THE AVATAR AND THE BADGERMOLE

This story was written for Kayasuri-n.

PROLOGUE: THE CURSE

Once upon a time, there was a girl in the Earth Kingdom who refused to bind her feet. The girl belonged to a wealthy and powerful family, and while she was as beautiful and delicate in her looks as a porcelain doll, she had a will of steel. Her parents, however, only saw a sickly and stubborn girl. Had she not been blind or had weak lungs, they might have had the footbinder mold her feet into the curls of a lotus bud. Not only would that have insured a good match for the girl, but the breaking of her bones would have surely softened her obstinacy.

Yet the couple, after so many miscarriages, could not bear to risk their only child's health. Though her flat feet would be ill-fitting for a lady of high society, they allowed the girl to have her way. Had they known what their leniency would allow, they might have called for the footbinder instead, but as it was, the girl grew ever more willful. She was gifted with earthbending, but refused to practice its more delicate forms. Instead, she fought with the other nobles' sons and ran amok with peasants. She toyed with gamblers on the streets and stole food from the merchants' booths. Even at fifteen, she showed no signs of becoming the sweet and demure lady she was supposed to be.

At a loss, her parents arranged a match for her. Surely marriage and children would settle the girl's wild spirit? But the girl, hearing wind of this - for her ears were as keen as an elephant mouse's - refused to bow to their wishes. "I'm not going to marry some prissy guy who smells like flowers!" she declared.

"You will," her father insisted, "because it is your duty to our family. You will marry by the end of summer. You have until then to prepare for your new life."

The girl, knowing that she could not change their minds, prepared in a different way than they had intended. She packed a bag of clothes and food enough for a week. Then, in the dead of night, she sneaked away to the mountains, where she came upon the caves of the great badgermoles. There she stayed, befriending the beasts and learning their ways. They were powerful earthbenders and more skilled than any of her human tutors.

One day, covered in dirt and mud, the girl laughed and said, "This is great! I can do whatever I want and no one will whine at me to stop! I'm never going back!"

Unbeknownst to her, a spirit of the mountains was listening. He came to her and asked, "What of your family? Do you know how desperate they are to find you? Do you know that your father has repented of his sternness and that your mother fills her teacup with tears? Will you not return to them, knowing this?"

The girl considered and shook her head. "Nah. Sure, they're sorry now, but give it a month and they'll be wanting me to get hitched again. Not my style, spooky."

"So you refuse, even though it means turning your back on you duty and your family?"

"They turned their backs on me first!" the girl protested. "I'd rather be a badgermole than go back!"

And the spirit, deeply offended by her lack of filial piety, said, "So be it."

The spirit cursed the girl. When she woke, she found that she was covered in fur, had claws for hands, and had a huge, lumbering body. The spirit told her, "Since you are a selfish, beastly girl, I have given you a fitting shape. Only a great act of selflessness on your part - and a selfless act done for your sake - will break the curse and return you to your human form."

Shocked and indignant, the girl said, "You're punishing me because I didn't want to go home? They were going to make me marry some snobby lord I don't even know! That's not fair - I'm just a kid!"

"You are a child no longer. Now you are a badgermole, just as you wished."

The girl was quiet for a long moment, then wiggled her nose and said, "Cool!"

This was not the reaction the spirit had been hoping for. Had the girl repented and agreed to return to her parents and fulfill her duty, he might had reversed the curse. Since she had not, he said, "Remember my words: Only a selfless act given and received will break your curse."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. Now scram!"

The spirit left. Over the following moons, the girl grew used to her new body and eating the grubs she suddenly craved. She delighted in never having to bathe and in the newfound strength of her lungs and limbs. She reveled in how powerful her bending now was and spent her days expanding the caves and tunnels of the mountains. This was her realm now. She finally felt like she belonged somewhere, thanks to that fool of a spirit who thought his transformation was a curse. The joke was on him - she was loving every minute of it!

Then, without her realizing it, the end of the summer came and went.

One morning, the girl awoke to the smell of smoke and heard shouts on the wind. As the other badgermoles cowered around her, the girl journeyed down to the foothills. She was curious at first, then horrified to discover that her city was under attack. Firebenders were setting the houses, farms, and fields alight. Harnessing the earth, she hurled it at them to drive them back. While they regrouped, she tunneled to her family's manor.

When she arrived, she listened for the sounds of battle above. She heard skirmishes along the outer walls, but none in the inner grounds. She felt a moment of relief, but her ears were now keen enough to hear her parents quarreling, even below fifty feet of soil. As she listened, her stomach churned.

"-I wish that Toph were here," her mother said. "She was always so good at bending. She could have helped-"

"She's the reason they're here!" her father argued. "She was supposed to marry the general's son! If she had done her duty, none of this would be happening!"

Then Toph heard the wails of dying men and the sound of wood shattering. As her mother screamed and her father unsheathed his sword, she tunneled up and burst from the floor. Soon she could no longer think about what her parents had said, because she had the most important fight of her life to win. She raised barriers around her parents and swung rocks at the attacking soldiers. She swiped with her claws and felt them rip through armor, flesh, and bone. She roared as fire singed her fur and arrows and blades sank into her hide. The smells of burning hair and meat and blood stung in her nose, but eventually, the room grew quiet. The only heartbeats she heard were those of her parents.

Bloodied from her wounds and from the gore of those she'd killed, she lowered the rock walls around her parents. She wanted to sink to the floor and cry with relief, but scrambled back when her father leveled his sword at her. "Get back!" he howled, his body tense and vibrating.

What was he doing? "Dad, Mom, it's me, Toph!" she said.

Her father swung his sword and cut her cheek. As she squealed and pitched back, he shouted, "I don't fear you!" though his smell was sour with it.

"Can't you hear me? I'm your daughter-"

He lunged at her. She barely managed to roll away, hitting a heavy piece of furniture as she did. She tried to speak again, but suddenly heard a low rumble beneath her words, like the sound of an avalanche. It was the sound of a badgermole's growls, which was all they heard. Her parents couldn't understand anything she was saying.

"No!" her mother yelled, stumbling towards her and whatever it was she'd backed into.

Toph felt a flicker of hope, but her mother skirted around her. Toph stomped down a paw, seeing with the vibrations it sent out. There was a table with crushed flowers, broken sticks of incense, and a flat item that her mother snatched up. As she hurried back to Toph's father, he shouted, "Don't be stupid! It's just a portrait! Toph wouldn't have wanted you to risk your life for that!"

"It's all we have left of her!" her mother cried. Toph could hear tears hitting the floor.

It was then that the pieces came together. Her parents thought she was dead. She had no voice to tell them otherwise. She couldn't even write a message to them, because she'd refused to learn the bump language they'd tried to teach her. And now she was paying for that and for so much more, just like the spirit had said.

When she heard her family's guards coming their way, shouting for their lord and lady, she hurled herself back into the tunnel. What else could she do? Unless she could find a way to make them understand her, they would only ever see her as a dangerous beast. It might be that only spirits - and people who could talk to spirits - could understand her now. Was there anyone in her parents' lands who could do that? She hadn't heard of anyone, except for the Avatar, who hadn't been seen in years. But she had to start somewhere.

Toph plunged her claws through the earth and burrowed her way south.