j. @jillxdai - Tumblr Blog

dust and ashes pt 14

masterlist

summary: while you try to cope with your enemies being nice to you, toph's scams come to a head.

a/n: we are back babyyyyy took a second but i got a little burnt out from this series after writing 70k in like 2 months lol. crazy that we're already around the halfway point!!! more sokka and more gaang interactions in this part, it's hurting me keeping katara at such a distance but the plot demands it</3 we will get there tho

wc: 7.1k

warning(s): r is sad about her brother's death

“Why are you pacing like that?”

“I’m not pacing.”

“Aang’s right,” Sokka says. “You are pacing. Like, the definition of it.”

“Well— what else am I supposed to do?” You throw your hands up. “We’re not doing anything! We’re just sitting around in the middle of nowhere!”

“It’s called a break, princess.” Toph kicks the ground and a sizable boulder shoots up from the earth right in front of you, the perfect seat. “I think you could use one.”

You frown. “Stop calling me that.”

“You’re a rich noble who grew up at the palace with royalty,” she says. “The shoe fits.”

You can’t help but roll your eyes. Part of you has been raring for a fight since you got here, even if you washed up on shore half-dead only a few days ago. It’s a genetic thing, probably, but you need to keep busy so you don’t think about what you’ve done—about your brother. Lee is never going to forgive you.

Finally, you plant your foot on top of the rock. This skirt is still taking some getting used to, but it’s pretty—and if you could burn down a house in one, you can probably fight in one. “I just don’t get how you’re all able to do this.”

“Because we spend the rest of our time running and fighting for our lives, thanks to you,” Katara says. “Besides, your ribs haven’t finished healing yet. Rest is what you need right now.”

“You’ve done like, three healing sessions. How are they not good yet?”

“Did you forget when I said the sea nearly killed you?” she asks. “It takes a lot to fix that.”

“Am I fixed yet?”

“I don’t even think I could fix you,” she says wryly.

You huff a laugh. Her barbs don’t have much sting when she saved your life a few days ago. “Thanks.”

Sokka scrambles to his feet in the corner of your vision, and he grins when you focus on him. “If you need something to do, wanna go out into town again? Katara hates this money, so I figure we should spend it all.”

“What goes on in that brain of yours?” his sister asks.

“Nobody knows,” Sokka says, shining eyes never leaving yours. You can’t help but smile, though you quickly bite it back with an exasperated sigh.

“I guess shopping’s better than sitting around doing nothing.”

-

Sokka is more scatterbrained than you expect.

When you were with Azula, you never won a single fight against him. You didn’t think he was cool or calculated, but his intelligence was the most obvious thing about him behind his looks—which is just an observation, not a confession.

Here, though, his brain can hardly move faster than his mouth. Sokka is a tornado in motion, dragging you along from place to place as he rambles about whatever’s in his mind.

While he’s trying on new shoes, he tells you about the day they found Aang—and the first time he realized how powerful his sister was. Between trips to get cups of water after Sokka tries your extra, extra, extra spicy udon, you tell him about the day you met Azula. When you end up at the post office, Sokka tells you to wait outside—but when he comes out, he is not alone.

You push yourself up from the wall. “You can’t be serious.”

“What? I’ve been wanting a way to send letters home—”

“So you bought a dragon hawk?” you marvel.

“I bet you used them all the time!” Sokka exclaims. The hawk perched on his shoulder looks as unamused as you are. “You should know better than any of us how useful they are!”

“Have you ever used a messenger hawk before?”

“...No,” he admits. “But it can’t be that difficult to figure it out, right?”

You look over at the roosting tower with a sigh. Lee had an unhealthy obsession with dragon hawks when you were kids until one nearly scratched his eye out—and even then, you still think he would’ve become a falconer if he didn’t pick up arrows first. It’s almost identical to the one at your father’s training camp, but you bet these hawks actually get the chance to deliver their letters.

Your lips twist. Your father hid those letters and lied to your face for years with a straight face. Is he lying to you about other things? Hiding things from you?

The thought is unnerving.

“You think a lot.”

You start as Sokka speaks, then you huff and look away.

“I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

“I can imagine,” he says. “Do you regret betraying your nation yet?”

“Why do you have to keep saying it like that?”

“Because it’s true.”

“No, it’s not.”

Sokka shakes his head, brows creasing. You feel static on the back of your neck every time he looks at you like that. “Why do you want to be loyal to them so badly?”

“It’s not loyalty—”

“Then what is it?”

“It just— it just is.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Sokka says.

You cross your arms. “Then maybe you should stop asking about it.”

Sokka continues to look at you, like he’s trying to figure out exactly what you’re thinking, but you know it won’t work. You’ve gotten good at controlling your emotions after so much time at the palace.

His eyes eventually flit away and your shoulders relax, but then you see him frown.

“Oh no.”

“What?”

He doesn’t answer right away as he walks towards a very full bulletin board, with fliers and advertisements and wanted posters. You recognize the Deserter and the Blue Spirit—but Sokka tears off a different one, and your eyes widen when he holds it out.

It’s your wanted poster. You recognize the painted likeness from your first and only portrait as a family of four—perfect and prim dressed in the most regal robes possible, wearing your family sigil with pride. But you barely recognize that girl as yourself anymore.

“Oh no is right,” you say faintly.

“You’ve been gone for like, three days,” Sokka says incredulously. “How is this already here?”

“My father.” A sinking feeling weighs in your chest. “He moves fast when he wants to.”

The poster very carefully avoids mentioning your betrayal, just offers a rather large reward for your return to the Fire Nation.

You know your fate if a bounty hunter manages to find you out here. You turn back to the board as you work to suppress your nausea, but you only find another problem.

“That kinda looks like your earthbender friend,” you say, pointing at a poster. It’s a crude drawing of a very angry girl with sharp teeth and her hair tied up. It’s honestly pretty accurate.

“Yeah, that’s definitely Toph.” Sokka sighs. “Two out of five isn’t bad. At least Aang’s isn’t up anymore now that everyone thinks he’s dead.”

You tear down the poster and huff. “They’re calling her the runaway, and there’s a pretty big bounty on her head.”

“Well, they’re calling you…” Sokka shakes his head as he continues looking at the poster, then he frowns. “Hey, what does this say?”

“You can’t read it?”

“No, I can, it’s just—” he pauses as you come to his side and he points at the line of characters below your painting. “I think I’m translating it wrong. It’s calling you Prince Zuko’s betrothed.”

Your face heats as you cough and look away, and Sokka’s jaw drops. “You’re kidding!”

“I was trying to figure out a way—”

“You’re engaged to Zuko?” he cries.

“We can’t talk about this here,” you whisper-yell. You snatch the poster out of his hands and start moving, Sokka on your heels until you reach a quiet alleyway.

He looks at you expectantly, and you sigh and check one more time to make sure you’re alone before you lay back against the wall.

“It wasn’t my choice, first of all. The Fire Lord just threw it on us when we got back from Ba Sing Se.”

“You go against the Fire Lord all the time!”

“No, I don’t— and be quiet!” you bite. “Do you want us to get found out?”

Sokka huffs, but he’s quieter when he speaks this time. “So you like him.”

“No!”

“You’re engaged to him!”

“That doesn’t mean we like each other!” you insist. “Haven’t you ever heard of an arranged marriage?”

Sokka crosses his arms. “I don’t have a great track record with them.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” you emphasize, “but it doesn’t mean anything. It didn’t go anywhere when we were engaged as kids, and it won’t go anywhere now.”

“You’ve been engaged to Zuko twice?”

“Why does it matter?” you question.

You and Sokka both stare at each other for a good five seconds before he shrugs. “It doesn’t.”

“Then why are you so upset about it?”

“I’m not!”

“Then I guess we’re all settled,” you say. Sokka rolls his eyes and looks away.

“Whatever.”

“We should get back to camp,” you say. “We’ve been gone for too long anyways, and I don’t want your sister to get on my case.”

“She’s just protective,” Sokka says. “And she has a good reason for it, with the stuff we do.”

“Well, she already doesn’t like me,” you say. “Could you… not tell her about this?”

“You want to keep the biggest secret in the world from my sister that hates you?”

“I don’t want her to hate me more!”

“She’ll hate you more if you keep secrets from her,” he says.

“I just don’t think now is the time,” you insist. “I— I’ll tell them all eventually, I just don’t want to do it now. Is that enough for you?”

“...Fine,” Sokka says. “But it has to be by the end of the week, or I’m telling them myself.”

You nod. “Deal.”

“Fine,” he repeats. He stares at you for a little longer and you crack a wry smile.

“Are we gonna go?”

Sokka blinks and nods again. “Yes. Yes— yeah. Yeah.”

“...So go.”

“Right!”

You can’t fully bite back your smile as Sokka begins walking with a purpose, you close behind him. The silence is surprisingly comfortable.

He’ll keep your secret.

-

As you and Sokka make your way back to camp, you find yourselves talking to fill the gaps, and meandering to lengthen the walk. You don’t want the conversation to end—the way that Sokka shuffles backwards so he can keep looking at you while you walk and talk, you think he doesn’t either.

The closer you get, though, the louder you hear… crashing. No—clashing, like rocks scraping up against each other times a thousand. The ground rumbles in the distance, and you look at Sokka in confusion.

“Please tell me you hear that too.”

“Relax,” Sokka chuckles. “Toph and Aang are probably practicing earthbending.”

“That’s a lot of noise for someone trying to stay hidden,” you say.

“We do it all the time,” he says. “C’mon, we’re almost there.”

You climb up some boulders and hop across a stream to make it back to camp, and you see they are indeed earthbending. Katara’s eyes flick up to see you both from where she’s sitting by a boiling cauldron before she looks away.

It’s almost mind boggling how such tiny kids are capable of such powerful bending. Sure, you’re only a few years older than them, but Aang is the Avatar. He’s responsible for saving the entire world from the war your nation started, and he’s got entire militaries trying to stop him.

You still can’t really understand why he’s so kind to you. The world would probably be a better place if you drowned that night.

“You guys are finally back!”

You come back into yourself to see Aang hopping down from a rock with a grin, Toph following him with less excitement.

“Did you buy anything cool?” she asks.

“Uh, did I buy anything cool— of course I did!” Sokka brandishes the hawk on his arm with a grin, and his sister does not look amused.

“Don’t tell me you bought a bird.”

“He is a messenger bird, and his name is Hawky,” Sokka says sagely. “Now we can send letters all over the world! Even to Gran Gran!”

“Wow, how does it work?” Aang asks.

Sokka glances at you, and you huff a laugh. “Dragon hawks are trained for years by skilled falconers before they’re able to carry messages. They follow specific routes that you know absolutely nothing about.”

Sokka scoffs as his sister snorts, and he shoots you a dirty look. “It’s not that hard.”

You smile sweetly. “Try it then.”

He grins at his hawk and points towards the sky. “Hawky! Gran Gran, South Pole!”

The dragon hawk just squawks, and Katara sighs. “What a waste of money.”

“I think he gets it,” Sokka says.

A squeal draws your attention back to Aang, and a lemur you didn’t even notice before lunges off his shoulder over at the hawk, and Sokka sputters as they chase each other around his head.

“Hawky, make nice! Bad Hawky!” He shouts your name as he screws his eyes shut. “Do something!”

You just sigh and whistle two short blasts, followed by a longer, more shrill sound. The dragon hawk immediately stops and flies over to your arm, landing on your golden cuff to protect you from its talons.

“See?” Sokka says, slightly dazed. The lemur climbs onto his head and sits like a king now that he has no one to tussle with. “Easy.”

Aang laughs and holds out his arm. “Momo, can you do it too?”

The lemur jumps off Sokka’s head and onto Aang’s arm, and he grins as he gives him head scratches. “Good job, Momo. You’re so talented.”

“How’d you learn how to do that?” Katara asks. She still has that hard edge to her voice that you think only comes out when she’s talking to you, but her gaze isn’t as accusing.

“I went to a very prestigious academy,” you say. “We learned everything from history to combat, including falconry basics. Traditionally trained messenger hawks respond to that call,” you smile as you hook a finger beneath his beneath to give him scratches, “so I bet we’ll have no problem helping you become the best to ever fly through these skies, isn’t that right?”

You feel their eyes on you from your cooing, and you clear your throat. “Sorry. I like dragon hawks.”

“So you got your skills from a fancy school,” Toph says.

“And a lot of time around Zuko and Azula,” you say wryly. “You adjust quickly at the palace. There’s no other choice.”

“Kinda sounds the same to how I learned.”

“At a palace?”

“From badgermoles.”

“What?”

“I still can’t believe you grew up in the palace,” Aang says, but you’re still staring at Toph. She does not stare back, as she is blind.

“Yeah,” Sokka nods. “You’re way less preppy than I expected you to be.”

You frown, finally looking away from Toph once it’s clear she’s not going to make that make sense. “Why would I be preppy?”

“You’re basically a princess—”

“I am not.”

“—and Katara and I are kinda royalty too—”

“We are not!”

“—so we know what it’s like, how hard it is to be humble.”

“I’m embarrassed to be related to you.”

“You’ve already used that line, so it has no effect.” Sokka looks back at you. “I thought you would be stuck-up, basically.”

You tap the dragon hawk on his beak and watch as he flies off your arm over to a rock near the sky bison. It takes an additional moment for you to gather your thoughts.

“I didn’t have much time for anything other than training,” you say. “My father demands the best of us. My brother Lee is a Yuyan archer—”

“Those guys captured me!” Aang exclaims.

Sokka frowns. “When were you captured by archers?”

Katara’s glare at you is sharp enough to kill. “Your brother captured Aang?”

“We don’t need to worry about it!” Aang says hastily, and his cheeks flush red as he looks back at Katara. “I— I’m fine. Nothing happened. Sorry.”

“You’re not getting out of this,” Katara says, and somehow he blushes even harder.

“Lee’s the only nonbender in my family, so he’s had to work even harder than me,” you continue. “And then there’s Kezu. He…”

You shift from foot to foot as you try to conquer the sudden wave of nausea. You’re barely able to think of your eldest brother without crying. “He was promoted to commander right before…”

You try and fail to swallow the dread. Sokka and Aang’s concern makes you itch—even Katara’s eyes soften.

“Are you okay?” Aang asks gently.

“Fine.” You force a quick smile as you clear your throat. “I— I’m gonna get some air.”

“But we’re already outs—” Sokka starts, but you don’t hear the rest of it as you hurry away, face burning.

What are you thinking, showing such weakness in front of your enemies?

Sure, maybe they’re not your enemies enemies anymore—but you’re still theirs, you’re sure of it. How could you not be? You’ve done so many bad things to them, and even if you haven’t betrayed them, you’re still a traitor. If you can betray your princess, your best friends, then how could anyone ever trust you again?

Certainly not people as good as the Avatar and his team.

…Not Sokka.

The thought makes your head spin, and you stumble the last few steps down to the water. You let out a ragged sigh as you sink until your knees hit the ground, your reflection staring back at you.

Your hair is longer than it’s ever been. It drops just past your shoulder blades as you pull the pin out of your topknot, matted layers falling in tandem. You grimace. You need to get your hands on some camellia oil as soon as possible.

You tilt the pin in your hand. The simple flame matches Sokka and Katara’s, a muted crimson rather than the shining gold that Zuko’s favor earned you. Right now, you don’t feel worthy of either. You don’t think you’ve ever felt less honorable in your life.

“Hey.”

You jolt, heart racing like a rabaroo as you turn around—and then your eyes widen when you see Toph.

“...Hi,” you say, because you don’t really know what she’s doing here.

“Come down here to sulk?” she asks.

“Sorta.” A beat passes. “Come down here because your friends asked you to?”

Toph scoffs. “No one tells me what to do.”

“Yeah,” you say with a slight smile. “I’ve noticed.”

She stands there, blank gaze staring at the ground, and then you finally clear your throat.

“Want to join me?”

Toph doesn’t say anything, but she walks over and sits down next to you. She raises a finger and a tiny pebble flies into the air, then out across the water when she flicks it. The stone skips five times before sinking with a small splash.

“You’re pretty good at that.”

“Did you learn how to skip rocks at that fancy princess academy, princess?”

You huff. “I’m not a princess. I’m the daughter of a general that’s probably disowned me.”

“Join the club,” Toph says wryly. “My dad kept me under lock and key until Aang showed up and gave me the strength to leave. Then he sent my old earthbending teacher and a wrestler to kidnap me and bring me home.”

Your eyes widen. She’s only twelve and yet she’s beating adults twice, no probably five times her size, without breaking a sweat. “How’d you swing that?”

“I invented metalbending,” she says.

“...Obviously.”

“Yeah. You’re lucky you’re not on my bad side anymore.”

You frown and glance over at her. “I’m not?”

“The Fire Nation hasn’t really hurt me,” Toph admits. “And you didn’t either.”

“I chased you across the whole Earth Kingdom.”

“And you did a pretty bad job at it.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Anytime,” Toph smiles.

She skips another few rocks, getting a longer run each time before you feel something hit your arm. You look down to see it’s one of the pebbles.

“It’s your turn,” she says.

“I didn’t actually learn this at the academy—”

“Somehow, I think you’ll survive.” She jabs her elbow into your side and you huff a laugh. “Now do it.”

You throw it at the lake, a flick of your wrist, and it skips an astounding two times before the water swallows it up.

“Great,” you say. “The blind girl is better than me at everything.”

“Don’t feel bad. I’m better than most people at everything.”

“And so humble, too.”

“What’s the point in that?”

“Well, how are you so good at earthbending?” It’s the question that has been bugging you since the first time you saw her, and it’s become incessant since you found out she was blind. “How are you so good at everything?”

“I see using my earthbending,” she says, and you don’t think you’ve ever heard anything cooler. “I feel the vibrations in the ground, so I don’t even need my eyes. I can see better than anyone with eyes, really—I can feel every fire ant on this corner of the island. And that there’s a maggot slug right on your hand.”

You look down to see one crawling over your fingers and scream as you throw it off. Toph dissolves into raucous laughter and you manage to crack a smile, hand still shaking. You hope those fire ants decide to stay far, far away from you.

“So the badgermoles taught you that?” you ask.

“Good memory,” she says with a nod. “Everyone underestimates me because they think I’m just a helpless blind girl. It would be more annoying if it didn’t work in our favor every single time.”

“That’s cool.” A beat passes and you pull your knees up to your chest, passing a glance at Toph. “You really don’t hate me?”

Toph shrugs. “I’ve gotten to pummel you every time we’ve fought. How could I hate you?”

Your laugh is actually something genuine. You’re eternally thankful for this hardheaded blind girl that is doing a pretty good job brute-forcing her way through life.

“Maybe you can convince the others to feel the same way,” you say.

“Oh please, they don’t hate you,” Toph says. “Aang’s too nice to hate anyone, Sokka’s heart speeds up every time he looks at you, and Katara saved your life—”

She keeps going, but you’re still stuck on the second one. You feel your face heat and you have the sudden urge to dunk your head in the water to stop it. Does that mean Sokka doesn’t hate you? Could he actually…

Spirits, could he actually like you? Like, want you to be his friend, kind of like?

The thought is overwhelming. You haven’t made a friend since Zuko. Azula took up most of your time, and you hate all your father’s soldiers, and your brothers don’t count. Friends that don’t throw fire at you or threaten you into submission is a foreign concept. But it sounds really, really nice.

You tune back into Toph when she elbows you again, and you rub the sore spot as she smiles at the ground.

“—so you don’t have to worry, because Aang’s word is worth a lot here. Especially to Katara.”

“I noticed that,” you say. “They’re pretty close, huh?”

“Katara’s the one that found him, so I think they like to think they have a connection.” She shakes her head with a huff. “It all gives me oogies.”

“I think it’s nice,” you say. “They’re sweet to each other.”

“You’ve been here for a few days. It gets old after a few months.”

You smile inwardly. “Thanks for coming down here, Toph. It was… really nice talking with someone like you.”

“Someone totally cool?”

“Someone I know won’t lie to me,” you say wryly. “But that too.”

“No problem, princess,” she says. “Anytime you need to be taken down a peg, my door is open.”

You roll your eyes but your smile only grows. “You’re going to keep calling me that, aren’t you?”

“You’re the best guesser I’ve ever met.”

-

The rest of the night goes by quickly enough—the next day does too, for that matter. Katara was kind enough to scrounge up a fifth bowl your first night spent consciously so you could eat dinner with them, and though it was weird at first, it’s not as bad now—especially after your talk with Toph.

What she said about Sokka keeps popping into your head, though, and it takes everything in you to not glance over at him every chance you get. If anyone finds out that the thought of him makes your skin turn hot as magma, you think you’ll actually pass away.

It’s unlike anything you’ve ever felt before, so naturally you decide to ignore it in the hopes it’ll go away. You’re just not used to someone being as nice as Sokka is to you without demanding something in return. That’s it.

But they’re all warming up to you, it seems. Aang and Toph talk to you like you’re a normal person, Sokka is too nice to understand, and Katara isn’t openly suspicious of your every move anymore. Toph even makes you your own rock tent after Katara begrudgingly admits she doesn’t think you’ll run anymore.

You don’t even know where you would go if you did.

You’re thankful for it, though. The nightmares hit you in full force out here, and you have to wipe away tears when you wake up at the break of dawn. You barely get any sleep, but it’s nothing new. You manage.

You always do.

One afternoon, you’re laying on your back in the grass staring up at the sky. You used to cloud-watch with Ty Lee every perfect summer day, when they were at their fluffiest and you could lay in the grass for hours. You stopped when your father forgot the concept of free time—out here, you have nothing but.

You sigh. Everything reminds you of what you left behind—who you betrayed. Katara and Aang are making lunch together after a session of waterbending, so at least they’re leaving you alone. But then you hear Katara scoff, and you glance over.

Sokka Toph walk in together, each holding a sizable bag of gold pieces. Your eyebrows rise. They’re pretty good scammers—and Sokka’s hawk is surprisingly well behaved today.

“Where have you two been?” Katara questions, planting her hands on her hips when she stands. “Off scamming again?”

“Yes, we were,” Toph says.

“And I suppose you don’t think what you’re doing is dangerous at all?”

Toph keeps her back turned. “No, I don’t.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Well, then.” Katara pulls out a rolled piece of paper from her waistband, and you freeze when it opens. “What’s this?”

“I don’t know!” Toph exclaims, motioning at her eyes. “I mean, what is it with you people? I’m blind!”

“It’s a wanted poster of you!” Katara says. “The Runaway. Is that what you’re called now?”

Your eyes dart across the clearing to Sokka as she continues on, but he shakes his head. You frown, having no idea what it means, but he just shakes his head even harder. What does that mean? Sokka gave Toph her wanted poster, and you kept your own, so if Katara has Toph’s, then she looked through Toph’s things.

Did Katara look through your things too? Does Katara know you’re a runaway bride?

Katara’s shouts bring you back to reality. You get up and go over to where Sokka and Aang are sitting together to see Toph stomping away from an angry Katara.

“Don’t you walk away from me when I’m talking to you!” she calls.

“Oh really, Mom?” Toph mocks, turning. “What are you doing to do? Send me to my room?”

“I wish I could!” Katara exclaims.

“Well, you can’t! Because you’re not my mom, and you’re not their mom.” She gestures over at the three of you.

“I never said I was!”

“No, but you certainly act like it!”

You shoot Aang a desperate look. “Do something!”

His eyes widen as he lowers his voice. “What am I supposed to do?”

“You’re the Avatar! Bring peace to the world!”

—so stop acting like you can tell me what to do!” Toph is in the middle of saying, jabbing her finger at Katara. “I can do whatever I want!”

Katara stares at her. Her eyes dart away as she lowers her head for a second, and she looks unsure when she speaks.

“I don’t act that way.” She looks at her brother. “Sokka, do I act motherly?”

His eyes widen slightly as he raises his hands. “I’m staying out of this one.”

“What do you think, Aang? Do I act like a mom?”

You give him a look, and he shakes his head as he rubs his eye with one hand. “No, I—”

“Stop rubbing your eye and speak clearly when you talk!”

“Yes, ma’am,” he says, and Katara’s shoulders slump.

“I bet I know what you’re gonna say,” she mumbles with a half-hearted glance at you.

“You saved my life,” you say. “I don’t really have any right to tell you how to act.”

Toph rolls her eyes and starts walking off. “I can’t be around you right now.”

“Well, I can’t be around you!” Katara counters. She storms off in the opposite direction, leaving the three of you alone.

Aang frowns. “Well, that could’ve gone better.”

Sokka’s hawk squawks and he sighs as he rests his arms on his knees. “I know, Hawky. Why can’t they just get along?”

“Does this happen a lot?” you ask, looking in each direction. Toph has created another rock tent, and Katara is sitting by the stream with her shoulders hunched.

“Not really,” Sokka says. “But Katara and Toph are the most stubborn people I know, so they always end up clashing like this every once and a while. They get over it pretty quickly.”

Aang frowns. “Didn’t Toph leave the group last time they fought?”

“That’s because we were sleep deprived,” Sokka says, looking at you. “Thanks, by the way.”

You nod. “Anytime.”

“Well, what are we supposed to do now?” Aang questions. “I hate seeing Katara so upset—”

“We know,” Sokka interrupts dryly. His eyes wander from his sister to his friend as he thinks, then his eyes light up. “Oh, I know! I’m gonna send Katara a note and say it’s from Toph, who wants to apologize, then everyone will be friends again.”

Aang smiles. “I gotta say Sokka, you continue to impress me with your ideas.”

“Oh, can Toph write through her earthbending too?” you ask. “That’s impressive.”

Sokka frowns. “...Can she write with her earthbending?”

Aang sighs. “I can’t believe we forgot Toph couldn’t write.”

“...Maybe you should just talk to them,” you say. “I think that’ll go better.”

“Wow,” Aang says your name, “maybe you should be our new idea guy!”

“Don’t even joke about that, Aang!” Sokka shouts, shooting to his feet. “I will go talk to Toph.”

You chuckle as Sokka walks over to where she’s sitting, and you glance over at Aang. “Think it’ll work?”

“I hope so,” he sighs. “I just feel bad that we started this mess with our scams. Katara just wants to help, that’s all.”

“I can tell how much she cares about you all,” you say. “I know I’ve only been here for a few days, but I’ve gotten a lot of bruises from that care.”

Aang chuckles and shakes his head. “We’ve been through a lot together. We almost die together every week, but we pull through. Katara and Toph fight, but they always make up. They love each other. We all do.”

You sit in silence for a while as his words sink in. It’s so wildly different from your friendships, where what Azula says goes—and if you make her upset, then you’d better grovel at her feet before she starts shooting fire at you. It’s not really a hangout with Azula if someone doesn’t come away with scorch marks.

“I have a question,” you say.

“What is it?” Aang asks.

You pause, shifting in your seat as you look over where Sokka and Toph are talking on a cliff. Katara walked off to the water, but you hope she’s doing okay. You lick your dry lips then manage to form the words.

“Why’d you save me?”

He frowns. “Because you’re a human being.”

“Come on,” you say.

“You were a human being that needed help,” Aang says. “It doesn’t matter what you did to me. You needed help, so I helped you.”

You shake your head, unable to look at him anymore. “But I don’t deserve that.”

“Yes,” he says gently, “you do.”

You tip your head back to the sky, hoping your tears will go back where they came from. “That’s not right, though. I— I didn’t earn it. I haven’t helped you at all.”

“That’s not really how we operate here,” he says with a slight laugh. “We’re on a mission to save the world. Anyone we can help along the way is part of that mission. That includes you.”

“I just don’t get it,” you say lowly. “Azula would kill you on the spot—”

“But you haven’t,” he interrupts. “And you won’t. And that’s what matters most, I think.”

A tear breaks loose and Aang graciously doesn’t mention it when you finally manage to look at him.

“Thank you,” you say quietly. “You’re kinder than I expected you would be.”

“I get that a lot.”

“And a lot younger,” you say. “You’re really only 12?”

“112, actually,” he says. “But I’ve been told I don’t look my age.”

You huff a laugh and Aang smiles. Toph and Sokka are making their way back by now, the sun steadily setting in the distance.

“You have a place with us for as long as you want,” Aang says gently. “I hope you know that.”

Your heart clenches a bit as you give him a small smile and a nod. You don’t know how you got lucky enough for the Avatar to be a young monk with endless empathy.

-

The night passes quickly into the next day. Katara and Toph have set off on what she dubbed the ultimate scam, and Sokka has been pacing back and forth since they left. His sister is the only waterbender you’ve ever met, but you know she has to be one of the best out there—and you think Toph is maybe the best earthbender in the world. You don’t know what could possibly hurt them.

But in the past hour, Aang has taken Sokka’s place, who’s too busy admiring his hawk as you clumsily stitch up a hole in your shawl. You’re too embarrassed to ask Katara, so you just learned by watching her from a distance and filling in the rest of the blanks. It’s going worse than expected.

“Do you really think this scam of theirs should be taking this long?” Aang asks.

“I was just wondering the same thing,” Sokka sighs. “We’d better check it out.”

He stands, then looks at you expectantly. “Well?”

“Oh!” you exclaim. “I— I get to come too?”

“Of course,” Sokka says. He looks down at his hawk and the flying lemur and jerks his thumb back at the sky bison. “Appa’s in charge.”

Appa. So that’s his name. At least you now know who to curse for all those bruises.

You break the thread from the spool and hurriedly tie a knot before you slip it over your shoulders and rush after Sokka and Aang.

Soon enough you’re walking through a strangely deserted town, heads on a swivel as you search for their friends.

“Where do you think they might be?” Sokka asks.

“Where do you think anyone is?” Aang questions, spinning in a small circle as he looks out at the empty streets. Suddenly, you feel the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, and you stop right by the statue of Fire Lord Ozai. All you hear is the rush of fire from his fists.

“Guys—”

“Watch out!”

You barely process Aang’s shout before he’s airbending all three of you out of the way of an explosion—you drop to the ground and clamp your hands against your ears to try and protect yourself from the noise, but when Sokka’s mouth moves, you hear nothing but ringing. Cracked pieces of tile have flown all over and clouds of acrid black smoke fill the town square.

Sokka grabs your wrist and pulls you behind the fire fountain with him and Aang, where you watch a half-metal man hop down from the rooftops. He crushes the street where he lands, inhales as he looks at the three of you, and then a beam shoots from a tattooed eye on his forehead. The three of you throw yourselves out of the way just before the spot you were standing explodes.

Your eyes are watering from the smoke and a few projectile pebbles have embedded themselves in your skin, but when Sokka yells to run, you run.

“This can’t be,” you pant to yourself as you race through the empty streets. “I— I thought they were myths!”

Sokka grabs your arm as you turn a sharp corner as the firebender continues pursuing you, blowing up the town behind you. One particularly strong explosion sends the three of you airborne—you and Sokka knock over a wheelbarrow, and he wraps his arms around you to shield you as you hit the ground hard.

Sokka says your name frantically. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” you rush, and his eyes widen a bit.

“Wow. You’re super warm.”

“It’s a firebender thing!”

Sokka helps you up as Aang joins you behind the upturned wheelbarrow, pushing his headband back into place.

“Are you guys okay?” he questions desperately.

“Not as good as this guy!” Sokka exclaims, moving his finger away from his forehead a few times. “He shoots fire from his brain! How can we beat that?”

Aang says your name and they both look at you. “You’re from the Fire Nation— do you know how to beat him?”

You huff an incredulous laugh. “I— I’ve read about it in school, but I always thought that it was just make-believe! There were stories about special firebenders who could shoot a concentrated blast of chi from their forehead—”

“Well, his chi feels pretty real to me!” Sokka exclaims.

“We should split up,” Aang says. “He can’t chase all three of us.”

You nod as Sokka groans. “You better not get blasted, Aang!”

“As long as you don’t either.”

The three of you break just before the wagon explodes, sending wooden shards flying all over. Your heart pounds in your ears while you run as fast as you can. You see Aang running nimbly across the rooftops, drawing the firebender’s ire away from you and Sokka—but then he slams against the statue fountain and falls to the ground.

“Aang!” you cry out.

You sprint towards the Avatar and the firebender, flipping with fire at your feet to send a powerful blast at him. He dodges and glares mutinously at you, about to blast you to smithereens—but then a huge block of ice encases his head, and he stumbles away from both of you.

You whip around to see Katara in a fighting stance with Toph and Sokka on either side, and you let out the biggest sigh of relief.

“Get him up!” she yells. “We have to go!”

You nod and hurry over to Aang to help him back to his feet, half-dragging half-carrying him along with you as you race to catch up to the group. You hear Toph cover your exit with a rock followed by a massive explosion, but it doesn’t hit you so you don’t really care.

“Hey, wait!” Sokka shouts. “I have the perfect name for that guy— Combustion Man!”

“Good job, Sokka,” Toph pants. “Now let’s get out of here before Combustion Man catches us.”

“See?” he grins as you turn a corner. “It fits so well!”

You look down at Aang, whose keeping pace with you all surprisingly well for the beating he just took. “Are you okay? That was a nasty fall.”

“I’ll be fine,” he breathes with a wry smile. “Airbenders are light on our feet.”

You roll your eyes but can’t help your own smile as you continue running for your life. You make it back to camp in record speed and throw everything haphazardly into bags, but when they’re all getting on Appa, you pause.

“What are you doing?” Aang calls from Appa’s head as he gets the reins together. “We have to go!”

“I— I didn’t know if you’d want me to come with you,” you stammer. “I’m Fire Nation and—”

“Who cares?” Toph interrupts. “Do you still want to be here when Combustion Man shows up for vengeance?”

“You’re coming with us,” Sokka says, “end of story.”

Your eyes flick over to Katara, who sighs after a long moment.

“You’re a trail right to us if you stay here,” she says. “It’s easier for you to come.”

“Seriously?” you ask, cautiously grateful.

“Just get up here before Appa takes off without you.”

You break into a grin, but you yelp as Toph thrusts her fist up and a portion of earth shoots you up into the air right into Appa’s saddle. You land on your hands and knees and stare at her.

“What is your problem?” you gasp.

“It’s faster,” she shrugs.

“Yip yip!” Aang yells, and you grab onto the saddle as the bison takes off into the sky. You sputter as your hair blows into your face and mouth and eyes.

“Welcome to the luxuries of a flying bison,” Sokka says smugly. “If you ever wondered why you couldn’t track us, this is why.”

“What does everyone have against solid ground?” You decide to just deal with the hair in your eyes, too afraid of falling to your death without an iron grip on the saddle. “Sailing’s bad enough, but flying?”

“Don’t worry, princess,” Toph says breezily. “If I can handle it, you can too.”

“Yeah,” Katara says with a wry smile. “I thought you were some tough warrior, but you can’t even handle a little flying?”

You groan. “How do you all do this every day?”

“Flying is great!” Aang calls back. “And Appa is the safest bison this side of the skies. You have nothing to worry about."

You think being good is the least rewarding thing you have ever done.