It wasn't enough, not nearly enough, and Toph just felt more and more drained to the point where resting until she merely felt exhausted seemed refreshing in comparison to the bone-deep fatigue that weighed her down most of the day. From time to time she even allowed Iroh to carry her on his back and proceed on foot because her head began to swim when she tried to bring up a new wave to carry them. She'd thought that first night that she'd found the limits of her energy, but it started to seem like every hour had her finding new ones as desperation forced her to dig deeper and deeper into herself to drag out scraps of strength she hadn't even known she had. She hoped that it would at least leave her stronger when they finally escaped the whole mess they were caught in..
She hoped that it wouldn't kill her before they could.
She was learning new depths of fear as well, depths that felt like they drove her pride in her skills and ego straight out of her. She'd never before faced a fight that she wasn't sure she'd be able to beat if she just tried hard enough or thought sneakily enough, but now she knew with perfect clarity that if she and Iroh were caught they would die. They would die without even putting up any kind of real fight, it didn't matter if Iroh decided to join in for their last stand or not. She thought that he would at last if it came down to it, that he would fight when it was a matter of her life and death even if he wouldn't do it for himself.
Their enemies could rest. They could switch off duties. They could afford to never let anyone get too worn out. They weren't running on the dregs of the dregs of the dregs of their energy. If they were able to catch up than the Dragon of the West and the Avatar's earthbending instructor would be unceremoniously crushed in the middle of nowhere, and, though she was sure that they'd parade word of Iroh's death across every corner of the kingdom, her friends and family might never even know what had happened to her.
Beyond that she was becoming more and more afraid that they might be going in the completely wrong direction. She wanted to believe that as long as she kept the mountains at her right side they had to be heading towards civilization, that was what felt right, but her brain was more wrapped up in paranoia than logic and she just couldn't seem to trust herself. Not when there were no landmarks around that she recognized to make sure they hadn't gotten turned around. She wanted to ask Iroh to check out the stars, or shadows, or whatever it was people with working eyes did to figure out their direction when they didn't have a compass, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. It would be too embarrassing to admit that her sight was failing her in any way while she was standing on solid land. She just had to trust that he'd never spoken up to ask why they seemed to be doubling back, or heading towards nothing at all, because she had it right.
But just when it was starting to feel like she'd sink into despair, Toph finally found something to be hopeful about. A town had appeared at the edge of her sight, the first that they'd reached in their entire time running. She told Iroh to keep an eye open for it, and it wasn't long before he could spot it on the horizon himself. Somehow she found the energy to pick up their speed, hope making it feel like the earth almost leapt at her call again as they zoomed towards it, until all at once she stopped dead with her earthwave crumbling into pieces around them.
She knew that town. She hadn't been able to make out the details when she first noticed it, but she did. If she'd been coming at it from the other direction she would have known at once, the lay of the land around it telling her clearly where she was, but she'd never approached it from the east before.
"We're not going there," she told him. She tried to make her voice stay flat but couldn't keep a tremble out of it. Hopefully he'd just think it was from weariness.
"Why not?" he asked, obviously confused. "You seemed so happy when you first discovered it."
She shook her head, not wanting to explain, then latched onto his arm and tried to pull him around like turning him so he couldn't see the town might somehow make him lose interest in it. "You trust me, right? Then trust me when I say we shouldn't go there!"
"Of course I trust you," he told her, still sounding baffled. "If you wish to avoid that town we shall. Where there is one settlement there will soon be more."
"Thank you," she said fervently, flashing him a smile before she got them going again. She set a course that would take them in a wide circle around the town, hopefully too far for him to get a good look at it.
She knew that she was being silly, and that she normally would scoff at the idea of it being a bad omen, at the idea that bad omens even existed, but she couldn't help it. Being chased the way they were again, and being with Iroh again, she absolutely couldn't stand the thought of letting him set foot that same abandoned village. Azula had almost killed him with her fire there once, and she couldn't shake the dreadful feeling that if he returned there in such similar circumstances their pursuers would finish the job.
Still, she knew that she needed to give Iroh something more than the non-explanation she'd just offered, even if he was ready to accept it. She didn't want him to start worrying that she'd gone completely nuts. Slowly, not really liking to say it, she said, "I know where we are now. I know where we can go to definitely get shelter instead of needing to search for it. Holding on a little longer to get there will be safer than risking them catching us while we're still banging on doors looking for someone to let us in."
"Ah, you should have said so to begin with!" he said, sounding more cheerful.
She didn't reply, too caught up in thoughts of where they'd be going. For the first time in days even the enemies chasing them stopped being at the forefront of her mind.
For the first time in five years, Toph set herself towards home.