AUTHOR'S NOTES—enter Toph. Her role is a bit dodgy throughout the series, but she plays a very important role in this series in particular. Don't be fooled just because she's not blind.

ALSO—epic fail to me for not noticing that I hadn't removed the excess formatting. =P

AVATAR: THE LAST FIREBENDER

BOOK 1: WATER

CHAPTER 3-1: THE SOUTHERN AIR TEMPLE, PART 1

skies between the Southern Water Tribe and Southern Air Temple; morning

Zuko mostly slept during the voyage to the Southern Air Temple. It was not the first time he had left home, or the first time he had left his uncle either. His own family was still all off in various places, and so to move around again was not much to him. When they landed, Aang, figuring that a little practical joke never did much harm, slipped a spider down Zuko's back.

He woke up no less than 2 seconds later, slamming his hand onto his back.

"You can nudge me next time," he advised Aang, "it works just as effectively."

"either way," Aang replied, jumping to the ground, "we're here."

"I could tell," Zuko frowned, jumping down and landing next to Aang. He looked around, and could tell that what they were going to find here was not going to be a pretty sight. For that matter, it did not seem like they would find anything, and that was the problem—the place just seemed deserted. He also noted that he had little choice regarding where he wanted to go, for the only way to reach these Air Temples was to fly. That was a natural defensive advantage that these Air Warriors had had. According to the tales from the Water Tribe, the only reason the Southern Air Nomads were killed off was because they were believed to be hiding the avatar, and because as pacifists, they did not fight by default.

Aang, having been in suspended animation for the last 100 years, was unaware of the fate that had befallen the Southern Air Temple, however, and so out of curiosity, he called out for anyone. His first few attempts produced no results, but after the 4th time, they heard a rustling movement.

"Show yourself," Zuko demanded, and naturally, there was silence. Aang, who was originally about to ask Zuko not to use such sternness towards what he thought was one of his people, but the fact that the source of the rustling did not reveal itself roused his suspicions as well. They both waited in silence for a moment before Zuko brought out a water whip and lashed it in the direction of the rustling.

A young black-haired woman clad in green tumbled out and landed face down in front of them, soaking wet. She got up and glared at both of them, particularly Zuko. She identified him as the one who had thrown the water since he was the one clad in blue.

"Do you attack anything that moves?" she scorned, "or is it just reflex?"

"Sorry," Zuko scratched the back of his head, using bending to pull the water out of the young woman's soaking clothes, "I thought you were an enemy."

"An enemy to what," she snapped. If her clothes were any indicator, she was clearly from the Earth Kingdom. "the Air Warrior Confederation?"

"No," Zuko countered, "more like an Air Warrior yourself."

"Hey," she replied, shaking her head and letting her bangs fall back in her face, "I'm not the one travelling with an airbender."

"I'm no Air Warrior either," Aang stepped up, "my name's Aang, and this is where I used to live."

The girl frowned. "You used to live here, Twinkle Toes?" she raised an eyebrow and glanced around, "where? This place has been abandoned for ages."

There was a moment of awkward silence, and then the girl spoke again.

"By the way," she continued, "name's Toph. What's your name, Ike?"

She snapped her head in Zuko's direction.

"Zuko," Zuko answered bluntly, not wanting this girl to get the best of him. "so what are you doing here if this place is abandoned?"

"Same thing everyone who's still here is," Toph replied, "staying out of the reach of the Air Warriors."

"Who exactly is 'everyone else'?" Aang asked, sounding excited at the prospect that this place may not be abandoned after all,

"Just a few airbenders, some Fire Nation refugees, and that sort of thing," Toph shrugged, "a lot of them also went to the Southern Water Tribe."

Now that sounded familiar to Zuko. He was used to several villages' worth of people being from one of the other nations. There was the occasional female Airbender that escaped from the Air Warrior Confederation, or was just able to evade them altogether, but most of them seemed bent on furthering their influence. The drive from the Eastern and Western Air Temples was so far proving effective.

Aang and Zuko nodded, and then Aang asked if she could take them to these refugees.

"Provided they're still around," she shrugged, "I've been flying solo for a while, and people come and go here enough that I don't keep track of them all."

"how do they get here?" Aang asked,

"Damn, you're behind the times or something," Toph rolled her eyes, "the Air Warriors tunneled through the mountains, then went under and up. That was how they were able to get their ground-based firepower to operate. Other than that, they were fierce enough and knew how to fly well enough to strike and win."

"They're not all dead though, are they?" Aang wondered,

"I don't think so," Toph replied as they made their way into the temple, "but I can't say I have any that are close enough to be called friends or whatnot."

Neither Zuko or Aang had very bright prospects of their tour of the Southern Air Temple. Aang pointed out a few things that were familiar to him as a child, but it also saddened him to see that most of them were deserted. During the tour, Toph periodically called out, but no one answered, even after she gave her name.

"Hmm," she frowned, though she did not even look back at Zuko and Aang, "maybe I was wrong."

"I'm going to have a closer look around," Aang declared, whipping out his glider. He took to the skies, leaving Zuko and Toph alone together.

"I'm pretty sure that there's no more Air Nomads proper here," Toph told Zuko, "I've been here long enough that I've scoured every nook and cranny of the place that I can get to. There are a few Air Warriors here, but they're very few and in between."

Zuko was half-inclined to punch Toph for biting his head off about being suspicious earlier. Nevertheless, he held his arm, and the two continued walking. Zuko was unsure if Toph felt it or not, but he felt that there was someone—or something—following them as they went down the next hall.