Catalyst

Chapter 9: Daymare

Toph listened intently as Katara and Zuko spoke back and forth. She felt his heartbeat change from exhilaration, to anger, to a lie. Sure, his hesitation to tell the truth was understandable, but it still was disappointing to hear.

It got interesting after they talked about revenge. Katara's heartbeat changed: excited. And her tone. It was unusually hard—dark, even. Toph had never heard her speak with such coldness before.

When they discovered he had been in the cell for three weeks, she opened her mouth to say, "Pfft, three weeks in darkness? I've got you beat by a few years," but then she remembered what it was like after Sokka emerged, carrying him. How small and dirty he seemed. How he was tied up to stop him from bending. How he almost died.

Toph felt her own heartbeat surge. If they had been on the ground now, she would have knocked some boulders together as hard as she could.

Yet Zuko wasn't angry at the Dai Li for what they did to him, only for what they did to Iroh.

She checked his sleeping heartbeat before she spoke, "He's not as bad as you say, Sokka."

Sokka whisper-shouted, "He could just be trying to gain our trust before killing us in our sleep!" He and Katara looked down at the sleeping firebender at their feet. "Well obviously not now, but he could when he gets stronger."

"What could he do to prove he doesn't want to hurt Aang?" asked Katara.

"Take down Ozai."

Aang floated down from Appa's hump to join the group. "What are we talking about?"

"Killing the Fire Lord," Toph said nonchalantly.

Aang's heart skipped a beat. "I thought that was my job. You know, Avatar stuff. Day of Black Sun. All of that."

Sokka waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm talking about Zuko proving he's on the right side now. I said one way he could do that is by infiltrating the Fire Nation and killing Ozai. That would be the ultimate test."

Katara replied, "Yes, but you'd have to tell him about the—" she turned to Zuko, making sure he was asleep before lowering her voice, "—the invasion, which defeats the whole purpose if we're trying to see if he's trustworthy."

"I know that! I was just spitting out ideas. What about you guys?"

Aang jumped up. "I've got it! Have Toph use her lie detector skills and we can ask him all the questions we want."

"Good idea, Twinkle Toes."

"Thanks, Toph."

Katara turned back to Sokka. "Will that set your mind at ease?"

Sokka clearly was having trouble saying it, but he eventually mumbled, "Yeah, that's not too bad."

A moment passed before Toph broke the silence. "Say, who's driving this thing anyway?"

Aang looked to the sun. Toph could tell they were still in the heat of the day. "Let's see, I've been piloting for most of the morning. Sokka, Katara, who's going to go next shift?" One of the perks of being blind was she didn't—well, couldn't—direct Appa, so she sat back and waited for the daily fight over who would hold the air bison's reins.

She didn't have to wait long. Sokka quickly responded, "I'm not doing anything until I get some lunch in me first. Katara, what do we have today?"

"Huh, that's funny. Did you see me make lunch before we left? Did we stop by the village for more food—like I suggested?"

"Well, if we had the money you spent on medicine—" They continued arguing until Aang gave in and said he'd continue flying Appa until they landed in a village to get food. Then Sokka would take the second shift after lunch.