Chapter 5
AN: Last update for now. Let me know what you think. I've already had a comment from who mentioned more airbender's, and that's a good point actually, one that I hadn't considered. Of course, I'll never introduce nearly that many, there are only so many words to use in a story after all, but sometime soon I'll introduce at least one or two. After all, this is the last chapter where things stay mostly the same, as starting next chapter, things are going to get…interesting.
"…" Toph didn't know what to say about that, so she just closed her mouth as Feng shook his head, coming back into the moment.
"Anyway, what I was trying to say is, what do you want? Not what your father wants, not want your mother wants, not even what society wants from you. What is it that Toph Beifong wants?" Feng asked intently, staring at Toph.
"I…I want to be rid of all these social niceties. I want to be treated like a powerful earthbender, not a fragile child that needs to be protected. I want…to be free." Toph replied, the realisation coming to her at the last second.
"Good, you know what you want. Now how are you going to get what you want?"
"Father and Mother will just try to keep be under lock and key, forever guarded, won't they? If I stay with them, I'll never be able to do what I want, not as long as I live under their roof, won't I?" Toph said, earning a nod from Feng.
He watched as Toph took on a thoughtful expression, crossing her arms as she closed her eyes in thought before eventually, she sighed.
"I don't suppose you have room for one more on that flying bison of Aang's, do you?"
"Of course we do, Toph, but only if you actually want to come with us." Feng replied, still giving her a choice. He wouldn't like it if she didn't agree to teach Aang, but he was a big believer in free will, and only a willing teacher would be right for Aang.
"Of course I do!" Toph protested, moving to her feet as she began to rummage around her enormous cupboard. "It'll have Aang, Katara, Sokka…and you there. You guys are my first f…the first people my own age I've ever met. I'd love to come."
"Great, we'll be happy to have you then." Feng grinned, moving to stand beside the blind girl. "This will be your first time travelling rough though, won't it?"
Toph nodded, confirming Feng's suspicion. Toph was the heiress of one of the richest families in the world, an heiress that the Beifong family had hidden from it. He wasn't even sure if she'd ever left the village do be honest.
Feng could only watch for so long as Toph struggled to pack a bag of hers before he offered to help out, choosing a mix of robust and warm clothes that would cope with the rigours of traveling life.
"Well, that's you bag packed. Is their anything else you need or want?"
Consideration appeared on Toph's face as she thought about it, moving over to her desk to withdraw a little blue booklet from a side draw and placing it securely alongside everything else she was bragging.
"Okay, now I'm done."
At the very second, she said this, Toph tilted her head, slamming a foot into the ground for a better look. "Not a moment too soon, either, seeing as some guards are moving towards my room right now."
"Not a second to waste then, let's blow this popsicle stand." Feng grinned, opening the same window he had entered and letting Toph move out first, handing her the bag he had carried for her once he had followed her out, closing their exit point to prevent the guards from getting any other clues.
Moving towards the edge of the building, Feng peaked his head out to look at the guards, seeing what part of the rotation schedule they were on right now.
"We'll, we're not going to be going out the way I came in, that's for sure, and based on what you said an alarm should be raised within a few minutes. I don't suppose you could make us a path out of here?"
"You didn't even have to ask, Conman." Toph grinned, stomping on the earth next to her to open up a pathway, a dark hole left gaping in the dirt which she jumped into.
Shrugging, Feng gave the area one more search before jumping down into the hole himself, landing in a crouch to absorb the impact as Toph closed the hole behind them, leaving the pair in absolute darkness.
"What's up with the name anyway?" Feng asked curiously, walking behind Toph in the darkness as she swiftly bended the dirt out from in front of them and closed it behind, albeit Feng had to duck a little due to his height when he felt his hair brushing the ceiling.
He didn't make a fuss of it however, he was literally head, shoulders and chest above Toph with how short she was, even for her age.
"What, you don't like it? It suits you perfectly." Toph's voice sounded from in front of him, not even strained judging by the amusement present in it. "You lied to my family about who you were and even managed to hide the truth from my truth-telling abilities, not to mention sneaking past the guards and convincing me to leave with you."
That was true Feng supposed.
"Not to mention the bag of gold you took from Xin Fu." Toph added as Feng froze up momentarily, unaware that she had known that.
"What, you thought I hadn't noticed?"
Yes, yes he had. Toph was better than he thought.
"True enough, I guess. Although I don't see you making a fuss of it."
"Hah! Why would I? 500 gold is literally pocket change for my family, they make more than that a month and barely spend half of it. We're loaded and seeing as I'm going to be travelling with you guys, we'll need that money more."
"Mm, we will." Feng admitted without hesitance now that truth was out. "Could you do me a favour though? Don't tell the others about the gold until we need it. We still have plenty excluding it and lets just say that they…aren't the best with managing their money."
Case in point, that stupid green bag Sokka bought.
"I'm down with that. But if they get angry, I'm gonna blame you." Toph agreed, speaking up slightly to be heard over the sound of shifting earth.
"That's fair."
The pair spent the rest of the walk in silence aside from the sounds of moving earth and their breathing. By the end of it, Feng was just glad to be back in the open air, unaware of just how stifling it could be when encased in earth like that.
…
"…just where the hell did he disappear to?! No warning, no letter, no nothing!" The sound of Sokka's voice yelled in frustration. "We can't even leave without him, and we're already going to need to find another teacher for Aang. I though he of all people would understand the importance of punctuality, but nooooo, he's just like you two."
"Excuse me?!"
"You're excused." Sokka's snide voice replied, swiftly followed by the sound of a loud smack filling the air alongside a sound in pain.
Walking into the clearing containing Appa alongside Toph in her Blind Bandit outfit, Feng cleared his throat to get their attention.
"I'm sorry, did we miss something?"
"Feng!" Aang yelled in surprise and joy before his eyes focused on the shorter girl beside him. "Toph, you came! What changed?"
Toph shifted slightly, uneasily, so Feng covered for her. "I had a little chat back at the Beifong estate, and together we decided that Toph would travel the world by herself. After all, there's little that can threaten such a skilled bender like her."
"What he said." Toph pointed at Feng with an amused voice, her lip twitching at the manipulation of words he had used.
Katara and Sokka exchanged glances at that, Sokka still rubbing his cheek while Katara rubbed her palm, but shrugged regardless.
"Well, if that's the case, we better get going before anymore words can be exchanged." Sokka declared.
"Good Idea." Toph said, walking a little closer as Feng held back, recognising the gait she was using.
"You're going to be a great teacher, Toph." Aang declared, a smile splitting his face.
Toph nodded, considering the fact that she'd be a great teacher a forgone conclusion. "Speaking of which, I want to show you something."
"Really? Okay!" Aang said cheerfully, if a little confused as he jumped down to the earth below, only to be sent flying again into a tree when Toph stomped her foot as she caused a pillar of earth to appear underneath Aang's feet.
"Now were even." Toph declared, turning her gaze back to the saddle as she held out a hand. "I'll take my belt back now."
Sokka, seeing what had just happened to Aang, didn't argue as he tossed it towards the blind girls head, the only thing stopping it from colliding was a quickly outstretched hand that appeared above her.
"Here you go." Feng's said with amusement, handing the belt to the owlishly blinking Toph who had felt just where it was travelling towards based on the vibrations she'd sensed through Feng.
"Careful where you aim numbskull." Toph said in annoyance, taking the offered belt and tying it around her waist as she nodded to Feng in thanks, receiving a nod back.
…
"Aaaaah." Feng sighed, slumping to his knees as Appa finally touched down in the clearing, something that announced the end of his training session with Aang. Today had been particularly trying for him, as with the new addition of Toph Feng had felt the pressure of limited training time more than ever.
Aang, being the agreeable sort of person that he was, was all for it, pushing Feng harder than he had in the previous five sessions combined, going over all of his known moves again to ensure he actually membered them (this was a good thing as he'd actually backslid a little on the air funnel, although Toph tossing little bits of earth in from the side hadn't helped) before moving on to the new stuff.
Wanting to move on wider reaching techniques, Aang had introduced him to the art of cloud bending. It was exactly as hard as it sounded, primarily due to just how large in size clouds could become and the distance involved in bending them.
Even now Feng's arms didn't want to raise, and they had been lying by his side for the past ten minutes.
"Come on Feng, it couldn't have been that bad." Aang said cheerfully, leaping to the earth below.
"Easy for you to say, you're a master-level airbender Aang, one who was just practicing an old move, not learning a new one like I was." Feng groaned in reply, copying Aang as he leaped off of Appa's back, only he botched it a bit. Yes, he softened his fall with some slight manipulation of air from his feet, but he had unbalanced them in his state of fatigue.
This led to him slipping to the left and while trying to correct his position, which made him fall flat on his face with a thump
"Why is it always Tuesdays." Feng sighed, not moving from his position even as he felt his nose being squished. Seeing his predicament however, Sokka and Katara decided to take the longer route, moving down the bison's tail.
"It wasn't that bad…was it?"
"I don't know Aang, Feng was bending for the entire trip, and we were in the air for about 6 hours. That level of bending combined with the amount of time it took would be enough to exhaust just about anyone." Katara said in concern, moving towards Feng's downed form before he waved her off, pushing his hands underneath him as he heaved himself to his feet with a grunt.
"Huh." Aang said in realisation, moving back to grab his pack as he looked at Feng thoughtfully, and with a touch of regret.
"I'm sorry Feng, I didn't realise it would be so draining on you. This is probably why I was limited to 3 hours of training under the monks, but I thought that had just been an arbitrary limit to give the masters some free time."
"It probably was." Feng sighed, rubbing his hands to get rid of the dirt before he did the same to his shirt. "Besides, I was asking for it, so no apology necessary. I got a bit too into bending the clouds after I figured out how, not paying attention to my limits."
A pang in his shoulder agreed with him, making Feng reached over and massage that area slightly with a hidden grimace. "Although I don't think I'm going to be doing much bending over the next few days."
"Oh, okay." Aang replied, cheered up as he went about the camp, the siblings doing the same. Feng was about to go help when he noticed Toph slumped lazily against the rock, chewing something as Katara got an annoyed expression he was quickly becoming familiar with as she made to walk over to the younger girl.
Better intervene.
"Hey, Katara, could you come here for a second? I think I may have pulled something in my shoulder." Feng asked before she could, seeking to diffuse the problem.
"Huh? Your shoulder?" Katara asked distractedly, looking towards him as a concerned expression crossed her face. "Why didn't you say anything earlier? I know you and Aang enjoy training, but you should have stopped if you were injured."
"What can I say, I'm training to bend while injured."
Katara's face remained unimpressed as she walked towards him, opening the water pouch at her side.
"So, where exactly on your shoulder was it?"
Feng lifted his left arm to point at his right, pointing in the middle of his shoulder mass and circling his finger. "Basically, my entire shoulder. None of it's shooting pain or anything, but I recognise this from when I was training when I was younger. Overtraining's always been a bit of an issue on my part."
"Mm-hmm." Katara muttered distractedly, poking the spot a few times for assessment as Feng winced. "Well, I'll see what I can do but first you'll have to take your shirt off."
"Already? You should at least buy me dinner first." Feng joked even as he complied, causing Katara's face to become red at the innuendo.
"S-shut up." She flustered making Feng laugh.
"Fine, fine, just trying to diffuse the tension." Feng sighed, throwing his cloak to the side before peeling his long sleeve shirt away from his body, wiping it up and over his head to reveal his chiselled yet pale torso to the world.
Katara started for a second at the sight, paying particular attention to his abs for tearing her gaze upwards, meeting a pair of amused looking grey eyes.
"So, just here if you could. Maybe my left shoulder as well if you can, as it's also a bit tender despite not being as sore."
"Right." Katara nodded, glad to have something else to focus on as she got to work, waving a hand back and forth slighting to withdraw a stream of water, making it wrap around her hand before she placed it on Feng's right shoulder as it started glowing faintly green.
The relief was instant for Feng as the tension in the muscle that had been practically screaming at him faded away, replaced by a dull ache.
"That's the stuff." Feng sighed as she continued her work, letting her do so for a second before he spoke again.
"While you're here though, could I talk to you for a second about Toph?"
Katara grimaced slightly at her name, glancing towards where she was still lying calmly. "What about her?"
Yep, having this conversation was the right idea.
"Well, I know that the standard way we do things is that we all contribute to setting up the camp site, and the fact that Toph immediately lied down must have…aggravated your feelings, but I think you're being a bit hasty in your judgment."
"Hasty? How?" Katara asked a touch more calmly as she began to move her glowing hand in circles, which felt nice, and deep pokes into the tissue, which felt less nice.
"Well, I believe that you lack perspective on her behaviour. Forgive me if I'm assuming, but you and Sokka, you've had to be largely self-sufficient for a long time now, yeah?"
"Yes," Katara nodded sadly, "Gran-Gran's a bit too old to do any more than cook, so I took over the household chores while Sokka did the outside ones." She tilted her head. "Not that he was any good at them."
As if to prove her point, Sokka appeared holding a pile of sticks that were too green to burn, adding it to an ever growing pile.
"And Aang, well he grew up as a nomad, used to acting as a member of the community, doing what you can to help out, but Toph…Toph is the heiress of a family richer than almost any other in the world. An heiress that they tried to keep sheltered and alone, with servants to tend to her every need. She has literally never had to look after anyone besides herself, and for a while that's going to be the case. So, while she will be expected to help out, maybe for the first week or so just let her watch what we do, and then talk to her about her behaviour? Can you do that for me?"
"I…" Katara hesitated as her nose scrunched up in thought considering Feng's words. "…you're sure? She's not actually just being arrogant, but ignorant instead?"
"I'm sure." Feng assured her calmly, Katara moving her glowing hand to his other shoulder as she finished up with the first.
"Okay." Katara sighed after a second of silence, bowing to Feng's superior wisdom. "But only for the first week, after that I'll expect her to help out."
"As you should." Feng nodded in agreeance, rolling his now healed shoulder as the aches in his now tended one began to subside. "We're her friends, not her servants."
"Exactly." Katara said a little cheerfully, pleased that sometime else had understood some of her frustrations. "Hey, how did you know why Toph was like that, anyway? I had no clue."
"Because Katara," Feng sighed, slumping slightly as he turned his cool gaze towards the still lounging girl, "I was once just like her, long ago before I had to travel on the road. It's easy to see something like this when you've experienced it firsthand, which is also why I want to be the one to talk to her about it. I'm just giving her a chance to at least start thinking about it herself."
"You were like Toph? How?"
Feng smiled bitterly as Katara stopped her treatment, putting his shirt back on once more along with his cloak as he made to step away, only turning his head back to the curious girl to give her a final answer.
"Like Toph, I too came from a wealthy family. Not as wealthy as hers, granted, but wealthy enough. We were also fairly private with how I had to hide my abilities, so I didn't have many friends. When I look at Toph…I see someone that's just a younger version of myself. Granted, there are differences," Feng nodded, "but the similarities are clear enough to affect me."
Feng sighed under his breath as he turned his head away, speaking under his breath in an attempt to not be overheard.
"I just wish that it won't end the same way for her."
Feng walked off to the pile of twigs Sokka was making, sorting between the viable and non-viable ones, discarding the greener ones that would make too much smoke.
His concentration on the task made him miss the concerned expression Katara was making, staring at Feng's back in thought as she opened her mouth to call out to him before deciding that, like Feng believed, sometimes a wait and see approach was better.
…
The hours had passed quickly for Feng, lost in an almost haze as he tiredly tended to his tasks, doing his part to help set up camp with the other members of the gang bar Toph as they settled in, cooking a small dinner of roast meat before turning in for the night.
It didn't take long for Feng to fall asleep; he was very tired from all the bending he had done with Aang. This is probably why it had felt like no time at all had passed when the panicked voice of Toph broke through the clearing.
"There's something coming towards us!"
Feng grumbled as he blearily opened his eyes, closing them for a second before they snapped open as his mind came to, recognising the potential danger they might be in.
"What is it?" Aang asked, the first to be awake enough to ask.
Feng was the second up, rolling to his feet as he unwrapped his coat from around himself, not needed a sleeping bag like Katara and Sokka. He watched as Toph put her hand on the ground in concentration, frowning as she did.
"It feels like an avalanche, but also not an avalanche."
"Your powers of perception are frightening." Sokka drawled as he managed to extract himself from his bedding, moving over the small huddle that was happening.
"Should we leave?" Katara asked in concern, looking more awake at least then her brother.
Aang frowned before turning to Feng, wanting a second opinion on the matter as Feng thought it over.
"You said it felt like an avalanche, Toph? In what way?"
Toph considered the question for a second even as she answered, struggling to put her thoughts into words. "It feels…like a large amount of mass moving across the earth at a fast pace, it's energy relentless as is does. Unlike an avalanche however, it's more…focused, I guess. Narrower, and it's moving directly towards us up the hill rather than down it, so I know that whatever it is…it's not natural."
Hmm, large amount of mass, focused, not natural… "It's the fire nation." Feng breathed as a scowl formed on his face as it did on Sokka's and Katara's. All of them had reasons to hate the fire nation.
"Are you sure?"
"I am." Feng nodded in response to Aang's question even as he nodded back, the boy moving to where his bedding lay flung aside.
"Then it's better to be safe rather than sorry. Pack up camp guys, we're moving to another spot.
Having nothing to pack up, Feng was the first to make it to Apa's saddle shortly followed by Toph who merely had to collapse her earth shelter and cover up the fire pit, settling in beside him even as she shivered a little in the coolness of the night.
…
"What is that thing?" Katara asked in both horror, looking down at the forest to take in the sight of an enormous, smoke billowing vehicle that pursued them with great speed, churning through tree's and rocks like a hot knife through butter.
"Whatever it is, it's not good." Feng commented wryly, going over his mental notes to see if he knew anything about the vehicle pursuing them. Clearly, it was fire nation considering no one else used metal vehicles like they did, and they could almost certainly assume there was a fire bender on board if only because of the amount of smog coming out of it.
Aang looked down in through as he tightened the on the reins as he mentally compared Apa's speed against the vehicle.
"Well, good or not, it's slower than Apa, so we can just outrun it before finding a new place to sleep." Even now, bags were forming under Aang's eyes, showing just how tired he was.
"Hold on to that thought." Feng replied, earning a curious gaze from the Avatar as he looked down at the machine in question.
It had a line of segments Feng noted, with a lot of wheels that were all being powered by the engine at the front. Now, multiple compartments like that would slow it down, needed to heft all that mass, but it could also mean that there was a bunch of coal stored inside of it.
And that amount of coal could potentially allow the machine to continue running for a long time, and if there were enough people on board, they wouldn't even need to stop to rest as they could just use a rotating crew.
A quick glace at his companions showed that that wasn't the case for Team Avatar, as they would need to rest shortly.
"We have no idea how this thing found us in the first place. What's to stop it from doing so again?"
Sokka opened his mouth to reply before he paused, closing it again as he grabbed his chin. "That's a good point. If we kept running with no idea how they found us there's no way to stop them from doing so again, and by the time they do we might be too tired to actually fight back. I'm already exhausted, I can only imagine how tired I'll be if I have to spend another few hours without getting any sleep."
"What are we supposed to do then? Appa going to have to rest soon." Aang asked in concern, patting his animal buddies head as the beast in question groaned.
"Simple." Toph declared even as she supressed a yawn, smashing a fist on an open palm. "We don't know how it's finding us, and at this point I'm too tired to care, but if we want it to stop following us…all we have to do is wreck the car at the front. No engine means no movement, and no movement means we'll get away cleanly. That should buy us enough time to actually get some sleep before we figure out how they followed us."
"Great idea Toph!" Sokka cheered even as Aang looked unsure. Feng for his part was smiling contently, pleased with the plan they came up with. He knew from experience that Fire Nation machines could be quite delicate for all that they were made of metal. So much so that something large like say…a giant boulder to the engine could stop it.
Maybe not front on to that spike of it's seeing as it had been ploughing through rock after rock earlier, but a boulder through the roof into the control section? He could see that doing some damage. Now they just needed to set up an ambush, and with how far Toph could sense that thing, it should be quite easy.
…
Once they found a good mountain top to perform the ambush, Apa settled down on it, slumping to the ground once he could finally rest as he panted. He wasn't quite out of it yet, but it just showed that Aang's point was correct. Apa would need to rest soon.
"Is it still following us?" Feng asked, the question addressed to Toph who had once more placed her hand on the ground to increases her senses.
"Yep," Toph nodded, "it'll be on us in about 5 minutes at its current speed. So, how do you want to do this, oh cunning one?"
This earned a confused look from the other three as Feng tilted his head before shrugging. The plan didn't have to be complex.
"Just wait for it to get close, then on my signal send a boulder or two at the roof of the first cart…you can tell where the first cart starts, can't you?"
"Uh-uh." Toph shook her head unapologetically, pointing a finger at her cloudy eyes which made Feng sigh.
"Just aim for about three lengths of me from the front and send one a little in front and a little after that, that should be fine."
"Can do!" Toph saluted cheerfully, turning towards the edge of the mountain top and crouching as she waved her arms upwards, three man sized boulders lifting from the ground to rest in a neat line, ready to be used.
"What do you want us to do?" Sokka asked intently, seeking to help as did Katara and Aang based on their expressions.
Unfortunately for them, Feng didn't have anything for them.
"Just…stand around and look pretty, I guess? At this point, it's really down to Toph to do the hard work unless you've magically learned Earthbending in the past few minutes, Aang."
"It's on my to do list." Aang sighed, slumping slightly as he kicked a clump of dirt in front of him but otherwise didn't do anything else. Sokka accepted it easily, too tired to do anything else as he sat down on the ground to wait. Katara gave Feng an uncertain look before darting her eyes at Toph while he could see them, tilting her head in question.
Smiling, Feng nodded, revealing that this was exactly the thing he was talking about. Toph was willing to help the group, which satisfied Katara as she went over to console the downtrodden Avatar.
"1 minute." Toph warned, moving into a crouch with one leg in front of her other, her arms at her side as she waited for the command.
Here we go, Feng thought as he focused, turning his eyes in the direction Toph was looking, observing as first a cloud of smog appeared over the horizon before being quickly followed by the dangerously looking front of the metal carriage…thing.
"Can you lead the target?" Feng muttered to the girl at his side, not taking his eyes of the train.
"Mostly." Toph nodded. "It's moving at the same speed, but I can't exactly tell how the air will effect my boulders, so my aim may be a little off."
Feng nodded at her confession; it wasn't any fault on her part. In barely a couple seconds, even if it felt like an eternity, the train got into position, a mere 200 metres from the mountain top as it continued it's steady pace up the mountain face, it's position limiting the direction it could move less it fall off the mountain.
"Fire!"
Hearing the command, Toph stomped her forward foot, raining her arms as three pillars shot under the boulders to send them flying, all three moving in a close grouping as they soared through the air in a hyperbolic arc, reaching a peak of around 20 metres above the mountain top before moving down again, gathering speed.
Traveling towards the ground, it seemed like the driver noticed the incoming attack and tried to swerve, but the purpose of the mountain top in the ambush shined through as they struggled to turn, barely moving a little to the left before the boulders touched down with impressive force.
The one the was furthest forward, only around halfway down the front carriage missed completely, the nose of the train dodging as the second similarly did nothing, only clipping the edge a little further back, exposing a gap in the metal but otherwise doing no harm.
The third however, the third was aimed at the back of the first carriage, the close grouping doing it's job as it crashed down almost exact centre on the tank trains roof, easily passing through the roof and smashing into it, visibly buckling the floor of the tank and damaging it's drive train, causing the wheels to stop turning.
Combine this with the deflection caused by the second boulder, and the train was quick to start rolling back down the hill, this time along its side, presumedly injuring or killing whoever was inside as a cloud of smoke and dirt filled the air, the train down for the count.
"Did I get it?" Toph asked, intently 'looking' down at the train.
"Yes Toph, you got it." Feng chuckled, ruffling the far shorter girls hair, making her squirm slightly but otherwise do nothing. "It's a wreck. Now we just need to travel a bit further in case anyone is still able to walk after that, and then we can all finally get some rest."
"Finally!" Sokka cried, moving to his feet and going over to Apa's saddle as the flying bison groaned but otherwise complied as he moved to his feet. No one else said anything, too tired too, but as Aang directed them to a forest clearly around 5 km away from their previously landing sight, Katara gave Feng a gracious grin as Toph sat next to him, slumped slightly due to fatigue.
Say what you will about the girl. Despite being one of the world's greatest Earthbenders, she was still only 12 and not used to rough travel. Combine this with a lack of sleep and hard bending and it was no surprise that she nodded off as fell onto Feng's shoulder, but he didn't mind it.
It was a sense of…connection, that he hadn't felt in a long time, one that he had to say that he'd missed, even if it would probably be a little awkward to wake her up afterwards. But if the smile that graced Feng's face was anything to say about it, he wouldn't mind doing so.