Toph woke at the sound of someone snaking their way into her burrow. She swept her hands around, ready to close the tunnel in on whoever
dared to intrude her, but there was a familiarity to the heartbeat, to the way that the person was touching the wet earth. "Mai?" she asked, hating
how weak she sounded.
"Do you know anyone else crazy enough to come down here after you?" Mai asked wryly. "Did he hurt you?"
"...yeah, like some old guy could hurt me?" Toph asked and hugged Mai's shoulders before letting go and punching her on the
shoulders.
Mai rubbed at the impact site. "What was that for?"
"I don't do hugs."
"Of course not. Nice place you have here," Mai said, looking around. "Very homey. Are you planning to put down
roots?"
Toph shook her head, then realised that for once it was Mai who wouldn't be able to see the gesture. "When I was little, I used to
hide in caves near my parents' estate. It's where I met the badgermoles, where I learned to earthbend. I guess I just instinctively feel happier down
here."
Mai put one hand in the water pooling on the floor and made a small noise of surprise when she found that it was warm. "I didn't
know that there was a tribe of waterbenders in the swamp," she said. "I suppose they must hide here so that the Fire Nation doesn't find them, to
wipe them out the way they did the Air Nomads. Even if the fleets do conquer the poles, waterbenders could survive in the depths of the swamp for a long time
without anyone knowing that they existed."
"Is that what your people want?" asked Toph hesitantly. "To wipe out the waterbenders... and the
earthbenders?"
Mai closed her eyes. "'The will of the Fire Lord is the will of the Fire Nation'," she recited tonelessly. "It is the
will of every Fire Lord since Sozin the Great that all the world be united under the rule of their lineage. And the benders of the other nations have always
opposed that will." She opened her eyes again. "I think that this is another of those things that it would be better for the Fire Lord to never find
out about."
"I think you're right," Toph agreed, her voice solemn. "But what do we do about them. The... the one who brought me here
said he would take me to my parents."
Mai reached out and took Toph's shoulder, running her hand down the arm until she was sure where her little sister's hand was.
"Well first we'll try to reason with them," she decided. Then she pressed the hilt of one of her smaller daggers into Toph's hand.
"Remind me to teach you how to use this at the earliest opportunity," she instructed. "Bending is all very well, but no one ever died from
having too many weapons to hand."
"I know how to use a knife, Mai," Toph said, tucking the weapon and the sheath away.
"You do?"
"Of course. Sharp end goes in the other person's soft bits," the earthbender said.
Mai frowned. "It's a little more complicated than that," she said. "Or would you say that earthbending was just playing
with mudpies?"
"Earthbending is a thousand times more awesome that that!" Toph replied hotly and then broke off. "Oh. Sorry."
"That's alright, little sister. I'm sure that you'll understand after you've spent hours and hours learning how to use
them properly," Mai said graciously.
"I get it already, Spiky."
"And I do mean hours," insisted Mai. "From now on you're going to practise every day with me. You've been letting your
skills get rusty while we're travelling and that just won't do."
"Oh yeah?" Toph said, and then smiled slowly. "Okay. I'll do it. But if you're teaching me to use a knife, then
I'm going to teach you earthbending." She rubbed her hands together. "Oh yes. And learning that is going to be painful... for the
student."
"Are you alright down there, missie?" a voice drawled from the mouth of the den. Toph gestured sharply and a mudpie rocketed out of
the tunnel towards the speaker.
"...let's give them a little longer, Tho," advised Huu.
.oOo.
"So what brings the two of you to our little corner of the world?" Huu asked some time later. The five of them had regrouped on the
highest roots, well above most of the trees in the swamp. Between the efforts of the three waterbenders and Toph, the two girls's clothes were even
reasonably dry and clean, although the warming sunlight remained welcome.
"The Fire Nation captured Omashu recently," Mai told him. True, if not the answer to the question. "It wasn't safe for us
to stay in the area and we thought no one would be likely to follow us into the swamp."
Duw wrinkled his nose. "Why wouldn't it be safe for you there. I mean, you're Fire Nation? Aren't you?"
"Idiot," Tho rumbled. "Look at their eyes. You think the little one'd have eyes like that if she was pure Fire Nation.
She'd have eyes like her sister." He looked over. "You two are mixed blood, ain'tcha?"
Mai lowered her face, hiding her eyes with her bangs. It wasn't until later that she realised that the gesture was one Toph might have
used. "Both sides consider that to be treason."
Huu sighed and shook his head. "Just another way that the both of them are more alike than they realise."
Firmly, Mai drew Toph against her to disguise the way that the young earthbender was shaking with laughter. "There are supposed to be
islands in the south that are neutral in the war. We plan to make our way there. Leave it all behind." Until Sozin's Comet returns, when no one will
be safe, she thought. But there was time enough to worry about that later.
"I don't know about that," Huu said thoughtfully. "Then again, I've never left the swamp. I'd suggest you stay,
but I think your little sister might be a bit on the noisy side for the tree." He glowered at Toph for a moment before letting his face relax into a smile
that seemed easier for him. "No offense, young lady, but it really didn't like you twisting its roots around like that."
"That's it fault for letting you use it drag me around like that," Toph said forthrightly. "If it can't take a
pounding then it shouldn't get in a fight." The tree branch that the girls were sitting on flexed menacingly and Toph stamped one foot against it
firmly. "Yeah, you heard me."
"Are you sure you're going to avoid the war with your sister acting like that?" Tho asked, apparently amused that the branch
stopped moving.
Mai shrugged. "I figure on an island I can set her to beating the ocean into submission," she said sardonically. "By that
time, hopefully she'll have started noticing boys and channel all that energy into something constructive."
"Ick." There was a disgusted noise from Toph and rather disquieted looks from the three men. Then again, from the way Toph had been
acting, they were probably concerned that Toph's idea of flirting would be rather like Azula's. The Princess' occasional romantic inclinations
leant more towards conquest than ongoing relationships. And wasn't that a horrible thought. The last thing that the world needed was another Azula, much
less one who could bend all four elements.
"Well, I think we can at least get you across the swamp safely," Tho offered just a little too quickly. Perhaps he had sons that he
wanted to protect. Mai couldn't blame him if he did. "I can get you to the other side in a day or two if Duw doesn't mind spelling me on the
skiff. There's a port there, I'm sure you can find a ship there to wherever you want."
Mai nodded to him. "That would be very kind of you," she said with a smile as if she didn't have a fair idea that he had an
ulterior motive. She didn't care if his reasoning was less about altruism and more about removing Toph from their little paradise. The results were the
same either way.
.oOo.
The ship to Kiyoshi Island wasn't crammed with refugees, but there was a definite sense that this leg of the voyage was less about moving
trade goods from the mainland than it delivering people who thought that the isolated island would be safer for them than the alternatives.
"So do the women really paint their faces?" Toph asked curiously.
"Not all of them," answered the ship's cook. Mai had kindly volunteered Toph to help with peeling the various tubers and
slicing meats for the broth passengers received. It was partly because it justified putting them in the room nearest the kitchen and partly some of the
promised knife training for Toph. "Just the Kiyoshi Warriors. They're named for one of the Avatars, so they always paint their faces the way she did
to intimidate their enemies."
Toph shrugged her shoulders and picked up another vegetable. Peeling by touch wasn't as hard as she'd expected and at least it
didn't mean moving around as much. She was beginning to get a feel for the vibrations in the wood of the ship, but it being made of so many different
pieces made it tricky and deceptive - all the planks were different and they didn't always fit together the same way. "Does that
work."
The man chuckled. "Oh yes. They'll scare the alcohol right out of a drunken sailor, with those scary faces. And anyone who
doesn't do what they say, right sharpish, they'll clobber them. More than one damn fool thought he could ignore a girl telling him what to do and wound
up wondering what hit him."
"Sounds like they're really strong," Toph said admiringly.
"Heh. There's a reason no Fire Nation ships ever harass them, like they do some other islands. Those girls would put up quite a
fight," the cook promised her. "Safest place in the world, Kiyoshi Island. They say Kyoshi was an Avatar. She was born there, back when it was part
of the Earth Kingdom, and moved it away from the mainland when some warlord threatened it. Ever since, her Warriors have protected it." He grinned.
"You thinking of joining them?"
"Good idea," Toph said brightly. "Of course, I might have trouble putting the make up on."
The cook laughed. "Oh well, perhaps your sister will want to." he picked up the pot of vegetables that Toph had been preparing.
"Looks good enough," he complimented and then brushed them into the pot. "That's the food done. You can go play now. Thanks for the
help."
"Play?" Toph muttered in disbelief as made her way to the doorway, probing each step to make sure she was still walking between the
wooden crates and barrels that took up most of the kitchen. The glorified rabbit hutch that she and Mai were occupying was immediately to her left when she
reached the gangway, a small, oddly angular compartment that Toph had had trouble reconciling with the shape of the ship until she realised that one wall was
the hull and that the cabin was only barely above the waterline. Now that was a nightmarish prospect.
"Hi," she said as she pushed aside the curtain that covered the front of the cubby hole. "The food'll probably be ready in
a little while."
Mai looked up from the scroll she was reading. "Let me guess. Tepid water with shredded rotten vegetables again?"
"How did you guess?"
She tapped the scroll. "I've been reading up on the Kiyoshi Warriors. They seem to be the main military force on the
island..."
"And the only ones who actually paint their faces," Toph finished. "I asked the cook."
Mai rolled her eyes. "Naturally. I shouldn't have wasted my money on this scroll, I should have just let you ask
around."
"Naturally," Toph agreed with relative cheer. She patted the inside of the hull gently and then sat down as far from it as she
could get in the small space. "I told you that the scroll about Oma and Shu would be more interesting."
"I lived in Omashu for over a month, Toph, in which time I heard that stupid story at least a thousand times. I could quote it from
memory, if I wasn't sure that listening to it, even when I'm the one telling it, would cause me to gouge out my own ears. Given how central it is to
Earth Kingdom mythology, I'm sure you're just as aware of it."
"I like the story," Toph admitted. "Oma beating up two villages with her earthbending is a great story. It's a shame that
most of the versions have to mention Shu at all."
Well at least her hormones haven't kicked in yet. "They were both idiots. If Oma could defeat both villages singlehandedly and force
peace between them, then certainly they could have done so tog..." Mai shook her head. "No. I am not getting into this. Change the subject.
Now."
Toph pouted and then asked: "Are you going to try to join the Kyoshi Warriors? They're supposed to be fierce warriors, so we'd
fit right in."
"It'll depend on whether or not they get paid," Mai pointed out. "We don't have all that much money - if they're a
volunteer force then I'll need to find some way of earning money. We don't have all that much of it and it would look suspicious if we don't have
some means of support. As far as I can tell, there aren't any large towns on the island, just a number of small villages. And in a small village, everyone
knows everyone else's business, so we have to get our stories straight."
"Do we have to change our names?" asked Toph.
"No - we might forget ourselves, and its probably not necessary since no one should be looking for us on the island. However, we need to
agree on where we came from. The story we told the swamp tribe is a good start: one of our parents is from the Fire Nation and the other from the Earth
Kingdom. After Omashu was captured, they were killed -"
"- by Jet," suggested Toph.
"Yes, that would work," Mai agreed. "No one will believe we were peasents, so our father was a Fire Nation soldier who retired
after an injury and married the daughter of an Earth Kingdom merchant. His name was... Lee. What should our mother's name be?"
Toph shrugged. "Jin perhaps? It's a fairly common name in the Earth Kingdom. What if someone else knows Omashu though? A merchant
would be fairly well known."
"That's fairly unlikely, actually. Most of the refugees here are from coastal towns. Those from places inland and further north are
more likely to retreat east and north towards Ba Sing Se." Mai smiled slightly. "I asked around. However, even unlikely things happen, so if
we're challenged, we shall admit that our father was actually Zeng the Smuggler. He was in Omashu's cells when the city fell and my father had him
executed. No one would be surprised that he had a secret marriage or that we didn't want to admit to being his daughters."
"I guess that makes sense." Toph stretched out her legs. "Well, since we've settled that, and I've had my knife
practise today, it's your turn."
"My turn?" Mai asked. "What... you mean teaching me the earthbending forms?"
"Of course. No time like the present. If we work hard, then your stances should be ready for some beginning kata once we reach Kyoshi
Island," Toph confirmed. "Now, take a horse stance."
The older girl stared at her. "In here? I can't even stand upright!"
Toph smirked. "The stances I'll be teaching you are from earthbending. If you do them right, your head won't ever be high enough
to be at risk. If - sorry, when - you make a mistake, you'll bash yourself on the deck. Consider it an incentive."
"So you want me to stand in the cabin and adopt various earthbending stances on your command?"
"I want you to bash your head repeatedly against the deck while trying to adopt earthbending stances," Toph admitted
unashamedly. "But you're annoyingly competent at everything I've ever seen you try so I'll settle for you learning the
stances."
.oOo.
Kyoshi Island was very picturesque. Mai hated it instantly. Toph started kissing the ground the moment she was off the jetty, which was
fairly predictable since she'd done exactly the same thing when she got off Tho's skiff at the edge of the swamp.
Mai stopped Toph's enthusiastic make-out session with the island by picking her up by the belt and carrying her clear off the jetty. Then
she set her down and let the earthbender get on with it. Benders were freaks about that sort of thing in her experience, (She was continually surprised that
Azula didn't try to bathe in molten lava and had the idea in reserve should she ever encounter the Princess and a volcano simultaneously at any point.) but
the fire maiden didn't want to deal with the complaints from everyone else getting off the boat.
"She's an earthbender?" asked someone and Mai turned to a young woman wearing long, concealing green dress and black armour.
Given that the girl's face was covered in white make up (except for the bits that were black or crimson) this was clearly one of the famous Kyoshi
Warriors.
"What gave you that idea?"
The Kyoshi Warrior chuckled. Amazing, even a smile looked horrifying in that face paint. "It's not an uncommon reaction. Where are
you from?"
"Oma's Hearth." Which was a tiny hamlet near Omashu, that was allegedly Oma's birthplace. Or possibly where she sulked off
to die after her boyfriend died. It depended who you talked to. "It's near Omashu," Mai added when it was clear the name didn't mean anything
to the other girl. She resisted them temptation to reel off the whole sob story she and Toph had rehearsed. Nothing could possibly be more suspicious than
that.
"Ah? I'd have thought if you were trying to get away from the war, you'd have headed for Ba Sing Se," the Kyoshi Warrior
asked.
Mai looked her in the eyes. "I wasn't sure if the Dai Li would decide to arrest me for having the wrong colour eyes," she
explained simply.
The Kyoshi Warrior blinked. "How..."
"Astonishingly, it seems that Fire Nation boy parts work with Earth Kingdom girl parts. Who knew?"
That make up wasn't thick enough to disguise the fact that the warrior was now blushing furiously. "I'm sorry."
Mai shrugged. "I get that a lot. Is there any paperwork I need to do or can I start looking for somewhere to sleep?" She looked up
at the sky, where the sun was descending in the approximate direction of the Fire Nation. "It's a little late in the day to go looking for
work."
"No paperwork and you can stay in the community hall at the top of the street for a few nights if you want," the other young woman
said promptly. "That's open to all refugees. If you'll help me spread the word through everyone else arriving then I'll even buy you and your
sister some supper."
Okay, now she was definitely up to something. Mai nudged Toph with the tip of one boot. "Come on, little sister. You can snog your
element again after supper if you want."
Toph scrambled obediently to her feet, confirming that she had also picked up on something. Lack of even token resistance on Toph's part
was always an indication she was concerned, if not outright nervous. "Do you have fire flakes?" she asked ingeniously.
The Kyoshi Warrior looked blank. "I've never heard of them."
"They're bad for you anyway," Mai advised, hiding her own disappointment and turned around to start telling the other refugees
the good news.
.oOo.
"So, why'd you want to talk to us?" Toph asked the Kyoshi Warrior as soon as food had been served.
Mai seriously considered slapping the girl. Had she never heard of subtlety? Oh, right. Toph. "...I suppose that the question does cut
through a lot of tedious verbal fencing," she conceded.
The Kyoshi Warrior threw her head back and laughed merrily. "Serves me right for being sneaky," she admitted. "The meal is
exactly what I said it was: repayment for helping me. If you hadn't then they would have scattered and I would have had to chase them all down and let them
know that they don't have to beg for shelter. Which would take all night. Seriously." She paused. "I'm Suki, by the way."
"Mai." "Toph." The two sisters introduced themselves and returned to the rice, which had roast duck in it.
Delicious.
"A pleasure," Suki said with apparent sincerity. "The conversation, on the other hand, has an ulterior motive. Mai, how would
you like to be a Kyoshi Warrior?"
"You're recruiting random arrivals?" she asked in surprise.
"Only the ones that are female, of a suitable age and have previous martial training," Suki smiled. "The dart-launchers are
clever, but they must be very difficult to maintain." Silently, Mai conceded that point to Suki. "I'll be blunt. Sooner or later, the war is
coming to Kiyoshi Island. My girls are good, but there aren't really all that many of us. If the Fire Nation does invade then I'll call up all those
who resigned to get married, but we'll still be significantly outnumbered."
"So if we want sancturary here, I have to be willing to fight for it?" Mai asked. "It seems like a desperate way to make up
the numbers."
Suki shook her head. "Not just numbers. Warrior to warrior, I believe that my girls are better than the Fire Nation's soldiers. But
we haven't faced a serious threat in years. I need to shake them up if we're going to be ready. Bringing in outsiders, with different skills, will
force them to push themselves. It will motivate them to improve their skills rather than be shown up."
Mai sipped at her water. As far as she could tell, Suki was completely sincere and open about what she was saying. Which made absolutely no
sense. "And you think that this revitalised force can beat off a Fire Nation invasion force?"
"Once, perhaps even twice," she agreed confidently and then her shoulders slumped. "At which point, we'll have to cut a
deal. Probably we'll be drafted into the Fire Army and have to fight for them to spare the rest of the population."
"I'd like to join the Kyoshi Warriors!" Toph offered brightly.
Hmm. That was a good idea. "No," declared Mai flatly, applying reverse psychology.
Toph's fists hit the table, causing the dishes to bounce upwards. "I'm not asking you," she told Mai angrily. It spoiled
the effect slightly that she didn't then turn to Suki with big pleading eyes, but then it was difficult for Toph to realise the impact of puppy-dog eyes in
negotiations.
Suki, bless her little heart, made mistake number one when dealing with Toph. "The Kyoshi Warriors are the traditional defenders of this
island. There is no room amongst us for a mascot." Mai prudently picked up her bowl before the earth started moving.
In fairness to Suki, despite being ambushed, point blank, with her footing vanishing more or less instantly into mud, she managed to parry
Toph's chopstick with one of her fans. It didn't really count as impressive in Mai's opinion - Toph might be the deadliest blind twelve year old in
the world (and the Avatar, if that helped), but she was a blind twelve year old - however at least the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors wasn't a
total pushover.
The next round had Suki on the offensive, fans moving in all sorts of interesting patterns that were presumably intended to guide and control
attacks launched at her. Toph let her thrusts with the chopsticks get redirected and neutralized while she quietly a raised a ten inch tall wall behind
Suki's knees and then threw a bowl at her. Suki stepped backwards, Suki landed on her rear. Point to the earthbender, even if Suki had kipped up almost
without breaking stride.
The finale was a flurry of blows that Mai couldn't be bothered to track as she tilted her bowl to pick out the last bits of rice.
Outcome: Toph on the ground, Suki with a fan pointed at the small girl's throat and a surprised expression on her face. The surprised expression was
probably because of the narrow spike that rose out of the ground and vanished inside her skirts.
"I don't think that Toph's applying for the role of mascot," suggested Mai, casually switching her bowl for Suki's
half-finished one.
Suki nodded slowly. "I thought you were blind," she told Toph, very carefully withdrawing the fan from its threatening
position.
Toph shrugged smugly. "I am." The spike vanished.
Suki's eyes widened noticeably. "Fuck me."
Mai sighed. Too easy. Far too easy.
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.
dared to intrude her, but there was a familiarity to the heartbeat, to the way that the person was touching the wet earth. "Mai?" she asked, hating
how weak she sounded.
"Do you know anyone else crazy enough to come down here after you?" Mai asked wryly. "Did he hurt you?"
"...yeah, like some old guy could hurt me?" Toph asked and hugged Mai's shoulders before letting go and punching her on the
shoulders.
Mai rubbed at the impact site. "What was that for?"
"I don't do hugs."
"Of course not. Nice place you have here," Mai said, looking around. "Very homey. Are you planning to put down
roots?"
Toph shook her head, then realised that for once it was Mai who wouldn't be able to see the gesture. "When I was little, I used to
hide in caves near my parents' estate. It's where I met the badgermoles, where I learned to earthbend. I guess I just instinctively feel happier down
here."
Mai put one hand in the water pooling on the floor and made a small noise of surprise when she found that it was warm. "I didn't
know that there was a tribe of waterbenders in the swamp," she said. "I suppose they must hide here so that the Fire Nation doesn't find them, to
wipe them out the way they did the Air Nomads. Even if the fleets do conquer the poles, waterbenders could survive in the depths of the swamp for a long time
without anyone knowing that they existed."
"Is that what your people want?" asked Toph hesitantly. "To wipe out the waterbenders... and the
earthbenders?"
Mai closed her eyes. "'The will of the Fire Lord is the will of the Fire Nation'," she recited tonelessly. "It is the
will of every Fire Lord since Sozin the Great that all the world be united under the rule of their lineage. And the benders of the other nations have always
opposed that will." She opened her eyes again. "I think that this is another of those things that it would be better for the Fire Lord to never find
out about."
"I think you're right," Toph agreed, her voice solemn. "But what do we do about them. The... the one who brought me here
said he would take me to my parents."
Mai reached out and took Toph's shoulder, running her hand down the arm until she was sure where her little sister's hand was.
"Well first we'll try to reason with them," she decided. Then she pressed the hilt of one of her smaller daggers into Toph's hand.
"Remind me to teach you how to use this at the earliest opportunity," she instructed. "Bending is all very well, but no one ever died from
having too many weapons to hand."
"I know how to use a knife, Mai," Toph said, tucking the weapon and the sheath away.
"You do?"
"Of course. Sharp end goes in the other person's soft bits," the earthbender said.
Mai frowned. "It's a little more complicated than that," she said. "Or would you say that earthbending was just playing
with mudpies?"
"Earthbending is a thousand times more awesome that that!" Toph replied hotly and then broke off. "Oh. Sorry."
"That's alright, little sister. I'm sure that you'll understand after you've spent hours and hours learning how to use
them properly," Mai said graciously.
"I get it already, Spiky."
"And I do mean hours," insisted Mai. "From now on you're going to practise every day with me. You've been letting your
skills get rusty while we're travelling and that just won't do."
"Oh yeah?" Toph said, and then smiled slowly. "Okay. I'll do it. But if you're teaching me to use a knife, then
I'm going to teach you earthbending." She rubbed her hands together. "Oh yes. And learning that is going to be painful... for the
student."
"Are you alright down there, missie?" a voice drawled from the mouth of the den. Toph gestured sharply and a mudpie rocketed out of
the tunnel towards the speaker.
"...let's give them a little longer, Tho," advised Huu.
.oOo.
"So what brings the two of you to our little corner of the world?" Huu asked some time later. The five of them had regrouped on the
highest roots, well above most of the trees in the swamp. Between the efforts of the three waterbenders and Toph, the two girls's clothes were even
reasonably dry and clean, although the warming sunlight remained welcome.
"The Fire Nation captured Omashu recently," Mai told him. True, if not the answer to the question. "It wasn't safe for us
to stay in the area and we thought no one would be likely to follow us into the swamp."
Duw wrinkled his nose. "Why wouldn't it be safe for you there. I mean, you're Fire Nation? Aren't you?"
"Idiot," Tho rumbled. "Look at their eyes. You think the little one'd have eyes like that if she was pure Fire Nation.
She'd have eyes like her sister." He looked over. "You two are mixed blood, ain'tcha?"
Mai lowered her face, hiding her eyes with her bangs. It wasn't until later that she realised that the gesture was one Toph might have
used. "Both sides consider that to be treason."
Huu sighed and shook his head. "Just another way that the both of them are more alike than they realise."
Firmly, Mai drew Toph against her to disguise the way that the young earthbender was shaking with laughter. "There are supposed to be
islands in the south that are neutral in the war. We plan to make our way there. Leave it all behind." Until Sozin's Comet returns, when no one will
be safe, she thought. But there was time enough to worry about that later.
"I don't know about that," Huu said thoughtfully. "Then again, I've never left the swamp. I'd suggest you stay,
but I think your little sister might be a bit on the noisy side for the tree." He glowered at Toph for a moment before letting his face relax into a smile
that seemed easier for him. "No offense, young lady, but it really didn't like you twisting its roots around like that."
"That's it fault for letting you use it drag me around like that," Toph said forthrightly. "If it can't take a
pounding then it shouldn't get in a fight." The tree branch that the girls were sitting on flexed menacingly and Toph stamped one foot against it
firmly. "Yeah, you heard me."
"Are you sure you're going to avoid the war with your sister acting like that?" Tho asked, apparently amused that the branch
stopped moving.
Mai shrugged. "I figure on an island I can set her to beating the ocean into submission," she said sardonically. "By that
time, hopefully she'll have started noticing boys and channel all that energy into something constructive."
"Ick." There was a disgusted noise from Toph and rather disquieted looks from the three men. Then again, from the way Toph had been
acting, they were probably concerned that Toph's idea of flirting would be rather like Azula's. The Princess' occasional romantic inclinations
leant more towards conquest than ongoing relationships. And wasn't that a horrible thought. The last thing that the world needed was another Azula, much
less one who could bend all four elements.
"Well, I think we can at least get you across the swamp safely," Tho offered just a little too quickly. Perhaps he had sons that he
wanted to protect. Mai couldn't blame him if he did. "I can get you to the other side in a day or two if Duw doesn't mind spelling me on the
skiff. There's a port there, I'm sure you can find a ship there to wherever you want."
Mai nodded to him. "That would be very kind of you," she said with a smile as if she didn't have a fair idea that he had an
ulterior motive. She didn't care if his reasoning was less about altruism and more about removing Toph from their little paradise. The results were the
same either way.
.oOo.
The ship to Kiyoshi Island wasn't crammed with refugees, but there was a definite sense that this leg of the voyage was less about moving
trade goods from the mainland than it delivering people who thought that the isolated island would be safer for them than the alternatives.
"So do the women really paint their faces?" Toph asked curiously.
"Not all of them," answered the ship's cook. Mai had kindly volunteered Toph to help with peeling the various tubers and
slicing meats for the broth passengers received. It was partly because it justified putting them in the room nearest the kitchen and partly some of the
promised knife training for Toph. "Just the Kiyoshi Warriors. They're named for one of the Avatars, so they always paint their faces the way she did
to intimidate their enemies."
Toph shrugged her shoulders and picked up another vegetable. Peeling by touch wasn't as hard as she'd expected and at least it
didn't mean moving around as much. She was beginning to get a feel for the vibrations in the wood of the ship, but it being made of so many different
pieces made it tricky and deceptive - all the planks were different and they didn't always fit together the same way. "Does that
work."
The man chuckled. "Oh yes. They'll scare the alcohol right out of a drunken sailor, with those scary faces. And anyone who
doesn't do what they say, right sharpish, they'll clobber them. More than one damn fool thought he could ignore a girl telling him what to do and wound
up wondering what hit him."
"Sounds like they're really strong," Toph said admiringly.
"Heh. There's a reason no Fire Nation ships ever harass them, like they do some other islands. Those girls would put up quite a
fight," the cook promised her. "Safest place in the world, Kiyoshi Island. They say Kyoshi was an Avatar. She was born there, back when it was part
of the Earth Kingdom, and moved it away from the mainland when some warlord threatened it. Ever since, her Warriors have protected it." He grinned.
"You thinking of joining them?"
"Good idea," Toph said brightly. "Of course, I might have trouble putting the make up on."
The cook laughed. "Oh well, perhaps your sister will want to." he picked up the pot of vegetables that Toph had been preparing.
"Looks good enough," he complimented and then brushed them into the pot. "That's the food done. You can go play now. Thanks for the
help."
"Play?" Toph muttered in disbelief as made her way to the doorway, probing each step to make sure she was still walking between the
wooden crates and barrels that took up most of the kitchen. The glorified rabbit hutch that she and Mai were occupying was immediately to her left when she
reached the gangway, a small, oddly angular compartment that Toph had had trouble reconciling with the shape of the ship until she realised that one wall was
the hull and that the cabin was only barely above the waterline. Now that was a nightmarish prospect.
"Hi," she said as she pushed aside the curtain that covered the front of the cubby hole. "The food'll probably be ready in
a little while."
Mai looked up from the scroll she was reading. "Let me guess. Tepid water with shredded rotten vegetables again?"
"How did you guess?"
She tapped the scroll. "I've been reading up on the Kiyoshi Warriors. They seem to be the main military force on the
island..."
"And the only ones who actually paint their faces," Toph finished. "I asked the cook."
Mai rolled her eyes. "Naturally. I shouldn't have wasted my money on this scroll, I should have just let you ask
around."
"Naturally," Toph agreed with relative cheer. She patted the inside of the hull gently and then sat down as far from it as she
could get in the small space. "I told you that the scroll about Oma and Shu would be more interesting."
"I lived in Omashu for over a month, Toph, in which time I heard that stupid story at least a thousand times. I could quote it from
memory, if I wasn't sure that listening to it, even when I'm the one telling it, would cause me to gouge out my own ears. Given how central it is to
Earth Kingdom mythology, I'm sure you're just as aware of it."
"I like the story," Toph admitted. "Oma beating up two villages with her earthbending is a great story. It's a shame that
most of the versions have to mention Shu at all."
Well at least her hormones haven't kicked in yet. "They were both idiots. If Oma could defeat both villages singlehandedly and force
peace between them, then certainly they could have done so tog..." Mai shook her head. "No. I am not getting into this. Change the subject.
Now."
Toph pouted and then asked: "Are you going to try to join the Kyoshi Warriors? They're supposed to be fierce warriors, so we'd
fit right in."
"It'll depend on whether or not they get paid," Mai pointed out. "We don't have all that much money - if they're a
volunteer force then I'll need to find some way of earning money. We don't have all that much of it and it would look suspicious if we don't have
some means of support. As far as I can tell, there aren't any large towns on the island, just a number of small villages. And in a small village, everyone
knows everyone else's business, so we have to get our stories straight."
"Do we have to change our names?" asked Toph.
"No - we might forget ourselves, and its probably not necessary since no one should be looking for us on the island. However, we need to
agree on where we came from. The story we told the swamp tribe is a good start: one of our parents is from the Fire Nation and the other from the Earth
Kingdom. After Omashu was captured, they were killed -"
"- by Jet," suggested Toph.
"Yes, that would work," Mai agreed. "No one will believe we were peasents, so our father was a Fire Nation soldier who retired
after an injury and married the daughter of an Earth Kingdom merchant. His name was... Lee. What should our mother's name be?"
Toph shrugged. "Jin perhaps? It's a fairly common name in the Earth Kingdom. What if someone else knows Omashu though? A merchant
would be fairly well known."
"That's fairly unlikely, actually. Most of the refugees here are from coastal towns. Those from places inland and further north are
more likely to retreat east and north towards Ba Sing Se." Mai smiled slightly. "I asked around. However, even unlikely things happen, so if
we're challenged, we shall admit that our father was actually Zeng the Smuggler. He was in Omashu's cells when the city fell and my father had him
executed. No one would be surprised that he had a secret marriage or that we didn't want to admit to being his daughters."
"I guess that makes sense." Toph stretched out her legs. "Well, since we've settled that, and I've had my knife
practise today, it's your turn."
"My turn?" Mai asked. "What... you mean teaching me the earthbending forms?"
"Of course. No time like the present. If we work hard, then your stances should be ready for some beginning kata once we reach Kyoshi
Island," Toph confirmed. "Now, take a horse stance."
The older girl stared at her. "In here? I can't even stand upright!"
Toph smirked. "The stances I'll be teaching you are from earthbending. If you do them right, your head won't ever be high enough
to be at risk. If - sorry, when - you make a mistake, you'll bash yourself on the deck. Consider it an incentive."
"So you want me to stand in the cabin and adopt various earthbending stances on your command?"
"I want you to bash your head repeatedly against the deck while trying to adopt earthbending stances," Toph admitted
unashamedly. "But you're annoyingly competent at everything I've ever seen you try so I'll settle for you learning the
stances."
.oOo.
Kyoshi Island was very picturesque. Mai hated it instantly. Toph started kissing the ground the moment she was off the jetty, which was
fairly predictable since she'd done exactly the same thing when she got off Tho's skiff at the edge of the swamp.
Mai stopped Toph's enthusiastic make-out session with the island by picking her up by the belt and carrying her clear off the jetty. Then
she set her down and let the earthbender get on with it. Benders were freaks about that sort of thing in her experience, (She was continually surprised that
Azula didn't try to bathe in molten lava and had the idea in reserve should she ever encounter the Princess and a volcano simultaneously at any point.) but
the fire maiden didn't want to deal with the complaints from everyone else getting off the boat.
"She's an earthbender?" asked someone and Mai turned to a young woman wearing long, concealing green dress and black armour.
Given that the girl's face was covered in white make up (except for the bits that were black or crimson) this was clearly one of the famous Kyoshi
Warriors.
"What gave you that idea?"
The Kyoshi Warrior chuckled. Amazing, even a smile looked horrifying in that face paint. "It's not an uncommon reaction. Where are
you from?"
"Oma's Hearth." Which was a tiny hamlet near Omashu, that was allegedly Oma's birthplace. Or possibly where she sulked off
to die after her boyfriend died. It depended who you talked to. "It's near Omashu," Mai added when it was clear the name didn't mean anything
to the other girl. She resisted them temptation to reel off the whole sob story she and Toph had rehearsed. Nothing could possibly be more suspicious than
that.
"Ah? I'd have thought if you were trying to get away from the war, you'd have headed for Ba Sing Se," the Kyoshi Warrior
asked.
Mai looked her in the eyes. "I wasn't sure if the Dai Li would decide to arrest me for having the wrong colour eyes," she
explained simply.
The Kyoshi Warrior blinked. "How..."
"Astonishingly, it seems that Fire Nation boy parts work with Earth Kingdom girl parts. Who knew?"
That make up wasn't thick enough to disguise the fact that the warrior was now blushing furiously. "I'm sorry."
Mai shrugged. "I get that a lot. Is there any paperwork I need to do or can I start looking for somewhere to sleep?" She looked up
at the sky, where the sun was descending in the approximate direction of the Fire Nation. "It's a little late in the day to go looking for
work."
"No paperwork and you can stay in the community hall at the top of the street for a few nights if you want," the other young woman
said promptly. "That's open to all refugees. If you'll help me spread the word through everyone else arriving then I'll even buy you and your
sister some supper."
Okay, now she was definitely up to something. Mai nudged Toph with the tip of one boot. "Come on, little sister. You can snog your
element again after supper if you want."
Toph scrambled obediently to her feet, confirming that she had also picked up on something. Lack of even token resistance on Toph's part
was always an indication she was concerned, if not outright nervous. "Do you have fire flakes?" she asked ingeniously.
The Kyoshi Warrior looked blank. "I've never heard of them."
"They're bad for you anyway," Mai advised, hiding her own disappointment and turned around to start telling the other refugees
the good news.
.oOo.
"So, why'd you want to talk to us?" Toph asked the Kyoshi Warrior as soon as food had been served.
Mai seriously considered slapping the girl. Had she never heard of subtlety? Oh, right. Toph. "...I suppose that the question does cut
through a lot of tedious verbal fencing," she conceded.
The Kyoshi Warrior threw her head back and laughed merrily. "Serves me right for being sneaky," she admitted. "The meal is
exactly what I said it was: repayment for helping me. If you hadn't then they would have scattered and I would have had to chase them all down and let them
know that they don't have to beg for shelter. Which would take all night. Seriously." She paused. "I'm Suki, by the way."
"Mai." "Toph." The two sisters introduced themselves and returned to the rice, which had roast duck in it.
Delicious.
"A pleasure," Suki said with apparent sincerity. "The conversation, on the other hand, has an ulterior motive. Mai, how would
you like to be a Kyoshi Warrior?"
"You're recruiting random arrivals?" she asked in surprise.
"Only the ones that are female, of a suitable age and have previous martial training," Suki smiled. "The dart-launchers are
clever, but they must be very difficult to maintain." Silently, Mai conceded that point to Suki. "I'll be blunt. Sooner or later, the war is
coming to Kiyoshi Island. My girls are good, but there aren't really all that many of us. If the Fire Nation does invade then I'll call up all those
who resigned to get married, but we'll still be significantly outnumbered."
"So if we want sancturary here, I have to be willing to fight for it?" Mai asked. "It seems like a desperate way to make up
the numbers."
Suki shook her head. "Not just numbers. Warrior to warrior, I believe that my girls are better than the Fire Nation's soldiers. But
we haven't faced a serious threat in years. I need to shake them up if we're going to be ready. Bringing in outsiders, with different skills, will
force them to push themselves. It will motivate them to improve their skills rather than be shown up."
Mai sipped at her water. As far as she could tell, Suki was completely sincere and open about what she was saying. Which made absolutely no
sense. "And you think that this revitalised force can beat off a Fire Nation invasion force?"
"Once, perhaps even twice," she agreed confidently and then her shoulders slumped. "At which point, we'll have to cut a
deal. Probably we'll be drafted into the Fire Army and have to fight for them to spare the rest of the population."
"I'd like to join the Kyoshi Warriors!" Toph offered brightly.
Hmm. That was a good idea. "No," declared Mai flatly, applying reverse psychology.
Toph's fists hit the table, causing the dishes to bounce upwards. "I'm not asking you," she told Mai angrily. It spoiled
the effect slightly that she didn't then turn to Suki with big pleading eyes, but then it was difficult for Toph to realise the impact of puppy-dog eyes in
negotiations.
Suki, bless her little heart, made mistake number one when dealing with Toph. "The Kyoshi Warriors are the traditional defenders of this
island. There is no room amongst us for a mascot." Mai prudently picked up her bowl before the earth started moving.
In fairness to Suki, despite being ambushed, point blank, with her footing vanishing more or less instantly into mud, she managed to parry
Toph's chopstick with one of her fans. It didn't really count as impressive in Mai's opinion - Toph might be the deadliest blind twelve year old in
the world (and the Avatar, if that helped), but she was a blind twelve year old - however at least the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors wasn't a
total pushover.
The next round had Suki on the offensive, fans moving in all sorts of interesting patterns that were presumably intended to guide and control
attacks launched at her. Toph let her thrusts with the chopsticks get redirected and neutralized while she quietly a raised a ten inch tall wall behind
Suki's knees and then threw a bowl at her. Suki stepped backwards, Suki landed on her rear. Point to the earthbender, even if Suki had kipped up almost
without breaking stride.
The finale was a flurry of blows that Mai couldn't be bothered to track as she tilted her bowl to pick out the last bits of rice.
Outcome: Toph on the ground, Suki with a fan pointed at the small girl's throat and a surprised expression on her face. The surprised expression was
probably because of the narrow spike that rose out of the ground and vanished inside her skirts.
"I don't think that Toph's applying for the role of mascot," suggested Mai, casually switching her bowl for Suki's
half-finished one.
Suki nodded slowly. "I thought you were blind," she told Toph, very carefully withdrawing the fan from its threatening
position.
Toph shrugged smugly. "I am." The spike vanished.
Suki's eyes widened noticeably. "Fuck me."
Mai sighed. Too easy. Far too easy.
D for Drakensis
You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.