Gaoling is just as impressive as Omashu, but in a significantly different way. Omashu had a sort of utilitarianism to it, a function over form design that made it clear that it was a bustling merchant city. Gaoling is all about the aesthetic— arched bridges lined with flowers stretch over canals that run through the city, people with fancy clothes the likes of which Katara has never seen flitting about between boutiques and cafes. She feels increasingly out of place in her nowhere-near-new clothes and her beat up straw hat, but they eventually find the less affluent part of the city (which is still nicer than anything back home) and hang around there. They have no clue how they're going to find the girl Aang had seen in the swamp, who they're assuming is the last elemental Othered that they need on their team before heading to Ba Sing Se. King Bumi's advice hadn't been very clear, and the more time they spend in Gaoling, the more nervous Katara gets.
The sun is setting, and Katara's composure is slipping alongside it behind the silhouette of Gaoling. They've been looking and listening as discreetly as they can all day, and there's been no sign or word of any Othered that live in town. True, those who are Othered are usually shunned and stuffed somewhere on the outskirts of the city, but Katara's found that there's always some sort of gossip about her floating through her home village, and she had assumed that Gaoling would be the same.
"This is pointless," she hisses to Zuko and Aang under her breath. "How are we ever going to find her like this?"
"We'll find her." Aang sounds so determined, and she wishes that she could say the same for herself.
"In cities this nice, there's bound to be some sort of underground illegal betting circle or something." Zuko shrugs as if this is common knowledge. "Rich people get bored easily. I think if we figure out where it is, we might find her there."
"Why do you say that?" Aang asks— the purity of his upbringing rings clear in his words. Katara has no doubt that the people of Yangchen have no such illegality in their town, and it had seemed nice enough to her. But not nearly as gaudy as Gaoling.
"Think about it. This city is full of rich people, right? So it's probable that this girl comes from a rich family."
Aang shrugs. "She was wearing nice clothes in my vision."
Katara crosses her arms to try to quell her anxiety at Aang's words. She doesn't want to think of her vision, and she can't bear to dwell on what Zuko had told her of his own.
"Right. So if she's from a rich family, they're probably hiding her away." Katara's mind flashes to the mental image of a young Zuko with a bandaged face as he speaks. "If I were a rich girl trying to sneak out, I'd want to go wherever the excitement is."
"I guess that makes sense." Aang seems to have faith in Zuko's plan, so Katara puts her faith in him too (not like it's very hard).
They lean against a wall waiting for the sun's light to drip down below the horizon and leave the world in the deep blue of night. As it gets darker, Katara notices the people on the streets changing, the prim and proper nobles filing off to their estates while the people of the lower classes take their turn in the city. They're not poor by any means, but it's clear that they're not in the same caliber of affluence as the hyper rich nobles from earlier in the day. The atmosphere shifts from stuffy and uptight to relaxed and carefree, laughter ringing out and bouncing off of the buildings lining the street. Lanterns light in cafe windows to signal to the upbeat people that they're still open, the teapots still boiling and whistling heartily, just waiting for patrons to come and take a drink.
Katara feels herself relax minutely, the more modest clothing of the night crowd allowing them to blend in easier. Zuko pushes off of the wall and motions to Aang and Katara with a tilt of his head, leading them into the steady stream of people mingling in the streets. They follow his silent form, the channels they travel down getting darker and less crowded as they head to an area towards the edge of town. Zuko ducks into a wide alley, Aang and Katara shooting curious looks at each other as they trail after him, soon stopping in front of a discreet doorway covered only by a thick piece of canvas. She can hear the muffled sounds of something happening within the building, commotion and excitement seeping out into the night under the flap that shields the probably illegal gathering from the outside world. The small pouch of gold coins Bumi had given them jingles in Zuko's pocket before he pulls a few out and hands them to the gruff looking man standing in front of the doorway. The man inspects them carefully, his eyes flashing quickly to Katara and Aang, and lays one more calculating glare on Zuko before nodding once and stepping aside to allow them entrance.
The opening leads straight into a downwards staircase, the sounds of whatever is going on under the building growing louder with each step. When they emerge from the stairs, Katara can't hold back the gasp that escapes her at the sight before them; instead of just a single basement that Katara had been expecting, the underground area spans a large distance, almost like a secret market of its own. She can see people gambling and haggling for expensive looking artifacts, the shouts and drunken guffaws of the shady patrons lifting up into the air and mixing into a dark cacophony.
"What is this place?" Aang sounds as mystified as she feels, and her head shakes in disbelief as she takes everything in.
"Half black market, half illegal gambling ring, half underground fighting tournament."
"Zuko, that's three halves," she quips, and her teasing draws a light blush into his cheeks, stirring something warm in Katara's chest.
"Whatever."
They start moving through the crowd, and Katara grabs Zuko's hand in front of her and Aang's behind her so that they don't get separated.
"I was listening to the night crowd up top," Zuko continues, "and a lot of them were talking about the tournament tonight. Apparently the reigning champion is a young woman who's unbeatable. The rumor is that she's Othered." Katara's heart picks up pace beneath her ribs. "Based on the bouncer's reception of us, it doesn't seem like they care very much about people like us down here. I bet her competitors just want to fight so they can take her out and get their hands on her eyes." The last part is a murmur, barely audible over the noise of the underground gathering around them, but Katara hears it anyway. The words rattle down her spine as a shuddering chill.
The three of them weave in and out of the crowd towards a point unknown to Katara. The commotion gets louder and the crowd thicker as they approach something she can't quite see, and Zuko grips her hand just a bit tighter as they squeeze through the throng of people. Eventually the market opens up, all of the stalls pushed to the sides and leaving a space for a tall metal fence encompassing a large area. As they get closer, Katara realizes that it's some sort of arena; the area is lit up better than any other part of the subterranean compound, and as Zuko shoves their way to the front, she sees a raised area inside the fence that acts as the fighting ground. People all around wave coins high above their heads, shouting wagers and calling over collectors to place their bets. More than a few sketchy people glare at Zuko as he pushes his way through, but with one look their eyes narrow and they turn away. She imagines that with the scar and his glowing eyes Zuko paints an intimidating picture, not to mention that he looks strong, if not bulky. Don't think about Zuko's muscles right now. Focus, Katara.
They somehow get close enough to the stage that she can see; she has to pull off her hat due to the density of the crowd, and she draws her hair down around her face to attempt to hide her eyes. Zuko has pulled her in front of him to give her a chance to witness the fight, as her height gives her a definite disadvantage in the bustling sea of people. They wait for a tense minute before a greasy looking man with long shiny hair and angry eyebrows steps out into the middle of the cage.
"Welcome, everyone! I hope you've all placed your bets!" He spreads his arms wide, a sly smile emerging on his face as the crowd roars. "We have a great lineup for you tonight; an up-and-comer who calls himself The Boulder will be challenging each resident fighter for a chance to face off against the champion!" The people erupt into enthusiastic cheers and shouts, and several people around them close in on the arena, pushing Zuko right up against her back. "You know the rules; three knockdowns is a TKO, if your opponent gets knocked out, it's a win, any life threatening injuries are an automatic win, and all weapons are fair game!" Katara swallows at the violence implied in the tournament. "Now, I introduce to you, The Boulder!"
A large man makes his way into the arena, his hulking frame towering over the spectators as they continue to push and squirm around the trio to try and get a better look. Zuko lays his hand on Katara's shoulder, a seemingly innocuous gesture that she suspects is more protective than he'll ever let on. As The Boulder defeats every contender standing between him and the champion, more and more people crowd around the arena, regularly causing Zuko to shift and move against her, and her heart rate jumps around like a frightened rabbit each time he presses closer. She has to bite the inside of her cheek on multiple occasions just to stay focused on the fight before her, although the distraction is welcome when blood starts flying from the fighters and splattering on the ground. Luckily it doesn't look like anyone has sustained any serious injuries, but The Boulder is sporting a bloody lip and more than a few nasty bruises by the time he faces the champion.
"The Boulder has advanced to the final stage, and has won the opportunity to fight against the champion!" The crowd goes absolutely insane, and Zuko has to reach around to brace himself on the fence surrounding the arena so that he doesn't slam into her behind the force of the crowd. Heat radiates from his body and surrounds her, and a drop of sweat beads and trails down her spine. "Without further ado, the moment you've all been waiting for— I give to you, the Blind Bandit!" She could swear that the people around her are feral animals, their screeches and screams rabid and loud in the large space. How nobody on the surface hears the commotion, she'll never understand.
"She can't really be blind, can she?" Her eyes lock with Zuko's behind her, her neck craning to get a better look at him. Both of his hands are on her shoulders now, and the proximity of his face when she turns to see him sends a fresh wave of heat throughout her body.
"I think she is." He tilts his chin down in a nod, and she turns back around to see a petite girl, definitely shorter than her despite the additional muscle on her arms, walking out into the ring and carrying a huge champion's belt over her head.
"That's her!" Aang's voice comes from somewhere to her left. "That's the girl I saw. Look at her eyes." The Bandit's eyes are milky and clouded, but the soft pale green glow is still visible beneath the cataracts. It's dull, but it's definitely there, and a weightless hope soars in Katara's chest as she watches the young woman hand the belt to a scantily clad assistant.
"The Boulder is conflicted about fighting a little girl!" The Boulder has been referring to himself solely in the third person for the entire night; she wonders if it's just a part of his gimmick, or if he actually talks like that.
The young woman scoffs as her bare feet slide into a wide stance. "Sounds to me like you're scared, Boulder!"
"The Boulder is over his conflicted feelings—" the man pulls out a previously unused metal whip— "and is ready to defeat the champion!" Katara cringes at the thought of the whip's barbed end making contact with the Blind Bandit's skin. How is she going to fight this guy?
"Bring it on!" The girl's face splits in two around a sly smile as she brings both of her hands up in a strange posture with her palms facing towards her and elbows bent.
The Boulder shouts as he lashes his whip at the Bandit, the metal chain hurtling menacingly through the air, only for it to be stopped and blown off course by a sizable chunk of rock. He spins around, the whip trailing along the ground in a wide arc and sparking as it runs along the wire fence, only to once again be stopped short, this time by a rock wall that has been erected next to the Bandit. The girl's arm is extended upwards, her wrist bent at a downward angle, and Katara realizes that she's using her gift to fight. The Blind Bandit stomps the ground in front of her with a flat foot, causing a large rock to spring up from the earth, and she punches out at it to blast it towards her opponent, who it just barely misses. The fight is incredibly fast; the girl is obviously a master of her gift, and she throws rocks like she's conducting a violent symphony. The end of the fight grows ever closer as she hits The Boulder with a pillar of rock, his ribs audibly snapping under the pressure. Before the man can even right himself, the Bandit has manipulated the ground underneath his feet so that when his foot comes down, The Boulder slides out into a painful split, and the crowd winces collectively at his shout of pain. He doesn't last much longer after that, the Blind Bandit's final blow slamming The Boulder into the wire cage and leaving his limp body panting on the ground in a slowly forming pool of dark blood.
"Our undefeated champion!" The announcer runs out and pulls the girl's hand over her head, her wolfish grin amplified by the fact that she doesn't have a single scratch on her and no doubt fed by the enthusiasm of the raging crowd. "Now, is there anyone out there in the crowd that wishes to challenge the Blind Bandit? There's a hefty bag of gold waiting for you if you can beat her!" Silence floats over the crowd like a mist, and the announcer throws out his hands in a pleading gesture. "I'll make it even easier for you: if you can land one hit on the Blind Bandit, the gold is yours! Any takers?"
"I will!" Katara's head snaps to Aang, his hand raised high in the air and eyes steady on the Blind Bandit.
"Aang, what are you doing!?" Zuko hisses at Aang. "We don't want to fight her, we want her to be on our side!"
"I'm just going to talk to her." Aang seems confident as he walks away towards the entrance to the arena, a confidence that neither she nor Zuko can appreciate.
"What is he thinking?" She does her best to keep her voice low, but it has a shrillness to it nonetheless.
"I have no idea, but this is going to end badly." Zuko takes her hand and leads her towards where Aang had disappeared to.
The two Othered fight for a solid amount of time, and although she knows Aang isn't trying to hurt the young woman, he doesn't have perfect control over his element. He missteps at just the wrong time, and the Bandit gets the first knockdown.
"How does he think this is going to end? He's going to get seriously hurt!" She doesn't understand why he'd do something so reckless. Clearly he has a problem with impulse control.
"He has a slim chance of hitting he.," Zuko's voice is filled with tension. "But he'll probably get the shit kicked out of him first."
The crowd screeches along with the fight, and by some miracle Aang manages to knock the Bandit down, but not after taking a few hits of his own. Katara sees him trying to follow the Bandit after he is declared the winner, but she storms off in a huff and disappears into the darkness of the underground market.
"Fuck. Now we have to go find her anyway." Zuko leads them to where Aang exits the arena, limping slightly and looking worse for wear. "What were you thinking!? How the hell did you think that was a good idea!?"
"I don't know!" Aang looks disappointed and confused, and she'd almost feel bad for him if he wasn't such a dolt. "I thought I could talk to her."
"Aang, she was having the time of her life beating up a dude three times her size, how could you expect to talk to her in the ring?" Katara lays her hand on Zuko's arm to calm him down, and she's surprised at the anxiety she sees in his eyes when he turns to look at her. He must really care about Aang.
"Let's just go see if we can find somewhere to sit." Katara takes up her role as mediator and coaxes the two men into finding a quieter space to talk.
"Hey!" They've just found a quieter area to rest when a voice comes to them out of the shadows. The three of them jump, only to see that the voice belongs to the Blind Bandit herself. "You're Othered."
"Yes?" Aang speaks for himself, his cautious tone making the Bandit roll her sightless, shining eyes.
"Don't 'yes' me." Katara isn't sure what other answer the girl would have been looking for, but doesn't dare ask. "What are you doing here? What do you want with me?"
"We need your help." Aang's voice is soft, and this time the girl raises her eyebrows, her toned arms crossing over her chest defiantly.
"Oh, yeah? You think beating me and taking my money is a good way to ask for my help?" Aang's cheeks pink, and Zuko groans.
"I told you." Zuko elbows Aang in the arm gently. "Listen, we really need your help. The three of us— we're all Othered." The Bandit's eyes narrow. "Is there somewhere else we can talk?"
The girl thinks for a minute before turning around. "Follow me."
She leads them through the complex and back out into the night air, the warm summer breeze refreshing and light as it dances through Katara's hair. They follow the Bandit down a few alleyways to an abandoned bench somewhere on the outskirts of the city.
"Alright, talk." The girl hucks a glob of spit onto the ground after she plops onto the bench, and Katara wrinkles her nose at the crude act.
"Okay, so, everyone who's Othered gets their gifts from The Source, and someone's trying to destroy it." The Bandit's face remains passive as Zuko explains. "So the three of us each have elemental gifts, and we need someone who can manipulate earth to come with us to protect The Source so that we have one of each element."
"Why do you need one of each element?" It's barely a question— her tone sounds bored, if anything.
"Well," Zuko rubs the back of his neck. "I don't really know, honestly. I think it'll just help if we have a well-rounded group." A heavy silence weighs upon the four Othered as the girl considers Zuko's story.
"So essentially, you're asking me, a girl you just met, and beat up—" Aang winces as she points at him— "to go on some sort of crazy adventure with you all to save this "Source" place that I hardly know anything about. Is that right?" It sounds ridiculous when she puts it like that, and a bitter dread fills Katara's mouth. We're screwed. She's never going to— "I'm in."
"Wait, what?" Aang is the first one to get his voice back, Katara and Zuko still too shocked to form words. "I mean, that's great, but I'm confused."
"I fucking hate it here!" the girl says and throws her arms out to the side. "My life is so boring and sheltered. A crazy dangerous adventure sounds pretty great when I've been hidden away in my parents estate for twenty two years."
"So you'll come with us?" Katara can't help the hope that fills her words, and the Bandit's mouth twitches at the corner.
"Yeah, I think I will." The other three relax, a small weight lifted off of their shoulders with the girl's answer. "I gotta go back home and grab some shit first. Come on. Oh, and the name's Toph."
They follow her lead through the city, winding around mostly deserted streets in the small hours of the night. Inky darkness spills from the sky onto the street, all the lanterns in the various shops windows having been blown out hours ago, and Katara hurries to stay close to the group. She can feel the shadows stretching out like tendrils, and a quiet unease grows in her gut. The three of them wait outside while Toph sneaks back into her parent's estate, which is, by and large, the biggest estate in the whole city. She's back out faster than Katara would have thought, and soon they're walking out of Gaoling as a group of four.
"Alright, come out!" Just steps outside the boundary of the city, Toph turns around. "I know you've been following us, Xin Fu. You're a damn fool to think you and your lackies can sneak up on me." Katara is confused at first, until the announcer from the tournament emerges from behind the wall that marks the entrance to Gaoling.
"Oh, I think you're the fool, Bandit." The Boulder and a handful of other contestants from the tournament join Xin Fu. "You thought you could swindle me out of the winnings, huh? Take the full load instead of the forty percent we usually give you and run off with your freak-show friends?"
"I don't care about your damn money, dunderhead." Xin Fu's eyes narrow at Toph's insult. "Now why don't you scurry back into the nasty hole you came from so I don't have to get my hands dirty."
"You little shit!" Xin Fu hisses, and The Boulder pulls out his metal whip. The other contenders brandish a myriad of weapons of their own, swinging sickles and swishing daggers in menacing gestures.
Toph's mouth pulls up into a devilish smirk as she drops her bag. "I've kicked all your asses before, and I'll happily do it again. Come get some!"
The fighters lunge forward, coming at the four Othered with vengeance in their eyes. Katara pulls her water out of it's skin and bats away The Boulder's whip, freezing the metal all the way up to his hand and causing him to yelp in pain. She sees fire flashing beside her and hears a loud gust of air as more of the fighters go down. Toph encases Xin Fu in rock, leaving only his head free, and the rest of the fighters go down in a matter of seconds.
"You know, if I didn't think you guys had walnuts for brains before..." Toph kicks at The Boulder where he lies on the ground. "I definitely do now. Trying to fight me, along with three Othered? Imbeciles." She turns around and scoops up her bag as they continue away from the city, leaving the fighters and an angry Xin Fu in their wake. "You guys are pretty badass for a bunch of weirdos."
"Thanks?" Katara isn't sure if it's meant as a compliment or an insult or both. "How do you fight, anyway? You're blind."
"No shit." She bristles at Toph's attitude. "I use my gift to sense the vibrations in the earth that things make when they move. So, in a way, I can see, just not like you can."
"That's pretty neat!" Aang sounds genuinely excited about Toph's abilities. "How'd you learn that?"
"Crazy as it is, I learned in a dream. There were these huge animals with me, and I don't know how, but they taught me how to see. When I woke up I tried it out, and it worked, and I never really questioned it, I guess."
"What family are you from?" Zuko's question is random, and Katara suspects that he hadn't been listening to her story very closely.
"Beifong," Toph answers. The name means nothing to Katara, but Zuko's eyebrow raises. "Why?"
"No reason." He shrugs, and Toph narrows her eyes.
"You know, your heartbeat changes when you lie." Katara sees Zuko's hands clench at his sides, and she wonders, not for the first time, about how much he's hiding from them.
"I was just curious." Toph either believes Zuko or doesn't want to push him; either way, they continue on to find somewhere to set up camp for the night.
Xx
Later that night, Katara finds herself alone in front of the dying embers of their campfire. She thinks back to the fight, when Zuko had been pressed up against the length of her back, and feels her face flush. The angle of his jawline when she had looked up at him had been sharp enough to cut glass, diamond in a sea of coal, and as much as she tries to get the image out of her head, it's stubborn like heat in the summer stuck to her skin.
"So..." Toph drops down next to her unceremoniously. "What's up with you and Sparky?"
"Who?"
Toph rolls her eyes. "Zuko."
"Oh." A fierce blush floods her cheeks. "Nothing's up."
"Weren't you listening earlier? I know when you're lying." Katara looks down at the petite young woman beside her.
"I'm not lying."
"Oh, so you just want something to be up, I get it."
"No! Look, I don't—"
Toph holds a hand up to Katara's face, cutting her off with the rude gesture. "Listen Sugar Queen, I really don't care. You can deny it all you want, but we both know it's true. But," she throws her hands up, "it's not my business how both your hearts start beating like love sick teenagers when you look at each other." Toph rises to her feet and stretches her hands above her head, her shoulders popping audibly.
"Wait, both of our hearts?"
Toph smirks and leaves without giving Katara an answer, offering only a short wave before she flops onto her back on the ground closer to the tents. With a bang of her fist, the ground shoots up around her to form her own private tent.
Katara lays back on the ground, trying to find some serenity in the act of tracing the constellations in the sky. Both of our hearts? The ghost of the kiss they shared comes back to her like it does every night, but tonight she analyzes it further than she's usually willing to. Zuko's hesitance at first, and his enthusiasm when she had wanted more. His sure thumb brushing her jaw and his warm hand laying on her neck. The way he had bit her lip so gently that it drove her mad, the soft caress of his lips as they moved against hers in a passionate dance, the mantra pumping through her with every beat of her heart: more, more, more. She thinks of the pretty blush that had stained his cheeks pink when they parted, the way his lips had kept that small space between them, a space that she so badly had wanted to fill. Is it possible? Am I willing to bet our friendship on it? She thinks of his soft hands and his soft eyes and his soft heart, of all the pain he's endured and all of the pain she doesn't even know about. She thinks about his radiant smile, about how mirth and happiness pour from his lips like honey, tacky and sweet, and how badly she wants to taste it, to drown in it. I think I love him.