Mai woke up in darkness that for a moment she wondered if she had actually opened her eyes. It took a moment for her to realise that she must
be underground and a moment longer to realise that her head was cushioned on a heap of sand.
"Welcome back from the spirit world," Toph said from the darkness. There was a slight swish, as if sand was being brushed away from
something. "For a while there I was afraid you'd be taking up permanent residence there."
"What happened?" asked Mai and then winced as she felt pain from her head. Touching her face she found a trail of blood leading up
to - "Ouch." - a swollen bruise the size of a goose-egg just above her hair line.
There was another swish of sand. "A rock hit you on the head when you were coming down after me." She paused. "Thank you for
that, by the way."
"I promised I'd look after you," Mai waved off the gratitude.
"No, really. I had a perfect getaway, and you messed it up. Thanks for caring, but you have lousy timing in deciding to come out of your
shell."
Mai blinked. "Wha- you were in on it? You were one of the kidnappers?" She reached for her favorite throwing dagger and found it
absent.
She could hear Toph's bangs whip back and forth as she shook her head. "No. That messed me up as much as it did anyone. It's not
Tom-Tom's fault he was born in the Fire Nation and I don't really give a damn about the war. I came here to hide, nothing more. If I hadn't turned
out to be a firebender I'd have been safe for months. Instead..." she sighed. "My parents will probably find out I came here any day now. Saving
Tom-Tom was my excuse to get out of the city before they find me. Thanks for playing hero, Spiky," she added, her voice dropping into
uncertaintly.
"Well, clearly, I shouldn't have bothered."
Toph hesitated. "I deserve that." The swishing sound stopped. "I'm sorry Mai. I meant what I said about you being the best
friend I ever had. I didn't plan on that either. I'm going to get you out of this."
Mai rolled to her feet, then paused before straightening and waved her hands cautiously above her head to check she wasn't about to butt
her already bloody head against the ceiling. I wonder if this is how Toph feels all the time. "How are you going to do that? You're a firebender, not
an earthbender. Speaking of which, if you're feeling guilty, a little light here wouldn't hurt."
There was a long pause. "Uh. Well, you're wrong about pretty much all of that."
"Is this really the time for riddles?"
"You're right. I guess I must sound like that old man, Bumi," Toph admitted. "Okay, first thing is, we're buried
pretty solidly. I haven't found any air holes so far, so we've only got so much air. Talking is using a bit, but fire would use it a lot faster. And I
don't know how long it will take to get out of here. I broke through into this gallery only a few minutes after we fell, or we'd probably have
suffocated by now. So I don't really want to use more fire unless I really have to."
Mai grimaced, but nodded. "I understand. Who are you really."
"I really am Toph Bei Fong. But... my parents don't know I'm here. I ran away from them about a month back. They... found out I
was a bender. They've always thought I was delicate because I can't see - but my bending terrified them. They... I don't want to talk about this,
okay? They tried to take it away from me. At first I thought I was just ill. I thought it would come back. Then I overheard the real reason. They'd found,
somehow, a chi specialist who did something to my chakra. They tried to sealed my bending away forever."
"Agni..." Mai murmered. She remembered what Zuko had been like the one time Azula had managed to convince Ty Lee to block his
bending. He'd not noticed the gentle nudges that the young girl had used... and the betrayal on his face when fire failed to respond to him had been
fearful. Of course, that had worn off after an hour or so.
"Anyway, I figured the safest place to hide would be somewhere that the Fire Nation had occupied: it would be really difficult for my
parents to send anyone after me here. And if anyone went looking for a blind girl, I didn't think that they would suspect a fire maiden of being a missing
Earth Kingdom heiress."
Mai nodded. "And then your bending came back and you were a seven day wonder, your name on everyone's lips." She rubbed at her
head again. "I suppose the block must be why you couldn't bend any great amount of fire. That's really been puzzling Zuko."
Toph chuckled. "So I heard." There was a rustle of cloth. "I'm blind, not deaf." The swishing sound resumed. "Do
you want your knife back? I had to borrow it."
"No, if you're using it to dig, then you're probably making good use of it," Mai offered, walking hesitantly across the -
what had Toph said? - gallery. She pulled out a larger blade from inside her robe. "I'll help."
She could almost feel Toph looking at her, which was ridiculous, since Toph really couldn't be. "Okay, paranoid now. I tell you that
I lied a lot to you and now you're walking towards me with a big knife. Not helping."
"You're the one who's been living a lie," Mai pointed out. "Wouldn't that make you the untrustworthy
one?"
"I am disarmed by your logic," Toph said and Mai heard something metal clatter onto the rocky surface that served as the floor of
the gallery. "Have your knife back." The sound of the sand continued, apparently disproving Mai's assumption that it was the sound of Toph
digging.
"I'd rather you didn't stick me with it accidentally," Mai told her, kneeling to recover the weapon. "Throwing it
around like that is a little careless."
"I know exactly where you are," Toph told her. "And I don't need it to dig." There was a scrambling sound and when
she next spoke, her voice echoed, as though she was speaking through a tube. "I'm through the wall, I think there's a vertical fissure here that
we can use to get closer to the surface."
Mai reached forwards and found a circular hole in the stone wall. Perfectly circular, and even smooth except where sand had accumulated in
the bottom. "This isn't firebending. The only way you could be doing this was if..." No, that was impossible. There was no possible way that she
could have been sharing her bedroom with the greatest imaginable threat to the Fire Nation. And Toph was too young... or so she claimed. "How old are you,
really?"
"I was born just after the winter solstice. Twelve years ago..."
Twelve years ago. Mai had only been four years old when the Three Dragons faced the Avatar, barely old enough to understand the reports being
sent back from the colonies. Three great armies, commanded by the Fire Lord Azulon and his two sons had hounded the Avatar Kanna across the southern half of
the Earth Kingdom, never allowing her to find refuge. At last, exhausted, the Avatar had tried to break through Azulon's army to reach the Serpent's
Pass and flee into Ba Sing Se.
Accounts of the battle were as much legend as history, but all accounts agreed that Kanna had killed many of Azulon's soldiers and
perhaps mortally wounded him before his sons could reach him. When she fled onto the narrow spine of land that was the only connection between the two halves
of the continent, the indomitable Azulon insisted on continuing the chase and Prince Iroh, the Dragon of the West, had counselled that the three royal
Firebenders should follow alone so that that they could move swiftly after their prey on the confined path.
Of the three, only Prince Ozai, the younger of the Firelord's sons. The Serpent's Pass had been shattered into a thousand pieces and
both Azulon and Iroh's bodies were lost beneath the waves. Ozai had brought back Kanna's body as a trophy however, proving the great victory,
henceforth the Victory of the Three Dragons, over the Avatar. Mai could just barely remember the day of Ozai's return and certainly none of his famous
speech that day.
Of course, she had been required to study it later on, by teachers who claimed disappointment that a small girl had not remembered a long
speech she had heard only in part. These days, every educated citizen could quote the speech almost letter perfect. Ozai had declared that as his brother Iroh
had been the chosen heir, all histories were to record Iroh as the Fire Lord succeeding their father Azulon, his reign covering the days between Azulon's
death and Ozai's own investiture as Fire Lord. A reign that had therefore begun on the day of the winter solstice.
"You were born within days of the Victory of the Three Dragons," she said slowly. "You are an earthbender, and a
firebender." She looked irritably off into the darkness. "Would you like to confess now, before I reach the mindboggling obvious
conclusion?"
Toph muttered something that sounded obscene. Her little sister had all sorts of entertaining bad habits that she'd apparently been
hiding. For a moment she idly considered what Azula or Ty Lee would make of her and then reality set in.
"What if I said it was none of your business, Spiky?" the younger girl asked.
Mai's lips curved. Revenge was sweet. "I think I'd remember what you said to me when I said my relationship with Prince Zuko was
none of yours, little sister."
"'Little sister'?" Toph responded, suddenly much closer. "Are you going soft on me, Spiky?"
"I wouldn't dream of it. Would you prefer I refer to you by your other name, Avat-"
Toph growled deep in her throat. "No, I'm good," she assured Mai hastily. "I'm... just going to dig for a while,
let's be quiet and conserve the air."
.oOo.
The sun was just beginning to creep up over the horizon when Toph finally managed to break a hole through to the surface. Admittedly this
little victory was still over a hundred yards below the top of the canyon surrounding Omashu, but at least it guarenteed a light and air, both of which Mai had
been growing somewhat concerned about for the last hour or so. If she wasn't so rational she might have been claustrophobic, but clearly that was
impossible. There was no doubt that the air in the caves had been running out, even if Toph had laughed at the notion. Unfortunately, Toph's crippled chi
made it impossible for her to tunnel quickly, she had to effectively brush aside the stone, one thin layer at a time, dissolving it into sand.
"Okay, you're clear." Toph said, pulling back to let Mai past. "I guess I'll see you some time."
Mai blinked as the sudden light irritated her eyes. "And what makes you think I'm letting you out of my sight?"
"Um, Mai. I already told you, I'm leaving Omashu. Even if you hadn't figured out I... about my bending, I wasn't going to
stay. I'll just go burrow through the other side of the mountain and you can go home."
"And I already told you, you're my little sister. And you need a bath, the nearest of which is in Omashu." Mai felt a smile
crawling across her face and was glad Toph couldn't see her. What would it do to her reputation. "And as for the other stuff... well, technically
it's my patriotic duty to report the Avatar's identity to my father. But there's something about being a Fire Maiden that I think you've
forgotten."
Toph frowned in thought. "One of those boring lessons?"
"The first duty of a woman of the Fire Nation is always to her family," Mai reminded her. "Always. It doesn't
matter what politics the men play around with. Our job is to make sure our families survive. And I don't think letting the Fire Lord Ozai that the Avatar
he's so worried about is -" blind, chi-crippled, effectively orphaned "- learning firebending from his own son, would be in my family's best
interests."
"Oh." Toph thought about that and then shrugged. "Sorry. Still not staying. Not going to be here when my parents turn up. If
you want to do me a favour, tell everyone that Toph Bei Fong died last night."
"Not letting you out of my sight. Is your memory failing you, little sister?"
"Not staying in Omashu! Are you going senile already?" Toph half-shouted and stamped one foot, creating a small crater under
it.
Mai nodded. "Then I will go with you." Uh, wait, what?
"I can look after myself," Toph said, huffing in frustration. "I'm... I was the greatest earthbender in the
world. The undefeated champion of the Earth Rumble. I made it here without any help at all and I don't need help now."
"Who said I thought you needed help?" Mai asked innocently. "Omashu is unbelieveable tedious. You were the only person who
made it evenly remotely bearable. The way I see it, following you around should be far more exciting." She smiled faintly. "You aren't the only
person whose parents don't let her get out much."
Toph looked at her and then shook her head. "You're crazy. I'm glad you're my sister, no one else would be able to cope.
Keeping you away from Tom-Tom is practically a public service." She threw up her hands in defeat. "Okay, you can come with me. But first there's
something I need to do in Omashu."
.oOo.
"You know, when you said you wanted to do one last thing in Omashu, I thought you had something discreet in mind, not releasing King
Bumi," Mai hissed as the two girls crept up the palace tower. The palace was very quiet today, with only a minimum of guards. She had the uneasy suspicion
that every ablebodied man was busy excavating a certain hill.
"Nah, no one will ever know we were here," Toph assured her. "Can't release a man who doesn't want to be
liberated."
Mai frowned. "He's a prisoner, Toph."
"Suuure he is, Spiky. You just keep telling yourself that. Most powerful Earthbender you've ever seen - except for me of course -
and you think a couple of layers of metal has him confined?" Toph shook her head. "He's in there because he choses to be."
"Why would he chose to be locked away while we take over his kingdom?" Mai asked curiously.
Toph shrugged. "You've got me there. No idea. I didn't say he wasn't crazy." She pulled a stone of of a pocket and it
started shifting in her hand into a facsimile of a key. "Presumably it makes sense to him."
"That doesn't look very much like the key," Mai advised.
Toph grinned cockily and slid it any way, wiggling it back and forth for a moment. Mai had the feeling that if Toph could see she would have
closed her eyes to concentrate. After a moment Mai's little sister turned the key fully and the lock snapped open. "Easy as an easy thing," she
bragged and pushed the door open.
"Ooh, pretty girls here again," Bumi chuckled from his casket. "Can't stay away from my manly charms, can
you?"
"Oh please," Mai sighed, leaning against the door frame. "Yes, congratulations, you have a twelve year old
admirer."
"Twelve years old?" Bumi asked. "Funny, it seems more like four days than two years since you last come to visit
me."
Toph advanced closer towards him. "Yeah, I lied. I'm a bad person, I know."
"No," Bumi shook his head. "I think you are wise beyond your years. I take it from your method of entrance that you're not
just a firebender, young Toph."
"I'm an Earthbender," Toph told him flatly. "I am - I was - the best Earthbender I've ever heard of. Better than you.
And yes, you saw yourself. I can bend fire too. Not well, but a bit. That doesn't have to mean... what you're thinking."
"Only the Avatar can bend the four elements," Bumi said patiently. "It is not fair, I know. You're too young to have to
deal with that burden but there is no other explanation. Everyone in the Earth Kingdom has been waiting for you. And," he smiled at Mai, "At least
you do not need to bear the burden alone."
"Me?" she said, pointing a finger at her face. "I'm not a bender."
"No, but you love Toph and will protect her," Bumi told her. "When the Avatar's heart is sure then there is nothing that
can stand against her... but when they are in doubt..." He shook his head. "Love has always been mankind's greatest strength and weakness. It is
no different for the Avatar."
Toph made a disgusted noise. "Whatever. Not what I'm here for. On top of this, I have another problem."
Bumi frowned. "You're having to beat the boys off with a stick?"
"What? No," Toph said irritably.
"Oh, they won't look at you? That's strange."
"Who cares about boys?" snapped Toph. "Get with it, grandpa, someone's messed with my chi. I can't bend worth a damn
any more. I figure being messed up like that is a lot more likely to be causing my sudden firebending than being some reborn hero that everyone expects to save
their butts."
Bumi frowned. "I've heard of some techniques to block chi, but those are only temporary," he admitted. "Typically,
one's chakras will quickly return the flows to normal. The only exceptions I have heard of that have permanent effects are those so disruptive that they
kill the target."
"That's my experience as well," Mai confirmed. "I have a... friend who knows some of those techniques," she added
when Bumi looked at her enquiringly.
"Hmm. And if someone could learn other forms of bending though a little chi manipulation," Bumi added. "Then everyone would be
doing it."
"There's always a first time," Toph protested. "Anyway. Fine, you don't know anything useful, so I'm done here.
Enjoy your vacation up here," she threw back over her shoulder as she headed back out the door.
"I will," Bumi promised cheerily. "But would you mind doing an old man a favour?"
"Well that depends," Toph told him. "What's in it for me?"
He cackled in amusement. "I know the fastest way out of the city. Interested?"
"Alright, I'm listening."
"Tell Aang that I miss all the fun we had," Bumi asked.
"Aang?" Toph looked at Mai in perplexion. "Look, I'm not trekking around the world looking for some old
codger."
Bumi laughed. "Old codger? Don't you worry your head about that, Lady Toph. Aang will find you."
"Well. Alright. If you say so," she agreed. "So, what's this secret way out of the city?"
There was a sparkle in Bumi's eye. "You've seen Omashu's mail system?"
"I'm blind," Toph deadpanned.
"Oh. Right. But you know how it works, right?"
Toph frowned. "Well... yeah. I..." A grin spread across her face. "Are you suggesting what I think you're
suggesting?"
Mai's eyes narrowed. "What is he suggesting?"
"Trust me, it's very interesting," Toph promised a little smugly. "Well, thanks for that King Bumi. I'd tell you to
write and let me know how you're getting on, but I get the feeling that I'm going to be moving around a bit and..."
"Yes, yes, you can't read," Mai said. "You've done that to death already."
.oOo.
"No."
Toph pouted. "It's perfectly safe. I had someone read me a scroll about Omashu once and they used to use them for hundreds of
packages a day."
"That was when there were Earthbenders all over the place to keep it working," Mai said, eyeing the slide warily.
"You'll have an Earthbender right in the car with you, couldn't be safer," Toph pointed out. She hopped into the sled and
ran her hands over it. "No problem."
Mai shook her head. "No problem now, or no problem before your chi was shut down?"
Toph stabbed one finger towards the older girl. "Listen, I know exactly what my limits are, Spiky. I may not like them, but I
know them. This, I can do."
"And walking out of Omashu quietly is so hard?" Mai asked somewhat plainatively.
"There's too much chance of someone spotting us. If we huddle down inside this, then no one will be able to see us. They'll just
assume that one of the builders knocked it onto the slide and ignore it. I can get us right the way to the outer wall in less time than it takes for us to
argue about it."
Mai sighed and and jumped into the back of the sled, slouching down against the stone until she was entirely below the lip. "I'm
going to regret this," she predicted gloomily as Toph tipped the sled onto the ramp.
.oOo.
Locks of hair fell away from Zuko's scalp as he ran the razor across his scalp. The garrison had worked through the night and then the
following day to dig out the hill, but all they had found was the broken body of Jet's accomplice, Smellerbee, crushed amost beyond recognition by the
rocks.
The candles that lit Zuko's quarters flared in time with his breathing. Normally his control was better than that but he couldn't
bring himself to care. His eyes watered for a moment and his face blurred in the metal mirror to impassive golden eyes and long, raven black bangs framing a
pale face. "I failed you," he apologised, but when he wiped his eyes the only face present was that his own, his topknot pulled into an old fashioned
high ponytail. Turning his head, he began to cut away the hair at the back of his head.
And Toph... he'd led his student to her death. He'd let her courage and his pride in her blind him to the fact that she was only ten
years old. Not even old enough for military service and she'd ridden into the ambush with him as faithfully as any soldier, faced down Jet himself
fearlessly... none of which he should have allowed. Zuko's jaw clenched. "Agni, let her have died cleanly," he prayed, loathing himself for the
words. "Let her not have fallen into Jet's hands."
His shaving done, Zuko folded away the kit and began to don his armour. Normally his aide would have helped him but he had sent the man away.
He felt the need to do this himself. Slowly, deliberately, he buckled on his greaves and breastplate, then lifted the heavy yoke over his shoulders, lacing it
into place. He didn't bother with the helmet - he wanted the widest possible field of vision.
There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Zuko called. He didn't turn around when the door opened. but a glance at the mirror
showed him the governor entering.
"Prince Zuko?" the man asked and then gasped as he saw Zuko. "Your highness?"
"Yes governor. What can I do for you?" he asked bluntly and saw an angry retort die on the father's face as a politician's
instincts restrained him. "I should never have let Mai and Toph come with me," Zuko admitted, before the older man could say anything.
Mai's father sighed wearily. "I doubt you could have stopped them, your highness. The first duty of a woman of the Fire Nation is
always to her family. Mai would never have agreed to simply wait while someone else rescued Tom-Tom. And little Toph..." he sighed heavily. "She was
a natural fire maiden. Why would that not come as instinctively to her as all else."
"We were so close. So damn close to all being safe," Zuko growled, feeling candles around the room blaze, melting prodigously
through the wax.
"So I saw," the governor agreed. "I should not blame you for my daughters' deaths."
Should not. Meaning of course, that he did. "Why not? I do. I should have been the one to go back for Toph. I'm the bender. I would
have stood a better chance."
"You were injured. And you had sworn to bring my son back, for which I thank you." The old man was fighting to control his
breathing. And his temper. "I... am grateful for what you were able to do, Prince Zuko. I... my wife's temper is uncertain however. I would not insult
a son of the Firelord by demanding his departure..."
"But somethings are hard to unsay," Zuko agreed. "Do not concern yourself, Lord Governor. I will not hold anything your wife
says against her or against you. And I will leave Omashu at dawn. The so-called Freedom Fighters cannot be camped far from here and I intend to put a stop to
them once and for all. It is long since time that someone purged the bandits in this part of the world."
The old man smiled. It was not a pleasent expression. "You will bring them to justice?" He paused. "But what about the rest of
your tour."
"This isn't about justice," Zuko growled. "It's vengeance. And to hell with the tour."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
be underground and a moment longer to realise that her head was cushioned on a heap of sand.
"Welcome back from the spirit world," Toph said from the darkness. There was a slight swish, as if sand was being brushed away from
something. "For a while there I was afraid you'd be taking up permanent residence there."
"What happened?" asked Mai and then winced as she felt pain from her head. Touching her face she found a trail of blood leading up
to - "Ouch." - a swollen bruise the size of a goose-egg just above her hair line.
There was another swish of sand. "A rock hit you on the head when you were coming down after me." She paused. "Thank you for
that, by the way."
"I promised I'd look after you," Mai waved off the gratitude.
"No, really. I had a perfect getaway, and you messed it up. Thanks for caring, but you have lousy timing in deciding to come out of your
shell."
Mai blinked. "Wha- you were in on it? You were one of the kidnappers?" She reached for her favorite throwing dagger and found it
absent.
She could hear Toph's bangs whip back and forth as she shook her head. "No. That messed me up as much as it did anyone. It's not
Tom-Tom's fault he was born in the Fire Nation and I don't really give a damn about the war. I came here to hide, nothing more. If I hadn't turned
out to be a firebender I'd have been safe for months. Instead..." she sighed. "My parents will probably find out I came here any day now. Saving
Tom-Tom was my excuse to get out of the city before they find me. Thanks for playing hero, Spiky," she added, her voice dropping into
uncertaintly.
"Well, clearly, I shouldn't have bothered."
Toph hesitated. "I deserve that." The swishing sound stopped. "I'm sorry Mai. I meant what I said about you being the best
friend I ever had. I didn't plan on that either. I'm going to get you out of this."
Mai rolled to her feet, then paused before straightening and waved her hands cautiously above her head to check she wasn't about to butt
her already bloody head against the ceiling. I wonder if this is how Toph feels all the time. "How are you going to do that? You're a firebender, not
an earthbender. Speaking of which, if you're feeling guilty, a little light here wouldn't hurt."
There was a long pause. "Uh. Well, you're wrong about pretty much all of that."
"Is this really the time for riddles?"
"You're right. I guess I must sound like that old man, Bumi," Toph admitted. "Okay, first thing is, we're buried
pretty solidly. I haven't found any air holes so far, so we've only got so much air. Talking is using a bit, but fire would use it a lot faster. And I
don't know how long it will take to get out of here. I broke through into this gallery only a few minutes after we fell, or we'd probably have
suffocated by now. So I don't really want to use more fire unless I really have to."
Mai grimaced, but nodded. "I understand. Who are you really."
"I really am Toph Bei Fong. But... my parents don't know I'm here. I ran away from them about a month back. They... found out I
was a bender. They've always thought I was delicate because I can't see - but my bending terrified them. They... I don't want to talk about this,
okay? They tried to take it away from me. At first I thought I was just ill. I thought it would come back. Then I overheard the real reason. They'd found,
somehow, a chi specialist who did something to my chakra. They tried to sealed my bending away forever."
"Agni..." Mai murmered. She remembered what Zuko had been like the one time Azula had managed to convince Ty Lee to block his
bending. He'd not noticed the gentle nudges that the young girl had used... and the betrayal on his face when fire failed to respond to him had been
fearful. Of course, that had worn off after an hour or so.
"Anyway, I figured the safest place to hide would be somewhere that the Fire Nation had occupied: it would be really difficult for my
parents to send anyone after me here. And if anyone went looking for a blind girl, I didn't think that they would suspect a fire maiden of being a missing
Earth Kingdom heiress."
Mai nodded. "And then your bending came back and you were a seven day wonder, your name on everyone's lips." She rubbed at her
head again. "I suppose the block must be why you couldn't bend any great amount of fire. That's really been puzzling Zuko."
Toph chuckled. "So I heard." There was a rustle of cloth. "I'm blind, not deaf." The swishing sound resumed. "Do
you want your knife back? I had to borrow it."
"No, if you're using it to dig, then you're probably making good use of it," Mai offered, walking hesitantly across the -
what had Toph said? - gallery. She pulled out a larger blade from inside her robe. "I'll help."
She could almost feel Toph looking at her, which was ridiculous, since Toph really couldn't be. "Okay, paranoid now. I tell you that
I lied a lot to you and now you're walking towards me with a big knife. Not helping."
"You're the one who's been living a lie," Mai pointed out. "Wouldn't that make you the untrustworthy
one?"
"I am disarmed by your logic," Toph said and Mai heard something metal clatter onto the rocky surface that served as the floor of
the gallery. "Have your knife back." The sound of the sand continued, apparently disproving Mai's assumption that it was the sound of Toph
digging.
"I'd rather you didn't stick me with it accidentally," Mai told her, kneeling to recover the weapon. "Throwing it
around like that is a little careless."
"I know exactly where you are," Toph told her. "And I don't need it to dig." There was a scrambling sound and when
she next spoke, her voice echoed, as though she was speaking through a tube. "I'm through the wall, I think there's a vertical fissure here that
we can use to get closer to the surface."
Mai reached forwards and found a circular hole in the stone wall. Perfectly circular, and even smooth except where sand had accumulated in
the bottom. "This isn't firebending. The only way you could be doing this was if..." No, that was impossible. There was no possible way that she
could have been sharing her bedroom with the greatest imaginable threat to the Fire Nation. And Toph was too young... or so she claimed. "How old are you,
really?"
"I was born just after the winter solstice. Twelve years ago..."
Twelve years ago. Mai had only been four years old when the Three Dragons faced the Avatar, barely old enough to understand the reports being
sent back from the colonies. Three great armies, commanded by the Fire Lord Azulon and his two sons had hounded the Avatar Kanna across the southern half of
the Earth Kingdom, never allowing her to find refuge. At last, exhausted, the Avatar had tried to break through Azulon's army to reach the Serpent's
Pass and flee into Ba Sing Se.
Accounts of the battle were as much legend as history, but all accounts agreed that Kanna had killed many of Azulon's soldiers and
perhaps mortally wounded him before his sons could reach him. When she fled onto the narrow spine of land that was the only connection between the two halves
of the continent, the indomitable Azulon insisted on continuing the chase and Prince Iroh, the Dragon of the West, had counselled that the three royal
Firebenders should follow alone so that that they could move swiftly after their prey on the confined path.
Of the three, only Prince Ozai, the younger of the Firelord's sons. The Serpent's Pass had been shattered into a thousand pieces and
both Azulon and Iroh's bodies were lost beneath the waves. Ozai had brought back Kanna's body as a trophy however, proving the great victory,
henceforth the Victory of the Three Dragons, over the Avatar. Mai could just barely remember the day of Ozai's return and certainly none of his famous
speech that day.
Of course, she had been required to study it later on, by teachers who claimed disappointment that a small girl had not remembered a long
speech she had heard only in part. These days, every educated citizen could quote the speech almost letter perfect. Ozai had declared that as his brother Iroh
had been the chosen heir, all histories were to record Iroh as the Fire Lord succeeding their father Azulon, his reign covering the days between Azulon's
death and Ozai's own investiture as Fire Lord. A reign that had therefore begun on the day of the winter solstice.
"You were born within days of the Victory of the Three Dragons," she said slowly. "You are an earthbender, and a
firebender." She looked irritably off into the darkness. "Would you like to confess now, before I reach the mindboggling obvious
conclusion?"
Toph muttered something that sounded obscene. Her little sister had all sorts of entertaining bad habits that she'd apparently been
hiding. For a moment she idly considered what Azula or Ty Lee would make of her and then reality set in.
"What if I said it was none of your business, Spiky?" the younger girl asked.
Mai's lips curved. Revenge was sweet. "I think I'd remember what you said to me when I said my relationship with Prince Zuko was
none of yours, little sister."
"'Little sister'?" Toph responded, suddenly much closer. "Are you going soft on me, Spiky?"
"I wouldn't dream of it. Would you prefer I refer to you by your other name, Avat-"
Toph growled deep in her throat. "No, I'm good," she assured Mai hastily. "I'm... just going to dig for a while,
let's be quiet and conserve the air."
.oOo.
The sun was just beginning to creep up over the horizon when Toph finally managed to break a hole through to the surface. Admittedly this
little victory was still over a hundred yards below the top of the canyon surrounding Omashu, but at least it guarenteed a light and air, both of which Mai had
been growing somewhat concerned about for the last hour or so. If she wasn't so rational she might have been claustrophobic, but clearly that was
impossible. There was no doubt that the air in the caves had been running out, even if Toph had laughed at the notion. Unfortunately, Toph's crippled chi
made it impossible for her to tunnel quickly, she had to effectively brush aside the stone, one thin layer at a time, dissolving it into sand.
"Okay, you're clear." Toph said, pulling back to let Mai past. "I guess I'll see you some time."
Mai blinked as the sudden light irritated her eyes. "And what makes you think I'm letting you out of my sight?"
"Um, Mai. I already told you, I'm leaving Omashu. Even if you hadn't figured out I... about my bending, I wasn't going to
stay. I'll just go burrow through the other side of the mountain and you can go home."
"And I already told you, you're my little sister. And you need a bath, the nearest of which is in Omashu." Mai felt a smile
crawling across her face and was glad Toph couldn't see her. What would it do to her reputation. "And as for the other stuff... well, technically
it's my patriotic duty to report the Avatar's identity to my father. But there's something about being a Fire Maiden that I think you've
forgotten."
Toph frowned in thought. "One of those boring lessons?"
"The first duty of a woman of the Fire Nation is always to her family," Mai reminded her. "Always. It doesn't
matter what politics the men play around with. Our job is to make sure our families survive. And I don't think letting the Fire Lord Ozai that the Avatar
he's so worried about is -" blind, chi-crippled, effectively orphaned "- learning firebending from his own son, would be in my family's best
interests."
"Oh." Toph thought about that and then shrugged. "Sorry. Still not staying. Not going to be here when my parents turn up. If
you want to do me a favour, tell everyone that Toph Bei Fong died last night."
"Not letting you out of my sight. Is your memory failing you, little sister?"
"Not staying in Omashu! Are you going senile already?" Toph half-shouted and stamped one foot, creating a small crater under
it.
Mai nodded. "Then I will go with you." Uh, wait, what?
"I can look after myself," Toph said, huffing in frustration. "I'm... I was the greatest earthbender in the
world. The undefeated champion of the Earth Rumble. I made it here without any help at all and I don't need help now."
"Who said I thought you needed help?" Mai asked innocently. "Omashu is unbelieveable tedious. You were the only person who
made it evenly remotely bearable. The way I see it, following you around should be far more exciting." She smiled faintly. "You aren't the only
person whose parents don't let her get out much."
Toph looked at her and then shook her head. "You're crazy. I'm glad you're my sister, no one else would be able to cope.
Keeping you away from Tom-Tom is practically a public service." She threw up her hands in defeat. "Okay, you can come with me. But first there's
something I need to do in Omashu."
.oOo.
"You know, when you said you wanted to do one last thing in Omashu, I thought you had something discreet in mind, not releasing King
Bumi," Mai hissed as the two girls crept up the palace tower. The palace was very quiet today, with only a minimum of guards. She had the uneasy suspicion
that every ablebodied man was busy excavating a certain hill.
"Nah, no one will ever know we were here," Toph assured her. "Can't release a man who doesn't want to be
liberated."
Mai frowned. "He's a prisoner, Toph."
"Suuure he is, Spiky. You just keep telling yourself that. Most powerful Earthbender you've ever seen - except for me of course -
and you think a couple of layers of metal has him confined?" Toph shook her head. "He's in there because he choses to be."
"Why would he chose to be locked away while we take over his kingdom?" Mai asked curiously.
Toph shrugged. "You've got me there. No idea. I didn't say he wasn't crazy." She pulled a stone of of a pocket and it
started shifting in her hand into a facsimile of a key. "Presumably it makes sense to him."
"That doesn't look very much like the key," Mai advised.
Toph grinned cockily and slid it any way, wiggling it back and forth for a moment. Mai had the feeling that if Toph could see she would have
closed her eyes to concentrate. After a moment Mai's little sister turned the key fully and the lock snapped open. "Easy as an easy thing," she
bragged and pushed the door open.
"Ooh, pretty girls here again," Bumi chuckled from his casket. "Can't stay away from my manly charms, can
you?"
"Oh please," Mai sighed, leaning against the door frame. "Yes, congratulations, you have a twelve year old
admirer."
"Twelve years old?" Bumi asked. "Funny, it seems more like four days than two years since you last come to visit
me."
Toph advanced closer towards him. "Yeah, I lied. I'm a bad person, I know."
"No," Bumi shook his head. "I think you are wise beyond your years. I take it from your method of entrance that you're not
just a firebender, young Toph."
"I'm an Earthbender," Toph told him flatly. "I am - I was - the best Earthbender I've ever heard of. Better than you.
And yes, you saw yourself. I can bend fire too. Not well, but a bit. That doesn't have to mean... what you're thinking."
"Only the Avatar can bend the four elements," Bumi said patiently. "It is not fair, I know. You're too young to have to
deal with that burden but there is no other explanation. Everyone in the Earth Kingdom has been waiting for you. And," he smiled at Mai, "At least
you do not need to bear the burden alone."
"Me?" she said, pointing a finger at her face. "I'm not a bender."
"No, but you love Toph and will protect her," Bumi told her. "When the Avatar's heart is sure then there is nothing that
can stand against her... but when they are in doubt..." He shook his head. "Love has always been mankind's greatest strength and weakness. It is
no different for the Avatar."
Toph made a disgusted noise. "Whatever. Not what I'm here for. On top of this, I have another problem."
Bumi frowned. "You're having to beat the boys off with a stick?"
"What? No," Toph said irritably.
"Oh, they won't look at you? That's strange."
"Who cares about boys?" snapped Toph. "Get with it, grandpa, someone's messed with my chi. I can't bend worth a damn
any more. I figure being messed up like that is a lot more likely to be causing my sudden firebending than being some reborn hero that everyone expects to save
their butts."
Bumi frowned. "I've heard of some techniques to block chi, but those are only temporary," he admitted. "Typically,
one's chakras will quickly return the flows to normal. The only exceptions I have heard of that have permanent effects are those so disruptive that they
kill the target."
"That's my experience as well," Mai confirmed. "I have a... friend who knows some of those techniques," she added
when Bumi looked at her enquiringly.
"Hmm. And if someone could learn other forms of bending though a little chi manipulation," Bumi added. "Then everyone would be
doing it."
"There's always a first time," Toph protested. "Anyway. Fine, you don't know anything useful, so I'm done here.
Enjoy your vacation up here," she threw back over her shoulder as she headed back out the door.
"I will," Bumi promised cheerily. "But would you mind doing an old man a favour?"
"Well that depends," Toph told him. "What's in it for me?"
He cackled in amusement. "I know the fastest way out of the city. Interested?"
"Alright, I'm listening."
"Tell Aang that I miss all the fun we had," Bumi asked.
"Aang?" Toph looked at Mai in perplexion. "Look, I'm not trekking around the world looking for some old
codger."
Bumi laughed. "Old codger? Don't you worry your head about that, Lady Toph. Aang will find you."
"Well. Alright. If you say so," she agreed. "So, what's this secret way out of the city?"
There was a sparkle in Bumi's eye. "You've seen Omashu's mail system?"
"I'm blind," Toph deadpanned.
"Oh. Right. But you know how it works, right?"
Toph frowned. "Well... yeah. I..." A grin spread across her face. "Are you suggesting what I think you're
suggesting?"
Mai's eyes narrowed. "What is he suggesting?"
"Trust me, it's very interesting," Toph promised a little smugly. "Well, thanks for that King Bumi. I'd tell you to
write and let me know how you're getting on, but I get the feeling that I'm going to be moving around a bit and..."
"Yes, yes, you can't read," Mai said. "You've done that to death already."
.oOo.
"No."
Toph pouted. "It's perfectly safe. I had someone read me a scroll about Omashu once and they used to use them for hundreds of
packages a day."
"That was when there were Earthbenders all over the place to keep it working," Mai said, eyeing the slide warily.
"You'll have an Earthbender right in the car with you, couldn't be safer," Toph pointed out. She hopped into the sled and
ran her hands over it. "No problem."
Mai shook her head. "No problem now, or no problem before your chi was shut down?"
Toph stabbed one finger towards the older girl. "Listen, I know exactly what my limits are, Spiky. I may not like them, but I
know them. This, I can do."
"And walking out of Omashu quietly is so hard?" Mai asked somewhat plainatively.
"There's too much chance of someone spotting us. If we huddle down inside this, then no one will be able to see us. They'll just
assume that one of the builders knocked it onto the slide and ignore it. I can get us right the way to the outer wall in less time than it takes for us to
argue about it."
Mai sighed and and jumped into the back of the sled, slouching down against the stone until she was entirely below the lip. "I'm
going to regret this," she predicted gloomily as Toph tipped the sled onto the ramp.
.oOo.
Locks of hair fell away from Zuko's scalp as he ran the razor across his scalp. The garrison had worked through the night and then the
following day to dig out the hill, but all they had found was the broken body of Jet's accomplice, Smellerbee, crushed amost beyond recognition by the
rocks.
The candles that lit Zuko's quarters flared in time with his breathing. Normally his control was better than that but he couldn't
bring himself to care. His eyes watered for a moment and his face blurred in the metal mirror to impassive golden eyes and long, raven black bangs framing a
pale face. "I failed you," he apologised, but when he wiped his eyes the only face present was that his own, his topknot pulled into an old fashioned
high ponytail. Turning his head, he began to cut away the hair at the back of his head.
And Toph... he'd led his student to her death. He'd let her courage and his pride in her blind him to the fact that she was only ten
years old. Not even old enough for military service and she'd ridden into the ambush with him as faithfully as any soldier, faced down Jet himself
fearlessly... none of which he should have allowed. Zuko's jaw clenched. "Agni, let her have died cleanly," he prayed, loathing himself for the
words. "Let her not have fallen into Jet's hands."
His shaving done, Zuko folded away the kit and began to don his armour. Normally his aide would have helped him but he had sent the man away.
He felt the need to do this himself. Slowly, deliberately, he buckled on his greaves and breastplate, then lifted the heavy yoke over his shoulders, lacing it
into place. He didn't bother with the helmet - he wanted the widest possible field of vision.
There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Zuko called. He didn't turn around when the door opened. but a glance at the mirror
showed him the governor entering.
"Prince Zuko?" the man asked and then gasped as he saw Zuko. "Your highness?"
"Yes governor. What can I do for you?" he asked bluntly and saw an angry retort die on the father's face as a politician's
instincts restrained him. "I should never have let Mai and Toph come with me," Zuko admitted, before the older man could say anything.
Mai's father sighed wearily. "I doubt you could have stopped them, your highness. The first duty of a woman of the Fire Nation is
always to her family. Mai would never have agreed to simply wait while someone else rescued Tom-Tom. And little Toph..." he sighed heavily. "She was
a natural fire maiden. Why would that not come as instinctively to her as all else."
"We were so close. So damn close to all being safe," Zuko growled, feeling candles around the room blaze, melting prodigously
through the wax.
"So I saw," the governor agreed. "I should not blame you for my daughters' deaths."
Should not. Meaning of course, that he did. "Why not? I do. I should have been the one to go back for Toph. I'm the bender. I would
have stood a better chance."
"You were injured. And you had sworn to bring my son back, for which I thank you." The old man was fighting to control his
breathing. And his temper. "I... am grateful for what you were able to do, Prince Zuko. I... my wife's temper is uncertain however. I would not insult
a son of the Firelord by demanding his departure..."
"But somethings are hard to unsay," Zuko agreed. "Do not concern yourself, Lord Governor. I will not hold anything your wife
says against her or against you. And I will leave Omashu at dawn. The so-called Freedom Fighters cannot be camped far from here and I intend to put a stop to
them once and for all. It is long since time that someone purged the bandits in this part of the world."
The old man smiled. It was not a pleasent expression. "You will bring them to justice?" He paused. "But what about the rest of
your tour."
"This isn't about justice," Zuko growled. "It's vengeance. And to hell with the tour."
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.