Disclaimer: ATLA and LOK and all characters therein are not mine.
A/N: This chapter has a lot of Toph in it, apparently. As Olaf would say, "All good things!"
A Change in the Wind
XXVI. The Calm Before
The summer sun blazed hotly in this half of the world, searing the once-empty waters of the Circle Sea that stretched from the Fire Nation mainland in the south to the sheltering curve of the mountains housing the Western Air Temple in the north. The waters had only once been empty, as they now contained dozens of destroyers—the entire assembled might of the Fire Navy.
Clustered close together on the turbulent seas, the black ships formed a scar on the otherwise featureless cobalt ocean, dark and ugly and forbidding.
Admiral Zhao stepped out onto the observation deck of his personal craft, a ship fit for his rank in both size and opulence, and it was only outdone by the destroyers belonging to the Fire Lord and the Crown Princess, both of which featured dragon-like designs on their prows and towers.
Rather like the vessel approaching from the south…
Zhao frowned and unhooked the collapsible spyglass from his belt, expanding it in one fluid motion and raising it curiously to his eye. A thrill of fear and awe rippled up his spine, and he fumbled several times as he hooked the device back onto his belt, his fingers were shaking so badly. With a further lack of grace, he half-ran, half-stumbled back into the enclosed bridge and shouted hoarsely into the primitive intercom system, which was little more than a series of interconnected pipes that would carry his voice—tinny and fraught with echoes—throughout the confines of the ship.
"Get out on parade on the main deck now! Every last rat jack of you! Formal dress! No excuses! And no mistakes!"
As Zhao himself clambered hastily down the metal-mesh stairs in the tower, he listened to the muffled shouts and muted thudding of boots on iron deck plates as his soldiers panicked in much the same manner as he was; he darted into his cabin long enough to hastily smooth his hair, curse his disgraceful lack of topknot, and straighten his armor before he was propelled back on course.
Despite his speed, though, when he emerged on the main deck and into the salt-scented breeze, he saw that the other ship was far closer than he wanted it to be, and he vented his worry and spleen on his hapless sailors, barking orders and insults as they fell into line, rank upon rank of them standing to nervous attention. Zhao checked them one last time, stalking along their formation and noting the sheer verticalness of their bodies with a hint of pride, and then he assumed his position in the fore, his hands clasped behind his back as he waited for his ship to be boarded.
The other, extremely fine destroyer pulled up alongside Zhao's, and when the gangplank was passed across the slender gap, it tilted on a downward angle—however grand the admiral's ship was, this new arrival was even grander. Smartly dressed soldiers, outfitted in the uniform of the royal guard, marched stiffly down the gangplank, some of them bearing standards that flew the Fire flag.
In their midst, crowned and cloaked, was Fire Lord Ozai.
Zhao did not need to give a verbal order; as soon as he caught a glimpse of his sovereign, he prostrated himself on the deck—merely bowing would not be nearly respectful enough—and his own soldiers copied his pose so that all fifty of them were flat on the deck in attitudes of fearful humility.
From the tops of his eyes, Zhao saw Ozai's boots come to a halt before him, and he heard a low voice, rough as silk. "Admiral Zhao."
"Your Majesty, I am honored by your visit," he replied, not daring to straighten, not even daring to raise his head; as with Azula, looking Ozai in the eye was grounds for swift and certain death. The fierce mystique of the crown would not suffer holding a commoner's gaze. "May I ask what brings you into my unworthy presence?"
Unseen to Zhao, Ozai cast his gaze across the vista of collected destroyers with only a sort of mild, clinical interest. "I have been kept apprised of your activities, of course, Admiral, via the many messenger falcons that relay back and forth, and thusly I am aware of my daughter's plot to annihilate the Northern Water Tribe."
"Yes, sire," the prostrate man said, less to agree to anything and more just to fill the expectant silence.
Ozai waved a vague hand. "Naturally, Azula can order the Navy as she wishes, and I approve of any plan that eliminates lesser lives from my realm. As such, I have condoned this course of action."
"We are honored by your approval, sire," Zhao declared promptly, still face-down.
The Fire Lord continued staring off reflectively. "I ordered a similar destruction some years back, and even if it failed to weed out or eliminate the Avatar herself, nevertheless, the Southern Water Tribe was reduced to little more than a scattering of women and children, forced to live off scraps in that frozen wasteland. It was a grand victory, and an absolute conquest. But while I handed down the orders, did you know, Zhao, that I never witnessed any of it? Neither did I participate. I left that up to my capable lieutenants, who in retrospect, it seems, were not so capable. I, of course, also received the information concerning the execution of the treasonous Commander Yon Rha," he added in a sidelong remark. "He was such a loyal soldier, and such a natural butcher; I was saddened to hear that he had turned against the wishes of the crown in the end, and just to sate his own ambition, too."
"Yes, sire."
"But that matters little," Ozai continued, colder than a snake. "My point is this, Admiral: responsible as I am for the Southern Extermination, I regretfully never enjoyed it firsthand. I do not desire to let a similar chance pass me by untasted. Thusly, I am accompanying my navy to this battlefield so that I may be personally responsible for the fall of the North."
Zhao quaked where he lay at the prospect of suffering his ruler's presence for the foreseeable future, but he did not voice that particular opinion, instead choosing to say, "Our victory is assured then, sire. With Your Majesty's leadership, cunning, and power, we cannot possibly fail."
"No, we cannot," Ozai agreed absently, and he gave his long, slender beard a solitary stroke. "When will the fleets be ready to deploy?"
"We have yet to gather sufficient supplies and fuel, sire, or to augment our crews with additional personnel," Zhao explained. "We only just convened here today, all three fleets plus the majority of the blockade ships; the Earth Kingdom is in no position to invade our territory, sire, not since we have established rule over much of the western coast, so it seemed an acceptable risk to thin the ranks. However, the passage north through the Western Air Channel is treacherous, and furthermore, there will be no outposts or ports anywhere along the northern coast of the Earth Kingdom. It will take some time to acquire a surplus of fuel and establish a strategy that takes any sort of siege into account; I estimate we will deploy in a week at best, sire."
The Fire Lord considered that and conceded it with a slow nod. "An acceptable interval. A week from today, we shall mount our attack on the Northern Water Tribe." He smiled, a dark and dangerous sliver like a bloody crescent moon lurking on the horizon. "The Arctic Sea will be dyed red by the time we are done."
"Yes, sire," Zhao agreed, and he waited until the Fire Lord not only had departed, but his troops as well, and further that the gangplank had been retracted before he finally raised his head. Reclaiming his dignity with some difficulty, he dusted off the front of his armor and barked orders at his crew, although he forestalled his lieutenant with a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"No mistakes," he hissed to the man. "I will accept nothing less than perfection, for you can be assured that neither will His Majesty."
The lieutenant gulped and hurried off, and Zhao crossed his arms on his chest and surveyed the busyness for a moment before he, too, retreated to his cabin to continue planning. The conquest of the Northern Water Tribe had to be absolute now, more absolute than even when Azula had been the most fearsome figurehead, because if the Arctic Sea did not run red with waterbenders' blood, Zhao knew that Ozai would make it run red with his.
Several days later, in the room at the inn, Korra stood patiently as Katara unwound the bandages, her fingers laced behind her head so as to keep her arms out of the way. Even inside and out of the direct sunlight, it was warm here, the thick and stagnant heat of an Earth Kingdom summer, and Korra had to admit that she didn't like it all that much. It was better than the extremes of the Si Wong Desert and the North Pole, but…surely there had to be some middle ground, like an island with cooling sea breezes and acres upon acres of warm white sand, somewhere quiet and calm where she could while away peaceful days with a certain waterbender…
"Well, you definitely look healed," Katara remarked, interrupting the Avatar's blissful daydream of better climates and easier times, and Korra glanced down at herself as the Southerner continued speaking. "All the swelling's gone, all the bruises are gone, but that's just on the surface. Let's see if it goes all the way down…" She settled her hands carefully, fingers splayed on the other girl's ribs, and instructed, "Take a deep breath, would you? Really deep. Like you're trying to firebend."
Korra cracked a smile at that. "You know me so well. Someone else probably would've said 'like you're trying to airbend', but you know how I play my favorites."
"Just don't actually firebend," the younger girl replied with a hint of laughter. "I am standing right here."
"Fine, fine," the older one conceded, her smile broadening. She braced for pain in the next instant, though, as she inhaled, long and slow and deep…but there was no pain, just smooth expansion and smooth contraction as she released the breath a few seconds later. She clucked her tongue. "Huh."
"Was that okay?" Katara asked, tracing her fingertips along the curved ridges, as if she expected any lingering cracks to register beneath her touch.
"Yeah, I…wow, it's been so long since I haven't been scared to breathe," the Avatar related with a rueful chuckle, and she swallowed another lungful of air, just to be certain. "Ha, this is awesome. Way to go with the healing! I don't even know why we're bothering to go to the North Pole at this point."
Flushing at the compliment, Katara shrugged nonchalantly—or at least, she tried, but there was too much self-consciousness in the gesture. "I don't know how much I really did," she pointed out. "I mean, I accelerated the process somewhat, since normally it'd take six weeks for bones to knit, and this only took three, but…perhaps they were simply more cracked and bruised than actually broken—"
"Take the credit already, would you?" Korra teased, and she lowered her arms and rested her hands on Katara's, holding them to her sides.
In the next moment, though, Katara's hands flinched beneath hers as someone banged loudly on the door, which was followed by the very literal, "Knock knock! You guys decent in there?" And without waiting for a response, positive or negative, Toph waltzed in, stifling a yawn as she did so.
Korra chose to answer the earthbender's query, anyway. "Reasonably decent, yeah. Tara's just finishing up the healing."
"Ah, 'healing'…is that what you're calling it now?" Toph taunted with a leer, which was cast in a slightly inaccurate direction.
Katara's expression went straight to unamused exasperation. "No, it's actually healing," she protested, pointedly toneless. "Korra's not hurt anymore. This is a good thing."
The small girl flapped a hand. "Yeah, yeah, Ice Queen," she drawled dismissively. "I've just been burnt too many times by your shenanigans to take anything you say at face value."
The waterbender groaned and lowered her head, her brow connecting with Korra's collarbone with a quiet, hollow thunk. So slumped, she could feel the Avatar's chest shift as she blew a gusty sigh and remarked, "Geez, Bandit, it was the one—"
"The five," Toph interjected, lifting her hand, all fingers splayed.
"—the five times," Korra conceded without missing a beat, and she cocked an eyebrow at her friend. "But what does it matter to you, anyway? It's not like you can see us in here."
"Damn it, Spitfire, don't make out in front of me just because I can't see it, that's disgusting," Toph volleyed back with even-handed ease. "And while I may be blind on wooden floors and feather beds—not that this itchy plank of a mattress could ever be considered a feather bed," she added in sidelong commentary as she slouched past the bed and dropped a disapproving fist into its lumpy surface, "I still have ears, you know. I wanted to put the brakes on things before you started slobbering all over each other…again."
The vibrations of Korra's laugh buzzed through Katara's forehead as she replied, "Bandit, in our defense, we don't slobber."
Toph was having none of that, though. "Whatever you call it, it's not exactly decen—wait, did we ever establish that you're decent now, or—? You said 'reasonably'—what does 'reasonably' mean? Oh, in the name of dirt, you two better both be wearing clothes!"
The Avatar cast a glance down her body, and her lips pulled to one side as she warred with honesty. "Well, kinda?" she was forced to admit. "I mean, Tara really was finishing the healing, so she had to take the bandages off, so—"
In the throes of theatrical complaint, Toph threw her hands up in the air. "Mother of earth, you guys need to learn some self-control! Must I constantly chaperone you? Or does constantly interrupting you suffice?"
Katara straightened up and slanted a simmering glare at the younger girl. When she spoke, her tone skirted the edge of a growl. "Was there a reason you came by, Toph, or do you just enjoy tormenting us?"
Korra snickered at the exchange, but the earthbender jabbed a finger at the waterbender—again, in not quite the right direction. "I don't enjoy any of this, Ice Queen," she snarked back, "and I resent the insinuation. Up until now, I've been spared anything graphic—and I've never been so thrilled to be blind—but out there in the real world, please remember that as long as you're touching ground, I'll be able to see you, alright? Even if you're thirty feet away and behind a tree, I'll know. So I'm begging you. Self-control."
The Avatar couldn't resist arching a taunting eyebrow at her girlfriend in the wake of that remonstration. "Behind a tree, eh, Tara? I'll try not to scrape up your back too much."
Katara flushed horribly, while Toph clapped a hand to her forehead and staggered. "Gah, what the hell, Spitfire?! I'm not trying to give you spirit-damn pointers! Rein in your hormones, for rock's sake!"
The oldest girl erupted in hearty laughter. "Bandit, I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" she said, but in silence, she shifted her gaze back to Katara and gave her head a shake as a slow smirk spread across her lips.
Oblivious of the waterbender's deepening blush and of her fingers sinking into Korra's sides, Toph capitulated to that explanation. "You better be," she muttered darkly, and then she expelled her own blustery sigh. "But anyway, I actually came by to tell you that we're heading out. You know, like we planned, though I wouldn't be surprised if you'd forgotten, considering," she said with a sniff. "Everyone's already at the orphanage. I'm gonna go join 'em, so try not to take too long, eh?"
"We'll do our best," Korra replied, and she reached over and ruffled her friend's unruly bangs.
Toph swiped belatedly at her hand, but she was grinning, genuinely now. "Erm…I am really stoked to hear you're at one hundred percent again," she added. "You, uh, almost had me worried for a while there. And now I can finally stop being bored outta my skull—we have to spar again pronto, 'kay?" And she extended her fist for a bump.
"Call me out whenever you like," Korra agreed, tapping knuckles.
Pleased as punch, Toph ambled away, the sound of her footfalls retreating back through the open door and along the corridor without.
Katara rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes and simply sheltered there for a long moment. "Oh, is she gone," she groaned, less of a question and more of a general lamentation.
"Yes, Tara, she's gone," the Avatar confirmed with a humorous, sympathetic lilt. "And I hate to say it, but we should really be going, too. Who knows who'll barge in on us next, eh?"
She seemed reluctant to obey, though. "As long as it's not the Fire Nation, I don't really care," she declared—unconvincingly, if Korra's amused grin were any barometer.
"Careful," she advised. "Soon I won't be the only one Toph calls Spitfire."
A smile flickered across Katara's lips, but she permitted her girlfriend to retreat. As Korra slipped back into her tunic and stuffed the last of the group's belongings into a pack, she considered the younger girl sidelong. "You know, I might not know much about your real skill level as a healer, but even with only my supervision as of late, I have to say that you've really improved as a waterbender in general. I honestly don't know what else is left for me to teach you—as far as I'm concerned, you're a master."
Katara flushed now with pride as she plucked a thin tendril of the element from her reserve, manipulating it with what was admittedly expert ease. "You really think so? Wow, I…I really never thought this day would come!" she admitted with a laugh and a little shake of her head, adding, "I've been dreaming of it for so long, it's…positively surreal to have it finally come true."
"Well, you'll just have to get over it," Korra quipped, "'cause it's reality now. Obviously, you'll wanna keep practicing and all, can't go getting cocky, but in terms of actual skills, you pretty much have a full arsenal."
She siphoned the water back into its pouch, and as she corked it shut, she remarked with audible emotion, "Thank you so much, you know, for teaching me. I never could have done this without you." She paused, her gaze lowering, and concluded quietly, "I don't think I could do anything without you, anymore."
"Hey, now," the Avatar lilted in gentle tease as she crossed to her girlfriend's side and slung an arm around her slender shoulders, guiding her towards the door, "easy on the sap, Tara. If you get too gooey, you'll give me cavities."
She exhaled another laugh. "And we wouldn't want that."
"Nope, not when I've just gotten a clean bill of health," Korra declared. "And since I have one of those, let's get outta this place and back to fulfilling your other dreams, namely finally getting you to the North Pole and into those healing classes! Which you'll probably ace right out of the gate, given all the practice you've gotten on my poor battered body."
Katara locked the door behind them and strolled down the hallway to the stairs, shaking her head as she went. "You do manage to hurt yourself a lot, but the idea of actually learning how to properly heal…that's even more surreal," she realized. "I mean, that's why I came with you in the first place. Actually finishing this journey feels like the end of an era."
Korra shrugged agreeably, hefting her pack onto one shoulder. "Sure, but that just means it's the beginning of another one. Where's your optimism, eh?"
She slanted her a bit of a look. "It's present and accounted for, as always," she replied, pausing only to hand the key to the innkeeper before they stepped out into the sunlight and the bustling streets of the Lower Ring. "Even so, though."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Korra said, and as she inhaled in a sort of inverse sigh, she was still somewhat surprised when there was no answering pain in her chest. "It brings everything into such sharp focus. I mean, once you're settled in the North Pole, I'm going to have to figure out how to face off with the Fire Lord. Destiny doesn't like being kept waiting, and I've probably delayed it longer than I should."
Katara studied her for a stretched moment, and on impulse, she reached across their intervening distance and laced their fingers together. Color she still couldn't fight rose to her cheeks as she watched Korra glance down at the union, but she persevered by saying, "You'll make it through just fine, just you wait and see. I believe in you."
Korra smiled halfway. "So you've said," she remarked, and somehow, that wasn't quite an answer, and her fingers were oddly loose on Katara's.
The waterbender pretended not to notice, although she tightened her grip, just to see if that would provoke a reaction; Korra responded in kind, but it might have been a subconscious spasm, since she remained looking lost somewhere behind her eyes. Questions and reassurances dying halfway up her throat, Katara simply walked beside her, threading through the crowds as they traveled the few blocks to the orphanage.
As they turned down the appropriate sidestreet, they reclaimed sight of Toph, who was lounging back against the wall near the door, her eyes closed as she soaked in the warmth of an unseen sun. The earthbender didn't move as they approached, and without so much as a twitch, she advised in her usual lazy manner, "Spitfire, Ice Queen, you might want to disengage."
For a moment, the Water Tribe girls regarded her with furrowed brows, but then Korra realized her meaning. "Oh, right," she said, and she eased her fingers from Katara's.
Toph smirked. "You two are pathetic," she declared, but there was unmistakable fondness in her tone.
The Avatar shook her head with a slight grin. "Your concern and discretion are appreciated, Bandit."
Humming a nonchalant affirmation, the earthbender led the way into the shady interior of the orphanage. As she'd reported, the rest of their friends were already present, along with the resident children; little Gyatso was smiling toothlessly in Ursa's arms, not exactly cognizant of the situation but content to stay with the Fire Lady nevertheless. He had taken instantly to her, much to Korra's relief, as she had begun to fear that no one else would ever please the finicky child, and had otherwise adapted well to life at the orphanage in the interim.
Aang smiled when he saw the girls. "Good, you're here. The room at the inn's been taken care of?"
"Yep," Korra confirmed. "We're all ready to hit the road. Or the sky. Whatever."
The monk accepted this with a nod, although not everyone was so eager to make tracks—standing next to his mother, Zuko bit back half of a sigh but nodded resolutely all the same. "Okay," he said, and he pulled her into a swift, somewhat awkward embrace, as Gyatso remained in her hold. "We'll be back for you soon, I promise."
Ursa kissed his cheek, a soft brush against his scar. "And we'll be here, my son. Agni keep you safe."
He nodded stiffly, his throat too swollen for speech, and with a final, flickering smile, he fell into his companions' wake as they filed out the door and began heading down the street. It was a slow retreat, as everyone was calling back farewells and waving, gestures which the orphans and Ursa returned.
"Bye, Katara! Bye, Uncle Mushi! Bye, Toph!" the children chorused.
"So long, brats," the earthbender dismissively replied, not even turning around, just lifting an acknowledging hand and giving it a half-hearted waggle. Sokka caught a glimpse of her face, though, and thought she appeared a little more morose than usual, so, gallantly, he made a fool of himself so that she would be tempted to hit him and reclaim her good humor.
"Ow!" he yelped when he succeeded more than he would've liked. "Not so hard!"
"Suck it up, Husky," Toph snarked.
But she was grinning again, so Sokka decided not to complain any further, even though he was convinced that a bruise was blooming on his bicep.
From the shadow of the doorway, Ursa called, "Mushi, you keep an eye on them, now."
"Of course, Osa," Iroh promised, laying his hand on his stomach, which he generally valued more than his heart. "They shall be well looked after."
Ursa nodded, and she stepped off the stoop, raising her voice a bit more for her next address: "Avatar?"
Korra paused mid-stride and turned back halfway, eyebrow lifting in silent query.
The Fire Lady hesitated, gnawing on the corner of her lower lip, and went with, "You won't forget what we spoke of?"
Her edges seemed to contract, but she shook her head all the same and tapped her fists together in respectful salute. "I made you a promise," she confirmed.
Somewhat put at ease by that, Ursa nodded again, a bit more absently than before, and lifted little Gyatso's hand in a last, pudgy goodbye. She slipped inside the orphanage, the door closing behind her, and the friends' feet kicked up a cloud of dust as they walked away.
Katara threaded through the group until she drew level with Zuko, and she linked their arms. When he arched a melancholic eyebrow at her, she nudged him with her shoulder for good measure. "Cheer up," she said. "Now you know where to find her, and we'll be back before you know it, I swear."
He acknowledged that with a faint smile, but it faded as he wondered, "Do you know what she meant with Korra? What promise were they talking about?"
Katara glanced across to where the Avatar was chatting with Aang, but this glimpse yielded no answers, and she could only shake her head.
A safe distance from the perimeter of Ba Sing Se, a Fire Nation tank lurked beneath the shelter of the local undergrowth, sufficiently disguised to avoid any immediate discovery. Ty Lee was perched nearby on a boulder, tapping her toes as she kept an eye on the city's wall and the sky above, occasionally raising a spyglass to determine if a distant smudge were merely a solitary bird or something more significant.
Down below, Azula's meditation was interrupted by the acrobat's excited cries.
"It's them, it's them! They're heading northwest!"
The Crown Princess scaled the boulder with impressive ease and snatched the spyglass for herself. She smiled thinly as she lowered it again and smacked its length into her palm, as if she were threatening someone with a bat. "The rumors were right; it's a good thing Earth Kingdom peasants can't keep their mouths shut when a giant flying beast eats someone's cabbages, otherwise we might never have found the Avatar again. Although, she sure took her Agni-damn time," she added with a wrinkle of her nose, as if she were truly offended by this inconsiderate behavior. "Mai, prepare the falcon. Let Admiral Zhao know that we're on the trail of the Avatar and that he should rendezvous with us on the coast near the Northern Air Temple before he heads to battle."
The dour assassin nodded and disappeared inside the tank.
Ty Lee bounced now more from anxiety than her usual energetic fidgeting. "What if they get over the water before we catch up to them, though? They do travel faster than us, even if we never need to stop moving, what with driving in shifts and all."
"They won't make it to the Arctic Sea," Azula dismissed confidently as she leapt to the ground. "It'll take them more than four days to reach the ocean—plenty of time for us to orchestrate our own rendezvous. Never fear, darling," she drawled with a vicious little smirk, "I'll slay the Avatar before she makes it home."
The acrobat clapped her hands in anticipation. "Oo, then when one of Zhao's fleet picks us up, we'll have her head to bring with us. I'm sure the sight of it will take the wind right out of the Northerners' sails!"
Azula laughed, the sound musically callous. "Yes, indeed! Ah, everything is coming together so well, I couldn't have planned it better myself. Oh, wait," she added, golden eyes gleaming darkly, "I did."
Even with the addition of her stone mat, Toph still disliked flying; as modes of transportation went, she couldn't understand the real problem with walking everywhere. Sure, it would take longer, but that seemed a reasonable sacrifice to make when you were receiving comfort and security in return. She'd made no headway in convincing her friends of this, though, so she sprawled on her rock and clung to its reassuring solidity while she suffered through the airborne hours separating their meal breaks.
Sometimes, admittedly, if she got into a really good vein in regards to insulting Sokka, she hardly noticed the passage of time at all, but alas, this was not one of those days. The Water Tribe boy was off at the other end of the saddle, only visible to her due to his heel resting on the edge of her rock, and she caught occasional snippets of his conversation with Zuko as the wind carried the words past her ears. None of it interested her, though, and she had no real desire to partake in any of the other discussions, remaining lost somewhere inside her head.
She really did wonder what she'd signed up for. She'd wanted an adventure and freedom and friends, and while she'd gotten all those things, she couldn't help but experience a vague trepidation. Nothing they had done had really made her feel necessary—they went to libraries and flew sky bison and intended to camp out in the North Pole, land of unreadable ice and snow. Obviously, she'd contributed in battles, and obviously, she'd contributed in charm, but…somehow, she felt like she was on the outskirts, even more so than Aang, even more so than the firebenders.
Aang was Korra's past life, after all—or, he was something; Toph was still hazy on that whole deal—and Zuko and Iroh had contributed the revolutionary skill of redirecting. In comparison, Toph herself hadn't added anything substantial to the group, and with an impending future of arctic bliss, she wasn't going to be doing so anytime soon, either.
She rolled onto her back, the sun's warmth dispelled by the horizontal rush of wind, and felt her bangs flapping across her face, and sighed.
Her stomach shifted some time later as Appa tilted into a descent, and she grimaced, putting a hand to it, and attempted to will the queasy sensation away. This was difficult, though, when her inner ear was also trying to adjust to the change in air pressure, and she resigned herself to another uncomfortable landing, breathing normally again only once the solid rocking of Appa's body indicated the end of the ride.
"Mm, lunchtime," she heard Korra enthuse, and she caught the beginning of the Avatar's energetic vault off the saddle before her foot lifted from Toph's rock and condemned the earthbender back to obliviousness. The others got up rather more sedately, disappearing from her second sight one by one, and Toph departed last, folding her stone mat into a more portable dimension and bending it down to the ground before she followed it.
As soon as her bare feet connected with good, hard earth, her friends all winked back into existence, and a smile flickered across her face. She wriggled her toes into the dirt, delighting in the familiar sensation, and stamped around a bit, checking out their surroundings. They had landed on the top of a bluff, the crown of which was mostly rocky, empty ground, but the sides were thickly forested and steep, plummeting down out of Toph's range of vision in rutted slopes and several starker ravines.
Korra had already ventured off in search of firewood, and Toph watched for a moment as she rooted about along the bluff's edge but then turned her attention to more pressing matters—mainly, digging out a fire-pit with the laziest kick of her foot.
"Thanks," Katara offered from where she knelt nearby, rummaging around in the food supplies for ingredients.
"Don't mention it, Ice Queen," Toph drawled in her usual unconcerned response, and she lounged at the fire-pit's side, her hands braced behind her head and her ankle balanced across her other knee. It was much the same attitude as she'd had while on Appa, but she was infinitely more at ease here; now her relaxation was genuine, no longer a rather forced façade of composed confidence. It was tiring sometimes, she acknowledged inwardly, being such a badass.
She was cognizant of Korra returning, arms laden with branches and heftier chunks of log, and of Iroh setting up his kettle, and of Zuko assisting Katara with the meal's preparation. Sokka was…she stretched her awareness…yes, he was strolling about the bluff's barren face, just getting the blood flowing in his limbs again, and Aang was harder to glimpse with his light-footedness, but she was almost positive that he was tending to Appa, smoothing out the creature's fur after the burdensome saddle had been removed.
Soon, the fire began crackling and popping, and delicious scents wafted Toph's way on the breeze, and she listened with half an ear to her friends' conversations and the soothing susurration of the distant tree-leaves…
With her awareness so spread out and so unfocused, she sensed the approaching vibrations rather sooner than she might have otherwise, and she frowned, her frame stiffening as she half sat up to place her hands on the ground as well. But they reported the same information that she'd felt in her foot and her back, and she rolled all the way up into a fighting crouch.
"Guys…" she cautioned, and she swept out an arm. "There's a ton of people climbing the hill."
"What?" Korra said, leaping up into her own stance; Toph sensed Zuko and Sokka also reacting accordingly. "How did we not notice them from above? Well, I suppose this area is pretty thickly wooded," she concluded in a grumble, answering her own question.
"Are they dangerous?" Katara wondered, still kneeling by the fire, uncertain if she should stand and fight or, in fact, keep the food from burning.
Toph rolled her sightless eyes. "Gee, if my earthbending could tell me people's intentions, I'd be rulin' the world by now," she grumped.
Korra sent the small girl a sidelong look, which she utterly failed to notice. "Hey, now. It was a fair question."
She heaved a sigh, and she kicked another tremor through the bluff and analyzed its ripples. "Yeah, sure, Spitfire," she absently conceded. "Look, they're armed, and there's…more than twenty of them? That's all I can tell you. I guess they also don't seem very uniform, if that's any help."
"Not an army, then," Zuko realized, although he failed to relax his firebending stance.
"A ragtag bunch of bandits?" Sokka guessed as he anxiously flipped his war boomerang over and over in his hand.
Toph spread her arms in a much more exaggerated shrug. "They're a ragtag bunch of something, but you'll see for yourself soon enough. They've almost crested the hill."
Korra shifted her weight, caught halfway between fire- and earthbending forms as she vacillated between attacking and defending, and she sidled somewhat to the left. To anyone else, it might've seemed like a meaningless movement, but Toph could tell she'd done so purely to put herself between Katara and the yet-unknown visitors. She snorted softly—she'd have thought one debilitating arrow wound would've dampened that protective instinct, but it only seemed to have sharpened it.
Her attention sidetracking, Toph found herself wondering if Korra would thusly protect her or Sokka or any one of them, not just Katara, and she was somewhat surprised that the answer came so quickly: well, duh. That was just how the Avatar was wired. As girlfriend, Katara just managed to get top priority.
She snorted again and shook her head. "Tch, heroes," she muttered under her breath in tones that definitely weren't tinged with admiration, no, not at all. And then, louder and more serious: "Here they come!"
Korra raised her hands, her weight now settling in the balls of her feet, and to Toph's utter bewilderment, as the people emerged guardedly from the trees, the Avatar burst out laughing and waved an arm in exuberant greeting. "Oh, spirits, no way! Is that—haha, Suki! Suki! It's us!"
One of the visitors staggered to a halt. "Korra?" she balked, and she laughed, too, and ran forward, meeting the Avatar halfway and clasping forearms in a warrior's handshake. "In the name of Kyoshi, I never thought I'd see you again! I mean, I hoped, but with one thing or another…"
Korra dismissed that easily with a careless flap of her hand. "Ah, whatever. I can't believe you're this far north! You must've been bookin' it across the Earth Kingdom. And who're all your new friends? Are you gathering an army?" she added, and the humor in her voice nevertheless failed to rule out that suggestion as an actual possibility.
Still bewildered, Toph felt the vibrations shift as Katara and Sokka started forwards, while at the same time Zuko and Iroh retreated a few strategic paces backwards. At first the petite earthbender was puzzled by this tactic, but then she remembered that, oh yeah, they were Fire Nation. They'd insinuated themselves into the group so well that it seemed she had actually forgotten that to most people, they were the enemy.
But it seemed like no one here was the enemy, so Toph dropped her hands to her sides and listened with interest to the apparent reunion.
The girl called Suki chuckled and scratched at the back of her head. "Gathering an army? Kinda-sorta? These are the Freedom Fighters. They're a group of rebels from the Gaipan Forest, specializing in guerilla tactics. This is…this is their leader, Jet." She indicated a tall, lean boy with an awkward wave, but there was nothing awkward or apologetic about him. He stood easily, confidently, one hand resting on a hip while the other plucked something from his mouth, and Toph had to stifle a snigger—both Korra's and Katara's heart rates had just skyrocketed.
And then she couldn't hold it in anymore, and Toph chortled, massively entertained. "Oh, man."
As he'd hung back, Zuko heard that, and he sent her a questioning look. "What is it?"
She shook her head. "Nothing important, Sparky. It's just…oh, man, is this gonna be awesome. Really freakin' awesome. Haha, oh, I didn't even know they were into guys…classic! So classic."
Zuko snagged onto part of that rather more strongly than the rest, and Toph noted that his heart rate had accelerated as well. "Wait, who's into guys…?"
"Our favorite Water Tribe ladies," she clarified with the widest grin, and she jerked her thumb. "Tell me, how stupidly handsome is that guy over there? 'Cause I think Spitfire and Ice Queen are gonna go into full-blown cardiac arrest."
He looked politely in the indicated direction and hazarded, "I…I suppose handsome enough?"
She regarded him like only a blind girl can. "You're no help at all, Sparky."
"Well, I don't know," he protested, crossing his arms on his chest, and he glared across the intervening distance just as Sokka stumped over. "I don't like him, though."
"I don't like him, either," Sokka seethed, tossing his own glare at the Freedom Fighter. "Stupid tall guy with his stupid perfect hair and his stupid crooked smile and his stupid tendency to steal other people's maybe-future-girlfriends."
Toph cackled, beyond delighted. "Whoa, he must be gorgeous! You two are furious! Oh, this is freakin' priceless!"
"Shut up!" they both barked at her, and they blinked at each other.
Sokka tilted his head to the side. "Why're you mad?" he asked Zuko. "How's he upset you?"
The firebender floundered but managed the snappy comeback: "Principle."
The Water Tribe boy nodded sagely, glowering at Jet's distant figure once more. "Yes. More than a good enough reason." His expression degenerated further. "Stupid suave pretty boy. I'll boomerang him, just see if I don't."
Rubbing her hands together eagerly, Toph plopped down on the ground and tuned in to the show, snickering all the while, "Ohoho, this is gonna be so good…!"
Evening spilled saffron sunlight and russet shadow across the bluff's crown, which was no longer nearly as empty as it had been that morning. Tents had been pitched and fire-pits dug, and the combined forces of Team Avatar, the Kyoshi Warriors, and the Freedom Fighters mingled and feasted boisterously beneath the turning sky. Suki and Jet had explained earlier that they'd seen the smoke rising from the Avatar's campfire, and that they had almost been about to pass the bluff entirely when they decided to turn aside and investigate.
"It's a good thing you did!" Korra had remarked. "I would've hated to be ships in the night with you guys. I mean, we could've gone the whole rest of the war without running into you!"
Introductions had been made, and new friendships—and in some cases, new rivalries—had been forged, and the afternoon had passed by in a generally delightful rush. All too soon, dusk and day's end had crept up on them, and they'd all decided to share the campsite for the night before restarting their respective journeys on the morrow.
Toph's amusement at her friends' expense had waned over the course of the day, though true to her form, it hadn't receded entirely; some things were just too excellent to pass up, and the taunts and teases she now had at her disposal were virtually endless.
But she'd found more than just fodder for her glee—the Freedom Fighters, as it turned out, were her kind of people.
She slouched against a log around the main fire-pit, comfortably straddling the line between the different parties. On the one hand, Korra and Katara were chatting with Suki, Xiang Mei, and Jet, and on the other, Smellerbee, Pipsqueak, the Duke, and Longshot were all engaged in lively discussion—or at least, the first three were. Longshot listened and occasionally nudged his female comrade, making some gesture once he'd secured her attention. It must've been funny, whatever he signed, as Smellerbee always cracked up laughing.
Toph wasn't exactly certain where Sokka and Zuko—or Li, since he and Iroh had been obliged to don their refugee identities once again—had gotten to, but they were doubtlessly plotting Jet's murder.
Stretching out so her feet could get toasty warm by the fire, Toph closed her eyes from drowsy habit rather than actual need and idly tuned in to the conversation on her left.
"No way, we actually ran into the Rough Rhinos outside of Gaoling, some time ago by now," the Avatar was saying, and she tapped a finger to the shiny scar on her left shoulder. "That's how I got this. Nasty bunch, really, but we managed to defeat them. I think you'll be able to take 'em out, though, without a hitch, Jet; we mostly had trouble with 'em because they ambushed us. But if you ambush them, the tables will definitely be turned."
The Freedom Fighter plucked the tuft of grass from his teeth and threw it angrily into the flames. "I'm glad you left them alive," he said, "so that I can have the pleasure of killing them. My parents' deaths, and the deaths of all those in my village, have gone unavenged for too long."
Suki wrapped a sympathetic arm around his shoulders, and Toph abandoned that conversation as being far too dark and dire for her liking; her ears shifted to the other rebels' in time to toss in a particularly sarcastic remark, which was met with gales of laughter. She grinned in the wake of this victory, and her earlier thoughts cropped up in her head—all of them.
These really were her kind of people. For one thing, they all already went by nicknames, and for another, they were all Earth Kingdom kids, which made them her people in a literal sense as well as being kindred spirits. While that realization had originally inspired contentment in her chest, it now became a niggling source of unease, and she fidgeted in her slouch. Her attention darted between the two groups again—Korra on the one side, the Freedom Fighters on the other. Everything had seemed so clear-cut when she'd run away from Gaoling and the Beifong voice, but now it'd gone hazy.
Normally, she was good with things being hazy; being blind and forced to rely on earthbending as replacement sight wasn't always a recipe for accuracy, and she'd grown accustomed to filling in blanks and sharpening edges over the years.
But this wasn't something she could clarify at a glance, and she sighed, her heart protesting this indecisive agony as it was torn in two. The answer wasn't necessarily what she wanted, but impulsive as she was, she recognized logic when she encountered it, and bullheaded as she was, she could succumb to it, too.
With heavy, slow movements, she clambered to her feet and skirted the campfire, fisting a hand in the back of Korra's shirt as she passed and tugging on the material rather sharply. "I'm borrowing you," she declared without preamble, and she all but hauled her friend off the log.
"Bandit, what're you—geez, let me stand," the Avatar half-protested, half-laughed, though all the humor was born of exasperation. "Seriously, let me—thank you," she said, as Toph permitted her to get her feet sorted out. But that was all the respite she was granted, as the earthbender resumed her determined journey elsewhere and gave her very little choice but to follow, lest she wanted her tunic torn.
"I'll be right back…maybe," Korra managed to say before she was dragged out of earshot, and she chuckled again, now bemused by Toph's inexplicable behavior. "Okay, Bandit, what's up? You've got quite the death-grip going on here."
Expelling another sigh, this one softer and slower, Toph let her fingers slip free, and she scuffed at the rocky ground with an anxious foot. "I…there's something I wanna tell you," she muttered, rather miserably.
The Avatar flashed a grin. "That is generally why people drag me off on my lonesome," she quipped, but that only fell on deaf ears, as the earthbender just absentmindedly shook her head and kicked the ground again.
"Spitfire, look, I…" She trailed off, her expression twisting in a grimace. "Gah, I like you a lot, okay?"
Korra's mouth slipped open, and her gaze slid sideways. "Um…"
Realizing the misconstruction, Toph waved her hands in frantic semaphore. "Oh, spirits, not like that! Not like Ice Queen does! Not that I think you're—you're not cool or-or-or anything, I mean, you're super cool, and I'm sure you're great at—at all your shenanigans, but that's so beside—"
Trying to fight a spreading grin, the older girl raised a hand in an arresting gesture. "Bandit, I'm more than fine with the fact that you don't want to date me. Stop pseudo-apologizing before you hurt yourself, please!"
Mortified and so unskilled at serious conversation, Toph planted her face in her hands and groaned. "Sorry, sorry, I suck, I know," she said. "But I do like you a lot, Spitfire, and that's what makes this so hard. I mean, you're the first friend I ever had, and you're definitely my best friend."
Korra's eyebrows began to lift before they pinched together. Knowingly, she prompted, "But?"
Toph looked up at her, her normally blank eyes filled with regretful pleading. "But," she agreed in a hoarse whisper, "I really like the Freedom Fighters, too. I've really clicked with them. I feel like I…fit in well, like I kinda belong. Not that I don't feel that way with you guys, 'cause I do, obviously I do, but…"
"But it's different with them," she completed with a nod. "That makes sense, though. You're all Earth Kingdom."
"Yeah, that's…that's what I thought," the younger girl mumbled. "And I've been thinking for a while anyway that…well, you're gonna be heading to the North Pole, and I don't do well on snow. I'll be blind the whole time I'm there, and I mean, what's gonna be going on? Ice Queen's learning some sorta healing whatnot, or something? So…so that leaves me with nothing but time on my hands. And lazy as I am, I don't wanna just twiddle my thumbs while I'm freezing my ass off."
Korra grinned faintly as she conceded that. "Yeah, that doesn't sound like your style."
"If I go with the Freedom Fighters, though…" Toph shrugged, a small and awkward lift of her cringing shoulders. "They're gonna be kicking the Fire Nation left and right across the Earth Kingdom. I've never considered myself a hero, really, but…I could make a difference with them. I could do something great, something that maybe matters. Obviously, sharpening up your earthbending mattered," she added conscientiously, "but you were mostly there anyway, and I mean matter in, like, a bigger way."
There was a measure of sadness in the older girl's smile now. "Are you asking my permission to leave?"
The earthbender winced. "…Yes."
Korra shook her head, but not in denial. "Toph," she said softly, "you don't need my permission. It's not like you signed a contract in your own blood or something crazy like that. Of course you can go wherever you want and do whatever you want. I would never dream to tell you otherwise."
"Yeah, but…" She gestured vaguely in a futile attempt at explanation. "It feels like I ought to ask you. You're more than just my friend, Spitfire. You're the Avatar. You're a leader. You're…my leader." She peered up then in something like a defiant glare, as if daring to be mocked for that confession, but before Korra could progress past being touched, Toph bulled her way into a blunt embrace.
"Seriously, Spitfire," she mumbled into the Avatar's shoulder, "if you ever need me, you—well, you won't know where to find me, but…but who cares, come and find me, okay? I'll kick anyone's ass you say, and don't you dare go into battle without me. Don't you dare try to end this war without me, got it?"
"I won't," Korra agreed, and she fondly tousled her friend's hair. "Don't worry. Once Tara's gotten a handle on her healing techniques, I'll need to bring the fight to Ozai, anyway, and I'll definitely want you by my side for that. We'll go down in history together, never fear."
"We better," Toph muttered, still sounding a bit mutinous. "Can't let you have all the glory."
"That wouldn't be very sporting of me," she quipped, and she tightened the embrace, fighting the tears that suddenly threatened her eyes. But however clear she kept her vision, there was still an audible crack in her voice when she said, "I'll miss you, Bandit."
Squeezing back, she replied thickly, "I'll miss you, too, Korra."
The fires flared orange and cheery and spilled glancing shards of their light between the trees that encircled the bluff's summit, but not all the shadows were dispelled, and not all aspects of the night were revealed.
"Well, we're here, and so's the Avatar," Ty Lee whispered, glancing aside at Azula and, beyond her, Mai. All three girls were perched in the tree canopy, purely for the vantage point afforded to them by the elevation, but it also kept them out of Toph's special brand of sight. It would've been a clever move, if they had made it consciously, but as they hadn't, it simply remained a fortuitous one. "But we're really outnumbered."
"At least ten to one, by my best estimates," Mai put in.
Confident as ever, Azula just settled back in her chosen tree. "We may be outnumbered, but we're far from outmatched," she remarked, slow and with a shrug. "I'm not concerned about any of them except the Avatar herself, and she…" She smiled now, so thinly, and looked through the darkness at where Katara sat keeping watch on the camp's perimeter.
"Well, we know her weakness, don't we?"