Fire spewed out of a giant statue of Ozai's mouth in the appropriately named Fire Fountain City.
Toph screamed as she was snared by a net. Zuko made it a few steps farther before he too was captured.
He didn't care about the net, or the sneering guards eager to capture the traitor prince. He only cared about the no-good, falcon fox-faced backstabber who'd turned him in.
"How could you do this to me?" he screamed. "I sacrificed everything for you!"
Katara turned away. "I had no choice. I'm too smart to trust a traitor, Prince Zuko."
---
Three days earlier...
Katara tied Rina's spare headband around her eyes. "Alright, I'm ready for training!" She stomped on the ground, waves of seismic sense radiating from her foot.
Toph bent several columns of rock at her, and she dodged them with ease. Zuko bent a wave of fire, which she also dodged. She hurled a boulder at Toph, who caught it with one hand.
"Alright, Sugar Queen. Remember, visualize, then attack!"
She hurled the boulder back at Katara, who ducked to avoid it. Then Toph kicked up a wave of dirt in Katara's face.
Katara spat it out. "Hey!"
"What, can't take a little dirt, Madame Fussybritches?"
Katara bent a wave of water at her. "Oh, sorry, did I splash you, Mud Slug?"
Zuko looked between the two girls who were wrestling in the mud. "Are we taking a break?"
Sokka rushed towards him. "Yaaah sneak attack!"
Zuko didn't even bother turning to look, easily sweeping Sokka's leg out from under him. "Sokka, sneak attacks don't work if you yell them out."
"Hungry for a mud pie?" Toph screamed.
"I'll give you a mud pie!"
Rina walked up to them with a bag of groceries. "Did I miss something?"
---
Katara stayed back at camp to clean up while the others walked through Fire Fountain City.
"Look at all these messenger hawks," Sokka said. "You know, I've been thinking about getting one for myself. That way, I don't have to talk to any of you! I could just send you messages."
"Gotta say, I like the idea of not talking to you," Toph joked.
Rina held up a coin. "So, what are we going to get with our last silver piece?"
"We could get more money." Toph pointed to a con man playing a shell game. "That's where you seeing people are at a disadvantage. Everyone guesses wrong because the dealer moves the rock at the last minute. But I can feel it with my earthbending."
"Alright," Zuko said. "Let's go scam a scammer."
The four walked down to the man. The dealer spotted Toph. "You there! Want to play a friendly game?"
"How could I possibly play?" Toph asked innocently. "I'm blind."
"You don't have to see to get lucky."
She groped her way to the table and sat down. The dealer moved the rock from shell to shell, tossing it into his sleeve and slipping it into another shell, and then stopped. Toph sensed the rock and pointed to the shell and the dealer tossed her some money.
"Nice job, Toph," Rina said.
"Wow, fancy guessing. You are amazing at this. Would you like to make it a little more interesting?"
"More interesting?" Toph asked. "How?"
"Well, let's say you toss in your friends' fine swords." He nodded to Sokka's space sword and Zuko's dao swords. "Then I'll put up forty silver pieces against it, and that's more interesting."
"Make it sixty," Zuko said.
"Sixty silver pieces it is."
The shuffling this time was even faster and more confusing. Zuko, Rina, and Sokka looked from shell to shell, having long since lost track of where the rock was.
The dealer flicked the rock up into his sleeve, and Toph curled her fingers, bending it back into the shell. She pointed to the shell.
"Sorry little lady, but...huh?"
Toph cheered and picked up her bag of silver. "I won!"
---
"Where did you get the money to buy all this stuff?" Katara asked as the four walked into the camp, arms laden with provisions.
"Toph got us money," Rina explained. "She scammed one of those guys in town who moves the shells around all sneaky-like."
"She used earthbending to win the game," Sokka added. "Classic!"
"Ah, so she cheated."
Toph held up her hands in surrender. "Hey, I only cheated because he cheated. I cheated a cheater. What's wrong with that?"
Katara rubbed her forehead. "Zuko, I thought you'd be more mature than this."
"More mature than what?" Zuko asked. "I scammed people all the time."
"You scammed people?"
"Yeah. It was the easiest scam ever. I'd put my swords to their throats and they'd give me their money."
Katara gritted her teeth. "I'm just saying, we shouldn't make a habit of doing these scams."
"Why?" Toph asked. "Because it's fun?"
"I don't hate fun!" Katara grabbed Tikaani and put him on her head. "See? Fun!"
"Katara," Zuko said cautiously, "I don't know how to put this, but I think your sharp tongue has dulled a bit."
"What do you mean? My tongue is still sharp!"
Rina shook her head sadly.
Zuko sighed and bowed to her. "Katara, as Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, I swear to you on my honor that we won't make a habit of these scams."
---
Zuko bowed to the man and they threw their dice. The weighted dice were about to land in the man's favor, but then Rina tilted her head, and a gust of wind knocked them over, giving the game to Zuko.
---
Toph lifted up the mallet and slammed it onto the base of the pole. She used earthbending to rocket the stone disk to the top, ripping the bell out of the pole.
---
Zuko pointed out the richest-looking carriage and Toph shifted her foot. A rock stopped the carriage in its tracks. The man in the carriage leaned out the window, saw Rina lying down in front of it, and turned to run. Then Sokka stepped out of the alleyway, wearing his Wang Fire beard and tapping a cudgel against his hand. The man piled bags of money into his arms.
---
Katara rubbed her forehead. "Guys, these scams have gone far enough. If you keep doing them, something bad is going to happen."
"What do you mean?" Sokka asked. Zuko and Toph ran up, carrying bags of money.
Katara sighed. "Do I even want to know?"
"We did that scam I told you about," Zuko said.
Katara gritted her teeth. "Zuko! You swore to me on your honor that you'd stop this!"
"Katara, I have no honor, remember"
Toph snickered. "You're just jealous that Sparky isn't a sourpuss like you."
"Oh, so I should be more like you? A wild child?"
"Yeah, maybe. Then you'd see how great we have it. I mean, look at us. Traveling the world, making easy money, no parents telling us what to do."
"Ah, I see. You're acting like this because of your parents."
"Whatever."
"They were controlling over you, so you ran away. Both of you. And now you're trying to prove them wrong. You're trying to prove that you're not the weaklings they think you are."
"Pretty much," Zuko said. "I always feared disappointing my father, but now that he can't burn my face, I get a special kind of joy, Sugar Queen."
"Don't call me that! And stop trying to guilt trip me!"
Toph put her hands on her hips. "Oh, you want to talk about guilt tripping? I ran away from home to help you! Zuko betrayed his nation to help you!"
"It doesn't matter! These scams are putting all of us at risk, and we don't need that! We already have some third-eyed freak after us!"
"Speaking of which, I've come up with a name for him," Sokka piped up. "Sparky Sparky Boom Man!"
Everyone gave him a long look.
"Just think about it."
Katara scowled. "We have enough money, guys. Just...stop it."
"We'll stop when we want to stop!"
"Speaking of money, I'm going to go fulfill my dream, now that we have enough money," Sokka said.
---
Sokka held up the messenger hawk as he walked down the street. "Hello, Hawky. Welcome to Team Avatar. I'm Sokka, your new owner. And there's already a chameleon wolf and a sky bison in our group, so no fighting. Good wittle messenger Hawky! Who's got pwetty feathers?"
Then he stopped and did a double take. "Yeah, this is bad."
---
"Toph, when I was in town, I found something you're not going to like." Sokka held up the wanted poster.
"Well it sounds like a piece of paper, but I guess you're referring to what's on the paper."
"It's a wanted poster. Of you. They've nicknamed you 'The Runaway.'"
Toph lit up. "A wanted poster! That's so great! 'The Runaway.' I love my new nickname. Is there a picture of me? Does it look good?"
Sokka checked it against the real Toph. "Well yeah, it is pretty accurate. But Toph, you're missing the point. Maybe Katara was right. These scams are drawing far too much attention to us."
"Don't be a worrywart like your sister. Think of it this way. Now we have more money to help the invasion plan!"
"Well that is true. I'd been planning on making some armor for Sang."
Toph handed him a sack of money. "Here's a little extra to get you a map of the Fire Nation. You know what? Make it an atlas."
"I do like expensive atlases."
"Of course you do. And that's why this poster is going to stay a secret."
---
"Sokka, tell me you didn't just buy a bird."
"Not just a bird," Sokka said. "A messenger bird! Now we can send messages all over the world, including the South Pole!"
"Wow, cool!" Rina gushed, jumping right into their conversation. "How does it work?"
"Hm, I never actually thought about it." He pointed to Hawky. "Rannae, South Pole."
Then Sang roared and Hawky screeched back. "Hawky! Be nice! Bad Hawky!"
---
Zuko and Toph returned from the city, arms laden with money.
Katara scowled. "Well look who's decided to join us. Where have you two been? Off scamming?"
They nodded.
"And I don't suppose you think what you're doing is dangerous at all?"
They shook their heads.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Well then, what's this?" She held up a wanted poster.
"I don't know!" Toph yelled. "I mean seriously, what is it with you people? I'm blind!"
Zuko took the posters. "Toph, you won't believe it! You have a wanted poster!"
"It's awesome, isn't it? Wait, Katara, where did you get that?"
"I doesn't matter. The fact is-"
"You went through my stuff!"
"Your stuff was messy and I was just straightening up when I happened to stumble on it."
"That's a lie! You're lying, Katara!"
"Fine, it's a lie. But you've been so out of control lately that I knew something was up." Toph grabbed the poster and stalked away. "Don't you walk away while I'm talking to you!"
"Oh, really Mom? What are you going to do? Send me to my room?"
"I wish I could."
"But you can't. Because you're not my mom, and you're not their mom. Right?" She looked at Zuko for backup.
He shrugged. "Hey, my mom left when I was two. I'm still a little surprised that Rina and Meelo didn't challenge each other to Agni Kais when we left."
"I said, stop trying to guilt trip me! And I'm not your guys's mom!"
"No, but you certainly act like it. You think it's your job to boss everyone around, but it's not. You may be the Avatar, but you're still a regular kid like the rest of us. We can do whatever we want!"
"I don't act that way! Sokka, do I act motherly?"
"Hey, I'm staying out of this one."
"What about you, Rina?"
Rina rubbed her eyes. "Well, I think-"
"Don't rub your eye and speak clearly when you talk!"
"Yes, Ma'am."
Toph growled. "Well I can't be around you right now!"
"I can't be around you!"
---
"Hey Rina, Zuko, want to test out my messenger hawk?" Sokka asked.
"Sure."
"Yeah."
"I'm going to send a note to Katara and say it's from Toph, who wants to apologize. Then, everyone can be friends again!"
Rina beamed. "I've got to say, Sokka. You always impress me with your ideas."
"I don't know," Zuko said. "I think we're forgetting something."
"Nonsense. It's perfect! Dear Katara, sorry for everything. Your friend, Toph." He slid the message into the tube on Hawky's back. He flew over to Katara, who took out the note and read it.
"I know this is from you, Sokka! Toph can't write! Ugh, you guys are driving me crazy."
Zuko smacked his forehead. "Now I remember what I forgot. Toph can't write."
"Yeah," Sokka said. "We're idiots."
Rina shrugged. "I guess plan B is that we send a note to Toph saying it's from Katara."
"I think we're going to run into a similar problem. Sorry, Hawky. We're going to have to do this without your help."
He walked over to Toph. "Come on, we've got to talk."
---
"So let me guess," Toph said. "You're here to tell me that your sister's not as annoying as I make her out to be."
"Nah, she's pretty much a pain." The two of them were dangling their legs over a cliff, not noticing that Katara was bathing in the river below. She scowled when she heard them. "She's always got to be right about everything, and she's bossy and gets involved in your business."
"Yeah, I don't know how you can deal with it."
"Actually, in a way, I rely on it."
"I don't understand."
"When our parents died, that was the hardest time of my life. There were about thirty of us left in the village and everyone was a mess, but Katara, she had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that everyone we'd lost had left. I think that's why she's such a great Avatar. She's so compassionate and understanding. If Rina, or me, or anyone else had been the Avatar, I doubt we could've mastered the elements like she has. Or managed to get Zuko on our side. Or take care of the team like this."
"I guess I never thought about that."
"I'm going to tell you something crazy. I've never thought about this before, but I'm not sure I can remember what my mother looks like. It really feels like, my whole life, Katara's been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there, and now when I picture my mom, Katara's face is the only one I see."
Toph nodded. "The truth is, Katara does act motherly, but that's not always a bad thing. It's like you said. She's compassionate and kind, and she actually does care about me. You know, the real me. That's not the same as my mom."
Katara lowered her head and closed her eyes.
"Don't tell her I said any of this."
"Hey, my lips are sealed."
---
"Hi, Toph." Katara sat down beside her. "I want to-"
"You don't need to apologize," Toph interrupted. "I was the one being stupid. These scams are out of control and I'm done with them."
"What?" Zuko asked.
Toph gave him a long look.
"Alright. I guess highway robbery was a little much."
"Actually, I wasn't going to apologize," Katara said. "I was going to say...the three of us. Let's pull a scam."
Their jaws dropped, and Toph was the first to recover. "You want to pull a scam?"
"Not just any scam. The ultimate scam. What do you say? The Painted Lady, the Blue Spirit, and the Blind Bandit, one last go."
---
"The plan is simple," Katara said. "Zuko is the traitor prince. He must have quite a price on his head. And Toph, your wanted poster says you're worth ten times more than you've ever made in any of your scams. So I'll turn you in. And then you'll metalbend yourself and Zuko out of there, and I'll collect the reward money."
"How could you do this to me?" Zuko screamed later that day. "I sacrificed everything for you!"
Katara turned away. "I had no choice. I'm too smart to trust a traitor, Prince Zuko."
The mayor walked up as the two were dragged away. "You did the right thing by turning in the Runaway and the traitor prince."
"The right thing is its own reward."
"Well I'm happy to hear you say that."
Katara furiously backtracked. "But I still want the actual reward."
"Of course. Right this way."
---
Zuko and Toph were dragged to a cell and thrown inside.
Toph's eyes widened. "Hey, what kind of cell is this?"
The officer sneered. "A wooden one."
---
"That's her," the mayor said. "That's the girl you were looking for."
Katara gasped when she saw Sparky Sparky Boom Man behind her.
---
"Do you think this scam of theirs should be taking that long?" Rina asked.
"I was just wondering the same thing. Let's check it out." He turned to Hawky and Sang. "You two, behave. Tikaani, you're in charge."
As soon as the pair left, Hawky and Sang resumed their fight. Tikaani barked and they both stopped.
---
Katara grunted as she was thrown into the cell beside them. A small flame was streaming from Zuko's fingers as he tried in vain to burn the wood. "It's no use. The wood is fireproof."
Katara sighed. "This was a trap. I can't believe I was so stupid. I knew these scams were a bad idea."
Toph sputtered angrily. "What? This was your idea!"
"I know. I wanted to show you that I'm not so motherly. That I can have fun too."
"Katara, you are fun. If nothing else, you're fun to argue with."
Zuko nodded. "You're amazing, Katara. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I'd taken the other path and joined Azula, especially in moments like these, but it doesn't really matter. I know that I'd be angry and miserable. Traveling the world, fighting for justice by your side...this is the happiest I've ever been. Even right now."
Katara nodded. "Thank you, Zuko. Really. I'm glad you're with us. And Toph...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said. I know your relationship with your parents is complicated."
"It's ok. I was mad because...well...when I left, I probably really hurt my parents."
A tear rolled down her face and Zuko and Katara both pulled her into a hug.
---
Sokka and Rina walked through the streets of Fire Fountain City, which were oddly deserted.
"Where do you think they might be?" Sokka asked.
Rina scoffed. "Where do you think anyone is?" Then her senses tingled and she knocked Sokka to the side just as an explosive beam hit where he'd been standing. "It's Sparky Sparky Boom Man!"
Sokka rubbed his head. "You know, I'm starting to think that name doesn't quite fit."
---
"What are we going to do?" Zuko asked, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Save your strength," Katara said. "Toph, can you make a saw out of your meteor bracelet?"
"I left it back at camp. I was worried they would take it. Could you do an air slice?"
Katara tried a slice, barely making a dent. "Rina's better at this than I am."
Zuko wiped more sweat from his forehead. "Well, my firebending's useless, and we're in a wooden-" He stopped when Katara started running in place. "Katara? Are you ok?"
"Just fine," Katara panted.
"What are you doing?"
"Making my own water!" She bent the sweat from her forehead into a blade and sliced the bars.
Toph grinned. "Katara, you're a genius! A sweaty, stinky genius!"
---
"This guy is too good!" Sokka yelled, dodging another blast. "He can shoot fire from his brain!"
Rina rolled away. "We should split up. He can't chase us both."
They split. Sparky Sparky Boom Man decided to go after Rina.
Then a bolt of ice encased his head. "Rina!" Katara yelled.
"Let's get out of here!" Toph yelled.
Sparky Sparky Boom Man prepared to fire again, and Toph bent a rock at him. He destroyed it with an explosive blast, but a piece of rubble struck his tattoo. He tried to crate another explosion.
The air around him ignited.
---
"Hey, I got the perfect name for that guy," Sokka said. "Combustion Man!"
"Good job, Sokka," Zuko said. "Now let's get out of here before Combustion Man catches us all."
"See? It's such a great fit."
---
"Well I'm exhausted. Hawky, how about you, little buddy? Yeah, you're such a lazy little bird."
Toph walked up to Katara. "Katara, I need your help."
"What is it?"
"I need you to write some things down for me. I want to send a letter to my parents."
"I'll be happy to help."
---
"Hey, where did Hawky go?"