"They're headed for the inner ring," Katara shouted as she chased the person in question.
The figure's features were obscured by a tattered black cloak that fell about their waist, but from the looks of it, their underclothes were rather shabby as well. All of this and more met Katara's sharp blue gaze as she took a leaf out of Toph's book and pulled water from the dual water skin upon her back, sliding along the ice as it froze beneath her feet. Toph, who was stubborn and headstrong, much like the Earth she bent, crashed through the wagon of a rather unfortunate vendor of cabbage, causing the older, tanned gentleman in attendance of the cart to shout hysterically and stomp upon the ground furiously.
"Sorry," Katara said as she bent an arch of ice clear over the ruins of the cabbage merchant's produce.
But she had no time for the cries and shouts of the man behind her, she needed to catch the person she was chasing and wrest their knowledge of that arena from them. A flicker of movement caught her eyes and she followed Toph into a crowded square in middle ring of the city, which looked like a cute destination for couples, families and the like. That said, Katara, who usually loved to picture herself and Aang as proud parents when surrounded by families, was now rather upset, herself. The crowd meant that she could no longer go all out with her bending, and on top of that, the culprit had gotten away from them. Katara came to a landing beside a fountain that gurgled gently in the sunlight before she made a disgusted noise in her throat and tossed the water she'd been bending into the fountain, ready to give up.
A stony crunching and grinding announced Toph's presence as the short, angry girl hopped down from the boulder she'd been forcing along the ground through sheer force of will.
"Dammit, where'd he go? I can't see with all these people," she said angrily.
"Just forget about it, Toph," Katara said wearily, "let's just go home."
"No! We're gonna find this guy and get some answers outta him," the blind woman said before she stomped upon the ground and raised a hand.
The ground beneath her shot upward, and after a moment she stood an entire body above the crowded square.
"Attention everyone! Attention!"
The babble continued. Toph, in her fury, scowled angrily for a moment before she lashed out like a cobra.
"Shut UP!"
Her words echoed throughout the square as the babble slowly faded and died. Katara watched as everyone looked at her friend with an odd combination of fear and concern. A small smile pulled at Toph's mouth before she spun in a circle, dropped to one knee, and drove her hands into the pillar below her. Nothing visible happened, but Toph's 'vision' was now clearer than it had ever been. The vibrations ran across the crowd with speed few others knew. She ruled out anyone with abnormally slow heartbeats, they were obviously not doing any physical activity, let alone hiding from pursuers. She narrowed her search, bit by bit, person by person, until only one individual stuck out.
"Katara!"
With a single finger, Toph pointed, and the waterbender followed her outstretched limb with her eyes, fearing she might miss what Toph had seen. She looked above the heads of those closest to her and she saw the roof of a building, upon which crouched the person they'd been chasing. They jolted, taking off so suddenly and moving so fast that Katara had trouble keeping up as she moved through the crushing press of bodies.
"Stop, whoever you are, we just wanna ask some questions!"
The figure looked back as they ran, and with a quick slash of their hand, bright flames blinded and distracted Katara, halting her in her tracks. Toph, on the other hand, was not phased. She stomped upon the pillar and it shrank back into the earth before shooting back up again, albeit diagonally. She flew through the air so fast her cheeks jiggled slightly, and she shot through the flames, landing upon the roof and continuing the chase.
The culprit moved like an acrobat, and was surprisingly limber for a fighter of an arena. They leapt from rooftop to rooftop with ease and swung from the branches of several trees as they made their way closer to the upper ring.
"This guy's a firebender," Katara said, looking slightly sooty, but unharmed nonetheless.
"A better mystery to solve would be why they're running towards the upper ring, it's full of guards," Toph replied.
They leapt down from the building they had been running on top of, and sprinted through the gateway that once marked the only entry to and from the upper ring. Strangely, even though the wall had been lowered, many guards were still supposed to be on watch… but none were there.
"Toph," Katara said suddenly, "stop!"
"What, what is it? Can't you see I'm in the middle of chasing down and beating up some random guy," Toph said with a scoff, skidding to a stop.
"There are no guards here… somehow, that person knew there would be no guards here, and they're a firebender, whoever they are, I think we have enough information to track him down later. And besides, Aang should be home soon, we have to go and get there before he does so we can make sure the plan is ready," Katara said, placing a placating hand upon Toph's shoulder.
Toph blew the hair out of her face, but let herself be steadily guided back to Katara and Aang's estate. It wasn't a long journey and as they walked Katara plied Toph with questions about Aang's strange behavior, the arena, and the mysterious figure who'd escaped their clutches. They soon arrived at the estate, washed up and checked upon the plan's layout, making sure all was ready. After ensuring that things would be ready in time for Aang's return, they decided to rest in the cool air of the evening, where they sat upon the balcony and overlooked the beautiful city, drinking tea and discussing the day's events.
"Now that the plan's been hashed out, I think we should mull over this whole 'arena' thing," Katara said, "do you have any thoughts?"
"Only one," Toph said, "HUUGH."
With a huge, unhappy groan, Toph thumped her head onto the table, indicating her lack of interest in the subject. Katara, of course, couldn't drop the subject as it had so much to do with her marriage. Toph, on the other hand, simply believed her to be overreacting.
"That's a huge help," Katara said, feeling slightly hurt that her friend wasn't taking this matter more seriously.
"Katara, listen to me," Toph said, batting the table with a fist and making the cutlery and china clatter, "I understand your scared, and I get that your upset, but you need to take it easy, I am almost one hundred percent sure Aang isn't being unfaithful, the guy's had a crush on you than longer than I can remember!"
"I know, he told me about it during the invasion," Katara said, referring to the Day of Black Sun, when they had invaded the Fire Nation and attempted to end the Hundred Year War.
"No, Katara, long before that, heck, probably back before I even joined your group, Aang had cared for you. You have no idea how annoying it was to train him when all he did was look at you, or talk about you. I could tell he had you on his mind whenever his heartbeat got all weak and fluttery… that's when I snuck up," Toph said quietly, tensing like a cheetah-leopard going in for the kill, "and I said…ROCK-LIKE!"
Katara jumped as Toph shouted, causing the earthbender to snort with laughter; but as if Toph's actions had suddenly released all of her tension, Katara found herself laughing with her blind friend.
"You got me there," Katara said, "though I'm pretty sure I've heard that before, back when you started training Aang. I couldn't quite make out what you were saying though."
"Rock-like," Toph explained, "I wanted him to remember that in order to move the rock, he had to become more stubborn than stone. I guess it worked in the end. How is Twinkle-Toes' earthbending coming along? Have you seen him at it?"
"No, but I'm sure he's-"
"Katara," Joo Dee hissed, sticking her head out of the doorway, "the Avatar approaches!"
"Showtime," Toph said, getting up from her chair and beckoning for Katara to follow her inside.
Katara sat in Aang's study as she watched the sun set through the stained glass windows of the estate. Her dress was perfect and the smell of a delicious dinner wafted through the large rooms fairly quickly. The board was ready, the pieces were in place; now all that was needed was for the trap to spring. The door to Aang's study swung open and revealed him, standing there looking thoroughly worn out. He slouched into the study, cast off shirt and walked up behind Katara, wrapping his arms around her waist. Aang planted a soft kiss upon her neck before gently resting his chin upon her shoulder, both of them looking out at the the setting sun.
"I'm home," Aang said quietly, "just like I said I would be."
"I think dinner is almost ready, too," Katara replied, "you should wash up before dinner."
"Yeah, I was working hard today. I actually got called out to investigate because there was a large scale bending skirmish taking place between the middle and upper rings. Oh, and do you remember that cabbage merchant we always used to run into," Aang asked excitedly, a youthful twinkle in his eye.
"The one whose cart always ended up damaged," Katara asked, still staring intently out the window as Aang took a seat at his desk.
"That's the one. Turns out his cart was destroyed, again! I bought half his crop and gave him a few gold pieces for a new cart."
"Don't tell me you dragged half a cart of cabbages home with you," Katara moaned, "I'm not sure I can eat that much."
"No worries, Katara, I distributed the good ones among those who desperately needed the food, and then I gave the rest to the zookeeper outside the walls. His rabbaroos are getting big. All in all though, I'd say it was an eventful day. How was yours, do anything interesting," Aang asked, scribbling nonchalantly upon a piece of paper.
"Not really, I got in a good workout, though. Take a look at these muscles," Katara said, flexing her lean, toned arms at her husband, whose mouth fell open in surprise.
"Geez, you have bigger muscles than me!"
They walked arm in arm through the grand estate granted to them by the officials of Ba Sing Se, whom had taken over ruling while the Earth King traveled his kingdom disguised as a commoner. No one had seen or heard from him, but every now and then there were reports of a man, riding a bear through the rural countryside, which many people found to be an extraordinarily strange occurrence. The delicious smell of food grew even stronger as they found the door to the dining room, and Joo Dee standing dutifully in front of it with her signature grin upon her face.
"Welcome home Avatar," she said happily, "Lady Katara told me you'd be home for dinner, and asked me to assist the chef as much as possible in preparation for your return. Please, come in and have a seat!"
Joo Dee stepped inside and held the door, beckoning for the Avatar and his Lady to enter. Aang smiled and gave a polite nod as he passed, causing Joo Dee to bow low before shutting the door and following them so as to pull out their chairs. As Katara entered, however, she kept a sharp eye out for any signs of Toph's presence. There were no dirty footprints, her hair did not stick up over wherever her hiding place was, and no suspicious sounds could be heard. Truly her patience must have gotten better, as she was virtually undetectable.
'Alright,' Katara thought to herself, 'the stage is set, the candles are lit, the food will be done shortly, and Toph it close at hand…Aang, it's time for some truthfulness, what are you hiding?'
Hello all, after some time I've finally decided to simply post what I have on this fic. It's a short chapter and even though there was action I still fell out of it... Not sure why, I just lost interest. Work will do that to you. Anyway, Toph and Katara seem to have a plan all hashed out, and now there is an arena and a firebender involved too! What has Aang been up too, the scoundrel?
