Published July 30, 2012
Author's Note: This story has surpassed 200 reviews! Thank you readers! I am grateful! If you're an aspiring writer like me, I pray that God will help you hone your talent and grant you success, in your career and in life.
"Sandy Psychology"
"People are experts at self-justification, Celeste," Mr. Chisholm was saying when the party noise finally faded into the distance. He took the awful black thing from Celeste, then stood and held it carefully with his fingertips, looking down at it. "In the cold light of day people bury their sins quickly and turn their heads away. But the earth … the earth, as you see, is much slower to forgive and forget." ~ Vicki Grove, The Starplace
Aang was thrilled when they found the perfect earthbending training ground, an expansive rock quarry. There were terraces and outcroppings and overhangs of stone—an earthbender's paradise.
He started out very enthusiastic, but became confused when he wasn't able to bend, at least not as easily as Toph. He could carry stones and boulders of massive weights, but he couldn't manipulate earth the way he could air and water.
Aang had had frustrating teachers before. Jeong Jeong had been all about limits and restraint—but he turned out to be right about needing to be careful about fire. Pakku had been stern and yet somehow indifferent, until Aang and Katara proved how good they were and how much they wanted to learn.
Toph was demanding and a tough teacher, but at least she was trying to get him to embrace this element. Her teaching style was different but not bad; it was Aang's own shortcomings as a bender that were holding him back.
He was more frustrated with himself than with Toph. He didn't defend himself when she yelled at him; he figured he deserved it.
Aang wanted to stay on good terms with her, and show her the respect a student should have for a teacher. So he kept his complaints to himself. Until Katara tried to talk about it.
"You know this block you're having is only temporary, right?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Aang said dejectedly. Katara knew it was the first time Aang had had trouble with an element, when bending it didn't come naturally to him.
"You do know that's the problem, don't you? If you face this issue instead of avoiding it …"
"I know, I get it, alright!" Aang let the ball of water fall back into the pond. "I need to face it head-on, like a rock. But I just can't do it! I don't know why I can't, but I can't." He felt all right venting to her, because they had already been friends, as well as a master and a student, for some time.
Katara could sympathize with him, remembering her own frustration when she struggled to learn new waterbending techniques.
"Aang. If fire and water are opposites, then what's the opposite of air?" She already knew the answer, from Iroh's lesson so long ago, but she wanted to hear it from Aang.
"I guess it's earth," Aang realized.
"That's why this is so hard for you," Katara reasoned. "You're working with your natural opposite. But you'll figure it out. I know you will."
Aang smiled faintly. As they returned to the shore, he asked, "Do you think opposites can, you know—coexist? Work together?"
Katara smiled. "Well, it happens all the time in nature. And sometimes with people, too."
Maybe she hadn't ought to, but Katara decided to talk to Toph again. She was on a boulder, picking her toes. "If you're here to criticize my teaching methods, I don't really want to hear it," Toph said before she had begun.
Katara looked at her, calm and unfazed. "I'm not. I just think you should know, Aang is just as disappointed in himself as you are." She paused. "But you have to admit, most people would run if they saw a huge boulder coming toward them. That was a bit extreme, asking him to stand his ground for that."
"You're not afraid to stand your ground," Toph said. "When you argued with Sokka earlier today, and then with Zuko? You made your point and didn't back down."
Katara laughed a little. "I've been told I'm just naturally stubborn."
"Like a rock," Toph said, looking amused.
While Aang was meditating, Toph made a decision. If straightforward teaching wouldn't work, she'd have to try a different way, an indirect way. Almost like reverse psychology. Plus, it might be fun to mess with him.
In Earth Rumble VI, when The Boulder hesitated to attack, Toph had goaded him into fighting. She wondered if she could get Aang to earthbend if she provoked him, got him angry enough to stand up to her.
It didn't work right away. He tried to protest when Toph used his staff as a nutcracker, but then he let her walk away.
She took the staff with her when, at Katara's request, she left the campsite to look for Sokka, who hadn't returned from his food search. Toph found him soon enough, and immediately felt what the problem was: Sokka was stuck deep in a narrow crevice in the ground. And he wasn't alone; Aang had just found him. Toph heard him inform Sokka that he couldn't earthbend him out.
Aang didn't even believe that he could. That wasn't good.
She heard Sokka mention her. "If you can't earthbend me out of here, go get Toph."
"I can't do that either. … It would just be really—uncomfortable." Toph wrinkled her nose, hearing Aang say that about her. She tried to listen to the rest of what they were saying. "This whole earthbending thing really has me confused. There's so much pressure. Everyone expects me to get it right away. It puts me in a really awkward position."
"Awkward position … I think I know the feeling." What was with that tone of voice? Did Sokka think Aang meant something else about Toph?
"If I try, I fail. But if I don't try, I'm never going to get it. I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place."
Toph smirked. What a fitting comparison. If only Aang would be more like the rock in the metaphor.
She sensed the adult sabertooth mooselion coming before they did; she was going to warn them, but then they saw it for themselves. She was going to help them, but then, she was curious as to how Aang would handle it. Sokka was stuck, so running away wasn't an option; he'd have to stay where he was to defend the two of them. Aang failed once more to bend the earth; but then Toph felt wind and knew he was using airbending to fend off the animal. He blew it backwards, and then it left.
Aang had won.
Toph clapped slowly, smiling with her eyes closed. "What are you doing here?" She could hear Sokka's incredulity.
"Just enjoying the show," she replied.
"What? You were there the whole time?" Aang exclaimed.
"Pretty much."
"Why didn't you do something?" Now Aang sounded angry, which satisfied Toph, though she didn't show it. "Sokka was in trouble! I was in trouble! You could've gotten him out and helped us get away!"
Toph shrugged. "I guess it just didn't occur to me." She tossed a nut onto the ground and pulled out Aang's staff to crack it. But as she started to bring it down, something stopped her. Aang had grabbed it.
"Enough!" Aang said forcefully. "I want my staff back!" He pulled it away from her. Toph stood and jumped off of the rock to stand in front of him. To Aang's amazement, she was still smiling.
"Do it now."
"What?"
"Earthbend, twinkletoes. You just stood your ground against a crazy beast; and even more impressive, you stood your ground against me. You've got the stuff."
"But …"
"DO IT!" She wasn't going to let his own lack of confidence get in the way of his bending.
Aang looked at her in confusion; then he obeyed, stomping down on the ground and punching his fist forward. As he did so, a large rock moved, shooting through the air and crashing into a ridge.
"You did it!" Toph said excitedly. "You're an earthbender."
"I can't believe it!" Aang exclaimed happily.
Sokka watched the whole exchange. "Aww, this is really a wonderful, touching moment," he said, his voice laced with sweet sarcasm. "So, could you get me out of here so I can give you both a big, snuggly hug?"
In the end Toph dragged him out; but no one gave anyone a big, snuggly hug.
Aang had learned a few things. One was that it was okay to treat Toph like a regular kid, or challenge her, or get mad at her. Maybe she'd been waiting for him to do that all along.
After a few days, Toph felt like she'd fallen into the rhythm of life with the group.
They lived like they were on a constant camping trip. Sokka was the one who found food, while Katara was the one who prepared it. When the weather was pleasant, they would forego setting up a tent and sleep under the night sky. Toph and Aang both preferred resting without the comfort of sleeping bags. Aang was fine with leaves for a pillow; Toph liked to sleep on the ground in an earth tent.
When Toph asked what they typically did, the answer was, "Everything, and nothing."
She trained Aang in earthbending.
They were working to defeat the Fire Lord.
But there wasn't much else to do in their abundant free time.
That was why they took field trips, as Aang explained to her. Toph thought that sounded promising, traveling with a purpose instead of flying around aimlessly. Plus, it was fun to have a break from intense training.
It was Katara's idea to visit the Misty Palms Oasis, where they met Professor Zei; but it was Sokka's decision to look for the legendary library that the anthropologist sought. It was just like him to turn a trip that should have been a vacation into a mission.
"Uh, hey? What about me?" Toph asked. "When do I get to pick?"
Sokka answered, with a very slight edge to his voice, "You have to work here a little longer before you qualify for vacation time."
Toph pouted.
"Don't worry," Aang said to her, "you'll get your vacation. I promise."
Toph's lip curled into a smile. "Okay. But I'm going to hold you to that."
"Of course there's the matter of finding the library," Professor Zei said. "I've made several trips into the Si Wong Desert, and almost died each time." His tone was depressed. "I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross."
Aang and Sokka exchanged glances. "Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?"
When they went outside, they found Appa growling at several men dressed from head to toe in sand-colored rags. "Sandbenders!" Zei shouted. "Shoo! Away from the bison!" The strange men retreated. Toph was curious, wondering if they were earthbenders who could manipulate sand, but Zei was much more interested in the sky bison before them.
They spent hours flying over the desert. If it felt long to the others, it was doubly tedious for Toph, who teasingly reminded them that she couldn't help them spot the library.
"I wonder if we're looking for the wrong thing," Aang said thoughtfully, furrowing his brow.
"What do you mean?" Toph asked.
"I don't know … all I know is spirits aren't always straightforward. You have to be careful and open-minded with them."
"Whatever." Toph pushed her sweaty bangs out of her face.
They finally landed, just to investigate something Sokka had spotted: a tower spire sticking up out of the sand.
"Forget it," Katara said sadly. "It's obviously not what we're looking for. The building in this drawing is enormous."
They were thinking of boarding Appa again, when they turned and spotted something coming down from one of the sand dunes a short distance away. It was a large gray fox, carrying a scroll in its mouth. It paused to look at the group, but then continued on its way past them.
"What kind of animal is that?" Sokka wondered aloud. It somewhat resembled a wolf, the animal on which the Water Tribe warriors based the design of their uniforms. The fox ran up to the base of the tower, and then, to their amazement, began running up the wall, sideways.
"I think that was one of the knowledge seekers," Professor Zei said, just before the fox jumped through the window at the top of the spire. "Oh, we must be close to the library!"
Aang, Sokka, and Katara looked at Zei's drawing, and then at the structure before them. "No, this is the library," Sokka said loudly. "Look!" He pointed to the top of the drawing, whose spire matched the one before them. "It's completely buried."
This conclusion was met with a brief, stunned silence.
"Wow," Katara said, simultaneously impressed and disappointed. "We actually found what we were looking for. Only now we can't use it."
Professor Zei fell to his knees. "My life's ambition is now full of sand," he mourned. But just as quickly he perked up. "Well, time to start excavating."
Toph walked past her friends and pressed her hand against the curved wall. "Actually, that won't be necessary. The inside seems to be completely intact, and it's huge."
"That fox thingy went in through a window," Sokka said. "I say we climb up there and give it a look."
Toph folded her arms. "I say you guys go ahead without me."
"You got something against libraries?" Katara asked, though not unkindly.
"I've held books before," Toph said ambivalently, "and I have to tell you, they don't exactly do it for me."
That was the second time in one day that they had forgotten that she was blind, which did impose some limits on things she could do. "Oh, right," Katara said, laughing sheepishly. "Sorry."
"Let me know if they have something you can listen to," Toph suggested.
Aang paused, watching Sokka tie a rope to his boomerang to use as a grappling hook. "How about I try to find a book to read to you? Then you can still get something out of this vacation."
Toph shrugged. "Maybe." She wasn't sure whether or not she liked the idea of having one of her friends read to her like a child. But she could tell Aang had offered it to be kind, because that's the type of person he was.
Aang petted Appa reassuringly. "Don't worry, buddy. I'm not making you go underground ever again," he promised, remembering the Cave of Two Lovers. "You can stay out here with Toph."
She could hear the huge animal grunt in response. She turned her face in the direction the others were going in, and then back to the sky bison she would be staying with. "What's up?" she said, just to break the silence.
Perhaps it was good that Toph hadn't come, because the others already had to search themselves for knowledge to contribute to the library. Everyone gave either something worthless, or something very important to them.
Katara's was the latter type. "I have an authentic waterbending scroll." She had come so far in waterbending that she no longer needed the scroll for guidance or even for teaching. But it had carried a sense of nostalgia, as a souvenir of an encounter that had forever changed Katara and Zuko. That scroll had caused so much change, as she and Iroh had observed when she was with him.
Wong Shi Tong swiped the scroll out of her hands. Katara was slightly surprised at her own lack of emotion when this happened. She didn't feel as though she was losing anything. The scroll carried knowledge and memories, which she would hold on to, but she didn't need the scroll itself any longer, because she had stored them in her heart. Maybe she had even moved on.
While Sokka searched for materials about the Fire Nation, Katara found a section on medicine. Remembering Iroh's recent injury, she wondered if there was any information about lightning wounds.
"Professor Zei? Do you have some paper I could write on?"
"Of course!" The scholar had come fully prepared. He handed Katara some blank paper and a pen. Thus armed, she took a few medical books down from the shelves and started flipping through them, taking notes on relevant passages.
She found one account of a man who was struck by lightning twice and survived. The healers he met with had varying arguments for how it had been possible. One of them argued that he may have died upon one strike, and come back upon the second, an incident of rejuvenation (though others mockingly called it resurrection).
The idea made sense in Katara's mind. She knew that a person who drowned could appear dead, but if they had the water pumped out and air pumped back into their lungs, before their organs failed, then they could live.
Maybe lightning worked the same way? If so much electricity could stop a person's heart, could the same amount be used to restart it?
She barely had time to jot down this theory before Sokka called them away to a section of the library that seemed promising to him. She tucked the paper under her shirt, next to Pakku's vial of water from the Spirit Oasis, and quickly followed their others.
"So … you like flying?" Toph asked, taking a halfhearted stab at conversation. It had been a long time since she tried to bond with an animal, and she'd never really gotten to know Appa in her short time with the group.
Appa responded with a grunt. Toph went on, "Of course, I'm more comfortable on the ground, where I can see. Well, I don't see the way you do. I feel the vibrations in the ground with my feet." Toph scooped up a handful of sand, so unlike the dirt back in Gaoling. "But this sand is so loose and shifty, it makes everything look fuzzy."
Appa sat up and yawned. "Not that there's anything wrong with fuzzy," Toph said quickly.
She was getting hot. She got up to stretch her legs, and walked around Appa, trying to find a shady spot where she couldn't feel the strong sun.
"I already told you, I don't want to snuggle," Toph said, a little grumpy. Then she fell backwards as Appa stood up behind her. She got to her feet, and then she felt and heard the rumble that had disturbed Appa. It wasn't just near her; she could feel it under her.
"The library's sinking," Toph realized, feeling an unfamiliar sensation—panic. "The library's sinking!" She rushed to the tower and braced her hands against the stone and ceramic structure. But as she tried to push up against the building, her feel sank into the loose sand, and the library continued to move. Toph stepped away, and then attempted to earthbend by punching her fist into the ground; but she couldn't adequately move the sand, or send vibrations through it to the library itself.
She turned around and once again hit the tower, putting all of her strength into withholding the stone building. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt such a strain; usually earthbending and fighting were almost effortless.
It was the first time Toph had ever felt truly afraid. What if her friends were buried in the library? Would they die? Then what would happen to her? She needed them; she probably wouldn't survive without them; and besides, they were what made her life worth living.
Appa turned his back to her and growled, alerting Toph to yet another new danger. She turned her head so her ears were facing whatever, or whoever, was coming. "What is it now?" Toph said through gritted teeth. She sensed rather than heard new presences, as they moved silently behind her. "Who's there?"
She could feel sand whipping around her, almost as though it were being bended. Toph remembered the sandbenders they had seen at the Misty Palms Oasis. Had they followed the group out here?
Appa was crying out and she could hear voices, men grunting and groaning from strain. Someone shouted, "Put a muzzle on him!"
Appa sounded just as scared as Toph felt. She turned her head to shout a threat over her shoulder. "Don't make me put this down!" She made a split-second decision: she let go of the spire and turned around to attack, trying to bend a wave of sand at Appa's assailants. She had no way of knowing if she was hitting her target. Meanwhile she could feel the library moving again at a rapid drop. She turned again and braced her hands against it. "No, stop sinking!"
She had two crises on her hands, and she couldn't handle one without abandoning the other.
Toph made a final attempt, turning to bend more sand at opponents whose presence she couldn't even be certain of. Again she had to turn her attention back on the library; and now the sounds of struggle were gone, as Appa and the sandbenders faded from her already blurred vision. "No!"
Toph bowed her head, knowing she couldn't go after them. "I'm sorry, Appa." She squeezed her eyes shut; she wouldn't allow herself to cry, all her strength and energy had to be focused on keeping the window above the ground level.
They had to be all right; she'd already lost Appa, she couldn't lose her friends too …
What is taking them so long?
After the longest minutes of her life, Toph heard Momo's chitter and Sokka and Katara's grunts behind her. Toph's arms hurt as she yanked her hands out of the holes they had formed in the tower; she fell backwards onto the ground, and knew that the library was disappearing. She felt dust blown into her face, and tried to shield her eyes, which were already stinging—possibly from unshed tears. Then the vibrations stopped, and everything was still.
"We got it! There's a solar eclipse coming." Sokka jumped up and hugged Katara ecstatically. "The Fire Nation's in trouble, now!"
It was Aang who first noticed that something was wrong. "Where's Appa?"
Toph was holding her head in her hands. She didn't turn to face him; she just shook her head, back and forth.
A moment later she heard Aang's slow, horrified gasp.
"Toph, what happened?" Katara asked.
"Sandbenders," Toph said, almost whispering. "They took Appa."
Everyone was silent as this horrible news sunk in. After a minute Toph slowly stood up, but then didn't know what to do next. The others were all looking out, in different directions, at the desert that surrounded them.
Suddenly Aang turned, rounding on Toph. "How could you let them take Appa? Why didn't you stop them?"
"I couldn't! The library was sinking! You guys were still inside and –" I didn't want you to die. How could I choose a bison over you? I mean, really?
"You could have come to get us! I could have saved him!"
"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here," Toph explained. "The sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for –"
"You just didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!"
"Well, I'm really sorry I saved your life instead of your bison!" Toph snapped.
"Stop it!" Katara came over and moved between them. "Aang, you know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives."
You're welcome, Toph thought, not without some bitterness toward Aang.
"Who's going to save our lives now?" Sokka asked. He gestured to the vastness of the desert, which they had only been able to cover with Appa transporting them. "We'll never make it out of here."
"That's all any of you care about: yourselves!" Aang shouted. "You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!"
"Whoa! Speak for yourself!" Toph exclaimed. She was more indignant than angry. "Do you care about the rest of us?" she asked. "Besides, the only way we'll be able to find Appa is if we survive the trip out of the desert."
"We're all concerned about Appa; but we can't afford to be fighting now." Katara remembered how easily they had deteriorated when Azula and her cohorts were chasing them. She couldn't let that happen again.
"I'm going after Appa." Aang opened his glider and took off.
"Aang!" Katara shouted in protest, but she couldn't stop him. Sadly, she spoke to the others. "We better start walking. We're the only ones who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba Sing Se."
Toph raised her eyebrows at this. So they had a destination, a goal beyond just getting out of the harsh desert. That was somewhat comforting.
"D'you think if we dig up the giant owl, he'll give us a ride?" Sokka asked as they started walking.
The sarcasm didn't amuse them. "We're lucky he didn't chase us once we made it outside," Katara said flatly.
"Giant owl?" Toph repeated. "Man, what did I miss?"
Sokka answered. "Well, Professor Zei decided to stay in the library—I guess he could be alive, in the Spirit World, or just buried under the sand. But I found out something about firebenders. They lose their bending during a solar eclipse—and there's going to be one a few months from now. That's our best opportunity to fight the Fire Lord."
Toph was silent for a few minutes. Sokka wondered if she was impressed by this discovery. Katara worried that she didn't understand what an eclipse was.
Then Toph spoke up, sounding more timid and uncertain than usual. "Is Aang—going to be okay?"
"I'm sure he will," Katara said, quiet and confident.
"He's not always this angst-y, is he?" Toph asked.
"Oh, no. Almost never. It's just hard now."
"I get that he's lost his pet, but still," Toph said.
"You don't understand," Katara started gently.
"Explain, then," Toph said, with an edge to her voice.
"Appa is the last piece of Aang's life before the war – the only thing in his life that's stayed the same, even though a hundred years passed while he was in the iceberg. Actually, Appa and Momo might be the last of their kind."
"We lost Appa once before," Sokka remembered.
"You mean in the swamp?" Katara asked after a moment.
"Yeah, and Aang was somehow able to use his Avatar powers to find Appa and Momo."
"I think that had to do with the fact that the tree was 'one big organism,'" Katara said.
They walked in silence after that, which was probably for the best, as talking would make their mouths dry of saliva, making them thirst more quickly.
Things only worsened as the day slowly wore on. The little water that they had tasted like a swamp. Sokka thought he was being smart by finding water in a cactus plant, but drinking it made him act drunk and crazy.
It was almost sunset before they saw Aang again. He returned on his glider, without Appa. He didn't look at his friends; he just kneeled down in the sand, bowing his head.
Katara was the first to approach him. "I'm sorry, Aang. I know it's hard for you right now, but we need to focus on getting out of here."
"What's the difference?" Aang said sullenly. "We won't survive without Appa. We all know it."
"Come on, Aang!" Katara was trying her best not to sound desperate. "We can do this if we work together. Right, Toph?" She looked to the blind girl for support.
Katara was an optimist; but Toph was a realist. She wasn't in despair, but she couldn't pretend everything was certain to be all right. "As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothin'." She felt strangely useless.
"Sokka? Any ideas how to find Ba Sing Se?"
She saw that Sokka was lying on his back, staring at the sky with a blissful smile. "Why don't we ask the circle birds?" he asked, pointing upwards. Katara looked up and realized he was referring to some buzzard wasps circling above them.
She lowered her gaze and looked at each of her friends. Toph, who was struggling to hold herself upright. Aang, who was sulking, subdued by grief and despair. Sokka, who was usually the plan-maker, but was now lying intoxicated in the sand.
Katara could almost feel a physical pressure on her, as the entire situation tried to weigh her down. She growled slightly, feeling almost angry, but more determined than anything else.
"We're getting out of this desert, and we're going to do it together," Katara said, in a tone that told them she meant business and no one was to question her decision. "Aang, get up. Everybody, hold hands." That's what you were supposed to do if you were stuck in a snowstorm, to make sure the group stayed together and nobody was lost.
"We can do this. We have to." That seemed to be the story of their lives.
Toph held onto Aang's hand and pulled Sokka along behind her. They walked that way for a long time, links of a single chain.
For the first time, Toph appreciated Katara's bossiness. She took charge of the situation and told them exactly what they had to do to help.
It was about midnight when she finally said that they could stop and rest. They drank the last of Katara's bending water. Katara stayed up a little longer than the others, studying the charts that Sokka had taken from the library.
She wondered if Zuko had ever felt this way, traveling aimlessly at sea. She wondered if he had learned how to navigate and use star charts. She knew that he had come close to despair, just as she was now.
"In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength."
Remembering Iroh's words made Katara feel stronger, almost more at peace. Now was her time to be resilient, like Zuko, and a leader, like Iroh. And like her father, the chief and warrior. He probably felt this way at times, too.
After indulging herself in a few hours of sleep, Katara informed the others that they had to start again.
An unexpected sighting brought two painfully hopeful moments to the group. First, Aang thought he saw Appa's silhouette against the moon, only to realize that it was just a cloud. That gave Katara an idea, for Aang to fly up and bend the water into her canteen, thinking it would help sustain the group. But when he returned, the pouch had less than a mouthful of water in it.
"Wow … there's hardly any in here," Katara said without thinking.
"I'm sorry, okay!" Aang shouted angrily. "It's a desert cloud; I did all I could! What's anyone else doing? What are you doing?"
Katara looked back at him in shock. "Trying to keep everyone together," she answered flatly. "Let's just get moving. We need to head in this direction."
Toph remembered how she and Katara had argued when she didn't do anything to help the group. Now, she actually felt kind of bad because she wasn't able to do anything to help the others or herself. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so … miserable.
The thought came before she could stop it: If I hadn't left home, I wouldn't be dying of thirst and exhaustion now.
Toph tried to bury that thought, the way she could pummel an opponent. She refused to think that way. She would never regret leaving home. Emotions aside, she was convinced that leaving was the best decision she had made. And not just for herself, but also for her friends and her country.
Her sense of conviction was all but shattered when her foot hit something hard and she fell down in the sand.
All the complaints she'd been stifling rolled out like a rockslide. "Ow! Crud! I am so sick of not seeing where I'm going! And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert?"
"A boat?" Katara repeated.
"Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations," Toph said sourly. She felt Aang airbending, blowing the sand away from whatever it was Toph had tripped on.
"It's one of the gliders the sandbenders use!" Katara exclaimed, sounding excited. "And look! It's got some kind of compass on it. I bet it can point us out of here. Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail it. We're going to make it!"
The four of them climbed onto the wooden structure. "I can't believe you found this—and you weren't even trying!" Katara marveled. Toph smiled, feeling a little bit of pride in her discovery.
Everyone felt their spirits lifted somewhat while they traveled on the desert boat. They were moving quickly, which meant they would get out of there sooner.
"This compass doesn't seem to be pointing north according to my charts," Katara remarked, sounding like Sokka for a moment.
Sokka himself was still somewhat intoxicated. "Take it easy, little lady. I'm sure the sand folks who built this baby know how to get around here."
Katara deliberately ignored him. Then she saw something in the distance, and gasped. "That's what the compass is pointing to! That giant rock! It must be the magnetic center of the desert."
"A rock? Yes!" Toph said happily. "Let's go!"
"Maybe we can find some water there," Katara said.
"Maybe we can find some sandbenders," Aang said darkly.
The first thing they found was the buzzard-wasp hive. That's what the magnetic rock really was. Sokka later said that he couldn't decide which was worse, facing off against humans or against animals.
On that day, Aang killed an animal for the very first time. The others missed it, while he was chasing after the buzzard-wasp that had caught Momo. Aang sent an airbending slice at the animal, cutting it in half.
Bending the earth made Toph feel empowered again; but she was just as blind to the air as to the sand. Again, she couldn't see where her opponents were.
It was Katara who turned her in the right directions. Toph smiled as she followed Katara's instructions for where to aim. She supposed this was the nature of teamwork: she needed them, and they needed her.
When they returned to the bottom of the rock structure, another strange thing happened: enormous pillars of sand rose up, frightening the buzzard-wasps away. When the sand fell away, they saw what had caused it to move, a group of sandbenders who had arrived on gliders. Aang landed next to his friends, and the four teenagers faced the sandbenders together.
"What are you doing in our land with a sandbender sailer?" their leader demanded. "From the looks of it, you stole it from the Hami Tribe."
Katara explained calmly. "We found the sailer abandoned in the desert. We're traveling with the Avatar. Our bison was stolen and we have to get to Ba Sing Se."
A younger sandbender stepped forward. "You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen sand sailer?" Toph's eyes narrowed, hearing the man's voice. It sounded familiar to her ears.
"Quiet, Gashuin," the leader scolded. "No one accused our people of anything. If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality."
"Sorry, Father."
Toph's eyes widened as she connected the voice with a memory. "Put a muzzle on him!"
"I recognize the son's voice," Toph said quietly to her friends. "He's the one that stole Appa."
"Are you sure?" Katara said.
"I never forget a voice."
Aang approached the group angrily, brandishing his staff. "You stole Appa! Where is he? What did you do to him?"
"They're lying!" Gashuin exclaimed indignantly. "They're the thieves!"
Aang swung his staff down, destroying one of the tribe's sand sailers with his blast of air. "Where is my bison?"
The question was met with terrified silence. "You tell me where he is now!" Aang demanded. Katara, Sokka, and the sandbenders watched in shock as he swung the end of his staff upward, obliterating another sand sailer.
"What did you do?" the leader asked his son.
"I-it wasn't me!"
Now Toph felt angry too. "You said to put a muzzle on him!"
"You muzzled Appa?" Aang said, enraged. He was so furious, his eyes and arrow tattoos started to glow. He twirled his staff and destroyed of yet another sand sailer.
"I'm sorry!" Gashuin stammered. "I didn't know that it belonged to the Avatar!"
"Tell me where Appa is!" They could hear Aang's voice, but at the same time it sounded like another person speaking, sharp and dangerous.
"I traded him—to some merchants! He's probably in Ba Sing Se by now. They were going to sell him there!" Gashuin sounded frightened and desperate. "Please! We'll escort you out of the desert! We'll help however we can!"
Ba Sing Se. Toph had heard that name in the past, and the others had said they would have to go there to tell Earth Kingdom forces about the solar eclipse. It was the biggest city in the world. The last Earth Kingdom stronghold. The best place to hide. People came there to escape, to hide from whatever plagued them—poverty, or war, or personal trials. And apparently it was also a place for exotics goods, such as sky bison.
Something happened then, for the first time since Toph joined the group. She didn't know what was happening; but she could feel the wind picking up, swirling in a cyclone, pulling in sand and blowing it all around them. She'd never felt wind so fast or so strong.
"Just get out of here!" Sokka shouted, grabbing Toph by the shoulder and running away. "Run!"
Toph obeyed, and ran away. That was something she did fairly often; she'd run away from home, and then from her new teammates. But now she wasn't sure what she was running from.
For the second time in as many days, Toph was frightened. Only this time, she had no idea what was happening; she knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, that this had more to do with spirits than with men.
"What's going on?" she screamed at Sokka.
"It's Aang!" he answered. Toph opened her mouth to protest, only to taste a mouthful of sand. "His Avatar Spirit is angry!"
Toph was surprised, and somehow didn't want to believe it. She wasn't scared of Aang …
She had taken him for a wimp. But … by the badgermoles, he was powerful. And maybe dangerous.
What was happening to him? To her? She felt what little guilt she carried double at the thought that she had feared Aang. He was her friend.
It was over almost as quickly as it had begun. The wind slowed and after a moment it had calmed to a mere breeze, allowing the sand to settle.
"Katara calmed him down." She felt Sokka's hand squeeze her shoulder. "He's okay. It's going to be okay," he repeated. Neither of them was sure who he was really speaking to. "We made it out of the desert. We know where to look for Appa. And we know how to beat the Fire Nation. We can do this," Sokka swore.
"Where is he?" Toph's voice was slightly strained.
Sokka blinked at her, then turned her so she was facing Aang and Katara. She pulled away and walked slowly toward them. Now, all she could hear were muffled sobs.
Aang was crying.
Toph could feel some rock underneath the layer of sand on which she stood. She knew Katara was hugging Aang, letting him cry on her shoulder. Katara, who had known Aang for months, ever since he embarked on this quest to face his destiny.
Katara was the comforter in the group. Not Toph. She wasn't needed for that role.
Still, Toph walked up to them. Her voice shook when she spoke. "Aang?"
Katara and Aang opened their eyes to see her, close to tears herself. "I'm sorry. For everything."
"Toph," Katara began.
"Let me finish. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them. And I was no help getting through the desert either." And just now, instead of standing her ground and trying to calm him down, she had run away when he was hurting the most, leaving the comforting to someone who was good at it. Some friend she was.
Toph braced herself. "But I am going to help you find Appa. I'll make it up to you. I promise."
Aang looked at her silently. Toph hoped that he believed her. She couldn't see the sadness in his face or the tear stains on his cheeks. But she did hear Katara when she said, "Come here," stretching out an arm. Toph walked over and put her arms around both of them. A moment later she felt Sokka behind her. She was sandwiched between her three friends, but it was Aang she felt the most. He was the reason she had joined this strange group, agreed to go on this crazy adventure. She had agreed to help him; and in that respect, she wasn't going to fail him again.