Chapter 2: Companions
Where did they get so many bricks?
Toph was wondering that after walking down the yellow brick road for an hour, having left the land of the Munchkins far behind her. Judging by the reaction Glinda made to earthbending, it seemed that all of these bricks had to have been made by hand. Who could possibly have the time, labor, or desire to make the tens of thousands of bricks needed to build this road, Toph couldn't figure out. She didn't dare earthbend a wave to travel faster, not when it would destroy all that hard work someone did here.
Riding a wave of earth beside the road would have been a good idea, except that the road cut through expansive fields of corn. She didn't want to wreck some farmer's livelihood either, just to cut down on her travel time. Besides, it was a nice day in the great outdoors, and Toph figured she might as well enjoy the fresh air and the calm breeze blowing through the fields. It would have been a perfect stroll, if it weren't for those incessant gull-crows cawing at everything that moved.
"Shut up already!" Toph yelled. Despite that, the gull-crows only got louder. "Ugh… aren't farmers supposed to have scarecrows to deal with this?!"
Fed up with the cawing, Momo leapt from Toph's shoulder and glided toward the nearest group of gull-crows. Screeching a loud as his little lungs would allow Momo barged through the annoying birds, scattering them as he went through their airspace. The gull-crows regrouped further down the fields, and Momo followed them to disrupt the flock again. It took Momo several passes through the flock to get the birds to leave, and Toph was glad to hear the cawing disappear into the distance.
Toph held out one arm and Momo landed on her wrist. "Good work."
"Thank you."
"AH!" Toph yelled, surprised by the voice coming from the field, from a person that she could not find. "What the… who's there?"
At first Toph couldn't tell exactly where the stranger was talking from, as her vibration sight wasn't getting a clear picture of a body. Nobody was standing on the ground within her range, while the volume of the stranger's voice told her that he had to be nearby. On closer inspection it seemed that there was someone strapped to the top of a wooden pole, barely visible to her while the wood muffled the vibrations coming from the grateful stranger.
The stranger didn't seem to notice that Toph had trouble seeing him. "Those birds just aren't scared of me anymore. Thanks for getting rid of them."
"Twinkletoes?" Toph blurted out, recognizing the voice now that she was actually listening. "What are you doing there? Did you lose a bet?"
"I've always been up here," not-Aang answered.
"Oh great... this game again…" Toph muttered, slowly shaking her head in disbelief. "Let me guess, your name is not Aang?"
"Nope," not-Aang said. "I'm just a humble Scarecrow."
Momo leapt up onto the Scarecrow's shoulder, nibbled at his ear, and then leapt back to Toph. The lemur was shaking his head, just as perplexed at Toph was.
"Of course you are," Toph said. She walked over to the edge of the road and jumped into the field, glad to have soil in between her toes again. "So what's your deal? I get the feeling you're supposed to be someone important."
"I'm just here to scare the crows away," Scarecrow said. He let out a long groan and looked at the ground, a frown plastered on his face. "But I've just plain run out of ideas to do that. I think I need a better brain if I'm going to do my job right."
"Better brain huh?" Toph said, walking up to the wooden post. "And just where exactly are you supposed to get that?"
"From the Wizard of course," Scarecrow answered. "They say you can get anything from him in the Emerald City. Alas, I can't leave my post unattended."
"Sure you can," Toph said. She stomped the ground and made some hand motions, and a larger than life statue of Toph rose from the ground to be a replacement scarecrow. "There, your job's covered. Well until some jerk comes along and breaks it."
"Neat," Scarecrow said. He pointed to the back of the post. "Now if you could just bend that nail and get me down, I'd be very grateful."
Toph got behind Scarecrow, clenched a fist and pulled it back. The metalbending motion made a large iron nail come free from the post, dropping Scarecrow onto the ground. "There you go mister- oh that is just messed up!"
Now that Scarecrow was on the ground Toph could properly feel the vibrations from him, and they painted a picture that seemed just plain wrong. The head, hands, and feet seemed like they were Aang's, but the rest was very different. There was actual straw inside this straw man, packed within the baggy clothes of the Scarecrow. Somehow the straw moved like muscle and bone as Scarecrow stood up, just as short as Aang was.
"Thank you, again," Scarecrow said, stretching his arms and legs before taking the first steps he's had in a long time. "I don't suppose you're heading to the Emerald City too? I could really use a travel buddy through the bad parts of the road."
"There are bad parts?" Toph asked.
"Oh yes, though it's no trouble at all if you're in a group," Scarecrow said. "Or at least, so I'm told. I don't get out much."
"Well then come along," Toph said, already walking back to the road. "I could use someone to talk to and pass the time."
Momo grumbled something.
"Someone that can talk back," Toph corrected.
Momo grunted and looked away.
"I can do that," Scarecrow said. He followed Toph onto the road, eager to get started on their journey together. "There's plenty of daylight left and plenty of road up ahead, and there are so many things that we can talk about along the way."
After about five minutes Toph was starting to wish she'd left Scarecrow where she found him. He might not actually be Aang, but he certainly talked as much as Aang did. But Scarecrow did mention that there was a fork in the road up ahead, and when they reached it he made sure they took the correct turn. From there they left the fields of corn behind them, heading into some woods on low lying hills. By then it was nearly time for lunch, and Toph could hear both their stomachs rumbling.
"Is there a place to eat around here?" Toph asked, and Momo's fast incoherent chattering meant the same thing.
"Just some apple trees over there," Scarecrow answered, pointing at a small grove not very far beyond the side of the road.
"That will do," Toph said. She walked off the road and into the woods, heading for one of the apple trees close to the road. But when she got to it she felt something change, something that got Momo to jump off and fly away. "What the…"
The apple tree was moving. And one branch was swinging right at her head.
Toph ducked just in time to get under the moving branch, feeling the breeze of it brushing the top of her hair. When the branch swung back the other way Toph took a few steps back, getting beyond the branch's reach and feeling the breeze in front of her face. Then she stomped the ground and a slab of rock rose from beneath the tree, uprooting it and toppling the whole thing over. And much to her surprise, while the tree fell it screamed.
"Argh! Why you… Tree Murderer!"
"Wait… You can talk?" Toph questioned, only now noticing a wooden face on the tree trunk. "Since when can trees talk?"
"We always could!"
Several voices said that at once, coming from all the other apple trees around Toph. "Well this is a first. I didn't think I could tick off a whole forest."
An apple hit Toph in the back of the head, getting her to complain and rub the small bruise forming there. Several more apples hit her in the chest and back, until Toph raised her arms to shield her more sensitive areas. It had always been difficult to see things thrown through the air, much less thrown from the trees. So Toph stomped the ground to raise a ring of earth around herself, blocking all the other apples that the trees were throwing.
A few apples got over the ring of earth and bounced off the inner edge, dropping right into Toph's open hand. One side of the apple was bruised by the impact, so Toph bit into the other side. "Hmm… tart, and just a bit sweet."
Toph threw her arms apart to shatter the ring of earth and hurl large pieces away, each hitting one of the trees still throwing apples. It stopped the trees from throwing more, and Toph took a moment to scoop up bruised apples into her arms. Then she walked back to the brick road, sharing her haul with Scarecrow. Sure the apples were all bruised on at least one side, but they were still edible and were quite delicious.
And sure enough, once the threat of talking trees had passed, Momo was back on Toph's shoulder and biting into an apple.
"That was some trick," Scarecrow said, then taking a bite out of an apple and enjoying the taste. "It was certainly effective."
"Oh that was nothing," Toph bragged. "I could have done so much worse to them if I felt like it, but I just didn't feel like it."
"I believe it," Scarecrow said. He finished his first apple and put several more of them in his pockets for later. "What else can you do?"
"Well I can…" Toph trailed off there, noticing something right on the edge of her sight. Now that she wasn't so hungry or being attacked, she could take the time to focus on whatever it was. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!"
Not too far into the woods, near a log cabin built next to a dirt path, someone was standing next to an ordinary tree. At first he seemed to be a statue, for he wasn't moving at all. There was a woodcutter's axe in his hand, and he was stuck in a position to chop down a tree. Toph wasn't sure which was worse, that the person appeared to be made of tin, or that the person had a familiar head. Even when he had a metal face, there was no mistaking that wolf-tail ponytail.
"Sokka?" Toph blurted out. She walked over to the metal man and banged a fist on his chest, hearing a hollow echo inside but not getting a physical reaction. "Is that you in there, or are you someone else in this crazy place?"
Momo hopped onto the metal man's head, and started hitting the metal with his itty bitty fists.
A muffled plea came out of him, as his lips couldn't move.
"Too bad you're not a ventriloquist," Toph commented. On closer inspection she could feel rust along all of his joints, including his jaw. "Did you get caught in the rain or something?"
A humph was close enough to a yes.
"Well this is a simple enough fix," Toph said, and Momo was leaping back to Toph's shoulder to get out of the way.
"I found some oil," Scarecrow said, spotting an oil can on a nearby tree stump.
Toph was already grabbing the stranger's jaw, and with a slight squeeze of her fingers all the rust on his face came off as dust. "That better?"
"Ah… much better, thank you," the stranger said. He took a second to stretch his jaw. "That is quite the magic touch you have."
"It's not ma- oh never mind," Toph said. "I'm going to assume that your name isn't Sokka, so what should I call you?"
"People just call me the Tin Man," he answered, trying to tip his head but getting a screech from his neck instead. "Could you work your magic?"
"Say please," Toph asked.
"Please," Tin Man said.
"Pretty please," Toph said.
"Pretty please," Tin Man echoed.
"With a cherry on top."
"With a-"
"Here," Scarecrow said, having brought the oil can to Tin Man.
"Spoil sport," Toph grumbled.
Scarecrow applied the oil can to all the various joints in the Tin Man, starting from the top and working his way down. At first he used generous amounts of oil, until he realized that he was starting to run out. The Tin Man's arms and torso were extra lubed and fully moving now, while the legs ended up with the bare minimum and squeaked when they moved. When the oil can was empty Scarecrow tossed it away, and he saw the Tin Man take a step and then stretch his limbs.
"Thank you," Tin Man said. With his hands he stretched his neck, getting a metallic pop out of it. "I've been stuck in that pose for the last year. As I'm sure you can imagine, that gave me a really bad crick in my neck."
"And no one going by stopped to help?" Scarecrow asked.
"They all thought I was a statue," Tin Man answered. Then he turned towards the fallen apple tree. "And they weren't helping with saying otherwise."
"Yeah they are real jerks," Toph said.
Tin Man spotted the tree that was toppled over, and he nodded at it. "I see. Well thanks for that too. Those guys always mocked me when it rained."
"You're welcome," Toph said. She pointed a thumb over her shoulder and at the road. "I think it's time we got back on the move."
"Where are you headed?" Tin Man asked.
"The Emerald City," Scarecrow answered.
"Neat," Tin Man said. "Care for one more?"
"What do you need there?" Toph asked.
"Well…" Tin Man said, not sure what the right words were. So he tapped his fist against his chest, getting an echo that all three of them could hear. "Hollow. There's nothing in here but cold air. I'd just like to have something to put in there to fill the void."
Seemingly just to check, Momo hopped back to Tin Man and hit him some more.
"So you want a full set of metal organs?" Toph figured.
"Right now, I'd settle for just a heart," Tin Man admitted. "So can I come along?"
"Sure, why not," Toph said with a shrug. She started walking back to the road, Momo back on her shoulder, and shaking her head when her feet stepped on brick. "Five gold coins say the next one is going to be Zuko."
"You won't get to the next one."
Toph knew that voice far too well, even if it was being used by someone that was clearly a different person. She couldn't quite make out the physical form of Azula from here, as it was on the roof of a nearby log cabin. The Wicked Witch that wore Azula's face had been watching from her perch on the roof, studying her foe to learn more about her behavior. Toph turned in her direction and sighed, throwing her arms apart in frustration.
"Whatever happened to biding your time?" Toph demanded, whereas Momo was growling at the witch from his perch on her shoulder.
By then Scarecrow and Tin Man reached the road, quickly spotting the Wicked Witch. "You know that hag," both said, both surprised.
Sorely tempted to say jinx, Toph resisted that urge to instead stay on the matter at hand. "So what, are we going to have the big fight now? I think it's a little early for that."
"Yes, you've only just begun," the Wicked Witch said. Then she noticed Scarecrow and Tin Man, and figured it might be worth a try to scare them off. "Helping the little lady along my fine gentlemen? Better stay away if you know what's good for you. Or I'll stuff you into a mattress, and smelt you down into tea set."
"Oddly specific threats," Toph commented. She assumed her favorite earthbending stance. "I like them simple. I'm going to crush you."
"That's the spirit," the Wicked Witch said. She held up a hand with her palm facing up, and a ball of fire ignited in it. "Catch!"
The Wicked Witch threw the ball of fire at Toph, falling in a curved arch toward her target. Scarecrow panicked and hit behind Tin Man, fearful of catching on fire and burning down into ash. Toph merely threw one arm up and a curved wall of brick rose from the road, blocking the ball of fire and leaving a small scorch on the brick. She then slid the wall back into the road, leaving only a line of broken bricks as evidence of earthbending.
"You must be playing right now," Toph said, letting her arms drop to her sides. "The Azula I know would call that firebending pathetic."
Momo made a high pitched laugh.
"You tell her," Toph encouraged.
"Oh I have much more in store for you," the Wicked Witch eagerly promised. "And you are going to see it soon enough."
A plume of smoke billowed up from beneath the Wicked Witch, and when the smoke dispersed she had completely vanished.
Toph waited a moment to make sure she did not reappear, and then turned to face the others. "I don't think she realizes I'm blind."
"You are?" Tin Man questioned, now looking at Toph's milky white eyes, which were not looking back. "You could have fooled me."
"She has that effect on people," Scarecrow said.
"Eh I see more than most people with eyes anyway," Toph said, holding her hands apart and shrugging. She stepped over the line of broken bricks and walked down the road. "Now let's get going before something else shows up."
Now well into the afternoon, the three of them went on their way down the yellow brick road. The woods came to an end soon after the cabin, the road cutting through some open plains. However that part of the road was not very long, after a mile it turned into a forest so thick its canopy obscured the sky. Although it was still a few hours before sunset it became as dark as night in the forest, shrouding much of the wilderness from prying eyes.
Toph strolled through the forest like it was as bright as day. Dark places had never been a problem for her, this one was no different. However she could clearly hear the sounds of the many wild animals that lived here, all of them beyond the range of her vibration sight. They made quite an unsettling symphony of feral sound, enough to make her a little uneasy here. But while Toph was only slightly nervous, Scarecrow and Tin Man were quite clearly worried, and Momo was shaking.
"So…" Toph started to ask. "What kinds of animals live in this forest?"
Scarecrow looked at Tin Man. "Do they eat straw?"
"I'm sure some do," Tin Man answered. "But I think it's mostly lions, tigers, and bears."
The last one made Toph stop in her tracks, resulting in Scarecrow bumping into her back and falling on his rear end. "Say that again."
"Lions, tigers, and bears," Tin Man repeated.
"Don't you mean moose-lions, monkey-tigers, and platypus-bears?" Toph asked.
"Just lions, tigers, and bears," Tin Man repeated again.
"What about lion-tigers, tiger-bears, and bear-lions?" Toph asked. She could tell that Tin Man was shaking his head. "Okay… how about lion-tiger-bears?"
"Nope," Tin Man answered.
"Huh…" Toph said. She was utterly speechless for a bit, and when she came out of it she shrugged. "So this is where Bosco came from."
Momo nodded a few times.
"What's a Bosco?" Scarecrow asked.
Before he could get an answer there was a very loud roar, one that silenced all the other animals nearby. Scarecrow and Tin Man could see it in the trees, illuminated by the very little light that made it through the treetops. But being in the trees made it difficult for Toph to see it, the vibrations muffled by the wood and masking the finer details. It was some kind of beast and it roared again, followed by it jumping from the trees and landing on the road, and the clear sight made Toph's jaw drop.
"Appa?!"
It was the big furry sky bison alright. However, he was only half the size that Toph remembered, scaled down to twice the height of a man and four times the mass. He was also standing on just two legs instead of the usual six, the front four now held like two pairs of arms. Other than that he seemed like the same furry beast that Toph always knew, just smaller and standing upright. Appa blocked the road ahead of Toph, and held up his upper right paw.
"Are you looking for a fight?"
Speechless at hearing the bison speak, Toph couldn't even accept a challenge. It was just so surreal to encounter this, like being in a waking nightmare or sleep-deprived daydream. She turned to her left and walked off the edge of the road, stepping on thick grass until she reached the closest tree. The trunk was about three times as thick as Toph's torso, and she felt the bark with one hand. All eyes were on Toph, right when she slammed the tree with her head.
"Ow…" Toph said. She slammed her head into the tree again. "Ow…"
"What are you doing?" Tin Man asked.
"Trying, ow… To, ow… Wake, ow… UP!" Toph said, hitting her head after each word. She stopped, put her back against the tree, and slid down to sit in the dirt. "And it's not working."
Momo hopped down to Toph's lap and curled up into it, encouraging her to pet him for some soothing therapy, even though Toph declined.
The bison lowered the paws he had been holding up, and tilted his head in a curious manner. "I've never seen someone so odd."
"Don't you start!" Toph yelled. Despite the swelling bruise on her forehead, she stood back up and pointed at the bison, throwing Momo off her in the process. "You're the final nail in the coffin of my grip on reality. Either I'm dreaming everything that's happened in this crazy land, or I've finally snapped like the blue fire lady!"
Scarecrow was scratching at the side of his head. "I… have no response to that."
Tin Man tried to be more sympathetic. "You're not going crazy."
"Could have fooled me," the bison admitted.
"You're not helping," Tin Man said, now facing the bison.
Toph rested her head against the tree. "You really don't see anything wrong with a talking bison?"
"You do?" Scarecrow asked.
At that remark Toph couldn't help but borrow Sokka's infamous slap to the forehead, ignoring the pain from hitting the bruise there. "I'm definitely crazy."
"We know already," the bison said.
"And you can shut up!" Toph yelled. She stomped a foot on the ground, and a hard stone ripped out of the ground and was flung over the road, which struck the bison in the face.
"Ow…" the bison yelped, stumbling backward and getting much further away from Toph. "What did you have to do that for?"
"You know why," Toph said. She walked back onto the road and assumed an earthbending stance, but when she did so she noticed the bison flinching. "Scared? Oh you should be."
Momo was now standing between Toph and the bison, growling at him and looking ready to attack at any provocation.
"I think he really is scared," Scarecrow said, seeing the bison trembling and walking back step by step. "Who knew the big guy was a coward inside?"
"I did," the bison admitted, having backed away to some trees just beyond the edge of the road. "I haven't any courage at all."
Toph relaxed and walked over to the other two, beckoned for Momo to come back to her, and shook her head before facing the bison. "Come on."
"What?" the bison questioned.
"I see where this is going, and I can't even see," Toph said. She pointed at Scarecrow and then at Tin Man. "He says he needs a brain, and he says he needs a heart, and it looks like you need courage. And I bet you think you can get it in this Emerald City too."
"I think so," the bison said. He took a few steps towards Toph, and put his first two paws together. "Do you really want me to come along with you?"
"If it gets my crazy hallucination over with sooner, yes," Toph said. She started walking down the road again, gesturing for the bison to follow. "One question though, what's your name?"
"I don't really have one," the bison admitted. "I'm just a big Cowardly Bison."
"Yeah no, I'm not calling you that," Toph said. "Do you mind if I just call you Appa? You seem like an Appa to me."
"Appa…" the bison muttered, getting a feel for that name. "I like the sound of it."
"Good," Toph said. Now that all four of them were walking down the road, Toph picked up the pace. "Let's get out of this forest already."
It took several hours for the party of four to walk through the rest of the forest, passing through the thickest portions of it before the canopy began to thin. But there wasn't any more sunlight passing through the holes they started to find in the vegetation, and they had to concede that the night had come. So they made camp alongside the road, eating what little food they had for their supper before going to sleep.
On the next day Toph was up bright and early, with a rumbling stomach that was yearning to be filled. Fortunately Appa knew which of the forest's plants were safe to eat, and for breakfast he provided an assortment of nutritious mushrooms and wild rice. By midmorning stomachs were full and they were ready to go, and with sunlight poking through the trees to light their way. And so they were back on the road again, rested and refreshed for another day of travel.
The trees gradually thinned and the forest came to end, the boundary up against a large and expansive meadow. Toph kept on walking like nothing had changed, until she noticed that the other three had stopped in their tracks. "What is it?"
"There it is," Scarecrow said, pointing across the meadow.
"What is?" Toph asked, figuring that they were seeing something beyond the range of her sight. "What do you guys see?"
"The Emerald City," Tin Man answered.
Far off into the distance, almost to the horizon, the Emerald City stood against the deep blue sky. True to its name the towers of emerald stabbed at the heavens, each one looking like some massive crystal. It almost seemed to glow with green light, even if it was a trick of the sunlight reflecting off the shiny emerald surfaces. It was quite a glorious sight for the three with working eyes, and judging by their amazed expressions Toph wished that she could see it too.
"How far away is it?" Toph asked.
"A couple of miles," Tin Man answered.
"In a straight line," Scarecrow added. "But the road goes way over that way."
Sure enough the road made a sharp turn to the right, going around the meadow and easily tripling the distance to the Emerald City from here. The meadow itself was filled with vast fields of poppies, but the ground underneath them was just as level as it was everywhere else nearby. From what Toph could tell there weren't any sinkholes or soft spots underground, really nothing to justify such a long detour around the meadow instead of cutting through it.
"Is this place important?" Toph asked.
"Not really," Appa answered. "Why?"
"Would anyone mind if something bad happened to it?" Toph asked.
"I don't think so," Appa said.
"All in favor of a shortcut, say I," Toph requested. She heard four sets of I's, including her own, and a short chirp that had to be Momo. "The I's have it, we are taking a shortcut."
Together the four of them walked into the meadow, taking a few steps through the first field of poppies. This time it was Toph that stopped while the other three kept going, prompting them to stop and see what she was doing. Toph used earthbending to raise a mound of dirt underneath them, and then propelled it forward to carry them along. The three were surprised by the moving earth and enjoying the fast motion, and Toph snickered at being the one to carry an Appa for a change.
"We'll be there in no time," Toph promised.
Plowing through the meadow utterly destroyed the poppy fields in Toph's way, shredding the pretty little flowers and scattering the remains to the winds. A dirt path was left behind in Toph's wake, quickly littered with the falling remnants of poppies. In front of the moving earth some of the shredded poppies were blown right into the faces, a real annoyance when they had to breathe. They all had a thin layer of poppy pollen on them after the short trip, coming to a stop at the far end of the meadow.
"And here we are," Toph said, stepping foot on the brick road. "How much time do you think we saved? Two hours? Three?"
Momo started to mutter something, right before he fell off Toph's shoulder.
"What's the matter with him?" Tin Man asked, pointing at Momo lying still on the brick.
"I don't know," Toph said. She covered her mouth while she yawned. "Tired maybe?"
"But we just… got up… this… morning…" Appa said, right before he collapsed with a loud thud.
"Out cold," Scarecrow said, trying to wake Appa. "I think we have a problem here."
"Ya think?" Toph said, and she yawned again. Her view of the world was fading, and she suddenly felt herself falling. "Nighty night."
When she slowly regained consciousness there was a pain in her right side, which Toph had fallen on top of. At first she didn't have a clear view of her surroundings, so she dearly hoped that she was back at the family mansion after a particularly bad storm. But no, when her vision cleared she was still on that brick road, although at the edge of the Emerald City. It seemed that she had been carried here, while a still sleeping Appa had been dragged the entire way.
Spotting Scarecrow and Tin Man watching over her, Toph groaned as she sat upright. "What in the world happened?"
"Poison," Tin Man answered. "Something in those poppies, they put people to sleep."
"That was why the road went around the fields," Scarecrow said.
"Would have been nice for someone to put up a sign," Toph said. Her vision was clearing some more, enough to see munchkin crowds around them and in front of the city's tall buildings. "Ugh… here we go again…"
"She's awake," one local munchkin said, and cheerful faces spread across the crowds. "The Good Witch of the Earth is awake."
Toph gave Scarecrow a curious look.
"They saw your shortcut," Scarecrow said. "I had to come up with something."
Already the crowds were beginning to celebrate, and the noise was getting awfully loud for Toph's still tired ears. "Quiet down over there!"
For a little incentive to comply Toph thrust a fist upward, and a person size block of stone was hurled from the ground towards one of the crowds. There were the expected screams and the munchkins immediately got out of the way, and no one was hurt when the stone block hit something. The only casualty was a now smashed up vegetable cart, and that loss was worth it for the sweet silence. But while the crowds were quiet, one loud voice could be quite clearly heard.
"MY CABBAGES!"
Immediately Toph was on her feet and checking everything she saw with them, and she quickly found the source of that voice. "No way…"
Sure enough there was a scrawny older gentleman beside the smashed vegetable cart, cradling the few still intact cabbages in his arms. He was wearing loose fitting old clothes, which had once been green but had faded to brown long ago. He saw Toph approaching and instinctively backed away, fearing for the few cabbages he still had left. He got behind the smashed cart and looked over it, still seeing Toph coming right towards him.
"Oh no…" the cabbage merchant muttered. "Not you again!"
Toph stopped dead in her tracks. "Wait… again?"