Hello again!
Here's more of...yeah. This.
Reviews, though not mandatory, are appreciated!
--Phanny
Min-Jee's hut was, as usual, filled with the mingled scents of the strange herbs that she used in her medicines, along with the incense that had been lit as part of her evening routine. The four strangers: Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph, were deep in conversation, having been captivated by the old woman's stories.
Well, Katara and Aang were captivated, Sokka looked interested in Min-Jee's words, but he was not as eagerly attentive, and if Toph was paying attention, she didn't show it.
"And I recall you wondering how I knew that you were the avatar." Toru was only half listening, but as Min-Jee said this, he paid somewhat closer attention. "We do not get many travelers, as I said, but we do have men serving in the war. Letters from them describe the new avatar, an air bender who calls himself Aang. That, along with what little knowledge of the Air Nomads I possess was enough to tell me."
Min-Jee's last sentence was cut off as a loud rumble sounded from outside, though Toru was sure it was not thunder.
"And your Sky Bison was a clincher." The old woman let out a hoarse chuckle as she heard Appa.
"You sure seem to know a lot." Aang said, and Toru saw Katara nod.
"I'm old," Min-Jee said kindly, "you can learn many things in one year alone, imagine living for seventy or more." Toru snorted, and Min-Jee threw a warning glance in his direction.
"In any case, you are welcome to stay the night here." She added. All four of the strangers shared a glance, and it seemed that they had realized that it wasn't a good idea to refuse.
"Thank you." Katara said, speaking for the whole group. Toru was about to tune them all out when Min-Jee spoke once more.
"I'm sure Toru can show you were to some extra beds in the other room." The old woman began to make her way into her own room, not looking back to see Toru's fierce glare.
Bitter old bat! Do it yourself!
And honestly, the group didn't seem too thrilled about having to interact with him, either.
"Come on." He said tersely, picking up his crutch and limping towards one of the extra rooms. Sliding the door open, he pointed. "Sleep in there." He adjourned to his own room for the night.
He knew he wouldn't sleep well that night. Avatar or not, Aang and his friends were strangers in his home. They weren't welcome here.
"Min-Jee seemed nice," Katara commented as she and her friends got ready for bed. "Pretty hospitable, too."
"I suppose someone has to be." Sokka remarked, "that kid's got some nerve. He might even be worse than Toph."
"Heard that." The blind girl was already laying down in her cot, her closed, though she wasn't sleeping. "And I don't think it's much of a problem, you know, compared to ending a hundred-year long war."
"Toph's right," Aang spoke up. He put his bag down, stirring the sleeping flying lemur that had been dozing inside it. Momo curled up in Aang's bed in less than a minute. "He doesn't want anything to do with us, and we don't want to have anything to do with him. Some people are just like that."
"We're not here to pick a fight," Katara agreed. "Let's just get some rest. We should probably get an early start tomorrow."
Aang opened the large window the room, revealing Appa half asleep outside. "G'night Appa," he said.
Appa let out a small rumble in reply.
The next morning was darkened by clouds, and those who usually rose with the sun were not stirred. The still air was chilly, not having been warmed by the sun, and there was a thin layer of fog blanketing the village of Chul.
Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph continued to sleep peacefully, undisturbed by the sounds of the waking outdoors.
"Gah! What the--!?"
Toph's eyes flew open, having the best hearing the group. The others roused only minutes before the sliding door to their room was slammed open, and an angry, tired Toru hobbled in, his eyes burning, his hair tousled, and in his hand was a very frightened flying lemur.
"I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but keep your stupid monkey out of my room!"
"Momo is not a stupid monkey!" Aang hissed, angered by the boy's rough treatment of his furry friend. He stood up from his bed and moved towards Toru, who released the lemur angrily into Aang's arms. Only then did he realize that, in his rush to return the animal, he'd forgotten his crutch. He promptly fell over, but his eyes remained fierce, as though daring any one of them to laugh.
Sokka accepted the dare and snickered at Toru's expense. Katara gave her brother a warning glance, which he did not seem to acknowledge.
"What's going on in here?" Min-Jee stood in the open doorway to the room, glancing at Toru before approaching him, "how did you get here without your crutch, Toru?"
"Heat of passion," Toru grumbled. Min-Jee looked confused, but she didn't press him.
"Come on, then," Min-Jee helped him to stand up, "let's get you moving again, and we'll get to work."
Momo screeched angrily from his perch on Aang's shoulder, obviously expressing his distaste at his treatment.
"Oh shut up! …stupid monkey," Toru didn't even look back as he replied.
"Ow…ow! Owowow! Stop it!"
The young soldier-in-training, Lian, was flinching and writhing in pain on the bed he'd been placed on. Toru was assigned to tend to him, a simple job, mostly. The idiot had been running so quickly that he tripped into a shrub that was known to carry long, sharp spine-like thorns. It had been aptly named "Needlebush", and they grew like mad around the village.
And so Toru was doing his work exactly as he had been told--pick all of the spines out of the human pincushion's hide.
"Ow!" Lian exclaimed as Toru plucked yet another spine from the boy's skin, "can you go a little slower? That hurts."
"It'll hurt either way," Toru said dully, clearly callous to the boy's complaints, "it'll hurt less if you hold still, though."
This entire process also represented that despite his attitude, Toru was very good at his job. Despite Lian's complaints, Toru removed the needles as carefully as he could--even if the method couldn't be described as gentle--and dabbed the proper disinfectant onto each of the punctures as Min-Jee had instructed him many times before.
Speaking of Min-Jee, she approached Toru and his patient with an astounded look on her face.
"Never in my life have I seen that many spines on one person's body," she said to Lian, "what were you doing?"
"I was racing--ow!--Chen and Bao when I--ack! Watch it!--tripped and rolled into the bush," Lian said while Toru continued picking out the needles from his skin, "and your apprentice here hasn't given me any of that pain stuff--this hurts!"
"If I give it to you it'll make you numb," Toru said casually, "you won't be able to feel it, but you won't be able to tell me if I missed any. Deal with it." Toru plucked another spine from Lian's back, "there's only a few left, as far as I can see."
"Well hurry up!" Lian hissed in pain as Toru pulled out the last few spines.
"There," Toru carefully gathered all of the needles that he had picked out and disposed of them, finishing up with Lian and limping away to his room before the other boy could even lift himself off of the bed, "you're welcome."
Lian sighed and got up. Toru used to be his friend, but ever since that accident he was just no fun anymore. He didn't want anything to do with anybody.
"Go on, then," Min-Jee urged him out of the hut, "you've still got a few hours to get some training in."
"All right," Lian smiled and went on his way, "thanks!"
Min-Jee smiled, going back to work.
If only Toru would stay with his patients a little while longer, he might actually hear them thank him.
Very little injuries or sicknesses were spread that day, so Toru pretty much got the rest of the day off.
He'd caught up on his sleep and read one of the books Min-Jee had given him to study. Yes, the thing Toru hated most about being mentored was that he actually had to read.
The warriors in training never had to read or study. You don't need to study to learn how to fight. You can't study it from a book--you just do it.
Healers had to learn a bunch of boring stuff, like what plants cure what, what symptoms lead to what illness, how to dress wounds, blah, blah, blah and more stuff like that. However, though Toru never admitted it aloud, some of the stuff was actually pretty interesting. It was pretty cool, knowing how to fix things that nobody else did.
"Hey." Toru jumped as a voice from behind him spoke suddenly. He looked around to see that blind girl that came in with the avatar--Toph?--in his doorway. "Your grandma wants you."
"She's not my grandma," Toru shrugged, slowly closing his book and sitting up, "I thought you people left."
"Sorry to disappoint you," Toph said sharply, beginning to walk back down the hall, "you coming or not?"
"I'll be there in a second," Toru said, grabbing his crutch and following her. He reached the main room to see that Min-Jee had made dinner. Toru's stomach growled instantly as he sat down, noticing with anger that the avatar and his friends did the same.
"We really do appreciate you letting us stay here," Katara said, looking at her brother with distaste as he ate quickly and loudly as though he hadn't for days.
"It's no trouble," Min-Jee smiled, "I just couldn't live with myself if you were to have nowhere to stay on a rainy day like this one. The storms around here are nasty."
"We noticed that the other night," Aang said, shuddering, "promised Appa I'd never make him fly through that again if I can help it."
"Well, there's a good chance there'll be decent weather tomorrow, but if not you're welcome to stay as long as you need to."
Toru grunted disdainfully in response, his eyes burning as he continued to eat.
"Is there something you'd like to say, Toru?" Min-Jee questioned him, "you seem to have a lot on your mind recently."
"No," Toru murmured, "not really."
"You're sure?" Min-Jee asked, "you've been awfully quiet today."
"I'm fine," Toru said, now picking absently at his food. He didn't enjoy being questioned in front of strangers.
"All right," Min-Jee didn't seem satisfied, but she let it go, "you're studying the pages I told you, right?"
"Yes," the answer was long and drawn out, "all those thorn covered plants that you love so much and all of the weird stuff they do."
"Well don't sound too excited," Min-Jee said dryly.
"I've been wondering…" Sokka spoke up, having finished his food. However, he trailed off, as though not knowing if he should actually asked. He looked at Toru.
"It's impolite to stare," Toru muttered dryly, "you wanna say something just say it."
"What happened to your leg?"
Toru tensed. He hated that question, no matter who asked it. He hated telling the story over and over and reliving it as he did so. He looked up at Sokka.
"Rockslide. Big one. The end." He decided to abridge it a little.
Sokka shrugged, "curiosity satisfied."
That was it?
None of those little words of pity? Sokka didn't tell him how awful it must be, Sokka didn't make him feel so awful about it. He was just wondering.
Toru raised an eyebrow. This was new.
It was odd to have told someone and not gotten any pathetic attempts to cheer him up when he wasn't feeling depressed in the first place.
"Well, okay." Toru appreciated it.
No lemurs were harmed in the making of this chapter.