I managed to find the time to crank this out. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but it was pretty rushed, so I'm pleased, I guess. Things are still kind of crazy and updates are going to be sporadic for the next few weeks. But I have plotted everything out in my head, and we'll have our big romantic confession in five chapters! Eeep, I'm excited!

Amaya was beyond excited. Her first Earthbending lesson! Okay, admittedly it had never been her favorite bending discipline, but still! Earthbending!

She was up at the crack of dawn, hopping around and jabbering, and just annoying Sokka in general.

"Gooood morning, Earthbending student!" Toph announced, sending the sides of her rock tent flying.

"Morning, Sifu Toph," Amaya grinned, bowing formally.

"Hey," Katara protested. "You never called me Sifu Katara."

"Do you think I should?" Amaya asked, cocking her had curiously.

Sokka sat up, grumbling inarticulately and glaring at the world in general.

"Sorry snoozles, we'll do our Earthbending as quietly as possible," Toph said jokingly. She kicked the ground and a column of dirt flung Sokka into the air. He screamed as he went up and came down in the middle of the fire pit, thankfully cold. He hopped up and bounced over to Amaya, growling in her face before doing the same to Toph and hopping away to find a quiet place to sleep.

"What do we start with?" Amaya asked excitedly. "Avalanches, earthquakes?"

Toph frowned and held out a hand. "Hold on, Twinkle Toes. Let's start with moving a rock."

"Okay," Amaya grinned, bouncing after Toph. Katara followed after them, perching daintily on a ledge to watch curiously. Toph stomped and two large rocks shot out of the ground, landing in front of her and Amaya.

"Earthbending is all about your stance," Toph said, sinking into a wide-legged stance with her fists facing up at waist level. "It has to be steady and strong. Rock is a stubborn element. You have to be alike a rock yourself." She reached out a hand and shoved Amaya, who immediately staggered.

"Rockiness, check," Amaya grinned, taking the stance again and this time going lower, planting her feet.

"Good," Toph said. "Now, the actual motion for this is pretty simple." She presented her side to the rock, stepped, and punched with one hand. The rock shot off and shattered against the canyon wall.

"Okay," Amaya nodded. She mimicked Toph's stance, taking a strong step and punching. Suddenly she was speeding backwards. She slammed into Appa's side and face-planted, groaning.

"Hah, rock beats Airbender," Sokka joked. Amaya raised a hand and pointed at him. A thin shot of air knocked him off his ledge and sent him flying.

"No comments from the peanut gallery, thanks," she grumbled, standing up and brushing herself off before walking back over to Toph.

"I don't get what went wrong," Katara said, frowning. "He did it just like you said."

"Maybe I should come at it from a different angle," Amaya though, walking around the rock.

"No!" Toph said sharply. "That's your problem, you're thinking like an Airbender. There is no different angle, no clever solution, no trickety-trick that's gonna move that rock! You just have to face it head on. And when I say head on, I mean like this!" Toph ran and jumped, slamming her forehead into the rock. It shattered under the pressure and Amaya recoiled.

"Holy ostrich horse," she muttered. "Head on, apply directly to forehead."

Toph walked away and Katara chased after her.

"Hey Toph, I've been training with Amaya for a while now, and she works better with positive words. If she's not getting something, maybe a gentle nudge in the right direction," Katara suggested.

"A gentle nudge," Toph said, and it sounded a bit like her 'pitiful blind girl' voice. That alone should have been a tipoff. "Thanks Katara, I'll try that."

"Keep your knees high Twinkle Toes!" Toph roared.

Amaya flinched and staggered under the weight of the giant rock she was supporting on her back as the earth began rising under her feet and trying to throw her off. Strength wasn't her strong suit to begin with. Thrown in the challenge of the earth under her feet and she knew she was screwed. It was only a matter of time before she finally tipped over and dropped the rock.

Toph rubbed her hands together when she did, and Amaya cowered in fear.

The next training involved, digging your hand into rock. Toph flexed her fingers and punched down five or six times, burrowing deep. Amaya tried, and drew back with a yelp, clutching her hand.

"I think I broke something," she whimpered.

She was standing there, sweating with nervousness in her Earthbending stance, looking around fearfully. Toph suddenly leapt from the ground to her right and screamed, "Rock me!"

She wasn't rocked. Amaya toppled over, yelping in surprise, and lay on the ground blinking. Toph kicked her up with a push from the rock under her and flicked her in the face.

After a brief struggle with Sokka, Toph procured his cudgel and handed it to a blindfolded Amaya. She proceeded to raise columns around her for Amaya to track and then hit. She missed the first three, swinging wildly, before Toph placed one right in front of her. Amaya swung the cudgel with a grunt and broke the column in half. Sifu Toph nodded approvingly.

Amaya was honestly terrified Toph was going to try and crush her when she raised two high walls on either side of them. Toph instead drew a line in the dirt in front of her and surrounded herself in rocks. Amaya just gaped at her, floundering for what to do when rock-Toph came sliding towards her. She connected and Amaya braced her hands on Toph's chest pushing back determinedly. Toph slowly slid back. Amaya felt it as Toph added more pressure, but she kept pushing, sliding her over the line.

The next training involved Amaya standing on the top of two columns in her stance, throwing a weight of rock up and catching it in her other hand while maintaining her stance.

"Rocking!" Toph shouted, before slamming the pillars. They vibrated sharply, cracking a bit under Toph's strength, but they held, and so did Amaya, standing perched on top of the columns. Toph rose up beside her on her own column and nodded once. Amaya grinned.

"Now, instead of moving a rock, you're going to stop a rock," Toph said. "Get in your horse stance!" she barked. Amaya slid into her stance and Toph pointed to a huge rock on the top of the steep incline of the canyon walls. "See that rock? I'm going to roll it down at you, and if you have the attitude of an Earthbender, you'll stop it. Like this!" Toph demonstrated the move.

"Er, Toph?" Katara asked, stepping forwards nervously. "Are you sure this is the best way to teach Amaya Earthbending?"

"I'm glad you said something, Katara," Toph said. She snatched Amaya's sash and tied it around her eyes. "Now you'll really have to feel the vibrations to stop the rock. Thanks Katara."

"Yeah, thanks Katara," Amaya grumbled.

"Heh," Katara said ruefully.

Toph walked up the incline and pushed the rock down, crossing her arms and looking down imperiously as it rolled towards Amaya. Amaya, for her part, was terrified. If that connected, or she couldn't completely stop it, she could be crushed, or at the very least break a bone. Her nerve failed her and she jumped, passing over the rock as it rolled under her and landing on the ground beside its path. She removed her sash to see Toph charging at her, furious.

"What was that?" Toph demanded.

"I panicked," Amaya admitted. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"Yeah, you panicked!" Toph snapped. "You had a perfect stance and a perfect form and you blew it! If you aren't going to stop the rock, as least give it the pleasure of letting it squish you instead of jumping out of the way like a jelly-boned wimp! Now, do you have what it takes to face that rock like an Earthbender?"

"No," Amaya said truthfully. "I… don't think I do."

"Amaya, it's okay," Katara said soothingly. "You'll take a break and come back to Earthbending when you're ready. Besides, there's lots of Waterbending we can work on."

"Yeah, that'd be nice," Amaya said sadly, letting Katara lead her away towards the river flowing through the canyon.

"Yeah, go splash around until you feel better!" Toph shouted after them.

Katara and Amaya stripped down to their breast bindings and underskirts and stepped into the water. They began a sort of game, working in tandem to pass a stream of water back and forth in a perfect circle.

"You know this block you're having is only temporary, right?" Katara ventured.

"I don't want to talk about it," Amaya sighed, swaying and sending the water back to Katara.

"That's the problem though, isn't it? If you just-"

"I know I know I know!" Amaya shouted, letting the water fall. She smacked at the stream with an agitated hand. "I have to face the problem head on like a rock! But I can't do it! I don't know why I can't do it, but I just can't!"

"Amaya," Katara said. "If fire and water are opposites, then what's the opposite of air?"

"Earth, I suppose."

"Right. That's why it's so hard for you to figure this out. But you'll get it, I know you will." Behind her back, Katara secretly broke off a reed. "Think fast!"

Amaya reacted instantly and raised a blade of water from the stream, slicing the plant in half lengthways and sending the halves flying past her.

"Excellent," Katara praised. "You have the reflexes of a Waterbending Master."

"Thanks Katara," Amaya grinned, then corrected herself. "Sifu Katara." She gave the girl a traditional bow.

Amaya was meditating, trying to find a way to overcome this block she was having with her Earthbending.

"Hey Amaya, I found these nuts in your bag, and I figured you wouldn't mind." Toph sat down near her. "And even if you did, you're too much of a pushover to do anything about it."

Amaya smirked. So that was her game? Make her angry enough to try and Earthbend again? Well, she'd like to think she had a little more self-discipline than that.

"That's fine Toph," Amaya said. "I don't mind to share my things with you guys."

"Really?" Toph asked. "That's good. Because I have this great new nutcracker."

Amaya's eyes opened and she turned, sensing severe badness. She was right. Toph was holding her glider over the nuts, grinning wickedly.

"Er, actually Toph, I'd rather you didn't-"

Crack.

"It's an antique-"

Crack.

"Hand-crafted by the monks-"

Crack.

"It's a delicate instrument!"

"It's not the only delicate instrument around here."

Amaya gritted her teeth and glared as Toph walked away laughing, banging her glider on rocks as she passed.

"Hey Amaya, I-"

"Meditating!" Amaya snapped, turning to Katara. Her glare softened when she saw the other girl's worried expression.

"I'm really worried," Katara said. "It's sunset, and Sokka's not back yet. I think we should go look for him."

"It'll go faster if we split up," Amaya said, and they both darted off in different direction. Amaya went down the river, wandering down a ledge as she looked from side to side for a sign of Sokka.

"Amaya!"

She turned to see Sokka with his hair sticking out randomly trapped up to his neck in a crevasse in the ground.

"Sokka!" she shouted and ran over to him.

"Have you got any meat?"

"Er, no?"

"Well, can you get me out?"

Amaya bent down and grabbed his protruding hands a sharp tug, leaning back and pushing with her legs.

"Stop, stop!" Sokka yelled. "You're going to pull my fingers off, and I don't think that the rest of me is coming."

"Maybe I can Airbend you out," Amaya mused, cramming a bunch of air into the crevasse. Sokka not had a Mohawk, but he was no closer to being free than before, and now he had the added bonus of having his boomerang and machete land on his head.

"Ow! Seriously Amaya, I know you're new at it, but I could really use some Earthbending right now!"

"I can't," Amaya said, turning away shame-facedly. "I can't do it."

"If you can't to it, then go get Toph."

"I can't do that either."

"Why not?" Sokka protested.

"It would be really… uncomfortable."

"Gee, wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable..."

"Thanks, Sokka," Amaya said, sitting down next to him. "You know, this Earthbending thing has me in a really awkward position."

"Awkward position. Huh. How about that?"

"Everyone expects me to get it right away, but I just don't understand. If I try, I fail, but if I don't try, I'll never have a chance of getting it. It's got me between a rock and hard place."

"Huh. Wonder what that's like. Hey Amaya, meet my new friend. Amaya, this is Foo-Foo-Cuddly-Poops. Foo-Foo-Cuddly-Poops, this is Amaya."

Amaya looked down to see a baby saber-toothed moose lion. She picked it up and cuddled it close.

"Aww, what a cute name for a baby saber-toothed moose lion!" she cooed. Sokka looked up at her and blinked.

"Really? He looks nothing like a saber-toothed moose lion."

"Yeah," Amaya nodded expertly. "It's hard to tell before the giant horns and razor sharp teeth grow in. Hey, what are you doing out here little guy? Did you lose your momma?"

A growl sounded from the bushes.

"Found her," Sokka gulped. Amaya blanched.

"Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear ohdear ohdear."

"What's wrong?" Sokka asked quietly.

"Well, saber-toothed moose lion mothers are extremely vicious when someone handles their young."

"How vicious?"

"Let's put it this way. They make polar bear dogs look like cuddly little poodle ponies."

"Oh," Sokka said, gulping again. "You're sure? I mean, that couldn't be some other animal you're thinking of?"

"Zoology freak, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Darn."

"Exactly."

Amaya raised her head, but kept her gaze lowered, mimicking the stance of a submissive saber-toothed moose lion. She stepped forwards and placed the baby on the ground. It ran over to its mother and dove into the bushes behind her after a quick sniff check.

"See, no problem," Amaya said, keeping her voice low and soothing. "You have your baby back."

"Amaya this is bad! You've got to get me out of here!" Sokka shouted, his voice the exact opposite of what you wanted when dealing with a wild saber-toothed moose lion. It was loud, high, and excited. It was that that triggered the charge. Amaya Airbended quickly, lifting the saber-toothed moose lion gently under the stomach and letting it continue its charge over Sokka's head, it's claws brushing his head, and setting it down gently. Rough treatment would just make it angrier, and thus more dangerous.

"Amaya, you have to Earthbend me out of here!" Sokka insisted. Amaya looked at him helplessly and took her stance, knowing in her heart it wouldn't work. She went through a few of the motions Toph had taught her earlier, but Sokka remained stuck, and the saber-toothed moose lion was readying for another charge.

Amaya jumped onto a nearby pillar and shouted, "Yoo hoo! Over here! Look at me!" She waved her arms, making herself look like as big a target as possible. The saber-toothed moose lion was more interested in Sokka, however, charging at him. Amaya was afraid of that. Sokka presented the lesser challenge, so he would be handled first. She jumped down and blasted the moose away. It came towards them determinedly again, but Amaya fired directly at it, knocking it onto its rear and sending it skidding backwards. The animal rose and seemed to decide that they weren't worth the challenge. It ventured off into the bushes after its child.

Amaya looked up as she heard slow clapping. Toph was sitting on a rock nearby, smirking and applauding.

"What are you doing here?" Sokka demanded.

"Watching."

"How long have you been here?" Amaya demanded angrily.

"Pretty much the whole time."

"Well why didn't you get involved? Sokka was in trouble, and I was too! You could have Earthbended him out and helped us get away!"

"Guess it just didn't occur to me," she shrugged, tossing a nut on the ground. She raised Amaya's glider to crack it, and Amaya saw red.

"That's it," she said, stepping forwards and grabbing the tool on its downswing. "I want my staff back."

To her surprise, Toph released it willingly and jumped down to go nose-to-nose with her.

"Do it!" she commanded. Amaya blinked.

"Do what?"

"Earthbend Twinkle Toes! Do it now! You just stood your ground to a crazy beast, and even more impressive, you stood your ground against me. You've got the stuff kid."

"I am four years older than you," Amaya pointed out.

"Do it!"

Amaya sighed and took her stance. Suddenly, she felt that she could do it. Toph was right, she had just faced down a charging wild animal, she had faced down Toph herself, who was nothing to shrug at either. She'd be damned if she was going to let a rock beat her. She stepped forwards and punched at a rock. It went flying across to smash into the canyon wall.

"Congrats Twinkle Toes, you're an Earthbender."

"I did it!" Amaya cheered.

"Aw, isn't this just a wonderful, touching moment?" Sokka said. "Why don't one of you get me out so I can give you a big, snuggly hug?"

"No problem!" Amaya grinned, stepping towards him, but Toph cut her off.

"Actually, I should probably be the one to do that. You're still pretty new to this, you might accidently crush him."

"Yeah, no crushing please."

Toph stomped and Sokka was pushed out up to his knees. Toph seized his hair and dragged him out the rest of the way, walking back towards the camp. Amaya rolled her eyes and helped Sokka up, and they all went back to camp.

"Sokka!" Katara shouted when she saw them. "You found him!"

She hugged her brother.

"You know," Sokka began sagely. "The whole time I was in that hole, not knowing if I would live or die… It makes a man think about what's important."

"Hey Katara, look what I can do!" Amaya grinned, punching and knocking the top half of a column off.

"You did it!" Katara cheered. "I knew you could." She looked sideways at Toph. "You tried the positive reinforcement thing, didn't you?"

"Yup," Toph said. "It worked wonders."

Appa wandered up to them and Amaya ran to him. "Hey Appa, I can Earthbend. They key is being physically and mentally rooted, completely immovable."

Appa licked her and shoved her onto her face. Sokka burst out laughing.

"Appa, you are so not helping me out here," she grumbled into the ground. "Sokka, I will stick you in another hole!"

That shut him up.

"So, more Earthbending tomorrow?" Toph asked. Amaya grinned evilly.

"Oh no. Tomorrow is my revenge. Tomorrow I'm teaching you and Katara about pressure points."

Katara paled. "Hey Amaya, I didn't make training too hard, did I?"

Amaya just grinned. And that night, she dreamed.

She was on top of a mountain, rain pelting down on her and lightning crackling in the sky above. Next to her, Zuko was standing there staring at the sky.

"You've always thrown everything you could at me! Well I can take it!" he shouted at the sky. "And now I can give it back!" Lightning flashed. "Come on! Strike me!"

Amaya blinked. Was he crazy?

"You've never held back before!"

Zuko and Amaya both waited with baited breath, for entirely different reasons. When nothing happened, Zuko threw up his hands and screamed before collapsing to the ground, tears trailing down his face. Amaya moved to his side. She fiercely believed that he heard and felt her when she dreamed like this, so she got to her knees beside him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him against her chest. He complied, leaning forwards.

"It's okay," she said, rubbing his back and combing through his short hair soothingly. "Shh, shh, it's alright Zuko, it's alright. You told me once, you've had to suffer and fight and it's made you strong. But you don't always have to be the one fighting. Sometimes it's okay to let others fight for you."

Zuko knelt there on top of the mountain, tears leaking from under his eyes. He cried for his uncle's pain, for the loss of his honor, for everything he had been through and everything he knew was still to come. He cried for all his confusion, and all he'd had to do that he now regretted.

It was strange, but he felt warm skin around his shoulders, like someone was holding him. This had happened before randomly. He felt the Avatar's presence, could hear her voice, but she was never there. This time was different though, the presence was stronger. The warmth pressed on him, enough that he actually leaned forwards. His cheek pressed against warmth. Soft hands ran along his back and through his hair.

Warm breath ghosted against his ear and he heard a voice speaking to him.

"It's okay. Shh, shh, it's alright Zuko, it's alright. You told me once, you've had to suffer and fight and it's made you strong. But you don't always have to be the one fighting. Sometimes it's okay to let others fight for you."

Amaya woke up, shaken sharply awake by Katara.

"Come on Sifu Amaya, time for us to be your students," she grinned. Toph and Sokka were standing over her, staring down. Amaya sat up, yawning.

"For future reference, it's a little creepy to have you all hovering like that."

"Told you," Toph muttered.

"So, the joys of pressure points!" Amaya grinned, sliding out of her sleeping bag and standing up.

"Teach us," Katara said.

"Okay," Amaya said, taking a deep breath. "I'm not going to hand you a detailed instruction manual about pressure point fighting, because most of what I know is theory. That should be enough that you guys can hold your own against pinky."

"No fighting?" Toph asked. "Well this isn't going to be fun."

Amaya sighed. "I think we'll start with the three type. The first is level 1. These are the most basic, and the ones people are most often aware of. These pressure points require the application of pain. The point of them is making your opponent focus on the sudden pain instead of you, if sometimes not for very long. Basically, they're a distraction. They're best used if you can't move around enough to build up the strength for an actual blow. The biggest problem with these comes when facing people conditioned to face pain."

"So, if those kind get a hold of you, you're done, that's it?" Sokka asked. "Pfft, these seem useless."

"Well, yes. But because this kind if all over the body, you can usually strike one easily going into a fight to find out if the person will respond or not. The most common location for these is along the edge of a bone. Running your foot up and down the edge of the shin bone, for example.

"Next is level 2. They only last about half a second, so you have to know going in what the reaction is going to be. These pressure points all deal with muscles, and are usually activated with a fist with the first knuckle extended. The most basic example is running your knuckle along the lateral line just off the center of the chest. This can cause a person to not only back up, but bend their knees, push their hips back, drop their weight, and deaden their arms.

"The last kind, level 3, are reflex points. They work all the time, if you do it correctly. The others can be defended against if someone knows what they're doing, but these can't."

"So why not always use them?" Katara asked.

"Because you can combine them with others to cause even more damage, and the others can be used to open an opponent up to other attacks. So, reflex pressure points. You can trigger the gag reflex with a sharp prod right in here," Amaya said, turning and lifting her braid and pointing to the lower part of the back of her neck. "Toph, I'm pointing to the lower part of the back of my neck."

"But I thought you could do some serious damage there," Sokka frowned.

"No, actually. There's thick ribs of cartilage under the skin. The person will back up. How much depends upon the speed and strength of your attack. It's actually possible to make a person throw themselves at a wall with all their strength like this. You can add pain to that by running your finger along the bone there. There's tons of different reflex points. Points that drop blood pressure, trigger instinctive responses in the brain, ruin balance, or decrease the ability to breath. That was Amaya's crash course on pressure points. Thank you, and now everyone upright," she said with a grin and a bow.

Everyone stood, staring at her curiously. "Airbenders have an advantage against these sort of opponents, because from a young age we're taught to move with the flow of battle. Basically, we circle. Because of this, we're good at dodging, and we're hard to get a hold of."

Amaya taught them a few exercises they could do to improve their 'circular technique,' then it was back on Appa and off to the next day.

Okay, time's been short lately, too short to write an actual chapter. But I don't want to leave you all hanging like I have been, so here's what I'm going to do. Drop me a review or PM me with questions you have, or challenges or ideas for one-shots you'd like to see with the gang, and I'll do what i can to write and answer them in Amaya's Snippets. Seriously, anything's welcome, from 'What's Amaya's favorite color?' to 'Write a drabble about Amaya and Gyatso.' Everybody cool? This will keep going even when things are back on schedule, so feel free to keep it coming! I'll PM you back when your submission is complete so you know to check it out. And hey, when you're reviewing with that stuff, maybe you could, uh, tell me what you think... maybe... could you? I'm a writer, I need feedback to live!