Toph can feel Ty Lee's breath go quiet with fear at the observation.
Toph herself stays quiet for a few more seconds, using her earthbending to get a clearer picture of what's going on. Her suspicions are confirmed after a few more seconds, and she lets out a sigh of relief.
"What?" Ty Lee whispers, a little loudly. Toph will have to teach her to work on her stealth, but it doesn't matter now.
"There aren't any people in this room." Toph's voice raises to a normal volume. It is answered not only by an echo, but by the sudden growling, chirping, and chittering of what sounds like hundreds of animals.
"It's full of caged animals," she explains. "My guess is some sort of smuggling operation. Do these tunnels get used much?"
"No," Ty Lee responds, her voice still at a cautious whisper. "Not even Azula knew how to navigate all of them."
"Well, then, I bet someone else has found them and decided to use them."
Toph steps forward into the darkness. The shuffling of her feet against the stone floor, although it's quiet, seems to send the animals into even more of a frenzy. She wonders what this room was used for back when it truly belonged to the royal family. It's so huge that she can't keep track of all its details at once.
"There are torches on these walls," Toph observes, taking the torch from Ty Lee and touching it to one of the wall torches. "Can you see now?"
"Yeah. I wonder why the hallway torches were lit, but not the ones in here," Ty Lee muses. Toph shrugs. She has been wondering that, too.
"Maybe so they can find their way back here? People have probably been here recently. We shouldn't stay for too long."
Toph is busy examining the room for anything other than cages of animals when she hears a loud coo from Ty Lee. "Toph, come over here and see!"
"What is it?"
"It's a baby shirshu!"
"Wait, really? Those are supposed to be really rare. I've only ever seen one."
Ty Lee reaches her wrist in between the bars of the shirshu's cage. It growls and lunges at her outstretched hand.
"Ty Lee, stop it!" Toph shouts, bringing a rock up from the floor to knock the shirshu to the side. "It might be a baby, but it could still hurt you."
Ty Lee looks properly chastened. Toph rolls her eyes.
"I wonder what else is in here," Toph remarks. She steps away from the shirshu's cage and continues down the row of cages that are stacked neatly in columns of five. Toph normally wouldn't consider herself to have a soft spot for animals, but this is terrible.
She spots an eel hound, a saber-tooth moose lion, even a badgermole. She stops for an extra moment at the badgermole's cage, feeling especially sorry for the listless, depressed-looking animal. Badgermoles are normally very good company. She doesn't want to imagine what's been done to this one to take his earthbending and his spirit.
"Where are they even selling these animals?" Ty Lee wonders out loud. "All of them are definitely illegal to own. They're too dangerous. And they're so rare, too."
Toph doesn't respond, having no idea herself. She forces herself not to wallow in pity for the animals. Walking around all day feeling sorry for them won't help anyone.
But they can do something.
"Let's set them free."
Ty Lee shoots her a weird look. "That baby shirshu is the cutest animal in here, and even she just tried to kill me! Do you think we'll have better luck with the rest of them? I think we should just find Zuko, and he can bring Fire Nation soldiers in to raid this place."
Toph is surprised to find herself arguing over animal welfare with Ty Lee, of all people. "What if they realize that somebody was here? They'll move all the animals and then we won't be able to help any of them. And do you really think the Fire Nation military is the best group to be handling all these dangerous animals? This whole place will be one big fireball in no time."
"I guess you're right."
"I'm always right."
Toph can hear Ty Lee grumble under her breath, but the other girl doesn't say anything else.
"Okay, I've got a plan," Toph announces.
"Already?"
"That's just the power of my genius. Anyway, there's an empty cage over there at the end of the room. I can metalbend it open, you go inside, I'll metalbend it closed. That way the animals can't get to you. I'll open the badgermole's cage first. He should be the least dangerous. I'll use the metal from the cage to make myself some armor. Then I'll free all the animals, and they can escape through the tunnel we came here through, and then I can let you out and make us a separate escape tunnel."
Ty Lee ponders the suggestion for a moment, staring at her feet. She looks up and shrugs. "Works for me."
Once Ty Lee is sealed inside one of the cages (and watching excitedly from within), Toph wrenches apart the bars of the badgermole's cage. He lumbers out slowly, not paying Toph much mind. She hopes he can regain his earthbending someday. Although, maybe not now. She would rather not be crushed during this rescue attempt.
Toph lets the metal from the cage meld over her like a second skin. It's a little harder to see while wearing the armor; it's really hot; and she has to use her bending just to be able to move, but she can't think of anything more effective to protect her from these animals.
The cages are destroyed quickly once Toph has ensured hers and Ty Lee's safety. She walks jerkily from cage to cage as she wrenches the bars apart, her new suit of armor squeaking and grinding with every movement. The animals seem pretty enthused to be free, and, even better, they're figuring out where the tunnel to the outside world is.
She hears a gasp from Ty Lee, over at the end of the room. "Toph!" she shouts.
"A little busy here!"
"There's a sky bison!"