When Worlds Collide: Book Two, Earth

We arrived at a big house, that had two men standing guard. Above the door was an emblem of a flying boar.
“That’s it,” Aang said, as we crouched behind a rock, “the flying boar from my vision.”
We walked around the big wall that surrounded the estate, and Aang airbent over it. Sokka climbed up next, and I saw him fall over the edge. Katara chuckled, going up next, and I followed. I jumped down, and Aang and Sokka caught me.
We were silent as we crossed the grounds, hiding behind a tree to scout the area. Not a moment after I stuck my head out, the ground shifted, and we went flying through the air. We all screamed before Aang and Katara landed in bushes, Sokka on the hard ground, and me on top of him. He groaned and I laughed at him, standing up.
We all looked over to see a young girl standing over Aang. “What are you doing here, Twinkle Toes?” she asked.
“How’d you know it was me?” he asked.
“Don’t answer to Twinkle Toes, it’s not manly!” Sokka said.
“You’re the one who’s bag matches his belt,” Katara huffed.
“Um, my bag.” I stuck my tongue out at Sokka who glared.
“How did you find me?” the girl asked, ignoring us.
“A crazy king told me that I needed an earth bending teacher who listened to the earth,” Aang explained. “And then I had a vision in a magic swamp, and-“
“What Aang is trying to say is, he’s the Avatar. And if he doesn’t master Earth Bending soon, he won’t be able to fight the Fire Lord,” Katara said, cutting the young monk off.
The young girl held up her hand. “Not my problem,” she said. “Now, get out of here, or I’ll call the guards.”
“Now hold on,” Sokka said. “We all have to do our part in this war, and your part is to teach Aang earth bending.”
The girl stopped in her steps, and I chewed my lip. Suddenly, she turned around, with a scared look on her face. “Guards! Guards, help!”
My eyes widened, and I grabbed Katara’s hand, and took off running. We ran back over the wall, panting.
“Well, that didn’t work at all,” I muttered.
Aang poked his head over the wall, watching two guards hover over the girl. When Aang came back down, he was smiling.
“Do I want to know?” I asked, raising my eyebrow. He just grinned.

//////////\\\\\\\\\

Later that evening, Aang led us up to the door of the Bei Fong family. He knocked, and a minute later, a man in a long green robe answered. We told him who we were and why we were there, and he let us in. After we were introduced, Mr and Mrs Bei Fong welcomed us into their home, and let us have dinner with them.
Servants placed food in front of us, and when one of them placed a bowl of soup in front of the girl from earlier, Toph, her father spoke up.
“Blow on it,” he said. “It’s too hot for her.”
“Allow me,” Aang said, creating a small tornado, and sending it over to cool down her soup.
Everyone clapped, and I shoved Sokka who was scarfing down his food.
“Avatar Aang,” Mrs Bei Fong said, “it’s an honor to have you visit us.”
“In your opinion, how long do you think the war will last?” her husband asked.
“I’d like to defeat the Fire Lord by the end of the summer,” Aang started. Then he turned to Toph. “But I can’t do that without finding an earth bending teacher first.”
Toph narrowed her eyes.
“Well, Master Yu is the finest teacher in the land,” Mr Bei Fong said. “He’s been teaching Toph since she was little.”
Master Yu wiped his mouth, looking smug.
“Then she must be a great earth bender!” Aang exclaimed. “Probably good enough to teach someone-OW!” Aang jumped up, and then glared at Toph.
I glanced at the young girl, who smiled, and continued eating. A smile tugged my lips as I put two and two together, but quickly stuffed my mouth with food to hide it.
“Toph is still learning the basics,” Master Yu said.
“Yes, and sadly, because of her blindness I don’t think she will ever become a true master,” her father said, looking sadly at his daughter. Sokka stopped eating long enough to give me a confused glance. I shrugged, just as confused as he was.
“Oh, I’m sure she’s better than you think she is,” Aang said before suddenly flying forward, his face landing in his bowl. I choked, trying to hide my laughter, and Katara patted my back, looking at me worriedly.
Toph was still eating calmly, with a soft smile on her face. Aang wiped the food off his face, then sneezed, sending food flying all across the room.
A bowl landed on Toph’s face, and she stood abruptly. “What's your problem?” she shouted.
“What's your problem?” Aang yelled, also standing.
Sokka, Katara and I all looked at each other worriedly, but the Bei Fongs and Master Yu looked calm.
“Well,” Mrs Bei Fong said, “should we move to the living room for dessert then?”

//////////\\\\\\\\\\\

The Bei Fongs were letting us spend the night in their home, so we were sleeping in the living room.
Appa came into the living room window, and as Aang was wishing him goodnight, Toph came in. Aang freaked, getting into a defensive stance. I rolled my eyes at him, sitting next to Sokka on the couch.
“Relax,” Toph said. “Look, I’m sorry about dinner. Let’s call a truce, okay?”
Aang relaxed, looking confused.
“Why don’t we go for a walk?” she asked him, and he nodded.

//////////\\\\\\\\\\\\

An hour later, Aang and Toph still hadn’t returned, and Toph’s parents were getting worried. We were worried too, but knew that Aang could take care of himself... most of the time.
So, to ease all our minds, we made our way to the court yard, where we found two patches of earth, and a sword impaled into the ground. Realization dawned on us, and Toph’s parents began to cry.
Sokka freed the sword from the ground, and found a rolled up piece of parchment. “Whoever took Aang and Toph left this,” he said.
He held the parchment out to me, but I stared at him. After a few seconds, Sokka blinked, shaking his head. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly, handing the paper to Katara while we both chuckled.
Katara unrolled the parchment, and read aloud. “If you want to see your daughter again, bring five hundred gold pieces to the arena. It’s signed Shin fu and The Boulder.”
“I can’t believe it,” Sokka said. He ripped the parchment from Katara’s hand, and held it up proudly. “I have The Boulders autograph!”
Katara and I rolled our eyes, staring at Sokka.
“Master Yu,” Mr Bei Fong said from behind us, “I need you to get my daughter back.”
Katara turned to them. “We’re going with you,” she said firmly, and I nodded.
“Poor Toph,” Mrs Bei Fong said, kneeling next to the two patches of earth. “She must be so scared.” She cried, so I went to comfort her until we left.

//////////\\\\\\\\\\

Half an hour later, we arrived at the arena. In the center was Shin Fu and The Boulder. Hanging in the air were two metal boxes, with little peep holes, showing us Aang and Toph’s faces.
As soon as Mr Bei Fong saw his daughter, he shouted her name, and the two men turned to face us.
“Here’s your money,” Sokka said, holding up the bag of gold pieces. “Now let them go.” He dropped the bag, and Master Yu used earth bending to make it scoot across the ground over to the two kidnappers.
Shin Fu picked it up, and counted the money. When he was done, he waved his hand, and one of the two metal boxes began to come down. When it hit the ground, Toph burst out and ran to her father.
“What about Aang?” I asked.
“I think the Fire Nation will pay a hefty price for the Avatar,” Shin Fu said, unraveling another parchment. “Now, get out of my ring.”
We didn’t move, instead getting into fighting positions. Before we could act, however, five other men came out of nowhere. We hesitated, looking at each other.
“Go,” Aang called. “I’ll be okay.”
We slowly backed up, going back to the tunnel that Toph, Master Yu, and Mr Bei Fong had disappeared into.
“Toph!” Katara called. “There’s too many of them. We need an earth bender! We need you!”
Finally, the three of them turned, Mr. Bei Fong glaring. “My daughter is blind,” he spat. “She is blind, and tiny, and helpless, and fragile. She cannot help you.”
I watched Toph the whole time. I watched her expression become hurt. She closed her eyes, and ripped her hand out of her fathers.
“Yes,” she declared. “I can.” She walked out of the cave, and we followed.
While the seven men were walking off the ring, Toph used earth bending to block their path.
“Let him go!” Toph shouted. “I beat you all before, and I’ll do it again.”
“The Boulder, takes issue with that comment,” The Boulder said. One of the men threw Aang’s metal box down.
Sokka, Katara and I started to rush and attack, but Toph held out her arms.
“They're mine,” she said darkly.
Sokka and Katara looked worried, but I nodded. The little earth bender raised her arms, and then suddenly threw them back down. A cloud of dust appeared, and all the men were thrown back.
The cloud of dust still hovered, but Toph walked confidently into the storm. For a while, we couldn’t see anything, but another second, and a guy flew out, getting thrown into a wall.
Shaking our heads, we rushed over to Aang, and started trying to open his metal prison. Sokka attempted to hit it open with a rock.
“Hit it harder!” Aang shouted.
“I’m trying!” Sokka cried.
I yelped as another guy was thrown out of the ring, and fell into the first guy, creating a miniature explosion.
With one final hit, the box opened, and Aang jumped out, ready to fight. Sokka just shook his head, and pointed as a big guy emerged from the dust cloud, swinging a giant rock shaped like a coin.
A second later, another was thrown next to him. Toph calmly walked out, prepared to fight. A tall skinny guy started yelling, swinging on a rope, aimed right at Toph.
She simply spun the ground around, and the Tarzan wannabe slammed into the two men. The four of us gaped, completely shocked as a little girl took on so many grown men.
Toph’s playful smirk made itself known as she threw the three guys out of the ring. They landed on top of the other three who were currently attempting to get up.
Toph cleared the smoke, and there was Shin Fu, cracking his neck. He got into a fighting stance, and Toph just spat at the ground.
Glancing up at Mr Bei Fong and Master Yu, I noticed how nervous Toph’s father was. Even after watching his daughter take down six guys twice her size, he was still worried? I sighed, shaking my head.
Toph and Shin Fu circled each other, while we all stood back and watched. All at once, Shin Fu attacked, sending rock after rock at our small friend.
She threw up a shield of rock to protect herself, then throwing half of it at him.
He jumped out of the way, digging his hand into the earth, then throwing the rocks. Toph easily turned, and the pieces of earth flew right past her. Another move of her hands, and Shin Fu flew into the bleachers, landing right in between the two men sitting there.
I cheered, rushing over to Toph. “That was amazing!” I exclaimed. She just smirked.

//////////\\\\\\\\\\

“Dad,” Toph said an hour later, “I know its probably hard for you to see me this way. But the obedient, little, helpless, blind girl that you think I am just isn’t me. I love fighting. I love being an earth bender. And I’m really, really good at it! I know I’ve kept my life secret from you. But you were keeping me secret from the whole world. You were doing it to protect me. But I’m twelve years old, and I’ve never had a real friend.”
I glanced at Katara, and saw her eyes were misty.
“So now that you see who I really am,” Toph continued, “I hope it doesn’t change the way you feel about me.”
“Of course it doesn’t change the way I feel about you, Toph,” Mr Bei Fong said. “It’s made me realize something.”
“It has?” Toph asked.
“Yes,” her father said, “I’ve let you have far too much freedom!” he said, and his wife nodded.
“You will now be cared for and guarded all 24 hours of the day.”
“But Dad!” Toph protested.
“We are doing this for your own good, Toph,” Mrs Bei Fong said.
Mr Bei Fong stood. “Please escort the Avatar and his friends out. They are no longer welcome here.”
I gaped. “You can’t do that! Your daughter has a gift! You can’t just deny her of her dream!”
“Sam, no,” Katara said, putting a hand on my arm, leading me out.
“I’m sorry Toph,” Aang said. “I’m sorry too,” she replied, looking at the ground. “Goodbye, Aang.”
With one last glare, I stomped out of the room.

/////////////\\\\\\\\\\\

For the next half hour, I stomped around muttering, and packing up.
Katara was comforting Aang over by the cliff edge, and Sokka was trying to calm me down.
“Sam, relax,” he said. “It’s not you who’s being locked up for the rest of your life.”
I glared at the ground. “It doesn't matter. In my world, all women have rights. We’re encouraged to try new stuff, and follow our dreams. And here...” I trailed off, throwing more supplies into Appa’s saddle.
Sokka was about to say something else when the other two also climbed on Appa. Right as Aang was about to take off, he turned and froze.
I looked too and saw Toph running towards us.
“Toph!” Aang said, looking relieved. “What are you doing here?”
“My dad changed his mind,” she explained. “He said I was free to travel the world.”
We all looked at each other, and smiled.
“Well,” Sokka said, “we better get out of here. Before your dad changes his mind again.”
“You’re gonna be a great teacher Toph,” Aang said.
“Speaking of which, I wanna show you something,” she said.
“Okay!” Aang jumped down off Appa, landing next to her.
The young earth bender stomped her foot, and Aang flew up into a tree.
I laughed, seeing him hanging upside down.
“Now we’re even,” she smirked. “And, uh, I’ll take the belt back.”
She held her hand out to Sokka, who started griping about how he lost his bag and his belt in the same day. He tossed it down, and it landed on Toph’s head, knocking her down.
“Ow!” she yelped.
“Sorry,” Sokka muttered.
Aang fell out of the tree.