Chapter 11: Burrow
The Duke didn't need visual clarification to know that he had entered the cave.
Intense summer heat suddenly faded into a stuffy coolness. Patches of warm grass disappeared, damp colonies of moss in their place. The echoes of footsteps and the occasional rumble of activity further down the tunnel bounced off the walls and around his ears, disorienting him. The cave was curiously absent of the rustling leaves and bird-songs that he had never noticed outside.
Luckily for him, the passageway was near completely clear of debris, which left fewer things for The Duke to trip and fall on.
"It's amazing how smooth these tunnels are," he remarked, trying to spark a conversation.
"Yeah: pretty neat, right? The best part is that each tunnel is completely outfitted for the earth it's made from. Badgermoles will only dig permanent tunnels in places where the earth is sturdy and compact enough to avoid cave-ins. Most people think that badgermoles just use earthbending to dig, but they can also use it to perceive the environment and the condition of the rock before they start digging."
"So they're efficiency-driven. Interesting."
"'Efficiency-driven," she laughed, "and incredibly lazy: they sleep something like 20 hours a day, and on top of that, they hibernate during the winter."
The Duke scratched his head, puzzled. "If they're so lazy, then why would they care about the quality of their tunnels? Couldn't they just build crappy ones and dig themselves out if it caves in?"
"You see, they probably would make crappy tunnels if their kits were actually born with claws," she replied matter-of-factly. "If the walls caved in, then the young would die because they wouldn't be able to dig themselves out before starving or suffocating. Plus, their bones don't completely harden until they're a little older, so the impact of falling rock would probably just crush them anyway."
"That…actually makes a lot of sense. Lazy and efficiency-driven. Good survival tactic. I'm curious, though: how do you know all these things about badgermoles, anyway?"
She lightly yanked the fabric covering his shoulder in surprise, momentarily halting their journey. "Wait—I never told you about how I learned how to earthbend?"
"No, I guess you never did—"
"Well this needs fixing!" she boomed, leading him forward again.
For the next fifteen minutes, Toph retold the tale of how she had learned to compensate for her blindness by using earthbending, and the role that the badgermoles had played in helping her realize this. The Duke eagerly took in every second of it, both fascinated by the story and delighted that Toph now seemed so comfortable around him. Now that she was completely in her element, she seemed happier and more outgoing: or, at least, the defensive edge of her attitude that tended to express itself as sass had retreated enough for him to see another side of her shining through.
Given her attitude—that obnoxious pride, especially—it's obvious she has trouble trusting people and making friends, and doesn't like to be proven wrong or ordered around.
I guess this stubbornness accounts for her good qualities too, though. She's an incredibly tenacious spirit, overcoming all of those obstacles. An empirical learner, too: intelligent, objective, calculating, and unafraid to speak her mind, but still passionate, caring, and protective of what she cares about.
As he found, this latent aspect of Toph's personality—the bit that took some persistence and patience to get to—was more than worth the wait, and it made him fall for her even more.
You're—
"Incredible," he whispered dreamily under his breath, accidentally divulging something he had intended to keep in his head.
Toph caught the comment just as she was describing the establishment of the metalbending academy.
"What? I think it's kind of sad, really, that the person responsible for keeping the art of metalbending alive hates teachi—"
"I mean, all of it's incredible!" he exclaimed, turning his head around to address Toph. "I guess you've already heard the whole thing about how cool it is that you've managed to overcome all of these obstacles, so I'll spare you that. But I can't help but wonder: why do you teach if you dislike it so much?"
She sighed, having wondered this herself in the last couple of months. "As the creator of metalbending, I have an obligation to teach it to others. Nobody else has mastered it enough to take up my responsibility, but I'm hoping that will change sooner or later so that I can move on with my life."
"Wow… that must be a big burden to carry," remarked The Duke, sub-consciously resting his hand on hers in a gesture of comfort. Toph didn't seem to mind the hand-to-hand contact this time, but it certainly reminded her to avoid the dreaded pity party, and her carefree demeanor immediately snapped back.
"Yeah, it sucks, but what I've got planned for after all of this hogmonkey-business is over will be well worth the wait."
"Well, at least you have something to look forward to!" he grinned. "What kind of stuff do you plan on doing, if you don't mind my asking?"
"You writing my biography or something?" she remarked, elbowing him in the ribs. "Well, as you say, no matter.
I would really like to find some conventional uses for metalbending: as you can imagine, the opportunity to tear up a Fire Nation airship or escape from a metal box doesn't roll around too often. Perhaps I'll develop a couple of tools and weapons designed to be controlled by metalbending, though I'm not sure if it's even worth the effort: only a couple of people would be able to use them.
I also figured that I'd travel around and stuff. 'See' the world with my own two feet, if you will. I don't know: maybe, during my travels, I'll find something exciting and worthwhile to do with my life. There's gotta be something out there, right?"
The Duke smiled. "If not one thing, then many," he reassured. "You're sure to find lots of uses for your skills while travelling abroad.
At least, that's how Pipsqueak and I have managed all of this time. Back in Gaipan, we made it our job to be a royal pain in the ass to the Fire Nation, creating havoc and chaos to get back at them for what they had done to our families, but fighting for the three nations taught us that striving for peace—and not revenge—is the best way to reach justice.
Since the end of the war, we've both found our way by helping others get back on their feet in whatever ways we can, all of which are extremely fulfilling and sometimes even exciting. Heck, if two wayward orphans like Pipsqueak and I can find our niche as traveling-construction-worker-bounty-hunting vigilantes, then you're not going to have a problem putting your talents to good use."
He gently squeezed her hand, which was still stationed atop his shoulder.
"I believe in you."
His heart leapt as Toph clinched his shoulder in response. "Thanks," she muttered shyly, moved that he saw so much potential in her. "I really hope you're right."
Their intimate moment of near silence was brutally interrupted by a great crashing somewhere up ahead. Small clods of dirt rained down on their heads as the entire tunnel quivered, surging with unseen activity.
"Toph," squeaked The Duke nervously, backing the both of them into the wall. "I-I'm not sure how to proceed in a situation like this—"
Indeed he wasn't: Toph could sense the throb of his heightened pulse and the shallowness of his breathing. She calmly switched her grip from The Duke's shoulder to his hand, leading him forward.
"Everything's fine," she reassured. "This is totally normal in a badgermole burrow. We're not in any danger."
"Then why are you leading me along like there's a polar bear dog on our asses?" snapped The Duke, not adjusting well to the increased speed.
"Because I will have grown a beard down to my waist before we got to the heart of the burrow at the pace we were going before," she retorted. "You're slower than a two hundred year-old turtle slug, you know that?"
"I can see why you hate teaching," he mumbled, allowing her to drag him along at breakneck speed.
Before long, Toph had slowed their pace to a walk again.
"We're getting close," she muttered, leading The Duke down a series of winding tunnels. "Try your best to stay as quiet as possible down here: the last thing you want to do is ruin a badgermole's beauty sleep."
The Duke laughed nervously, trying to disguise his apprehension. "How did you figure that one out? Experience?"
"No," she admitted, "but do you know a creature alive that enjoys being woken up?"
He could find no rebuttal to this one.
"Point taken."
Author's Note: Next time, prepare for a badgermole bonanza! The sheer lack of shits given will blow you away!
Sorry; this is mostly a walk n' talk chapter. I promise that things will pick up soon! I have some very special Doph action lined up for y'all!
/evilgrin
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That's all for today! Thanks for reading!
