Chapter 8: Haha Painful Life Lessons Go Brrr

I know it took a long time to get this chapter out. This is partly because I took a good long look at my outlined plot for the story and realized that it had some glaring holes that I couldn't really get around. I ended up doing some major rewriting, noodling out a doable plot that fit with what I had already written and trying not to deviate too much from the original spirit of the plot (I deviated. A lot. It is not the same story, which is hopefully for the better). I just hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew :). On with the story!

Also, I now officially hate the name of my story. I think it's a little late to change it, though :(.

"Today's the day!"

Aang didn't normally get up so early. But he was just so excited, because he got to start learning earthbending with his new sifu and he was super super excited, wow it was a great day, good morning everyone! "Can you believe it?" he excitedly asked Sokka. "After all that time searching for a teacher, I'm finally starting earthbending!" He gestured around them, to the rocky walls of the canyon they'd found, like a little baby Great Divide. "And this place is perfect, don't you think? Sokka?"

Sokka groaned and cracked his eyes open to give Aang a sleepy glower. It was only then that Aang realized that the Tribesman had, in fact, been asleep the entire time, instead of awake like Aang naturally assumed everyone would be. "Oh," he said more quietly. "Guess you're still sleeping. Sorry."

Sokka grumbled something Aang didn't understand, and dropped his head again.

Shuffling sounds drew Aang's notice. He looked over to see Toph pulling herself out from under her blanket, where she'd ended up sandwiched between Zhi, Jiao, and Momo. "Good morning, my newest victim – I mean, earthbending student!" she said, grinning widely.

"Good morning, Sifu Toph," Aang said, bowing.

"Hey," Katara complained sleepily, sitting up in her sleeping roll. He'd never seen anyone who could pull bedhead off so well, but Katara managed it. "You never call me Sifu Katara."

"...Should I?"

Zhi sat up as well, rubbing his face. "It's… too early," he said. "For earthbending. Or talking. Or being alive, really."

"Thank you!" Sokka said inside his sleeping roll, before realizing who he was agreeing with and sinking back into surly silence.

"Don't worry, Sunshine," Toph said cheerfully. "We'll practice our earthbending as quietly as we can." She stomped to the side, and a slab of rock ripped itself off the top of the canyon wall some distance away, tumbling down. The ground shook as it hit, exploding into smaller pieces with a massive thunder of breaking rock. "Oops, I forgot that throwing rocks isn't perfectly silent."

"I get it," Zhi said grouchily, getting up.

Aang leaped into the air and landed by Toph, dust poofing up around his feet. "So what are you going to teach me first?" he asked excitedly, his head filled with all the exciting earthbending moves he'd ever seen. "Rockalanche? The Trembler? Ooh, maybe I could learn to make a whirlpool out of land!"

"Maybe we should start with… moving a rock?" Toph suggested sarcastically, pushing Aang backward.

Too excited to care, Aang bounced back. "Sounds good!" he said happily. He couldn't believe he was about to start earthbending!

"Maybe you should have breakfast first," Katara suggested. "Give you some energy."

"I'm hungry," Jiao said, struggling out of the pile of sleeping bags he found himself in the middle of. "Breakfast sounds great."

"Awww," Aang groaned, slumping. "Can't we just get started before breakfast?"

Toph smiled. It wasn't a smile of goodwill and mercy. "Actually, I'm feeling rather hungry myself."

;=;=;=;=;

"Aren't you almost done?"

Toph took her time chewing and swallowing. "Hmmm… nope," she said, and the Avatar slumped again. "I think there's still room for a couple of those jerky strips. The extra chewy ones."

"But those take forever to finish!"

"What a shame," said Toph, who had a finely tuned sense of schadenfreude.

;=;=;=;=;

"Earthbending relies on your base stance, more than other disciplines," Toph said. "You have to be steady and strong. The rock wants to be immovable. You have to be more immovable. Rock is the bones of the earth, and it's a stubborn element. If you're going to move it, you need to be like a rock as well."

"Like a rock," Aang repeated, his face set into an almost comical scowl of concentration. "All right."

Katara leaned against a nearby boulder with Jiao and Sokka, watching. Zhi sat on the ground, drawing a whetstone over the edges of his longsword, one eye on the training pair.

"The actual motion of this move is pretty simple," Toph continued. "It's not about fancy footwork or spectacular moves. It's the most basic earthbending you can do. It's your will against the rock." She set her feet and punched forward, sending a nearby boulder flying into the wall of the canyon with a crash. "Lower your center. Airbenders like to be high up, all flighty and tipsy and all that, but for earth you need to be solid. Im-mov-a-ble." She folded her arms. "You ready to give it a try?"

"I'm ready," Aang said, stepping forward to face another rock (there seemed to be a surplus of large rocks on the bottom of this canyon, which was alarming once Katara considered that they had to have broken off of the walls and fallen down at some point. She edged away from the side of the canyon) and setting his feet in the stance Toph had demonstrated.

Aang breathed deeply, and when he opened his eyes, it was with none of the hysterical excitement of earlier. He was calm, steady. Gray eyes fixed on the rock, and in one powerful move, he turned and punched forward.

And went flying back like something giant swatted him, bouncing off Appa's side and faceplanting on the ground.

Toph doubled over, laughing hysterically. Katara couldn't help giggling as well. She felt badly for Aang's unqualified failure, but it was funny. She wasn't sure what she'd expected, but the boy flying backward like a cork out of a bottle wasn't it.

Aang picked himself up and slowly made his way back over to them. Sokka patted him on the shoulder. "Rock beats airbender."

"I don't get it," Katara admitted. "What went wrong? He did it exactly the way you did."

Toph tapped Aang on the head. "Stance is really important, but your will is more important. If you don't have the guts to make the rock move, your stance doesn't matter."

Aang shrugged and started circling the boulder. "Maybe there's another way. What if I came at it from another angle or something?" He tapped it. "I don't know, maybe there's fault lines or something that will make it easier…"

"No," Toph snapped. "That's the problem. Quit thinking like an airbender! You can't get out of this! There's no different angle, no clever solution, no trickety-trick that's gonna get you out of moving that rock the way you need to. When you can actually earthbend? Once you've gotten the basics down? Once you know how to make a rock move when you want it to? Yeah, then you can start learning the tricks that make it easier. But first you need the basics. You've got to face it head on, and I mean head on!" She leaped forward, slamming her head into the boulder. It shattered.

"Whoa!" Aang yelped and leaped back, staring at the rubble in awe.

With a huff, Toph started to walk away. Katara bit her lip, then hurried after the younger girl, gently catching her shoulder. "Hey, Toph?"

Toph stopped, turning halfway to her. Katara took that as permission to talk to her. "I've been training Aang for a while now, and I've found that he really responds well to a positive teaching experience. Lots of encouragement and praise, kind words. If he's doing something wrong, maybe a gentle nudge in the right direction…"

Toph folded her arms. "So… he can't handle it when he's told he's doing something wrong? That seems like a dangerous attitude to have. No wonder it took him forever to learn water."

Katara bristled. "Excuse me? He learned water in a few months, most Avatars take years to master each element, and everyone has a different learning style-"

"Calm down, Katara," Toph said, holding up a hand. "I'm teasing. A gentle nudge, hmm? Maybe I'll try that."

Katara smiled in relief as Toph turned back toward Aang. Toph had taken her advice pretty well, it seemed. Maybe this would work.

;=;=;=;=;

"Keep your knees high, Twinkletoes!"

...And maybe not.

Katara watched Aang and Jiao, walking side by side with rocks on their backs. Despite Jiao's size and age, he hoisted the rock with relative ease, while Aang struggled to keep it up.

Toph stomped, and stone pillars shot up underneath the boys's feet. Aang yelped and toppled over. Jiao wobbled but recovered.

Groaning, Aang sat up. "...ow…"

"Up!" Toph shouted at him. "We aren't done yet!"

Katara winced as they moved on to digging through rock with their bare hands. Toph plunged her hands into the rock like it was butter. Jiao struck, but didn't get very deep. Aang's hands bounced off the rock, accompanied by a yelp of pain.

"Put your shoulder into it!" Toph snapped, demonstrating again. "Jiao, keep your wrist stiff. Aang, more willpower!"

"I… don't have any more willpower," Aang groaned, striking at the rock again. "It all got used up already."

"Tough luck. Be rocklike!"

;=;=;=;=;

Sokka was pawing through the supplies, looking for food (breakfast wasn't enough, he's a growing boy, all right?), when his precious whalebone machete that he carried all the way from the South Pole was stolen by Toph to be used for Aang's earthbending training.

"That's mine!" Sokka protested, finally catching up with her and trying to retrive the club. Toph, who was obscenely strong for a tiny twelve-year-old, held him off with ease. It was like trying to push a mountain over. "Hey! Give it back! That's a genuine Southern Water Tribe weapon that is in no way suited for earthbending!"

"I'm not earthbending with it," Toph said, pushing him away. He huffily got up and tried to pretend he hadn't just been shoved around by a little girl. "Don't worry, this shouldn't hurt it. That much."

Sokka groaned and watched as she handed the machete to Aang, who was then blindfolded and pelted with rocks. "Listen!" she shouted. "Feel! Sense the rocks! Hear them coming!"

Aang swung wildly, finally managing to hit a rock before it hit him. He whooped in victory and went to set the club down, but more rocks whapped him.

"I didn't say we were done!" Toph shouted. Aang hastily began swinging again.

Sokka sulked - no, Sokka strode manfully back to the camp, before remembering that the food was gone. He took a deep breath, suppressed his urge to start crying loudly, and fished Boomerang out of its holster, heading down the canyon in the opposite direction of the earthbending training.

Time to find some food.

;=;=;=;=;

Aang stood atop a pair of earth pillars, tossing a rock between his hands. He ached all over, but it could be worse. The time he flew from the Southern Air Temple all the way to Ongolan Isle, on his glider, had been pretty rough. And falling halfway down the mountain when he was seven had hurt, too. At least he didn't have any broken bones this time.

Back and forth, back and forth he tossed the rock, his arms protesting hotly at the treatment. Aang glanced over at Jiao, performing the same exercise next to him, and grinned. He was finally getting the hang of this.

"ROCKLIKE!" Toph suddenly bellowed from below them, as the ground shook. Aang held his stance, letting the pillars settle, before resuming the rock tossing. Toph nodded in approval.

He could do this.

;=;=;=;=;

Sokka would have whistled to himself as he hunted, but that was just unprofessional. Nothing like some shrill noises to scare off everything edible within a mile's radius. Instead he focused on the hunt, Boomerang in hand. He was going to score some dinner for them all. Well, except Aang. What sort of human being didn't eat any meat? Meat was life, meat still held the energy of the animal, and it made you stronger and faster and hopefully a little less likely to die Then again, that would explain Aang's deplorable lack of survival instincts. Seriously, whenever the kid saw something dangerous his first impulse was "yay, let's go play with it!"

Careful of noisy stones underfoot, Sokka crept around a bend in the wall, peering out. He was getting better at this whole 'hunting in non-polar climates' thing, although it was still weird, not having any snow tracks to follow.

Maybe, if the war hadn't happened, that would be different. The Tribe would have spent time at the summer hunting grounds in the tundra every year, where there wasn't constant snow. Dad would have taught him how to track animals through snowless ground, how to follow the smallest trails in the scrub and plain. But the Fire Nation's constant raids had driven them and all the other tribes farther south, forced them to abandon their ancestral grounds for the forbidding, storm-swept coasts, where it was too dangerous for the metal ships to approach most of the time. Sokka had only heard about the Tribe's old homes in stories. Never been there. Just another thing the Fire Nation had taken from him.

With a mental sigh, he prodded his thoughts back in the direction of hunting. In unfamiliar places like this, he had to focus on his hunting or he'd never catch anything. The Universe, in all Its infinite wisdom, never saw fit to make life easy for once and send meat-things tumbling into his path.

His musings were interrupted by a meat-thing tumbling into his path, which was extremely suspicious because the Universe just didn't do things like that for him. There was a catch somewhere, he was sure of it.

But the little meat-thing looked very appetizing, and it was just ambling along slowly, looking back behind it occasionally. He stared at it for a moment, then hoisted Boomerang. Perhaps the Universe had decided to take pity on him for once.

This happy idea was brutally murdered in the first stages of infancy when the little meat-thing moved a little faster than he'd expected, and he didn't see the crevasse in the ground in front of him, and the next thing he knew, he was stuck in the ground with said adorable meat-thing licking his nose.

Sokka had spent a lot of time around the men of his tribe, before they left. He'd spent several equally instructive years with Gran-Gran. Both experiences had greatly expanded his repertoire of curses, which he set about using as loudly and angrily as possible, directed at the Universe, the small meat-thing, and himself. This did not help him get out of the hole. It did, however, make him feel better for a moment.

Then the small meat-thing resumed licking his nose, like it was thinking about how good Sokka would taste. The irony was not lost on him.

;=;=;=;=;

"What now, Sifu Toph?"

Toph smirked. She could get used to being called that. "Jiao, put this on," she said, tossing a blindfold toward him. "Stand over there and practice seeing through vibrations. Reach out with your earthbending, feel the earth around, and think about what it's telling you. Aang, I think we're going to try something a little different this time. Instead of moving the rock, you're going to stop a rock."

"Huh?" Aang sounded confused.

She pointed up toward the top of the canyon, where she'd rolled a boulder earlier that day. "Get in your horse stance. I'm going to roll that boulder down at you, and you're going to stay in your stance and stop that rock, got it?"

She could feel his heartbeat practically triple. "What?"

"You're the Avatar, Twinkletoes," Toph reminded him. "You're an earthbender deep down, whether you like it or not. And I'm going to bring out that earthbender attitude whatever it takes!"

Katara didn't feel much happier than Aang. "Sorry Toph," she said, "but are you really sure this is the way to teach Aang earthbending?"

He's got to learn it somehow, and lessons stick the best when they're pounded into his skull, Toph didn't say. Who's the master earthbender here, you or me? Toph didn't say. It's the way the badgermoles teach it – you gotta earthbend, or you're done for, Toph didn't say. He's the fricking Avatar, you moron, obviously he can earthbend! Toph didn't say."I'm glad you said something, Katara," Toph said. "There is actually a better way."

Both Katara and Aang relaxed in relief. That didn't last long, because Toph tossed Aang the blindfold he'd had earlier. "Put it on. This way, you'll have to sense the vibrations of the boulder in order to stop it. Thank you for your help, Katara."

"Yeah, thanks, Katara," Aang snapped, a little panicky. Katara was practically hyperventilating.

Toph propelled herself up the hill, parking behind the boulder. Down at the bottom of the boulder's track, Aang trembled in horse stance. Well, here went nothing. She didn't doubt that Aang had it in him to stop the boulder. He just didn't know he did. But he was about to find out. With a giant grin, Toph slammed her fists forward, and the boulder rumbled off the edge and down toward Aang.

She 'watched' eagerly as he stood in the path of the boulder, his stance every bit as good as hers (she was slightly jealous that it only took him a day to learn what she spent weeks painfully mastering, but felt mostly proud), firmly rooted. He was going to do it! He was-

-was jumping up and over the boulder, his perfect stance lost in lightfooted airbender forms that gave him the coward's way out.

Toph stood frozen for a long moment, shocked. What happened? It had been going so well! He'd looked great! Why had he just… abandoned it?

Anger started to push through, and she leaped off the side, surfing down in a wave of stone toward her student as he floated back to earth.

"I… I just panicked," Aang mumbled, radiating shame. "I don't know what to say…"

"There's nothing to say!" Toph shouted. It was much easier to be angry over his wimpiness than think about her disappointment in him, or acknowledge the little fear that either she couldn't teach or he couldn't learn. "You blew it! You had a perfect stance! Perfect form! But when it came down to it, you didn't have the guts!"

"I know," he said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you are sorry!" Toph yelled. "If you can't stand up to the rock, can't make it do what you want, at least give it the pleasure of smashing you instead of jumping out of the way like a jelly-boned wimp!" She stormed up into his face. "Now, do you have what it takes to face that rock like an earthbender?"

"No," he whispered. "I don't think I do."

Somehow, that quiet, depressed utterance completely punctured Toph's bubble of anger and frustration. She bit her lip, confused and hurt. What was wrong with him? How could he just give up like that when something didn't work the first time? Maybe, maybe if she just talked to him, went somewhere quiet and talked the problem out-

"Aang, it's no big deal," Katara said, her sweetness turned up to maximum gag-level. "You take a break, and you can try earthbending again later. When you're ready. Besides, you still have a lot of waterbending to work on. Okay?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," Aang said, and quickly followed Katara.

"Yeah, whatever," Toph snapped after them. "Go splash around until you feel better."

They disappeared around the bend, and Toph drew in a shuddering breath, whirling angrily back to the camp. It was empty. Sokka and Zhi were spirits-knew-where, Jiao was back at the training place, Aang and Katara were playing in their puddle. The only one at camp was Appa, and even that was too much company for her right now. She stomped off up the canyon, where she could throw all the rocks she liked.

;=;=;=;=;

Jiao tapped his toes on the ground, bored. Toph hadn't told him to be done, but from the way she'd stormed off, he didn't think she cared. It was probably okay to get up now, right?

He peeked out from under the blindfold. He was getting better at using his earthsense to 'see' like Toph did, but he still wasn't great. Pulling off the blindfold all the way, he stood up and stuffed it into his pocket.

Toph didn't get mad like that very often, and she'd seemed pretty upset when she left. Jiao scowled in thought as he headed toward the camp. It was the Avatar that made her upset, again, and it only renewed his wishes for a nice dripping octopuspede to slide down Aang's pants. But that wouldn't help matters any, would it?

Toph was upset because Aang wasn't earthbending. Maybe if Jiao helped Aang a little, secretly, she'd feel better.

Finding Aang was easy. He was sitting in the middle of the camp, eyes closed, fists pressed together. It didn't look like he was sleeping, but you could never be sure. Zhi had fallen asleep standing up once, so maybe the Avatar could fall asleep like this?

He sat down next to Aang. After a moment, he asked softly, "What are you doing?"

Aang opened his eyes and looked over. "I'm meditating," he explained. "It's a process of clearing my mind and becoming peacefully attuned to my self and my surroundings. It usually helps to calm me down when I'm… upset."

That was a good sign, maybe? Aang was upset, too. Maybe he'd be willing to try to fix the problem. "You were having trouble earthbending earlier," Jiao started.

Aang looked uncomfortable. "I don't really want to talk about it," he said, closing his eyes again.

"It made you upset," Jiao persisted. "And it made Toph upset."

"Ommmm…."

"I… I thought maybe I could help? Because everyone learns a little differently, and maybe I could help you learn in a different way than Toph is."

Aang cracked one eye. "Really?"

"I can try," Jiao said.

He opened both eyes. "Okay, I guess."

"Why don't you try with smaller amounts of earth first," Jiao suggested. That was how he started out, small and simple.

Aang stared at him for a moment. "You can… do that?"

"Of course you can," Jiao said, puzzled. "It takes less energy and is usually easier to start with than big things."

"Then what was all that balderdash about 'no trickety-tricks' and 'facing it head-on' and all that?" Aang shouted. "Why was Toph trying to get me to move boulders if I could have started out with a pebble?"

Jiao sighed. Zhi was way better at this sort of stuff than he was. How could he explain this to Aang without making Toph sound bad? "Toph was taught by badgermoles," he said eventually.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Normally, earthbending kids are noticed by two or three, and start training around then. Toph started moving rocks and stuff when she was seven months old. But the problem was, she was blind from birth, so no one would teach her. They all said that a blind girl could never learn to earthbend worth anything."

"That's wrong," Aang said, frowning. "The monks taught that we shouldn't let physical disabilities keep us from succeeding, or let them cloud our view of the world. Which is funny, because, you know, blind? Heh heh!... Um, anyway, go on."

"Well, none of the earthbending sifus were monks, I guess. So, Toph didn't get any training. When she was six, she ran away to the mountains, and kind of got adopted by a pair of badgermoles. Mom and Dad didn't find her for a week and a half, and by then, Toph had started learning how to earthbend from the badgermoles. After that, she snuck out at night a lot and trained with them, learning how to earthbend directly from the source."

"That's amazing," Aang said, "but I don't see how that helps."

Jiao shrugged. "Do you know how badgermoles test their kits to see how good earthbenders they are? They roll stones at them. Trap them in a cave. Trigger rockslides. It's a really hard life, and they need to make sure their babies are prepared for anything that comes their way."

"Rockslides?" Aang repeated.

"So Toph learned earthbending by getting boulders rolled at her and having to fight her way out of caves. The way she learned, you start with the big stuff, 'cause if you can't face that, you can't survive anything else." Suddenly something dawned. "She's treating you like her kit."

"What?" Aang said incredulously.

"She's like a badgermole mom, and you're her kit. She cares about you and wants you to be able to survive and protect yourself, so she's teaching you in the best way she knows how: by making you face the big stuff first." He shrugged. "And badgermole kits that can't face the big stuff? They don't make it."

"So Toph's trying to squish me because she thinks she's my mother?"

Jiao sighed. Aang kept getting hung up on the wrong points. "Not everyone is a badgermole. You aren't. You won't learn like one. And working hard and being challenged is good for you and stuff, but, well, if you haven't taken that first step and actually been able to earthbend, all the boulders in the world aren't gonna help you."

Aang regarded Jiao for a moment. "You sure know a lot about this kind of stuff," he said.

Jiao shrugged. "With Master Yu yammering in one ear all day, and Toph bellowing in the other ear all night, I kind of picked up a few things."

Aang rubbed his hands together. "All right, then. Let's get started!"

"Okay." Jiao reached down and picked up a pebble. It looked round and smooth, like a river rock, which was a little strange so far from the water. Maybe this canyon got flash floods, and this had been carried here. He held it in his hand for a moment. "Horse stance," he said. This was weird, being the one telling other people what to do.

Aang groaned and dragged himself to his feet, settling into a sloppy stance.

"Straighter," Jiao said, channeling his inner Toph bossiness.

The Avatar resettled into a better stance.

"Now, I want you to focus on this rock," Jiao said, trying to dredge up memories of his early earthbending lessons. "Concentrate your mind on it. Observe it. Look at the way it's shaped, the size, the color, anything you can see about it. Then punch forward." He set the pebble on the ground and demonstrated with his other hand, thrusting forward gently so as not to send the pebble too far.

He didn't have to worry. The pebble didn't twitch.

"Uhh…" Jiao said, dropping out of stance. Aang coughed to cover a snort. Jiao picked up the pebble, and realized what he should have realized before. He couldn't sense it with his earthbending at all. "It's… not a rock." He pulled up a fist-sized chunk of stone from next to him and brought it down on the impostor pebble, to the sound of cracking. "It's a nut."

Aang stared at it, then stared at Jiao, then back at the nut, and then began to snicker. "It's not funny," Jiao said, but he was snickering too. They both started laughing. Aang overbalanced and sat down with a thump, which only made him laugh harder.

Finally they managed to calm down. Wiping his eyes, Jiao found another pebble, and surreptitiously tested it to ensure that it was, indeed, a rock.

"All right," he said to Aang, who was still muffling snickers. "Stop that. Horse stance."

Aang complied, and Jiao held the pebble up in his hand. "Study it for a moment," he said, ignoring Aang's fresh snort. "And… punch."

Aang twisted and punched forward. Nothing happened. He drooped.

"And, biggest lesson that you need to learn, working on earthbending?" Jiao said. "Earth is going to be stubborn. You have to out-stubborn it. If you don't succeed at first, do it again, and again, and again, until you do. Horse stance."

Thirty minutes later, nothing had happened. Aang was quickly reaching the end of his tether, and Jiao was starting to see why Toph was so frustrated. He just wasn't applying himself.

Jiao thought back, to the conversation he'd overheard between Toph and Katara that morning. Positive teaching experience, encouragement and praise… It didn't seem right, giving a student praise when they were doing it wrong, or not at all, but he'd do it if that was what it took.

Encouragement. Hmm.

Aang punched again, and nothing happened. He slumped out of stance. "I can't do this."

"Try again," Jiao said. "Deep breaths. Look at the rock. Focus on it. I have a good feeling about this one."

Aang eyed the rock, and pulled himself back into stance. He took a deep breath, stared the rock down, and punched.

Absolutely nothing happened, but Jiao widened his eyes. "It moved!" he yelled.

Aang froze. "Wait, it did?"

"It did!" Jiao lied excitedly. "It's on my hand, I felt it move! You did it! You earthbent!"

"Not very much," Aang said doubtfully.

"But that's all it takes," Jiao said. "If you've earthbent once, it opens those gates and you can do it again, way easier." This was rubbish, as far as he knew, but it might just work. "Let's see you do it again!"

Aang took a deep breath, then another. When he focused back on the rock, it was with the calm that he'd had that morning, when he was first trying to move a rock. He took a deep breath and turned, his fist punching out.

The pebble exploded into gravel.

Jiao stared at his hand with as much shock as Aang. He really hadn't expected it to work that well.

"I… did that?" Aang breathed. "I broke the rock? I really did earthbend?"

"What did I tell you?" Jiao said, though he actually was trying to remember. Whatever he'd said, it worked.

"I can earthbend!" Aang said excitedly. "I can earthbend!"

"Now," Jiao said, dusting his hands off. "When Toph comes back, apologize. And try the boulder again. I have a feeling that you can do it. Remember that crushing, powerful feeling you got when you broke the pebble? Channel that. You are the Avatar. You're stronger than any stupid old boulder, and make sure it knows that."

"Yeah," Aang said, starting to grin. "Yeah. I will. Thanks, Jiao. I never would have gotten this without you."

"You're welcome," Jiao said. Perfect. Now Toph would feel better, because Aang could earthbend, and life would be good again. "Let's do some more practicing."

;=;=;=;=;

Zhi wandered, sword in hand. Sun beamed down around him, almost painfully bright. Ahead the canyon widened, curving around a corner, which looked promising.

He was looking for somewhere to practice his swordsmanship, somewhere wide-open, without a lot of loose rock underfoot, far away enough from camp that he wouldn't disturb anyone, far enough that he'd be alone and could actually think for once. After being trapped in a saddle with them for hours upon hours, he'd really like some private time.

He rounded the corner. The first thing he noticed was that this was a good place, pretty open with enough room to practice. The next thing he noticed was the Tribesman's head poking out of the ground. The next thing he noticed was the small, adorable bundle of death chewing on said Tribesman's hair.

"What," he said. It was all that would come out.

Sokka jerked and twisted to see him. "Thank goodn… oh, it's you."

"What are you doing?" Zhi demanded.

Sokka grimaced. "Ah, well, that's, um. I'm kind of stuck here. Do you think you could help out?"

Zhi stared at Sokka's ridiculous predicament, wedged in a crack in the ground, hands sticking up in front of him, before his eyes went back to the furball trying to eat Sokka's hair. "Ah. That, that's bad. Very bad."

Sokka tried to look up at the animal. "Oh. Zhi, this is Foo Foo Cuddlypoops. Foo Foo Cuddlypoops, this is Zhi. I know my hair's a mess, don't judge, okay? I'm kind of out of control at the moment?"

"That's a saber-tooth moose-lion cub," Zhi managed. How did they keep getting into situations like this?

"A what?" Sokka squinted at the cub, which obligingly sat down in front of him and started nibbling his thumb. "Ow! Stop it! It doesn't look like a saber-toothed anything."

"It's hard to tell before their giant teeth and antlers grow in," Zhi said, pointing his sword at the thing, then swiveling to stare at the underbrush. "They're the biggest, nastiest predators on this side of Si Wong. They make platypus bears look friendly and cheerful. The worst thing you can possibly do is get between a mother saber-tooth moose-lion and her cub, and if the cub's here, the mother's probably not far behind."

"Uh," Sokka said, paling. "That's… not good."

"No." Zhi tried to shoo the cub away. "Get out of here!" he yelled. It blinked big brown eyes at him and sat down several feet away. He growled and turned back to Sokka, sheathing his sword. "You're completely defenseless like this. We need to get you out of here as soon as possible." He grabbed Sokka's hands and pulled.

"Aaargh, stop, stop!" Sokka howled. "You're pulling my fingers off and I don't think the rest of me is coming!"

Zhi stepped back with a frustrated sigh, pulling his sword out again. "Come on, come on," he muttered, starting to hack away at the earth around Sokka, who flinched and yelped at each swing. The baked earth and stone proved to be very resistant to his chopping, but he kept hacking at it.

"Zhi," Sokka said. "Zhi! This isn't working!"

"It's got to," he snapped, sweating.

"You can't get me out," Sokka said urgently. "Go get Toph or Jiao. I need an earthbender."

"I can't leave you," Zhi said. Annoying as the other boy was, he wasn't going to abandon him to death. "This is slow, but-"

"Zhi!" Sokka shouted. "Go get Toph or Jiao! I'll be fine, just hurry!"

Zhi's chopping wasn't doing anything useful. Reluctantly he turned back up the canyon. "I'll be back soon," he yelled.

Whatever Sokka was going to say was swallowed up in a deep snarl, and snapping, rustling underbrush. Zhi whirled, sword high, to see what he'd been dreading: an adult saber-tooth moose-lion, emerging from down the canyon, through the trees.

Some part of his mind noted that she was a beautiful animal, with thick, sleek russet-brown fur and a magnificent rack of antlers. She rippled with muscles, giant claws protruding from her paws. Two massive fangs jutted down from her upper jaw.

The rest of his mind was screaming in pants-wetting terror and urging him to run like crazy.

"I really really hate my relationship with the Universe!" Sokka yelled at the sky. The cub scurried over to its mother, and she eyed it for a moment before turning back to the two boys with another shattering snarl. Her eyes fixed on Sokka, the closer of the two, and she pawed the ground.

She's going to charge, Zhi realized. The next moment, he leaped out to the side, away from Sokka. "Hey, ugly!" he yelled, waving his arms. "Over here! This way! Come and get me! Come on!"

With a roar, she sprang at Zhi, terrifyingly fast. He stood his ground until she was almost on him, then leaped off to the side, his sword extended into her path. It was almost torn from his hand as she ran by, steel laying her shoulder and side open. She bellowed in pain and slowed, turning to make another charge.

"This way!" Zhi yelled, waving the bloodstained sword. "Here, stupid! Bet you're too fat to get yourself over here without collapsing! Come get me, you coward! You-"

She charged at him again, head down, massive antlers bearing down on him. He waited, and leaped to the side again, sword out. The only problem was that this time, she slashed out at him, expecting his side leap.

He felt his sword bite into her paw, and a moment later, he was lifted off the ground, pain spiking through his side. He cried out as he slammed into the ground, and blackness descended for a moment.

He dazedly opened his eyes. His whole left shoulder felt like it was on fire. Glancing down, he saw it was bloody from the moose-lioness's claws. He could hear Sokka yelling something.

Movement caught his attention, clearing more of the fog from his head. The giant moose-lioness was turning, attention drawn by Sokka's noise. "Over here! This way! Zhi, it would be really nice for you to be not dead right now! Hey, saber-toothed whatchamacallit! You aren't so bad! I bet a tigerseal could take you with its flippers tied behind its back!"

Zhi pawed at the ground. Where was his sword? He'd had it when she hit him, hadn't he? He managed to pull himself to a sitting position, and saw his sword lying out of reach.

The moose-lioness snarled and crouched to leap at Sokka, bleeding freely from the gash in her side. Zhi's right hand closed around a rock, and he flung it with all his strength as her muscles uncoiled.

It struck her wounded shoulder, throwing her off enough that her leap missed Sokka. The leg buckled under her as she landed, and she roared in pain, before turning back to Zhi.

He scrabbled back toward his sword as she limped toward him on three legs, leaving a bloody trail behind her on the hard earth. Still woozy from his head blow, Zhi wasn't sure if he could get out of her way in time.

He caught a glimpse of Sokka, still in his crevasse, thrashing about as much as he could with his tight space. Then the moose-lioness's bulk blocked the Tribesman from view.

Zhi staggered to his feet, then dove out of the way as she leaped toward him, giant teeth gnashing. Fortunately, her wounded shoulder kept her from using that leg, greatly limiting her agility and motion. His own left arm was limp and useless, afire with agony from where she'd slashed it. Pain pulsed all up and down his side, which made it rather difficult to get up. She advanced on him, snarling.

Then Sokka roared in pain. Her head twitched back toward him, but Zhi shouted and she snapped her attention forward. He stepped back, and his foot struck a stone, sending him tumbling backward.

The moose-lioness's triumphant roar as she surged forward suddenly shifted into a bellow of agony, as a blur of blue Tribal steel hit the side of her face. How did Sokka throw that? Zhi wondered briefly. The moose-lioness reared up, blood pouring down her ruined face, and Zhi saw that the boomerang had gouged out her eye.

With a pain-crazed snarl, she whirled, pawing at her face. Zhi dragged himself to his feet, grateful his hand had stayed on his sword hilt this time. Mustering up all the energy he had left, he pushed away the pain and ran forward, ducking around the maddened moose-lioness as she focused her one good eye on Sokka.

Sokka was farther out of the crack than he'd been before. His left arm was bent at a strange angle, likely broken. His right arm was free. "Come on!" he yelled at the moose-lioness, glancing at Zhi before returning his attention to the animal, voice strained with pain. "I'm right here!"

With her attention turned away, Zhi ran in, sword held tightly. Pain jolted him with every step, but he ignored it, focusing on the moose-lioness's exposed, lighter-furred underbelly. Just one good thrust in the right spot could kill her here and now.

And then she turned. He didn't know whether she heard him or smelled him, or just sensed he was there, but she whirled to him, lashing out with her wounded front leg.

He tried to duck aside, but one giant claw caught on his right arm, ripping it open from his elbow to his wrist. The pain, deadened by adrenaline, wasn't as bad as he'd expected. Or maybe pain didn't matter as much when you were dying anyway.

The moose-lioness came down on the wounded leg to keep herself from overbalancing, and howled in pain, tipping up. Zhi saw her exposed throat, and even before he knew what he was doing, he was moving. Run forward, leap as she notices. Strike, with all the strength left in his mutilated arm.

As the moose-lioness came down, Zhi's sword sliced a lipless red smile across her throat. She gave a gurgling roar and struck at him.

The breath left him at the massive blow. He flew through the air, aware that his sword was no longer in his hand. That.. that wasn't good. He'd need it, when he got back up. The saber-tooth moose-lion would be attacking, and he didn't want to be caught without a weapon…

Then he hit the ground, and this time he passed out completely.

;=;=;=;=;

All Sokka saw was the blur of movement as Zhi leaped for the giant animal. He cried out a warning as she drew back to strike, but Zhi didn't seem to hear. She struck him a heavy blow, and the older boy flew through the air and struck the ground, tumbling and bouncing to a stop, bloody and battered. He didn't get up again.

"Zhi!" Sokka yelled, and then his attention was yanked back to the moose-lion because she was moving and huge and clawy and angry. But all she did was stumble, and sway, and collapse in a giant pile of brown fur and crimson blood.

Well. That happened.

Now that Sokka had a moment to breathe, and wasn't sure he was about to die horribly at the claws of That Thing, he noticed the pain he was in. Deep breath. Another. Figure out what's hurt, and how bad, and what to do about it. It's what Dad always told him to do when something happened, like the time he fell off the sled and broke his ankle. Breathe, and then think.

So he breathed, and cataloged the pain he was in, aware that Zhi was lying very still. His left ankle pulsed with pain, twisted from getting stuck in this stupid crack in the first place. His left arm was definitely broken. Very definitely. He decided not to look at it, because it made him queasy to see his arm pointing that way. It was the only way he could free himself enough to throw Boomerang, though, and that saved Zhi's life.

Which would quickly be pointless, because if Zhi wasn't already dead, he'd be there soon. Sokka hurried up his figuring-out-what-to-do.

His left arm was out of commission, and was in fact actively sabotaging his efforts at the moment. His right arm was sore, but fine. His ankle wasn't bad. If he could lever himself up, he might be able to push out of this crack. He planted his good hand on the ground, and, with a breath, pushed up with all his strength, toes scrabbling for a hold.

Sokka's arm was jolted by the movement, and he cried out and dropped back, which jolted his arm more. He took a few moments to… breathe. Breathe, and not pass out, which was becoming likely.

Finally he tried again. He gave a strangled snarl as his arm was jolted again, but he kept pushing, wriggling his feet, trying to get up.

His right foot found a hold, and he pushed up harder. Now he was getting out of here! He snarled with pain and effort, and shoved up. His foot caught under something, pulling it farther to the side. He pulled anyway, hissing as his knee skewed sideways. But finally he was able to sit on the ground and slowly swing his feet out.

Sokka didn't take any time to appreciate his new freedom. He just staggered to his feet and hobbled toward Zhi's scarily motionless body, after glancing at the animal to ascertain that it hadn't moved either. Zhi had a swelling wound on his forehead, but it didn't look bad. What was concerning was the gaping wound in Zhi's arm, still bleeding. It didn't seem to have hit an artery, thank the spirits, but that was still a lot of blood that was supposed to be inside Zhi and wasn't.

This was going to be difficult one-handed. It was a good thing he'd tied a lot of knots with one hand and his teeth, back home. In the winter, you never took off both gloves if you could help it, unless you wanted really really frozen fingers on both hands instead of just one.

He reached down and untied the loose knot on Zhi's sash, pulling the long strip of blood-spattered cloth free. Lifting up Zhi's arm with a foot, he wrapped the makeshift bandage underneath it and looped it around and around, as tightly as he could manage one-handed. Once he'd used up the whole sash, he tugged off his own and continued the bandage.

Then he sat and waited, watching the sun slowly descend into late afternoon. He'd see if Zhi woke up on his own. Sokka would have gone for help, but he wasn't sure he could get back to camp by himself - they were pretty far away. It would be nice to have help, even if the help was in as bad shape as he was.

Some times passed before Zhi stirred, groaning. "Ahuuuuh…"

"Easy," Sokka said, helping him sit up against Sokka. "You lost a lot of blood."

"The moose-lioness?" Zhi asked, his voice cracked and thin.

"You killed it." Sokka nodded over to the carcass.

A rustling made him nearly jump out of his skin, but it was just the little brown cub, sniffing around its dead mother. Sokka watched it ruefully for a minute. "It's your fault we're in this," he muttered. Lucky for it that he was in no shape to hunt it down and turn it into dinner.

"We've got to get back," Zhi said. "They'll… be looking for us. Maybe."

"Once we get back we're good," Sokka said. "Katara can fix us up. She learned with the best healers in the North, you know. They didn't want to let her fight at all, in fact, but she showed them all. So now she can fight, and she can heal, which is pretty cool. The whole healing thing is pretty cool, in fact. I was never clear on how it worked. Katara tried to explain it to me, but it was just a bunch of spirity chi mumbo-jumbo. She gave me what she called a basic treaty on the nature of waterhealing, but it was not basic at all. My eyeballs hurt just thinking about reading it." He knew he was rambling, but it was better than crying.

"I think I'm good to go now," Zhi said after a couple of minutes. He was definitely not good to go. Neither of them were. Unfortunately, that didn't matter much.

Somehow they got to their feet, and started walking. Sokka limped along, one ankle twisted, the other knee wrenched. Zhi was limp and weak, blood loss sapping his strength. If anything else remotely dangerous came along, they'd be dead meat.

They'd stumbled along for half an hour when Sokka heard something up ahead. He drew Zhi to a stop, wincing as the older boy leaned more weight on him, and squinted at the canyon floor. What was coming?

Then the most welcome spot of bright orange Sokka had ever seen came bounding around a bend up ahead. "Sokka? Zhi?" he called.

"Aang," Sokka croaked. He swallowed and tried again. "Aang!"

The monk whipped around. "There you are, Sokka! Katara was worried that something – blazing monkeyfeathers! What happened to you?" He leaped over.

"Saber-tooth moose-lion," Zhi whispered. "Mother protecting her cub."

Aang paled. "And you're alive? Wow."

"Barely," Sokka said.

Aang bit his lip. "I'll find Katara and Toph," he said hurriedly. "I can't take both of you back, but Toph can." He leaped up and disappeared again.

"Well, we might as well sit down while we wait," Sokka said. Zhi slumped down, and Sokka hastily sat as well, groaning as his arm jostled against his side.

A few minutes passed, and Sokka heard running footsteps. Zhi was mostly unconscious against him. He leaned back against the canyon wall as Toph, Jiao, Katara, and Aang hove into view. "Zhi!" Toph yelled, her usually pale skin almost ghostlike.

"Tui and La," Katara breathed, taking them in. "That's bad." Her hands were already gloved with glowing water. "Who's worst off?"

"Zhi," Sokka said wearily. "He lost a lot of blood. I look bad but that's just because I'm covered in his."

Katara knelt by them, carefully unwrapping the soaked bandages around Zhi's arm and replacing them with a sleeve of glowing water. "Take us back to the camp, Toph."

Tight-faced, Toph stomped and brought her fists up, and the section of the ground that Sokka, Zhi, and Katara were on raised up a little and began to move up the canyon. Jiao trotted alongside, looking worried. "Is Zhi going to be all right?"

"He will be," Sokka said, since Katara was too busy to say anything (or perhaps she just didn't want to answer; Katara didn't lie very well under stress. He decided not to think about that.). "Katara's got him. Everything's going to be fine."

Back at camp, Katara directed Toph to make a low stone table for Zhi, where she could easily tend to his injuries. She labored over him for a few minutes, face screwed up in concentration, gently moving the glowing water back and forth across his wounds.

Finally she turned to everyone else. They'd all gathered around silently as she worked. "He'll be fine," she said, and they relaxed in relief. "He'll just have to take it easy for a few days."

Zhi stirred, and she bent back over him, making sure he stayed laying down. "Just rest for now," she told him, moving over to Sokka.

He obediently turned to her, and she sucked in a breath at the sight of his arm. "Sokka," she said, gently running water along it. He sighed at the relief of pain draining away, however temporary.

"What happened, anyway?" Jiao asked, perching next to Zhi.

"I was stupid," Sokka said candidly, "and Zhi saved my life."

"And then I was stupid and he saved my life," Zhi added.

Sokka used the arm Katara wasn't working on to gesture, ignoring her look. "See, I was just hunting and minding my own business when this little meat-thing just fell out in front of me…"

;=;=;=;=;

As Sokka and Zhi recounted the story of their fight against the moose-lioness, exaggerated and dry by turns, Toph wandered to the edge of camp. She'd been terrified when Aang appeared and breathlessly described the state her brother was in, and when she carried him back to camp, he felt slow, like his whole body was shutting down. But Katara was taking care of him. He was better now, and he'd be fine. The danger was over.

Idly she kicked a stone, sending it hurtling forward to embed itself in the nearly rock wall, and let herself think about the problem she'd been turning over earlier. Aang. She was stymied at his lack of progress or ability, and the way he gave up when he didn't succeed the first time. Was she just a terrible teacher? Was he unable to learn earth? Would he be the first Avatar to be unable to earthbend?

A set of footsteps detached from the group and moved toward her, fluttery and light. Twinkletoes, right on time, here to whine about how he couldn't earthbend no doubt. Though the fact that he was approaching her at all was surprising. He'd seemed to avoid her after the disastrous boulder-stopping attempt. Of course, that could just be because they were all looking for Sokka and Zhi and didn't have time to talk (or because she was the one avoiding him, she definitely didn't think).

She turned halfway to him as he stopped a few paces off. Then he bowed, formally. "Sifu Toph," he said, "I apologize for my earlier disrespect and failure."

Toph blinked in surprise. Huh? That wasn't what she was expecting.

"If you are willing, I would like to try stopping the boulder again," he continued.

Toph frowned. That was... weird. How had he gone from being a wimpy coward at noon to wanting to try again now? She shrugged internally, not wanting to get her hopes up too much. "Sure," she said. With a last check on Zhi, who was feeling much more normal, she led Aang over to the track she'd carved down the hill. Jiao detached from the group and followed.

Standing at the top of the hill behind another boulder, Toph inspected Aang. His stance was firm and steady, and he felt more… rooted than last time. Oddly so. She was glad of his new improvement, but… where had it come from? Maybe he was channeling his Avatar powers or something?

She pushed the boulder down the hill, feeling it gaining speed. Aang stood steadily at the bottom as the large rock bounded down the hill toward him. As it reached him, he swiveled at the waist, punching forward with enough raw earthbending power that Toph could feel it from the top of the canyon. The boulder exploded into gravel and dust, and Aang dropped out of stance to whoop and shake his fists. So did Jiao.

Oh.

Oh.

No wonder he was so much better now. He'd gone and trained with Jiao the moment Toph was gone.

She clenched her fists, hurt, and confused by the fact she was hurt. Why did she care? As long as the Avatar could earthbend, things were fine. It didn't matter whether it was her or Jiao that got him started. But… somehow it felt like Aang didn't trust her to teach, didn't think she could make him into an earthbender.

He didn't think she was good enough to be his sifu.

Maybe she wasn't.

Toph growled under her breath, shoving the unhappiness away, and jumped over the edge, surfing down the canyon wall to the bottom. "Great job," she said flatly. "You broke a rock, congratulations. Tomorrow we'll work on the real stuff."

She walked away. Behind her, Aang's heartbeat jiggled erratically, confused. "But…" he said. "I just… never mind."

Jiao crossed over to him and said something that Toph couldn't hear. Aang perked up a little, and the boys began to trudge after her.

;=;=;=;=;

"Katara!" Aang said, crossing over to her. "Sokka! Zhi! I can earthbend!"

"Really?" Katara said, from where she was finishing the splint on Sokka's arm. "That's great!"

Sokka watched with interest as Aang set his legs and punched forward, sending a rock flying. "See? I got it!"

"I'll bet Toph's happy," Katara said, smiling. She murmured, just loud enough for Sokka to hear, "She probably tried the positive reinforcement. It works wonders."

Aang's smile slipped a little. "Um. Yeah. Happy."

"She's not?" Zhi asked, prodding the new scar on his forehead. He still looked pale, and Katara had said he'd be tired for a while, from the blood loss.

"I guess I just expected her to be more excited, that's all. I'm sure she's plenty happy. Maybe she's tired."

"Hm," Katara said, but didn't elaborate. She sat back. "All right, there. Try not to jar your arm too much."

Sokka moved it experimentally. Katara's healing hands and the firm splint had gone a long way toward reducing the pain. His knee and ankle were both much more minor, and she'd been able to heal those more or less completely. "Whew, thanks, Katara. That's much better."

"What's for dinner?" Jiao wanted to know from nearby.

Sokka blinked, then started to grin. "You know what? I happen to know somewhere where we can get lots and lots of meat."

"It would be a shame to waste all of it," Zhi agreed. "Criminal waste of good meat."

"Finally!" Sokka crowed. "Someone after my own heart!"

"Eurgh," Aang said, looking slightly sick.

"Aang, it's karma," Sokka said. "The giant thing tried to eat us. Now we eat the giant thing."

"I'll, um, go… find something else to eat. I think there might be some flour left or something." Aang departed hastily in the direction of their packs.

Sokka shrugged. "Airbenders."

"I'll bet Toph can bring the carcass back," Zhi suggested. "I don't know much about butchering, though…"

"Leave it to us," Sokka said proudly. "Katara and I could probably butcher that thing with our eyes closed. Once you've dealt with a bull tigerseal carcass in the dead of Longnight in the middle of a Southern blizzard, you can handle anything."

"We could smoke it," Katara said. "Dry it. If I kept some on ice we could have fresh meat for a few days, too."

"Sounds great," Sokka and Zhi said at the same time, and grinned at each other.

There was something strange about the moment, and it finally occurred to Sokka. He and Zhi were actually getting along.

Zhi stood, a little wobbly. "I'll get Toph to bring it back before it gets dark," he said, looking up at the dusky sky. "Some meat sounds really good right now."

"I think we still have some of those spices from the North Pole for making jerky. I can show you how to make it, if you want," Sokka offered.

He thought Zhi would refuse for a moment, but instead he said, "Sure."

"Zhi?" Sokka added as the other boy started to turn away. "I never did say this, but… thanks."

Zhi looked back over his shoulder. "...Thank you, too. And, you're welcome."

Sokka whistled as he rummaged through his pack for his biggest skinning knife. Maybe the Universe wasn't out to get him quite as much as he thought.

...Hah, right.

;=;=;=;=;

It took them the rest of the evening and much of the next morning, but they got the moose-lioness butchered. They sliced the meat into strips for drying and smoking. Sokka showed Zhi how to slice and shred the meat, then rub the spices in and lay it out to dry. Toph, under Katara's instruction, earthbent a smokehouse for smoking some of the meat.

They remained in the canyon for three days, processing as much of the meat as Appa could carry, and letting Sokka and Zhi recover more fully. Toph spent much of the time teaching Aang, although she didn't seem happy about it. Zhi wondered what was wrong, but when he asked, she didn't answer.

Katara wasn't sure about staying so long. "What if another moose-lion shows up?" she asked.

"They're really territorial," Zhi said, dredging up lessons from when he was Toph's age. "This whole canyon was probably the territory of the one we killed. The others wouldn't come near it."

Late on the second day, Zhi saw Jiao heading away from camp, his pockets bulging. He quietly followed his little brother a little ways into the canyon.

Jiao glanced around him, then crouched down, pulling a handful of meat strips out of his pocket. "Here, baby," he called softly. "Food."

A little brown shape scurried up and started nibbling at the meat in Jiao's hand. He scratched the saber-tooth moose-lion cub behind the ears with his free hand.

"No."

Jiao jumped, and the cub scurried back, frightened. "Uh! Hi Zhi! I was just, um…"

"No," Zhi repeated flatly. "We aren't keeping it. Leave it be."

"But we killed its mother," Jiao said defiantly. "We should take care of it."

"We killed its mother, after she nearly killed us," Zhi said. "Don't."

Jiao slumped in defeat and walked slowly back with Zhi, casting glances back at the shadowed canyon.

;=;=;=;=;

"Away we go!" Aang whooped, tugging Appa's reins to the left. The bison curved gently and sailed farther into the Earth Kingdom, plains and mesas falling away beneath them.

In the back, Katara closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of wind on her face. After spending several days in the bottom of the canyon, closed up and walled in, she appreciated the wide-open freedom of flying with Appa. The Air Nomads didn't have it so bad, really.

"You know, this is actually really good," Sokka said contentedly. Katara opened her eyes to see him shaking a strip of dark jerky at Zhi. "Not as tough as I thought it would be. Good thing we killed the beastie, huh? Now we have lots of absolutely wonderful meat and the world is perfect."

"Perfect. Right," Zhi said dryly. "It is good meat, though. Toss me a strip, would you?"

Katara smiled. She was glad to see the two of them getting along better, although why it took almost dying for them to realize how similar they were was beyond her.

Sokka rummaged around in one of the food sacks. "There's some right here – ahhh! Oh, it's just you, Momo."

"Momo's up there," Zhi said.

Sokka looked up to the edge of the saddle, where Momo was indeed perched. Looked back down to the sack his arm was in up to the shoulder. Screamed at a decibel that would have made howler monkeyfoxes proud. "THERE'S SOMETHING IN THERE!" he shrieked, yanking his hand out of the bag and practically throwing it across the saddle.

Katara snagged it out of the air, rolling his eyes. Sokka had probably left a fur mitten in the bag or something. Boys.

She reached in and encountered something furry and very warm. Well, it wasn't a mitten after all.

Hoping that it didn't have teeth, she grabbed and hoisted out a heart-meltingly adorable little furry thing with big brown eyes and little stubby horns.

There was a moment of pristine silence on Appa's saddle, before Zhi slowly and menacingly turned to Jiao. The little boy shrank back against the side of the saddle and offered a weak grin.

"Foo Foo Cuddlypoops?" Sokka said incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"Jiao…" Zhi growled.

"He won't be any trouble!" Jiao protested. "Please! I'll take care of him!"

Katara stared at it for a moment. So this was the little cub that made so much trouble. It was insanely adorable, whatever Zhi might say. She lowered it gingerly into her lap, where it curled up in a bundle of warmth. She scratched behind its soft ears, and smiled as it started a squeaky purr.

"We are NOT keeping it," Zhi snarled. "We are going down RIGHT NOW to get… rid…" He trailed off as he turned to see Katara snuggling it.

She gave him her brightest smile. "He's too cute to abandon," she said sweetly. "How could you leave a little baby like him to die in the wild?"

Zhi stared at her for a moment, then back at Jiao, then groaned and slumped back. "I'm outvoted, aren't I."

"Yup," Katara said, rubbing under the cub's chin. "And, Sokka?"

"What?"

"We are not naming him Foo Foo Cuddlypoops."

Whenever I write from Aang's point of view, I end up with a lot of run-on sentences. I guess he strikes me as the sort of person who doesn't stop to properly punctuate his thinking because he's just too excited about whatever caught his attention this time, yay whee! I apologize for any headaches this style causes.

Also, guys, I suck at writing fight scenes. This is tragic, because ATLA has some of the best fight scenes ever, and I end up majorly butchering them. I apologize for any aneurysms (due to your favorite fight/action scene being treated so badly) this style causes.