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The Runaway

Fire spewed out of a giant statue of Ozai's mouth in the appropriately named Fire Fountain City.

Toph screamed as she was snared by a net. Zuko made it a few steps farther before he too was captured.

He didn't care about the net, or the sneering guards eager to capture the traitor prince. He only cared about the no-good, falcon fox-faced backstabber who'd turned him in.

"How could you do this to me?" he screamed. "I sacrificed everything for you!"

Katara turned away. "I had no choice. I'm too smart to trust a traitor, Prince Zuko."

---

Three days earlier...

Katara tied Rina's spare headband around her eyes. "Alright, I'm ready for training!" She stomped on the ground, waves of seismic sense radiating from her foot.

Toph bent several columns of rock at her, and she dodged them with ease. Zuko bent a wave of fire, which she also dodged. She hurled a boulder at Toph, who caught it with one hand.

"Alright, Sugar Queen. Remember, visualize, then attack!"

She hurled the boulder back at Katara, who ducked to avoid it. Then Toph kicked up a wave of dirt in Katara's face.

Katara spat it out. "Hey!"

"What, can't take a little dirt, Madame Fussybritches?"

Katara bent a wave of water at her. "Oh, sorry, did I splash you, Mud Slug?"

Zuko looked between the two girls who were wrestling in the mud. "Are we taking a break?"

Sokka rushed towards him. "Yaaah sneak attack!"

Zuko didn't even bother turning to look, easily sweeping Sokka's leg out from under him. "Sokka, sneak attacks don't work if you yell them out."

"Hungry for a mud pie?" Toph screamed.

"I'll give you a mud pie!"

Rina walked up to them with a bag of groceries. "Did I miss something?"

---

Katara stayed back at camp to clean up while the others walked through Fire Fountain City.

"Look at all these messenger hawks," Sokka said. "You know, I've been thinking about getting one for myself. That way, I don't have to talk to any of you! I could just send you messages."

"Gotta say, I like the idea of not talking to you," Toph joked.

Rina held up a coin. "So, what are we going to get with our last silver piece?"

"We could get more money." Toph pointed to a con man playing a shell game. "That's where you seeing people are at a disadvantage. Everyone guesses wrong because the dealer moves the rock at the last minute. But I can feel it with my earthbending."

"Alright," Zuko said. "Let's go scam a scammer."

The four walked down to the man. The dealer spotted Toph. "You there! Want to play a friendly game?"

"How could I possibly play?" Toph asked innocently. "I'm blind."

"You don't have to see to get lucky."

She groped her way to the table and sat down. The dealer moved the rock from shell to shell, tossing it into his sleeve and slipping it into another shell, and then stopped. Toph sensed the rock and pointed to the shell and the dealer tossed her some money.

"Nice job, Toph," Rina said.

"Wow, fancy guessing. You are amazing at this. Would you like to make it a little more interesting?"