12 Boating

When traveling in the desert, for a while I had deliberated between entering Wan Shi Tong's Library. We had passed it as we went to Chameleon Bay, but in the end, I decided to wait. After all, Wan Shi Tong may have a lot of knowledge, but that wasn't what I needed right now.

"Toph, I know you love shooting that mouth of yours off, but I REALLY need you to let me do the talking," I explained to her.

"Okay?"

"Great," with that all said and done, we walked onto the beach of Chameleon Bay. In the distance, I saw the Southern Water Tribe's camp. Hopefully Hakoda was there.

Soon, people began to spot us. They were stationed guards. Covered in blue clothes, with fang necklaces, and tanned skin.

"State your purpose!" They said, aiming their spears at us.

"I'm here to talk to Hakoda," I succinctly explained.

"I have some information that will be of great value to you in your endeavors for the war," I told them, nearly surprising myself at my words.

"You can tell us that information, and we will relay it out camp leaders," they compromised. But I shook my head.

"I trust no one else aside from Hakoda, please... please let us meet him. As you can see, it's just me and Toph, and she's... well," I gestured to her face. The two guards faces eased up upon noticing.

Suddenly, I felt a stab in the sole of my right foot, hardened sandstone stabbing into it. It was like stepping on Legos. I nearly flinched, but bore through the pain without moving an inch.

'This b... jerk,' I corrected delightfully in my mind. Meanwhile, as I was endearing unholy agony, one guard whispered to the other, the whispered to guard nodded his head and left. Hopefully to go inform Hakoda.

You want to know what I hated? I hated that Toph knew even if she did this, that she wouldn't mess me up. It's why she did it in the first place.

But eventually, she relented, as if I had suffered enough for taking advantage of her "disability." 'It's not like she won't use it to take advantage of someone in the future,' I thought spitefully in my mind.

Soon, a tanned man with a beard and "warrior's wolf tail," appeared. I could see the resemblance he had with Sokka. Not so much Katara, though.

He glanced at Toph as he walked up to us, before focusing his attention solely on me. His expression stern, not fun or perky's like Sokka's.

"You asked for me?" he asked.

"Yes, my name is Elliot," I introduced. I held out a hand, and he grabbed it firmly.

"I'm Hakoda," he said simply, "What is this information that you have?" He got straight down to business.

"I'm a friend of your children, you see," I began, making his eyes widen.

"Are they-"

"They're fine, Sir," I reassured him. "But that's not what I came here to tell you," I looked at the two guards, jerking my head.

Understanding my signal, Hakoda told them to go back to their duty. Finally alone, with the exception of Toph, we got back to talking.

"They have found the Avatar, your children, and are heading to the Northern Water Tribe to teach him Waterbending." His eyes widened.

"How are they-"

"Look, how they are traveling, that doesn't matter. What does matter, is that in a month, the Fire Nation will invade the Northern Water Tribe. Your kids, and Aang, will be there," I elaborated.

"... Aang?" I looked at him, "The Avatar," I simply said.

"Ah..." He stayed silent after that for a while, ruminating over what I told him. It was a lot to take in.

"We need to go to them," he announced, but I shook my head.

"No. Me and Toph will be going. You need to stay here and help protect the Eastern Sea. All we need is a boat and a couple men, because I have no idea how the fuck to sail a boat," Hakoda's mouth parted at hearing my curse, shocked. But he was quickly snapped out of it as he began saying,

"I-"

"Look, I will protect your children, alright?" I interrupted for the second time. Or was it the third?

"... Yes, thank you." Thankfully, he listened well to reason. After all, he was a charismatic leader, as far as the show and comics showed him. This camp would need him.

"Wait, we're leaving right away?" Toph suddenly interjected.

"Yes," I nodded.

"But, you... you said we were going to rest for a few days!" She protested.

"Yeah, well, that was before you jutted a rock into my foot!" I refuted.

"That's because you took advantage of my blindness!"

"Oh, yeah right! Like you've never done the same!" Her teeth gritted in frustration.

"I'm gonna-" Hearty laughter interrupted us.

"You two are just like my kids, always bickering," he told us with a laugh. We looked at each other.

"I can see that," I shrugged.

"I can't," Toph said, knowing full well what she was saying. Hakoda chuckled at the dad joke esque joke.

"Don't make a joke about your blindness right after you literally just chewed me up about taking advantage of said blindness," I explained.

"I can do it, you can't," she declared with an upturned nose.

"Sure," I replied lackadaisically. I didn't want to argue with a child, it was starting to make me feel like one.

...

"Huh? No, we're not going there. We're going to serpent's pass," I explained to the captain. He looked at me strangely.

"Just do it, you'll see why once we get there," I said with a shrug. He turned the ship around and went through the gap in Chameleon's bay which lead to a closed off, salt water lake.

...

"There, there," I said in a soft, consoling voice.

"Bleurgh!" Toph vomited, leaning over the ship's wooden railings as I patted her back.

"You know what this is?" I whispered in her ear. She shook her head as she gasped for breath.

"Sometimes, your actions have consequences. If the world doesn't give the consequences to you, and your actions involve me, I sure as hell will. Do you understand?" She nodded, before beginning to vomit again. I was happy. Because that damn rock hurt a shit ton.

"Good. Because for nearly the next month or so, you'll be reminded every day. I hope you have sweet dreams, remembering my words," I told her.

...

After a few days, Toph began acclimating to the sea. For a few days I was worried, sitting by her bed as she sweated and vomited up a storm. I didn't know her seasickness was THAT bad.

I had never experienced being seasick, motion sick, or flight sick, whatever that was actually called. But, now that she was doing better, I could finally resume my training with peace of mind.

...

[You have fulfilled the requirements to get the title, Master Fighter!]

Unarmed Combat had finally reached Master Level. 'I just have Extinguisher and Extinguishing Sword to max. Extinguishing Sword will level fast, by three hundred percent, actually,' I thought. I then pulled out my trusty sword and began swinging, all the while using {Air Sense}, {Extinguisher}, {Airbending}, and {Extinguishing Sword}.

The grind never really ended.

...

Days passed rather lamely. Toph was irritated at the inactivity, so I took some sand out of a box I stored in my inventory for her to play with.

"Where'd you pull that out from?" She asked. I gave her a look.

"You know I won't tell you. I would've showed it to you, but... welp," I exclaimed with a sigh. She threw some sand in my face.

"Hey! That was uncalled for!" I complained.

"You're uncalled for!" She said, angrily stomping with the box in her arms, the sand she threw in my face floating behind her. Toph went into our room. It wasn't the biggest ship, so we had to share.

I trailed behind her, suddenly not knowing what to do. The door closed in my face.

'Don't tell me she's actually mad?' I asked myself, worried. I took a deep breath before knocking.

"What?" she replied snappily, not opening the door.

"I, uh... I'm sorry," I apologized, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," I added.

"I'm not angry. You didn't hurt my feelings either, I'm just... frustrated," she told me.

"Well, do you want to talk about it?" I inquired carefully.

"Sure," the door opened. I entered our room. It was just a normal room, with the exception of the sand spilled all over the floor. She sat on the floor, I did the same.

"So, uh, what's making you frustrated?" I decided to start there.

"Well..." The sand morphed, forming into a miniature version of The Beifong Family's Estate.

"When I left home, I didn't expect this," she gestured to the entire room.

"Ah, yeah, I guess I didn't do a good enough job of telling you the plan. I only said the exciting parts," I regretfully murmured.

"It's not even that. It's just the desert... and now the boat, it's been awhile since I've felt so helpless. You just... reminded me of that by mentioning my blindness," Toph clarified.

"Have you been practicing Metalbending?" I suddenly blurted.

"Huh? Uh, yeah?" She said, confused.

"Then, well... here," I pulled out the sword I first had when I got here. It wasn't a Fire Nation sword, it was just a normal sword my guy had in place of one. It wasn't anything special, but there was a bit of sentimental value.

"This has been with me for a while, take care of it," I told her.

"A sword...?"

"Yeah, I figured I should give it to you. So you don't feel... as bad, I guess?" I explained truthfully.

"Haha!" She laughed at my honesty, slightly leaning over and slapping me on the shoulder. "You didn't need to say that, but... it worked, thanks, Elliot."

"You can just call me Hustler, hearing my name from your mouth actually feels weird... Blindspot," I tried my best to defuse the situation. For what reason? I just wasn't used to things like a genuine thanks. Or consoling/cheering someone up.

"Sure, Hustler," Toph smirked.

"Well, since speaking of hustling, I've been thinking of a way that might help you have an easier time using Seismic Sense on non earth things," I diverted her attention. It definitely did attract her ears.

"What is it?"

"Sand. While it WAS loose and fuzzy, as you described it, you could still Sense things somewhat, correct?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"I've thinking about if you spread sand in a radius, on the ground or in the air, when you're controlling it, you can feel it, right? That means you can even feel whatever it touches, right?" I wanted to make sure I was correct.

Toph nodded with a grin, "Yeah."

...

For the next few days, Toph began testing and experimenting with the technique I suggested. She named it, "Sand Sense," real original. But, it did indeed work.

Allowing her to get a somewhat easier grasp on the surroundings, even if it was still pretty vague. It was still progress.

Me? Well, I was still training with my sword.

...

We passed numerous icebergs, and yet there was no sign of The Northern Water Tribe Warriors to "greet" us. It was more like restrain, because we weren't the Avatar nor a Water Tribe member, but the details didn't matter. Because I was getting an ominous feeling. Hopefully, it would be nothing, except my own paranoia getting the better of me.

...

Finally, I saw it in the distance. A vague outline on the horizon, The Northern Water Tribe. Unfortunately...

"Snow?" Toph asked, holding her hand out, palm facing upwards.

"No, it's ash."