Her home was gone. Her family, gone. Her comfortable bed, her five course meals, and all the other privileges of wealth, gone. All she had left was the clothes on her back, a small bag of supplies, and a patch of cold, hard ground to sleep on.
Toph had never felt better.
Within her self-made rock tent she grinned to herself, stretching out lazily like a cat, and the ground gently moulded itself around her body into the most perfectly comfortable shape. Who knew that running away from home would be such a great idea? Toph savoured the unparalleled connection she could feel to her element.
She'd never been allowed to sleep in such an undignified way before, and now that she was free to do whatever she wanted she jumped at the opportunity. Through her back she could feel the soft vibrations of the world going to sleep around her: the slow breathing of the weary weasel-mice in the nearby burrow; the sway of the tree branches in the evening wind…
And the almost- silent tap of Blue's feet as he crept back into camp.
She'd only been travelling with them for a day so far, but Toph had picked up from casual conversation that Blue was fairly new to the team too. Before that he'd been wandering alone, fighting the Fire Nation wherever he found them.
It explained why every sign she picked up from him through the Earth suggested that he was deeply paranoid: the way his muscles were always tense and ready for action; the way he never failed to look around the second he entered a room; and the way he crept out of camp to scout the area the moment he seemed sure everyone else was asleep.
The Blue Spirit had clearly had a difficult life before this, and had learned to watch every shadow for the next misfortune waiting to jump out at him. His nighttime scouting was probably his way of checking that nothing could be a threat to him before he let his guard down by sleeping.
Well, he could rest easy now that she was part of the crew! Nothing escaped her notice!
Speaking of which…
Toph pressed her palm flat against the ground, picking up more of the strange tremors. Something very loud, very heavy and very far away was moving towards them at a worrying pace. It felt a little like an avalanche, but was thinner and ran over flat terrain. Toph had never felt anything like it before, but she was almost certain it was nothing good.
"Guys!" She called out, dropping her rock tent with a thud to wake them up. "We have a problem…"
...
Tanya was in a foul mood.
It was, in her opinion, quite rightly deserved. Azula was being petty, controlling, and honestly kind of a bitch! How dare she try and use the fact Tanya had been going above and beyond what her duties required against her!
She had been working hard and taking the initiative to best ensure the success of their mission, and then Azula turned around and had the gall to claim that she was disobedient! Even if the princess was still just a teenager, such poor leadership was most unbecoming of the Fire Lord's heir!
The cold war between them had been going on for days now, with neither side willing to relent or make any sort of offer for peace. Poor Ty Lee and Mai had been having a rough time tiptoeing between them and trying to play mediators. Tanya felt for them, but had been unable to be the bigger person like she normally was and extend the olive branch.
If she backed down here then her plan to seek out the spirit library was off the table for good, and then their best shot at discovering The Avatar's weakness would be gone. All she had to do was wait a little for longer for Azula to finally get over herself.
With time however came the seeds of doubt, and despite knowing that she was in the right, Tanya could not help but consider some of the things Azula had claimed. Could her wariness of Being X be making her leap to conclusions? Maybe spirit interference was not the reason behind her frustrating failures to capture The Avatar so far? Had she actually just been genuinely outsmarted at Omashu?
No. Not that couldn't be the case! She was a general in the finest military in the continent! She had a literal lifetime of military experience! Her decisions had changed the course of a war that enveloped an entire world! It was inconceivable that three plucky children and a demented old man could get the better of her!
Wasn't it?
A knock on the door broke her out of her thoughts, and a second later Ty Lee poked her head into her room. "Tanya? We've spotted them in the distance. Azula wants you armed and ready for action."
Tanya scowled. "Well, if the princess demands it, I guess I'd better obey." She replied sarcastically.
Let it not be said that Ty Lee did not try to keep up a cheerful smile, but even she couldn't quite hide the awkward wince that grew on her face. "Listen, Tanya, I know things haven't been great between you and Azula recently, but don't you think this fighting between you may cause… you know… tactical problems?"
"Oh, I'm sure it will." Tanya replied shortly. "Azula had better sort herself out quickly then."
"Right. Of course. Sure." Ty Lee was fidgeting nervously. "But shouldn't reconciliation be a two- way road?"
Tanya turned to glare at her, golden eyes narrowed dangerously. "What are you trying to say?"
Ty Lee gulped nervously, but to her credit pressed ahead anyway. "I'm just suggesting that perhaps, if you and Azula want to make up, then you both need to be willing to see where the other is coming from."
Tanya scoffed dismissively. "I do see where she's coming from. I see that she's stuck in her own ridiculous little power trip. Once she realises that, then we can move on." She strode past Ty Lee brusquely. "Now enough of this pointless chatter. We need to make sure the mounts are prepped for combat.
Ty Lee watched her go, and sighed disheartedly. "I really hope Mai's had better luck than me."
...
Katara was reaching her breaking point.
Toph was being absolutely insufferable! The pointless nicknames and petty remarks were bad enough, but her absolute refusal to help anyone else with even the simplest tasks was just so utterly selfish! She took the attitude that as long as she was fine, it was perfectly acceptable to lay around lazily while everyone else struggled! That wasn't what being a team was about!
And to add insult to injury the bloody land-train-thing had caught up to them for a third time that night, stopping any opportunity they had to catch even a wink of sleep! Katara didn't know how they kept finding them or who was driving it, but she doubted they had good intentions in mind.
"Maybe we should face them. Find out who they are. Who knows, maybe they're friendly." Aang suggested as the train rumbled up the slope towards them and on to level ground.
Katara agreed. She didn't hold out quite the same hope that they were friendly, but clearly trying to evade them wasn't working. Now was the time to stand their ground.
As one they settled into their respective combat stances, preparing themselves as the iron beast lumbered to a stop. With a hiss of steam one of the doors began to rumble open, spreading out a wave of thin mist through which only the faint silhouettes of movement could be seen.
Seconds later three creatures began to emerge: beasts with thin, scaly limbs and slender bodies that spread out in wide stances, forked tongues lolling and flickering out of their mouths. And riding atop them…
Katara's eyes locked onto a flash of golden hair. All of her frustrations were absorbed by a sudden well of negative emotions and refined into a sharp, pure hatred as she found a target to focus them on.
"Tanya!" She seethed.
The mist parted to reveal the infamous golden-haired general, flanked on each side by the princess, the knife-thrower and the acrobat they'd encountered at Omashu. Tanya took in the scene before her briefly, and as her gaze locked with Katara's, her expression morphed into a hateful scowl. If looks could kill, the both of them would be glaring swarms of bloody daggers at each other.
"Them again!" Aang whispered. "I can't believe they've followed us all the way from Omashu!"
"I can." Katara replied shortly, never breaking her staring contest with Tanya. With Zuko not having shown his face in a while now, who else but Tanya could they expect to be stalking their footsteps wherever they went? "And I'm glad they did."
Sokka looked at her quizzically. "You are?"
Katara nodded. Her failure to avenge Pakku back at Omashu, close as she'd come, had stung at her pride. This felt like a second chance. "She's going down."
Toph whistled. "Wow! I didn't expect the sugar queen to have such a bite to her!"
...
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