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storypaint) wrote2012-02-14 08:33 am
storypaint) wrote2012-02-14 08:33 am
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[Avatar] 5 Worlds in Which Toph Bei Fong Is the Avatar, and the One in Which She Isn't (Toph gen)
Title: 5 Worlds in Which Toph Bei Fong Is the Avatar, and the One in Which She Isn't
Fandom: Avatar
Length: 2259 words
Pairing: Toph gen
Other: 5 AUs (all separate universes) as per the title, and one set in the canon universe. Implied genocide.
Excerpt: She had to master airbending, and every lesson was like straining against -- well, against the sky. It didn't care what you did to it. It just stayed there, empty and waiting.
1.
"She can't be the Avatar! That tiny girl? No way! She's blind."
Zuko was pacing the deck of his ship in swift, angry movements. He whirled around to retrace his steps, and Iroh watched him, studied him.
"That does not seem to be stopping her," Iroh said.
"Aaargh!" Zuko said. He turned again and fired a ball of flame over the side to relieve some of his frustrations. It didn't appear to have worked. Iroh noted the way that the fire dissolved, oh so quickly, without a whisper, over the water. He thought about the way that people put out fires (with earth) and the way that earth always recovered from a burn.
"I can't bring a girl like that back to my Father! I'll be a laughingstock! There's no way!"
"We did see her earthbend. She must be the Avatar," Iroh said mildly. And not only earthbending: there was a fist-shaped imprint in the metal hull near the waterline. He thought privately that they might have suffered worse if the Avatar didn't have such a distaste for ocean travel.
"I know! You're not helping!"
Zuko stomped down to his quarters, muttering something about timing and ridiculous people and his honor. Iroh looked out over the water, and slowly he smiled.
He had traveled the world, Iroh had, and learned from many cultures. He heard the outcry in all the nations about the Avatar's disappearance, and how angry people were that she hadn't come back in any form. The conspiracy theories were myriad and wild.
But now he knew the truth. The Avatar was an earthbender, the last earthbender, and she was enduring and strong. She would choose the right moment, and she would make things right again.
Perhaps she was even stubborn enough to withstand the rage of his nephew. Perhaps Zuko would finally understand.
Iroh went down below to make tea, and to wait a little longer.
(He was also a master of neutral jing.)
2.
And so it came to pass that Fire Lord Sozin ignored the wishes of his chosen brother, the former Avatar Roku. And, determined to claim all the lands of the world for his own, he invaded the Earth Kingdom, seeking out the new Avatar to destroy her and end the cycle of rebirth. Thus unchecked, he could succeed at unbalancing the world in Fire's favor.
The Earth Kingdom's benders lived among their people in small villages or large towns. Finding the Avatar would be next to impossible, but Sozin had taken twelve years to plan his attack. He invaded from the west, steadily burning his way across the continent, as fire invades a forest. All children of the Avatar's age were ripped from their families and murdered. The fields were salted, and the spirit world rocked with the wailing of parents.
This might have been the destruction of the Earth Kingdom, but then the Fire Lord's soldiers came upon a small town, surrounded by strong earthen walls that stretched to the sky. They prepared to destroy these walls as they had destroyed so many, but the gate opened, and a twelve-year-old girl stepped out to meet the invading army, accompanied only by a badgermole.
History records the first three public words of Avatar Toph as, "Bring it on."
3.
The first time her parents suggested that she run away, Toph had rolled her eyes and ignored the suggestion. She hadn't even thought that they were serious. She had way more important things to do, like figure out how to deal with Sozin.
The second time, her mother's voice was shaky and full of concern. Her father was commanding, but his voice wavered. Toph thought almost longingly about the Air Nomads and the fact that they didn't even know who their parents were, much less were raised by them. She hadn't started her airbending training yet, but she was beginning to look forward to it.
The third time wasn't a suggestion. It involved a cage, and Toph learned to metalbend, but only out of desperation. Her sightless eyes glowed with Avatar strength and she burst free, but the effort made her so tired. She was exhausted, way more exhausted than she expected she would be. Still, she was pleased.
"I am the best earthbender ever!" she declared, stepping out of the cage and onto a surface her feet couldn't read, slipping and landing with a thud that knocked her teeth together painfully. The ground was impossibly cold.
"But there aren't any earthbe--" a male voice hissed, and Toph heard the thump of a fist against flesh.
"Shut up!" a girl said sharply. Her voice was much sweeter when she continued. "Are you okay?"
A gloved hand found Toph's, and Toph took it, trying to find her feet, which were freezing. She could hardly feel them. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so disoriented.
"Where am I?" she asked. "Where's the earth?"
"She doesn't have any shoes, Katara! No shoes!" the boy said.
"We have to get her warm," Katara said as Toph wobbled. She was tired and cold and she had no idea where she was. Falling asleep would be a horrible idea, but it was all she wanted to do. Her eyelids fluttered involuntarily.
"You're right," the boy said, and the last thing Toph felt before she passed out again was someone lifting her up to blind her feet further. She wanted to fight, but there was nothing to reach for, nothing to brace herself against.
For the first time, Toph felt utterly alone.
4.
"You just have to let it go," Aang said. Toph bit back a sharp response, because it wouldn't help. Aang would just ignore whatever insults or complaints she threw at him. It was an airbending thing: ignoring the little things, dodging the bigger ones -- at least, that was what she thought sometimes when she was being irritable. The Air Nomads ignored the war like they expected it would go away. "This too shall pass." Well, it wasn't going to pass until she made it pass. So she couldn't make Aang angry: he was the only one who would agree to teach her, and she had to learn to airbend. None of the elders or other apprentices wanted to "enable her to war," apparently.
Aang didn't either, from what he'd told her, but he'd found a way to justify this to himself, and she wasn't going to pry into that too much. She'd learn airbending, master the Avatar state, and kick Ozai's butt.
She just hadn't expected it to be so hard. Water had been much easier than this. Fire -- well, from what she understood of it, it wouldn't be too difficult once she'd learned not to burn herself. Getting a firebending teacher was going to be difficult.
But she had to master airbending first, and every lesson was like straining against -- well, against the sky. It didn't care what you did to it. It just stayed there, empty and waiting.
"But I can't see when I move like that," Toph said, trying not to shout in her frustration.
"I know, I know." Aang paused, tapping his foot a little as he considered. He was her age, but sometimes he seemed so much older and more serious than she was. He had a mischievous streak, which meant that they could fit well together sometimes, but personally she thought all of that time with the monks had made him a bit dull.
"Toph, you can't see," he said. Toph rolled her eyes.
"You know what I mean," she said.
"I know, but you really can't see. You have to stop depending on your feet to tell you where to go right now, and listen to the air. It's quieter, sure, but it will talk to you. You have to listen."
Toph had good hearing, she thought, and she was about to tell him so. But her parents had always said she was a terrible listener when she didn't want to hear what they had to say, and she had to admit that was true. Maybe Aang had a point.
"Let's try the lotus position again," he said. "Meditate on listening."
Toph sat down on the ground beside him and took the stance. And this time, she made sure her feet weren't touching the ground. Her hands rested on her knees, above the earth. It was like she was floating.
And then she listened to the sky.
5.
Toph wouldn't give up Sheil for anything, but she would admit that world-travel could be difficult when you traveled with a badgermole. Traveling on land was no problem, but she was getting pretty sick of boats. It was a shame they couldn't "borrow" one of those metal ones from the Fire Nation, but really, it was probably best not to be fired on from a distance.
The place they were headed, though, wouldn't have mounted any kind of defense. At least, not now. A long time ago -- or less than a year, from Toph's point of view -- Kyoshi Island had had had a small but thriving town, famous as the birthplace of the last Earth Avatar, Kyoshi. The tradition of fan-based combat that had been passed down for generations from Kyoshi herself.
Toph welcomed the sound of the boat scraping rock with a great cheer. Before she could be drafted to help Sokka or Katara with boat chores, she clambered down to the ground, with Sheil following close behind.
"Wait for us!" Katara shouted.
"I'm just going to have a look around!" Toph shouted back, already walking towards the ruined town that she could feel up ahead.
Toph had been born far from here. She'd never visited Kyoshi, so she shouldn't have too much of an attachment to it, and yet, she found herself stopping at the gate. It wasn't really a gate anymore: just a pile of broken rocks. Toph dragged her feet in the dirt, feeling. No buildings were standing anymore. Most had burned in the initial attack, and the rest had crumbled. The Kyoshi Warriors had been a competent fighting force, but they had been no match for Sozin's army. Kyoshi had isolated her island to protect it from a despot, but in the end, that had been its downfall.
The whole thing made her mad. She could hear Sokka and Katara coming down the path after her, but she didn't want to wait for them. She fisted her hands in Sheil's fur for a moment and then went to find Kyoshi's shrine.
She had lived here once, Toph thought as she stepped over the threshold. She had married here, and given birth, and died here. It was strange to think about.
"Avatar Toph," a voice said. It was hard as rock, confident as earth, and there was no one else here besides Katara and Sokka and Sheil, and they were all outside. Toph quit trying to "see" Kyoshi; it was an exercise in futility.
"Avatar Kyoshi," she said respectfully.
"Are you willing to do what it takes?" the sharp voice asked, and Toph didn't hesitate to nod.
1.
It might have been a while since Toph had seen her friend, but she would recognize his light step anywhere. He didn't have to knock before she was pulling open the door.
"Twinkletoes! Geez, it's been forever. Why don't you ever come see me?"
Affectionately Toph punched her best friend in the arm. To his credit, he only recoiled a little before hugging her firmly. She didn't resist.
"Being the Avatar is a lot of work, Toph. The war might be over, but there's a lot of work that Zuko and I are doing with the rebuilding. So many meetings..." Aang sighed. "I don't know what's worse: Earth Kingdom stubbornness or Fire Nation loyalty. I don't know what we're going to do about the colonies."
"Well, no point in worrying about it right now," Toph said cheerfully, leading Aang through the door and into the sitting room. It was probably dark and a bit sparse-looking to him, but she had just moved in, after all. Being an earthbending teacher paid pretty well, but she was being careful with her money, and wasn't sure who she'd trust to decorate, anyway. It'd only be for the benefit of her visitors, really.
"When you and Zuko get into it, it's like listening to badgermoles mating or something: loud, repetitive, and boring," she continued, enjoying the way his heart speeded up in shock at her metaphor. Aang was such a prude for someone who was practically engaged. Toph had learned the facts of life early on; it was unavoidable when you could feel anything that took place on dirt.
"Take a break," she said, gesturing in the vague direction of her couch. "Sit down, tell me about Snoozles and the Tea General and everyone."
Aang laughed. "And no politics?"
She smiled. "None allowed."
So Aang launched into a story of how Momo and Appa had somehow managed to invade the Fire Lord's kitchens, and she listened with amusement. He sounded tired for a man who was so young. Honestly, Toph didn't envy him. She could have handled the war as Avatar -- she had very little doubt about that -- but Aang was a lot better than she was at all the politics and reconciliations. She'd offend some minister by putting her finger up her nose, or by telling him what she really thought of him. Better to leave the dull stuff to the professionals.
Toph had more important things to do.
Fandom: Avatar
Length: 2259 words
Pairing: Toph gen
Other: 5 AUs (all separate universes) as per the title, and one set in the canon universe. Implied genocide.
Excerpt: She had to master airbending, and every lesson was like straining against -- well, against the sky. It didn't care what you did to it. It just stayed there, empty and waiting.
1.
"She can't be the Avatar! That tiny girl? No way! She's blind."
Zuko was pacing the deck of his ship in swift, angry movements. He whirled around to retrace his steps, and Iroh watched him, studied him.
"That does not seem to be stopping her," Iroh said.
"Aaargh!" Zuko said. He turned again and fired a ball of flame over the side to relieve some of his frustrations. It didn't appear to have worked. Iroh noted the way that the fire dissolved, oh so quickly, without a whisper, over the water. He thought about the way that people put out fires (with earth) and the way that earth always recovered from a burn.
"I can't bring a girl like that back to my Father! I'll be a laughingstock! There's no way!"
"We did see her earthbend. She must be the Avatar," Iroh said mildly. And not only earthbending: there was a fist-shaped imprint in the metal hull near the waterline. He thought privately that they might have suffered worse if the Avatar didn't have such a distaste for ocean travel.
"I know! You're not helping!"
Zuko stomped down to his quarters, muttering something about timing and ridiculous people and his honor. Iroh looked out over the water, and slowly he smiled.
He had traveled the world, Iroh had, and learned from many cultures. He heard the outcry in all the nations about the Avatar's disappearance, and how angry people were that she hadn't come back in any form. The conspiracy theories were myriad and wild.
But now he knew the truth. The Avatar was an earthbender, the last earthbender, and she was enduring and strong. She would choose the right moment, and she would make things right again.
Perhaps she was even stubborn enough to withstand the rage of his nephew. Perhaps Zuko would finally understand.
Iroh went down below to make tea, and to wait a little longer.
(He was also a master of neutral jing.)
2.
And so it came to pass that Fire Lord Sozin ignored the wishes of his chosen brother, the former Avatar Roku. And, determined to claim all the lands of the world for his own, he invaded the Earth Kingdom, seeking out the new Avatar to destroy her and end the cycle of rebirth. Thus unchecked, he could succeed at unbalancing the world in Fire's favor.
The Earth Kingdom's benders lived among their people in small villages or large towns. Finding the Avatar would be next to impossible, but Sozin had taken twelve years to plan his attack. He invaded from the west, steadily burning his way across the continent, as fire invades a forest. All children of the Avatar's age were ripped from their families and murdered. The fields were salted, and the spirit world rocked with the wailing of parents.
This might have been the destruction of the Earth Kingdom, but then the Fire Lord's soldiers came upon a small town, surrounded by strong earthen walls that stretched to the sky. They prepared to destroy these walls as they had destroyed so many, but the gate opened, and a twelve-year-old girl stepped out to meet the invading army, accompanied only by a badgermole.
History records the first three public words of Avatar Toph as, "Bring it on."
3.
The first time her parents suggested that she run away, Toph had rolled her eyes and ignored the suggestion. She hadn't even thought that they were serious. She had way more important things to do, like figure out how to deal with Sozin.
The second time, her mother's voice was shaky and full of concern. Her father was commanding, but his voice wavered. Toph thought almost longingly about the Air Nomads and the fact that they didn't even know who their parents were, much less were raised by them. She hadn't started her airbending training yet, but she was beginning to look forward to it.
The third time wasn't a suggestion. It involved a cage, and Toph learned to metalbend, but only out of desperation. Her sightless eyes glowed with Avatar strength and she burst free, but the effort made her so tired. She was exhausted, way more exhausted than she expected she would be. Still, she was pleased.
"I am the best earthbender ever!" she declared, stepping out of the cage and onto a surface her feet couldn't read, slipping and landing with a thud that knocked her teeth together painfully. The ground was impossibly cold.
"But there aren't any earthbe--" a male voice hissed, and Toph heard the thump of a fist against flesh.
"Shut up!" a girl said sharply. Her voice was much sweeter when she continued. "Are you okay?"
A gloved hand found Toph's, and Toph took it, trying to find her feet, which were freezing. She could hardly feel them. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so disoriented.
"Where am I?" she asked. "Where's the earth?"
"She doesn't have any shoes, Katara! No shoes!" the boy said.
"We have to get her warm," Katara said as Toph wobbled. She was tired and cold and she had no idea where she was. Falling asleep would be a horrible idea, but it was all she wanted to do. Her eyelids fluttered involuntarily.
"You're right," the boy said, and the last thing Toph felt before she passed out again was someone lifting her up to blind her feet further. She wanted to fight, but there was nothing to reach for, nothing to brace herself against.
For the first time, Toph felt utterly alone.
4.
"You just have to let it go," Aang said. Toph bit back a sharp response, because it wouldn't help. Aang would just ignore whatever insults or complaints she threw at him. It was an airbending thing: ignoring the little things, dodging the bigger ones -- at least, that was what she thought sometimes when she was being irritable. The Air Nomads ignored the war like they expected it would go away. "This too shall pass." Well, it wasn't going to pass until she made it pass. So she couldn't make Aang angry: he was the only one who would agree to teach her, and she had to learn to airbend. None of the elders or other apprentices wanted to "enable her to war," apparently.
Aang didn't either, from what he'd told her, but he'd found a way to justify this to himself, and she wasn't going to pry into that too much. She'd learn airbending, master the Avatar state, and kick Ozai's butt.
She just hadn't expected it to be so hard. Water had been much easier than this. Fire -- well, from what she understood of it, it wouldn't be too difficult once she'd learned not to burn herself. Getting a firebending teacher was going to be difficult.
But she had to master airbending first, and every lesson was like straining against -- well, against the sky. It didn't care what you did to it. It just stayed there, empty and waiting.
"But I can't see when I move like that," Toph said, trying not to shout in her frustration.
"I know, I know." Aang paused, tapping his foot a little as he considered. He was her age, but sometimes he seemed so much older and more serious than she was. He had a mischievous streak, which meant that they could fit well together sometimes, but personally she thought all of that time with the monks had made him a bit dull.
"Toph, you can't see," he said. Toph rolled her eyes.
"You know what I mean," she said.
"I know, but you really can't see. You have to stop depending on your feet to tell you where to go right now, and listen to the air. It's quieter, sure, but it will talk to you. You have to listen."
Toph had good hearing, she thought, and she was about to tell him so. But her parents had always said she was a terrible listener when she didn't want to hear what they had to say, and she had to admit that was true. Maybe Aang had a point.
"Let's try the lotus position again," he said. "Meditate on listening."
Toph sat down on the ground beside him and took the stance. And this time, she made sure her feet weren't touching the ground. Her hands rested on her knees, above the earth. It was like she was floating.
And then she listened to the sky.
5.
Toph wouldn't give up Sheil for anything, but she would admit that world-travel could be difficult when you traveled with a badgermole. Traveling on land was no problem, but she was getting pretty sick of boats. It was a shame they couldn't "borrow" one of those metal ones from the Fire Nation, but really, it was probably best not to be fired on from a distance.
The place they were headed, though, wouldn't have mounted any kind of defense. At least, not now. A long time ago -- or less than a year, from Toph's point of view -- Kyoshi Island had had had a small but thriving town, famous as the birthplace of the last Earth Avatar, Kyoshi. The tradition of fan-based combat that had been passed down for generations from Kyoshi herself.
Toph welcomed the sound of the boat scraping rock with a great cheer. Before she could be drafted to help Sokka or Katara with boat chores, she clambered down to the ground, with Sheil following close behind.
"Wait for us!" Katara shouted.
"I'm just going to have a look around!" Toph shouted back, already walking towards the ruined town that she could feel up ahead.
Toph had been born far from here. She'd never visited Kyoshi, so she shouldn't have too much of an attachment to it, and yet, she found herself stopping at the gate. It wasn't really a gate anymore: just a pile of broken rocks. Toph dragged her feet in the dirt, feeling. No buildings were standing anymore. Most had burned in the initial attack, and the rest had crumbled. The Kyoshi Warriors had been a competent fighting force, but they had been no match for Sozin's army. Kyoshi had isolated her island to protect it from a despot, but in the end, that had been its downfall.
The whole thing made her mad. She could hear Sokka and Katara coming down the path after her, but she didn't want to wait for them. She fisted her hands in Sheil's fur for a moment and then went to find Kyoshi's shrine.
She had lived here once, Toph thought as she stepped over the threshold. She had married here, and given birth, and died here. It was strange to think about.
"Avatar Toph," a voice said. It was hard as rock, confident as earth, and there was no one else here besides Katara and Sokka and Sheil, and they were all outside. Toph quit trying to "see" Kyoshi; it was an exercise in futility.
"Avatar Kyoshi," she said respectfully.
"Are you willing to do what it takes?" the sharp voice asked, and Toph didn't hesitate to nod.
1.
It might have been a while since Toph had seen her friend, but she would recognize his light step anywhere. He didn't have to knock before she was pulling open the door.
"Twinkletoes! Geez, it's been forever. Why don't you ever come see me?"
Affectionately Toph punched her best friend in the arm. To his credit, he only recoiled a little before hugging her firmly. She didn't resist.
"Being the Avatar is a lot of work, Toph. The war might be over, but there's a lot of work that Zuko and I are doing with the rebuilding. So many meetings..." Aang sighed. "I don't know what's worse: Earth Kingdom stubbornness or Fire Nation loyalty. I don't know what we're going to do about the colonies."
"Well, no point in worrying about it right now," Toph said cheerfully, leading Aang through the door and into the sitting room. It was probably dark and a bit sparse-looking to him, but she had just moved in, after all. Being an earthbending teacher paid pretty well, but she was being careful with her money, and wasn't sure who she'd trust to decorate, anyway. It'd only be for the benefit of her visitors, really.
"When you and Zuko get into it, it's like listening to badgermoles mating or something: loud, repetitive, and boring," she continued, enjoying the way his heart speeded up in shock at her metaphor. Aang was such a prude for someone who was practically engaged. Toph had learned the facts of life early on; it was unavoidable when you could feel anything that took place on dirt.
"Take a break," she said, gesturing in the vague direction of her couch. "Sit down, tell me about Snoozles and the Tea General and everyone."
Aang laughed. "And no politics?"
She smiled. "None allowed."
So Aang launched into a story of how Momo and Appa had somehow managed to invade the Fire Lord's kitchens, and she listened with amusement. He sounded tired for a man who was so young. Honestly, Toph didn't envy him. She could have handled the war as Avatar -- she had very little doubt about that -- but Aang was a lot better than she was at all the politics and reconciliations. She'd offend some minister by putting her finger up her nose, or by telling him what she really thought of him. Better to leave the dull stuff to the professionals.
Toph had more important things to do.