Team: Water Tribe

Round: 3

Category: Themed

Prompt: (10) Swamp; (1) "Welcome to the place I apprently call home."

Word Count: 1530

The news came in morning, Toph was surprised that Katara came so early to her office. She knew something was wrong, right away. Katara could barely breath, clipped breaths filled the room, Aang was with her and his voice was strained and hurt as he ask Toph to sit down. Reluctantly she did as she was told, mostly because part of her knew what they were going to say. Denial was already setting blocks up in her mind, willingly her to stand strong, it wasn't real. All a very surreal, bad bad dream.

Aang spoke, the world shattered.

"We… Zuko just sent word," It was a struggle and Toph had gripped the edge of the desk until her knuckles turned white. "Sokka is gone, Toph. He is dead."

Those words tore through her. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. She couldn't cope. Vaguely she had heard the protests of Aang and Katara as she hurried out of the room. Out of the building onto the bustling streets of Republic City. It was too busy. Automobiles were just becoming popular, riding down the street. The noise of it all overwhelmed Toph, she covered her ears and tried to think of somewhere to go, somewhere to be where she could process this news. More than anything, she wanted to be alone.

The Swamp. She had to get there, it was the one place she knew she could think and be truly alone. An 8-month pregnant, distraught Toph set off on her own without a word to anyone.

Two days later, tired and hungry, she arrived. It was a good moment, a peaceful calming moment. She instantly took a deep breath and felt a little better. Not much, the pain and loss were still too fresh. She in someways couldn't believe it still, even though time had passed for it to sink in. She began wandering around the swamp, lost in memories and thoughts of her best friend.

Sokka was gone.

She had told him not to go on the mission with Zuko. She had a bad feeling about it, something didn't seem right. It didn't sit right with her and she wasn't one to voice those kind of thoughts. Toph had begged and pleaded with him not to go but in the end, he had insisted. At the time, she thought maybe it was her pregnant hormones fueling her mania. But now, with hindsight, she should have tried harder to make him stay. He was all she wanted right now.

To her, Sokka had always been a sense of security. He had always been there for her when she needed him. The loveable idiot had always found a way to make her smile, had always answered her sarcasm with a comment dripping in his own. They had almost died together, during Sozin's comet! If that didn't bring two people closer together, Toph wasn't sure what would. She struck her foot out in an angry kick, only to crumple her toes against a waiting log. She was lost, in more ways than one.

How long she walked, she wasn't sure. Eventually, she found a hollowed out log, perfect for spending the night. It was roomy, she could hear her voice echo through it. It would do for the night before she made her way back to Republic City. Everyone was probably worried about her as it was. Zuko would be back by now, she vaguely wondered if he was injured, feeling bad about thinking that he had better be. She would pummel him to a pulp if he wasn't. Not that she blamed him, she didn't in the slightest, she knew Zuko cared about Sokka just as much as she did, but she really needed to pummel something in the moment.

As she sat in her hollowed out log and night began to fall, the air grew cooler around her, she began to relax. If she listened, she could almost hear his voice whispering to her, through the wind or trees. She laughed at herself, for being sentimental and silly as the tears fell. In this Swamp, she was safe, alone. A sense of security stole over her and she welcomed the much needed feeling. Toph placed a hand on her bulging stomach.

"I'll name her Suyin, Sokka. Just like you wanted."

Several years passed, a grown Suyin and her sister Lin stood in front of Toph's desk. She was getting annoyed. Nonstop, almost, they were protesting, squawking. It was really all she could do to keep packing her box full of things, trying to ignore them.

"You can't retire yet, Mom. You've still got work to do for the city. The city still needs you!" Lin said over and over again. Toph could practically feel the desperation in her voice. She didn't want to be left to handle it yet, not that she didn't want Toph to leave.

"Where are you going to go, Mom? You can't just wander around in the wilderness on a flying bison like you did when you were a kid. Think it through." Suyin pointed out. Though, that was slightly ironic coming from the teenager who notoriously refused to 'think it though' on most things.

The last of her things were shoved into the box, and she folded the lid down in a huff. "Since when do you girls care to think about me, huh?" She snapped finally. The reason she was leaving her post so early was exactly because of her daughters and the burdens they had put on her. She grunted, waving her hand in their direction. "I've told you where I'm going, visit me anytime you want."

Suyin scoffed, "A smelly old swamp does not make a good home. What do you think you're going to find there?"

Peace from you two, that's a plus. Toph thought, sighing. "I know what I'm going to find. Something I don't have here in the city anymore. I've told you I can't see any more." Toph explained again, for what seemed like the hundredth time. Republic City had grown into a buzzing, over crowded city. It had become increasingly harder to pick up dept vibrations and 'see' things. It had honestly stolen security from Toph, she felt on edge most of the time because of it. If she couldn't sense what was coming and how to proceed, she was just a sitting turtleduck target.

That wasn't the only reason.

Sokka was gone, she had made her peace and learn to live without him. But Aang's passing was fresh. And with it, Katara had gone back to the South Pole, broken and alone. Zuko was off ruling the Fire Nation and about to pass on the baton to his daughter, the first female Fire Lord in it's history. In short, there was nothing for her in Republic City anymore. Lin can be Chief, she was ready whether she thought it or not. It was time to hand off her own baton. And time to be alone.

Not one for overly teary, sentimental goodbyes, Toph merely waved to them leaving them dumbfounded in her office. Time to get going.

Another two days, and she arrived, not so tired and hungry having planned out the trip this time. She had her supplies, and a pack of essential items. Her old camping pack, the one she used all those years before with Team Avatar. They would serve as a good beginning, as they did so long ago. She found her tree, her safe hollowed out tree in no time and smiled. This place was safe and she felt secure, completely tapped into the goings on in the Swamp. She set her things down.

Home had a nice ring to it.

"Why do you live here, Toph?" Korra asked for the hundredth time. Toph was starting to get annoyed, deeply so. This was almost like being with her teenage girls again.

"I like tree's." She replied gruffly, mixing some herbs together.

"Don't believe you. There has to be some reason you are here. You were a fantastic police chief, everyone thinks so. Suyin would love for you to live with her. I'm sure grumpy old Lin might like it too, she's really soft under all that rough and gruff. So why here?" Korra mused.

"You still got a lot of Aang in you." Was all Toph replied with, trying her best to ignore Korra. But the Avatar was relentless.

"That's what Katara told me and not an answer to my question. Why the Swamp?"

Knowing she would never be satisfied unless indulged, Toph sighed. "The city is too busy, I can't see. Suyin doesn't need me hanging around what she has built. Lin can take care of herself, always as, so she would expect me to do the same. Which I am, if ya haven't noticed." She turned to face Korra, "Listen here, Avatar. I like the Swamp and it's my business why I'm here. Ain't nobody gonna tell me to leave or how to live. Got it?"

She heard Korra hummed, "Well, okay then. I just think-"

"Like I said, Twinkle Toes. Welcome to the place I apparently call home."