This is Round Two of Pro-Bending, Season Three. The theme is "Opposites Attract". I am the Waterbender for the Orchid Garden Ostrich Horses, and so I was tasked with sending two characters of roughly opposite personalities swimming together, while exploring their relationship. I always found Katara and Toph an interesting pair, and, while not poles apart, they do have a fair number of differences. So, I present to you "Earth and Water Don't Mix Well", taking the prompts of "We're not that different, you and I." (Easy), "differences" (Easy) and "dread" (Medium). I don't own Avatar.
"You said at the Serpent's Pass that you didn't know how to swim. That's really something you should be able to do." Katara approached Toph who, to the older girl's disgust, had her index finger up one nostril.
"Earth and water don't mix well. In fact, they make mud. Which you, Sugar Queen, really seem to hate." Toph took her finger out of her nose, inspected the goodly-sized bogey she had extracted, and put it into her mouth. Katara put her hand to her mouth and forced down the urge to retch.
"I don't mind a little mud," lied Katara. In actual fact, she loathed being dirty, or seeing something or someone in such a state, and one of her dearest ambitions was to coax Toph to take a bath. Before Toph could call her lie, she returned to her reason for approaching the younger girl in the first place. "But you need to be able to swim. Imagine if you fell in some kind of water again - what would you do? There won't always be someone there to rescue you."
Toph frowned. "Look, Katara. I'm an Earthbender. I belong with the earth. If that wasn't enough, I can only see on the ground. So you can understand why I've never really felt like jumping into a pool of an element so weak and unstable!" Then she signed glumly. "My parents would never have even considered letting me learn: I might drown! Oh, no!" She scowled, and added under her breath, "How will little Toph cope with being wet? She could catch pneumonia!"
Katara frowned herself. "Don't try and make me feel guilty about your parents! They're not important to this conversation. You have to learn to swim, and I'm going to teach you!" Then, she softened. "I'm sure there's some kind of public baths somewhere around here. One day when we haven't anything else to do, I'll teach you, OK? You'll be fine - and if you look like you're drowning, I'll be there to pull you out. Are you up for it?" Her eager smile had returned to her face, and Toph took in her friend's excited heartbeat.
"Do I really have a choice?"
The opportunity presented itself one fine, sunny day when Sokka and Aang announced their intention of the two of them spending the day looking for Appa. They had agreed to stagger the search duty, in order to do what little they could to make themselves less conspicuous. Thus, Katara and Toph found themselves alone for the day with nothing to do. The younger girl swiftly settled down and began to pick her toes, and it was while Katara was frantically racking her brains for something to make her stop, purposely not looking at her, that she remembered her conversation of a few days earlier.
"Toph!" She scrambled to her feet, and pulled her friend up with her. "I'm taking you swimming!"
"Swimming, huh?" Toph raised a derisive eyebrow, folding her arms across her chest. "You were actually going to do that?"
It was Katara's turn to fold her arms. "Yes! I was! Come on!" She went to fetch towels. Toph settled down and began to pick again, but it seemed that she had barely shifted one piece of dirt before Katara was back at her side. "Oh, Toph! Not that again! It's disgusting!"
Toph got to her feet. "They're not your toes, Sugar Queen. They're mine, and I can pick them if I want! You're not my mum, so stop being so bossy, and try not to be such a clean freak!"
Katara drew herself up to her full height. She folded her arms again. "Toph, you are coming swimming whether you like it or not; you need a hobby - or at the very least, something else to do other than pick bits off you - and you need to know how to swim! If you're going to be putting yourself in danger on a regular basis, it's an essential skill! Come on!" And with that, she took the young Earthbender's arm and dragged her out of the house.
There was a public bathhouse in the Upper Ring, quite close to the house, but since it required people to have proper bathing suits, which neither of them owned, they moved on swiftly and kept walking until they reached the outer edge of the Upper Ring. Katara paid for them both to get on a train, which took them just outside the city. Katara remembered hearing a spring bubbling as they came in, so she motioned for Toph to follow her and set off to find it.
Once they were there, Toph took careful stock of the place. They stood in a clearing, the grass soft under her bare feet and the soft trickle of water audible in the distance. In front of her, the grass petered out where a patch of smooth rock, the odd boulder dotted here and there, fell away into a pool, fed by a miniature waterfall at one end. She smiled. Those boulders looked great for Earth bending, but she had a funny feeling that Katara wouldn't allow that now.
She was right. Katara was already shrugging out of her clothes, and when she was down to her bindings, she hopped in, grinning as she found that the water was pleasantly warm in the late Spring air. "Come on, Toph!" she called. "The water's great!"
"I don't like water!" Toph replied, folding her arms obstinately. Katara sighed.
"This is why I wanted you to learn to swim - so that you wouldn't mind it!"
Toph reluctantly went over to the pool and stuck her foot in. It felt strange and loose and so Toph hurriedly replaced the appendage on the nice, solid rock.
"Come on!" cried Katara again. "Do I have to throw you in?"
"You're so stubborn!" cried Toph. Stubbornness was not a trait she particularly minded, unless it was used against her. But the argument was beginning to bore her, and so she removed her clothes, took a deep breath, and jumped in.
She shrieked as she hit the water, and then spluttered wildly as the water filled her lungs. But before she could panic, she resurfaced, coughing, and Katara swam over to her and grabbed her under the arms. The older girl waited for her to finish coughing before she began the lesson.
"It's all done by the movement of your arms and legs. That's what keeps you afloat. Try moving your arms now - like this." She took hold of one of Toph's wrists, keeping her other arm firmly about her waist, and pulled it forwards in a swimming motion. Toph remained submissive to this for a minute or two, before she began to perform the motions herself. "Good. Now try both arms."
Toph began to drag her arms through the water in swift, precise strokes, and Katara beamed. "You're a natural! I'd say you're ready to try the legs now." Toph stopped moving her arms and looked expectantly at her. "Just kick them. Kick them alternately."
Toph began to kick her legs as Katara instructed, and immediately caught her friend in the shin. Katara shrieked, and Toph began a string of apologies.
"It's OK, it's OK." Katara reassured her, taking one hand off her friend's waist to rub the sore patch. "I suppose that was bound to happen sooner or later, the way I'm holding you." She squeezed Toph's waist a little tighter. "Come on!"
Toph sighed and began to kick and wave her arms simultaneously. Katara watched her appraisingly, grinning. "I'm going to let go now, OK."
Toph's eyes widened in panic. "No! Katara! I'm not ready...I'll drown...I...I..."
"Toph..." Katara was stumped. "You've faced Azula head-on, walked through a desert completely blind, held up an entire library by yourself... And you're scared of a little water."
"Hey - I can't see, and I know I'll drown. We've only been here ten minutes!"
"Come on, Toph, you're a natural!" smiled Katara - and without warning, she let go.
The young Earthbender shrieked and flailed for a moment before she settled into the pattern of arm and leg movements Katara had shown her. For a minute, she swam, not gracefully but still staying afloat, but after a while, she realised she was sinking slowly. She had previously had the entirety of her neck above the water level, but now the water lapped her chin. Katara watched, hands clasped in front of her face, because Toph really was doing well. The younger girl turned around and opened her mouth to take a breath, only to get a mouthful of water. That was it. She was going to drown. When the water reached her nose, she let go.
Down, down she sank, deeper and deeper into the abyss. The water stang her eyes and so she closed them. She could feel her chest tightening, feel the air leaving her lungs. This was blackness. This was what death felt like. The ache in her chest began to spread outwards, to the tips of her fingers and toes, and Toph just prayed that it would be over quickly. She felt something close over her chest, and the last thought she had was that that must be Death itself before she realised that she was going upwards.
She broke the surface, but whatever was putting pressure on her chest was still there.
"Don't just give up like that!" snapped Katara's voice near her ear. "You almost drowned!"
Toph's response to that was to twist around in the Waterbender's grip and slap her hard across the face.
"OW!"
"That's for letting me go without warning. I could have drowned!"
"But you didn't. I was here. Now, let's try again."
"No!" Katara continued. "I have had enough of this. Goodbye, Katara. I'm not being pulled around any more." With that, she bent the bottom of the pool up to meet her and stormed out. Katara stood there for a while and then followed.
"You were doing great, and then you gave up! It's no wonder you can't swim - things are in black and white for you, either you can do something or you can't, and you never try!"
Toph puffed her chest up. "Just because you're so idealistic, Sugar Queen, doesn't mean everyone is! No-one can do everything, and when you can't do something, it's not about giving up! You have to face problems head-on, and if the situation's stronger than you, admit defeat like a mature adult. You Waterbenders are all so keen on finding another way, cheating around it - letting me go won't teach me to swim!"
"And how many Waterbenders do you know?" demanded Katara.
"That's not the point, Sugar Queen-"
Katara drew herself up to her full height, looking like a bird ruffling its feathers. "You call me "Sugar Queen" one more time..." She let the threat hang menacingly. Usually, although she found it irritating, she would take Toph's nickname for her in good spirit. Today, however, it pushed her beyond the brink and she was not going to take it. Unfortunately for both of them, Toph was in a combative mood.
"What're you going to do, Sugar Queen?"
Katara snapped. "THAT DOES IT! As soon as we get Appa back, we should take you home!"
"Oh, you say "we", do you, like you three are the team and I'm just an extra!"
"That's not what I meant!"
"Oh, well, what exactly did you mean? Do you have any idea how hard it was for me at home? My parents never let me out! They never let me do anything, in case I got hurt, and they never let me see anyone! I never had any friends before you guys - well, before Aang and Sokka."
"Oh, that sounds so hard!" Katara put her hands on her hips and bore down on the shorter girl. "Meanwhile, I was spending all day cooking and cleaning, trying to provide for my tribe and for my family after my mum died!"
"Oh, I'm sorry your mum made you such a drama queen - I knew there must be a logical explanation. Seriously! Move on!"
For one moment, Katara imagined letting go. The thought made tears spring to her eyes and her fingers went to Kya's necklace. "I will never let go."
"Then stop whining about it!"
Katara was in full flow now. "You - you could never understand! You still have both parents!"
"Just... Just go away!" snapped Toph. "You're making me sick!"
"Fine!" And Katara stormed off to sit behind one of the boulders. Toph plopped herself down on the other side, and for a while, they both sat fuming.
After about ten minutes, Toph had quite calmed down. She took a deep breath, stood up, and went around the boulder to where Katara still sat, her knees drawn up to her chest.
"Hey."
Katara looked up. She had been crying, but she reasoned that Toph would have no way to see the tearstains, unaware that the younger girl had felt the vibrations as she sat and stewed. "Hey." she replied thickly, gesturing for Toph to sit down.
"I'm sorry things got so personal," the Earthbender began hesitantly. Few interactions with other people meant that apologies did not come easily to her.
"I'm sorry I let you go." replied Katara. "And I'm sorry I dragged my mum into this. She doesn't really have anything to do with your swimming lessons." She smiled hesitantly.
Toph thought for a moment. "Are we supposed to hug now?" she asked.
"I...I suppose we can." answered Katara, and so Toph awkwardly put her arms around the older girl and squeezed. Katara hugged back, and for a moment, Toph felt strangely comfortable. She had friends. Before she could feel too emotional, however, she drew away and stood up. Katara stood with her.
"We're not that different, you and I. Earth and water may make mud, but at least they make something."
"Yeah, yeah." Toph didn't feel the need to discuss their differences any longer. "Can we have another go swimming now? I think I'm starting to get it." She ran full pelt towards the pool and threw herself in in a bomb shape, soaking Katara anew. As she used her bending to calm the surface of the water, Katara couldn't help but laugh.
OK, so that was for Pro-Bending. It's a full five days late. Why is it that the prompts that sound the most fun are always like pulling teeth when one actually comes to write them?