Fire and Aether

Chapter 20: The Blind Bandit

     Team Avatar woke up to find themselves surrounded by the Rough Rhinos. They fought them off and jumped onto Crystal and Appa, getting ready to take off when they realized...
    "My sword!" Rose said, jumping off Crystal, aetherbending a portal to the ground, and grabbing her father's sword. She tossed it into the pocket dimension then portalled onto Crystal's back once more.
    "My air glider!" Aang yelled, jumping off Appa and retrieving it.
    "My waterbending scroll!" Katara shouted, retrieving it.
    As they began flying away, Sokka screamed, "My boomerang!"
    "There's no time!" 
    "Ok so there's time to grab your father's sword and your air glider and your waterbending scroll but not my boomerang?"
    "That is correct."
    After that, Sokka was very moody until the gang took him to the marketplace to find a new weapon. However, Sokka's eye was drawn to a bag which he couldn't decided whether or not to get. Finally, he decided to get it anyways.
   They tried an earthbending class for Rose but that was a dead end. Just then, they heard a couple of boys talking about a tournament and, with some persuasion, they told them where to go. 
    "Welcome to Earth Rumble 6!" said a tall man with long hair.
    "Ugh, this is just gonna be a bunch of guys chucking rocks at each other, isn't it?"
    "That's what I paid for." Sokka said.
    "The rules are simple." the long haired man continued. "Just knock the other guy out of the ring and you win."
    The tournament began. The Boulder, a big muscly man with a man bun, won the first round. 
    "Hey, how about the Boulder?" Katara asked. "He has some good moves."
    "I don't know. Bumi said I need a teacher who listens to the earth." Rose explained. "He's just listening to his big muscles."
    Meanwhile, Sokka was whooping and hollering, enjoying the show.
     As the tournament continued, the Boulder won every round. Soon enough, it was down to the final round. "Now the moment you've all been waiting for--The Boulder vs your champion, the Bind Bandit."
    From the ground rose a girl who looked familiar to Rose, holding an earthbending belt. The crowd began to chant "bandit".
   "She can't really be blind?" Katara asked. "It's just part of her character, right?"
   "I think she is actually." Rose said.
   "I think she is...going down."
   "The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl." 
   "Sounds to me like you're scared." 
   "The Boulder is over his conflicted feelings."
   "Whenever you're ready, the Pebble."
    When she laughed, Rose's eyes widened in surprise. She recognized the laugh. It sounded just like the strange girl from the swamp. The fight didn't last long. With every move made, the girl waited and made her moves according to her observations. Within seconds, she had beaten the Boulder.
    "The winner and still your champion, the Blind Bandit."
    Sokka cried while the rest of the crowd applauded and shouted in triumph. "How did she do that?" Katara asked.
    "She waited. Just like Bumi said."
    "To make things more interesting," the long haired man said, "I am offering this sack of gold to anyone who can beat the champion." There was a long pause as no one moved. "What? No one dares to face her?"
    "I will." Rose said, standing.
    For once, she had foregone her usual getup, this time dressed in a green gown, her red hair braided behind her and decorated with flowers. She slowly approached the arena and stood in her spot.
    "Go Rose!" Sokka shouted. "Avenge the Boulder!"
    "Do people really wanna see two little girls fighting out here?" the Blind Bandit taunted.
    "I'm 16!" Rose protested. "Besides, I don't actually want to fight you. I want to talk to you."
    Despite Rose's protests, the fight began. Rose quickly began dodging, her feet barely grazing the ground. 
    "Someone's light on her feet. What's your fighting name? Tiny Dancer?"
    "I'm not trying to fight you!"
    Rose used airbending to knock her out the arena by accident. Everyone was shocked into silence. Then the crowd burst into applause.
    "Wait!" Rose called down to the Blind Bandit. "I need to talk to you! I need an earthbending teacher!"
    "Whoever you are, leave me alone!"
    She made a hole in the wall, stepped through, and sealed it after her. Rose shook her head, feeling defeated. Sokka, meanwhile, happily accepted the money and championship belt.
    Moments later, as they left, Sokka gushed about the belt and his bag matching. At the Earthbending Academy, the two guys Rose and Katara had beat told Team Avatar that no one knew anything about the Blind Bandit. Rose then asked about the girl with the flying boar. The boys said that flying boars were the symbol of the Be Fong family.
     With that, Team Avatar ran off to find the one person who could possibly help them.
                        * * * * *
    "I'm telling you, the Boulder was right there." the Boulder said to the guy who ran the fights. "I saw the girl strike but there was no earthbending. Nothing made contact. The Blind Bandit just fell out of the ring. She must've took a dive and split the money with the girl."
    "Nobody cheats Xin Fu."
                         * * * * *
    Team Avatar snuck onto the grounds of the Be Fong family when the earth moved, knocking them down. "What're you doing here, Tiny Dancer?"
     "We need your help."
     "How did you find me?" 
     "Well a crazy king told me I had to find an earthbender who listens to the earth, an old friend of mine. Then, I had a vision of you and--"
     "That sounds like a you problem. Now get out of here or I'll call the guards."
     As they protested, she called for her guards, forcing them to run and hide. However, Rose came up with a plan.
     Later that day, the heads of the Be Fong family were seated, discussing Toph and her training when a servant entered the room. "Excuse me, sir, but you have a visitor."
     "Who thinks they are so important they can just come to my home unannounced?"
     "Uh...the Avatar and her Guardian, sir."
     Moments later, Team Avatar was seated at the table with the Be Fong family, Sokka chomping down on his food quickly. Aang used airbending to cool off Toph's food. Everyone clapped.
     Toph's mother turned her attention to Rose. "Avatar Rose, it's an honor to have you visit us."
      "In your opinion," the father asked, "how much longer do you think the war will be?"
     "I'd like to defeat the Fire Lord by the end of summer but I can't do that without an earthbending teacher."
     "Well, Master Yu is the finest teacher in the land. He's been teaching Toph since she was little."
     "Then she must be a great earthbender," Aang said, not-so-subtly, "probably good enough to teach someone else."
     Toph moved the earth under the table, hitting Aang. "Toph's still learning the basics," the noble man explained, "and, sadly, because of her blindness, I don't think she will ever become a true master."
     Toph and Aang fought under the table until Toph burst out, "What's your problem?"
     "Well, shall we move to the living room for dessert?"
                         * * * * *
    That night, Toph pulled Rose aside to talk. "Even though I was born blind, I've never had a problem seeing. I can sense things; it's kind of like seeing with my feet. I feel the vibrations in the earth and I can see where everything is."
    "That's amazing!" Rose said.
    "My parents don't understand. They've always treated me like I was helpless."
    "I understand. My mother always thought I was supposed to be some frail flower that would be married off one day and she didn't think I was good enough to be the Avatar."
    "How did you convince her?"
    "I didn't. My father had final say. He knew what my destiny was and knew I had to do what I was born to--protect the balance of the world."
    "Then you're lucky."
    "Is that why you became the Blind Bandit?" Toph nodded, sadly. "Then why stay here where you're unhappy?"
    "They're my parents. What else am I supposed to do?"
    "I understand. If I was able to go home, I would. But my destiny prevents me from doing so."
    "Your destiny doesn't define you. Don't let it tell you what to do."
    "And what about you? You could come with us."
    "Yea you guys get to go wherever you want. No one telling you what to do--that's the life. It's just not my life." She was quiet for a moment then she knelt down and felt the ground. "We're being ambushed!"
    Together, Rose and Toph ran. All the earthbenders from the tournament attacked, trapping them in two metal prisons. "I think you girls owe me some money." 
    They left a ransom note and took Rose and Toph away.
                         * * * * *
     The rest of Team Avatar, Toph's parents, and Master Yu found the ransom note hours later. "Whoever took Rose and Toph left this." Sokka observed.
     The group took off to save them. "Poor Toph, she must so scared." Toph's mother bemoaned.
                        * * * * *
    "You think you're so tough, why don't you come up here so I can smack that grin off your face?" Toph said, proving the opposite of her mother's worries.
    "I'm not smiling."
    Team Avatar and the Be Fong family arrived and gave Xin Fu the money he wanted. They let Toph go but kept Rose trapped.  "What about Rose?" 
     "I think the Fire Nation will pay a hefty price for this pretty girl, the Avatar. Now get out of my ring."
    All the contestants of the tournament then appeared as if to make his point. "Go, I'll be ok." Rose said.
    "No." Aang responded. "I'm your Guardian. It's my job to protect you."
    "Toph, there's too many of them. We need an earthbender. We need you." 
    "My daughter is blind." Toph's father reprimanded. "She is blind and tiny and helpless and fragile. She cannot help you."
     Toph shrugged him off. "Yes I can." Toph headed back into the arena with Aang, Katara, and Sokka. "Let her go. I beat you all before and I can do it again."
     While Toph fought all the others, the rest of Team Avatar freed Rose, each hugging her afterwards. Toph beat everyone in minutes. Xin even tried to fight her and she beat him as easily as the rest, making Sokka faint in shock.
     "She's the greatest earthbender I've ever seen." Yu said, making Toph's father finally see her in a new light.
    Later, back at the Be Fong residence, Toph tried to explain herself. "Dad, I know it's probably hard for you to see me this way but the obedient little helpless blind girl that you think I am just isn't me. I love fighting. I love being an earthbender. And I'm really, really good at it. I know I've kept my life secret from you but you were keeping me secret from the whole world. You were doing it to protect me. But I'm 12 years old and I've never had a real friend. So now that you see who I really am, I hope it doesn't change the way you feel about me."
     "Of course it doesn't change the way I feel about you, Toph." her father said. "It made me realize something."
     "It has?"
     "Yes. I've let you have far too much freedom. From now on, you will be cared for and guarded 24 hours a day."
    "But dad--"
    "We are doing this for your own good, Toph."
    "Please escort the Avatar and her friends out."
    Rose turned her attention to Toph's father. "You're so full of it!"
    "Excuse me?"
    "Oh I would but you clearly don't deserve it. You claim to do what's best for your daughter but you refuse to let her be who she is meant to be. You are only doing these things because you feel some need to be in control of her life despite the fact that she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. You sit there on your high horse thinking you're all that but, trust me, you're not. So kindly fuck off. I hope I never see you again, you self righteous prick!"
    "Kindly escort them out. They are no longer welcome here."
    "I'll gladly go myself. Your guards are shit too." As Team Avatar headed out, Rose turned to Toph. "I'm sorry, Toph. You deserve better."
    "I'm sorry too. Goodbye, Rose." A tear escaped her eye as they left.
    "I'm sorry, Rose, but there's other earthbenders out there."
    "Not like her."
    Team Avatar quickly packed and got seated on Crystal and Appa. Right at that moment, Toph came running after them, a bag over her shoulder. 
    "Toph, what are you doing here?" 
    "My dad changed his mind." Toph said. "Your speech really made him think. He said I was free to travel the world."
    Team Avatar congratulated her and urged her to hurry. Climbing aboard, the new improved Team Avatar head off.
                           * * * * *
    Toph's father stood in his throne room, giving a once over to Yu and Xing. "I know you are both very different but I believe you have a common interest." He placed a chest of gold before them both. "The Avatar has kidnapped my daughter. I want you to do whatever it takes to bring her home."