Freedom

Chapter 46: The Smooth Stone

Katara sat down next to them, with her legs crossed in front of her. Sokka and Aang watched her with confused and conflicted eyes. Slowly, she reached into her pocket and picked up the small scroll, placing it in front of them with the the fire nation insignia facing up.

They stared at it with wide eyes. Sokka furrowed his brow, "What is this Katara?" He said, picking up the paper and unrolling the scroll. His eyes flitted across the page and the blood drained from his face. He looked back at Katara, his face contorting with anger.

"I knew it!" Sokka threw down the paper into the dirt, "I freaking knew it! I knew he would betray us!"

Katara's cool forgiving nature seemed long forgotten as her face sat hard as stone. Aang picked up the scroll, having to read it for himself, "How do we know he did it? Maybe he didn't send Azula the plan?"

Katara pulled the other scroll out of her pocket, "I wish that were the case..." she let out a breath, "We need to make a plan here... I don't-..." her voice trailed off. Sokka nodded, seeing the conflict on her face and knowing he needed to step in, "Okay, does Toph know?" He asked her. Katara nodded, "She was there when I found it"

Sokka put a delicate hand to his chin, his face scrunched in concentration, "At this point, we don't know what the fire nation knows... I say we wait until Toph brings him back and find out" he slammed his fist into his palm aggressively.

Aang and Katara gave a solid nod in agreement, growing quiet on the topic as they moved about camp. Sokka sharpened his boomerang while Aang brushed Appa. Katara sat quiet, staring off into the distance and waiting for two figures to come over the horizon.

Toph and Zuko walked through the small village. Zuko looked down at the few bronze coins sitting in his hand, feeling the weight of them. He let out a breath, knowing it was not nearly enough to buy food for the 5 humans and 2 animals of the group. But it was all they had left.

Whenever they had saved a village, or done a good deed, the village would often reward them with coins or food. It was how they had gotten by their entire journey. But going into hiding had diminished their entire income. They hadn't received any gifts since Katara saved the river village.

Now they were down to just a few bronze pieces and very little food left. They still had a week before the invasion, where they knew all of their friends and allies would bring food from across their nations. They just had to make it one more week.

Zuko mused this aloud, asking Toph how they were going to stretch the few bronze coins. But Toph didn't seem to notice, her blank gaze drawn out in front of her and her feet listening in a different direction.

She finally shook herself back to reality, ""Huh? Oh right. The money" she thought for a second then smirked, "I know exactly how we're going to make some more cash"

Toph walked up the street, a pep in her step that wasn't quite seen back at the camp. She walked straight towards the town center, her feet leading the way. Zuko followed her, very confused as to where she was so determinedly headed.

She stopped, pointing towards a grimy man sitting in front of a low table, a small stone and three shells sitting in front of him. The man had an eery feeling around him, his partner standing over his shoulder with the same grimy look. But their dirtiness didn't come from their clothes or appearance, in fact they looked quite clean for street dwellers. But Zuko and Toph watched as another man, around his mid-30s, walked up to the table and tossed the man a few coins. The street con looked up at him through his streaks of greasy black hair, showing a smirk that was severely missing teeth.

They watched as the gambler confidently guessed the third shell, but when the con man moved it aside, the stone was not inside. The gambler's mouth fell agape, having been positive as to where the stone fell. But he grumbled under his breath before leaving his coins behind and walking away from the stand.