Fan 'n' Flame; Earth 'n' Sword

Three's Company: Chapter 4

"The Water Tribes weren't meant to go to places like these," Sokka grumbled, wiping the sweat off his brow as they descended deeper into the mine. He glanced at Toph and Satoru ahead of him, who were also sweating, but nowhere near as bad as him.

"Stop being a baby," Toph called back to him, although she was starting to get very annoyed with her bangs clinging together and sticking to her forehead.

"Actually, he's right, there's a reason we don't have the Water Tribe people mining down here," Satoru explained as the path began to level off. "Pretty quickly, we saw Fire Nation people, especially the firebenders aren't as affected by the heat as the Water Tribes or Earth Kingdom, although the earthbenders aren't too bad. I don't think I need to explain why firebenders are best suited to this place."

"Those baths outside the mine seem like a wonderful idea right now," Sokka stated as they reached flat ground. He uselessly fanned himself with his hand. "Why are you even mining so close to a volcano, doesn't that seem like a terrible idea?"

"That's the job of the waterbenders, they keep the water cool for when miners come out, not the most tasking of jobs but an important one," Satoru told him as they continued along the path. He pointed to different streaks of colour along the wall. "We've found huge deposits of minerals. Zinc and copper is plentiful, along with silver and many different gems. Of course, the main reason we're here..." Satoru trailed off. Sokka's jaw dropped as they stepped into a large cavern, lit up by small green glowing crystals. Reflecting the green light and helping illuminate the cavern, golden streaks and patches lined the walls and roof.

"Gold," Sokka finished for him, looking around the cavern, miners walked from place to place, grabbing different tools or using bending to further a dig. They walked towards the middle of the cavern, where a large, muscular man stood looking down over plans. He glanced up to the trio, showing his deeply lined face, and broke into a smile.

"Satoru, good to see you!" the man boomed as the two embraced.

"You as well!" Satoru said as they let go. "This is Honghui, he detailed, and runs the entirety of this operation. Honghui, this is Sokka, of the Southern Water Tribe." Sokka stuck out his hand, and was grasped by the forearm.

"I know the name, you accompanied the Avatar in his journeys during the Hundred Year War and took down a fleet of airships, if I remember correctly." Honghui noted, an impressed look on his face. He glanced at the short, young girl and frowned.

"I don't think this one needs an introduction," Satoru said as he watched Honghui's eyebrows shoot up.

"Toph Beifong." Honghui said, bowing to the girl. "It's an honour to meet you." She returned the bow, but a cocky grin was plastered across her face as she came back up. "Satoru, if you have a moment." Satoru nodded and followed him to the table. Sokka glanced down at Toph, who had her head slightly tilted.

"You okay?" Sokka said and Toph's head went back to the normal angle.

"Yeah, just checking out this room," Toph told him, giving a more exaggerated tap of her foot. "I can't bend certain metals like gold, maybe I'm not good enough yet, but I can still tell they're different to normal rock, and so it gives a strange... feeling when I focus on it."

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked, looking along the gold veins in the walls. Toph thought for a moment, trying to find the right way to describe it.

"I can feel all the earth around us, and I can reach out and grab it, move it, do whatever I want with the earth." Toph explained, giving the ground a light stamp and making a small rock come to her hand. "I can feel the gold and other metals too, but it's like they're just out of my reach." She frowned and left out a small huff. "Every time I try to grasp them, they seemed to move away." She crushed the rock in her hand to dust. "If I could just work out how to get a hold of those metals in my head, I bet I could become an even more powerful metalbender."