Part Two: Spring
Chapter Nine: The Burden of Truth
The letter was tied with a sliver of red
Crimson against the parchment's dull gleam
And sent through the the sky, the messenger wheeling
The burden of truth carried on his wings.
The next few moments passed in a blur. Toph felt all the adrenaline, all the power, all the invincibility drain away until only a faint compliance was left. She didn't fight back when her mother took her arm and led her away. To where, she didn't know or care, just knew that Sokka would come, Sokka would find a way out, Sokka would stay.
Sokka himself begged to differ. He stood, mute and ashen-faced, knowing that he truly had blew it. To what extent, he wasn't sure, but by the time Lao announced the end of the night to the other suitors with an artificial smile, he knew that this mistake wouldn't be forgotten.
--
"You're not supposed to be here."
She stood there, hands holding up the weight of the window. He looked at her forlornly, the expression in his eyes saying everything he couldn't.
"You're supposed to be gone, aren't you?" She whispered, the breeze pushing its way through the open window and into the room. "We failed, and-"
"Let me inside," he pressed, and she relented without a word, moving aside to allow his entry. His feet landed against the floor of the room soundlessly, as if one noise would jeopardize his life. She didn't bother to shut the window, just stood there, a flicker of sorrow in her expression.
The sixteen-year-old, clothed in his plain robes of blue, took her silence as a signal to speak.
"It's all my fault," he stated firmly. "It's my fault."
"It is," she stated, the words falling with the heaviness of stone. "But we tried, didn't we? And we had a heck of a time doing it." She allowed a small laugh to escape the faint crimson of her lips, although the situation hardly called for happiness.
"I should've remembered your advice. I put everything at stake with this one try, and I blew it." He circled the room, footsteps falling quietly. "And we were so close, and I could've... we could've..."
He stopped, fixing his gaze onto the thirteen-year-old who stood soundlessly by the window. "We still can."
"Still can what?" She whispered, and a deranged smile spread across his face until he looked more crazy than apologetic.
"We still have a chance at freedom. We can sneak away right now." His voice rose until it was more of a hiss than a murmur. "We can do it. Let's get out of here while we have the time!"
"You can. I can't," was the quiet, firm reply. He felt his heart fall as he saw the acceptance written in her face, etched into every nuance of the Earthbender. She was going to be a lady. She knew she was, and didn't want to fight it.
He couldn't let this happen to her, couldn't let this life take her away.
"You can," he stated, trying to keep the pleading out of his voice. "Toph, you can't stay here. You hate this life. It's not right."
"This was what was meant for me from the day I was born," she muttered. "It's wrong to fight it. Look what's happened to us."
"It's my fault, and my fault only. You want this freedom, so let's go before they kick me out!"
"And what?" Her voice rose too, matching his tone. "Leave my parents like this? They'd be disgraced for eternity if their daughter ran off after being presented to all these people. And the Bei Fong inheritance would be left to a man I hardly know, a man I don't even want to know." Her desperation was wrought in her words, the anger and intolerance and confusion flooding her mind until she couldn't contain her emotions in just whispers. "Don't you get it, Sokka? There's no way out! I can't just run away from the life I was raised in!"
"And where would we have been if you hadn't run away? What if you hadn't become the Blind Bandit? What if you just stayed here all your life and became that lady your parents are so desperate to have?" By this time, Sokka was livid, the frustration welling up until he felt the desire to just take Toph and run. "For all we know, the Fire Nation could've been ruling the entire world! Without your help, we could've all been dead!"
"Even if the Fire Nation did take over the world, I'd still be here, wouldn't I? Maybe, if I hadn't been hooked on that taste of freedom, I could've grown to love this life." She flung herself to the bed in a surprising show of emotion, burying herself in the creases and folds of fabric until the world seemed to fade away. "That's not who I am now, is it? I'm the greatest Earthbender in the world, and even I can't escape what my parents want."
"Let's give it one last go, then," he tried, then, the anger draining away as the girl lay, motionless, enveloped in the emerald of her bedsheets. "If you don't want to run away, face your parents again. Tell them that this life isn't for you, and if they don't accept it..." He sat on the bed, a firm resolve blazing in his eyes. "If they don't accept it, why bother trying to please them?"
"Because they're my parents," she muttered, her voice muted against the fabric. Even she knew that it was a weak argument, and said nothing after that, accepting the silence that followed.
He reached into the bag he brought with him, extracting the escape present. It glimmered in the light, a quiet sort of solace.
"Alright, so we failed. Not part of the master plan. But I can still give you the present, right?"
Her head rose from the bedsheets, the makeup all but ruined and her hair falling across her shoulders in disarray. "There's no need to add insult to injury, Snoozles. What's the use of an escape present if there's no use trying to run away?"
"Because," he pressed, the crystal of the present heavy in his hand. "It's still your birthday, right?"
She slipped off the bed and approached him warily, as if he held a weapon rather than a gift. "I thought I already told you. There's no point in celebrating."
"Still. For good luck, maybe. And if we really don't get to escape, it's something to remind you of freedom."
He extended his hand and she took it from his palm gingerly, pale fingers curling around the small sculpture.
"You told me that I could 'bend it," she stated, wondering how she had managed to remember that. The Earthbender ran a finger along the surface, noting its smoothness. "Let me see. It's not stone, and it's definitely not-"
"It's crystal," he broke in, watching her face carefully. It was blank, not full of euphoria. "It's a crystal Badgermole. I thought you'd like it, being an Earthbender and all."
"Oh," Toph remarked absentmindedly, trying to hide the desolation still tinting her voice. She turned the Badgermole over in her hands again before sitting on the bed besides him.
"Do you like it?"
"It's neat," she attempted.
"'Neat' works," Sokka replied offhandedly, and she shrugged halfheartedly in response.
There was a small silence for a moment. He had expected so much more out of her; then again, he was supposed to give the escape present to her once they were free. Toph was still very much imprisoned.
"Sokka?" Toph asked, breaking the silence. He addressed her with a small nod, then remembered she couldn't see it, and responded with a quiet "Hm?"
"I think I'm gonna face my parents again," she stated before she had a moment to think, tracing indescript patterns on the cool crystal of the sculpture with a finger. "I feel like I need to know if they're still going to put their happiness over mine."
"You really think that'll work? After all this, I mean..."
His voice trailed off, not daring to elaborate further. She nodded; she understood.
"I don't know. But like you said: if they don't understand me at all, why should I bother trying to please them?"
He nodded. Then, on impulse, he reached over and lay a hand on her shoulder. She didn't attempt to move it away, just let him keep it there.
"We did pretty well, though," Sokka mused into the momentary lull. "I'm kinda surprised I managed to stay around this long."
"They probably thought the we were too stupid to pull something like this off," she offered halfheartedly, managing a bleak smile and knowing that it was the truth.
"But I'll still hang around as long as I can, you know."
"Yeah, that's a given."
"And I'll come with you to face your parents. Just in case."
"You really think I'll need that much help?"
"You need all the help you can get."
She stiffened at this, and Sokka let his hand fall from her shoulder to the bed, thinking her reaction was because of this. She didn't acknowledge it, but it felt different. Lonely. At that moment, she realized that a life without him- without Katara, Aang, Appa, everybody- would feel just like this.
She couldn't feel these things once and have them ripped away the next day. She couldn't live a year with people who loved her, genuinely loved her, and have them torn away the next.
"You don't have to come, you know," she added softly as an afterthought. What was the use of having Sokka there if she knew that leaving wasn't her destiny anyways? For some reason, it felt like she owed something to the Water Tribe adolescent, even though it was he who had gotten them into this mess. It was hard to face reason when emotions clouded her mind. Confusing and unusual, but at times euphoric and wild emotions. Freedom and the feeling of being truly cared about- the feelings that came with her friends. Sokka didn't deserve being placed before her parents again, being judged again. She told herself that she would spare him this, as a last act of friendship, when all she wanted was for it to be otherwise. The truth was, she needed him there. She needed his hand on her shoulder and him telling her that he would hang around as long as he could. They'd defy her parents. Everybody. Run away together.
But Toph knew her parents, knew how much they loved her. Part of her loved them too, for who they were. Mother, who had guided her and protected her from the pain of the world. Father, who had always been the confident one, the protector. And yet, one look at Sokka would make her parents keep her in their house forever. She knew she had no choice but to let him go and face them on her own.
Face the problem head-on, like an Earthbender, she realized. A flicker of a smile danced across her lips, then disappeared when she realized that Toph the Earthbender, Toph the greatest, was no more.
"Get some rest," Sokka finally suggested, interrupting Toph's thoughts. "It's been a long night."
"No kidding, right?" was the quiet, uncharacteristic response. He glanced at her in silent worry, then built his composure back up and headed outside.
She didn't turn when he walked to the window, wrenched it open, and left. Didn't turn and offer a farewell. For all she knew, this could be the last time she saw him again, but she had no desire to make the possibility real by cementing it in one word.
Goodbye.
She turned the crystal badgermole over in her hands and collapsed onto the silk of her bed. The night had been long, the suitors had been annoying, her destiny had been determined. A good night's sleep seemed like the only pleasant thing that would come out of her exhaustion.
As she burrowed herself into the warmth of the blankets and let sleep overtake her, Toph clutched the crystal Badgermole, rough crystal digging against the pale of her fingers, until her knuckles turned white.
--
Sokka had spent the night awake. His eyes burned, and his eyelids were heavy with denied sleep. His mind was shutting down on itself.
The night cast strange shadows against the walls of the barn, but he had lost the will to even care. He had spent the majority of the night packing and unpacking, wondering if there were still enough time to sneak Toph away. Sokka thought about the guards, then, and cast the thought aside.
He slouched back onto the moldy hay that had been his bed and Appa's food source for the past two months. Looking back, he realized how ridiculous their plan had been. What had he been thinking? Imagining that the two most influential people in Gaoling couldn't see past the disguise, no matter how many times he lied to himself and thought it would work?
He just had to drag Toph back into the life she had tried so hard to escape. And now that she was here, he had to cement her future by meddling with rich people and failing to maintain her freedom, failing to keep Toph the Earthbender alive.
And he remembered the Toph in his dream. Lady Bei Fong. The most brilliant bender in the world lost under layers of silk and makeup and lies.
Is this what she believed her destiny was?
All at once, the enormity of his failure crashed down on him, and he just lay there, frozen. There there was no way out. He had not only crushed all hope of escape, but had also crushed Toph's will to leave. She thought that there was no hope now that the idea guy's plan had failed, when the truth, he was no idea guy, or genius, or anything worth looking up to. He was a peasant. Back then, when the war had engulfed their lives, he had only crossed his fingers and relied on pure power to get them through ordeals. Now, when they weren't even in real danger, he had failed.
Somehow, though, all this hadn't taken his mind off of the eerie quiet that enveloped the Bei Fong estate. He knew that it was foolish to slip outside again though, despite the deceiving silence that permeated the air. His prior visit to Toph had only been achieved with pure luck. The guards had all been preoccupied with making sure that all the suitors got to their respective rooms, so it had been easy to sneak to her. Now, though, he knew that there were too many guards around to risk leaving the barn.
The suitors had probably all been accounted for and sent to bed; maybe that was the reason for the abrupt calm. Sokka knew that it was supposed to be considerably quieter now that everybody was gone. Still, it felt like all the noise had been suppressed unnaturally. Quickening shadows darted across the wall of the barn, but he couldn't find the source, even when he made an effort. It was probably a trick of the eyes, not surprising due to his current state. Despite all that, he would've given tons to have Toph's skill in sensing things.
Sokka closed his eyes and grasped for sleep. Again, guilt made him wrench them open, despite the stinging that accompanied it. There was nothing to do but stare up at the ceiling of the barn and hope that everything would work itself out. Toph would talk to her parents, and they'd let her go. And they'd fly far, far away from here, to the North Pole, maybe even to Kyoshi Island to see if a certain person was there. Aang would get well, and Katara would smile again. She'd laugh one of those musical laughs and make jokes, and Aang would make those sickeningly-sweet eyes at her, and they'd all laugh, they'd all laugh-
The stable door creaked open, and Sokka's head darted up at the sound. It was late at night, so whoever was visiting probably needed something urgent from him. Instinctively, he realized that they were probably sending him away now, at midnight, when he wouldn't have the strength to retaliate and Toph would be unaware of his departure. A jarring pain flooded his mind: the realization that they really had run out of time.
Barely audible footsteps fell onto the stable floor, and losing heart immediately, Sokka surrendered all hope of saving Toph and stepped off of his makeshift bed.
"I've already packed my things," he stated resolutely, trying not to let the guilt tinge his voice. Whoever had entered the stable didn't reply, but stood there, features indescript, in the shadow of the barn. The person had no lantern, no source of light. The moonlight didn't seem to find the visitor's face, but Sokka was about certain that the intruder was a man.
The sixteen-year-old, who was too weary to do much rational thinking, didn't have the heart to identify the visitor. All he wanted to do was leave, even if it meant departing alone.
"I'll just go now, alright?" He attempted. "You want me to leave. That's why you're here."
"We have no intention of letting you escape," came the amused reply, and Sokka, sensing instinctively that this wasn't going according to plan, felt for his boomeraang. It wasn't in its regular place but gone, packed with the rest of his belongings and out of reach for the time being. He swallowed then, choosing to find a little bit more out before jumping to conclusions.
"I had no idea the Bei Fongs would let me off the hook so easily," he laughed halfheartedly, trying to put a bit of bravado into his words but failing miserably. Better let this person think he was some sort of incompetent oaf. "So I get to stay, right? That's nice of them."
"Just stay silent," came the ambiguous reply. "If all goes according to plan, you'll be able to ask them yourself."
Despite the situation, the sixteen-year-old felt somewhat amused. Who did this guy think he was? Sure, he heard that the occasional thief broke into the Bei Fong estate from time to time, but were usually stopped by the guards before they even got to the manor itself. And if they did reach the house, they'd be pulverized by a certain Earthbender, no doubt. He relaxed, then, knowing that the estate was secure.
"So what is this, then?" the teenager retaliated with a raised eyebrow. Some confidence was returning to him. "Some sort of robbery, or kidnapping? Trust me, you're not gonna get very far."
Silence. He didn't venture any further, remembering that the man could be capable of bending. Sokka had nothing to arm himself with, and even if he did, he knew any efforts at self-defense would be futile in the dark. Still, a barrier separated him from the intruder- Appa's bulky form- so there was no immediate threat.
The shadows darted across the barn wall at an ever-increasing rate, and although the warrior knew better than to keep his eyes off of the intruder, he knew there was a high chance that more men had slipped in through the window. Still others might have fanned out across the barn when the intruder had entered, hiding in the shadows of the huge building long enough to figure out where to strike.
"Secure the perimeter," came the barely audible mutter. Sokka risked a look back, and knew it was a fatal mistake.
The walls of the barn were lined with soldiers.
The men, half-hidden in the darkness of the barn, held their hands up in a fighting stance. Sokka turned back around, and realized that not only was he severly outnumbered, he was defenseless, weaponless, and weak.
"Don't hurt him," came the quiet command. "He's got the Avatar's sky bison with him. He could be valuable."
Sokka said nothing, just kept his feet on the floor. They could do nothing to him if he didn't prove to be a threat first. Inching towards Appa, he didn't stop until he felt the warmth of the bison's white fur against his back. His boomerang and sword were attached to the saddle; if he could jump up there in time and manage to grab his bag...
It was no use, really. The soldiers would not hesitate to attack him once he made an effort at self-defense.
"Won't the Resistance be pleased?" The man who had addressed Sokka earlier laughed, surveying the group that had flanked the walls of the barn. "Two of the Avatar's companions and the Bei Fong family in one night."
Sokka just had to hope for the best and plan for the worst. The men looked formidable, but also vaguely familiar. Their hands were positioned in a style that Sokka knew was a stance for Earthbenders, and knowing what power his opponents held, he could think to do nothing else but surrender.
But first.
"What are you planning to do?" He attempted bitterly but resolutely, knowing that he was taking his chances. Nobody replied, but the atmosphere seemed to tighten. The warrior looked from one wall to the other, with the knowledge that this was no ordinary break-in.
He risked a glance at Appa, and saw to his relief that the sky bison was awake, eyes half-open and growling warily at the intruders. Yet, none of the men seemed to be particularly fazed. Though none of them had probably ever fought a two-ton flying bison before, Sokka knew that with the number of Earthbenders in the barn, an animal and a weaponless warrior stood no chance.
"Relax," the man continued with a hint of amusement. "We won't harm you now. Rather, we'll negotiate. Make a bargain."
"Bargain?" Sokka glanced at the soldiers that wouldn't hesitate to strike at a moment's notice, and raised an eyebrow. "What kind?"
"We'll spare your life..."
Sokka considered the possibility.
"...If you bring the Bei Fong girl to us."
Sokka felt his chest tighten in anxiety, and a hand clenched into a fist. He knew his life in exchange for Toph's was an unfair exchange, and an idiotic one at that. Although Toph would probably be able to hold her own against at least half of the intruders, Sokka knew that it was foolish to risk it.
"And if I refuse?" He challenged before he had a chance to bite his words back. A ripple of amusement seemed to spread throughout the line of soldiers, and their leader smirked.
"Then we have no need for you."
Without warning, the earth shattered underneath Sokka's feet. His knees buckled, bringing him to the hard, dirt floor. Appa thrashed in fear, sending heavy vibrations throughout the barn and making the warrior lose his balance.
The men that surrounded them seemed to be unaffected, and hurtled chunks of hard earth at him. The projectiles caught him, pinning him to the ground.
Sokka winced as the rough gravel bit into his skin.
He glanced at what was holding him down, and a wave of startling recognition swept over him. Earthen hands pinned his hands and knees to the floor, gripping him and holding him motionless. The others were doing the same to Appa, encasing the sky bison's feet by jutting the earth out of the ground. They were both trapped.
They're going for the others next, Sokka realized, and immediately recognized that the situation was critical.
"Why are you here?" He demanded, trying to escape his bonds. "Why are you doing this?"
"We simply desired your cooperation," came the cool reply. Appa growled, trying to break out of the jagged earth carving into his fur, and Sokka glanced worriedly at the flying bison. If Appa was injured, there was no hope for escape even after he got Toph out of danger. It seemed like the intruders had already knocked all of the guards out, explaining why nobody came rushing in to check. The barn was on the outskirts of the sprawling estate, anyways- who would notice? Who would care?
Sokka was wishing more than ever that he wouldn't have been so headstrong. It wasn't painful as much as it was humiliating, but he knew that the worst was probably about to come. He had no way to warn the Bei Fongs, either. If all the noise from the Earthbending hadn't alerted them already, he doubted that yelling would have an effect.
Before he had a chance to try, though, the ground he lay on started to sink. Both the sky bison and the Water Tribe boy were brought underground, being brought into the deep crevices of the earth under the barn. A few men jumped in after them, no doubt ordered to watch them. Sokka understood, now- they were being held ransom.
Nobody would come to save them. This, he was sure of.
As the ground above began to close over them, he glimpsed once at the man who had addressed him, who had now walked over to the area Sokka had originally been standing on. His features, now illuminated by the moonlight, were strikingly familiar. Before the darkness encased him, Sokka recognized the face, the uniform, the bending style.
His eyes widened for a split-second, and then all he saw was a jarring dark. The smallest crack of light shone up ahead, the only source of air available from underground. Although he could barely see anything, the man's face, his smirk, the emerald hat fixated on his head, possibly all their heads... it was still all clear in his mind.
A wave of fury and fear overtook him in the darkness. The Bei Fong estate was being ambushed by the Dai Li.
"And the, uh, prisoner? What if she escapes and tries to Firebend at me?"
"Ah, you don't have to worry 'bout that." The man chuckled to himself, putting a beefy hand on the other's shoulder. "The higher-ups give 'er bendin' serum every other day. Takes 'er Firebendin' away pretty easy, and keeps 'er weak." He snapped his fingers to prove his point. "'Course, the days they don't take 'er bending away, they feed 'er this whole... chi-blockin' thing. You know, block the chi, block the bendin', keep 'er subdued. It's not as 'ffective, but it works."
"So why not take her bending away every single day?" The new guard ventured. Tall, scrawny, and lanky, he was like a walking stick.
"Bending serum's expensive. 'Sides, they've got the Rough Rhinos to take care of, and lots of other prisoners, too. But Princess here's our top priority. Keep that in mind."
"Right. Got it." The new guard broke into a small, rather uncomfortable smile.
He's not gonna last a single shift in here, his guide guessed. Probably gonna run away once he takes his first look at the girl.
"Well," he finally stated, releasing his grip on the young man's shoulder. "You'd really think, for a former princess n' all, she'd be a tad bit deadlier. Let me tell you something. For all the time I've been here, and all the time they've been here-" He gestured to the few guards that walked the hallway. "-They've never been attacked by this one. So she's harmless, really. Don't be scared of 'er."
"Eh," the new guy responded hesitantly. "So she's not dangerous at all."
"Nope." The other man shrugged and waved him away. "Now I gotta go. Lunch break's only this short."
As the sound of the burly man's footsteps faded into the dark, the new guard bit his lip and glanced at the cell that held the prison's deadliest convict. She was rumored to have killed hundreds of men, and was said to have had a role in nearly killing the Avatar. The Avatar, master of all four elements?
The new guard was only a Firebender. He tried not to let his panic show.
"She's not dangerous at all," he consoled himself in the dim of the hallway. "She's not going to hurt me. She's not going to escape."
The princess herself begged to differ. However, she had no doubt that this new guard would excel at his job.
--
"So this time, we're joining the rebellion."
The two were sitting on Mai's bed, feet dangling over the edge, the bare tips of their toes kissing the floor. Ty Lee remembered when they were children, when Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai had sprawled themselves out on the silky-smooth crimson bedsheets, laughing and gossipping and hurling pillows at each other. Azula had always waved the maids away when they came to check, then the three- well, Azula and Ty Lee, at least- had collapsed into giggles as soon as they left.
It felt like an eternity ago. When there were three and not just two.
"...Ty Lee. Are we joining or not?"
"Oh. I guess so," Ty Lee responded, trying to restrain herself and seem upbeat at the same time. Words usually flew out of her mouth. The contents of her mind emptied in the form of rushed sentences. Conversation flowed like spilled tea for her. Usually. Normally.
This time, though, she feared that she had said everything she had to keep back. Everything, in a single syllable.
Mai was observant by nature, and Ty Lee's unnatural reserve didn't go unnoticed. "Something's wrong," she remarked dryly, but a hint of instinctive concern marred her words. "Azula did something."
"No," came the unconvincing reply, and the older girl sighed. No use in pressuring Ty Lee when enough burden had been placed on her already.
"I'm not in a good mood, either, so we'll just feel sorry for ourselves together. Now that we're heading off to join a joke of a rebellion, I guess we're in the right state of mind."
Ty Lee didn't respond, eliciting a barely audible sigh from her impatient companion.
"Well, what can you expect from a bunch of noblemen? They probably think that getting a stain on a robe is a life-and-death situation," she continued, waiting for her friend to counter with the usual "but they're so cute!" or something pointless like that. Pointless, but cheerful and.. optimistic, like the Ty Lee she knew.
Mai realized that she was rambling. She never rambled.
Ty Lee knew that Mai was trying to fill the silence, and was extremely grateful. She needed some time to think of what to say, to conceal what she had been told the previous night under talk of other things. What could she bring up? Auras, shopping, the latest gossip? Suddenly, everything seemed so pointless. So stupid compared to what was real and painful.
Nothing came to mind but the ever-present you have to tell Mai. You have to tell Mai.
"Alright, look." Mai sighed, on the verge of extreme annoyance. "Just tell me what's wrong, and I'll go back to minding my own business."
"You're always in a bad mood," Ty Lee pointed out, trying to show her that she was as chipper as ever. "Can't we just go to the hideout now? Then we could go shopping. I've heard that the robe store got new imports. Really fancy."
"You don't sound very enthusiastic," Mai remarked, and the other girl fell silent. She knew that she wasn't trying very hard to conceal the pain in her words, but some part of her really did hope that her friend would catch on and figure everything out by herself.
But it would hurt Mai so much to know of Azula's sick, scary plan. She would try to hide it, but Ty Lee knew she would suffer inside. A dull pain rose in her heart.
"I got a royal summons this morning," Mai remarked dismissively, ignorantly, studying her fingernails with an air of hardly surpressed boredom. "I'm guessing you got one, too?"
"Oh yeah, the summons," the other girl managed, trying to hide the anxiety in her voice. "We're supposed to meet Iroh this afternoon, right? Is that what you mean?"
"Or we'll get beheaded, thrown into the prison, the list goes on," Mai deadpanned thoughtlessly. "So I'm thinking we postpone the trip to the rebellion- just until the evening. I just want to get all this idiocy over with first."
Ty Lee took comfort in this, knowing that Mai suspected nothing drastic. "That... works, I guess. Whatever makes you happy, Mai."
"I hope you don't think I enjoy any of this."
"Of course not, but you know, a little optimism is okay once in a while."
It was a pathetic retaliation, but it was the only thing Ty Lee could think of without betraying anything. Mai apparently took no notice of Ty Lee's discomfort and merely raised an eyebrow.
"We should go. I don't think we'd get on the Fire Lord's good side by being late."
"Alright. Don't want to get beheaded or anything, right?"
Mai said nothing in return, leaving Ty Lee to her thoughts. Gathering her knives, the sixteen-year-old looked strong, formidable. Mai was so deadly and precise with her knives, so powerful and accurate. Yet, Ty Lee knew that Mai was only human, even if she pretended not to be.
Even Azula wasn't immune to pain.
"Mai?" She tried quietly, testing the name on her tongue. The other girl nodded in acknowledgement, but didn't look up from the flat blades scattered on the bedspread. All were pointed, deadly. Loading her holsters impassively, Mai glanced from one set of knives to the other until the silence became unbearable.
"What?" She finally relented, catching Ty Lee's eye. She bit her lip.
"About Iroh... what do you think he wants to tell us?"
"I don't know," was the indifferent reply. "The usual. Keeping an eye on nobles and all."
"You think he'll ask about Zuko?"
This seem to catch Mai's attention. Her fingers faltered somewhat as they danced across the knife blades, but her moment of lost composure was quickly replaced with her usual monotony.
"No. I won't have an answer for him, in any case."
"He didn't send you anything? No letters, or-"
"No," came the unruffled response, and finally satisfied with her arrangement of knives, Mai concealed the holsters and wrapped the remaining ones away. Ty Lee watched with growing guilt, knowing that the possibility of one of the blades ending Zuko's life was very real.
"I'm done. Do you need anything?" Mai queried when she finished, catching Ty Lee's eye. The pink-clad girl shook her head; she had no weapons to bring. Sighing, Mai pulled herself from the bed and walked over to the door, footsteps silent against the carpeting. The other girl didn't follow, just sat there, afraid to move, afraid that a single movement would make the truth evident.
"You are coming, aren't you?" Came the inquiry from the door. Ty Lee, who had been lost in a disarray of thoughts, nodded swiftly and hopped from the bed in what she hoped to be a sign she was alright.
Before she left the room, though, Ty Lee caught a glimpse of the painting hanging on the wall. Mai and Zuko. Zuko and Mai.
The portrait of a royal couple.
Fighting back the tears that pricked at her eyes, the adolescent turned away and followed Mai outside.
The Bei Fong estate had seemingly returned to its state of quiet normality the next day. The lanterns that had been strewn across the courtyard had been taken down, the guest bedrooms had been cleaned as thoroughly as possible, and all sign of the suitors' presence had been quickly erased. The situation hadn't been made public; as far as everybody was concerned, the young Bei Fong girl had chosen a fiance from the suitors and done away with everybody else without fanfare. Lao and Poppy had sent the noblemen away unceremoniously that morning, and the rest of the day had been devoted to cleaning the estate and establishing a better security system.
Toph, on the other hand, had spent the day in her room. If it had been up to her, she'd have imprisoned herself in her bedroom anyways, what with the number of people just waiting to "maintain her safety" outside. She had left the window open, half-hoping that Sokka would crawl in, but knew that it was an impossibility. She had guessed the number of guards positioned around the estate, inside and out, and even with his fighting abilities, Sokka probably wouldn't go through all that trouble just to talk to her.
She wondered if Sokka had left already, along with all the other suitors. Toph remembered the crystal badgermole, and her heart sank. She could tell that it was pretty cheap- the corners were a little jagged and chipped, and as far as she was concerned, it didn't feel like a badgermole. But it was sweet, she'd give him that. A reminder of what she used to be.
How easy it would be to just step outside that window and knock all the guards down. She managed a bitter smile, knowing that it was a sweet little fantasy of hers. She had the power to get away from here any day, and maybe that was the hardest thing to know. Yet, duty to her parents bound her to the estate.
Toph remembered that she needed to face them again. It was her only chance, her last chance, to prove that she and Sokka were in the right. She had told them time and time again, and had resorted to running away- first to the Earth Rumble tournaments, then to a whole new life- when they didn't have the will or wisdom to listen. She had only talked to them a few times, though. Maybe she could weaken their resolve with this last shot, with this last try.
She lifted her head from the silken pillow, her bedsheets damp with sweat. She had to go before they sent Sokka away. She didn't know what to say to them, but she had a chance and was intending to take it. Her feet landed on the bedroom floor before she had a chance to reconsider, and at once, her toes met a jarring vibration.
It was unlike anything she had felt near her house before. It was like the remnants of a shadow, fleeting and quick. Strong and weightless at the same time. Invisible but present. She stood there, waiting to feel that vibration and sense it origins, but it had vanished as quickly as it had came. She shrugged it off, believing that it was nothing, and walked to her bedroom door. Toph felt an acute wave of disappointment swell inside of her, wishing that it really had been something of interest. Her fingertips itched to manipulate the earth, her feet longed to feel more than the familiarity of the same boring vibrations. She reminded herself that it was within reach, if she could get her parents to see her side of the story.
The door opened a crack as she twisted the knob open. She was expecting to hear one of the maids ask if she needed an escort, but her venture into the hall was met with silence. It was a little unnerving, but she could sense nothing out of the ordinary for now. Maybe everyone was still trying to clean up around the house.
Meandering down the empty hall, she raised an eyebrow when no sounds met her ears. No vibrations, no talk, no nothing. She didn't know what to anticipate, but she knew that the quiet was unearthly. Her slippered feet moved down the hall, footsteps pattering softly on the floor. So far, it was the only sound she heard.
"Mom?" she tried loudly, testing the word against the quiet. The call went unnoticed, so she continued. The route to her parents' room was the first she had memorized, so she knew every corner she had to turn and every corridor she had to head down. She was still far from getting there, though, so Toph figured that maybe it was natural that her mother hadn't heard.
It was strange that nobody else had, though.
Her next step was met with the familiar vibrations of her father. They were heavy, regal vibrations, slowed by old age and marred with the burdens of one who knew much but said little. Toph knew that her father carried an immense weight, but maybe her leaving would alleviate it. She headed towards him resolutely, sensing him clearer as he drew close.
"Good, Toph, you're awake." Lao smiled as his daughter came into range, watching as she headed down the hallways. She trudged carefully and deliberately, her blindness seeming to mar each step. Lao didn't know that it was because of the heavy skirts Toph was wearing or the silk slippers that muffled the clarity of vibrations. As far as he was concerned, a master Earthbender was still weak. The farthest thing from invincible.
"Hi, Dad," she murmured, stopping in the hallways. She let herself lean slightly against the wall, the humidity in the air getting to her. "Where's everybody else?"
"There's been a change of plans. The suitor you chose last night was... less than adequate, so your mother and I are allowing you another choice. The young men have all left, though, so you'll have some time for the decision." Lao paused to a minute, half expecting a retaliation. None came, so he continued.
"We'll keep a steady correspondence with the suitors, don't worry. Your mother and I will take care of everything."
"So they're all gone, right?" She attempted, and suddenly, a sharp dread flooded her chest. What about Sokka? Bracing herself for an answer, she found herself leaning more and more against the wall.
"All of the suitors are gone." Lao replied matter-of-factly, a relieved satisfaction tinging his voice. "And your friend from the barn, your chaperone? We've checked for him, and he appears to have left, too."
A stony silence followed. Toph tried to keep her face unreadable, tried not to let her father know that he had won.
"You sent him away," she whispered then, almost inaudibly. "He didn't leave, you sent him-"
"-Toph, he left on his own accord, I assure you." Lao explained hurriedly, reaching for his daughter's hand. "Come on, now, your mother's been waiting to talk to you, she's right outside." Tugging at Toph's hand, Lao frowned when his daughter remained unmoving, stationary.
"Toph, you've been inside for an entire day. Some fresh air would do you some good."
Toph felt the urge to hit him, to bend at him, to attack him. To beat the truth out of him. Despite everything, though, she felt herself reach for her father, small, pale hand nestling in the warmth of Lao's calloused fingers. Toph the Lady wasn't rough and brash. Toph the Lady loved her parents, would do anything they asked.
Toph the Earthbender would have hated what she had become, but then again, Toph the Earthbender was gone. Along with freedom, along with Appa, Momo, Aang, and Katara. Along with the only guy she had really been herself around. Along with what she had really, truly loved.
Sokka was gone. Even if her parents were lying, telling her that he had just decided to leave on his own, he was still gone. There was no use arguing with that fact.
She suppressed her rage, then, masking it with a pathetic placidity as she followed her father down the corridor.
The strange silence in the household became even more evident near the middle of the estate, where servants would normally be bustling around at midday. Nobles might be congregating some days, Poppy might be holding elaborate luncheons... the center of the house was always the busiest. Today, Toph only sensed the footfalls of her and her father. Everything else had disappeared into a blank, eerie quiet.
"Where's everyone else?" She ventured, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice. Lao, seemingly surprised that his daughter would pick up such a thing, sighed and tightened his grip on Toph's hand.
"The maids have been busy cleaning the guest rooms. As for the guards, the new ones we've hired, they've..." Lao raised an eyebrow, and glanced in the direction of the courtyard. "They're doing their job well. I haven't heard any protests from your mother so far, so they must be keeping order."
Toph bit her lip in thought and continued, trying to conceal the swirl of emotions in her chest. Her father's explanation made sense. The guest rooms were on the far side of the estate, and seemed to be contained in a separate building all on its own. It was plausible that all the maids had been sent there to tidy up after the suitors, explaining the lack of any of them wandering the other corridors. Still, it was odd that all the servants were gone as well.
"How many new guards did you hire?" She asked again. Lao scratched his head in thought.
"Around forty or so. We fired the old guards, too. They weren't doing their jobs well enough, as we've noticed." Here, Lao squeezed his daughter's hand even tighter, turning it an uncomfortable shade of white. He took no notice at her obvious discomfort, but continued, gesturing in the direction of the courtyard even though Toph didn't have the ability- or the will, if she had been born with sight- to look.
"We were going to fire them later, really. But as usual, your mother seemed to have taken matters into her own hands and shooed all of them out last night!" Lao attempted at a laugh, which Toph didn't find comforting at all. "And, to make things better, she's got all the new hires up and working today, so you might be seeing- I mean, hearing, of course- some unfamiliar people outdoors. They're the finest guards in all the Earth Kingdom- you have nothing to fear."
Unfamiliar people, Toph mused. Could that be the source of the unfamiliar vibrations she had felt earlier? She felt what was left of her hope sink, realizing that all her life would be from now on was a dull, simple safeness. The Bei Fong estate was absolutely devoid of excitement, and would remain that way forever.
They were heading towards the main entrance now, which opened up to the sprawling courtyard. As enticing as fresh air seemed to be, Toph knew that the space outside was enclosed by walls. It wasn't freedom, not the wide-open-spaces freedom she had felt before. And with Sokka gone... she swallowed once, then, erasing the young man from her mind. It would make stepping outside a little less painful, pretending that Sokka never had been real.
Wouldn't it be easier, then, to convince herself that her brief taste of freedom had all been a dream? Toph tried to tell herself this as her father opened the door and led her into the courtyard, but her first breath of the late-afternoon air was enough to make her remember everything. The lush, springy grass wet against the bare soles of her feet, the wind as Appa soared through the clear skies, the warm, laughter of her friends, the crackling embers of a fire that blazed into the night air- all gone.
Bowing her head to keep from betraying any emotions, she exhaled and took a ladylike step outside.
--
The two had strolled through the garden without much in the way of interruptions. The place was the same as it always had been- quiet, reassuring, boring. Nothing changed but the leaves on the trees, and even those changes were nothing unusual. The only thing out of place were the strange vibrations that sometimes danced across the earth, but Toph's silk slippers were blurring her sight anyways, and her father had mentioned the new guards...
"The courtyard's beautiful this time of year," Lao laughed, a world away, as he led her into the courtyard. "The flowers are all in bloom, and you should really see how nicely your mother's tended to the butterfly garden." He paused, remembering that his daughter couldn't quite do so, and gave a hesitant chuckle. "In any case, though, Toph, you should really-"
Lao step faltered, and Toph caught herself just in time to keep from falling.
"Careful, Dad," she admonished under her breath. Her father wasn't as strong as he had been before, but had never been so careless as to trip across his own courtyard. She held on to him, supporting his weight. "Did something happen?"
Lao didn't seem to hear. Instead of continuing onwards, though, the master of the estate stopped in his tracks, his initial bemusement slowly giving way to a slow, subtle fear.
"Dad?" his daughter pressed quickly, knowing something was wrong. All of a sudden, the jarring vibrations that she had felt in her bedroom came in multitudes, permeating the ground. She felt her free hand instinctively curl into a fist.
"Toph-" she heard Lao begin weakly, but she ignored him. Quickly testing the earth for more discernible vibrations, she scowled and bit her lip. She could feel it in the air- the uneasiness, the trepidation, the danger. Through the vibrations were scattered underneath her slippered feet, they were unusual. Maybe dangerous.
They sent adrenaline coursing through her veins, set her heart beating with excitement.
It was so hard to mute everything now, so hard to be obedient and weak. But she was a fragile little doll now, wasn't she? Wasn't it better just to let her father take care of these things? Better to be the damsel in distress for once in her life?
"Toph, it's alright," she heard her father manage weakly, drawing her closer to him. "We'll just leave now. The garden- the garden..."
"What?" she played along, wanting to know everything. "Dad, what is it?"
Lao gripped her hand so tightly that Toph had to keep from wincing in pain. "It's not safe in the garden."
"Why?" she pressed on, barely hiding her curiosity now. "You can handle it, can't you? We can handle it-"
"No, Toph," Lao whispered, words resolute and cold in the spring air, and tugged on his daughter's hand in an effort to move her away. "I need to protect you."
Protect me. Or hide me. Shelter me.
Unable to walk away from the vibrations, Toph Bei Fong stood there, something strange and resolute beating in the porcelain doll's heart. Something rebellious. Something like what she used to be.
Is the price of freedom worth the pain of being free?
"Leave us alone," Lao barked at whatever was threatening them. "What do you want? What do you need from us?"
Her father was in danger. They were in danger.
Yes, she realized suddenly.
The price of freedom.
Ignoring the rules, ignoring her father's admonishments, she struck away from him, peeled a silk slipper away, and jammed the bare foot into the ground. And she sensed the vibrations with striking clarity, felt the six guards blocking the walkway ahead.
They were in Earthbending position, an attacking position. All of them.
"These don't happen to be the new hires, right?" She ventured carefully. Lao heard and nodded slowly, hesitation and fear etched in every nuance of his expression. Before Toph had a chance to reply, the guards simultaneously planted their right feet into the earth and thrust their fists forwards. Chunks of earth flew at them both, whizzing through the air at amazing speed.
Toph blocked them with no difficulty. Glancing over at her father, she managed to whisper a bare "Sorry" before launching a counterattack, raising her arms to eye level and bringing an earthen wall from the ground. Hurling it at the men, she waited, motionless but wary, for the attack to make contact. In a seamless movement, though, the guards drew pillars of earth from the ground, launching themselves into the skies and putting them out of Toph's line of vision.
Toph tore the rock wall down, knowing that it had missed its target.
"Toph!" Lao admonished, horror taking the place of his fear. "Toph, get back! I don't know how... I don't know-"
"Get to somewhere safe, Dad!" she managed to shout back, sensing the footfalls of the landing guards. They surrounded the two, then, circling them like predators. Lao instinctively reached for Toph's hand, but it slipped out of his grasp.
The man and his daughter were trapped.
"Stop!" He pleaded as the guards scrunitized them, figuring out the best way to approach the two. "As Master of this estate, I order you to stop!"
Lao's pleas sounded distant to Toph. She was in another world, another time, another place. Her single bare foot was planted firmly on the floor, pressing so hard against the earth that it hurt. She could feel each footstep the guards took, every movement, everything.
And it scared her, scared her to death. She was the greatest Earthbender in the world, but she wasn't invincible, not now.
"Dad, stop," she felt herself muttering. "They're not gonna listen, these aren't guards-"
Lao, ignoring her protests, pressed on. "My wife- my wife is in this garden! She'll fire you, fire you all!"
"No, Dad!" The Earthbender whispered, a cold anxiety numbing her. The guards were preparing to strike; she could feel it. "Dad, these people are-"
A shift in the ground. They're Earthbending, they're-
"-Leave this to me, Toph," Lao managed, cutting her off. "Get to somewhere safe. Find your mother. I'll deal with this!"
Hands. Hands, made of of earth. I think I know these people, they're not safe, they can kill us-
"Dad!" she found herself shrieking. "Watch out!"
Before Lao could retaliate, the attackers struck, sending earthen hands through the air. Toph could sense the projectiles, but they were so fast, and there were so many. Without thinking, she pulled a barrier from the earth, making a protective stone shield around them.
"Why are you doing this?" Lao shouted above the chaos. Toph didn't know who he was addressing, but she knew he had reason to be confused. "Why-"
The barrier crumbled as the Earthbenders barraged it with attacks, and Toph bit her lip, trying to pinpoint her opposition. They were so swift, though, jumping from one point to the other without time for her to sense his or her vibrations. It reminded her of fighting with Aang, and the memory, unusual as it was, sent a course of pain through her heart.
"Toph!" she heard Lao scream, and whipped around just in time to sense her father encircled by three Earthbenders. The rest landed around her, virtually weightless, and surrounded her, too.
If I try to help Dad, the three here'll hurt me, she reasoned quickly, her hands curling into fists. But if I knock the three here out, they might hurt him-
Toph didn't know who to save first- she was sure that they were meaning to capture both of them, and undoubtedly, they had taken her mother as well. The thought made her swell with rage.
Planting her feet on the ground- one clothed in silk, one bare and streaked with dirt- she listened to the earth and waited for somebody to make a move.
This guy here's waiting for me to do something. The guy in front of me's just gonna go along with all the others. The last one- I know him, I remember him. When we were in Ba Sing Se, he was one of them, was one of the people that attacked us.
Wait... all of them are!
She tore the earth up from under her attackers' feet, catapulting them into the air and then pounding them into the ground. She ran to her father before they had a chance to counter, knowing full well that these people weren't ones to be defeated easily. Yet, Toph wasn't intending to hurt either of them, not until she knew exactly what they had come for. These people had been under Azula before, and Azula was in prison... she gritted her teeth, not making any sense of the situation, and turned her full attention to Lao.
The men around him had been distracted by Toph's Earthbending, and had decided to go for her, instead. They faced her, arms outstretched and hands pointed in an Earthbending stance.
They had a weak foundation, though. One little tremor would topple them all.
Toph relaxed, then, the fear leaving her as quickly as it had come. She had really overestimated her opponent this time. Sensing hesitation from the men after the fall of their comrades, she decided that no good would really come out of knocking them out until she found out whose decoys they were. These people couldn't have gotten this far unless they had planned in advance, and Toph doubted that they had figured it out themselves.
Someone had sent them. Someone stronger. A small knot of fear tightened in her chest, but she brushed it aside and kept her pride intact.
The atmosphere tightened as the guards made a motion forwards, and Toph bit her lip, surveying her attackers and figuring their weaknesses, the flaws in their stances. Trapping them seemed to be the best option, but she knew that Earthbenders of their prowess- even if they weren't of her caliber- might be able to break out just as easily. What she was worried about most, though, was her father. One missed attack could lead to Lao getting hurt.
Just as she was about to launch into combat, though, something faint and familiar marred the vibrations that danced under her feet. Something reassuring and real and... she faltered, then, paralyzed by the feeling, longing to feel the vibration again, wanting confirmation that she hadn't imagined it.
The attackers approached her warily, knowing that she had let her guard down. Toph acknowledged their movements, threatening them by getting into one of her Earthbending stances, but her mind was elsewhere.
And I can feel him, I can feel him in the earth, he's still here...
And a flicker of some unknown emotion danced on his daughter's face, and Lao Bei Fong could do nothing but watch, knowing that Toph could feel it in the air, the danger, the desperation, the anxiety. He was worried for her, wanted to yell at her, tell her to run, to hide, to leave, but his own fear kept him frozen.
But how, when he's gone, when everything's gone-
Without warning, she tore three chunks of earth from the ground, holding them in the air before her as a warning not to come any closer. The men faltered, then; she could sense it in the way they moved.
Maybe, just maybe...
The apprehension of her attackers left as soon as it came. Each held their ground, their confidence returning. Lao cowered slightly, resisting the desire to yell for his daughter, and just watched, prisoner to his own anxiety.
She felt it, then. Felt him in the earth. She wasn't sure how, she wasn't sure why, but he felt so real, so alive, so present.
He never really left.
The attackers charged, then, lashing out with daggers of earth. She countered swiftly, barraging the foes with the three boulders she had suspended in front of her, driving them backwards and hurling them to the ground. They recovered quickly, stood, and propelled themselves forwards. She sighed in exasperation and swept her leg around her in an arc, bringing the earth up with her feet and knocking one man out in the process.
Toph knew she wasn't giving the fight her all. Her thoughts were not on the battle, but on the faint vibration she kept sensing. Earthbending was second nature to her; she could afford being a little less focused. Either way, she seemed to be winning easily.
As soon as she had targeted the last man and hurled him to the courtyard floor, she had all but forgotten that her father was present, forgotten to run before danger found them again.
"Toph!" Lao shouted, voice shaking, trodding his way over. "We need to leave. Now!"
"Dad," she began weakly. "Dad-"
"There's no reason for you to be out here," he continued, uncertainly marring his words as he grabbed for her wrist. "There was probably a misconception, a mistake... I'll manage it. Toph, we don't need any heroics from you."
She heard him but didn't acknowledge his words, instead focusing her energy on the men that lay in a heap on the ground. She hadn't hurt them much, she figured, but had probably done enough to scare them into submission. Maybe they could clear a few things up for her...
A woman shrieked, splitting the quick silence. Toph whipped her head around, carefully searching for the cause of it, while Lao tried without success to move her. She felt the distant vibrations of her mother. Her delicate footfalls, her hardly suppressed fear, her silent desperation as the other guards captured her too.
An abrupt shock shot through her veins, replaced by a resolute courage.
"We can't go," she managed then, her voice soft but unwavering. "They have Mom. They've taken her like they've tried to take us."
Lao fought to regain his composure, a cold fear running through his veins. When a moment passed without an exchange of words, Toph turned her attention back to the matter at hand.
"Dad, I have to help her. I can. You saw me, didn't you, how I held these men back?" she implored quietly. "Just let me go."
"Your mother is more than capable of defending herself," came the quiet, shaky reply. "As am I."
"I can't-" She paused, letting her hand fall limply under his grasp. "I can't just stay inside and do nothing, when people might get hurt, people I care about-"
"We care about you, Toph," he pleaded gently, imploring with her. She felt herself go rigid, as if this sudden sentiment for her father had hit some nerve. "We can't afford to let you get hurt. Not after all those days. Waiting for you. Wondering if you were hurt. I'll never put you in danger again. Not my daughter."
She could feel it in the earth, the cold truth of it all. Her father wasn't lying, and it hurt so much to know that.
She took a deep breath, fighting with herself. What her parents wanted. What she wanted. What mattered most, in the end?
Maybe love isn't just submitting to the care of others. Maybe love is just caring for them, in turn.
Lao Bei Fong needed her. Underneath his rough facade, he was just as vulnerable as he believed Toph was. Men could overpower him. Weaken him. He needed her more than she needed him.
And if I hold on to that one hope, the hope that maybe he's still here, somewhere, letting me know that I shouldn't give up...
And Poppy. Her mother had never been one for putting up a fight. She had been gently bred, raised as a lady. She had been taught to submit to her superiors. Charm couldn't save her now. Neither could impeccable manners and decorum. Toph had tried for ages to get her mother to see that standing up for one's self was better than blindly following orders. Better than being weak.
Maybe now was the time to prove it to her.
Maybe I should listen to him. Wherever he is.
Toph would hurt her father, but... she would save him. She would save him from his own foolish pride, from his anxiety over his weak daughter, from everything. She realized, then, that helping her parents was more important than helping herself. She had to disobey them, not because of her own desires, but because she needed to protect them.
And I know he's here. I can feel him in the earth. Sokka... he never left. I can't tell, but I know he's here for me. Like I need to be for my parents.
Even if I hurt them.
Without a second thought, she pulled away from Lao. His grip on her hadn't been very tight; it was as if he was afraid of her. As she moved away slowly, he made no word of protest, but simply nodded resignedly as if he had expected it from her all along.
"You need to get somewhere safe," she managed simply. "I can't feel any strange vibrations near the house. It should be okay inside."
She gave him a reassuring smile, then, trying hard not to turn back. Toph knew that it was Lao's strong concern for Poppy that kept him from stopping her again, but she still felt her father's fear- for her mother, for himself, for his daughter.
"You know I'll be okay," she continued into the silence. "You know I will. I need to do this. Please, let me save Mom."
She stood there, an impatient dread running through her veins, until Lao broke the silence, speaking with a voice she had never heard from him before.
"Toph," he whispered weakly. "If I can't stop you, at least... try to be careful."
He was giving her up. It was just for this moment, but it felt like an eternity to her. And it was the best thing she had ever received from her father: acknowledgment that she really was an Earthbender, and nothing else. Toph fought the desire to run to him, but just stood there, not knowing what to make of the situation.
"I get so scared when you do this," he added softly, when Toph made no sound. "Come back... come back with your mother. In one piece. Safe."
"Yeah, Dad," she responded finally, and grinned, truly, for the first time in months.
"I know. I will. I... I promise."
Without further warning, the Earthbender reached down, peeled the last silk slipper away, and sprinted into the garden.
The healing center was a large, quaint little building that had a roof like a slumping solder's hat. The steps were coated in ice, and the surface seemed to glow in the quiet of the night. She was the only one on the streets at this hour; everybody else was probably at rest in their homes. She had to hope that Yagoda was in the center, and better yet, that she was by herself. It would be humiliating to have to ask a healing question in front of ten elementary division pupils who had known the answer for years, but it was bearable because of Aang. Yet, she wanted this to go as smoothly as possible.
"Hello?" She queried blindly, the room empty save for the dummy lying on the carved ice table. Chi meridians and pathways were etched onto the figure, and Katara found herself tracing the passages with her eyes. A dim sort of candlelight illuminated the room, the fire flickering and dancing slowly in little paper lanterns. There was so much to learn, so much to accomplish. And yet, all this knowledge would help Aang in the end.
She quietly stepped around the table, studying the figure, when footsteps approached the room in the dim light of the building.
"Is that you, Katara?" The Waterbender spun to face the person who had addressed her, and smiled as the features of the elderly woman made themselves visible in the candlelight. "It's been a while, hasn't it? What are you doing up so late?"
"I wanted to ask a question," she attempted. "About Aang."
"What is it? Have the healers been making progress?" Yagoda, the healing master who had tried to teach her so long ago, smiled and walked to the back of the room, where a teapot and four cups lay on a small table. "Have some tea. It seems like it's been a long day for you."
Katara smiled weakly in the dim glow of the healing center. She felt like she had gone through so much, but knew that nothing really had been accomplished. It had been a long day, but a useless one. A draining one.
"Aang has been making lots of progress," Katara replied as the woman poured the hot drink into two cups and set them on the table. "But I feel like I need to help him a lot more instead of just standing there and hoping he gets well."
"You do have a natural talent," Yagoda mused, sitting down on one of the chairs that lined the table. "But talent must be refined. What does Aang need to be healed of?"
"I've noticed that his internal injuries that are healing pretty well, and... most of the infections are gone, and his broken bones are mending. The wound on his back got reopened, but it's also- it's also getting better."
She tried to say this unflinchingly, but found it hard to describe Aang's injuries without envisioning them, so vivid and painful in her mind's eye.
"And you say that the healers are helping?" Yagoda mused quietly, noticing the exhaustion etched in Katara's eyes and offering her a chair. The Waterbender took a seat appreciatively, all but ignoring the steaming cup of tea on the table. She didn't know if it was all for Aang's sake, or if she was just being selfish... but she wanted to heal him. To take all the pain away.
She knew it was impossible. Even a master Waterbender didn't have the power to make a person whole.
"Katara?" Yagoda pressed on after a moment of silence. "You don't have to-"
"The healers," she interrupted weakly. "They're doing well, better than I did, so I..." She paused for a minute, thinking of the best way to approach the subject. "I want to help him like the healers are. I want to do at least that much."
"Who is to say you aren't already?" the healer inquired softly, and Katara lowered her head, refusing to meet her gaze. A moment passed when no conversation broke the silence, and Yagoda, clearing her throat hesitantly, turned her wizened gaze to the Waterbender.
"There are injuries that can't be healed with medicine, with herbs. There are wounds that can't be seen with one's eyes." The healer paused for a moment, taking a sip from one of the cups and wincing slightly at the faint bitterness. "I know you understand this, Katara. You are intuitive and empathetic- like your grandmother, in fact. You must know that sometimes, the most obvious wounds aren't the ones that need healing."
"Oh," Katara mumbled. An uneasy moment of silence passed between the two, in which Yagoda tipped the last of the tea into Katara's untouched cup and then sat there, musing something. At last, she tilted her head up and peered at the Waterbender.
"Katara, a bender's chi- his or her energy- is what enables him or her to manipulate the elements, correct?"
The Waterbender gave a halfhearted nod, and Yagoda smiled softly.
"However, not only benders utilize chi. You know that there are many pathways within the human body- meridians, that's the word. And-" Here, the healer paused to glance at the dummy sprawled across the ice-carved platform. "-The meridians govern the energy that flows through your body. If one meridian is malfunctioning, your body is thrown off balance. A part of you isn't able to work anymore."
"Because the chi isn't able to flow?"
"Correct," Yagoda resolved. "For example, to paralyze a human, you only need to block the chi meridians that govern movement. Located along the spinal cord, there are three pressure points. Hitting them blocks the flow of chi in that meridian, resulting in temporary paralysis. However, it can yield disastrous damage- maybe permanent damage- if used with skill."
Skill like Ty Lee has, Katara thought, and she resisted the urge to change the subject.
"But the most important thing, Katara, is that your chi is your life force. It only flows freely if you have the will to let it do so," Yagoda noted quietly, nudging the cooling cup of tea towards Katara. "Katara, Aang's problem is the flow of his chi. His body is refusing the transport of energy, and his chi remains stationary. His body is weak because the energy isn't allowed to move freely."
"Is it because of his wounds?" the Waterbender managed softly. Yagoda met her gaze, then, and shook her head softly.
"No, Katara. Aang has lost the will to live."
Author's Note: Many thank-yous are in order.
First of all, to Davis 51. You are an excellent beta reader, and you caught things that I would've never noticed! And you stuck with me despite my terrible habit of procrastinating, which is extremely frustrating to do, I bet. It's thanks to you that this chapter's one of my favorites.
(And most of all, thanks for the help with the action sequences. They were never my forte!)
Second of all, to my friend's Season Two DVDs. Nothing like awesome action sequences, fantastic animation, and- well, actual AVATAR- to get me inspired. Also, thanks to my dad for being an awesome acupuncturist and teaching me about pressure points/meridians. I don't know if half the stuff makes sense, but...
And last but not least, to you guys, the ever-fantastic readers and reviewers! What, has it been... three months, maybe, since I've updated? I'm so sorry for the wait. Ugh, I could just kick myself for procrastinating again. Truth be told, I pretty much lost motivation halfway. Had it not been for the support of everyone, I would've... well, put it off longer. And by longer, I mean for a very, VERY long time.
Consider this chapter foreshadowing for Part Three and anything that follows. What might the Dai Li be up to next?
Wishing you all a great holiday season!