Chapter 6: The Girl in the Cage
After they had left the swamp, Aang and Sokka had continued traveling through the Earth Kingdom. Aang still needed an earthbending master, and they knew they didn't have much time to find one. They didn't know where to begin looking for one, having only the advice to find someone who "waits and listens."
They certainly hadn't found anything useful in Chin village.
They left that town quickly after Aang was released, with Sokka declaring that it was the worst town they had ever visited. Aang couldn't disagree; an hour after leaving, he still had the taste of raw dough in his mouth. To say nothing of its texture.
From there, they had made their way to Gaoling. It was a larger town, with many shops and markets. Aang sat on the ground as Sokka debated with himself over whether or not to buy a new bag, giving little input. Sokka himself said that it was expensive, but shopping seemed to make him feel better. Ultimately, Sokka decided to go ahead and buy the bag.
As they were walking in the street, a man came up close to them, holding several flyers. "Hey! You kids like earthbending? You like throwing rocks? Then check out Master Yu's Earthbending Academy!" He grinned, handing Aang a flyer. Aang looked over the flyer as Sokka looked over his shoulder.
"There's a coupon on the back," Aang noted. "The first lesson is free!" Could it really be that easy to find an earthbending master?
Sokka shrugged. "Well, how could we say no to free stuff?"
A few hours later, Aang stood in the academy, wearing a green uniform provided. Aang awkwardly picked at his ear. Most of his classmates were younger than him. It wasn't too surprising; after all, most earthbenders would begin learning young. Aang had learned and mastered airbending young, and was now learning his third element. It was no wonder he was surrounded by younger children. Still, something in the situation felt a bit awkward.
"Take your stances!" Yu ordered, and all the students besides Aang did. "Now strike as though you're punching through your opponent's head!" Once again, the students complied, and Aang's eyes widened as a large stone was flung into him, pushing him several feet back and into a nearby box. Aang was rendered speechless as the air was knocked out of him. "So," Yu started, walking over to Aang. "Are you ready to commit to more lessons? If you pay for the whole year in advance, I'll bump you up to the next belt!"
Definitely not what Aang was looking for.
At the end of the hour, Aang walked out of the class, feeling exasperated. It had gone absolutely nowhere, and Aang hadn't even learned any basic earthbending techniques. Once again, he had no clue where to find an earthbending master. Bumi couldn't teach him, and Yu was more interested in money that actually teaching. So where was he supposed to find one to teach him? One who 'waits and listens'?
"He's not the one," he told Sokka, disappointment coloring his voice. Before Sokka could respond, he overheard a pair of the other students coming out of the class.
"I think The Boulder is going to win back the belt of Earth Rumble Six," he heard one student say as he walked out.
"He's gonna have to fight his way through the best earthbenders in the world to even get a shot at the champ," another student said. Aang grinned. Best earthbenders in the world, huh? Maybe one of them could be the one I'm looking for!
"Excuse me, but where is this earthbending tournament exactly?" he asked them.
"It's on the island of nunya," the first student said, giving a nasty smirk. "Nunya business!" They walked off, laughing. Sokka was also laughing.
"I've got to remember that one," he said. Aang gave him a look, and Sokka quickly stopped. "Right. Um." He stopped, scratching his head. "You know, we could always just follow them."
"Like stalkers?"
"No! Like…people who happen to be going the same places until we get to the right place?"
They followed the two boys, keeping at a distance in which they could see them. Finally, nearing night, they saw the boys leaving the town. They went into a nearby mountain. Aang and Sokka followed them in.
The stadium was actually huge. There was a large stone platform in the middle. This, Aang figured, must be where the earthbenders fight.
"Hey," Aang said as they found their seats. "Front row seats! I wonder why no one else is sitting here?" They really were the only ones sitting there. It felt a little strange, actually. Why wouldn't anyone else want to sit this close? They had a perfect view, after all.
His question was quickly answered by a giant boulder that crashed right next to them. Sokka's jaw dropped as he looked at the boulder, which had missed him by a matter of inches. "I guess that's why," he stated. For a moment, Aang wondered whether it was actually safe to continue sitting there. But, he figured, what were the odds of another boulder landing exactly where they were?
Cheers erupted around the stadium, and Sokka and Aang turned to look. They saw one man coming up, rising on a sphere in the center of the stadium. Then, he pushed it down. "Welcome, to Earth Rumble Six!" he shouted. "I am your host, Xin Fu! The rules are simple! Just knock the other guy out of the ring, and you win!" He hopped up, out of the ring. "Round one! The Boulder versus the big bad Hippo!"
The one identified as the Hippo let out a roar. Even from the seats, Aang could see that he had very few teeth. The Boulder went up to him. "Listen up, Hippo, you may be big, but you ain't bad! The Boulder is going to win this, in a landslide!" As he spoke, The Boulder made numerous exaggerated expressions and gestures. It was almost comical—Aang almost wondered if the man wasn't actually an actor.
"Hippo MAD!" The fight began, and was over within a just a few moves.
"The Boulder wins!" Xin Fu announced. The Boulder seemed to be fairly skilled, Aang supposed. But Aang felt certain that The Boulder was not the master he was looking for. Bumi said I need to find someone who listens to the earth. This guy is just listening to his big muscles. And asked Sokka what he thought, but Sokka was clearly more into watching the matches than finding Aang a master. For a moment, Aang considered pointing out why they were there, but then he smiled, and decided to let Sokka have his fun. After all, it had been too long since they'd relaxed and enjoyed themselves, since Katara had passed. If Sokka was enjoying the match, then good for him.
"Next match: The Boulder versus Fire Nation Man!" Seriously? True enough, the next man to walk into the ring had his hair done up in a Fire Nation top knot, was wearing their colors, and was even waving their flag. Unsurprisingly, boos rang out around the stadium. He even started to sing the Fire Nation's anthem.
"Go back to the Fire Nation!" Sokka shouted.
Fire Nation Man was quickly defeated by The Boulder, and was flung out of the ring. He landed right next to Aang and Sokka, where the large stone had landed previously.
The next few matches continued much the same, with numerous earthbenders fighting The Boulder, only to be defeated relatively quickly. Aang wasn't entirely sure if it was because The Boulder was a better earthbender than he had initially thought, or if these other guys were just…not so good.
Either way, The Boulder made it to the final round. "Now," Xin Fu announced. "The moment you've all been waiting for. The Boulder versus your champion, The Blind Bandit!" The crowd cheered, and there were two women besides the champion.
The champion wasn't anything like what Aang had expected, though. Instead of being yet another buff adult man, the champion was…his age, he figured by her height. And a girl, too. She was certainly much shorter than the two women accompanying her. She was pale, and had black hair put up into a thick bun. There was a fringe of hair that fell over her eyes, and for a moment Aang questioned how well she could see through it…then he remembered her title. The Blind Bandit. Is she really blind? As the two women took the belt and her cape, Aang concentrated on her eyes.
"She really is blind," he realized.
"I think she's going down!" Sokka proclaimed.
Aang watched. He had a feeling…and that girl looked familiar.
"The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young, blind girl," The Boulder declared.
The Blind Bandit, however, grinned widely. "Sounds to me like you're scared, Boulder!" Her voice also sounded vaguely familiar. Aang tried to think of where he had heard it before.
"The Boulder is over his conflicted feelings, and now he's ready to bury you in a rockalanche."
"Whenever you're ready, The Pebble!" She laughed. And Aang's eyes widened as he recognized her. She's the girl from the swamp! The finely dressed girl he had chased around, who had laughed as she ran.
It was her.
He watched closely. Destiny had led him to her, he was sure of it. She waited calmly for The Boulder to make the first move. As soon as The Boulder began to move, she made her own. Aang watched in astonishment as she moved the ground, sabotaging his move. With him down, legs spread out uncomfortably, The Blind Bandit quickly knocked him out of the ring. It had all gone down in moments, quicker than The Boulder had defeated any of his own opponents.
"Your winner, and still the champion: THE BLIND BANDIT!" Xin Fu announced. The Blind Bandit was holding a victorious fist into the air, and Aang felt entranced. She was the one he'd been looking for, he was absolutely sure of it now. He was smiling as he stared. She waited, and listened. Just like Bumi said. Xin Fu leapt down into the ring. "To make things a little more interesting, I'm offering up this sack of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat The Blind Bandit!" The stadium was silent. "What? Nobody dares to face her?"
"I will!" Aang volunteered. If nothing else, at least he'd be close enough to talk to her. And he had to talk to her.
He walked onto the ring. "Go Aang!" he heard Sokka shouting. "Avenge The Boulder!"
Now Aang was close, he could see The Blind Bandit more closely. She was definitely his age, give or take a year. And ignoring the century in the iceberg, of course. Her eyes were clouded over, making them look a cloudy green-grey. If she weren't blind, Aang imagined that her eyes would be a very vibrant light green. Like the new leaves growing in spring.
"Do people really want to see two little girls fighting out here?" Aang decided to ignore the insult.
"I don't really want to fight you," he told her. "I just want to talk to you."
She still wanted to fight, though. She launched up the ground he was standing on, but he just floated over a few feet. "Somebody's really light on his feet. What's your fighting name, The Fancy Dancer?" Aang just grinned and shrugged. Once again, he was launched in the air, and once again, he just floated around. "Where'd you go?" she murmured.
Finally, he landed behind her. "Please, wait!"
"There you are!" She launched a boulder at him, and Aang reacted on instinct. He bent a gust of air towards her stone, blowing it, and also her, out of the ring.
Oops.
The crowd erupted in cheers, but Aang rushed out of the ring, chasing the girl who he was certain was supposed to teach him earthbending. "Please, listen! I need an earthbending teacher and I think it's supposed to be you!"
"Whoever you are, just leave me alone." Aang winced. For all that she seemed to like to mess with people, with was the first time she seemed to genuinely be upset. Reaching the walls of the stadium, she bent open a hole in the stadium, walking through it.
"Wait!" he tried again, but before he could say anything more, The Blind Bandit closed the hole, leaving him alone.
Great. Good job, Aang, he thought to himself. Finally found an earthbending master and immediately upset her.
He glumly returned to the ring, where Sokka grabbed the bag of gold and the belt. "Way to go, Champ!" Sokka congratulated him. Aang just dragged him out of the stadium.
"That girl is supposed to be my earthbending master," Aang told him. "And now she doesn't want to have anything to do with me."
Sokka blinked. "You think so? I mean, are you sure it has to be her?"
Aang nodded. "You saw how good she is," he pointed out. "And she did what Bumi said. She waited and listened. Also, remember my vision in the swamp?"
"With Katara?" Sokka's face fell.
"No, the other girl. The girl I didn't know. It's her, Sokka." Aang smiled. "It's meant to be."
Sokka crossed his arms. "Fine. But how do we find her?"
"I was kinda hoping you'd have an idea?"
Sokka thought for a moment. "We have gold," he noted. "If we ask around town, going off of what we know about her, and your vision, it should be easy enough to get someone to tell us what we need."
Aang nodded, thinking back to his vision. "I must have seen her how she normally looks. I mean, she's not the Blind Bandit all the time…her clothes were really nice, she must come from a fairly wealthy family. And she had a pet flying boar. That can't be too common," he recalled. "Someone's got to know her."
Toph had always liked spending time in the garden. It wasn't the flowers or any of the other plants. She'd been told that they were pretty, but that never meant much to her. After all, "pretty pink flowers" is pretty meaningless when one doesn't actually know what pink is. But the garden was, at least, outside of the main house. It was as far as Toph was allowed to go. It was still a cage, but at least there was a little more freedom outside than inside. Here, at least, she could feel the earth beneath her feet, and hear some outside sounds. It was nothing close to the freedom she experienced on her escapades to the town, to the Earth Rumble Six, but it could do during the day. She came out often, still dressed in the dresses her mother chose. The garden was, at least, a nice place to think.
She hadn't been expecting last night. She was the best earthbender she knew of, taught by the badger-moles themselves. Master Yu kept her on the basics; he had no idea that she had long since surpassed him.
And the guys in the Earth Rumble weren't much better. Toph had easily gone through them the last year. And she had easily pummeled The Boulder this year. She won.
And then that boy showed up.
From the moment he walked onto the ring, Toph had known there was something off about him. His steps were strangely light, lighter than any she'd felt before. And whenever she had tried to push him out of the ring, he had disappeared from her senses, before suddenly, lightly returning to the ground. That was why she had found herself calling him Twinkletoes. After all, it wasn't as though she had any other name for him.
And then he had blasted her out of the ring. But it wasn't with the earth, she was sure of it. That part, she couldn't even explain.
And, to top it off, he wanted to talk to her. He said that was why he came out there.
He said he wanted her to teach him earthbending.
She wasn't sure what to think of the whole experience. Frankly, she was almost wondering if she'd wake up and realize it was all a dream, because the whole experience was just so bizarre…
She stopped walking for a moment as she felt something moving, just outside the garden. It was him, again, now at her family's home. Seriously? He can't want to talk to me that much!
But he was there, along with someone else. This person was older, taller. His footsteps weren't weird like Twinkletoes'. Shaking her head, Toph launched the two of them up in the air, and she heard their surprised shouts as the landed in the bushes. She walked over to them.
"What're you doing here, Twinkletoes?"
"How'd you know it was me?" he asked.
"Don't answer to Twinkletoes!" said the new guy. His voice was a little deeper, a little older, but Toph could vaguely hear a crack in it. "It's not manly!"
Toph ignored him. "How did you find me?" She didn't think anyone could ever trace The Blind Bandit back to Toph Beifong. To her understanding, her parents did their best to pretend to the outside world that she didn't exist. Nobody had ever seen her as Toph, and she certainly hadn't gone around advertising her alter ego.
How did Twinkletoes find her?
"Well," Twinkletoes said. "A crazy king said I had to find an earthbender who listens to the earth." What? "And then I had a vision in a magic swamp…" Toph raised an eyebrow. Vision? It all sounded crazy.
"You sound crazy," she told him plainly. Why weas he so hung up over her, anyways?
"I'm the Avatar," Twinkletoes told her. That explained how he beat her, she supposed. Airbending. And it was probably also why he felt so weird on the ground. "I need to master earthbending to fight the Firelord."
What? This was going far enough. "Not my problem. Now get out of here, or I'll call the guards."
"Look," the other guy said. "We all have to do our part to win this war. And yours is to teach Aang earthbending." As a factual matter, Toph was aware of the war that had been fought for a century. It had never been her problem, though; Gaoling was untouched.
They really weren't gonna let it go, were they?
"Guards! Guards, help!" She felt the two boys scramble to get out of the garden before the guards arrived.
"Toph! What happened?"
"I thought I heard someone," she said, imitating the fragile little girl her parents thought she was. "I got scared."
"You know your father doesn't want you wandering the grounds without supervision, Toph." The guards led her away, back into her cage.
An hour later, she sat in a chair as her parents discussed her earthbending progress with Master Yu.
"I'm pleased to hear that Toph's private lessons are going well," her father said. "But I want to be sure she's not trying anything too dangerous." Dangerous, Toph thought. Just about everything is dangerous under your definition.
"Absolutely not," Yu verified. "I'm keeping her at the beginner's level. Basic forms and breathing exercises only." Toph blankly sat, feeling increasingly annoyed at both her parents and Master Yu. They all treated her like glass; they never even considered that being blind didn't mean she couldn't take care of herself.
She was a better earthbender than Yu. And her parents' overprotectiveness had become more and more tiresome over the past year.
She was sick of playing helpless.
The Avatar asked me to teach him earthbending, she thought. It was so sudden, and she had said no, but it was…flattering. The Earth Rumble champion title had been meaningful to her, a testament to her skill. But, if she had to lose that, then being recognized as an earthbending master by the Avatar wasn't a bad replacement. She still missed her trophy belt, though.
At that moment, one of their servants walked in. "Excuse me sir," he said to her father. "But you have a visitor."
"Who thinks they are so important that they can come into my home unannounced?!"
"Uh, the Avatar, sir." Toph's eyes widened.
How many times do I have to say no?
She blew at her bangs.
The Avatar was the picture of a polite guest as he and his friend entered the Beifong home. Toph could feel, though, that his attention was focused on herself as he introduced himself. His name was Aang and his friend Sokka, from the Southern Water Tribe. Toph had been taught that the Air Nomads were extinct, but here was one of them in her family's home, along with somebody from the South Pole. It was sort of neat—or it would be, if they weren't going to expose her to her parents.
Aang and Sokka were invited to have dinner with her family, along with Master Yu. They sat at the table, and before long the food was brought to them. Toph didn't need to touch the ground to know that Sokka immediately began consuming the food when it touched the table. She could hear him slurping the food down. That was sort of funny, and Toph couldn't help but appreciate it a bit. Her parents were so obsessed with rules, and proper behavior and here came a stranger, who apparently couldn't care less about eating etiquette. A servant set down a bowl in front of Toph.
"Blow on it," her father ordered. "It's too hot for her." I can blow on my own food, Dad.
"Allow me," Aang said, sending a bit of air to cool down her bowl. She could feel the brush of the breeze. What was he playing at? Several people clapped.
"Avatar Aang," her mother said. "It's an honor to have you visit us." You probably wouldn't be so happy, if you knew he's here for me, Toph thought.
"In your opinion, how much longer do you think the war will last?" her father asked Aang.
"I'd like to defeat the Firelord by the end of summer. But I can't do that without finding an earthbending teacher, first." She knew Aang was looking to her, and she made a face. Why was he so set on her? True, she was awesome, but it wasn't like she was the only earthbender in the world. Why couldn't he go find someone else? Most earthbenders would be thrilled at an opportunity to train the Avatar.
"Well, Master Yu is the finest teacher in the land! He's been teaching Toph since she was little." Teaching me a whole bunch of nothing. She supposed she agreed with Aang on this. Yu was a lousy teacher and, really, only a passable earthbender.
"Then she must be a great earthbender!" Toph felt a mixture of pride and annoyance. Pride, because it was nice to have someone appreciating her skills, rather than dismissing her for her blindness. But also annoyance, because if he kept this up, Twinkletoes was going to blow her cover. Toph feared that her parents would crack down, and restrict her even more. "Probably good enough to teach someone else!" the Avatar continued. Toph earthbent a bit of the ground to knock into him under the table. "Ow!" He was knocked in the air for a moment. She felt her father looking between them.
Toph just smiled, calmly eating.
"Toph is still learning the basics," Yu said.
"Yes, and sadly, because of her blindness, I don't think she will ever be able to become a true master." Toph suppressed her irritation.
"Oh, I'm sure she's better than you think she is," Twinkletoes said.
Toph used her earthbending to make his face go into his bowl.
She took another bite.
What happened next was that she heard him sneeze−and heard and felt all of the plates and bowls blow up, covering her with the food.
"What's your problem?!" she finally snapped, standing up.
"What's your problem?!" he fired back. She felt her father looking back and forth between them.
"Shall we move to the living room for dessert, then?" her mother suggested.
A couple hours later, she was supposed to be in bed. Aang and Sokka had happily accepted Toph's father's offer to stay the night. Undoubtedly, they still wanted to try to pressure her to teach Aang.
By this point, she figured they should have a truce. Aang was sort of annoying, given how he was almost giving away her alter ego to her father, but he was also sort of fun. She'd never had the chance to interact with anyone else her age before, and looking back, their fight at the dinner table was actually kind of cool. She'd never gotten a chance to do anything like that before, especially not at home. Plus, he was the Avatar—he must have had all sorts of adventures.
And, frankly, she did have questions.
Walking into the guest room, she felt him take a position, ready to fight.
"Relax," she told him. "Look, I'm sorry about dinner. Let's call a truce, okay?" She felt him relaxing.
"Right." She felt him scratching his head. "I'm sorry about that, too. Can we talk?"
"Sure. Mind if we do it outside?" If he seriously wanted her to teach him earthbending, then it wasn't a conversation she wanted anyone overhearing.
"Outside's great." They walked out, leaving Sokka to sleep.
They were silent as they walked through the halls, but as soon as they reached the garden, Toph began speaking. "So…could you run it by me again why you want me to teach you earthbending? You kind of sounded like a lunatic the first time." Something about a crazy king and a swamp?
She could feel Aang rubbing the back of his head. "Heh. Sorry. Okay, long story short, I originally wanted King Bumi of Omashu to teach me. He's an old friend of mine, and a great earthbender. But Omashu was conquered, and he stayed to try to take back his city. He told me to find somebody who waits and listens to be my master."
"And I'm it?" Toph asked. It was an accurate description of how she earthbent, she supposed. But… "I can't be the only earthbender in the world who waits and listens."
"I suppose," Aang acknowledged. "But I also had a vision of you, in a swamp."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"It's complicated. Sokka and I ended up in this swamp, which swamp had a lot of spiritual energy in it. So…like, time is an illusion, right? Sokka and I both saw people we've lost. But I also saw you, even though I only just met you now. And that vision helped me find you!"
"It did?" She could feel him nodding.
"I saw a flying boar with you in the vision."
"My family's symbol. So that's how you found me." There was one question answered, at least.
"I think it's destiny," Aang told her. "Everything has led me to you, and you're…well, you've got to be one of the best earthbenders in the world, despite what your parents think."
Toph grinned. "I know. But seriously, it is nice to be acknowledged." She laughed. "The Avatar seeking me out to teach him. Never mind Earth Rumble−this is definitely a better achievement."
"Soo…you'll teach me then?" She could hear his hope.
"Not so fast, Twinkletoes. Even if I do want to teach you, my parents would never agree to it." Her tone became sad. "I'm sure you've noticed, they're way too protective. They think I'm fragile, that if I so much as walk out of the house, I'm going to break. They treat me like I'm made of glass, just because I'm blind." She was frowning as she leapt up onto the railing of a bridge. She walked across, hands spread out to help balance her. Aang followed.
"Being blind doesn't seem to have held you back at all," Aang noted.
"Even though I was born blind," Toph explained, "I've never had a problem seeing." She leapt off of the bridge. "I 'see' with earthbending. It's kind of like seeing with my feet! I feel the vibrations in the earth, and I can 'see' where everything is. You, that tree, even those ants." She felt Aang looking around. She smiled. She couldn't see, but she was far from blind.
"That's amazing!" Aang told her. It was nice, she noted, to have someone understand, to appreciate her abilities.
"My parents don't understand. They've always treated me like I'm helpless."
"Is that why you became the Blind Bandit?"
"Yeah." She needed freedom. Going out to the Earth Rumble matches was the closest she had ever gotten. More and more, they didn't feel like enough, though. She would always have to return home, to her parents' coddling. Not to mention how isolated they kept her. She was twelve years old, and she had never had an actual, human friend.
"Then why stay here where you're not happy?"
"They're my parents," Toph said simply. Even though they drove her crazy with their overprotectiveness, she still loved them. And they loved her. That was why they kept her so sheltered. It was misguided, but Toph couldn't just leave and break their hearts. And besides… "Where else am I supposed to go?"
"You could come with us," Aang suggested.
"Yeah. You guys get to go wherever you want. No one telling you what to do—that's the life." She wanted that freedom. "It's just not my life." She couldn't do it. Suddenly, she felt more people coming. She quickly knelt down, trying to get a better feel of who was coming. "We're being ambushed!" She grabbed Aang, pulling him along as they ran. Before they could get far, an opponent came up from the ground. It was one of the earthbenders from the Earth Rumble, Toph recognized. The guy that liked going underground. She and Aang prepared to fight, but immediately found themselves trapped in metal boxes.
"I think you kids owe me some money," she heard Xin Fu say.
"Let us out of here!" she shouted. She was out of contact with the ground. It wasn't a pleasant experience, leaving her more blind than she usually would be.
"Not until you give us the money you cheated us out of!"
"What are you talking about?" Aang asked. "We didn't cheat you out of anything!"
"Nice try," The Boulder said. "But The Boulder clearly saw how the Blind Bandit threw the match!"
Toph scowled at them. "I've never thrown a match in my life! You wanna see a match, let me out of here!"
"If you two won't cough up the money," Xin Fu decided. "Then perhaps your parents will, miss Beifong." Toph could feel the boxes being moved.
Was she seriously being kidnapped?
She rested her head again the back of the box.
"Not exactly what I meant when I said I wanted out of the house more," she muttered.
"Toph?" she heard Aang saying. "Are you okay?"
"Besides being kidnapped by Earth Rumble fighters to try to hold me for ransom? I'm fine."
"I'm so sorry, Toph. I never meant for this to happen."
She snorted. "Obviously." She was quiet for a moment. "My parents will come for me. They'll pay the ransom." And ground me for life. How could they possibly not figure out who she was after this?
"This never would have happened if I hadn't gone up to you during the tournament."
"Knock it off with blaming yourself, Twinkletoes. How were you supposed to know those knuckleheads were gonna kidnap us just because you airbent me off of the ring?"
Aang was quiet for moment. "Sokka will get us out of this," he finally said.
"He doesn't seem like much," Toph pointed out. He wasn't even a bender.
"He's a lot smarter than he seems," Aang told her.
They were kidnapped. Because of course they were. Sokka looked over the ransom note, momentarily enjoying that he now had The Boulder's autograph, before turning his attention back to the problem at hand. Just once, he thought, just once, can't we spend some time in a place where nobody wants to capture or kill us?
At least it wasn't the Fire Nation. If they had captured Aang, he would be in a lot more trouble. Handed to the Firelord, imprisoned forever−if they didn't just go ahead and kill him. No, this time, it was just some earthbenders trying to get money—which the Beifongs had plenty of. Sokka kept calm as he spoke to Toph's parents and to Master Yu, but he couldn't help but internally worry as he, Master Yu, and Toph's father went to the arena to get Toph and Aang back.
"You think you're so tough?" Toph challenged them from within her metal cage. "Why don't you come up here so I can smack that grin off your face!" They were back in the Earth Rumble stadium, waiting for her parents to pay the ransom.
"I'm not smiling," Xin Fu said bluntly. How many times had Toph been around this man?
"Toph!" she heard her father shout from the side.
"Here's your money," Sokka said, closer than her father had been a few moments ago. "Now let them go." She felt her box being lowered and opened, and she leapt out. Finally, she could 'see' again. She quickly observed everyone present in the stadium. Xin Fu, The Boulder, and the other Earth Rumble participants were present. Her father, Master Yu, and Sokka had come for her and Aang.
But Aang still hadn't been released.
Regardless, she ran to her father, who put his hand on her back.
"What about Aang?" Sokka demanded. "Let him go!"
"I think the Fire Nation would pay a hefty price for the Avatar," Xin Fu said. "Now get out of my ring!" Toph hesitated as her father and Master Yu tried to take her away.
She could feel the other Earth Rumble fighters coming to attack Sokka, to take away Aang and hand him to his enemy.
There was no way Sokka could take them.
Aang would be lost.
To his credit, Sokka seemed to recognize this. She could feel him looking to her as her father led her out of the stadium. "Toph! You've beaten these guys before, right?" he called out. "Think you could lend a hand, here?
Her father paused, along with her. "What are you talking about? My daughter has never encountered these lunatics before! And she has never fought anyone, either. She is blind. She is blind, and tiny, and helpless, and…fragile! She could not help you!" Toph listened, eyes closed.
She remembered talking to Aang, how different it was than talking to her father or Master Yu. Aang saw her as she really was. Not blind, not helpless, but as a powerful and skilled earthbender.
She had never really had a friend before.
She took her hand out of her father's grasp. "Yes," she declared. "I can."
And she went to face their enemies.
Later that night, Aang and Sokka sat in Toph's house. Her father had been silent ever since he'd seen her fight. Aang was optimistic that the experience would help her father see her as he saw her. As an incredibly gifted earthbender, clearly more skilled than nearly any other in the world.
Aang was sure of it now, Toph was the best earthbender in the world. Except, perhaps, Bumi. But he was also one hundred years older than Toph. Who knew how amazing Toph could be in a few more years?
Her father couldn't possibly keep her caged after this, could he? He watched as Toph prepared to speak to her parents.
"Dad," Toph started. "I know it's probably hard for you to see me this way. But the obedient little helpless blind girl you think I am just isn't me. I love fighting! I love being an earthbender!" Aang could see from the side that she was smiling. "And I'm really, really good at it! I know I've kept my life secret from you, but you were keeping me a secret from the whole world. You were doing it to protect me, but I'm twelve years old, and I've never had a real friend." Aang and Sokka exchanged glances. "So now that you see who I really am, I hope it doesn't change the way you feel about me."
"Of course it doesn't change the way I feel about you, Toph," her father said gently. "It made me realize something."
"It has?" Toph's voice was hopeful. Aang felt hopeful, too.
"Yes. I've let you have far too much freedom!" Aang felt his mouth drop as he stared at the man. He couldn't be serious! After Toph's display in the Earth Rumble stadium, how could he still want to treat her like she was helpless? "From now on, you will be cared for and guarded twenty-four hours a day!"
"But Dad!" Toph protested.
"We're doing this for your own good, Toph," her mother added in. They really don't understand her at all, do they?
"Please escort the Avatar and his friend out," her father ordered his servants. "They are no longer welcome here." Aang felt his face fall with disappointment.
"I'm sorry, Toph," he said as he walked by. He looked at her as he was walked out. Would this be the last time he saw her? They had only just met…
"I'm sorry, too," she said. "Goodbye, Aang." He had never heard her sound so sad.
How could he do this to her?
Toph rarely ever cried, but several tears came down her cheeks as Toph sat alone in her room. All her life, she had been treated as fragile, breakable. But she wasn't. She could take care of herself, better than most people who could see normally. And she was so sick of being kept in a cage. And it was a cage, a prison; only superficially better than the metal box Xin Fu had imprisoned her and Aang in. She was so tired of pretending to be someone she wasn't, of having her life completely controlled. Of being alone.
Aang.
He was her first friend. He actually respected her, understood her. He didn't take a look at her eyes and treat her like glass.
He had offered her freedom.
Toph stood up.
Aang needs an earthbending teacher, and I'm it.
So what if her parents didn't approve? So what if she had to run away? She had plenty of experience with that—she had just always returned. But not this time—she was done being held prisoner by her own parents!
And she was done being lonely, done being the girl no one knew existed, hanging out alone in the garden! She was done with the Earth Rumble and those mediocre dunderheads. Aang was her way out, but he was also her friend, her first actual friend, and she was not going to let her parents take that away from her.
"There's plenty of other earthbenders," Sokka pointed out as he and Aang prepared to leave Gaoling on Appa. "I'm sure you can find someone else to teach you."
"But it was supposed to be her," Aang insisted sadly. "Everything led me to her." He shook his head. "And I doubt we'll ever meet another earthbender like her." And she was actually sort of fun to be around. But Aang got up on Appa.
And then she came running up.
"Toph! What are you doing here?"
"My dad changed his mind," she said, smiling. "He said I was free to travel the world." Aang hesitated for a moment—that didn't sound like her father. Not even a little bit, from what Aang had seen from him.
Aang also knew a thing or two about running away from home.
"Well," Sokka said, and Aang knew he had also figured out Toph's lie. "We'd better get outta here. Before your dad changes his mind again."
"Good idea," Toph agreed.
"You'll be a great earthbending teacher, Toph!" Aang told her.
"Speaking of which," she said, mischief in her voice. "I'm going to show you something." He leapt down.
"Okay!" He was immediately launched into a tree.
"Now, we're even. I'll take the belt back," she said to Sokka, putting her hand out. Aang heard a light thud. "Ow!"
"Sorry," Sokka said. Aang fell out of the tree, quickly observing Toph pick up the belt from the ground. He quickly floated up, hopping on to Appa.
He offered his hand to Toph, which she took, and pulled her onto the saddle.
She walked slowly on Appa, sitting in the front of the saddle. She seemed a little unsteady.
"You okay?" Aang asked as he took Appa's reins.
"I can't really see up here," she told him. She frowned. "I guess it's just something I'll have to get used to."
"Right. I didn't think of that. Sorry." He hoped it wouldn't be too uncomfortable for her.
"Hey. It's certainly better than being a prisoner in my own house." Aang brought Appa up in the air. "Whoa. This is definitely a new feeling. Urgh."
"You feeling sick?"
"I'll get used to it," she insisted. "It's worth it."
Aang smiled, though he knew she couldn't see it. "I'm glad to have you, Toph."
When Toph woke up, later, she knew they were still flying. It was an interesting feeling, and not entirely in a good way. It sort of made her feel a little sick. According to Sokka, it was a fairly normal thing to people new to flying. The fact that she also couldn't see her surroundings with her earthbending probably added to it.
But parts of it were nice, though. She found she kind of liked the feeling of her bangs being blown around, wind in her face. It was practically the definition of freedom.
"You awake?" she heard Aang ask.
She just asked, "What time is it?"
"Noon," he told her. "Did you get enough sleep? We were all up pretty late."
She shrugged. "Night and day don't exactly mean much to me," she pointed out. "I go to sleep when my parents tell me, or just when I'm tired." A thought occurred to her. "You haven't been up the whole time, have you?" Somehow, she found it hard to imagine Twinkletoes staying up all night.
"Sokka and I took turns," Aang said. "I've been teaching him to fly Appa."
"That's the name of your sky bison?" It was a strange creature, one she had never encountered before. Like the Air Nomads themselves, she had been taught that their giant companions were extinct. She had felt Appa as a great, six-legged creature with a long, wide tail. And lots of fur.
"Yeah. I've had him since I was just a little kid. We've been through it all together." Toph smiled as he spoke. "He's all I have left of my old life," Aang said sadly.
"I've heard rumors," Toph said, thinking of what she knew. Aside from what she'd been taught in her history lessons, she only had a few rumors that had begun circulating in Gaoling recently. "I heard you disappeared for a century, and then suddenly showed up a few months ago. What's the deal with that?" How does somebody just disappear, and then reappear a hundred years later?
"I kinda got stuck in an iceberg," Aang admitted. "I was in there for a hundred years, along with Appa. And then Katara found me a few months ago."
It was silent for a moment as Toph considered what Aang said.
"Who's Katara?" It was silent again, and Toph could feel that this one was tenser than the last silence. Finally, Aang answered her.
"Katara was Sokka's sister." Toph frowned as she considered this. Was. Katara was Sokka's sister.
"What happened to her?" Toph asked.
"She died," Aang said. Toph could hear the sadness in his voice. "At the North Pole, the Fire Nation attacked. The waterbenders created a wave to push them out…Katara was caught in it, too. Sokka and I looked for her…but we could never find her."
"Oh." It occurred to Toph that she was different from the boys in a way she hadn't previously considered. She didn't know loss. Not like that. She had grown up overly sheltered. The only death she had experienced in her lifetime was her grandfather's, and she had been too young to remember him on any emotional level.
Obviously, it was a very different situation for Aang and Sokka. This Katara had been Sokka's sister, and had probably been one of Aang's only friends in this time.
"I'm sorry," she told Aang. She wasn't sure what else to say.
"Thanks," he said quietly. "I don't mean to scare you or anything, but you do know it's dangerous out here, right? I mean, seriously, everywhere I go something happens. The Fire Nation is always after me, and if you're with me, you'll be a target, too. I know you can handle yourself, I just need to know you understand that this is dangerous. This isn't just a vacation."
"Great," Toph responded. "I told you, I enjoy fighting. And besides," she added. "It sounds like someone needs to teach those firebenders a lesson." The war had always seemed so far away to her. The same was not the case for her new friends.
"Okay then," Aang said. Toph didn't need to be able to see to know he was probably smiling. "It'll be nice having a third person on the team again."
"What was Katara like?" Toph was sort of curious. Who was the girl that was lost?
"She was…she was amazing. She was a waterbender, the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. She had nobody to teach her, so she wasn't very good at it when I first met her. But she got better." Aang laughed. "There was this time, once, where she stole a waterbending scroll from some pirates."
"Really?" Toph smiled. She approved.
"Once she had that, she was totally dedicated to practicing. By the time was reached the North Pole, she had actually gotten pretty good. And then she got a master, after she dueled him…"
Toph was full on grinning now. "She dueled her master?"
"He refused to teach her because she was a girl," Aang explained. "So she smacked him in the head with a water whip and dueled him." Toph laughed.
"I'm sorry I never got the chance to meet her," Toph said. "She sounds pretty incredible."
"She was," Aang agreed. The two of them were quiet for a moment. "Hey, would you like to hear about how we met King Bumi a few months back?"
Toph raised an eyebrow. Then she shrugged. "Why not?"
"Well," Aang began. "It all started when I took Sokka and Katara there to ride the mail delivery system."
"Ride the mail delivery system?!"
"Yeah! It's a lot of fun actually. Anyways, we rode the mail system, but also damaged a ton of buildings and stuff, so we were arrested and taken to the king. Instead of punishing us, he threw us a feast…"
It was nice having friends.