we all want love/we all want honor
Part 9: somewhere in the crowd
"Only you know the strength of your teeth."
- Zedd & Elley Duhé, "Happy Now"
Making it to Yu Dao was the easy part. Toph may not have spent much time completely on her own, but she'd spent years with Zuko, searching the strangest places. She knew how to travel incognito. She made it to Yu Dao in less than two days, and she used some of the money that Uncle had given her (she didn't know where he'd managed to get it from, considering that all of their stuff had blown up) to rent a room under the name "Lin Yu Hong."
And then she started exploring.
Toph had never been to Yu Dao before. Zuko hadn't bothered spending much time in the colonies, assuming (rightfully so) that the Avatar wouldn't be hiding in Fire Nation lands. She'd heard about it, of course; her tutors in the Fire Nation had been very thorough, but nothing could have prepared her for the absolute foreignness of the place. Toph knew the Fire Nation. She knew the Earth Kingdom. What she didn't know was the two of them together.
"Are you new to town?" The cheerful, almost perky voice belonged to a girl who was probably only a year or two older than Toph.
"Yeah, I'm just hanging out a bit- I'm supposed to meet some friends, but I'm about a month too early," Toph explained. She studied the girl's rooted stance. An earthbender, she decided. "I'm Lin Yu." Can she tell I'm lying? (Highly unlikely. Truthseers were rare, and highly valued by the Fire Nation. If the girl were a truthseer, she'd be hiding in Ba Sing Se, not walking around a Fire Nation colony like she owned the place.)
"Nice to meet you, Lin Yu," the older girl said. "I'm Kori!" She hasn't realized I'm blind. Toph wondered how long that would take, some people were really slow.
"Do you live here?" Toph asked, still trying to take in a dazzling amount of information from the town around her. There was a blacksmith shop, where firebenders and earthbenders were working together. (She'd heard that Yu Dao had the best metalworkers in the world, but she hadn't realized why until just now.) There were training grounds with both types of benders training together. Everywhere she listened, people of fire and earth were interacting, completely normally.
It was so weird.
"Yeah, I was born here," Kori was saying. "My father's actually the mayor, so I guess you could consider me the welcoming committee!"
"Wait, your father is the mayor? Aren't you an earthbender?" Integrated as this place might be, there was still a clear social hierarchy going on. The earthbenders were not on top.
"You can tell that?" Kori seemed confused. "But yeah, so what? My dad's Fire Nation, I got the bending from Mom's side."
"What?"
"Oh, right, I forgot people outside the colonies don't really intermarry, but it's pretty common here," Kori explained. "I guess you've never met a mixed couple before?"
"I actually have, I guess," Toph said. (Best stick to the truth, so you don't have to remember anything later.) "My, uh, boyfriend is a firebender." (Boyfriend was easier to explain than betrothed. Or intended. Yick, why weren't there any better words?)
"Really?" Kori sounded surprised. "Cool. Aren't you a little young for a boyfriend?" You have no idea.
"I'll be fifteen in a few months," Toph said, scowling. (Spirits curse her tiny form!) "Besides, we grew up together. Our families were... friends, I guess."
"Where did you say you were from again?" Kori didn't sound suspicious, merely curious.
"A little village on the edge of Hu Xin," Toph lied. "But it's a newer colony, not like... this." She gestured at the town. Kori nodded.
"It can be a little overwhelming," she said. "Want me to show you around?"
"Well, I don't know how much you'll be able to show me, but I certainly wouldn't mind a tour." They started walking.
"What are you... oh." There we go. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize." Kori held out her arm, but Toph just shook her head.
"I can get around fine on my own, don't worry. I use earthbending to sense what's going on around me." Kori's pause said she didn't buy this, so Toph started pointing. "There's a couple of kids running around in that direction, and that's a blacksmith's shop, and there's some really loud brat over there buying shoes, and there's an anthill behind that training field, and-"
"Alright, alright, I believe you!" Kori raised her hands in protest. "In that case, you said you wanted the tour?"
This place was even cooler than she'd thought.
Kori took her all over town, pointing out all the different shops and attractions.
(At one point, she identified a certain building as Master Kunyo's training dojo. Toph had a sudden flashback of Zuko, at one of their tea parties, telling her about his Instructor Kunyo, and how he'd been shipped off to the colonies for annoying the ice princess. She wasn't sure it was the same Kunyo, but she decided to avoid the place, just in case.)
"- and this is where they host the bending fights, and that place makes the best jook, and-"
"Hold on, what was that last one?" Did she just say-
"Jook? Do they not have that where you come from? I thought-"
"No, not that," Toph scoffed. "You mentioned something about a bending fight?"
"Yeah, it's like a fighting ring, but for benders," Kori explained. "They have all kinds of match-ups. Earthbenders against firebenders, earthbenders against earthbenders, firebenders against firebenders- you even get the occasional waterbender."
"Do they work in teams, or solo?" Toph decided to wait a little before getting excited.
"Both," the older girl said.
"Are all these guys professionals, or do we get an amateur night every once in a while?"
"Anyone can play," Kori said. "You just put down a down payment, and, if you win, you get to keep a portion of your winnings. My cousins and I have a standing weekly game against the Frogsquirrels."
"The Frogsquirrels?" Toph giggled. "Please tell me you guys have a better name than that."
"Uh, we're the Crococats," Kori admitted sheepishly. Toph considered this,
"Acceptable. Barely," she said. "Now then, where do I sign up?"
"Wait, you... want to join the Crococats?" Kori seemed hesitant.
"Nah. No offense, Chirpy, but I work best alone," Toph said. "I want to fight solo."
"Are you sure?" Kori was definitely worried. She didn't even comment on the nickname. "I know you're a talented bender, but that doesn't necessarily translate to fighting..."
"Don't worry, I'm not some helpless little blind girl," Toph said, "I'll be fine... though I'll probably need your help to sign the form or whatever."
This fighting ring was the greatest thing ever, and signing up to fight was the best decision she had ever made. (Other than going into exile with Sparky. Or running away to meet the badgermoles. But those didn't really count.)
"The Blind Bandit" was an instant hit. The crowds loved watching a tiny blind girl beating up all those big, strong earthbenders and angry, powerful firebenders. (Maybe her height wasn't so bad.)
But somehow, it almost seemed too easy. She'd spent years training with Zuko, she knew firebenders. On the other hand, she hadn't really fought against too many earthbenders before. She hadn't expected them to be so weak.
(Even Kori, with that cool trick she did with those chains, wasn't a particularly tough opponent.)
None of them knew how to listen. How to wait. They all jumped in without thinking, throwing around rocks without considering where they might land. It was ridiculous.
Earthbending isn't just a martial art, you know! It's meant to be an extension of your senses, not... whatever this is.
Did no one train with badgermoles anymore?
This is wrong. This is really wrong.
She was the greatest earthbender in town, probably in the colonies, possibly in the entire world... but she didn't have to be.
I'll find a way to fix this. Someday.
(In the meantime, beating people up was really fun.)
A month passed. On the date they'd agreed to meet, she went to the restaurant Iroh told her to wait at.
They never showed.
Another week passed. And then another. And then she'd been in Yu Dao for two whole months. She'd gone to that stupid shop every. Single. Day. (Kori was right, they did make the best jook.) But Sparky and Uncle never came.
She didn't miss them.
Of course she didn't.
It was just... some days, she would stand in that arena, fist raised to the sky, crowds cheering loudly, and feel a twinge in her chest. One that said none of these people really care about you. (Kori was nice, yes, but she didn't know Toph. She didn't even know her real name.)
Which was why, as she walked out onto the playing field one day, and felt a single heart rate spike in surprise, Toph smiled. Is that...?
It was a boy, probably about fifteen or sixteen years old. He was sitting up front, in the cheap seats. There were too many people, and it was too loud to be sure, but she thought she recognized him.
She'd check later. Right now, she had a fight to win.
Afterwards, she ducked around the crowds milling outside, trying to trace the boy who'd seemed so familiar. Finally, Toph sensed him, standing awkwardly at the edge of the crowd, seeming a little out of place. Those were definitely his footsteps. She snuck up behind him, leaned against a wall, and crossed her arms.
"Fancy seeing you here," she said. His heart rate spiked again (jeez, he startled easily) and he turned around and gasped.
"Lady Toph?"
"In a foreign place, are you happy now?"
- Zedd & Elley Duhé, "Happy Now"