Sitting by the camp fire in the small clearing of the forest, she held the cup of water loosely in her thumb and two fingers, swinging it slightly. They were surrounded by dying ferns and trees that were shedding in preparation for winter. Green leaves were turning brown, the weather was getting colder and worse and the first specks of snow would fall soon. Prey was growing scarce and so were the berries in the bushes.
Toph hadn't visited Kyoshi for three days, or any of the other Avatars. Pakku and Jeong Jeong knew what had happened; she'd told them after she'd sat up all night and tried to figure out what to do. How can I face Kyoshi after what she said? She's gonna kill me if I go back. She already tried once. In order to try and keep Kyoshi from entering her dreams, she'd taken off the prayer beads and stuffed them at the bottom of her bag.
"You can't avoid her forever," Pakku was telling her, and Toph wished they'd shut up. "Talk to one of the other Avatar. Ask them to train you."
"Kyoshi can enter my dreams even if I ask Roku or Kuruk to train me," she replied. "Same goes for Yangchen. I'd rather not face either of them right now."
"But Yangchen was told not to get involved, wasn't she? Get Roku to keep Kyoshi out."
Toph sighed soberly. "You don't understand," she said, lifting her cup up. "She started in the same way; an Earthbender learning Airbending." Taking a sip, she shook her head and went on, "Kyoshi was the perfect teacher for me."
Jeong Jeong bowed his head slightly and said, "but you also said that Kuruk was a good teacher."
"Yes, he is, but he's … complicated. His meanings aren't always clear, even if he thinks they are. It's like he gets things to make sense in his head and expects me to know what he's thinking. Kyoshi just gave me an instruction, showed me how to do it and was more forward and blunt. Roku's always busy, too, because Aang talks to him a lot."
A long silence grew then as the sun dipped beneath the skyline, plunging them into near-darkness. Fingering the water talisman in the bag, she decided that she would have to talk to Kuruk. There was no way around it. Either she continued practising Airbending with Kuruk or she self-taught again like she did with Earthbending. It would be difficult but it wasn't impossible, and she would have to figure out what the thirty-six tiers were. Or I could ask Aang, I suppose, after all this is over.
"BEIFONG."
The cup dropped from her hand and her eyes widened at the enraged voice echoing through her mind. She shook her head and groaned at the sudden sleepy haze that fell over her. It felt like she'd just woken from a nap, but at the same time like she was dozing, snuggled up against a warm fire.
Jeong Jeong leaned over and grabbed her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Kyoshi's pissed."
"Do you want to lie down?" Pakku suggested. "Maybe you should talk to Kuruk now."
"No, screw her," Toph growled. "She can wait for all I care. Anyway, something large is coming this way." Something four-legged, large and heavier than it should have felt, Toph added to herself, turning her ear towards the sound.
A Shirshu halted at the top of the slope leading to their clearing, making loud, breathless snorting sounds as he scampered down, paws skidding on the ground. There was an Eelhound too, which bounded down after it. The Fire- and Waterbenders rose as the Shirshu neared. Two people sat on the animals' backs, one woman almost invisible from the black clothing and hair that framed her face on the Shirshu, and the other was dressed in the same navy and white robes that the other two were in, who was on the Eelhound. Toph herself still wore her standard green robes and caramel-gold tunic, but there was a patterned mantle over her shoulders and a white tie loosely threaded through her belt, symbolising her as a member of the White Lotus.
"Iroh!" Jeong Jeong welcomed as the Grand Lotus slid off of the Eelhound's back and approached them. "You found us. What took so long?"
Iroh smiled and bowed at the three in greeting. "I had to find June," he replied. The woman, June, huffed and dropped from her Shirshu, striding over impatiently. "Have you found anything?"
"Not yet," said Pakku cryptically, minding the stranger's presence. "We haven't found what eludes us. Whenever we think we draw close, it slips through our fingers."
"That's why you have me," June growled impatiently. "I'm the best Bounty Hunter you'll ever meet. I've been offered a very hefty sum of gold to find something but nobody wants to tell me what it is." She glanced at Iroh pointedly as she said this. "Are you going to drag me on another wild Turtleduck chase, or are actually going to let me know what I'm doing now?"
"You're also being paid not to ask too many questions," Iroh reminded her gently.
June harrumphed. "So what do you need to track? You know the drill already. Give me something that belongs to the person or people you're looking for and I'll find it."
Toph frowned. That was going to be difficult. The only thing that she had belonging to the Air Nomads was the prayer beads, but those had been with her for so long they would probably have her scent on them now. She was surprised when Iroh reached into his pocket and unravelled a bundle of cloth, supplying it to Nyla, who inhaled the scent deeply. Wrapped within the fabric was a medium sized slab of rock.
"The person we're looking for smells like this, but the scent may have faded slightly or changed." Iroh explained to Nyla, whose star-shaped nose twitched as he embedded the scent to his mind. He turned and started inhaling the countless scents around him, and then stiffened. It was as if he had found one, but wasn't quite sure.
"Climb on," June instructed, climbing onto the saddle. "Not you," she snapped at Iroh, who smiled coyly, "the girl."
Toph picked up her bag, stomped, rising up on a column of earth, which retracted as she slid into the saddle with June. Wrapping her arms around June's waist and closing one hand around her wrist, they waited until the others had mounted the Eelhound before they took off towards the scent.
"What are we riding on?" she asked the mercenary.
The Shirshu was mostly brown with a black stripe over his back and the top of his snout, black ears and no eyes. It was blind but had an exceptional sense of smell and an extendable, whip-like tongue with venomous darts that could inflict temporary paralysis. "He's called Nyla," June finished. "We've been a team for seventeen years."
Nyla's muscles rippled beneath his pelt as he ran, carrying the two in the direction of the scent. He skirted skilfully around trees and boulders, leapt fallen trees and ditches, and clawed up sloping hills along the Earth Kingdom border.
"You're blind too, aren't you?" June murmured, her hands loose on the reins. "You haven't looked at me or Nyla directly or glanced around. You've kept your head low and you can't possibly see with your hair in your eyes like that."
"Observant, aren't you? Yes, I'm blind, but I see with Earthbending." And with Airbending.
She tilted her head back and turned her silvery-green eyes skyward, and scanned for the large white current. At first she could only see the small winding ones, but then she noticed it in the distance: a thick, pulsing current, heading in the direction Nyla was headed, away from the forest and towards the ocean that would lead straight to the Fire Nation. It was bright, glowing, filled with immense power.
"I don't suppose you'll tell me what we're looking for. I was dragged away from a vacation for this."
"Well don't worry, I'm sure you'll be paid enough to take several vacations."
June sighed exasperatedly at the blatant 'no'. "Didn't think so. Well I've been paid to help you find whatever this is and keep quiet about it."
"Least you're getting paid."
"Touché."
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
"...I don't believe she'd do something like that," murmured Kuruk quietly, listening to Toph's account of what she saw in the swamp. "Are you sure? She spoke so fondly of you when Roku asked how you were doing. We thought you two were really getting along. She sounded quite proud."
"Has she said anything about me recently?" Toph asked.
"She's been rather annoyed over the past few days about something, mumbling something about you and Kyoshi Island and snapping at me whenever I tried to ask about it. I dunno, I figured she was PMSing."
"PMSing?"
Kuruk adopted a face of slight embarrassment. "Er, you'd best ask Kyoshi or Yangchen," he advised awkwardly. "I'm sure they'll be able to tell you all about it."
Toph's nose wrinkled in irritated confusion, but she made a mental note to ask about it later. "Right … well, I don't know what to do. She acted like she wanted to kill me in the swamp."
"What swamp was this, exactly?"
"A really big swamp. I think Pakku called it Bog Swamp or something." It was something along those lines. Toph felt a wave of unease sweep over her from the Water-born Avatar. "What?"
"That place," he sighed, shaking his head. "I suppose you mean Foggy Swamp, right?" He fell back onto the grass with his arms splayed out as Toph nodded. "Figured. That place … it's weird to describe it. I think Aang told you about it once?"
Thinking back, she did recall him mentioning something like that the day before she'd started travelling with them. He'd mentioned a crazy king telling him to search for her, and seeing her in a magic swamp with a flying boar. Did he mean Bumi and this swamp she'd been in? "He mentioned it, but he didn't go into detail."
"The swamp causes hallucinations and visions. What you saw was just a vision, it wasn't actually real. Kyoshi never did those things."
Toph felt her heart sink as Kuruk told her what was going on. But that meant if Kyoshi never tried to kill her … "She's upset with me for not going to training," she gasped. "Oh no, I've been avoiding her because I thought she was disappointed in me, but it's not her!"
"You ought to speak to her and explain this," Kuruk advised calmly, "because she doesn't know. She thinks you've been skipping out because of laziness, and that's why she's been acting up."
"You think she'll understand?"
"'Course she will." Kuruk said brightly. "She knows about the swamp too, I'm sure she won't be mad. In fact I think she's coming here now. I'll leave you alone to talk."
"Wait, Kuruk-!" Toph reached out to stop him, but the Avatar's spirit twisted into loose mist and dissipated. "Earth. Now what do I do?"
"How about an explanation?" growled a voice from behind her. Toph jumped and froze, her hands hovering over an invisible piano.
"Kyoshi … I'd say it's nice to see you again, but I'm blind."
"Cut the jokes. I want answers. You've been skipping training and when I've looked for you, I found you cursing me out to a bunch of old badgers. I'd like to think I've been very patient and considerate not to have come here and started trying to break your neck for this disloyalty."
Toph sighed and motioned for Kyoshi to sit down. "I have a reason," she said quietly.
"You better have," Kyoshi seethed. The rage in her voice made Toph shiver involuntarily. "Because if you don't, I really will break your neck, Airbenders be damned."
"Have you ever heard of the Foggy Swamp?" she pressed. Kyoshi's stoic silence and slow, calming exhale told her that she immediately knew what had happened, and Toph smiled nervously. "I saw a vision of you there … you said some stuff and I thought it was real, and..."
"I've always hated that place," the Earth-born Avatar muttered. "Let me guess. You thought you were a disappointment and assumed I didn't want to see you again."
"Well, yeah. It was pretty convincing, you know." Toph laughed nervously for a second, and then fell silent. "You even tried to kill me."
"Those fools you run with should have warned you about the dangers of that place. What you saw was not me, but a manipulation of your senses. None of it was real."
There was an awkward silence between the two that lasted for a good few minutes. Toph got the sense that Kyoshi was staring at her but that her eyes weren't focused; she was deep in thought. Toph ran her hand through the grass beneath her and 'gazed' at her feet, wiggling her toes.
"Sorry."
"What?"
"I'm sorry I cursed you out. I was angry and confused. You didn't deserve it."
"...apology accepted. But don't do it again, or I really will break your neck." Kyoshi warned, and Toph smiled.
"You speak about me a lot, it seems," she teased.
"Only of your skill and determination to succeed."
"But Fishface said you were fond of me. I think there was even something about you being proud, Bigfoot."
There was a moment where Kyoshi was silent, watching her, and Toph was grinning smugly at her Airbending teacher. Suddenly she was forcibly booted out of her own mind and woke, slumped against June's back, only to start laughing madly. Oh yeah, she's proud alright.
"Don't push it."
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
"Hey, June, if I had a job for you, where would I find you?" Toph asked as she dismounted Nyla and stroked the Shirshu's brown shoulder.
"Send me a messenger hawk," June said simply, "it'll find me. But don't do it any time soon, I'm not taking work for a while. Vacation and all."
Toph nodded at her. "Enjoy it. Thanks for the ride." As Iroh gave her the money she was owed, Toph turned her attention back to the sky. They were in the middle of a forest that stretched out for miles, but there was something else. Something ethereal, something that struck her as being beautiful despite not being able to see it. That large wind current they'd been searching for was stood there with a thunderous energy surging through it, branching out into different directions all across the globe, like a corner of a giant silver web. As soon as the Bounty Hunter brought Nyla around and headed away from the group they gathered around her and waited.
"I see it," she sighed, her eyes fixated on that which the others couldn't see. Ironically she began to feel pity. They could not see this marvel, but she could. "It's this way. I can see something not too far from here, where the current begins branching out. The Air Nomads should be there."
"Wait. We shouldn't go to them under cover of darkness, they may fear us as being an invasion," murmured Iroh carefully. "They have been in hiding for a hundred years with little or no contact with anyone else. We should rest until morning and go then, when they will be less wary of visitors."
"It might not be easy convincing them to return," Jeong Jeong added. "Especially with Iroh and me in the group. The last time they saw a Firebender, they were being forced into exile."
Toph nodded in understanding, though their words did nothing to damage her confidence. In fact she only felt more eager to speak with them, to let them know that the war was over and done with, that they were no longer exiles. "They should recognise the Order of the White Lotus and remember what it stands for. The Air Nomads were tolerant, peaceful people, so I suppose a lot of them would have been in it at some point. I'm not worried about convincing them to return, it's convincing them that they'll be safe from harm that will be the issue."
Iroh rested a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, but remember that we agreed to help. The Order of the White Lotus has promised to protect and help the Air Nomads until they are strong enough to support themselves again. And they have you and Avatar Aang on their side, and I can think of no better people to have standing by their side in such difficult times."
Toph smiled and scoffed, then wrapped her arms around the old Firebender appreciatively. "Thanks. Now we should get some rest. I'm sure all you old men are tired, right, Pineapple, Gramp-Gramp?" She laughed as the burning glares of the other two crunched into the back of her neck. Pitching a few earth tents, she 'watched' as Jeong Jeong and Pakku set their sleeping bags into them and lay down. Turning to Iroh, she added, "you need to talk to me," not as an accusation, but as an acceptance, an acknowledgement.
Iroh bowed his head. "Yes."
Toph nodded in understanding and Earthbent them both a bench, putting her bag next to it and pulling out a water pouch. There was nothing but the moon showering them with protective light. It wasn't much; the canopy of leaves above their heads blocked most of it out, but there was the distinct sense that the moon could see past that and was gazing at them both warmly. She took a small sip and passed the pouch on, surprised when Iroh passed her his own, which had warm tea in it.
The blind Earthbender shook her head, chuckling knowingly, and took a large swig of the delicious brew. "Earth, I missed this," she sighed and passed it back. Steam billowed at her mouth like a tiny cloud and suddenly she felt heat run through her taut muscles again. "So, how'd Aang take the news?"
"At first he was furious, but I reasoned with him, and anger turned to unease and fear, then understanding. He awaits your return, and he told me to tell you something."
"Oh?" Toph's ears perked in interest. "And what's that?"
Iroh turned slightly and punted her off of the bench, the tough skin on her arm taking the brunt of the impact. Toph hissed angrily and glared at him as Iroh recited casually, "'you broke your promise, you'll get what's coming to you. And I'm not practising Earthbending. Deal with it.'"
Toph scoffed and picked herself up, sitting back on the bench. "Like he could even put a dent in my bun," she muttered. "Anything else?"
"No."
"Too bad. I was thinking for each word he did, he gets a boulder flung at his head. And for each punch, a hundred more."
"I'm sure he'd enjoy that," Iroh mused. "Now for the news. I received this message a few hours before I found you, sent by Messenger Hawk. Zuko's been crowned Fire Lord in a very small ceremony – he intends on doing a public one once you've returned and the prisoners are freed and healthy enough to accept – or destroy – their invitations. Katara hasn't woken up and she's still in a deep coma, Sokka hasn't left her side, and unfortunately there haven't been any reported sightings of Azula, though it was confirmed that a small group of Fire Nation soldiers have decided to follow her. However, there has been a village burned down and people say they believed it to have been her."
"What village?" Toph asked.
Iroh's voice darkened for an instant. "Suki's village on Kyoshi Island. She went back there to guard her friends and to help rebuild, but its in ruin and many people were injured."
"Any deaths?"
"There were none, which we are thankful for. It seems Avatar Kyoshi was watching over them that day."
"...I dunno, she was mumbling something about you and Kyoshi Island..." Toph blinked slowly as Kuruk's words entered her mind.
So Kyoshi was there … that place was her home.
"There's also been word from Bumi at the Southern Air Temple," he added, "who says the renovations are going slower than expected but are progressing well. He's putting up fortifications on the mountain path leading up and watch towers for the sentries, but there's something ominous about the rock that makes it harder to Earthbend."
"Figures," Toph murmured thoughtfully. At Iroh's confused glance (which she felt), she went on, "when I was at one of the Air Temples after the Invasion of the Fire Nation, there was something there, like a heavy presence that made me not want to Earthbend at all. I figured I was just reluctant because it's a special place for Aang and because I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but it wasn't that at all, or at least not completely. Maybe it's something within the rock."
"It could be. Or perhaps it could be something else, like a spirit guarding the temples."
"Could be," Toph shrugged, though she wasn't entirely convinced. Sure she knew that spirits existed, but she was still an Earthbender at heart and that made her want to believe the more logically-explained happenings, like something being mixed in with the rock, making it difficult to shift. "What do the others believe? Do they know the truth about me, or...?"
Iroh passed her the pouch of tea, his hand warmed by his inner Firebender, which Toph had to admit felt pretty good after sleeping in the end-of-autumn chill. Without being consciously aware of it, she pressed closer to him until she was leaning against him, and he wrapped an arm around her, smiling contently.
"Aang knows that you are on a journey with the White Lotus," he said quietly, noting his sleeping comrades, whose snores spoke of their uninterrupted slumber. To Toph's amusement she realised that, despite his quieter nature, he actually snored three times louder, and Jeong Jeong seemed to fidget slightly. "Sokka, Suki and Zuko have been told that you were called out by a few friends to help rebuild a small Earth Kingdom village."
"I bet Suki questioned that."
"She did at first, but she became distracted not too long after and forgot about it. She headed out to Kyoshi Island once she was sure Sokka was okay. How has your training been progressing?"
"Oh, not too bad. There was a problem but it's sorted now."
"Kyoshi Island?"
"...something like that," Toph conceded, and she went on to explain her new experience with Kyoshi for the fourth time, and how it hadn't actually been her. "She'll continue my training," she finished, "so it's all okay."
"That could have ended badly," Iroh remarked. Toph nodded and sighed through her nose, her eyes getting heavier as the minutes passed. "I'm glad it ended well. Perhaps you could show me techniques you've learned. They'll be very interesting."
Toph's parted jaw stiffened slightly as she fought a yawn, but it escaped anyway. A hiss of air left her mouth as it closed briefly. "I can show you some now," she offered.
Iroh chuckled. "Later. You should get some sleep."
Toph groaned sleepily as he rubbed her back and arm, coaxing her to rest. "Nngh... m'not tired, 'kay?"
"Okay," Iroh purred. Toph's eyes had already drifted shut and the twelve year old child went limp against him, his warmth a wordless lullaby. The elderly Firebender Prince's eyes softened infinitesimally and he smiled. "Good night, Toph."