HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS! SO SORRY I DID NOT UPDATE IN A WHILE. My first semester of University turned out to be an interesting mess. Anyways, as a new years gift, I have put up more than two chapters to speed the plot along. This is where I really need reviews to understand how I need to carry on the story for my fellow readers, as these chapters transition into a time skip for the story.
P.S: You might want to read the chapter before, as I have made a few changes. If you don't, you maybe very lost as you read on. You've been warned :) Enjoy!
"You may forget your childhood, but your childhood does not forget you"
~Micheal Dibdin.
Night had fallen upon the boys and the captain of the coal mine called for all the boys to line up and mark their attendance. Taking attendance at the end of the day was a way to ensure no one left the coal mines. If a boy left, it was assumed he didn't work at all and harsh punishments would not only be expected from the captain but also lady Ming.
As soon as Sokka marked down his name he turned to follow the other boys heading to the orphanage.
"Hey"
He looked back to see Jet, Haru, and Longshot.
Jet spoke up smiling.
"The boys and I are going to the market for the Kiyoshi festival, want to come?"
Sokka shook his head. Katara might have woken up and he wanted to see her and make sure she was ok.
"Are you sure? We'll get way better food than what Lady Ming gives us at the orphanage"
Sokka shook his head once more and turned around to leave.
"Leave him Jet" Haru interjected. "He doesn't want to come"
But the little fighter did not give up.
"Do you even know the way back to the orphanage?"
Sokka paused. Jet was right, they had been forced to march in a line all together on their way to the mine. But by the looks of it all, it seemed every boy was heading their own way. Marching the boys in a line on their way to the mine in broad daylight was a way of the orphanage advertising itself when it passed by citizens of the lower ring.
'Just come with us, we will only get some moon peaches and then go straight back to the orphanage.'
Moon peaches.
Katara loved moon peaches, they had always eaten them on Katara's birthday. Perhaps if he got her some, Katara's mood would lighten as she would be reminded of home.
Sokka nodded and Jet smiled in response.
Come on!
The boys took off in a breeze relieved to be escaping the prison-like mines. Sokka had no choice but to run along with them. As they scurried through the merry town lit up with lanterns and music, he felt somewhat free. A feeling he had not felt in a while. He felt the wind blowing through his hair. Hair? He scratched the sides of his wolf tail and realized it had grown, how long had he been from home?
As the boys kept going they stopped in front of the moon peach stand with an old couple dusting through the stand.
Sokka was astonished at how big these peaches were, the ones back home were small and came from the oasis. The warmest place in the south.
"What's the plan this time Jet?" Haru asked.
Jet turned to the earthbender. "Do you have any of the blasting jellies on you?"
"Pipsqueak and the Duke took them all to the hideout, but I kept a little bit" he chuckled.
Jet gestured for the jelly and Haru tossed it to him. "A little bit goes a long way." He smirked.
Sokka quietly spoke up
"What are you going to use that for"
All the boys kept quiet, all the boys knew what it was for and they knew not to question Jet as his patience was thin and stubborn.
"Watch and learn water tribe boy"
Jet quickly shook the Canister and rolled it to the stand, as soon as it hit the wooden stand a loud popping sound shook the streets and a part of the stand was blown up and destroyed. Sokka noticed the old woman fall to the ground and her husband trying to help her up. They both were hurt from the blast but luckily not wounded severely.
The boys quickly ran towards the store and Sokka noticed all of them trying to help the couple. He stayed behind examining what Jet had just done. He didn't understand it.
Guards patrolling the streets rushed in to investigate the blast.
"Probably a festival firecracker gone wrong" A guard commented.
Sokka noticed Jet slipping some peaches into a small pouch, their gazes locked. Jet quickly tossed Sokka one of it. He looked at the fruit feeling its fuzziness and before he could say anything Jet pointed to him and hollered out.
"Theif!"
Sokka's eyes widened and the soldiers turned to look at him. Out of fear, his legs began to move as fast as they could and the guards began to pursue him.
"Hey you!, Get back here!"
"Come on!" Jet turned to the rest of the boys. "Let's go catch that thief!"
Leading the way, Jet tossed the bag to Haru and they all quickly scurried off to find Sokka.
"Such brave boys" the old lady muttered to her husband.
Jet and the boys followed the guards to see where Sokka would lead them. The water tribe boy ran through the bodies of people trying to celebrate the festival. He jumped through a stage that had a circus going on and kept on running. After a while, he quickly hit a dead end and found himself backed into a corner. His heart raced as the guards slowly crept towards him, realizing he still had the moon peach in his hand he quickly chucked into the air like his boomerang and it knocked out one of the soldiers causing him to fall to the ground. Before the other one could strike, a shot of earth rose from the ground, causing him to fall back. Sokka's eyes widen only to see Haru in an earth bending stance with the rest of the boys behind him.
Haru finally lifted up the bag he had been carrying and dumped out about 10 large moon peaches.
Jet and Haru burst out in loud cheers, while Longshot nodded silently with approval.
Jet strolled forward and gave the water tribe a pat on the shoulder.
"Awesome distraction Sokka, you were amazing!"
Haru stepped forward and gave Sokka a pat as well.
"Yeah! Next time we have to take him to see our hideout next Jet!"
All the boys nodded in agreement.
Sokka smiled a little but a feeling of uncertainty lingered in his chest. His mind raced back to the old couple, this feeling of acceptance certainly did not feel the same as the swordfight against Jet at the coal mines.
"Hello?"
Katara tried to adjust her eyes to where she was.
It was a beautiful cave filled with bright green glowing crystals. The sound of water rushed through the cave grabbing her attention.
"Water!"
It was a waterfall to be precise, that flowed around some rocks and created various streams flowing in different directions. At the same time, she felt a throbbing shoot through her palms. She looked at it and noticed that it carried a blistering bruise.
Come out or I'll burn you to a crisp.
It was a burn mark. The boy had burnt her!
All that adrenaline she had experience from when he had attacked and when she fell into the cave was beginning to wear off, allowing her to feel the pain from the fire. She quickly ran towards the pull of her element and dipped her hand in the little puddle created from the waterfall. A blue glow errupted from them, she quickly removed her hands in surprise but stopped abruptly at the sound of foreign footsteps. She turned around to see two green cloaked men starring at her with funny looking hats that partially covered their eyes.
"Who are you?"
Neither of the men answered and crept towards her.
Her heart began to race.
"Get away!"
She swung are arm in defense. And a streak of water struck one of the men.
Katara blinked in shock. She hadn't bent for a long time. And it felt amazing. A nice tingling sensation ran up her arms urging her to do it again.
The agents were as stunned as she was. They looked at each other and both immediately shot an earth glove at her. Katara froze in fear unsure of what to do. Before it could grab a hold of her, the earth shook in a violent manner knocking everyone off their feet.
Two giant fury animals pounced on the men, Katara also heard giggling in a distance but with the surrounding dust, she was unable to find whom the voice belonged to.
"Badger moles!" One of the agents yelled.
The giant creatures dropped their paws onto the ground and a chunk of earth knocked them back. Knowing they would be unable to fight these giant creatures they quickly scurried away.
"Nice work boys!". The same voice Katara heard giggling chirped. The voice sounded like a young girl around her age.
The water bender stood up and dusted off herself. She took a closer look at the creatures and they did the same to her. They leaned in close and took a sniff. Katara shivering in fear was interrupted as a body slid down the head of one of the badger moles and stood in front of her.
She was very filthy and dusty like Katara, her hair was in a round bun, held back with a green headband and two fuzz ball on each side of her ear. She stared at Katara (or thought to be) with her milky looking green eyes. The waterbender wasn't sure if she was staring at her as her gaze seemed to move past Katara's shoulders.
"Never try to disturb the Dai Li, Father says they are dangerous"
"Do you know where the orphanage is? I think I'm lost."
"How did you come all the way into the palace from the orphanage?"
This was the same thing the Prince had asked, remembering him caused her to smile a bit as she felt the hilt of his knife she had tucked away. She also remembered the burn mark and decided to look at her palms, but the blisters were gone.
Her eyes widened in surprise, remembering the glow when she dipped her hands in the puddle. Did she heal herself?
Gran Gran had told stories of water benders who could heal but she was unsure. She needed to ask Sokka. Rembering Tophs question she continued to speak.
"Well, how did you get here?" Katara asked the young girl.
"I follow the tunnels and make new ones with my earthbending."
Earthbending?
"Amazing! I can't do much with my waterbending. "
Why were all these kids she met such better benders than she was? Even though the Prince almost burned her, he had been so confident with his element and now she was meeting an earthbender younger than her who built tunnels!
"I can teach you, I've never met a waterbender before but I'm sure the badgermoles can teach you. They taught me."
Katara looked at the animals with uncertainty. Their eyes were just like hers. The earthbending girl interrupted her thoughts.
"I think I know the orphanage you are talking about, I always pass by it with my parents, but I'm never allowed to play with the kids".
"Why not?"
The girl sighed and kicked the dirt with a frustrated grunt.
"Because I'm blind, they think I am weak and can't do anything."
Katara's eyes widened in astonishment.
"But how can you earthbend?"
"The badgermoles, they are blind just like me and we see with earthbending."
The girl said this with a feeling of pride. Never had she told anyone about this? Whenever someone finds out she was blind they wouldn't want to talk to her anymore or they would feel bad. But this waterbender sounded like she admired her.
"Come with me" She smiled. "I can take you to the orphanage."
Katara's eyes widened with excitement
"Thank you! Thank you-" She paused not knowing what to call her.
"What's your name?"
"Toph"
"Oh, I'm Katara."
The little earthbender whistled and the badger moles walked towards her.
All three earthbenders, badgermoles and Toph stomped their feet and the caves rumbled, opening up a tunnel to lead to their destination.