- You're Blinded Far Worse Than I -

Characters: Toph; Aang; Kaisha; Coda; Sarite; Maru; Katara; Sokka
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters from Avatar nor any of the scenes/history, only Kaisha, Coda, Sarite, and Maru. If you wish to use any of these charcaters ASK ME FIRST! Thank you.

Chapter 2- An Awkward Encounter


The woman whom answered the door looked both confused and wondering. Her black hair was straight though matted with sweat, her light gray eyes were bright and her clothes were clean and nicely worn. Behind her, Toph could sense three children, one whom seemed to be her age, one a bit younger, and the last couldn't have been older than five or six. They seemed to be fighting about something, though she couldn't hear what.

The lady looked up and down at both Aang and Toph, as if inspecting them. She took a mental note of Toph's earth kingdom style dress and Aang's tattoos. Finally she spoke. "What are you children doing out alone?"

Aang answered, "Hi! I'm Aang, the Avatar, and this is-"

"Toph," Toph said clearly, "I'm an earthbender."

"Oh," the woman said with interest, "Would you like to come in, lunch is almost ready,"

Toph grinned and replied, "Sure! We'd love to!"

They were seated at a wooden table where the woman introduced herself as Kaisha. "This is Coda, he's twelve, Sarite, she's ten, and Maru, she's six," she added, touching the head of each child as she spoke.

As Kaisha ladled soup to them, Toph asked, "Why do you live out here all alone?"

"It's better for the kids," she replied, "and it's easier to teach them earthbending."

"You can earthbend?" Aang asked the oldest, Coda.

"Yeah, my sisters and I love it!" he answered.

"Maru, even you can earthbend?" Toph playfully asked.

"Yep!" she said happily.

"Cool, I can too!" Toph told them.

"Can you, Aang?" Sarite added.

"Hmm-up," he swallowed his bread, "Yup! But not as good as Toph… she's teaching me!"

The three smiled politely, and then looks of confusion turned on their faces when a bang was heard on the door.

While Kaisha got the door, Aang continued, "and guess what's different about Toph's earthbending,"

"Um, I don't think so," Kaisha mumbled to whomever was knocking, then she slammed the door.

"Who was that?" Toph questioned.

"Uh, no one," she quickly said, her eyes not meeting Toph's, "now what were you saying Aang?"

"We were talking about Toph," he responded, "Guess what's different about her!"

"What?" Maru said.

"I'm blind," Toph perked up.

Kaisha looked up from her soup and coughed into her napkin. "Yes, that's... interesting. Um, well, I think you ought to be going now, don't you? It's getting late."

"But mother," Sarite mentioned, "they've only been here an hour! Wouldn't it be polite for them to stay?"

"Now dear, I'm sure they have something to do and people to see!"

"No, not really," Toph said, giggling a bit.

"Well," Kaisha said, practically shoving Toph and Aang out the door, "we'll see you again some time, now won't we."

Toph heard the door slam behind her. They saw Katara and Sokka eating berries around a fire with Appa lying down next to them, "Hey!" Sokka said, "Come over, this is good!"

Aang started to walk over to Sokka, oblivious of what just happened but Toph grabbed his wrist and pulled him over to one of the open windows of Kaisha's house. They knelt down, but Aang wasn't prepared to hear what he was going to.

This is mostly the boring talking stuff, but the next chapter is going to be better! Try to guess why Kaisha practically pushed Toph and Aang out so quickly, and also why it seems like she wouldn't let Katara and Sokka in or talk to them and stuff. Most of it will be explained in the next chapter... grrr could someone give me an idea for a Zutara fan fic?