Hope you enjoy reading this chapter! This chapter is a bit of a change and I hope you like what I did with it.

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Chapter 8: Different Teaching Methods

Eira was thankful for Katara's healing, it made her realise that if Zuko had just let her heal Iroh in the actual episode, he would've been better in no time. Then she remembered about what actually happened to Iroh in the series and was even more thankful that she was healed.

A part of her wondered why she was targeted by Azula when it had been Iroh in the show, but then the other part of her answered the question for her. She became the target. She'd been so worried about protecting or watching everyone else, she'd let her guard down.

It was just like everything that happened in this world. Knowing what was going to happen to her friends combined with Eira's overly-protective nature, she always managed to get in the line of fire.

She went instead of Aang with Zuko because she tricked him into thinking she was the Avatar so Aang could travel with Katara and Sokka in peace, she kept annoying Zhao and stopped him from killing Yue and she shoved Katar out of the reach of that Earth Kingdom general guy.

I probably should tone it down, or I'll end up jumping in front of the bus to save someone who wasn't even on the road, Eira thought, turning her thoughts to where they were.

They were currently camping in a mountainous terrain and it was Eira's second least favourite place they'd been so far. It was almost completely devoid of trees and nature except for the odd dried bush or spiky, leafless tree. Better than the swamp, though.

"Today's the day!" Eira had been quietly contemplating whilst staring off into the distance but Aang's jubilant cries shook her out of it as she suddenly focused back on her surroundings and saw the twelve-year-old airbender running up and around Appa.

He jumped up, punching the air in excitement and landed next to Sokka, who was still sleeping. "Can you believe it? After all that time searching for a teacher, I'm finally starting earthbending!"

Momo flew around Aang and chittered as he landed on Appa's head.

"It's perfect, don't you think?" Aang said.

"It'll be much better than that academy you went to," Eira commented as Sokka grumbled loudly and glared at the two airbenders with tired eyes. He was obviously still recovering from the lack of sleep due to Fire Nation crazies.

"Oh, you're still sleeping, huh?" Aang's eyes widened innocently before looking sheepish. "Sorry," he whispered.

Sokka rolled over, still grumbling. Eira smiled mischievously. One, two, three- Just on cue, the earth began to rumble and Toph's earth tent exploded loudly as she shouted, hands on hips.

"Gooooooood morning, earthbending student!" Aang and Katara turned their heads to look at her as Katara sat up straight in her sleeping bag. Toph walked confidently up to them, a huge grin on her face.

"Good morning, Sifu Toph," Aang said respectfully, bowing slightly. Katara looked a bit miffed.

"Hey, you never call me Sifu Katara." Aang scratched the back of his head.

"Well, if you think that I should…" he began but Sokka sat up, grumbling intelligibly but it roughly translated into 'Didn't I tell you to be quiet? Some people are trying to sleep here!'

"Don't worry Katara. I don't call Aang, Sifu Aang," Eira reassured. "Though that may be because we don't call teachers 'master' or 'sifu' where I'm from," she then added, quieter, trailing off at the end.

Sokka grumbled loudly again and Toph looked at him, well, she was 'looking' in his direction, and smiled widely.

"Sorry, Snoozles, we'll do our earthbending," she lowered her voice to a whisper. "As quietly as we can."

And as she finished her sentence, she slammed her left heel into the ground, creating a small crack and creating a spire of earth right under Sokka's sleeping bag. He flew up into the air, screaming all the way.

Katara stood up to get a better view of the hilarious sight and join them all in staring up in the sky as Sokka began his decent. He crashed down into the ground and jumped to his feet surprisingly quickly, still in his sleeping bag, and hopped towards Aang, mumbling under his breath and hopped towards Toph to repeat the action before hopping away.

They all watching him bunny hop away, as if a video game character, before turning to Aang and Toph, the topic of earthbending returning to their minds.

"So what move are you going to teach me first?" Aang asked excitably. He stretched out his right arm, fist clenched, and brought it down like a hammer on the air. "Rock-a-lanche?" He clenched his left fist and brought it to his right elbow and shook his two arms. "The Trembler?" He jumped up and down and span around, arms outstretched. "Or maybe I could learn to make a whirlpool out of land!"

Toph put a hand on Aang's chest, stopping his from moving.

"Let's start with…" she pushed the air in front of her. "Move a rock," she said bluntly. Aang clapped his hands together in excitement.

"Sounds good, sound good!" he chirped.

They all walked over to another part of the canyon, Toph leading the way. She stood Aang next to her as Eira and Katara watched in interest. She earthbent two boulders out of the ground and placed them in front of herself and Aang.

"The key to earthebending is your stance," Toph explained, her feet shoulders width apart. "You've got to be steady and strong. Rock is a stubborn element. If you're going to move it, you've got to be like a rock yourself."

Aang nodded in understanding. "Like a rock. Got it."

Eira smiled. Stubborn or like a rock, were not things she usually associated with Aang. There was definitely another reason than simply being a native airbender why Aang found earthbending hard. He was so much like air as a person that being something like a rock would be so hard.

For Eira, she felt like she wouldn't really excel or find any element difficult. She loved feeling free and was accepting like an airbender, she was kind of adaptable like a waterbender, she was definitely stubborn enough to be an earthbender and forceful and aggressive enough to be a firebender.

A combination of the elements' natural traits. The flaws and strengths. I guess in my world, if we had bending, it would be a lot more diverse instead of separating them all like this.

That's one reason she never though that stories with bending in the real world would be as interesting, or was it more interesting? If there were lots of different benders and non-benders in one place, she'd imagine a lot of chaos.

"…motion of this is pretty simple." Eira focused back on their training very suddenly as Toph sent the boulder in front of her right into the canyon wall.

Eira gasped in shock and awe as she shook herself out of her thoughts.

"Okay, you ready to give it a try?" Toph asked Aang and, of course, Aang enthusiastically nodded.

"I'm ready," he said confidently, mimicking Toph's actions but he ended up airbending at the rock instead and pushed himself over to Appa, rolling backwards.

"Rock beats airbender," Eira commented, slightly amused. Aang smiled self-depreciatively but then Eira saw the disappointment on his face and she felt bad.

Aang stood up as Katara and Toph walked up to the boulder Aang had tried, and failed to move.

Katara looked at the boulder in puzzlement. "I don't understand what he did wrong. He did it exactly the way you did."

Aang jumped over to them and circled the boulder.

"Maybe there's another way," he said hopefully. "What if I came at the boulder from another angle?"

"That won't work." Eira walked up to Aang. "Earthbending is very blunt. Think of it like how Toph acts. She never beats around the bush, never avoids the issue and attacks things head on. The only way you can move the rock is to be like that."

"Yeah, fairy feet's right. Stop thinking like an airbender and do this." Toph jumped up and destroyed the rock with a combination of her head and her eathbending and Eira couldn't help but think that it wasn't the greatest example for Aang.

Aang looked almost scared as he stared at the pebbles and dust Toph reduced the boulder to.

"Don't worry Aang. You will get it. You can't expect to get every type of bending perfect on the first try." Eira added, trying to keep his confidence up.

"Yeah," Aang half-heartedly agreed.

"Come on Twinkle Toes, time for your lesson." Toph shouted. Why does the word 'lesson' make me feel so anxious? Eira thought as she watched Toph earthbend a massive rock and pointed from Aang to it.

Next thing Eira knew, they were going through test after ridiculous test, and it was about as painful as Eira expected.

He was forced to carry the rock on his back as Toph earthbent the ground under his feet to make it even harder to walk. This of course didn't work and he fell to the ground. Painfully. Ouch!

Then Toph took Aang to a pit of soft rock and somehow managed to stab her hands into it, the rock parting without even hurting her. Aang, on the other hand, managed to nearly break his hand as the rock stayed perfectly solid as he slammed his fingers against the rock.

All through this 'training', Toph was shouting like a drill sergeant, clearly loving her newfound power.

"Rock-like! No flinching! You call yourself an earthbender!?" Eira couldn't help but feel sorry for Aang as failure after failure piled on. She tried thinking of more… humane ways to teach Aang earthbending but the problem with that was that Eira wasn't an earthbender. Sooooo, yeah.

Currently, Aang was holding one of Sokka's weapons, much to Sokka's dismay and he was trying his hardest to get it back but Toph just shoved him away. Aang was, of course, blindfolded, as Toph brought up rocks for Aang to try and smash with the club.

He swung the club about five times, failing to hit a single rock until, much to his own surprise, he hit one and even the one after that. Eira looked over to Toph and she nodded in approval.

"Not bad, Twinkle Toes," she admitted. Aang turned around to face her direction and smiled widely, just to get hit by another one of the jutting rocks Toph earthbent right under his feet..

"Ow!" Aang complained, raising his blindfold off his face. Toph shrugged, her smiled looking more mischievous.

"Sorry," she apologised non-committaly. "Couldn't help it." She waved her hand towards another area and marked a line out in the dirt. "Next test!" she announced.

She raised her arms and the earth below her rose up and built herself into a shield of rock. It covered everything but her nose and mouth so she could breathe.

Aang stood on the other side of the line, looking weary, not knowing what to expect but he reacted quickly as Toph earthbent herself at him. He raised his arms and dug his feet into the ground to slow her charge.

He strained against her and managed to push her back on the other side of the line and Eira clapped supportively as he succeeded.

"Good job, Aang!" she called.

Despite the excitement of watching Aang learning Earthbending and the fact that she was actually interested in seeing it, Eira was starting to feel bored. She was probably going to start writing or something if she wasn't really needed.

Eira wasn't exactly known back in school for having the best attention span. It hadn't really affected her as they were almost constantly doing something and the only time it really showed up was when Aang tried teaching her airbending.

She just got so easily frustrated when she tried/failed to learn something. It wasn't a good thing and it made something like airbending, which required patience, incredibly difficult.

A normal person would just ask for more lessons but Eira always felt guilty whenever Aang took time out of his day to teach her. He was the Avatar and far more important so Eira always made it clear that his training with Katara, and now Toph, came first.

Her struggling to grasp airbending made Eira feel envious of Katara, and she hated it. Katara was just so talented and she even had the determination to master her element so quickly. Eira just wished she had that. She still thought that it just wasn't in her. Was it even possible for her to master an element she wasn't even born with?

Gah! What was it about just leaving her to her thoughts that caused her to just drift off and think of things that just confused her to no end?!

Yep, I need to take my mind off my catastrophic mindscape. Wait, is it even possible to take your mind off your mind? GAH!

Eira stood up quickly walked over to Appa's saddle to get her paper and pencil of sorts. He bag was filled with her little scratchy notes, plans and doodles. Sokka and Katara, mainly, were always curious about what she wrote but they couldn't read it because it was the Latin alphabet.

Eira always felt a little weird about how she could read their alphabet but they couldn't read hers but it was helpful as she hated it when people read over her shoulder.

Aang was progressively getting better at Toph's tests but he still showed no sign of actually earthbending. Eira walked around, following them and making notes on ideas for possible ways to help Aang. Sadly, most of them reached almost Toph levels of student abuse as that's what she was basing her earthbending knowledge on.

"This time we're gonna try something a little different," Toph explained. "Instead of moving a rock, you're going to stop a rock. Get in your horse stance!" she commanded and Aang shifted his position to suit Toph's demands. He lowered his centre of gravity and placed his feet shoulder's width apart.

"I'm going to roll that boulder down that hill and, if you have the attitude of an earthbender, you'll stay in your stance and stop the rock. Like this!" Toph hopped into Aang's stance and stretched out before reverting back to normal standing.

Katara looked justifiably uneasy. As did Aang.

"Sorry Toph," Katara began. "But are you really sure this is the best way to teach Aang earthbending?"

Toph looked up, an idea popping in her head as she walked back over to Aang.

"I'm glad you said something. Actually there is a better way," she agreed, pulling out a rag and tying it around Aang's head. "This way, you'll actually have to sense the vibrations of the boulder to stop it. Thank you, Katara."

"Yeah, thanks, Katara!" Aang repeated sarcastically.

Katara looked sheepishly at Aang's blindfolded state.

"Heh, sorry."

Toph ran up to the top of the hill Aang was in front of with a slightly-disturbing amount of energy.

Aang fidgeted as silence swept over them, which was quickly broken by the rumbling of the impending boulder running down the hill towards them. Eira and Katara stood far away from Aang and, sure it wasn't going to help his confidence, but they didn't want to risk being in the way.

Aang stood his ground but he was obviously worried and as it was just about to hit him, he jumped over the rock and let it roll past him a crash into the cliff behind him.

Aang landed softly on the ground, taking off his blindfold to reveal his ashamed expression and Toph was having none of it. As she stormed over, Aang quickly cut in first.

"I guess I just panicked," he quickly explained. "I don't know what to say."

"There's nothing to say. You blew it!" Toph shouted angrily. "You had a perfect stance, and a perfect form, but when it came right down to it, you didn't have the guts!" Toph jabbed a finger at Aang's chest.

Aang dropped his head in disappointment. "I know. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you are sorry. A sorry excuse for an Avatar and an earthbender. If you're not tough enough to sop the rock, then you can at least give it the pleasure of smashing you instead of jumping out of the way like a jelly-boned wimp!"

"Toph, that's unfair. You can't expect him to master earthbending in one day," Eira broke in but Toph still looked just as upset.

"Yeah, but I expect him to at least do something! He hasn't earthbent a single thing after an entire day's training!"

"Then maybe he just can't learn the way you teach him."

"Then how would you do it, Fairy Feet? How would you, an airbender, suggest I teach Aang earthbending?"

"Maybe, inversing your tactics. Throwing rocks at him and forcing him to just stand there until he earthebends is unreasonable, especially when you consider how Aang learns." Eira crossed her arms defensively as she re-called one of her notes.

Aang learnt at a slower pace, and not through fighting. He needed more peaceful tactics. Then, maybe…

"How about you instead keep him somewhere and he has to learn to earthbend to get out, or-" Toph didn't let her finish. She quickly slammed her foot on the ground and a box of earth appeared around Aang. Then, before he could jump out of it, she threw a slab of earth on top of it, twisting her hand to connect them together.

"Toph! At least put air holes in it!" Eira cried, worried for Aang. Toph sighed and pulled her hand towards herself, causing several holes at the top of the box to appear.

She walked up to the box ad hit her fist on it.

"If you get out of this box, I'll forgive you for your wussy attempt at stopping the rock. Only rule, no other bending."

"Toph! What?!" Aang exclaimed, his voice slightly muffled.

Toph brushed her hands together.

"That good enough for you?"

Katara and Eira were just stood there, in shock. Eira hadn't expected that to happen but… a part of her thought it could work. Toph herself learnt to metalbend because she was forced to get herself out of a similar situation.

"Aang, we're not going to leave you," Katara called supportively. "You can do this."

"Thanks, Katara. And thanks, Eira," Aang said sarcastically and Eira couldn't blame him. She'd be ten times worse in his situation.

"Mae flyn 'da fi, Aang. But, you can do this."

Eira looked around and realised one slightly mocking and equally sarcastic voice was missing. "Hey, where's Sokka?" she asked.

Katara looked around and raised her eyebrows in shock as she suddenly noticed the absence of her brother.

"Wait, you're right. Where is he?"

Eira thought back to the episode, and suddenly laughed. Oh, that's where he is.

"What's so funny?" Katara asked.

"Sorry, I just think I know where he is. I'll go get him."

Eira jogged off and broke out into a slow run as she went past their camp and over to the other side of the canyon. There was slightly more nature around this area and Eira wished they'd made camp there. It was a least a little nicer than dry cracked earth.

Either way, she knew that Sokka left to go hunting around this area. And got himself trapped in a hole.

"You probably think I deserve this, don't you?" Eira poked her head from behind a dry, leafless tree and burst out laughing as she saw Sokka, hands poking out, stuck in a hole with a small adorable furry animal next to him. What sealed the deal was Sokka's generally fed-up/begrudging acceptant expression.

Sokka's head turned sharply to look at Eira, still laughing loudly at his indignation. He frowned and pouted.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks, Eira. I know, I probably deserve this for trying to hunt and your vegetarian blah, blah but can you just help me."

Eira walked over and knelt next to the cute animal. It head-butted her hand, much like a cat, and she petted it.

"Aw, aren't you cute. Did you do this to Sokka?" Sokka pouted even more.

"Hey! Can you stop with the talking and more with the, getting me out of this hole?" Eira laughed.

"That depends on if I can or not," Eira admitted, standing up. She cocked her head to the side quizzically. "How did you fall in anyway? I know you were hunting, but then what?"

"If you really want to know, I was about to get it but when I jumped down, I fell in this crack," he explained.

Eira kicked his boomerang with her foot and raised an eyebrow at him.

"That was an escape attempt!"

"How were you planning to get out of pit by throwing a boomerang?" Eira asked.

"I don't know!" Sokka protested. "Can you please get me out of here now?" He paused, a thought occurring to him. "Wait, why are you here? I thought you were with Aang and Toph and Katara."

Eira felt her face turn red. "I, uh, kind of tried to help out with Aang's training and, um… got him trapped in a box of earth."

"So, both of us are trapped? Why isn't Toph helping us then?" Eira shifted her weight sheepishly.

"She was the one who trapped Aang. I think she's surveying her training," Eira explained. I just hope she isn't doing… Toph things to try and persuade him to get himself out of it.

"It doesn't matter though," Eira said, changing the subject. "Let's just get you out of there."

Eira took one of Sokka's hands and pulled but stopped as he cried out in pain.

"Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. That isn't going to work!" Sokka shouted quickly.

"But if we manage to get your arms out, you can just push yourself out," Eira explained. She tried to pull him up again but he wasn't budging.

"I don't get it, how did you get yourself so stuck?" Eira pulled on his hands again but he was too tightly stuck in the ground.

"You could just get Toph," Sokka suggested. "I mean, your airbending and Katara's waterbending isn't exactly going to help me move rock, especially considering how you're not the best. No offence."

Eira frowned. That last comment wasn't really necessary. It was true, but still unnecessary.

"Fine, I'll try and go get Toph, but I doubt she'll do much more than laugh at you and Aang," Eira said, walking off.

"Be careful, though!" she called as she got fairly far away. "I think that animal's a moose-lion cub and its mother may be close by!"

She jogged off, slightly amused by Sokka's suddenly disturbed shouts and only feeling a bit bad.

The camp hadn't really changed since she'd left to find Sokka but she did notice that Katara was looking clearly more worried and Toph was looking more frustrated and annoyed.

"Um, hey… guys. How's Aang doing?" Eira asked awkwardly.

"I'm doing fine," Aang's muffled voice spoke out from inside the box.

"No, you're not! You haven't even managed to make a dent in the box yet, what kind of earthbender are you?" Toph asked loudly, standing up and hitting the earth box.

"Toph, please try and be more supportive," Katara pleaded, taking her hand away from the earth. She turned to face Eira. "Did you find Sokka?"

"Oh, yeah. He's stuck in a hole in the ground and I need Toph to get him out," Eira explained off-handedly. She was reasonably distracted by the guilt of Aang's current situation.

"What!?" Katara exclaimed. "How did he manage to do that?!"

"It involves a lion-moose cub. It's easier to show than explain but I think he'd appreciate it if Toph got him out. I tried pulling him out but he's reeeeealy stuck."

"Fine. I'll go get him," Toph said bluntly. "If you're not out of there soon, Twinkle Toes…" Toph didn't finish. "Show me where the dolt is."

Eira stared guiltily at the box. "You can do this, Aang. I know you can."

There was a pause of silence.

"Thank you, Eira. I know you're trying to help, even if it's not that helpful."

"Come on, Fairy feet!" Toph said sharply, pulling at Eira's sleeve impatiently.

Eira sighed internally and walked off with Toph, showing her the way to Sokka.

"There." Eira pointed to Sokka, who was now being sat on by the small cub and Eira was glad that its mother wasn't around.

Toph laughed loudly, mimicking Eira's own reaction to Sokka being trapped.

Eira smiled.

"Yeah, I know, it's ridiculous, but it'd be best if you got him out before he gets in trouble with a raging sabre-toothed-moose-lion."

Toph happily walked over to Sokka and with a giant grin on her face, she slammed her foot to the ground and Sokka was thrown up into the air again, landing hard on the ground.

"Done!" Toph proclaimed proudly, brushing her hands together with satisfaction. "At least I can be happy about getting one thing done today seeing as Aang's a failing student."

Eira frowned. She looked at Toph and put a hand on her shoulder, turning her around and stopping her from leaving.

"You know, Toph. You need to be a bit easier on him," she said quietly. "He's twelve and has the fate of the world on his shoulders. I know he's the same age as you but think about it this way: he's got all these people with expectations that are too high." Eira studied Toph's reactions discreetly.

"They expect him to be able to master all elements in a year, to stop the Fire Lord, to kill him. When people have too many expectations, they need people to look out for them. If they don't, the stress of it all can really hurt them." She noticed a small flicker of emotion on Toph's face. Maybe she was relating that to her own life.

She was pressured into a role she couldn't play, the helpless, weak daughter of a rich family, and it caused her to not only be estranged from her family, but have to hide her true self.

Maybe she didn't know what it was like to have everything she knew destroyed, but she did know what it was like to have people not understand you.

"Aang woke up for the first time in a hundred years only a couple of months ago," Eira continued. "He woke up to be told that everyone he knew was dead. That he was the last of his kind. That he had to stop a war by the end of this summer, or the world as we know it would be destroyed. He needs to be told that he can do this. We need to support him."

Toph stayed quiet, before she punched Eira in the arm, but not as hard as Eira would've thought.

"Fine, Fairy Feet. I'll be nicer to him. I'll be supportive to him. I'll try my best."

"Thanks, Toph. Once he breaks though this wall, I know he'll be a great earthbender." She smiled wider. "Though, never as great as the Arglwydd Melon."

"Who?" Toph asked. Eira shook her head.

"You'll find out later."

"I hate it when people talk like that," Toph grumbled under her breath.

Sokka walked up to them and put his arms around their shoulders.

"Well, I'm sorry to break up this little chat but can we go back to camp now. I'm hungry." Subtle as ever Sokka. Eira thought.

"Okay then, and who knows, maybe Aang's gotten out by now," Eira suggested as they all began to walk back to camp.

The walk was silent and Eira was appreciating the clouds slowly covering the sky. It had been getting a bit warmer than Eira would've liked. It didn't help already that the area was so dry.

Katara was sitting next to Aang's box and looking quite upset and worried. She looked at them approaching and quickly stood up.

"Sokka, you're alright! That's a relief. When Eira said you were stuck in a hole I was so worried and Aang still hasn't managed to get out and-"

"Its fine, Katara," Eira said, looking at Toph. "I'm pretty sure Sokka wasn't hurt, right?" Eira looked back at Sokka and he quickly pulled a dramatic expression.

"Of course I was!" he protested. "The emotional trauma of-"

"He's fine. Now, I think Toph wants to tell Aang something."

Toph shrugged and walked over to the box.

"'K Twinkle Toes," Toph began, looking a bit sheepish for needing to apologise. "I'm sorry for how I acted before. It was unfair. But, I think I know how to help you out."

"I'm sorry too, Toph. I was just… frustrated when I couldn't earthbend. I can't even do it after trying for an entire day. I just… I just feel-" Aang began but Toph cut in before he could finish.

"It's alright. Okay, now listen. Place your hand on the wall," Toph instructed. "Now close your eyes. Focus on the earth, it's all around you and you can move it. You can move it. You just need to focus on it. Ignore what you think you can do and just do it."

Everyone waited in silence as Toph looked intensely at the box and slowly, it began to warp. Its shape began to break apart and, bit by bit, a hole was formed in it until the wall completely crumbled and Aang was visible once the dust cleared.

"Aang!" Eira ran up and hugged him. "I'm so sorry for that but, you finally earthbent!"

"Congrats!" Sokka said cheerfully.

"Yeah!" Aang looked at a few of the rocks at his feet and managed to earthbend them out of his way. "Woo hoo!"

Aang's delight at being able to earthbend was incredible to watch. Toph looked at her student with pride and Eira smiled at her.

"Told you," Eira said teasingly as they all watched Aang happily. Thank goodness, I didn't mess this up. Eira thought, thoroughly relieved. Sometimes she got so stressed at the prospect she could just ruin the entire future of her friends that when it didn't happen, she was so happy.

Please review, they keep me going and I might be able to get these chapters out a bit faster. :)