Thanks, papyrus, VividDreamer, Vee! :D

To answer your question, Vee, as to who redeemed who (Who? Whom? Ah, well) the line from "The Headband" I was thinking of was near the beginning where Sokka says, "We're in enemy territory! These are enemy birds." My thought was that by seeing this, going through this, the ordinary people of the Fire Nation were redeemed in Sokka's eyes, not out-and-out warmongers like Zuko, Azula, and Zhao, among others. Sokka got to see how other Fire Nation people had fared in the war, and so...

I guess you could argue, too, that since Sokka went through this experience, he too was redeemed by it since he gained a broader-minded view of his adversaries. So… both, I guess?

For that matter, Vee, congrats on typing all that on your phone in the first place!

And I agree, papyrus. XD I enjoyed writing the spot where Sokka hands over his precious sword to a small boy as a gesture of trust, and then the little boy "covering" them with it.

Prompt 3 for 2012 was Endangerment. I went through a few scenarios in my mind, including Sokka taking Toph someplace dangerous and Toph rescuing Sokka from something, but I decided on one where Toph and Sokka are just themselves… in a different environment. One where Toph has to play "One of these things is not like the others…"

Thanks again for reading. :D


Hearing Footsteps

The battle brewed up out of nowhere.

An hour after Aang and Katara had gone off to meet with opposition leaders about another obstacle and another problem with the peace treaty, people poured out of the woods to attack the Gaang's camp—rebel Fire Nation soldiers opposed to the treaty. Or more like dead set against it ever taking place. Literally.

Sokka was on one side of the camp, chopping wood, and Toph was on the other, picking her toes, when the attack started. Actually it was Toph who started the attack. She felt someone coming—a lot of someones—and jumped to her feet. "We're being attacked!"

Sokka turned with his axe. "What? Toph... there's no one aro—"

Toph lunged toward the other side of the camp and an Earth current roared through, erupting into a cliff-like mound of rock just as Fire Nation soldiers were about to run into the camp. The front four were thrown backwards. The rest poured around the rock with swords, spears, and fire.

Sokka took one look at that, dropped the axe, and scampered for his weapons. One man took a swing at him with his sword—Sokka dodged—and another lunged at him with his spear. Sokka took hold of a tent and threw it at him, enshrouding the man in canvas, then hit him over the head with a rock. The man went down in a tent-covered heap. Sokka quickly gathered up his boomerang and sword.

Toph was in her element. Combat had been a part of her life for so long that to drop into that mindframe was second nature. The world changed from being full of things and people to just... targets.

Hard step on the left. Several people in front. No problem.

She lunged left, ripping off an Earth current, then she stomped hard. Several stones flew up from the earth, and she roundhouse kicked them at the ones in front. She raised a wedge of rock and blocked the fiery response.

Wait. Where's—

"Sokka!" she called.

Sokka was busy fending off swords with his own and playing duck-and-dodge with the Firebenders. "What?"

Okay. Now she knew where he was.

Down came the rock wedge. She raised a boulder from the earth, blocked more fireblasts in front, and then punch-punch-punched into the rock, sending shards of stone flying out. She knocked the remaining stone sideways, making a group of soldiers dodge.

For his part, Sokka was holding his own, making the soldiers think twice about his sword. He had found his club, too, and delivered a few headaches. "Why can't you guys just go home, all right?"

"That's the deal, Waterboy," said one of them. "This is our home. And we're taking it back!" He lunged. Sokka knocked his spear aside and then clipped him with his warclub.

Two of his opponents got ready to bend fire at him. Sokka saw it, got ready to duck—then jumped as a wave of rock blew through the Firebenders. He relaxed—a little. "Thanks, Toph!"

"You're welcome." Toph smiled grimly. Back to work. "Who's next, Hotheads?"

That answer came quick in a ball of fire. No problem. She sidestepped, then sent an Earth current down the same line. Another stomp. More rocks. Scatter fire. Any day, boys, any day. You're mine.

Hard stomp on the right. Incoming Fire. Fine. Rock shield and block. And punch—wait!

She felt that way. Several people were fighting there. Was Sokka—which one was Sokka?

"Sokka!"

"What?!" he replied from amongst the group. "I'm trying to—uhh!—fight here, if you don't—"

He was all right—good—but in the way. Toph grimaced. Not so good.

Flank. Roll right.

Toph dove to her right, rolled, brought up some rocks, and kicked them ahead of her. Another roll—more fire—somehow she got rock up in time to block it.

She left it up and felt. Six in front, three to the left, and two to the right. Okay—but which one was Sokka?

"Sokka!"

Okay, two choices. One, go over there and figure out which one is him, clean off the other, and fight. Two, go after the others and not worry about Sokka.

Not worry about Sokka. She gritted her teeth. Like that was possible.

"Yeah?" Sokka dropped his sword, took a two-handed grip on his club, and bashed his opponent's sword out of his hand. "Hah!" He grinned triumphantly at the solider, and got punched in the jaw for his trouble. Sokka wound up on the recoil and slugged him in the stomach with the club, then brought down a hammerfist on his exposed neck. That soldier went down.

Toph grinned. That made for a simple solution.

She spread-eagled herself and drew rock and earth to her, making for an even coating of Earthen armor; only her mouth was showing. "Okay, Fireflies—let's dance!"

She skate-ran into their midst on her rock shoes, ignoring all the fire they were pouring at her. Once she was in their middle she blew her armor apart, hurling rock in every direction. Skate to the left. Rock column to the face of one. Roundhouse kick it to the left and take down some more. She was Earth. She was elemental. She—

—didn't know where Sokka was.

"Sokka!"

Eight of them around now—no, seven. One of them fell over. Another rock shield roundhouse kick combo. Punch out the remaining rock. Rock shield.

No response. All she heard were the grunts and groans of the soldiers.

"Sokka!"

She felt. Lots of movement. None of it distinctly his. Where was he?

Another Fire attack, to the left. Sidestep. Rock shield. Punch through. You'd think they'd learn. The others were slackening, beginning to waver.

She got in the face of one. He swung and missed with a sword. Another rock column sent him flying.

Nothing. No sounds other than grunts. Several fighters down, some where he was last. She thought.

"Sokka!"

A thrown spear. Rock block. She hurled a spear-column of rock back at the soldier. It missed, but sent shards of rock everywhere. He ran.

So did another. Then another. Then another. Then the rest broke. And then... all was quiet. Except for her panting for breath, there was nothing else.

Oh, no. No. No, no, no.

"Sokka!"

Tears were forming in her eyes. She didn't want to give up hope. She couldn't give up hope. He had to be here. He would have said something, yelled something, anything. He wouldn't have just—

There were several ways to know. It was gross, but there were ways.

She went to the soldier nearest her, knelt down, and sniffed. No.

She went to the next. Sniffed. No.

Then on to the next. Sniffed. No.

Then on to the next. Sniffed.

Wait.

She went to the man's feet and sniffed carefully.

She fell over, both from the smell and from relief. Yes. It was him.

Quickly she got up and felt his chest. She couldn't tell. She leaned down close to his head, held her breath—

Yes. His breaths were shallow, but he was still breathing.

She felt his body with her hands, carefully, thoroughly. Other than bumps, bruises, and a few minor cuts, he seemed to be all right. He wasn't bleeding, his body seemed... all right, from her other senses, he was just... not conscious. Which by itself wasn't bad, but...

A sadness welled up. And guilt.

I should have gone to him.

I don't know what happened, but I had a chance to put him with me, and I didn't. I just... went for the other guys. And now...

She brought her attention back to him. He was breathing peacefully now, no sign of any distress. He could have been sleeping.

That spurred her to action. Dang it, if I'm gonna feel guilty, I'm gonna share it with somebody!

She went to the remains of the camp, found a waterskin, came back, and poured it on his head. Sokka spluttered into life. "Hey! Wh-what the—! What'd you do that for?"

Toph was beside herself with relief—not that she was going to share that. "Welcome back, sleepy head!"

"What? And whose fault is that, Ms. I'm-going-to-explode-my-rock-armor-in-my-friend's-face?"

"What?"

"Yeah! You skated into the middle of the bad guys, I ran toward you to help, and then pow! Rock armor to the face! Not—pleasant!"

She poked him in the chest. "Listen, you! If you didn't have the sense to get out of the way of a rock shower, who am I to stop you?"

"Me?" He got to his feet and dusted himself off. "What do you mean, didn't have the sense...?"

They argued that way a while longer, and then it dawned on them that maybe they should let Zuko's troops know what had happened. Somebody needed to take care of the rebels.

They talked about the whole thing on the way to where Zuko's soldiers were camped, reliving the good moments of the fight. They left aside the bad ones—except where they could kid each other about what had happened.

In the quiet time after, though, when they had rejoined Aang and Katara and had settled in for the night, it did occur to Toph: maybe fighting solo style wasn't such a good thing anymore. She got lucky. Today.