Full Summary: A deeper insight into the pasts of Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Azula, and Aang; all through the view of the most unlikely characters. Questions will be answered as new questions arise. Can be read in any order. Rated "T" for scenes and themes
Author's Note: I'm very, very sorry for the wait.
I'm not going to go in detail of why the wait was long. This chapter is really good and I think it was worth said wait (so what if I wrote it all today? Huh? Sue me!).
I know that "Ino" is a character from Naruto. I should tell you that I hate that show with a passion and that I did not know this was so until my sister told me. The guy has been mentioned so I used this name.
Please enjoy and review. And if you don't do either, I'm not updating.
Have fun!
Scorpiored112
Book Two: Earth
Chapter 3: Earthbending
Lao did not hire anyone to replace Chen. What worse, the matter was never, ever, mentioned again. She left like a forgotten memory. Melted back into Ba Sing Sei. The scroll that she gave Toph was thrown out.
And Toph, who had never thought much about vocabulary, was beginning to understand the term, "hate."
She heard it often. Her mother swore; her father did sometimes too. They changed a lot since Chen left. They became careless and hopeless. And, as hard as it was for their daughter to believe, they grew useless too.
"Those damn guards!" Lao would scream. "Those damn guards don't give a shit about anything but money! I hate them!"
"That cook didn't know what she was doing!" Poppy would complain. "I hated supper last night."
They were small things, true. But Toph grew accustomed to her parent's curses, their hatreds. And why did they curse? Truth be told, Toph was also beginning to understand the term, "hiding." And she did it often.
She knew the house backwards and forwards, side to side. She slipped off the silk slippers her mother would force on her, run outdoors, and embrace the grass of the courtyard. Vibrations, though still muffled and a bit confusing, were beginning to reach her.
At this time, Toph was almost 6 years old.
"What's Earthbending?" Toph asked one night at dinner. The question had been persistent—annoying. Her parents would shush her and change the subject.
But now was a perfect time. Perhaps all too perfect. It was dark outside and the room was filled with the interesting smells that dinner usually brought. It was a family together time. It was time for a question.
"Earthbending!" Lao's voice erupted angrily. "Where are you getting these questions from?"
"I've been asking for a long time!" Toph replied, frowning. "My tutor told me before she left—"
"I told you that tutor was a bad idea! I hate it when you don't listen to me, Lao." Toph felt Poppy stand up to reach over the table. She grabbed a bowl and sat down again, her eyes narrowing.
"I hate it when I'm proved wrong," Lao answered. "What were we talking about again?"
"Earthbending. Firebending. Waterbending," Toph answered. "I would like to know what they are, please."
Ino, the old guard, peered over at the family from the doorway.
"Honey, I've told you that they are brutal things." Poppy's voice was saturated with worry—as if, in some form or way, Toph's knowing of these events would cause some sort of destruction.
Not again, the girl thought. Her lower lip jittered and her stomach suddenly felt knotted. "That's not enough! You've told me that about the Fire Nation, about the kids next door, about the neighbor's poodle-monkey. You tell me that about everything!"
The world spun. Toph didn't know what was going on.
And then, in a fit of rage and disgust, she stood up and marched to her room: the first time she had ever had a true argument with her parents.
Toph flopped on the floor of her room, tears rolling down the side of her face from her sightless eyes. "It's not enough that I'm alone, is it?" she asked the floorboards. "It's not enough that I'm alone but I'm stuck here forever, too? I can't learn anything?" Toph was sobbing now. She had never cried so hard or so forcefully. She pounded her fists against her bed, against the table next to it. She picked things up and threw them down. Glass shattered, her heart shattered too. A warm substance began oozing from her knuckles. She kept going, harder, louder. She screamed. "I HATE THIS!"
It was then she felt a presence at the doorway. She swallowed. Her sleeve lifted to her face to wipe the mucus-saliva mix. She turned.
"Can I come in?"
It was Ino's voice. Old, gruff and uncomforting. Of all the guards, Lao was most fond of Ino, who had been in the house since before Toph was born.
The girl sniffled. "No Ino. I want to be alone. Can't you see that?" She stood up and sat on her bed, wiping her hands on the sheets.
"I was thinking of explaining some things to you, Taffy," he said. Toph cringed at her hated nickname. "Like, for example, all this Earthbendin' business you've been so worried about."
Toph's ears perked. She licked her lips in anticipation. But she remembered her parents' hatred of all the horrible things of the world. Suddenly she felt like vomiting again. "I don't think my father—"
"To hell with their worries!" Ino cried. "He won't mind if I do something that he's too lazy and bored to do." Ino sat next to Toph, placed a hand around her shoulders. "Listen here, as I explain it to ya. Every child has the right to know." The man cleared his throat.
"Now, Taffy, imagine carrying a rock. Haven't done that much, I'm sure, but listen here: you carry the rock and you throw it, right? Well, Earthbending is similar to that."
"Do you bend the rock? Like into shapes?" Toph asked. She sat attentive, smiling for the first time since the tutor left.
"No hon, you don't bend it. You can if you want, well...here, it's like picking up a rock without touching it. You can touch it, if you want. In fact, Earthbending is just the movement of rocks and earth. Only you need a bender to do it."
"Bender?"
"Someone with enough skills to do it, to bend the stuff. You know, move it around. And Firebending and Waterbending are the same thing, only with fire and water."
"So...they move stuff around without touching it?"
"That's not all, Taffy," Ino explained. Toph could tell he was excited. He was glad to be passing something on, perhaps to make up for the fact that he himself had never bore any children. He continued, "like, let's say you're an Earthbender and you wanna play in the sludge, only there is only some rocks around and not enough rain. Well I'll tell ya what ya do—you get some water and bend the earth around and around until you have yourself a whole darn mess of sludge. You can change the state of your medium."
Toph smiled widely, her imagination turning. The agrument faded into the forgotten stalls of her memory, crushed with Chen and scrolls. "Ino...that sounds so..."
"Good?"
"No...not good. So..." The girl paused. "It sounds so fun!"
"Yeah well," Ino shrugged. "Hell, it is fun. Fun as ever, in fact. I never learned it myself, though. Wish I could."
"Why didn't you?"
"Never had the money, and still don't. Your father is all right but he doesn't pay much. Can't blame him though, he has a lot of employees."
Toph frowned at this. Her father's cheapness was never an issue when it came to gambling or buying Toph toys and clothes. When it came to guards and help, Lao would scowl and detest their greediness. But Ino was another story. He was kind, gentle—and, in about a minute, he had explained something to Toph that her parents would never explain to her.
"I hope you still aren't angry at them," Ino said now. His hand moved up and wiped Toph's cheek. "You can't blame them for protecting you. If you're not careful, and you get into a fight, you can die bending. It's very likely, ya know." He stood and walked to the doorway.
"And how about this, instead of asking someone who won't help, come to me next time." Ino's feet shuffled. "I'd love to explain the Fire Nation and the kids next door and the neighbor's poodle-monkey to ya any time." Toph couldn't see it, but he blushed.
"I just want to ask you one thing," Toph stated. She stood and ran to Ino's side. "I want to hear about all of that stuff." Toph pulled on Ino's sleeve and looked up to his face. She had always wondered about how tall he was. The command she uttered was short and to the point, "I want to learn how to Earthbend, too."
Ino bit his lip. "Now, Toph, I don't think that your dad will appreciate—"
"No, you have to talk to him for me. Please, Ino." She knew she sounded desperate, but she didn't care. "He hates a lot of people but he doesn't hate you. If you do that, I'll try and see if he can pay you more."
Ino paused. Toph felt his heartbeat rise. Finally he said, "I don't want his money. Just promise me, if you start learning to Earthbend..."
"Yeah?"
"Teach me. Teach me when you learn enough, alright?" He had bent down to her eye level.
Toph nodded vigorously. "I promise I will." Just the thought of it excited her.
"Well alright, then I promise to ask him." Ino left the room, smiling and rubbing his chin.
The girl thought about his promise. She dreamt of Earthbending and Firebending and Waterbending. And thought of all the wondrous things that could be done with such power.
Sure enough, on her 6th birthday two months later, Toph met her new Earthbending teacher.