1. celadon

Toph awakens to the gentle vibrations of someone waking and moving around the camp. For a long moment, she tenses, ready to call the alarm, but realizes soon enough that it is the Kyoshi Island girl that has awoken, and Toph lays down, not caring about the new girl’s bathroom breaks.

But after a few minutes, the vibrations do not stop. The gentle movements, cruising on the air above the ground, cause Toph to stir restlessly and move towards the source.

By the time she has reached Suki, the warrior is deeply engrossed in her fan activity. (Toph is blind, and cannot see the paint on the girl’s face, but can tell the transition from girl to soldier that happens in a simple moment.)

The soft movements continue; a pattern of swirls, dodges, and ducks. Toph leans back against the bark of the tree and lets the vibrations lull her into a state of meditation.

Minutes later, when the sun is coming over the horizon – the warmth on her face from the bright, yellow Earth Kingdom sun is more than ephemeral – Suki suddenly stops her fan exercise. Toph, hearing rather than feeling the harsh pants Suki lets out of her lungs, tenses and attempts slips away silently.

“You can come out,” Suki calls into the forest, not turning around, watching the sun slip completely over the horizon.

The earthbender steps out of the trees, sitting impudently on the ground. “How long have you known I’ve been out here?” Toph asks.

“From the beginning.” The blind girl makes a disbelieving snort in her throat and Suki turns back to look at the younger girl over her shoulder. “While I am not an earthbender like you, we train to be part of nature.”

They stay silent for a few minutes, Suki calming down, Toph basking in the new sunlight. “We should go back to camp,” Suki murmurs quietly.

“Hn.” Toph responds eloquently, standing up.

On the way back to camp, where the other members of the gang are still peacefully sleeping softly: “It’s your turn to cook breakfast.”

2. olive

“Jealous?” Toph asks spitefully after a spar with Sokka.

“No,” smiles Suki.

3. forest

Toph finds the Fire Nation knife girl annoying. Her relentless attack is hard to counter, since the girl’s movements are so subtle.

The earthbender could feel the soft sliding of a foot forward to the right, and she leaned precariously to the left, propelling herself with a block of earth. She smirks slowly as the girl’s footsteps falter as she is attacked by other warriors of their resistance.

Before she can move, there is someone in front of her, blocking out the harsh warmth of the sun from her face.

“What the –” she begins, but is cut off when a sharp knife blade is pressed carefully into her hand.

She can hear Suki, voice low, “Be more careful. That could’ve taken you out.”

Toph nods as the Kyoshi Warrior springs away, the knife still in her hand. Softly grinning, she takes aim…

4. emerald

The taste of wine on her tongue is strangely bitter, in a more than usual way. The red beverage slipped through her mouth, down her throat, only to end up in the maelstrom of her stomach.

A vivid image of Suki in wedding attire flashes before her eyes, and she angrily takes a long gulp of the alcoholic drink in her hands. The girl’s eyes glowed, practically resplendent in the halo of light that surrounded her, and she had smiled and the feel of it was beatific. Toph had felt this, had heard the whispers, had known of the declarations of love.

It made her sick.

Frowning unhappily, she leaned farther back into the wall, feeling the softness of the green silk rubbing between her skin and the marble.

She can sense them dancing, feet slowly shuffling, Suki’s movements more graceful than Sokka’s. They are strangely reminiscent of the early mornings in which Toph would wake up (the warmth of the sun on her face was so fleeting, so pro tempore) to the soft vibrations of the Kyoshi’s practice.

Aang is not too far in the distance, sitting with Zuko, probably talking politics or something like that. The intricacies and nuances of politics normally escape Toph, so they avoid talking about it when around her; lately, they have noticed, she has been especially irritable.

Startled out of her bitter reverie by a hand on her shoulder, Toph immediately pulls away from the hand.

“Toph? You alright?” Katara’s concerned voice.

The earthbender nods, not trusting herself to speak just yet. Katara follows her needless gaze and her eyes soften in some kind of pity that Toph can thankfully cannot see as she stands next to the Earth Kingdom girl, taking the old glass of wine out of her hand’s and passing over her own.

After a long minute of watching (or feeling) the two dance, Katara asks softly, “Jealous?”

A caustic, withering glance is sent her way. “No,” Toph says resolutely, and downs the glass in one gulp.

^{Pro tempore = Latin = for the time being.}