"Riiight... Well, maybe you could fill me in on what exactly happened around here? I've pieced together some of it already, but the details..." I paused. "Hey! Where exactly are those hands going, you little pervert?"
"I already told you—I'm trying to figure out what's changed about you, so keep your dirty thoughts to yourself! This is purely scientific curiosity!"
Even so, the groping finally ceased, much to my considerable relief. Though the faint blush coloring the earthbender's cheeks suggested there was perhaps a little more involved than pure science.
"Hm... No, I still don't get it. Individually, everything feels almost the same as before, but the overall picture is completely different. You breathe differently. You move differently. Even your heart sounds different now! What happened to you?"
The child had now simply pressed an ear against me and, apparently, resumed listening to whatever internal processes had captured her attention.
"A dragon happened to me."
"W-what? How? Where did you even find a dragon?"
Now that was a lot of emotion.
"Well, I am the Great Scoundrel, remember? And I'm still waiting for my report on what happened in the house."
"That's blackmail and extortion! How about you tell me about the dragon first?" She planted her hands on her hips and attempted to negotiate.
"Yep. Both of those things. How else is a vile monster like me supposed to get by without such useful tools? Now come on. I'm still waiting for answers."
Watching her puff up with indignation made it very difficult not to laugh.
After sulking for a little longer, Lady Beifong finally began her report.
In short, Suki and the girls had indeed failed to resist temptation and opened the letter. That much I already knew, as well as the dressing-down Father had given them afterward.
What I didn't know were the details of that particular "conversation," which Toph proceeded to provide in full.
And those details disturbed me and... not quite enraged me, but something close.
I'd grown far too accustomed to a certain way of life—and to living as something of a hermit. One formal reception in two years, the one where I'd been appointed Fire Herald, hardly counted. All that courtly maneuvering and the endless shifts in status depending on who looked at whom, how, and when had been equally distant from both the original Chan and myself, albeit for entirely different reasons.
My father, on the other hand, had spent years immersed in both the Capital and the Fire Nation court.
And apparently, my current lifestyle did not meet with his approval. A fact he had taken it upon himself to communicate to the warriors… In his own words.
I let out a heavy sigh.
The conversation with my father was going to be far more difficult than I'd originally expected.
"I see. Thanks, Toph..."
"Oh no, you're not getting away with just a 'thank you'!" the insufferable girl declared. Without the slightest warning, she jerked her hands upward, surrounding me with stone walls. Then she herself rose on a pedestal that grew from the floor directly across from me, cutting off my last avenues of retreat. "Come on, spill it! What happened to you?"
"Hm..." I paused to think.
I didn't want to lie to this adorable little menace (especially since, with her abilities, doing so would be very, very difficult). On the other hand, telling her the whole truth… Then again, I could always ask her to keep what I told her a secret. A shared secret might bring us closer together… though it carried risks, of course.
Still, if I'd wanted a life without risks, I'd have stayed in Yu Dao growing cabbages instead of joining the navy.
And so I made my decision.
"All right. But you have to promise that no one learns about this until I say otherwise."
"Not even Suki?"
"Not even Suki." I nodded.
"Okay." After a moment's consideration, the girl agreed. "You have my word."
"Well then, listen..."
And so I told her everything: how I'd found the coordinates in the Library, how I'd learned who had taught the First Avatar to master Fire, and how I'd decided to seek out those same teachers for myself.
The only thing I omitted was my own semi-spiritual condition, but that had little direct bearing on what had happened on Dragon Island anyway.
"You know," Toph said thoughtfully once I'd finished, "if I didn't know for a fact that you weren't lying, I'd think you were making the whole thing upAnd if I didn't know you, I'd assume you'd finally lost your mind. But..." She paused and tilted her head. "Since I can tell when people are lying, and since I do know you, I'm forced to admit that something like this is exactly the sort of thing you'd do."
She delivered this conclusion with the utmost seriousness, arms folded across her chest, wearing an expression of profound contemplation and solemnly nodding to herself.
"Wow. Thanks. I think." I scratched the back of my head. "Though that didn't sound much like a compliment."
"I think,"
Beifong echoed mockingly, "that's because it wasn't a compliment. It was a diagnosis!"
And just look at all that smugness...
"You little menace!"
I lunged for the brat, fully intending to grab her and subject her to a proper round of merciless cuddling she hated. Unfortunately, this particular menace knew me too well. She deftly slipped away, lowered her pedestal back into the floor, and opened up the distance between us.
"Bleeeeh!"
She stuck out her tongue and burst into laughter.
"Oh, you're asking for it."
I sprang from my chair and launched myself after my opponent, who continued laughing while rapidly retreating outside.
"I'm glad you're back, Chan!" Toph shouted.
Then she promptly went underground.
Literally.
Our game of chase eventually evolved into an impromptu training session. The girl was working off all the stress she'd been carrying around, and truth be told, I needed to blow off a little steam myself.
After all, there were other conversations waiting ahead—conversations every bit as eventful, but far more difficult from a moral standpoint.
(End of Chapter)
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