Chapter Text
Zuko had to learn pretty quickly what 'the buddy system' meant after joining the Avatar and his friends. Apparently, for safety reasons, nobody was supposed to go off very far by themselves--they always had to travel in pairs. Today, they were off looking for food down the mountain from the Western Air Temple. Aang stayed behind with Haru, Teo, and The Duke, but Katara and Sokka had taken Appa down, which left Zuko to be buddied with Toph. Of all of them, she was probably the one he was most comfortable with. He wondered if it had been a coincidence, or if nobody else had wanted to be around him so Toph had taken one for the team.
As they were walking in silence down the bank of a river, Zuko was startled when Toph suddenly laughed loudly.
"What? What is it?" Zuko asked.
"I just realized, we are the worst two of the gang to send foraging together," she replied. "Two rich kids, one of which can't see? We're more likely to bring home poison berries than anything edible."
Zuko wasn't sure if he should laugh with her or be offended. "I know what berries are poisonous," he stated, though he wasn't entirely sure that he did around here. "I was a refugee with my uncle for a while, I know how to find food."
Toph didn't look convinced. She paused, putting her foot into the water of the river and standing on the rocks. A second later, a large stone burst out of the water with a stunned fish on top of it. Stone and fish landed on the bank next to Zuko. "There, that'll make Sokka happy. Now we can just explore!" She darted into the water and splashed in his general direction.
"What am I supposed to do with this fish?" called Zuko.
"Wrap it up and put it in your bag, I guess. Come on, the water is great!"
Wrinkling his nose, Zuko did as she suggested with the fish. When he looked up again, Toph was lying face-up in the shallow water, swirling around in an eddy with a grin on her face.
"Have you gotten in the water yet?" Toph said loudly over the rushing water.
"No," Zuko said. "I'm not planning to."
"Why? Can't'cha swim? I couldn't for a while but Katara taught me how to float easy."
"Of course I can swim, I just don't want to. And you're going to be soaking for the whole walk back to the temple."
Toph spat some water out of her mouth as she stood back up. "So?"
"So, isn't that uncomfortable?"
"I don't mind being wet. If you're worried, you could always make a fire and I could dry off by it."
"It's summer, I could start a forest fire by accident."
She climbed out of the water with a shrug. "Then I'll air dry. Anyway, it was nice. It's too hot not to splash around sometimes. You should try it." She shook some of the water off of herself, spraying Zuko in the process.
"Hey!"
"Sorry," she said, not sounding very sorry. "The river gets really shallow around the next bend, let's cross it and check out what's on the other side before we head back. I haven't been over there yet."
"Fine." Zuko kept an eye out for anything edible as they moved on. To his annoyance, he didn't recognize many of the plants and the ones he did know didn't make for particularly good food.
When they reached the shallower part of the river, Toph rushed up to the bank and then stopped suddenly on the sandy silt. She looked unsure.
"What's wrong?" Zuko asked, catching up to her.
"The river must smooth out here, it doesn't catch the stones like it did back there. Everything is sand."
"So?"
Toph stuck her tongue out in his general direction. " So , I can't use my earthbending to see when I'm standing on sand, dunderhead."
"Oh, sorry. Do you still want to cross the river?"
"Um." Toph took a hesitant step forward, then shook her head and scurried back to dry land. "I guess not." She sounded disappointed.
"Well, it doesn't look too exciting, anyway." Zuko squinted past the sunlight to look at the opposite bank. "The forest gets a lot thicker."
"I wanted to check it out," Toph sighed. She got a determined look on her face. "No, let's cross. It is shallow, right? I felt at least that much."
"Yeah, it doesn't look like it'll go past your knees." Zuko thought about offering her his arm to get across, but figured that would just get him punched.
She started wading across. Zuko followed, keeping a close eye on her and avoiding slippery, algae covered smooth stones embedded in the silt. His feet sank into the ground with squelching sounds. It was pretty uncomfortable--he could only imagine how much Toph hated it.
Suddenly, she slipped and fell with a cry and a splash. "Ow!"
"Are you alright?"
"Stupid algae," she yelped. "Ow!" She tried to stand up, but couldn't seem to put any weight on one of her feet. "Zuko?"
"Are you okay?" he repeated anxiously. What if she was hurt? He didn't want her to be hurt. And if she came back to the temple injured after being out with him, everyone would be angry at him. He hated himself for worrying about that , but he was.
"I just twisted my ankle," Toph muttered. "But it hurts."
"Can you walk?" Zuko put his hand out to help her up, but she didn't reach out to take it. After a second, he realized that she had no idea what he was doing and he felt very stupid. "Um, I can help you up if you want."
She sighed. "Fine. Thanks." She put her hands up and he pulled her to her feet, letting her lean on him so she didn't have to stand on her injured foot.
When he had first joined the group, after he had accidentally burned the bottom of Toph's feet (which he still felt extremely guilty about), Sokka had carried her around on his back for a few days while she recovered fully. Maybe he should offer to do the same? Zuko didn't want to offend Toph, but he didn't want to make her walk on a twisted ankle, either.
"Let's go back to the other bank and just head back to the Air Temple," suggested Zuko.
Toph held tightly to his arm and limped back through the water. "Yeah," she said dejectedly. "We'll come back and explore another time."
"Yeah." He could see her relief when they reached solid ground and she sat down with a wince.
"This sucks," she said, and saying it seemed to brighten her up a little. "It suuucks ."
"Are you gonna be able to walk back?"
"I mean, I think I have to."
"I could...um, I could carry you on my back if you want. If it would be easier. Not that I don't think you can handle it, I just--"
"Okay," she agreed.
"Really?"
Toph smiled. "I'm not going to turn down a free ride, dummy. But I'm gonna get you all wet if you pick me up."
"It's okay, I don't mind."
"That's a change of tune!"
"I mean. Ugh, I mean, I'm not gonna like it, but it's like...it's fine. I don't care. Here, we should head back sooner rather than later so Katara can see if she can fix your ankle when she gets back." Zuko crouched down next to Toph and helped her climb up onto his back, her arms clasped around his neck.
"Yep, probably a good idea. It might be sprained," she added.
"Sorry."
"Not your fault that the river algae got in my way."
"I should have paid more attention."
"You're being dumb," Toph informed him. "Stuff happens."
Zuko decided not to say anything else. After a while of slow walking (Toph wasn't heavy , but she also wasn't especially light), he felt her put her chin down on top of his head with a tired sigh. There was a weird feeling in his chest which he identified as affection . He wondered if, had he and Azula been less...whatever they were, he might have felt this way about his younger sister. He thought he might have.
"You're really warm," Toph observed sleepily. "You're making me wanna take a nap."
"Fire-benders run hot," he replied. "I won't drop you."
"I know you won't," Toph said, and she patted the side of his face.
Zuko tried and failed to completely stifle the cry of pain he made as her hand collided with the scar tissue on his cheek, aggravating the nerve damage and making a burning agony dance through his skin.
Toph recoiled. "Oh!"
"It's fine," Zuko said through gritted teeth, not wanting her to know how much it still hurt. "Don't worry about it."
"What did I do? I didn't hit you that hard, did I?"
Suddenly, Zuko realized that, although Toph undoubtedly knew that he was scarred, she had no way of knowing on which side of his face it was or where it was on his face. The idea actually made him feel better for a second--his scar didn't define him for Toph like it did for most people who encountered him. "Just, maybe don't touch that part of my face, okay?" He reached up and guided her other hand to the un-scarred side of his face.
"Oh," Toph said softly. "That's where your scar is, isn't it? I knew something felt strange about it."
"Yeah. It's fine, really."
"Didn't sound fine. Does it hurt?" she asked, curious and unrestrained.
"Yep. Only when something touches it. Otherwise it's completely numb." He didn't really want to talk about it.
"It hurts a lot if something touches it, then? Sounded like it hurt a lot."
"Yeah, it hurt a lot," Zuko answered shortly.
"How big is it?"
Zuko exhaled slowly. "Toph."
"Hey, everyone else gets to know."
"Maybe you should ask one of them," he said.
"Are you kidding? They'd get so uncomfortable if I asked them something like that."
I'm uncomfortable with you asking something like that!
"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine."
"It's not," Zuko managed, "that I don't want to tell you. I just. Have a hard time. Talking about it."
Toph put her cheek down on top of Zuko's head. "Normally, I'd be stubborn and keep asking, but I'm gonna leave you alone for now."
Zuko nodded gratefully and kept walking. About halfway back to the air temple, he was starting to get tired. "Toph, is it okay if we take a break?"
"Sure," she mumbled.
He set her down and sat next to her on a fallen log. Both of them were quiet. Zuko wrestled with the thought of actually answering her question, but he didn't think he could. Still, he didn't want her to think that he was being...stand-offish. "Here," he said, very quietly. He took her hand and put it up to the bottom of his scar. Her fingertips brushed against it, and he winced reflexively even though she wasn't pressing enough to hurt.
She pulled her hand back. "I don't want to hurt you," she protested.
"You won't. I can't talk about it, but if you want to know how far it extends, you can touch it." Zuko held very still. "You won't hurt me," he repeated. "Just don't press on it."
"You're not lying," Toph concluded. She gently trailed her fingers up around the edges of his scar, over his ear, and he had to close his eyes as she touched his eyelid. "It's...it's bigger than I expected it to be. It was a burn, right?"
"Yep."
"It's over your eye."
"...yep."
"Can you see out of that eye?"
"...not as well as I used to."
Toph took her hand away. "I'm sure I should have something kind and reassuring to say, but all I'm coming up with is 'oof'."
Zuko laughed. "That's fine. It's an 'oof' situation."
She patted his arm. "Some other time, I might ask how you got it."
He tensed. "Some other time, I might tell you."
"Fair enough."
"Come on, let's keep going." He helped her onto his back and walked back to the temple. She was asleep by the time they reached it, and he laid her down near Appa, who snuffled at him. Katara and Sokka must be back. He went to find them. Sokka was sprawled out by a low fire, eating nuts.
"Hey, Zuko. Find anything edible?"
"Toph caught a fish." Zuko took it out of his bag and gave it to him.
"Gee, thanks."
"Where's Katara? Toph twisted her ankle, she needs healing."
"Ouch. She's with Aang."
Zuko nodded and left Sokka to deal with the fish. I wonder if Toph will tell any of them about my scar hurting when she touched it, he thought. Somehow, though, he had a feeling that she would keep it to herself as long as he didn't bring it up.