Destiny had made herself known to some yet stayed hidden to others. Element Island now held her attention and none could escape her.

Aang and Zuko both knew a new destiny awaited them on those shores that would affect them in ways they could not predict. And likewise, Katara and Mai would be affected by it as well through them. Yet destiny would not be finished there! Sokka and Suki would also be targets of her woven ways and be faced with a choice that would forever change their outlook on life. But everything had its time and no event would precede another before its appointed hour. And on this morning Toph would unknowingly begin a new chapter in her life she never saw coming.

Chapter 36: Blinded

"Kwaiya! Kwaiya come quick!" a man yelled as he burst through the doors immediately waking Sokka and Toph in his wake.

Sokka sat up quick and swung his legs over the side of his cot but then regretted it as his head reminded him with harsh pounding that he would still be on the mend.

"Kwaiya!" he called again. Sokka now seeing straight again watched as the stranger carried a young man to an empty cot next to Toph.

The side room doors opened suddenly as Kwaiya entered the room with a sense of urgency as he finished tying his robe around him.

"It burns!" the young man choked as he held his face in agony.

Sokka watched intently as the Water Bender moved beside the boy. Toph reached down and put the palm of her hand to the stone floor to better watch the chaos unfold.

The boy continued to thrash about in too much pain to listen to the men around him.

"What happened Dekho?" Kwaiya asked the Fire Bender just as three boys came sprinting in.

"Is he going to be okay?" one asked out of breath.

"I swear I never saw him!" another exclaimed in desperation.

Dekho fumed, "I don't know what happened yet… and you boys go HOME! I'll talk to you later! Please make him better!" the man begged. "I can't stand to see my son in pain!" but the boys began to protest the event.

Kwaiya was getting frustrated and fast. The boys were arguing with their teacher over what happened and the boy's father wasn't helping the matters and not allowing him to attend to him.

"That's enough!" Kwaiya declared silencing the room with the exception of the moans and cries from the cot. "Boys go home as instructed, Dekho go get Haru and then go home! You're a wreak and I imagine your wife doesn't know yet."

"But-"

"But nothing, he'll live. Now don't come back until noon! Do you understand?"

Dekho just stood there in a daze looking down to his only son squirming with his hands on his face. His hair was scorched and his skin red and blistering and as a father he couldn't handle it.

Sokka then stood, feeling fine enough to do so, walked over to the distraught man and grabbed the man by the arm in a firm yet unthreatening way. "Come, show me the way to Haku's house so your son can get some extra help."

That seemed to snap the man back into reality and with a firm nod the two ran out through the now vacant door way.

Kwaiya faintly acknowledged the fact that Sokka hadn't been checked out yet to be running about but with the same token he appreciated his assistance. With the room quiet once more Kwaiya worked to pry the boys arms away from his face and pull water from a jug at the same time but the young man struggled and fought him.

"Ahh, no please it burns!" he cried out again.

"You need to stop fighting me… I'm here to help you."

Yet he wouldn't listen. He was in a lot of pain, senses overwhelmed, and scared.

Toph couldn't lie there any longer and not help. She was part of Team Avatar and therefore in the strict habit of meddling with other people in order to help those who needed it most. She sat up and reached across to feel for the edge of his cot. Finding it she put her feet on the ground. She hissed at the pain from her left foot that was still very swollen so she put her weight on her right foot trying to ignore the pain from it as well and pivoted to sit on the edge of his cot.

"What's your name?" she asked him straight out.

Startled to hear a woman's voice he answered, "its Teji," he squirmed.

"Alright Teji," she then felt around and found an elbow then proceeded to grab both of his hands and force them down to his sides. "Now let the doc work! I speak from experience; he'll make the burning stop."

Kwaiya was thankful for the assistance. Now freed from pinning Teji down he pulled the water and held it over his eyes and cheeks. The burn mark was peculiar. It did not encompass his whole face nor did it have a circular design as if from a blast but rather it looked to be a scorch mark in a perfect horizontal line across his eyes from ear to ear.

The moment the cool water touched his face he flinched hard, but Toph was strong and didn't have any problem holding him down. After a few moments of attention Toph could feel him begin to relax and no longer fight her.

"See Teji, nothing to it. These guys sure know what to do for burns."

After a few more minutes he finally found his voice and felt like he could breathe again. "Yes, I feel a lot better. Thank you Master Kwaiya. I apologize for causing you any trouble."

Toph was a little thrown off by his night and day difference in demeanor but just shrugged to herself. After all she really didn't know how bad his burn was.

"Not at all," Kwaiya replied as he finally finished healing his skin as much as he could at this point. "You did very well."

Just then Sokka returned with Haku. It had taken a moment longer to convince Dekho to return home.

"What do we have?" Haku asked.

"A burn from the welder's shop no doubt?" Kwaiya stated. Teji slightly nodded to confirm it.

"On the face!" he said in a bit of surprise. Burns were usually just on hands and arms from that line of work.

"Yes," Kwaiya needlessly confirmed. "Alright Teji I'm going to check your eyes now. I know your skin is raw but please try and remain still."

Teji nodded once more and so the head master of their facility bent down and lifted one eye lid at a time. His lenses were damaged. 'So, his eyes were opened when he got hit,' he grimly determined. "Teji can you tell me what you can see?" he asked.

Silence was his answer and the young man only began to tremble as he blankly looked around causing dread to fill everyone else in the room.

"That's okay," Kwaiya reassured. "You just need to give yourself time to heal. You were hit fairly closely it seems. Now I'm going to have Haku here bandage your eyes up for the time being so they can mend. In a week's time we'll check them again to see how far you are progressing." The older man couldn't help but be affected by the fear etched in his face. Looking around the room he watched as Haku moved to get the bandages and noted the genuine concern in the new guy Sokka's face but rather he was more interested in the girl Toph still sitting on the edge of Teji's cot with her hands now resting in her lap. 'Perhaps fate has brought just the person he now needs to help him through this,' his mind predicted but his thoughts quickly returned to Teji's treatment. "Do you have any questions for me?" he asked gently.

"No, thank you," he managed to say respectfully.

A mired of emotions were going through his mind and he was thankful the healer left his side. He didn't feel up to talking to anyone any more… not now that his dreams for the very near future were dashed.

Haku then moved to complete his task as Kwaiya went to check Sokka out quickly. Receiving the go ahead to leave when he was ready, the old healer moved to help Toph back to her own cot.

"Thank you for your assistance. You helped him get the relief he needed a lot faster," Kwaiya commented.

"Not a problem… that is, it would be no problem if you could fix my feet up a bit faster," she said with a cheeky grin.

"Well now! Let's see where we are at with those feet shall we?"

He was happy with how the right foot was healing up but her left foot was slightly infected and swollen from the deeper gash across the ball and inner arch of her foot.

Sokka stood by just as the rest of the gang entered.

"Sokka!" Suki called out giving him a big hug. "You're on your feet again!"

"Way to rub it in!" Toph called out as Kwaiya ignored the banter.

"Yep and I'm good to go!" Sokka declared.

"Glad to hear it," said Aang.

"So can we eat now because I am ready for some breakfast!" Sokka said eagerly.

Katara watched Kwaiya work and analyzed his techniques while Zuko looked over at the new patient across from her with mixed feelings seeing a face being bandaged.

"Well actually that's why we stopped here first," Aang informed. "Fai is waiting for us in a dining hall so we can talk about yesterday and eat at the same time."

"But what about Toph?" Katara asked.

Kwaiya stood to answer, "We'll continue to take good care of her. Food will be brought along shortly for us here."

The group all turned to look at Toph at the same time and she could feel it. "What? You all need me to hold your hand or something?"

They smiled or smirked at her comment.

"Alright," Aang said. "Toph we'll be back later today to check up on you," he added. He knew full well that Toph was fully capable of handling herself even now, but he didn't want her to feel left out.

She waved her hand carelessly in dismissal of the group so they all turned to leave. Hearing them go she finally let out a sigh. 'Man this stinks'

"How does that feel?" Haku asked Teji now that the bandages were in place.

"I can still feel the pain," he informed bitterly but respectfully.

"Well we can only ease the pain. We can't always eliminate it," Haku admitted. Seeing no other need at present, Haku went into the back room where Kwaiya was documenting the day's events.

Now it was Teji's turn to let out a pent up sigh.

The room was quiet now and Toph was wide awake with no one to talk to but a guy who probably just wanted to sleep but thankfully she was only partially wrong.

"Um, hello miss?" Teji called out to the empty room.

"Ya," Toph responded.

Teji hearing her tilted his head slightly to his left in her direction, "Um-"

"My name's Toph and I'm in the cot right next to yours," she informed. Toph wasn't rude about it but rather just guessing what he was going to ask her.

"Toph," he repeated, "My name is Teji. Thanks for helping me out earlier," he humbly admitted. Truth be told he was a bit embarrassed for not handling himself better. "I don't know what came over me…"

"Well I can't blame you! Getting burned isn't remotely what I call a good time. If you don't mind me asking what happened?"

Teji faced the ceiling again and plopped his head deeper into his pillow. "A very unfortunate accident," he replied dully. He was pissed but on the surface he worked to keep his cool. "My father is a Fire Bender and a great black smith. In the mornings before the days work begins he teaches a small group of boys his craft. This morning they were waiting for him in his weld shop and were messing around. I just happened to turn the corner and walked right into a ribbon of fire." He was in pain yes, but it was for different reasons why he was seething inside.

Toph laid there and though of what he just said. "Wow, that sucks. I can see why you're pissed. If you were in a fight that would be one thing but guys just fooling around is irresponsible and dangerous. Especially if you have Fire Benders around."

Toph was imagining the incident in her mind while Teji just realized what he said. Mortification filled him and his heart raced… he had just admitted there was a Fire Bender on the island when he had no idea who he was speaking to.

"Uh, you wouldn't happen to know what color arm band you are?" he asked cryptically.

Toph could instantly hear the pitch difference in his voice and grew suspicious. "No, what are you talking about?"

'CRAP!' he thought stopping short of smacking his forehead from his stupidity. "I know this is going to sound weird but PLEASE don't tell anyone I told you my dad's a Fire Bender! I will be in a huge amount of trouble if you do!"

Toph immediately decided to keep his secret. She figured it was because of persecution from the village if anyone found out so she went with it not knowing its true implications. "No need to freak out. I won't tell anyone. Your dad seems to be a caring guy from what I've heard this morning."

Teji then began to calm down a bit internally. "That's right, you saw him bring me in," he gathered.

Toph just smirked at his choice of words.

"Well thanks for keeping my secret. I don't need any more bad news today."

"Ya well being temporarily blinded I guess would ruin most peoples day," she dully replied.

"If it was just that I guess I'd be more calm about the whole thing, but dang it all why did it have to happen on the most important week in the whole year?" he exclaimed in frustration. He was once again focused on his loss and forgot he was talking to someone not of the island.

Toph willingly took the bait, "why? What's so important about this week?" she asked.

"I'm an Earth Bender and there is a huge tournament/ test I was training for. Now I can't fight so I'll have to wait a whole other year before I can try out to become a black band." Teji couldn't stand the thought. He had been training for a few years now and now that he was 19 he could compete for the job. Black arm band benders not only were respected keepers of the peace but were also the only members of the island who could go to the main land every five years they traveled there. It was even more frustrating because next year would be the five year mark and therefore he could have gone over seas if he qualified this year.

"I'm sorry I missed something," Toph asked for clarification. "Now why can't you compete?"

Teji tilted his head in her direction once more with a rather hidden but incredulous look. "I've been blinded. I can't fight blind."

Toph laughed which was a response Teji didn't appreciate. "And why is that funny to you?" he asked a bit disgusted.

"Look here, I'm an Earth Bender and without even witnessing your level of skill I can guarantee I'm the most powerful Earth Bender you'll ever meet," she smirked.

Her cocky attitude pissed him off further. "First off your arrogance will be your down fall and second what would you know about being blind?" he spat.

Toph just kept her cheeky grin. "Simple, one it aint arrogance if its fact and as for the whole blind thing… I was born blind so the whole being able to see thing isn't really an issue for me then is it?"

All of Teji's anger instantly deflated the moment she reviled she was born blind. He didn't know what to say. He trusted his healers if they thought time would heal his eyes so for the time being he wasn't going to worry about it until his next check up in a week. But to hear that she could fight while being blind… well he didn't know what to think.

Toph frowned at his silent response. "Look, I'm not looking for sympathy here. I meant what I said. The only reason why I'm here is because you people tried to drown us out there and I can't swim. Seems the coral out there did a real number on my feet."

"I'm sorry for presuming," he now quickly responded. "I shouldn't have vented my frustrations on you."

"I don't care. Vent away. But if you want you can still compete in your test battle thingy. I can teach you to see everything around you through Earth Bending if you want." Toph was suddenly surprised at what she just said. So many times benders back in the Earth Kingdom would try and convince her to train them but she had always turned them down. She didn't care about social status and that's what they wanted from her. Nothing would be more impressive than to say you were trained by the Avatar's trainer!

Teji thought about it. He really didn't want to give up. He would be the first man in his family to choose this career path. Smiling he made up his mind. "Why not? It's worth a shot at least right?"

"Don't agree too quickly," she warned. "If you choose to be trained by me than you'll have to do what I tell you and quitting won't be an option."

Her serious tone actually encouraged him more. "I agree."

"Sweet"

Just then a man arrived at the door calling for Haku casually. Their breakfast had finally been delivered.

Some people have wondered why I've brought in another new character; I did it for two reasons. One is my story is ultimately about those that live on Element Island and not solely the gang so the story must always tie in with the locals. And two Toph has never had anyone who could relate to her even just a little… so introducing Teji!