o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

"I still can't believe it…" I marveled at Toph. "They just let you go?"

"Yeah." Her answer was more of an annoyed sigh than a definite answer.

"My foster mom would have killed herself before letting me wander off on a mission with a complete stranger." I had to speed walk to keep up with Toph, but I was determined not to fall behind in the crowded market place. The last thing I would want is to get separated from her, I knew for a fact that she wouldn't wait for me.

Toph grunted in response and examined a few cuts of meat that were displayed at the butcher's stall. I watched her intently as she bent low over the meat and sniffed it.

"How are we going to find the Avatar anyway?" I asked her, wrinkling my nose at the meat. It looked like it had been out all day… Not very sanitary at all, and she seemed to think so too because she passed it right up and went on to the fruits.

"We're going to use your bag to carry all of the food." She told me without answering my question.

I sighed and nodded my head, aware that she wouldn't see the gesture, but also equally aware that she wouldn't care what my answer was going to be either way. She gave the orders, and I listened...at least for now. "What am I going to do with all of the things I'm already carrying?"

"Trade it." She said offhandedly. "Get some food."

"You want me to barter with them?" I asked her, barely hiding how excited I was at the prospect.

She grunted her approval again and continued smelling the fruit. "I'll find you when I'm done." She said, clearly dismissing me.

I smiled like a little kid set loose in a candy shop. Because, in truth, I was dying to explore the market. Ever since I got over my little panic attack and heard we were going to gather food and supplies before we left, I had wanted to wander around. But most of all, I wanted to get my hands on one of those pretty wrap dresses the women wore, they were seriously growing on me, and I knew I had to have one so I would fit in.

I looked down at myself and blushed. I had realized, about an hour ago, exactly why so many people were staring at me before. My clothes, compared to theirs, were way too tight and revealing. Although my jeans weren't skintight, they still revealed my legs, which is something that none of the women did. I probably looked like a prostitute to them.

So first thing was first…get a new outfit. I glanced around for Toph, ready to ask her directions to the cloths stall, but she was already long gone. Great. I pivoted my feet and began wandering down the market. For a while, I passed only ones that sold meats and vegetables, but soon I started finding stalls that sold jewelry so I knew I must have been getting close.

With a quick scan and squeal of delight, I was able to spot a stall with an old lady selling what looked like used clothes. I was hoping for new, but this town looked very secluded, so I better take what I can get. I hurried over to her and introduced myself as Kat. "I obviously need new clothes…can you help me find something?" I asked her awkwardly.

The lady looked me up and down with a practiced eye. "You are very small."

"Um…"

"I will see if I have anything that will fit you."

"Thank you." I told her and watched as she dug around in a box of clothes that she had half-hidden under the stall's table.

Finally she looked back at me. "Unfortunately, I have nothing that will fit you."

"Damn…" I muttered to myself. "Um…I can sew, so can I buy fabric from you instead?" I asked hopefully.

The women nodded her head and went to retrieve her box of fabric. I smiled and silently thanked Lucy for making me take a sewing class at adult school. I had hated it at first, but I soon realized that it was a talent of mine. Thank God that all of my talents had taken an artistic turn.

The women returned with the box and let me dig through it to my hearts content. There were many beautiful colors, but when I got to the bottom, a gorgeous blue caught my eye. I immediately pulled it out and asked her is she had any other blues like the one I had found. She informed me that her house was not far and that I could walk down with her to check. I immediately followed her, and within minutes, I was at another small shack-like house.

When I walked through her door, I smiled. It was heaven. She had rolls of fabric everywhere, blues, purples, greens, browns, and many red colors. "Where did you get all of these?" I asked her in wonder, surprised that she would have silks like this in such a poor town.

"I travel a lot…" she muttered and then settled herself into a comfy looking chair. "You're lucky you caught me, I was planning on leaving in another week or so."

I smiled at my luck and started browsing her collection. I ran around for a solid five minutes before I settled back to the blues, it had always been my favorite color.

"What do you want for them?" I asked her warily, still poking around and comparing all of the different shades together.

She looked me up and down and seemed to think to herself for a minute. "Well…I am curious about the clothes you have on now. May I examine the fabric?"

I smiled. "Sure." I reached into my bag and pulled out the extra jeans and t-shirt, and then handed them to her.

She took them greedily and sat down at her chair to examine it. "I have never seen this kind of material before…" she mused and rubbed the fabric between her hands. "It is so tightly woven. What is it called?"

"Denim."

"Denim…" she said the word with difficulty, and then began stretching my jeans and twisting them back and forth. "Well this denim is very durable. And the feel of this interesting shirt is strange to me as well. I have traveled to many lands for different fabrics, but these…" She let her sentence hang.

I sighed happily. "Well, I could trade you those for this fabric." I held up three different rolls of fabric, one a dark navy, a regular blue, and a lighter shade.

I had to hide my smile from the old lady as she made her decision. When I had originally packed this bag, I had debated whether I should bring extra clothes, as they were only taking up space, but now I couldn't be happier. I had Bobby and his friends to thank for my good fortune, if I hadn't been paranoid that the boys would throw me into the lake, I would have nothing to barter with.

"Not only will I give you the fabric, I will also give you the supplies needed for sewing." The old lady said with a smile.

"Thank you." I told her and left before she had the opportunity to change her mind. With a half smile on my face, I hurried away with my new stuff.

I paused at the first stall I came to and had to try and force the fabrics into my already full bag…which was how Toph found me.

"What did you get?" she asked me carrying an armful of fruits.

I looked up at her and frowned. I had completely forgotten about getting food, and I was sure she was going to kill me for it. "Well I was going to get myself a new outfit, but they didn't have one that would fit me, so I got fabric instead. I'm going to make a new-"

"What about food?" Toph deadpanned.

"I was going to go get clothes first and then-" I began but was cut off.

"So I leave you alone for a half an hour with one goal, trade your stuff for food, and you end up with even more stuff than when we began?" she asked, an edge creeping onto her voice. I could tell that she thought I had the mindset of a three year old.

But there was no denying that she was right. "Yeah. " I admitted guiltily. "But look, all I had left was food anyway… See?" I thrust my bag at her and waited, but she just stared at me and began to laugh.

"No." she said between her giggles.

I furrowed my brows and frowned. But then, I realized what I did. I felt horrified at my mistake. She was blind, how could I not remember that she wouldn't be able to see anything? "I'm sorry."

She grunted at me, still smiling. "Is there really food in this?" She indicated at my bag.

"Yes." I told her, but then hastily added "-but not the healthy kind."

"Well, that's sure not a lie." She said, grinning, and then sidestepped so someone could pass her on the street.

I pursed my lips. This girl was a strange one. She was blind, but she was able to walk in crowds and still know more about her surroundings than I was able to. "How are you able to do that?"

"Do what?" she asked, not aware she did anything strange.

"How do you know what's going on around you? It's almost like you can see."

"Well… I can." She took a deep breath. "You see through your eyes, but I don't, I see through my feet… I can feel the vibrations and can see that way."

"Wow, that's cool. So if I threw a rock like fifty feet away you'd know where it lands?" I asked her.

"Yeah, but there's more to it." She sighed. "How do I explain this? I can feel any vibrations, I can tell if people are lying, I can even tell you where a colony of ants are right now."

"So you can feel everything at once?" I asked her and she nodded. "Wow, that must get annoying…"

She gave me a strange look. "Yeah, sometimes it can be… A lot of the time I end up knowing way too much. You try sleeping and then getting woken up by your parents going to the bathroom down the hall. Hell, I even know that you picked at a wedgie a while back."

"Wow." I said at a loss for words. "But it is kind of cool."

"Sometimes, but I'd still like to be able to see what people look like. All I ever know about someone is what their voice sounds like and a general body shape."

"Hmm… Well, I'll be your eyes for you." I said, smiling. "I you ever want to know what anyone looks like then you can ask me."

"What do you look like?" she asked immediately.

"Oh, well, I have long brown hair that is wavy, and right now it is seriously messed up and in desperate need of a brush." I paused and had to keep from laughing at myself. She didn't know what I looked like, and the first mental image I'm giving her is one that describes me as having bed head. That's just great Kat, always saying too much. "And I'm sure you've noticed people watching me, but it's because I'm wearing strange clothes. Well, strange to them, which is why I had to buy fabric, I need to make a new dress. Oh, I'm getting off track… I have blue eyes and darkish skin, especially compared to everyone here-"

"Wow." Toph cut me off. "You talk a lot. I'll probably not be asking you no matter how curious I am…"

Yeah, she's exactly like Tina, bold and honest. I probably couldn't even count the number of times Tina told me to shut up. "Sorry, next time I'll only give you need to know information." I promised her.

"Yeah, I'm sure…" She tossed the armful of fruit into my lap and then smiled. "Ready to go?"

I took a deep breath, suddenly feeling nervous about venturing into the wilderness with a twelve year old girl. Was I going to be safe? Would Toph be able to protect us if we were attacked by something… Or someone?

I squeezed my eyes shut and told myself to be quiet. I had to do this if I ever wanted to go home. "Yes. Let's go."

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

"Ok, we'll stop here for the night." Toph said with a yawn and stretched, un-kinking her back.

"Oh, thank God." I murmured and collapsed onto my butt. I was exhausted, my feet were killing me, and I was starving, but Toph seemed to be none of the above. She looked like she could go on for hours without breaking a sweat. I felt out of shape, maybe I should have tried harder in P.E. Then I wouldn't be about to die of exhaustion.

Toph went to the area in the middle of our makeshift campground and bent over to put her hand on the ground. I watched her curiously as she patted the ground a few times and then nodded. She straightened up and then out of nowhere, she stomped on the ground and twisted her foot. The ground beneath her foot gave way and created a perfect circle shaped crater.

I stared at her wide eyed, too freaked out to even flinch. I was never going to get used to people doing that.

Toph just cracked her knuckles and sat down. "Go get some wood and water, we'll need it." Toph pulled a water skin out of my bag and handed it to me. "And when you get back, you need to make a fire."

"When did this get in there?" I asked her, holding up the water skin.

"I put it in before we left… Just go get the water." she said.

"Okay." I told her. "Where will I find the water?

"I don't know, you're the Water Tribe girl, use waterbending or something."

"Waterbending?" I asked in confusion.

"Yeah, you know…Whoosh!" Toph made a weird hand gesture. "Like earthbending, but with water."

I scoffed at her. "What makes you think I can do that?"

"I don't know, you are from the Water Tribe, those are the only people with blue eyes, so I just assumed that you could waterbend."

"Well I can't." I had to hold back my laugh at her assumption. I would never be able to do anything like that, I imagined you had to be coordinated for something like that, and coordinated I was not.

"Ok, then you'll just have to do it the normal person way." She laughed at me and lay on the dirt, relaxing.

"Yeah, whatever." I told her, not excited about going into a dark forest.

"Hurry up, I'm hungry!" Toph yelled after me as I made my way into the forest.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… Jerk." I muttered and wondered how the hell I would be able to find water in the dark.

"I heard that!" Toph yelled from the camp.

I sighed and shook my head breathing in the fresh air and-

Suddenly, I stopped and sniffed the air. I could have sworn I could smell rain, but when I looked up, there were no clouds in sight, just the moon and stars.

I turned to my left and stared into the darkness, I had the weirdest urge to go in that direction, and I knew I had to listen to it. With a frown, I followed my instinct and headed into the night, unaware of anything but the urge to keep going. Every once in a while, my instinct told me to turn right or lift, and the further I went, the more calm I became. Suddenly, I smelled it again. Water. The smell of a fresh rain, of the lake I got lost at.

There was water up ahead, I could feel it.

My brows furrowed. It was like I knew exactly where the water was, like the water was calling me to it… But that's crazy, water cant talk.

I shook my head and told myself that it was luck that led me here, not the water. I pulled the waterskin off of my neck and filled it with the water. When it was as full as I could get it, I washed my face and the headed back towards camp.

I had a general idea as to where it was and knew that I would be able to find it eventually, and even if I wasn't able to, Toph would find me easily.

I walked and walked, jumping over plants and logs, picking up sticks for the fore on the way. Soon my hands were full, but I was lost. I should have paid more attention to where I was going earlier. I wasn't nervous or scared; I'd give Toph ten minutes before she came and got me, that is if she wanted to eat tonight because I doubted she could cook.

"SUGAR QUEEN!" a yell came from the direction I assumed camp was. "I'm hungry, hurry up!"

I had to stifle my snort of laughter… Sugar queen? I was going to have a talk with her about that. Using the string of complaints that followed, I was able to follow her loud voice back to camp.

"Sugar queen?" I asked her when I dumped the sticks into the fire pit. "You've barely known me for a day, and you've already given me a nickname?"

"I had you pinned as a sugar queen the second I met you." She waved her hand in the air in dismissal. "Your type is easy to characterize."

"Well, if I'm sugar queen, then I get to choose your nickname…" I told her, grabbing two of the sticks and rubbing them together just like I've seen survivor man doing it.

"Whatever you say, sugar queen!" She laughed. "Now hurry up with dinner."

"You'll be lucky if I don't spit in your food…" I mumbled, watching in surprise as the sticks began to smoke. I had thought that it wouldn't work, and I'd have to try something else, but it looked like luck was on my side tonight. I went faster and started blowing on the hot spot as I began to see little embers. I quickly reached over and grabbed the ball of dry grass and put it on top of the little embers. It immediately caught fire, and I had to quickly put it in the fire pit before I dropped it. I piled some sticks on top of it and then did a little jig as they lit on fire. "Yes!" I shouted.

"I heard that you know, I'll kill you if you spit in my food!"

"I said 'can you help'?" I lied, aware that she knew.

"I don't do well when it comes to cooking, so dinner is up to you." Toph yawned.

"Okay, I'll cook." I put my hands near the fire to warm them, too tired to argue with her. "Can you, I don't know, use your bending to make a house or something; I don't want to sleep in the dirt." I asked her.

"A house?" she laughed for a minute. "That would take even me forever, and I'm the greatest earthbender ever!"

I raised my eyebrows at her and shook my head. "Greatest earthbender ever? Ha. All I've seen you do is bury my feet up to my ankles in dirt and make a hole in the ground. That's hardly amazing, earlier I saw an old lady make a wall of earth. That was cool."

"That's the best you've seen an earthbender do?" she asked in amazement. "Where are you from? The boonies?"

"Uh, yeah." I told her, suddenly nervous.

Her head quickly snapped in my direction. "That was a lie."

"Uh…"

"You never did tell me where you were from…"

"I didn't?" I asked slowly, carefully.

"No, where are you from? What town?" she asked, suspicious of my suddenly quickly beating heart.

"I come from Mulbine." I told her the truth so she wouldn't be suspicious.

"I come from a rich family, so I'm very well educated. I know every Earth Kingdom town, but I've never even heard of Mulbine. Is that in the Earth Kingdom?"

Dammit, she had me. She would know if I was lying, so if I said yes, she would call me out on that. If I said no, then that would just lead to more questions. If I told her the truth, would she think I was crazy? She'd probably leave me out here alone and never look back. But if I didn't tell the truth right now, she would never trust me and probably end up leaving me anyway. Would she keep my secret?

"If I tell you, will you promise never to tell another soul?" I asked her, defeated and scared.

Her brows furrowed as if she realized that things just got very serious. "Kat? Where are you from?"

"Do you promise?" I repeated, not willing to say a word until she agreed.

Her mouth opened in a sigh. "Yes."

"Ok, I really am from Mulbine… But-" Suddenly, I was spilling everything. The spirits that came to me, how I woke up in the forest and got found by a little girl, and how I eventually came to her. She stayed silent through my whole story, listening intently, probably looking for any hint of a lie, but I made sure everything I told her was the absolute truth, I wanted her to believe one hundred percent in me. After I finished, I shut my mouth and waited for her to do something.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally spoke. "I believe you."

I sighed in relief. "Thank you."

She looked at me seriously. "You can't tell anyone this story, you know that… No one will believe you, and they'll probably think you're insane."

"I know." I assured her. "I won't tell a soul."

"Good. And get working on that new outfit, if your clothes are as strange as you say they are then you'll need to blend in. We can forget about dinner, just eat fruits and start sewing."

"Ok, good idea." I told her and then pulled out the fabric and scissors, cutting out my layout pieces. I had an idea of what I wanted to make, but I knew it would be hard and would probably take all night. The dress I would make would look something like the tunic and pants I saw one of the merchants wear, but I would make it my own way. His tunic had gone to his hips and stopped there, mine would go down to at least my knees and I would put slits up to my thighs so I could be able to walk and travel easier. While with the pants I would have loved to make shorts, I knew that I would get strange looks and my legs would get scratched up in the forest, so I would make loose fitting pants like I had seen on the men.

To make my clothes look feminine, I would have to design the tunic like the wrap dresses had been. I would make them short sleeved and put a belt around the middle. That would be a good place to put my pocket knife too. And when I get to the next town I could trade my jacket and the clothes I'm wearing now for more food and maybe some spices.

But no matter what, I was getting this outfit done tonight.

"Kat…" Toph yawned, her open mouth showing chewed up apple. "I'm going to bed."

"Oh! Here…take this…" I went to my bag and pulled out my blanket. "You can sleep on this."

She shook her head. "If that's a blanket or sleeping bag or anything like that, then I'll pass. I prefer to sleep on the ground. I can keep watch that way."

"Ok, good night." I told her.

She grunted again and then found a nice level spot for her to sleep in. She sat down and then punched her hands out to her side; two walls of earth came up and formed a tent. "You'll probably be up for a while, but when you're ready to sleep, you can join me."

"Thank you." I said, yawning, but I probably wasn't going to bed anytime soon.

I began cutting and comparing, piecing together my layout until I was satisfied with the result. Once I had all of my pieces cut out, I grabbed the needle and thread. I looked at it and suddenly got overwhelmed. I was going to have to sew this whole thing by hand, and suddenly, looking like a freak sounded pretty inviting. But Toph was right; I'd have to blend in. I had to do this.

I got to sewing.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Hours later, I finally came out of my hunchbacked stoop so I could stand up and stretch. I was almost done with my outfit. The pants had only taken around an hour or two to sew, but this tunic was taking me forever. I would kill for a sewing machine right now.

I stood up to my tip toes and stretched my whole body, pushing my arms as far above my head as possible.

I had to walk or my legs would fall off; I was almost done with my outfit anyway so I could afford a short break. I set off into the forest for my walk with the stream as my destination. I knew that last time I took a walk in the forest I got lost and ended up in another world, but I was sure that this time I would be safe; this time I knew where I was going, and the spirits would leave me alone for a while.

I was soon at the lake and ready to take a dip. I would give anything for a warm shower, but this would have to do. I took off my clothes and did a running jump into the lake, bracing myself for the cold water.

As quickly as possible, I washed myself and got out of the icy water. But despite the chill, I was happy. Being clean did that to me. I put my clothes back on my still wet body and sat down at the base of a tree, ignoring the annoying way my clothes clung to my damp skin.

The night was a beautiful one; it had to be around three or four A.M., since the stars were still out and the moon was in my view. It was slightly less than full, but it was still big and beautiful. But hell, it reminded me of the spirits or gods or whatever they were. The last time I looked at the moon, they came to me and transported me to some other weird dimension.

I noticed that I had been unconsciously rubbing the stone around my neck. I let go and sighed. The last day had been hectic. I've been taken from my world and thrown into another, and I knew nothing about what I was supposed to do here besides finding the avatar. What did he look like? Would we know him when we saw him? How is Toph going to find him?

Toph… She was a very interesting person. I could sense she was very powerful, and she could earthbend. I would hate to be fighting against her even if I could waterbend like she thought I could…

I sighed and glanced at the water. Was waterbending like earthbending? Was it as powerful?

I walked over to the edge of the water and sat down in the slightly damp dirt. I put my hand in the water and sighed. What would it be like to be able to control an element like that?

What if I was able to waterbend? I wouldn't need the pocket knife anymore if I could… What if I tried it? What could I lose?

I put my hand out so that it hovered over the water and brought it up, just like I'd seen the old lady do, but no wall of water came up. I sighed, a little disappointed, but what was I expecting? I knew I couldn't waterbend.

I sighed and brought my legs up to my chest. The old lady made earthbending look so natural. She and Toph looked so happy while doing it, it was like earthbending was a part of them. I had always felt so calm around water; to be able to control it would be fun, but doing it would be hard. Water is such a free element; it wouldn't want to be controlled. Mountains had tried, but the water carved through them over time. Water was free, but earth was strong and still. Earth was like Toph, and if Toph was earth then I would be water. They were completely different, like me and Toph.

Maybe I had been coming at this wrong. It was like I was trying to earthbend the water. If I want to waterbend, then I'd have to be like the water.

What was water like? Water was smooth and free, it flows where it wants and makes its own path. I need to be relaxed, not stiff.

I loosened up my posture and put my hand back to hover over the water. I thought for a minute… Water is unique, the front, which would have to be my wrist, leads, and the rest of the water will follow, rarely breaking off into its own path. I let my hand relax completely and exhaled, concentrating on the water, picturing what I wanted and willing it to happen. I brought my hand up and up and the water followed, making a sloppy, smaller, replica of the old lady's wall.

I froze and let it drop.

Did that just happen?

I tried it again to the same result.

Then, I did the only thing any sane person would do in my position. I screamed.

I completely freaked out. I wasnot able to do that before I came to this world. I shook my head and crab-walked away from the water until I hit a tree, still shrieking.

Suddenly, a dark figure seemed to materialize on the other side of the stream. It happened so abruptly that I screamed again, sure that it was a murderer who was going to get me. I knew it wasn't Toph; the person was too tall and menacing looking. The person was obviously coming to kill me, why else would anyone be out and about this late?

The man, I could tell me the shape of him, put on a burst of speed and jumped over the river, landing on my side, a sword reflecting off of the moonlight in his right hand. I sucked in a breath of air and scrambled to my feet, but before I could get proper footing, a low rumbling came from the ground.

Fearing it was an earthquake, I stumbled and got away from the trees, but that put me right in the path of the killer.

The rumbling became louder as he turned towards me and reached out. Before he could do me in, a loud crack sounded and dust filled the air, swallowing me in a choking cloud of dirt. But just as soon as it appeared, it was gone, leaving Toph in its place.

I looked around for the man, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Where did he go?"

"Are you okay?" Toph asked, still half asleep, but clearly still worried. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine, but where did he go?" I asked, frantically searching the forest.

She gave me a strange look and pointed to her feet. Right next to her left foot was a head.

I covered my mouth to stifle my scream. "You decapitated him?"

She furrowed her brows at me, but began to laugh.

"How can you be laughing? You just killed someone!" I yelled at her, glancing frantically from her to the severed head.

She began laughing even harder. "Oh, I'd love to see the look on your face right now!"

I narrowed my eyes at her and looked back down, it was then that I saw that the head was thrashing back and forth as if he were struggling. "Oh my!" I put my hand over my wildly beating heart. "I thought you killed him!"

"I know! That's what's so funny!" Toph sighed a good humored laugh and then brought her attention back to me. "Now that I'm awake, what happened? What did he do to you?"

"He just scared me, that's all. I thought he was going to kill me!" I told her, I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, but I held it in.

"If he just scared you, then why did you scream more than once?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Hello! Can you get me out of here?!" The boy yelled from his little forest floor grave.

We both spared him a fleeting glance but then continued on with our conversation.

"Well, I after I got done bathing, I thought about what you said earlier, so I tried to waterbend and it worked! But it scared the crap out of me. And then I saw him, and I thought he was a murderer or something, so I screamed again."

"My arm is at a very awkward angle right now!" His voice came again.

"You're a waterbender? Cool! I'll teach you some moves then." Toph cracked her knuckles, and I got a feeling I shouldn't let her train me even if my life depended on it.

"Thanks, but do you think they'll help? I tried doing the wall thing like the old lady, but it didn't work." I told her, trying to get out of it.

"Nonsense!" She yelled and then glanced down at the boy.

I followed her lead, but I couldn't really see what he looked like, his hair covered everything but the bottom half of his face. "Who are you?" I asked, with an edge to my voice, angry at him again.

He looked up at us, and I saw one gold eye shining indignantly through the curtain of black hair. "I'm Lee, now for the love of the gods, get me out of here!"

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o