Traveling

Toph's POV

I focused on Elliot. I wondered what was going through his mind. Unknown to him, the night I left with him, I had talked to my parents.

I had told them what he said, that they were hurting me by trying to protect me too much. They didn't change their minds about me.

Isn't it strange, that the first person to accept me for me, who is an awesome Earthbender, isn't my family, but a complete stranger? And yet, my parents proved him right.

They hurt me that night. Not physically, they would never do that. I don't know if my parents will ever change their minds.

All I know is that Hustler, Elliot, has some weird trust in me. I don't know why. It just feels like he's convinced I'm "The One" to teach the Avatar Earthbending, to help them defeat Fire Lord Ozai, and to help him develop an entirely new Bending Style.

It was weird to have expectations on me that... I wasn't that against. Because, if we are going to fight the Fire Nation, I'll be able to kick some butt!

It was also quite fun... teaching? I was able to boss Elliot around without any complaints, and he did improve. Of course, I didn't go too far with what I ordered, just enough to have some fun.

'Maybe I have a knack for it? Or is it because the student is good? No, it's because the teacher is great,' I thought to myself.

I had fun, at least. More fun than I had under my parents watchful eyes.

'Is this what it's like to have a friend?' To not care about what you said, to accept someone for who they were. If that was true, then it was nice.

Though I have noticed some strange things about Elliot. He seemingly pulls things out of thin air, and he won't tell me how he does it. Besides that though, while he has some strange confidence in me, it doesn't seem like he has that much confidence in himself.

'It... worries me.'

I paused. I was worried for him. It was strange, but I guess friends worried for friends. It... wasn't bad, having a friend.

"Is something up?" I asked him directly.

"Huh? Oh, no, I'm just... thinking," he replied hesitantly.

"About what?"

"It's nothing, really," he answered annoyingly.

"Then stop acting like it's something!" I kicked up dust at him.

...

A few days had passed.

'This sucks. This is terrible,' I thought miserably.

I could barely get proper footing by hardening the sand under my feet. It's so uncomfortable, shifty and loose, everything I feel is... fuzzy at best. The heat, yeah, that also wasn't helping. My feet felt like they were burning on the hot sand.

I eyed the human sized blob who brought me here. The guy who had the great idea of crossing the Si Wong Desert. The Si Wong Desert!

While I wasn't a coward, the educators my parents brought me nailed it into my head. The only thing surrounding Gaoling was the desert of death, mountains, and the ocean. And I didn't do well with any of them except mountains.

'He must really be delusional. I mean, he seems to know quite a bit about the Si Wong Desert. Maybe he's crossed it before, and ended up melting his brain?' I wondered to myself.

It was really the only thing I could do, aside from play with sand or talk to him. But it frustrated me, Sandbending. Sandbending! Earthbending was so much better.

It annoyed me that I was playing right into his hand. He brought me here to have me learn Sandbending, and what could I do except get better at Sandbending so I didn't feel defenseless? It felt like I was forced without actually being forced to do something.

What's worse was the fact that we could just easily ride on the sand boat thing we stole from those guys, but he refused. Telling me I needed to get better, and that we'd ride it only in the evening. Currently, he was pulling it along the sand with ropes wrapped around his arms. "To train strength," he said.

'What a lunatic,' I told myself inwardly. I couldn't believe I was friends with this guy.

But, well, I also wasn't one to back down from a challenge. I'd get good enough at Sandbending to bury him until only his head was showing.

'That'll show him,' I thought. It'd also prove to him that I was The Greatest Earthbender. Sand was nothing for me.

...

Elliot POV

"Can't we ride the boat?" Toph complained.

"Just deal with it," I told her in mild annoyance at her constant complaining. After all, I could see where she was coming from. I would complain to if my vision was constantly fuzzy.

"Wow. You're a real jerk, aren't you Hustler? You really don't fit what I imagined an Airbender would be like," she told me bluntly.

"..." I stayed silent. It was actually something I've been thinking a lot about lately, and she just voiced it out. Aang had the hardest time with Earthbending, Korra with Airbending.

'What if... Airbending really doesn't suit me? Was I too hasty in choosing a Bending Style?' I asked myself. Airbending was by far the slowest skill I've leveled to date, despite spending the most time on it.

'Is that really due to it not suiting my personality?' I wondered. If that was the case, I noticed I was more akin to Toph than Katara and Aang, the only two other Benders I personally knew.

'No. Firebending is probably what suited me most. Shit. I should've taken into account that my personality may affect the growth of my Bending Style! Why am I such an idiot?' I chastised my past actions.

Just as I was getting more and more caught up in my head...

"What're you moping about Hustler? Trying to think of more ways to Hustle?" Toph's voice snapped me out of my persistent thoughts.

"I was just thinking that you're probably right. I'm not like an Airbender at all, really," I admitted to her.

Toph didn't seem to expect that, as she stayed silent. I looked at her out of the corner of my eyes. I couldn't quite... tell what expression she was making.

I looked forward. We walked on the sand silently for a while. It was weird, as usually neither of us weren't talking at any one moment.

'I had gotten used to the noise, I guess,' I mused to myself.

Toph was the one to break the uncomfortable silence. "Well, there's no point in thinking that now, it's not like you can change it," she explained to me.

She then proceeded to hit me in the shoulder, saying, "So cheer up Hustler!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I agreed with a slight smile.

"Thanks... Blindspot." My smile grew wider at seeing her "proud" expression change to one of bewilderment.

"Did you just...?" she asked me.

"Oh yeah I did!" I cackled

"Hey, wait- ow!" She hit me a lot harder that time.

...

Like every night we've spent so far in the desert, Toph built a makeshift house out of hardened sand. Or rather, sandstone, I guess.

I started a fire by taking out some cut wood, and stones. Using a flint and steel. A spark caused the wood to alight, the spark touching the wood, and soon growing into an orange flame. It was to keep us warm in the desert night.

Toph was already asleep, or maybe she just looked that way. I couldn't tell. I got out my sleeping bag and snuggled into it.

The crackling of the fire, my soft breaths, and her snoring the only sounds in the shelter. I tried for a while, but I just couldn't sleep.

It wasn't for any big reason. I've always had insomnia, even in my past life. It just happened to have followed me here.

Sighing, I walked out of the shelter, brushing aside the blanket we used to protect us from the cold wind. Once outside, I took off my shirt and pants. The cool night air of the desert began pelting my bare skin.

I must've looked ridiculous. In the middle of the desert at night, with all my clothes off with the exception of my underwear, exercising.

Using the {Heat Regulation} Technique kept some of my body temperature, and also helped train the skill, {Cold Resistance}. Doing exercising increased strength and stamina, as well as the skill, {Physical Conditioning}. I did this often in the cold Southern Air Temple.

'I guess you could say that I'm really hustling,' I commented to myself. But as that thought came up, I paused.

'Why... am I hurrying so much?' I pondered on that question for a while, before I remembered.

'Right, Ozai. I can't be sure Aang, Toph, Suki, Sokka, Katara, and Zuko will win.' I wanted to make that a certainty, and I would before the end of summer. Because Ozai would be dead by my hand, or Bendless by Aang's.

Of course, that wasn't the entire reason. I loved seeing the progress I made, no, feeling it, that was an entirely different emotion. It was also comforting and distracted me.

'I guess there are many reasons for why I train,' I thought as I resumed my exercise.

...

About half a month passed since we first began traveling. The sand-sailor was far slower than Appa, but that was to be expected.

"Are we almost out of the desert?" Toph asked, nearly whining.

"Yes," I actually replied this time, causing her to perk up.

"Really?!"

"Yup. In fact..." I turned toward her and grinned cheekily.

"I can see the ocean!" I chirped cheerfully.

"You..." Toph paled and pointed at me accusingly.

"That's... that's why you didn't tell me how we were getting there!" She cried out.

"Maybe." Well, it wasn't THE ocean... more like a saltwater lake connected to the ocean? Details.

"Well, yeah. We're traveling to the Northern Water Tribe by boat, so prepare yourself," I explained myself.

"I hate you," I ignored her words.

"But, first, we'll be stopping at the settlement in Chameleon Bay for a few days, before buying a ship there and heading off," I told her.

"I take that back, I love you," she said.

"I know you do," I told her with a smirk.

...

After a little while, we entered Chameleon Bay.

We had a little less than a month to get to the Northern Water Tribe. We could get there before the siege, I just knew it.