A/N: For the first half of the story I tried using a different writing technique… I think I'm gonna keep using it.

Blind Bounty

Chapter Eight

The noise that awakens the sleeping girl comes from the beak of a chubby, gray mourning dove resting on the branch of a tall, unmoving tree. Wailing, the dove stretches a serene, melodious note out before trailing off into oblivion. Silence takes the dove's voice away, and replaces it with a deathly silence known as the calm before the storm. A grim kind of gray washes each color until they dull into one merged hue of nothingness. In that same color tone, the sky turns itself into a war zone with splashes of gray, white, and ominous black threaded into the mix. They form above the choppy, foamy waves. On the dawn's skyline, the lines of clouds steadily roll into the cove of the island.

Toph

Unease.

The first emotion Toph wakes to that morning. It rims her stomach like a heavy metal chain, pulled tighter with each labored movement. Her head feels submerged in the clutches of slumber, pounding against her skull. Thick mist clings to her limbs, tendrils falling off like dead, black snakes. She shivers, and rubs the leftover feeling of stickiness from her arms and legs. The scent of wet grass and the dying fragrance of wilting flowers makes Toph's stomach turn inside out. She groans and curls back into the warmth of her arm. The absence of taste in her mouth reminds her that she needs a drink.

The light pattering of morning rain on her dirtied toes reminds her the only water source on the island is in the jar next to Appa. With much resilience, Toph pushes her seemingly heavy head off her arm and crawls out the front of her earth tent. She stumbles towards Appa, who raises his head in neutral acknowledgement. Seeing only Toph, he falls back asleep. The pot filled with water is only a foot smaller than Toph, but nonetheless still very tall. In her haste to get some water, she quickly removes the top. Dew makes the smooth ceramic surface more slippery than usual, and she almost drops it on her toe. Her quick reflexes allow her to catch the lid, and lay it gently on the ground.

The world is deceptively peaceful at the moment, and the tantalizing sensation of lurking crazy is starting to seep into her thoughts like cold rainwater. Every vibration in the earth resembles lumbering, heavy monsters only found in the worst nightmares, and the grass tickling her ankles are damp, long claws closing in around her ankles. Even the sheep are giving her the chills.

If there is suppose to be some kind of warning for the incoming danger, a warning sign hasn't been given. This is the time Toph relies heavily on her instincts to guide her and her senses to get there.

Sight fails often, but instincts always prevail.

Toph replaces the lid on the water jar, and raises her arms over her overworked back and rises to her toes.

Crack. The sudden noise doesn't come from her spine, it's much too faint to be that. Instead it resembles the sound of a twig being shattered to pieces. There is only a small clump of trees, and those are in the very back of the island.

Crack.

There it goes again. Toph cocks her head sideways, listening for the tantalizing footsteps of a person. She tunes out the beating of her heart, and the racing of her warm blood. When that's done, she finally hears it…the footsteps.

Creaaaaak.

Something made of metal creaks, before thumping downwards.

"Uh guys. This may sound weird but an all metal-man is coming towards us." The group begins to stir, pushing themselves up from their comfortable sleeping bags.

"What did you say Toph?" Sokka mumbles dreamily from his sleeping dragon. He snuggles further into his pillow.

"I said an all metal-man is coming towards us!" Toph snatches a small pebble from the ground, and skillfully aims it at Sokka's head. It reaches her target with a satisfying thunk. "Ow Toph! What was that for?"

"Oh stop whining and man up already." By now everyone is awake, and curious to know why the two are bickering this early in the morning. Aang stands up. "What's-"

Snnnnnnn. The deep intake of air roars through Toph's ears. She feels the negative energy of the man rolling off in waves. Call it instinct, but she knows something bad is about to happen.

"Get down!" Toph shouts. She launches herself at the group, forcing them down with the influence of her voice alone. An explosion rockets through the camp, detonating with a noise louder than a large waterfall. She gapes at the intensity of the blast, as it batters her eardrums ruthlessly. She winces as yet another explosion destroys whatever she thought was left of her ear. Her ears throb, blocking out any noise.

"Toph." The name is a whisper in her ear.

"TOPH!" Sokka shouts in her ear. She's jerked to her feet, and moved forcibly over the ground. "We got to move!"

Suddenly Toph is swooped up into a pair of wiry, muscled arms, and then thrown roughly onto Appa's saddle. She rolls until she hits the side. Her ears still ring in pain, and isn't helped by a consecutive explosion. Luckily this one is far enough away to stop any further hearing damage.

"Appa! Yip Yip!"

Never before has Toph been more relieved to hear those obnoxious words come from Aang's mouth. What does yip yip mean anyway?

"Hey Aang, what does yip yip mean?"

"Are you really going to ask at a time like this?" Sokka exclaims. "Combustion man is back!"

And what is that supposed to mean?

Scowling, she throws her hands in the air "Well maybe asking weird questions is how I cope! And no one seems to want to tell me anything around here! That same feeling from the morning is back, and heavier than the silence that has taken place.

Why are they so hostile towards me?

Unshed tears sting her eyes, but Toph refuses to let them fall.

"I know none of you know about me, but the least you could do is let me in on something that might possibly kill me." She says, crossing her arms.

"We aren't holding anything back from you Toph." Aang says firmly. Toph wants to believe him, but for some reason she just can't. (Even if his heartbeat says so) Something is really, really bugging her about these people, but she just can't place her finger on it. It's some kind of, thick emotion towards the group she can't decipher. It makes her usually sharp mind fuzzier than Appa, and especially when Aang's around. Paranoia?

It's a possibility. I don't want to mess this mission up.

Toph really only wants one thing: To find Katara and go back to her own solitary life. Alone. She doesn't want any family or friends, they will just get in the way. Her personality is enough for a friend…more than enough.

Suddenly she feels something light dropped onto her lap, and senses Momo's petite footsteps pad towards her.

"What's this Momo?" she asks, picking up the object. She presses her fingers against the edges. Suddenly she groans, and throws it onto Appa's saddle.

"What's gotten into you?" Suki asks, sounding a little annoyed. Toph rolls her sightless eyes. She gestures towards the item.

"That! Momo brought me a crap...err. scrap of paper."

"And?"

"Let's just say me and books don't get along…" she says dryly, letting her words sink in.

"Oh…sorry."

"You're not the only one." Toph mutters underneath her breath. Zuko reaches across the saddle, and swipes the piece of paper up. Toph (somewhat impatiently) waits for Zuko to finish reading. When he does, he drops the piece of paper in surprise.

"Sokka, look at this." He says earnestly. Sokka scrabbles over towards the prince, and skims the page.

"Didn't expect that."

"Well, what's happening?" Toph questions. Sokka gestures for Suki to read it too, and she gasps.

"Toph you're a genius!"

"Umm, yes. Yes I am!"

Now what on earth makes me a genius?

"This is just what we needed! Aang! Aang! We have a lead on Katara!"

"What?" Aang ties Appa's reins to his horn, and jumps back into the saddle. He sounds more eager than a child opening up their first gift.

"This is part of a patent for some kind of…and it has to do with Azula!"

"What's that? Read it aloud!" Toph demands, though she doesn't know what a 'patent' is. She tries to stifle the excitement in her voice as she cranes forward to hear Sokka read.

"Yuki Chan, retired Admiral of the Western Dragon Fleet, approves of the building and design of this machine." Sokka unfolds the paper, and gasps…again.

"This is the exact same machine Azula chased us with a while back."

"And?"

"I know him…" Zuko says. "He works at a fire festival now."

"Unless he retired." Toph says.

"No, he should be around…" Zuko thinks for a moment. "Twenty two."

Toph's eyebrows shoot up. "That's pretty young, are you sure?"

"Positive."

Toph slaps her hands together, and grins. "Alright then! We just go to this little fire festival and ask this Yuki guy a few questions."

Zuko snorts. "It's not that easy Toph, you can't just sneak into the fire nation."

Aang coughs. "Actually, we can. We just need to find some new clothes for Toph, and use our old…liberated ones to sneak into the festival."

Toph grins. "Sweet."

I'm sorry this one was so short. I guarantee this is one of the last boring chapters. The next one will have a lot more Taang, and show the rough side of Toph I absolutely adore.