Chapter 3: Toph

Aang woke to find he was the only one at camp. Remembering the events from yesterday he wondered if Katara had gotten her memory back. Today was the day that Toph was coming back from a visit to her parents, and realizing no one had told Katara of Toph Aang concluded that it would be an interesting day.

Suddenly Aang was hurled into the air when the earth beneath his feet shot up. Already guessing what happened Aang gathered himself up and turned to greet his friend.

"Hey Toph"

"Hi there Twinkle Toes, Did ya' miss me?!" there was a pause before she added "Where's everyone one else?"

"I- well actually I was wondering the same thing." Aang answered truthfully.

Just then there was a shriek heard from the river followed by Sokka's voice calling for Aang.

"I'm guessing over there" Toph said, facing the direction of the river before the two took off after Sokka's voice. The path to the river didn't seem to take as long when they walked down there last night. In fact, they set up camp purposely near the river so they would have easy access, but running there Aang began to think it was one of the longest journeys of his life. 'Please let them be okay… that's all I ask. Let them be okay'

When they finally reached the river they saw a small band of fire nation solider that had been patrolling the area. Apparently the gang had misread the maps and traveled closer to the fire nation than they intended.

Toph knew that Sokka was a capable warrior and that Katara was a master water bender. She was aware that her friends were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, but she also knew how protective Aang got, so she wasn't surprised when he jumped in between the soldiers and where his friends were standing. If fact this just about how every battle started for them. Aang would jump into the middle of everything, and then Katara, Toph, and Sokka would join him. Except this time, she noticed, Katara was acting different. Acting, scared.

Katara was completely freaked out. The last time she had seen any fire nation soldiers was when they invaded her village and killed her mother. Now they were trying to kill her and her friends, and it was becoming too much for her to handle. When the soldiers spotted Aang's tattoos one shouted

"There, that boy is the Avatar!"

With that the men all rushed at Aang, preparing to attack. Seeing all the soldiers rush at her friend scared Katara out of her wits, and her emotions got the best of her. Without meaning to she made the river they were standing in explode, and water shot out everywhere.

Although they got soaked, the gang was thankful for the cover that gave them the element of surprised. Becoming more confident with her "new" bending abilities Katara was able to knock out a few soldiers herself.

Fortunately for Toph the area was quite rocky, so she had a very large upper hand. Because they were simply a few soldiers, with very bad weapons and almost no skill they weren't very hard to beat.

Once all of the fire nation soldiers had been knocked out (the gaang tried not to hurt them too badly) Toph pushed the four back to camp using her bending. Sokka couldn't help but note how strong the small girl was… He shook the thought away and turned back to his friends stating what was on everyone's mind.

"We should get outta here"

Looking at each other and nodding Sokka ran over to Appa and awkwardly climbed up onto the fluffy monster's head. He grabbed the reins, declaring he was going to steer (most likely an excuse so he wouldn't have to pack up camp).

The others grabbed everything and hopped into the saddle.

"Yip yip"

Katara's eyes grew wider as Appa lifted off. Momentarily forgetting Katara's loss of memory Aang quickly added "Uh, yeah, he flies"

The water bender's horrified expression changed to a smile as nodded.

"Well, aren't ya' gonna ask how my trip went Sugar Queen" Toph inquired of Katara.

Katara looked at Toph, then back at Aang. She mouthed the words "me".

"Oh right, Katara, this is Toph. She's my earth bending teacher, and she travels with us."

Suddenly Sokka burst into fits of laughter

"We, ha ha, forgot to ha tell her about Toph."

"Okay what's going on" a very angry Toph yelled.

After explaining to her that Katara's memory had reset until two years ago Toph's angry expression turned to that of pity.

"Wow… sorry… talk about a bad first impression" Toph mumbled to herself.

Katara adjusted herself so that her back was against the edge of the saddle. From what she could tell it was going to be a long flight. Surveying her surroundings she noticed it was getting dark, and that the only ones still awake were her and Sokka. Seeing her opportunity she crawled over to the head of the fluffy bison.

"Hey" she said softly, taking a place next to her older brother.

"Hmm" he replied, barley acknowledging her presence.

"So…" Katara started, knowing that it was now or never. She had been wanting the answer to this question ever since she met this new girl. "I kind of have a question… about Aang."

This caught Sokka's attention, and he turned to face her fully, encouraging her to continue.

"It's about him and Toph. Are they" that's when she paused, making a together motion with her hands.

"Wha- oh, OH! Them, no, no way."

Katara let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good."

"GOOD! What's that supposed to mean!" Sokka yelled.

Noticing Sokka's brotherly instincts starting to kick in Katara decided that it would be a good time to get some sleep.

"Night Sokka." And with that she left to join the other two for a nap in the saddle.

Sokka watched his sister curl up next to the luggage and sighed. He then looked over at Aang's sleeping form, and allowed his gaze to stop there.

Shaking his head he began to whisper to the sleeping form of the monk. "She's falling for you all over again, buddy. I guess there was just no preventing it." Sending an older brother warning glare Sokka laughed at himself. Who was he kidding? Aang was a monk. It wasn't like he was going to get any ideas.

At that moment Sokka began supporting the idea of his little sister and the monk getting together, and decided he was going to make it happen.