A field trip, of course she wanted a field trip. Ever since he met her, she had it in her head that the best way to know someone, forgive someone, or learn to hate someone. If she already hated them though, or thought they hated her, then it moved back to the first or second options. All Aang could do at this point was smile, nod, and hope that they weren't going anywhere too dangerous. Or too long, cause there were only some twenty-odd days before Zuko was getting married. Field trips used to have a bit of a purpose though, like solving old family squabbles or personal hang-ups that were close to remaining unsolved. Since the war was over, Aang didn't think anyone had any more of those.

"Field trip sounds good, but where to?" Aang tried to sound as neutral as possible, hoping not to sound childish or patronising or anything. He had been in situations like this before, with walls scratched and damaged a bit and ice shards on the floor, but never with someone who could beat him up as easily as he knew Toph could.

"Oh, you poor sweet fool," Toph said, her smile dripping with fake sympathy, "I get to know, and you get to follow. Now go pack some clothes or something, and get Appa. I'm going to find a map." She reached into her sack, and pulled out what looked like a piece of polishing paper and then tilted her head towards Aang. "Alright then, I got my map, where's Appa?" Aang ran.

Getting Appa wasn't too hard. Explaining the events of the past few hours was.

"What did you do to Toph?" Sokka yelled at him as soon as he stepped out of the room, surrounded by most of the breakfast party. Only Zuko and Mai were gone. And Katara, of course. Aang couldn't tell if they had been listening the entire time, but since none of them could hear through walls, he hoped that at least most of the conversation was still unheard.

"How did you survive her, she looked ticked the hell off?" Suki recognized the real damage that could have happened, and it wasn't towards Toph at all.

Aang decided to stonewall the questions. "We were just talking. It's actually been awhile since we've seen each other, and I'm not gonna lie, it got a little intense. You know how it is," he said, pointedly staring at Sokka.

"But the stones and the crashing? And the yelling? And the juice?" Questions were flying out at him, questions he really didn't know how to interpret, much less how to answer.

"The stones were mostly sand or dirt or something, and crashes are just how Toph shows you she cares. Same with the yelling. The juice was an accident. Can I go now, or do you have more questions?"

"Just one? Are we eating together, or are you and Toph, just not gonna be able to be able to survive in the same room ever again without coming to blows?" Suki actually seemed concerned. Toph and her and Sokka had probably been friends for a while, and Aang and the two of them had just managed to reconcile, so it was still probably a dicey situation.

"Toph and I aren't going to be at dinner, or lunch or whatever." Suki was shocked. "We're going to be-"

Sokka interrupted. "If you need her to apologize or anything, we can do that. We can get her to say sorry now, not sure if you heard. I have . . . my ways." He wiggled his eyebrows, hiding his own disappointment at Toph pretty well.

"She already did. I think. I think she meant it, I'm not sure what she said exactly. I apologized pretty well too I think. That's why we're maybe . . . sort of . . . going on a trip together?" Aang scratched the back of his head and hunched his shoulders forwards a bit.

"A . . . trip?" Sokka's lowered, consoling eyebrow shot up into a stance worthy of a questioning eyebrow.

"Yeah . . . a field trip . . . "

"So Toph finally got someone to go on another field trip with her, good for her! When'll you be back, tomorrow?" Suki crossed her arms behind her back, relieved.

"Um . . . not sure?" Aang's head was itchier than normal. It wasn't time for another shave, either. Maybe the climate?

"Where are you even going?" Sokka chimed in, his face getting oddly close to Aang's.

"I'm not sure about that one either? Ask Toph? I'm going to go now." Needing his personal space now more than ever, Aang bolted to Appa's pen.

Appa was languishing in a custom room that looked like it had been made right before Aang had stepped foot on the island. From an outside perspective, the room didn't look like much. Hard packed dirt with a canopy strung between two poles looked like a child's attempt at a camping site. What Aang knew, and what Zuko had apparently either found out or remembered, was that Appa didn't need or want much else.

"Hey buddy, it's been a couple of days, hasn't it?" Aang called out, cheerfully. Appa gave out a short grunt, and Momo poked his head out from the sleeping spot he had in Appa's fur. "Momo! How do you like the island?" Momo chirped appreciatively.

"That's great guys, I like it too. We are going to leave soon though. Like in a couple of minutes." Momo started to chatter up a storm. "Wait, wait, wait! It's going to be fun, guys. Remember Toph? Her and I are going on a field trip. I kinda made her mad by not talking to her for a while. So yeah, you guys are coming with us." Appa grumbled, and Momo just closed his eyes and let out one last chirp. Aang gave them a look.

"I really messed up, guys, and I want to make it up to her. So work with me here?"

Appa blinked lazily and yawned. Momo crossed his arms. Aang smiled. "I knew you guys would see it! Now let's go, she's probably waiting or something."

"Waiting for what, slow stuff?" Toph's voice came from right behind him. He was starting to realize just how bad he was at not getting snuck up on. After Azula had done it a couple days ago, he had made a point to keep listening to the earth whenever he didn't have his back to a wall, but Toph could probably hide herself from the earth too. Unfortunate.

"Waiting for you, I guess." Aang smiled sheepishly. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yeah, carry my bag for me." Toph threw a sack at him, which he managed to catch before its weight pulled him to the ground. "Now let's go!"

Aang threw a saddle on Appa, then Toph's bag of what had to be her favourite rocks. "You never told me where we're going, Toph."

"Yep."

Aang waited for her to give more info, then continued when it became clear she wasn't going to. "You can't see, or talk to Appa. How are we getting anywhere?"

"Alright, we're going west."

Aang;s jaw dropped at the audacity. "West? For how long? And where are we going?"

"Yes, until I tell you to stop, and west."

Flying was always peaceful for Aang. The breeze was cool on his skin and the openness ahead gave him a clarity of mind that walking really couldn't. Earth was grounding, water was calming, but air was freeing, and Aang wouldn't give up the ability to fly for anything.

Toph, on the other hand, hated it. She was lying face down on her bag, grumbling softly about "no rocks" and "fast flying" and "where's the goddamn ground?" Aang had been enjoying the silence for a decent amount of time, now was time to get to the good part of the trip.

"So, where are we going?"

"West, I told you this eight hours ago." Toph didn't even raise her head, simply shouting through her bag.

"Yeah, and it's been eight hours since then, so I was wondering if we could go south or something. Wait, no, north, I love north," Aang joked. She didn't seem to find the humor, letting forth a string of words Aang hadn't ever heard used together before. "Besides, you don't know how fast Appa's gotten, we could be there already even if it were directly west."

Toph had to concede on that one. "Alright, Twinkletoes, describe where we are."

"Well, we're over the ocean."

"That's it? Well we're not there yet, unless you think I wanted to bring you to the ocean." Toph tried to rustle back into her bag.

"Fine, I'll describe it better. Imagine the way water feels. The cool, the flow. But it's salt water, so there's the little sparkle. That's what the sea is like under us. There's no dry land anywhere, but when the light hits just right, you can almost see the rocks underneath. They cut into the water, like a knife through butter. The rocks are solid, and the water's not, but they manage to flow past each other like they're both the same thing."

Toph rolled over, her face finally free. "Alright, tell me more."

"You feel the sun, on your face? It's getting lower now, not quite at the horizon, but close. The rays look like how they feel, warmth and care and comfort. In an hour or so, you won't be able to feel it at all. That's why you can hear the birds chirping like that. They know it's going to get cold and they'll have to keep on flying. We'll have to keep on flying too, I guess."

"Damn, and it'll get cold for us too. Give me my blanket." Toph, smiling, reached out her arm to Aang.

"Alright, where do you keep it?"

"Keep it? You're supposed to have one for me!" Toph's smile was still on, but it was beginning to look a bit sinister.

"You just told me to pack clothes, I'm lucky I took a blanket for myself!"

Toph's arm wasn't dropping though, so Aang had to give up. He dug through his own bag, which only had a spare outfit and one blanket. He was going to be fine, his own breathing would keep him warm, but an extra blanket wouldn't have been that hard for him to bring. Nevertheless, he dropped off the thick piece of cloth right on top of Toph, and went back to watching the sky.

Toph's grumbles faded into heavy breathing and then light snores. Aang, watching the sun sink past the sea, was interrupted by a brushing against his leg. Toph, in her sleep, had rolled up against his calf.

"Hey," he whispered at her. "Mind if I take some?"

She said nothing, as people are apt to do when they're asleep.

"Thanks."

Aang covered his legs with the blanket, then flinched a bit as Toph rolled closer into him. Then he relaxed. This isn't a bad way to spend a flight. And he drifted off as well.