Sokka handed her the candle, which she took groggily, listening with her feet and ears as he bustled back to the wooden table and picked up a scroll.

She wasn't sure why he'd gotten her up at this time of night, but she could hear him talking to himself and laughing quietly over the rustling of the scrolls. She yawned and rubbed an eye. Hot wax rolled down the side of the candle and touched her finger. She bit down a yelp and put it in her other hand so she could suck on the small burn. Her attention diverted from Sokka's mumblings to the candle. The waxy surface was soft and warm under her fingers, and if she brought it too close to her face she could feel the heat from the flame. Staring into her perpetual darkness, the candle seemed trivial and unneccessary.

But she could remember. People found beauty in flame. She didn't know why. It made light, but that didn't affect her. She couldn't even really get her head around light. But the heat, the possibilty of burning... and yet, they found it beautiful. Familiar sorrow filled Toph, sorrow that was usually well-hidden. She acted like being blind didn't affect her, but it did. What did beautiful mean? What was it that people saw that she couldn't?

Sokka turned around with a scroll in his far hand and reached for the candle Toph held as he talked softly about whatever it was he was doing, but he cut off abruptly and froze when he looked at Toph. There was something in her eyes, something in the reflection of the flame glinting there that filled him with sadness. Out of character, she was drooping, and the fingers around the candle were gentle and limp. Her hand went to her upper arm nervously as she realized he was looking at her. She hated being so vunerable. She voiced the question that was burning inside her.

"Sokka, what does it look like?"

"Huh?" He said intelligently.

"The flame, I guess. I know it's hard, but I need to know."

"Um..." Sokka stood straight and scratched the back of his neck. "I guess..."

Then he looked in those eyes again, which were cast to the side as if to avoid his gaze, though she didn't know either way. He tried to think of what to say.

"Fire is like passion. It's warm and inviting, but if it's too hot, it can burn you. It looks kind of like that. The stuff it's made of, the light, spills out onto everything around it, just like laughter spills out onto people around you and makes them laugh too. It's like a piece of lava, or a burning coal, but lighter, like air. It looks like the spark between two people when they meet, or the love someone holds inside for someone else." He blushed fiercely and was greatful that it was dark, and that she couldn't see it anyways. She listened carefully, barely moving a muscle. Sokka couldn't think of any other ways to describe it. "I don't know how else to explain it..." He deadpanned.

She smiled gently, and his heart skipped. What was wrong with him? Was it the candlelight, which shined on her face and jumped in her eyes? Or the moonlight, which streamed in through the window behind her and bounced off her hair and skin?

"I think I understand better, now." She said softly. "Thank you." She blushed, but in the warm light, he didn't see. He wondered why his heart was beating so fast.

"Not a problem." He mumbled, before he cleared his throat and took the candle gently from her, his fingers twitching as they brushed hers, and turned back to his scrolls as blood rushed to her face and widened her smile before she could stop it.

That was like, a fanfiction in itself, eh?

I'll have to upload it on FF.net and see what they think.

But FINALLY my submission for "Flame" is done. I can't believe I finished this all in one day, and plan to finish another complex piece before the end of the night.

I hope you like it! I fail at the insides of rooms, but I figured the focus is on Sokka and toph anyways.

I might go back and add... something... later. Like maybe a table off to the side with a bunch of scrolls or something. But I don't have time right now.

Candlelit skin is suprisingly easy to render.
And I find it a little unsettling that Toph seems to be looking at the viewer. I did not mean for that to happen.

/DETAIL SHOT/: [link]
Sokka's face could be better... but whatev.

Photoshop CS3
have permission to upload this.
Toph/Sokka/Avatar belong to Mike/Bryan/Nick.