Open to anyone in the Spirit Wilds house or who might visit.

[dustonmyfeet]

It was mid-morning, and Toph hadn't come out of her room. Mid-morning, verging towards noon, and there hadn't even been a sound.

Toph wasn't always an early riser, admittedly. She tended to go with the flow of whatever she felt like on that particular day, sometimes up with the sun to keep her own rigorous training schedule (or to bend Zuko's mask before he headed anywhere), sometimes sleeping in and emerging later with her hair like an overgrown bush, ready to scarf down breakfast.

But today . . . silence.

She was still.

Comments

[dustonmyfeet]

"You can talk to me from there." The anxiety in her voice is louder the closer he gets, the more he forces his way into the room. "Go away!"

But no rocks come flying in his direction. She remains under the blankets, a huddled lump.

[lordhotman]

Zuko pauses just past the door. This is more and more strange. He had expected to have rocks or metal flying at him by now with how upset she was.

"Toph, what's wrong with you?"

His voice is definitely one of concern, even if laced with a little frustration.

"I won't come any closer, but only if you tell me what's going on."

[dustonmyfeet]

But she seems to be out of both rocks and words. The blankets twitch slightly -- once, twice -- but otherwise she is still.

[lordhotman]

Well... if she isn't going to say anything, he's just going to come closer. And eventually comes up to the bed and sits down on the side of it. He frowns at the lump for a moment before reaching out to... poke it.

[dustonmyfeet]

The sudden answering kick may be enough to push him off the side and onto the floor.

No one could say he wasn't forewarned. "What is your problem??"

[lordhotman]

"OOF! AGH!"

That kick hit him right in the ribs, and Zuko tumbles off the bed and onto the floor.

He then sits up to glare at the lump, holding his side.

"I'm not the one with the problem, here!"

Growling with frustration, he doesn't care anymore, and gets up to take the blankets and rip them off the bed completely.

[dustonmyfeet]

She yelps, makes a snatch for the blankets as he yanks them free . . . but fails. And suddenly there she is, on the bed, exposed.

. . . Well, nothing looks wrong, anyway. After all that, one might have expected her to have grown wings or developed scales. But no. It's just Toph.

Except her body language is wrong. Slowly pushing herself to a sitting position, she looks small. And while the set of her jaw is defiant, every other line of her speaks of upset, and her lips are pressed together so hard that the corners of her mouth furrow. She sits, pulling her legs close to her, wrapping her arms around them.

"Fine, I'm here. What do you want?" Her voice is flat, though that same thread of defiance that's revealed in the set of her jaw runs through it.

[lordhotman]

... Well okay, she looks fine enough, but there's still something off about her. Something that Zuko can't really put his finger on.

He sits on the edge of the bed again, grimacing as he side complains. That kick was going to leave a bruise, he was pretty sure of it.

"There's some things you need to know. I went to see the old me, and he told me the barrier is down. All of the world leaders are missing, including the Fire Lord. My... future daughter. I have to go to the Fire Nation."

[dustonmyfeet]

Admittedly, not a lot of that seems to register with Toph. Possible doom, destruction, okay, whatever. She closes her eyes, seeming to be more in tune with some internal thread than the world around her.

Until one thing. Her eyes snap back open.

". . . You're leaving?"

[lordhotman]

"Yeah. My country needs me."

There wasn't really any helping it. But really, Zuko was glad, to finally be needed. He had felt useless and unneeded the entire time he'd been here so far.

[dustonmyfeet]

A flash of something darts through Toph's face, pure and unguarded. For just a moment the fear is there, completely exposed. "Don't--"

[lordhotman]

Zuko's stared, his eyes slightly widened. He saw the sudden panic, and now he was really getting worried here.

"Why? What's wrong?"

[dustonmyfeet]

Stupid. Stupid. She'd had it under control. There had to have been some better way of telling him. Her mouth presses into a firm, long line again, features darkening as she bites the words off at the source. For a long moment it might seem as though she isn't going to speak at all.

And then her spine releases, burying her face into her knees, her voice a thin, muffled thread against them. "I'm blind . . ."

[lordhotman]

Zuko blinked once at her confession. His face then screwing up into an odd expression.

"Uh... yeah. I know."

[dustonmyfeet]

If she'd had anything nearby to throw at him, it so would have been hurling through the air at him then. "I mean my earthbending's gone. I can't see."

[lordhotman]

...

Oh.

Zuko's eyes widen in surprise.

"Your bending is gone? Can you bend any of the other elements?"

It might sound like a stupid question but... REASONS.

[dustonmyfeet]

. . .

"No."

Honestly, that's his first question? It's a stupid question, and the edge in her voice says he's dangerously close to ending back up on the floor.

[lordhotman]

. . .

There is silence from Zuko for several moments. Maybe... that wasn't the right thing to say.

"...I'm sorry."

But no really he did have reasons. But its now struck him that without her bending, Toph is completely vulnerable.

[dustonmyfeet]

Her mouth tightens, and she resettles, resting her chin back on her arms. Her shoulders lift once, briefly, then fall again. She doesn't respond.

She's never been without her bending. Yes, when she was little -- but because of that, she knows exactly how bad it can be. Always at the will of someone else's will or hands, always at the expense of someone else's definition of her own limits. Her bending saved her, allowed her to chisel out some small bit of life and identity of her own.

Now it's left her. The silence haunts her in its wake.

[lordhotman]

Zuko is quiet for several moments, not really sure what to say. He can't relate to what she's going through. He's not exactly good at making inspiring speeches full of hope. That would be Katara's job. But at the moment, it's just him, and he feels like he should do something. Anything, that would let Toph know that he was there for her, and would do what he could to help her.

She couldn't see, but maybe appealing to one of her other senses would help. So he reached out and took her hand. He might pay for this later. She might hit him. But that was okay. As long as it got the message across.

[dustonmyfeet]

Actually, it's one of the best things he could have done. Toph startles as his fingers close around her dangling hand, not expecting the touch.

His palm is cool, faintly callused from years of training with dao swords, roughened a bit from time chasing the Avatar and the years that followed it. The tendons are honed, finely tuned; she can feel them shift as his hand tightens, cradling hers.

And it stays.

The touch sends a flicker of warmth through her. Her fingers tighten back. Hold on.

[lordhotman]

Suddenly his problems, and the frustration over suddenly being a waterbender, doesn't matter anymore. Zuko just sits there and holds her hand, not saying anything. And he would stay there as long as Toph needed him to.