Chapter 19:
Rocks rose up and the canyon had a cracked and rocky ground to it. Appa snored as he slept while Katara and Sokka were within their sleeping bags and Toph in her usual earth tent. Freya was awake and was sitting at the edge of their ledge happily, feeling the first morning rays of sunlight as the sun rose.
Aang woke up as the sun hit him and he rose himself happily up into the air with excitement, air bending himself around.
"Today's the day! Can you believe it?" he landed beside Sokka who was sleeping in his sleeping bag and Freya turned to watch the boy with a smile. "After all that time searching for a teacher, I'm finally starting earthbending! And this place… i-it's perfect! Don't you think, Sokka?" Sokka turned to glare at the boy with a groan, annoyed.
"Oh, you're still sleeping, huh?" Aang smiled innocently and Sokka pulled his sleeping bag closer to his head with another groan.
"Sorry!" Aang whispered.
The ground suddenly began to shake and Aang turned to see Toph's three piece tent suddenly explode and the pieces to go flying. Toph stood stretching with her hands in the air.
"Good morning, earthbending student!" she announced.
"Good morning, sifu Toph." Aang responded as Katara sat up, her hair out and hanging around her shoulders.
"Hey... you never call me sifu Katara." Katara said airily with sleep as Aang bowed to Toph.
"Why would you want him too?" Freya asked from her spot in the sun.
"Well, if you think I should…" Aang said rubbing his head.
Sokka suddenly grumbled angrily as he sat up and Toph smirked as Aang looked down at him.
"Sorry, snoozles. We'll do our earthbending as quietly as we can." Toph said. She kicked the ground with her heel and a stump rose up to send Sokka flying into the air with a cry. He landed in a heap of dust as Katara got to her feet and Freya snorted while trying not to laugh.
Sokka got to his feet, still in his sleeping bag, and he jumped over to Aang grumbling and mumbling, not really making words amongst his complaints as he also jumped over to Toph and then off away from them all.
Aang hovered over to Toph excitedly as the girl turned after Sokka, her hands on her hips.
"So what move are you going to teach me first? Rockalanche?" Aang slammed his fits downwards. "The trembler?" He pointed one fist at his elbow and the other to the ground as he trembled. "Oh! Maybe I can learn to make a whirlpool out of land!" He rose his hands and spun around on the spot.
Freya rose an eyebrow as she looked at him. Toph hit him in the chest, stopping him from spinning.
"Let's start with "move a rock"." she decided and Freya chuckled as Aang smiled and started nodding.
"Sounds good! Sounds good!" he clapped his hands together
"Don't get ahead of yourself trying to do cool things yet Aang, you tried that with fire bending and remember how that turned out?" Freya asked, raising an eyebrow. Aang brushed the back of his head guiltily and nodded.
Katara and Freya moved with Toph and Aang as the earth bender set up two boulders before the two, Toph's slightly bigger, and the water benders sat and watched on a mound of rocks.
"The key to earthbending is your stance." Toph widened her stance, bent her knees, and pulled her elbows in, balling her fists. Aang tried to copy her, but did not lower himself or bend his knees nearly as much. "You've got to be steady and strong. Rock is a stubborn element." she shoved Aang and he stumbled. "If you're going to move it, you've got to be like a rock yourself."
"Like a rock. Got it." Aang said rubbing the spot she'd hit him with.
"Good." Toph stood up, her elbows still bent and on either side of her waist as she turned side on to her boulder. "Now the actual motion of this one is pretty simple." Toph lunged forward and punched, causing the boulder to shoot off into the distance, slamming into the side of the canyon. "Okay, you ready to give it a try?" Toph asked him.
Aang took a similar stance, though his feet still weren't as far apart.
"I'm ready." Aang looked at the boulder before he shoved his fist at the rock. Air came from his fist and hit the rock, which didn't move, and Aang went sliding backwards. He skidded all the way towards Appa and crashed into the bison's back, collapsing to the ground.
"Rock beats airbender!" Sokka grinned. He was sitting a little ways from Appa, still in his sleeping bag with only his face exposed.
Freya and Katara moved over to Toph and the rock, Katara with confusion.
"I don't understand what went wrong." Katara said
"It's not going to be that easy Katara." Freya said "Rock and air are very different. You might find Aang's mind set isn't right. He was brought up as an airbender, so that's how he thinks."
"His mind set?" Katara asked
"Mastering the opposite of your first element is very difficult Katara, you won't grasp one as quickly or as easy as you might have done the first, believe me." Freya said with a slight sigh.
"But he did it exactly the way Toph did." Katara said as Aang came walking towards them as he rubbed his head.
"Maybe there's another way." Aang took up a stance and began to walk around the boulder. "What if I came at the boulder from a different angle?" Toph grabbed the boy's collar as he walked past her and he turned around.
"No, that's the problem. You've got to stop thinking like an airbender." she knocked her fist on the sides of Aang's head. "There's no different angle, no clever solution, no trickity trick that's going to move that rock." she shoved Aang again and he fell over with a cry. "You've got to face it head on. And when I say head on, I mean like this!" Toph suddenly launched up into the air and she smashed the boulder with her forehead, sending it into pieces.
"Well I think doing that might give Aang a concussion first." Freya sighed. "But she is right." Aang looked at her frowning. "Air is all about evasive manoeuvres. Airbenders are agile and they dodge and do their best not to attack. Their entire Nation was about finding the path of the least resistance and avoiding conflict. Earthbenders are completely the opposite. Earthbending is about absorbing or overwhelming power and opposing forces, it's all about force, not eluding and evading." Aang looked down sadly.
"What if I can't do that?" he asked while Katara turned and ran after Toph.
"Aang, I think if I am able to learn water and fire, which are natural opposites of another, you can do earth on top of air. You just need to stop being elusive and be tough instead. A very strong stance as Toph said, be unmovable and strong, instead of agile." Freya thought
"I don't know how to do that."
"That's what Toph's for Aang. That's her job to teach you." Freya smiled. "But she's direct like an earth bender should be, not calm and tranquil like Katara is like a waterbender."
"Well you've grown up with both elements, it's no surprise you can do both." Aang said
"Yeah but out of the two which would you say I'm stronger at?" Freya asked
"Water." he said easily "At least lately."
"Exactly, that's not just because I spent more time with water." Freya confessed "Fire is very passive and aggressive where as water is calm and elegant. It's hard when you've learnt elegant and graceful movements that flow together to then adjust yourself to direct and forceful attacks. Water is about defence, fire is about offence. You've got to have patience and an open mind Aang or you wont grasp the other thinking required." Aang looked after Toph and Katara who were talking a little ways off. "Don't be elusive, be headstrong." Freya shrugged. Toph turned towards them and Aang took a breath before he nodded to Freya.
"Later when you move the earth, you and I can practice the two and grasp the differences together. Fire and Earth are both direct after all."
"Thanks Freya." Aang smiled and she shrugged "But when are you going to tell the others?"
"I'll get to it… maybe once I feel a little more confident in it." she mumbled, glancing at the other benders frowning.
Toph didn't stop training Aang and what ever Katara had said to her, she doubted the young girl had listened.
Aang had a giant boulder on his back and was holding it up, he was walking around the ground, trying to stay balanced as Toph sent small pillars out of the ground to raise Aang's feet, keep him moving and tip him off balance.
"Keep your knees high, twinkletoes!" she split Aang's legs apart slightly and while trying to regain his footing Aang tipped sideways and went falling with the giant boulder.
"What did you say to her?" Freya mumbled
"I told her to be kind, positively reinforcing and to give him a gentle nudge!" Katara said looking surprised.
"Really? Toph? Gentle?" Freya asked "She's an earthbender! They're direct Katara!" The girl frowned and Freya sighed.
Toph moved to a flat pit of rock and she rubbed her hands together. She began to stab the earth with her fingers pointed straight and Aang watched before he did the same. Aang's fingers bent as his hand collided with the rock, instead of moving through it.
Aang stood, his elbows bent and arms by his side, his feet wide apart and knees bent looking worried before Toph suddenly launched out of the ground beside him.
"Rocklike!" Aang fell over in surprise before blinking at her. Toph responded by kicking the ground and launching Aang back to his feet. She poked him in the forehead.
Toph stole Sokka's club, Sokka not giving it up without a fight as Toph had to hold the boy off, doing it with one hand in his face, to stop him from taking it back. She just pushed him away, her strength in one arm being more than Sokka's in his entire body, before he walked away in defeat.
Aang's eyes were blindfolded and Toph moved to a higher ground to watch him. She kicked the ground and several small pillars rose from the ground and Aang used his hearing to turn and try to bash the pillars. His speed was too slow but he finally bashed through one and Toph nodded.
Next they stood facing one another and Toph rose walls on either side of them. Aang looked at them surprised before she drew a line at her toes and suddenly covered herself in rock made armour. Aang looked surprised before Toph started sliding towards him. Aang held his hands out and she collided with him, pushing him backwards before he began to push her back towards the line she'd drawn. Toph put more force in to pass him, causing his feet to slide backwards some more, but Aang continued to fight the strength and he pushed the rock covered girl until she was back over the line she'd drawn for him.
Aang was given a rock with a handle attached and he stood on two pillars of earth. He threw the rock into the air with one hand and caught it with the other as he kept his knees bent and braced. Toph walked around at the base of his pillars before she stomped her foot and thrusted her hands onto the pillars, causing them to rise up suddenly. Aang didn't lose his balance and stayed steady on the top. She rose up beside him and nodded causing Aang to grin.
Sokka had moved off to hunt for some food, getting bored of Aang's training and Freya had climbed a cliff to stand up in the sun and practice her fire bending out of sight.
Freya took a breath and felt the sun around her. She closed her eyes and remembered Azula as she had separated the lightning while chasing the group. Having not had a master to teach her since she was a child the girl had never had the chance to use the technique, but she had seen Azula create it, her father had shown her and she had seen Iroh redirect it.
"I don't know if I'm ready to use it but I wont know if I don't try." she breathed. "Lightning is energy. Energy exists everywhere. Creating it should have something to do with tapping into the energy around me." she mumbled as she took a few more breaths.
Remember lightning is not to be trifled with, it is deadly. Fire reacts to emotions like water can, clear you mind and be calm or it will probably react to what you're feeling. she warned herself.
Freya spread her feet and she took a deep breath, feeling it down into her core and the bottom of her stomach. She felt her chi around her and remembered Azula creating the lightning.
"Feel the energy." she whispered. Freya raised one hand and she pointed two fingers circling her arms one after the other before she pointed it forwards.
Nothing happened.
The girl looked at her hands.
"Clearly there's something I'm supposed to do I don't know how to." she mumbled. And without someone to tell me how will I know? she frowned and fell backwards onto the ground.
"This is getting hard. All I can do is copy and repeat and remember." she complained as she stared at the blue sky. If only I'd let go while with Zuko, Iroh could have given me some lessons.
You could have stayed the last time you met as well. Instead of leaving with the others.
"I'm needed with Aang most." Freya believed
Why?
Good question. Freya frowned. "I protect them." she said "I help them. They're important to me."
But it isn't necessary. Katara can teach Aang water and you can't teach fire if you aren't sure about it yourself.
"So I didn't get it the first time. It can't be helped when I'm running blind." she grumbled.
The girl sat up and stared over the rocky planes.
If you're desperate, take Appa and find Zuko and Iroh. The other's wont be going anywhere anytime soon. Freya frowned.
"Doing that could lead Zuko here."
Iroh's hurt he wont be going far.
"Zuko left him once." Freya groaned and ran a hand through her hair. "I do hope he's okay though."
You could check. You know where they were last, and Zuko couldn't have carried Iroh far… Freya stood up and she moved to eye Appa down below near Aang and Katara. She bit her lip debating for a bit.
Screw it.