Today, I shall be a rebel and forego the disclaimer. Because I'm awesome like that.

Part III of Witness to Adventure. Enjoy. Or not. It's your choice really.

The sentry raised his damp sleeve to wipe away the already-new beads of sweat appearing on his forehead as the midday sun beat harshly upon his conical helmet and the expansive land of sand and dirt which he was dutifully watching from his position on the outer wall. Everywhere except the roads to his far right was completely barren, as always, save a single distant poof of sand, the tell-tale sign of a crew of Sandbenders and its glider that he had seen hundreds of times before. The watchman, idly observing the only disruption in his entire field of vision, thought something was slightly off about it but couldn't decide what. After watching it for a few minutes (there was little else to do alone on a 100 meter tall wall) he realized what was bothering him about the quickly moving dust cloud- it was heading towards him.

Normally, the benders would only travel through the desert, never approaching the Impenetrable City. There had been very few arguments between the two, but the Sandbenders nonetheless were a prideful group, determined not to get assistance from the city that had denied it to them during the war.

The man watched as the distance between him and the benders shortened until, to his surprise, he saw that there was no glider supporting the crew- nor was there a crew for that manner; all he could discern was a single person running – running? At that speed? Impossible! I'm seeing things, right?- straight towards the wall. He jumped over and grabbed the side of the wall, his Earthbending aiding him in slowing his descent. The curious guard waited for it to slow down so he could approach and discover what was truly going on. As it neared, he realized that the runner, donning Earthkingdom clothing he noticed, was actually standing atop two mound of earth connected near their peaks and were nearly triple his height. And it was approaching the wall at a reckless speed. Yelling loudly to indicate the necessity that this person slow down –What are they? Blind? Can't they see the wall?-, he received no response. Needless to say, he was shocked when he noticed that the runner was not only not slowing down, but was in fact speeding up.

Fearing he was about to be crushed by a moving hill, he stomped his foot down and forcefully lifted his arms inwards and upwards in front of his face, raising a half-cone of earth to protect him. He waited for the sound of contact but only heard a whooshing sound above him. Looking up, he barely had enough time to see a flying raven-haired girl quickly sink into the wall head-first as if it were a waterfall rather than solid rock. Doubting what he was actually witnessing, he simply stared agape as bare feet followed where the rest of the body had been moments before, swiftly disappearing behind rock, leaving no trace of its fleeting existence.

After several dumbstruck moments, the sentry Earthbended away the wall where the mysterious being had just deftly soared into. Finding nothing beyond normal rocks and dirt, he came to the conclusion that intense heat and copious amounts of previously drunken cactus juice were not be mixed.

As soon as Toph slipped through the other side of the stone wall, she let out a sigh of exhaustion and smiled her signature Blind Bandit smirk. She had enjoyed the thrill of jumping through solid rock and scaring that man, but using Earthbending to travel the several-hour trip from the docks to the outer ring of the large city had taken quite a toll on the teen. At first, she had enjoyed riding the giant waves of earth- being able to run free once more, yet never lose contact with her element, powerfully looming above all the passersby who had made the mistake of taking a road that she decided to travel upon- but as the beach she had just left continued to recede to the edge of her vision, she had found her favorite method of travel to be a bit more tiresome than she remembered and had resorted back to old-fashioned walking until she had sensed the large city and its many vibrations.

As soon as she made it onto the monorail leading into the Inner Ring, her mind was already set to getting a nice cup of green tea (or ginseng, that was pretty good too) from Iroh. He was one of the few people she had no nickname for- not because she couldn't think of one, but because she had too much respect for the old man. He was more like her uncle than her friend. An uncle who gave really good advice and equally impressive tea.

After letting her mind wander for the duration of the monorail ride, Toph felt the train slow down and stop, finally arriving at the Upper Ring, home of the Jasmine Dragon. She excitedly jumped off the train and felt her surroundings. She knew that the tea shop was near the center of this rich area, not far from the King's Palace. Finding the right direction, the young bender headed off to get her tea.

Sorry if my writing seems a bit, I dunno, disconnected, I guess. Or if it ever feels like my writing is doing more of a setting rant than actually telling a story. Still feel kinda meh about this one. Next one will have Sokka! Hopefully.

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