A few days later, Kouji saw what could only be the Bei Fong estates.  He had Qiang land a short ways away before heading to the door and knocking.

“Can I help you?” the man who answered it asked, looking down his nose at the young nobleman.

Kouji managed a smile regardless.  “I’d like to see Bei Fong Toph, please.”

“May I ask who’s calling?”

“A former pupil,” he hedged, not wanting to let slip who he really was.

“Lady Toph is not receiving visitors today,” he replied, curtly, and shut the door in Kouji’s face.

“…well, that’s not nice at all,” Kouji commented.  He knelt and put one hand on the ground, trying to pick up where Toph was.  She was out in the garden behind the house.  Grinning, the nobleman snuck around the wall and leapt over.  There was more than one way to greet his old friend and master.

“Kouji!” she said, delighted, after knocking him off his feet, for old times’ sake. “Please tell me you’re here to cart me off on another adventure.”

Kouji laughed and bounced back to his feet.  “Not an adventure, exactly.  I decided to take some time off and explore the Earth Kingdom, since I never really got the chance.  You’re more than welcome to come with me if you want, though.”

“I can be ready in ten minutes.”

He grinned at her.  “I’ll be waiting.”

She was back in eight, a bag slung over her shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”

“So much for not receiving guests,” he said, leaping over the wall.

“Is that what they told you?” she asked, following him.

“Yep.  ‘Course, I’ve been trying to travel anonymously, so I didn’t pull rank on ‘em.”

“Oh. That makes sense. So, how’ve you been? It’s been a while since I heard anything.”

“Pretty good.  Just needed to get out and away.”  Zuko had pulled him aside before he’d left and asked him not to tell anyone, though Kouji had warned him it might not work with Toph.  “Come on, Qiang’s this way.”

“Of course you brought the lizard,” she sighed. “How’re Sparky and Sweetness and the kids?”

“They’re fine.  ‘Course, the twins are into everything these days.”

She paused. “What aren’t you telling me, Sunshine?”

“…Zuko asked me not to tell.”

“What’s going on?”

“Can it wait until we’re airborne?”

“…That bad, huh,” she said, voice unreadable. “Okay, fine.”

Kouji got his old master to the dragon and decided to head off towards Kyoshi now.  Once they were in the air, he carefully explained the problem.

“…That’s really bad,” was all Toph said, quietly.

“Yeah.  You can see why he doesn’t want the world to know about it.”

She nodded. “Yeah, definitely. Who else knows?”

“Leilani, me, you, Katara, Uncle Iroh, and Mito.”

“Short list.”

“Zuko’s determined to last at least until the twins are of age.”

“What’re his chances?” she asked, after a moment.

“I don’t know,” Kouji replied.  “I haven’t talked to  Leilani about it — she’s the one who figured it out.”

Toph nodded. “Okay.  You’d better hope that Aang’s not visiting Sokka and Suki when we get there. He won’t be able to tell you’re hiding something from him if he asks about Zuko, but when he finally does find out, he’ll ask why you kept it from him, in that annoying kicked-puppy voice he’s got.”

Kouji cringed.  “I’ll just tell him the truth.  That Zuko asked me to.”

She nodded. “Fair enough.  You know they’ve got five kids now?”

“…I could make a rude and uncouth comment, but you’d push me off the dragon.”  Or hit him, and Kouji was finding that he kind of liked having Toph’s arms locked around his waist.

“Damn right I would,” she replied, cheerfully.

“Still, it’ll be nice to see them again.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Kouji fell silent and hoped Toph wouldn’t notice that his heart rate had jumped slightly.  … oh, who was he kidding?

She had, in fact, noticed, but didn’t comment.

And, as luck would have it, when they got to Kyoshi Island, Aang wasn’t there — though Sokka, Suki, and their five kids — a two-year-old, a four-year-old, a five-year-old, a seven-year-old, and the new baby — were loudly and exuberantly pleased to see Kouji and Toph.

Kouji, wise in the ways of children,  had brought souvenirs for all of them, and greeted Sokka with a hug and Suki with a blush.

“How’s everything going? It’s been a month or two since our last letter,” Sokka asked, once the greetings were dispensed with.

“Everything’s fine,” Kouji replied with a grin, which quickly vanished.  “Except for this letter I have to deliver.”

“What letter?” the older man asked.

The nobleman flinched, but passed it to Sokka.

“…Don’t let Zuko burn the palace down,” he commented, after skimming the letter, passing it back. “It’s counter-productive.”

“I’m trying to think of a creative way to lose it,” Kouji said.  “Damn the Dai Li anyway.”

“You were trying to hide out in Ba Sing Se and they dug you up?”

“Less with the hiding out, but I was trying to travel anonymously.  So much for that.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, but on the bright side, now I have Toph to keep me company.”  He grinned.

Sokka grinned back. Toph, meanwhile, had been attacked by all four children capable of independent movement, and had a sort of pained, harried look on her face. It wasn’t that she disliked children, per se, but she disliked being attacked by them en masse.

Shaking his head, Kouji waded in, lifting two off of her.  Sokka retrieved a third, leaving only the eldest with Toph.  “Having fun?” Kouji teased her.

“Please stab me if I ever talk about having more than one kid.”

Kouji laughed, then distracted the children by offering dragon rides.  All four leapt at the process. Qiang sighed, in a long-suffering sort of way, and put up with four squirming youngsters on her back.

“You’ll get extra treats for this,” Kouji promised her after.  She sighed, and blew an irritated but affectionate smoke ring at him.  “Yeah, I love you too.”

That night, Kouji stayed up late plotting the next leg of the trip — he’d considered visiting Foggy Swamp or the South Pole, but he wasn’t sure how well Qiang or Toph would take to either location.

“So, since when are you and Toph together?” Sokka asked, joining him after putting his oldest to bed.

Kouji blushed slightly.  “We’re not together.  What makes you think we’re together?”

He laughed. “I knew it. You do like her.”

“No, I — Sokka, she’s my friend and my sifu.”

“And you like her.”

“I do not!”

“Do so.”

“I’m not arguing this with you,” Kouji informed him.  “Why in the world would you think that, anyway?”

Sokka grinned. “The way you look at her, and act around her, the expression on your face when you get an excuse to touch her…”

“You’re imagining things,” said the younger man crisply.  “And she can probably hear you, you know.”

“She’s asleep. I checked.  And I’m definitely not imagining things, kid.”

“You totally are!” Kouji insisted.  “I don’t do girls.  They scare me.  You know that.”

“Toph doesn’t scare you,” he pointed out. “And I’m totally not.”

“Toph is different.  Toph is my sifu.  Just like Katara is different.”

“Katara’s different ‘cause she’s your big sister, all but literally. And Toph’s different ‘cause you like her.”

“Toph’s different because she’s my sifu,” Kouji insisted.

“Toph’s different because you like her,” Sokka shot back. “Trust me. I know these things.”

“You’re wrong,” he replied, blushing.

“I’m not.”

“Sokka!”

He grinned at the younger man. “Yes?”

“Just… just stop.”

“Okay. But you know I’m right, deep down.”

“Gah!”

“How long’re you two staying with us?” Sokka asked, deftly changing the subject.

“Probably not too long,” said the relieved Kouji.  “We don’t wanna impose on you or anything.  Actually, I was just getting ready to plan out the next leg of our trip.”

“Where were you thinking of heading?”

“Foggy Swamp or the South Pole, but I’m open to other suggestions.”

“What about Omashu?”

“…I don’t know.  The last time I was there, Mai got stabbed.”

“Yeah, but the last time you were there, you were hunting the source of an international conspiracy bent on ending my sister and Zuko and their entire family.”

“…maybe that’s what Mai was doing.  I was hunting my sister.”

“Well, you’re just going as an ordinary tourist, right? You’ve got nothing to worry about.”