph scoffed. “Because the Taihua Mountains make the mountain ranges around your Caldera seem like dinky hills. They’re not individual pieces of earth they’re like…” she paused, trying to find the words for it. “They’re like the spine of the Earth Kingdom. Each mountain may be its own bone but it’s the whole thing that creates the backbone. Whatever Roi Se marked down isn’t part of them. It would stick out. People would’ve noticed it from miles away.”
“Which means whatever he marked can't be an extreme difference going up, but it might be going down,” said Bumi, his voice dropping ominously. He turned his hand palm down and suddenly a section of the diorama’s mountain range sunk into the ground, its absence a cavernous scar on the miniature landscape.
“We know there’s plenty of caves under Ba Sing Se,” Toph said. “Maybe it’s that. Like an underground entrance?”
Azula began walking along the map’s coast, her steps measured and uniform. She was memorizing the distances. “Or something else he was hoping to disguise within his schematics.”
“Since nobody has reported any mysteriously appearing mountains...” Bumi said affably, looking at the firebender with a glint in his eyes. “Do you have any theories about what he was hiding, Princess Azula?”
Azula kept her focus on the ground, her golden eyes surveying the map the same way she did the walls of Omashu when they arrived. “If he was your surveyor, then he could have hid any number of things. I’d compare it to sites he was investigating. Where was the abduction? Was it close to any of these markings?”
“No,” Toph said wearily. Because it would be so much easier if it were the case. If Roi Se had marked that location then surely there would have been something there of note, some trail to follow instead of nothing. “They were heading to some kind of peace talks off the coast of the Mo Ce Sea. One of those places where nobody has a home turf advantage because there’s nothing interesting for miles in any direction.”
The princess pursed her lips. “I haven’t been to that part of the Earth Kingdom, and you would know more about the lay of the land, wouldn’t you, Beifong?”
“I’ve wandered all over. Right now, it’s easier trying to remember where I haven’t been,” Toph replied with an indifferent shrug.
It was mostly true. While Toph had journeyed all over the Earth Kingdom, none of the markings stood out to her as particularly noteworthy either. Except for the one resting in the vast expanse of nothing that was the middle of the Si Wong Desert. Significant because she had only gone there once, back when she was traveling with Aang and the others. And despite the sand’s fuzzy imprint on her senses, the struggles they went through five years ago were indelible in her mind.
She examined the rest of the locations. Aside from the one to the south of Song’s village, there were two other areas marked on a winding path between Omashu and the desert. One in a province she had passed through a couple of times, and one on the edge of the desert near a mining town. That gave her two chances to uncover what kind of pattern Roi Se left behind before she might have to resort to taking Azula into the churning sands, to a place she never wanted to return to.
“It seems that we’re at an impasse,” Bumi said. “Which is a shame, given that we’re speaking of mountains instead of roadblocks.”
“Then let’s ask something else,” Toph pressed, turning to Azula and ignoring the hypocrisy that she was holding back her own growing suspicions. “If Zuko was willing to let you out of prison, you must have something worth sharing.”
“I do,” Azula clasped her hands behind her back, affecting a military pose that almost felt as if she was expecting the two earthbenders to stand at attention for her. “Under the correct circumstances. However, those aren’t presented here. As I said before, I haven’t been here in years, and even then my campaign—” she paused, then amended, “—my travels in the Earth Kingdom were focused on the northwestern area of the continent.”
“And here,” Bumi offered helpfully. “I remember when you used me as part of a hostage negotiation! Luring the Avatar and his friends out for a trade and then called the deal off so you could try to capture them as well. How is the little Fire Nation tyke, by the way? What was his name…Nom-Nom?”
Azula glared back at him. “I wouldn’t know.”
“You wouldn’t know his name?”
It was a small tell, the flex of Azula’s jaw, a tautened muscle that traveled to her neck, shoulders, all the way down to her feet, creating a faint ripple into Toph’s earthbending senses. Not significant because it showed her irritation, as the firebender seemed comfortable enough to broadcast her displeasure to them ever since she literally fell into their company. But because it was the first sign she immediately quelled.
That was enough for Toph to interrupt them. “Oh, yeah, you mean Tom-Tom? He’s doing fine. Running around, causing trouble the way all seven year olds do.”
“Wonderful,” Bumi said, “That’s the perfect age to cause some real mischief!”
Toph silently disagreed. She was younger than that when she started sneaking out to meet with the badgermoles, but not everyone was as precocious as her. “Come to the next boring meeting at the Fire Nation and see for yourself.”
“If the nations aren’t at war by then,” Azula muttered.
“That would make the meetings less boring,” Bumi agreed affably, and Toph could tell that he was trying to bait Azula. Apparently the test with the thief wasn’t the only one he had waiting for her. And as much as she enjoyed hearing the haughty yelp that came from the princess crashing down from the ceiling, Toph couldn’t help but wonder if this was the right way to push her. But then maybe the wily king’s needling was a test for her too, because Bumi seemed inordinately pleased at Toph’s intervention.
“Alright,” Toph said, trying to keep Bumi in check before he aggravated the princess further. “So what are these correct circumstances for you to finally do something?”
Azula stared back expectantly. “You should know. You were there when I demonstrated how to interrogate Yan.”
“Yan?” echoed Bumi.
“The bandit leader we caught. Princess Psycho here threatened to burn his eyeballs out if he didn’t give up the name of the person who hired them.”
“Electrocute,” Azula corrected.
Toph gestured towards Azula with both hands, as if silently telling Bumi, Do you see what I’m dealing with?
“Persuasive!” was all the king said in response. “Is it a good lead?”
Toph grimaced. “Depends. How many Lees are there in the Earth Kingdom?”
“Too many, but that’s unimportant. We have something better than a fake name,” Azula interjected. She paused, as if collecting herself, before turning to Toph, “There was also the matter of your contribution...”
Toph raised an eyebrow, surprised to hear the other girl sharing credit. At least not without following it up with an insult.
The princess gave a brief nod as if to silently confirm it was sincere. “I got him to talk, but you created the model of his face.” She extended her hand the part of the cavern that wasn’t covered in the miniature Earth Kingdom map, guiding Toph to the obvious conclusion that she should replicate the statute where she was gesturing.
“Seriously?” Toph grunted, annoyed that she was being treated like a lackey. Unfortunately, it was also a good idea to show Bumi what “Lee” looked like in case he could help identify the man.
Recreating the statue’s features, Toph knew this was still a long shot. He had no facial scars or permanent markings, lacking the obvious traits she expected of someone who dipped their hands in the criminal elements and sometimes came back missing a finger. Maybe if they were lucky there might be details they missed, since Yan’s description didn’t sound like he wasn’t observant enough for close inspection. But for now all they had to look for was a man with a well-kept beard and a soldier’s build in his thirties or late twenties.
Bumi stepped forward and gave the statue a thorough examination. “Hmm, he does look familiar!”
Toph’s hands paused in mid-air. “Wait. Really?”
“Yes! A face that blends into a crowd, or one you mistake for someone else because it’s very ordinary. Perfectly nondescript!”
In the background, Toph could sense Azula pinching the bridge of her nose. And she had to admit, this part didn’t feel like a test so much as Bumi being purposefully difficult for his own sake. She flexed her fingers in irritation, wishing she could find an unmistakable trait in his features the way she could find a vein of minerals in the stone. “Course not. That would’ve been too easy.”
“Not someone who would stand out in meetings with generals or daofei either,” Bumi added, gesturing to the statue’s features even as his tone went from glib to serious. “I can’t swear that he never stepped foot in Omashu. But he is not part of my guards nor my advisors.”
Azula’s voice cut in. “That doesn’t mean he’s not part of the White Lotus.”
“I wouldn’t know that for sure,” Bumi said, admitting his own ignorance far easier than the firebender could. “Unlike Omashu, it’s not my business to know who belongs to the Order of the White Lotus. I may be a king in this city, but I’m just a tile on the board when it comes to negotiating for the good of all nations.” When Azula’s face flashed contempt, he gave a small chuckle. “You know, I was a member of the Order before I became a king. It started as a secret society to preserve knowledge that some rulers might find...inconvenient! And that secrecy was meant to be a refuge for the members to work across their nations in times of conflict.”
At least not until the aftermath of the Hundred Year War meant their Order, well-versed in assisting with methods and means of resistance, suddenly became the best candidates to offer stability. Their sudden rise in influence from a philosophical society to an official organization working on behalf of the Avatar was partially why Toph was reticent to join them. Of course she wanted to help Aang whenever she could, and being in a club with Iroh and Bumi sounded like fun. But it had ceased to be an underground network of people mostly doing their own things and was now a bureaucratic fortress, albeit one that still hid much of its workings in the dark.
Toph shook her head, shaking loose the mess of past what-ifs and trying to focus on the task at hand. “Hold on. You think Lee’s part of the White Lotus?”
Azula spread her hands open, a gesture that was meant to be welcoming but seemed ominous coming from her. “This would be the part where I offer to share the reason dear Zuzu was forced to conscript me. Because even my dumb, gullible brother realized there was something suspicious about how an entire diplomatic envoy could vanish without a trace and stay that way with no offer of ransom.”
“Everyone thinks that’s suspicious!” Toph scoffed, “It’s why everybody is pointing fingers over who did it! But you never even heard of the White Lotus before this. So how did you convince Zuko you were the only one who could find out who kidnapped them?”
“My people skills of course,” she said simply. “And the fact that I could point to something much like the White Lotus before we even knew they had been infiltrated. How did you put it? A secret society meant to preserve knowledge has been corrupted by time and growing influence,” Azula spoke Bumi’s words, but she was staring right at Toph as if the rest of the world had ceased to matter. “I wonder what that sounds like?”
Toph’s chest tightened. At first, she thought Azula was hinting at Ozai loyalists, or any of the other groups of Fire Nation malcontents that would be happy to see war break out again. If they were looking for a traitor in the Fire Nation navy, or an extremist mercenary group, the former heir to the Fire Nation throne would be the best source of information. But an old threat they hadn’t considered, hadn’t spared a second thought about them since they were disbanded long ago? They were locked away in the past and left to be forgotten the same as Azula...
“You think it’s the Dai Li,” Toph said.
Azula smiled, a slow baring of teeth that held triumph but no joy. That was confirmation enough.
Bumi cracked his knuckles, the noise breaking whatever unspoken thing was simmering between the two. “You know, it is strange how they never resurfaced after Sozin’s Comet. But with Long Feng still in prison, and King Kuei taking a much more active role in ruling, maybe it was wishful thinking that they all moved on.”
“It’s been five years,” Toph said. “And I haven’t found so much as a pinkie finger from those stone gloves they used. Even if they decided to crawl out of whatever stones they were hiding under, why would they want to restart a war between the Earth Kingdom and the other nations? They spent all their time trying to keep the war out of their walls.”
“The Dai Li were always concerned with power,” said Azula. “At first, they only were interested in controlling Ba Sing Se, but once I moved them to the Fire Nation capital they were introduced to what it meant to rule more than just a city, but a world.”
“So you’re saying this is your fault?” said Toph, accusation buried under the question.
“If you had taken care of them back in Ba Sing Se, I wouldn’t have made use of them later,” Azula retorted in a way that made it sound like she would take credit rather than blame. “You had five years to seek out the Dai Li and destroy them. Instead you let them gain new recruits and infiltrate your allies. But I’m not interested in criticizing your carelessness. I’m interested in finding them, and thus finding their hostages.”
Toph ground her teeth. Carelessness! Azula was one to talk, being stuck in prison for all that time. And then she had the audacity to make it sound like they hadn’t done enough to prevent this from happening, as if they weren’t already trying so hard to fix the world her messed up family ruined in the first place! Her foot scraped forward on the ground, ready to argue, maybe even fight, and suddenly she felt Bumi shift the statue between them.
“Are you sure he’s not one of the Dai Li you remember?” Bumi asked, exaggerating his bending gestures to rotate the figure of Lee as if they were missing out on a vital detail that was somehow hidden on the statue’s backside. He then gave it another experimental spin just for fun.
“He’s not,” Azula said, taking a step back from the statue’s rotation and from whatever ire was brewing between her and the other girl. “He’s too young to have been in their original ranks. But we know he’s old enough to have been the perfect conscription age during the war. Right at a time when every earth peasant wanted to defend their patches of dirt against the Fire Nation.”
“Successfully,” Toph added.
“Successfully!” Bumi echoed.
The firebender continued as if she didn’t hear them. “The able bodied who avoided serving in the Earth Kingdom armies may be welcome in daofei circles, but not among provinces where they suffered significant casualties. Shirking their duty would be seen as dishonorable. At least that’s true in the Fire Nation.”
“It isn’t untrue here,” Bumi said. “However, the Earth Kingdom is a big place. It’s simple enough to run off to another village and start over. That’s a lot of ground to cover.”
“Which would give him five years to go from a fake name nobody to someone with enough money and underworld connections who could pay for an entire gang of bandits to do his bidding. Possible, but not as likely. No, he’s someone who served in the Earth Kingdom forces and then later found a city where such associations would thrive.” Azula turned to Bumi. “Since you’ve eliminated him as one of Omashu’s soldiers, that leaves very few places untouched by the war. Ba Sing Se is the most likely.”
Toph crossed her arms. “That’s a big leap.”
“But not baseless one,” Azula said, walking up along the coast and towards the Taihua Mountains. “It’s a landmark on Roi Se’s map. And Yan told us as much. He said that Lee looked like he came from the middle rings or higher. Ba Sing Se’s upper classes are stratified, far more pronounced than their provincial counterparts. Lee’s clothing may have been distinct enough that even an uneducated thug like Yan noticed a similarity in the design.”
“If he even knew what that would look like,” Toph said, but she silently conceded that was out of her depth. Fashion never going to be part of her interests, and not just because she couldn’t be bothered to remember what color jade or onyx should be except as stones. “Nice clothes don’t mean he’s from the upper rings though. Yan also said that he looked like he’d been in the sun a lot. Most rich folks don’t like that.”
“Not unless they’re firebenders,” Bumi added with a helpful grin at Azula. “A little sunshine goes a long way!”
Azula ignored him and stared down at the map, and it was easy to see how readily she would place figures of troops and barricades over the model if this was in a different setting. “No, but it would suggest that he wasn’t born rich, and he only became an associate of Dai Li after the war ended. Soldiers who fought and then came home to a less than glorious reunion have the resentment to turn to mercenary activities and the skills to excel at them.”
From within her folded arms, Toph flexed her fingers, her earthbending senses reaching out to make sure that Azula’s cuffs were still secure. Just a random check, she told herself. Even though Azula didn’t speak with any sympathy for the Earth Kingdom soldiers, Toph couldn’t help but wonder if this insight was from her own disillusionment. Imprisoned for years, and now in exile from her own country, what path would she choose if she had the freedom to act? Zuko’s determination always came from his sense of honor, even when it was woefully misguided. And while Azula’s practicality was far from her brother’s idealism, Toph couldn’t believe that the princess would resort to petty crime like she suggested Lee had done.
But then why had she agreed to help?
“You’re making an awful lot of guesses, Princess,” Toph said, choosing to emphasize the nickname. “All we know for sure is this Lee guy has connections with daofei and some kind of tip that let him get ahead of us. We don’t know how many people in the White Lotus could be working with him, it could be only one or two guys.”
Toph didn’t know why she was arguing against Azula’s theorizing so much. Before they came through Omashu’s gates, she had already believed her. She felt its truth in the circumstances winding around them, even though there was no heartbeat to listen for. There was a rot in the Order of the White Lotus that had been festering longer than one or two members turning sides. But the other girl’s assurance made her want to push back, if only to see how she reacted.
“In a society built on secrets, one compromised means everything is compromised,” Azula said definitively. Her confident tone lacked the smugness from before, instead stripped down to the worn conviction of someone who never relied on trusting someone else.
“Unfortunately, that’s true,” Bumi said. “Roi Se followed the old ways of the White Lotus, because he generally kept to his work or kept to himself. Whoever targeted him had to be aware of what he was working on, and he only would have disclosed that to another White Lotus member.”
“So what do we do if we can’t use the White Lotus?” Toph asked. She felt Azula’s attention turn on her at the “we” comment, but kept her focus on Bumi. “You don’t have anybody in Omashu that can help us out?”
Bumi tapped one of his rings, twisting the band with his finger. “I have plenty of people. And I’ll give you as much assistance as I can, but it won’t be for your journey. No, I’m afraid the best thing to do will be to keep it a secret. What I can offer is a good distraction! I’ll send out so many conflicting reports and meaningless errands on your behalf that I might be able to plug some of the leaks while you two go find out where the remains of the Dai Li have ended up.”
“Just the two of us?”
Toph turned her head slightly toward her so she could hear her better. Not close to eye contact, but noticeable enough. “I’m not excited about it either, Fussybritches.”
“Surely you have other friends—” there was no mistaking the incredulous tone this time, “—around for something as trivial as a kidnapping that might result in the revolt of one or two nations? Stopping a war, that was the sole reason for your little ragtag group in the first place, wasn’t it?”
Azula couldn’t have known that comment would strike at a sensitive wound, but Toph felt it anyway. She kept her features blank, relying on its casual cruelty to move past it.
“Some may be indisposed. Or on a vacation!” Bumi said cheerfully, deflecting the focus that a few of them were actually in their kidnapper’s clutches, and the reason they were so invested in this quest in the first place. “Doesn’t matter, you two are the best options. You—” he pointed at Toph, “—beat the Dai Li before. And you—” this time he pointed at Azula, “—overthrew their leader. If you worked together, relied on each other, whoever is against you wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Toph didn’t turn her head, but part of hear listened for Azula’s breathing and heartbeat, waiting to see what her reaction would be.
The firebender shrugged, a smooth motion as if she were merely stretching her shoulders. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her.”
Toph scoffed. “By almost stabbing me in the throat.”
“The entire point of that demonstration was that I didn’t stab you. Even though it would have been easy enough to do.”
“You know,” Bumi interrupted, “I think Toph has a point. Not stabbing someone is a good start to working together, but you’ll need more than that if you want to really cooperate. And Toph, Azula also has a point,” he waved his hand to halt Toph’s imminent protests, “Not the stabbing point! But if you’re going to be partners, you’re going to have to listen to her sometimes.”
“Maybe if she didn’t lie all the time,” Toph said with a grimace.
Azula shrugged. “A good liar is exactly what you need when you’re trying to outmaneuver an opponent that’s managed to infiltrate your little secret society.”
“But you do it. All. The. Time.”
“I do not,” said Azula, petulance seeping out before she gained control of herself once again. “Only when it suited. My criticisms were always completely sincere.”
“Sincerely annoying!”
“Hmm,” Bumi pondered aloud, scratching his chin. “Maybe it would help if you were truthful about your compliments as well!”
Azula gave him a long, confused stare. “What?”
“You were already doing so well by telling her how she helped with the sculpture of Yan. Just add more of that to balance things out. Working together means relying on each other’s strengths! And we both know Toph has a wealth of wonderful qualities!”
Toph, who was torn between the usual urge to bask in well-deserved praise but also shake Bumi for this embarrassing turn of events, such as asking an enemy to say nice things about her, shook her head in disgust. “Keep your fake politeness to other people. I’d rather deal with you as a giant jerkbender than constantly wonder what your ulterior motives are.”
Ulterior motives like why she bolted that time in the forest. Or why she tried to give Song that ostrich horse. Toph might have the reassurance that Azula wouldn’t run off to immediately try and overthrow her brother, but that still left an entire continent’s worth of questions between them.
“She’s an excellent fighter.”
Bumi gave a short cackle of approval. And Toph swiveled her head towards Azula on instinct.
The princess was looking down at her hands, studiously picking at her nails. “There. Is that sufficient? Or do we take turns now? If so, should I wait for the praise and warm camaraderie to rush in?”
“That sounds—”
“Nope! Not necessary! We can stop now,” Toph threw her hand up toward Bumi, trying to silence him even though her palm was nowhere near his mouth. “We don’t need to be nice, we just need to learn to tolerate each other.”
She didn’t want Azula to be nice. Even though the compliment was something she heard all the time, even from her own bragging, even though it was true, it was still disquieting to hear it from her. Without the obvious tells of lying, everything coming from the other girl’s mouth was dangerous, and Toph had no patience for hollow flattery. She’d rather earn Azula’s backhanded insults honestly than be subjected to whatever the sharp tongued princess could do if she only learned to twist the words enough to find a softer target.
“See? We’re agreeing more and more,” Azula said with a smirk.
“Only because Bumi is purposefully poking at us so we argue with him more than each other.”
“And it’s working! But I said it before, as two of the most powerful benders in the world, you’ll defeat anybody who gets in your way. Eh, as long as you don’t end up killing each other first...” Bumi clapped his hands, as if finishing a meeting or a short round of applause. “Now, who wants to eat? I know we’ve all worked up an appetite!”
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Content tags: Azula/Toph Beifong, post-series, slowburn (emphasis on burn), bonding through property damage
Summary: Five years after Sozin’s Comet, a tenuous balance is on the brink of collapse. A Southern Water Tribe diplomatic envoy disappears in the middle of negotiations with the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom. Each side blames the other, ready to send the nations back to war. Toph can stop the conspiracy, but with her only help being the manipulative exile, Princess Azula, her enemies may not be the biggest problem.
Or, Toph and Azula go on a Life Changing Field Trip.
Azula was up on her feet in an instant, a torn piece of cloth collected in one fist and the metal canister in the other, ready to fight. Toph had the urge to tell her to calm down, which was a remarkably tame reaction since she would have thrown a boulder at her two days ago.
Azula whirled on her defensively. “Where—?!”
“Nice of you to drop in!” Bumi said by way of greeting, reaching out to pluck the container from Azula’s hand. “Thanks for keeping track of that. You know, Omashu has a wonderfully efficient shipping network, but we still lose the little ones every once in a while.”
Toph only had a slight lead on Azula in regards to comprehending the chaos of the moment. But it was still an advantage, and she didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to annoy her. “Hey, Royal Pain.”
“You,” Azula whirled on Toph, irritation rolling off her like heat. They were probably physically linked, if Toph’s temperature checks of a flustered Zuko were anything to go by.
“We were just talking about you,” said Bumi.
Now aware she had not fallen into a second trap, Azula turned her fury back to Omashu’s king. “That was your doing! The thief, the explosion!”
“Fireworks! And a barbeque I set up as a welcome party! But I wanted to make sure you’d stick around for it, so I organized a little training exercise to keep you busy while Toph and I reminisced.”
Toph tried to hold back a grin. Despite his ridiculous excuses, it was obvious that Bumi had set up that elaborate chase as a test. Azula could offer nothing but her word of honor that she would not betray them, but since her word was useless, it meant they had to prove her commitment some other way. So maybe Bumi was right; depending on others wasn’t always a matter of trust but understanding the circumstances. By giving her a real opportunity to escape, Azula had unknowingly shown her conviction by chasing after Bumi’s thief instead. The dedication was heartening to know.
But not as satisfying as witnessing the princess completely flummoxed.
“What are you grinning at?” Azula snapped at her.
Toph shrugged, since apparently her attempts to hide her smile didn’t work, she let her enjoyment show. “Like he said, we were just talking about you. So when you dropped in, I thought you had perfect timing.”
“It’s true,” said Bumi. “I waited for just the right dramatic moment to let you through.”
Azula tossed the torn piece of clothing to the floor. “This is how you run Omashu? Wasting time as you both playact and scrap about like children instead of planning a counteroffensive...”
“Because we were waiting on you. We couldn’t start talking about real strategy without our secret weapon here.”
“Yeah, since you’re so good at being offensive,” Toph added.
“And since you were so careful about bringing along this important part of the plans,” said Bumi as he rattled the metal container. “Toph, will you do the honors?”
Toph took it and metalbent the end of container free. She pulled out the scroll and handed it to Bumi, taking the opportunity to palm the small clay vial in her hand as she reworked the metal back into a wrist guard. It was an expert sleight of hand, learned from years of back alley grifting games. Even so, Azula kept her gaze exclusively on the earthbender’s movements.
“Hmm…” Bumi hummed thoughtfully, rustling the paper as he held the scroll up to the light offered by the cavern’s crystals. “Hmhmn hmm!”
Both of them waited impatiently as the old king examined whatever was on the scroll. Bumi turned the paper one way then another, then back again, still making vague humming noises. It continued for a couple minutes, until Azula and Toph shouted in overlapping voices, their patience snapping at the same time.
“Get on with it!”
“C’mon, Bumi!”
Bumi looked up, as if he had forgotten they were there. “Eh? Oh, yes, you were waiting for an explanation?”
“Yeah, sometime today,” Toph replied, before Azula could get a word in.
Bumi waggled his eyebrows. “It’s…a map!”
“Okay, and…” Toph nodded, trying to prompt him to continue. “Of what?”
“The Earth Kingdom continent. Very detailed. It even has the little islands. And some very interesting additions.”
Azula strode past Toph to peer over Bumi’s forearm. “What additions? That’s too large an area to provide accurate details.”
“Like these,” Bumi replied and swept a gnarled finger across the paper.
Toph sighed exasperatedly. “Is anybody going to remember that I can’t hear what’s on the map unless you guys explain it to me?”
Giving a shrug, as if to wordlessly defend her actions as indifference rather than forgetfulness, Azula glanced expectantly at the King of Omashu.
Bumi nodded and made a shooing noise, gesturing for Azula and Toph to step back as he began a complicated series of earthbending movements. The ground beneath them began to undulate, stone transforming into malleable clay. With each kick of his heel and twist of his torso, the cavern floor rose into familiar mountain ranges and plains. Toph felt the soles of her feet tickle with the vibrations as a miniature coastline appeared where she stood a moment earlier. When he finished, it resembled a topographical map of the Earth Kingdom, with Azula and Toph standing next to the southwest coast of Omashu.
Toph tapped the edge of it with her big toe. “A model?”
“Roi Se was very precise about details. Which is why it’s odd that his map is so accurate except for these points here,” and with a gesture Bumi raised up a dozen miniature obelisks that looked as if he had randomly created new Jing-ah towers for a second round. “These are markings that show an extreme change in the surface, like a sheer cliff face suddenly springing up. But many of them are in places where mountains or even hills simply don’t exist. This one is in the desert, here’s another smack in the middle of a swamp…” He trailed off, earthbending each specific area to show how out of place any large geographic novelty would be. “There’s even one where there’s already a mountain. A whole range in fact. This one at Ba Sing Se, near the outer wall, at the base of the Taihua Mountains. Very peculiar!”
“What’s strange about marking a mountain at the base of a mountain range?” Azula asked.
Toph scoffed. “Because the Taihua Mountains make the mountain ranges around your Caldera seem like dinky hills. They’re not individual pieces of earth they’re like…” she paused, trying to find the words for it. “They’re like the spine of the Earth Kingdom. Each mountain may be its own bone but it’s the whole thing that creates the backbone. Whatever Roi Se marked down isn’t part of them. It would stick out. People would’ve noticed it from miles away.”
“Which means whatever he marked can't be an extreme difference going up, but it might be going down,” said Bumi, his voice dropping ominously. He turned his hand palm down and suddenly a section of the diorama’s mountain range sunk into the ground, its absence a cavernous scar on the miniature landscape.
“We know there’s plenty of caves under Ba Sing Se,” Toph said. “Maybe it’s that. Like an underground entrance?”
Azula began walking along the map’s coast, her steps measured and uniform. She was memorizing the distances. “Or something else he was hoping to disguise within his schematics.”
“Since nobody has reported any mysteriously appearing mountains...” Bumi said affably, looking at the firebender with a glint in his eyes. “Do you have any theories about what he was hiding, Princess Azula?”
Azula kept her focus on the ground, her golden eyes surveying the map the same way she did the walls of Omashu when they arrived. “If he was your surveyor, then he could have hid any number of things. I’d compare it to sites he was investigating. Where was the abduction? Was it close to any of these markings?”
“No,” Toph said wearily. Because it would be so much easier if it were the case. If Roi Se had marked that location then surely there would have been something there of note, some trail to follow instead of nothing. “They were heading to some kind of peace talks off the coast of the Mo Ce Sea. One of those places where nobody has a home turf advantage because there’s nothing interesting for miles in any direction.”
The princess pursed her lips. “I haven’t been to that part of the Earth Kingdom, and you would know more about the lay of the land, wouldn’t you, Beifong?”
“I’ve wandered all over. Right now, it’s easier trying to remember where I haven’t been,” Toph replied with an indifferent shrug.
It was mostly true. While Toph had journeyed all over the Earth Kingdom, none of the markings stood out to her as particularly noteworthy either. Except for the one resting in the vast expanse of nothing that was the middle of the Si Wong Desert. Significant because she had only gone there once, back when she was traveling with Aang and the others. And despite the sand’s fuzzy imprint on her senses, the struggles they went through five years ago were indelible in her mind.
She examined the rest of the locations. Aside from the one to the south of Song’s village, there were two other areas marked on a winding path between Omashu and the desert. One in a province she had passed through a couple of times, and one on the edge of the desert near a mining town. That gave her two chances to uncover what kind of pattern Roi Se left behind before she might have to resort to taking Azula into the churning sands, to a place she never wanted to return to.
“It seems that we’re at an impasse,” Bumi said. “Which is a shame, given that we’re speaking of mountains instead of roadblocks.”
“Then let’s ask something else,” Toph pressed, turning to Azula and ignoring the hypocrisy that she was holding back her own growing suspicions. “If Zuko was willing to let you out of prison, you must have something worth sharing.”
“I do,” Azula clasped her hands behind her back, affecting a military pose that almost felt as if she was expecting the two earthbenders to stand at attention for her. “Under the correct circumstances. However, those aren’t presented here. As I said before, I haven’t been here in years, and even then my campaign—” she paused, then amended, “—my travels in the Earth Kingdom were focused on the northwestern area of the continent.”
“And here,” Bumi offered helpfully. “I remember when you used me as part of a hostage negotiation! Luring the Avatar and his friends out for a trade and then called the deal off so you could try to capture them as well. How is the little Fire Nation tyke, by the way? What was his name…Nom-Nom?”
Azula glared back at him. “I wouldn’t know.”
“You wouldn’t know his name?”
It was a small tell, the flex of Azula’s jaw, a tautened muscle that traveled to her neck, shoulders, all the way down to her feet, creating a faint ripple into Toph’s earthbending senses. Not significant because it showed her irritation, as the firebender seemed comfortable enough to broadcast her displeasure to them ever since she literally fell into their company. But because it was the first sign she immediately quelled.
That was enough for Toph to interrupt them. “Oh, yeah, you mean Tom-Tom? He’s doing fine. Running around, causing trouble the way all seven year olds do.”
“Wonderful,” Bumi said, “That’s the perfect age to cause some real mischief!”
Toph silently disagreed. She was younger than that when she started sneaking out to meet with the badgermoles, but not everyone was as precocious as her. “Come to the next boring meeting at the Fire Nation and see for yourself.”
“If the nations aren’t at war by then,” Azula muttered.
“That would make the meetings less boring,” Bumi agreed affably, and Toph could tell that he was trying to bait Azula. Apparently the test with the thief wasn’t the only one he had waiting for her. And as much as she enjoyed hearing the haughty yelp that came from the princess crashing down from the ceiling, Toph couldn’t help but wonder if this was the right way to push her. But then maybe the wily king’s needling was a test for her too, because Bumi seemed inordinately pleased at Toph’s intervention.
“Alright,” Toph said, trying to keep Bumi in check before he aggravated the princess further. “So what are these correct circumstances for you to finally do something?”
Azula stared back expectantly. “You should know. You were there when I demonstrated how to interrogate Yan.”
“Yan?” echoed Bumi.
“The bandit leader we caught. Princess Psycho here threatened to burn his eyeballs out if he didn’t give up the name of the person who hired them.”
“Electrocute,” Azula corrected.
Toph gestured towards Azula with both hands, as if silently telling Bumi, Do you see what I’m dealing with?
“Persuasive!” was all the king said in response. “Is it a good lead?”
Toph grimaced. “Depends. How many Lees are there in the Earth Kingdom?”
“Too many, but that’s unimportant. We have something better than a fake name,” Azula interjected. She paused, as if collecting herself, before turning to Toph, “There was also the matter of your contribution...”
Toph raised an eyebrow, surprised to hear the other girl sharing credit. At least not without following it up with an insult.
The princess gave a brief nod as if to silently confirm it was sincere. “I got him to talk, but you created the model of his face.” She extended her hand the part of the cavern that wasn’t covered in the miniature Earth Kingdom map, guiding Toph to the obvious conclusion that she should replicate the statute where she was gesturing.
“Seriously?” Toph grunted, annoyed that she was being treated like a lackey. Unfortunately, it was also a good idea to show Bumi what “Lee” looked like in case he could help identify the man.
Recreating the statue’s features, Toph knew this was still a long shot. He had no facial scars or permanent markings, lacking the obvious traits she expected of someone who dipped their hands in the criminal elements and sometimes came back missing a finger. Maybe if they were lucky there might be details they missed, since Yan’s description didn’t sound like he wasn’t observant enough for close inspection. But for now all they had to look for was a man with a well-kept beard and a soldier’s build in his thirties or late twenties.
Bumi stepped forward and gave the statue a thorough examination. “Hmm, he does look familiar!”
Toph’s hands paused in mid-air. “Wait. Really?”
“Yes! A face that blends into a crowd, or one you mistake for someone else because it’s very ordinary. Perfectly nondescript!”
In the background, Toph could sense Azula pinching the bridge of her nose. And she had to admit, this part didn’t feel like a test so much as Bumi being purposefully difficult for his own sake. She flexed her fingers in irritation, wishing she could find an unmistakable trait in his features the way she could find a vein of minerals in the stone. “Course not. That would’ve been too easy.”
“Not someone who would stand out in meetings with generals or daofei either,” Bumi added, gesturing to the statue’s features even as his tone went from glib to serious. “I can’t swear that he never stepped foot in Omashu. But he is not part of my guards nor my advisors.”
Azula’s voice cut in. “That doesn’t mean he’s not part of the White Lotus.”
“I wouldn’t know that for sure,” Bumi said, admitting his own ignorance far easier than the firebender could. “Unlike Omashu, it’s not my business to know who belongs to the Order of the White Lotus. I may be a king in this city, but I’m just a tile on the board when it comes to negotiating for the good of all nations.” When Azula’s face flashed contempt, he gave a small chuckle. “You know, I was a member of the Order before I became a king. It started as a secret society to preserve knowledge that some rulers might find...inconvenient! And that secrecy was meant to be a refuge for the members to work across their nations in times of conflict.”
At least not until the aftermath of the Hundred Year War meant their Order, well-versed in assisting with methods and means of resistance, suddenly became the best candidates to offer stability. Their sudden rise in influence from a philosophical society to an official organization working on behalf of the Avatar was partially why Toph was reticent to join them. Of course she wanted to help Aang whenever she could, and being in a club with Iroh and Bumi sounded like fun. But it had ceased to be an underground network of people mostly doing their own things and was now a bureaucratic fortress, albeit one that still hid much of its workings in the dark.
Toph shook her head, shaking loose the mess of past what-ifs and trying to focus on the task at hand. “Hold on. You think Lee’s part of the White Lotus?”
Azula spread her hands open, a gesture that was meant to be welcoming but seemed ominous coming from her. “This would be the part where I offer to share the reason dear Zuzu was forced to conscript me. Because even my dumb, gullible brother realized there was something suspicious about how an entire diplomatic envoy could vanish without a trace and stay that way with no offer of ransom.”
“Everyone thinks that’s suspicious!” Toph scoffed, “It’s why everybody is pointing fingers over who did it! But you never even heard of the White Lotus before this. So how did you convince Zuko you were the only one who could find out who kidnapped them?”
“My people skills of course,” she said simply. “And the fact that I could point to something much like the White Lotus before we even knew they had been infiltrated. How did you put it? A secret society meant to preserve knowledge has been corrupted by time and growing influence,” Azula spoke Bumi’s words, but she was staring right at Toph as if the rest of the world had ceased to matter. “I wonder what that sounds like?”
Toph’s chest tightened. At first, she thought Azula was hinting at Ozai loyalists, or any of the other groups of Fire Nation malcontents that would be happy to see war break out again. If they were looking for a traitor in the Fire Nation navy, or an extremist mercenary group, the former heir to the Fire Nation throne would be the best source of information. But an old threat they hadn’t considered, hadn’t spared a second thought about them since they were disbanded long ago? They were locked away in the past and left to be forgotten the same as Azula...
“You think it’s the Dai Li,” Toph said.
Azula smiled, a slow baring of teeth that held triumph but no joy. That was confirmation enough.
Bumi cracked his knuckles, the noise breaking whatever unspoken thing was simmering between the two. “You know, it is strange how they never resurfaced after Sozin’s Comet. But with Long Feng still in prison, and King Kuei taking a much more active role in ruling, maybe it was wishful thinking that they all moved on.”
“It’s been five years,” Toph said. “And I haven’t found so much as a pinkie finger from those stone gloves they used. Even if they decided to crawl out of whatever stones they were hiding under, why would they want to restart a war between the Earth Kingdom and the other nations? They spent all their time trying to keep the war out of their walls.”
“The Dai Li were always concerned with power,” said Azula. “At first, they only were interested in controlling Ba Sing Se, but once I moved them to the Fire Nation capital they were introduced to what it meant to rule more than just a city, but a world.”
“So you’re saying this is your fault?” said Toph, accusation buried under the question.
“If you had taken care of them back in Ba Sing Se, I wouldn’t have made use of them later,” Azula retorted in a way that made it sound like she would take credit rather than blame. “You had five years to seek out the Dai Li and destroy them. Instead you let them gain new recruits and infiltrate your allies. But I’m not interested in criticizing your carelessness. I’m interested in finding them, and thus finding their hostages.”
Toph ground her teeth. Carelessness! Azula was one to talk, being stuck in prison for all that time. And then she had the audacity to make it sound like they hadn’t done enough to prevent this from happening, as if they weren’t already trying so hard to fix the world her messed up family ruined in the first place! Her foot scraped forward on the ground, ready to argue, maybe even fight, and suddenly she felt Bumi shift the statue between them.
“Are you sure he’s not one of the Dai Li you remember?” Bumi asked, exaggerating his bending gestures to rotate the figure of Lee as if they were missing out on a vital detail that was somehow hidden on the statue’s backside. He then gave it another experimental spin just for fun.
“He’s not,” Azula said, taking a step back from the statue’s rotation and from whatever ire was brewing between her and the other girl. “He’s too young to have been in their original ranks. But we know he’s old enough to have been the perfect conscription age during the war. Right at a time when every earth peasant wanted to defend their patches of dirt against the Fire Nation.”
“Successfully,” Toph added.
“Successfully!” Bumi echoed.
The firebender continued as if she didn’t hear them. “The able bodied who avoided serving in the Earth Kingdom armies may be welcome in daofei circles, but not among provinces where they suffered significant casualties. Shirking their duty would be seen as dishonorable. At least that’s true in the Fire Nation.”
“It isn’t untrue here,” Bumi said. “However, the Earth Kingdom is a big place. It’s simple enough to run off to another village and start over. That’s a lot of ground to cover.”
“Which would give him five years to go from a fake name nobody to someone with enough money and underworld connections who could pay for an entire gang of bandits to do his bidding. Possible, but not as likely. No, he’s someone who served in the Earth Kingdom forces and then later found a city where such associations would thrive.” Azula turned to Bumi. “Since you’ve eliminated him as one of Omashu’s soldiers, that leaves very few places untouched by the war. Ba Sing Se is the most likely.”
Toph crossed her arms. “That’s a big leap.”
“But not baseless one,” Azula said, walking up along the coast and towards the Taihua Mountains. “It’s a landmark on Roi Se’s map. And Yan told us as much. He said that Lee looked like he came from the middle rings or higher. Ba Sing Se’s upper classes are stratified, far more pronounced than their provincial counterparts. Lee’s clothing may have been distinct enough that even an uneducated thug like Yan noticed a similarity in the design.”
“If he even knew what that would look like,” Toph said, but she silently conceded that was out of her depth. Fashion never going to be part of her interests, and not just because she couldn’t be bothered to remember what color jade or onyx should be except as stones. “Nice clothes don’t mean he’s from the upper rings though. Yan also said that he looked like he’d been in the sun a lot. Most rich folks don’t like that.”
“Not unless they’re firebenders,” Bumi added with a helpful grin at Azula. “A little sunshine goes a long way!”
Azula ignored him and stared down at the map, and it was easy to see how readily she would place figures of troops and barricades over the model if this was in a different setting. “No, but it would suggest that he wasn’t born rich, and he only became an associate of Dai Li after the war ended. Soldiers who fought and then came home to a less than glorious reunion have the resentment to turn to mercenary activities and the skills to excel at them.”
From within her folded arms, Toph flexed her fingers, her earthbending senses reaching out to make sure that Azula’s cuffs were still secure. Just a random check, she told herself. Even though Azula didn’t speak with any sympathy for the Earth Kingdom soldiers, Toph couldn’t help but wonder if this insight was from her own disillusionment. Imprisoned for years, and now in exile from her own country, what path would she choose if she had the freedom to act? Zuko’s determination always came from his sense of honor, even when it was woefully misguided. And while Azula’s practicality was far from her brother’s idealism, Toph couldn’t believe that the princess would resort to petty crime like she suggested Lee had done.
But then why had she agreed to help?
“You’re making an awful lot of guesses, Princess,” Toph said, choosing to emphasize the nickname. “All we know for sure is this Lee guy has connections with daofei and some kind of tip that let him get ahead of us. We don’t know how many people in the White Lotus could be working with him, it could be only one or two guys.”
Toph didn’t know why she was arguing against Azula’s theorizing so much. Before they came through Omashu’s gates, she had already believed her. She felt its truth in the circumstances winding around them, even though there was no heartbeat to listen for. There was a rot in the Order of the White Lotus that had been festering longer than one or two members turning sides. But the other girl’s assurance made her want to push back, if only to see how she reacted.
“In a society built on secrets, one compromised means everything is compromised,” Azula said definitively. Her confident tone lacked the smugness from before, instead stripped down to the worn conviction of someone who never relied on trusting someone else.
“Unfortunately, that’s true,” Bumi said. “Roi Se followed the old ways of the White Lotus, because he generally kept to his work or kept to himself. Whoever targeted him had to be aware of what he was working on, and he only would have disclosed that to another White Lotus member.”
“So what do we do if we can’t use the White Lotus?” Toph asked. She felt Azula’s attention turn on her at the “we” comment, but kept her focus on Bumi. “You don’t have anybody in Omashu that can help us out?”
Bumi tapped one of his rings, twisting the band with his finger. “I have plenty of people. And I’ll give you as much assistance as I can, but it won’t be for your journey. No, I’m afraid the best thing to do will be to keep it a secret. What I can offer is a good distraction! I’ll send out so many conflicting reports and meaningless errands on your behalf that I might be able to plug some of the leaks while you two go find out where the remains of the Dai Li have ended up.”
“Just the two of us?”
Toph turned her head slightly toward her so she could hear her better. Not close to eye contact, but noticeable enough. “I’m not excited about it either, Fussybritches.”
“Surely you have other friends—” there was no mistaking the incredulous tone this time, “—around for something as trivial as a kidnapping that might result in the revolt of one or two nations? Stopping a war, that was the sole reason for your little ragtag group in the first place, wasn’t it?”
Azula couldn’t have known that comment would strike at a sensitive wound, but Toph felt it anyway. She kept her features blank, relying on its casual cruelty to move past it.
“Some may be indisposed. Or on a vacation!” Bumi said cheerfully, deflecting the focus that a few of them were actually in their kidnapper’s clutches, and the reason they were so invested in this quest in the first place. “Doesn’t matter, you two are the best options. You—” he pointed at Toph, “—beat the Dai Li before. And you—” this time he pointed at Azula, “—overthrew their leader. If you worked together, relied on each other, whoever is against you wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Toph didn’t turn her head, but part of hear listened for Azula’s breathing and heartbeat, waiting to see what her reaction would be.
The firebender shrugged, a smooth motion as if she were merely stretching her shoulders. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her.”
Toph scoffed. “By almost stabbing me in the throat.”
“The entire point of that demonstration was that I didn’t stab you. Even though it would have been easy enough to do.”
“You know,” Bumi interrupted, “I think Toph has a point. Not stabbing someone is a good start to working together, but you’ll need more than that if you want to really cooperate. And Toph, Azula also has a point,” he waved his hand to halt Toph’s imminent protests, “Not the stabbing point! But if you’re going to be partners, you’re going to have to listen to her sometimes.”
“Maybe if she didn’t lie all the time,” Toph said with a grimace.
Azula shrugged. “A good liar is exactly what you need when you’re trying to outmaneuver an opponent that’s managed to infiltrate your little secret society.”
“But you do it. All. The. Time.”
“I do not,” said Azula, petulance seeping out before she gained control of herself once again. “Only when it suited. My criticisms were always completely sincere.”
“Sincerely annoying!”
“Hmm,” Bumi pondered aloud, scratching his chin. “Maybe it would help if you were truthful about your compliments as well!”
Azula gave him a long, confused stare. “What?”
“You were already doing so well by telling her how she helped with the sculpture of Yan. Just add more of that to balance things out. Working together means relying on each other’s strengths! And we both know Toph has a wealth of wonderful qualities!”
Toph, who was torn between the usual urge to bask in well-deserved praise but also shake Bumi for this embarrassing turn of events, such as asking an enemy to say nice things about her, shook her head in disgust. “Keep your fake politeness to other people. I’d rather deal with you as a giant jerkbender than constantly wonder what your ulterior motives are.”
Ulterior motives like why she bolted that time in the forest. Or why she tried to give Song that ostrich horse. Toph might have the reassurance that Azula wouldn’t run off to immediately try and overthrow her brother, but that still left an entire continent’s worth of questions between them.
“She’s an excellent fighter.”
Bumi gave a short cackle of approval. And Toph swiveled her head towards Azula on instinct.
The princess was looking down at her hands, studiously picking at her nails. “There. Is that sufficient? Or do we take turns now? If so, should I wait for the praise and warm camaraderie to rush in?”
“That sounds—”
“Nope! Not necessary! We can stop now,” Toph threw her hand up toward Bumi, trying to silence him even though her palm was nowhere near his mouth. “We don’t need to be nice, we just need to learn to tolerate each other.”
She didn’t want Azula to be nice. Even though the compliment was something she heard all the time, even from her own bragging, even though it was true, it was still disquieting to hear it from her. Without the obvious tells of lying, everything coming from the other girl’s mouth was dangerous, and Toph had no patience for hollow flattery. She’d rather earn Azula’s backhanded insults honestly than be subjected to whatever the sharp tongued princess could do if she only learned to twist the words enough to find a softer target.
“See? We’re agreeing more and more,” Azula said with a smirk.
“Only because Bumi is purposefully poking at us so we argue with him more than each other.”
“And it’s working! But I said it before, as two of the most powerful benders in the world, you’ll defeat anybody who gets in your way. Eh, as long as you don’t end up killing each other first...” Bumi clapped his hands, as if finishing a meeting or a short round of applause. “Now, who wants to eat? I know we’ve all worked up an appetite!”