"They're gone." Toph announced. The Kyoshi Warrior sighed as she got up, but Toph didn't move. Zuko opened one eye and looked over.
This Toph looked just a little different. Her face was thinner and her body was lean, even for a twelve-year-old. Blazes, had she been only twelve?
"What'er you looking at?" Toph snapped. Zuko scoffed and sat up.
"You look different." He said.
"What, I don't always look like a starving thief?" Toph asked.
"You're hardly starving now." The Kyoshi Warrior interjected. At her voice, Zuko looked over and saw her preparing a fire. He took that as a sign they'd be staying put for awhile.
"No." Zuko said slowly as he turned back. "No, you weren't a- You were a thief?"
"You're looking at the Blind Bandit, scourge of Gaoling." Toph swept her arms through the long grass in a rushing arc, sending tiny seeds spraying into the air.
"A thief?" Zuko repeated. Toph sat up now, her hair looking much like a bun of dark bread speckled with seeds.
"After your lot came into town, my parents' home was one of the first places occupied. The Beifong name didn't protect us much after that and my folks don't know anything about honest work." Toph rubbed her hands back and forth over her head to dislodge the seeds. "Didn't know much about dishonest work either I suppose."
"What are they doing now?" Katara questioned.
"I agreed to join the rebels here if someone would take care of them." Toph stilled and rested her hands on the ground, palms flat. She listened to the space around them and Zuko quieted instinctively.
"It's weird." She started, then tapped the ground. "The Badgermoles taught me so much. I learned to foresee objects the way they can rocks and stuff as they're digging. It made me a real good thief.
"I can feel you, and you feel like everyone else. You're telling me you don't belong but there's no one else inside of you. It's just you."
"So what happened to the other Zuko?" Katara asked.
"You're asking me?" Zuko replied. Katara frowned and swatted at his arm.
"I think that's a fair question. I think it'll tell us how you got here." She retorted.
"I'd like to know who I am in your world." Toph said. "What am I if not a blind thief?"
"Still blind." Zuko stated and winced as Katara smacked his arm again. Toph chuckled, either at his pair or his comment. Or both.
"But you were also the-" He stopped and shut his mouth so quickly he clipped the tip of his tongue.
Everything had been so similar that Zuko had never thought about the smaller alterations he could make. He had assumed that either destiny or through his own moral code was enough to disrupt whatever plan was being hatched by his family. It was for the greater good; to save the world by using his knowledge that this timeline's Zuko would never gain.
"Also what?" Toph prompted.
"I don't know if I should say." Zuko said.
"Oh man, do I kill someone?" Toph asked with a laugh.
"No, no, it's just." He turned to Katara and felt himself pale.
Was he supposed to tell either of them?
Toph's metalbending was used in the war, but Katara had sworn never to bloodbend again after the Southern Raiders.
"You both use a new style of bending." Zuko said as he looked at Katara. He hesitated and then stood, looking at the ground as he dusted off his pants. "Using elements no one has ever used before."
"Even the Avatar?" Katara asked as she took in a breath.
"And you don't want to tell us because you don't want to ruin some life lesson?" Toph asked.
"Yeah, actually." Zuko said.
Toph pulled her arms up, her fists clenched, and Zuko sank up to his ankles in the ground. Falling off balance, Toph relaxed her hands as the dirt loosened so that he toppled forward. Zuko braced himself and hit more loose dirt, which flew into his face.
Sputtering and wiping weakly at his eyes, he listened to Toph cackle as Katara helped him back up.
"That was mean." Katara said sharply and Zuko held up a hand.
"It's fine." He coughed. Feeling the grit in his teeth, Zuko stepped away and tried to discreetly spit out the mud forming under his tongue.
"If he can take a fire blast to the face, I think he can handle a little dirt." Toph remarked. Zuko heard the swish of the grass as she walked away and he sneezed.
Katara grumbled but approached Zuko with a floating blob of water.
"Thank you." He said and rinsed his face, clearing the bit of earth from his eyes.
"Oh, you cut your hand." Katara said. With the water worn like gloves, she took his hands and held them palm up. Passing her hands over his, she first cleared the tiny rocks from his skin. On his left hand there wasn't an actual cut, but more of a scrape. It was barely bleeding but Katara still put her watery hand on it.
The water glowed and chilled him. With a shiver, Zuko watched Katara's face as she healed him.
When she was done, she tossed the water away and Zuko looked around.
The grass around them was cracked and desiccated.
"Where did you learn to do that?" He asked. Katara looked down and her face was blank. On an older woman, or a more serious person, the look would have been neutral. But Katara was kind and open, so her face now was like a firmly shut door.
"Hama taught me." Katara tilted her head and ran her fingertips lightly over the dried stalks. They crumbled under her touch. "She made sure I'd be safe."
When she looked up at him, her smile had returned. "Why do you think my village was okay with me jumping onto a Fire Nation ship?"