This is my first Tokka fic so please be nice :) *hopeful face*. Big multi-chapter adventures for Toph and Sokka. So its a few years in the future and Sukka is no more :( but Toph finally gets someone so yay!

Enjoy!

Miss Buch xxx

Run fast for your mother and fast for your father

Run for you children, for your sisters and brothers

Leave all your loving, all your longing behind

You can't carry it with you if you want to survive

Dog Days Are Over, Florence and the Machine

Toph wandered around the back of Iroh's tea shop, pulling out a couple of jars that he had engraved especially for her so that she knew what was in each of them. Opening a draw she pulled out a small metal spoon and dipped it into one of the jars, dropping the crushed herbs and leaves into a cup.

"Three more orders of jasmine my dear!" called Iroh from the main shop. She found some more tea cups on the shelf near her head, adding boiled water and herbs to them.

"Here you go uncle Dragon" she put them on a tray and brought them round to the front while Iroh was tending tables.

"Table 3, 8 and 12, Toph" she paused for a moment, shifting her right foot lightly across the stone floor to remind her of where each table was as she felt the vibrations running up her leg. The earthbending master smiled quietly to herself and brought the tea over to the tables. Some people gave her slightly confused looks – how could a blind girl know where they were? It was several years after the end of the war and Toph was 17 now. She was completely different to how she had been during the war. She had grown up into a lovely young woman. Toph had reached her maximum height of 5"8 after a growth spurt in her mid-teens and was no longer stout but lean and willowy, with strong muscles hidden beneath her slim stature. Toph had moved on from green shirt and trousers covered by a cream over piece to a dark green leggings and a kind of three quarter length kimono that only covered half her arms. And despite the fact that her hair was very long she still wore it in her usual bun, and occasionally braided it after Iroh taught her how to do it. After spending a year on her own perfecting her metal and sandbending, she had spent another travelling around the world (apart from the poles because she couldn't see there) and had been forced into a bridesmaids' dress for Aang and Katara's wedding which had been an affair to remember. She hadn't seen any of the Gaang in a while – she still got letters from them and Iroh would write stuff down for her to send back but otherwise they had very little contact. Katara was pregnant now with her first child, a girl they were planning on naming 'Kya' after her mother. Toph had been working in Iroh's tea shop for two years now and was very happy there. They both lived in the flat above the shop and she practised her bending in her spare time to keep her skills sharp. Iroh had been teaching her about the other types of bending which had helped her add to her own repertoire. Although she could only earthbend she learnt about the fluidity that came with waterbending, the precision that was gained from firebending and the agility from airbending. She became more and more powerful as the days went by and Iroh always wandered why she wanted to work in his tea shop – she could be out hunting the rebels that were after his nephew but instead she was waiting tables in his shop. He was thankful for her – since Zuko had become Fire Lord they didn't see each other very often so the company that Toph provided (in her own sarcastic and independent way) was always welcome.

It was that evening when they were closing up shop that Toph dropped the tea she was holding. Iroh's head shot up at the sound of the china shattering onto the stone floor.

"Toph my dear? Are you alright?" but the young woman didn't reply, promptly running out of the shop after carefully jumping over the broken cups.

"Meathead! What the Oma's name are you doing here?" she shouted down the street. As soon as she had felt the vibrations a good 200m away she knew who it was.

"Toph!" the man's face lit up as he jogged towards tea shop, grabbing her into a hug. "I can't believe its you – I have been searching around the middle ring all day for this place. Wow, you've grown" he stepped away from her, taking a good long look at his friend. Toph had braided her hair today and the plait reached her slim waist where her kimono was held together by a yellow sash. Iroh came out of the tea shop to see the pair

"Ah master swordsman it is good to see you" he said, grasping Sokka's forearm and shaking it in a sign of respect. "Please come in, I'll make some tea and we can all catch up" Sokka followed Toph and Iroh into the shop and sat down at a table. Toph sat opposite and the old firebender went into the back to sort out the tea.

"So whats new with you Meathead? I haven't seen you since Aang and Katara got married"

"Yeah but you never 'see' me" Toph smirked slightly as she simply waved a hand causing the stone chair underneath Sokka to drop down so that he fell onto the floor. He grunted slightly upon landing on his rump

"Ow!"

"I'm the only one that gets to make the blind jokes, remember? Next time its going to be more than your ass that's sore"

"Alright! I'm sorry" he raised his hands in defense.

"Toph!" came Iroh's voice "What did I say about earthbending in the shop?" the young earthbender sighed

"I'm only allowed to earthbend if I'm trying to see"

"Thank you. Will you please give Sokka his seat back" said Iroh, bringing over three cups of tea. Toph moved her hand in a lifting motion and the seat rose from the stone again, propping Sokka back up. He was surprised by the comfortableness of the chair – it was made of rock but was spongier, like a cushion. Wow, Toph is getting good, he thought.

"So what brought you from the frozen wastelands of the South Pole to Ba Sing Se?"

"I told you Toph, the Southern Water Tribe has really moved on – we have a proper city built by Katara and a bunch of other waterbenders."

"Yeah, whatever"

"Well Suki and I broke up about a year ago"

"You were going to tell us this when?" she frowned at him over her tea

"Erm, when the time felt right?" he shrugged. Toph was tempted to earthebend him into a wall but decided against it

"So what happened?" asked Iroh

"Well we both moved in together in down in the South Pole so I could help build the city. But over time we started to argue more and more and she was missing the Kyoshi warriors and her family. Eventually she left and went back home" Toph's face softened for a second

"I'm sorry Sokka"

"Its fine Toph, it was ages ago"

"Moving back to my original question, what are you doing here?"

"Zuko sent me a letter asking for help. Since the end of the war I suppose I kind of lost my usefulness because, well I can't bend and all I'm really good at is plans and fighting"

"The first three quarters of that statement were true. I'm not sure about the fighting though"

"Hey I can still fight!"

"Meh" she shrugged.

"Anyway someone tried to kill Zuko"

"Again? You'd have thought they'd have given up by now. I thought he had a team and Mai protecting him? I'm surprised that she didn't kill them with her bare hands."

"Well she is pregnant to so she's not exactly in her best form for fighting at the moment. We have a name and a reduced search field."

"Ok, who is it?"

"A group of people led by some guy called Fren Ya over in the Western Earth Kingdom not far from the gulf that bridges the gap over to the Fire Nation"

"He sounds like he has a girl's name" she commented. Sokka chuckled and then continued

"The group has labelled itself 'The Anti Harmony Restoration Movement"

"Oh yeah, 'cause that's original" through much struggle and difficulty and the intense efforts of Zuko and Aang the Harmony Restoration Movement had been put in place. Three of the four nations had been happy about this – a lot of the Fire Nation thought that they were still superior and deserved to rule the world which had lead to uprisings of small rebel groups all over the Fire Nation. "So Zuko wants you to get rid of the bandits"

"And I want your help" Toph folded her arms, leaning back slightly in her seat

"Let me get this straight. You want me to traipse across the region with you to find a group of rebels that are trying to kill one of our best friends who also happens to be ruler of the an entire Nation. Beat the crap out of them, put them in prison and not kill you on the way?" they both knew how annoying Sokka could be and during the war she had planned various methods to of killing him - her favorite had been tying his limbs to four shirshu make them all run after food in completely different directions.

"Yeah pretty much" Toph turned her head to lock her sightless eyes onto Iroh.

"If you don't go my dear I will close up shop"

"Well that doesn't leave me with much of a choice does it?" she smiled at Iroh "I'll go – but there's one condition. Any money we get/steal goes the fund for building that city of Aang's" Iroh frowned at her - he did not approve of stealing, but she didn't really care

"Republic City?"

"Yeah"

"Deal Meathead"