Disclaimer: Le Gasp! I own nothing! wait... I own Sokka's kick ass 'Ghost mask!" KOOL!

K, last chapter i asked what you all thought Sokka forgot... well the winning guesses were (in order of review date) I have no prizes to give other then to have your name mentioned at the top of the chapter, sorry if you were expecting more.

1st H-Bomber

2nd DragonZap (sorry... Bomber was just that much faster)

3rd PureAngel86 (although you made like four guesses... lol)

alrighty... enough talking

Curtain up!

Sokka: Master of the Black Sword

By: The Jade Knight

Beta and creative consultant: Richard Caine

-Tournament Saga-

Chapter 4

-

The Story of Sokka

Chapter 4: Stone and Steel

-

The crowd was still roaring and chanting my name as I turned around and walked out of the Battle Pit. Behind me I heard the sounds of several stage hands and medics helping Kujo get out of his vest. I had just won my first formal match, I should be excited, but I was scared. How could I have been so stupid? I kept forgetting that Toph was blind, but that was with little things like the menu yesterday, never something like this. She recognized people by their footsteps and heart beat and other things like that, a mask and a change of cloths wasn't going to hide me from her. What would Toph say? I knew that she had been supportive of me entering the tournament, but that still didn't change the fact that I had done it behind her back.

"Brenton!" I turned around looking for the source of the voice and saw Salazar coming toward me, only now he wore a silver chain mail vest over his Fire-Nation Army cloths. "Damn boy, you never told me you were that good!"

I shrugged as I shoved the venomous thoughts into the back of my mind for a few minutes. The last thing I needed was Salazar asking me what was wrong. My mask hid a smug little smile that formed on my face, but I'm sure he could hear it on my voice. "I'm an okay fighter, I just got lucky by being paired with the type of opponent I do best against."

"Luck has nothing to do with it!" shouted Salazar over the slowly subduing audience. "I fought Kujo for the semi-finals last year and ended up in the hospital for two weeks afterwards."

"Really?" I asked, genuinely surprised, Kujo was a push over and Salazar looked bad-ass, there was no way he got beaten that bad. That couldn't be right, he was just saying that to boost my confidence.

"Yes really, that guy is vicious, spiteful and a pain in the ass to fight. But you, I have never seen anyone do the things you did. Did Piando teach you all that?"

Uh oh, I am going to have to be a little more careful when putting my Earth and Water styles to use. "No, well kind of. He taught me to be flexible, to not become a slave to any one style, 'to be predictable is to be dead' and all that."

"Did he say that?" Asked Salazar with a lopsided grin.

"Say what?"

"'To be predictable is to be dead'?"

"No, I just made that up." I said.

"Well Brenton, those are wise words indeed." He said as the audience finally calmed down and the announcer spoke up again. "My fights next, you got time to watch? It might be a good idea if we have to fight each other. I shouldn't be telling you that seeing as you are the competition and all, but I want at least one good fight from this blasted tournament."

"What? Why would I fight you?"

"Didn't you look at the combat chart they have set up on pretty much every flat surface?"

"No," I said honestly. "I was pretty nervous, I guess I missed it. Why?"

"Well, we're in neighboring brackets. So if both of us stay undefeated we'll be fighting for the semi's." I looked him over again. He was bigger then me, big enough to make it my advantage, but I would have to keep a few moves a secret if I wanted to catch him off guard.

"That sounds awesome-" I started, but then the announcer came back on and asked the next two fighters to go down to the fighting pit. It didn't seem to take them to long to fix the door Kujo had destroyed, maybe that was a common occurrence here. I hoped so, the bigger they are the easier I win. "Well I guess I should be getting back into the stands."

"Alright see you later kid." Salazar said dropping his hand painfully on my shoulder. "Oh hey, It's kind of a tradition for me and Yoten to get together in the evening of the first day of the fights, you know just me, him and his kids. We'd be honored if you'd come too."

That sounded pretty good, but how would I get away from the guys? "That sounds great but-"

"No excuses. We'd all like you to come, and feel free to being a guest, my treat." And then he flashed me one of those knowing grins my sister always had, damn was it contagious or something? What had Yoten told him?

"Alright, I promise I'll try." I said in an exasperated voice. "But I can't guarantee anything."

"Fair enough." He said as he took out a little pencil and paper from one of his pockets and wrote down the name and directions to the place they were meeting. Then he passed it to me as he strapped on his own mask, a moment later an orange fox was grinning back at me. "Wish me luck?"

"Good luck, until we fight." I said cockily, earning a laugh. Then some official looking guy came over and asked me politely to move out of the fighters pit so they could get underway again.

-

I was climbing the stairs up into the stands, back in my Fire-Nation clothes, my costume inside the black bag over my shoulder a few minutes later. Down in the Battle Pit Salazar and some small guy squared off. I knew it would be a good idea to watch and study him, but I had a problem. I was scared again; I almost felt like I was going to throw up. I found I was much more scared of breaking Toph's trust then I was the other two. It felt like I could get back on the other two's good sides eventually. But Toph was like a rock, if you got on her bad side once you would get crushed. But for some reason I found the prospect of losing her trust much more worrying then anything she might do to me.

Needless to say I was a wreck by the time I got back to the seats. I spotted my sister in that red dress first, next to her Aang seemed to be describing something very animately ... and then I saw Toph. She was sitting in her seat surrounded by people many times her size, sometimes you forgot how dangerous she was, deceptively small and all that. As I drew closer she turned her face toward me and grinned wickedly, then she held a single silent finger to her lips.

I almost screamed in joy. The ball of molten steel that had settled in the bottom of my stomach packed up its bags and left. She wasn't mad, I was so relived I could almost jump in excitement. But I had to keep face. I was ecstatic that Toph was okay with it, but Aang and definitely Katara would not understand.

"Oh my god, Sokka did you see that last guy!" Aang practically screamed in my face as I dropped down into the seat between him and Toph trying to act as cool as I could.

"Yeah, I got a little lost on they way back but I was able to see the match. What did you think of that Ghost guy?" I asked as innocently as I could even though I think everyone heard Toph snort.

"He was like zoom, and pow, and then he ran right up the big guy's back! It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen!" yelled Aang as he mimicked stabbing a sword in mid-air. "And then he cut the guy's cloths and he fell on his own face and it was so awesome!"

I laughed at his enthusiasm. I didn't think I was that good but it was nice to get the praise, at least indirectly. Even Katara seemed a little red in the face from cheering along with the crowd, and then Aang brought up another thing I had forgotten.

"He even had a black sword like Sokka's." He said, and then he frowned and looked at me with a pensive look on his face. "Actually, exactly like yours."

"Aang," said my sister with a kind expression. "Its a guy thing, they all want to be the bad boy with the black sword. They think it's cool."

"Oh, okay then." Accepted Aang. I almost laughed, it was about damn time karma found someone else to pick on. And just as I thought that the man behind me accidentally dumped his drink into my lap.

Or not.

-

Today's Soudatsu matches were completed by about three in the afternoon, and since fighters only fought once a day my next match was not until tomorrow. I had studied Salazar's fighting style carefully and found that he seemed to switch between a pure power offense and a style that worked much like the Water style, using an opponents power against him. He could be a problem, a real challenge. I was almost trembling with excitement.

It was about four when we got back to the encampment, and for a while I was preoccupied with trying to make a plan to get away form the others. I could figure out how to break into the Fire-Nation but I couldn't get away from my companions. Yeah, I'm a brilliant tactician.

Aang seemed to be playing some game with Momo, Appa had wandered away somewhere to eat an entire field's worth of grass and Toph and Katara were putting their head together as they sorted through the things we had bought yesterday. I had offered to help but they told me to go play with my sword somewhere else. I was just starting to worry that Toph was telling Katara about my exploits in the arena when Katara stood up, the last of the things sorted out and packed away on Appa's saddle.

"Alright, Aang," my sister called. A moment later Aang came back into the cave, Momo trailing behind him. "Its our turn to get the fire wood."

"But it's Sokka and Toph's turn to go get the wood." Whined Aang as his face fell. I didn't know what Katara was doing but I liked it already.

"We all agree thats it supposed to be a 'Sokka Day' remember? That includes excluding him from his meal time duties."

"But why does Toph get to be left out to?"

"Would you rather go into the woods with Toph or me?" Katara asked, earning a smile and submission from Aang.

Hey, wait. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

I glared at Katara in her little red robe that annoyed me so much. What did she mean by that last part? I turned my glare on Aang and an embarrassed blush formed on his face. I knew he was supposed to be the saviour of the world and all that, but if he didn't keep his hands to himself I would skin him alive and be damned with the world.

"Sokka," growled Katara, matching my glare. For several seconds we faced off until I glanced away. Alright, I trusted my sister, and I trusted Aang. I just didn't trust Aang's hormones. But I also knew that he wasn't capable of hurting any one he cared about, especially Katara. With a little defeated sigh, I shot Aang one last hard look that said 'watch your hands'.

"Alright Aang, come on." And with that Katara lead the way out of the cave. For several moments there was silence after the two left, until it was broken by Toph.

"So, Ghost huh?" Asked Toph from her place leaning up against Appa's saddle. I knew that she knew about my other identity, but the name still sounded weird coming from her.

"Yeah, after I picked out the costume the name just kind of clicked."

"I know. Aang wouldn't shut up abut how much you moved like a real spirit, 'almost gliding' is what he said." I swelled with pride as she spoke, "But I felt you stumble at least three times walking from the door to the center of the arena."

Damn.

"But to everyone that didn't have an unfair advantage I looked kick-ass." I responded, injecting a bit of slyness into my voice, I expected Toph to laugh or at least try to playfully knock me back down. But instead she let out an exasperated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I see we're going to have to have a talk."

"What? About what?" I asked confused.

"The attitude you have about fighting. If we don't do something about it we're going to have to stick you back together after you get slaughtered." That's not what I expected from her at all. "Okay, there are several unwritten rules of tournament fighting, but they apply to pretty much anything where there is a crowd or admirers."

"Okay." I said slowly not really seeing where this was going. I had never heard of any unwritten rules of anything, but if they were unwritten I guess I wouldn't. Toph nodded over to the large logs we had set up around the fire-pit like benches. I followed her over and sat down facing her over the blackened pit. The sun was starting to go down and it was shining a nice golden light into the mouth of the cave. I blanked out again for a moment as I just drank in the sight of a golden wreathed Toph

For a long time she just sat there, deep in thought, and when she finally spoke every word was weighted and chosen carefully. "You have to understand that there will always be people who tell you that you are the greatest, or that you are invincible, undefeatable, or that you are simply number one at what you do, generally worshiping you. After the dust falls, the matches are over and you're at an after-party or talking to fans, its okay to be swept up in the praise; to believe you are the best. But when it's all said and done you have to know, really know, that you are just another person: that there is always someone better, that you can fall at anytime. You have to know that you are just a single being in the grand scheme of things, and that you are not any different than the guy next to you. You have to know that you were just that much faster up until now, but that could change in an instant and you could be brought to your knees."

That hit me a little hard. When she had started talking I was still smiling, but now my face was serious as I felt the strength in her words that only comes when someone really believes in what they say.

"You remember the Boulder right."

I nodded.

"Well, he has almost always come in second in the Earth Rumbles, just a single step away from victory. First it was always a guy named Arckon that took the top spot, and then it was me after I joined. But the Boulder never stood a chance at victory because everyone told him he was already the best, that Arckon and myself were just barely able to take the title from him, that he would definitely win next time. And he believed them. Do you see how believing that defeated him even before he stepped into the ring?"

I thought for a mere moment before the answer slapped me in the face. "Because he believed he was already the greatest he never put his all into training or his fights. He thought everyone was inferior and underestimated them all."

"Exactly," Toph said with a nod of her own. "He believed he was already the greatest, so he never pushed himself. He never put his all into anything and that doomed him before he even entered the arena. A true fighter understands that there is always someone faster, stronger, more powerful. They understand that they might meet their ender at any moment and be knocked from the top."

"Wow," I breathed. "Did you figure out all of that on your own?"

"No, when I first entered the Earth Rumble and placed third Arckon took me aside and explained it to me."

"Why'd he do that?" I asked.

"Well because he was only a little older then me and he could relate to my situation."

He? Relate? I suddenly felt a wave of fear sweep through me. How close had she gotten to this Arckon guy? "So what happened with this Arckon?" I asked as innocently as I could, hoping none of my feelings managed to make their way into my voice.

"He had to go back to his home town shortly after he won the fourth Earth Rumble. I haven't seen him in two years but he was right when he said all of this. If you believe the crowd you will be doomed to lose before you even start. You have to be humble, and a little fear is always good. It makes you try just that much harder."

"I think I get it." I said satisfied with her explanation of Arckon. So I focused back on what she had said before, turning it all over in my head.

"Good." She replied standing back up and dusting off her clothes. "Now come with me."

"Okay," I answered, a little lost, but I still followed her. She led me out of the cave and down a little path that had been worn by some woodland animals that had lived in the cave at one time or another. Finally we stepped out into the small clearing that sat a short distance aways form the mouth of the cave. It was only about seventy feet from one side to the other, and surrounded by a tightly paced ring of various breeds of tree. In the center of the clearing was a single rocky outcropping near one end, but other than that it was a mostly flat expanse of ankle high grass rippling in the wind like the ocean. Toph walked a little further away before she turned around and squared off against me.

"Alright Snoozles, let's see what you can really do. Give me everything or I will bust you, little man."

My mouth dropped so fast I swore I tasted dirt. I absorbed her delightedly malicious expression, while my brain tried to catch up to her words. "What? Are you insane? I'm not going to fight you!"

"Well then this is going to hurt because I'm going to fight you." She said. I'd seen that smirk before. It was the 'pain smirk'. Crap.

"Wait - but the - what about - ahh!" I cried, as a small column of earth shot straight up from beneath my feet, knocking me off balance and onto my back. Quickly I scrambled to my feet, just as a rock the size of my head slammed into the earth where I had just been. I looked up into Toph's beautiful misty eyes for a moment trying to figure out what she was trying to do, because those attacks -if you could call them that- were so slow even Kujo could have dodged them and gotten bored.

And then I understood.

"Okay, I'll spar with you, and I promise to give it my best shot. Just wait a second okay?" I said, receiving a gruff nod, her face bright with an excited flush and her eyes sparkling with anticipation.

I got to my feet and looked her over. She was still the same girl that made my mind go blank if I watched to long, but something was different about her now. She seemed almost like she was bouncing as she stood perfectly still, her face was lit up brighter then I had seen it in a long time. This was the Toph that I had first started to notice, the Warrior Toph. The girl who loved a fight and hated being looked at as weak or broken. The girl who had blown me away as she tore through first the Earth-Benders of the Earth Rumble competition and then later entire platoons of Fire-Benders and Dai-li alike. This was the Toph that made my heart beat fast and my logic fail me. The power, the passion; she was a true warrior.

And then it hit me, in a once in a life time flash of inspiration I understood her character. If she was to ever let me into her heart. it would not be with flowers and kind words. Later? Yes, those things will be important to her. But first I had to show her that I considered her an equal or the more likely, judging from the fact that I didn't expect to win this sparring match even though I would give her everything I had, a superior. I had to show her that I didn't consider her weak, show her that I understand that she was an independent and strong woman, and show her that this was a quality that I desired in her. Only when I had shown her that I would not baby her or talk down to her, would she start to allow me inside her defenses; allow herself to rely on me, lean on me if she needed to.

Shaking my head to get myself back in the game I understood why she had challenged me, and I knew why I would participate in this match, and likely more to come. But I still did not understand why she had initiated it. Why would Toph - wait, That's it!

I was trying to think of her from the wrong perspective. She was a warrior, and I was a new opponent, a way to test her power. And like I realized a while back there hadn't been much resistance from the Fire-Nation for a long while. She had gotten bored, and she had said she loved to fight.

Wait, I was the only way to test her powers! Until now she had not known there was someone in the group that she could challenge and because we hadn't had any resistance she must have been going out of her mind. She couldn't fight Aang and have a chance of winning in a straight spar, he was the bloody Avatar!.And Katara was a Water-Bender; Earth and Water mixed awkwardly to say the least. Although I had to admit that watching Toph mud-wrestle wasn't exactly an unwanted thought. Again she would not have a fair and challenging battle; not a raw test of her skills. Katara needed to be near a large water source to rival Toph's Earth-Bending strength. But being that close to water would also soak the earth until it was water logged, giving Katara the power of grabbing any earth Toph sent at her and send it right back.

Now she'd found out that I had reached a level with my blade that could test her without defeating her before we even started. Or ending in mud wrestling. Mmm... that takes me to my happy place. No wonder she was so excited, I had just presented myself as an equal.

Sweet.

"So, are you going to spar or am I going to have to convince you?" She asked with an arched eyebrow. With a wide grin I drew my sword from the sheath over my back. And as Toph heard my sword being drawn she gave her own wicked grin that made my stomach flop. Steadying my nerves I squared off, determined to show Toph that I was an equal.

Now how the hell was I going to last more then five seconds against the world's greatest Earth-Bender? Ah, damn. Suddenly the down sides of this brilliant plan of mine barred their ugly teeth. Okay, what were the weaknesses of Toph's fighting Style? Well she was blind, but she used that to her advantage. She sensed my movements no matter how fast or sneaky I was, and on top of that she used a very non-conventional style of Earth-Bending. Most benders tore great hunks of earth and rock from the ground and sent it hurtling at their enemies. But Toph always attacked from under the ground, essentially making her opponents blind to her attacks.

Oh bloody hell, I was screwed. All that I could really do was move as fast and unpredictably as I could. Keep my speed maxed out and put every odd and, well ... idiotic move in my arsenal to use. I would have to surprise her until I could work out a better strategy.

Yup, I was going to be smashed into pudding.

I slid fluidly into my Scorpion stance, looking down the black edge of my sword at Toph. "Anytime you're ready."

Her reaction was almost immediate, Toph brought both of her fists to her chest and thrust them out to either side with fierce force. The sound of thunder filled the air as the earth between my feet cracked and started to separate. Had I been a little slower I would have fallen in. I know it wouldn't have been dangerous, this was a sparring match after all; but it would have been the end of the fight. I was fast however, faster then Toph had anticipated judging from the way her beautiful eyes widened in surprise as I leapt away from the opening pit and came right at her, my feet pounding the hard earth.

I was maybe ten feet from her before she violently thrust a fist straight up in the air, creating a wall of stone between us. I knew what was coming because I had seen her fight a hundred times before. But I also knew that if I let on that I knew, she would do something different. So I kept up the speed and ran straight at the wall, my sword raised in a way that would seem that I planned on trying to slice through the wall. I counted that she would remember that my sword was kept razor sharp and could easily cut through a measly five inches of compressed earth.

When I was just within thrusting range of the wall half of the bloody thing tore off and flew at me, and since I was only three feet away it didn't give me a whole lot of time to react. But luckily I didn't need a lot of time. Kicking off of the ground I rose in the air just high enough to use her improvised projectile as a springboard, launching myself over her wall.

She had cleverly kept the bottom of her projectile wall connected to the ground and slid it at me rather then threw it, so she felt when I use it as a kick-plate and knew I had penetrated her defenses and was about to claim victory. The look of total shock on her pretty face was priceless. She must have thought that when I had fought Kujo I had opened up with everything, and she must have thought she knew exactly how fast I could move.

Ha. I wondered what would happened when she figured out that I was still holding just a little back. I brought my sword down, planning on stopping about a foot away from her, when she suddenly smiled at me and dropped away, right into the earth.

What the hell?

Damn, I forgot she could move under the earth for short distances. I had seen her use it while she had been training Aang a while back. I hit the ground and quickly spun in a tight circle. Where was she going to pop up. I knew she could only stay down there for a few seconds, she would have to come back up right away.

Where was she? Behind?

With a battle cry Toph exploded up out of the earth right in front of me, the last place I expected. I barely finished my surprised gasp before a pillar of earth rose up diagonally out of the ground behind her and threatened to slam painfully into my chest. Getting my balance I jumped, hoping I could time it right and brought my feet up to my former chest level. A fraction of a second later the entire force of the pillar was thrust through my knees and into my chest, firing me back like a cannon ball toward the tree line at the edge of the clearing.

I heard a gasp from Toph. Obviously she hadn't expected me to pull off such a move. I was about half way to cracking my head on a tree when I heard a bit of Earth-Bending behind me and assumed that she had created something to catch me. Ha, sorry Toph, the fight ain't over yet. I jammed my sword into the earth that blew past under me, creating a pivot point that brought me crashing to my knees twenty feet short of the trees and fifteen feet short of the curved wall of soft earth Toph had placed to save me.

Getting to my feet as fast as possible I ran straight back the way I came as fast as I possibly could -holding nothing back- roaring with everything left in my lungs. The look of worry and fear on Toph's face when I was speeding toward the tree line quickly shifted to surprise and then excitement between my steps. With her grin back in place Toph stomped her left foot into the earth as hard as she could, but I was ready. I banked to the right sharply, ignoring the screaming from my left shoulder as it slammed into the column of earth that appeared in the middle of my previous path. Then her right foot stomped hard, and with my near perfect timing I again dodged the column meant to break my charge. In the thirty feet that I covered between my landing place and Toph's little defensive wall I dodged her attacks thirteen times. I raised my sword again, a forest of earthy needles raising behind me as I was about to win.

And then she got me. I had not considered that she would bend a new attack from the remains of an old one. So when the center of her defensive wall caught me in the side I laid on the ground gasping for breath for several seconds before I realized what happened.

"Bloody (gasp) hell." I wheezed, staring up at the mostly blue sky. A moment later Toph flopped down on the ground beside me. Looking over I felt the fatigue and soreness in my limbs lift somewhat as I saw how beautiful she looked, cheeks rosie with exhilaration and her hair wind-whipped and tussled. A moment later she got up and walked over to the cave, I took this time to gasp like a hurricane, trying to get my breath back. I had been image training and strength training for months now, but this was the first time in a long time I had really opened up with everything I had.

"You okay?" She asked as she dropped back down beside me again, two very cold and very delicious looking water bottles in her hands. I gratefully accepted the one she held out to me and guzzled half of it before I answered.

"Yeah, I'm just not used to going all out."

"So was that everything you had, or are you still holding back?" she asked threateningly. I laughed, knowing if I lied and said no she would make me fight again.

"No, that was everything I had."

"Good." she said taking another sip from her water bottle. "I really kicked your sorry ass huh?"

I roared with laughter at that, but admitted it non the less. "Yeah, you really did. But I almost got you quite a few times, I saw your face drop."

"Yeah, you held back a lot when you fought that Kujo guy. I knew you did, I could feel it, I just never guessed that you were holding back that much."

"Yup, next time I might win."

"Dream on sword-boy."

"Well, we'll just have to spar more often then won't we?"

"And let you inflate you male ego even more?" Toph nearly yelled, but I could see that she was ecstatic at the thought of more fights like these. Sweet. And then an idea struck me. I toyed with it for a while, fidgeting with the water bottle for a little while until Toph cut through my thoughts.

"Sokka, what is it?"

"Well," I started, not sure how to ask. "One of the other fighters and the guy who made my costume, kind of friends of mine, are having this sort of after-party. It's supposed to be us and the old guy's kids. Just a little celebration, as such, and they said that I could bring a guest ... and I was kind of wondering if you would want to come along." Oh damn I hope I didn't go to far, I knew she was starting to open up a little but what if I was being to up front?

Wait, was that a little bit of a blush on her cheeks? Or was it still from the fight? "Sure, I guess I could come along."

Booyah!

"Alright." I said, feeling like I wanted to scream from the moon that she accepted. I'm no git, I knew this wasn't nothing like a date, but it was a step in the right direction. Right?

"We're back!" shouted Katara as she walked out of the tree line and stopped dead. The walls and columns that had been raised by Toph during our spar were still standing proud. Oh hell, what would Katara think?

"Hey guys, you're back! I was going out of my mind with boredom; had to do some exercises to keep from passing out." Said Toph innocently. I fought the victorious smile that wanted out as Katara accepted this. And then Aang appeared from the trees carrying a huge stack of wood, many times that of Katara's little arm load. Good, arms had hands, and full arms weren't wandering arms. And it was the gentlemanly thing to do after all.

Did I feel a little over protective? Yes. But I was her brother, it's what I'm meant to do.

-

"So I told Katara that I had gotten some Soudatsu after-party tickets and she didn't say anything more about it." Said Toph as we walked down the streets of the town. It was getting on in the evening and the sun was just barely staying above the horizon, bathing everything in a orange light.

"Oh," I said. I had just asked her what she had told Katara about us leaving to go somewhere without them. "But didn't she say anything about only us two going and not her and Aang?"

"No, because I gave her some story about how I had only been with you guys for, like eight months and you were the only one I hadn't really gotten to know yet. I talked to Aang all the time when we earth trained, and since we always used to divide up the chores by gender I think I know quite a bit about Katara. But I said that I hadn't talked to you alone all that much."

"You're good at manipulating people." I said with a grin.

"I was always sneaking away from my guards and over protective parents to train and fight. Getting away from Katara is easy," she said, an evil little giggle escaping from her chest.

We were only a few blocks from the family restaurant that Salazar had told me we were all meeting them at, when I got run over by something with a very hard head. With a shout I fell painfuly on my back and just laid there for a moment trying to will away the nausea. I drew a few gasps as the stars slowly faded from my vision before I felt Toph help me up. A moment later I could see again and the first thing I saw with my watery vision was ... a stone tube?

It was about a foot long and pretty thick, almost as big around as my forearm. It was made of some sort of old white rock, carefully carved into strange depictions of burning and decimated landscapes. They were beautifully nightmarish. And although the details were still startlingly stark, it must have been very old. The white stone was slightly yellowed with age and there were multiple chips and nicks in it. It also looked like it had survived many attempts to destroy it: burns and water damage ravaged the engravings everywhere. Finally at either end there were thick black caps that were sealed with knotted red wax.

There was something wrong with this scroll, I couldn't describe it but it gave off this ... black aura. Now, I'm not one to believe in auras and all that crap, but this scroll felt like it shouldn't exist, like it had caused countless deaths and destroyed some of the greatest wonders of this word. It was dark and it was fearsome and it needed to be wiped from the face of the planet before it could kill again. But as quickly as I spied it, it vanished into the sleeve of the girl I had run into.

"Are you okay?" Toph asked facing me.

"Yeah." I groaned rubbing the back of my neck. Looking at the girl I could still feel the scroll. She seemed frightened. She was watching me with the eyes of a cornered animal. She took a few steps back from me, her short chopped hair -almost boyish really- was a dark brown and looked like it hadn't been combed or groomed in a while. She wore simple travel worn cloths, a plain black shirt and worn brown pants. Combined with her average looks and thin build she could blend into the background of any town or crowd. But it seemed a little forced, like she was trying to hide.

"Are you okay? We collided pretty hard." I asked, genuinely concerned for her heath. She looked at me a second longer before she turned and ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction. "Hey, we don't want to hurt you!" I called after her retreating back. But she never turned around or gave any indication that she had heard me. A second later I could almost swear that I had seen a little flash of blue about the collar of her shirt just as she vanished from view.

"Well that was rude!" Said Toph facing the way the girl had ran. "She almost kills you and then she runs."

-

The 'Red Komodo' had just come into sight as we rounded a corner, the setting sun at our backs, when I stopped Toph and pulled her aside into the shadows of an alley.

"Okay Toph, stop for a second." Looking around I made sure we wouldn't be overheard before I continued. "We're going to have to use fake names while were in here."

"Why?" She said defiantly.

"Well, Sokka is an obvious Water Tribe name, if you started calling me that in there someone might get suspicious. And your name is also a little unique, I have never heard of any Toph's aside from you. If they find your out your name they might think about the Bei Fong family, and as their only daughter is blind and you at least look blind we could all be waking up tomorrow with a fireball breakfast."

She considered this for several long moments, letting me sweat it out before she answered. "Alright, I get it." She said finally. "So what names are we going to use?"

"Well," I started. "I've already introduced myself to these people as Brenton so-"

"Brenton?!" Toph cried with a snort.

"Hey I like it." I said defensively, as she snickered. "Okay, enough laughing. What are we going to call you?"

The wind rustled the branches of a nearby tree as we fell silent. "Well, Toph is a pretty name so whatever we use should be too. How do you feel abut Lily?"

Toph mumbled that it was okay before she started to the building her face a little flush. Looking up at the sky I guessed that she was red in the face because it was a cool night, we should be getting inside.

The building was pretty featureless, just your standard boxy brown building with the name declared over the doorway in big stylized red letters. We walked in the plain oak windowless doors and a crowed and excited scene met us. There were tables everywhere filled with families or couples, all smiling and laughing and eating. The lights overhead were soft and inviting, casting a faint yellow glow across everything. Along the walls were dozens upon dozens of brilliant works of art and covering the floor was a brilliantly red carpet that sunk in expensively as we walked upon it. Looking around I followed my nose to the far end of the room where a pair of white doors that obviously lead to the kitchen tempted the stomach.

"Good evening, do you have a reservation?" Asked a young man coming toward us clutching a few menus to the chest of his red and gold uniform.

"Uhh, sort of," I said a little unsure of how I was supposed to act. "We were invited to join Yoten and Salazar-"

"Oh yes, Mister Salazar's party. This way sir and miss." Said the young man with a smile, before he turned and lead us across the room to another set of doors, black this time. Once through them we found ourselves in a short corridor with many doors on either side.

"Just a heads up," I whispered, leaning in to Toph's ear. "There may be an admirer of yours here." She shot me a quizzical look but I just shrugged. Yes, she could feel me shrug. She said she felt the way the weight shifted when someone shrugged and knew when they did it, or something like that.

"Mister Salazar is not here yet but his other guests are right through here. Please make yourselves comfortable, we will be taking orders as soon as Mister Salazar arrives," said the young man, as he opened a random door just like every other one in the hall. But I just lead the way in, with Toph close behind me. As soon as we were inside the young man close the door with a slight 'thump' that sounded through this new room. Looking up I noticed that besides us there were only three other people in the room. Yoten looked like he did last time, a little on the old side but with the face of a kind and caring father. This time he was dressed in something almost semi-formal with a twist of casual, one of his own works no doubt. It was a pale shirt beneath a sort of formal jacket that had a casual cut to it and neatly ironed slacks.

I suddenly felt a little under dressed in my unusual Fire-Nation cloths.

"Brenton my boy, that was a brilliant show you put on today." Said Yoten as he got up from his chair at the single stretched table sitting in the center of the small room and shook my hand. There were a few pitchers of some orange coloured juice spaced over the deep crimson table cloth. The chairs were all fancy but looked very comfortable and in front of each was set a sparkling white plate and silverware. I only counted six places set so I assumed that were we only waiting on Salazar now. The room was spacious enough, even though it was kind of small. Not claustrophobic, that's what I mean. The walls were painted a deep cream and looked heavily textured and a single ocean view painting hung on the far wall.

"Are you going to introduce us to your lady friend?" Asked Yoten with a sly smile as two giggles came from behind him.

"This is Lily, a close friend of mine." I said taking a step back as Yoten gently grasped Toph's hand, he frowned a bit when he looked into her eyes but she immediately asked him a question about something and distracted him. I took this moment to get a look at the other two occupied chairs where the giggles had come from.

Sitting in the furthest chair was a girl of about fourteen with long hair the same shade as Yoten's so I assumed she was his elder daughter. She looked at me with curious eyes that drifted over my shoulder. Looking for my sword I assumed, but as this was a family restaurant I felt it would be in bad taste to bring in a weapon. She also seemed to be wearing one of her fathers creations, a simple yet elegant dress in a brilliant yellow. Normaly that colour might be atrocious on a person but it went together nicely with her sharp face and wavy dark hair.

Next to her I assumed was Shoji. Unlike her father and sister she had a round face with sunshine blond hair cut a little shorter then her sisters. She must take more after her mother. She got up, her soft green dress flowing prettily. I almost laughed, It looked like I was lucky with only one sister to look after. Poor Yoten was going to have a terrible time beating away the boys from these two beauty queens. Suddenly Shoji's blue eyes grew wide as she took a second look at Toph.

I grinned. I wondered what she would do.

In truth I expected her to either be speechless or to started talking like a motormouth. What I didn't expect was her to scream loud enough to shatter my ear drums. I cried out, clamping my hands over my ears. I was kind of aware of her running past me -still screaming- but I think she scrambled my brain.

"What the bloody hell was that?" I yelled, trying to figure out which way the floor was so I could dig myself a hole and hide. Shoji then went from a long endless scream to speaking in a voice so high it would make dolphin ears bleed. Bloody hell; that sound can't be natural.

-

Later, after my ability to hear returned, and Toph stopped laughing at me we had proper introductions. After that Shoji and Toph were inseparable, talking abut Earth-Bending and other rocky things. Yoten's other daughter was named Rinyu, but she preferred to be called just Rin. Apparently her sister was the bender in the family -she got it from their mother- But Rin was no girly-girl herself, she had a passion for fighting that rivaled Toph's, but she preferred the blade much like I did.

We spent a long while talking about how I trained and who I had had as a master. Rin told me about the Earth Kingdom style of blade combat and it seemed intriguing. Unlike everything I had learned so far it It was a purely power based fighting style. I was really interested and hoped that in the near future I would get a chance to learn that style as well.

I was just teaching Rin a few basic meditation exercises when Salazar came in, still dressed in his Fire-Nation uniform. As soon as he came in all Earth Kingdom talk was dropped and the fake names were used again. I felt a little bad for not telling him the truth, but he was a captain in the Fire-Nation military; we couldn't afford to let him suspect anything. The rest of the night went smoothly: fun, laughs, the whole bit. Toph and Shoji got to be pretty good friends even though Toph was six years older. And Rin and I got along okay to, we had fun talking to Salazar and Yoten about the upcoming matches.

The only time I felt a little something wrong was when I introduced him to Toph. I could have imagined it. But I could have sworn I saw recognition in Salazar's eyes, if only for a fraction of a second.


The Jade Knight

Richard Caine