Damascus
- Thread starter drakensis
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Mai didn't wait for the firebender to hit the paving slabs courtesy of her thrown fan before she was racing down the the amphitheatre towards Toph's fallen form.
The soldiers, distracted by ten rampaging komodo rhinos and the fleeing women and children, had actually fallen prey to the Kyoshi Warriors with startling ease. In fact, they probably hadn't even noticed that they were under attack until Mai's desperate cry of warning to Toph, by which time eight of them were already down - a pair of them literally trampled by fleeing women and children, two of them recipients Mai's knives, Shu-Lin throwing one unfortunate off the cliff, two flat on the ground with concussions thanks to June and one crushed between the two komodo rhinos he was trying to control.
As she ran, Mai unloaded a full salvo from her dart launcher into a firebender trying to block what looked to him like an attempt to finish off the prince, and then spun her remaining fan into one of a pair of soldiers who was fighting off Shu-Lin entirely too close to where Mai's sister lay. Now faced with only one opponent, the Kyoshi Warrior smoothly cut him down with her sword and then moved to aid Jun.
Scrambling down to Toph, she rolled the small girl over onto her back, flinching as she saw the terrible burn scorched through both the armour and the robes. The metal plates had been almost vaporised over the wound and blackened cloth and flesh were literally smoking before her eyes. Fearfully Mai pressed her fingertips against Toph's throat and was relieved to feel a pulse - weak, slower than she would like, but Toph's heart was still beating. When she looked closely she thought she could see a slight movement of the younger girl's chest.
Pulling out three of her throwing knives, Mai rose and stalked over to the man who had hurled lightning into her little sister. Another fire bender made the mistake of trying to stop her and fell to the ground, one of the knives buried in his throat. Reaching her target, Mai kicked the stunned man over onto his back and had drawn back her hand to finish him off when the light flickered giving her a clearer view of his face. Her eyes went wide and the two throwing knives slipped from suddenly nerveless fingers.
"A little help here, Mai!" called June from where she was holding off three of the remaining firebenders from the back of a komodo rhino. One of them had already managed to catch her with a small bolt of fire, marked by the flames still rising from her sleeve.
Mai straightened and without turning her head fired one of her remaining dart launchers three times. One of the soldiers crumpled with a scream, clutching at his knee where a dart had punctured the thinner protection behind the joint. A second simply fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, the tail-feathers of a dart barely visible where it had buried itself in the armpit. June's eyes crossed as she tried to track the third dart, which passed within a few inches of her face... and punched between the open lips of the third firebender.
"Scary girl," the one time bounty hunter sighed, kicking the one survivor of the three in the face to ensure he stayed down. Then she looked around for the next opponent, casually beating out the flames now that she had a free hand.
Down in the amphitheatre, Mai came to a decision and used the front of Zuko's shirt to pull his shoulders up from the stones. His eyes opened blearily and failed to focus upon her squarely. "Mai?" he muttered.
"Jerk," she replied tersely and punched him across the jaw with the heel of her free hand. The prince's head bounced off the ground and he lay still.
Shu-Lin dove under a stream of fire and thrust upwards with her sword into the firebender before rolling to her feet. Suddenly the three Kyoshi Warriors were the only ones still standing. June and Shu-Lin coverged upon their leader's position.
"How's the runt?" June asked bluntly.
"Alive," Mai reported bluntly. "Your arm?"
"Nothing to worry about," the older woman insisted.
Mai looked around at the wreckage. "We need to tidy this up. Shu-lin drive off the komodo rhinos. June, throw the enemy soldiers off the cliff. The tide will dispose of them."
"What about the wounded?"
Mai stared at her blankly.
"Right." June reached for Zuko but Mai shook her head.
"Not this one. We're taking him with us."
"You know him?" Shu-Lin asked. "And since when was Toph a firebender?"
"I'll tell you on the boat," decided Mai and headed back towards Toph.
.oOo.
Getting down the cliff with an unconcious Toph and Zuko proved to be complicated. In the end it proved necessary to improvise a sling and lower them one at a time directly over the cliff with Shu-Lin climbing down alongside Toph to ensure she didn't come to harm. They weren't quite as careful with Zuko since his injuries weren't as likely to be aggravated and frankly, none of them were particularly bothered about adding more bruises to his collection.
"So," Shu-Lin asked as June pushed the canoe off from the shore. "Explanations?"
Mai didn't look up from her paddling. "His name is Zuko. After Toph discovered she was a firebender, he was her teacher for a little while."
The other two looked at each other. "A little more detail could help," suggested June. "I've seen Toph Earthbending. She's never been... all that great, honestly. And now she's firebending as well?"
Shu-Lin was practically glowing as she paddled. "She's the Avatar, isn't she? Why didn't you tell anyone?"
Mai made a frustrated noise. "She was attacked by her parents." She ignored the hiss from Shu-Lin. "They didn't want their blind little girl to be a bender, so they had someone do something to her. I don't know the details, but something to do with her chi. You've seen her bending... that's as much as she can do."
June was the one to put it together. "The Fire Nation's been looking for the next Avatar ever since the Battle of the Three Dragons. Right now, they know she must only be a child. If they find out she's blind, that she only has a limited ability to bend... they'll know that they don't have to fear her any more. And morale in the Earth Kingdom would collapse: they've been hoping for a powerful, aggressive Avatar to lead them against the Fire Nation."
"You said 'her parents'," Shu-Lin said slowly. "Not 'our parents'. You aren't her sister, are you?"
"After she was... hurt, she ran away," Mai said carefully, "My parents took her in. She didn't tell anyone she was an earthbender and everyone was thrilled that she was a firebender."
"So you're from the Fire Nation." There was an ugly undertone to June's conclusion. Both of of the other Kyoshi Warriors had their issues, Mai knew. Shu-Lin's were with parents, but June's were with the Fire Nation. "Why would one of them choose to throw in her lot with the Avatar?"
"She's my sister," Mai said. "Blood doesn't matter. Women are expected to join other families and be as loyal to them as they were to their parents. Marriage, or adoption, it doesn't matter. Would you abandon a sister?"
June clenched her fist, but Shu Lin stopped paddling for a moment. "Kyoshi Warriors do not leave their sisters behind," she reminded the other woman. "Would you have left Toph and I after she challenged him to that duel?"
"...no," June admitted grudgingly. She looked down at Zuko. "What about this one? He'd be a very ugly sister. Why spare him? He already almost killed Toph. When he finds out she's the Avatar..."
Mai shrugged, feigning indifference. "He's important within the Fire Nation. Too important to just vanish without anyone looking for him. Suki's going to need to decide what happens to him."
"Does she know?" asked Shu-Lin. "About Toph, I mean?"
"I haven't told her. But I'm sure she suspects something."
They paddled in silence the rest of the way.
.oOo.
She could feel the cold stone beneath her feet, but it seemed cold and dead, no vibrations to tell her anything more than what she was touching. Cold terror seemed to paralyse her. Had her earthsense deserted her completely.
Toph felt a small hand touch hers.
"Hello Toph. I've been looking forward to meeting you." A boy's voice, young, from in front of her.
The smack of her fist touching flesh was startling and her hand was empty once more. "Who are you!? What have you done to me!?"
"Ow!" Indignance more than pain. "You didn't have to hit me!"
She could hear him, she knew his approximate location and sank into an earthbending stance. "Answers!"
"I didn't do anything!" the boy protested quickly. "You're in the spirit world, no one can bend here."
Whatever she'd expected, this wasn't it. "I'm... dead?"
There was the pad of light feet on stone and she could hear his breathing, closer now. Not quite in arm's reach. He feared her. Good.
"Not quite. It could still go either way." He sighed. "There's someone who wants to speak to you. Come with me?"
"I'm not going anywhere," Toph retorted automatically. "Not with someone I don't know, who just sneaks up on me."
"Really I'm a friend," the boy promised. There was a whoof of air from his direction and Toph heard heavier footsteps, far too heavy to be a person and... six legs? Sounded like whatever it was must be as large as a badgermole, perhaps larger. "And this is Appa. He's a friend too, aren't you boy?" There was an agreeable rumble from the animal.
"I've not been having the best of luck with friends lately," Toph pointed out warily. "In case you didn't notice, the reason I'm here is that my former firebending teacher decided to hit me with some freaky attack."
The boy hesitated. "You realise that he didn't know who you were?"
"I guessed when he didn't realise I was a firebender," Toph shrugged. "I guess all that facepainting must really work afterall."
"It really does," he agreed cheerfully. "So, come on. Your spirit guide awaits."
Toph glared. "You're my spirit guide?"
"Well, no. She sent me to bring you to her..."
"So you're what? The hired help?" Toph asked incredulously. How gullible did he think she was? For all she could tell he might be about to feed her to that big Appa of his. He hadn't even told her his name!
"No, I'm Aang!"
Okay, now he'd told her his name. Wait... Aang? "Eew! I knew that Bumi guy was creepy, but having fun with a little boy? That's just sick."
"You know Bumi?" Aang sounded surprised. "Wait, what do you mean sick. He's a great guy. We used to play on the mail slides when he was a kid."
"When he was a kid?" exclaimed Toph. "But he's ancient and you're like, eight or something."
"I'm a hundred and twelve!"
"Months, maybe."
Aang groaned in frustration. "I'm dead, alright? People stop getting older when they die. I was only twelve when I died. Bumi's been alive the whole time, that's why he looks older than me." He took her hand again and started pulling at her again, but couldn't shift her from her stance.
"Listen, lightweight, no one takes me anywhere I don't want to. Bumi says hi, he misses all the fun, now buzz off."
"Oh really?" There was a mischievous sound to Aang's voice. "Appa, give me a hand here, buddy." The big creature mooed accomodatingly and Toph braced herself, for all the good it did when several tons of herbivore butted her gently but firmly off her feet. Grabbing blindly for something - anything - to break her hold, Toph latched onto something long and smooth, only to be lifted clean off the ground when it moved upwards.
"Good work, boy," Aang said cheerfully. "Now, yip yip!"
There was a whoof of air and Toph screamed in mingled fear and indignation as her stomach advised her that she was being lifted higher and higher off the ground, dangling from the horn of the sky bison as it ascended into the air.
.oOo.
Suki was waiting at the dock when the canoe arrived. After months of practise Mai could make out the emotions beneath the mask of warpaint and she could tell the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors was concerned by the fact that only three figures were visible above the gunwhales of the boat. "What happened?" she asked immediately, catching hold of the rope that Mai threw her from the bow.
"Toph is injured, and we have a prisoner," Mai said, indicating the two prone forms lying in the bottom of the canoe. "Chin Village has been destroyed. The women and children were fleeing the area, last that we saw of them. They only saw Toph and other than this one, all the Fire Nation soldiers are dead."
"Shu-Lin, go fetch a healer," Suki ordered quickly. "June, take the prisoner and secure him. Don't do anything to him until I hear Mai's report. Is he a bender?" When she heard confirmation she nodded firmly. "If necessary, ask the healers for a sleeping draft. Better he doesn't wake up until I make a decision on what to do with him."
The other two Kyoshi Warriors climbed onto the jetty, June carrying Zuko over her shoulder. Suki looked down at Toph and shook her head. "I shouldn't have let you take her with you."
Mai said nothing, instead lifting her sister gently up so that Suki could take her. Beneath her make-up Suki paled at the wound. Toph seemed to weigh almost nothing and her breathing was so faint that only a slight warmth to her body showed she was still alive. "I know, you know. That she's the Avatar." There was still no response from Mai as the girl jumped up onto the jetty. "Who did this?"
Toph's sister pointed to where Jun was barely visible in the distance.
"If she dies, he dies," Suki swore. "What sort of monster would do this to a child."
"She'd be offended to be called a child," Mai said, her voice betraying uncertainty as to what to feel about the matter. "Toph challenged him to a duel. I don't know why he accepted."
Suki shrugged and started towards the shore, careful not to shake Toph around. "I meant what I said there," she added flatly. "I don't care how valuable he might turn out to be..."
"He's the Fire Lords's son."
"He's the wha-!?" Suki half-screamed, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "What do you mean he's the Fire Lord's son?"
"I mean that Ozai is his father. What else would I mean?"
"Are you sure?" asked Suki, nervously. First the Avatar, and now a Prince of the Fire Nation? What next, the Earth King arriving on a dancing bear?
"Pretty much," Mai said. "I lied about being a merchant's daughter. My family is an old one in the Fire Nation. I went to school with Zuko's sister, so I saw him every now and then."
If Suki hadn't been carrying Toph she would have slapped Mai, so she did the logical thing. As soon as she put Toph down on the grass at the end of the jetty, she cracked a backhanded blow across the taller girl's face, knocking her from her feet.
"I probably deserved that," Mai conceded numbly, sitting up.
"So what's Toph's story? Your father's byblow?" Suki asked angrily. "Is she even your sister at all?"
"Toph's a runaway," Mai said quietly. "Family means more than blood in the Fire Nation. When my parents took her in, she became my sister in every way that matters. When my brother was abducted, Toph risked her own life to save him. When I learnt she was the Avatar, I left my parents to protect her from the Fire Nation. I've given up everything else in my life, even..." She shook her head. "Don't ever say she isn't my sister."
Suki stared down at her. "I should probably lock you away with your firebender friend," she said at last. "For the Avatar's sake, I won't do that. But if you ever give me even the slightest reason to doubt you again, one deception... I'll think of a way to explain your death to her."
.oOo.
"Here we are!" Aang announced happily as Appa's feet touched the ground.
"Great," Toph grumbled and let go of the horn, landing lightly on dusty stones that felt somewhat like a path to her feet. Feeling the sky bison whuffle against her, she used her hands to feel her way across his face and then grabbed the huge beast by the nostrils and tugged downwards. "Don't ever do that again!" she roared at the top of her voice.
Appa squealed and tried to back away from the crazy small person. When that didn't work, he opened his mouth and blew, trying to dislodge her but he had to stop when she refused and the pulling on his sensitive nose grew too painful.
"Leave him alone!" Aang protested, running around and grabbing Toph's ankles, trying to pull her away. As she was still refusing to release Appa, this let to a bellow of protest from the unfortunate sky bison. "Let go!"
"You let go!"
Another bellow from Appa was followed by a torrent of water descending upon them all. "You can play later, children," a new voice declared. Older, female. Not an accent that Toph recognised. Aang obediently dropped her ankles.
"Who are you?" the young earthbender demanded, not letting go yet.
"She's your spirit guide," Aang hissed.
"So why did you send muppet here to come get me." Toph asked, letting go of Appa, who prudently backed away. She felt Aang brush past her as he rushed to comfort his companion.
"I had several reasons, Toph," the woman said in a grandmotherly tone. "Come, sit with me."
Grudgingly, Toph obeyed. But only because she wanted to anyway!
"Unlike my two predecessors, I do not have a spirit companion to carry me across the world," the old woman told her. "And I felt that you might prefer to be met by someone your age, rather than by an lady of a certain age."
"You aren't old, Kanna," a man's voice said from nearby. "Not compared to Kyoshi, anyway."
"Don't you have anywhere to be, Roku?" the woman's voice - Kanna, presumably - asked pointedly.
Toph jumped to her feet. "You're... you're Avatars!" she burst out, backing away. "What do you want with me!"
She heard the man approach and then he paused and she heard his robes rustling on the ground. He's... kneeling? What? "For myself, Toph, all I wish to do is to apologise on behalf of my great-grandson."
"Who?" she blurted.
"My grand-daughter is wed to the Fire Lord Ozai," Roku explained. "Therefore Zuko is my descendant."
Toph shrugged. "You aren't to blame for what he did," she said reasonably. "If you're responsible for what he did then I'd be responsble for what my - yeah. Never mind."
"You are not to blame for your parents' actions."
"Well if you know that, then what are you bringing it up for?" Toph asked.
Roku chuckled and then she could hear his robes brushing around his knees as Kanna cleared her throat. "Yes Kanna, I'm done now," he promised.
"I'm sure you have many questions," Kanna said gently to Toph. "I asked Aang to bring you here so that I can answer them."
Toph sat down cautiously. "You're the one with the plan, why don't you start."
"Very well then. You are the Avatar, Toph. Roku, myself and even Aang are your past - just a few of the thousands of lives that you have lived, protecting the balance between the four elements, and between the mortal world and this one. And you have never been more badly needed. The Fire Nation is badly out of control. Unless they are checked they will use the power granted by Sozin's Comet to catastrophically destroy all balance between the elements. I know that it is not fair for you to carry that burden so young, but I believe that you can restore the balance."
Toph shook her head. "That doesn't make sense. I mean, I know the history - Sozin destroyed the Air Nomads, but the world didn't collapse because of that. It's not as if all the air vanished when the Air Nomads were wiped out. I don't want the Fire Nation to conquer everyone, but it's not going to destroy the world."
"In that you are wrong," Kanna said quietly. "The Fire Lords' ambitions know no bounds. When they struck at the Northern Water Tribes, they not only destroyed the civilisation there, they also attempted to kill the spirits Tui and La, the Ocean and the Moon. The consequences had they succeeded would have been disasterous for all concerned. It was only with a great deal of luck that I was able to save them and to spirit away a few survivors to a refuge near the South Pole." She chuckled drily. "That was a joke: 'spirit away'?"
"Yeah, keep trying."
"For much of my life," Kanna continued, "I devoted my attention to repairing the damage caused by the Fire Nation. I did not confront them directly - perhaps I was influenced too greatly by the customs of my own people, who believed that women should use waterbending only to heal. I found the more confrontational ways of earthbending very difficult to learn and fire even harder. By the time I was ready to study airbending, the Air Nomads had been extinct for almost half a century. Because of this, the Fire Lords have been free to ravage the world for generations. When I finally challenged them, twelve years ago, I was too late. Too weak."
"And now you are the Avatar. Unlike myself and Aang, you have a warrior spirit, Toph. Indomitable, irresistable. The world needs you to do what we could not."
Toph shook her head. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly in fighting form."
"You did very well against Roku's descendant," observed Kanna.
"I lost. That's not good enough," Toph told her. "Unless you have any ideas how to repair the damage to my chakras I won't be making the Fire Lord Ozai tremble in his pointy boots."
.oOo.
Mai stared down at Zuko. The prince had been stripped of his finery and chained to a wall in one of the few stone buildings of the village. He had been kept sedated for several days, but the healers had warned that continuing doses would be damaging and so Suki had decided to allow him to wake. In case he tried to break loose - and not only Suki but also several islanders familiar with bending had questioned Mai intensively on his capabilities - two Kyoshi Warriors were assigned to guard him at all times.
She had not been trusted with that responsibility. Mai had barely left Toph's side, sleeping on a mat in the same room where healers kept the younger girl under constant supervision. Toph had not woken in all that time, slipping into a coma. None of the healers had been tactless enough to comment within Mai's hearing on the likelihood of Toph never waking, but Suki had relayed their estimations with brutal honesty.
"Stop brooding about Toph," Suki ordered. Zuko was expected to wake at some point that afternoon and the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors intended to interrogate him immediately, so she was waiting in the same building, taking the opportunity to read reports from the various detachments around the island. "I know what the healers said, but I've sent word to some allies of ours. They have excellent healers and I'm sure that they'll send someone able to help her."
Mai hmmed noncommittally and looked away. She would feel better if Suki was willing to tell her who these allies were, but she supposed that it was too late to look for trust between the two of them. After a moment she looked again at Zuko. Stubble was visible across his head but the locks that had been part of his topknot were still obvious in contrast. Mai could not think what he had been thinking to start wearing his hair in that ridiculous fashion.
Because she was looking at him, she was the first to see his eyelids flickering. "He's waking up," she warned and stepped back, allowing the two guards to stand ready with a clear field of view towards Zuko.
Nonetheless, when his eyes opened they focused almost immediately upon her. Emotions raced across his face: shock, followed by joy and then bitter anger. Mai felt her own face stiffen into immobility in response. Carefully, testing his limits, Zuko shifted to a sitting positon, grimacing when he realised that the chains were too short for him to be able to stand. Slowly, he looked around the room, measuring all four of the Kyoshi Warriors.
"So you have me prisoner," he concluded. "What now? You must realise that you have a dragon by the tail, safe only as long as you can hold on." He took a deep breath, centring himself and then caught Mai's eye. "Perhaps not even then."
"I've given serious thought to killing you," Suki admitted candidly. "You are Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, or so I'm told. I've heard a great deal about your recent activities on the mainland. Most of it does not lead me to believe that your death would be a tragedy."
"I thought I heard someone call Toph's name," Zuko noted, "Just before I was knocked out. Is she alive too?"
There was a deadly silence.
"Thus far. No thanks to you," answered Suki.
"Wh-" Horrified realisation crossed Zuko's face. "That was her? Damn you Mai, it wasn't enough that you'd betray m- your people, you dragged her into it. You let me fight her?"
"Let?" Mai asked, coldly. Mockingly. Was this the Zuko she thought she knew. "You don't know Toph as well as you think, your highness."
"You should know," Suki added, taking the advantage of Zuko's consernation, "That if Toph does die of her wounds I'll be burying you next to her." Her smile was horrible. "If I'm feeling merciful, maybe I'll kill you first."
Zuko looked at her in surprise and then nodded his head slowly. "In that case, I offer my services as a healer." His lips curled. "I certainly have ample motivation to want her to survive... and I'm a firebender. Treating burns is something I'm used to."
Suki shook her head. "We'll see. For now, I have some questions for you."
The soldiers, distracted by ten rampaging komodo rhinos and the fleeing women and children, had actually fallen prey to the Kyoshi Warriors with startling ease. In fact, they probably hadn't even noticed that they were under attack until Mai's desperate cry of warning to Toph, by which time eight of them were already down - a pair of them literally trampled by fleeing women and children, two of them recipients Mai's knives, Shu-Lin throwing one unfortunate off the cliff, two flat on the ground with concussions thanks to June and one crushed between the two komodo rhinos he was trying to control.
As she ran, Mai unloaded a full salvo from her dart launcher into a firebender trying to block what looked to him like an attempt to finish off the prince, and then spun her remaining fan into one of a pair of soldiers who was fighting off Shu-Lin entirely too close to where Mai's sister lay. Now faced with only one opponent, the Kyoshi Warrior smoothly cut him down with her sword and then moved to aid Jun.
Scrambling down to Toph, she rolled the small girl over onto her back, flinching as she saw the terrible burn scorched through both the armour and the robes. The metal plates had been almost vaporised over the wound and blackened cloth and flesh were literally smoking before her eyes. Fearfully Mai pressed her fingertips against Toph's throat and was relieved to feel a pulse - weak, slower than she would like, but Toph's heart was still beating. When she looked closely she thought she could see a slight movement of the younger girl's chest.
Pulling out three of her throwing knives, Mai rose and stalked over to the man who had hurled lightning into her little sister. Another fire bender made the mistake of trying to stop her and fell to the ground, one of the knives buried in his throat. Reaching her target, Mai kicked the stunned man over onto his back and had drawn back her hand to finish him off when the light flickered giving her a clearer view of his face. Her eyes went wide and the two throwing knives slipped from suddenly nerveless fingers.
"A little help here, Mai!" called June from where she was holding off three of the remaining firebenders from the back of a komodo rhino. One of them had already managed to catch her with a small bolt of fire, marked by the flames still rising from her sleeve.
Mai straightened and without turning her head fired one of her remaining dart launchers three times. One of the soldiers crumpled with a scream, clutching at his knee where a dart had punctured the thinner protection behind the joint. A second simply fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, the tail-feathers of a dart barely visible where it had buried itself in the armpit. June's eyes crossed as she tried to track the third dart, which passed within a few inches of her face... and punched between the open lips of the third firebender.
"Scary girl," the one time bounty hunter sighed, kicking the one survivor of the three in the face to ensure he stayed down. Then she looked around for the next opponent, casually beating out the flames now that she had a free hand.
Down in the amphitheatre, Mai came to a decision and used the front of Zuko's shirt to pull his shoulders up from the stones. His eyes opened blearily and failed to focus upon her squarely. "Mai?" he muttered.
"Jerk," she replied tersely and punched him across the jaw with the heel of her free hand. The prince's head bounced off the ground and he lay still.
Shu-Lin dove under a stream of fire and thrust upwards with her sword into the firebender before rolling to her feet. Suddenly the three Kyoshi Warriors were the only ones still standing. June and Shu-Lin coverged upon their leader's position.
"How's the runt?" June asked bluntly.
"Alive," Mai reported bluntly. "Your arm?"
"Nothing to worry about," the older woman insisted.
Mai looked around at the wreckage. "We need to tidy this up. Shu-lin drive off the komodo rhinos. June, throw the enemy soldiers off the cliff. The tide will dispose of them."
"What about the wounded?"
Mai stared at her blankly.
"Right." June reached for Zuko but Mai shook her head.
"Not this one. We're taking him with us."
"You know him?" Shu-Lin asked. "And since when was Toph a firebender?"
"I'll tell you on the boat," decided Mai and headed back towards Toph.
.oOo.
Getting down the cliff with an unconcious Toph and Zuko proved to be complicated. In the end it proved necessary to improvise a sling and lower them one at a time directly over the cliff with Shu-Lin climbing down alongside Toph to ensure she didn't come to harm. They weren't quite as careful with Zuko since his injuries weren't as likely to be aggravated and frankly, none of them were particularly bothered about adding more bruises to his collection.
"So," Shu-Lin asked as June pushed the canoe off from the shore. "Explanations?"
Mai didn't look up from her paddling. "His name is Zuko. After Toph discovered she was a firebender, he was her teacher for a little while."
The other two looked at each other. "A little more detail could help," suggested June. "I've seen Toph Earthbending. She's never been... all that great, honestly. And now she's firebending as well?"
Shu-Lin was practically glowing as she paddled. "She's the Avatar, isn't she? Why didn't you tell anyone?"
Mai made a frustrated noise. "She was attacked by her parents." She ignored the hiss from Shu-Lin. "They didn't want their blind little girl to be a bender, so they had someone do something to her. I don't know the details, but something to do with her chi. You've seen her bending... that's as much as she can do."
June was the one to put it together. "The Fire Nation's been looking for the next Avatar ever since the Battle of the Three Dragons. Right now, they know she must only be a child. If they find out she's blind, that she only has a limited ability to bend... they'll know that they don't have to fear her any more. And morale in the Earth Kingdom would collapse: they've been hoping for a powerful, aggressive Avatar to lead them against the Fire Nation."
"You said 'her parents'," Shu-Lin said slowly. "Not 'our parents'. You aren't her sister, are you?"
"After she was... hurt, she ran away," Mai said carefully, "My parents took her in. She didn't tell anyone she was an earthbender and everyone was thrilled that she was a firebender."
"So you're from the Fire Nation." There was an ugly undertone to June's conclusion. Both of of the other Kyoshi Warriors had their issues, Mai knew. Shu-Lin's were with parents, but June's were with the Fire Nation. "Why would one of them choose to throw in her lot with the Avatar?"
"She's my sister," Mai said. "Blood doesn't matter. Women are expected to join other families and be as loyal to them as they were to their parents. Marriage, or adoption, it doesn't matter. Would you abandon a sister?"
June clenched her fist, but Shu Lin stopped paddling for a moment. "Kyoshi Warriors do not leave their sisters behind," she reminded the other woman. "Would you have left Toph and I after she challenged him to that duel?"
"...no," June admitted grudgingly. She looked down at Zuko. "What about this one? He'd be a very ugly sister. Why spare him? He already almost killed Toph. When he finds out she's the Avatar..."
Mai shrugged, feigning indifference. "He's important within the Fire Nation. Too important to just vanish without anyone looking for him. Suki's going to need to decide what happens to him."
"Does she know?" asked Shu-Lin. "About Toph, I mean?"
"I haven't told her. But I'm sure she suspects something."
They paddled in silence the rest of the way.
.oOo.
She could feel the cold stone beneath her feet, but it seemed cold and dead, no vibrations to tell her anything more than what she was touching. Cold terror seemed to paralyse her. Had her earthsense deserted her completely.
Toph felt a small hand touch hers.
"Hello Toph. I've been looking forward to meeting you." A boy's voice, young, from in front of her.
The smack of her fist touching flesh was startling and her hand was empty once more. "Who are you!? What have you done to me!?"
"Ow!" Indignance more than pain. "You didn't have to hit me!"
She could hear him, she knew his approximate location and sank into an earthbending stance. "Answers!"
"I didn't do anything!" the boy protested quickly. "You're in the spirit world, no one can bend here."
Whatever she'd expected, this wasn't it. "I'm... dead?"
There was the pad of light feet on stone and she could hear his breathing, closer now. Not quite in arm's reach. He feared her. Good.
"Not quite. It could still go either way." He sighed. "There's someone who wants to speak to you. Come with me?"
"I'm not going anywhere," Toph retorted automatically. "Not with someone I don't know, who just sneaks up on me."
"Really I'm a friend," the boy promised. There was a whoof of air from his direction and Toph heard heavier footsteps, far too heavy to be a person and... six legs? Sounded like whatever it was must be as large as a badgermole, perhaps larger. "And this is Appa. He's a friend too, aren't you boy?" There was an agreeable rumble from the animal.
"I've not been having the best of luck with friends lately," Toph pointed out warily. "In case you didn't notice, the reason I'm here is that my former firebending teacher decided to hit me with some freaky attack."
The boy hesitated. "You realise that he didn't know who you were?"
"I guessed when he didn't realise I was a firebender," Toph shrugged. "I guess all that facepainting must really work afterall."
"It really does," he agreed cheerfully. "So, come on. Your spirit guide awaits."
Toph glared. "You're my spirit guide?"
"Well, no. She sent me to bring you to her..."
"So you're what? The hired help?" Toph asked incredulously. How gullible did he think she was? For all she could tell he might be about to feed her to that big Appa of his. He hadn't even told her his name!
"No, I'm Aang!"
Okay, now he'd told her his name. Wait... Aang? "Eew! I knew that Bumi guy was creepy, but having fun with a little boy? That's just sick."
"You know Bumi?" Aang sounded surprised. "Wait, what do you mean sick. He's a great guy. We used to play on the mail slides when he was a kid."
"When he was a kid?" exclaimed Toph. "But he's ancient and you're like, eight or something."
"I'm a hundred and twelve!"
"Months, maybe."
Aang groaned in frustration. "I'm dead, alright? People stop getting older when they die. I was only twelve when I died. Bumi's been alive the whole time, that's why he looks older than me." He took her hand again and started pulling at her again, but couldn't shift her from her stance.
"Listen, lightweight, no one takes me anywhere I don't want to. Bumi says hi, he misses all the fun, now buzz off."
"Oh really?" There was a mischievous sound to Aang's voice. "Appa, give me a hand here, buddy." The big creature mooed accomodatingly and Toph braced herself, for all the good it did when several tons of herbivore butted her gently but firmly off her feet. Grabbing blindly for something - anything - to break her hold, Toph latched onto something long and smooth, only to be lifted clean off the ground when it moved upwards.
"Good work, boy," Aang said cheerfully. "Now, yip yip!"
There was a whoof of air and Toph screamed in mingled fear and indignation as her stomach advised her that she was being lifted higher and higher off the ground, dangling from the horn of the sky bison as it ascended into the air.
.oOo.
Suki was waiting at the dock when the canoe arrived. After months of practise Mai could make out the emotions beneath the mask of warpaint and she could tell the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors was concerned by the fact that only three figures were visible above the gunwhales of the boat. "What happened?" she asked immediately, catching hold of the rope that Mai threw her from the bow.
"Toph is injured, and we have a prisoner," Mai said, indicating the two prone forms lying in the bottom of the canoe. "Chin Village has been destroyed. The women and children were fleeing the area, last that we saw of them. They only saw Toph and other than this one, all the Fire Nation soldiers are dead."
"Shu-Lin, go fetch a healer," Suki ordered quickly. "June, take the prisoner and secure him. Don't do anything to him until I hear Mai's report. Is he a bender?" When she heard confirmation she nodded firmly. "If necessary, ask the healers for a sleeping draft. Better he doesn't wake up until I make a decision on what to do with him."
The other two Kyoshi Warriors climbed onto the jetty, June carrying Zuko over her shoulder. Suki looked down at Toph and shook her head. "I shouldn't have let you take her with you."
Mai said nothing, instead lifting her sister gently up so that Suki could take her. Beneath her make-up Suki paled at the wound. Toph seemed to weigh almost nothing and her breathing was so faint that only a slight warmth to her body showed she was still alive. "I know, you know. That she's the Avatar." There was still no response from Mai as the girl jumped up onto the jetty. "Who did this?"
Toph's sister pointed to where Jun was barely visible in the distance.
"If she dies, he dies," Suki swore. "What sort of monster would do this to a child."
"She'd be offended to be called a child," Mai said, her voice betraying uncertainty as to what to feel about the matter. "Toph challenged him to a duel. I don't know why he accepted."
Suki shrugged and started towards the shore, careful not to shake Toph around. "I meant what I said there," she added flatly. "I don't care how valuable he might turn out to be..."
"He's the Fire Lords's son."
"He's the wha-!?" Suki half-screamed, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "What do you mean he's the Fire Lord's son?"
"I mean that Ozai is his father. What else would I mean?"
"Are you sure?" asked Suki, nervously. First the Avatar, and now a Prince of the Fire Nation? What next, the Earth King arriving on a dancing bear?
"Pretty much," Mai said. "I lied about being a merchant's daughter. My family is an old one in the Fire Nation. I went to school with Zuko's sister, so I saw him every now and then."
If Suki hadn't been carrying Toph she would have slapped Mai, so she did the logical thing. As soon as she put Toph down on the grass at the end of the jetty, she cracked a backhanded blow across the taller girl's face, knocking her from her feet.
"I probably deserved that," Mai conceded numbly, sitting up.
"So what's Toph's story? Your father's byblow?" Suki asked angrily. "Is she even your sister at all?"
"Toph's a runaway," Mai said quietly. "Family means more than blood in the Fire Nation. When my parents took her in, she became my sister in every way that matters. When my brother was abducted, Toph risked her own life to save him. When I learnt she was the Avatar, I left my parents to protect her from the Fire Nation. I've given up everything else in my life, even..." She shook her head. "Don't ever say she isn't my sister."
Suki stared down at her. "I should probably lock you away with your firebender friend," she said at last. "For the Avatar's sake, I won't do that. But if you ever give me even the slightest reason to doubt you again, one deception... I'll think of a way to explain your death to her."
.oOo.
"Here we are!" Aang announced happily as Appa's feet touched the ground.
"Great," Toph grumbled and let go of the horn, landing lightly on dusty stones that felt somewhat like a path to her feet. Feeling the sky bison whuffle against her, she used her hands to feel her way across his face and then grabbed the huge beast by the nostrils and tugged downwards. "Don't ever do that again!" she roared at the top of her voice.
Appa squealed and tried to back away from the crazy small person. When that didn't work, he opened his mouth and blew, trying to dislodge her but he had to stop when she refused and the pulling on his sensitive nose grew too painful.
"Leave him alone!" Aang protested, running around and grabbing Toph's ankles, trying to pull her away. As she was still refusing to release Appa, this let to a bellow of protest from the unfortunate sky bison. "Let go!"
"You let go!"
Another bellow from Appa was followed by a torrent of water descending upon them all. "You can play later, children," a new voice declared. Older, female. Not an accent that Toph recognised. Aang obediently dropped her ankles.
"Who are you?" the young earthbender demanded, not letting go yet.
"She's your spirit guide," Aang hissed.
"So why did you send muppet here to come get me." Toph asked, letting go of Appa, who prudently backed away. She felt Aang brush past her as he rushed to comfort his companion.
"I had several reasons, Toph," the woman said in a grandmotherly tone. "Come, sit with me."
Grudgingly, Toph obeyed. But only because she wanted to anyway!
"Unlike my two predecessors, I do not have a spirit companion to carry me across the world," the old woman told her. "And I felt that you might prefer to be met by someone your age, rather than by an lady of a certain age."
"You aren't old, Kanna," a man's voice said from nearby. "Not compared to Kyoshi, anyway."
"Don't you have anywhere to be, Roku?" the woman's voice - Kanna, presumably - asked pointedly.
Toph jumped to her feet. "You're... you're Avatars!" she burst out, backing away. "What do you want with me!"
She heard the man approach and then he paused and she heard his robes rustling on the ground. He's... kneeling? What? "For myself, Toph, all I wish to do is to apologise on behalf of my great-grandson."
"Who?" she blurted.
"My grand-daughter is wed to the Fire Lord Ozai," Roku explained. "Therefore Zuko is my descendant."
Toph shrugged. "You aren't to blame for what he did," she said reasonably. "If you're responsible for what he did then I'd be responsble for what my - yeah. Never mind."
"You are not to blame for your parents' actions."
"Well if you know that, then what are you bringing it up for?" Toph asked.
Roku chuckled and then she could hear his robes brushing around his knees as Kanna cleared her throat. "Yes Kanna, I'm done now," he promised.
"I'm sure you have many questions," Kanna said gently to Toph. "I asked Aang to bring you here so that I can answer them."
Toph sat down cautiously. "You're the one with the plan, why don't you start."
"Very well then. You are the Avatar, Toph. Roku, myself and even Aang are your past - just a few of the thousands of lives that you have lived, protecting the balance between the four elements, and between the mortal world and this one. And you have never been more badly needed. The Fire Nation is badly out of control. Unless they are checked they will use the power granted by Sozin's Comet to catastrophically destroy all balance between the elements. I know that it is not fair for you to carry that burden so young, but I believe that you can restore the balance."
Toph shook her head. "That doesn't make sense. I mean, I know the history - Sozin destroyed the Air Nomads, but the world didn't collapse because of that. It's not as if all the air vanished when the Air Nomads were wiped out. I don't want the Fire Nation to conquer everyone, but it's not going to destroy the world."
"In that you are wrong," Kanna said quietly. "The Fire Lords' ambitions know no bounds. When they struck at the Northern Water Tribes, they not only destroyed the civilisation there, they also attempted to kill the spirits Tui and La, the Ocean and the Moon. The consequences had they succeeded would have been disasterous for all concerned. It was only with a great deal of luck that I was able to save them and to spirit away a few survivors to a refuge near the South Pole." She chuckled drily. "That was a joke: 'spirit away'?"
"Yeah, keep trying."
"For much of my life," Kanna continued, "I devoted my attention to repairing the damage caused by the Fire Nation. I did not confront them directly - perhaps I was influenced too greatly by the customs of my own people, who believed that women should use waterbending only to heal. I found the more confrontational ways of earthbending very difficult to learn and fire even harder. By the time I was ready to study airbending, the Air Nomads had been extinct for almost half a century. Because of this, the Fire Lords have been free to ravage the world for generations. When I finally challenged them, twelve years ago, I was too late. Too weak."
"And now you are the Avatar. Unlike myself and Aang, you have a warrior spirit, Toph. Indomitable, irresistable. The world needs you to do what we could not."
Toph shook her head. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not exactly in fighting form."
"You did very well against Roku's descendant," observed Kanna.
"I lost. That's not good enough," Toph told her. "Unless you have any ideas how to repair the damage to my chakras I won't be making the Fire Lord Ozai tremble in his pointy boots."
.oOo.
Mai stared down at Zuko. The prince had been stripped of his finery and chained to a wall in one of the few stone buildings of the village. He had been kept sedated for several days, but the healers had warned that continuing doses would be damaging and so Suki had decided to allow him to wake. In case he tried to break loose - and not only Suki but also several islanders familiar with bending had questioned Mai intensively on his capabilities - two Kyoshi Warriors were assigned to guard him at all times.
She had not been trusted with that responsibility. Mai had barely left Toph's side, sleeping on a mat in the same room where healers kept the younger girl under constant supervision. Toph had not woken in all that time, slipping into a coma. None of the healers had been tactless enough to comment within Mai's hearing on the likelihood of Toph never waking, but Suki had relayed their estimations with brutal honesty.
"Stop brooding about Toph," Suki ordered. Zuko was expected to wake at some point that afternoon and the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors intended to interrogate him immediately, so she was waiting in the same building, taking the opportunity to read reports from the various detachments around the island. "I know what the healers said, but I've sent word to some allies of ours. They have excellent healers and I'm sure that they'll send someone able to help her."
Mai hmmed noncommittally and looked away. She would feel better if Suki was willing to tell her who these allies were, but she supposed that it was too late to look for trust between the two of them. After a moment she looked again at Zuko. Stubble was visible across his head but the locks that had been part of his topknot were still obvious in contrast. Mai could not think what he had been thinking to start wearing his hair in that ridiculous fashion.
Because she was looking at him, she was the first to see his eyelids flickering. "He's waking up," she warned and stepped back, allowing the two guards to stand ready with a clear field of view towards Zuko.
Nonetheless, when his eyes opened they focused almost immediately upon her. Emotions raced across his face: shock, followed by joy and then bitter anger. Mai felt her own face stiffen into immobility in response. Carefully, testing his limits, Zuko shifted to a sitting positon, grimacing when he realised that the chains were too short for him to be able to stand. Slowly, he looked around the room, measuring all four of the Kyoshi Warriors.
"So you have me prisoner," he concluded. "What now? You must realise that you have a dragon by the tail, safe only as long as you can hold on." He took a deep breath, centring himself and then caught Mai's eye. "Perhaps not even then."
"I've given serious thought to killing you," Suki admitted candidly. "You are Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, or so I'm told. I've heard a great deal about your recent activities on the mainland. Most of it does not lead me to believe that your death would be a tragedy."
"I thought I heard someone call Toph's name," Zuko noted, "Just before I was knocked out. Is she alive too?"
There was a deadly silence.
"Thus far. No thanks to you," answered Suki.
"Wh-" Horrified realisation crossed Zuko's face. "That was her? Damn you Mai, it wasn't enough that you'd betray m- your people, you dragged her into it. You let me fight her?"
"Let?" Mai asked, coldly. Mockingly. Was this the Zuko she thought she knew. "You don't know Toph as well as you think, your highness."
"You should know," Suki added, taking the advantage of Zuko's consernation, "That if Toph does die of her wounds I'll be burying you next to her." Her smile was horrible. "If I'm feeling merciful, maybe I'll kill you first."
Zuko looked at her in surprise and then nodded his head slowly. "In that case, I offer my services as a healer." His lips curled. "I certainly have ample motivation to want her to survive... and I'm a firebender. Treating burns is something I'm used to."
Suki shook her head. "We'll see. For now, I have some questions for you."
Given that:
1) Aang had apparently travelled extenisively before he was 12 (having good friends in Omashu and the Fire Nation for example)
2) that the only air nomads seen at the Temples were aged masters or young students
I suspect that most of the Air Nomads didn't live at the temples and they actually functioned as communal schools for the nation (thus the gender segregation policies). The other nomads probably travelled wherever and whenever they wanted, but after the temples were destroyed and any nomads who could be found were killed, the survivors went into hiding and even if their bloodlines survived their culture didn't. And bending disposition is cultural, not genetic.
1) Aang had apparently travelled extenisively before he was 12 (having good friends in Omashu and the Fire Nation for example)
2) that the only air nomads seen at the Temples were aged masters or young students
I suspect that most of the Air Nomads didn't live at the temples and they actually functioned as communal schools for the nation (thus the gender segregation policies). The other nomads probably travelled wherever and whenever they wanted, but after the temples were destroyed and any nomads who could be found were killed, the survivors went into hiding and even if their bloodlines survived their culture didn't. And bending disposition is cultural, not genetic.
A point of note: Toph is the most powerful earthbender because she's blind, not despite of it. Zuko made a similar remark on her blindness's effect on her bending back in the second snippet.
Now, keep in mind that in canon, her one real weakness was people who did not touch the ground when fighting, since she can only "see" through the earth. However, here, she's the Avatar, capable of using all four elements, meaning she can probably "see" through air and water as well.
It's rather obvious if you think about it, but Toph could probably be the most powerful Avatar ever. Hell, even with her massive power down, she can still probably make credible Avatar, simply with her unmatched senses...
That said, I'd really like to just skip to the end to see what kind of monster she'd be...
Now, keep in mind that in canon, her one real weakness was people who did not touch the ground when fighting, since she can only "see" through the earth. However, here, she's the Avatar, capable of using all four elements, meaning she can probably "see" through air and water as well.
It's rather obvious if you think about it, but Toph could probably be the most powerful Avatar ever. Hell, even with her massive power down, she can still probably make credible Avatar, simply with her unmatched senses...
That said, I'd really like to just skip to the end to see what kind of monster she'd be...
The major reason I've been able to write this so fast so far is that I was off work for a week and able to devote a lot of time to writing. This is no longer the case so I'll be slowed down except at weekends.
I'm still writing and according to my rough schema for the developing plot, hope to have the next snippet ready in a few more hours, or tomorrow at latest.
I'm still writing and according to my rough schema for the developing plot, hope to have the next snippet ready in a few more hours, or tomorrow at latest.
"What do you mean my cousin is missing?" Lu Ten demanded.
Zhao chuckled and poured himself another cup of tea. "Exactly what I said. Prince Zuko is missing, presumed... well. Missing. He and his entire force disappeared almost without a trace."
Lu Ten reached over and forced the cup away from Zhao's lips. "Don't play games with me, Admiral. I can read your face like a scroll. You have more information and I suggest that you share it before I decide that your withholding it is an indication of complicity."
"Well, since you're asking so nicely." Zhao relinquished the cup. "Patrols sent out to find Prince Zuko did find some of the komodo rhinos that his soldiers had been mounted upon. They were roaming loose near the coast. The nearest village, some pathetic hamlet whose name I forget, had been burnt almost to the ground and there was some evidence that two firebenders had duelled." He smiled. "I have ordered my men to report any other information, but at this time... we must consider the possibility that your cousin is dead."
"An agni kai. Interesting," Lu Ten observed. If that was so then Zuko might well have been killed, but it was far less likely to be the result of factional conflict within the Fire Nation than that a firebender would side with the Earth Kingdom. And while Zuko's skills were not on par with Lu Ten's, he was nonetheless among the most powerful firebenders alive and escorted, at last report, by a score of elite soldiers.
The most likely explanation was that Zuko had been eliminated as part of a move against either Lu Ten or Azula. While the young prince had not committed to either of them, his death would sow suspicion between them and if evidence were to appear painting one or the other as responsible then the Fire Lord would almost have to take action.
And Admiral Zhao was almost certainly aligned with Azula. How truly good, Lu Ten thought drily. Any evidence that turned up would be used to her advantage, not his. Well, there was more than one way to handle that.
"When you're done with your tea, Admiral," he ordered. "Detach a squadron and take control of the southern region again. Turn every rock you have to in order to find my cousin, or his resting place. And that includes shaking down any remnants of the Water Tribes you can find. If there's any resurgence of oppostion on either side of the Southern Ocean I want you to stamp it out."
Zhao's smile grew feral. Lu Ten knew that the Admiral had cut his teeth in the fighting against the Northern Water Tribe and had campaigned vigorously for increased raiding against what little remained of the Southern Tribe. Until now, however, the Earth Kingdom had been the priority.
"In your absence, those elements of the Southern Fleet still in the lakes will answer to me," Lu Ten added casually. The addition would place more than half of the Fire Nation's Navy under his direct control, strengthening his own position.
The Admiral's eyes narrowed at that addition but the reasoning made sense: he couldn't pull most of his ships away from their places blockading the lakes without undermining the overall strategy for Ba Sing Se, something that would cost him his rank, if not his head. And it was nonsensical to think that he could direct operations here while he was in the Southern Waters.
"Of course, your highness," he agreed. "I'm surprised that you don't want to handle the matter yourself."
"Tempting," admitted Lu Ten. "But I've spent my whole career with the Northern Fleet, whereas you know the area. No, it's best overall for you to handle this. And you'll certainly seem more action down there than you'll find here."
Zhao laughed sharply. That was true, the Earth Kingdom had made no more than token efforts to contest the inland lakes that cut the continent in half. "Of course. I will find your cousin, if I have to depopulate the whole south pole to do it."
Both men had already written Zuko off as dead.
.oOo.
The spirit world, in Toph's opinion, was very boring.
"What's taking so long?" she wondered out loud to Aang, who was trying to walk her through the basics of airbending. It was proving challenging for both of them, since without her earthsense Toph simply couldn't tell what he was doing unless he was literally pressed against her and she thumped him soundly any time he tried to manhandle her into position. Treating her like a doll was simply not acceptable. "Surely I should have either died or recovered."
"I don't know," the youthful Avatar admitted. "If the lightning had struck any one of the other chakras, you would have died almost instantly: the third chakra is the only one that can survive a strike by that much chi. If you'd been struck anywhere other than a chakra, the lightning would have grounded itself through you - again, probably fatally since that would tend to take it through the fourth chakra, your heart. You need to move more lightly on your feet. Stop putting your heels down."
"That puts me off balance," Toph protested, but she obediently rose up slightly, balancing on the balls of her feet. "So I got hit the one place that wouldn't kill me. What's the problem?"
Aang hesitated before replying. "Well I only know the theory - Lightning is one of the most difficult forms of the firebending arts and I never met anyone who had mastered it," he qualified. "But from what I understand, once the lightning wa there, you could have redirected it out of you safely."
"It sounds like waterbending," Toph said, walking - mincing almost - through the kata that Aang was trying to instruct her in. It didn't actually involve bending air, since she couldn't learn that in the spirit world, but he seemed to think that her defence could use the help.
"You'd probably know more about that than I would," admitted Aang. "I never learnt how to waterbend. I barely mastered airbending before I left the temple. I don't think you've quite got it. You're too stiff. Stay flexible, ready to move away before you're struck."
"You must be wrong anyway, I never got any chance to redirect anything. The lightning fire hit me and -" she clapped her hands sharply "- I'm in the Spirit World with you sneaking up on me."
"I was not. And you didn't have to hit me."
"Hah. Ask anyone who knows me and they'd tell you that you were just asking to get pounded, sneaking up on me. I bet that's why Kanna sent you instead of coming for me herself."
Aang sounded dismayed: "She wouldn't do that!"
"Are you sure?" Toph grinned, knowing that she'd gotten under his skin. "You got set up, and you didn't suspect a thing."
"You're wrong!"
Toph blew a raspberry. "Don't worry. I'm sure there's some nice girl here who'll cosset your delicate ego. Some girls like gullible boys. Don't ask me why."
"You're wrong," Aang said sadly.
"I'm more of an authority figure on girls than you are, twinkle toes."
"Not that." She heard Aang turn away. "There aren't any girls in the Spirit World. Normal people are only here long enough to be reincarnated. Only the past lives of the Avatars are here for long and none of them are anything close to my age. And most of them don't want anything to do with me."
Toph judged by the sound of his voice where he was and stepped closer, leaning over him, both hands on his shoulders. "Why not? You're a bit annoying sometimes, but you aren't a bad guy."
"Because it's all my fault," Aang said softly. "I ran away and let the Fire Nation do whatever they wanted. I didn't have the courage to do my duty. Roku and Kanna are the only Avatars who'll have anything to do with me." He sounded on the brink of tears.
Toph frowned and then smacked him across the head. "You're a hundred and twelve years old," she reminded him. "Grow up!"
"Ow!"
"Do you think any of them would have done any better? I know people who worship Kyoshi's sandals but I'll bet you she made as many mistakes as a kid as any of us. But she didn't get handed the world on a handbasket and told to make it right when she was twelve years old! Sure, she kicked Chin the Conqueror's butt - when she'd had years to learn and prepare! If you'd stayed where you were, the Fire Nation would have been there long before you'd learnt anything more than you know now. You'd have been just another dead airbender!"
"But -!"
Toph squeezed him, careful not to crush his carotid or air pipe (assuming that she could do so at all in the spirit world, which she didn't particularly care to find out). "You just remember this: most of them have been here hundreds of years. In all that time, you think no one's come up with any new ideas? You probably know moves none of them have even heard of, or is that master's tattoo on your head just a decoration?"
"I guess... maybe..."
"And let's face it. It isn't gonna be more than a couple of centuries, tops, before I'm here full time. I'm counting on you to whip them into shape so I have an actual challenge."
.oOo.
In the end it was agreed that Zuko would be allowed to advise in Toph's treatment. Rather than release him however, Toph was carried to the same building and placed in the same room. Suki also doubled the guards, just in case Zuko decided sacrifice his life in order to kill the girl he still - as far as they could tell - did not know was the Avatar.
Zuko paid the guards as little attention as he would the servants of the Royal Palace back in the Fire Nation, directing Mai as she ground up leaves for an aloe that Zuko thought might help with the burn. He himself admitted though that the direct damage caused by the lightning was a secondary problem at this state. Toph's body was slowly starving despite the thin broth that the healers were feeding her on. His best guess was that the damage to the chakra was impeding her ability to digest the food.
"Why did she challenge me?" Zuko asked quietly. "She had to know she wasn't going to beat me. She's brilliant - I don't deny it - but she could never muster a knockout blow against me."
"I don't know," Mai replied, not looking up from the mortar and pestle.
"How can you not know?" he protested. "You were -"
"We'd split up," Mai cut him off. "Her orders... my orders... were to watch. Or listen, in her case. To find out if you were a threat and to report. Not to take you on in some crazy duel."
Zuko glared at the back of her head. "You're the one who said you know her better than I do, guess!"
Mai paused in her grinding. "Maybe she thought you were being such a jerk that you needed your head rattled," she said venomously. "Suki was quite thorough in going through all the towns you've burnt since we last met."
The prince's face paled in anger. "If you're going to lay blame, maybe you should remember that I thought I was avenging you!"
"Well don't I feel special."
"Do you have any idea how much it hurt your parents to lose you? To lose Toph?" Zuko demanded.
Mai snorted derisively. "My parents have Tom-Tom, the son they always wanted. One surplus daughter and an adoptee will be forgotten quickly enough."
"Funny, that's not the way it looked to me." He looked at her hands. "Is there some reason you stopped working?"
She started grinding again, imagining that it was his face.
"You saw what your mother was like when Tom-Tom went missing. Well she was ten times worse when I came back without the two of you. Your father had half the garrison digging through the hill - if he could have found an Earthbender he could trust he'd have had them there as well. When we didn't find any trace of you..."
"Shut up."
"...she locked herself in her room for days. Your dad was trying to hold himself together for Tom-Tom, but I could see his heart break every time your brother asked where you were. He'd stay up late, reading reports of what guerillas did to captive Fire Soldiers. Praying that you'd died cleanly, that Jet hadn't got his hands on you..."
"Shut up!"
"Don't tell me to shut up!" Zuko roared, eyes blazing. The two nearest guards, who had been trying to pretend that they weren't listening, wheeled as he pulled against his chains. "You tore the heart out of your own family for no reason that you're willing to tell anyone! Your father told me that you went up that hill because your first loyalty as a fire maiden was to your family, and then you spat on that and wa-"
There was a sharp crack.
"I left to save my sister's life," Mai told him, arm still poised from the slap. "From you."
She stalked out of the room, leaving Zuko staring at her in mute incomprehension, fighting back the impulse to demand to know why she thought he would kill Toph. Exhibit One was in the same room, after all.
"Wow, you Fire Nation guys are so smooth," one of the guards observed sarcastically. "I'm amazed you ever manage to have children."
.oOo.
"Oyaji, I hope your allies haven't abandoned us," Suki told the old man as they stood outside the shrine. "The healers are uncertain how long Toph will last."
"Do not fear," Oyaji assured her. "They are distant from us, and it will naturally take some time for them to receive the news. I am certain that they will send us all the aid they can, however. I made it very clear that time is of the essence."
Suki nodded reluctantly. "It's hard to wait," she admitted. "Not being able to do anything..."
"You are doing something," the old man pointed out. "You're fretting. Everyone can tell that you are gravely concerned about Toph."
"Not just her. The firebender as well," admitted the young woman. "What should I do with him? Sooner or later, someone is going to come looking for him. As soon as they speak to one of the Chin Villagers, they will realise that we must be involved somehow."
Oyaji nodded. "That is a problem. Can you simply release him?"
"I don't think that that will protect us." She snorted. "We've injured the most sensitive part of him, his pride. I fear he is the sort of man who would raise an army to take revenge upon us for the indgnity of being a prisoner, even briefly."
"Ah. Well, that leaves the other alternative."
Suki grimaced. "We'll have to ensure that no one ever finds him. The Fire Nation don't believe in much that I can think of, but I'm sure that the Fire Lord would take a horrible revenge for the death of his son, just out of principle."
"And if the Avatar lives, as we all hope that she will?" asked Oyaji pointedly. "You are not the only one who has spoken to your friend Mai. And don't deny that she is your friend. Only one close to your heart could have injured it so deeply with a lie. I have no doubt that you - or she - could end Zuko's life while caught in the rage of grief. But to kill him, in cold blood? Harder. Much harder, even were I sure what Toph's reaction would be."
"Don't underestimate any of us on that score," Suki told him. "Do you know what Mai's criteria was for her team when they set off? Killers. Her, June, Shu-lin and even Toph. I don't think that it would be as hard as you imagine."
Oyaji's shoulders hunched in upon him, aware of the true question. "I know little of June, but it does not surprise me. Shu-lin... there are often suspicions when a fisherman known to drink more heavily than is wise suffers an accident at sea. If it is true, then perhaps her father's neighbours chose not to see other reasons for the occasion. Mai... well, you have told me what she reported and I did not see you disagree with her decisions there."
Suki nodded reluctantly and turned to look back at the shrine. "And Toph."
"Suki, remember that Kiyoshi did not hesitate to kill Chin the Conqueror and she was far from the first Avatar to stain her hands in performance of her duties. It saddens me to hear than a child of Toph's age has shed blood, but I am not truly surprised." He shook his head. "You think that you understand what the war is like, but in your heart you do not. For Toph to have survived on her own is remarkable. To have survived and remained entirely innocent would have been a miracle."
"I suppose you're right," Suki admitted.
They watched the sunsetting for a moment and then Suki squinted. "That's a funny shaped bird," she noted, pointing to the south-west. "Have you ever seen one like that?"
The old man squinted. "I'm not quite sure I see... Wait, yes I have." He clapped Suki on the shoulder. "That's no bird, it's our help arriving. Have the cooks drug Prince Zuko's food again - we don't want him learning that our allies even exist, much less any details. Once he's out, bring Toph here."
Suki stared at him, half convinced that he was losing his mind.
"Stop dawdling," Oyaji demanded and ran into the shrine, leaving Suki little alternative but to shrug and obey.
.oOo.
"Toph," called Kanna. "It's time for you to go."
Toph sat up from where she was lying on the bank of a stream, her bare feet dangling in the water. "Finally. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get out of this dump," she said, waving one hand to indicate what Kanna personally considered to be a rather idyllic scene.
"I'm sure Aang will miss having you here," she told the girl encouragingly.
"I'm sure he won't miss the bruises," Toph snickered, sprining to her feet. "So, what tells you that my visit is over?"
Kanna shook her head, knowing that the incorrigable girl would guess at the gesture. "A healer has arrived on Kyoshi Island to treat you," she answered. "It's best that you return to your body now, so that you are there to awaken. If they try to force you to wake when your spirit is not present, then it could endanger you."
"So they have a healer there to fix me up... and I have to be there or she might kill me by mistake. Lovely," Toph concluded sarcastically. "I'll be sure to let them all know of your deep confidence in them." She sniffed at the air. "I don't smell Appa, so I take it I'm not being flown there."
"Oh, but you are," Kanna smiled. "Appa seems curiously reluctant to carry you..."
"Because he's smarter than most," Toph noted smugly.
"...so I enlisted another to take you to Kyoshi Island." Kanna smiled serenely. "Please do not manhandle him, as you did Appa."
"That depends on who..." There was a rumbling growl from far above Toph's head. "Oh I do hate you."
"That's nice, dear," Kanna smiled. "Say hello to Fang."
Toph looked upwards, in almost the right direction. "Hello Fang, hello Roku. I'm warning you in advance that if either of you try carrying me anywhere in your mouth, I'm going to pull both your beards out."
"Why would I carry you in my mouth?" asked Roku from the back of his dragon companion
"Just covering for all the possibilities," the girl told him and then stepped aside sharply as Fang lowered his neck towards her. "No squashing me either."
The dragon growled softly, something that Roku had long since learned to recognise as the draconic equivalent of a laugh and nudged gently at the girl.
Who promptly clutched at her head and fell over.
"Fang?" the one-time Avatar enquired with forced calm. "What did you just do?"
Dragon's are not well-suited to looking sheepish but there was a general sense of such as Fang shared an image of Toph and Zuko throwing fire at each other, overlayed with two roaring dragons.
"Ugh... weird shapes," Toph grumbled, rising to hands and knees as Kanna moved to assist her. "What happened?"
Roku cleared his throat. "I fear that Fang was perhaps a little enthusiastic in greeting you," he said a apologetically and reached down for Kanna to lift Toph up to him. "Did you see anything when he touched you?"
Toph moved her hand back and forth in front of her face, eyes not tracking it at all. "Is that a good enough answer?" she asked snidely.
"I meant in your mind," the old Avatar explained, lifting her easily to sit before him on Fang's neck. "Dragons speak directly from their mind to that of those they wish to address. I believe that he wished to deliver a compliment of sorts, that you and my great-grandson fought like dragons." He did not feel that it would be wise to mention that Fang's implication had been 'like mating dragons'. "However, for one unaccustomed to sight, it must have been disconcerting."
"That was sight?" Toph asked incredulously. She shook her head. "You can keep it."
.oOo.
Mai eyed the white-haired woman suspiciously as Toph was carried into Kyoshi's Shrine on a litter. Her face didn't suggest that she was much older, if at all, than Mai and her long, elaborately ordered ivory hair and dark skin made her look like a reflection of the pale-skinned and raven haired fire maiden. Her heavy garments were a mix of blues and whites, the latter mostly fur and announcing her origins more clearly than anything else: one of the Water Tribes, and clearly not the hidden band from the swamp.
But after generations of raiding outlying settlements and the all out invasion of the Northern Tribe's citadel towards the end of Azulon's reign, the polar tribes had almost ceased to exist. Scattered groups were known to have withdrawn into the interiors, away from the seas that allowed the Fire Nation to attack them but were also their principal source of food. This woman's appearance did not speak of a hardscrabble survival however.
"You must be the Avatar's sister," she greeted Mai warmly. "My name is Yue. Oyaji has told me much of you."
"Nothing good, I'm sure," Mai replied. "You can help her?"
"I hope so." Yue gestured towards a part of the floor. "Please place her here," she requested, unstoppering a waterbag.
Mai stepped back reflexively. "You're a waterbender?"
Oyaji placed one hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "The women of the Water Tribes learn to use their waterbending skills to heal. Their abilities are unparalleled."
Water poured upwards out of the waterbag, forming what Mai could only describe as some kind of floating puddle above Yue's hands. Kneeling over Toph, the water tribe woman brought the water down upon the savage scarring inflicted by Zuko's lightning and it slowly sank into the girl's body, Yue closing her eyes in concentration.
"Is she bending water... inside Toph?" Mai asked, incredulously.
Oyaji nodded solemnly. "That is how they heal," he explained.
Mai could see by the expression on Suki's face that the other girl was thinking along the same lines that she was, flinching at the thought but at the same time unable to stop considering how such a technique could be used as a weapon. Fire Nation propaganda painted waterbenders as using their water like a whip, flogging ineffectually at armoured soldiers. This painted a very different picture however.
The techniques might be too slow for use in open battle, but Mai could imagine dozens of ways that it could be used in raids, harassments and assasinations: a perfect tool for a guerilla war. And the polar ice - or the depths of the Foggy Swamp - would put all advantage in the hands of a flexible defense of that nature. Somehow, Mai thought, I don't think that the Water Tribes are going to be wiped out as easily as the Air Nomads were.
Yue exhaled strongly and lifted her hands, drawing the water out of Toph. Mai could see that it was stained, no longer as clear as it once had been. Rather than returning it to the bag, Yue let it spash into a basin and sat back on her heels. "The physical damage is healing," she reported. "She will bear the scar for the rest of her life, but it is forming cleanly for the most part and I have removed any traces of infection that I can find. As for the chakra within..."
She looked over at Mai. "I gather that something was done to her chakras before this injury? What can you tell me about it?"
"I'm not a bender," Mai warned. "And I wasn't there, so all I know is what Toph has told me."
"I understand," Yue nodded. "Tell me what you can."
"As I understand it, her parents disapproved of her bending. She said that they hired someone to tamper with her chi, to prevent her from using it. It was done when she was asleep, so she doesn't know exactly what was done - I would guess something involving pressure points but as I understand it, those would only have a temporary effect."
"Usually, yes," Yue agreed. "Most likely several techniques were used in combination. What were the effects?"
"It didn't completely seal away her bending, but it weakened it considerably. She told me it took as much afterwards to bend two handfuls of sand as it had before to throw boulders hundreds of yards. This was before we discovered she could fire bend so I can't compare the other arts, but according to her firebending teacher, she was above average in her ability to control and sense fire, so I presume that those were less affected."
"The third chakra, where she was struck, is sometimes referred to as the seat of power," mused Yue. "What you're describing would almost have to follow from some damage to it. Add in the attack and the Avatar is incredibly lucky to have survived."
"Can you help her?"
In response, Yue lifted a second waterskin from the floor, this one more elaborately decorated, but also carefully reinforced and with a far stronger seal upon the stopper"The only thing that I can think of that would is this: water from the Spirit Oasis."
Oyaji exhaled. "I thought that it had been destroyed."
"It was," Yue confirmed. "My parents and the Avatar carried Tui and La south with them and rebuilt it for them but it will take many more years before it we can impose upon them for more water. However, we also have a small supply of the water from the original." She weighed it gently in her hands. "This is half of what we have left." Slowly she began to undo the seal. "I do not know how potent it will be, but if this cannot heal the Avatar then nothing will."
Zhao chuckled and poured himself another cup of tea. "Exactly what I said. Prince Zuko is missing, presumed... well. Missing. He and his entire force disappeared almost without a trace."
Lu Ten reached over and forced the cup away from Zhao's lips. "Don't play games with me, Admiral. I can read your face like a scroll. You have more information and I suggest that you share it before I decide that your withholding it is an indication of complicity."
"Well, since you're asking so nicely." Zhao relinquished the cup. "Patrols sent out to find Prince Zuko did find some of the komodo rhinos that his soldiers had been mounted upon. They were roaming loose near the coast. The nearest village, some pathetic hamlet whose name I forget, had been burnt almost to the ground and there was some evidence that two firebenders had duelled." He smiled. "I have ordered my men to report any other information, but at this time... we must consider the possibility that your cousin is dead."
"An agni kai. Interesting," Lu Ten observed. If that was so then Zuko might well have been killed, but it was far less likely to be the result of factional conflict within the Fire Nation than that a firebender would side with the Earth Kingdom. And while Zuko's skills were not on par with Lu Ten's, he was nonetheless among the most powerful firebenders alive and escorted, at last report, by a score of elite soldiers.
The most likely explanation was that Zuko had been eliminated as part of a move against either Lu Ten or Azula. While the young prince had not committed to either of them, his death would sow suspicion between them and if evidence were to appear painting one or the other as responsible then the Fire Lord would almost have to take action.
And Admiral Zhao was almost certainly aligned with Azula. How truly good, Lu Ten thought drily. Any evidence that turned up would be used to her advantage, not his. Well, there was more than one way to handle that.
"When you're done with your tea, Admiral," he ordered. "Detach a squadron and take control of the southern region again. Turn every rock you have to in order to find my cousin, or his resting place. And that includes shaking down any remnants of the Water Tribes you can find. If there's any resurgence of oppostion on either side of the Southern Ocean I want you to stamp it out."
Zhao's smile grew feral. Lu Ten knew that the Admiral had cut his teeth in the fighting against the Northern Water Tribe and had campaigned vigorously for increased raiding against what little remained of the Southern Tribe. Until now, however, the Earth Kingdom had been the priority.
"In your absence, those elements of the Southern Fleet still in the lakes will answer to me," Lu Ten added casually. The addition would place more than half of the Fire Nation's Navy under his direct control, strengthening his own position.
The Admiral's eyes narrowed at that addition but the reasoning made sense: he couldn't pull most of his ships away from their places blockading the lakes without undermining the overall strategy for Ba Sing Se, something that would cost him his rank, if not his head. And it was nonsensical to think that he could direct operations here while he was in the Southern Waters.
"Of course, your highness," he agreed. "I'm surprised that you don't want to handle the matter yourself."
"Tempting," admitted Lu Ten. "But I've spent my whole career with the Northern Fleet, whereas you know the area. No, it's best overall for you to handle this. And you'll certainly seem more action down there than you'll find here."
Zhao laughed sharply. That was true, the Earth Kingdom had made no more than token efforts to contest the inland lakes that cut the continent in half. "Of course. I will find your cousin, if I have to depopulate the whole south pole to do it."
Both men had already written Zuko off as dead.
.oOo.
The spirit world, in Toph's opinion, was very boring.
"What's taking so long?" she wondered out loud to Aang, who was trying to walk her through the basics of airbending. It was proving challenging for both of them, since without her earthsense Toph simply couldn't tell what he was doing unless he was literally pressed against her and she thumped him soundly any time he tried to manhandle her into position. Treating her like a doll was simply not acceptable. "Surely I should have either died or recovered."
"I don't know," the youthful Avatar admitted. "If the lightning had struck any one of the other chakras, you would have died almost instantly: the third chakra is the only one that can survive a strike by that much chi. If you'd been struck anywhere other than a chakra, the lightning would have grounded itself through you - again, probably fatally since that would tend to take it through the fourth chakra, your heart. You need to move more lightly on your feet. Stop putting your heels down."
"That puts me off balance," Toph protested, but she obediently rose up slightly, balancing on the balls of her feet. "So I got hit the one place that wouldn't kill me. What's the problem?"
Aang hesitated before replying. "Well I only know the theory - Lightning is one of the most difficult forms of the firebending arts and I never met anyone who had mastered it," he qualified. "But from what I understand, once the lightning wa there, you could have redirected it out of you safely."
"It sounds like waterbending," Toph said, walking - mincing almost - through the kata that Aang was trying to instruct her in. It didn't actually involve bending air, since she couldn't learn that in the spirit world, but he seemed to think that her defence could use the help.
"You'd probably know more about that than I would," admitted Aang. "I never learnt how to waterbend. I barely mastered airbending before I left the temple. I don't think you've quite got it. You're too stiff. Stay flexible, ready to move away before you're struck."
"You must be wrong anyway, I never got any chance to redirect anything. The lightning fire hit me and -" she clapped her hands sharply "- I'm in the Spirit World with you sneaking up on me."
"I was not. And you didn't have to hit me."
"Hah. Ask anyone who knows me and they'd tell you that you were just asking to get pounded, sneaking up on me. I bet that's why Kanna sent you instead of coming for me herself."
Aang sounded dismayed: "She wouldn't do that!"
"Are you sure?" Toph grinned, knowing that she'd gotten under his skin. "You got set up, and you didn't suspect a thing."
"You're wrong!"
Toph blew a raspberry. "Don't worry. I'm sure there's some nice girl here who'll cosset your delicate ego. Some girls like gullible boys. Don't ask me why."
"You're wrong," Aang said sadly.
"I'm more of an authority figure on girls than you are, twinkle toes."
"Not that." She heard Aang turn away. "There aren't any girls in the Spirit World. Normal people are only here long enough to be reincarnated. Only the past lives of the Avatars are here for long and none of them are anything close to my age. And most of them don't want anything to do with me."
Toph judged by the sound of his voice where he was and stepped closer, leaning over him, both hands on his shoulders. "Why not? You're a bit annoying sometimes, but you aren't a bad guy."
"Because it's all my fault," Aang said softly. "I ran away and let the Fire Nation do whatever they wanted. I didn't have the courage to do my duty. Roku and Kanna are the only Avatars who'll have anything to do with me." He sounded on the brink of tears.
Toph frowned and then smacked him across the head. "You're a hundred and twelve years old," she reminded him. "Grow up!"
"Ow!"
"Do you think any of them would have done any better? I know people who worship Kyoshi's sandals but I'll bet you she made as many mistakes as a kid as any of us. But she didn't get handed the world on a handbasket and told to make it right when she was twelve years old! Sure, she kicked Chin the Conqueror's butt - when she'd had years to learn and prepare! If you'd stayed where you were, the Fire Nation would have been there long before you'd learnt anything more than you know now. You'd have been just another dead airbender!"
"But -!"
Toph squeezed him, careful not to crush his carotid or air pipe (assuming that she could do so at all in the spirit world, which she didn't particularly care to find out). "You just remember this: most of them have been here hundreds of years. In all that time, you think no one's come up with any new ideas? You probably know moves none of them have even heard of, or is that master's tattoo on your head just a decoration?"
"I guess... maybe..."
"And let's face it. It isn't gonna be more than a couple of centuries, tops, before I'm here full time. I'm counting on you to whip them into shape so I have an actual challenge."
.oOo.
In the end it was agreed that Zuko would be allowed to advise in Toph's treatment. Rather than release him however, Toph was carried to the same building and placed in the same room. Suki also doubled the guards, just in case Zuko decided sacrifice his life in order to kill the girl he still - as far as they could tell - did not know was the Avatar.
Zuko paid the guards as little attention as he would the servants of the Royal Palace back in the Fire Nation, directing Mai as she ground up leaves for an aloe that Zuko thought might help with the burn. He himself admitted though that the direct damage caused by the lightning was a secondary problem at this state. Toph's body was slowly starving despite the thin broth that the healers were feeding her on. His best guess was that the damage to the chakra was impeding her ability to digest the food.
"Why did she challenge me?" Zuko asked quietly. "She had to know she wasn't going to beat me. She's brilliant - I don't deny it - but she could never muster a knockout blow against me."
"I don't know," Mai replied, not looking up from the mortar and pestle.
"How can you not know?" he protested. "You were -"
"We'd split up," Mai cut him off. "Her orders... my orders... were to watch. Or listen, in her case. To find out if you were a threat and to report. Not to take you on in some crazy duel."
Zuko glared at the back of her head. "You're the one who said you know her better than I do, guess!"
Mai paused in her grinding. "Maybe she thought you were being such a jerk that you needed your head rattled," she said venomously. "Suki was quite thorough in going through all the towns you've burnt since we last met."
The prince's face paled in anger. "If you're going to lay blame, maybe you should remember that I thought I was avenging you!"
"Well don't I feel special."
"Do you have any idea how much it hurt your parents to lose you? To lose Toph?" Zuko demanded.
Mai snorted derisively. "My parents have Tom-Tom, the son they always wanted. One surplus daughter and an adoptee will be forgotten quickly enough."
"Funny, that's not the way it looked to me." He looked at her hands. "Is there some reason you stopped working?"
She started grinding again, imagining that it was his face.
"You saw what your mother was like when Tom-Tom went missing. Well she was ten times worse when I came back without the two of you. Your father had half the garrison digging through the hill - if he could have found an Earthbender he could trust he'd have had them there as well. When we didn't find any trace of you..."
"Shut up."
"...she locked herself in her room for days. Your dad was trying to hold himself together for Tom-Tom, but I could see his heart break every time your brother asked where you were. He'd stay up late, reading reports of what guerillas did to captive Fire Soldiers. Praying that you'd died cleanly, that Jet hadn't got his hands on you..."
"Shut up!"
"Don't tell me to shut up!" Zuko roared, eyes blazing. The two nearest guards, who had been trying to pretend that they weren't listening, wheeled as he pulled against his chains. "You tore the heart out of your own family for no reason that you're willing to tell anyone! Your father told me that you went up that hill because your first loyalty as a fire maiden was to your family, and then you spat on that and wa-"
There was a sharp crack.
"I left to save my sister's life," Mai told him, arm still poised from the slap. "From you."
She stalked out of the room, leaving Zuko staring at her in mute incomprehension, fighting back the impulse to demand to know why she thought he would kill Toph. Exhibit One was in the same room, after all.
"Wow, you Fire Nation guys are so smooth," one of the guards observed sarcastically. "I'm amazed you ever manage to have children."
.oOo.
"Oyaji, I hope your allies haven't abandoned us," Suki told the old man as they stood outside the shrine. "The healers are uncertain how long Toph will last."
"Do not fear," Oyaji assured her. "They are distant from us, and it will naturally take some time for them to receive the news. I am certain that they will send us all the aid they can, however. I made it very clear that time is of the essence."
Suki nodded reluctantly. "It's hard to wait," she admitted. "Not being able to do anything..."
"You are doing something," the old man pointed out. "You're fretting. Everyone can tell that you are gravely concerned about Toph."
"Not just her. The firebender as well," admitted the young woman. "What should I do with him? Sooner or later, someone is going to come looking for him. As soon as they speak to one of the Chin Villagers, they will realise that we must be involved somehow."
Oyaji nodded. "That is a problem. Can you simply release him?"
"I don't think that that will protect us." She snorted. "We've injured the most sensitive part of him, his pride. I fear he is the sort of man who would raise an army to take revenge upon us for the indgnity of being a prisoner, even briefly."
"Ah. Well, that leaves the other alternative."
Suki grimaced. "We'll have to ensure that no one ever finds him. The Fire Nation don't believe in much that I can think of, but I'm sure that the Fire Lord would take a horrible revenge for the death of his son, just out of principle."
"And if the Avatar lives, as we all hope that she will?" asked Oyaji pointedly. "You are not the only one who has spoken to your friend Mai. And don't deny that she is your friend. Only one close to your heart could have injured it so deeply with a lie. I have no doubt that you - or she - could end Zuko's life while caught in the rage of grief. But to kill him, in cold blood? Harder. Much harder, even were I sure what Toph's reaction would be."
"Don't underestimate any of us on that score," Suki told him. "Do you know what Mai's criteria was for her team when they set off? Killers. Her, June, Shu-lin and even Toph. I don't think that it would be as hard as you imagine."
Oyaji's shoulders hunched in upon him, aware of the true question. "I know little of June, but it does not surprise me. Shu-lin... there are often suspicions when a fisherman known to drink more heavily than is wise suffers an accident at sea. If it is true, then perhaps her father's neighbours chose not to see other reasons for the occasion. Mai... well, you have told me what she reported and I did not see you disagree with her decisions there."
Suki nodded reluctantly and turned to look back at the shrine. "And Toph."
"Suki, remember that Kiyoshi did not hesitate to kill Chin the Conqueror and she was far from the first Avatar to stain her hands in performance of her duties. It saddens me to hear than a child of Toph's age has shed blood, but I am not truly surprised." He shook his head. "You think that you understand what the war is like, but in your heart you do not. For Toph to have survived on her own is remarkable. To have survived and remained entirely innocent would have been a miracle."
"I suppose you're right," Suki admitted.
They watched the sunsetting for a moment and then Suki squinted. "That's a funny shaped bird," she noted, pointing to the south-west. "Have you ever seen one like that?"
The old man squinted. "I'm not quite sure I see... Wait, yes I have." He clapped Suki on the shoulder. "That's no bird, it's our help arriving. Have the cooks drug Prince Zuko's food again - we don't want him learning that our allies even exist, much less any details. Once he's out, bring Toph here."
Suki stared at him, half convinced that he was losing his mind.
"Stop dawdling," Oyaji demanded and ran into the shrine, leaving Suki little alternative but to shrug and obey.
.oOo.
"Toph," called Kanna. "It's time for you to go."
Toph sat up from where she was lying on the bank of a stream, her bare feet dangling in the water. "Finally. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get out of this dump," she said, waving one hand to indicate what Kanna personally considered to be a rather idyllic scene.
"I'm sure Aang will miss having you here," she told the girl encouragingly.
"I'm sure he won't miss the bruises," Toph snickered, sprining to her feet. "So, what tells you that my visit is over?"
Kanna shook her head, knowing that the incorrigable girl would guess at the gesture. "A healer has arrived on Kyoshi Island to treat you," she answered. "It's best that you return to your body now, so that you are there to awaken. If they try to force you to wake when your spirit is not present, then it could endanger you."
"So they have a healer there to fix me up... and I have to be there or she might kill me by mistake. Lovely," Toph concluded sarcastically. "I'll be sure to let them all know of your deep confidence in them." She sniffed at the air. "I don't smell Appa, so I take it I'm not being flown there."
"Oh, but you are," Kanna smiled. "Appa seems curiously reluctant to carry you..."
"Because he's smarter than most," Toph noted smugly.
"...so I enlisted another to take you to Kyoshi Island." Kanna smiled serenely. "Please do not manhandle him, as you did Appa."
"That depends on who..." There was a rumbling growl from far above Toph's head. "Oh I do hate you."
"That's nice, dear," Kanna smiled. "Say hello to Fang."
Toph looked upwards, in almost the right direction. "Hello Fang, hello Roku. I'm warning you in advance that if either of you try carrying me anywhere in your mouth, I'm going to pull both your beards out."
"Why would I carry you in my mouth?" asked Roku from the back of his dragon companion
"Just covering for all the possibilities," the girl told him and then stepped aside sharply as Fang lowered his neck towards her. "No squashing me either."
The dragon growled softly, something that Roku had long since learned to recognise as the draconic equivalent of a laugh and nudged gently at the girl.
Who promptly clutched at her head and fell over.
"Fang?" the one-time Avatar enquired with forced calm. "What did you just do?"
Dragon's are not well-suited to looking sheepish but there was a general sense of such as Fang shared an image of Toph and Zuko throwing fire at each other, overlayed with two roaring dragons.
"Ugh... weird shapes," Toph grumbled, rising to hands and knees as Kanna moved to assist her. "What happened?"
Roku cleared his throat. "I fear that Fang was perhaps a little enthusiastic in greeting you," he said a apologetically and reached down for Kanna to lift Toph up to him. "Did you see anything when he touched you?"
Toph moved her hand back and forth in front of her face, eyes not tracking it at all. "Is that a good enough answer?" she asked snidely.
"I meant in your mind," the old Avatar explained, lifting her easily to sit before him on Fang's neck. "Dragons speak directly from their mind to that of those they wish to address. I believe that he wished to deliver a compliment of sorts, that you and my great-grandson fought like dragons." He did not feel that it would be wise to mention that Fang's implication had been 'like mating dragons'. "However, for one unaccustomed to sight, it must have been disconcerting."
"That was sight?" Toph asked incredulously. She shook her head. "You can keep it."
.oOo.
Mai eyed the white-haired woman suspiciously as Toph was carried into Kyoshi's Shrine on a litter. Her face didn't suggest that she was much older, if at all, than Mai and her long, elaborately ordered ivory hair and dark skin made her look like a reflection of the pale-skinned and raven haired fire maiden. Her heavy garments were a mix of blues and whites, the latter mostly fur and announcing her origins more clearly than anything else: one of the Water Tribes, and clearly not the hidden band from the swamp.
But after generations of raiding outlying settlements and the all out invasion of the Northern Tribe's citadel towards the end of Azulon's reign, the polar tribes had almost ceased to exist. Scattered groups were known to have withdrawn into the interiors, away from the seas that allowed the Fire Nation to attack them but were also their principal source of food. This woman's appearance did not speak of a hardscrabble survival however.
"You must be the Avatar's sister," she greeted Mai warmly. "My name is Yue. Oyaji has told me much of you."
"Nothing good, I'm sure," Mai replied. "You can help her?"
"I hope so." Yue gestured towards a part of the floor. "Please place her here," she requested, unstoppering a waterbag.
Mai stepped back reflexively. "You're a waterbender?"
Oyaji placed one hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "The women of the Water Tribes learn to use their waterbending skills to heal. Their abilities are unparalleled."
Water poured upwards out of the waterbag, forming what Mai could only describe as some kind of floating puddle above Yue's hands. Kneeling over Toph, the water tribe woman brought the water down upon the savage scarring inflicted by Zuko's lightning and it slowly sank into the girl's body, Yue closing her eyes in concentration.
"Is she bending water... inside Toph?" Mai asked, incredulously.
Oyaji nodded solemnly. "That is how they heal," he explained.
Mai could see by the expression on Suki's face that the other girl was thinking along the same lines that she was, flinching at the thought but at the same time unable to stop considering how such a technique could be used as a weapon. Fire Nation propaganda painted waterbenders as using their water like a whip, flogging ineffectually at armoured soldiers. This painted a very different picture however.
The techniques might be too slow for use in open battle, but Mai could imagine dozens of ways that it could be used in raids, harassments and assasinations: a perfect tool for a guerilla war. And the polar ice - or the depths of the Foggy Swamp - would put all advantage in the hands of a flexible defense of that nature. Somehow, Mai thought, I don't think that the Water Tribes are going to be wiped out as easily as the Air Nomads were.
Yue exhaled strongly and lifted her hands, drawing the water out of Toph. Mai could see that it was stained, no longer as clear as it once had been. Rather than returning it to the bag, Yue let it spash into a basin and sat back on her heels. "The physical damage is healing," she reported. "She will bear the scar for the rest of her life, but it is forming cleanly for the most part and I have removed any traces of infection that I can find. As for the chakra within..."
She looked over at Mai. "I gather that something was done to her chakras before this injury? What can you tell me about it?"
"I'm not a bender," Mai warned. "And I wasn't there, so all I know is what Toph has told me."
"I understand," Yue nodded. "Tell me what you can."
"As I understand it, her parents disapproved of her bending. She said that they hired someone to tamper with her chi, to prevent her from using it. It was done when she was asleep, so she doesn't know exactly what was done - I would guess something involving pressure points but as I understand it, those would only have a temporary effect."
"Usually, yes," Yue agreed. "Most likely several techniques were used in combination. What were the effects?"
"It didn't completely seal away her bending, but it weakened it considerably. She told me it took as much afterwards to bend two handfuls of sand as it had before to throw boulders hundreds of yards. This was before we discovered she could fire bend so I can't compare the other arts, but according to her firebending teacher, she was above average in her ability to control and sense fire, so I presume that those were less affected."
"The third chakra, where she was struck, is sometimes referred to as the seat of power," mused Yue. "What you're describing would almost have to follow from some damage to it. Add in the attack and the Avatar is incredibly lucky to have survived."
"Can you help her?"
In response, Yue lifted a second waterskin from the floor, this one more elaborately decorated, but also carefully reinforced and with a far stronger seal upon the stopper"The only thing that I can think of that would is this: water from the Spirit Oasis."
Oyaji exhaled. "I thought that it had been destroyed."
"It was," Yue confirmed. "My parents and the Avatar carried Tui and La south with them and rebuilt it for them but it will take many more years before it we can impose upon them for more water. However, we also have a small supply of the water from the original." She weighed it gently in her hands. "This is half of what we have left." Slowly she began to undo the seal. "I do not know how potent it will be, but if this cannot heal the Avatar then nothing will."
For some strange reason, I'm wondering if Aang's body will ever be found.
Zuko may be in for a surprise if Toph tells him about his great-grandfather's opinion on his Firebending.
Mai... might have to do some soul searching after hearing about how her parents are reacting.
It's interesting to see how Lu Ten is reacting. I couldn't tell if he wa1s concerned about Zuko, or about the effect his disappearance could have. Either way, I hope to see more of him in the future.
Other than that, there's not too much to say, other than I'm looking forward to the next chapter already.
Zuko may be in for a surprise if Toph tells him about his great-grandfather's opinion on his Firebending.
Mai... might have to do some soul searching after hearing about how her parents are reacting.
It's interesting to see how Lu Ten is reacting. I couldn't tell if he wa1s concerned about Zuko, or about the effect his disappearance could have. Either way, I hope to see more of him in the future.
Other than that, there's not too much to say, other than I'm looking forward to the next chapter already.