After a totally bearable almost assassination brought by a man who could blow things up with his mind, it was clear that the gang was being hunted. They managed to shake off "combustion man", as Sokka called him, for now, but Naia's stomach sank when she thought of the day he would catch up to them. The gang travelled to Avatar Roku's island, who through the spirit world communicated with Aang on how the war began, and how Firelord Sozin was Avatar Roku's close friend. Naia suggested that they possibly might have been more than friends but the gang quickly shut down her idea.
As the days of the invasion grew nearer, Aang practiced hard. Toph used her earth bending, while Katara and Naia used their water bending at him. Aang was doing well, but needed a bit more practice. On one day, Toph suggested that Aang would be blind folded, using seismic sense to guide him. Everything was going according to plan until tensions rose between Katara and Toph, who instead of fighting Aang began to fight each other.
"Guys! Please!" Aang pleaded with them. Toph and Katara did not listen, as they continued to fight with one another. "Stop!"
The two essentially wrestled each other in the mud. Toph used her earth bending to splash Katara, ultimately splashing Naia in the face with mud as well. Naia used her water bending to wrap a tentacle of water around each of their waists, pulling them apart. "What has gotten into you two? I thought the whole point was to be fighting Aang," Naia said, still not letting them go.
"Yeah...," Aang said sheepishly.
"Okay, I think we've had enough training for today," Katara said gruffly, brushing off some of the mud from her arms and wading through it back towards camp.
Naia narrowed her eyes at Toph for getting mud in her hair. "You splashed me with mud too," Naia said.
"Oops," Toph shrugged.
Naia turned towards Aang. "I'm going to go clean up," She said.
A little while later, Naia was helping Katara make some food when Sokka, Toph, and Aang returned from the nearby village with bags of stuff. "Where did you guys get the money to buy all of this?" Naia asked as Sokka set down a heavy bag right next to her. "I didn't have to be your sugar mommy for once," She teased.
"Toph got us money!" Aang said cheerfully. "She scammed one of those guys in town who moved shells around all sneaky-like."
"She used earth bending to win the game!" Sokka said. "Classic."
"Ah, so she cheated," Katara pointed out.
"I only cheated because he was cheating," Toph said defensively. "I cheated a cheater."
"We shouldn't make a habit of doing this," Katara said.
"Why? Because it's fun and you hate fun?" Toph took a bite out of her apple.
"I don't hate fun!" Katara exclaimed.
"What do you think, Naia?" Aang asked. The entire group turned towards her.
"If you're cheating a cheater that's fine. Just don't be stupid and get caught," Naia shrugged.
Sokka ran over and slung his arm around her. "My girlfriend, ladies and gentlemen," He said. Naia smiled at him.
☽
"Guys, I think these scams have gone far enough," Katara said. It was clear that Toph was scamming way too much. They came back home, their arms barely able to carry the sheer amount of stuff they won. "If you keep doing them something bad will happen."
"Could you lighten up for once?" Toph grumbled.
"You think I should be more like you?" Katara asked. "Like some wild child?"
"Who cares? We're traveling around the world, making easy money, with no annoying parents around telling us what to do," Toph explained, leaning her back against a rock.
Katara nodded. "Oh, I see. You're acting like this because of your parents."
Toph's face fell slightly. Katara clearly struck a chord. "Whatever."
"They were controlling over you, so you ran away. Now you act like you hate them, but you don't. You just feel guilty. I think you miss them. But instead of feeling your feelings, you act like a crazy person."
Toph frowned. "I ran away to help Aang," She stood up.
"These scams put us all at risk and we don't need that right now," Katara said.
"We already have combustion man after us," Naia added.
"We have enough money, you need to stop this!" Katara demanded.
Toph clenched her fist. "I'll stop when I want to stop!" She exclaimed, brushing past Katara and sitting on the ground. She made her own rock tent and closed all the openings.
Katara was about to run after her but Naia put her hand on Katara's shoulder. "Don't," Naia said calmly. "Let her blow off some steam."
"Speaking of money, I'm off to spend it," Sokka said. "Naia, are you coming?"
"We're going shopping?" Naia lit up.
"Yes, shopping," Sokka said with a nod. Naia beamed and began to walk with him back into town. They walked to town with their hands interlocked. "I actually had a place in mind for you," Sokka said. "Wait! Close your eyes!" He exclaimed.
"Sokka—" Naia started, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Do it!" He pleaded. Naia sighed and closed her eyes. She felt Sokka's hand intertwine with her and lead her into a store.
"I wonder what it is," Naia thought out loud.
"Open your eyes," He said. Naia's eyes fluttered, seeing shelves and shelves of books. She gasped, running her hands along the spine of each book.
"There's so many books in here!" She smiled.
Sokka leaned against the edge of a bookshelf. "Buy any book you want," He said.
"Really?" She almost squealed.
"Of course," Sokka said smoothly.
Naia ran up to him. Sokka wrapped her arm around the lowest part of her waist as she threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you thank you thank you!" Naia repeated, shopping around. After a hard decision process, Naia settled on eleven different books. She was more than ecstatic to start reading them.
When they exited the store, Naia had to hold her books while Sokka bought a messenger hawk, who he named "Hawky". Then, they quickly exchanged what they were holding, with Naia holding Hawky and Sokka holding the eleven books she purchased. They passed by what looked like a wanted poster. What caught Naia's eye was how much the poster looked like Toph.
"Wow, that looks a lot like Toph," Sokka commented.
Naia's stomach dropped when she got a closer look at it. "It is Toph. We have to warn the rest of the group!" She exclaimed, swiping the poster off of the wall and picking up her pace.
"Wait!" Sokka called after her, trying to balance all eleven of Naia's books and he rushed after her. Once they reached back to camp, Katara and Aang were down in the quarry practicing their water bending. Toph sat and played around with a rock.
"Toph, we found something in town that you're not going to like," Sokka said. He sat down all eleven of Naia's books and pulled out the wanted poster from behind his back.
"Well it sounds like a piece of paper," Toph said sassily.
Naia smacked Sokka's shoulder. "It's a wanted poster, of you," She answered. "They nicknamed you 'The Runaway'."
"That's so great!" Toph said cheerily. "I love my new name! Is there a picture of me? Do I look good?"
"If you want to look like an angry little gremlin with spiky teeth then yeah, the picture looks great," Naia said.
"You're missing the point!" Sokka said. "These scams are drawing too much attention to us."
"Don't be such a worry wart like your sister," Toph sighed. "Think of it this way: now you have enough money for the invasion plan," She said, dangling the pouch of money in front of Sokka's face.
"Toph, I—" Naia started.
Toph took out a few gold pieces. "Come on, icy. Why don't you buy yourself a few new outfits or something."
Naia narrowed her eyes at Toph before taking a couple of the coins. "I do like clothes," She said pensively.
"Now this wanted poster—" Toph said, snatching it from Sokka's hands and putting it in her pocket. "—is our little secret."
As Toph walked away, Sokka and Naia exchanged looks. "Did we just get paid off?" Naia asked. Sokka shrugged.
☽
The next day, Toph and Sokka went back into town again to scam some more. Katara was clearly upset about it, but decided to turn her attention towards making some soup. Naia practiced some of her sword fighting form. It's been a while since she's been able to practice her form, so she decided to use this time to perfect it.
"Oh look who decided to show up," Katara griped. "Off scamming again?"
"Yes, we were," Toph answered honestly, setting down the large bag of coins she amassed.
Katara stood up from her pot and crossed her arms over her chest. "And I suppose you don't think what you're doing is dangerous at all?"
"No, I don't," Toph answered shortly.
"Well then, what's this?" Katara interrogated, pulling out the wanted poster from her waistband.
"I don't know! Seriously, what is wrong with you people? I'm blind!" Toph exclaimed.
"It's a wanted poster of you," Katara said.
Toph clenched her fists. "Where did you get that?"
Katara crossed her arms defensively. "It doesn't matter where I got it."
Toph gasped. "You went through my stuff!" She exclaimed.
"I did not!" Katara lied. "Your stuff was messy and I happened to stumble across it."
"You're lying!" Toph pointed at her.
"Fine, it's a lie. But you've been so out of control lately, I knew something was up!" Katara said, holding out the paper in front of Toph. Toph ripped it from her hands and tossed it aside. She brushed by Katara and began to walk away. "Don't walk away when I'm talking to you!"
"Oh really, mom?" Toph challenged. "What are you gonna do, send me to my room?"
"I wish I could," Katara grumbled.
"Well, you can't. Because you're not my mom, and you're not their mom!" Toph said, gesturing to where Naia, Sokka, and Aang were sitting. "You think it's your job to boss everyone around but it's not. You're just a regular kid, like the rest of us, so stop acting like you can tell me what to do!"
"I don't act that way," Katara said in disbelief. "Sokka, do I act motherly?"
Sokka visibly stiffened. "I'm staying out of this one," He said.
"What do you think, Aang?" Katara asked. "Naia?"
Naia avoided eye contact. "Well...sometimes—"
"Stop mumbling when you talk!" Katara commanded.
"Yes mom," Naia said with a cheeky smile. Katara did not look pleased, but it at least earned a smile from Sokka.
"I can't be around you right now!" Toph exclaimed, stalking away. Katara grunted from frustration and stalked away as well.
A little while later, Toph was still in her rock tent that she made and Katara was sitting near the edge of a cliff. The tensions were still high, so Naia tried her best not to disturb them. She sat on a rock and sharpened her katana.
"Hey," She heard Sokka's voice say.
Naia looked up and smiled at him. "Hey," She said back. Sokka sat next to her and put his hand on her thigh. Her cheeks heated up, just as they did when they first met.
"I have a question," Sokka said. "When you and Yue used to fight, how did you guys make up?"
Naia's stomach clenched. She didn't like to think of the limited times she spent fighting with Yue when she was alive. However, Sokka probably wanted to know. "Girls fight like this all the time. Remember that huge fight we had before she passed away?"
Sokka nodded. "Yeah. The one that you told me about that one night."
"She wrote me a letter and slid it under my door," Naia responded, smiling to herself. "I still have it and sometimes I pull it out to read it. She was...honest with me and it felt nice. Sometimes, apologies can seem meaningless. But if it comes from the heart it means a lot more."
Sokka smiled and kissed Naia. "Thank you," He said before running off. Naia shook her head and continued to sharpen her katana.
A little while later, she heard Katara groan loudly. "I know this is from you guys! Toph can't write! You guys are driving me crazy!" She hollered, storming off towards the quarry.
Naia walked over to a defeated Aang and Sokka and smacked them both on the head. "Did you guys think this through?"
"No..." Aang said defeatedly.
"When I gave the advice about apologizing in a letter, I didn't think you would do it now," Naia said, looking towards Sokka. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. She stuck her hand out to Sokka and Aang, helping them up. "Come on, let's do this the old fashioned way. Aang, you talk to Katara. Sokka and I will talk to Toph."
Sokka and Naia walked towards Toph, who sat with her back facing away from the camp. She gently placed her hand on Toph's shoulder. "Come on, we need to talk," She said softly.
Toph's face still looked displeased, but she sighed and stood up. Naia and Sokka led her towards the cliff side, that overlooked the horizon. They sat with their feet dangling off the edge.
"Let me guess. You guys brought be out here to tell me that Katara is not as annoying as I make her out to be," Toph grumbled.
"Nah, she's kind of a pain," Sokka said. Naia glared at him. Sokka gave her a look back and Naia backed off. "She's bossy and always gets involved in your business."
"I don't know how you put up with her," Toph said.
"Actually, I kind of rely on it," Sokka said.
"How?" Toph asked.
"When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life. Our family was a mess. But Katara, she had so much strength. She stepped up and took on responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom."
Naia's heart sank. Sokka rarely talked about his mother, even when she would ask him. She was glad he was talking about her now, and that he felt safe to do so. "I've never told anyone this before, but I'm not sure what my mother looked like. It really seems like my whole life, Katara has been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there."
Naia wanted to cry, but held back her tears for Toph's sake. "The truth is, Katara does act motherly, but that's not always a bad thing," Toph agreed.
Naia lightly sighed. "Katara is the most caring person you will ever meet. She's so mature for her age. Sure, she worries a lot, but it's from a good place. She only wants what's best for all of us."
"Katara actually cares about me, the real me," Toph said, wiping a tear away from her eye. "That's more than my own mom," She said. Toph punched both Sokka and Naia's shoulders. "Don't ever tell her I said this!"
"Hey, my lips are sealed," Sokka said, rubbing his shoulder.
☽
Katara and Toph made up, and to the entire group's surprise, Katara suggested that Toph and her pull one last huge scam. By now, the sun was setting and painted the sky and orange and yellow color.
"Shouldn't they have been back by now?" Naia asked.
"We should go find them," Aang suggested.
The three of them walked down to the town again, searching through the streets for any sign of Katara and Toph. "I really hope this plan didn't backfire," Naia said nervously.
"Where is everybody?" Aang asked. "There's nobody out on the streets."
As the boys looked around, Naia decided to look up. She met eyes with a large man who had dark colored irises. Her blood ran cold. Naia gasped. "Look out!" She screamed.
She dove towards Sokka and Aang as "Combustion man" blew up a nearby fountain. They worriedly looked up at the man, who now jumped down from the building and landed on the ground. Sokka grabbed Naia's hand and helped him stand up. The three of them took of running, with combustion man blowing up everything in sight behind them. They ran and took cover behind a large crate.
"This guy is too dangerous," Naia said, taking in a shaky breath.
"We need to split up," Aang said. "He can't chase all three of us."
Aang jumped on top of a building as Naia booked it in the opposite direction. She whipped around a corner and started to run back towards the town square. She quickly flipped open the cap to her water skin and shot icicles at the man's back. He stopped and angrily turned around. Naia gulped, readying her water to strike again. However, she didn't. Katara encased his entire head in ice and he fell over.
"Aang, get up!" Katara shouted. She stuck out her hand and pulled him up. "Let's get out of here."
The group ran as fast as they possibly could back towards camp. Naia thought they denitkg had enough of this town and they ought to keep moving.
A/N: this cheater is lowkey shit💀 but it's okay i'm excited for what's coming! anyways thank you guys so much for 2k reads!!!! ❤️❤️