Sometime later Toph awoke to the sound of her stomach rumbling. She reached into her pocket for some dried meat, only to find that it was gone. For a moment she thought she had been robbed while she slept but then she realized how illogical that thought was. If she had been robbed she likely wouldn't have woken up, as robbers weren't usually in the business of keeping targets alive. Besides, even asleep she would had felt someone approaching her so there was no way she could have been robbed. With that realization in mind there was only possible answer to the question of what had happened to her food, she must have eaten it all herself. This was disappointing as Toph was quite hungry and would now have to trek all the way back to her cave on an empty stomach, a trek she was most certainly not looking forward to.

Sighing, Toph pushed herself to her feet and took a swig of water before setting off for home. She had only made it a few steps however before she stopped again. Something was wrong. She could feel it in her bones. There was a leaden weight to the air, the kind of dead calm that came just before a terrible storm. But there was something more to what she was feeling than that. There was a feeling of death on the air, a feeling of death like the one that had hung over Omashu in the days before she had lost everything. But none of it made any sense. Why would she be feeling these feelings now? The war was over and there had been no killing in this area in six years, so did she feel this way? There had to be a reason and Toph was determined to find out what it was.

With that in mind, Toph began slowly walking in the direction of home, all of her senses on high alert for any sign of what was wrong. After about ten minutes of walking she paused again, sniffing the air around her, testing the scents to be certain. She smelled smoke and ash, both scents faint and almost indiscernible, but she could smell them. And it was then that she realized what was wrong. There was only one reason why she would be smelling smoke this far from the village and that reason filled her heart with dread.

"Oh shit." she muttered, before breaking into a dead sprint in the direction of the village, her mind consumed by only one thought, please don't let me be too late.

But the closer Toph got to the village the more she realized she was indeed too late. With each step she took the smoke got thicker and the heat from the fire got warmer. And as she came over the top of the hill where her cave was she could hear the screams, horrible screams of people dying, the kind of screams that filled her nightmares. But the screams only drove her forward. She had no way of knowing if there was anyone she could save, but even if there was a chance she had to try. She had lost too much already and she would not lose again.

Minutes later she arrived at the gates of the village, the smoke now so thick that she could barely breath. She knew there were many people she should help, but there were only two she could think of. No matter what happened she had to get to Bao and Ming, even if it meant losing the rest of the village. As she made her way in the direction of Bao's inn she tripped over something which sent her sprawling in the dirt.

Reaching out with both hands Toph found what she had tripped over a minute later, discovering to her horror that it was a body, soaked in blood. She moved her hands to the person's face, feeling for any distinguishing markers, but she found none. She could tell by the feel of the soft tissue of breasts that the corpse was female. This led her to search for other distinguishing features, like jewelry, finally finding a necklace with a pendent in the shape of a butterfly. It was then that Toph realized who this victim was. She was Aya, a twenty six year old mother of two four year old twin girls. Toph felt her heart constrict at this realization. Aya had been a kind, loving mother and she had not deserved to die this way. Toph had felt the bloody gashes on her body and knew that Aya had been cut down while trying to flee the village. And it was then that she realized Aya's daughters, Shaya and Kinly, were alone in the midst of this chaos.

"Shaya? Kinly?" she called, her voice desperate. "Can you hear me? It's Toph. If you can hear me, follow the sound of my voice."

There was no response and Toph began crawling away from Aya's body, searching for Shaya and Kinly on her hands and knees. Moments later she found them sprawled in the dirt, both of their throats slashed. She could feel the blood that had pooled beneath their bodies and the butterfly necklaces they wore, just like their mother. She felt tears well in her eyes and rage rise in her chest. Shaya and Kinly had only been four years old and now they were dead and Toph knew exactly who had killed them. This had been the work of Azula's raiders, the fires burning all around her were proof of that. But where were they? There was nothing to indicate that they were still in the village, but they had to be nearby. And as she realized this she was overcome by her need to find Bao and Ming. With that she launched herself to her feet and ran to the inn, hoping they were still alive.

Her hope died the moment she arrived at the inn. Even without a sense of sight she could tell the inn was engulfed in flames. The heat was unbearable and the stench of burning flesh made her gag, to the point where she would have puked had she had anything in her stomach. It was then that she heard a familiar voice calling out over the roar of the flames, desperate and terrified.

"Li?" the voice called. "Li, where the hell are you brother? Are you still in the inn?"

"Lu?" Toph called, her hope suddenly returning. "Is that you?"

"Toph?" Lu shouted. "Yes, it's me. Where have you been, earthbender?"

"I was in my cave." Toph lied as she made her way over to him. "What happened here?"

Lu didn't answer, instead choosing to move towards the burning wreck of Bao's inn. Toph felt him move and dove for him, tackling him to the ground just before he entered the inferno.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked. "You can't go in there, you'll be cooked alive."

"Get the hell off of me." Lu snarled, struggling against her grasp. "Li is still in there. So are Bao and Ming. We have to save them."

"Lu, they're gone." Toph said, her heart sinking as she spoke. "The inn is an inferno, there's no way they're still alive if they're in there."

Lu struggled a minute more before relaxing in her arms. Toph drug him away from the inn, casting a sightless glance back over her shoulder as she did, tears stinging the backs of her eyes. She could feel the blood that stained Lu's shirt and seeped from his wounds. His breathing was ragged and labored and she could tell he didn't have long to live, but there were answers she needed to get from him first so she could decide what to do next.

"Lu, tell me, what happened here?" she asked as she lay him on the ground a few hundred feet from the inn.

"Azula's raiders." Lu said, his voice now just a whisper. "Toph, you...you were right. They came for us. You always said they would and I...I always laughed at you. I always...thought you were full of shit. I'm sorry, I should have listened."

"Don't apologize Lu." Toph said. "I wasn't sure myself that they'd come here. But they did and I'm sorry for that."

"Why?" Lu asked, coughing up blood as he spoke. "You didn't bring them here. Why are you apologizing?"

"They came here for me." Toph answered. "They came for me, because I fought alongside the Avatar against Azula."

"You're wrong." Lu said. "The leader...he spoke to us before...before they attacked. He made no mention of searching for a blind earthbender."

"They weren't here for me?" Toph asked, stunned. "Then why did they come?"

"Because we're a wayward Earth Kingdom village." Lu answered. "It's like you always said. They...they came for us because Azula got tired of waiting for us to die on our own. They knew we were out here. They'd always known."

"Lu, I'm sorry. I should have been here." Toph said. "I should have protected you all."

"You'd be...dying now to...if you had been here." Lu coughed. "Don't be sorry Toph. There was nothing you could have done."

Toph felt her heart constrict at that, but she could not bring herself to tell Lu he was wrong. Instead, she asked him another question. "Where are the raiders now?"

"I don't...don't know." Lu answered. "But they may still be nearby, so if you're right and they are after you, then you need to go."

"I can't just leave you here to die." Toph said, though she knew she had no choice.

"Don't worry about...me." Lu said. "I'm gone Toph. There's nothing you can do for me now. You have to leave. You have to stop Azula. You have to..." His sentence trailed off and for a moment Toph thought he was dead until she felt his faint heartbeat.

She did not know what to say in response to his request. It was something she had dreamed about for six years, but she wasn't sure she could actually do it. Azula was in the Fire Nation, surrounded by her fanatics, and Toph had no way of getting there. And even if she did, she was one earthbender, while Azula had an army. The odds were long by any estimation, but Lu's dying plea stirred something deep inside Toph's soul, something that she couldn't explain. It was a fury and a determination the likes of which she had never known before and somehow she knew she would find a way to bring Azula down.

"Okay Lu, I'll do it." she said. "I'll stop Azula and avenge you and Li and Ming and Bao and everyone else who died by her hand."

"Thank you Toph." Lu said. "But there is one more thing you should know before you go. She loved you Toph. Ever since you first...arrived here she loved you."

"Who?" Toph asked. "Lu, who are you talking about?"

"Ming." Lu gasped. "She...she loved you. That's why...that's why I...hated you so much. I am sorry for that. I should have just...should have...accepted..." Again his sentence trailed off as his head slumped back, his eyes going dark as his life left him. Toph could feel his final breath as Lu expelled it and again she felt tears in her eyes.

"Thank you Lu." she said, placing her hands on his forehead. "Thank you for telling me the truth. May you find peace in the afterlife."

With that she rose to her feet and walked away from his body, leaving him as food for the crows. She walked away from the burning inn, from the life she had come to know here, from this village that was now not but ashes and bones. She walked away and did not look back, for a new journey now lay before her and she would embrace it, even if it killed her.

A/N: And so Toph's journey begins. If you were hoping to get to know the villagers better, I'm sorry, but killing them was necessary to move the story forward. Much of what Toph does from this point on will be shaped by what happened in this chapter, so be prepared for a more vengeful Toph, as she plans to do whatever it takes to defeat Azula. We are now on the precipice of the action, so prepare yourselves, things are about to get really fun.