CHAPTER 34: Bad luck

"Trust that even in adversity, there may be a stroke of fortune, protecting you from a greater calamity."

On their way to Ba Sing Se, Sokka and Toph had stopped at a small, isolated village nested at the foot of the Taihua Mountains.

They mainly relied on Toph's earthbending as their transportation method, and even though Toph was a badass bender, she needed rest too.

In a search for food and water, they hoped that the village held a market place big enough for them to buy enough supplies for the rest of their journey.

They were just about to step through the village gates, when suddenly, they heard a subtle rustling from the mountain side to their right, barely audible over the ambient nose of the forest to their left.

But yet again, Toph's excellent skills proved to be a lifesaver, as she suddenly held up a hand in the air, earning for Sokka to stop next to her.

"What now?" he sighed, with a roll of his eyes.

His stomach was rumbling, and he had been looking forward to sinking his teeth into some meat ever since they left the temple.

Stupid, peaceful monks and their stupid enlightened vegetarian lifestyle.

"I feel something," Toph said with a furrow over her brow. "Something from the mountain side."

Sokka grunted out and with longing eyes, he looked further ahead at the village gates that would hopefully take him to a meat vendor.

"Yeah?" he said. "You know what, I feel something too! My stomach's growling for a big, juicy hunk of meat! I'm talking about a sizzling slab of grilled hog monkey ribs, or maybe a savory roast duck smothered in spices."

Toph sighed out as she lowered her hand.

She rolled her eyes at him again.

He hated when she did that.

"Get over yourself, Meat-chump!" she snapped at him, before she started walking again. "If you're that hungry for meat, I suggest we start a hunting expedition right now. Who knows, maybe we'll tumble upon a herd of flying bison or another saber-toothed moose lion?!"

Sokka pouted dramatically at her.

"And if we're lucky," Toph continued. "We might even find a cabbage patch along the way for balance."

That one caused Sokka to laugh.

"Ah Toph, always so full of helpful suggestions…" he smiled. "I think I'll pass on the flying bison hunt for now. Appa would probably growl even louder than my stomach right now if he found out that I ate the last bison alive beside him. Let's just get to the market."

"Look out!" Toph suddenly yelled out, before she hurled herself towards him, causing them both to take a spill on the gravel of the road.

"Ow!" Sokka complained, as he felt his elbow take the blow.

A few pebbles and twigs thudded down from the mountain and landed in front of them.

"Really?" Sokka whined as he got to his feet. "Was that really nece…"

In a swift movement, Toph jumped to her feet before throwing her hands in the ear, causing a big block of rock to slide out from the mountain and cover them.

A loud rumble followed, and Sokka saw boulders the size of his head loudly tumble over her defense block and fly down the mountain side before landing somewhere in the forest below to their left.

He gulped down.

"Looks like the mountain's playing a game of 'rock, pebble, boulder'," she remarked dryly, her lips quirking up in a smirk as she bended the slice of rock that had protected them back into the mountain.

Sokka chuckled at her joke, though a hint of concern lingered in his expression as he glanced up at the towering mountain above.

"Let's hope it doesn't decide to upgrade to 'rock, boulder, landslide'," he replied with a wry grin.

They quickly made their way to the village ahead.

As they walked through the streets, Sokka noticed a series of comical mishaps unfolding around them - a cart full of cabbages suddenly overturned, causing dozens of cabbages to come rolling at them, quickly followed by a couple of chickens escaping their pens, leaving a panicked chicken farmer to run around in circles trying to catch them.

He also saw at least two elderly ladies slip on banana peels.

"What's going on here?" he wondered to himself in a mumble, but he was too focused on finding a meat vendor that he cared to stop.

His eyes suddenly lit up with a glint of eagerness.

There he was - the meat vendor.

Proudly he stood behind his stall, a robust and jovial figure with a hearty laugh and a twinkle in his eye that spoke of a deep passion for his craft.

The vendor's stall was a feast for the senses, with rows of succulent meats displayed on hooks and platters, each one expertly seasoned and cooked to perfection.

The aroma of sizzling meat wafted through the air, mingling with the chatter of customers and the clinking of coins.

As Sokka strode purposefully towards the stall, his eyes remained locked on the tantalizing array of meats on display, his mouth watering in anticipation.

It was as if he had found an oasis in the desert, a beacon of hope amidst the wilderness, and nothing could distract him from his quest to savor every mouthful of meaty goodness.

However, as he made his way over the cobblestone, his foot suddenly caught on a loose one, sending him stumbling forward.

Behind him, always quick on her reflexes, Toph promptly reached out to steady him, but in doing so, she accidentally knocked over a stack of crates to their left, spilling their contents onto the ground.

"Oops!" she quipped in a lighthearted tone, and as if totally unfazed by the mishap, she started gathering the crates around her.

Sokka also decided to help, but as he reached for a crate of vegetables, a sudden gust of wind caused the crate to topple over, spilling its contents onto the ground.

Hurriedly, he scrambled to pick up the scattered vegetables, but his efforts only seemed to make things worse.

As he reached for a particularly slippery daikon radish, he accidentally stepped on it, causing him to lose his balance again and tumble into the nearby stack of crates that Toph had just assembled.

The crates teetered precariously before toppling over once more, now in a domino effect, sending a cascade of fruits and vegetables rolling down the streets.

The people around them stared at them as the chaos ensued with Sokka and Toph in the center of it, surrounded by a sea of produce.

"Okay folks!" Toph called out with her hands in the air. "Show's over. No charge for the impromptu entertainment!"

Embarrassed and flustered, Sokka attempted to apologize profusely to the vendor.

"Don't worry, kid," the vendor said in a resigned sigh. "That's life for ya around here."

Sokka raised an eyebrow at him.

"What do you mean?"

The vendor looked at them with a solemn expression on his face, while his voice was tinged with a hint of resignation.

"If it's your first time here, travelers, then welcome! But I must warn ya. You've arrived in a place touched by misfortune. This village's been plagued by a string of bad luck for as long as anyone can remember."

Despite the gravity of his words, there was a sense of resilience in his tone, as if he had resigned himself to the challenges of living in a village surrounded by bad luck.

"People fall, crops fail, landslides happen - all with alarming frequency. Some say it's the mountain's restless spirit, while others blame it on an ancient curse. Whatever the cause, the people here've learned to live with it."

He offered the couple a sympathetic smile, acknowledging their arrival with a mixture of gratitude and caution.

Toph and Sokka looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Bad luck, huh?" Sokka repeated, raising a hand to his chin.

His mind raced with questions as he wondered what the reason might be.

An ancient curse?

What kind of curse?

Who would want to curse this village and why?

Did he say a restless spirit of the mountain?

What would cause a mountain spirit to become restless around here?

Did it not like the villagers?

Had they done something to disturb it?

He recalled back in the days when he and the group had stumbled upon Senlin Village where a crazy panda monster spirit had wreaked havoc after his forest had been destroyed by the Fire Nation.

Sokka felt a spark igniting within him, and his expression shifted from curiosity to an intense determination.

He leaned forward, hanging onto every word, his mind racing with possibilities and theories.

"This is fascinating!," he murmured, his voice filled with excitement. "A village shrouded in mystery, plagued by bad luck… There's got to be a logical explanation behind it all."

He drummed his fingers against his chin as he pondered the situation, his mind already formulating hypotheses and strategies.

"Maybe it's geological," he mused aloud, his eyes gleaming with intellectual curiosity.

"Oh no, no you don't…" Toph grunted wryly, before she reached up to grab hold of the fabric of Sokka's clothes around his neck, her grip firm. "Not this time, eager-beaver."

With a tug, she pulled Sokka away from the vendor and from his intense contemplation, her strength belying her small stature, as she redirected his focus.

"But Toph!" Sokka started, but he clasped his lips shut when he saw her piercing him with eyes that spelled murder.

"We've got bigger fish to fry right now!" she growled. "I know solving mysteries is fun and all, but that's not why we're here."

Sokka slumped his shoulders and lowered his chin.

Her rejection felt like a halt to his momentum, leaving him feeling deflated and disappointed.

Her words did carry weight, however, and reminded him of the gravity of their mission.

He knew that she was right.

They had to get to Ba Sing Se, and they had to get there fast.

So with bellies full of sweet and sour duck spit-roast and jook, they soon left the village of bad luck behind and steered for the Earth Kingdom capital.