Sokka stared at the ground as he leaned against the outside of the airship, trying his best to avoid eye contact with Satoru. Satoru glanced up from his report at the warrior every now and again. His mouth formed a thin line as the minutes wore on.
"Wonder what's taking her so long," Satoru said aloud, looking up once more at Sokka. He got a simple shrug for an answer. Another few minutes of silence, except for the sound of Satoru's writing, passed between them. "I spoke to Honghui about the crystal mining helmets," Satoru mentioned.
"And?" Sokka muttered, looking at Satoru with feigned uninterest.
"He loved it," Satoru told him, smiling as he stood up. "We're planning on having all of our mines implement them. Thanks by the way." Sokka gave a curt nod and went back to looking at the ground. Satoru frowned as he titled back and forth on his feet. "Are you okay?" Sokka's head snapped up, his face difficult to read.
"Yeah I'm fine, why?" Sokka asked as he pushed himself off the airship and crossed his arms.
"You just seem a bit..." Satoru trailed off, struggling to find the right word.
"I'm fine," Sokka repeated, staring past Satoru at nothing. Satoru slowly nodded, and with a quiet sigh, decided that he shouldn't press any further. He grinned widely when the door to the airship opened. He raised a quick eyebrow when he noticed Sokka had similarly perked up. He turned to the short earthbender. "Took you long enough."
"Be glad I even got up; was planning on falling right back to sleep," Toph told him as she stretched her back, reaching towards the sky. "Do we have to do much walking?"
"We-"
"It should be maybe five minutes if we keep a good pace," Sokka cut Satoru off, glancing at the small map on the table.
Toph's head dropped. "We can't just fly in on the airship?" she complained. "I want to go back in and lie down."
"There isn't really a place for us to land," Satoru said as they began to walk into the forest.
"Can't I just make one?" Toph asked and she demonstrated by stamping her foot and sliding it sharply. Rock and dirt was pushed to the side, creating a smooth piece of land in front of them. She stopped walking, waiting for their response.
"You should look into the road business, Toph," Sokka called back to her as he and Satoru continued down the road. She stood there defiantly, suppressing her smile when Satoru looked back and waved. Her face dropped in defeat and she reluctantly trudged after them. The two slowed down for her, and Toph slotted between them. She leaned one way or the other, talking to both Sokka and Satoru as they walked.
"Magnificent," Satoru remarked as he looked up at the glistening black waves, some just reaching their apex, while others defied gravity where the cooled lava threatened to come crashing down at any moment.
"I'm impressed," Toph admitted, lightly tapping her foot to get a better idea of the waves. "Can't believe Twinkle Toes did this."
"You should have seen him during it!" Sokka told them, ignoring the disappointed look Toph threw his way. "Of course, without my plan there wouldn't have been a path for the rest of the lava to flow safely away." Sokka pointed out the large trench as he explained to them why he was the real savour of the village. Toph made a small flick of her head and a few seconds later he found himself at the bottom of the trench, lying flat on his stomach, while Toph laughed down at him. After Sokka climbed out of the trench, refusing Satoru's hand in the process, they made their way into the village.
The village was somewhat busy. Various stalls sat along the streets, calling to anyone within earshot to come browse their goods. Alongside many were large caravans; travelling merchants. The three watched in amusement as two separate vendors called for them, heckling the other and claiming that their rival's wares were of the worst quality. Their eyes widened as the two traded insults, which slowly turned to veiled threats.
Sokka and Satoru eyebrows shot up as the language turned coarse while Toph grinned. The trio slowly moved away until they were out of earshot. "Who knew commerce was so dangerous," Sokka said. Satoru started to speak until a voice cut him off.
"Aren't you that Water Tribe guy that was here with the Avatar?"
"Is Aang here?!" Another voice picked up behind them. Sokka glanced back and frowned.
"Toph..." Sokka said slowly. "Are you sure my head wasn't bleeding?" He looked back and forth between the two. The only difference between the two boys being which side they wore their braid over their robe, and that one wasn't wearing shoes.
"I helped Avatar Aang and you create the trench, I was one of the earthbenders," the one with the braid on his left and no shoes said.
"Right..." Sokka muttered, rattling his brain to remember. "Pang right?"
"Ping," the other one corrected. "And he's Poi."
"Poi and Ping, got it." Sokka repeated. He wasn't exactly sure what to say next.
"So is Aang here?" Poi asked, breaking the silence. The twins' faces lit up with excitement.
"Nope," Sokka said and their faces dropped. "He's probably off doing some crazy Avatar stuff."
"I told you the Avatar wouldn't need your help," Ping said, turning to his sibling. "Why would he need the help of some random earthbender like you?."
"At least I'm coming up with ideas!" Poi shot back. Sokka sighed. He didn't want to ask, but at this point he felt he had to.
"This is some fortune Aunt Wu told both of you isn't it?" Sokka asked, a little freaked by how in sync the twins turned their heads and nodded.
"She said that this year we'll find out what we want to do with our lives," Ping explained. "Barefoot over here seems to think it's going on some amazing adventure. I'm pretty sure she just meant a job."
"For you, maybe. He's just jealous that I'm an earthbender and he's not," Poi shot back. The twins were about to start arguing once more, when Satoru quickly stood between them.
"We're always looking for capable workers at the mine," Satoru told them. "If you head over there and say I sent you there, I'm sure Honghui would have no problem giving you a trial run over there."
"That sounds great!" Ping said, a smile coming to his face, while Poi's dropped.
"Mine work?" He asked.
"Earthbenders like yourself are incredibly important for us, you'd get to develop your ability and put it to practical use," Satoru explained as he tried to persuade him. Poi glanced at his brother, whose eyes were wide and pleading. Yet, he still shifted uncomfortably. Being stuck down a mine was not his idea of his purpose in life. Satoru smiled softly. "There's also some very skilled earthbenders there; even some veterans of the army. I'm sure they'd be happy to teach you what they know."
Poi looked once more at his twin before sighing. "Fine, I'll give it a chance," he said begrudgingly. "If you see Avatar Aang anytime, tell him I'm up for anything he can throw at me." Sokka gave him a small nod and watched, bewildered as the twins set off towards the mine.
"I can't believe these people still put trust in that woman, after she nearly got them all killed," Sokka said with a shake of his head.
"Wasn't she technically right?" Toph asked, a teasing tone to her voice. "The village wasn't destroyed by the volcano."
"Don't you start," Sokka warned as they continued to Aunt Wu's Fortune Salon. The trio stepped through the open door and were immediately assaulted by the strong smell of incense. Crystals and strange objects were placed around the room. Toph allowed herself to fall back into the mound of cushions and happily sank into them. Sokka and Satoru sat on either side of her.
"Hello, I'm Meng, Aunt-" Meng stopped when she spotted Sokka and became visibly excited. "Is Aang here?!" She quickly scanned the room and it seemed that even her hair dropped when Aang was nowhere to be found. "Nevermind."
"Can you bring us some of those bean curd puffs?" Sokka called to her as she turned and walked away.
"I didn't know Twinkle Toes had a girlfriend before Katara," Toph said, looking over at Sokka.
"She wasn't his girlfriend," Sokka said, suppressing his laugh. "She had a thing for him or something. I offered him some advice because I thought he liked her too, if I knew it was my sister he was after, I'd probably have been a bit different."
"Did he like her?" Toph asked, shifting and sinking further into the comfy cushions.
"I didn't exactly take notice of Aang's social life, we were a bit busy fighting off a volcano." Sokka quietened when Meng walked back out and placed a tray of food in front of them.
"It's amazing how you say that so casually," Satoru said, taking some food from the tray. "You were off fighting a volcano, like it's something you do every week."
"Guess that's what happens when you travel with the Avatar," Toph said dismissively, "I'm always the best part of the stories anyway."
"Didn't you nearly walk off the top of the Fire Nation airship when we were fighting against Ozai, and I had to lead you by the hand along it?" Sokka asked. Toph could feel her face heat up. That had never exactly been her proudest moment. She threw a pillow at him and opened her mouth to call Sokka a rude name, but a voice cut her off.
"Welcome young travellers, I..." the voice trailed off as her gaze settled on Sokka. "Oh..." Aunt Wu muttered disappointedly, "It's you."
"Yeah, it is," Sokka answered back with the same tone. Aunt Wu looked at the other two, a smile returning to her face.
"Young girl, would you like your fortune told?" Aunt Wu asked, and Toph gave a small shrug and stood up. She followed Aunt Wu into the back room. "You're Toph Beifong, correct?"
"Yeah, did you do some weird fortune-teller stuff to figure that out?" Toph asked as she sat down in front of the fire in the middle of the room.
"Everyone knows of the blind master earthbender," Aunt Wu told her as she sat down opposite her. Toph smirked at the statement. "I think it's quite interesting you sat down right here, next to the bones."
Toph frowned before turning her head towards the ornate bowl holding a pile of bones. "So, how does this work?" Toph asked, reaching out and picking out a bone at random.
"This is known as throwing the bones. Very simply, you toss your bone into the fire, and I will read your fortune from the cracks that appear," Aunt Wu explained as she watched Toph go to throw the bone she picked up, but stopped before she did. Aunt Wu gave a smile. "The bones can be generous or stingy in their fortunes, or sometimes even reference things in the past that you may not have thought of as important." Toph gave a small nod as she put the first bone back. She ran her hands along the different bones.
Too narrow, too curved, too big. Toph thought to herself as she picked up different ones. Aunt Wu sat patiently as she watched the blind girl, happy that she hadn't just thrown the first bone she had grabbed.
"This feels good," Toph muttered to herself as picked up another bone. It was straight and light, with what felt like a heart shape at one end, while the other was slightly jagged. She tossed it into the fire.
"Now we wait. You'll probably hear the cracks," Aunt Wu told her, and watched Toph turn her head so her ear pointed at the fire. Sure enough, she heard the first crack, strong and sudden. The vibrations told her that it had cracked at the jagged end.
"Interesting..." Toph heard Aunt Wu whisper to herself as she listened. She heard a few small cracks, and then two more strong cracks simultaneously. A few more seconds past with no cracking noises, and Aunt Wu used a pair of tongs to take the bone out. She placed the bone in a bucket of water, steam hissing out as she did so.
"So what does it say?" Toph asked, leaning forward slightly. She didn't want to seem eager, she didn't really believe that any of this stuff worked, but curiosity got the better of her.
"It's a very specific pattern of cracks," Aunt Wu told her, tracing her finger along the cracks from the jagged edge up to the top. "There are a few proper breaks here, the first starting from the bottom of this bone, to just under half way up the bone's length." She went silent again, thinking carefully.
"There were three breaks, I heard them," Toph stated as she grew impatient.
"Yes, and it cracked in a very interesting way. Two cracks, diverging at an almost perpendicular angle to each other. The one on the left wraps around and up along the side of this heart. The other follows a similar path, but stops just short of the heart." Aunt Wu handed the bone to Toph, who found the side the cracks were on and began tracing them herself. "You'll notice that the one that stops just before the heart is thinner and somewhat sharper in its break, I'm not sure if that has any significance but may help you work out what it's telling you as you think back." Toph frowned at the fortune-teller as she kept finding herself tracing the one that went right around her heart.
"Think back?"
"If you remember I said the first one ends just under half way. I believe those breaks represent time," Aunt Wu said as she saw Toph's unseeing eyes widen and her fingertip stopped.
"There's like a notch near the beginning of the crack that goes right around, is that meant to be now?" Toph asked, showing it to Aunt Wu.
"Very possible. Either way, if I'm reading the bones correctly then you recently made a decision that caused a very significant change to take place, possibly in a relationship," Aunt Wu continued, seeing Toph's hand go to the heart shape on top. "Does that ring a bell?"
"Nothing," Toph admitted, frowning as she thought.
"That's common. There are many things that we may consider small and don't take notice of in our lives, that have a large impact on our life. Think back over the last few days, but also keep an eye out for a decision you make, just in case." Toph nodded and stood, holding out the bone. "Keep it, you might learn more from it."
"Thank you," Toph said with a small bow, and she followed Aunt Wu out to the front again. Satoru looked up from his notebook, smiling at her as she walked in. Sokka would have done the same, but he was too busy with his mouth full of bean curd puffs.
"How was it?" Satoru asked, spotting the bone in Toph's hand.
"Interesting," Toph answered, more focused on the bone than talking.
"How about you next?" Satoru looked up at Aunt Wu and nodded. He looked excited as he followed her.
"Let me guess," Sokka mumbled as he swallowed the last bit of food. "It was filled with some really vague fortune that didn't really tell you anything." Toph rolled her eyes as she pocketed the bone.
"I get now why Katara told me you just complained when you arrived here," Toph said, lying back into the mound of cushions.
"I'm just saying, these fortune-tellers are a load of hacks," Sokka told her with a shrug. Toph didn't respond. He glanced over to her and saw her tracing her space bracelet under her sleeve. "I was wondering..." Sokka began, and Toph looked in his direction, her hand dropping from the bracelet. "Why didn't you take your bracelet off when Satoru gave you the new one?"
"I like having it on my left arm, I've always worn it on this arm since you gave me it," Toph said with a small shrug.
"I'll be honest, the one Satoru gave you is lovely, you shouldn't keep it hidden-" Sokka stopped talking as he lightly tapped Toph's sleeve, feeling the small arm underneath. "You're not wearing it?" Toph quickly blushed and shifted away.
"I left it at the airship in my room," Toph told him, looking away and pulling at her bangs to hide her face. Sokka looked at her questioningly and motioned for her to explain. She took breath as she thought of what to say.
"It's fine if you don't want to explain," Sokka told her. Truthfully he was somewhat happy to see that she wasn't wearing it, it didn't seem very Toph-like.
"It's not that I don't like it, I do. It's just that I can feel it there all the time and it annoys me. The bracelet you gave is as much a part of me as my feet," Toph said, tracing the curve of the bracelet once more. Sokka's eyes widened in surprise.
"Didn't know it meant that much to you," Sokka said, tilting his head.
"You're joking?" Toph asked, frowning when he didn't respond. "You know this is pretty much my favourite thing in the world right?" Toph asked. "Except bossing people around of course," she quickly added, keeping her face away from him to hide the worsening blush.
"No I didn't," Sokka said, the surprised expression not leaving his face. They were both quiet for a moment, Toph hoping that would be the end of it, while Sokka stroked his chin. "So that's why you didn't want to put the bracelet up as a bet back in the Fire Nation." Toph gave a small nod, cursing under her breath. "I guess I should have realised, the bracelet did help you figure out who had an ability to metalbend."
"It's not that. It was important to me before I even started up my academy," Toph told him. "Remember when you and I first started out scamming, how Sugar Queen was freaking out all the time, then she suddenly wanted to do a scam together?" Sokka gave a small nod and shifted from the pillows to in front of her, finding it odd to have her not even slightly looking in his direction. "During me and her great scam we got locked in a wooden cell-"
"-And Katara used her sweat as water to cut through the wood," Sokka finished, as Toph stared low at his stomach keeping her hair in front of her face. "She told me about that. Frankly, I was disgusted, but impressed."
"Yeah, did you ever wonder why I didn't just use the bracelet to smash my way out?" Toph said, and Sokka's brow creased.
"Never cross my mind, honestly. Why did you leave it?" Sokka watched her roll up her sleeve and make the bracelet a bit wider, slipping it off.
"I... I was worried they were going to take it off me when we got arrested, so I kept it back at the camp. It's always meant a lot to me," Toph finished, messing with her bracelet.
"That's nice to know... thanks."
"No problem Snoozles," Toph said, glad that she wouldn't have to talk anymore on that.
"How come it means so much to you?" Sokka asked, and Toph felt like punching him. Thankfully, she felt Satoru and Aunt Wu walking out of the back room. She quickly slipped her bracelet back on and rolled her sleeve back down.
"I'll tell you some other day. It's your turn for a fortune," Toph told him, smirking up at him. Sokka looked back at Aunt Wu, who had a peculiar look on her face, until it disappeared and was replaced with annoyance as she looked at Sokka.
"Are you actually going to guess my fortune this time?" Sokka said as he stood up.
"I wasn't going to," Aunt Wu admitted, "but I suppose I do owe you a reading after last time. By the way, I predict your fortune, not guess it."
"It's basically the same thing," Sokka said with a shrug as he followed her in. He couldn't help but focus on Toph and Satoru talking as he walked away. He walked past Aunt Wu and sat down at a table, a bit away from the fire.
"So you did want your palms read after all," Aunt Wu stated as she sat down opposite him. He looked down at his hands.
"Let's get this over with," Sokka grumbled as he held his hand out, palms facing up.
"Actually, tell me first what you would like to know about," Aunt Wu said, pouring a cup of tea for herself. She looked at him for a second, before pouring one for him as well.
"Thanks, but I've seen that trick, I tell you what I would like to know, and you tell me what I want to hear."
"You can just say a topic, money, health, your love life, whatever you want. You don't have to go into details," Aunt Wu explained curtly. Sokka sighed and rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe he would have to listen to her drone on for a couple of minutes about whatever vague idea she came up with. Why was he even here?
Why am I here? Sokka repeated, and he would have seen Aunt Wu smile slightly from his facial expression if he wasn't so focused on answering the question. I was bored, I wanted to get out of the tribe and go on some adventure. I spent a year travelling with the Avatar, it's hard not to want that again. That was the answer he gave, but he knew it wasn't the right one. Love you, Suki. He sighed as the words echoed in his head.
"Fine, tell me about my love life," Sokka said, holding his palms out once more. Aunt Wu smiled kindly at him and took his palms. He felt her trace along the lines in his palms, starting and stopping at seemingly random points. However he noticed she kept going back to the same line, he glanced down and spotted it. He followed Aunt Wu's thumb from just underneath his pinky finger, gently curving upwards until it stopped between his forefinger and middle finger.
"Strange," Aunt Wu whispered to herself as she went along the line again. Sokka was about to complain when she let go of his hands and sat back, grimacing at him.
"Well?"
"I don't know how exactly to describe it but... I saw nothing," Aunt Wu said, and Sokka glared at her. He was about to argue, but she was quicker. "Usually, I would see a face, maybe some defining feature of the person. Sometimes, it would be a gift or a place and I would tell you to either think back or keep an eye out, but I simply didn't see anything." Sokka's mouth closed slowly but he continued to glare at her. "I'm sorry. I did actually want to give you something."
"So, that's your prediction; I'm going to die alone with no children!" Sokka snapped at her suddenly.
"That is not my prediction at all!" Aunt Wu replied quickly, surprised by the outburst. Sokka threw his hands up and outward, telling her to explain. She raised her chin up and frowned at him. "I don't know what will happen for you in your love life. I suppose all I can really tell you is that love is blind, you could have already found your love for all you know, and there's no need for a prediction."
"I already have someone," Sokka told her, crossing his arms.
"Then why did you ask about love?" Once more Sokka's mouth hung uselessly open, but he saw Aunt Wu's eyes fill with some sort of understanding. "I truly am sorry I wasn't able to tell you anything." Sokka sighed and his head dropped, but he bowed slightly to her.
"Thank you anyway," he muttered as he bowed. She returned his bow and they made their way out to the front. For once, Sokka didn't focus on Toph and Satoru talking, but rather what Aunt Wu had told him. He didn't understand why he cared so much, he didn't believe any of it.
"Good reading?" Satoru's voice interrupted his thoughts. Sokka glanced back at Aunt Wu, who had a neutral look.
"Fine I guess, none of it's true anyway," Sokka said gruffly.
"I agree, although I think it's good to have some sort of good news to be on the lookout for," Satoru whispered to him. He stood and helped Toph out of the mound of pillows. "Thank you for the readings. Aunt Wu. It was everything I had hoped for today."
"You are all very welcome. Good luck in your mining ventures, Satoru." The four of them bowed and the trio began to walk back to the mining camp.
"We'll have to get travelling if we want to keep our schedule," Satoru told them as he looked at his notebook.
"What's next?" Toph asked, thinking of pushing Sokka back into the ditch again as they walked towards it.
"Ba Sing Se. We'll be arriving in a small area in the Se mountain range inside the Outer Wall. It should be a short trip, so we'll be spending a couple of days in the Upper Ring. I've booked a lovely place for us." Satoru explained.
"That doesn't sound too bad, I haven't been in Ba Sing Se in a-" Sokka would have finished what he was saying, if the ground underneath him hadn't shifted sideways towards the edge of the trench, and a light push by Toph stopped any hope of recovering. "Ow," was all that came from the bottom of the ditch, and Toph's chuckle turned to a howl of laughter.
Hello hello!
Chapter 5, the longest chapter so far, is complete :D. I'm assuming the next chapter or two will be quiet shorter, although I have yet to plan them out. School has definitely taken a toll on my writing, although thankfully I'm still able to get some done, I've learned to function off five hours of sleep anyway.
Also, check out my lovely friend Nerdy J Fics on , she's currently in two competitions for both ATLA and Harry Potter, so if you're a ATLA or HP fan, you'll find some great stories being churned out by her.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Consider following if you'd like to keep up with the story. Thanks for reading!
