we all want love/we all want honor
Part 3: or so I have been told
"It rolls in from the sea."
- Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson, "Winter Song"
Toph didn't really get the whole 'solstice' thing. Like, apparently the sun shone for a different amount of time on different days- unless you were at the equator, in which case it was the same every day- and there were certain days that, depending on whether you were above or below that imaginary line (she didn't get the whole 'equator' thing, either), were either the longest or shortest days of the year?
Sounded like a 'seeing people thing.'
But for the people of the Fire Nation, who lived and died by the sun's rays, the solstices were regarded as spiritual omens. Things of great importance- whether for good or ill- were supposedly revealed on those days. They were considered times set aside for meditation and inner contemplation.
However, Sparky wasn't exactly in the mood to sit around and indulge in some peaceful self-discovery.
She walked onto the deck just in time to hear Uncle complain about the stench of their projectile.
Yick, it really does stink.
"You couldn't talk him out of it?" Toph whispered to Uncle. The two of them had spent hours arguing about it last night, and they'd still been going at it when she finally fell asleep. To no avail, apparently.
"He's going to get himself killed," Uncle Iroh muttered. She felt Zuko tense up.
"A blockade!"
Uncle made a few more attempts to talk Zuko out of this insane plan of his. (Toph had spent enough time with her royal tutors to know that banishment was serious business. Crossing into Fire Nation waters while in exile was like standing in a crowded room yelling "Here I am! Please kill me!" In other words, not a good idea.)
Meanwhile, the naval blockade had their own catapults. She assumed they were trying to hit the Avatar (who was probably around here somewhere), but they didn't seem to mind if they also hit Zuko's ship in the process. Luckily, the projectiles appeared to be nothing more than giant flaming rocks, so she was able to redirect most of them.
Unfortunately, the boulders were flying through the air at quick speeds, and were being shot at them from boats, which she couldn't feel across the water. Which meant she couldn't really sense the things until they were nearly on top of them.
She felt the ship shudder as one of those stinking rocks hit its side.
One of the engineers came running out, shouting that the engine was damaged.
Yikes.
Zuko, stubborn as ever, insisted on continuing along.
Some days, I think that boy should have been born an Earthbender. (But then again, he was a little too hotheaded, and not very good at listening.)
What on earth? As they sailed past the blockade, she realized there was something wrong. The other ships... their engines were quiet.
They let us pass. Why?
Uncle, the former military tactician, understood, of course.
Zhao's using us as bait!
"This is a bad idea," she told Uncle. "At this rate, he's going to get himself captured, killed, or worse."
"I know," the old man said, sighing. "But what can I do?"
"Nothing," Toph told him. "Leave this one to me."
As Zuko's little boat slipped away, sight unseen, he didn't realize that he was not the only passenger.
Quietly, Toph followed Zuko through the tunnels into the temple. For someone so good at sneaking around himself, you'd think he'd be better at noticing when he's being tailed.
She stayed behind a pillar, out of sight, as Zuko grabbed the Avatar. She winced as the airbender sent him spinning down the staircase. That's gotta hurt. But Sparky wasn't in any real danger, not yet, so she stayed where she was.
Uh-oh, company. Zhao was here.
What do I do now?
She could take advantage of the element of surprise, trapping Zhao and his men in solid stone. But then it would be her and Zuko against Zhao, his six guards, the Avatar's two companions, and at least one Fire Sage (she wasn't sure which of them the other four sages would side with), and she didn't think she liked those odds. She'd never faced off against nearly that many opponents.
But she was Toph Beifong. She was Earth. She knew how to be patient, how to wait for the exact moment to strike. Let's see what happens next.
Zhao had Zuko chained up to a separate pillar from the Avatar's companions. Perfect.
He'd been caught. Trapped. What was he going to do now?
"Pst, Sparky." Zuko recognized that voice.
"La-"
"Sh! Up here!" He looked up. Higher on the pillar, sticking out horizontally with feet pressed to the pillar as if she was glued to it, was Lady Toph. She waved. "Wait 'til they're distracted, and then I'll get you out of here."
He nodded. Escape first, questions later.
The distraction they'd been waiting for came just a few minutes later, when the doors opened. Zhao and the others were so focused on the Avatar, they didn't notice the little earthbender walking down towards Zuko. She twisted her outstretched fists, and the chains just... snapped.
"What did you do?" Zuko hissed.
"I freed you, obviously," Lady Toph said, "How about a little gratitude?"
"But- the chains- what was that?" He'd never seen anything like it.
"Metalbending. It's a thing, I invented it, we can talk about it later, let's get out of here!"
Before they could move, the Avatar (was that Avatar Roku?) released a wave of fire.
Lady Toph!
The girl wasn't a firebender, she didn't have the natural heat resistance he did. If those flames hit her, she would burn.
(BurningpainPleasestopSorrypain)
Without a second thought, he wrapped his arms around her petite frame and twisted so that his back would take the brunt of the incoming flames.
Oh?
The fire... it was warm, but it didn't burn. Didn't hurt. He looked down and realized the broken chains had been reduced to ashes. What just-?
"Come on, Sparky!" Lady Toph grabbed his hand and started running. "This whole place is about to explode! We gotta go!" He followed after her, feeling the temple floor rumbling beneath his feet. Is the volcano... about to erupt?
The two of them ran through the halls of the collapsing temple, trying to escape. They'd almost made it. He could see his little boat. Just a little farther...
Suddenly, a river of lava erupted right in front of them. No!
They were trapped. He and Lady Toph were going to die here, and it was all his fault.
(Your fault. Always your fault.)
"Why did you follow me?" Zuko demanded. "If you'd just stayed out the ship with Uncle-"
"Quit your whining, Prince Hothead, and help me!"
He stared at her. That stance...
"Lady Toph, are you trying to bend lava?" What in the name of all the spirits-?
"Obviously," she said. "I never really got the hang of it back when we lived in the Capital, and I'm out of practice. I can almost move the rock, but it's too hot... there's too much fire in it. I need you to do this with me!"
What?
She was crazy. Everyone knew you couldn't bend lava.
Except, the Avatar was obviously doing just that.
But that was the Avatar. Regular people couldn't do something like that. (Your firebending is weak. Why can't you be more like your sister?)
Lavabending was impossible- but five minutes earlier, he would've said the same thing about bending metal, and yet Lady Toph had done just that.
If anyone can do the impossible, it's her.
"Are you going to help, or are we just going to die here?" Think later, act now.
He bent his arms, using sharp movements to try and draw the heat away. Beside him, Lady Toph almost looked as though she were dancing, moving the cooled magma out from in front of them.
Within a minute, they had a clear path back to the boat.
"What are you looking at?" Lady Toph stood next to him on the deck of their little boat, en route to the meeting point he'd arranged with Uncle.
What do you mean- oh.
Sometimes, he forgot that, as competent as she could be, Lady Toph was still blind.
"It's the Avatar," he said, sighing. "He's getting away."
"Another day," she said, patting his arm. "You're both alive, and you're both free. You'll get your chance." Then she yawned.
"Are you... okay?" He'd never paid much attention, but he had the impression that Lady Toph kept strange hours.
"Yeah, I'm just going to lie down for a bit. Wake me when we reach the ship." She turned to head down to the cabin, then paused and pointed at him. "And don't tell anyone about the metalbending. I don't need anyone pestering me about it, you got that?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Zuko, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, leaned back against the wall and stared at the last few remaining rays of the setting sun. It had been a long day. He'd risked his life in his latest attempt to capture the Avatar, and he had nothing to show for it.
In other words, it had been a day wasted.
And yet...
He thought about the girl sleeping below. He thought about the moment he'd seen her do the impossible.
He thought about the moment he'd done the impossible with her.
And somehow, he couldn't bring himself to regret this 'wasted' day.
"My words will be your light, to carry you to me."
- Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson, "Winter Song"