Book Four: Air

"Well, when we talked about it, she was angry about being told what to do, but she didn't have the type of anger that causes her to run away like that. And there's one important piece of information that has me convinced that she didn't leave of her own free will. That ship is heading for the Earth Kingdom. That's the last place she'd want to go," Sokka explained.

"Maybe she took another ship, then, and went somewhere else. She did have a head-start," said Suki. She sighed, and looked apologetic. "Maybe you are just upset that she left without telling you."

Sokka shook his head, "Where else would she go? The Water Tribes are too cold, the Air Temples are abandoned, and she has nowhere else to go in the Fire Nation."

The Kyoshi Warrior frowned. "You are being stubborn, Sokka. What can we do? We have no real reason to say that she's missing. You know everyone else will just say that she ran off, like she does when she's feeling angry or upset. We need more than your instincts."

"But I know something happened to her," Sokka argued with a frown.

"And we need proof of that before we can do anything other than wait!" said Suki. "The others aren't going to believe us if we say Toph's in trouble, and we know that because you had a feeling. We need something to work with..."

A man burst into the room. The Dock-Master glared at him, but the man ignored the other.

"Master Sokka, Lady Suki!" he gasped. "You must come, quickly! Back to the mansion!"

Sokka raised an eyebrow before nodding, "What happened?"

"You had best come see for yourself, Master Sokka." The man frowned. "It is... it is not good. You are fortunate you were not there, sir."

He led Sokka and Suki back to the manor. The second floor, so quiet before, was now alive with activity. Guards filled the hallways there, and most were surrounding one room in particular.

It was Sokka's.

"We found it like this," said the man. He nodded, and some soldiers stepped aside to let Sokka and Suki pass. Sokka's room was completely trashed. "We think, sir, that your would-be assassins may have struck again. They failed, thankfully, but see the mess they made!"

((Its not too late for me to join in, is it?))

Sokka surveyed his room with a frown. Why would assassins trash his room. They'd only do that to send a message, but what?

IC: Samanya

He stood admist the ceter of the room, a look of deep thought on his face as he examined the chamber. "No."

The warrior stooped low, spreading his fingers across the floor for a moment, before shaking his head. "Not assassin. Too foolish..." His once dull eyes, now burning with energy, looked akin to a brewing storm. "...Also, room is messy organized. Not messy. Not searching...making it look messy..."

Samanya looked to Sokka, his face aplogetic. "Samanya sorry. That all Samanya can tell." His deep voice was obviously wilted, disappointed he could figure it out.

OOC: No, of course not. You are welcome to join, Ersher.

***

IC: Mercenaries

Their ship, a small sloop-like vessel that Maku owned himself, was made entirely from wood. Reports suggested the girl could sense her way around it, but there was no way she would be bending anytime soon.

Maku wanted to keep it that way.

He and the others piled aboard. Kara joined them soon after. They stowed their prize in a small, bare room in the bilge of the boat. It did not take them long to shove off and, minutes later, they were sailing into open waters and heading away from the island.

"Well done!" said Maku, clapping them all on the back. "Well done! We've got our bender. Now all we got to do is get her to this hidden temple, eh?"

***

IC: Suki

"You've told us a lot, then," said Suki. "This attack. It must have been staged." She glanced at Sokka. "How strange that something like this happens when Toph vanishes without telling us anything, huh?"

IC: Azon

"And the Shirshu follows the scent..." said Azon from beside Sokka.

He had appeared suddenly again, causing the guards nearby to jump in surprise. Apparently they too could see him, and they lowered spears. Azon ignored them, tilting his blindfolded eyes up towards the ceiling.

"Everything is in front of you. But those that see with their eyes often have trouble seeing."

He smiled, still staring up at the ceiling.

"Sokka's room is a mess....staged as if there was a fight. Toph ran off without explanation, leaving her belongings behind, which means she intended to return. But in order to know what happened, you must look beyond what you simply see."

He slowly turned to look over at Sokka.

"Sokka, you and Toph are best friends, are you not? If I could ask...what would you do if you came across Toph's room destroyed, and someone informing you that she had been taken?"

Sokka frowned, but answered without hesitation, "I would chase after the ones that took her and rescue her."

IC: Azon

The sage smiled.

"Exactly...which means there's only one thing missing."

By now the guards had lowered their spears and Azon bent down to place his hand against Sokka's floor.

"The servant girl...the one that informed us Toph had run away...can anyone find her?"

Jing

"Yes. Now Maku, I'm curious: how exactly do you propose we get her to cooperate with us?" Jing asked. Step one of this plan was finally complete, thankfully. Now they just needed to go to the hidden temple, and acquire the artifact her Lord wanted. With it, all his plans would come into being.

IC: General Narrative

"What servant would that be?" asked one of the guards.

Suki quickly described the woman. No one there knew her or recognized the description. An icy ball formed in the pit of Suki's stomach.

"She didn't belong here, then," said Suki. "She..." The answer was obvious, and it infuriated Suki to know she had been tricked. "That means Toph either walked into something she wasn't supposed to or, more likely, they tricked her into thinking Sokka needed her."

And of course Toph was hard-headed enough to go off on her own.

***

IC: Mercenaries and Toph

"There's nothing a good beating won't cure," said the mercenary, answering Jing with a shrug.

The ship had been out to sea for a couple of hours when the girl started coming around. Maku was the first to notice it: the moving around, the tight breathing, the struggles to escape and then increasing level of panic.

"Don't bother," he told her. The girl jolted at the sound of his voice. "You won't be able to bend that steel, sweetheart, no matter how hard you try. Sorry, but you're caught, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Maku heard muffled curses coming from behind her gag. He was almost impressed.

"Don't blame me, blame yourself. You're the one who went running off into a trap." Now he did laugh. "What did you think? That you'd save him, and he'd finally notice you? That he'd return your little feelings for him? Poor baby..."

Toph flushed rather badly.

The only thing that Sokka could do was punch the only remaining piece of furniture, causing it to break as well. He spoke, "Where could they have taken her?!"

The wind blew against his robes as the Avatar flew through the sky, a sick feeling lying in his stomach. The airbender landed and shut his glider before running towards his friends who were talking to a few guards. "It isn't true is it? Did Toph run away?" He asked Sokka and Suki between gasps for air.

IC: Azon

"Even an Turtle Crab knows when to abandon his shell when enemies draw near," replied Azon.

He moved his hands gently across the floor of the room, his blindfolded eyes staring down where at the boards.

"Can everyone whisper," he snapped at them.

"I'm trying to concentrate. It is difficult to pick out her energy with all the noise."

IC: Suki

She shook her head. "No, Aang. It's looking as if she was kidnapped, instead. They had us running around long enough to spirit her away, most likely."

Suki glanced worriedly at Sokka. She hated seeing him like this. She held his arm. "Don't worry, Sokka. We'll find her."

***

IC: Mercenaries and Toph

"Did I hurt your feelings?" simpered Maku. "Or did I happen on the truth there, missy? What I don't get is why you ever imagined that would happen. Why would he ever want to have anything to do with the likes of you?"

The girl grew redder in the face. She wasn't only angry, she was also humiliated.

Maku had no problem with tearing apart her spirit. A broken bender would be more easily led than a wild, stubborn one.

Sokka held out his hand for silence, his eyes focused on the stranger. Whatever he was doing, he just hoped it'd help them find Toph. He couldn't let anything happen to her. He just couldn't. He barely noticed Suki grabbing his arm from the worry he felt for his best friend.

Aang became very confused after Suki informed them that someone had kidnapped Toph. Many questions rushed through the Avatar's head but he threw them to the side for now as he looked at Sokka adn sighed. "That's right Sokka, you know that we'll find her, I wouldn't be surprised if she's already on her way back with the jerks tied up behind her." Aang added as he tried to sound encouraging.

"I guess this means my promise to Katara is broken now, of course she'll understand but still....." He said gumly and rhetorically, still pretty sure that Toph would be fine.

IC: Azon

"I said whisper!" shushed Azon.

He turned back towards the floor with a shake of his head.

"Are you deaf as well as blind?"

Azon was silent for a moment, his blindfolded eyes staring motionlessly at his hand. Suddenly the bottom of his palm gave a faint green glow on the floor.

"Funny what invisible strings that connect us all..."

The faint glow faded and Azon stood.

"By reading Toph's energy, I can now sense where she is."

"Where is she?" Sokka whispered worriedly.