After learning about the previous DragonBorn, Zeraphina was even more determined to follow in his footsteps that stop the Fire Lord's reign. She practiced daily on using her fire and even gave a few tips on how to firebend to Aang, but he wasn't exactly excited to do so since his past firebending attempts hurt Katara by accident. During their travels, they were found by a strange assassin that seemed to use a form of firebending. It allowed him to blow up things with just a thought. Thankfully they escaped, but the thought of him following them made Zeraphina uneasy.
After traveling across the waters for some time, the group decided to rest on the outskirts of a small town by the cliffs.
With their campsite secured, Aang got back to training on both his water and earth bending, as well as his physical awareness to his surroundings.
"Ok, I'm ready for some training." He said, tying a blindfold around his head to cover his eyes. Katara, Toph and Zeraphina all stood behind him ready to attack. Aand stomped his foot down hard to the ground, sensing he vibrations of ground below.
Immediately, he could feel that Toph was attacking first, large pillars of earth sprung up from the ground and tried to hit him, but Aang was faster and dodged each attack. He then used his sense of hearing to listen in on the currents Katara was bending. When he heard the water come closer, he spun around and shot the water right back at her.
All of a sudden, he could feel the rush of heat coming towards him and he bent backward to evade the fiery attack before bending a small boulder at Toph. The blind girl caught it and smirked at her student.
"Good job, Twinkle-toes." She praised, "Visualize, then attack." With that she shot the boulder right back at him. Aang dug himself into the ground to dodge, but the boulder hit Katara instead. She fell to the ground grunting from the shock of the boulder.
"Maybe you should take your own advice, Toph." Katara sneered at her while Aang came back to the surface.
"What's the matter? Can't handle some dirt, Madame Fussy Britches?" Toph teased.
"Girls, this is no time for bickering." Zeraphina said and shot a wave of fire at Aang, to which he dodged again. However, Katara didn't listen and bent a large wave of water at Toph, missing Aang, Zeraphina and herself and soaking Toph to the bone.
"Oh, sorry, did I splash you, mud slug?" Katara said.
Both of the girls, furious and annoyed with each other, bent their respective elements and charged at each other. Thankfully Aang stopped them before they could go too far, thinking that it was part of the training session.
"Are we taking a break?" Aang asked.
"This is ridiculous." Zeraphina sighed seeing how the girls were acting towards each other. She walked over to the two of them and contemplated on using her bending against them, but that would only make the situation worse. It wouldn't be right to make them go cold without a proper warning.
Katara and Toph fought in the mud, each one holding the other back as they struggled.
"Hungry for a mud pie?" Toph shouted kicking the mud into Katara's face.
"I'll give you a mud pie!" Katara shouted back and flung Toph into the pool of mud they created. Toph got back up, flung Katara into the nearby wall with her bending and ran after her. But just then, they felt cold, like shivering in the winter cold. They both fell to the ground holding themselves to warm up, but it was no use.
"That's enough of this little fight, girls." Zeraphina said her hand held out and her palm glowing slightly, "We're supposed to be training the Avatar for the solar eclipse, not fighting against each other."
She let her hand down and the girls instantly felt warmer. Katara sighed and brushed off the mud and tried to look put together.
"Very well, pupil. I believe we've had enough training for today." She said then walked away to get washed up.
"While Katara cleans up, let's go have some fun." Toph said, bending the mud off her.
The boys were excited to do so, but Zeraphina was a little unsure about the adventure. Even so, she went with them just in case something went wrong. They all got cleaned up and went to the nearby town to do a little sightseeing and information gathering.
"Look at all those messenger hawks." Sokka said pointing out the messenger hawk outpost, "You know, I've been thinking about getting one for myself. That way I wouldn't have to talk to anyone. I could just send them a message."
"I got to say, I like the idea of not talking to you." Toph chuckled.
"To be honest, Sokka, I don't think it would be a good idea for you to get a messenger hawk. They're a lot of work and take a lot of time to train. Time that we don't have." Zeraphina informed.
"Ugh, you're starting to sound like Katara." Toph groaned.
"So, guys, what are we gonna get with out last silver piece?" Aang asked holding up the money.
"We can get more money. Right there." Toph said and pointed down to an alleyway below. The group huddled closer and looked down to see a small group of people surrounding another man in charge of a small game of chance of gambling.
The four of them went down into the alley and saw the man hide a small stone under one of the three cups, then spinning them around to confuse the others.
This is where you seeing people are at a disadvantage." Toph said, "Everyone guesses wrong because the dealer moves the rock at the last minute. But I can feel it with my earthbending."
"And that is how you're going to win." Zeraphina smiled as the man betting his money picked one of the shells, but it was revealed that he guessed wrong. He cried and was dragged away by some of the other men, letting the shady man see Toph.
"You there." He called out to her, "Want to play a friendly game?"
"How could I possibly play? I'm blind." Toph said.
"You don't have to see to be lucky."
Zeraphina smiled and decided to play with the act, helping Toph to sit down on the ground and guided her hand to the table. Toph almost smiled at the DragonBorn helping her with the charade. Toph pulled out their last silver coin and placed it on the table for the bet. The man set up the game and started shifting around the shells, moving the rock from one sleeve and slipping another rock into a different shell. But Toph felt every movement, quickly picking the shell farthest to the left.
"Flamey-o, Toph." Aang praised.
"Wow, fancy guessing." The dealer said throwing out some coins for her correct guess, "You are amazing at this. Would you like to make this game a little bit more interesting?"
"More interesting? How?" Toph questioned.
"Well, let's say you toss in your friend's fine sword there. Then I'll put up twenty silver pieces against it, and that's more interesting."
Toph didn't hesitate taking Sokka's sword and holding it out for the bet, "I'll do it for forty silver pieces."
The dealer smiled and added more coins to the already full bag, "Forty silver pieces it is."
With the bag and sword on the table, the dealer started shuffling the shells. Everyone was confused from how fast the dealer was shuffling the shells, but Toph was calm and confident, as she used her earthbending to bring back one of the rocks slipping into his sleeve. When he was done, Toph picked the middle shell.
"Sorry, little lady, but..." The dealer lifted up the shell and to his shock, the rock was still there when he specifically made sure the rock was under the right shell.
"I won!" Toph shouted as Sokka grabbed his sword and she took the bag of silver coins. They then ran away with their loot and went off to the market to buy their supplies. When they got back to camp, Katara was cooking something as they set down the baskets of supplies. She looked at them shocked and confused.
"Where did you guys get the money to buy all thus stuff?" She asked.
"Toph got us money." Aang said biting into an apple, "She scammed one of those guys in town who moves the shells around all sneaky-like."
"She used earthbending to win the game. Classic." Sokka laughed.
"Ah, so she cheated." Katara scolded.
"Hey, I only cheated because he was cheating." Toph defended herself.
"In short, she cheated a cheater. An eye for an eye of sorts." Zeraphina added.
"I'm shocked that you're defending this, Zeraphina. All I'm saying is that this isn't something we should make a habit of doing." Katara said.
"Why? Because it's fun and you hate fun?" Toph asked.
"I don't hate fun." Katara claimed, then put Momo on her head, "See? Fun." He slid right off her and ran away.
"Katara." Aang said and stood up with a serious look on his face, "I'll personally make you an Avatar promise that we won't make a habit of doing these scams." He bowed and his promise was sealed.
But like many other promises, they weren't followed through completely. Throughout the rest of their stay for the time being, Toph, Sokka and Aang started doing bets and scams to make more money. Zeraphina participated in a couple of these bets and scams, but eventually her dragon said that her involvement would raise suspicion about her identity.
Three days of scamming and Katara finally had enough.
"Guys, I think these scams have gone far enough." She said.
"I actually agree with Katara on this one." Zeraphina added, "I'm worried that something bad is going to happen is this goes on."
"Katara, could you for once stop being such a sourpuss and just lighten up? You've even gotten Zeraphina locked into this kind of un-fun thinking." Toph said.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You think I should be more like you? Like some wild child?" Katara shouted back.
"Yeah, maybe. Maybe then, you'd see how great we have it. I mean, look at us. We're traveling around the world, making easy money having fun, with no parents to tell us what to do."
"Ah, I see. You're acting like this because of your parents." Katara shot at Toph, remembering the girl's bad relationship with her overbearing protective parents.
"Whatever." Toph said.
"Katara, don't go there." Zeraphina tried to say but Katara continued going.
"They were controlling over you, so you ran away, and now you act like your parents don't exist. You act like you hate them, but you don't. You just feel guilty."
"I do hate them."
"I don't think so. I think you miss them. But you just don't want to deal with that, so instead, you act like this crazy person."
Toph, angered by this invasion of her feelings, stood up tall to project it, "Look, I ran away to help Aang."
"You know what, it doesn't matter." Katara said, "These scams put us all at risk, and we don't need that. We've already got some third-eyed freak after us."
"Speaking of that third-eyed freak I think I've come up with a name for him." Sokka interrupted, "What do you think of Sparky-Sparky Boom Man? Just think about it."
The girls didn't listen to his name suggestion, too angry with each other to pay attention. In the meantime, Zeraphina watched this ridiculous fight go on, thinking that they were both acting like children.
"Quite the pair, these two." Hakuryu commented.
"Yes, they are opposites in almost every way. One wants to be free, the other wants stability. One wants to be a child and explore, the other wants to keep everyone safe. It's like trying to keep a restless bird in a cage."
"How will this end, Child?"
"With either their agreement, or break in their team relationship."
"We have enough money. You need to stop this." Katara shouted breaking Zeraphina from her mental conversation.
"I'll stop when I wanna stop, and not when you tell me." Toph shouted back, launching the bag of coins from behind her into her hand before walking away, situating herself and then creating a rock dome to hide herself.
"Speaking of money, I'm off to spend some." Sokka said taking another sack of coin and waving goodbye.
~~~~~
Some time after the argument, Toph came out of her dome to count the money, Katara and Aang went down to the river below to practice his waterbending, and Zeraphina sat near the edge of the cliff to play with her fire. She smiled seeing the white flames flicker in her hands, watching as small pictures appeared in the flame. But all of a sudden, she saw a small glimpse into the future. One of herself.
She was dressed in fancy garments, her hair tied into a top knot style and her face bright with joy. She held out her hand and someone took it before the vision ended. Zeraphina dispelled the fire and leaned onto her back to watch the clouds.
"I wonder what that vision was about. Who took my hand and why was I dressed do fancily?"
"I don't know. Perhaps you've caught the eye of a high ranking noble."
"Hakuryu, many people in the Fire Nation have sought out my hand."
"But your heart belongs to another, correct?"
Zeraphina's face turned bright red as the thought of a certain prince who made a promise to her. But of course, there's no way he could be the one taking her hand. He betrayed her by siding with the enemy, and that's something that can't be forgiven so easily.
~~~~~
Katara quickly bent some of the soup she was cooking into Appa's mouth for lunch, Aang eating his own serving of soup while Zeraphina munched on a mango just as Toph and Sokka came back. It still shocked Zeraphina that Sokka bought a messenger bird even though she warned him about them, but he wasted the money so that was on him.
"Well, look who decided to join us." Katara said, "Where have you two been? Off scamming again?"
"Yes, we were." Toph answered.
"And I suppose you don't think what you're doing is dangerous at all?"
"No, I don't."
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
"Well then, what's this?" Katara pulled out a wanted poster of Toph complete with a picture of her and a brand new nickname: The Runaway.
"I don't know. I mean, seriously, what's with you people? I'm blind!"
"It's a wanted poster of you." Katara explained, "The Runaway. Is that what you're called now? Are you proud of this?"
"Where did you get that?" Toph asked angrily.
"It doesn't matter where I got it. The fact is--"
"You went through my stuff. You had no right."
"Your stuff was messy, and I was just straightening up and I happened to stumble across it."
"That's a lie." Toph accused pointing a finger right in Katara's face, "You're lying, Katara."
Katara pushed away Toph's finger, "Fine, it's a lie, but you've been so out of control lately I knew something was up. I knew you were hiding somethin, and you were."
Toph snatched poster from Katara and stomped away.
"Don't you walk away from me while I'm talking to you."
"Oh, really mom? Or what are you gonna do? Send me to my room?" Toph sarcastically said.
"I wish I could."
"Well, you can't. Because you're not my mom and you're not their mom." Toph gestured to the others sitting nearby watching the entire thing go down.
"I never said I was." Katara defended.
"No, but you certainly act like it. 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 can do whatever I want."
"I don't act that way." Katara said and turned to the others, "Sokka, do I act motherly?"
"Hey, I'm staying out this one." Sokka claimed.
"What do you think, Aang? Do I act like a mom?"
"Well, I..." Aang rubbed his eye.
"Stop rubbing your eye and speak clearly when you talk."
"Yes, Ma'am." Aang quickly said.
"That's it." Zeraphina said finally getting into the conversation, "Both of you are acting like crazy people."
"What are you talking about? Toph's the only one that's acting crazy." Katara said.
"And I'm not the crazy control freak here!" Toph shouted.
"And yet each of you refuse to take responsibility for your actions and your attitude. Toph, you want to be free, and I understand that, but right now, in the situation we're in caution is needed. And Katara, you're acting too controlling. I get that you're worried about our safety, we all are, but keeping us confined without being able to explore the enemy territory, even if it is through a little bit pf risk isn't going to help us. Risk and safety go hand in hand, so why don't we just take a breath--"
"You're seriously not going to lecture me about risk and safety." Katara said stomping up to Zeraphina, "You don't know what it's like to make sure that everyone is on the right track, that everyone is safe from the Fire Nation. So what if I act like a mom from time to time, what you would know about the safety of another, huh?"
"I know more about that than you know, and the proof is on my back from trying to save my friend from dying at the hands of his father. I spent three whole years keeping him in line, trying to keep him alive and I've sacrifice a lot to get to where I am right now. And yet, I never acted as overbearing and controlling as you are right now. I agree with Toph saying that you're acting too much like a mother, but I disagree with you trying to keep everyone contained in your bubble."
"What would you know about acting like a mom? You were never raised by one!"
Zeraphina pushed Katara to the ground and held her there by the shoulders, Katara so shocked by the sudden move that she couldn't say a thing to retaliate.
"My life with my parents, my little brother, my people was one of the many sacrifices I had to make to save them from destruction. And entire village's fate was on my shoulders to hold, the lives of many for the past ten years. So enough of your attitude." She stood up and brushed off the dirt from her clothes.
"Now then, both of you need a break from each other, so go sit, take a breath and settle down."
Zeraphina walked away to calm herself down while the girls went their separate ways and the boys just watched in silence, wondering what was going to happen next between the three girls.