Chapter Six: The Two Masters
It was as though the battle had happened yesterday.
That's all Sokka could think about as he drank in the somber, quiet wreckage of Wulong Forest. Once upon a time, or so he had been told, the forest and the rock formations adjacent to it had been magnificent, a natural wonder on the same level of grandeur as the Great Divide or the Western Air Temple. It had been like that since the creation of the world, up until five years ago, when Avatar Aang and Phoenix King Ozai clashed at that very spot. The climactic battle had not been kind on the landscape. Sokka winced as he saw some of the pillars of stone had crumbled to pieces or swayed in the wind, ready to join their siblings in the rock pile below. "It's beautiful," he gasped in awe as the Fire Nation sailboat ran aground in the sand. "Tragically beautiful, but… still beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yeah, Sokka," Toph deadpanned, her arms crossed. "It's beautiful."
"..."
"..."
"You're insufferable, you know."
"Maybe if they sent me with someone who could remember I'm blind," she replied, hopping over the side and splashing into the ankle-deep water, "I wouldn't be so bad. I should have taken Suki with me."
"What do you mean, 'taken Suki with you'? This whole operation was my idea," shot back Sokka as he joined her in wading to shore.
"Why didn't she come, anyway? Finally scare her off? You two haven't stopped slobbering all over each other like a couple polar bear dogs since you got engaged a few months ago."
"Five months ago," the tribesman corrected. "And she decided to stay on her own accord. She hasn't had a lot of time to be in the South Pole without me, and I really want her to like it there, so…"
"So, having her there with no one but your grandmother and dad and the snow to talk to is what you decided would get her to like the place? I hate to break it to ya, pal, but you're moving to Kyoshi whether you like it or not," said Toph.
As the Stone Fingers loomed closer, the two most talkative members of Team Avatar independently fell silent. The old battlefield was graced with the same type of reverent quiet as a library. Sokka ran a hand along one of the stone cylinders as they walked deeper into the unliving jungle. Coming back to where it had all ended, after all those years of peace, made Sokka feel as though he was digging around in the dustbin of history.
"I feel old," he said suddenly.
"Like you're a relic of the past? I feel that too, sometimes," Toph responded. "It's like everyone's waiting for us to die so they can put up big statues in our honor."
"A statue would be nice," Sokka sighed dreamily.
"We ended a hundred years of war. We're all getting statues."
The conversation died in their throats as the pair traversed further, now wildly off-track from their intended goal but nevertheless carrying on. They reached a clearing in the fingers, where a circle of stone had been melted into now-hardened sludge. At the base of one of the pillars at the edge of the circle were the remains of a spherical rock shelter—the makeshift ball Aang had hidden inside to escape Ozai. The front half had been blown clean off, the edges still showing where they'd been seared with the heat of a comet.
"This was the epicenter," observed Sokka, pointing at the shelter, then following a line to the left. "Meaning that the airships were over that part of the forest."
"What part of the forest?"
"The part to our left," he clarified.
The duo continued to the edge of the forest. It was a pleasant place, with more than enough sunlight leaking through the leaves to illuminate the world beneath the branches. Squirrels and birds frolicked, and though the two older teens were determined and serious, they couldn't help but crack a smile. It was just like old times.
Toph abruptly skidded to a stop. "I can feel it!"
Sokka whirled to face her. "You can ? Are you sure?"
Readjusting her bracelet made of meteorite, the earthbender answered, "Positive."
Toph led the way with purpose. Even though she was blind, Sokka sometimes felt like she could see better than him, as she expertly navigated the twisting, intertwining roots leaping in and out of the forest floor. The foliage soon thickened, and the light began to fade, causing the warrior to pull out his trusty boomerang in order to quell his fears. Every so often the earthbender would hold up a palm, signaling a stop, then pivot and keep on going. Twice Sokka thought he saw a jaguar bear stalking them, and though it turned out to just be his mind playing tricks on him, he was not assuaged when he found the fresh pawprint of a saber-tooth moose lion in the mud.
"Is it close by?" he questioned, hugging his boomerang tightly.
Toph simply nodded. As she concentrated, the meteorite on her wrist began to hum, achieving a frequency that Toph's excellent ears could pick up on. Then the woods came to a sudden end as a clearing opened. Sokka's eyes widened in wonder and joy as he sprinted past the girl and over to the boulder at the middle of the clearing, where, embedded halfway into the rock, was…
"Space sword!" he cheered, throwing his arms around the stone.
The elegant black blade shone just as brightly as the day it had been forged from that meteorite, glinting in a stray sunbeam. Despite having spent five long years exposed to the elements, there was no rust, no damage at all, to the weapon, a testament to the material it had been crafted from. Sokka eagerly climbed atop the boulder and pulled the sword free, thrusting it into the air, catching the light and displaying it in its full glory.
"Well, that was easy," chirped Toph. "No monsters, no magic spirits, no angry benders, no mercenaries, no natural disasters? Nothing trying to maim or kill us? Are we even a part of Team Avatar anymore?"
Sokka was too busy dancing around with his sword to hear her, making strange faces and spinning like a ballerina.
The earthbender tapped her foot. "Can we go now? Before the ground opens up to swallow us whole?"
/ / | \ \
Toph groaned loudly as she dangled her head off the edge of the stone balcony. It had been three days since she and Sokka had found his space sword in Wulong Forest, and three days since they had returned to Shu Jing Village. She had been hoping for Aang and Zuko's speedy return, but it had quickly become apparent they would not be graced with the presence of the Avatar and the Fire Lord for a while. Sokka had taken it upon himself to reach out to his old teacher and current pen pal, Master Piandao, and managed to persuade the swordsman to give the two of them a place to stay while they awaited the rest of their team. Since then, it had been nothing but endless sparring matches between the two. Toph understood Sokka needed somewhere to channel his emotions, and it was great that he was getting practice in again, but…
She. Was. Bored.
Her moans and grumblings elicited no response from the dueling partners. She could feel the reverberations of their fancy footwork through the ground, Piandao's graceful movements juxtaposed with Sokka's choppier, more erratic motions. In his defense, he hadn't practiced with the space sword in a while, and he was still holding his own with the old master. It's just that, well, Piandao was more experienced. Toph blew a lock of what she had been told was dark hair off her face, and decided that if she couldn't entertain herself, she'd let the two boys with blades do it for her. She strained her ears and lowered her fingertips to the floor.
Sokka and Piandao, Toph discovered, moved with more speed and purpose than she had ever observed in a bender. That made sense, she supposed. Chucking rocks and shooting big gusts of wind, fire, and water wasn't exactly a precise business. But swordplay required accuracy, a deep-seated exactness not many people had. She felt herself gasp as Piandao's sword clanged against Sokka's, and the younger man grunted as he braced himself. Toph could feel the metal biting into metal. Then there was the swish of fabric and the slide of shoes against the arena floor, and suddenly Sokka was the one in control. Maybe she'd underestimated him. Maybe he was better than Piandao.
Clang! Shwift. Woosh. Ka-thunka.
"Very good, Sokka!" the old master declared. "But let's see how you handle this."
Shhiing! Squeak. Ba-taang! Wham!
There was a sudden splash as someone fell into the water. An instant later, a sword clattered to the ground. A sword with an iron blade.
"Not bad," the tribesman retorted, "for an old man."
Piandao's laughter filled the courtyard, and Toph let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. Sokka pulled him up, and he said, "Well, you're certainly better than when I trained you. Much better."
"I've been working on a few techniques with my fiancée," Sokka replied, swiping at the air to celebrate his impressive tour de force. "She's a Kyoshi Warrior."
"That would explain your unpredictability. Kyoshi Warriors would make fine assassins if they weren't so disciplined."
The Water Tribesman paused. "...Thank you?"
Toph sighed. Things had just started getting interesting, she mused, before an idea struck her like lightning from the heavens. The earthbender rolled off the balcony and landed on her feet at the edge of the arena below, announcing, "Hey you two, playtime's over! Now's your chance to practice against a real threat."
Master Piandao turned to face her. "Who are you to be so bold as to interrupt an apprentice and his master?"
She smiled cockily. "I'm Toph Beifong, and I'm the greatest earthbender of all time!"
Piandao said nothing, confused, but Sokka whispered to him, "She's the person who invented metalbending."
The swordsman gasped in recognition, "Ahh, another master in our midst!"
Toph blew a raspberry in Sokka's general direction. "See? I'm a master."
"Oh, it's not as though Sokka is very far off from mastery of the blade," Piandao interjected. "Though, he'd need to prove his skill for me to declare him my equal."
"Your… equal?" the tribesman gaped.
He nodded. "Indeed. I have never seen such raw talent and drive to improve. Why, you've picked up right where you left off with a weapon you hadn't seen in half a decade! Even Zuko was not as impressive. And clearly, besting me is no great feat for you. No, you need just one last test, and then I shall see fit to name you master."
"He can fight me!" shouted Toph excitedly.
She could have sworn Piandao was smirking as he said, "Yes, that seems to be a fair deal."
/ / | \ \
Sokka had, in just a few minutes, experienced a flurry of emotions, first humility, then pride, then happiness. Now, he was facing a whole new feeling: dread. The type of dread that rips out your heart, shoves it inside your stomach, and shakes them both up until they explode. His mouth tried to operate, but the last two brain cells in his head couldn't string together enough words to speak. "But she's the greatest earthbender of all time! I'm not joking, she literally is!" he finally managed to get out.
Toph cracked her neck. "You're the one who threw a punch at the Avatar. Are you afraid a little girl is gonna whip your butt?"
"I— But, but… No! I'm not worried about a little girl whipping my butt! I'm worried about a tall, strong girl chewing me up and spitting me out! I've seen you 'practice' with Aang. He's so bruised after it he's purple!"
"Sokka," Master Piandao sternly began, "this is your final test. I would not have assigned it to you if I did not think you could overcome it. I know you have faced benders of all types in your travels. You know as well as I do that you must be prepared for anything, because anything can happen."
The young swordsman sighed deeply. "I know. Come on, Toph, let's do this thing."
A short while later, everyone was in position. Master Piandao and his trusted butler, Fat, would be watching from the sidelines, making sure no one stepped out of the ring and no foul play was involved. Sokka and Toph, meanwhile, faced down each other from either end of the circle. Fat crashed a mallet into a gong, signaling the start of the match.
"Are you ready to go home, waterboy?" the earthbender asked, picking something from under her fingernail.
Sokka wrinkled his nose and raised a brow. "What? No, I thought we were—"
"Good!" she exclaimed, interrupting. "Because I bought you a one-way ticket to POUND TOWN!"
Toph slammed her foot into the ground and a trifecta of stone boxes ripped from the arena shot into orbit around her. She sprinted forward and threw out her arm, hurling the rocks toward Sokka. His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and he limboed back, the rubble just barely missing his nose. Off-kilter from Toph's unfiltered aggression, the swordsman forgot to swing when she came tumbling by, instead opting to roll away. The bender stopped on a dime and spun to face him. Sokka couldn't help but notice how much more terrifying Toph had become over the years. She had been a little monster when he'd met her, but in the years since she'd grown like a weed into a cunning, sly, and powerful young woman. Not missing a beat, she punched the ground and dislodged a chunk, which she split into three smaller pieces and sent towards Sokka at breakneck speeds.
"Holy crap, Toph, are you trying to actually kill me?" he shrieked, deflecting the projectiles with his sword.
"Adrenaline is the spice of life!" she cackled.
"That's 'variety'!"
As Toph began another assault, Sokka realized he needed to get a grip. He saw Master Piandao watching pensively, dissecting his every move against the Blind Bandit. Focus, he told himself. Focus, focus, focus. I need to focus.
Taking a deep breath, Sokka closed his eyes and held his blade before him. He may not have been able to sense seismic activity through the earth like Toph, but a certain ability to predict and react was needed to be handy with a sword. His eyes flashed open, and he saw her sprinting towards him again. Sokka took one step to the side and entirely evaded her, rocks and all. He spun to shout some smug remark, only to be nailed in the gut by a boulder, knocking him to the ground.
"I'm bliiiind," she taunted.
Sokka flipped back up, breathing hard. Clearly, his usual tactics for handling Piandao wouldn't work with Toph. He'd have to dig deeper. How had Aang beaten her in that pro-bending match where they'd met? He'd flown and airbended. Well, that's off the table, surmised the tribesman. Then he thought about it a little harder. Aang didn't just fly, he evaded her. He became Twinkletoes because his toes never touched the ground. Things fell in place. Sokka knew exactly what to do and how to do it. Repeated over and over again in his mind was a long-forgotten pillar of Water Tribe warfare his father had taught him long ago: Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
The swordsman stepped lightly. If Toph "saw" by sensing vibrations, well, he'd make her work for that. Sokka moved like a gentle breeze, suddenly imbibed with more grace and poise than he had ever had in his life. Usually, he could be a klutz, but when a blade was in his hand, he became a whole other person. Toph's next round was easily dodged as he rose onto his toes, his movements growing more careful as he minimized the noise from his footsteps. She was visibly confused, struggling to pick up where her dueling partner had gone. "Sokka, what the hell are you doing?"
Knowing better than to speak and give his position away, the swordsman continued his strange, chaotic tango, keeping his footing as he stepped in one direction, then another, then another with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Toph spun in circles, trying to detect him, but she was getting confused. Was that his heartbeat or Piandao's or Fat's? Sokka was suddenly by her side, and he smacked her across the cheek with the flat of his blade. Shouting, Toph tottered away, but in hitting her Sokka had revealed his position. The earthbender wrenched a hunk of plaster and brick out of the wall nearby—Piandao yelped, "My house!"—and flung it at her opponent, but Sokka just cleaved the mass in two with his space sword.
"It seems to me like the Blind Bandit is getting this match stolen right out from under her!" he cheered.
Roaring, Toph pulled the gong from its strings with her metalbending and launched it at the tribesman, who chopped that up too. She hocked more rocks at him, but he was too fast and too quiet to pin down, sending her into a confused rage. Then Sokka appeared before her, and she had just enough time to raise her hand and stop his sword's downward blow with her bending. The blade hovered there, Toph and Sokka fighting for dominance, mastery of the elements versus mastery of muscles, until he lunged with a foot and swept her legs out from under her. With a flourish, Sokka twirled his sword and pointed the tip down to Toph's neck, barely an inch away from quivering flesh.
"I win," he drawled.
Her nostrils flared and her cheeks turned crimson, but she swallowed her anger and simply replied, "You win. Now get that thing away from me before you accidentally decapitate me."
"Really?" he asked incredulously. "You—you're giving up? You're conceding? Just like that?"
"I like my head where it is currently, thanks."
Sokka stepped back and did a little dance, shouting at the top of his lungs, "I win! I win! Wahoo!"
Master Piandao cleared his throat, and he stopped celebrating immediately. Piandao beckoned for him, and Sokka came forward, kneeling at his master's feet and staring down into the dirt. The teacher unsheathed his own blade, examining it in the sun for a moment before stating, "That was a most impressive display, my apprentice."
The boy from the Water Tribe bowed his head lower. "Thank you, master."
"I suppose others will be saying that to you from now on," Piandao remarked, bringing his weapon down to tap Sokka gently on the shoulders. "Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, I pronounce you to be a master of the blade, a warrior who fights not for war, but for peace. A defender not of his own interest, but of the world's. Remember these words. Heed them. Only then may you truly become what we all strive to be: a hero."
He nodded, rising, and said, "I will, Master Piandao."
"It's a shame I won't be able to call you my apprentice anymore," he considered.
"I may not be your apprentice anymore, but I will always be your student."
The teacher smiled. "Of course, Master Sokka. Oh, and, if I may—I'd recommend it best to not lord this over Zuko too much."
"Zuko isn't a master?"
Piandao shook his head. "He was too impatient and thought himself better than he truly was, at least back then. And then he was banished, and our lessons became few and far between. Eventually, he ran off on his grand quest to capture the Avatar before I had a chance to give him his final test."
"Ah."
"If I may ask, Sokka… what brought you two to my village after all this time? You were dropped off by the Avatar and the Fire Lord, and they left in company of the Dragon of the West. Those three together cannot mean good news."
The tribesman hung his head, reality hitting him like a splash of ice water.
Piandao laid a hand on his shoulder. "I don't mean to pry. If you don't feel comfortable discussing this, then—"
"No, no, it's…" Sokka choked, "It's my sister. She was kidnapped by the Southern Raiders—they're these Fire Nation insurgents who can't believe the war is over. My friends and I are going out searching for them. For her."
"I see. Well, just know that if you ever need my blade or my advice, I will not hesitate to be at your side."
Sokka nodded. "Sure."
The rest of the afternoon went by quickly, and soon Toph and the others had retreated inside the castle, leaving Sokka alone outside. He sat at the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling out into nothingness. The sun was setting over the beautiful valley below, turning the lazy river cutting through the landscape a brilliant orange. Sokka was pondering something deeply, his hand propping up his cheek. Then Toph shattered his concentration, yelling, "Hey, Twinkletoes Junior! Twinkletoes Senior and Mister Mopey are here! We've gotta go!"
"Coming!" shouted Sokka in reply, scrambling to collect his sword and boomerang and dashing away up the stairs. He wiped a lone teardrop from his eye, casting it aside with a casual flick. The moral quandaries could wait. He had a sister to save.
SPACE SWORD RETURNS!
Yeah really, why did that never happen in canon? Sokka really gets shafted in The Legend of Korra (or so I've been told—I'm still yet to watch most of LOK), and in the comics he just kind of turns into a caricature of himself, losing most of his tactician skills he'd spent the entire show building up and instead becoming a faucet for bad jokes (well, jokes worse than what Sokka tells usually). I feel like retrieving the epic sword he just forged and trained endlessly with would be a top priority of his, especially when you're best friends with a girl who can sense metal.
Apologies for my update schedule, which is currently nonexistent. My given amount of free time per week fluctuates drastically because school is a bitch.