Where Earth Meets Sky:
Chapter 3: The Rescue
Author Note: Wow, this chapter is way longer then the first two... Yeah, she's still thinking about Sokka... you can't expect someone to change who they love in less then a day... but that will change... eventually. SO, does anyone have anything that they might like to see happen? I'm open for suggestions.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own the characters or setting in this fic. Well... I might own Emi, Milo, & Yuki...but I just made up names for the kids shown around the temple. I don't know if there was a girl flying with a glider, though... Anyway, the characters and setting belong to Mike and Bryan. Only the ideas for this fic are my own.
Toph woke the next morning to the sound of the guest room door being opened. "Gee, you're up early, Snoozles," she muttered and rolled onto her back. She wasn't answered by Sokka's groggy, morning voice. Instead she heard the sound of something being rolled towards her. "Wow, breakfast in bed? What gives, Meathead?" She sat up. "Hey, I'm a poet!" Her hair stuck out all over the place from her bun. Someone snickered, barely able to hold back a laugh, it wasn't Sokka.
Toph's expression changed to one of malice. "Who's there?" She leapt to her feet; as soon as they touched the stone floor she recognized Teo's form. "Oh…" her voice dripped with disappointment. Her mind slowly replayed everything that she had just said, causing her cheeks to burn with embarrassment.
Teo burst into laughter. "You look like a boar-q-pine!"
Toph's embarrassment quickly turned into anger. She balled her fists and the stone walls shook. Teo stopped laughing and realized his mistake. He rolled his wheelchair backwards towards the door. "Alright, alright… I'm sorry, calm down, Toph." He tried to reason with her but a small piece of stone shook loose from the wall and struck him in the forehead. "Ow! Hey!" He spun his chair around and sped out of the room to avoid any more injuries.
Toph collapsed to her knees and the room stopped shaking. Teo's words echoed through her mind simultaneously with the last words that she had heard Sokka say yesterday. At least Sokka could dodge her attacks, but Teo couldn't. A sense of guilt washed over her again – spirits, what was happening? This was the second time in less than a full day that she was feeling guilty over her actions.
A knock on the door jolted her and she touched the ground to see a young woman standing in the hall, shifting nervously; her heartbeat was erratic. Toph pushed to her feet and was able to tell that her company was scared to death. From the size and shape of the body, Toph judged the girl to be around Katara's age. "Yes?" Teo had left the door open in his hasty retreat.
"I… The… Uh…" The girl sputtered.
"Uh – huh?" Toph tried her best to make herself appear non-threatening, but apparently wasn't doing so well.
"I was asked to… To see if… If you needed any help…"
"Oh, um, yeah, I could use some help getting around this place."
Toph went about her morning routine, which consisted of reliving her bladder and straightening her clothes. The girl who had been sent to help her gave a look of horror when Toph announced that she was ready. "But… But… Your hair…"
"Oh, I forgot." Toph brushed the loose strands of her hair behind her ears. "There. Let's go, I'm starving."
The girl, who had introduced herself as Emi, let out a frustrated sigh. "You can't go out looking like that."
Toph's face scrunched up as she wondered why she couldn't. She always went out like this. "O…kay?"
"May I?" Toph felt Emi touch her hair and, without waiting for an answer, released it of its usual bun. "Your hair would be even more beautiful if you washed and took care of it." Toph blushed furiously. "May I?"
Toph shrugged, figuring that there was no way out of it. This girl seemed to be as bad as Katara was about making sure that she was presentable.
Half an hour later, Toph's stomach growled in protest as Emi finished weaving her freshly washed hair into two braids. She blew her bangs out of her eyes impatiently. "Are you done yet?"
"All most," Emi answered. Toph could feel her tying off the end of the second braid. "There! Now doesn't that feel better?"
"I'll let you know when my stomach is full."
Emi laughed – wow, she really loosened up – and brushed something off of Toph's shoulder. "Okay, let's go."
Toph followed Emi down to the dining hall - it was mostly empty now. Most everyone else had already eaten and started their day. They helped themselves to what little food was left; Toph made a mental note to wake up earlier. When they sat down at one of the surrounding tables to eat, Emi explained how the women switched off cooking meals for everyone to share. "The chores are split among small groups of women who cook or do laundry or clean. The groups switch chores every few days so that no one is constantly doing the same thing. Everyone helps out and things get done faster; leaving more time for leisure activities."
"What do the men do?" Toph asked.
"Oh, you know… hunt, fish, construction, go down the mountain to the nearest village for supplies… that kind of stuff."
Toph nodded, it was just as she thought; she would rather do the men's job. Speaking of jobs, Toph remembered something. "Hey, I'm supposed to be meeting up with the Mechanist, do you know where I can find him?"
"Sure, he's probably in his workshop. I'll take you there when we're finished."
They finished their breakfast in silence and returned their dishes to the kitchen, where Toph counted six woman busy working. Dishes clanked as they were being washed, water was boiling on what she presumed to be a stove, someone was sweeping up what felt like spilled uncooked rice, and the most delicious smells wafted to her nose - reminding her of home.
Emi led her back out to the hall and through the temple, chattering away about some of the temple renditions and what they were used for. Considering that Toph couldn't see what she was talking about, she didn't care much and faked a yawn.
"You're tired already?" Emi stopped explaining about how the device that she was currently talking about worked the airlifts. Toph waved a hand before her eyes as a reminder to the other girl that she was blind. "Oh… Right… Sorry about that."
Toph shrugged, "Not the first; won't be the last." Emi didn't respond, Toph could sense the girl's uneasiness. "So, you're saying that the Mechanist invented a way to work the air lifts with the use of steam," Toph summarized Emi's previous explanation to show that she had been paying attention, despite her inability to see what the girl had been talking about. There was something about the girl that made Toph regret speaking so harshly to her; she was more complaisant then Katara ever was.
"Yes, exactly!" Emi said cheerfully; Toph could hear the smile on her face. "Well, we're here." She came to a stop in front of a door and knocked, but Toph didn't need to wait for an answer to feel that no one was in the room.
"He's not here."
"Are you sure?"
Toph nodded, "Teo mentioned that he could use my help with some project that he is working on; any idea where that could be?"
Emi led her further down the corridor and down another air lift. They walked down another hall that led them outside. Toph recognized the area; it was where Teo had landed his glider yesterday when they arrived. There was a crowd of people gathered into a huddle; she could feel that something wasn't right. The girls stepped forward, curious about what was going on.
"The ledge is too narrow, there's no way that I can land on it." Teo's voice reached their ears.
A sob came from a woman who stood beside him; her hands were covering her face. "I don't understand how this happened."
"He was trying to do a triple spiral flip, but he misjudged how close he was to the mountain side," A boy, who stood with something that reminded Toph of Aang's air glider, explained.
"I warned him not to try such tricks," the woman cried.
"What's going on?" Toph asked as she came to a stop behind Teo.
"Milo crashed his air glider into the side of the mountain. He's hurt pretty bad, and unconscious, but I can't land my glider to bring him back here."
"Where is he?"
Teo turned his glider to the side so that he could look at her. It occurred to him that she could help. "He's pretty far down the mountain. I would have to fly you there."
"What? Who said I was going to fly anywhere?"
"You're an earthbender. You can extend the ledge so that I can land."
Toph's eyes widened and she stepped away from him. "There's no way I'm getting on that thing again!" She was referring to his glider.
"Y… You're an earthbender?" The woman who was previously crying approached Toph and took hold of her hand. "Please… Please help my son,"
"Oh spirits…" Toph swore in her mind. How could she ignore the pleas of a desperate mother? A moment passed, during which time the woman continued to plead for her help. Toph's heart thumped loudly at the thought of flying again. She was aware that everyone's eyes were now upon her. "Fine…" She answered, after swallowing the knot in her throat.
Toph was pulled into a tight hug by the woman. "Oh thank you… Thank you!"
"Yeah yeah…" Toph said reluctantly. "Let's just get this over with." She felt Teo roll towards her and her stomach fell at the thought of what she was about to do. Even Appa was a sturdy comfort and a more preferred form of travel compared to flying on his glider – it was so small and seemed so fragile.
"Ready?" Teo touched her hand and waited for her response.
"Not really…" Her voice didn't sound right; it was meek and fearful.
Teo squeezed her hand gently. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall."
Toph nodded and let him pull her onto his lap. She wrapped her arms securely around his neck and buried her head against his shoulder when the glider started to move – someone was pushing it from behind. "Hold on tight," she heard him say as the glider lifted into the air.
The wind whooshed passed her and the glider shook with the turbulence that it caused. Toph squeezed her eyes shut at the awareness of her vulnerability and the fact that her life was now in his hands. "I'm Sorry!"
Teo chuckled and she felt him turn the glider downwards and to the right. They were descending into a slow spiral. "Relax; I've got things under control."
"About this morning," she explained the reason for her apology.
"Oh…" he said "Well, I probably deserved it. I shouldn't have laughed at you. So, I'm sorry too."
She could feel his heartbeat. It was strong and steady, like a rock. He smelled like the air, clean and crisp. Heat rose into her cheeks when she became aware that she was clinging to him, she had only ever clung to one other boy before. She didn't understand why it caused her heart to skip a beat, but shook it off as being caused by their flight. "Are we there yet?"
"Almost," Teo was reminded of the urgency of the situation. He had been momentarily distracted by the scent of her hair and the way that she held onto him. "I'm going to have to land on the cliff above him."
Toph nodded against his shoulder. "Just get me back on solid ground." The glider made a smooth landing, much to her relief, and she wasted no time in leaping out of his lap. The world came back into focus beneath her and she saw the tiny ledge that contained two bodies. "There are two people down there."
Teo nodded, amazed at her ability to see through the earth. He couldn't even see them with his own eyes. "Yuki stayed to watch over him."
As if on cue the girl called up to them from the ledge below. "Teo! What's going on?"
"Tell her to get them both as close to the wall as possible and to hang on," Toph instructed. Teo did as he was told while she focused on extending the ledge without jolting anyone off.
"That's good," Teo said just before disappearing from her sight. He reappeared a minute later when he landed on the cliff below - Toph earthbended herself down to help.
By some miracle, Milo only had a few scratches, but it was the internal damage that worried Toph. From what she could tell, his internal functions were normal, but she wasn't Katara. She carefully earthbended a bed of stone to rise up beneath the boy. This allowed Teo to slide him onto the glider. The girl, Yuki, fussed around them a bit, ensuring that Milo would be secure. "Thanks, Toph," Teo said as he prepared to take off. "I'll be right back down for you."
"Don't bother; I'll get myself back…"
Teo looked at her with a little disappointment; he enjoyed flying with her. "Very well, but if you take too long, I'll come looking for you." Toph couldn't tell if that was a threat or a promise.
"Teo, let's go," Yuki spoke up impatiently as she opened her glider. He acknowledged her with a nod.
"Oh, by the way, Toph." She looked towards his direction. "Your hair looks cute like that."
Before she could fully process what he had said, they disappeared. Toph felt the blood rush to her face and stared, unseeing, after him.
