Before we begin, let's do a brief recap of Toph and her parents' relationship.
- In The Blind Bandit, to put a long story short, Toph reveals to the Gaang that, contrary to what her overprotective parents think, she's a skilled Earthbender and champion fighter. Eventually, her parents find out as well. But having learned nothing from that display, they redouble their efforts to keep her inside, and send out bounty hunters when she runs away from home.
- Lao's hunters spend the rest of Book 2 looking for Toph, and catch her near the end. Unfortunately, all of Toph's pursuers have underestimated her yet again, and she invents metalbending to escape her metal cage.
- However, in Season 3, specifically, "The Runaway," Toph begins to feel guilty about the way she's acted toward her parents, and together with Katara, composes a letter for them.
Apparently, the letter didn't go over well, because of Toph's cold greeting to her father at the end of the first part of The Rift(I haven't read Parts 2 or 3 yet), as well as the fact that Lao isn't entirely happy to see Toph. But how did this fic deal with his response to the letter?
Toph is helping Katara learn how to pick locks when Sokka bursts in with the letter from the Beifongs, not understanding how Hawky tracked them down, but realizing the letter's importance. Toph doesn't want to read it at the moment. Katara and Sokka, knowing that she's not in the mood, don't nag her about it.
Katara prepares lunch, Toph and Sokka try to pick some locked cabinets, Aang and Zuko practice fire kicks, and Suki reads LATD (I will abbreviate Love Among the Dragons' title like this from now on). Unfortunately, Momo and Hawky are having a fight; Zuko tries in vain to break it up, but Appa does it more decisively. Unfortunately, getting them to like each other is a more difficult task, so the two end up separated and banished from the table.
Katara is a bit annoyed at Hawky's return (apparently forgetting about the letter to Toph), while Sokka still is having trouble coming to terms with the fact that Hawky found them. Zuko said messenger hawks are bonded to their masters- i.e. Sokka- and since they feel lonely at the communal hawkery, they will find their way back to their masters. Sokka breaks Katara's new "no animals at the table" rule and earns himself some whacks with the commonsense sitck.
After lunch, Toph gets around to asking Katara to read the letter from her parents. The letter, which I will call Toph Letter 1, essentially says that she's safe and fine with the Gaang, and intends to teach Aang earthbending, including examples of how competent she is with the latter. The language is unusually formal for Toph, but she says that's how she speaks with her parents.
In spite of all of Toph's efforts to take this seriously, she never expected a response, and is nervous about getting one, worried that they wouldn't understand. As Katara opens the letter and skims it, Toph's fears are confirmed. Katara finds it hard to believe what is so difficult to understand about Toph (she did keep her Earthbending secret from her parents, but even at dinner, you can see a little of it going through). Katara knows Toph will not take it well, and considers lying (not realizing that Toph is a Living Lie Detector), but fortunately, Toph insists on Katara telling the truth, and Katara, for all we know, complies.
The letter, from Toph's mother, apparently predicts Katara's quandary ofwhether Toph would tell the truth, and condescendingly hopes that one of Toph's "wild friends" will read the letter accurately. Since only Aang, Sokka and Katara were in the Gaang when Toph's parents last saw them, I have to wonder how they'd react to knowing Zuko's with them.
Apparently, the delay in sending the letter for a few days (it has to have been a few weeks since "The Runaway", although it's unclear how long Hawky took to travel to the Beifong manor or find Sokka on Ember Island) is because Toph's mother didn't take it well. She hopes Toph is in good health, and in a more reasonable mood than the obtuse one in which she wrote the letter.
She then gets to her second and most important point, telling Toph to "COME HOME IMMEDIATELY!" (I wonder what the Avatar equivalent of ALL CAPS SHOUTING would be, or how Katara conveyed this to the blind Toph).
Toph's mother finds it impossible to imagine her daughter doing such things in "(her) condition)", and accuses her of being nothing more than a hindrance to her friends, with them merely being too polite to tell her. Evidently unaware that Toph is now deep in enemy territory (which, granted, Toph would be unwilling to disclose if her letter got intercepted), Toph's mother offers to come find her if Toph will only tell her where she is.
Toph's mother claims that Toph has "a weak heart", and that as confining as Toph found life in the manor, Toph's mother thinks it was best for her. Toph's mother then accuses her of using the Avatar as an excuse for her "deplorable behavior," and says Aang does not need her help. She then goes on to accuse Toph of ignoring her lessons, and fears that the odds of her finding a gentleman magnanimous enough to ignore her blindness are damaged by her travels, and her friends would send her home immediately if they had any sense. Toph's mother says she misses her and, as the only one who knows what's best for her (Does this include her father? I thought Toph's father was the one who confined her to the manor and his wife went along with it), hopes that she'll come home so she can protect her daughter.
Toph has a "heartbreaking look of wide-eyed hurt," in response to hearing all this, one that Katara has never seen before, but finds understandable given Toph's personality. Katara believes Toph's parents love her, but don't understand her. Katara tries to offer Toph sympathy, but Toph rejects it and runs off.
I wish I could say Toph's parents were Out of Character here, but I can't. Lao's epiphany at the end of Toph's introductory episode, after seeing his daughter prove that she's not a helpless blind girl, is to keep her under even tighter guard, and the only evidence that he's taking her abilities into account is his intention to increase the security accordingly. And, of course, his wife goes along with all this. At this point, I'm having trouble seeing the "love" for Toph in the letter. Granted, Toph's parent seem to suffer from Fourth Wall Myopia for the most part, but Toph's father did see her earthbending in combat first-hand. But the letter itself could be considered emotionally abusive, for a few reasons.
- Basically emphasizing how much Toph's actions have hurt her mother, in order to play the victim card and guilt trip Toph into coming home.
- Constantly demeaning Toph, as well as accusing her of lying and of being selfish.
- Essentially saying that Toph's disability is nothing but a flaw, and a hindrance to her living how they want her to live.
These words and actions go beyond merely being overprotective of Toph; they seem fairly manipulative and demeaning to her.
The Gaang splits up to search for Toph, as she doesn't show up for Aang's earthbending lesson. Katara and Suki cover the house, and after Katara finishes searching, she goes to the cliff face, only to find that Zuko found Toph first. Zuko agrees with Toph's complaints about her parents, particularly having to do everything they wanted. Katara decides to let Zuko talk to Toph.
Zuko agrees with Toph about etiquette lessons being useless, citing having to know how to use 32 different instruments, and Toph also brings up how she has to have three servants help her dress, and she cannot get dirty under any circumstances, which precludes setting foot outside. Toph knows that her mother misses her. Toph's mother took over her education after she became too old for a governess, and could not go to school. Unfortunately, it also resulted in Toph not having any friends.
Apparently, being blind isn't the only thing Toph's parents are concerned about- she was born prematurely, and has a "weak heart." Zuko says that he did as well, hence Ozai's comment that he was "lucky to be born," and was born in winter, which was said to be an ominous sign that hinted at lower firebending potential. As such, Zuko knows why Toph feels like she has something to prove, but doesn't have to prove herself to the Gaang, and believes that her parents will one day recognize her potential.
Toph thinks about her future after the war, such as how she'll have to go back to Gaoling and live under her parents' thumbs again, but Zuko offers to let her live with and fight for him. Toph gives him an affectionate punch in gratitude and decides to get back, having noticed Katara was there all along.
Toph allows Katara to cuddle with her(if not going too far), and considers her offer to come back to the Water Tribe, but says she prefers Zuko's offer. Katara's glad that Toph is sarcastic again.
Sokka uses Hawky to call everyone back, as well as to bother Suki with love notes while she's reading LATD, much to her annoyance. Toph gets to writing a second letter, which is less polite and formal, and more insistent on her position. She insists that she's tough and strong, and while she loves her parents, she will not be coming home any time soon. I'm a bit surprised she didn't go for a full-fledged Calling the Old Man Out at this point. Katara confirms that Toph's heart is strong, and sends out the letter, much to Sokka's disappointment at no longer having Hawky around.
Katara and Zuko let off steam, and Katara asks about his heart. Annoyed, he says that the examination is just a standard procedure for winter-born kids, and he's fine. Katara then examines Zuko's heart and finds him fine, feeling him up for a legitimate medical purpose.
The author says the chapter was intended to put a spotlight on Toph's relationship with her parents, which wasn't covered in the series (until The Rift, that is), and that Toph's relationship with her parents, complex as it is, will pop up in future chapters. This is a good point, since given when Toph got her response (and when she sent her letter), she couldn't have come home even if she wanted to. It might have been nice to have The Promise, The Search and The Rift, as well as many other stories, in a fourth season.
The author says that Toph's parents are not bad people, and are worried about Toph in spite of how strong she is, having always seen her as blind and helpless, and having difficulty revising that perception. If this were true, the letter should have been less insulting. The author suggests that there's probably more to Toph being kept secret from the outside world than mere blindness, and suspects that Toph was also premature. It resulted in her being short and blind, but Toph is still relatively healthy. Unfortunately, the fact that Toph was premature influenced her parents' decision to protect Toph.
The author suspects that the Beifongs are a family with the man as the head of the household (that's a likely scenario, but I'm not sure why they didn't try to have a male heir after Toph), which is why Toph's appeal in "The Blind Bandit" is addressed to her father. On the other hand, Toph seems closer to her mother, talking about her mother specifically or her parents as a unit. The former may have been to remind us that she still has a mother, who doesn't seem to do much in the series, while the latter is often done for characters whose parents are of peripheral importance to a series. While Ozai's the main antagonist, Ursa's conspicuously missing, Hakoda is a military leader and secondary character, and Kya's dead, Toph's parents' importance to the plot begins and ends with their relationship with their daughter, at least until Lao set up a factory in The Rift. It's good to see them given more of a role here, even if they're not as likable as the author hopes.
The author points out that Toph's mother believes that Toph can't make it on her own, and her only way is to marry well, which requires etiquette, explaining Toph's familiarity with it in spite of not being allowed outside. Toph plays along, believing (correctly) that her parents won't accept the impolite street fighter, with the author citing Toph's father's reaction to her spitting.
Toph's father clearly disapproves, but what about her mother? I recall seeing her nodding in the background, but the author has her own interpretations. Toph's mother likely "lead"(It always bugs me how people confuse the past and present tenses of "leading", even if they sound the same) a sheltered life, not unlike her daughter, although the author doesn't say whether Toph's mother had any of the same health problems or disabilities as her daughter did. Toph's mother, possessing "nerves" like Mrs. Bennett, is horrified to hear about what Toph has been up to, and is not a "horrible person", but one of limited experience. I find that the former is too harsh, and the latter is too lenient. Toph's mother does want what's best for her daughter, but not only are her methods of going about it undesirable, but she sticks with them in the face of contradictory evidence.
The author points out that Toph's relationship with her family also affects her relationships with the rest of the Gaang. Despite not liking Katara's "motherly" personality, Toph still sees positives in it, and turns to her for dealing with her mother. Toph also is a foil to Zuko, as both of them were undervalued because of the circumstances around their birth, and had to overcome it, even if Toph's parents were better-intentioned than Zuko's.
Of course, good intentions or not, Toph still is not looking forward to the idea of going home to Gaoling after the war. She's run away before, but had no place to go and ended up back at home, in spite of how much she hates being treated as helpless. Zuko picks up on this, and offers her a place to go if they win the war. He can't promise her that with absolute certainty, but he is sincere about promising it.
The author says that the heart tests were partly to have "mush," and partly to show Katara's care for her friends, as well as her desire to see that they are in the best of health, which they are.
In the next chapter, Katara will go through drawers and cabinets, finding some surprising things in the process and learning whose room she's staying in.
What I liked
- Dealing with Toph's family
- Analyzing Toph's relationship with her family and how it affects her relationship with the Gaang.
- Zuko's offer to Toph.
What I didn't like
- Toph's mother came off as emotionally abusive and Unintentionally Unsympathetic
