Chapter III: The Earthbending Master

"Wake up!"

Before he could fully awaken, Jin was thrown into the air, and landed with a hard thump. His eyes half closed from pain, Jin saw Toph standing over him. "Good morning, pupil," she said in a sickeningly sweet tone. "Welcome to your first earthbending lesson. I'm expecting a lot out of you, so I want you to try your hardest out there!" She bent down, glowered at him and said, "I'm not going to go easy on you, even if you are the Avatar. I promise that if you live through this first lesson, I'll make you the best earthbender in the world. Well, the best earthbender after me, of course. Now get up. I'll see you in the courtyard." She turned and left. Jin quickly climbed out of his sleeping bag and followed her. "Okay, okay," he said as he entered the courtyard. "I'm ready to--" At that moment, a rock instantly hit Jin from the left, sending him sprawling. "From that little display, I'd say you aren't ready for anything," he heard Toph say from somewhere to his left. Jin stood up and said, "You just caught me off guard. Can we start the lesson now?" Toph walked over to him and replied, "I suppose so." She stomped, and two blocks of stone rose up from the ground; she then leaned against one and said, "I want you to move this rock." Jin approached the rock, and said, "Alright." A pause. "How am I supposed to do that?"

Toph smacked her forehead. "Ugh. I have to hold your hand through everything, don't I?" She stood up straight, faced the rock, and said, "First, you have to get into a stance. It has to be firm and solid, like a rock." She lowered herself into a stance, "Then, you focus your energy, and…" She thrust her hand into the rock, sending it sliding across the courtyard. "…earthbending. Now you try it." Jin then lowered himself into an earthbending stance in front of the rock, and thrust out his arm against the rock. Nothing happened. The stone didn't budge. Instead, an intense pain shot through Jin's hand. Both he and Toph stared at the stone for a few moments, then, Toph began snickering. Her snickers grew louder and louder, and soon, she was doubled over in helpless laughter. Eventually, she regained control of herself long enough to say, "That must've hurt," before succumbing to another fit on uncontrollable laughter. Jin stretched his sore fingers and asked, "What's so funny?" Toph's laughter died away and she replied, "Nothing. Let's just keep going."

The following exercises were just as brutal as the first. Jin seemed to make no progress earthbending, which frustrated him immensely. Toph was an unforgiving teacher, punishing the slightest mistake or infraction without mercy. Hours passed without the slightest trace of progress; Jin eventually began to wonder if the lesson was, in fact, nothing more than an act of revenge against his "insult." After one particular exercise, Jin had been buried in a pile of earth; Toph freed him and said, "I have good news for you. After this next exercise, you'll be done with the first lesson." Jin asked, "Okay then, what do I have to do?" Toph raised a tall, steep ramp of rock out of the ground, then raised a boulder at its top and replied, "All you have to do is stop that boulder. If you do, then you pass the first lesson." She raised a platform to the top of the ramp, then nudged the boulder over the edge. The boulder tumbled down the ramp, building up incredible speed in a very short amount of time. Jin watched the boulder, wondering what he should do. There was no way he could stop the boulder- he couldn't earthbend, and trying to stop it with his bare hands would be suicide. The boulder rolled off the ramp, and straight toward him; rather than attempting to stop it, Jin simply stepped out of the boulder's path. Then, something beneath him struck his chin hard, knocking him off his feet. Toph was standing over him again, and she asked, "What was that? You didn't even try to stop the boulder. If you weren't going to stop it, you should have at least given it the pleasure of crushing you instead of jumping out of the way like a jelly-boned wimp. You know, if you keep defying me like this, I'm not going to be your teacher." Jin stood up, brushed himself off, and replied, "Look, I can see this is all a big joke for you, but if you're not going to teach me how to earthbend, then at least point me in the direction of someone who will." He began to make his way for the courtyard entrance. Confused, Toph asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know what I did to insult you, but I know you're doing this to get back at me for it. Am I right?" Even more confused, Toph asked, "You really think that's what's going on? You've got to be kidding me." Jin walked out of the school without responding, as he strode down the city streets, Aang's voice said, "Jin, I think you're overreacting to this situation." Jin replied harshly, "I don't care. If I need an earthbending teacher that badly, I'll find another one. There's now way I'm letting her teach me." Aang's voice then said, "You have to understand, it wasn't personal. Master Toph's method of teaching is just… aggressive. My earthbending teacher was the same way." There was a tug on Jin's shoulder. He turned; Toph was standing behind him. "What do you want?" he asked. She turned and said, "We need to talk. Come on," and began to walk away. Jin caught up to her and asked, "Where are we going? She replied, "You'll see. But first, I'll answer your question." Jin opened his mouth, but before he could ask how she knew, she answered, "I could tell by the look on your face. You had it ever since we started training this morning. And I know exactly what you're going to ask- You want to know about my name, don't you? Avatar Aang put you up to this, didn't he? What does he think?"

"Aang told me he had an earthbending teacher who was also named Toph, and he's convinced you and her are related somehow."

"Well… he'd be right. The first Toph in our family traveled with one of the Avatars- Aang, specifically. She was my great-great-great-great… well, you get the idea. She lived six hundred years ago. A few years after she helped the Avatar defeat the Fire Lord, she took over the Bei Fong family. She had only one child- a daughter, who was also named Toph. That sort of became a tradition in our family- after that, every firstborn daughter in the Bei Fong family was named Toph, for good luck. By a strange coincidence, or maybe fate, every Toph in our family was a very powerful earthbender, too."

"So all the firstborn daughters in your family are named Toph?"

"Yeah. All of them; my grandmother was named Toph, my mom is named Toph, and if I ever have a daughter, I'll probably name her Toph, too."

"I see." Jin then said, "You were right, Aang. They were related. Literally." Aang's voice replied, "I heard." There was a short pause, then Jin asked, "You knew about this, didn't you?"

"Actually, no. But I had a hunch." Jin looked over at where Aang's voice came from, but he wasn't there; he then realized they were riding in one of the trains. "Wait, how did we get here?" he asked Toph. She replied, "You should have been paying more attention to where you were going. But anyway, I wanted to show you something. It's in Section 1. Anyway, now I'll answer your second question. No, the lesson wasn't just some elaborate revenge plot against you- it's like that for all my potential students. The first lesson's supposed to weed out anyone who isn't strong enough to learn earthbending. But you passed, so now you can begin the real training."

She then turned to Jin and asked, "Now tell me, what's so important that the Avatar is traveling around trying to master the four elements? Isn't that kind of dangerous for you?" Jin looked at the floor and replied, "Avatar Aang said that there's a group of people trying to unlock the power of the bending styles. He says that they'll begin their attack on New Year's Day, and that if I want to stop them, I have to master all four elements before then."

"New Year's Day? That's in six months. Sounds pretty rough. Why would those guys want to learn bending, though?"

"Aang says that the original generals who started the group wanted to make deadlier soldiers. Now, their descendants are trying to make an army strong enough to take over the world. I'm actually surprised that wasn't their intent in the first place."

"Interesting. Who exactly are these guys?"

"I just told you, they're the descendants of… oh, you mean a name, don't you? I don't think Aang told me what they're name was. Aang?" Aang appeared in front of Jin and Toph and said, "The group has gone by many names over the years: the Society, the Cabal, the Enclave… but there is one name that comes up constantly- the Order. At first, it was called the Council of Ten, after the generals who led the war, but was renamed the Order after the all the founding generals died." A loud grinding noise filled the train. Jin could feel the train slow, and with a lurch, it stopped. Toph stood up. "We're here," she said, as she made her way to the door. Jin followed and asked, "Okay, we're in Section 1. Now are you going to tell me what you wanted to show me?" As the two descended the platform stairs, she replied, "I want it to be a surprise for you, and if I tell you, then it wouldn't be a surprise." As they approached a large white wall, Toph said "We're here." Jin looked up at the wall. "This is you big surprise? A wall?" Toph shook her head. "No. It's what's behind the wall. That's what I want to show you. Now come on." She grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the left. Soon, they came across a large gate made of metal, flanked by two guards. Above the gate was a large gold seal, depicting a winged boar. "That's our family symbol," Toph said. "The Bei Fong family has used it since before the first Toph was born." They continued toward the gate. The guards bowed as they approached; one said to Toph, "Good evening, Master Toph. Welcome home." She replied, "Good evening, captain." The gate began to slide up into the wall, but before they could proceed through, the captain stepped between Jin and the gate, saying, "I'm afraid I can't let you go through. No commoners are allowed inside without an invitation." Toph turned to face them and said, "He's with me, captain." The captain looked hard at Jin then stepped out of his way and said, "Okay, you can go." Jin caught up to Toph, and the two walked through the gate into a long tunnel. "Thanks," he said, "but couldn't you have told them I was the Avatar?" She replied, "I could have… but I don't think they would have believed me. The Avatar's been gone for three hundred years, remember? And they might not be too happy to see you considering what one of your past lives did." Jin looked at her. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"I'm not really the best person to ask about that. You should ask Avatar Aang. He'll know more." The two came to the end of the tunnel; suddenly, the wall at the end dropped, flooding the tunnel in light. Jin shielded his eyes briefly, then looked when the light faded. Outside the tunnel stretched a massive courtyard. Incredibly, various trees, bushes, and grass reose from the ground. At the three sides of the courtyard that Jin could see stood massive buildings of pure white stone. Standing behind the buildings was the wall they passed through. Hanging between the buildings and the walls were thousands of lanterns. Jin stepped out of the tunnel, observing everything. "Wow… this place is huge. Where are we?" Toph walked into the courtyard as well, and replied, "I told you already, we're in Section 1. But this… this is what I wanted to show you. This is the Palace. Home sweet home." Jin looked over at her, stunned. "You… you live here?" he stammered. She looked back at him, and smiled. "Of course. My family has lived here ever since Bei Fong was completed. The earthbenders my great-great-great grandmother and great-great-great uncle saved built this palace as a way of thanking them. They also built a shrine in the middle of the courtyard. I'll show you." She turned and began to walk toward the center of the courtyard. He began to follow, but suddenly, something began growling at him. He turned to see, but lost his footing and fell on his back. Then, Jin was face to face with an enormous badger-like creature- it had brown fur, with black and white stripes traveling down its back, and with massive claws. The beast leaned close to him, and sniffed; then, it licked his face. Toph approached and said, "Aw, he likes you." Jin quickly stood up and asked, "What is that thing?" Toph walked over to the beast and began to pet it. "This," she said, "is Stinky, my pet badgermole." She hugged Stinky's head and said softly, "Hey Stinky. I missed you. Have you been good while I was away?" Stinky replied with a soft sound. Toph let go of Stinky and said, "Now that you've met Stinky, let's go see that shrine." She began walking to the shrine again, Jin and Stinky followed. As they walked, Toph asked, "You're curious about Stinky, aren't you?" Jin looked around the courtyard and replied, "Actually, I'm more curious about how all these plants can grow down here without sunlight." Toph looked back at him, surprised. "That's what you're most interested in? It isn't that complicated. When they were still building the city, some people took plants from the surface. As the years passed, the plants began to adapt to the low lighting here."

"Oh. What were you saying about Stinky?"

"You probably don't know that badgermoles were the first earthbenders. My people learned how to earthbend by watching the badgermoles. In fact, the first Toph learned earthbending from the badgermoles themselves, just like my people's ancestors. Another thing is that badgermoles are blind, but can 'see' with earthbending."

"They see with earthbending? How does that work?"

"They feel vibrations in the ground, which lets them 'see' their surroundings. It's a technique that the first Toph learned from them as well. It's something she and the badgermoles had in common."

"…I don't follow."

"Well, you see… the first Toph was blind. But she learned that special technique from the badgermoles. Now, we call it the seismic sense."

"That's sounds pretty impressive. But what you said about badgermoles being the first earthbenders. Does that mean I'll be taking lessons from Master Stinky over here?" Stinky 'looked' over and made a confused sounding grunt. "You know," Toph replied, "that might not be such a bad idea. It could help if you learned form the original masters." The three stopped in front of the shrine. "We're here." She turned back to Stinky and said, "Sorry boy, but you have to wait out here. I'll be back soon." Stinky made a sad noise, but lay down on the ground outside the shrine. "Come on," Toph said, and dragged Jin inside with her. The shrine had no walls, revealing the courtyard surrounding it. The opposite side of the shrine opened to a large pond, invisible during the approach. Inside the shrine were two large stone sarcophagi sitting side by side. On both was inscribed a name- on the left, Lu; on the right, Toph. "Here we are," Toph said. "The Tomb of the Founders. The most important area in all of Bei Fong. In case you couldn't tell, this is where the founders of the city are buried- Toph's great-grandchild Toph and her brother Lu." Jin looked at the two sarcophagi. "So her name is Toph, too. You must have a very confusing family history." Toph looked at the slabs and replied, "Not really. All the Tophs in my family are numbered. For example, I'd be the fourteenth Toph. Anyway, every year, the city holds a huge memorial for them here in the palace courtyard. People come from all over the city to see it. Later in the day, they have another memorial in the Inner Ring. They have another shrine there- it's a huge wall, with the names of all the relatives of the city's first inhabitants that were killed in the war. There are over a hundred thousand names written on that wall." Jin noticed something on the ground between the sarcophagi; he approached, and saw something had been inscribed there. He bent down and read the inscription aloud, "To our great Founders, to whom we give this city, our gratitude… and our lives."

Toph bent down next to him and said, "My great-great grandmother said that when the shrine was finally completed." Jin stood up, and walked to the edge facing the pond. "It must be nice to live in a place like this," he said as he sat down at the edge. "After all, you have a city named after you, you're the heir to a powerful family, you probably have an army of servants who fulfill your every command..." Toph sat down next to Jin. "It is nice. I won't lie about that. I mean, I can go wherever I want in the city, and I'm the master in an earthbending school, but my family isn't powerful."

"Are you kidding me? Look around you! You live in a place like this, and you tell me your family isn't powerful?"

"Well, it isn't. At least… not anymore. You see, after the war, influential families that had ties to the benders fell from power. People as powerful as the Fire Lord and the Earth King, all the way down to my family. We have influence here in Bei Fong, but that's all. And it isn't always nice to live here. First, even though I can go anywhere I want, I'm never really alone." She pointed over to her left; at the edge of his vision, Jin could see a guard on top of the wall, watching them. "My parents have those guards following me everywhere. The only places they don't tail me are here and at the school."

"Oh… I just remembered that I left all my stuff at the school."

"I'll send one of the guards to get it for you. Anyway, second, and you can probably tell, I've never been to the surface." Jin looked at her, noticing for the first time that she was shockingly pale; if she hadn't told him otherwise, he would have been under the impression that she was seriously ill. "Third, since my parents don't really let me be on my own, I don't really have any friends. Well, there are the students at the school, but they aren't really friends. There is Stinky, but… well, look at him." They looked back at Stinky; he had rolled over and was rubbing his back against the ground, making a long, contented sound. Then, the light of the palace dimmed considerably. "It's late," Toph said. "I'll send a guard to get your stuff. I'll be right back."

She stood up and went away. "She reminds me of the Toph I knew," Aang said, and he appeared in the pond's reflection. "Their personalities are close. She even looks like the Toph I knew. But there are a few differences." Jin asked, "Like what?" Aang shifted as though in deep thought and replied, "For one, she's a little taller than the Toph I remember. Then again, Toph did get pretty tall as she got older. Second, her hair is a lot shorter. Of course, you'd never be able to tell with the Toph I knew, since she always kept her hair in this weird bun… thing. Third, and probably the biggest difference of all, this Toph can see. She already told you that the first Toph was blind, and it's true. But other than those three things, she's pretty close to the Toph I knew- she has the same face, the same build, the same everything. Let's just hope she has the same skill in earthbending."

Aang vanished, leaving Jin to stare at his reflection. Compared to Aang, he didn't think himself very impressive- his clothes, once dark green, were faded nearly to black and patched, making him look like a vagrant; his short black hair was starting to get long, and was filled with dirt from the day's training; he could read the heavy doubt that plagued his mind in his dark brown eyes; and though (he assumed) he had more muscle than the average twelve year old from working the farm, he had no experience in fighting. Just from his appearance, he didn't look like he'd be a very strong Avatar.

Toph returned and sat down next to him. "What'cha thinking about? You seem to staring awfully hard into that pond." Jin looked down and replied, "I was thinking about what you said when we first met. I think you might be right." She looked at him, confused. "Right about what?" Jin pulled his legs against his chest. "That I don't look like too much of an Avatar." She stared at him. "You're kidding me, right? I just said it because I was angry. I didn't mean it." Jin stood up. "But it's true. Look at me! Do you really think a guy like me is supposed to save the world?" Toph stood up, grabbed Jin's shoulders, and looked at him, hard. "Listen, I know you're under a lot of pressure, and I won't lie to you, you don't look like much, but you're the Avatar. You're the most powerful bender- no, the most powerful person in the entire world. You can't think that you won't do a good job just because you think you aren't handsome enough. Things like that should be the least of your worries. The first thing you should be thinking about is learning earthbending." Jin's face reddened imperceptibly. She let go of his shoulders, and he sat back down. "You're right," Jin replied. "I need to focus on mastering the elements before New Year's Day. So I need to start as quickly as possible. When can we start training?" Toph sat down next to him again. "We'll start your training tomorrow. But don't worry. It's not going to be like today's lesson, I promise. But it's still not going to be easy." A guard approached, holding Jin's bag; he wordlessly gave the bag to Toph and left, leaving them alone again. She handed Jin the bag. "Here's your stuff," she said, but she held on to the sword. As she inspected it, she asked, "Why do you have a sword?" Jin quickly took it from her. "Please be careful with that. My dad used it when he used to be an adventurer." He drew the sword, and looked at his reflection in the blade. "I never learned how to use one, though."

"Well, it's probably a good thing you have that. From the stories I've heard it probably wouldn't be safe for you to bend on the surface." She stood up. "Come on. I'll show you your room." Jin looked up at her, confused. "My room? You mean I'll be staying here in the palace?" Toph replied, "Sure. Now come on." Jin sheathed his sword, stood up, and shouldered his pack. The two began walking out of the shrine, to the building on the right. They climbed the stairs to the entrance; at the top, Toph pushed open the enormous door. Within the building was a large foyer that branched off into dozens of hallways. "This building is where the guests stay. The building across the entrance is where I live. And the building on the gate side is where the guards and the other servants stay. All the buildings have their own… um…"

"Amenities?"

"Yeah, those. Bathhouses, dining halls, stuff like that." As they entered one particular hallway, Jin asked, "What's the other building for? The one across from this one?" She replied, "That's where the council of Bei Fong meets." They stopped in front of a large wooden door. "This is your room." Jin pushed the door open. Beyond was the largest room he had ever seen; it must have been at least half the size of the foyer. Jin entered the room, dropped his pack, and flopped down on the absolutely enormous bed. Toph walked into the room after him "These rooms are usually reserved for important guests only. The only people who use them are the council members, but since you're the Avatar, I figured you count as an important guest too." She sat down next to him. "You like it?" Jin merely said, "This has to be the biggest bed I've ever seen. Do people seriously sleep in this?" She replied, "Yeah. If you can believe it, my bed's even bigger than this one." Jin rolled onto his stomach and looked at her, "Really? You have to show me." She flopped down on the bed next to him. "I don't think my parents would like that."

"Why not?"

"My parents don't like it when I associate myself with commoners. They think they'll have a bad influence on me. I mean, I took a huge risk by letting you in here. If my parents found out you were in here… I'm not sure what they'd do. But I'm sure never letting me leave the palace ever again is part of it." She stood up. "I should probably go. You'll need to get some sleep if you want to be ready for training tomorrow. My parents are probably worried about me anyway. Good night." She left the room, closing the door behind her.

Later that night, as Jin laid by the edge of the bed, he said, "Aang? There's something I need to ask you." Aang's voice asked, "What is it, Jin?" Jin stared up at the ceiling and replied, "Aang, Toph said that the Avatar did something during the war three hundred years ago. What happened? What did he do?"

"I can't tell you that. Not yet. Not until you're ready to know. But it is part of the reason why I appeared, rather than your immediate predecessors. As I told you before, you're the sixth Avatar after me. That means there were five Avatars between you and I- two before the war, and three after. It's easy enough to explain the three after the war- they aren't in the cycle because they never knew they were the Avatar. The two from before are a little bit more… complicated.

"The Avatar after me, Avatar Han, was from the Water Tribe. He followed the advice that I and the other Avatars gave him, but he lacked vigilance and a strong will, and so the benders began using their abilities for their own ends. After Han died, the benders spiraled out of control. The Avatar's job is to maintain balance in the world, but many don't realize that this also includes keeping peace between benders and non-benders. For failing in this task, Han was forbidden from advising the next Avatar. While choosing the next Avatar, my predecessors and I hoped that by choosing an Avatar in a place isolated from the rest of the world, he would be untouched by the corruption. So we chose Kai, a sandbender. But despite our hopes, even they hadn't escaped the corruption, and Kai, unlike his predecessor, fell into the cycle of destruction like the other benders had. He failed to heed my warnings, and the warnings of the other Avatars. Finally, tensions between benders and non-benders reached a breaking point, and the war began. The benders are strong, but they were just as much at war with each other as with the non-benders. Their division made them weak. Then Kai… did something unforgivable. He survived the war, but due to his actions, when he died, he became the only Avatar to be expelled from the cycle."

"I see." Jin rolled on his side. "But it still doesn't tell me what happened three hundred years ago." Aang's voice then said, "I'll tell you eventually, when me and the other Avatars feel it's the right time."

"Alright. I guess I should go to sleep now. The first lesson is tomorrow after all." There was no reply from Aang. Jin closed his eyes, and soon fell into a very deep sleep.