In the nineteen years I saw nothing, in my nineteen years of darkness, I have seen and withstood more than most do in entire lifetimes. And the first thirteen years? They were what really shaped my life, what made me who I am. Everything in those years, from my over-protective parents to the raging war in which I had quite a part, at twelve…it all came together to make the World's Greatest Earthbender, Lady Beifong…Toph.
Every year, some odd force of spirit would make my birthday worth remembering. Whether it was a benign spirit or not, well, that was a different matter. Yet, everything after I was found, it all made it obvious that someone cared for me in that world, even when it seemed like no one did in this one.
On my first birthday, my parents threw me a large, ladylike party, with hundreds of boring guests in boring suits from boring places, saying boring things. But what really made it memorable was my sneaking off. Even at that age, I was tired of the oppression my life gave me. Despite my family, or perhaps because of them, I was always quite headstrong. I snuck off, away from the monotony that was supposedly a party, and wandered, young and blind, into the garden. Somehow, I managed to get past the guards, and into the outer grounds of the estate. It was there that I found a lost puppy, playing happily in the mud…
Obviously, that didn't turn out so cleanly. When they found me, I was a ball of dirt, holding a writhing mass of fur and giggling on the ground. My very regal parents weren't too happy. The year after that, they only invited half so many people, and yet I managed to embarrass them. Reaching my "terrible two's", I had stood unhappily throughout the party. That is, until they brought out the cake. It had been so large, so sweet-smelling, that I had run right into where they'd put it on the table, waiting to be cut. I ruined whatever fancy clothes I had been wearing, as well as the reputation of the Bei Fong's for being disciplined. Covered in icing, I was handed off to the servants, who had to wash me, clothes and all.
Every year after that was the same, with me getting into some sort of mess and fewer and fewer people being allowed to see me. When I was seven, I grew so annoyed at my parents' embarrassed and paranoid antics that I ran. It was indoors that time, due to the unexpected rainstorm. I had been stuffed into a scratchy fancy dress and tiny pinchy shoes, and my hair pinned so far up it dragged my eyes along with it. My parents had shut me in my room, which came to feel like a prison ward to me. So I did what I had to do. I waited until the stupid noblemen had seen me, and then bolted. Mostly blind then, in all senses of the word, I ran without aim or purpose, not knowing in any way where I was going. I had been reprimanded at the start of the day, and again in front of the eight or so people who were allowed to see me, and cautioned not to do anything stupid.
Crying, I had stumbled into a hole, into which I fell, thudding hard. Nearly into hysterics at the forlorn state of my seven year old life, I started laughing to alleviate the pain of the fall and the sorrow in my heart. Continuing my crazed laughter, I crawled further into the hole, which seemed to be a tunnel of sorts, until I rammed my head into something firm, warm, and furry.
My crying and laughter stopped abruptly at the change of feeling. Instead of the usual lonely oppression, I felt curiosity and intelligence staring down at me. The creature bent its head, seeming to understand what I was doing in its home, and washed it all away. In that giant lick, I made my first friend. Instinctively, I licked the creature's nose back, and giggled. It seemed to like the sound, and it made me a chair – straight from the ground. Astonished, I reached for the creature, trying to ascertain its existence. I was met with the same furry warmth as before. That was my first experience with Earthbending.
Over the years, it taught me how to see, how to bend, how to live. That badgermole and its family became the ones I turned to in need, rather than my own. I became the Blind Bandit, Champion at the Earth Rumbles, and another person altogether.
Five years later, on my twelfth birthday, I left home for the final round of the Earth Rumble Six, where I got defeated for the first time. The kid who defeated me, he wasn't even an Earthbender. Using what I later knew to be Airbending, he blew me out of the ring with ease. Angry, I didn't wait for his pleading explanations. That twelve year old twinkle-toes later became one of my best friends.
Later that day, he somehow figured out where I lived, and he and his friends found me in the yard of the estate, dressed as a lady. My façade of blind vulnerability, which these kids saw right through. Angry to the point of having my guards kick them out, I gave them all of two seconds to leave my sightless vision. Before they left, the twinkle-toes asked me a question. He said, "I need an Earthbending teacher who listens, then strikes, and I think you're it. Will you teach me Earthbending?" Shocked, I called the guards.
When the kids disappeared, I told the guards it was a false alarm. Who knew what would happen if a bunch of scraggly kids were caught trespassing on our land? I was taken inside. At the start of dinner, a knock came at the door, and the butler announced the arrival of the Avatar and his friends. From what I could "see", it was the same kids come to annoy me again. In my own home, under the strict gaze of my paranoid parents. My father let them in.
Through dinner, the boy annoyed me, trying to charm my parents. Using some weird Airbending trick, he cooled my food for me, ridding the servants of that job. Then, he pulled out the pebble from the bottom of the pile, and let loose a landslide of anger. "So," he told my parents, "I hear your daughter's a great Earthbender." I could almost hear the shock registering on their faces. "No," my father answered, "you must be mistaken. Our daughter is blind, and vulnerable. She could never Earthbend."
And the kid couldn't leave it at that. "But I saw –" I shoved my foot into the ground, causing his chair to slide forward and force his face into the steaming soup. "What's your problem?" he shouted at me. "What's yours?" That was the real question. My shocked mother suggested we had dessert in the other room. The stupid kid kept bombarding my frightened parents with questions about Earthbending, and my teacher, and all of it. Finally, we got them to go, and I watched them leave.
At night, they came again, and I tried chasing them away again. Only, that time, they were quiet, and the boy asked me questions about my bending. For some reason, I was compelled to answer them. I told him about my sightlessness, about the way I could see, using the vibrations from the Earth. He tried talking me into leaving the place where I had been shut for my entire life. I would have, except I knew that my parents really did love me; they were just so afraid to lose me that they never stopped worrying to ask me about how I felt. That changed when we were captured.
I felt someone coming, from across the wall. Before I could react and do more than let the kid know someone was there, two metal cages came down on us, encasing us in their cold, hard skeleton. Someone was kidnapping Lady Toph Bei Fong and the Avatar. We were found hours later by the boy's two friends, my parents, and my Earthbending teacher.
I heard Xin Fu, the announcer of the Earth Rumbles; demand the return of his stolen money for my return. My parents, of course, were quick to comply, though they knew nothing of the circumstances. With the return of the money, the bottom to my cage was opened, and I fell through the air into a heap on the ring. "What about Aang?" the girl asked. Just from her voice, it was obvious she cared for the kid, more than as a friend. Whether the affection was maternal or not, I wasn't sure. Xin Fu answered, "Well, the Avatar would probably fetch a better price." He chuckled.
Sadly, my parents were ready to take me and leave the kid to whatever fate Xin Fu would serve him. The other kids begged me for help. The older boy, he said to me something no one ever had before. It was what gave me the courage to eventually live through my life. "Please, Toph, help him. I know you can." And I did.
Xin Fu unleashed on me all of the Earth Rumble fighters. With almost a laugh of pleasure, I slipped into my Earthbending stance, to the astonishment of my parents. I easily fought each and every one of them off, including Xin Fu himself. By the time I was finished, Aang's cage was on the ground, and the two other kids had nearly managed to get him out. I lowered the cloud of dust that had risen blocking my parents and Master Yu's vision. When they could see, I heard gasps, grunts of satisfaction, and a faint. That would have to be my mother. Master Yu said, "I had no idea! Your daughter is the best Earthbender I have ever seen!" That didn't quite please my father, despite what he had just witnessed.
Once we all managed to make it back home, Aang begged my parents, trying to show that they were wrong. "Look at how great an Earthbender she is! Doesn't that mean anything?" He pleaded, but was saying all the worst things.
"Yes," my father said, "I do understand." My hope lifted past what it had ever been. But of course, as most hope goes, it was crushed. "I understand that I have given you too much freedom, Toph." I stopped listening as he explained just how much a tighter leash he was planning to keep me on. He sent the Avatar away as roughly but politely he could.
"I'm sorry, Toph," Aang said, as he was being led away. "I'm sorry, too, Aang." I felt the tears roll down my face. Later, that night, I heard a knock on my prison door, and my parents both entered my room. "Toph," my father said gently. "Your mother and I have thought long about this, and we've decided to let you live your life as you must. Perhaps our watch was what pushed you and motivated you to rebel like this. We hope that by letting you live more freely, you will learn to become the person you were born to be." I was overjoyed and ecstatic at his words.
I gave him and my mom an uncharacteristic hug, and whispered, "Thank you." I waited until they left, planning out what I was going to do. Not two minutes after they were gone, I slipped out, through the window (I wasn't going to let them change their minds), and ran as fast as I could, as quietly as I could, towards the spot where I felt vibrations coming from Aang and his friends. "Twinkle-toes! Wait!"
The kid was overjoyed that I had come. "Toph! How did you –" I heard the other boy reprimand him. "Don't let her call you twinkle-toes, it's not manly." His sister smacked him on the head, and said, "Yeah, says the guy who's belt matches his bag." He fell silent.
"My parents said I could come! But let's get out of here before they change their minds!" He began climbing down from the tree. I kicked the Earth, causing him to fall off. "That's for knocking me out of the ring," I told him. Not mad, he shrugged, and helped me onto the back of Appa, his ten-ton flying bison. Before we left, I yanked the belt back from the other boy, who complained loudly until his sister shut him up.
That year, was both the best and the worst I've ever faced. The best because I got to see the world, or at least most of it, in my own way, and I grew close to those strange, scraggly kids that had brought me out of the bubble that was my home. Aang was always annoyingly innocent, and too optimistic to be normal. Katara, well, she was obviously the responsible one of the group, despite being younger than her brother. And Sokka…well, Sokka was Sokka. He was sarcastic, meat-loving, clumsy, blunderingly smart, and my best friend.
Together, the four of us and a few friends we made along the way, set out to defeat in battle the power that had oppressed everyone in the world. This oppression was not out of protective love, like my parents had been towards me, but angry, boiling, greed for power. The fate of the world rest in the hands of a twelve-year-old boy, a Waterbender, a non-bending warrior, and me. Mostly Aang, though, as he was the Avatar. Katara and I were his teachers, and later, much later, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation became his Firebending teacher. Sokka, though he couldn't teach Aang, took on the role as our idea guy, getting us out of trouble. Of course, it was always partly his fault we got into messes in the first place.
My thirteenth birthday, however, was by far the most memorable. The war was over, and we were, along with Zuko, visiting each nation in a promise to keep the world as peaceful as possible. Aang and Zuko were the heads of their respective nations, and Katara and Sokka were almost like royalty in their own. King Bumi and the Earth King both named me as the heir to the Earth Kingdom. Of course, we, as young leaders, would still live out more of our lives before anything other than rebellions from the Fire Nation came up.
We had just reached the Southern Water Tribe at the South Pole, and were, as usual, receiving the great eruption of cheers and applause at the heroes who ended the war. A few mistrusting looks were spared for Zuko, according to Sokka, who acted as my eyes, since I couldn't see on ice. He had made me boots from the mud he tripped in at Kyoshi Island. Unfortunately, the boots only let me see as far as a few feet, since the snow and ice made everything blurrier than sand. However, Zuko spoke to the people earnestly and truthfully, explaining about his true allegiance to our united nations. He and Aang told them how he taught Aang firebending, and Katara, Sokka and I verified their truth, calling Zuko a friend.
The next day, after I had expected the celebrations to die down and the Water Tribe siblings had finished their exclamations on the beauty of the Southern Tribe's city, thanks to Master Pakku and other Northern Waterbenders, it was my birthday. Of course, I told no one of it, but escaped through the Palace built for us and onto its roof.
Though I expected to be alone, I heard Aang's familiar heartbeat at the edge of the terrace, staring out at the sea, past the city. Wordlessly, I sat next to him, blind in the icy cold. Our feet dangled at the edge. The kid had grown increasingly silent after the end of the war, resigning himself to something that felt like hurt silence. I knew this to be because of what Katara had done to him, basically ripping out his heart and stomping on it. I couldn't say anything to either one of them, because I wasn't really supposed to know. I had been talking to Zuko at the Ember Island playhouse when I had felt those vibrations.
"It's different now, huh Toph?" he asked, breaking my thought-filled silence. "Now that the war's over, everyone is celebrating. Everyone can go home, and we're only going to meet when there's a rebellion. It feels like war brought the five of us together, and it's also going to be what separates us. Once I figure out my place, all this will probably fall apart, won't it?" His voice was resigned and sad.
Appalled at his uncharacteristic pessimism, I punched him on the shoulder, surprising him from his sorry state. "No," I said. "I don't know how, but we can figure something out. The four of us won't leave you. We can't. It's because of you we know each other, because of you this war is over, and because of you we're not stuck where our lives had been wallowing in their misery. Don't you dare say that you're going to leave. If you do, I'm going to pummel you into Avatar juice and lock you in a metal cage. Underground." I finished my angry condolences with a threat, to show him that nothing had or would change.
I felt him looking at me. "Thanks Toph," he said. "I don't really think you guys would have lived sad lives, and someone would have done something about the war, even if I wasn't here, but I guess that I couldn't really leave, either. I might try, of course, because something's still wrong, and I can feel it growing, but…" he trailed off and shrugged, unable to bring himself to his normal optimism again. I didn't bother answering him, and we lapsed into a silence.
A few minutes later, he said with an actually cheerful voice, "By the way, Happy Birthday, Toph." He fished something out of his pocket. "I made you something." He pressed whatever it was into my hand as I tried to figure out how he knew it was my birthday when I had all but forgotten. Giving up, I demanded, "How did you know it was my birthday?"
He thought for half a moment. "Well, it's been a whole year since we found you, and I know that I'm only about four months older than you are. Seeing as how my birthday was four months ago, I figured you were thirteen today. It was a guess, but I knew it was one of these days, and you seemed different today. So it had to be it." He shrugged again.
I opened my palm and examined whatever it was that he'd made me. It was smooth and circular, with lines on one side and a smooth wash on the other. I traced the lines with a finger, finding the outline of a badgermole, and the symbol for earth, along with some intricate pattern of leaves and lines. It was made of some kind of crystalline earth, and therefore, it was quite obvious that he'd worked hard on it. "I understand what's on it, but what's it for? And how'd you make it?" I concealed my happiness in a question. Gladly, he saw through it without me having to be all girly and soppy over it.
"It's actually something the Air Nomads used to do. When someone turned thirteen, they were presented with their Spirit Piece, which told a story of their life, through one significant event. They usually carved it with special tools, so it would be more intricate and elegant, but since I didn't have any, I used Earthbending and a crystal of jade. I'm glad you like it." He was slowly coming back to his normal self, though I doubted I could do more than be pleased for him. The only person who would be able to bring him back would be the person who pushed him over the edge and didn't look back. Even I, with the heart of rock, thought that Katara was horrible for doing what she did. And she hardly even understood the consequences of her doings.
I heard a slight fumbling of footsteps behind me, and felt the tremors as someone went back downstairs after having a satisfying spy session on us. I sighed. Whoever it was couldn't really do anything drastic.
"So why is everyone still celebrating?" I asked him. "I mean, the parties usually last a day, a full twenty-four hours. What's with the super happiness here?" He turned his head slowly, as if he didn't want to remove his eyes from whatever scene he was watching.
"Well, they're celebrating the end of the war, which really took a toll on them. Before the war, the Southern Tribe looked like it did now. The Firebenders who came here wiped everything out, and it was left to the old and non-benders to rebuild. Only after we went to the North Pole did anything get better. Master Pakku and his Waterbenders came here to fix the mess the Fire Nation had left. Also, they're celebrating the return of the men of the tribe, who went to go fight. And, of course, our arrival.
But even all that would have died down by now. Another thing they're celebrating is a marriage. Sokka's grandmother, Kanna, long ago, was betrothed to Master Pakku. She didn't love him, and a number of other things along with that made her leave the Northern Tribe. Her journey brought her here, to the South Pole, where she later became the grandmother of Sokka and his sister. But when Master Pakku came here, so did her memories of the North. He carved another engagement necklace for her – the one that Sokka's mother gave her daughter belonged to Kanna. And now, they're getting married. After sixty years since their first engagement, Master Pakku's love came back to him." He sighed, and shook his head staring out at the sea again. I didn't fail to notice that he had effectively avoided mentioning Katara's name.
"Wow," I said. "That's some love story." Though he didn't realize it, I did. The story gave him hope. Hope that he didn't deserve to have, since, no doubt, it would be put down. Aang was willing to wait for her for more than sixty years. At one hundred and thirteen, he was still the most innocent and forgiving person I'd met, despite everything that happened to him. It was saddening. "Yeah," was his short and unenthusiastic answer. And it answered my thoughts as well.
When it was cold enough to hurt my feet, I dragged myself up and stood, slightly wobbly on the ice. "You wanna go inside?" I asked him. With a sigh, he heaved himself up and blew off the snow that had settled on him. He didn't even shiver, despite his lack of a coat. "Why don't you ever get cold?" I demanded, knowing that it probably had to do with his bending. "I'm a Firebender, and a Waterbender," he began. "So the cold doesn't really bother me. Also, as an Air Nomad, I was taught not to want unnecessary things. I'm not going to freeze, or get sick, so I have no real need for more clothes."
He led me inside. "You, however, do. Come on." I rolled my eyes at him. "Okay, Twinkle-toes. I think I can get down the stairs by myself, despite me being a lowly Earthbender and all." I laughed at his guilty reaction. Ignoring his stuttered responses as to how he wasn't putting people who get cold down, I slid down the hatch and found myself in the midst of a crowd. When Aang landed beside me, they shouted.
We were bombarded with scolding for not letting anyone know that our birthdays had passed, with laughing greetings, and a whole lot of hugs. Katara materialized out of the mob, teasingly angry at us. She and Sokka pulled dragged us through the palace and into the banquet hall. I looked at Aang, who was being towed by the wrist by Katara as I was being by Sokka. "Uh-oh," I said to him over the euphoria. "Another reason to celebrate? Don't these guys get partied out?" Aang chuckled, and told me, "A hundred years of fear lets out to a whole lot of relieved tension. They're bound to be happy."
"Urgh," I groaned. I had had enough partying and pampering to last me a lifetime as long as Aang's. Everything before and after my part in the war was endlessly being waited on hand and foot, and a ridiculous number of celebration parties. It was mind-numbing.
After only two hours (really, Katara could go on much longer than that) of 'Happy birthday's, a surprisingly quickly baked cake, and general partying, they set us free. I guessed that it must have been late enough for them to be tired. I slumped onto a chair, dizzy from the constant vibrations. Aang was at another table, nearly at the same state. The kid must've been tired; we'd been traveling and speaking to people for days, and he'd stayed awake through it all.
Someone came up beside me, and I ignored them, until they took my hand and practically lifted me up off the chair. "Come on, Toph," Sokka said. "I've got one last, small surprise for you." I glared at him, trying to convey the message of my tired dizziness. "Please? I promise it won't take any energy from you at all, except to walk with me a bit." He pleaded. Whatever he wanted to show me must have been something he'd been working up to, or something important. I sighed. "Fine." I growled at him. It was my façade to a blushing face. I was extremely aware of my hand in his.
He led me out of the room by hand, and I was dizzy enough not to complain, and too annoyed to care where he was taking me. Until it got suddenly warmer and I felt grassy earth under my feet. I was late in registering the dirt, and walked into Sokka, who had stopped. "What…Where are we?" I asked, genuinely curious.
He sighed. "Toph…I know that you're probably going to murder me when you're fully awake, but I have to tell you something. I really hope I'm not ruining your birthday by telling you this." I waited, and he took a deep breath. "Toph…I think I..." he stopped. "I can't do this," he muttered to himself.
"Just spit it out, already," I told him, half asleep.
"Well, since you're going to murder me anyway, I'll just show you. That way, you can kill me with your Earthbending, and I'll be saved the pain." His voice wobbled slightly. Whatever he was trying to tell me must have been, as it seemed to me at the time, humiliating. Suddenly, he kissed my forehead, and yanked me into him. I thudded against his chest, and he squished me in a hug. "Before you murder me, and I know you will," he murmured, "hear me out. I think I can say it now."
I shrugged, my arms pinned beneath his. I didn't really mind the hug, so I hadn't just Earthbended him into oblivion as he kept suggesting. "Toph…I think that only after I almost lost you on that balloon during the war did I finally realize how important you are to me." I stopped breathing. "Toph…I think I love you." After an excruciatingly short second, during which I had hardly heard what he said, let alone process it, he let me go. He held me at arms length, searching for a reaction in my usually masked, almost catatonic face.
My mouth must have fallen open, because I felt the air from wherever we were rush in. I felt my useless eyes snap all the way open, and my heart falter just the slightest. That's when I noticed several things. I was on a huge adrenaline high, because he had just given me the best present he could ever have imagined. He was sweating, and his heart rate was neck in neck with mine. He hadn't lied once. He was still holding my hand. We were in a tiny circular room which was being heated from below to keep it warm. And he had devised it. For me.
And, he was waiting for an answer. I forced my choked-up throat to form the words I so needed. "Sokka," I managed to croak out. Unable to find any more words, I threw myself at him, my arms wrapping themselves around him tightly enough for him to squeak slightly in protest. His arms wound around me, and he whispered into my hair, "I'm glad you're not going to kill me." I laughed, finally feeling the euphoria that had poisoned everyone here.
And now, six years later, I celebrate my nineteenth birthday in the Earth Kingdom, where he and I were married nearly six months ago. Katara finally had realized her folly, and had somehow made it up to Aang. They had gotten married only a couple months after my eighteenth birthday. The four of us live not a mile apart, in the center of the world, on the central western coast of the Earth Kingdom.
Sometimes Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee visit from the Fire Nation, as do the Freedom Fighters, Teo and his dad, Haru and his wife, Suki (ha-ha), and a lot of our other friends. One time, even the Boulder showed up, wanting to see the Blind Bandit again. He really only wanted a re-match. The man had thought that maybe after getting older, I had stopped bending as much, or maybe I didn't have the same childish energy as I used to. Of course, he lost. Brutally.
Thanks for reading! This chapter is especially dedicated to SweetnessnaRose, for her birthday. It's also my teensy holiday gift to everyone who celebrates something at this time of year.
And, it's finally an update from the ever-elusive author that is I. Fortunately for you guys, we had a snow day on Friday (due to what turned out to be a three-day storm), and I somehow managed to find the time to 's being posted now, since I was waiting for "the opportune moment" :)
Please review!
Love, iamtheblindbandit.