A Brief Respite (Aang Gaang)

[meatandsarcasm]

It had been a few days since their narrow escape from the strange Fire Nation girls, and Sokka still found himself a little on edge. First Zuko, then those three…they were getting dogged at every turn. What they needed was a safe place for Aang to practice his earthbending for a while, somewhere isolated, but where they could survive easily. For now, that location was a small series of caverns a few miles outside a small town. Inside the caverns, Aang and Toph could practice bending in peace while Katara recovered and Sokka stocked up on supplies with runs to the town and in the forest. Katara wasn’t happy she was just sitting around, but there was no way Sokka was about to let his sister go practice waterbending in the open so soon after she’d been wounded. Magical healing powers be damned, she needed to rest.

“Well, Appa, I think I got enough food to last you a long time,” he said as he entered the cave, dropping several bundles for feed in front of the beast with a relieved sigh. “I took as much as I could carry, and it felt like it weight a…”

At this point, Appa promptly snatched up every scrap of his food in a single, massive bite. Only the sound of his chewing occupied the moments that followed, as Sokka had abandoned speaking in favor of gazing flatly at the beast.

“Way to control yourself, buddy. How all the airbenders were able to keep hundreds of you guys fed, I have no idea,” he deadpanned, then started to make his way deeper into the cavern where their camp had been set up. “I’m back. How’s the rock throwing going?”

[aratak]

Katara had been avoiding attracting much attention. Ty Lee had really messed up her arm, but it was okay now. She could kind of move it now, and she didn't want to be seen water-bending anyway. A water-bending girl in the earth kingdom was pretty much a dead give-away of who she was. She spent the majority of her time ensuring that Aang received her loving motherly support to counter balance Toph's more boot-campy approach. To put this into perspective, whenever he got tired earthbender's sort of straight-edge, head-first attitude, she would re-assure him that Toph was doing the best she could. Together, the two girls seemed to be doing rather well with both getting along for once, and with helping the avatar with his lesson. Most importantly, they were there to make sure Aang knew he wasn't alone. Right now there wasn't a whole lot for Katara to do, so she was just watching the other two.

Katara's blue eyes lit up as her brother showed up. It was nice to have her brother around during this adventure, not only because he offered his sense of humor - though that was part of it. His personality complimented that of Katara in a way, and despite being older, he always managed to make sure the group wasn't too serious. "Well... It's kind of hard to say...I mean, you've seen it...he can move the rocks...But I wouldn't call him a master or anything. No offense Aang... But you've still got a lot of work to do. You've got to listen to what Toph is saying..."

"So Sokka...what've you been up to, anyway?" She asked her brother. "I've been meaning to go on like...a hiking trip... What do you guys think? I'm somewhat bored of sitting around. Maybe if You, Aang, and I got some earth-kingdom clothing, we'd look less suspicious..."

[tophbeifong]

Maybe Katara thought she was doing a good thing by coming along behind Toph and comforting Aang when he was too much of a baby to just suck it up when she brow beat him. This probably was a good thing for the young avatar, keeping his spirits up. For Toph, however...well, to begin with, she hadn't exactly been in the best of moods the past several days. Being forced to runaway thanks to those Fire Nation girls had not set well with her, nor had being forced to retreat from Zuko a couple weeks ago. She was the freaking undefeated champion for crying out loud! She could handle things just fine all by herself.

Or so she kept saying to herself anyway. There was a tiny part of her that was forced to acknowledge that the firebender amongst the trio they had fought against was by far one of the toughest opponents she'd come across. Still, both pride and ego wasn't about to let her acknowledge that line of thought.

Having Katara come back behind her to hold Aang by the hand was derailing what she was trying to teach him, or so Toph thought, and while the water tribe girl's intentions were good, it did more to fuel the blind bender's foul mood. Yes, Aang had finally moved past his block, but he had a long way to go still. And Toph felt it was her place to remind him, repeatedly, that he had to be tougher than the element he was bending. Brow beating was just part of the package.

“I’m back. How’s the rock throwing going?”

While Katara felt the need to answer her brother verbally, all Toph did was grunt in most unladylike fashion. She turned her attention to Aang as she crossed her arms over her chest and blew her bangs back from her face just a little.

"Let's take a break, Aang."

Despite the darkness and the dampness of the caverns they had taken shelter in, Toph felt completely at home (well...not like it mattered whether it was light or dark, considering she was blind to begin with). She could 'see' through the earth that the complex wasn't all that large, but it had several twisting and turning tunnels, where one could easily get lost if you didn't know the way. Toph sat down on the ground with a bit of a plop just as Katara brought up the idea of a hiking trip or gong to town to purchase clothes.

"...doesn't that, y'know...cost money? Shouldn't we be saving that for things that matter, like food and supplies and not on stupid clothes?"

Seriously, despite the fact that she had an existensive wardrobe back home, Toph's last concern was clothes. Why did it matter really? Water tribe clothing or air nomad clothing couldn't look that different from earth kingdom clothing, could it?

"And honestly, if you think a hiking trip is fun, then you really are more lame than I thought..."

That jibe was leveled directly at Katara, a bit of passive aggression on Toph's part. Yeah, the others might've seen such a thing as fun, but that was because they could...y'know...see the sights around them.

[airnomad]

The encounter with the Fire Nation princess and her friends was a harsh reminder to be sure. For the longest time it had just been Zuko on their trail, and he was only hunting them down as a punishment from his father. The fact that more of the royal family wanted to personally roast his 112-year old hide seemed to indicate that he was becoming a higher priority on their enemies' to-do list. With that being the case, Aang had re-doubled his efforts to master earthbending in the last few days.

Toph's training was as hard as ever, but Aang felt like he was steadily improving. The caves they'd come to inhabit were a great location, and their inner chambers were dark enough that his vision was practically useless. And according to Toph, that was the best way to train.

When Sokka returned, Toph had just set Aang to the task of bending faultlines at a target pillar of stone. He remembered seeing Toph use this technique as the Blind Bandit, as well as during his fight with King Bumi. In the dark, however, it made aiming significantly more difficult, and he had to wait several moments between each attempt as he focused hard enough to 'see' the layout of the cave with his bending. The young avatar felt as though he had a bead on the target, and then he stepped forward and kicked the blade of his foot hard into the ground. Instantly the dirt crumbled and began cracking several inches into the ground. The fault line then shot forward like an arrow, zig-zagging slightly within its general course, but began to curve a little too far away from its intended target as it went.

Aang couldn't tell the result immediately, but he didn't hear the target topple over. Instead it took his a few seconds of concentration to feel out the landscape with his bending, and then he sighed in minor frsutration.

"So close," he muttered. At that point, Aang heard Katara's conversation with Sokka veer into a suggestion aimed his way. He was sure it was intended as friendly advice, but for some reason it made him feel a little more frustrated that he wasn't mastering these moves sooner. Unlike the other Avatars before him, he didn't have a lifetime to get things right. He had about two seasons left.

Toph's recommendation to take a break was somewhat counter to his desire to get the move right, but he nodded anyway and started walking toward the mouth of the cave where things were brighter, stretching his lower back as he walked. The earthbender girl's reaction to Katara's suggestion wasn't exactly tactful, but to some extent Aang found himself agreeing. Not necessarily for the same reasons, nor about Katara being lame, but he felt he should throw his two copper pieces in.

"I think it might be best if we stay out of towns for a while," Aang said, passing his glance over the rest of the group. "With Zuko and those girls after us now, I think we should lay low a while longer. Mastering the elements before the end of Sumer is my number one priority."

[meatandsarcasm]

Managing group dynamics was not really something Sokka wanted to do. As much as they needed Toph, her presence seemed to be rocking the boat a little. He personally didn’t have a problem with her, but Katara and Toph were still a little bit at odds and that could be a problem. Unfortunately, he didn’t know exactly how to mitigate it when Toph started prodding Katara like she was doing right now, and to be fair, in this instance she was right. All he could really do was hope Katara didn’t take the bait.

“Aang’s pretty much got the idea, Katara,” he concurred after Aang had added his two cents. “He’s never going to master earthbending if we’re constantly under attack by crazy Fire Nation people. To be honest I don’t know if we’re isolated enough as it is.”

Ideally, they could survive out in the wilderness without any town nearby at all, but he was the group’s lone survival expert. With five mouths to feed if you included Appa and the Earth Kingdom still a little foreign to him, he wasn’t sure how well they’d manage that way. Suddenly, he had a thought. Instinctively, his left hand went to his chin, lightly holding it between his thumb and index finger.

“Of course, we could always try to head for Ba Sing Se,” he mused. “But that’s a long way away and we don’t know how to get there. Not mention all the Fire Nation soldiers in the way…”

Still, he couldn’t help but ponder the option. Did the benefits of being in a perfectly safe and convenient environment outweigh the time and difficulty of the trip? He couldn’t say for certain. He’d ask around about Ba Sing Se during his next trip into town. It was worth at least consideration at this point.

[aratak]

Katara really wished she could withdraw her suggestion about hiking, because as soon as it slipped out of her mouth, the other three jumped on it. Toph, especially, was quick to point out how dumb the idea was. Katara could see her point, that buying clothing probably wasn't the best idea. Toph really didn't have to be so... blunt about it, though. Rather than making an interjection to Toph's comment, she decided to just nod nonchalantly. Sokka and Aang added that the group may not be isolated enough as it is. Zuko and the girls were serious problems.

"You guys are right..." Katara told them, reluctantly. Of course Sokka went off on a one-hundred eighty degree tangent and started spewing that reflected the complete opposite - Going to the largest city in the entire world. His suggestion of going to Ba Sing Se sounded like something similar to a hiking trip anyway. It's not like anyone had asked her where she wanted them to hike...

"Okay...that's not a complete contradiction to the concept of staying undercover. Nooo...Not at all... She muttered. As she got up, and wandered toward the cave exit, she pondered her brother's suggestion further. It was quite annoying, really. She agreed for sure, but all he accomplished was to shut down her idea, and then eleborate on it. The frown on the water benders face wasn't visible, for she managed to hide it before turning back around.

"Fine. Let's go to the Earth Kingdom capital. There isn't really a much safer place for Aang to master earth-bending than a giant fortress. So are we agreed?" She seemed to direct her tone more to Toph, than to Aang.

[tophbeifong]

Toph listened to the exchange quietly, picking her nose with a grubby finger. While staying out of towns might've seemed like a good idea, she really didn't think there was anyway to avoid that. Sure, Sokka was a great source for laughs, but she wasn't so sure if the 'master hunter' would be able to keep themselves, plus a flying bison, well fed. Besides, even if they did stick to the wilderness, EVENTUALLY the Fire Nation would find out where they were at. It was inevitable that there would be more confrontation, and the blind girl simply didn't see the reasoning behind just running.

The thought of going to Ba Sing Se however...now that was tempting. She had never been to the Earth Kingdom capitol before, though her parents had often talked about going to visit their sometime. She'd heard about how the city was enclosed behind impenetrable walls, walls that had kept the Fire Nation at bay. There had to be some good times to be had there.

Toph flicked a freshly picked booger, then spoke. "If Sokka doesn't know the way to Ba Sing Se, then it sounds to me like we need to get our hands on a map. We could use it to try and find some deserted spots along the way so that Aang can continue Earthbending. That'd kill two birds with one stone, right?"

Then the young earthbender tilted her head in Aang's general direction. "I know that it would be risky to go into town to get one, but we can't just avoid every single town we come across. Eventually we're going to have to get supplies. Besides, if there's trouble again, whether from Zuko or from those girls, I think we could take'em. We know what they can do, and we just work that to our advantage."

...sure...that sounded awful simple coming from Toph, and showed a remarkable amount of arrogance on her part....

[airnomad]

Aang listened to the concerns of the others closely, shifting his weight from one leg to the other as if mirroring the competing trains of thought in his head. His original instincts of remaining hidden and training weighed heavily on one side of the scale, but they couldn't remain in the wilderness forever. The practical concerns of food and knowledge of what was happening in the rest of the world would bring them back to civilization eventually.

Sokka's suggestion of heading to Ba Sing Se seemed to solve the problem of needing both civilization and security, but then there was the risk of traveling while the Fire Nation was actively seeking their whereabouts. Oddly enough if wasn't Toph's recommendation, but her wording that sparked an idea from Aang.

"Desserted spots..." he thought out loud. "Ooh, I know! We can pass through the Desert." The young Avatar smiled brightly as he passed his gaze over the others. "The Si Wong Desert isn't too far to the East from here. If we gather up some supplies and pass through the corner of it on Appa, then we should avoid most of the Fire Nation controlled parts of the Earth Kingdom."

Aang glanced upward toward the cieling of the cave for a moment in thought as he attempted to recall what he knew of the region. "I think there may even be an oasis we can rest in while we're there," he said pensievely. "It could be like a mini-vacation along the way."

[meatandsarcasm]

Sokka made a small “hmm” sound and crossed his arms, trying to think. Everyone seemed in agreement that Ba Sing Se was the best place to go, and the more he thought about it the better the idea seemed. Still, Toph brought up a good point. A map would be helpful. Granted, Aang knew a bit about the area, but his knowledge was a hundred years old, it couldn’t really be relied on if they wanted to avoid the Fire Nation. Maybe he was right about the desert being a good route to avoid the Fire Nation, maybe not, but they would need to know for sure. Planned right, it would solve a lot of problems. Planned wrong, it would just be the start of several dozen new ones.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Aang. Even if there was an oasis there a hundred years ago, we can’t be sure it’s there now, or that the Fire Nation haven’t set up camp there.” Sokka finally added. “Like Toph said, we’re gonna need a map and supplies.”

He glanced over the group and grimaced. Geeze, where would this bunch of kids be without him? Katara wanted to go shopping, Toph would seemingly never learn that disgresion could be the better part of valor, and Aang was talking about having a vacation. These were the people who were going to save the world. He sighed. Spirits help him.

“But that said, I guess we’re agreed. We’ll head to Ba Sing Se. Just give me a day to come up with a flight plan. After that we’ll pack up and head out of here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to spend some waking moments where I’m not solving all of our problems.”

Raising a hand nonchalantly to indicate an end to the conversation while rubbing his sore back with the other, Sokka headed over towards the corner of the cave where his supplies rested. It wasn’t really that he had anything else to do, but as far as he was concerned, there was nothing more to say on the matter until he got a better grasp on the lay of the land.

[aratak]

Katara thought about it, and the more she did, the less she liked the idea of using the desert. Part of that was probably just vulnerability. Water-bending was her main form of self defense...and there wasn't a whole lot of water in the dessert, if any... There was some worry reflected in her eyes, as well as in her voice as she seemed to swallow hard.

"Alright guys... I guess we're off..." She sighed reluctantly. "I...just hope you're all prepared for potential combat. I'm thinking water bending is going to take back seat to the other two types in a dry place like the desert. Even my personal supply is likely to evaporate, so just keep that in mind." She told them. "Aang, it doesn't rain much in the desert. But you could gather water from the few clouds in the sky using your glider and water-bending. It won't really be enough to fight with, but it'll keep us alive... With that said, I still think the dessert is the spot we're least likely to encounter the fire nation. Toph, I'm relying on you. Your talents are especially important since Aang is still new at this... And even if there aren't fire nation, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be on guard. And finally... lets all try not to argue too too much." She said the last part sort of jokingly. "It's gonna be a looong flight...Now, I've gotta gather up my stuff..."

And she did just that, loading her things on to Appa, and checking her personal water supply. "Yeah...I'm almost out..." She muttered to herself. Water was very important for everyone, but most of all to her. She would certainly learn in the coming days just how good her friends really were.

[tophbeifong]

Toph listened to Aang talk about the Si Wong. She knew from her tutoring sessions just what a desert was, but had never really visited one before. Honestly, who really picked a barren, arid, sandy wasteland for a vacation spot anyway? Still, the prospect of going somewhere she'd never been before was an exciting one. Once Sokka agreed to the course of action, it was only natural that Katara would follow suit, though the young earthbender certainly wasn't pleased with the way she sorta seemed to take charge there for a minute.

Toph leaned forward, resting an elbow on her leg and propping her chin on her fist. "If you're so worried about your water supply, why not just fill up at a stream or something before we go."

Sure...the plan sounded simple enough, even though she had no idea if there was a stream close by. That sort of required being able to see on their way to this place, something that she wasn't exactly capable of. Toph probably would've thrown out a few more caustic words, but Katara had already moved on to start gathering her things. The blind girl picked herself up off the cave floor and made her way to her little area of the cave. Toph had left her home with very little in the way of supplies. She had her pack, her sleeping roll, and that was basically it. It took her just a moment or two to put everything away, and then she was good to go. She drove her heel into the ground, launching her things into the air with a bit of earthbending. She gave an impish grin, knowing with certainty that her things would land on Appa's saddle. Of course, had she been able to see, she would've noted that the trajectory caused the objects to just very barely miss smacking Katara in the back of the head.

"Okay ladies, I'm done packing," she called out. She flopped onto the ground, using a bit of bending to make an earthen couch to lounge in. She leaned back, putting her hands behind her head, and added, "You guys gonna get the lead out or what?"

[[Um...I guess since a new GAang thread has started, consider this to be Toph's exit...]]