Well, here is the chapter for "The Runaway" episode. I remember this one being such a pain to write all the way through. lol. Anyway, this has a bit of Kala exploring herself, as far as how she wants to be treated now that she's no longer a servant. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I don't own A:TLA or any of its characters. Only the OCs are mine.
Toph and Katara stood at the ready at the top of a cliff. They were on either side of Aang and me, and we were blindfolded. It was a training exercise that would help Aang and I be better able to anticipate attacks from our opponents. I knew I'd be at a disadvantage when it came to Toph's Earthbending, but that was why Aang would be fighting alongside me. The same was true between him and Katara's Waterbending.
"Okay, I'm ready for some training," Aang announced. I nodded in agreement with a smile.
"Let's go," I said. Aang's hand brushed against my arm, guiding me to run away from the pillars of earth that were coming up behind us. Aang's movements were swift and I had to hold onto him to make sure I wouldn't lose him. I heard a stream of water slice through the air and I redirected it as I heard Aang throw a boulder at Toph.
"Good job, Twinkletoes," the young Earthbender called. "Visualize, then attack!" Aang grabbed me and pulled me close to him. I felt the ground swallow us, only to be released a moment later.
"Maybe you should take your own advice, Toph!" Katara yelled angrily.
"What's the matter? Can't handle some dirt, Madame Fussy Britches?" I heard a wave of water come up from Katara and I bended it around Aang and me. Seconds later, it landed near where I'd last heard Toph.
"Oh, sorry. Did I splash you, Mudslug?" The ground shook beneath my feet and I could hear the water moving from Katara. Aang and I stood back to back, ready to ward off the attacks, but nothing hit us. Instead, it sounded as though Katara and Toph had hit each other.
"Are we taking a break?" Aang asked.
"Haaaaaaaaa! Sneak attack!" Sokka yelled from behind and I heard a small wall of earth come up, likely from Aang. I chuckled and lifted my blindfold to look at Sokka.
"Sneak attacks don't work if you call them out," I told him. "You have to be silent."
"Hungry for a mud pie!" Toph yelled. Aang and I turned to see her and Katara still fighting, now in a pit of mud that had been created from both of their bending.
"Uh, guys, I thought we were supposed to be training me and Kala," Aang interjected, stopping the girls in their tracks. Katara began walking forward, trying to shake some of the mud off her hands.
"Very well, pupil," she said. "I believe we've had enough training for today."
"Since when does Katara act like she's my Waterbending teacher?" I asked in a whisper, but Aang only shrugged.
"While Katara cleans up, let's go have some fun!" Toph suggested as she bended the mud off of her. Aang and Sokka cheered and I agreed it would be a good idea to go into town for a little while. As we were walking, we could see messenger hawks flying all around, landing in a shop that both sold them and acted as a post office.
"Look at all those messenger hawks," Sokka said. "You know, I've been thinking about getting one for myself. That way, I wouldn't have to talk to anyone. I could just send them messages."
"I gotta say, I like the idea of not talking to you," Toph commented, earning a frown from Sokka. I laughed and rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Sokka. I'll still talk to you," I told him with a smile.
"So, guys, what are we going to get with our last silver piece?" Aang asked.
"We can get more money," Toph answered as she stopped walking. "Right there." She pointed to an alley on a lower part of the street, where a small group of men were gathered around at table. It looked like they were gambling.
"Why there?" I asked.
"This is where you Seeing-people are at a disadvantage. Everyone guesses wrong because the dealer moves the rock at the last minute, but I can feel it with my Earthbending."
We approached the group of men in time to see the latest victim walk away crying over losing his money. I briefly wondered if it was the last of what he had. If that were the case, then it was really a stupid idea to be gambling when you have nothing left. What Toph planned was not a gamble. She would know exactly where the pebble was. The dealer looked up at us as the latest victim walked away and I saw his eyes focus on Toph.
"You there," he said. "Wanna play a friendly game?"
"How could I possibly play? I'm blind," Toph asked innocently, waving a hand in front of her eyes to prove her point.
"You don't have to see to be lucky." Toph got down on her knees and made a show of searching for the table and cups that the rock would be under. After 'finding' them, she took out our last silver piece and set it on the table. The dealer revealed the pebble under the middle cup, for the sake of those watching, and began shifting the cups around to mix it up. I watched Toph smirk and point to the cup on the far left. The dealer lifted it, revealing the pebble.
"Flamey-O, Toph," Aang exclaimed and I shook my head.
"What have I told you about saying that, Kuzon?" I asked with a sigh.
"Wow, fancy guessing," the dealer said and tossed two silver pieces on Toph's side of the table. "You're amazing at this. Would you like to make the game a little more interesting?" He began flipping coins over his knuckles in a show of great coordination and slight-of-hand. If I hadn't known what Toph was able to do, I would've urged her to stop now.
"More interesting?" Toph asked, again using an innocent tone. "How?"
"Well, let's say you toss in your friend's fine sword there, then I'll put in twenty silver pieces against it. And that's more interesting." I raised a displeased eyebrow at the man's decision to wager the one-of-a-kind sword Sokka owned. I was less than thrilled when Toph took the sword from Sokka's hands and placed it on the table.
"I'll do it for forty silver pieces," she answered and Sokka's jaw dropped.
"Forty silver pieces it is," the dealer answered, dropping more coins into the bag. He moved the cups around rapidly and I quickly lost track of where the pebble might have been, if it was even under the same cup as before. When the cups stopped, Toph pointed to the middle one. "Sorry, little lady, but-" A perplexed expression came across his features when he saw a pebble underneath the cup he'd lifted.
"I won!" Toph exclaimed and grabbed the money while Sokka took his sword. The four of us ran away from the table quickly and back into town to buy more supplies.
"That was great, Toph," I congratulated as we began walking back towards our camp. "But, next time, you shouldn't wager Sokka's sword."
"I knew where the pebble was, so it's not like it was a big deal."
"I'm just saying you shouldn't use other people's things to make a bet. I don't care that you scammed a con-man. In fact, I wish you could've seen his face when he realized the rock was still there." The four of us burst into laughter and dropped our baskets on the ground near Katara, who was cooking some kind of soup over the campfire.
"Where did you guys get the money to buy all this stuff?" she asked.
"Toph got us money," Aang answered as he and the young Earthbender bit into some apples. "She scammed one of those guys in town who moves the shells around all sneaky-like." Katara frowned disapprovingly.
"She used Earthbending to win the game. Classic," Sokka added.
"Ah, so she cheated," Katara supplies, placing her hands on her hips.
"Hey, I only cheated because he was cheating," Toph defended. "I cheated a cheater. What's wrong with that?"
"I'm just saying, this isn't something we should make a habit of doing."
"Why? Because it's fun, and you hate fun?"
"I don't hate fun!" Katara took Momo and placed him on top of her head. "See? Fun." Momo slid off her head and chattered unhappily while I just gave her a confused look. How was that supposed to translate into fun-loving?
"Katara," Aang said as he stood. "I'll personally make you an Avatar Half promise that we won't make a habit of doing these scams."
"What about you, Kala?" Katara asked.
"My word as Half the Avatar doesn't mean anything if I don't know the gravity of it. I can promise you I won't scam people, if that's what you want to hear, but I'm not making an oath on my title," I answered with a shrug.
The next day, Aang, Toph and Sokka went into town again, while I stayed back at camp with Katara. I wanted to get some more training in while we were in one area, so I opted for my Firebending. I'd only learned the basics from Iroh, but I still remembered much of the movements. Katara was watching nearby as I started slowly, punching and kicking the air without releasing any fire. I kept my breaths deep and even. My movements became quicker as I went on, repeating the same stances over and over again. I leapt into the air to do a flip, as I'd seen Zuko do so many times, but my landing was wrong and I fell over.
"Are you trying to Firebend?" Katara asked as I picked myself up off the ground.
"I need to learn it. I only know some of the basics, from being taught by Zuko's uncle, Iroh. There are always two places I mess up with these stances. If it's not one, it's the other." I took a seat beside her with a sigh. "It's a little frustrating, because I need to figure this stuff out before the invasion."
"If you think about it, though, you wouldn't be able to use Firebending during the solar eclipse. It would be pointless."
"Maybe, but I still want to learn it."
"Why? The Firebenders have been nothing but trouble."
"That's not true, Katara. Iroh was nothing but kind to me the entire time I was living in the palace and with him. He's probably sitting in a prison right now, at best," I muttered and stood again to continue my exercises, effectively putting an end to the conversation. Sometime later, Aang, Toph and Sokka returned with more money and food, obviously from scamming more people.
"Guys, I think these scams have gone far enough," Katara said to them. "If you keep doing them, something bad is gonna happen."
"Could you, for once, stop being such a sourpuss and just lighten up?" Toph asked in an exasperated tone.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You think I should be more like you? Like some wild child?"
"Yeah! Maybe! Maybe then you'd see how great we have it. I mean, look at us! We're traveling around the world, making easy money, having fun with no parents to tell us what to do." I sighed heavily, knowing this was bound to end badly, and stopped practicing my stances. I took a seat near the group and waited to see what new war would break out.
"Ah, I see. You're acting like this because of your parents," Katara inferred.
"Whatever," Toph muttered.
"They were controlling over you, so you ran away and now you act like your parents don't exist. You act like you hate them, but you don't. You just feel guilty."
"I do hate them."
"I don't think so. I think you miss them, but you just don't want to deal with that. So, instead, you act like this crazy person." Toph scowled and stood abruptly.
"Look, I ran away to help Aang!"
"You know what? It doesn't matter! These scams put us all at risk and we don't need that. We've already got some third-eyed freak after us!"
"Speaking of that third-eyed freak," Sokka interjected. "I think I've come up with a name for him. What do you think of Sparky Sparky Boom Man?" There was silence. "Just think about it." I frowned slightly in thought over the name. It seemed a bit to whimsical to capture the truly terrifying power the assassin had demonstrated.
"We have enough money! You need to stop this!" Katara yelled, completely ignoring Sokka.
"I'll stop when I wanna stop, and not when you tell me!" Toph yelled back, using her Earthbending to knock a bag of coins into her hands. She stormed off and built a rock tent around herself.
"Speaking of money," Sokka began again. "I'm off to spend some. See you guys later."
"Kala, come on. Let's go practice your Waterbending," Katara suggested as her brother walked away, though she sounded more demanding than offering. I cocked an eyebrow at her tone.
"Not when you speak to me like that," I answered firmly.
"What?"
"You're not my teacher. In fact, I'm older than you are. You don't get to decide what I do and when, especially when it comes to my training."
"I'm trying to help you and Aang prepare for the invasion."
"I understand that, but you don't need to speak to me like I'm a child," I retorted, crossing my arms over my chest. Katara huffed and walked away, leaving to train on her own. Aang followed after her, likely to try and calm her down. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and watched as, a few minutes later, Toph came out from her rock tent.
"Sounds like you're getting just as sick of her as I am," she commented as she came to sit beside me. I gave a wry laugh and leaned forward with my elbows on my knees.
"I'm not sick of her, so much, as I'm sick of people trying to run my life."
"I hear you, there. It was always: Toph, do this. Toph, sit like a lady."
"Kala, don't do that. You mustn't speak, Kala."
"Don't have an opinion," we both muttered in unison and started laughing.
"Sounds like we were basically in the same boat," Toph commented as she began sorting her money from the bag.
"Same rules, different social statuses," I added. "After living like that for so long, I want to figure out who I am, now. You were able to do that, from what Aang has told me about you sneaking away from your family. I couldn't, and I was always bound to that 'servant' role. Now that I'm not, I can decide who I want to be and what I want to do. It feels pretty good."
"No kidding." A few minutes later, Sokka came back from his trip into town with a messenger hawk on his shoulder and a piece of paper in his hand.
"Toph, Kala, when I was in town, I found something that you're not gonna like," he said and unraveled the paper. It was a wanted poster with a badly-drawn picture of Toph.
"Well, it sounds like a sheet of paper, but I guess you're referring to what's on the sheet of paper," Toph commented. I took the paper from Sokka's hands and skimmed through it.
"It's a wanted poster for you," I told her. "They've nicknamed you 'The Runaway' and it's for all the scamming that you have been doing."
"A wanted poster! That's so great! The Runaway. I love my new nickname! Is there a picture of me? Does it look good?" Sokka took the poster back and looked it over.
"Well, yeah, actually. It does look pretty good," he admitted. "But, Toph, you're missing the point! Maybe Katara was right. These scams are drawing too much attention to us."
"Don't be such a worry-wart, like your sister," Toph said as she stood. "Think of it this way. Now you have plenty of money to help with the invasion plan." She waved the bag of money in front of Sokka as a temptation.
"Well, that is true. I had this idea of making armor for Appa." I looked to the Flying Bison curiously.
"That actually sounds like a pretty good idea," I murmured. Toph handed some gold pieces to Sokka.
"Here's a little extra, so you can get yourself a nice map of the Fire Nation," she said and then held the bag up to his face. "You know what? Make it an atlas."
"I do like expensive atlases," Sokka said as he took the bag of money.
"Of course you do. And that's why this wanted poster is going to stay our little secret."
"Just be careful until we leave this town, Toph. I don't want anything happening to you," I said carefully as she walked off, tucking the wanted poster into the outer layer of her shirt. Katara and Aang returned moments later, Katara placing her hands on her hips.
"Sokka, tell me you didn't buy a bird," she said, using that reprimanding tone she'd taken on all day.
"Not just a bird," he answered. "A messenger bird. Now we can send messages all over the world, even to Gran Gran."
"Wow! How does it work?" Aang asked.
"Hmmm… Uh… I never actually thought about that." He turned to the bird. "Hawky, Gran Gran. South Pole." The bird chirped and ruffled its feathers. "I think he gets it." I shook my head slowly as Momo leapt forward and attacked the messenger hawk, causing Sokka to yell at them.
Later that afternoon, Katara was cooking stew again while I practiced my Waterbending. Sokka and Toph came back to camp, each carrying a large sack, likely filled with either money or supplies. I watched them near us with a mental shrug and continued my bending. I figured they'd been careful, since they'd come back without anyone following them.
"Well, look who's decided to join us," Katara said disapprovingly as she stood and rested her hands on her shoulders. "Where have you two been? Off scamming again?"
"Yes, we were," Toph answered.
"And I suppose you don't think what you're doing is dangerous at all?"
"No, I don't."
"Really?"
"Yes, really." Toph was sounding more annoyed with each answer she gave.
"Well, then, what's this?" Katara demanded as she held out the wanted poster Sokka had brought earlier. I dropped the water I'd been bending and my jaw fell open. She'd gone through Toph's personal belongings?
"I don't know! I mean, seriously, what's with you people? I'm blind!"
"It's a wanted poster of you! The Runaway! Is that what you're called now? Are you proud of this?"
"Where did you get that?" Toph demanded.
"It doesn't matter where I got it. The fact is-"
"You went through my stuff! You had no right!"
"Your stuff was messy, and I was just straightening up, and I happened to stumble across it!" Katara yelled defensively.
"That's a lie! You're lying, Katara!" Toph yelled, pointing an accusing finger in Katara's face.
"Fine! It's a lie! But you've been so out of control lately, I knew something was up! I knew you were hiding something, and you were!" Toph knocked the wanted poster out of Katara's hand and began walking off. "Don't you walk away when I'm talking to you!"
"Oh really, Mom? What are you going to do, send me to my room?"
"I wish I could," Katara yelled.
"Well, you can't! Because you're not my mom, and you're not their mom!" She pointed to Aang, Sokka and me.
"I never said I was!"
"No, but you certainly act like it! You think it's your job to boss everyone around, but it's not! You're just a regular kid like the rest of us, so stop acting like you can tell me what to do! I can do whatever I want!" Toph exclaimed angrily.
"I don't act that way," Katara said defensively and turned to us. "Sokka, do I act motherly?"
"Hey, I'm staying out of this one," he answered, putting his hands up.
"What do you think, Aang? Do I act like a mom?"
Aang rubbed his eye. "Well, I-" he began.
"Stop rubbing your eye and speak clearly when you talk!" Katara ordered.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Yes, you do act like a mother," I answered firmly. "Is that clear enough for you?" Katara stared at me in disbelief.
"I can't be around you right now!" Toph yelled to Katara and started walking off. I followed after her, my fists clenched at my side.
"Well, I can't be around you!" Katara yelled back and crossed her arms with a huff. I sat with Toph on one side of the cliff, while Katara was on the other. I sighed heavily where I sat and leaned back onto my hands.
"I know she means well, but she doesn't exactly go about the best way of doing it," I muttered as the sun was beginning to set. I turned around to see Sokka's messenger hawk fly over to Katara with a note.
"I know this is from you, Sokka! Toph can't write! Ugh! You're all driving me crazy!" she yelled as she ripped up the note. A few moments later, Sokka approached the two of us.
"Come on," he said. "We need to talk." Sokka led Toph and me to another part of the cliffs, looking over a beautiful waterfall. We took a seat on the ledge with our feet dangling down.
"So, let me guess," Toph said. "You brought us out here to tell us your sister's not as annoying as I make her out to be."
"Nah, she's pretty much a pain," Sokka answered and I chuckled softly. "She's always gotta be right about everything, and she gets all bossy, and involved, and in your business."
"Yeah, I don't know how you can deal with it."
"I don't really care about that," I murmured. "It's when she starts trying to take away the freedom I've only recently gained. That's when the problems come."
"Actually, in a way, I kind of rely on her acting the way she does," Sokka answered.
"I don't understand," Toph said.
"When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life. Our family was a mess, but Katara, she had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom."
"I guess I never thought about that."
"I'm gonna tell you guys something crazy. I've never told anyone this before. But, honestly, I'm not sure I can remember what my mother looked like. It really seems like my whole life, Katara's been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there. And now, when I try to remember my mom, Katara's is the only face I can picture. Kala, I don't think Katara realizes how little freedom you must have had until now. I can't even imagine it. I'm sure if you just explained it to her, she'd understand."
"Maybe," I murmured. "But I've always had to keep my feelings in check. Now that I don't have to, I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to express myself. I may be sixteen, but I have little experience talking about how I really feel. I'm not even sure how I really feel all the time, from being so used to holding it back. It'll just take some time before I get it all down."
"The truth is: sometimes Katara does act motherly, but that's not always a bad thing. She's compassionate, and kind, and she actually cares about me. You know, the real me. That's more than my own mom," Toph murmured as she rubbed a tear from her eyes. She then punched Sokka's shoulder. "Don't ever tell her I said any of it!"
"Hey, my lips are sealed," Sokka said, rubbing his arm. As the sun finished setting, we returned back to the camp, where Katara was waiting. When she was us coming, she quickly approached.
"Hi Toph and Kala," she greeted and Sokka walked by to leave us alone. "I wanna-"
"Katara, stop," Toph said. "You don't need to apologize. I was the one being stupid. These scams are out of control and I'm done with them."
"I shouldn't have yelled at you like I did, and I'm sorry," I added.
"Actually, I wasn't going to apologize about the scams. I wanna pull one with you," Katara answered.
"That's all you," I said and walked by, watching as Sokka and Aang's faces changed to expressions of pure shock.
"What? You wanna pull a scam?" Toph asked incredulously and I chuckled lightly. It looked like the two of them were going to make up.
The next day, Katara and Toph left the campsite to go into town and pull of their scam. I'd overheard them talking about the wanted poster and turning Toph in to collect the money, just for her to Metalbend her way out of jail. It sounded good in theory. I could only hope things didn't go badly, as this was such a high-risk situation. I sat with Sokka at the campsite, watching as Aang paced back and forth nervously.
"Do you think this scam of theirs should be taking this long?" he asked.
"I was just wondering the same thing. We'd better check it out," Sokka answered and stood, setting Hawky next to Momo. "You two behave. Appa's in charge." Aang, Sokka and I left our camp to look for Katara and Toph in town.
"Where do you think they might be?" I asked as we walked through the empty streets. Actually, it was quite odd that all the people were missing. What was going on?
"Where do you think anyone is?" Aang asked. He suddenly grabbed Sokka and me, pulling us behind the statue of Fire Lord Ozai as an explosion hit the ground where we were standing just seconds before. "It's Sparky Sparky Boom Man!"
"You know, I'm starting to think that name doesn't quite fit," Sokka answered as he rubbed his head. The assassin jumped down from the building he was standing on and prepared to send another explosion at us.
"Who cares what we call him! Run!" I screamed and we sprinted across the main square of the town. The assassin continued to shoot explosions after us as we ducked behind a corner into an alley. We hid behind a tipped-over wheelbarrow to catch our breaths.
"This guy is too good," Sokka hissed. "He shoots fire from his brain!"
"We should split up," Aang suggested. "He can't chase all three of us."
Sokka and I ran to the right, while Aang took the left path. The wheelbarrow was destroyed just seconds later. It quickly became apparent that the assassin was after Aang when no fire followed Sokka and me. But why would someone hire the man to kill only one Half, but not the other? Sokka and I ran into Toph and Katara, much to my relief, and ran back towards the center of town. There, we found the assassin about to shoot Aang again. Katara used Waterbending on her sweat and froze an ice pillar around the man's head.
"Aang, get up!" she yelled and ran forward to pick the young Airbender off the ground. We ran past the assassin and through the alleys. Toph raised a boulder from the ground, which was hit by our attacker's ray of fire and blown to pieces. In the distraction caused by that explosion, we were able to get out of the assassin's sight.
"Hey, I got it!" Sokka exclaimed as we ran. "The perfect name for that guy: Combustion Man!"
"Good job, Sokka," Toph answered. "Now let's get out of here before Combustion Man catches us!"
"See? It fits so well!" We made it back to where Appa, Momo and Hawky were, packed our things in a rush, and flew away from the town as quickly as possible. It didn't seem like we were being followed and we were able to let out a sigh of relief as the sun was setting on the horizon.
"Never again," I murmured and slumped back in Appa's saddle. After nightfall, we were able to land in a small area surrounded by rocks for protection to rest for the night.
"I'm exhausted," Sokka said with a yawn. "Hawky, how 'bout you, buddy?" The bird squawked at him. "Yeah, you're such a lazy little bird." He slid down Appa's side to the ground as Katara and I stood to get down as well.
"Katara, I need your help," Toph said, stopping us both.
"What is it, Toph?" Katara asked. The Earthbender held up a blank sheet of paper.
"I need you to write some things down for me. I want to send a letter to my parents." Katara smiled softly.
"I'll be happy to help." I grinned and got off of Appa to make my bed for the night, happy that everything had turned out alright after all. A few minutes later, I saw Katara and Toph let Hawky go with the letter Katara had written for Toph's parents.
"Hey, where'd Hawky go?" Sokka asked, staring up at the bird. I chuckled softly and lay down on my mat, ready for sleep to come.
I personally enjoyed writing that bonding moment between Toph and Kala. Anyway, please R&R.