Chapter 4
With one final grunt, the Headhunter was hit in the stomach with an earthen coin, slumping to the ground as he held his stomach, laying their pitiful as the Boulder flexed his muscles to the adoration of the ground, soaking in their praise as the arena workers took his downed opponent away.
"Now, the moment you've all been waiting for!" Xin Fu declared, the lights dimming as he held out his left arm and then his right as he spoke of each competitor. "The Boulder vs your champion…the Blind Bandit!"
Appearing in the arena's right was the unlikely form of Earth Rumbles champion, the Blind Bandit, who just so happened to turn out to be…a young girl. Standing with bright green pants and shirt covered by a sand-coloured tunic, the Blind Bandit obscured much of her head with a great big green and gold belt. The champion's belt.
Evidently, Feng thought, she was expected, as the crowds went wild at the sight of her, watching as she handed off the belt to the much taller female attendant standing next to her as the other removed her cape, leaving her ready to face her opponent.
"She can't really be blind." Katara said, tilting her head as she tried to get a better look. "It's part of her character, right?"
"I think she is." Aang shook his head, a strange expression crossing his face as he looked at her with interest. "Feng, do you know?"
"No, sorry." Feng shook his head, not taking his eyes off of her, of her form, of how she stood. "I don't ever remember hearing anything about her last time I came through, although something tells me she's going to put on quite a show."
"Yeah, a show on the floor!" Sokka cried, thrusting both of his thumbs downwards, enamoured with the character of the Boulder.
Feng tilted his head as the Blind Bandit shifted her foot slightly, holding her hands calmly at her side as she watched her opponent, holding perfectly in place. That technique, Feng thought in surprise.
Furious at the crowds shifting attention, the Boulder slammed his foot into the ground, cracking the floor and throwing up some dust.
"The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl."
The Blind Bandit just pointed back at the Boulder, her voice mocking. "Sound's to me like you're scared, Boulder!"
The Boulder's face froze at her audacity, scowling. "The Boulder's over his conflicted feelings, and now he's ready to bury you in a rock-alanche!"
"Whenever you're ready, the Pebble." The Blind Bandit threw her head back in laughter.
Now, Feng was watching the champion closely, but that didn't mean he was ignoring his surroundings. This meant that as Aang's face became stunned and he leant back, Feng noticed it. He didn't comment on it yet however.
"It's on!" The Boulder yelled, raising his leg and slamming it heel first into the ground with copious force as he began to run at his opponent. At first, Feng was worried for the champion, of what the blind girl could do even if she was an earthbender, but miraculously, she fought back.
No, fought back is too small of a description for what she did. She annihilated her opponent, as on the Boulder's second step, the Blind Bandit shifted slightly, throwing her foot into the ground as a line of earth began to move over the fighting area, moving almost faster than Feng could keep track off until it reached it's target, moving under the Boulder's foot just as he took one more step, forcing him to drop to the ground in a perfect split.
"Ooooooh!" The Boulder yelled in pain, throwing his head back. Unfortunately for him however, his state of disability was more than enough for the Blind Bandit to chop her right hand through the air, causing three stalagmites of earth to erupt from the earth near the boulder and punch him in the back, throwing him out of the arena.
"Seismic Sense…" Feng confirmed softly in awe, completely ignored by his companions as his face turned a little sad, watching as the Blind Bandit celebrated her victory.
"Your winner, and still the champion, the Blind Bandit!" Xin Fu yelled as she held her hands in the air.
"How did she do that?" Katara asked in bewilderment, looking between the stage and Aang.
"She waited…and listened." Aang replied with a grin, not taking his eyes of his prospective teacher.
Feng was going to be honest, he had no expectations of finding a teacher for Aang in this place, but the overwhelming display of dominance the champion had just displayed, the masterful use of earthbending and the ability to sense vibrations through the earth…she was the best earthbender he had even seen in exclusion of King Bumi.
If Aang could somehow manage to convince her to become his teacher…all the better for it. The ability to sense your surroundings alone were astronomically useful, and while it brought up a sense of nostalgia for the young man, it also made him curious if he could do something similar with his own bending.
He'd never actually thought about it before, as the last time he'd seen Seismic Sense he had only been 12 and still a boy, but years on the run had shown him the value of knowing what was around you, of how aware you had to be if you wanted to stay safe.
He could appreciate that now that he was both older and wiser, so that just left the thought of how he would create something like that with airbending.
"…who dares to face her?" Xin Fu declared, holding out a green bag as Feng snapped to attention, looking around slightly.
"I will!" Aang yelled, waving his hand as Aang began to make his way towards the arena, causing Feng to blink.
"Sorry, I zoned out for a second, what did Aang just volunteer to do?"
"He's fighting the Bandit." Katara replied with concern, making Feng deadpan at her. Damn it Aang, Feng thought, you were supposed to keep a low profile. Nothing he can do about it now though he shrugged, tuning his mind back to what he would tentatively be calling Air Flow Sense.
Straight off the bat he knew it would not be as precise as he knew Seismic Sense could be, due solely to the difference in elements used. Earth was hard, packed, and good for sending vibrations through, and didn't really compress or move.
Air, on the other hand, only compressed and moved, moving in ebbs and flows across the sky. Such fluidity of the element would disrupt any kind of accuracy he could get from any sort of technique.
Feng snorted to himself as Aang swayed around the area. Look at him, Feng had barely had a teacher for a week, and here he was already thinking up ways of creating something new. It wouldn't stop him from trying though, not with how useful he knew it could be.
Right then, what method could Feng possible use to sense the air around him? The first thing it would need would be a way to sense the surrounding area, a way that he could actually feel. Knowing what he did about bending, he knew it was possible to manipulate large areas of air with enough focus and power, and he could actually feel when he was doing stuff with it.
For example, throwing a column of air at a rock would let him feel the pressure this would exert, feel the amount of force needed. Sure, it didn't apply to lighter objects like leaves and such, but that was just because the wind was took powerful to be impeded by something like that.
Key words of 'too powerful'.
What if, instead, Feng controlled a large amount of air and just pushed it around…softly. Like a light breeze swirling around him with Feng in the centre, being disturbed by the objects they were flowing around. This would help with his chi expenditure, and if he could get good enough at the technique, he could see it being something he could learn to do passively.
That would require a mass of chi that he did not currently have available however, and wouldn't for a while, not to mention a level of control he just did not possess, as shown by his failure of the wind funnel.
That didn't mean he couldn't get started on a small area occasionally however, Feng thought with a grin, firming his resolve just as Sokka leaped to his feet, yelling so loud he disrupted Feng's concentration.
"Way to go, Champ!" Sokka cheered.
Just another thing the technique would help with, it would stop him from zoning out like that.
"Champ?"
"Yeah! Aang beat the Blind Bandit, now we have both the belt and the money." Sokka replied happily, ignoring the way that Aang was looking down sorrowfully, dragging his feet as he walked towards the gang.
"He beat the champion?" Feng replied with a hint of surprise, turning his grey gaze towards the younger boy as he nodded. "Congratulations," Feng said with a soft smile, "but what about a teacher? That is what we came here for after all."
Feng could only sigh as Aang shook his head, walking past the gang and towards the exit as the crowd was slowly dispersing, Feng and the water tribe siblings following. He didn't know the whole story, but he could guess how it went down.
It's a shame too, as the Blind Bandit would have been the perfect teacher for Aang. Hell, they would have even had the similar age thing that their group had been using as they travelled.
…
"I've got to admit, now I'm really glad I bought this bag. It matched the belt perfectly." Sokka said as the group walked through the streets of Gaoling.
"That's a big relief." Katara drawled sarcastically as Feng shook his head, finding the combination of green, gold and blue on the teen to be tacky.
"If we want to find the Blind Bandit, the Earthbending Academy is a great place to start." Aang said with determination, ignoring the siblings antics. What he didn't ignore however was the shake of Feng's head.
"I doubt it." Feng replied, tapping a finger on his upper arm even as he kept them crossed in thought. "Master Yu is nowhere skilled enough to produce a student like the Blind Bandit, not even close. I've seen a lot of earthbenders in my travels, and she it amongst the best of them, even the masters. No, the academy is not the way to go."
"Then where are we supposed to go, the academy is our only lead?" Aang said with a hint of frustration, throwing his arms slightly at the elder teen.
Bit of a temper Feng noted absently as he pondered the problem. To be truthful, they didn't have any leads, but their was one thing that came to mind.
"Aang, your vision, what were the details exactly?"
"What?" Aang blinked in surprise, calming down some. "Oh, right. Well, it had this laughing girl dressed in fancy white clothes who ran as I chased her. Getting a good look at the Blind Bandit, I'm pretty sure they're the same person, which is why I'm confident she'll be my earth bending teacher."
"Right, right, but wasn't there something else?"
Aang frowned for a second, searching his mind before his face cleared up in realisation. "Oh right, the girl also had this pet with her, a pig."
"Was it a flying pig?" Feng asked directly as he put it all together. Fancy clothes, access to a quality bending teacher, a pig, he was pretty sure he knew who the Blind Bandit was. Or, at least, a way of getting into contact with her.
"Yeah, it was. It was kind of strange to be honest. Why, is it important?"
"Yes Aang, it is very important, because I know where our illusive girl is."
"You do?!" Sokka yelled in confusion, looking at Feng in accusation. "Then why didn't you tell us?"
"Because Sokka," Feng replied in an annoyed voice , "I only just figured it out using Aang's vision. The combination of the flying pig and the fancy clothes tells me exactly who it was. After all, who better to raise a hidden earth bending prodigy than the richest family in all of Gaoling?"
"Who?" Aang asked, staring intently in Feng's eyes as he found his own softening.
"The Beifong Family of course."
…
"Yep, right where I remembered it." Feng grinned, a little proud of himself. To be fair to him though, it had been some time since he'd even passed this place by, scoping it out before deciding it was above his skill level.
"That's the flying boar from my vision, come on!" Aang yelled excitably, pointing at the family crest on the gate. Katara and Sokka were quick to follow him into the courtyard, but Feng, well Feng knew just how many guards this place had.
Yes, he could have stopped his companions, but they needed to learn that just barging ahead with no consideration to your surroundings wasn't always the best move. A lesson he, like they soon would, learned the hard way.
"Aaahhhh!" The three teens yelled, a section of earth lifting under their feet to send them flying, Katara and Aang landing in thorny rose bushes while Sokka crashed to the hard ground with a groan of pain.
It was not a guard who had done this however, but a fancily dressed girl, one who looked mightily similar to the Blind Bandit Feng noted with a smile, folding his hands behind his back.
"What are you doing here, Twinkle Toes?!" Toph demanded, glaring as well as she could with her clouded over eyes. For her age, it was a pretty good glare Feng thought.
"How did you know it was me?" Aang asked curiously, hopping out of the bush with ease.
"Don't answer to Twinkle Toes, it's not manly!" Sokka yelled as he struggled to his feet, brushing off some of the dirt that had got on his clothes. While Feng felt the urge to comment on Sokka's apparent command of the subject of manliness, Katara beat him to it.
"You're the one whose bag matches his belt."
"How did find me?" Toph demanded, ignoring the two idiots.
"Well, a crazy king told me I had to find an eartbender who listens to the earth. And then I had a vision in a magic swamp, and-" Toph raised an eyebrow at the unbelievable story, but before he could dig his hole any deeper, Katara cut him off.
"What Aang is trying to say is, he's the Avatar. And if he doesn't master earthbending soon, he won't be able to defeat the Fire Lord."
Sure, and that's going to make her more likely to believe you Feng snorted, observing the proceedings quietly.
Toph gave Feng a glance, looking him over, but chose to ignore him in favour of the more talkative people.
"Not my problem. Now, get out of here or I'll call the guards." Toph replied callously, beginning to walk away.
Seeing this, Feng chose to turn around and start strolling away too, moving at a casual pace. He could already tell it wasn't going to go the way the others wanted. In his travels, Feng had noticed an interesting fact. Earthbenders, like their element, were naturally stubborn, and were slow to change their opinion. While this was more of a problem for older benders, he had also noticed that the stronger they were in their element, the more stubborn they could be.
That's why he wasn't surprised when Toph called her bluff.
"Guards! Guards, help!"
Aang, Katara and Sokka were quick to scatter, running out of the courtyard and towards the other buildings. Feng, having moved so early, didn't even have to walk fast, continuing his slow stroll around the corner before the others even made it there.
"Well, that could have gone better." Feng smiled, trying to alleviate the tension.
"Yeah, well, maybe it would have if you tried to help!" Katara replied in frustration, her face scrunching up as she crossed ger arms.
Feng didn't let it bother him, even if he was a touch disappointed at her immaturity. "You were never going to convince her straight away, not after she initially refused Aang last night. Earthbenders are stubborn, Katara, and slow to change their opinion. Luckily, I think Ang has realised something."
He pointed over to where Aang was standing on the rooftop, peering over it at Toph in thought as a smile crossed his face.
"I think I have, Feng. After all, if the current route your travelling is blocked, there is always another way."
…
A servant knocked on the door of the elegant looking waiting room, with high quality paintings and furniture scattered around it.
"Excuse me, sir, but you have a visitor." The servant said softly, a nervous expression crossing his face.
"Who thinks they are so important they can just come to my home unannounced?" Lao, the father of Toph, asked, setting his cup of expensive tea down gently in annoyance.
"Uh…the Avatar, sir." The servant replied, bowing in just a hint of nervousness.
This revelation made Lao and Poppy, Toph's mother, exchange surprised looks, before Lao nodded to the servant, making him leave the room as Toph blew her hair in annoyance.
…
Later, a gathering of people took place in an expansive dining room, the Beifong family gathered on one side and team Avatar on the other, although Feng was simply standing behind their backs, a pleasant looking expression on his back that combined with his attitude and clothes, made him seem unassuming.
Part of his plan, really, as he'd asked the gang to pretend he was simply a servant for them.
It was a good thing Sokka hadn't tried to do the same, though, as he was ravenously devouring the food in front of him under the barely disguised judgemental eyes of the upper class folk.
"Do you not want to sit down, young man?" Madame Beifong asked to the standing Feng, ever the gracious hostess.
"No thank you, Madame Beifong, it would not be proper." Feng refused gently, bowing slightly. "I am simply the helper for young Aang and his companions, providing advice and an outside opinion on important matters alongside ensuring that his needs are taken care of. I do thank for the offer, however, for it is most kind."
The instant Feng said he was just a helper, a minute change crossed the Lord and Lady's faces, but they did not otherwise comment. Not even Toph did, despite the fact that she possessed a lie detection ability, and this was primarily because Feng had not lied.
He had to suppress a twitch of his lips at the confused expression that appeared on Tophs face however, as Feng, while not lying, had stretched the truth a little. Combine this with the way Aang had twitched slightly, and Toph's interest had been piqued.
Exactly as intended.
Also, it got him out of having to speak to the Lord and Lady, which was always a plus for Feng. Under his guise as a servant, he could just stand there, smiling gently while being otherwise ignored, which gave him a great view of the show Toph put on at the dinner table with his…friends.
Yes, Feng decided, smiling in amusement as Aang's face fell into the soup once more, sparking his anger, he would now classify them as friends in his heart. And if the now named Toph's behaviour said anything about her, he was pretty sure she too would be as well.
That's why, after the gang was led away to a guest room, Feng did not make a fuss as he walked behind them, despite the large amount of complaining that Sokka, Katara and Aang were performing.
…
This was unexpected Feng thought as he blinked.
"Whoever took Aang and Toph left this." Sokka revealed, handing the ransom note to Katara to read.
"'If you want to see your daughter again, bring five hundred gold pieces to the arena." It's sighed Xin Fu and the Boulder."
Feng's brow furrowed in concern, wondering just how the Avatar and an Earthbender with Seismic Sense could have been taking from a compound full of guards with no one the wiser. Even he hadn't sensed anything, and he had been paying careful attention to his surroundings for…lets say benign reasons.
That spoke of a carefully planned ambush, and an earthbender more skilled than the Boulder had proven himself to be. Or, at least, a more subtle one, which is what he assumed Xin Fu to be.
"Master Yu, I need you to help me get my daughter back." Lao pleaded with the master earthbender, ignoring the inappropriate display Sokka was putting on with the signed note, as did Feng.
"We're going with you." Katara was quick to reply, her stern face promoting no argument from the elder members of the conversation. Feng suspected it was because she was travelling with the Avatar and was thus assumed to be skilled enough for the task.
Sokka at this point was still grasping the note to his chest.
Or maybe they just didn't care about our physical state of wellbeing.
"Poor Toph, she must be so scared…" Poppy cried, holding her hands to her chest in worry.
If Feng was right, she had no reason to be concerned. If anything, it was Xin Fu and the Boulder who should be concerned, what with a Master Earthbender and the Avatar in their grasp, both with a solid reason to be angry.
…
"You think you're so tough? Why don't you come up here so I can snap that grin off your face!" Toph yelled loudly from where she was hanging in a cage beside Aang, glaring heatedly down at their captors.
"I'm not smiling." Xin Fu declared, narrowing his eyes on a face that was, indeed, not smiling.
To the side of the arena, through the contestant doors, came the party of Lao and Team Avatar, all of them wary.
"Toph!" Lao yelled, clenching a fist in concern for his daughter.
"Here's your money." Sokka said, lowering a bulging bag of gold o the ground. "Now let them go."
To be honest, Feng was impressed with just how swiftly Lao and Poppy had filled up that bag, a clear sigh of their wealth seeing as 500 gold was the yearly income of a standard wealthy merchant.
Master Yu earthbended the bag across the area, sending it towards Xin Fu who grabbed the bag, hefting it in his hand with a clicking sound and a satisfied expression, signalling for the cage holding Toph to be lowered. Lao was quick to rush to his daughters side, assuring himself of her wellbeing as they walked towards the arena's exit.
"What about Aang?" Katara asked in concern, seeing that the cage holding Aang hadn't budged despite Xin Fu's signal.
Chuckling maliciously, Xin Fu withdrew a poster from the folds of his top, unravelling it to reveal its contents, showing a bounty poster for the Avatar.
"I think the Fire Nation will pay a hefty price for the Avatar. Now get out of my ring."
As he spoke, the other earthbending fighters of Earth Rumble emerged. Fire Nation Man appeared in a rock tornado as Gecko jumped down from the ceiling. The Hippo stomped on the ground, crushing a boulder, while the Headhunter leaped from the bleachers into the ring and the Gopher popped out from underground.
Team Avatar was instantly wary, moving into guarded positions with Sokka hefting his swords and Katara holding a hand at her water pouch. Feng, meanwhile, withdrew the fans at his side, ready to use them, if necessary, but only in an emergency.
Now was not the time for his secret to get out, especially to an unscrupulous individual like Xin Fu around.
"Go, I'll be okay." Aang called out, holding the bars of his cage tightly, a grimace across his face as concern for his friends shown through his eye.
Right, that settled it for Feng as he turned his eyes to the still defiant looking Toph.
"Miss Toph? I believe now may be the time to intervene, there are too many earthbedners in the area for Aang and the siblings to overcome. They need an Earthbender of their own on their side, one that is very powerful."
Feng turned his head to the stoic looking Master Yu. "No offence."
Judging by the offended look on his face, some was taking.
"Toph? My daughter is blind. She is blind and tiny and helpless and fragile. She cannot help you!" Lao yelled back, clenching the hand he held around his daughters wrist tighter.
"And what does she have to say about that?" Feng replied in question, turning his gaze towards the no longer conflicted looking Toph. Before, she had been warring between two different choices, but it seems like her father's words were the decider.
"I say that I can help." Toph grunted, wrenching her hand out of her father's arm, walking back into the ring with her head held high, full of confidence even though she was about to fight five different Earthbender's by herself, all in a restrictive dress.
"Let him go! I beat you all before and I'll do it again!"
"The Boulder takes issue with that comment." Boulder replied with a scowl, crouching slightly as he readied himself to fight. At the same time, the Hippo and other arena earthbenders readied themselves as well.
Seeing this, Katara and Sokka stepped forward, as did Feng, only to be stopped by a raised hand from Toph.
"Wait! They're mine." Toph declared, listening intently through the vibrations of her feet before leaping at the right moment, crashing down to the centre as a cloud of dust covered here and the other earthbenders.
It was all Feng could do to watch, as obscured as their vision was now. The first to be ejected from the ring weas Fire Nation Man, sent out on a wave of earth to crash into the arena's wall, slumping slightly due to the force he had taken to the head.
Of course, while Feng was watching Sokka and Katara had moved over to attempt to free again, but their attempts were unsuccessful.
"Hit it harder!" Aang yelled.
"I'm trying!" Sokka replied, banging a large rock against the cage. Feng could go over to help them, but aside from his airbending, which wouldn't be any more help than Aang's would have, he didn't really have anything he could do.
The next to fight Toph was the Gecko, crawling along the floor until he sensed her presence and sent two rocks flying towards the blind girl. Two rocks that she easily dodged, stomping on the ground to send a number of pillars at her opponent, catching him in the chest and sending him crashing into the only just now standing fire nation man, sending both to the floor with groans.
The other three didn't last much longer as Toph systematically dismantling their fighting skills, making them interfere with each other as she battered them down one by one before in one final display of overwhelming prowess, she sent them all out of the ring, leaving her standing triumphantly alone.
"I never knew. Your daughters amazing!" Master Yu praised Toph, speaking at the side of her disgruntled looking father.
That says more about you then it does Toph, Yu, Feng thought, not bothering to hide his amused smile as he went back to crossing his arms behind his back again. He would clearly not be needed, especially now that the siblings had freed Aang and Toph was down to her last opponent.
"And then there was one." Feng said, walking closer to get a better look, moving to the edge of the arena as he paid careful attention towards Toph.
Seeing his predicament, Xin Fu entered into a fighting stance as they circled around the arena, both of them waiting for the other to make the first move. Evidently, the 12-year old girl is the one who held the most patience as Xin Fu was the first to attack, firing several rocks at her, making Toph crouch and raise her arms to create a shield of earth in front of her, deflecting them all.
Once there were no more rocks coming her way, a flick of Toph's wrist sent a part of her shield flying at Xin Fu.
Xin Fu, naturally, dodged this attack by leaping to the side, but the instant his foot touched down the fight was over. Since Feng was so focused on Toph, he saw as she shifted slightly, a clear use of her seismic sense as she dodged a rock from Xin Fu, slamming a foot into the ground to create a fast travelling fissure that sent her opponent out of the ring between the two forms of Lao and Yu, passing right by Feng.
Now, Feng hadn't been expecting this, only desiring to get a closer look, but seeing as Xin Fu was passing literally withing arm's reach of his left shoulder, when he spied the bulging bag in the man's pocket he quickly snapped a hand into the other mans shirt, snatching the bag in one smooth motion as he disguised the motion by turning, pretending to watch as Xin Fu travelled past him while he deposited the bag in his inner pocket, no one else the wiser.
"She's the greatest Earthbender I've ever seen." Master Yu praised, looking between the groaning man behind him and his triumphant looking student who soaked in her greatest victory to date.
That's probably why she didn't notice me take the money Feng thought with amusement, following behind the group as they left the arena, leaving the unconscious earthbender's where they lay.
…
To be honest, Feng, alongside his friends, felt a little uncomfortable to be in attendance of this confrontation, one between a stubborn daughter and father.
"…now that you see who I really am, I hope it doesn't change the way you feel about me." Toph finished, looking at her father with both determination along with vulnerability.
"Of course it doesn't change the way I feel about you, Toph. It's made me realize something." Lao said, a thoughtful expression across his face, but not a smiling one Feng noticed. It made him suspicious.
"It has?"
"Yes." Lao nodded. "I've let you have far too much freedom. From now on you'll be cared for and guarded twenty-four hours a day."
"But Dad!" Toph pleaded, stomping her foot slighting, this time just using her body, which was good as with her level of earthbending she could have levelled this place.
"We're doing this for your own good, Toph." Poppy explained, smiling apologetically even as she backed up the Mater of the house, ignoring they way her daughter was frowning.
"Please escort the Avatar and his friends out. They are no longer welcome here." Lao said to one of his servants, his voice colder than it was earlier as a stoic expression crossed her face.
"I'm sorry, Toph." Aang apologised, looking sad as he looked at his prospective eartbending teacher, unable to think of anything else to say.
"I'm sorry too, Aang." Toph sighed despondently as she used his name for the first time, shedding a tear. "Goodbye, Aang."
Feng was the last one to follow the servant out of the room, looking at the sad looking girl with pursed lips, nodding minutely to himself as he came to a decision. The instant they were out of sight of the guards, outside the walls, Feng disappeared, fading into the wind with his companions being none the wiser.
…
Through the darkened grounds an obscured figure creeped around, careful to make minimal noise as he dodged the lax guard schedule, now experienced enough to identify that despite the number of guards present, none of them were earthbenders, and they were more for show then actual skill.
That's why Feng had felt confident enough to do this, as the fact that Aang and Toph had been abducted had been the final clue needed. He wasn't wearing his special outfit though, not when he didn't want to risk that secret getting out, for good reason. Instead he had just taken off his cloak, leaving him in dressed in all black.
Peering carefully through each window he came across, Feng finally found the one he was looking for, seeing the form of Toph lying slumped into her bed, her head resting on her arms as she sobbed.
Carefully, Feng knocked on the window, causing Toph's head to shoot up in surprise even as tears ran down her face, her carefully positioned hair now a mess from how it had been earlier. Knowing that smiling would have accomplished nothing, Feng instead spoke softly.
"Hey Toph, may I come in?"
The confused looking girl tilted her head in question, but slowly she nodded as she got off the bed to come over the window, opening it just wide enough that he could snake through the gap before closing it after himself.
"What are you doing here? I though you were just Aang's attendant or something."
"Yes, you did." Feng nodded, moving towards her bend and sitting down, Toph doing the same on the other side with no protest. To be fair though, it was an enormous bed. "Which is just what we wanted you all to think."
"But your words were truthful, I know they were." Toph protested weakly, her eyes still ringed with red even as her tears stopped.
"Mm-hmm, and what were my words again?"
"Uh…you help Aang with what he needs and provide advice and an outside opinion?"
"Correct." Feng smiled, folding his hands on his crossed legs. "And I do all that, but that is not all that I do. After all, I have five years more experience than Aang with the wider world, why wouldn't I help him and offer my advice when he needs it? But again, that is not all that I am."
"The what are you?" Toph asked, gaining some more control of her herself now that she could distract herself from her thoughts.
Instead of answering, Feng just smiled, lifting a hand and twirling his fingers as he made a small breeze shoot from his palm that tickled the hair on Toph's head, making it sway slightly. Already his tutelage under Aang was showing progress, even if it was still only minor.
"You're an airbender." Toph breathed is surprise, her mouth gaping slightly as she looked at Feng. "You're not his helper, your his student."
"That I am." Feng said proudly, dispelling the breeze as he returned his hand to his lap. "I've spent a long time looking for something like him, for a teacher that could help me with my bending. My progress under him is so much faster than it was by myself, which is just one of the reasons Aang wanted you as a teacher."
"What do you mean?" Toph asked, sinking back slightly as she leant on her hands, intrigued.
"You know how Aang is that Avatar, yes?"
"Duh." Toph snorted. "It was like one of the first things he told me."
"Mm, and do you know what the purpose of the Avatar is?"
"It's, uh…to defeat the Fire Lord?" Toph guessed, sounding unsure. Not surprising, really, she was only twelve after all
"Close." Feng agreed. "While he does have to defeat the fire lord, that is because of the avatar's greater purpose. This greater purpose…is to bring balance to the world, to ensure that the nations are at peace with one another just as he must ensure that the spirits and humans are in peace with one another."
Toph nodded, showing she was following along.
"But that leaves the problem of actually bringing balance to the nations. To do that, Aang must master all four of the elements and quickly, and to do that, he needs a teacher, which he, and I, thought would be you."
Toph scrunched her nose slightly. "But why me? Why not any other Master Earthbender? I'm only twelve after all."
"Yes, you are, but let me ask you this. Just how old is Aang?"
"…twelve."
"Exactly, the fact that you are the same age as Aang makes him more comfortable with the whole thing. He might not tell you this yet, but Aang never wanted to be the Avatar. He never wanted to be burdened with the duties of the position, but he still has too. It's the same as his other teacher, Katara, who is teaching him water bending."
"No kidding? That princess is a Master Water bender?"
"She is." Feng nodded, not minding her flippant attitude on the matter. She was literally the youngest master water bender he'd ever heard of, and until he'd met Toph, was the youngest master bender from aside Aang that he'd seen.
"But it more than just the fact that you are the same age as Aang that we desire you to be hist teacher, it is also the skills you possess. Or are you going to say otherwise when you literary just fought six experienced earthbenders, two of them masters, and came off with an easy win?"
Toph had the good grace to flush slightly at the reminder of her victory.
"Most of all however, you embody the true nature of Earthbending above all. You wait…and you listen. That is Earthbenidng at its core, and you posses the skill that is the highest form of it."
"Seismic Sense?" Toph asked in surprise. "You know about that? I thought I was the only one."
"What, you think you're the only one to have ever learned from the badger moles?"
"But you're an airbender!" Toph refuted, pointing at Feng accusingly. "You can't earthbend."
This reminder forced Feng to wince slightly, a flash of pain crossing his face even if he chose to push past it, reminding himself that Toph was just a young girl and didn't know any better.
"No, I can't." Feng admitted, clenching his hands slightly which Toph noticed judging by the look she gave them, a flash of guilt flashing across her face. "But that doesn't mean my mother couldn't. After all, it's the main reason I want you as Aang's teacher, as if it wasn't for that skill, I wouldn't be alive and here today."