Wow, isn't this new? I'm actually updating my stuff frequently...don't get used to it folks, I just happened to stay home sick from school and had 8 hours to do whatever I liked :D buuuuuuuuttt I shall to update more frequently than I have in the past. Some quick things: As you may have noticed, in many scenes from the show, I kept most of the dialogue. This is because I want certain scenes to have the same feel as the cartoon, however, many scenes won't have anything remotely close to the same dialogue or actions in it, it all depends how the interaction of Karuna (Sankari) plays into the story, so just fyi. Also, Deshi, means apprentice/teacher's-student-helper also fyi. Thanks and enjoy :D
~th3rdhal3~
There was no way in a million years that my epiphany was correct. For one, the avatar was supposed to be over one-hundred years old. And second, how on earth could I have identified the markings on his skin from so far away? One of my eyes was faulty, for Agni's sake. The spirits must have granted me this sight, because though I was far back in the underground stadium seats, I could see everything clearly. The young boy facing my cousin was an air-bender. And not just any air-bender, the (second to) last air-bender-the avatar.
Xin Fu shrugged his shoulders and bounded back up to his designated ledge. At least someone had taken the challenge. The match began. "Do people really wanna see two little girls fighting out here?" Toph teased, sensing the leanness and stature of the boy. A chorus of "Ohs" echoed throughout the stadium. The boy raised his arms in defense. It looked as if he was trying to reason with her.
"I don't really want to fight you, I wanna talk to you."
The other boy whom the air-bender had been sitting next to cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, "Boo! No talking!" The girl beside him, also dressed in all blue, smacked him in the arm.
The young avatar took a pace forward, and Toph's keen ears perked up. She slid her foot out, sending a ripple effect of rock towards him. The boy jumped up and hovered down to the left, landing ever so lightly on the arena floor. Toph whirled around, in effort to locate her opponent. "Someone's a little light on his feet." She jeered, and I could sense a tiny bit of frustration in her voice. "What's your fighting name? The 'Fancy Dancer?'" Before the boy could answer, a chunk of rock underneath him rose up quickly, almost knocking him off balance. He flipped in midair, distancing himself from the rock and landed back down on the other side of Toph. Empty baby, blue eyes scanned the ring. "Where'd you go?"
"Please, wait!" The boy interjected. A small smirk returned to Toph's face.
"There you are!" My cousin spun around, lifting up a giant boulder from the ring floor. She chucked it forward at her opponent. The avatar hopped clear over the rock hurtling toward him. He brought his hands together, bent at the elbows, then pushed them outward, sending a gush of wind at the blind girl. The unexpected force hit her hard and knocked her down. "Ah!" She cried out as she skid fast backwards, and fell completely out of the ring.
Xin Fu stared down with wide eyes, griping the ledge tightly. The Boulder, who was icing the side of his head, had his jaw dropped in awe. I was pretty sure I hadn't breathed in those few moments myself. How in Agni? The kid truly was an air-bender. The stadium was dead silent for mere seconds before it erupted in cheers and whistles. I bounded down the large stone rows until I reached the first.
"'Scuse me, pardon me!" I half halfheartedly apologized to those in my path whom I nearly smooshed on the way down. I ran along the curved side of the stadium to where Toph had fallen. I needed to ensure her safety. I had to make sure the kid was alright.
The boy who had blown her out of the ring descended the stone steps as fast as his thin legs would allow him. By that point, Toph had already dusted herself off and was retreating, her back to him. "Please, listen!" He called out to her as she continued to trudge away. It was very clear that she didn't want to hear a word he said. "I need an earth-bending teacher and I think it's supposed to be you!" The avatar shouted over the noise level.
Toph never once looked back at him. "Whoever you are, just leave me alone." she demanded, discouraged from her defeat. She stamped her foot in front of the rocky cave wall, creating her own exit.
"Wait!" The air-bender ran after her. Toph stepped inside the black abyss and brought her fists together, closing the entrance in on itself. I jumped down from the stadium seating and landed down in the pit, knees bent. I approached the boy, whose hands desperately caressed the rock as if he too could bend it. He hung his head in defeat, a crestfallen look on his boyish face. He glanced up as I drew closer, and I could soon see every feature on his face; a small, round nose, perky ears, and large, gray eyes that made me think of Ty Lee for a split second. As he looked up at me curiously, I held him by his bony shoulders. I knew in the back of my mind that I needed to help. We all had to do our part in this war, and helping the avatar was mine. Our eyes locked, and for moments we simply stared at one another without saying anything.
"You need a teacher?" I asked, more like stated, actually. It took a moment for the question to click in the kid's head, but once it did a simple nod was all that was needed. "I'm going to get you a teacher." I crossed my fists in the air and then pulled them apart, recreating the exit Toph made. I sprang forward into the darkened passageway after my cousin.
Pellets of water hit my unprotected face as I stepped out from the cave in the mountains. I scanned every which direction, barely being able to see four feet in front of me. "Toph!" I called out to her. A loud clap of thunder sounded, drowning out my voice almost entirely. The rain came down faster and heavier. A blurry streak of light made a speedy quick appearance in the sky, and I knew it had been lighting, though I never expected to see it so close again.
I cupped my hands over my mouth, feeling the weight of my soaked sleeves weigh me down slightly. "Toph!" I hollered again, over the noise of the storm. My voice wavered and my diaphragm lurched. In response, I heard an agitated grunt and loud punch against something large. Pushing my sopping, wet hair out of my face, I glanced in the direction of where the tumult had come from. I ran over to a nearby boulder, about the size of a small house, and listened.
"Er!" Another frustrated shout was heard, followed by a kick that time. The whole colossal of rock shook. On the other side of the rock, was my cousin, pounding her fists into the massive stone; already, there were four holes, not including the times she had kicked.
"Toph," I approached her cautiously, not wanting to upset her any more than she already was. She hadn't heard me. I tried again, louder. "Toph!" She yielded, back still facing me however. "Please come back in." I tried to calm her. "There's something we need to talk about." Toph didn't reply. Instead, she leaned on her fists against the stone. Maybe a different approach? I thought. "Toph..." My voice was significantly softer and had a certain sense of security in it. "Are you okay?" I reached out a hand to place on my cousin's shoulder, but she spun around wildly.
"No!" She yelled unexpectedly, over the rain and winds. "I'm not okay!" I was pretty sure that her voice had echoed for away through the mountainous region. "I've never been 'okay!'" She pointed to her bright, blue eyes which no light passed through. Something inside me sank, and I felt her pain; frustration, anger, denial. I had a disadvantage myself, my disease that caused me to do things subconsciously. I knew what it was like to be different. I knew the feeling of being at the top and then getting knocked down to the bottom again. It was never a good feeling and it left a bad taste in my mouth, but it was a sensation I felt nonetheless. I felt for the kid.
"I lost, Karuna," The volume of Toph's speech descended a notch or two as he emphasized the word 'lost.' Thin rivers ran down her round, pale cheeks, and I knew they were not just from the rain. I offered my arms out to my cousin, and she accepted me gladly. She buried her face into my side and wouldn't let go. My arms wrapped around her small body and it felt as if I were holding a life-sized doll. "...and you had to see me fail." She whispered into my tunic.
Neither of us mentioned the tournament for the rest of that night. The main priority was getting her home safely and secretively during the thunderstorm. My cousin would most likely want to keep it that way, but in the back of my mind I knew that I needed to bring up the avatar situation to her. We couldn't run away from fate, and I wasn't sure whether or not we'd run into the trio again.
The next evening, Master Yu and I joined the Bei Fong's for dinner at their estate. I had been working with children at the Earth-Bending Academy the whole day and a nice, hot meal sounded great to my ears. As we waited for dinner t be ready, I sat in between Toph and Master Yu in an elegant, golden chair. Toph's mother and father sat cross legged in front of us in more elaborate seats. "I'm pleased to hear that Toph's private lessons are going well, but I want to make sure she's not trying anything too dangerous." Her father, Lao, eyes Master Yu and I cautiously.
"Absolutely not." Master Yu replied respectfully. He looked over at Toph, who was once again, wearing one of her fancy gowns which she loathed with a passion. "I'm keeping her at the beginner's level; basic forms and breathing exercises only." It took a lot to contain myself from snickering at him. Beginner my ass! Oh if only the three adults present knew the truth. If only. Poppy, Toph's mother, made eye contact with me. The woman wore beads of Jade around her neck and a wreath of white and green atop her head, which contrasted her dark hair wonderfully.
"And you, Deshi Karuna?" I was brought back to earth as she addressed me. After all, I was responsible for 'teaching' Toph whenever Master Yu was busy. I regained my composure, and answered her mother well for a girl my age.
"Just the basics, ma'am." I repeated Master Yu's words with a gentle smile on my face. "Light stretching and very easy tai-chi." The Bei Fong's seemed to approve.
Toph's father nodded his head curtly and told us, "Very good." Just then, a servant entered the room. He was dressed in a long, dark green robe. He bowed his head respectfully at Toph's parents.
"Excuse me, sir." The servant addressed Lao. "But you have a visitor." Toph's father's face instantly changed into one of annoyance and agitation.
"Who thinks they are so important they can just come to my home unannounced?" I couldn't understand why Lao acted as if he were severely inconvenienced. It wasn't as if he was in the middle of anything important anyways. But I remembered that noble families tended to have those higher expectations of others.
The servant struggled to find the right words to answer Toph's father. "Uh, the avatar, sir." My ears perked up instantly and I turned my head to face the servant. Right beside me, Toph's eyes were as large as dinner plates. Her parents looked at one another peculiarly for a short moment.
The Bei Fong's decided to invite the avatar and his friends to eat with us. There was a wonderful spread of meat and many other delectable items on the table. The boy with the 'wolf's tail' scarfed down his food with such gusto I hadn't seen since Uncle Iroh. I wanted to do the same, but my stomach was churning; would the avatar bring up earth-bending training?
A servant came and delivered Toph her soup. "Blow on it. It's too hot for her." Toph's father ordered. I discreetly rolled my eyes as I helped myself to some more rice. They were always babying her. I wish they'd get a clue. The avatar pipped up from across Toph and myself.
"Allow me." He volunteered himself. He lifted his hand in the air and created a mini tornado of wind that twisted itself all the way over to Toph's bowl. My cousin was not impressed, however, her parents were, for they clapped for the neat trick.
"Avatar Aang," Poppy began sincerely. "It is an honor to have you visit us." The air nomad looked pleased and smiled humbly at her. At the head of the table, Lao raised his chopsticks up to his mouth but before taking a bite, he turned to Aang.
"In your opinion, how long do you think the war will last?"
"I'd like to defeat the Firelord by the end of summer," he began. I almost snickered again. Yeah at your stage of the game, good luck with that one, kiddo. The boy looked at Toph smugly. "But I can't do that without an finding an earth-bending teacher first." Toph frowned and glared at Aang. The gig's up! My heart pounded. The kid's gonna blow it! I thanked the spirits that Toph's father remained oblivious.
"Well, Master Yu is the finest teacher in the land. He's been teaching Toph since she was little." Lao praised Master Yu, who sat to the right of Poppy.
"Then she must be a great earth-bender!" Aang beamed, shooting Toph another look. She gave him another dirty look which seemed to say one-more-word-twinkle-toes-I-dare-you. Aang took her hypothetical challenge. "Probably good enough to teach someone else-" I felt her foot move on the ground underneath the table. A small surface wave reached Aang's feet, causing him to stop in mid thought. He jumped in his seat. "Ow!" The air-bender scowled at Toph. Lao raised an eyebrow, chewing a tasty morsel as he glanced at his daughter. Toph continued to eat as if nothing happened.
Master Yu intervened from down the table. "Toph is still learning the basics." By that point, Aang and his friends would've gladly joined me in a snickering fest. Ha! Basics my ass! I laughed to myself again. Toph's father agreed.
"Yes, and sadly because of her blindness, I don't think she will ever become a true master." The air nomad and the two Water Tribe members clad in blue, all paused their activities simultaneously and looked at one another. Aang spoke again, this time looking at me for help, to back him up. He remembers. I thought back to my first encounter with him.
"Oh, I'm sure she's better than you think she is." That kid's pushin' it. Before Toph could react, I slid my own foot backwards against the floor. Aang suddenly teetered forward and face-planted into his soup. He lifted his head, pushing the bowl out of his face; the contents had dripped all over his bald head, covering part of his blue arrow. The avatar glared at us. Lao glanced curiously at him, while Toph and I ate in silence. Aang wiped the soup out of his eyes and all of a sudden opened his mouth wide, ready for a sneeze. "ACHOO!" He pushed a large gust of air out of his mouth, sending food flying across the table and onto the opposite wall. Master Yu, Poppy, Toph and I had gotten the worst of it.
Toph slammed her hands on the table as she stood up. "What's your problem?" She demanded at Aang. The young avatar rose to his feet as well.
"What's your problem?" He yelled right back at her. Toph's father stared back and forth at the two. An unbearable silence seemed to fill the room as we watched the two glare at one another.
Poppy was the first on our side of the table to clean herself off. "Well," she broke the silence, wiping of the remaining food with her napkin. "Shall we move to the living room for dessert then?"
Later that evening, once Toph had cooled off, I persuaded her to give 'twinkle-toes' a second chance. "Toph, you're an amazingly talented earth-bender." I whispered to my cousin, as we made our way through the house and to one of the guest rooms. She wore loose, cream colored pajamas which looked elegant enough to be everyday wear. I wore a long-sleeved, button down green top with matching pants, all made of silk. "Aang needs the best teacher, and you're it." My cousin beamed at my praise but was still hesitant.
Aang was saying good night to his pet flying bison. The beast nearly gave me a heart attack as it peeked in through the window. Aang heard our footsteps as we approached and jumped around wildly, flailing his arms about in defense. I smiled wryly at the sight. Toph leaned against the flush threshold of the door. "Relax," she reassured him that they no longer had beef. "Look, I'm sorry about dinner. Let's call a truce, okay?" she apologized. Aang dropped his guard and stood before us normally once more.
"You two need to talk this one out." I stated my opinion. The avatar seemed to agree with me, but waited to see if my cousin would object to that. Toph left the threshold and made her way over towards the window.
"Come one twinkle-toes." She beckoned for Aang to follow her. "Let's walk and talk." She hopped out the window and Aang went with her. I smiled after my cousin, silently wishing she'd finally come around. If she agreed to teach Aang, then maybe he'd have a fighting chance against Ozai. The silence took over the guest room. I felt a little out of place and was bout to head to my own designated room when Aang's friends introduced themselves.
"I don't think we've met." The girl stopped me. She and the other boy both had darker skin and brown hair, only hers was much longer and braided. She offered her hand out to me. "I'm Katara, and this is my brother, Sokka."
The older boy lounging about the pull-out couch sat up for a brief moment and waved goofily. I already had him figured out as the jokester type. "Glad to meet ya." Sokka greeted me. I took Katara's hand, which was smooth and soft compared to my rough and callused fingers.
"My name's Karuna." Katara smiled warmly at me.
"That's beautiful." She complimented, blue eyes sparkling. I began to blush in result of her nice comment.
"So is 'Katara'." I returned the compliment. So far, she and I were off to a good start. "You know, to be honest, I haven't seen many people from the Water Tribe in these parts." I told them.
"Yeah, we kind of stand out, don't we?" Katara's question was rhetorical. "We had never actually left the South Pole until we found Aang." She admitted.
Sokka lifted his head off a couch cushion to butt in. "In an iceberg." He clarified. I nodded my head, then did a double take once I realized what he had just said.
"An iceberg?" I repeated.
"Thaaaat's riiight." He replied all perky like.
"Well, it's a long story," Katara began to explain more in depth. "But Sokka and I found him frozen in an iceberg. He had been trapped inside for one-hundred years. So Aang is really-"
"One-hundred and twelve." Sokka finished, interjecting once more. Katara turned to glare at her brother, hands on her hips. I was tempted to laugh, but I held it in. Siblings. I thought to myself. It kind of reminded me of Zuko and Azula, except less violent.
"Oh, you want to tell the story, now?" She asked, knowing what his response would be anyways.
"No, no," Sokka insisted, waving his hand at her. "You're doing such a wonderful job as it is." I chuckled softly. I had only talked to Sokka for two minutes and already I thought he was hysterical. I like him, he's funny.
"So the three of you are traveling alone?" I asked. "No parents, no nagging?" After spending so much time with Toph and her parents, it made me think that everyone child my age and younger was babied and pampered to the point of suffocation.
"Well, as you know, Aang is a monk." I nodded. How could I forget?
"Who's one-hundred and twelve." Sokka added. "Don't forget that." Another dirty look from his sister shut him up. "Okay, okay, sorry. Story time-your thing." The Water Tribe boy flopped back down on the couch, and remained quite. Katara continued without any interruptions from the peanut gallery.
"Our dad is out fighting in the war with the rest of the men from our village. It's been almost three years since we've seen him. But our mother..." she paused for a moment, and I already assumed what she would tell me next. "We lost her many years ago to the Fire Nation." All the pain and sorrow that I escaped upon my arrival in Gaoling came back and struck me like a knife. How horrible. These kids had to grow up without a mother. Just...just like me. This wasn't just any war, it was our war as well.
"The same thing happened to my family." I stared at the ground, my eyes stationary. "My father fought in the war too. Now I have no one." Katara looked at me with a face that had endured the same pain and loss as I had. She drew closer.
"I'm so sorry." Her words came out as a whisper as she took note of my scar over my right eye. She brought her hand up to my face and traced the wound, gently with her thumb. Her actions had a mother-like feel to them and for whatever reason I felt comfortable letting this girl, whom I barely knew, lay a hand on my face. I didn't pull away from her touch, I allowed her to feel my pain, my hurt. I wasn't like Zuko; I wasn't ashamed of the mark on my face. It had happened years ago and that was that. It was simply a reminder of who I had once been. Stormy colored eyes stared into clear blue for a long time. And just for a second I felt hope as I felt like the sea, calm and still after a storm.
Vibrations from outside forced me to come to grips on reality. I turned sharply to the right, and Katara removed her hand from my face. Out of Sokka's green and yellow satchel, their flying lemur leaped out and bounded over to the window sill. It chattered anxiously as it peered out into the night. "What is it, Momo?" Katara asked the white and brown creature. The three of us heard a loud din out in the garden. Toph! My mind raced. I jumped clear out of the window, and the other two were at my heels.
We crossed over the bridge and the pond, calling out their names. I scanned the estate. There was no sign of Aang or Toph. The Bei Fong's and Master Yu also heard the noise and joined us outside. The six of us reached the bordering wall of the property in mere minutes. A trail of upturned earth made a 'J' shape on the ground. And not too far from that, two, deep square indents were left in the earth. A sword pinned a scroll into the ground between the two indents. Sokka reached down and plucked the weapon out of the dirt. "Whoever took Aang and Toph left this." Katara pulled the scroll off the blade and unrolled it. I glanced over her shoulder at the characters on the page.
"If you want to see your daughter again, bring five-hundred gold pieces to the arena." The Water Tribe girl read, loudly and clearly. "It's signed by-"
"Xin Fu and The Boulder." I finished, pounding my fist into my open palm. I hate him. I knew he couldn't be trusted! And overwhelming sensation of rage swam through my body. They had kidnapped the avatar and my cousin.