And did you really defeat the 'Flaming Cacti' with a single fire blast?" Toph asked as she walked them all through the gates of the Beifong Mansion. The blind girl appeared to have forgotten about the existence of the other three as she latched onto Harry's arm and pulled him with her as she began asking him question after question.
"They were standing in a puddle of oil, I blasted the oil and one thing led to another," He told her blankly.
"Cool! She grinned widely as if this was the single most exciting thing she had ever heard in her life. "And you really did defeat the Dragon of the West?!"
"General Iroh and I have never fought each other in a full-on fight, we've just sparred on occasion," Harry replied, feeling a little uneasy. People trying to actively kill him were much easier to deal with than fangirls, at least this one was relatively young and wouldn't be throwing out marriage contract offers. He had gotten that in both worlds.
"Ooh, ooh and you nearly killed the Fire Lord that one time?!" She asked quickly. This time a hint of a smile appeared on Harry's face as he answered.
"Yeah, I nearly did it, but unfortunately there were complications." He explained.
"Wait, you nearly killed the Fire Lord?!" Sokka blurted out. "You never told us about that!"
"You never asked," Harry shrugged.
"How could you not know about that?" Toph turned to face them. "The 'Tale of the Emerald Dragon leaving the Fire Nation' is already legendary, everyone who is anyone knows about it,"
"Halt!" A pair of guards shouted upon seeing them. "What are you...Miss Beifong?!" One of them blurted out.
"Hello," Toph said cheerily. "These people are here to see my mother and father,"
"These..." The other guard blinked and stared at them all. "Who are you people?"
"I'm Katara," Katara spoke up quickly. "This is my brother, Sokka, and these two are Aang and Harry.
"Hi!" Aang waved.
"Sup?" Harry inclined his head. "Can we come through or what?"
"Hold on a second," The first guard said, staring intensely at Aang. "Young, blue tattoos," He noted. "Are you an airbender by any chance?"
"Little bit," Aang confirmed with a small nod as he gently waved his staff, causing the air around them to follow its movement.
"The Avatar?!" The guard gasped before looking at the others with his eyes, stopping upon Harry who had his arm in a death grip by Toph. "You wouldn't happen to be..."
"The Emerald Dragon, bringer of death and burner of everything, yeah, I'm him," Harry said dryly and impatiently.
"Isn't that cool?!" Toph squealed.
"Impressive, Princess Azula," Iroh commented as Azula's lightning bolt shot up into the air and cut through the sky. The two were currently on the upper deck of her Fire Nation ship, Iroh sitting calmly in his chair while Azula fired a second lightning bolt.
"Well," She relaxed her stance and faced him. "It's certainly a lot faster than before. More efficient."
"And in battle, that is often the key to victory," Iroh told her sagely as he stood up. "When a firebender is young, they learn to perform moves with a mixture of martial arts, as one grows and improves they must find what style of fighting suits them. From there, you must work at being as efficient as possible. Your own father can produce a lightning blast in just two seconds. It is my hope, Princess Azula, that you will one day be able to match him, or perhaps even surpass him."
"Me? Surpassing the Fire Lord?" Azula repeated, hardly able to believe it.
"He is but a mortal, as we all are," Iroh replied patiently. "I've seen a great many Fire Nation soldiers, Prince Azula, none of them had been able to produce blue fire, not even my own father or your brother. Your natural talent is undeniable, I see that, just as Harry sees it."
"Harry's emerald fire was the only one I knew that could burn as hot as mine," She replied thoughtfully. "Tell me, Uncle, is it possible for you to teach me Harry's fiendfyre technique? If anyone could have figured it out, it would been you or Father. And I know that Father certainly hasn't figured out when last I saw him, the whole Fire Nation would know if he had managed it."
"Alas, dear Princess, I have not," Uncle Iroh admitted. "I most certainly have tried, as have all the best scientists and combatants in the Fire Nation. Making shapes with fire is possible, of course, but I have not been able to manipulate my fire to burn as hot as Harry's. Nor have I been able to control it the same way he controls his. He is an enigma, and I have a feeling that his fiendfyre is not the only trick he has up his sleeves."
"He was studying lightning with you, was he not?" Azula frowned thoughtfully.
"He was," Uncle Iroh confirmed. "It is possible that he might have developed some new techniques, all we can hope for is that it is not us he uses them against."
"He wouldn't harm us, harm me, not intentionally anyway," Azula frowned.
"My dear, Princess Azula, do not underestimate what a man might do when pushed in a war," Uncle Iroh warned her. "Harry is not a perfect man, he has his faults, as do we all. But he is undoubtedly a good man, and that makes him dangerous."
"Being good makes him dangerous, why?" Azula asked, hanging off his every word.
"Good men have too many rules," Uncle Iroh said, leaning forward and staring at her. "But here's the thing, good men don't need rules. A strong warrior fears strength, an intelligent warrior considers their opponent's intellect and a wise warrior will fear the type of person they are fighting. A man with no rules can be predicted, but a good man...if you push him hard enough to disregard his rules, give him good enough reason to no longer limit his strength, then that is no longer a man, that is a storm, a storm that will destroy everything it can. When the push came, Harry destroyed half of the Fire Nation's fleet, our navy power is still recovering."
"What are you saying?" Azula took a deep breath, awaiting his answer.
"Consider your approach wisely, Princess Azula," Uncle Iroh told her. "A good man when pushed becomes a storm, which leads me to wonder. What happens when a dragon is pushed?"
"So, this is nice," Aang said in an upbeat voice as he and the group sat with the Beifong family for dinner. Harry couldn't help but snort at that as he looked around.
The house was pretty extravagant, very clean and screamed rich. There were guards all around the room, naturally, he didn't doubt that they were mostly here for him. Not that any of them would likely be able to stop him, slow him down perhaps, but that's it. The family consisted of only three: Lao Beifong, his wife, Poppy, and their blind daughter, Toph. Lao was sat at the head of the table, as expected, and to his right sat Toph and then his wife and following her was Yu, the man in charge of the Earthbending Academy that the gang had tried before finding Toph. On Lao's other side was Aang, followed by Katara and Sokka. Meanwhile, Harry sat opposite Lao, the group quietly and calmly eating, even Sokka managed to eat his food rather than breathe it straight into his stomach.
"Daddy," Toph whispered to her father while gently tugging on his sleeve, causing him to lean down and place his ear next to her mouth. "Can I sit with the Emerald Dragon? Pretty please!" She begged, trying to sound as girly as possible.
"No, Princess, he could be dangerous," Lao explained, sounding quite firm on the matter before he leaned back and turned his attention back to his food, missing the scowl on his daughter's face. Though Lao did notice when a servant walked into the room, placing a small bowl of soup in front of Toph, he eyed the bowl with a frown.
"It's too hot for her," He decided. "Blow on it," He ordered the servant.
"Oh, allow me," Aang said politely before sending a small tornado at the bowl, cooling it down.
"Thank you, Avatar," Lao said appreciatively. "I must say, we were surprised to learn that you came to see us."
"Naturally," Poppy spoke up. "Though please don't believe we mean that in a bad way. We are quite honoured to host you and your friends."
"What? Even that one?" Sokka blurted out, gesturing to Harry, earning a slap on the back of his head from Katara.
"Thank you, we're all grateful for the hospitality you've shown us," Aang replied.
"It is our genuine pleasure," Lao waved him off. "Though now that you are here, I hope you don't mind if we talk for a bit. I'm curious, young Avatar, how long do you believe this war will last?"
"Well," Aang coughed. "Hopefully not that long. I'd like to defeat the Fire Lord by the end of summer, to do that I need to master the elements. I've got air down, I'm near enough there with water, and my final element is fire but I can't get to that without finding an earthbending teacher first. Oh, and we're also hoping to get someone to teach Harry as well."
"Teach you?" Toph asked quickly, staring in Harry's direction.
"Yep," Harry nodded. "I know bits and pieces of earthbending but I need a proper teacher, much like Aang. I suppose I could just keep learning and teaching myself, but that'd take too long, and we're on a bit of a time limit, as you can all imagine."
"Then I suppose you'd be looking for Master Yu," Lao gestured to Yu who puffed up slightly. "He's been teaching Toph since she was little."
"So, she must be a great earthbender then?" Aang asked quickly.
"Miss Beifong only knows the basics," Yu replied. "For a beginner, she is admittedly good, but hardly a master. A long way from that, I would say," He said, staring at Aang and therefore missing Toph grinding her teeth together.
"Unfortunately, my daughter's blindness prevents her from truly excelling," Lao said with a deep sigh. "I doubt she will ever become a master,"
"I don't know, maybe she's better than you think she is," Aang said, trying to keep his voice neutral, though not quite managing it.
"Anyway," Harry cut in. "Back to us finding a teacher,"
"I would be happy to teach you both," Yu said with what he hoped was his most pleasant smile. He couldn't imagine it, teaching both the Avatar and the Emerald Dragon would shoot his school's reputation high enough up into the air that it would probably be able to touch the moon. The two most famous benders in the world, both of which are capable of bending multiple elements, in his school? The possibilities were endless! If things went well it could lead to more students than ever before! More students means more money which means more schools which means more students and even more money!
"Hmm," Harry looked at him and stared for a couple of moments. "Master Yu, was it? Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you not the owner of the earthbending academy in Gaoling?"
"Yes, I am," Master Yu smirked. "I'm glad you have heard about it. Have you had the chance to visit it? The finest school in the city, I'm sure our esteemed host will agree," He added, gesturing to Lao who simply nodded. "So, what say you?" He asked Harry.
"Unfortunately, you're not what we need," Harry said bluntly, quickly wiping the smile off of Master Yu's face.
"What?" He blinked but Harry had already turned his attention to his right.
"Alright, it's time to make things awkward. We'll probably get kicked out now so have you guys all eaten?" He asked his friends.
"Yep," Aang nodded.
"Yes," Katara said.
"Nearly done!" Sokka said, biting down on a chicken leg.
"Close enough," Harry said, turning his attention to Lao. "Aang, as the Avatar, has many responsibilities, including mastering the elements. A short while back, Aang experienced a vision,"
"Thanks to weed," Aang nodded when Yu and the Beifong family all stared at him.
"Oh yeah, I had brought some and he had got into my bag," Sokka added. "Then one thing led to another and I..."
"Shut the fuck up," Harry told him through gritted teeth before taking a deep breath. "Anyway," He said, turning back to the Beifongs. "A while back, Aang had a vision,"
"Thanks to some weed?" Poppy felt the need to ask.
"Yep," Harry said tightly. "This was shortly after the Fire Nation attacked Omashu, during that attack we met with King Bumi, arguably the best earthbender currently alive, unfortunately, he is not capable of teaching Aang and me. He advised us to find another earthbender, One who, according to King Bumi, has mastered listening and then striking."
"You mean me?" Toph whispered to herself.
"What?!" Lao sharply turned to his daughter. Apparently, she had not been as quiet as she had originally thought. "Toph, what are you talking about? My dear, you're good for your age, especially given your...um...situation. But you're hardly a master, my dear."
"Not that the Emerald Dragon is suggesting that, of course," Poppy quickly added before turning to Harry who was staring at the pair of Beifong adults. "You're not, are you?" She frowned deeply.
"Aang, in his dream, saw what he says was a young girl along with a flying pig," Harry continued speaking.
"Boar," Aang coughed.
"A flying boar," Harry amended. "The symbol of your family, is it not?"
"What are you trying to say?!" Lao demanded.
"Well, basically, it's like this, we think that..."
"Basically, we need your daughter to train Aang and Harry," Sokka cut in bluntly. "What?" He asked when everyone stared at him, only to receive a dope slap on the back of his head from Harry. "Ow!"
"Not quite how I was going to put it, but yeah, pretty much," Harry sighed. "Aang had a vision of his earthbending teacher, we believe that teacher to be your daughter."
"My blind daughter?!" Lao asked with disbelief and a fair bit of anger. "You expect me to let you, the most feared man in the world, come in here to my home and demand I give you my blind and fragile daughter?!"
"No, I expect you to let me, the most feared man in the world, come into your home and convince you to give us permission for your daughter to teach him," Harry pointed at Aang. "There is a war going on, you know, we believe that your daughter is essential to stopping that war."
"You're far crazier than the rumours about you say," Poppy glared at him.
"Possibly," Harry nodded at that. "But I'm not lying, I meant every word I said."
"You refuse my offer to attend my school, the best in the land, just so you can ask to be trained by one of my own students?!" Master Yu cut in disbelievingly. "Not even one of my best students, out of all of them, you choose the blind twelve-year-old? No offence," He added quickly to Toph.
"Taken," She gritted out, glaring at him.
"Look," Harry said, ignoring Yu. "You think I enjoy coming into someone's home and saying 'Hey, can I borrow your daughter to help stop a war? I'll have her back before her bedtime'? I don't, it's awkward to say the least."
"It is pretty awkward," Katara agreed before sipping on some juice.
"Try being the one talking," Harry told her before turning his attention back to the Beifongs. "So...can we borrow your daughter for a bit?" He asked, cringing as he did so.
"Oh, if you want," Lao said, pleasantly.
"Really?" Aang blinked.
"NO! Not really!" Lao snapped at him, causing Aang's eyes to widen as he leaned back in his chair. "Are you kidding me?" He turned his attention back to Harry as he stood up. "Are you perhaps insane?!"
"I left the realm of sanity a very long time ago," Harry confirmed with a nod.
"That must explain it!" Lao glared, looking far from amused.
"You really need me?" Toph asked seriously, looking right at Harry.
"Toph," Lao began but Toph quickly spoke again.
"You're not joking? You need me?" She asked, sounding almost hopeful.
"I'll be honest with you," Harry told her in a serious voice. "If it was up to me then you'd be nowhere near any of us, war is not something anyone should be involved in."
"I'm not weak!" Toph snapped.
"Of course not," Harry agreed easily. "But still...it's not something I wish on anyone. You're young, you should be enjoying your life, not helping protect the world. Unfortunately, the ones before us messed things up so there are not really many options available. Yeah, we do need you, but if you don't want to help us then that's fine."
"What?!" Aang blurted out. "But Harry...my vision, she's the..."
"We're not forcing her," Harry said firmly, he turned to Toph. "If you don't want to help us then that's fine, we can find another teacher, but you are the one we want."
"Enough!" Lao slammed his hands down on the table. "I've allowed this nonsense to go on far longer than I should have. I think it's far past time for you to leave, I dare say that you have overstayed your welcome."
"I'll do it," Toph decided, silencing the whole room. "I'll train you, both of you." She told Harry and Aang.
"Toph!" Poppy gasped.
"Toph, stop this," Lao said firmly. "You can't teach them, either of them. You're blind! You're not strong enough. You're delicate and fragile! You could get seriously hurt!"
"I am not fragile!" Toph snapped, standing up, causing her chair to fall back. "I'm the greatest earthbender in this whole city! Probably the whole world! I'm strong! I'm tough!"
"You're Toph!" Poppy cut in. "Our daughter! You can't even see! How can you be the greatest earthbender?"
"I must agree," Master Yu cut in with a frown as he looked at Toph, speaking in a tone that was practically screamed condescending. "You're earthbending is basic, and barely at that, though you are doing quite well for someone with your condition."
"I've been holding back in classes!" Toph revealed.
"I doubt that," Yu snorted, only to yelp as a block of earth shot out from the ground, hitting the bottom of his chair and sending him falling to the ground.
"I'm strong!" Toph told her parents, ignoring the groans from Yu. "I've been holding back in classes because you all treat me like a little flower or something! As if I'll break the second something touches me! But I won't! I'm strong! I can fight! I've never even been beaten before! Not until I fought him at least," She added, gesturing to Aang.
"You fought the Avatar?!" Lao shrieked, looking back and forth between the two of them.
"I've been entering fighting tournaments!" Toph blurted out before Aang could say anything. "I met these guys there and they followed me here. I've never lost a single fight before the Avatar himself!"
"You are our daughter!" Poppy said, also standing up. "We know you! We know you better than anyone else! You're not a fighter!"
"Well, I sure as hell ain't a lover! Put me against any earthbender you want!" Toph challenged. "I'll beat them, I'll beat them all. I'm sick and tired of staying here, doing nothing! I want to do something! Something useful! Something helpful! I want to be more than just that rich blind kid! I finally have a chance to be who I want! Who I am!"
"What would you know about who you are?!" Lao replied. "You're a child!"
"Perhaps a test," Master Yu suggested, having finally got up from the floor and was also standing up, though noticeably leaning on the table and rubbing his back with one hand. "I'll set up a match with my best student and then you're daughter can see what a real earthbending fight will feel like." He told the parents, both of whom looked hesitant. "A bit of tough love is needed every now and then," He added in a soft voice. "I assure you, it's the best way to deal with this."
"Very well," Lao said reluctantly. "I see no other way to break her of this foolishness," He gritted out. "Toph, once you have this fight and lose, you will then promise me that you'll quit this foolishness. I will not have you traipsing around and jumping into fights. The last thing I need is a rock smashing your brain out."
"And when I win, you're going to let me join the Emerald Dragon and the Avatar," Toph declared. "And when I help them win this war, I'm expecting a few hundred butt-loads of 'I'm sorry' from all of you."
"We'll see," Lao sniffed. The Beifongs stood there, still as statues, leaving the room in a very awkward silence.
"So...this is a really nice blend," Aang spoke up, taking a sip of his tea.
"Hmm," Harry took a sip of his own. "Eh...five out of ten."