Fic: Tian Mi Shi Lui: Chapter Nine: Discretion

Chapter Nine: Discretion

By: Sugeatarc

Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar. I'll let you know if that changes.
Genre: A little romance, a little humor, a little action
Characters/Pairing: Toph/Teo; lots of other familiar faces popping up
Rating: G/PG

Teaser:

Toph did a quick sweep of the room. No exits other than the one they’d just come through, and the shaft way overhead. Nothing in the room but bare rock, except…

“Hey Teo,” she whispered. “Can you see what’s over in the corner there? It’s not solid enough for me to get a good image.”

She felt Teo start with surprise. “Uh, yeah! It’s our two-seater glider!”

“What? What’s that torture device doing down here? And what are we supposed to do with it against an airbender, who also, oh yeah, happens to be the Avatar?"

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 Aang grinned his big infectious grin at the two of them and waved. “Hey Toph, Teo. Good to see you two. Have you had a good time?” Momo mimicked the wave and chittered.

Toph considered that for a moment. “Overall, I’d have to say yes. I could have done without the cistern part though. Why not just start with a fight?”

“Oh, I dunno.” Aang’s tone was bright, almost gleeful. “Maybe someone wanted to know what you’d do faced with a challenge you couldn’t beat by fighting. Or maybe someone thought you could use a dunking. That perfume you were wearing was pretty strong.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. Mother insisted I wear it. I nearly choked.” Toph did a quick sweep of the room. No exits other than the one they’d just come through, and the shaft way overhead.  Nothing in the room but bare rock, except…

“Hey Teo,” she whispered. “Can you see what’s over in the corner there? It’s not solid enough for me to get a good image.”

She felt Teo start with surprise. “Uh, yeah! It’s our two-seater glider!”

"What? What’s that torture device doing down here? And what are we supposed to do with it against an airbender, who also, oh yeah, happens to be the Avatar? This is nuts.”

“Maybe it’s so we can get out through the vent. But we’ll probably have to, ah, get past Aang somehow. No, scratch that – we’d need Aang to actually help us in order to use that.”

“Maybe it’s a red herringsquid. Maybe we can run back to the wooden room.” Aang hadn’t made a move since his first wave, other than to reach up and scratch Momo under the chin. Momo crooned.

“Maybe we’re supposed to take Momo hostage?” Teo suggested. Momo looked up at him and gave an short screech, hooding his huge eyes. “No, Momo, I don’t believe you understood that.”  Aang snickered. Momo made a grumbling sound and went back to enjoying Aang’s attentions.

“Let’s try moving toward Zuko’s room, see what Aang does.”  Toph started edging backward. Aang didn’t move. No elements stirred. Toph kept backing up, Teo keeping in step. Still no action from the Avatar. Teo flicked a hand at the latch, shoved the door open, and the two of them darted through.  No wall of wind, burst of fire, whip of water, or spike of earth arose to stop them.

Toph spotted Katara and Zuko immediately, and after a little careful searching, was able to sense Sokka in that annoying suit of his. The glass dome still stood, although with a man-shaped hole melted in the side. Katara was studying it with interest.  She looked up. “Hey guys. Did you give up? Want me to take you back out through the cistern?”

“Would that count as winning?”

Sokka laughed. “Of course not. You have to get past you-know-who in there.”

“Ugh! C’mon, Teo and I are supposed to take on Aang? That’s ridiculous.”  Toph scowled, then had a sudden thought. “Unless…maybe you guys want to help us out?”

This time it was Zuko who laughed.  Toph sighed, realizing she was doomed to being the source of humor here, and not because of her witty remarks. “I take it  that’s a no, Sparky?”

“Wish I could, Thumper,” he said, genuinely regretful. “It’s a great idea, but against the rules.”

“I should have known. Well, if you’re not going to help, why are you still here? Were you going to rush through the door as Aang’s reinforcements?”

“Not that either,” Katara said. “We just want to watch the fun. We were trying to figure out how to put a nice thick piece of glass in the door there for easier spectating.”

“Well, don’t expect me to help you with that. Make it out of ice.”

“I thought of that, but Aang’s likely to use fire at some point. Could be dangerous if the window melts and we get blasted by accident.” Her tone became more businesslike. “Oh yeah, that’s the other reason I’m still here – just in case of accidents like that.”

“That’s good to hear, I guess,” Toph grumped. “Hey, did you two Water Tribe peasants cheat to let me win? I know Sparky didn’t, but I wasn’t so sure about you two.”

“Of course not!” Katara sounded offended. “I mean, we were just sparring, not fighting for real, but I assure you I was trying to win.”

“Me too,” said Sokka. “Not that I thought I really had a chance against you two without Suki, but I was doing my best.”

“But you have that suit. And Katara might have, say, bloodbent her heartbeat and breathing so I can’t tell she’s lying, right?”

“What?” Katara said. “Now you’re just getting paranoid. Messing with my own heartbeat and breathing could easily be a fatal experiment, so no, I didn’t do that.” She paused. “Huh. Do you think I’d actually be able to fool you if I did do that? That could be useful.”

“Never mind, forget I even suggested it. Way too dangerous. Much, much too dangerous. Just put the idea right out of your head.”

Katara snickered. “Too late, Toph. Speaking of which, it’s going to be dawn very shortly. Hadn’t you better stop procrastinating and get back to dealing with Aang?"

“Argh! I admit, I’m not exactly eager to go in there and have my head handed to me, even in fun. Seriously, how are Teo and I supposed to fight Aang? Even if the three of you helped I still wouldn’t bet against him. Unless I got really good odds, of course.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Zuko said. He put his hands on her shoulders and started gently shoving her back toward the room of doom.

“Hey,  hotman, one side – that’s my job.” Teo elbowed Zuko aside – none too gently, either – and took over. Toph, growling, let herself be herded back to the place of her imminent defeat.  Teo gave a wave to the three defeated challengers and got waves in return, then shut and latched the door, and turned to face the Avatar.

Aang hadn’t moved from his spot, though he had taken a seat in the lotus position and was quietly humming a mantra to himself with closed eyes. Toph entertained a brief image of pouncing on him instantly and taking him down by surprise, but before she finished having the thought, she heard the wind pick up and Aang gracefully rose to his feet without any visible effort. “No luck with the rest of the gang, huh?” he asked, still obnoxiously cheerful. As usual.

“Against the rules, apparently.”

“Yeah, I know.”  Aang tapped his staff lightly on the ground, and she heard its wings spring open. “Ready get started? You know the deal – only one way out, you have to get past me to use it.”

“Even if we do get past you we can’t use it,” Toph groaned, feeling completely defeated for the first time in this seemingly endless night.

“You’ll think of something,” Aang said, sounding almost exactly like Zuko. Over the past four years of rebuilding, the two of them had started echoing each other’s thoughts in a surprising number of situations. It was a good thing, but still a little disconcerting after their rough start. Toph had to keep reminding herself that air and fire were complementary elements, not opposite.

Teo tugged on her sleeve.  “Toph. I’ve got an idea. It might be really stupid, though.”

“Stupid is more than I’ve got right now. Go for it.”

“Okay. If I get blasted, promise you’ll pick up the pieces?”

“After I’m done yelling at them, yes.”

“Good enough.”

Teo gave her shoulder a little squeeze, then walked straight toward Aang. Other than a slight shift of his stance, Aang made no move to attack.  He allowed Teo to walk right up to him, although he did have his staff held in defensive position.  Teo reached out and rubbed Momo behind the ears. Momo made contented noises at him.

“We thought about holding the little guy hostage,” Teo said, “but we didn’t want to get bitten.”

Aang laughed. “Yeah, that’s an interesting idea, but Sokka tried that with you and learned better.”

“Anyway, I had this thought. And it went like this: you’re the Avatar.”

“…And?”

“And it would be stupid to fight you.”

“I wish you could convince everyone of that,” Aang sighed. “Too many still want to try. And I really don’t like fighting.”

“Yeah, I know. So I thought – maybe it’s not necessary.”

Aang studied him thoughtfully. “Really?”

“Well, I did say maybe. You said we had to get past you to get out of here, but that’s not actually true. What we need is for you to give us a hand getting out of here. And I don’t recall you saying at any time that we had to fight you to get it. So I’m asking – Aang, will you help me and Toph get out of here?”

Toph squawked. “Hey! Teo! That’s not how a rumble works!”

“Quiet over there, Slugger. Who said this was a rumble?” He turned back to Aang. Aang was smothering a laugh behind his hand. “Ah. Does that mean it really is the stupid idea I thought it was?”

Aang flung an arm over Teo’s shoulders. “Nope!  I’d be glad to help you two escape. I just thought I was going to have to kick you around for a while before you got the idea. I’m glad it didn’t go that way.”

“WHAT?” Toph yelped. “We’re not going to rumble? We just had to – had to – “

“Had to ask me to help,” Aang finished. “Why wouldn’t I? I never said I was here as your enemy, Toph.  Wouldn’t be very fair, would it? And you have to admit, all the challenges so far have been fair – more or less. Bumi’s like that. If he wanted to harass you for the sake of harassment, he didn’t need to go through all the effort to set this up, right?”  Aang waved at the glider. “Go check out your glider, make sure nothing came loose when we were getting it down here. Then we’ll be off. It’s almost dawn.”

“So…what would have happened if I had attacked you?” Toph asked.

“We’d have fought, you’d have lost. Then maybe you’d think of the right approach, but I’d say Teo saved you a lot of time. And some bruises.”

“Saved you a few too, Twinkletoes!”

He laughed again. “I’m sure. Just as well things went the way they did, I’d say.”

“Hmph. There was a small chance we could have taken you out, you know.”

“Of course. I have a lot of respect for your fighting ingenuity and always have, Sifu Toph.”  She sensed him giving her a formal bow.

“Oh, stop that. I haven’t been able to teach you a thing in over a year now.”

“Not true. I learn from you constantly, as I do all my teachers.”

Toph harrumphed at him again, temporarily at a loss for words.

“Everything looks fine over here,” Teo called from the glider. “So how do we do this?”

Aang beckoned Toph over to the horrible machine, and she reluctantly went. Aang took a stance, and wind billowed up, lifting the glider up off the ground and holding it suspended in midair. “Climb on!” he said.  Teo was already settling into his seat and sorting out the safety straps.  Toph groaned, but gingerly hoisted herself up off her beloved ground and into the awful, awful air gizmo. It swayed as she climbed aboard, and she had to clutch at Teo to keep from tumbling back out. Teo didn’t seem to mind. After she got her seat, he helped her find and secure her own harness.

“Ready?” Aang called.

“No!” Toph moaned. Teo patted her reassuringly.

“We’re all set,” he announced. “Ready for lift off!”

Aang’s staff shot out, and a huge gust of wind came from behind the glider and threw it up and forward. Toph shrieked and hid her head against Teo’s shoulder while Teo pealed out delighted laughter.  “Where are we going?” she shouted over the rush of the air.

“Straight up the vent!” Teo replied.

“Oh nooaaaaaaaaahhhh!” she yelled as the glider tipped almost vertical and began a rapid ascending spiral up the shaft. It took only a few minutes at most, but it seemed like an eternity to Toph before the glider burst into open air and leveled off. Teo reached out and grabbed the control bars. He saw that Aang had followed them up through the vent using his staff glider, and was pointing down to the city below, where a large number of green-fired torches burned in the shape of the Earth Kingdom symbol.

“Set down there!” Aang shouted.

“What do you say, Toph? Play along? I could just steer us away and off the mountain. We could land in the woods and do a little camping, just the two of us….”

“I don’t think Aang would let us get away with that,” Toph said. “Besides, I just want to get down as quickly as we can, flyboy.”

“Gotcha. Down we go.”

Teo put the glider into a dive, earning another small shriek and a grab from Toph. “Hey, you said to get down quickly,” he said cheerfully. “No complaints!” At close to the last second, Teo pulled up hard on the control bar, and the glider meekly settled to ground in the exact center of the torches. Aang touched down lightly next to them.

Toph struggled out of the glider and did her usual welcoming embrace of the solid earth, ignoring the chuckles from Teo and Aang at her antics.

 Then she caught the sound of many booted feet approaching. She looked up and got the image of an unmistakably large, knobby body bearing down on them.

 “Hey! Miss Tofu! Who said you could run around kissing my city, eh? EH?”

 (To be concluded)