She was invisible to the Earth Kingdom.
Even at the age of four, the little girl had no desire open her eyes, because it did not make any difference. She whimpered now and then, reminding herself that she was still alive. That she had a voice that could be heard.
Her mind was an empty shell, as she did not know sunlight... nor starry nights... nor the sound of laughter that came from other playful children elsewhere in the city.
She was alone, because her parents loved her to death.
Of course, she would never know this... but they always dressed her in colors of the spring lily, the gentle flower that bloomed at the very season that she had been born. The girl never made a sound, because she was always fine. Always content, being cradled gently by the arms of a woman who took pride in pampering her like the daughter she had always dreamed of having.
But the woman did not know darkness.
As much as she held her little girl tightly to her breast, calling her 'my Lily' and seeing a faint resemblance with cloudy eyes... the woman did not know how her precious daughter would survive. So she held on to her, clutching her tightly, saying that she would never let her out of her sight.
No... Toph did not know comfort, or gratitude, or the feeling of being loved by the person who gave her life... because her world was enveloped with fear, ironically, from those gentle arms that made her too secure. Too trapped to feel anything at all.
At four, she accepted her blindness as a dream– a very dark, colorless catacomb that would never end.
One morning, she cried at the thought of never being able to see her mother's face, and the woman cradled her... hushing her sweetly and telling in her mind that "everything will be alright, dear Lily." She would spend sleepless nights asking the Earth spirits what wrongful deed had caused her to bear only a beautifully doomed child.
And then the evacuations came.
Dangerous rumors had spread throughout the Earth Kingdom regions that General Iroh of the Fire Nation was planning to claim their city of Gaoling next, and that he would also claim the power of the most prestigious nobles of that region. The Bei Fongs were among them, and they knew the ruthlessness that came from General Iroh... a man who did not hesitate to kill off the well-respected Ganei Ru family from a neighboring city... when they refused to give him hospitality.
The nobility of Gaoling did not take any chances with these rumors, taking their families with a few of their belongings off to seek refuge in the lonely mountains that occupied their city. It was an evacuation that lasted many days, hiding inside the dark caves and tunnels with the strangest noises of the wild.
Tao Bei Fong was reluctant to flee from his home, feeling that he was abandoning generations of honor to the mighty Flying Boar... but his wife pleaded for them to leave, to find safety for their daughter. He found this strange, since the woman usually left the care of their blind beauty to their nurse... but he assumed that she meant finding safety for their own life... for the survival of the Bei Fong legacy after this dreadful war.
The young couple indeed fled to the mountains, with a few of their servants and precious artifacts of many generations of Bei Fong before them, and they had never lived in such darkness as they did in the lonely mountains.
But Toph remained the same little girl, taking in the cold and the echoes of her parents' voices within each cave like an extensive climax of her dark dream. She remembered the nurse's warm arms holding her steadily inside the mountain... opening her eyes to take in the unfamiliar dryness of the air, giving her goosebumps. She could not understand the nervousness or the fear that was overtaking her parents as they lurked inside that mountain for many days.
Interestingly enough, she discovered laughter in the caves... playing with her little voice by variation of echoes that the walls created in front of her. She made it into a game, following the sound of her own voice as she crawled aimlessly along the walls, whenever the nurse was preoccupied with something else. It was also the first time she discovered the joy of being dirty.
And suddenly... with the strange rumbling that the girl felt below her tiny hands... Toph discovered the meaning of a scream.
Echoes of screams. Her mother's voice, her father's voice, and their servants' creating an uproar of screams while the entire Earth seems to be crumbling above their heads.
"Toph? TOPH! SHE'S OVER THERE!"
She heard her father's distant voice call out her name in the rumbling darkness, struggling to rescue her among the countless roars of noise. In spite of all this, and the noise of rocks tumbling nearby... the girl remained still, trembling in her own skin and hoping that some familiar arms would hold her soon.
But no one came, and soon the rumbling of Earth had stopped, leaving the girl only with the company of her whimpering, shivering voice. She could hear faint voices still calling out her name... as if summoning their daughter through a very thick wall of Earth, and the poor little girl crawled and crawled to try to get to them... digging her delicate fingers into the cold matter of the rocks. It was the first time she had tried to dig anything.
Toph struggled in the threatening cold, prying through the filth to get herself closer to the voices she could still hear in her mind. But the voices became fainter every minute... as if they were becoming more distant from her... fading far into the quietness of the caves.
Mama?
Toph asked for her mother through the rocky walls, wishing... hoping that a simple plea could bring her into those comforting arms again.
M--Mama?...Mama!... MAMAAAAA!!
Instantly, the echoing had lost its appeal, turning into a menacing face that told her she would never see her parents again. That they had left her in that never-ending darkness.
With minutes that seemed like hours... Toph trembled with the fear of abandonment. She longed for warmth, and feared that she would only hear her whimpering little voice for the rest of her young life. Her stomach soon made a rumbling sound, and her throat felt dry from the shock and the screaming echoes... and the little girl knew she would not have very long.
Her eyes shut tightly, feeling them fill with salty little tears that streamed down her cheeks, and almost immediately, she sniffled and began to cry. This was what it was like to be alone.
But then, the rumbling of the Earth started again, and Toph quickly opened her eyes again in a hopeful gesture, wondering if a familiar warmth had returned to her after hours of struggle.
This was not a human voice that the girl heard... but instead, it sounded like a growl. A colossal growl of at creature, who Toph immediately feared was the maker of those destructive sounds. And its growl came closer to the girl... its stinky breath taking her nose by surprise and leaving her as stiff as stone. As it sniffed her, and brushed its nose along the little girl's delicate form, Toph was no longer feeling threatened by this massive growling creature.
Even at four, she knew how long it took to study certain surroundings without the blessing of eyes. This creature was not attacking her, because Toph had suddenly realized that the growling was a calm purr, and she knew that any mount of saliva could only come from curiosity.
It was then when Toph understood the meaning of trust. Of friendship. She laughed in the same darkness of her dream, but warm from the new feeling of fur that crawled at her side. This unknown creature continued to purr at her, lifting her up with its snout without any sense of harm. He led her to the unknown, with the sound of its growling voice, and the girl followed it faithfully with a smile.
The girl felt more dirt from the rocks come between her fingers and her toes as she crawled alongside her knew friend, but the delicacy was slowly becoming more and more foreign. Her clothes slightly shredded from the grounds of the cave, and still she crawled, falling under the guidance of something that must've come down to her like a spirit.
Toph had never known light, but the warmth that overpassed her senses from the furry guardian of the cave had suddenly brought an alternative to her endless dream. She no longer felt alone in that darkness. She crawled, feeling the Earth around her come to life with every movement of her fingers, as if the thickness of the walls and the echoes they created could all fall into her little ears and create a story for her mind.
She giggled as her hands and feet suddenly communicated with the ground below her, above her, and in front of her. The creature guided her through the darkness, telling her through his calming purrs that she did not have to be afraid of it.
That the darkness could ultimately make her stronger.
"Toph! My baby... oh my baby!"
Quickly, the creature had disappeared from the sounds around her, and it was like her hands could actually feel the rumbling of a certain figure come closer to the little girl. The woman did not hesitate to pick her little girl up from the ground... and all of a sudden... Toph gasped and began to cry out of her clutches.
" Toph? Dear lily... what's the matter? It's me..."
She was only four, and she already knew the meaning of home. Although the familiarity of her mother's warmth was very clear in her mind, Toph no longer embraced it. Her senses, her spirits... had already connected themselves to the ground... and the poor woman could not understand what had gone on in those long hours within the mountain, separate from her child.
The Bei Fongs could barely imagine the fear and loneliness that must've passed through their daughter, alone in the caves, and instead of listening to her cries and hear her longing for the Earth... the woman vowed something. Something her husband eventually adopted as well.
"My darling little Toph... I promise I will never let you out of my sight again."