𝖑𝖔𝖙𝖚𝖘 𝖙𝖊𝖆 - 𝖆𝖙𝖑𝖆

1.2

Lao turned towards Katara with an angered look. "My youngest daughter is blind," he hissed, "and Ren cannot fight. They are tiny, and helpless and fragile! They cannot help you—"

The moment her father uttered those words, Ren's green eyes narrowed. Toph pulled her hand away from his and stepped closer to her sister. "Yes," said the youngest Beifong as she turned towards Katara and Sokka, "we can." She started walking away from Lao, dragging Ren behind her.

The young blind earthbender wanted to fight the kidnappers on her own. Ren stood in between Sokka and Katara, Toph a few feet in front of her, as her little sister threatened the men. One of them threw the metal cage with the avatar to the side, making Ren wince slightly. But she didn't have time to move toward him as the group of kidnappers started running towards them. Her hand went to the handle of her katana quickly, almost as if the gesture was tattooed in her mind, a reoccurring mechanism. She pulled it, the first parts of the shiny blade coming to the surface, and the water tribe siblings stepped forward, but Toph threw her arms in front of them.

"Wait," she said as she listened to the multitude of footsteps, "they're mine."

Both Katara's and Sokka's eyes widened, but Ren wasn't fazed. She knew what her sister was capable of, and her hand let the katana fall back in its scabbard, a relaxed look on her face. She didn't wait to see what Toph was doing when she started running towards Aang's cage. She kneeled in front of it, soon joined by the water tribe siblings. She took one of her shurikens and started hitting the hinges of the metal trap with it, hoping that somehow it would break.

But a body started running towards them, and Sokka's eyes widened when he saw the wide man head right towards Ren, who was standing in front of the metal cage.

"Watch out," he yelled in fright, making Ren turn her head.

Her eyes widened and she let her body fall. Her legs and waist twisted, making her back press against the cold metal of the cage. The man's eyes widened when his passage almost cleared, but he didn't have time to stop. Right as he was about to fall on top of Ren and the cage, the young girl rose her head and pressed the sole of her shoe on the man's lower abdomen. She pushed her body upwards with a grunt, sending the man flying towards the stands with wide eyes and surprised shouts.

She turned back to the metal cage ignoring the looks of surprise at her strength and agility on both Katara's and Sokka's faces. With one last hit of her shuriken to the hinges, the cage broke open and Aang jumped away from it, ready to fight. But Sokka only shook his head and pointed at the cloud of dust, from which Toph's and Aang's kidnappers were being pushed out. Ren watched with a wide smile as Toph managed to bring all the men to their downfall. Toph even beat up probably the meanest of all the kidnappers, and Ren couldn't help but jump in the air with cheers as she watched her sister.

~

The moment she waited for her parent's reaction was tense. Toph uttered her words, explaining how she's grateful for their father's protective self but at the same time denounced the lack of freedom he gave the two girls. Ren watched intensely her father from a few feet behind Toph. The conversation didn't really include her because she didn't use her blades so much that her father would notice. He didn't see the shuriken she had on her or the way her hands gripped her katana, and Ren knew he wasn't mad at her. It was Toph that had to explain herself.

"Of course it doesn't change the way I fell about you, Toph," he said, making a hopeful expression appear on Ren's face, "it's made me realize something."