Chapter Text
FALLING IN THE WATER
一失足成千古恨
Yishi zu cheng qian gu hen
One wrong step can cause a thousand regrets.
(Falling in the water just once can kill you.)
PART ONE
A glitter in the corner of his eye distracted Aang from the array of vegetables in front of him, and he turned to look at a stand near the entrance of the market. It was smaller than some of the other booths in the area, but a large number of people were crowded around it. On display were long golden chains with crystals of varying sizes, sparkling different colors in the morning sunlight.
As he watched, Aang heard the old woman behind the display saying, "And they are proven to dispel the spirits, even one so strong as Her, and your daughters will no longer have to be afraid."
This proclamation was met with a round of approval from the audience, many of whom were digging through their purses for money as the woman continued.
"Hey, Katara," Aang said, tugging on her blue tunic.
She wasn’t paying attention, too focused on sorting out vegetables to resupply them long enough to make it to the next town. Toph and Sokka had opted out of shopping that day, choosing instead to stay back at the campsite and train. Aang wasn't exactly sure how either of them could train the other, but any kind of training with Toph would at the very least help with speed.
Either way, it left Aang and Katara to finish the shopping themselves.
Katara didn't respond to Aang nudging her, intent as she was on the carrots, so Aang tugged again and said louder, "Katara, look, they're talking about some kind of spirit."
"What?" asked Katara, looking up. She glanced over at the old woman and her jeweled necklaces just in time to hear the crowd cheer in approval once again.
"I wonder what they're talking about," Aang suggested casually. Generally speaking, any mention of spirits was good enough for him to be interested, and he knew Katara was at least a little superstitious. She was definitely easier to convince that Toph or Sokka would be.
"Let's go look," Katara said, leading the way. Being rather small, they were able to squeeze their way past most of the crowd, ducking under the thick arms of a pair of farmers to stand at the front of the crowd, not three feet away from the old woman and her charms.
The woman was tall and old, with a thick waist of one who has worked hard and done well by it in life. Her eyes were green and piercing as she immediately took in the two new arrivals to the crowd.
"You two!" the old woman called out almost instantly, looking first at Aang and then at Katara, eyes narrowing at the latter. "Are you visitors? I know everyone in this market, and I've never seen your faces before."
"Aha," Aang began, flushing a bit at being put so abruptly on the spot. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, looking anywhere but at the old woman and her sharp stare. "Yeah, we're just buying some supplies."
Katara came to his rescue. "We saw your necklaces and heard you say something about spirits. What's going on?"
"It's the Wild Woman!" someone in the crowd called out. Another person added in, "We need protection!" and suddenly there was a mess of people chattering, some pleading at the old woman with small bags of money while still others clung to their children nervously and murmured to each other.
"The... Wild Woman?" Katara repeated, looking at the old woman with a confused expression. "What does that mean?"
The old woman nodded sagely, sharp eyes softening in the wake of the villagers' fear. "I am Lao Meiying," she said, "wife of Lao Zhong, and mother of Xiaomei. I have kept the story of the Wild Woman alive in this village as a warning to those who travel through the northern woods, especially the merchants and traders who visit and live here."
Katara and Aang exchanged a nervous glance. Their campsite was just shy of the woods north of the town.
"What's the story?" Katara asked politely, after introducing Aang and herself. Around them, the villagers were also listening, though Aang got the impression they had all heard the tale before by the way they were nodding and whispering as they waited.
"The Wild Woman," Lao Meiying said with a low, charged voice, "is a danger to the young maidens of our town. She is said to have lived long ago when there were bands of warring tribes all around this area. Long ago, this village was home to a great merchant, a crafty and intelligent man who braved the dangers of the woods and warring tribes to bring prosperity to his home. He had a large family, including a beautiful daughter whose virtues were talked about for miles around. She was engaged to a young man from another village who was equally as talented as her father, and who was poised to be the next leader of the village.
"Unfortunately, the man and his son-in-law were not quite as skilled as people thought. They were shady dealers, making enemies of the many warring gangs as they stole money from them. The man's daughter knew nothing of her father and fiancée's actions, and took pleasure in what she thought were well-earned goods.
"But their unscrupulous dealings grew too many. Finally, the enemies of the girl's father and fiancée joined together to get revenge on the thieving pair. They attacked the village with torches, burning everything in sight and attacking anyone who dared oppose them. The man and his daughter's fiancée were away at the time, traveling on yet another trip, and so when their enemies stormed the house to find them, they were unsatisfied. Instead, they killed the man's family, even the children, and stole away his beautiful daughter."
Aang gasped at this revelation, locking eyes with Katara, who looked equally disturbed by the story's turn. The old woman was looking at them both with intense eyes, and all around them the villagers had gone silent, all hanging on Lao Meiying's dark words.
"The man and his son-in-law returned," Lao Meiying continued, "but it was too late. The villagers told him what happened to the poor girl, and so they ran out to the woods to try and save her. But nothing could be done." The old woman's eyes grew cold and stony, as though remembering something painful. "The girl had been beaten and left to die in the unforgiving woods, bared and shamed for her family's crimes."
"That's horrible," Katara whispered, her face pale. Aang shifted closer to Katara, uncomfortable, and felt a bit better when she leaned back against his arm.
"It is said," Lao Meiying said quietly, "that the daughter's rage against her father and fiancée was terrible. She hated that they would endanger their own family without any thought or regard; that they would make so many enemies, and that they would be gone when their debt was called upon to be paid. It is said," she repeated, "that the daughter's spirit was so angry that she grew into a wraith called the Wild Woman, who preys on the men who travel through her forest. If a man angers the Wild Woman, she'll make him pay in the only way she knows how: by stealing away his daughter or sister, wife or lover, and killing them herself."
"But only the maidens," called a voice from behind Aang and Katara, an older man with a thick black beard.
"Only the maidens," Lao Meiying agreed, her lips pursing unpleasantly. She suddenly looked very lost to Aang, strikingly different from the strength she had displayed earlier. "The Wild Woman was taken still in her girlhood, and so she only takes those young ladies who are not yet grown."
She paused for a moment as the crowd began to whisper again around them, and added quietly, "My daughter was one of the girls taken. We never found her."
"That's awful. I'm so sorry for you," Katara said, reaching a hand out to touch the old woman's arm. Tears glinted in Katara's eyes, clearly sympathetic to her suffering.
"It was awful," Lao Meiying agreed, "but it was nearly 25 years ago. My husband made the mistake of angering the Wild Woman on one of his travels, and she took her revenge." She stopped and seemed, for a moment, to be dwelling on the past, but soon her eyes sharpened and she pointed to Katara. "That's why I noticed you, my dear! You resemble my poor Xiaomei so strongly. She couldn't have been much older than you when she vanished."
"B-but we haven't angered the Wild Woman!" Aang protested, though he grabbed onto Katara's arm nervously anyway. A soft hand was placed over his briefly, acknowledging the concern, before Katara gently pulled away.
"See to it that you don't, young man," commanded the old woman sternly. "You're not too young to be subject to her judgment. Especially recently."
"Recently?" Aang repeated.
"Yeah," the same man from earlier said. Most of the crowd had dispersed after the telling of the story, recognizing that it would be a bit before sales would resume. Some still remained, all looking rather tense, including the older farmer, his frail-looking wife, and a group of young men just out of their teens. The farmer continued, "The Wild Woman's been unusually active for the past few months, and no one knows why."
"Many people suspect the Wild Woman died during the year of the Snake, same as this year," Lao Meiying offered, "She's a danger at all times, but every twelve years during the year of the Snake, it feels as though she seeks out victims, rather than waiting for them to come to her."
"Whatever the reason," the farmer said, "we've had three girls disappear in the past four months. And if the pattern keeps up, we're due for a fourth. Trade has died down because no one dares go through the forest to exchange goods, and everyone's suffering from it. We've managed to trade a little by sending some women through the forest instead, but we just don't have enough female traders to help keep the business up."
"That's why I'm selling these charms," Lao Meiying said, holding out one of the necklaces: a pretty blue stone dangled from the end of a golden chain. "After my daughter vanished, I learned some ways to repel spirits. If a maiden wears this charm, she'll be safe from the Wild Woman's touch."
"They work, too," one of the young men exclaimed. "Zhou Likai's little sister Aili was protected, remember? After her father saw the Wild Woman last autumn."
Lao Meiying nodded sagely, looking intently at Aang and Katara. "They are expensive, for the materials I need are rare, but if you have the money to spare, I advise you take a charm for your own protection."
Katara and Aang exchanged a glance, with Aang looking worried and Katara looking apprehensive. Aang felt his heart drop a little when Katara gave him a subtle head shake, touching her small change purse as if to remind him of their limited funds. Katara turned to the old woman and said politely, "I'm afraid we can’t afford it."
Then, struck by inspiration, Aang exclaimed, "But maybe I can help!"
Lao Meiying and the other villagers looked confused. From Katara's apprehensive expression, she guessed where was going with this. Placing a hand on Aang's shoulder, she said, "Aang, I don't know if that's a good idea."
"Well, why not?" Aang asked. "There are girls dying from this evil spirit, and I am the link between our worlds. Maybe I can banish the Wild Woman."
"What do you mean?" Lao Meiying asked, eyes narrowing. After a moment of scrutiny, she suddenly gasped and said, "Oh!" in a faint voice.
"What?" the farmer asked. "What is it?"
"I should have recognized your tattoos," Lao Meiying said, looking chagrined. "I have seen pictures of Airbender insignia before, but it was a long time ago." Setting down the charm in her hand, the old woman proceeded to honor Aang with a low bow, showing her age as she held onto her back as she stood back up. "Our village is honored to meet you, Avatar."
"The Avatar!" the farmer exclaimed in surprise, following her lead and offering a bow first to Aang, then to Katara. His wife followed suit, though the young men simply nodded at them, looking mildly confused.
"As the Avatar," Aang said, "I might be able to talk with the Wild Woman and make peace."
"Aang," Katara murmured, looking torn. "I'm not sure-"
Lao Meiying interjected, "Oh, you won't have to worry." Snatching the charm from where it lay on the booth, the woman thrust it at Katara, saying, "I will offer you a free charm for your protection. If the Avatar is willing to help out our village, it's the least I can do to ensure that any maidens he's acquainted with will be protected."
"Oh, well - thank you, but—" Katara stammered, accepting the necklace with a hesitant smile, "—well, I think Aang has a great idea. We just need to discuss it with the rest of our party before we decide anything."
Aang got the message Katara was sending with her eyes: anything that would likely involve spirits and fighting needed to be a group decision, not an Avatar one. Especially, Aang thought nervously, with a violent spirit like this one.
"I understand," Aang said to Katara solemnly. He bowed to Lao Meiying and said, "I promise that Katara and I will return tomorrow as soon as we've talked it over and let you know our decision. I hope that will be all right with you."
Lao Meiying's return smile seemed heavy with the hope of potential salvation, and she nodded tensely. "I hope you'll look upon us in favor," she replied formally, bowing again.
Aang smiled back, But, as he looked over at Katara, he couldn't help feeling a sliver of worry about their new task.
--
They return to camp after finishing the shopping. The villagers had been strange mix of reverent and skeptical at the news that the Avatar might try to dispel the Wild Woman, and they received many offers of free food that Katara refused to accept. As it was, they had lighter pockets and heavier satchels as they approached their campsite.
They arrived just in time to hear Toph shout, "Too slow, Snoozles!" and the unmistakable sound of splattering mud.
"Oh, now that's just not fair!" Sokka whined loudly from somewhere out of sight. He staggered into view moments later, and Katara and Aang both found themselves stopped short by choking laughter. The young warrior was covered from head to toe in mud, his club gripped loosely in one fist while the other hand clutched at his side. He appeared to be exhausted.
Not noticing Aang and Katara, Sokka shouted, "I took out five of your warriors! Five!"
"It only takes one to strike the finishing blow. Next time, take them all out," Toph called back, walking into view from the opposite direction. Following her was what looked like a mockery of a man made entirely of mud, holding a mud-club in its hand. In fact, if Katara looked close enough, she could see a lumpy mud-ponytail sticking out of the mud warrior's head, and that realization only made her giggle more.
Toph grinned in their general direction, saying, "Hey, guys. How was shopping?"
"It was okay," Aang said once he found the breath to speak, setting down the bag of food next to the tent.
"Well, that's great," Sokka griped irritably, flopping down with a loud grunt. "I'm glad you guys got to have a leisurely trip to town. I just spent the past four hours getting attacked by mud monsters! I feel like I'm going to die!"
"Any chance you could wash off before dying?" Katara asked, smirking at her older brother. There wasn’t a single part of him that wasn't coated in mud somehow. "You smell."
"Thanks sis'," came Sokka's expected reaction, a weak moan from the slumped over mud blob that was once her brother. "You're all heart."
"Oh, stop whining," Toph said. She had wandered over to Aang to grab one of his bags, and was currently sorting through some of the food supplies with him. She held each item of produce out and collected any dirt that still clung to it before Aang sorted them by type.
Toph paused in her sorting and gestured over to Sokka. With a sharp swipe of her hand, she made all of the mud rush off him in a small earth wave.
The mud came together in a circle on the ground, and then it formed up into a three-foot tall imitation of Sokka. It was much more precise than the mud warrior from before, and as Katara watched, she saw Toph move the figure around like it was ranting and raving, waving around its tiny club and attacking the ground with a vengeance.
Katara snickered and Aang laughed, but Sokka just made a face before declaring regally, "I am going to go bathe now."
He got four steps before pausing. He glared back at them and shouted, "TOPH! Make that thing stop following me!"
The Mud Sokka made a pouting face and sat cross-legged on its mound of dirt as Sokka stalked off grumbling. Toph smirked as Aang and Katara laughed anew.
"Speaking of mud," Toph said as she dusted off the last potato and waited for Aang to stop laughing, "You and I need to train, Twinkletoes. You've been off shopping all day."
"Okay, sure," Aang agreed amiably, sitting back up and collecting the vegetables all together. He brought them over to Katara, who had begun to set out some fresh dry branches to start the fire. He added, "Actually, Katara and I have something to talk to you and Sokka about, too. It's about this spirit nearby-"
"Save it for dinner," Toph cut him off, waving a hand carelessly. "Sokka's the one who'll want to hear about it anyway, and it'll be faster to tell both of us together."
"That's probably a good point," Katara agreed. She grabbed a couple carrots and a knife, waving a shooing gesture at Aang. "You go off and train. I'm okay with making dinner tonight, and it's going to be awhile."
"Good," Toph said before Aang could respond. Katara could see a lingering smirk on her face, and suddenly felt very sympathetic toward Aang. "Today's lesson is gonna be fun."
From the look on Aang's face, he had noticed the smirk too.
--
"I got this idea when I was helping Sokka train," Toph said as they headed out to the nearest valley she could find. It was a bit more difficult to do some of the more intense earth-bending in a forest, as there were fewer rocks and a lot more plant life to contend with, but Toph couldn't control where they would be on any given day, so she had to make do with what she could.
On the plus side, it made her come up with some creative lessons, which at the least helped keep Aang interested.
"Today, I want to focus on finding the weak points in rock," Toph explained further. Aang was sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree, his feet just barely touching the ground, but Toph could feel his leg twitching in anticipation. "You're going to use hand-to-hand combat to battle one of my mud warriors – no bending, I mean it! You have to sense the imperfection that I put in there. Once you know where it is, strike it and you'll defeat them. Otherwise, you're gonna get crushed."
"Okay," Aang said, jumping off the trunk. She could feel him nodding by the way his feet rocked a little on the heels. "Find the flaw and strike. Shouldn't be too difficult."
"Not at first," Toph said. "I'll give you a trial run so you can figure out how to sense the weak point, but after that you'll have a time limit. Take too long and you're going to be even muddier than Sokka."
"Gotcha," Aang replied agreeably, watching as Toph summoned a new mud warrior from the ground. This one was shorter than before and looked like a faceless Aang, with long, thin limbs and no hair. Aang rocked back into an attack position, waiting for an attack.
He was still waiting a minute later, when nothing had yet happened.
"Um, are we starting?" he asked, sounding confused.
"Um, are you forgetting something?" Toph mocked, standing just to the side of the meadow, leaning against a tree. She heard him sigh loudly after a moment's thought, digging in his pockets, and she grinned. "Blindfold or no go, Twinkletoes. Seeing is for lame Air-benders, not awesome Earth-benders."
Toph couldn't see, but she knew that Aang was making a face at her.
Blindfold on and ready, Aang settled into position again. Without warning, Toph launched her warrior at him, swiftly swinging a punch at Aang's abdomen. Aang leapt backwards, instinctively leaving the ground out of surprise.
"No bending!" Toph snapped instantly.
"Sorry!" Aang replied, startled. By the way he landed, she could tell he had fallen back into a flip before landing, and was mildly impressed. Airbenders - or at the least Aang, who was the only airbender Toph knew - seemed to have a natural sort of agility. When she wasn't trying to fight against it, Aang’s ability to twist and turn in effective evasive maneuvers was pretty fun to observe.
The instant Aang settled back to the ground, Toph attacked again, sending her warrior out to strike him on the side of the head. This time Aang ducked and struck back, a glancing blow on its flank. The warrior simply spun around in a roundhouse kick, catching Aang in the gut and sending him flying into a nearby tree. Toph had to hand it to Aang: he was up in seconds with nothing more than a grumbled moan to show how much the attack had to have hurt, and was launching himself back at his opponent with impressive speed.
This time he aimed for the mud warrior's knee, to no avail. The two fighters sparred for a while before Toph realized that Aang wasn't doing much more than playing a guessing game. He kept striking at different parts of the warrior, trying to discover the weak point by elimination rather than by feeling the earth.
"Hey!" Toph snapped. Aang had the presence of mind not to be distracted by her yelling, because she didn't stop attacking. "You need to feel the imperfection, not find it by luck!"
Aang grunted in response, too busy fighting to give a proper response, and she let them continue in relative silence for a while. Then she felt Aang strike the ground twice sharply with his foot, a move that had become their signal to call a halt to training in case Aang was otherwise too occupied to voice it. She ceased her warrior's movements and asked, "What?"
"I can't feel it," Aang replied. "I keep trying to feel the earth for a problem, but it's moving too fast for me to get a handle on it."
Toph considered Aang's point for a moment before walking over. She brought her warrior up to stand up straight as she said, "You can take off your blindfold for this if you want."
Aang did so, and Toph continued, "Now, the thing about finding flaws is that it's not just an earth-bending move. If you're fighting a real person, the same kind of observation is needed. That's one way that earth-bending can really help, even in a situation where you're not necessarily using it. You can tell from the earth if someone is putting too much weight on one foot or leaning too far into a punch. If you get really good at seeing with your feet, you can even tell how fast a person's heart is beating and let that tell you how tired your opponent is, that sort of thing."
"But that doesn't work with fighting mud," Aang replied.
"No, but the same concept applies, just in a different way," Toph explained. "If there was more rock around I would have used that, actually, because this technique is primarily based around imperfection in rock. To be honest, finding these flaws in real life will probably be a lot easier than in my training, because unless another Earth-bender attacks you using rock warriors like I am, the rock should be stationary. Still, fighting like this will help you find the flaw quickly.
"The key to this training," Toph continued, "is being able to locate the part of the warrior here," she patted its constructed shoulder, "that feels weaker. It's hard when it's moving, so just try to find it right now."
She felt Aang go still, concentrating.
After a few moments, she clarified, "It's not like a scan. It's something that you should be observing instinctually when you first feel it with your feet. It's like seeing someone lean heavily on one foot, but its part of the earth. Just sense where the earth feels less compact, like there's some kind of fissure. Rock will be the same. Trust me, most stones will have more flaws that what I've created here. It's natural for there to be multiple weak points spaced out throughout. You need to find the weakest spot."
Aang hummed in acknowledgement, still focusing his attention on the motionless mud warrior in front of him. A few more seconds passed, and then Aang reached out and brought his hand down in a sharp swipe against the warrior's collarbone. The entire construct dissolved in a mess of dirt clumps.
"Good," Toph confirmed, nodding once. "Now, do that again when you're fighting. Blindfold back on." Without further pause, she re-formed the warrior with a new flaw in place and sent it swinging at Aang.
Aang swung back after rapidly tying his blindfold, but this time he didn't keep striking at random points. Instead, he parried every blow the mud warrior threw at him and waited, trying to feel out the new weak point in the dirt. Toph could feel his feet dancing around on the ground, light as always, and crossed her arms as she kept up the attack. It was taking him too long.
"You have one minute left, Twinkletoes!" she called out, and could tell by Aang's racing heartbeat that he was starting to panic about not being able to tell where the weak point was. He even started to strike randomly again, but it was too late; after a minute had passed, Toph made the creature explode in a shower of mud, coating Aang generously.
"Blah," Aang said after the explosion of mud, sounding disgusted. "I think I swallowed a worm."
"Too bad," Toph said. "What's your problem now? Did I not baby-step you enough on this process, or what?"
"It was just going too fast," Aang admitted sheepishly, and Toph was pleased to see that he didn't seem any worse for wear in response to her berating him. Katara still worried about Aang's feelings and made sure Toph knew that, but Toph was pretty sure she and Aang had a decent understanding about how she preferred to teach.
"Well, this time you'd better get it," Toph snapped, "or I'll make sure you really do swallow a worm." She summoned up another mud warrior and sent it rushing at Aang.
This time didn't prove to be much better, but as Aang continued to fight and grow rapidly frustrated, Toph began to realize what the problem might be.
"Aang!" she called out. "You need to think outside the box!" Aang hesitated briefly in his attack, which forced him to duck and do a quick swing kick to get the upper hand. Toph continued, "You're thinking of your opponent like it's a human, but it's not!"
Aang dodged and rolled to the left, and as he came up he asked, "What do you mean?"
"Just because it looks like a person doesn't mean the weak point is going to the same as a human's," Toph explained. "You're not going to find the weak point if you don't look at the whole picture!"
Aang seemed to consider her words, allowing himself to rest a little more heavily on his feet. He fought hand-to-hand with the mud warrior, no longer trying as actively to evade the attacks. Toph could feel the moment he got it by the way he suddenly rolled forward on the balls of his feet and dug his toes into the earth, leaning forward to strike. With a swift slice, he shattered the mud warrior's right elbow.
His opponent collapsed in front of him lifelessly, and Aang bent down toward it in a mocking little bow. Toph resisted the urge to snort, and kept her face impassive as Aang turned to regard her.
She kept silent for a few moments, letting Aang reflect on the lesson. "Good," she said simply, not moving from her spot against the tree. Then she allowed herself to smirk. "Now let's do it ten more times."
"What?" Aang asked, startled, but anything else he wanted to say was cut off by his yelp of surprise as a newly formed mud warrior struck him from behind.
--
Dinner was already finished by the time the subject of the spirit came up. Toph was skeptical, but she agreed that Aang was probably the only person around who could potentially do something about the spirit long-term.
Sokka, however, was a little more defensive-minded about the whole matter.
"Look, I feel bad for them," Sokka said, looking apprehensively at Katara and Aang, who seemed outraged by his dissent. "But I'm just thinking about our safety too. This isn't just a little bit of spiritual unrest. The Wild Woman is a wraith. I've heard stories about those, and they're bad. Really bad."
"No one else can help them," Aang argued again. "I'm the Avatar. What's the point of me being the bridge between our worlds if I can't banish bad spirits?"
"He has a point," Toph agreed casually, lying on her back alongside the fire. She was chewing on a stalk of grass thoughtfully as everyone debated around her, choosing not to involve herself unnecessarily. "But Sokka makes a good point too. Why should we risk our lives for this town? The situation sucks, yeah, but they've dealt with it for a long time, and we already have an impossible quest that we need to complete."
"Exactly," Sokka said, pointing down at Toph. "Just what she said. I mean, it's bad enough that we still have those three Fire nation girls chasing us - and just because we haven't seen them in awhile doesn't mean they're not still out there - but have you thought about actually fighting the Wild Woman? What if she kills you? This isn't a great time for the world to be without the Avatar again."
"Well, that's not really a problem," Katara admitted. "She doesn't kill men."
"So she could kill you, Katara! Or Toph! That isn't exactly a comfort!"
"She's not going to," Aang said, though he felt yet another pang of worry as he glanced in Katara's direction. He shook it away, not wanting to think of any of his friends being in danger, insisting, "If I can't talk to her, I should be able to send her back to the spirit world."
"How do you know that?" Sokka asked. "Have you ever banished a spirit before? Have you ever even met a wraith?"
"Have you?" Katara shot back.
"I don't need to meet a wraith to know it's bad news!"
"Look," Aang interrupted the beginning fight, his voice stronger than it normally was. Both siblings turned to look at him, mildly surprised, and he said, "I've decided to help these people. I wanted to talk to everyone, but the fact of the matter is, I am the Avatar. If I don't help this town, then what good am I for the world? I can't just pick and choose where I'm needed."
Sokka seemed to deflate at this statement, and Katara looked rather proud. No one said anything in response, prompting a bit of an awkward silence. Before the pause could become uncomfortable, Toph abruptly sat up and flexed her hands against the ground, frowning.
"We’ll probably have to go with that decision," she said, pointing in the direction of the town. "We have company."
Aang turned to look, and though he couldn't hear any people yet, he could make out the flickering light of torches approaching them from between the scattered trees. It was already dark out, making the lights standing out even stronger, and Aang found himself wondering what could have prompted anyone to come seek them out at this hour.
"Let's go meet them," Katara suggested, grabbing onto Toph's wrist and heading toward the woods. Toph allowed herself to be lead, though Aang suspected both she and Katara knew it was more for Katara's safety than her own. Toph didn't have any more trouble "seeing" at night than during the day.
Aang moved to follow them, but was stopped short by Sokka's hand on his shoulder. He tensed, knowing that Sokka was still angry by the way the discussion turned out, but he turned to look at him straight in the eyes.
"First off," Sokka began, with a serious expression that Aang didn't often see on his face, "I've got your back. I want you to know that."
Aang nodded. "Thank you, Sokka."
"But," Sokka added, "this doesn't put you in danger, Aang. It puts Katara and Toph in more danger than both of us. My little sister," Sokka emphasized, and Aang could read the tension in his eyes. "And don't tell Toph I said it, but she's no stronger than the rest of us against a spirit."
"I know," Aang admitted, feeling the reality of the situation weigh down on his shoulders and missing the confidence he had felt only moments before. He laid his hand on Sokka's and gripped it. "I promise I'll banish the Wild Woman. I don't want them to get hurt either."
Sokka held his gaze for a tense, silent moment, then nodded and gave him a half-hearted grin, jerking his head in the direction that Katara and Toph had headed. "C'mon," he said, pulling Aang along by the shoulder. "We should probably see what the issue is."
They headed toward the flickering torchlight, following the dark outlines of Toph and Katara ahead of them. By the time Sokka and Aang arrived at the spot where everyone had stopped, things seemed to have calmed down a bit. Aang could see Lao Meiying standing at the head of the group, looking frazzled, with the farmer and his wife looking distraught beside her. A couple other men had come as well, including one of the young men from before, who had been eyeing Lao Meiying's charms with interest.
"What happened?" Aang asked as they approached, trying to look wise and stoic. He thought he saw Sokka roll his eyes, and figured the look was working.
"Another girl has been taken," Katara explained, looking worried.
"My precious Liwen!" the farmer cried out. His face was blotched red with anger and frustration, and he clenched his fist reflexively as he spoke, as if wishing for an opponent to attack. He whirled on the young man from before, shouting, "All because of this street boy-!"
"Honey, stop that!" chastised his wife quietly, though she didn't look at the boy in question.
The aforementioned "street boy" looked horrified and guilty, not daring to look at the man. He explained to Aang, pleadingly, "I bought her a charm! It took all of my savings, but I bought one!"
"Wait," Sokka interrupted, holding up a hand. "What happened, exactly?"
"Chen Dawei angered the Wild Woman," Lao Meiying explained, her voice as calm as she could manage to try and quell the rising emotions. "He did not stay on the safe pass."
"I was late!" Chen Dawei protested, though from his expression it was clear he knew this excuse was flimsy. "It would have taken too long to get to market by the regular path and the produce would have all rotted, and I just thought-"
"Oh, blast what you thought!" snarled the farmer angrily. "Because of you, my daughter was taken by the Wild Woman! All because you had the nerve to try and court her! Without my permission, I might add!"
"I bought her a charm!" Chen Dawei protested again. "I did! She must have taken it off to bathe or something."
"Did she know what it was for?" Katara asked.
"Of course!" Chen Dawei said. "He Liwen was worried about it too, when I told her that I had seen the image of the Wild Woman in the forest, but we both - well, I mean, the spirit never spoke to me. She just-" and at this juncture, the boy shivered, looking nervously into the dark forest around them. "She just glared at me," he finished weakly.
"That's all the Wild Woman needs to do," Lao Meiying said sadly, eyes distant. "She herself got no more warning."
"Whatever her methods," the farmer said, "my little girl is out there! Avatar," he pleaded, turning toward Aang and looking him straight in the eyes, "please tell me that you've decided to help us! Please tell me you can save my daughter!"
Aang hesitated at the sudden plea, knitting his brow, and Lao Meiying took this to be confusion. She stepped forward and explained, "The Wild Woman does not kill her victims immediately. Generally, it could take between two to three days."
What wasn't voiced was the ominous reality that hung over everyone's head: it could take between two to three days for the missing girl to suffer and die.
Aang swallowed, trying to quell the foul feeling in his stomach. He solidified his stance on the earth and felt a bit more confident as he said, "I'll go to find your daughter, sir. And I'll do my best to banish this spirit."
"Thank you," the farmer said gratefully, falling down to his knees in front of Aang. Startled by this action, which was shortly echoed by the farmer's wife, Aang froze, meeting eyes with Katara awkwardly. She shrugged back at him, though Aang got the impression she was amused by his disconcertion.
"One problem," Sokka said from his place behind Aang, calling the attention of the crowd toward him. "Do you guys know where she is?"
Silence followed the statement, and Lao Meiying admitted, "It's always different. The Wild Woman claims the entire forest as her own, and some girls are never found at all."
"There's no way he could search the entire forest!" Chen Dawei bemoaned, looking distraught. The farmer and his wife had gone still at Aang's feet, worry clear on their faces, and Aang bit his lip nervously. He looked at Katara again, who stared back with a helpless expression. Aang looked up at the sky, considering; perhaps with Appa, he could send out a search party one way while he took his glider the other - but no, it was too dark and the trees were too thick, they wouldn't be able to see through -
"I can find her," Toph's voice said from behind him. She flexed her feet into the soft earth, frowning a bit and concentrating. Then she nodded, "Yeah, I should be able to. I'll need everyone to stop moving around, though."
Aang, Sokka and Katara all obediently stopped moving, knowing Toph's strong abilities with earthbending, but the rest of the crowd was less accommodating. Only moments after Toph began to focus her energy - crouching down to put both hands on the ground as well, for extra power -, Chen Dawei stepped over to Sokka and whispered loudly, "What is she doing? Is she try-"
"I said to stop moving!" Toph commanded with a sharp tone. "And that includes moving your mouth!"
Chen Dawei went rigid in surprise, clearly intimidated. Aang, Sokka and Katara all exchanged amused glances. Everyone else in the group took heed of Toph's short temper and kept still, watching with interest as she dug her fingers and toes into the ground and knelt there motionlessly.
A few long moments later, Toph began to nod reflexively, and Aang was reminded of how the monks looked in the Air Temples when they were deep in meditation. Then Toph abruptly stood up, nodded once more decisively, and pointed without turning her head to the south west. "She's there," Toph confirmed, "about a mile away, by a stream. Still alive, too. I was able to sense her fighting."
"Oh," the farmer's wife said faintly, looking torn between being relief and terror.
"Let's go," Aang said, nodding at Katara and Sokka. He looked back at the rest of the party and said, "It'd be better to involve as few people as we can. We can find your daughter and bring her back."
"Thank you," Lao Meiying said solemnly, bowing to the four of them. The rest of the villagers made to speak as well, but Aang waved their comments away, knowing that time was of the essence.
He looked at Toph, saying, "Lead the way," knowing that unless Toph could feel the earth, finding He Li Wen would be next to impossible, even with Toph's spoken directions. Sokka and Katara fell in beside him and followed as Toph took off into the woods.