11(A/N) As promised I wrote another chapter, and on my April vacation! I don't mean to be mean but I have limited time since school is getting stressful, and sacrificed my declamation studying time and latin script time for this. I know it has a lot of potential and loved that you guys enjoyed it so far, so here you go, another chapter, and I will clear up the terms in chapter for you guys.
"That's right sparky" the once small earth bender said "Now can you tell your guards to drop the weapons?"
With that, Zuko signaled the guards around Toph to retreat.
Walking out to the center of the stage, where Toph had entrapped the assassins, he ordered his guards to imprison them, and for the generals to interrogate them tomorrow.
Turning back to his guests, he saw all of them seated and chatting.
"Toph, how have you been? We've missed you" Katara said while hugging Toph, who was awkwardly hugging her friend back."
"I've been doing great" Toph said while reclining back into a chair.
Every one still standing they took a good look at their "little" friend, still dressed as one of the dancers, but her outfit was different from the rest of the other dancers. Her hair was long and flowing, ending at her lower mid-back, her bangs cover 2/3rds of her face, and were swept aside cover one of her still beautiful celadon/jade green eyes topped with a silver headband with small butterflies at its base with beautifully arranged tin sticks of metal springing from each butterfly. She wore beautiful Chinese milky green robes, with a square/rectangle neck line, printed with thin outlines of tiny lotuses and butterflies, with long flowing sleeves ending at her ankles.
After every thing was calmed down at the party, Zuko, Sokka, Sukki, Katara, Aang and Toph snuck away to Zuko's office.
"So Toph, who were those people who tried to assassinate Zuko here?" Sokka asked, studying the assassins, each one being dragged away by guards.
Toph started up with a serious look on her face.
"The people who came to assassinate Zuko were a group called O.A.T.S, or Ozai Azula Tactic Savers, they still believe that Ozai would have done the world better, and that crazy Azula would have made a great Fire Lord even though she is a crazy bitch. They already tried to break out Ozai many times, they know that he doesn't fire bend any more but they still believe he could rule better that Sparky over there. As for Azula, they tried as well, and during their many attempts, as sparky might have known or heard, the Fire Nation prisons have found many traitors among the guards that helped this group get what they needed, maps around the prisons, workers, prisoner's names, etc…, well their plan is to get Ozai and Azula back into power, and since they know that neither Ozai or Azula has the means of going back to power, they consider themselves the most noble and loyal servants to their Fire Lord and the Phoenix King, and when they finally get them back in power, they would be rewarded for there loyalty and the people of the Fire Nation that believe that Fire Lord Zuko would rule better than Ozai and Azula would perish, or so I've heard from one of their rallies at different villages. Most of the followers of the O.A.T.S are some of the elders who served or learned under Zuko's father and grandfather's rein, some of the middle aged men and women, some teenager groups like the 'I-want-to-jump-Ozai" fan club, that has 1,500 members, 1,400 females, and 100 males…, and the 'Burning- So-Hot - Hot- Azula" fan club, with 2,000 members, half of the members are males and the other half are females, and the other fan bases for Ozai and Azula." With the last bit of information, every one cringed or gagged at the thought of those fan bases. "Well now, any questions?"
"Why would they have a fan club for Ozai and Azula?" "Don't know snoozles, I just give the information, and please don't mention that again, it's making every one here, especially Sparky over there, uneasy." Toph said pointing to Zuko that was standing across from her.
"So how would we calm these groups down?" "Well this group is trying to manipulate and persuade different ministers and governors to help their cause, but very few believe in them, so it's a long way before any government official can over throw Sparky off his throne, but the fact is that many of the officials were serious injured or burned when they disagreed to help them, so we better solve some thing quick before every government official becomes a rotisserie komodo chicken. Since this mission is about peace keeping, why not our little gAang once again go one our little missions together one last time?"
"Sure, we can go for old time sakes" Aang and Katara said
"What the heck why not, it's been boring so might as well" Sokka and Sukki said
"Sure." Zuko said "When are we going?"
"Why not start three days from now? Any objections? Good" Toph said smirking, crossing her arms around her chest. "Three days from today. Now everyone lets go party" Toph said leaving the room, with every one else following her.
After every one finished their meals; options were rice or noodles, and side dishes, desserts and beverages were Buddha-jumps-over-the-walls, sweet potato leaves, komodo chicken dumplings, skewered sausages, Flaming Fire Flakes, Fire Gummies, Sizzle Crisps, Fire Cakes, Spiced tea, soju, sake, plum wine, fruit juice, kimchi, kimbaps, sushi, sashimi, bonchon, takoyaki, donburi, unagi, hangwa, tteok, yeot, bulgogi, galbi, sujeonggwa, ginseng chicken soup, tofu, dragon's beard candy, Tang- hu-lu, spicy sweet soups, different kinds of buns, dango, kakigori, kompeito and Ice cream mochi. After eating, Aang start every one on dancing, when he started dancing with Katara, then Sokka and Sukki followed after. Soon every one was dancing free styled around the performance floor.
Staring at the gaily dance people was none other than Zuko, still sitting in his chair, already finished with his meal. "Not dancing sparky?" He heard then turned his head to where he heard the voice, when he found no one on that side he turned the other way to find his face in front of Toph's face. "Nah, not much of a dancer. Why don't you go?" Zuko replied as he pulled his face out of Toph's face. "Don't know, just want to hang around at the table for a bit, that's all, any ways, wanna dance Sparky?" Toph said with her still mischievous face grinning at him. "Toph had grown up a lot" Zuko said in his head, looking at her pretty face "sure." Getting up, Toph, who was a head shorter than Zuko, grabbed his hand, dragging him towards the dance floor, once there, it was slow dancing time, reaching the dance floor Toph then turned around with a little tint of blush creeping along her cheeks, she grabbed Zuko's hands and placed it on her waist, Zuko chuckling at little on how cute Toph was acting, Toph place her arms around Zuko's neck. Leaning closer, causing Zuko to blush, she muttered with a smile in his ear "if your hands so called 'slipped' from my waist, you dead meat Sparky." Nodding yes, Zuko continued to dance with Toph, awkwardly at first but slowly easing in, Toph and Zuko were surprisingly good at dancing since neither of them really danced before. They both danced gracefully, and rather passionately, staring into each others' eyes, in a dazed trance they danced effortlessly, and when the song ended they snapped out blushing.
"Pretty smooth with your feet sparky, been working these moves with dullsville, by the way, where is she sparky?" Toph said
"Me and Mai broke up, it didn't work between us. She broke up with me because I haven't been spending enough time with her since I was and still am cleaning up my dad's mess, and was trying to regain trust from the other nations. She didn't understand that cleaning up after a war doesn't just take a day, it takes years. So one day she just came up to me and broke up with me. It had hurt for a while, but now we're friends." Zuko said
"Well there are other fish in the sea Sparky, no need to give that glum look." Toph said taking a little swig of the plum wine.
"..I'm not wearing a glum look."
"Just…Just for once, working with me here sparky. Okay?" Toph said with a, exasperated smile, and rapid hand movements in the air. "Okay, now I'm tired Sparky, care to guide me to my room?" Toph said, her face turning a little tint of pink
"Sure."
Walking up corridors and stair they finally reached Toph newly set guest room. "Thanks Sparky, Good night" Toph said with a smile. Before turning to her room, she turned back to Zuko, giving him a peck on the cheek, before walking back into her room, closing it shut behind her. Zuko froze in front of her room, and then walked back to the party smiling. "Toph sure has changed a lot." Zuko thought.
Walking down the corridors, Zuko was pulled into another corridor, with a hand around his mouth. Screaming into the hand he heard a familiar voice. "Zuko man calm down, we're not gonna hurt you" The hand letting go, Zuko turned around to see Aang and Sokka.
"What the hell you guys!" Zuko screamed
"We saw what you and Toph did, so Zuko, we watching you buddy, even though you're our friend we watching you, cause you know, Toph is like a little sister to me, Aang and every one, so as older brothers, we're watching you, and your seducing ways" Sokka said jabbing his finger into Zuko's chest, and Aang giving a dirty look.
"Quite jabbing me, and you guys are crazy." Zuko said flicking Sokka's hand away.
"Oh I see." Sokka said with a grin
"What?"
"You'll notice this naive Zuko, you'll see what were seeing now between you and Toph." Sokka and Aang said patting him on the shoulder
"Now lets get back to the party." Sokka said, with Aang and Zuko following him back to the shindig.
Terminology
Buddha-jumps-over-the-wall - a type of highly complex Chinese soup or stew consisting of many ingredients of non-vegetarian origins and requiring one to two full days to create. It is said to smell so good that Buddhas (vegetarians) would jump over the wall to eat it, hence the name.
soju- Korean Alcoholic Beverage
Sake - A type of Japanese alcoholic beverage
Plum Wine - An alcoholic beverage that is like rice wine but much sweeter in tast and made from plums.
Kimchi- It is a traditional Korean pickled dish made of vegetables with varied seasonings.(soup for this is delicious)
Kimbaps - Korean Version of sushi
BonChon - Korean fried chicken
takoyaki -a japanese dumpling, similar to a pancake puff, but takoyaki was invented first.
donburi - a big bowl of rice with other kind of side dishes in the same bowl.(Japanese)
Unagi - battered and fried eel meat
hangwa- a general term for Korean traditional confectionery. Common ingredients in hangwa are grain flour, honey, yeot, sugar, fruit or edible root.
yeot- made from steamed rice, glutinous rice, glutinous sorghum, corn, sweet potatoes, or mixed grains. The steamed ingredients are lightly fermented and boiled in a large pot called a sot for a long time.
bulgogi- a Korean dish that usually consists of marinated barbecued beef, although chicken or pork may also be used.
galbi -Korean BBQ beef short-ribs
sujeonggwa - a Korean traditional fruit punch. It is made from dried persimmons, cinnamon, and ginger, and is often garnished with pine nuts.
dragon's beard candy - is a form of spun sugar traditional in China. Spun sugar wrapping a sweet crushed peanut and maltose filling.
Tang- hu-lu - Fruit on a skewers cover in sugar syrup.
Dango - Japanese rice dumplings
kakigori- Japanese shaved ice with syrup or condensed milk
kompeito- a lump of sugar crystals.
Ice Cream Mochi- another Japanese dumpling but with ice cream filling.
(A/N): Bolded from terminology are the one's I've tried, and they all tasted good. Yes yes, I know I'm not of legal age to be drinking/trying alcohol but asian families tend to start their children drinking a little bit more early than other people. CHose these cuisines since Fire nation party gotta had some fire nation foods, and since Fire nation was sorta based on Chinese and Japanese influence, and some Korean I belive, I think these foods are suitable. Okay, going to continue this story on week ends, or summer vacation. Sorry to leave you guys deprived, but time is not my friend any more until the summer. So please review. Thank you!
-Waiyi