Summary: It's storming in Ba Sing Se, and Toph's hatred for arguments comes to a head as she deals with losing Appa and figuring out where she stands with her new-found friends.

Rainy nights were the worst.

At eight, Toph didn't want to feel helpless anymore - she had felt it for enough of her life. Rain made it worse, made all the sounds become distorted. The constant, rhythmic vibrations became annoying, her sensitive ears and her more sensitive feet itching to find sound other than the pitter-patter.

It would storm soon. Toph could tell by how the animals were scurrying around to take shelter. Even from her room, she could see them, tell how big they were and how many of them there were. One day, when she got someone to trust enough to read to her, she'd ask what those creatures were called.

Toph's ears perked up as something sounded over the rain.

The walls of Beifong Manor were well-made, enough to be almost soundproof. But Toph was special - there wasn't a single barrier that could stop her hearing. In fact, barriers made it easier - more solid earth for vibrations to travel through. Toph rolled out of bed, planting her feet to the ground and stopping to listen.

(Barriers she could break. Walls on the other hand - she hated those.)

The rain outside was picking up slowly. Toph ignored it, searching out what she had heard.

Voices, muffled against the earth. Toph concentrated harder. She had always taken pride in the fact that her earthbending was so great, nothing could stop her from listening.

" - she's fragile," Mother hissed, "I'm only protecting her."

"By never letting her make friends?" Father hissed back, "We should just send her to a special school and be done with it."

"I'm not letting my daughter out of my sight!"

"We're not equipped to help her!"

Something slammed against the wall. Toph jumped onto bed, jerking her feet off the floor, whimpering as she covered her ears. When her heart stopped trying to match the rhythm of the storm outside, she slowly lowered her feet again.

"Whatever," Father said, "Forget it."

Father didn't apologise, and Mother wouldn't have accepted it anyway, that Toph knew.

She lay back in bed, the raging storm outside stinging her senses.

She put her feet up ninety degrees and covered her ears. It was an uncomfortable position, but Toph was a strong girl.

She learned, then, that there were some sounds in the world not meant for her ears. Some things that she'd rather not listen to.

If rain was bad, sand was worse.

Rain could be worked around - earth still existed after all, rain was just vibrations against it. But sand was like a broken, fizzy signal that she couldn't even begin to decipher.

Katara was holding her by the hand, and even as they sweated in the heat, they refused to let each other go. Helpless tears stung at Toph's eyes and she quickly wiped them away - she refused to feel helpless. At twelve, she couldn't bear to feel helpless.

She hated that she had to rely on Katara.

(Loved that she had her to rely on right now. Loved that Katara didn't even pity her - this was just how it was.)

They were out in the desert, four children, alone and helpless, all because of Toph's stupid mistake. She should've stopped them from taking Appa. She should've been stronger. She should've -

But she hadn't been. All she could do was sit and cry like a stupid, helpless child.

She tried to seek out Aang with her feet, but she had no idea where he was. He hadn't said a word to her - to any of them. She just wanted to apologise. She just wanted to be his friend again.

But were they friends anymore? She had no idea how friendship worked. The only real relationship she'd known was with her parents and -

She remembered how they argued. She remembered how Mother had stayed mad at Father forever, even as they lived in the same house.

Toph felt her stomach churn, wondering if that was what's going to happen to her now. In the same group, but strangers. Only together by necessity and nothing more.

"Toph?" Katara asked.

Toph jerked up, looking in the general direction of the voice. Now that she had sound, she could visualise better.

"Are you okay?" Katara asked.

She sounded tired. Of course she was - she'd been the one taking care of them through all of this. Toph didn't want to burden her with any more than she already had.

"I'm good," she replied.

Katara hummed, pulling her along.

Was this what became of Toph now? A burden to Katara, and a non-friend to Aang? This is how she'd been to her parents as well, right?

Tears stung at her eyes again.

She wanted Appa back.

Sand went down on the list and Ba Sing Se went right at the top.

Water hindered her sight and sand made it impossible (but she was working on it). Ba Sing Se on the other hand - it didn't have much to do with her sight as it did the general wrongness of the place. The shadows here shifted, and they shifted before Toph could pinpoint their location - before she could see where they went.

And anyway. She wasn't a fan of walls.

Aang was doing better now, she thought. But she still hadn't talked to him directly, and he hadn't either, so - so Toph wasn't sure where they stood. Katara encouraged her to ask, but her throat clogged up and her heart did strange things, and she hated feeling nervous almost as much as she hated feeling helpless.

She hated it more when Sokka and Katara argued.

Aang might not have noticed, but Toph's senses were sharp. Always had been, because of her training, and in spite of her sometimes wishing it wasn't. And the walls here were thinner than in the Manor, so no amount of pushing her palms against her ears and putting her feet up was keeping those voices at bay.

They weren't arguing, pe se. Not like Mother and Father. But they were and Toph wished they would stop.

"This place is dangerous," Sokka hissed, "You can't just keep going out like this."

"We're all masters of bending, Sokka, we'll be fine."

"Bending is one thing, this city is another."

Katara huffed, "I'm going out tomorrow with Aang to look for Appa and that's final."

"Do what you want! It's not like you listen to me anyway!"

Toph brought the pillow around her head and wished, for once, that it was raining.

Arguments, Toph decided.

Rain, sand, Ba Sing Se, they all paled in comparison to arguments. None of them made her ears and feet hurt worse.

There was a wind blowing outside, and everyone was staying indoors to ride out the oncoming storm. Things were okay, right now, but lately everyone had been tense. Ba Sing Se was hard on them, despite no longer needing to worry about food and shelter. Maybe because they weren't worrying about food and shelter anymore.

Somehow, sharing bathrooms and living space brought on more arguments than traveling the world in a crumpled saddle on Appa -

Toph's stomach churned at the thought of Appa. They still hadn't found him and Aang still hadn't forgiven her. Or he had, and she didn't know? They didn't talk about it - was this something they should talk about?

Toph was the greatest earthbender in the world, not the greatest socialiser.

"Katara, have you seen my boomerang?" Sokka asked.

Toph curled her toes at the sound, knowing what was coming.

"No," Katara said petulantly, "Take care of your own stuff!"

"But you're so good at it, why would I?"

"Maybe you just misplaced it," Aang said placatingly.

"I put it here," Sokka grumbled, "Have you seen it Toph?"

"No," she snapped. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to be outside.

(That's how the Earth Rumbles began. Because she didn't want to be in Beifong Manor anymore, hearing arguments and getting cold shoulders.)

Sokka continued to grumble. Katara huffed and went back to her sewing. Toph could sense the storm coming before it did.

"You know," she said, "You could stop looking for that useless thing and help me out with the housework."

"It's not useless!" Sokka squeaked as Aang laughed. Toph didn't know why he was laughing, how he wasn't terrif -

Toph shook her head. She wasn't scared. She wasn't.

"You too Aang," Katara scolded, "And Toph."

Toph brought her shoulders up to her ears, making herself smaller. She didn't want to argue. She shifted her feet so that they were on the cushion, hoping to muffle some of the sound.

"Like I said," Sokka was saying, smirking for some reason, "You already do such a good job. Why do you need our help!"

Katara slammed down whatever she was sewing, "Because then you'd get it through your stupid head how hard this is! I do all the work around here!"

"Okay, okay, no need to get riled up."

"I am not riled up."

"You're kind of riled up."

"Don't take his side Aang!"

Toph could feel the tension mounting inside her. Like a coiled snake, coiling tighter still as it got ready to bite. She hated the feeling, one that she thought she'd left behind in Beifong Manor. The feeling of helplessness. Because they were arguing and Toph just wished they'd -

Thunder clapped outside, loud enough to sting Toph's ears. She screamed, "Stop arguing!"

There was blissful silence, except for the rain that was finally coming down. She let her breath out slowly, wondering if she had messed this up completely. She'd never confronted her parents about their arguments.

"We were just bickering, Toph," Katara said lightly, "We didn't mean anything by it."

"Yeah," Sokka said, coming to place a soothing hand on her arm, "I know that I should help out around the house. I was just being petty," he laughed awkwardly, but it did nothing to ease her tension.

"No you're not," she said stubbornly, "You were arguing last night too! And I hate it and I don't - I don't know what to do about it - " she could still remember the cold house that had been built around her unforgiving Mother and unapologetic Father, " - and I don't want you to hate each other!"

There was a pause. Katara and Aang shuffled closer.

"We're family," Aang said, "We would never hate each other over this."

Toph sniffled, "But you hate me for Appa."

Toph knew they were exchanging glances, probably wondering how to break it to her that they did, in fact, hate her for that. Toph already knew, so it wasn't a big deal. She was fine with hate, as long as it wasn't pity.

She could take it. She just wished they'd spit it out already -

And then there were arms around her - Aang's, to be precise. Toph tried to push him off but he refused to let go, only pulling her closer.

"Get off me!"

"I don't hate you Toph!" Aang said, loudly, right in her ear, "How could you ever think that?"

Toph stopped struggling, her mind processing what he just said. Her voice was small when she said, "But I lost Appa!"

Aang's arms tightened, "I was never mad at you for that! That was those sandbenders' fault," he leaned back a little, finally letting Toph breathe, "And anyway, we'll find Appa! It'll be okay!"

"But - " Toph shook her head, "I don't get it … we're still friends?"

"We never stopped being friends."

Her parents stopped being anything over much less.

She was confused.

"Toph," Katara said, coming to sit beside her, "What's this about?"

Lightning struck outside. Toph's feet flinched away from the ground in a knee-jerk reaction. When she touched back to earth, she found that Sokka had shifted closer to her as well.

"It's nothing important," she grumbled, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

"Sounded pretty important," Sokka pointed out.

Toph shrugged, "It's no big deal … just reminded me of my parents arguing."

"Was it bad?"

Toph smiled wryly at Katara's question, "More like it was the only times they talked to each other. Everything else was just cold, so it felt like they were always arguing. I think they hated each other." Because of me. Because they both had different ideas on how to take care of me.

"I can't tell you if they did or didn't," Sokka said, "But just because people argue doesn't mean that they hate each other you know."

"I know that now."

Sokka paused, "I'm sorry we scared you."

There it was, the pity. Toph snarled, "I'm not helpless! I wasn't scared."

But she was. Because at eight, Toph had already been the best earthbender she knew, and she still couldn't stop her parents from arguing. She was helpless to solve anything.

The siblings were relentless. "Made you uncomfortable, then," Katara said, "We didn't mean to, and we're sorry."

"And I'm sorry for letting you think we weren't friends," Aang chirped up, arms tightening around her again, "I promise to drown you in assurances from now on."

"Stop apologising," Toph yelled, "That's not - that's not what you're supposed to do!"

They were supposed to not apologise. And just - let the argument shimmer. Or whatever it was her parents did. This wasn't it. This whole discussion thing was starting to freak Toph out.

She said as much and heard Katara hide a laugh. Toph blushed.

"Shut up!"

"Sorry Toph," Katara apologised, again, "And I wish your parents hadn't been like that."

"Yeah," Toph said, huffing, "I wish that too."

There wasn't much else to say, after that.

"I just don't like it when you're too loud," Toph admitted quietly, "But I'd much rather you do it in front of me and not try to hide it - because you can't hide it, my ears are too sharp. S - so."

"Okay," Katara said, and then gave her space to continue.

If it had been Mother, she would have shut down the conversation right there. But Katara wasn't Mother, and Sokka definitely wasn't Father, and Toph's never had a brother like Aang.

So she continued, slowly.

She said how she hated arguments during storms specifically. Told them how she couldn't stand when they tried to keep their voices low, because they sounded even angrier that way. Explained why she didn't like it when they didn't come to a resolution and gave each other the cold shoulder instead.

She mentioned that she didn't like carpets, either.

The next day, when the sky was clearer and she expected the others to already be out, she woke up to find that they were removing the carpet from her room. And doing a bad job of it too.

"None of you will ever be interior designers," she mentioned.

"I'm great at this!" Sokka retorted, which set Katara off.

"Is this what you call great?"

And they just started bickering again.

"They'll never stop," Aang said solemnly, and she could hear the mirth in his voice.

Toph grinned, "Free entertainment. Why would I ever want them to stop?"

So she let them argue - well, bicker - and found that she didn't mind. Because after it was over, they all went out to eat, and Sokka and Katara both ordered different dishes and ended up eating off each other and complaining about the angry pony-tail boy like it was normal, which it was.

It was weird and chaotic and barely functional, and unlike her parents, there was no running from them.

Not that she would, anyway.

(She loved them. Not that she'd ever admit it. Shut up, Twinkletoes.)