"Just a few more minutes and we can land,' Aang's voice sounded from in front of her, where he sat on Appa's head.

"Finally," she muttered.

Toph Bei Fong had been in more traps than she cared to count in her fifteen years of life.

Since birth, she had been caged in darkness, cut off from this sense of 'sight' everyone else depended on. It was meant to hinder her, to keep her from ever moving on her own, to make her weak and dependent. But she didn't want that. So she just pushed through the darkness with her bare, callused feet and started walking.

Then her parents had caged her in her own house, a box of riches and finery and priceless artwork that felt just the same as any other paper. They had shackled her to them with claims of protection and their distant, condescending affection.

They were just the first of many fools to learn the hard way that you couldn't throw the Blind Bandit in a cage and not expect her to bust right out of it.

It was also a lesson—and she remembered the thrill of the very first time she bent metal, the elation of realizing that yes, she really was the greatest earthbender in the world—her parents had had to learn twice.

She had almost let herself be caged in by her own feelings as well. Jealousy and disappointment weren't solid things she could punch. Unfortunately, Suki was, and her resentment of the Kyoshi Warrior almost ruined everything between them—their little group, their family.

But Toph would never let anything come between them, no way in hell. Even if that thing was herself.

So she crushed her stupid crush, and let Sokka go.

And now, even three years after the war had ended, three years since she had proven her strength time and time again to the world, people still hadn't gotten the message that you couldn't trap Toph.

The Earth Kingdom village she and Aang were headed to had claimed to want an audience with the Avatar, who was a close personal friend of Fire Lord Zuko and his wife, Lady Katara.

They both knew it was a trap—everyone knew that this particular town housed the last vestiges of the Dai Li.

But no trap they sprang could keep her down. No obstacle they threw in her path could stop her for long. No cage they had that she couldn't smash her way out of.

No cage in the world that could hold her.

Except one.

And it wasn't even a cage, really.

It was a person. A boy and his promise, his offer of escape.

Of freedom.

And she had taken it, had stepped into the saddle and into the air, her independence as exhilarating as the wind that whipped around her.

And she hadn't seen it as a cage at first—she had only gone with Aang because it was the best way to break free from her parents. She hadn't realized until much later, that she was now trapped within a circle of family and friends and adventure and warmth until she was completely surrounded by it. By the time she discovered that there was such a thing as a cage she couldn't break out of, she was already caught in it.

And the most terrifying thing?

She didn't want to.

Appa suddenly bucked and with an uncomfortable lurch, she felt him settle on the ground. Eagerly, she hopped off, and sunk her toes into the sweet, familiar coolness of the earth. Aang, feather-light as always, touched down beside her.

"Ready for this?" He asked casually.

There was no obstacle she couldn't overcome. There was no opponent she couldn't beat. There was no cage she couldn't tear her way out of.

But there was no cage around her now. Just the boy that offered his silent promise to always stand by her, to always be there for her but never keep her back—just like the air.

She smiled and cracked her knuckles.

"Let's knock some heads together."