Dreamer By Darktayle

by Blackstory

-RESUBMISSION- Before the elements, there were dreams. And those dreams shaped the world. -TOKKA-

Chapter 1: With the Moonrise

I have a Tokka OBSESSION. Why is it not canon?! I do not like Suki! But just so you know, there'll be no bashing. It quickly ruins a story, without fail. Bashing is merely the incarnation of the writer's immaturity. Anyway, this promises much fluff and happy stuff, though there WILL be some good ol' drama here and there

Now, this chapter....ergh, so corny. Please endure until the end, because I'm very pleased with the following chapter, and what is currently written of the third.

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I will always be your friend

I know who you are inside

I am with you till the end

Never far behind

- Never Far Behind, Aly & AJ

It was night. Appa's breathing was very audible- he could hear it even though he was on the other side of the clearing, a row of sleeping bags between. Aang was nearest to Appa, with Katara beside him, Toph beside her, and him beside Toph. It was a large clearing, in a pleasantly warm mountain next to a river. They'd been wandering over the mountain for quite a long time- it was a beautiful place, there was water, and Toph liked it because apparently the patterns in the earth were so unique. He could see that- between the erratic foliage, great teeth of stone sprang to the sky, dressed in ornate reds and oranges that he'd never seen on rocks before, aside from in the Great Divide. The river was contained by a small river valley, tumbling over rocks and the cool-soft sand of a mountain river.

In the sunlight, it was a sight to behold: the waters glistened with emerald hues, shining through to the bottom in twisting patterns of light. Not only that, but these mountains contained odd crystalline minerals- which had naturally made Toph ecstatic, she loved playing with new types of rock- which lay in pieces among the stones both plain and extravagant; beige and red and a thousand colours of a canyon. The sun reflected off both the water and these crystals, casting myriad shimmers of rainbow through the water, some boldly dancing upon the shallow stone walls guiding it. It was times like these- times where the wonders of the world were laid out in ubiquitous view, that Sokka truly pitied Toph her blindness. It wasn't fair that she couldn't see these things.

He listened to the running river absentmindedly, running the thinnest of brushes over the paper fluidly, dipping it occasionally in ink to sustain its flow. Water. It was a patient element, he thought. Rivers waited for milennia to wear away at the stone that oppressed them, slowly wearing them down bit by bit. This analogy of water most certainly did not fit his sister- no, it fit more a waterbender such as Pakku. Willing to wait until the end, as long as that end yielded results. Water was also very flexible- very changeable. The slightest disturbance in the currents around it, and a calm ocean could become a sea of death to any who ventured within its confines. That was more like Katara- unpredictable to the extreme.

But it was not water he had stayed awake to think about. Some days he would- and would philosophize every face of water into a thousand meanings, but that wasn't tonight. Tonight was a day to think back, to reminisce on what surely was and how it had become that way. In the still, silent world overlooked by the moon- Yue- there was no one to laugh, so Sokka did not joke. There was no one to speak to, so he did not speak. There was no reason to remain Sokka, and so he didn't. The warrior changed at night, it had been that way for as long as he coudl remember. Ever since exposed to the horrors of war, he'd relived it in his sleep, again and again, until the deceptive caress of sleep did not come until he was too exhausted to dream. No one knew he was an insomniac- but he was, and he would be lying if he said it didn't help him in some way. But it also made that sleep he did get crucial- if those precious few hours were denied to him, he would be spine-rendingly exhausted from the strain of years of bad sleep.

Sokka had a hobby. He had several hobbies, actually, but one of those hobbies was something that no-one really knew.

Sokka changed at night. The sarcastic, jokey teenager melted away into the shadows, he faded with the sun and its warm light. In response, a new person rose with the moon, even as she cast her silver light over the endless forest; the crystalline river. In a world where sarcam wasn't needed, and interaction was useless, Sokka was free to be different. He became quiet, contemplative, serious. His thoughts were clearer, and he pondered upon things with an odd ingenuity. The thoughts came systematically, so varied and beyond what he could accomplish in the day that it was both confusing and humbling to him. It gave him insight into what needed to be thought about. Often, he would merely sit for hours: thinking, thinking, thinking. But it was like the sun extinguished them- so he captured the calm knowing of the dark hours on paper, in endless leatherbound books and rough in scrapbooks. Unfortunately, he'd never had a talent for drawing and the like, but there was an area of art that he liked to think himself good at- at least at night.

Sokka sighed, and his hand paused above the paper while he raised the other to rub his temples. He'd been having strange headaches recently, less like aching and more like there was something lightly fizzing in his brain. Any more of it and he'd have to ask Katara to take a look- it was disrupting his thoughts. He lowered the brush inkless to the page, making an unhappy churl in his throat. The headache really was distracting.

He gave up, and stored the book away into his earth kingdom bag. He would merely be content to think tonight. So he laid back and looked up at the stars, the sky, Yue.

Perhaps, he thought, he had not loved Yue. Perhaps he had merely had a crush on her- because she was pretty, and unattainable in a way that challenged him in some ridiculous way. But he'd barely known her a few days, and that wasn't nearly enough time for real feelings to set in. With a loud exhalation, Sokka pondered that this applied also to Suki: who he'd known for even shorter a time. A crush was quick to come, quick to go. If all you had was a crush- fake, based on appearences- then it would wither like the flower it seemed to be. Nothing would come from a crush alone- a crush was a shallow, fickle thing, and if you had any real capacity to love it would fade or develop according to those unseen choices within.

Still, Yue would always hold a place in his heart for being the first he thought he loved, and the one who he had not been able to save.

He thought of his recent thoughts, and by their analogy supposed that real love was an extension, of sorts. If there is a crush, there will be some compatibility. As to truth, he hadn't actually had a crush on this particular girl before it became something more. He learned who she was before he learned of her appearences. He slowly but surely fell in love with the girl, though spirits know why her, of all people. The line between feelings of friendship and feelings of romnce was not a fine one- to all observers, it would be painfully obvious as to when one had strayed over it. So why, then, had it been so hard to see back then? Thinking back on it, he couldn't define when he'd edged over the boundary, but wondered why he's assumed that it was a mere crush when he knew what crushes felt like.

Eh, no point worrying over it now. It was there, it was real, and that was it. It hurt for her to not know- to not be with him in the way he wished, but he didn't want to ever lose his feelings. Like a flame, they burned him, but provided warmth that he did not want to lose.

Suddenly he was snapped out of his thoughts as their very object snapped awake. He showed no outward reaction, merely watched her out of a half-closed eye. She jolted out of sleep suddenly, with a violent jerk. Slowly, she sat up, and cradled her face in one hand briefly, raising shakily to her feet. Sokka knew she got up very early- but so far it had only ever been after he was asleep. Before now he had thought she merely liked getting up early- she was usually found training her earthbending with an odd vigour.

He continued to watch as she stumbled, becoming more steady, over to the river, lowering herself on a square of rock to the water's level, splashing her face a little with the cold liquid. It was a minor enough disruption to not make much of a noise. She seemed used to this regime, and then she looked up at the moon despairingly, expression oddly mournful.

"Shit." She cursed quietly, trudging back to her sleeping bag and flopping back onto it with the same nonintention of using it that Sokka had. She lay there, staring blankly ahead with an odd scowl.

She's had a nightmare.

The thought came so suddenly, so without warning, that it surprised him immensely. How could he tell she'd had a nightmare, and not simply woken up in the night like some people did occasionally? But the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to mae sense, and there wasn't any reason that it should! It was as if she had some sort of aura that had walked up to him and told him that Toph had had a nightmare. It was an odd feeling- knowing something as if it were a fact of the world, like, for instance, the grass is green. It was strange, very strange.

Sokka shifted slightly, so it was easier to look at her. she just sat there, blank and still, staring. Should I? It doesn't matter, I suppose. "You had a nightmare?" He asked quietly, voice low and hushed as to not wake the others. Toph jolted in surprise, turning to face him.

"You're awake?" She demanded. "But you breathe like you're asleep!"

He shrugged. "I'm a lot calmer at night. So, did you have a nightmare?"

She frowned. "I- how the hell'd you know that?"

Soka blinked, and made a face she obviously wouldn't see. "I have no idea. I just....knew. Dunno."

Toph was still frowning. "That's strange, you know." he was about to agree when she spoke again. "Why're you awake, anyway?"

"I went to sleep and woke up a bit later. Can't get back to sleep." He sighed, sounding mildly frustrated. "I'll try again soon."

She peered at him. "You're lying." Toph informed, matter-of-factly.

Sokka made another face. Oh yeah. She could tell when you lied. "Honestly? I'm an insomniac. I don't sleep much. Three or four hours at the most."

Her eyes widened. "You, Snoozles? You have insomnia?"

"Yeah, pretty much." He shrugged.

Toph blinked. "Odd, you don't seem the type. How long you had trouble sleeping?"

"Eh, six years?"

"Six years?" Toph choked. "Why?"

"That was about how long ago it was the raids started. I got nightmares. It went from there." His expression was hard now. The raids weren't something he liked to think about.

Toph stilled. "How... I mean, so you had nightmares, then what? You decide you didn't want them anymore and stay up through them?"

"Sort of. They woke me up all the time, until the point where I'd get a nightmare as soon as I fell asleep. So I just didn't go to sleep until I was too tired to dream. Why?"

"....No reason." She looked distinctly troubled.

"I believe you. Honestly, why?" She sighed irritably, knowing she wouldn't be escaing from the question.

"I think that's sorta started with me."

Sokka frowned, then blinked. "You're going insomniac too? How depressing."

"Tell me about it." She sighed, flopping backwards onto her sleeping bag. "What do you do when you're awake? Doesn't it get boring?"

"Not really." Sokka said, distantly. He raised his vision to the stars again, and then the moon. "I stay awake thinking."

"Thinking." Toph repeated dubiously. "You expect me to believe you stay up for half the night daydreaming?"

"Well, why not?"

"Because you're not telling me everything."

"Damn vibrations."

"If it's any comfort, they're a lot harder to read for whatever reason tonight."

"Sure, sure." He grumbled. "Well, I write."

"You write?" She questioned disbelievingly. "Write what?"

"Well, I've never been very good at drawing, and storywriting takes up too much time and ink."

"So....?" She prompted, feeling the telltale signs of embarassment.

"It's not really something I like to spread around." He mumbled. "If I tried it in the day, it'd be clumsy at best. Especially haiku, but that's easiest to make up on the fly." He said, remembering Ba Sing Se.

"Haiku.....hang on, poetry?" The concept was a bit hard to swallow.

Realizing that he'd sort of inadvertly informed her, Sokka groaned slightly. "Yeah, poetry. I lose absolutely all linguistic elegance in the day, so I've learned to only attempt by night. I'm not sure why it is."

Toph was silent for a little, before her face erupted in a broad grin. "Sweet! Art I can actually make use of."

"Use of?" Sokka repeated after not recieving the mockery he'd anticipated.

"Well, yeah. It's not like pictures are any use to me. But I like writing and stuff as long as someone reads it out, otherwise that's useless too." Then she smirked. "But I can sorta understand why you don't tell anyone. Sokka the goof, writing poetry? They'd laugh."

He frowned, and shuffled a little. "Plus poetry isn't very manly. It's usually females who express their feelings into stuff. But you do get a lot of male songwriters." Sokka didn't see how Toph began glaring at the 'female' part, because he'd already been swallowed into a chain of thought that for once he could sanely express. "I wonder why it is that guys can write songs but never write poems? Hmm, maybe 'cause mostly they write rock, which is heavy and doesn't need much refinery.... and poetry's more elegant, something females have greater aptitude for. There's also the fact that a lot of guy songs are a lot less mushy.....and those that are manage to not seem so. Trying to impress, maybe?" He pondered, blinking curiously. "Girls express their feelings more than guys do. Their soft ones, I mean. You get a lot of girl love songs. Hmm." He looked at Toph, who was staring with a look of plastered incredulity. "What?"

"When the hell did you get so thoughtful?" She demanded.

He scratched his head, mildly confused. "Uhh....when the sun set?"

Toph facepalmed with a groan of exasperation. "Well, whatever. What sort of poems do you write? Do they rhyme, or what?"

"I write a variety. Some rhyme, some don't."

She appeared thoughtful. "What you writing at the moment?"

Sokka groaned. "I'm pulling a sappy-girl and writing something expressive." Why she had to bug him about poetry today, he'd never know.

Toph grinned, and he knew he was in trouble. "Oh? Care to read?"

".....No."

"Why?"

"Firstly, it's expressive, and thus quite personal. Secondly, it's not finished."

"So?"

".....Didn't you hear the 'personal' part?"

"Yep. But I decided to ignore it."

"You're not going to leave me alone, are you?"

"Hell no."

"I was afraid of that."

"Well, get on with it!"

".....Do I have to?"

"I said get on with it!"

Sokka growled, then extracted his notebook from his fancy bag, flipping to the right page. He just thanked the spirits that he had given up before writing the next verse he'd planned. Casting a look of annoyance at Toph, he began in a quiet tone, but flowing all the same.

"There is a hinge to every question,

But questions die silent in foldings of time.

Perhaps that is why I wonder today...

Why do you stay silent?

There is a pathway to every dream,

But all hopeful things are quick to escape.

Perhaps that is why I wonder today...

Why have you no dreams?

There is a time for all to let loose,

But such are content to hide and mislead.

Perhaps that is why I wonder today...

Why do you not cry?

There is a pace to all that enfolds,

And that which works slow is more likely to cling.

Perhaps that is why I wonder today...

Why have you no speed?

There are imperfections to all that exists,

And flaws are often what lead us away.

Perhaps that is why I wonder today...

Why am I ensnared?"

Sokka took in a breath. "That's what I have so far." He turned to look at Toph. She had that same 'what the hell?' look on her face.

"You wrote that?"

"Uhh.....yeah?"

".....How?"

"Duh wha?" Sokka replied eloquently, clearly confused about what she was asking.

"How the hell'd you get so fancy just because it's night?"

"Don't ask me- I dunno."

"Hmph." Toph seemed to think. "You were right, it is expressive. Subtle, but expressive." She suddenly got an odd look on her face. "Snoozles, you're rubbing off on me. I swear I just got better at analysing stuff. Either that or I got hell of a lot worse, depends on how likely my conclusion is." The last bit was said more to herself than anyone else. Before Sokka could ask her what in the name of meat she was going on about, she beat him. "Who is this directed to?"

The response was automatic. "That." He bit out. "Is absolutely none of your buisness."

Toph grinned a little. "Right. Well, that supported my idea."

"What idea?

"Oh, nothing." She smiled innocently. She saw his disbelieving look, and hastened to defend herself. "I'm not saying anything, and you can't make me."

Well, there went that idea. "Hmph."

Toph snickered, and shuffled on her sleeping bag, attempting to get more comfortable. She churned the earth underneath a little, then sighed in satisfaction. Sokka returned his gaze to the stars- officially, of course. After all, while Toph may be able to detect the direction of heads she couldn't detect eyes in a different direction from where they were facing. He suddenly noticed something.

"Do you always sleep with your hair up?"

Startled at the sudden question, Toph flushed a little. "Uh, yeah. Mostly. Unless I'm alone. Remember Ba Sing Se? My hair goes everywhere when I sleep."

Sokka remembered. It had sort of surrised him. "You have....a lot of hair. It's hard to see because you keep it up all the time."

She shrugged. "It's easiest. I'm blind- I can't exactly tidy it up properly."

"You could ask Katara. Apparently she's wanted to play with your hair ever since she saw you have so much of it."

"Play with it?" She actually sounded a little scared. "What do you mean 'play with it'? And why?"

"It's a sisterly thing to do. By 'play with' I mean composing and trying out different looks for it."

"....Sisterly? The hell?"

"Katara sees you as her little sister."

"Oh. Right." Toph seemed to ponder something. "Do you?"

Well, obviously there was no point in lying. "No. You're my best friend. Aang is Katara's best friend." He added, just to show best friend meant more than sister.

Toph understood, and turned a little as to not expose the small smile that made its way onto her face. "You're my best friend too."

It was just times like these, the little things, conversations and banters and idle arguments. All the times spent together. He treasured them more than he cared to admit. But he couldn't sto himself from wanting more.

He checked the moon. "I think it's probably around four now. It's usually the time I go to sleep, to get the last few hours."

"Mmhm. Night." Toph crawled into a position better suited for sleeping. Sokka planted himself inside his covers.

"Night." He yawned. "Get some sleep, hm?"

"Mm." Toph murmured incomprihensibly, burrowing her face into her bedding. Sokka smiled at her warmly, then followed, closing his eyes and beginning the long wait for sleep.

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Sorry about the utterly crap poem. Just look for the subtle stuff in it, if you can stand the crapness long enough.

Story WILL get better. Oh I am ashamed of it right now.....-_- But yeah, it will get a lot better. I'm actually quite pleased with the idea. By the way, there's some sorta problem with the 'p' on my keyboard, so Ps may be missing here and there.

Chapter 2: A Dream Can Die

He remembers his friends and his family

How they laughed as they played

He remembers his dreams, then reality -

As he sits, and he waits...

-Silver Memory, Hania (Newgrounds . com)

The next day, Sokka felt quite frankly- in his own words- like shit. The usual loud awakenings of his teammates brought him to consciousness, and from then on it was hell. He groaned into his pillow so that they'd stop shouting, because their loudness had exploded pain into his head, searing about like the burn of a firebender.

"Oh good, you're awake." He couldn't tell who it was- Katara?- because at the second she spoke, white hot agony pounded through his head, angry and vicious. He gave a loud hiss, with undertones of a loud exhalation, and arched in his bed, successfully startling everyone in the vicinity. Moving proved to be a mistake, as electric lances of fire jolted through his back, arms, every joint he had. It was around that point that whoever it was rolled him over, presumably to get him out of bed, and gasped.

Toph snapped to attention as he entered the range of her vibrations. "What's up with Snoozles? His heartbeat's so slow I can barely feel it."

"He's ill." Replied the same first voice- yes, Katara- as the pain from his movement tumbled through his blood. "Sokka, where does it hurt?"

"F'kin everywhere." He groaned. "Shit, my 'ead feels like it's gonna blow."

"I can't see any wounds...." katara bit her lip worriedly, and Aang moved to sit beside her.

"Sokka, do you know how you got like this?" He asked quietly.

"Just 'member a strange dream...." He hissed. "T'lk quiet, goddamit."

"Dream? What kind of dream?" Aang questioned.

"Ssh, Aang, it was probably just a fever dream." Katara moved some water to his head and used it to ease the pain. "That better?"

"Yeah." Sokka groaned, no longer finding it as hard to speak. "And the dream....don't 'member much. Just some words and phrases....strange, too."

"Like?" Aang urged. Toph 'watched' attentively from her position.

"Someone said....'You weren't ready, you've never tried it before.' "

"Never tried what?" Aang seemed oddly interested, and Katara supposed he must have his reasons, and continued working on the pain.

"Uhm....hang on....Dream....something?" Sokka tried, then remembered. "Dreamreading, that's it."

Aang froze. "Dreamreading?" He whispered. "Are you sure?"

"As I'll ever be." Sokka rasped.

"What were you doing before you had this dream?" Aang demanded, suddenly alert and serious.

"Talk quiet!" Sokka yelped.

"Really Aang, do. You won't believe how much pain he gets from hearing things at the moment." katara instructed softly.

"Sorry." Aang apologized. "But what?"

"Erh...." Sokka squinted. "Toph woke up. Could tell she hadda nightmare, dunno how. Talked a bit then went to sleep."

"That'd be it." Aang said softly. "Thanks Sokka, that's what I needed to know." The young monk looked into the sky fleetingly. "Who'd have thought...."

"Oi, Twinkletoes, if you know something, you'd better tell us." Toph ordered flatly.

"I think I know," Aang admitted. "But I'll need to check the southern Air temple's library to make sure."

"Tell us what you do know." Katara spoke lowly, not pausing or glancing away from her administration.

"Well....in the temple, whenever the young monks were bad, they'd send us to the library to read up on anything we felt like. That way all monks would have a great amount of random knowledge, and the knowledge wouldn't die. Some of the books in there were old, like, before bending old. I came across one of those....a book on something called Dreambending."

"Go on." Toph glared.

Aang gulped a little before complying. "Dreambenders were what existed before the four ways of bending did. They were few, and very rare, the talent not being hereditary like with elements, but random to anyone. Dreambenders had a very strange, very unpredictable power. They could bring dreams to life, and do wonderful things. But also they could bring nightmares to life, and the cruel things that came with that." Aang closed his eyes. "Dreambending is a difficult art to control, or so I read. If they had a dream, all it would take is a subconscious reflection on it to bring it alive. The same for nightmares- they'd never mean to, but it would happen. Because of that, most of them always went insane before they learnt to control their ability."

"I can't remember much more than that, aside from the fact that Dreambending was what shaped the world. In the beginning, the spirits dreamt of a world, and they brought it to life. They blessed the occasional human with their gifts, and it went from there. Dreambending, later, was what shaped the bending we use today." He shook his head. "Apparently, the Dreambenders that followed were too few and too scattered to be educated, and so thought they were mad. That's how they died, not knowing what they could have had. From what I've heard, only one in a million people born has a chance of being a Dreambender." He cast a look over to Sokka. "That thing Sokka mentioned, about being able to tell Toph had a nightmare, and the knowledge in his dream he couldn't have known, it's too unlikely." Aang sighed, and smiled a little. "Who'd have thought that our Sokka would be a Dreambender?"

"Wait, so I have some awesome bendy magic too?" Sokka questioned weakly.

"Yep, so it seems." Aang nodded. "But it doesn't seem to be much use in battle unless you dream of powerful conquests over your enemies."

"Damn." Sokka growled. "Well, I have dreamt that my sword could cut through anything."

"Then with time, maybe it'll be able to." Katara interrupted. "As for now, shut up and let me heal you."

"I don't think you need to." Aang shuffled. "Normally no one Dreambends until they've eased into it slowly. Like learning about dreams, or something." He shuffled. "You're just having the effects of jumping into it suddenly. It shouldn't last more than a few hours until you're not in too much pain to move. You'll have a nasty fever and stuff for a few days, though."

"Great." Sokka sighed. Suddenly he jolted up, ignoring the pain. "Katara, gemme a bowl or something!"

"What?!" Katara was startled by the suddenness.

"Argh!" Sokka exclaimed, then turned in a direction that contained no people. He opened his mouth, and; "HRRP!" he vomited. In a remarkably projectile-like way.

Toph's ears worked well enough, as did the 'eyes' of her feet, so she had an expression quite similar to the expressions of the others. "....Ew." She commented, stepping away from where the gross spray of acid had hit.

"You think you have it bad? I'm the one that had to throw it up!" Sokka retorted, then his pupils dilated in an oddly familiar way. "Y'no know wha'....I feel dizzy." He swayed a little, then vomited to the side in a steady stream. "Great! It's projectile vomit appreciation day." Then, he promptly fell back onto his sleeping bag and passed out.

There was silence for a while, before Toph eloquently broke it. "So....who cleans up the spew?"

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"Look, it's a treehouse!" Sokka exclaimed, pointing to a random bird that was sighted as Appa flew.

"All right then, maybe we'll be able to visit it one day." Katara said kindly, and patted her brother on the shoulder. She turned to Aang. "He doesn't seem feverish to me....just drunk."

"Well, as far as I know he hasn't had any cactus juice." Toph informed.

"And how do you know that?" Katara crossed her arms.

"Yeah Toph, how'd ya know?" Sokka slurred happily. "You....doesh you foot-stalk me or s'mthing?" He wiggled his toes helpfully, then slumped over as if his spine had been broken and thus allowed him to bend backwards that way.

"Sure." Toph replied sarcastically. "I track your every move, every action, and all that crappy crap with my feet sweet feet." While Aang and Sokka may have been painfully oblivious, Katara did not fail to see the light blush on Toph's cheeks.

Sokka straightened again, but not quite. He was titled to one side, like a wonky signpost. "Good to know it!" He exclaimed, giving her a great big thumbs up. Then he slumped backwards into an upsidedown 'U' over Appa's saddle, which did not look at all possible.

"That can not be possible." Katara stated, raising an eyebrow at the odd spectacle of Sokka the human pretzel.

"What? What can't be possible?" Toph demanded.

"Sokka's gone all bendy....He half fell back over Appa's saddle, and I really didn't think the human body could bend like that." Aang explained, following Katara's lead and raising an eyebrow.

"Well, maybe the Kyoshi warrior training was good for something after all. Who knew?" Toph threw up her arms.

"Actually, they're not really that flexible. Sure they can jump around a lot, but that's just strength and agility. I tried to show Suki some of those Water Stance yoga positions, and she sorta failed." The waterbender corrected. Toph sniggered.

"Well, who knows? He's a Dreambender, he can do anything." Aang suggested. "Even bending in ways the human body shouldn't bend."

"Hmmm." Katara mused, then grabbed her brother's arm. She shook it around a little, then happily bent it in a way that looked extremely odd. "Wow, he really does bend unnaturally! That's how he did that bendy arm thing when he was on cactus juice in the desert."

"Duh wha?" Toph ased, confused.

"Remember when Sokka started going on about giant mushrooms?" Katara asked. Toph nodded. "Well, around the 'Friendly Mushroom!' part his arms went bendy in ways that shouldn't be possible." She experimentally flexed her brother's arm again. "It's like his bones are rubbery or something, they work properly but they don't seem to need joints. I can't believe I didn't notice this sooner. Why hasn't he noticed it sooner?"

"Uhh, he probably doesn't know he can do it." Aang scratched his head. "I mean, we haven't seen him go bendy when he was in his right mind, so it's possible he's never known about it or how do it."

"Well, as soon as we get through this mess, he's learning." Katara proclaimed. "For a swordsman especially, that ability is off the charts. I mean, it could have so many uses!" She added, thinking of how useful in fights it could have been in the past.

"Uses?" Toph asked, eyes off in some way. Her face was ever so mildly coloured, and it took Katara a few seconds to conclude what other meaning could have been drawn from her words. She grinned, snickered, then opened her mouth.

"Hehehehe." Katara cackled evilly. "Toph, you should get your mind out of such places, you bad girl!"

Toph was officially blushing, and looking quite angry about it too. "Shut up! I wasn't thinking anything!" She snapped.

Aang was silent for a few more seconds, then he added his hopelessly naive input. "I don't get it."

Perhaps it was a good thing Sokka was apparently unconscious at the current time.

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"Now he has a fever." Katara sighed, flopping Sokka into a more natural looking position and observing the symptoms. "His forehead is scorching."

"Well, we're nearly at the temple anyway. Look." He gestured into the clouds, where the outline of faint peaks could be made out.

"Perhaps you haven't noticed, but I'm blind." Toph said irritably.

"I know, I know." Aang defended. "I was just saying..." He sighed a little.

Katara rolled her eyes. "I get it, you're moody because Sokka isn't conscious to be an idiot and crack stupid jokes. Don't take it out on Aang."

"What?" Toph hissed, lowly and dangerously. "Don't you mean ALL OF US are moody?"

"Maybe you are." Katara retorted moodily. "But we're not, so calm down....bitch."

"Did you just call me what I thought you just called me?!" Toph screeched.

"Do YOU want a splinter of ice shoved where the sun don't shine faster than you could throw a rock at someone?" Katara countered. Toph visibly winced, and was defeated for the first time in a round of verbal sparring.

"If I ask what the hell just happened, will I die?" Aang asked warily.

"Depends." Toph casually inspected her fingernails, ignoring the fact that she couldn't see them. Aang apparently overlooked that too.

"On what?" Aang asked nervously, while Katara half-focused on getting Sokka into a better position.

"Well," Toph started, scratching at one fingernail. "If I've calmed down, I may be lenient and not crush you into paste as soon as I set foot on ground. If I'm still moody, I may be forced to be so annoyed that I'll throw Sokka at you. And he'll be so bendy that he'll....I dunno, gloop around you and suffocate you or something."

"Owie!" Sokka exclaimed drunkenly from inside his fever. Aang turned to look, and saw that in her lack of concentration, Katara had bent one of Sokka's joints in a way it apparently couldn't bend.

"Sorry," Katara apologized. "I guess your elbow doesn't bend that way." She turned to Aang. "Can we land? I want to get our location established before dark." She sent a fleeting glance to the dying sun, which cast blood into the clouds and drowned the world.

"We should get there in a few minutes." Aang assured, happy for a change of subject.

"Oh good," Katara sighed as Appa landed. He'd barely done it when Toph leapt off, having her reuinion with the ground a lot less gracefully than Appa had. She didn't seem to care, bending the temple paving into a heap she could hug.

"Ground sweet ground." She hummed happily. "Appa's great, but I'll never get used to flying."

"We should camp today." Aang muttered, suddenly seeming depressed. "The temple isn't... in a habitable state." He slipped down the bison.

Katara nodded solemnly, and threw down the sleeping bags. Then for the final bit of luggage....

She dragged Sokka over to the edge, and with much effort, Aang helped her get the immobile warrior down.

Toph had felt around for the sleeping bags, and surprisingly enough, begun setting up Sokka's before hers.

"Thanks, Toph." Katara murmured appreciatively, and Aang lowered their friend onto the newly unpacked sleeping bag.

Toph grunted. "No problem." She then proceeded to casually unpack her own bags, next to Sokka as always. She paused. "He's not contagious, right?"

"Nah, shouldn't be. This isn't a normal fever, after all." Katara replied.

"Oh good." The earthbender sighed, laying back against her pillows, one foot on the bare ground. "You know, this place is amazing. So intricate..."

"It used to be a lot better." Aang returned quietly. "There are flaws everywhere. The patterns have crumbled, the statues have cracked....I'd like to maybe stay and restore it a little. Before, the forests and the rivers here used to be just as beautiful as that mountain we were on before."

"I....I can imagine that." Katara said softly, looking at a small stream with a gorge around it hinting that it had once been much larger. "Do you think the rivers might be blocked?"

"Probably. If so....then the resevoir must be a bog by now." Aang looked slightly ill at the thought. "The monks enlarged the spring into a lake, and all the rivers went from that. Aside from the main river that fed it, which came from another spring higher up. There is....was....a lot of little waterfalls. me and the other monks always used to play in them." The airbender smiled sadly, and began setting up his sleeping bag. "Sometimes my friends from the other countries would come too. Bumi didn't like the water much at first, but once I pushed him down the river the one time I couldn't get him out of it. Kuzon was even less keen, but he liked floating in the calm water." Aang's smile was warmer now, in rememberance of good times. "As for Miru, he looked as if he wanted to shave his head and get some arrows. I guess he must get tired of nothing but ice, and water too cold to swim in."

Katara quickly deduced that 'Miru' had to be a friend from one of the poles, and said nothing.

The avatar sighed, the sound bittersweet, and looked up. "But that's over now." He looked unusually solemn for a second. "I'm going to go check on the resevoir. It's behind the bison stables if you want to find me." He grasped his glider and zipped off, faster than anyone could say anything.

"He must really miss them." Katara remared quietly once he was gone, smoothing over her sleeping bag as the final touches.

"I guess...." Toph frowned. "But doesn't he value us as friends?"

"Of course!" Katara retorted, a tad hastily, then she sighed. "Think about it, Toph. Imagine if one day, someone told you that everyone you'd ever known- people you hated, people you loved with all your heart, all of them were gone. Dead forever."

The girl flinched, eyes steadily wavering.

"Now imagine....You get new friends. You get a new family. They're brilliant friends, you can always count on them. But honestly, they'll never be able to replace who held their places before."

"Taking that into mind, I don't know how he became friends with us at all." Toph conceded. She sounded a little choked. "I know no one could replace the friends I have now. Never. You're good at this stuff, huh?"

Katara looked away. "It's a bit depressing to think about- that we'll never be his sole friends. I know if dad remarried, I'd never love her as much as I loved mum, no matter how nice she was. Death keeps you in the past, whether you like it or not."

"I guess." Toph sighed. "You're really depressing, you know that?" Katara grimaced.

"Not all the time!" She defended.

"I know, I know."

The waterbender huffed a little, then checked Sokka's forehead. She bit her lip.

"What's wrong?" Toph asked, apparently sensing something.

"...His temperature. This is possibly the worst fever I've seen. Any worse and it would probably be dangerous. Really dangerous."

"But he'll be okay, right?" Toph asked, sounding a lot more worried than Katara had ever heard her.

"Should be." Katara move her bending water over Sokka's forehead, lowering it to a temperature that was cool, but not enough to be iced.

Toph tapped a finger on the ground, feeling the vibrations with her other hand. "He's breathing really heavily."

"Sure is." Katara sighed, watching the heave of her brother's every breath. "There's not much else we can really do now. I'll put this water into a flanel and cool it down every now and then, but fevers are pretty much come-and-go things."

Toph nodded, then twitched a little. "Twinkletoes is bending something. It's....blurry..." She squinted. "There's wet earth- really wet earth. I think....yeah, he's drying it. or taking the water out, or something. But it's just dry, cracked stone now. Not soil." She paused. "Ah, that's better. Now stuff will actually be able to grow on it."

"I haven't a clue what you're going on about." Katara stated flatly.

"Basically, Aang turned a bog into something you can walk on." Toph summed.

"Oh, right. He must be working on the resevoir."

"Yeah.....Katara?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm hungry."

"Oh....yeah. I don't think Aang would appreciate us eating anything from his temple. Besides, Sokka's the hunter." Katara frowned.

"Why not find the biggest river and catch some fish?"

"Hmm," Katara pondered. "That's actually not a bad idea. Look after Sokka while I'm gone."

"Mmhm." Toph affirmed, resting a foot onto the ground to keep a constant monitor on Sokka's condition.

Katara found Aang by the resevoir, the water of which was unpleasantly murky. The shore, however, was light and earthy, soft under her footsteps. Apparently, the fruits of Aang's labour. The avatar in question was bending a large amount of water over his head, and as she watched a small pile of earth seperated itself, the clean water returning to the lake unsullied. He dumped the earth onto a nearby pile of the stuff.

"Do you want me to help?" She offered, moving to beside him. He jumped in surprise, then relaxed and nodded slightly.

"Thanks." He sounded oddly solemn, and for a few minutes they worked in silence, before he broke it. "This place used to be so beautiful....the water when you looked at it from above looked like emerald in the shallows, and like liquid opal in the deeper bits. Closer up, it was so clear..." he trailed off, and looked up at the lake, apparently shamed by its appearence. "There were those crystal rocks in there- according to the monks, they're something made in the bellies of jewelfish. The lake and rivers were full of them. They could get huge, like, as big as penguins. So some of the crystals were bigger than others. Once the fish's belly was full from the crystal, it'd spit it out, and it'd grow a new one that would be bigger than the last. The jewelfish themselves varied- some of them were red, some blue and some green. But they all looked like gemstones under the sun." he closed his eyes, caught in a vivid memory. "You'd look into the water and you'd see them glinting, like real jewels." He sighed.

"I remember once me and some friends went exploring into the forest further than we were supposed to. And you know, we found a pack of sagewolves?"

"Sagewolves?" Katara gasped, eyes widening. Apparently, even hundreds of years ago, they'd been rare. they had beautiful coats, and there was some stupid lores about how you could get their powers by doing this or that with their corpses.

"Yeah." Aang smiled sightly.

Sagewolves were said to be spirit creatures. Like the old spirits could give themselves mortal form, that which most suited them, normal spirits were said to take the shape of a sagewolf, and be reborn into that body upon crossing over. A firebender might be a wolf with a ruby coat, who could run into an open flame and not get harmed. Same applied for those with a nature similar to a firebender.

"I've always wondered how sagewolves could live together, with all of their different traits and personalities. But after playing with that pack, I understood. I flew with one wolf, and Kuzon made flames for another to jump through. Miru went swimming with another, and Bumi had earthquake contests with another one. Me, Kuzon, Bumi and Miru were different, but we got along. Just like those wolves. Just like our group today."

"That's amazing. I wish I could have seen it." Katara spoke softly, imagining the beasts.

"Mm." Aang murmured, sloshing a large globule of water into the lake.

"Oh yeah, we're supposed to be cleaning." Katara smiled uncertainly, seperating a ridiculously huge amount of water on her own. It had to be the size of three Appas. Aang followed suit.

"It's already looking better." he encouraged, then deflated a bit. "I'm not sure that the fish will ever come back, though."

"There's none at the moment?" Katara inquired, suddenly remembering the purpose of her visit.

He thought for a moment. "There might be some trout, but nothing interesting."

"Can I catch it? Toph was complaining about the lack of food."

Aang frowned. "I....suppose. But no more than you need to."

"Of course." Katara promised, then waterbender her way softly into the middle of the lake, 'sitting' on the water and extending her senses through the water. Like Toph could sense vibrations, she could sense what moved in her domain. Yes, there were some fish. She concentrated, and they rose above the surface encased by ice. "I need to get these back and cook them." he gave her a small nod, not breaking his concentration away from lake cleaning. She paused. "Momo found some fruit, if you'd like that when you get back." She suggested helpfully.

"Thanks." Aang responded quietly, obviously a bit depressed. She nodded, and left him to his buisiness.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

I know there was a lot of Katara dn Aang in there, but I felt they needed their moments too.

Chapter 3: Scriptured Delerion

Once upon a time there was a girl

You wouldn't really call typical

Had her own definition of cool

She lived in her own world

-Sharada, Skye Sweetnam

Toph scratched at the ground absentmindedly, blowing a piece of hair away from her nose. It was tickly. She itched her nose, then continued scratching.

"I'm so bored." She complained to the unconscious Sokka, as if he could hear. "Seriously, how long does it take to get some fish. And you!" She pointed at him accusingly. "You left me alone to die of boredom!"

"Nnhn!" Came a muffled sound of denial. Toph froze.

"You're awake?"

"Wouldn't leave Toph 'lone." Sokka pouted, eyes closed but flickering. Toph, naturally, could not see that.

"Well, you sort of did. You went all drunken on us. Do you have any idea how much it sucks to have to start arguments to be entertained?"

Sokka garbled a reply of various sounds of indignation and defensiveness.

"....Whatever." Toph sighed, and reached out to remove the cloth and check his forehead. "You're a bit better, I think. Think. Argh, when the hell is Katara getting back?!"

"When she d'cides." Sokka inputted wisely.

Toph sighed. "I was afraid of that." She growled a little. "I think she's cleaning the lake with Twinkletoes. She was supposed to be getting us dinner." Toph pointed at Momo. "Momo, get some fruit." She held up an apple. "FRUIT." The lemur chattered uncertainly, then she felt him leave the ground. "Well, I hope they clean that water soon. A healthy layer of earth is all very well, but I can barely feel around." I knew I should have been more careful around that muddy patch. "So much damn mud."

"You're fine." Sokka waved her off dizzily, arm teetering unevenly in the air before flopping down again.

"No I'm not." Toph returned irritably. "I'm almost glad I can't see, that way I don't have to fuss about how crap I probably look."

"Been travelling f' days, ev'ryone gets messy." Sokka corrected. "'Sides, you look nice."

Toph blinked. "....Nice?"

"Mmhm." Sokka affirmed. "Pretty."

Toph coloured, glad that Sokka was unable to see it. She prodded around his eye sockets, confirming that they were closed. "Sokka, your eyes are closed. How the hell can you say if I'm pretty or not if you can't even see me?!"

"'cause you're always pretty." Sokka explained, then cracked an eye open, inspecting her face happily. "See, pretty?"

The curious shade of pink on her cheeks deepened. "You have a fever. You're delerious. You don't mean that." Toph wondered who she was trying to convince.

Sokka seemed oddly annoyed at that, and made a negative sound. "You're pretty- bl'dy beauf'l ish'oo ashk me." The warrior's speech deteriorated at an alarming rate. "Ee lushaaa!"

By no means did she understand most of that, not at all. But she caught the first two words, and what she assumed was most likely 'bloody beautiful'. Her blush, being the annoyingly persistent thing that it was, made itself more apparent, and she attempted to reign it under control. "Sure, whatever you say. Think what you want."

"I not think." Sokka grumbled moodily. "I know."

Dear spirits, why was Sokka so determined to compliment her while feverish?

It was then that Toph felt- finally- the footsteps of the idiot's sister. "Oi, Sugar Queen!" She called.

"Yeah?" Katara replied loudly, making sure her voice crossed the distance.

"Snoozles is delerious." She informed nonchalantly. Katara paused, blinked, then made her way over a little quicker.

"What makes you say that?" She asked, then saw her brother. "Oh, you're awake."

"I just know." Toph said stubbornly, turning away sightly.

"You have to have a reason." Katara pointed out.

"'m not delerious." Sokka growled grumpily. "Accept it woman!"

"No, I will not!" Toph near snarled.

"Why?!" Sokka asked suspiciously.

"Because you don't bloody mean it! Now go to sleep!"

"Fine." The ill warrior promptly fell backwards and began snoring.

"What was that all about?" Katara frowned.

"Absolutely nothing." Toph's face was trained in apathy.

"Suure." The waterbender drawled sceptically, then brandished her fish. "Make a fire pit, would you? I'll go get some firewood."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Argh, what the hell happened?" Sokka groaned, sitting up and rubbing his head. He looked around. "The fuck? How the hell did we get to the southern air temple?!"

"Shut up Snoozles." Toph grumbled from next to him. "Hang on a second...." She flicked the ground, and the next minute Katara and Aang had a rock elevating from the ground into their heads. A very effective method of wakeup.

"Hey!" Katara yelped indignantly. "What's the- oh, Sokka, you're awake!"

Aang groaned, and sat up, swaying a litte before falling backwards.

"Yes, I'm awake." The warrior frowned. "When exactly did I go to sleep? And when did we get to the air temple?"

"Yesterday." Aang supplied helpfully, groaning.

"You honestly don't remember?" Toph interrogated disbelievingly.

"Nope." His brow was still furrowed.

"Well, what's the last you remembered?" Katara set a beginning point, and quite an appropriate one.

"Uhh." He scratched his partially shaved head. "I woke up and I felt like shit. Then Aang was going on about dreamy stuff.....hang on, that actually happened?"

"Yep." Aang confirmed. "Sure did." The airbender abandoned helping out in favor of collapsing into his pillow with a giant 'oof!'.

"Joy." Sokka deadpanned. "Something else to make my life complicated."

"Cheer up, it can't get worse than Aang's life." Toph encouraged.

"Gee, thanks." Aang grimaced from his bed.

"You're welcome." The earthbender dismissed cheerfully. "Now, wasn't there a very large book you were telling us about?"

"Yeah, I went and got it last night, after I finished cleaning the lake." Aang mournfully parted from his covers and reached into a small dome of earth that presumably shielded the contents from the wild outdoors. He extracted a very large, very tattered, very yellowed book.

"You finished cleaning the lake?!" Katara spluttered. "Aang, that lake probably covers half the mountain!"

"It's a quarter, actually." Aang corrected automatically, then caught their expressions. "What?"

"I'm surrounded by insomniacs." Toph complained, sighing and burying her face in one hand.

"What?" katara broke her attention away from Aang, startled.

"Nothing, 'sister' dear." Toph waved her off, mildly mockingly. "Now, Twinkletoes, read that book, will you?"

"Sure." Aang sighed, and flipped the gargantuan tome open. "Right, so I told you this part. And that. Hmm. Right, this part might be good to know." He cleared his throat. "Far into the world's history, the sixty-eighth avatar attempted to learn dreambending from our scattered peoples. While he succeeded in mastering the basics, as soon as the actual manipulation was tried it all exploded into chaos. As it is known to us, dreams come from a place beyond reality. While the inspiration for dreams may come from us, this is because of the sole fact that everyone is a dreambender to some extent. We have thoughts, however far or deep, and those thoughts need a release. Thus our subconscious calls forth dreams."

Sokka listened attentively. It didn't feel like he was learning something new, but remembering details he'd forgotten.

"But that is the extent of what normal people can manage. The avatar, as it was recorded, is capable of manipulating how those dreams appear, but he could not read the dream of another nor sense that they'd even had one. A Dreambender must have instinct. It is something he is born with, and must develop with, and it will be with him for as long as he lives. As surely as the everyday bender knows his art, so surely does the Dreambender know his instinct. It pays to rely on the intellect of one, as they are known to have flashes of inspiration that would never usually occur to people."

"Well, now we know why you're the idea guy." Toph remarked.

"A Dreambender can do many things. He can steal the dreams of others, and with it choose to read it there of place it within his own mind to dream. It is crucial to know that once in grasp of a dream, it cannot be destroyed. it must be dreamed away by either the bender or whom it originated from."

"Dreamreading has many stages of accuracy and difficulty. The simplest stage is looking at someone, and knowing innately that they have recently emerged from or are having a dream. This is the instinct that only our race may have. Then, if he concentrates on why he can tell that the other is dreaming, he may be able to see an aura like a heat wave around them. With enough practice, this will become coloured when focused on, pleasant dreams being a blue while nightmares would be red. Usually, it takes a while for this ability to develop, but in some cases, it can go faster."

"For instance, it is not uncommon for a Dreambender to accidentally perform an extremely advanced form while young: bringing a minor aspect of a dream to life. This will not have been pleasant at all for the bender, as the ability is meant to be developed slowly, as to steadily enlarge the connection to the cosmic universe. Those who dreambend before they are ready are effectively forcing open that connection, severely 'wounding' it in the process. As a result the Dreambender will go through illness likely the worst in his life."

"That was when you were twelve!" Katara exclaimed suddenly. "You got so ill, no one knew why. They thought you were going to die. They told me you were."

"Yeah." Sokka whispered. Toph had an odd look on her face, some odd mix between a pained grimace and horror. As the Airbender continued, it very slowly lessened.

"The bender may experience these symptoms: severe migraines, high fevers, vomiting, dazedness, disoriention, extreme pain, hypersensitivity to sound, and death."

"Well, all but the last." Sokka remarked.

"Occasionally in the recovery process, the psychological influence on the bender's mind will be similar to drunkeness. He may say or do things he may not usually have said/done, but like with alcohol, he will probably have wanted to do/say them anyway."

For the life of them, no one could figure out why Toph chose that sentence to gather colour in her cheeks.

"It is likely that if the bender lives through the experience, parts of his mind may have had to completely regenerate, so there may be some (temporary) loss of memory, the five senses, and various other things. Such a bender is known as a Rushdreamer. The Rushdreamer, while he can progress through Dreambending complexity at an astonishingly faster rate, is at a severe disadvantage."

"Oh, joy." Sokka groaned.

"Because the connection was damaged so severely, it will have been 'healed' in an extremely rushed manner. As soon as the connection is repaired, it does not reinforce the damaged areas, leaving the link prone to tear under too much stress. While normally, any bender may call upon his power for as long as his stamina and supplies endure, the Rushdreamer after a certain point must discontinue his bending. If he persists, he will have a relapse with an ninety-six percent chance of fatality. While nearing the danger point, he will have a headache that slowly worsens to unbearable levels. It is advised that Rushdreamers never allow their headache to extend to how bad it was during their post-bending illness, for the safety of their lives."

"Well, that sucks." The warrior pouted a little. Katara snickered- he looked ridiculous while pouting.

"The move from simple to advanced arts of Dreambending is not smooth, it has broad gaps which can be quite difficult to cross. It takes extreme willpower on the bender's part plus resolve and reason. The regular Dreambender would ease into his abilities through means of meditation while under the influence of a scent produced by burning windblossoms. These are extremely rare, so if there is a lack of them it may be nescessary to become a Rushdreamer. Once reaching the point where he can establish the Connection for an hour (for details of the meditation and escalation to this point, turn to page 12) the bender may advance to the next stage, the minor form of Dreamreading which involves the interpretation of dream auras."

"It is essential that he does not move on from this stage until he can call upon his aura-sight at will. Meaning he can choose whether or not to see the colours, and the colours are clearly defined. They should look like auroras, but ranging from red to blue. It will be glowing, so some shades may be lighter than other. But the colour will always be clear. After reaching this stage, it is acceptable to move to true Dreamreading- the art of 'watching' the dream and seeing what it contains. This includes the ability to look back on previous dreams that the bender would not, under other circumstances, remember. The ability to call back the dream of another is considerably more difficult, and should not be attempted on someone with whom the bender does not share mutual trust or friendship."

"Above this level is grasping a dream. When this is the dream of another, it must be after rediscovering that person's dreams, as a result much of Dreambending is made impossible by the requirement of emotional attatchment, or at least trust. Once the dream is in the bender's grasp, as mentioned earlier, it must either be returned to its owner, or something else must be done with it. The dream could be modified (an extremely high-level technique, not advised at all for beginners), given to another (quite advanced, but not so much so), replicated (requires much concentration), and various other options."

"After these comes the most difficult. Verifying- bringing a dream to reality. For further details, look past the overview and consult the chapters pertaining to the level you wish to study." Aang took a breath. "After that there's a list of chapters. Can you read the chapter on Verifying? I'm a bit out of breath." He handed the book to Sokka, not really giving him a choice. The warrior shrugged, then flipped to the page requested.

"There are several rules to Verifying." Sokka read, sounding remarkably less clear than Aang had. "Not really rules, more like principles. But rules nonetheless. Verifying requires extreme willpower, for one thing. It is also quite strenuous, and must have high levels of concentration placed into the effort. It is reccomended that hopeful benders try it under influence of the Twilight Phenomenon. It is also much more difficult to Verify old dreams- it is immeasurably easier to do it to recent dreams. If the dream is in progress, then it could almost be easy."

"It is guaranteed that Verifying will have side effects on the bender. If he is a Rushdreamer, then too bold a project might get him killed. All dreambenders, including those who are not Rushdreamers, are cautioned to never attempt Verifying a dream more than four years old. The strain can have very damaging effects, and on a Rushdreamer is almost certainly a promise of death. It must be remembered that no matter how strong the connection with the cosmic universe, Verifying WILL return to cause pain. Usually 2-5 hours after the actual bending, the bender will undergo symptoms similar to the sickness a Rushdreamer experiences, but on a MUCH milder scale. More likely is that the bender will be tired, sore, and with a very bad headache for the next day or so. Depending on the project, these symptoms can be significantly worse."

"A key rule is that while Verifying warps reality, it cannot control it. Thus dreams CANNOT be verified if they involve something that goes against the free will of any who may be manipulated. For instance, if a bender attempted to Verify a nightmare in which his best friend tried to kill him, it would not happen unless the best friend desired in some way to do so. These 'desires' are extremely deep- deeper than the conscious mind, more on the level which connects to dreams. The best friend may not be aware that he wants to kill his companion, even if he does. Attempting to distort this pliable analogy of 'free will' can have a few consequences: extreme damage to the connection, Rushdreamer illness, and a few cases too rare to be noted."

"This definition of free will is a very fickle thing. For instance, if a Dreambender Verified his hand to be capable of destroying enemies with one blow, it is possible. Even though the enemies in question would presumably not want to die, and thus death against their wills, since they were not a part of the Verified dream they could still be felled by the dream-enhanced hand." Sokka sighed. "Right, I'm tired of this. My throat's getting sore."

"Well," Toph commented. "That was interesting."

"I'll say." Katara agreed.

"I'm still recovering from how much I had to read." Aang whimpered.

"Shut up, wuss." Toph smirked. "Don't airbenders have good lungs?"

xxxxxx

Shortly after discovering his book and abnormal insterest in it, Sokka relocated to one of the rocks overlooking the lake. He had to admit, it was impressive that Aang had cleaned it all virtually alone. The water was clear, beautifully clear, but disconcertingly empty. The various small waterfalls cascaded into the resevoir (presumably, it'd been a lake before and then enlarged by someone) from the river above. The scenery held many rocks, much like the mountain they'd been on before. They were huge, mostly giant chunks which had been worn away by the river. Battered chunks were littered in the water, providing a seat for anyone who wished to lounge amidst the torrents, probably having gotten there from the surrounding rock collapsing or something. Occasionally great peaks of rock would reach to the sky like jagged teeth, desolate and proud. Others were broad, smooth, and spanning. Sokka chose one of those.

He climbed up through the smaller rocks, slinking around them with practiced ease. One tended to get efficient when travelling the world. He climbed to the warming stone, settling upon it after disting it away a bit. Then he laid back and withdrew his book, preparing to read up on the details of Dreamreading.

There, on the windy stone outlined against the sky, Sokka found a peace in him that was unfamiliar of the daylight hours. The mountain was so quiet, so lonely. He was one person in a wilderness, just one little thread in the knot of the world. It was breezy, natural for it being so high up, and the river flowed contentedly four or five feet below. Eather than a structure encroaching the wilderness, the temple was a part of the scenery. It seemed as natural as the spanning stone.

Like in the dark, Sokka's time passed quickly and calmly, and obviously he'd lost track of that time because Toph came to find him.

There he was, just reading his book and being peaceful, then...

CRASH.

The rock he was upon rumbled, just for a second, then Toph burst out of it next to him in a flurry of dust and pebbles.

"Holy crudscones!" Soka yelped, jumping away in alarm, precious book retrieved to the safeness of underneath his arm.

"Katara sent me to tell you that it's lunch time, and after lunch you need to help her go fishing." She informed smugly, obviously amused by his comical reaction.

Sokka grumbled. "Pfft. And it was absolutely nescessary to arrive in such a...." He struggled for the word. "...crude way?"

She grinned, sending the uncomfortably familiar tingle of affection through him. "Yep!"

He rolled his eyes, then rose to his feet, radiating his deadpan expression into his pulse, however that was possible. The earthbender snickered, then dove into the rock and was gone.

Chapter 4: The Colour of Dreams

"Ooh." Sokka remarked appreciatively, not particularly caring that Katara and Aang were still asleep. It was late, they should be up anyway! Well....late for him and Toph, at least. It was past dawn!

"Duh wha?" Toph queried absent mindedly next to him, staring into nothing with a curiously far away expression on her face.

"Apparently, memories are alike dreams in cosmic structure, so it's possible to manipulate them to some extent. Like, recall them in perfect detail, read the memories of others, that sort of thing." he read on. "But they're still different, so you can't change them or modify them or create fake ones, for instance. Probably a good thing too. Who knows how many mindless pawns could have been created if they were given fake memories?"

"That would be a problem." Toph agreed, frowning a little. "Why are you even reading about....memorybending? Have you finished learning to dreamread yet?"

"Hell no." Sokka disagreed, not really paying much attention. He seemed fixated on Aang. "I'm getting there, though. Aang's having a dream..." he squinted. "It seems to be a neutral type....hang on, definitely. Whoa!" He flinched away and fell backwards.

"What?" Toph was immediately alert.

"It just got so friggen clear!" Sokka exclaimed, sitting up again and focusing. "Whoa colour. Yep, that's a neutral." Sokka waved his hand about in an odd mockery of the enticing gesture one might make to a domestic animal they wished to call over. An extremely odd expression came over his face then, akin to a variation of a grimace. "Blubber, but that feels weird. Book was right, again! Hang on Toph, I'll be gone for a while." naturally, at those words, Toph expected him to get up and walk away. Instead, he crossed his legs and positioned his hands into a cross shape, representing how he wished to confront his target. The girl 'stared' quizically, then decided to wait. there were odd fluctuations in Sokka's pulse, not something she'd ever felt before in any pulse. it was as if his pulse had split into two and they were going in opposite directions, synchronised perfectly and very consistent in their patterns.

Sokka started roughly five minutes later, shaking his head to clear it and blinking a few times. "Well, it worked at least." He commented. "Why Aang was dreaming about Momo throwing a red fish into the lake I'll never know."

"He's dreaming about Momo throwing a red fish into the lake." Toph deadpanned.

"Yep." Sokka nodded, squinting again at Aang. "Right, now I should be able to do this without the meditations, since I'm attuned to his astral signature.....yep! Now that fish has....become a red version of the koi in the spirit oasis? The hell? Now it's a blue fish, not a red one. Right. And it just turned into a goat. Aang's dreams don't make sense, I'm giving up." Sokka broke from his dreamreading, and focused on Toph. He 'hmm'ed thoughtfully.

"Why are you staring at me?" Toph asked strangely.

"I'm checking whether you had a dream or not." Sokka explained, continuing to focus on her and refusing access to the part of him that wanted to stare for the purpose of staring. And admiring. And ogling. But yes, he refused that part entry, so it was hardly relevant. "It's faint....but..." Sokka hunched his neck, inspecting Toph at a closeness he probably hadn't realized he was inspecting at. Toph, however, most certainly had realized and it was getting to be rather flustering to have his own face five inches away from hers. "Right, you had a dream, and it was....a bit lower than neutral, judging by the colour. Right, permission to go meditating and read your dream?"

Toph thought to what her dream was about. It was quite personal, but nothing, she absolutely needed to keep him from... besides, he was her best friend. Reluctantly, she nodded with a sigh. "Sure. Just don't blab it everywhere." My dreams are cryptic enough that he won't have a clue what's on with them. Shouldn't be trouble....right?

"Thanks." Sokka moved to concentrate, then stopped and quirked an eyebrow. "Hang the hell on? Apparently I already know your astral signature...." He frowned, hummed, then pulled his tome from nowhere, flipping to a page instinctively. "This merits research." he scanned busily for a few seconds, coloured a little, then snapped the book shut. "Ah. Right then. Let's get on with this, shall we?"

Toph, while she'd naturally not seen his slight flush, she'd felt the erratic jump in his heart rate. "No." She denied. "First you're going to tell me what you just read."

Sokka scratched the back of his head sheepishly, looking a little uncomfortable. But Toph couldn't see that, though her sensory abilities were adequate enough. "Basically, before you read someone's dream you need to connect to their dream plane, the part of their mind where dreams and memories are stored. Everyone's dream plane has a signature that sets it apart from someone else's, so you need to read their astral signature before you can read their dream. Consider it like an entrance password. You only have to read their signature once, because you never ever forget a signature. It stays with you even if you don't want it to. After you know the signature you can basically just hijack their dreams at any time you want." He reddened a little. "But sometimes there's an exception, where you don't need to find their signature, because you understand and trust them enough that you already know it. Like instinct. It doesn't work without the bonds."

Toph could get why he'd been embarassed about speaking that, but she was still glad he said it. It affirmed her worth as a friend, that he trusted her and knew her, and didn't just have some false image of her. It made her feel warm. She smiled a little, faintly. "Thanks, Sokka. That's really.... nice, I guess."

Sokka averted his eyes to her sharply, the tone and words supremely out of character for her, or so he knew. She wasn't mocking him. Huh. "Eh, you're welcome. Right, so, don't move about and stuff, I'm not that good at this yet." Sokka sat on his knees and stared at her. Then his pulse adopted that strange double pattern again, and she felt an odd tingling sensation in her head, like a mild tickle or itch, but not enough to be irritating.

she was in darkness. There was nothing to see, no eyes to see with, no sight at all. Just an empty abyss where she knew the sense should be. Instead, there was a flurry of all else. The sounds were more acute, more defined that what the ears of others heard, able to pick up on what others trusted their eyes to find. she was sensitive to every whisper of wind, every leaf rustle around him. Her senses were overloaded with phantom images, indescribable little nags of feeling - stone next to him, little feather on the ground. In a brief, amazing instant, Sokka understood that this was Toph's vibration locating. It was incredible.

There were elements of memories tied into this dream- the time she'd metalbended, the feel of the 'space earth' as she shaped it. With it Toph's imagination had conjured stars that hung suspended in the sky, away from the earth but open to vibrations anyway. They were cold. Cold and lifeless. But they painted an image in her mind regardless, one that moved her.

She looked up to those looming specs of freedom, doubtless glittering with the mysterious light she'd heart so much about. She was there, she was everywhere. her voice fell with the rockslides and tumbled with the dust, echoing in all places and nowhere.

"There is pain, and there is pain, but another pain that makes the others pale in comparison. That those two other pains would be paid in centuries to prevent the third." It was her voice, though with a spiritual echoing quality that was mildly unsettling. She sounded solemn, really. With a curl of bitterness, Toph felt the obscure meaning in her own words wash over her and cause her one of those lesser pains. Those she was willing to pay forever.

Sokka himself, watching the dream, was unsettled. The book had told him that he'd feel the emotions as his own, and think the thoughts and so on. It was easy to understand, easy to experience, but unmeasurably disconcerting to feel the thrum of an emotion that belonged to another person. Emotion took different paths in every person, the same feeling would be unique to everyone. The oddest thing about experiencing the emotions of other people was the difference from how he felt them.

Of course, there was also the matter of exactly what emotions this dream contained. He had a sense of soft, quiet sadness, swept to one side so as to not confront it. Faint twinges of an odd despair, mixed with a soft and warm feeling that was familiar but he couldn't quite place.

Why was Toph so sad?

Sokka experienced the dream, replayed it, then with confusion extracted himself from Toph's dreams, sensing row upon row of dreams behind, those of the past.

He fell back from his stiffened stance, and flopped tiredly on his sleeping bag. He'd never watched a dream for so long a time before- it was rather tiring. Then he turned his head wearily to look at Toph, who seemed suspiciously expressionless.

"'There is pain, and there is pain, but another pain that makes the others pale in comparison. That those two other pains would be paid in centuries to prevent the third.'" Sokka quoted, watched her twitch a little at the astral words. "And you say I get mystical at night. You could match me, I'd say. What does it mean?"

Toph seemed to relax, just a tiny bit, and she reddened a little. "Just my mind getting creative." She muttered, shielding her eyes with her folds of hair.

"Yes, but surely it has a less obscure meaning?" Sokka pressed. It only made sense.

The earthbender sighed irritably. "It basically means that there are tons of types of pain, but there's one type bad enough that I'd experience the others for centuries as long as the worst one didn't happen."

Sokka 'hmm'ed thoughtfully, it did fit quite well... "And what type of pain would that horrrid type be?"

As he was watching her quite closely, he did not miss how her cheeks promptly gained colour, embarassed. She looked away quickly. "The pain of someone close to me. That's the worst thing." She sighed slightly, remarkably melancholy for the girl she was. Then she stamped a foot, in response Katara and Aang were sent flying into the air. "Oi! Sugar Queen, Twinkletoes, wake the hell up!"

Sokka chuckled, and the saddened atmosphere evaporated instantly.

As soon as Katara hit ground, she began her tirade. "Ow! What was that for?"

"I felt like it." She said casually, turning her attention to her toes. "'sides, you needed to get up anyway."

Katara fumed. Sokka inspected.

"Well, you had a good dream." The dreambender remarked, looking at her dream aura. "What a bright blue!"

Katara turned to face him, gaping, and turned bright red. Aang, meanwhile, was rubbing his sore head and looking between Sokka and Katara questioningly. Utterly without warning, Sokka sat down and crossed his legs, and projected himself into his sister's dream-echo in seconds.

He removed himself promptly afterwards, turning an interesting shade of purple. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DREAMING?" He roared in disbelief.

"Eep." Aang voiced timidly, stepping away and hiding behind Toph, who happily fired a rock at his ankle.

"Um- uh, well, you see-" Katara stuttered, wide eyed.

"NO, NO! I WILL NOT HAVE MY SISTER DREAMING THAT!"

"Don't tell anyone!" Katara pleaded, very much aware that she was the vulnerable one here, since it wasn't the full moon and she couldn't bloodbend....

"Of couse not!" Sokka harrumphed, folding his arms over his chest moodily. "That way it's less likely to happen."

"Sokka!" Katara scolded.

"What? You were the one that dreamed it!" He retorted, then turned away. "I need breakfast. Toph, help me go hunt something. I'll never find anything without your vibration thingy."

"Yes, oh glorious leader." Toph droned sarcastically, following him with a familiar expression of sardonic deadpan. As soon as they were out of listening range, she spoke. "Ugh, seriously. Could anyone be more oblivious?"

"I could think of someone." Sokka replied absentmindedly, realizing what he'd said a little too late.

"Oh really?" Toph asked, interested. "Who?"

"Ummm...." Sokka's eyes darted around nervously. "Zuko and Mai?"

Toph rolled her eyes. "That was the most pathetic lie I've ever heard. Try again."

"It doesn't really matter." Sokka dismissed. "We need food."

"Sure it doesn't." Toph drawled. "And I suppose your pulse didn't just skyrocket as well."

"Well, ever thought that maybe I don't want to say?" Sokka shot, perhaps a little harshly. Toph seemed taken aback for a moment, then she shrugged, the action strangely heavy.

"Well, I suppose if you don't trust me enough, it's okay." Her shoulders sagged, saying otherwise. Sokka hastened to correct her.

"Toph, I do trust you. Probably more than anyone in the world." His expression loosened, laced with an odd kind of defeat. "But there are some things you just can't tell, no matter how much you trust someone."

Toph was silent for a moment, then spoke. "This is about more than your little remark, isn't it?"

Sokka sighed heavily. "Yeah, you could say that." He agreed somberly. "We'd better find that breakfast. Well, lunch really." He corrected, glancing up at the sky, where the sun was nearly at its highest point.

"mmhm." Toph murmured distractedly. Maybe...

xxxxx

"And then he said that even though he trusts me, there are things you can't tell however much you trust someone!" Toph growled confusedly by the campfire. "I mean, I can understand that, but not why he's been acting so weird!"

"Define 'weird'." Katara said, after a moment's thought.

"Well, just out of the ordinary." Toph thought for a moment. "I mean, while he was ill and stuff he wouldn't stop saying I was pretty, but he was delerious so that doesn't really mean anything." Toph missed Katara's smirk, being blind and all. "Sometimes I'll catch him staring at me and then his pulse goes all funny. He does that a lot. I dunno. Just stuff."

"Well, I've got my theories....but I can't really confirm them." Katara mused.

"Theories?" Toph inquired, interested.

"I think he might be infatuated again."

"....Again?" Toph repeated faintly.

katara nodded. "Yep. And if he's been acting like this for as long as you say..."

"He changed behavior around three months after I joined the group." Toph interrupted.

"Whoo, that's even longer." Katara whistled, impressed. "Almost two years. So yeah, I'd say he's got the real deal, not one of his stupid little crushes."

"Hmm...." Toph seemed oddly troubled. Katara blinked, noticing the difference in her friend.

"And what's got you so moody just.....by....learning......that." Katara trailed off as a particularly familiar type of hybrid emotion (sorrow and anger) flashed across Toph's face. "Holy crap! You're jealous!" She exclaimed, peering at the younger girl's face just to make sure. She is!

"No I am not!" Toph snapped, features pulled in a minor snarl.

"Sure you're not, and that's why you're snapping defensively instead of just shooting me a sarcastic jibe." Katara countered.

The earthbender growled angrily, and tensed as if preparing to attack, then proverbially 'gave up', slumping and relaxing her stature and face into a rueful sadness. "Sure, whatever. Think what you want."

Mildly disturbed by her quick concession, Katara pressed on, perhaps a little more insistently than she normally would have. "But I'm right, aren't I? You're jealous - jealous of whoever it is Sokka might have feelings for."

Toph's only reply was a low warning growl. Frustrated, Katara voiced her thoughts.

"Oh come on! Is it that hard to admit?"

"You're the one who can't even admit that you like Twinkletoes!" She shot back, supremely agitated all of a sudden. katara flushed.

"That's entirely different." She defended.

"Oh really? How?" Toph drawled sarcastically, eyebrow twitching in an odd symbol of the mood she was in.

"Mine's the Avatar! He's got all his worldly spirit problems to deal with!"

"And mine's the only Dreambender in crap knows how long!" Toph snarled, eyes snapping open a little further when she realized what she'd just said.

.....shit.

"Ha!" Katara crowed. "You admit it!"

With a half growl, half snarl of frustration, Toph thrust her hand to the ground, creating a small tremor. "Won't you just leave me alone?! I'm not in the mood for this!" Sensing her distress, Katara regained her sisterly composure and settled next to the younger girl gently.

"I'm sorry." She apologized. "But, well...you should be able to tell someone. I mean, I know you normally go to Sokka to talk about things and that isn't really an option in this case..." Toph snorted. "Well, perhaps that was a bit of an understatement." Katara admitted sheepishly. "But I can admit....I like Aang." That bit sounded a little forced, really. "So why can't you admit that you like Sokka?" It was so weird to be talking about her brother with another girl while helping with romance issues of all things!

Toph huffed, the sound more like a sigh than anything else. She drew a hand up in a distinctly un-Tophlike gesture and rubbed her temples, attempting to ease away a brewing headache. the action did nothing for the irritated frown lined on her face. "I don't like your brother, Katara." The waterbender was about to argue indignantly, but stopped when Toph halted her with the corresponding handsign, universal to even the blind. Toph sighed again, then chuckled almost bitterly.

She raised her head, looking anywhere but at Katara, her eyes shrouded with a feathersoft sadness. "No, I don't like Sokka." The small, bitter bubble of laughter sounded again, and she gave a little, almost mocking smile. "I love him."

Katara was silent for a few moments, speechless from the oddly soft display of emotion from the hardy girl. She supposed everyone had a weak point. "I should have known." She remarked, voice carefully light and neutral. "You never do things half way."

Toph chuckled herself, the sound a little lighter. "Yeah. That's me."

"If it's any comfort, my suspicions about Sokka's love interest involve you, primarily."

Toph blinked, evidently startled. She gathered her control quickly, quirking her features down a little in an unpleasant frown. "You're just saying that."

"But I'm not, Toph. You're the lie detector, you should be able to tell."

Toph was silent for a small while. Her expression didn't change. "Just suspicions, right?" She asked softly, features relaxing tiredly. "Nothing concrete, like with me...could be someone else."

"Well, that's true." Katara admitted reluctantly. She paused for a moment. "You're afraid of that, aren't you? You're afraid to admit that it might be you he likes in case you're wrong. You don't want to get your hopes up."

Toph shifted a little, seeming uncomfortable. "Well, aren't you the little detective?" She bit out irritably, then she let out a gusty sigh loaded with all her frustrations and sorrows.

"Yeah, Sugar Queen. I'm afraid."

xxxxx

This story is a resubmission of Darktayle's story. Any replicas found elsewhere have been stolen. This has been posted with full approval from Darktayle, who wished to clear her profile while still allowing readers access to her previous works. This story will not be updated--again, if it is found elsewhere and has been updated, then it is a stolen idea and a stolen story.

Thank you.