I don't really like how this turned out. I never do, though. Anyway, enjoy:
Toph stood, rubbing her toes in the dirt path that stretched before her. She could feel the contours in the road, knew where each bend and turn lie. She would have known all of that without standing where she was. The path was a familiar one, one that brought back unwelcome emotions. Her nerves felt strained. Despite her usual, solid stance, she was worried that her legs might fail her. It had been nearly a year and a half since she had walked this path, but she knew she had to do it now. She owed that much to her parents.
She passed under the large gate, the vibrations in the earth sending her a clear picture. She could "feel" the elaborate gardens placed to either side of the road, the stone fountains on the grounds. Before the cold cobblestones of the paved pathway touched her feet, she had felt them there. They were... different, somehow. Her parents must have repaved the lane since she was last there. That wasn't unusual - with her parents' fortune, they had become somewhat over-zealous with renovations on their estate. It was one of the many things Toph didn't miss about her home life.
As she approached the front door, Toph pondered whether her parents would be glad to see her. Would they be proud of her, or want to lock her up again? Stories of Aang had spread through the three nations like wild-fire, and Toph's involvement certainly hadn't been left out. Her parents would have to be living under a rock to not know of Toph's accomplishments. And how much danger she had put herself through. She had to chuckle at the thought of her mother learning that Toph had been a part of the failed invasion a little over a year ago, or that she had hung from Sokka's fingers on a fire nation air-ship nearly a kilometer above the ground. Her face would have been priceless. Not that Toph would have seen it anyway...
Toph knocked hard on the wooden door and felt it give way. She frowned, feeling the air before her. The door had been loose. That was unlike her parents. They always kept the front door closed. Now that she thought about it, the front gate had been open as well. And unguarded. Her parents had always been on top of security. Perhaps her absence had softened their need? Toph stepped into the foyer cautiously, the memory of her capture in Ba Sing Se coming to the fore of her mind.
"Hello?" Toph called. Her voice echoed through the house. She moved forward, dragging her feet across the wooden planks. It was disconcerting, not being able to see with her feet.
Toph backed out of the house. As soon as her feet were back on the stone pavement, she stomped. One of the large cobblestones flew into the air, and she let it hover above her fingertips. Something about the situation sat wrong with Toph, and she wasn't about to enter the house unarmed.
Toph moved forward at a quick pace, calling out to her parents, to anyone. Her calls weren't answered. She used her memories of the mansion's layout to guide her from room to room, searching for anything that might tell here where everyone had gone. She couldn't imagine her parents just abandoning their estate. Her father had too much pride in it.
The eerie silence, broken only by the creaking of the floorboards under Toph's feet, unnerved her. She felt herself wishing fervently that she could see. As she turned to move down one of the many halls in the Bei Fong mansion, a smell tickled her nose. It was faint. Distant, and somehow suppressed. She wouldn't have been able to pick it up had her sense of smell not been sharpened due to her blind eyes. She moved forward, following the smell. It was pugnent, sour. Like the dead birds she used to find in the garden when she was young.
A horrible thought occurred to her, causing her pace to quicken. The smell was coming from her parents' master bedroom. As she flew into the doorway the smell hit her full force. Flies could be heard buzzing angrily around the room. With a hand over her nose, Toph stepped across the room, then abruptly stopped. Her foot had, painfully, collided with something wooden on the floor. A... chest. Her stone weapon fell to the floor as she knelt down and felt across the sides for a latch. Finding said latch, she threw it open, and nearly emptied her lunch onto the floor.
The smell of death overwhelmed her, caused her eyes to water. She pushed herself back with her legs, her back colliding with the wall. She didn't need to see to guess who was in that chest. Her parents. Someone had slaughtered her mother and father, and stuffed their remains in a box. An voice in the back of her head told her she didn't know that for certain. It could be two servants. She pushed that voice aside. She could dwell on that later; right now she had to get out.
Staving off the inevitable grief that began to well up inside her, Toph stood, making her way back to the front door with haste. Now she knew there was something wrong with this situation. The rest of the grounds had had no indication of anything wrong, except for it's odd abandonment. There was no obvious damage, no other dead bodies on the grounds. She had to get out of there now, get back to the earthen ground. It was a trap.
As though to confirm that thought Toph heard a snapping sound, and she was suddenly thrown off her feet. She felt herself rise into the air, heard the creaking of wooden planks as they set into place. Of course, Toph sighed to herself. A wooden cage. She crawled to the edge of the cage and felt the wooden bars. They were strong, probably made of refined redwood. With a cry of frustration she crossed her arms and sat back. Once again she found herself caged, and once again her captor had taken precautions. It was almost enough to make her wish she had kept her metalbending a secret. Almost.
Laughter sounded from below her. Very evil, very insane laughter.
"Who are you and what the hell do you want?" Toph called angrily. The laughter continued. The voice triggered something in Toph's memory. "Azula..." she stated. She wanted to attack the woman, to dig fingers into her throat.
"Who else?" Azula replied, sounding rather pleased with herself. "You know, you're so easy to catch."
Toph snorted. "Why don't you say that when we're on even footing? Outside."
"As much as I'd love to chat, I have other matters to attend." Toph heard the Firebender's light footsteps retreat from the room. Toph pounded her fist against the wooden floor of the cage, causing it to creak slightly. She could get out had she not dropped her bloody stone.
Toph sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest. There was nothing else for it; she would have to wait for a chance to escape. She didn't think anyone would come to save her.
Appa landed with a grunt, his bulk burrowing into the untouched snow. Wind whipped at Aang's coat as he leapt off Appa. He had abandoned his usual monk attire for a traditional Fire Nation work outfit. It was warmer, and more practical.
"Alright, buddy. Stay here, get some rest. We're leaving first thing in the morning," Aang said, patting the Sky Bison's head. To Sokka and Suki, hopefully, he added to himself.
Pulling his coat tight around himself, Aang stepped up to the large gates of the city. The ice glistened in the cold antarctic sun, a precursor to the beauty found within. Aang was impressed by how far the city had come in only a year. It felt like yesterday he had woken up in only a small village of a dozen houses.
A small stream of people passed through the gate, following the road that connected the city to the harbour. The traffic was only a trickle compared to that of Ba Sing Se, but Aang felt crowded nonetheless. His mind was cluttered, unorganized. He had been imagining the worst possible outcomes of this trip all night.
Aang walked past the guards freely - it was a time of peace, and the people were beginning to learn to trust foreigners. Usually it brought joy to Aang's heart, but today it worried him. Azula could have waltzed into the city without a problem. What if she had? What if she'd made off with her quarry already, fleeing to some untraceable corner of the earth? What if-?
Forcing his mind clear, Aang passed hurriedly through the snowy streets, ignoring the architectural marvels the waterbenders had accomplished. He quickly located the building he was looking for - a large, dome-shaped building near the city center. Here people bustled, visiting the marketplace and the commerce sections of the city, idling their time with companions along the central canals. Aang did his best to swiftly cut through the crowd without being intrusive. Nerves strangled his heart as he reached the door-flap of the building.
Inside the building was hollow, making up one large, circular room. An inner ring was indented in the center, taking up the majority of the room. Children filled the floor, evenly spaced into three rows. They moved slowly, practicing the flows of waterbending. Globs of water orbited each of them, jerking and jumping as the students tried to bend it around them. Along the walls of the building was a thin walkway, and at the end opposite the door was a raised pedestal. Aang breathed a sigh of relief. Katara stood on the pedestal, her agile body flowing through the same motions as the children, leading them in their exercises.
Aang stood inside the door for a few minutes, watching Katara as she repeated the motions, then hopped down to mingle with the children as they practiced, giving them some constructive criticism. The kids thrived under her teaching; their progress was immediately present after a quick word of advice from the waterbending teacher, and Aang knew they were already doing much better than average. From the looks of the kids, they were no more than four or five. Aang had hardly started to control his airbending at that age, let alone learning proper forms.
Katara glanced up and spotted Aang standing there. With a smile she turned to her class. "You're all doing excellent. I think that's enough for today. We'll continue tomorrow." A roar of cheers echoed in the hollow dome as a stampede of children raced for the doors. Aang sidestepped to avoid being trampled.
Aang smiled as Katara approached. "Katara! I'm so glad you're okay," he said, pulling her into a friendly embrace.
"Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?" Katara laughed into Aang's shoulder. When he didn't reply, she pulled away, frowning at him. "Aang, why wouldn't I be okay?"
Aang sighed. The happy reunion had lasted shorter than he'd hoped. "You didn't get Zuko's message then?" Of course she wouldn't have. The hawk had probably arrived mere minutes before he had. If at all. Appa was a fast flier when he needed to be.
"No... Aang, what's up? Wait, hold that thought." Katara said. She led him out of the schoolroom and down the snow-packed road. Her house was only a couple blocks away, in the more prestigious residential area of the city. It was a magnificent house, tall and intricately designed - she had crafted it herself. There were a number of changes since Aang's last visit, but in light of the situation he ignored them, instead focusing on deciding how he was going to tell Katara the news. A few minutes later found him seated on one of the animal-skin rugs in Katara's sitting quarters, a steaming cup of cocoa warming his hands.
"Now, what's going on, Aang?" Katara inquired, resuming where their brief conversation had left off.
"Azula's escaped," Aang replied, sighing heavily. Shock and confusion played on Katara's face. It was quickly replaced with worry. She had seen first-hand Azula's madness before her capture a year ago. She could imagine the horror Azula might inflict on the world.
Katara shook her head in disbelief. "How... when... No, wait. Are the others safe?"
"We found out yesterday. She can't have been gone long. Zuko sent out messages to warn everyone. You were the closest, so I came here first. I haven't been able to check anyone else." Aang sighed heavily again. "I'm worried about them."
The pattering of little feet drew Aang's attention away from the conversation. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw two young children scamper by the sittingroom door. One stopped, poking his head in.
"Katara!" The kid flew into the doorway and flung himself at Katara. The waterbender caught the child with a grunt. "You're home early!" Aang eyed the child with a raised eyebrow. One of Katara's cousins?
"That I am," Katara replied, pulling the boy off her. "How were your lessons?"
"Boooooring," the boy whined. "Why do I have to go to school?"
"To learn," Katara said simply. She grabbed the boy's shoulders and turned him around to face Aang. "Katcha, this is Aang."
Smiling awkwardly, Aang raised a hand in greeting. Katcha's eyes widened. "The Avatar? Oh! Hi!" The boy shoved a thumb to his chest. "I'm Katcha. I'm six-and-a-half years old. I know all about you."
"Uhh... Hi," Aang said faintly. Leaning to one side he shot a confused glance at Katara.
"Katcha, why don't you go find your sister and go play. Me and Aang have important things to talk about," Katara said, giving Katcha a small push in the direction of the door.
Katcha groaned. "But Nia is so mean. I don't want to play with her." Katara gave the boy a stern look. Sighing in resignation, he trotted out of the room.
Once Katcha's footsteps had faded into the house, Katara shook her head, but not without a smile. "I adopted Katcha and Niabi a few months ago. Their parents were killed in the war. I love them, but sometimes they're quite the handful."
"Adopted..." That surprised Aang. It still seemed that Katara was hardly more than a child herself. Though, the thought of Katara having settled down brought a smile to Aang's lips. "I need to visit my friends more often. Things happen so quickly," Aang laughed. "So do the scamps have an adoptive father?" he asked with a teasing smile. After the war, he had gone off to take care of Avatar duties, and Katara had stayed with the Southern Water Tribe to help build, and to teach future waterbenders. Their relationship had sort of died with distance. Aang didn't really mind; he figured his infatuation with Katara had been due more to his passage into puberty than anything.
Katara shook her head. "Between teaching and those two, I don't get much time for dating." She shrugged, her eyes becoming wistful.
"You must make a great mother," Aang said seriously.
Katara smiled at him before getting to her feet. "And you must be hungry. I'll put together some supper. Stewed sea prunes sound good?"
Aang stopped himself from making a face. "Uhh, yeah. Sure." He gave her a weak smile. As soon as she had disappeared through the door, he gagged at the wall. How could anyone like that stuff? Sighing, he moved to stare out the small window at a half-dozen children playing a waterbending sport out on the street. The sun was already falling below the horizon, casting an orange glow on the sparkling snow. His mind wandered to his other friends. He hoped they were all safe...
I'll delve more into Toph's reaction to her parent's death, and her doubts thereof, in the next chapter. I figured Toph would have been the type to put her emotions aside when she knew she had to keep it together.
Do you like it, hate it? Think it sucks? Review if you have the time. I'd love to hear your opinions! :D