Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA or any of it's characters. The only thing I own is my OC.

The Six Rules:

Rule Number One: Alec won't warn the Gaang about things in advance or solve their problems for them, with a few rare exceptions.

Rule Number Two: Only Alec has the right to tell people his true origins, and he will mostly limit this to group members. He will tell new group members his secret as soon as they join the Gaang.

Rule Number Three: There are some changes Alec wants to make, and he will use his knowledge of the future to make those changes.

Rule Number Four: Sometimes, to make a change, Alec will act in a way that doesn't make sense. If that's necessary, he'll tell the Gaang "I need you to absolutely trust me." After he says that, the Gaang has to either do whatever he asks or leave him to do what he needs to do.

Rule Number Five: After a change happens, Alec will tell the Gaang what happened in the original story, in the interest of transparency.

Rule Number Six: If a major change happens that Alec doesn't expect, the Gaang will have a meeting ASAP. In this meeting, Alec will break Rule One and tell them all relevant information that will help them figure out how to respond to the change.

Chapter 23:

Fight, Bath, Blood and Elements

Alec POV

The next day, we ran into problems when we made camp. Specifically, Toph and Katara. I tended the fire, Sokka collected firewood, Aang set up the tent, and Katara was working on dinner. Toph was just sitting on a rock, fiddling with the metal chain, working on her metalbending. Katara noticed this and walked over to her.

"So Toph," Katara began, "Usually when we're setting up camp, we try to divide the work."

Toph shrugged. "Hey, don't worry about me, I'm good to go." She said, completely missing Katara's point.

"Well, actually what I'm trying to say is, some of us might fetch water, while someone else might set up the fire pit, or put up the tent." Momo flew overhead and dropped some berries in Katara's hand. "Even Momo does his fair share."

"Katara, I'm fine." Toph insisted. "I can carry my own weight." She patted her bag. "I don't need a fire, I've already collected my own food, and look," Toph extended her arms and an earth tent formed around her, "My tent's all set up."

"Well, that's fine for you," Katara replied in an irritated tone, "But we still need to finish…"

"I don't understand!" Toph interrupted. "What's the problem here?!"

Katara waved her hand dismissively and walked away. "Never mind."

That was weird. Was 'The Chase' happening already? I got up from the fire and walked over to Appa. I ran my hand through his fur. My hand came back clean. He wasn't shedding yet. Were Katara and Toph fighting early? This could get bad. Should I intervene? I thought about it. I would wait to see how things played out before I would do anything else.


The next day, things got worse. Katara and Toph would snip at each other over little things. It was really getting annoying. I was doing firebending practice by the river when things reached a boiling point.

"I can't believe how selfish you are!" Katara screamed at Toph. I turned around to look at the fight.

"What?!" Toph shouted back. "Look here, Sugar Queen! I gave up everything I had to teach Aang earthbending, so don't you talk to me about being selfish!" Toph turned on her heel and walked away.

"Sugar Queen?!" Katara shrieked. She got in a stance. "Don't you walk away from me!"

Toph turned. "Or what?" She mocked.

Katara splashed Toph with a wave. Toph narrowed her eyes. "So, you wanna go? Let's go!"

Toph made a massive pillar of earth and started floating it above her head. Katara prepared another wave.

Okay, enough was enough. I was intervening. I charged up the biggest fire stream I could make and shot it between them. "ENOUGH!" I shouted. "You're both acting like children! Go cool off!"

Katara dropped the water back into the river. "Fine."

Toph dropped the pillar. "Whatever."

They both walked off in opposite directions. I had to deal with this.


Aang, Sokka and I sat around the fire, eating roasted fish. Katara and Toph hadn't come back. "This is bad." Sokka observed.

Aang looked down. "I don't like seeing my friends fight."

I took a fish and stood up. "I'll handle it."

Sokka looked at me. "Are you sure you can calm them down?"

I nodded. "I know what I'm doing."


I went over to Katara first. I knew she would be the easiest to convince. I found her sitting by the river, frowning at the horizon. "Hey." I greeted calmly. "I brought you some fish."

She took it. "Thanks." She grumbled, her frown didn't leave her face. "You here to tell me I was wrong?"

I shrugged. "Eh, you both were." I admitted. "Who threw the first attack?" I asked rhetorically.

She looked down, clearly ashamed. "I can't believe I did that." She whispered. "I was just so mad at her."

"Because she wasn't helping out?" I prompted.

"Yeah." She answered. "I don't get it. Why is she being so stubborn?"

"Well, you two had almost complete opposite upbringings." I pointed out. "Her parents did everything for her because they thought she was weak. She just wants to be independent and do things for herself."

"I don't think she's weak." Katara retorted. "I just want her to do her part."

"I know." I replied. "I'll talk to her."

I left Katara to her thoughts. I went back to the campfire and got another fish. Time to talk to the Bandit.


I found Toph on top of a hill near the campsite. "Hand Slicer." She greeted in a calm tone, but I could tell she was still mad.

"Hey Shrimp." I greeted. I sat next to her and handed her some soup. "I made fish."

Toph didn't take it. "You think I can't get my own food?" She accused.

I shook my head. Maybe some of Iroh's wisdom would help. "I got you fish because I wanted to, and for no other reason."

Toph huffed. "People see me and think I'm weak. They want to take care of me, but I can take care of myself, by myself." She insisted.

"There's nothing wrong with letting the people who love you help you." I replied. "Not that we love you, we just met a few days ago." I clarified. I tried handing her the fish again.

Toph chuckled. She accepted the food this time. "Thanks, Alec." She said. "You gave me a lot to think about."

"No problem." I said. I realized something. "You just called me by my name."

She smirked. "Don't get used to it, Hand Slicer."

I chuckled.


I made my way back to the camp. Katara was already there, trying to clean our metal pot in the river. "Ugh!" She exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"This river is really muddy." She explained. "I can't get anything clean in here."

"I can help." A voice said behind us.

We turned around. Toph had shown back up. "Hey Katara, I'm sorry about earlier." She said sheepishly.

Katara smiled kindly. "I'm sorry too." She looked at her. "You think you can help?"

Toph shrugged. "Muddy water is just earth and water, right? Maybe if we work together we can pull the mud and water apart." She reasoned.

Katara beamed. "That's brilliant!" She put the cauldron back on the riverbank and picked up a massive glob of brown water. Toph concentrated and lifted up her hands. The water and the mud separated. Toph dropped the mud onto the shore, and Katara used the water to rinse out the pot.

Katara gave Toph an appreciative smile. "Thanks, Toph."

Toph grinned. "What would you do without me?"

Katara rolled her eyes, but she laughed anyway.


The next day, we broke camp and flew to a different site. This one had a clean river. Thank the spirits. We could clean ourselves off and I wouldn't have to boil our water before we drank it.

We stripped down to our underwear and washed ourselves off. Well, most of us did. Toph was stomping around in camp, playing with Momo. "Oh where, oh where has my badgermole gone? Oh where, oh where can he be?" Toph sang. I was surprised that a version of that song existed in this world, but something else grabbed my attention. Toph was…okay, she was filthy. Her clothes were a dusty brown, and I noticed a few flies hanging around her. I could even smell her from the river.

Katara noticed too. "Toph, why don't you join us?" Katara offered, trying to be tactful. "The water's really nice, and refreshing, and…clean."

Sokka was much more direct, as usual. "Yeah, your clothes could use a good washing, and frankly, you're getting kind of rank."

Toph turned to face us. "My clothes are not dirty!" She insisted. "This is a protective layer of earth. It's an earthbending thing. I don't expect you to understand."

I decided to add in my two cents. "Hey Toph? Do you know what the best part about knowing the story is?"

She tilted her head. "What?"

I smirked. "It means I know a few things about each element. I know you're lying. You just don't want to bathe."

She scowled. "I don't see how it's your problem."

Katara moved to leave the river and grab Toph, but I stopped her. "Wait." I whispered. "The rest of us need to talk first."


We huddled together while Toph stomped around in the dirt. "Look, normally, I wouldn't care, but this is ridiculous." Sokka hissed in a low voice so Toph wouldn't hear.

I nodded. "You have a point, if she goes another day, the Fire Nation might not need a shirshu to track us."

"I'm not a big complainer." Aang added. "But there's only so much stinky air I can keep out of my nose."

Katara cast a look at Toph. "We need to get her to take a bath."

I thought about it. "Maybe I can convince her." I swallowed. "At least, I hope I can, because if not…" I trailed off with dread.

Katara gave me a look. "What?" She whispered, concerned.

I took a deep breath, then I looked her in the eyes. "If I can't convince her, we'll need to do Operation: Vako."

Katara's eyes widened. "Oh no." She whispered in horror.

Sokka and Aang looked totally lost. "What are you talking about?" Sokka asked.

Katara swallowed. "About two months after Alec arrived, there was a problem." She looked at Sokka. "You remember Vako?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Umi's son?" Katara nodded. "Yeah, what happened?" Sokka asked.

Katara shuddered at the memory. "He wouldn't bathe, no matter how much Umi grounded him." She recalled. "He was filthy."

Aang looked confused. "How did he get so dirty?" He asked. "There's just ice and snow in the South Pole."

I grimaced. "The little fucker's favorite hobbies were wrapping himself in untanned animal skins and jumping into vats of tiger seal blubber."

"Language." Katara chided, but she shuddered at the memory too.

Aang turned green. Sokka looked confused. "What happened? And why don't I know about it?"

Katara shook her head. "You were out hunting that day, and we don't like talking about it." She explained. "Umi came to me for help, and I asked Alec to help me." She said. "We lured Vako into the maqii outside the village, and then we closed and locked the door behind us." She told Sokka. "As soon as we started the fire to start sweating, Vako figured us out. He tried to open the door, but he couldn't get out. So, he attacked us." Katara recalled. "We had to get him naked by tearing his clothes off, and he was fighting the whole time. We had to get down to our underwear so we wouldn't roast to death, which just gave him more places to attack."

"I had it easy." I remembered. "You were blindfolded."

Aang tilted his head to the side. "Why?"

"Normally the bath is gender-segregated, but we needed two people to keep Vako under control." I explained.

Aang blushed. "Oh."

"Anyway," Katara continued, "We started the fire and managed to wrestle Vako out of his clothes. He punched, kicked, scratched and bit us the entire time. Because of the sweat, and the fact that he had a lot of tiger seal blubber gunk on him, it was like trying to wrestle a bar of soap."

"An angry, stinky bar of soap." I grumbled. "It felt like hours, even though it was only a few minutes until the coals got hot enough. Katara had to put him in a headlock so I could pour water on the coals and make enough steam for him to sweat out all the dead animal skin bits and tiger seal fat."

Sokka cocked his head. "Why didn't Katara pour the water?"

Katara gave him a deadpan look. "Blindfold."

Sokka looked embarrassed at his stupid question. "Oh, right."

"We got scratched and bitten so many times that the maqii looked like a crime scene. There was a lot of blood on the floor, both Katara's and mine." I remembered. "We got scratched up so badly I almost told Katara about her healing abilities right then and there. After we finally finished and rinsed him off with soap and water, the kid had the nerve to say 'that wasn't so bad!'." I shook my head.

"At least he bathed without complaint from then on." Katara reasoned, trying to look at the bright side of the situation.

"Yeah, thank the spirits we didn't have to do that again." I agreed.

Katara glanced at Toph and gulped. "At least, I hope we don't have to do it again."

"Well, this isn't the South Pole, so we won't have to sweat her out." I reasoned optimistically. "We can just dunk her, soap her up, rinse and dry her off." I said. "I'll blindfold myself if it comes to that."

Katara gave me a look. "We can just leave her underwear on, she's not as dirty as Vako was."

I shrugged. "That could work. I need every advantage I can get against her." I frowned. "This could get ugly."

"How bad could it be?" Sokka asked.

I gave him a look. "Vako took both of us to restrain. He was smaller than Toph, and he wasn't a bender, let alone the greatest earthbender."

"What do we do?" Sokka inquired.

"I'll try to reason with her." I said. "If that doesn't work, Katara and I will handle it. Aang, we'll need you to dry her off if it comes to that."

Everyone nodded. I turned to look at Toph, who was still stomping around happily in the dirt. I swallowed. "Here goes nothing."


"Toph, can we talk?"

The earthbender stopped stomping around and faced me. "What's up?"

I took a deep breath. "The rest of us had a talk." I said seriously. "We really need you to take a bath."

She scowled and folded her arms across her chest. "Why?"

It was always best to not sugarcoat things with Toph. "You reek." I said bluntly. "It's getting hard to be around you. But there are other reasons."

She raised an eyebrow, but maintained her scowl. "Like?"

"The Fire Nation once tracked us by scent." I answered. "If you don't take a bath, they'll be able to track us more easily that way."

She huffed. "So we'll get some more bending experience, big deal."

I frowned. "You might not be getting that experience." I said gravely.

She tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"If you don't bathe, you could get sick." I replied. "I mean, really sick. If you get a cut and you don't clean it properly, you could get a nasty infection. The last time Sokka and Katara got sick, neither one of them could even ride on Appa. We had to stay put until Aang could get a cure for them." I smirked. "You don't want to miss out on any fights, do you?"

Her sightless eyes widened briefly, but then her face changed to an uncertain expression. "I don't know…" She sighed in an annoyed fashion. "I can tell you're not lying, but it still kinda reminds me of when my parents made me bathe twice a day. They had the servants put in bath salts that made me smell all flowery." She scowled. "I hated it."

"Nobody's saying you have to bathe twice a day or smell like flowers." I assured her. "We just don't want you to get sick and be out of commission. Right now, you're our strongest fighter."

She smirked at that. "You're darn right I am." She frowned again. "I guess I just never had anyone treat me like an equal."

I cocked my head to the side. "Even in the Earth Rumble?"

She frowned. "I could hear them whispering to each other backstage to 'not use any bad words around a little girl.'." She recalled. "They always watched their mouths around me, even after I kicked their butts."

Something clicked in my head. "You don't know any swear words, do you?" I realized.

She shook her head. "Nope. I know that they exist, but nobody ever told me what they were."

A wicked idea formed in my head. Katara was going to kill me, but it would be worth it. "I'll make you a deal. If you agree to bathe as often as we do from now on without complaint, I'll teach you every swear word I know."

She looked like a kid on Christmas morning. "Really?" She said excitedly.

"Sure." I replied. "As soon as you get clean, I'll tell you everything: words, definitions, context, appropriate usage, you name it." I extended my hand. "Deal?"

She grinned and shook it. "Deal."


Toph and I walked to the river to join the rest of the group. I saw Sokka start to fill up our canteens with drinking water. "You might wanna do that upstream." I suggested.

He turned to me. "Why?"

"Because we just bathed in this same location." I responded. "If we drink water we just bathed in, we'll probably catch every disease in the world, especially after Toph finishes washing up."

Katara and Aang turned to me. "You mean she agreed?" Katara asked hopefully.

Toph nodded. "I guess I am due for a rinse." She admitted. She turned to Katara. "Um, Katara." She said hesitantly.

Katara turned to her. "Yes?"

"Could you help me wash my hair?" Toph asked. "My parents always made servants do it, so I don't really know how. Would you teach me?"

Katara smiled warmly. "Sure."

Toph took a step into the water. A brown cloud of dirt mixed with the water and turned the water around her ankle brown. I recoiled. "Aang, we should make ourselves scarce, or we're gonna end up dirtier than we were before we took a bath." I suggested.

Aang nodded.

"Oh no, you're helping too." Katara said sternly. "Someone needs to wash her clothes, after all."

"Okay." I agreed reluctantly. Toph peeled off her outfit, leaving her in her underwear. She threw it at me. I caught it. I could tell this thing was gonna take a while to wash.


It took an hour to clean Toph's outfit. As soon as she and her clothes were clean, she dragged me off to a field about a hundred feet away from camp for her lesson. I knew there would be hell to pay from Katara as soon as she realized what happened. I made sure to tell Toph to not overuse swear words, but I would eventually be found out.

It happened sooner rather than later. During dinner, I put some spice that I'd picked up during our last supply purchase in my soup. Somehow, my bowl got mixed up with Toph's. After one spoonful, she dropped the bowl.

"FUCK!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. She picked up her canteen and drank all the water.

"Sorry," I apologized. "That was my bowl. I put some spice in it."

She turned to me. "What the fuck, Hand Slicer?!" She exclaimed. "What kinda shit did you put in that bowl?! Lava?!"

Katara narrowed her eyes at Toph. "Toph, where did you learn those words?" Her tone was casual, but her face was extremely angry. Uh oh.

"Alec taught me." Toph replied casually.

Aang and Sokka got up from their seats and retreated at least ten feet. I was frozen in terror. Katara slowly turned her head to face me. "What did you do?" She said lowly.

I put up my hands quickly. "Katara, I can explain!"

"WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?!" She roared. She got up, and took a stance creating a massive wave and preparing to throw it at me.

"I made a deal that I would teach her swear words if she would bathe regularly!" I blurted out rapidly.

"WHY?!" Katara exclaimed. The wave got even higher.

"Because now we won't ever have to do Operation: Vako with her!" I shouted. I closed my eyes in fear. I heard the sound of a wave crashing, but I didn't get hit by it. I slowly opened my eyes. Katara was staring at me, still angry, but she wasn't about to attack anymore.

She huffed angrily. "Fine. I don't like it, but fine."

Suddenly, we heard laughter. Toph was rolling on the ground, giggling. "Oh man, you should have heard your heart rate, Hand Slicer!" She got out between laughs. "You were so scared I thought you would piss yourself!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Shrimp."

Katara pinched the bridge of her nose. "You've created a monster."


The rest of dinner was calm. Katara was still mad, but she didn't attack me or wash my mouth out. Hopefully things would be relatively calm now. I'd dealt with Toph and Katara's fights for the time being, and now we could count on Toph to bathe regularly. It seemed like things were going our way.

Wishful thinking on my part. Shit went sideways the next morning. I had just woken up. I had started making the fire to cook breakfast. Then I heard something that nearly made me lose control of the flame.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

A terrible scream came from Toph's earth tent. I put out the fire as fast as I could and got in a stance. Were we under attack? Appa groaned. Momo shrieked. Aang, Katara, and Sokka shot awake and got ready for battle. "What is it?!" Katara said, all traces of tiredness gone. "What's going on?!"

I ran over to Toph's earth tent and knocked on the wall. "Toph, what's wrong?!" I said urgently. "Are we under attack?!"

"NO!" She replied quickly. "Just leave me alone!"

I frowned. "Toph. You screamed like you were being murdered. Something's wrong. Tell me." I insisted.

There was silence for a few seconds. "Put your ear against the tent wall." She said quietly. I complied. "I'm bleeding, and I don't know why." She whispered. That was strange. We didn't do any dangerous training yesterday. How could she have gotten hurt? I knew she was a twelve-year-old girl, but she was still really…tough…

Oh. My eyes widened. "I'll get Katara, and I won't tell anyone else." I assured her. "She'll help you. Okay?"

"Okay." She replied.

I walked over to the rest of the group. "Stand down." I said. "We're not under attack, but I need to talk to Katara alone."

Sokka narrowed his eyes. "What's going on?" He demanded.

I gave him a look. "Nothing you or Aang need to know about." I answered. "And if you ask them, they'll probably beat you up."

Sokka wisely backed down. Aang looked worried. "Is Toph okay?"

"She'll be fine." I assured him. I turned to Katara. "I need to talk to you."

She looked a little confused, but nodded. I led her over to a tree about thirty feet away from camp. "What's wrong with Toph?" She asked.

I looked over to Aang and Sokka's location to make sure they weren't eavesdropping. I saw them fixing and eating breakfast. Satisfied, I turned back to my sister. "Toph says she's bleeding, and she doesn't know why."

Katara quickly put the pieces together. She gave me a look. "You think…?"

"She's the right age." I answered.

Katara nodded. "I'll go talk to her. You make sure Sokka doesn't eavesdrop."

I tilted my head. "What about Aang?"

She shook her head. "He wouldn't eavesdrop."

I got an idea. "Actually, Aang did eavesdrop once." I recalled.

Katara looked surprised. "When?"

"At Aunt Wu's." I replied. "He eavesdropped on you when she told you your fortune." I smirked. "He seemed very happy about what he heard."

Katara's eyes widened and a slight blush appeared on her face. She shook it off. "That doesn't matter right now. I need to help Toph."

I nodded. "You go do that. I'll send Aang and Sokka to gather berries or something, and I'll make sure to have fresh breakfast for you two when you're done."

She smiled. "Thanks." With that, she walked over to Toph's earth tent. Toph lowered the wall, let her in, then closed it up behind her.


I convinced Aang and Sokka to make themselves scarce. I make some jook for Katara and Toph and kept it warm on the fire. About an hour after Katara entered Toph's tent, the tent door opened and Katara stomped out. She looked absolutely pissed.

She sat down by the fire in a huff. "Did you and Toph fight?" I inquired.

She shook her head. "No, Toph's fine, she's just coming to terms with it." She scowled. "But if the Fire Nation weren't after us, I'd go back to Gaoling and kick her parents' asses." She grumbled.

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. "Did you just…swear? You never swear!"

She glared. "I want to do more than swear at them." She growled.

I narrowed my eyes. "What did they do? Did they not tell her about…this?"

She shook her head. "Worse." She replied. "They kept it from her."

I tilted my head. "Meaning?"

"After I told Toph the facts of life, and about…where babies come from, she remembered a conversation she overheard her main servant, Lika, having with her parents." Katara explained. "Lika asked 'what do we do the first time she bleeds?', and her parents said to tell her that she was just sick, and they would use that excuse every time it happened." Katara's fists tightened. "They were never going to tell her the truth."

I nearly snapped. The campfire shot up almost a foot. I took several deep breaths to calm myself down and I stirred the jook to make sure it didn't burn. "That's really fucked up." I said after a minute.

Katara didn't correct my swearing and just nodded seriously. "If you think about it, it's even worse."

I frowned. Where was she going with this? "I don't follow." I admitted.

"Think about what would have happened if Toph really was as helpless as they thought she was." Katara said. "If she didn't know about sex or the consequences…" She trailed off.

My eyes widened. "Someone could have tricked her and taken advantage of her." I finished. I had to take several more deep breaths so I wouldn't flambé our breakfast. "What would have happened when they died and Toph was all alone?" I wondered. "Or did they think she was so weak that they would outlive her?"

Katara shook her head. "I don't know." She looked at me. "Gran Gran taught me everything when I turned ten so I would be ready when it happened."

I cocked my head to the side. "Why Gran Gran?"

Katara looked down. "She was the only option. Mom was…" She trailed off.

I felt like an ass. "I'm sorry."

Katara looked at me. "It's fine." She assured me. "I'm curious. Who taught you that stuff?"

"My dad." I said. "As soon as I turned eleven, he told me everything." I shuddered. "Most awkward conversation of my life."

"Tell me about it." A voice said behind us. I turned around. Toph was there, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Hey," I greeted, "I made breakfast."

Toph nodded. "Breakfast sounds good." She sat down by the fire and I handed her a bowl.

"You doing okay?" I asked.

She frowned. "Part of me is grossed out, because now I know what those weird vibrations coming from my parents room were."

I grimaced. "I can imagine." Suddenly a thought occurred to me. "I'm surprised you didn't know about this stuff already, given that you could essentially 'see' what your parents were doing."

She shook her head. "They were on the bed. The mattress is soft. That muffled the vibrations enough that I knew they were doing something, but I didn't know what." She grimaced. "Now I wish I didn't know."

"Is that all you're feeling?" I wondered.

She shook her head. "I'm mad at my parents for keeping this shit from me."

"Language." Katara chided. Toph ignored her.

I nodded. "At least we won't keep stuff like that from you." I assured her.

"Except the stuff you already keep from us." Toph pointed out.

I frowned. "I have a reason for that."

Toph grinned. "I know, I'm just messing with you." She said. "Besides, I like to figure things out for myself, anyway."

"You're not mad at me for telling you about metalbending, are you?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Nah, you just wondered out loud if it was possible, I was the one who did it."

That was a relief.


Aang and Sokka came back a few minutes later. Toph assured them that she was fine, and she wouldn't be waking up anyone in the middle of the night unless we were really under attack.

Katara and Aang spent the day waterbending. Sokka went hunting. Toph sat on a rock in camp, fiddling with her chain. I took the day off from training to study the scrolls in my box. There were only four scrolls I hadn't learned yet. Fire missile, jet propulsion, wall of flames, and lightning. I was reading the fire missile scroll, when Toph interrupted me.

"That's weird." She said to herself.

I looked at her. "What's weird?"

"It's Twinkle Toes and Sugar Queen." She said. "Their hearts are beating faster for some reason. I don't get it…wait…" She trailed off. I looked over at Aang and Katara. Katara was correcting Aang's stance for a waterbending form by touching him and moving his arms into the correct pose. Toph got a grin on her face. "So, Hand Slicer, how long has that been going on?" She asked.

I chuckled. Toph was very perceptive. "Aang's had a crush on her ever since we got him out of the iceberg. I think Katara started liking him back after we spent time in Makapu Village." I admitted. "Both of them are too afraid to make a move, though."

Toph did a double-take. "Wait, they're not together? Their hearts are beating like that and they're not together?"

"I know, right?" I said in an exasperated tone. "They've already kissed, so I don't know what their problem is."

Toph turned her head to me. "When did that happen?"

I cursed my big mouth. "In the Cave of Two Lovers." I answered. "When Katara, Aang, and I got stuck in the tomb, Katara saw 'love is brightest in the dark' carved on the wall, and got the idea to kiss Aang."

Toph snapped her fingers. "That explains it. When you guys told me about your adventures the other day, their hearts beat faster during that part of the story. You just told me you got the idea to put out your torch."

I smirked. "I did, after they kissed."

Toph got a wicked grin on her face. "Sokka said you told them that you didn't remember how to get out, but you knew the way out all along, didn't you?"

"Yep." I confessed without remorse.

"And you want them to get together, so you made sure they would kiss." She realized.

"Guilty." I admitted.

"So, how was it for them?" She wondered.

I got a wicked smile of my own. "They really enjoyed it. I had to tell them to stop." I laughed. "There was tongue."

Toph turned to Aang and Katara's direction. "Wow, they really need to get together already."

"Tell me about it." I agreed. "Just don't tease them about it. I promised that I wouldn't tease them or tell Sokka."

She shrugged. "No problem."


That night at dinner, Toph continued to play with her metal chain. She was bending individual links into crude shapes. "You're getting pretty good at that." I complimented.

She smiled. "Thanks."

Aang looked at the chain, then at me. "It's kind of weird how you know some things about elements you can't even bend." He pointed out.

Sokka looked at me. "You holding out anything else on us besides metalbending?"

I nodded. "A few things."

Aang gave me a look. "Anything about airbending?"

I thought about it. I guess it wouldn't do any harm to tell him about some of the things I knew. "I know of two techniques that you don't, but the sad part is you can't learn either of them." I said.

Aang looked a little disappointed. "Why not?"

I gave him a look. "Have you ever heard of Guru Laghima?"

Aang nodded. "The famous Air Nomad poet? Yeah, I've heard of him."

"He could fly without a glider." I said. "According to stories, he didn't touch the ground for the last forty years of his life."

Katara frowned. "Why can't Aang do that?" She asked. She wanted to believe Aang could do anything.

"Let go your earthly tether. Enter the void. Empty and become wind." I quoted a verse that a certain bald anarchist lived by. Or would live by, considering he hadn't been born yet.

Aang cocked his head. "I've heard that before, what does it mean?"

"It means that Guru Laghima was able to fly unaided because he got rid of all his earthly attachments forever." I answered. "He had nothing tying him to the earth. You can't do that."

Aang looked slightly uncomfortable. "But the monks taught me that the Air Nomads should detach themselves from the earth to achieve enlightenment." He argued.

I shook my head. "That's fine for normal airbenders, but the Avatar can't do that." I said. "You can't separate yourself from the world you're supposed to protect. Besides, you're the great bridge between this world and the Spirit World. A bridge can't work if it's not attached to the things it's supposed to connect."

Aang looked unsure. I don't think he understood what 'detach' really meant. He was probably just trying to do what the monks taught him.

"Aang," I said gently. "When I say that Guru Laghima detached himself from the world, I mean that he didn't have any family, or any close friends that he considered family." I gave him a meaningful look. "Is that how you want your life to be?"

Aang's eyes widened. I think I saw Katara flinch in my peripheral vision, too. "No!" He said sharply. "I won't abandon my friends!"

I smiled. "I know you won't."

Sokka frowned. "You said you knew about two airbending techniques Aang didn't know." He realized. "What's the other one?"

This one would be difficult to explain without giving away the future. I would have to be vague about certain parts. "Certain airbenders can project their spirit form into the world outside of their body."

Aang cocked his head curiously. "You mean like when I was in the Spirit World but my body was still here?"

I nodded. "Kind of, but both your body and your spirit form would be in this world."

"So, why can't I do that?" He asked.

"Well, it's nothing wrong with you." I assured him. I wasn't about to explain spirit portals, Harmonic Convergence, Raava and Vaatu to him. "It's complicated, and I can't tell you everything without giving away information, but let's just say that the world doesn't have enough spiritual energy for you to pull that off and leave it at that."

Aang looked confused, but eventually he shrugged. "What about the other elements?"

Toph put up her hand in a 'stop' gesture. "Don't say anything else about earth, if you know anything." She said.

I shrugged. "Okay, but why?"

She held up her chain. "I already have my hands full learning metalbending." She said. "Maybe I'll ask again after I master it, but I don't want to have to learn a bunch of things at once."

I nodded. "That's fine."

Katara decided it was her turn. "Do you know anything else about water?"

I didn't want to go down this road, but I had to give her something. I nodded. "Mostly I know about different sources of water you can use." I said. "Remember Huu in the swamp and how he bent the vines?"

Katara nodded, encouraging me to continue. "You can do that, or you can just pull the water out of plants and bend that." I continued. "But, if you do that, it'll kill the plant."

She nodded again, always eager to learn. "Anything else?" She prompted.

"You can also pull water out of thin air if it's humid enough." I responded. "That's all I know."

Toph frowned. "He's lying."

Fuck.

Katara looked at me with hurt in her eyes. "Why are you lying? What won't you tell me?"

I took a deep breath. "There's one more waterbending technique I know of, but it's evil. I won't tell you about it." I stated firmly.

Sokka scoffed. "How bad could it be? It's water."

I ignored him and looked at Katara. "Remember the Siege of the North?" I asked.

She gave me a questioning look. "What does that have to do with it?"

"Think back to what we did there." I reminded her. "You and Aang avoided killing anyone, you just knocked people out, broke limbs, or immobilized them." I looked down. "I was more…pragmatic. I burned soldiers alive with fire streams, I blew up tanks with soldiers still inside them. I stabbed soldiers through the heart with fire daggers."

Sokka looked confused. "What's your point?"

"My point is, of the four of us, I'm probably the most ruthless." I replied. I pointed at Toph. "Even Toph would usually aim to incapacitate, not kill. But I'm telling you, if I were a waterbender instead of a firebender, I would never use the technique that I'm keeping from you."

Katara's eyes went wide. "Is it really that bad?"

I nodded. "I've made plans to make sure that technique never sees the light of day."

Everyone was silent for a few seconds. "Well, I have some good news." Toph said to lighten the mood. "I've figured out a lesson plan for Twinkle Toes."

Aang smiled brightly. "Really?!"

Toph nodded. "Yeah. We can get started at the next place we camp out." She grinned. "I won't go easy on you."

"Yes!" Aang cheered.

That brought back the mood. After dinner was over, I went to retrieve my sleeping bag from Appa. When I climbed back down from the bison, I noticed that my clothes were covered in fur. Appa was shedding. Pretty soon, Azula would catch up with us.

Pretty soon, I would see her again.

Ty Lee. I wanted to see her again, but I was nervous about talking to her. I didn't want to fuck it up. That wasn't the only thing I was scared of. I'd have to pull the dumbest stunt of my life, and survive, before we'd even get the chance to speak.

I set up my sleeping bag, and sleep finally took me away from my troubled thoughts.


Ty Lee POV

Azula, Mai and I were camped out pretty close to the southern edge of the Earth Kingdom. The driver of the train never left the front cabin. Azula said he had everything he needed in there already. We'd heard rumors of the Avatar in a city called Gaoling, but the trail went cold after that. We traveled east after that. We'd found two campsites that could've been theirs, but we weren't sure. We were staying at the second campsite. It was easier than setting up a new one.

It was almost sunset, and I was gathering berries in the woods. The train we were using was full of supplies, but I always liked taking walks and gathering my own things. I was picking some berries when I felt something fuzzy. That was weird. Berries didn't get fuzzy unless you picked them and didn't eat them for a few weeks. I picked my hand up and looked at it. It was some kind of white fur. It looked familiar…

Wait.

Didn't the Avatar's bison have white fur? Was this a trail? I picked it up and ran back to camp. Azula and Mai were sitting by the fire. Azula looked up at me. "What is it?" She inquired, blunt as ever.

I held out my hand. "I think I might have found something." I replied.

Azula came over and took a look at the fur. Her eyes narrowed in thought. "Where did you find this?"

"Follow me." I replied. I led both Mai and Azula to the bush where I found the fur. Azula looked around at the ground, and found more tufts of fur. They formed a trail heading to the east.

A sinister grin formed on Azula's face. "The Avatar and the Hand Slicer. They won't escape this time." She turned to face us. "Let's pack up and go. We can tell the driver to follow them and get some rest on the way there. We won't let them rest, we'll wear them out, and then we'll catch them."

Mai and I nodded, and went to pack our things.


We packed up quickly, and the train took off following the fur trail. I tried to get some sleep. I was woken up in the middle of the night by a hand covering my mouth. I got ready to attack, but I realized it was Mai. I could barely see her in the dark train with the lights off. She held a finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet. "I need to talk to you about something." She whispered so quietly I could barely hear her. "And I can't let Azula overhear us."

I nodded and sat up. Mai took her hand off my mouth. "What is it?" I whispered.

Mai frowned. "I need to ask you something." She whispered. "About Alec."

Where was she going with this? "Okay, what is it?" I asked.

She looked me in the eye. "Do you like him?"

I flushed red. "I don't know."

Mai gave me a look. "I mean I really don't know." I admitted. "If you asked me that before the wanted poster, I would've said yes, but now I'm really confused."

Mai gave me a knowing look. "You want to know why he's on the other side." She said.

My eyes widened. "Please don't tell Azula!" I begged with a whisper.

Mai shook her head. "I won't." She assured me. That was a relief. "In fact, I need your help."

"With what?" I asked, totally confused.

"I need to ask him something." Mai said. "I've been thinking about what he said in Omashu. He might know some information that I want to know. Information that I can't get from Azula without looking suspicious."

Now I was even more confused. "What information?" I inquired.

Mai shook her head. "Don't worry about that. Listen, if we can get him alone without Azula there, I just need to ask him one question, and I need you to make sure he's telling the truth."

I nodded. "Okay." I was still confused. "Why do you care about this so much? You never seemed to care about…" I tried to find the right words.

Mai smirked. "Anything?" She finished. I nodded sheepishly. "I admit, I only care about a few things." She said. "You're one of them. And he might know something about one of the other things I care about."

I nodded. "Okay. I don't know if we'll get the chance, but I won't tell on you if we do."

Mai gave a small smile. "Thanks, good night."

"Good night." I replied.

AN: Next time, The Chase.