Hi again! So, this chapter is obviously longer than the first one. This is about the length I'm going to be aiming for when it comes to future updates. Thanks for reading!

"Do you think he learned his lesson?" Toph asked, yawning. They had probably spent about a good two hours in the alley.

"I sure hope so," Penga replied. "But let's take his money just in case…I need new shoes anyway," she giggled.

Toph sighed and bent two pillars of earth up under the leader's armpits, which lifted him into a standing position.

"Now, Ling, did you learn your lesson?" she asked him.

His chin was resting on his chest, and he was breathing heavily.

"Yes…" he wheezed.

"And what lesson was that?" Toph prodded, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Don't…take advantage…of people…" his shaky voice said.

"And?"

"Do not…mess with…a lady."

Toph smirked again, released Ling from his earthen binds, and turned towards Penga.

"Well, I think that about does it. He learned his lesson, and justice is served yet again."

Penga smiled. "Sifu Toph, have I ever told you you're a genius?"

"You could stand to tell me more often," Toph responded, walking away from the beat up man and his group of incapacitated friends. There was a puddle of blood underneath each of them, though the largest was under Ling.

"Now let's get home. Being the greatest earthbender in the world can really wear a girl out."

Xx

Sokka hummed to himself absentmindedly as he walked and reviewed his checklist. He had put in a lot of planning for this, and he wanted to make sure he got everything right. He couldn't forget anything.

He invited all of their friends that he could think of…friends they met from their travels years ago during the war, family, and even students from her metalbending academy. Aang and Katara had taken time away from helping to rebuild the South Pole to come to Gaoling for this, and many others were travelling from far distances to come to this party. Fire Lord Zuko was even taking time out of ruling his nation to attend.

This party was going to be the reunion of a lifetime. For many of them, it would be the first time in years since they've seen each other, some since the war itself. Sokka sighed…he wasn't sure how it happened, really. After the war, each of their friends started working independently, doing things that they felt they personally needed to accomplish. Since she had seen the splendor of the North Pole, Katara had been itching to return home to help them rebuild their once great village. She finally was able to take the time to return about a year ago, and she was happy to spend time with Gran Gran and their dad, from what Sokka heard. Aang was still committed to his Avatar-ly duties, travelling around the world on Appa to help different cities and villages with spiritual and even political problems, though he spent most of his time in Republic City with Sokka. He tried to visit the South Pole at least monthly, however, to see his sweetie. Sokka shuddered at the thought of Aang and his sister all lovey dovey and tried to stop thinking about it. Suki was leading her Kyoshi Warriors both at home and in the fire nation; Fire Lord Zuko had hired the warriors as his personal bodyguards after an assassination attempt. Not wanting to leave Kyoshi Island or Zuko unprotected, Suki had decided to train a few more elite women and then split the group between the Island and the Fire Nation. And of course, Toph was training her metalbenders at the Beifong Metalbending Academy. Sometimes it still seemed bizarre to him that he was friends with the Avatar, the Fire Lord, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, and the creator and only instructor of the coolest invention ever, metalbending. Life was funny sometimes.

Sokka's reverie was interrupted when he bumped into a merchant's cart of cabbages. He gave a quick "sorry!" and scurried away before he could face the owner's wrath.

Normally Toph would be at her academy near Yu Dao, which was now a part of the newly created United Republic of Nations, but Sokka was aware that she was in Gaoling to visit her mother. After her parents separated, she reconciled with both her father and her mother individually, and would occasionally visit them both. While he knew that this party was going to be an amazing reunion of their group's closest friends, Sokka was more excited about celebrating Toph's birthday itself. She was always so busy with her nearly 200 students, she barely made time to leave the Academy for anything. She missed Aang and Katara's engagement party, and she only stopped by when they had a city-wide celebration for Republic City's formation. He understood that she had a lot of responsibilities but he missed her. Everyone did. How long had it been since he had seen her? He was pretty sure it was about two years ago!

Sokka refocused on his list: he still had to check in with a couple of food vendors, then his part of the planning was complete! He had organized with Toph's mother, Poppy Beifong, and they had chosen a large outdoor area in the backyard of the Beifong estate to entertain everyone. Ms. Poppy, as Sokka referred to her, was going to consult with Katara about the decorations when she arrived. Sokka had also hired a few musicians, even one who worked with singing groundhogs like the ones that they had seen when they were travelling through the Si Wong desert! Food, music, entertainment…he sighed with pleasure. He just loved when a plan came together.

Xx

Appa let out a loud groan as he descended from the air and landed in a somewhat familiar urban territory.

"I know, buddy, but trust me, no one's gonna hurt you…I won't lose you again," Aang reassured him while patting his large head.

Appa groaned again in return.

"I'm just glad they had room for him at this stable," Katara said, sliding off Appa's saddle. "It's not exactly like many cities have room for someone as big as Appa. Isn't that right, Momo?"

Momo jumped off of the saddle and soared over onto Katara's shoulder, chittering away and most likely hoping for some lychee nuts.

Aang grabbed their couple of bags and put them onto his shoulder with ease. Aang had celebrated his eighteenth birthday earlier that year, and Katara was not complaining…he had been a couple inches taller than her for some time, but now he was more muscular, and had started growing a beard. He definitely was not the twelve-year old boy she had discovered in the ice six years ago anymore, she mused.

Aang paid a deposit to the stable hand, who was more than happy to do business with the Avatar, and they were off to find the Beifong estate. Toph's party was scheduled for tomorrow, and their friends around the world should have started arriving already.

"Let's drop our luggage off, and then maybe we can find a good noodle place," Aang suggested with a smile.

Katara smiled back. "That sounds good. I still need to help Ms. Beifong with the decorations, though, so don't plan on spending the whole day wandering around eating!"

Aang stopped mid-step and slumped his shoulders, pouting at her. Okay, so maybe he was still a little childlike sometimes.

She giggled. "Don't worry, I'll make time for your stomach, too!" She patted his belly and he grinned.

They walked together for some time, enjoying the pleasant weather and each other's company. As they were walking through a somewhat seedy-looking block in the heart of the city, they saw a commotion at the end of a street. There were civilians and uniformed city guards alike crowding around what looked to be the entrance of an alleyway.

Aang and Katara shared a questioning look before walking over to the crowd.

"Um excuse me, does anyone know-"

"There's been a brutal attack!" an old man exclaimed, not waiting for Aang to finish his question. "Five men hurt, one dead!"

"Dead?!"

Aang started pushing his way through the group of people, saying "excuse me" and "sorry!" as he bumped through.

"Who's in charge here?" he asked when he reached a guard.

"That'd be Lieutenant Hano…and who might you be?" the young guard asked, raising his eyebrow.

Katara came up beside Aang, looking slightly disgruntled. "He's the Avatar."

The guard had the decency to look surprised before he called for his boss.

"Well, well," the lieutenant said, walking over to Aang. The lieutenant stood a good foot taller than him. "May I ask why the Avatar himself has graced us with his presence?" he asked with a smirk.

Katara scowled.

Aang coolly responded, "We heard there was an attack and a murder…we came to see if we could be of any help. You know, finding who did this, helping the injured…" he gestured to Katara, "my fiancé is an excellent healer." Katara nodded in agreement.

The lieutenant observed the two for another moment before bowing respectfully to them. They bowed in return.

"Well, thank you Avatar Aang, and…?"

"Master Katara," Aang answered.

"Yes. Thank you. I'm Lieutenant Hano…let's go to the scene," he said, leading them past the rest of the guards.

He allowed them to pass through earthen barriers they had put up to keep the civilians out by bending the earth gates back.

Aang's stomach roiled when he saw the amount of blood in the alley.

"So what we have here looks to be a group on group altercation…" Hano explained, gesturing to the end of the alley. "We have two sets of footprints that appear to have left the back of the alley and past the group of incapacitated men…the two culprits walked straight through their victims' blood without flinching," he said, pointing to a few partial bloody footprints leading out of the alley.

Katara grimaced. Aang looked like he was going to be sick.

"Now, we've called for a medical squad to arrive, but if you wouldn't mind," he looked at Katara, "we have one man who really needs attention right away."

Katara nodded resolutely. "Lead me to him."

They walked past a few groaning men and past a body with a sheet over it (Aang averted his eyes), and Katara could immediately tell who got the worst of the attack.

A tall man lay on the ground, quiet, his breathing shallow, his face a bruised mess. Katara immediately knelt down beside him. She popped off her water skin's lid and bent the water out of it and over her hands. They started to glow a bright blue as she hovered over his body.

"Where do you hurt the most?" she asked softly.

"My…ribs. Hard to breathe," he managed to get out.

Katara instantly sent her hands to his chest and his ribs, sensing internal damage.

"Whoever did this really did a number on you…your lung is punctured, but luckily it hasn't filled up with much blood yet. It's going to take me a little while to set this straight."

The man nodded. She went to work putting the bones back into place and fixing the damage done to his lung.

After a little over half an hour, Katara let out a long breath and pulled away from his sides.

"Your ribs will need time to heal on their own, but I've set them back to how they should be. They're just bruised, so go easy on yourself. How about I start on your face?"

The man nodded again.

"Are you sure you're not overworking yourself?" Aang asked, concern on his face.

"It's fine, Aang, he needs my help!" she snapped, her glowing hands going to his bruised face.

"There's lots of swelling…it feels like they even broke your cheekbone," Katara murmured, shaking her head slightly.

After a few minutes the swelling had gone down and the bruises looked less purple. Katara's hands stopped glowing and she looked at her patient.

"This must have been a really strong man who did this. Was he an earthbender?" she asked.

The man tried to snort in response, but ended up coughing. When he finally calmed himself down, he responded, "Yes and no…it was an earthbender, but not just an earthbender…a metalbender."

Aang and Katara looked at each other. A metalbender?

"And also…I'm kind of embarrassed about this, so please don't pass it on…" he closed his eyes. "It wasn't a man. It was a girl. A short little thing. And top it off…she was blind."