Zale knelt by the campfire, grinding medicinal herbs into a poultice while a pot of nettle tea steamed beside him. Sokka's snores rumbled from a hammock strung between two trees, and Momo chirped indignantly as Toph earthbent a pebble at his tail.
"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty," Toph called, flicking another pebble at Sokka. "Unless you want Chef Grumpy here to eat your breakfast."
Zale smirked, tossing a handful of wild rice into a pot. "It's 'Chef Genius,' thank you."
Katara emerged from the stream, water spiraling around her fists in a morning drill. "Aang's already trying to earthbend. It's… not going well."
Zale followed her gaze to where Aang stood scowling at a boulder, his airbender's stance all wrong. "He'll get there. Eventually."
***Later during Breakfast***
"Why can't we have meat?!" Sokka brandished a charred rabbit carcass. "I risked my life for this!"
Toph snorted, demolishing a stack of Zale's sweet potato pancakes. "Your 'hunting' is why Appa's hiding."
Zale tossed Sokka a pancake. "Protein's in the nuts. And your dignity… pft…" He laughed remembering Sokka getting smacked in his nuts while he was "hunting".
Aang wandered over, dirt smeared on his face. "The boulder laughed at me. Literally."
"Rocks can't laugh," Toph said. "But I can. Wanna hear?"
Few moments later after filling their stomach with Zale's delicious cooking.
By the stream, Katara's ice daggers sliced through the air, each throw sharper than the last. Zale mirrored her, his movements fluid but unpolished.
"You're pushing too hard," he said, coaxing water into a hovering sphere. "It's not a weapon. It's… a conversation."
Katara's sphere wobbled. "Easy for you to say. You hear it."
Zale's water shimmered, humming faintly. "It's less hearing, more… feeling the melody."
Aang whooped downstream, surfing a waterspout. "Katara, watch this!"
Katara's sphere burst. "Show-off," she muttered, not entirely playfully.
"Stomp, Twinkle Toes!" Toph barked as Aang flinched from a pebble. "Earth doesn't dodge."
Aang kicked, sending a sad puff of dust at the boulder. "Maybe I'm just a terrible Avatar."
Toph earthbent the boulder into confetti. "Nah. You're just a terrible listener."
Zale tossed Aang a waterskin. "Take a break. Even Avatars need pancakes."
Later in the afternoon, Zale was drawing something in the ground, describing something to Toph.
"Underground shelter?" Toph cracked her knuckles. "Please. I'll make a palace."
Zale sketched in the dirt: ventilation shafts, layered chambers, camouflaged entrances. "Appa needs space too."
Toph stomped. The earth groaned, then yawned open—a labyrinth of stone and roots, complete with a moss-lined stable for Appa.
Sokka gaped. "That took just ten minutes. Ten minutes."
Toph smirked. "Nine and a half. I slowed down for the decor."
That night, Katara hummed as he stitched Sokka's torn sleeve. Aang snored in his hammock, Zale scribbled scroll notes, and Toph "watched" the fire through the earth's vibrations.
"You're weirdly good at this," Zale said, gesturing to the camp. "Parenting Sokka and all, I mean."
Katara's needle paused. "Someone's gotta keep you disasters alive."
Toph snorted, "Say the one who does half the chores himself… Well thanks to that atleast we don't have to eat Sokka"s so called "cooking"."
Next day while the gang was training, the forest trembled as Toph's latest earthbending drill sent a shockwave rippling through the trees. Aang yelped, toppling off his wobbling stone pillar. "Can't we train without earthquakes?!"
"Quit whining," Toph snapped, though her smirk softened the jab. "If you can't handle a little shake, you'll never—"
A deafening CRACK split the air—distant, but unmistakably human.
Zale froze, his water whip dissolving mid-swing. "That wasn't us."
Sokka nocked an arrow. "Fire Nation?"
"No," Toph pressed a palm to the ground. "Earthbending. Sloppy. Scared."
They found Haru crouched in a clearing, sweat-drenched and wide-eyed as he levitated a boulder with trembling hands. At the sight of the Gaang, the rock crashed down.
"Wait!" Katara called, but Haru bolted.
Toph stomped, the earth surging beneath his feet like a wave, pinning him in place. "Relax, Sparky. We don't bite."
"Speak for yourself," Sokka muttered.
Haru's mother, Taiyo, found them moments later, her face pale. "Please—don't report him. We'll leave. We'll—"
"We're not Fire Nation," Aang said gently, airbending his staff into view. "We're here to help."
In the dim light of Taiyo's cottage, Haru traced the scars on their wooden table—claw marks from soldiers' boots. "They took my father for bending. Now they tax us double, triple… We're starving."
Katara's fists clenched. "We'll stop them."
"No," Taiyo hissed. "You'll die. Or worse—they'll make us watch when they…"
Zale studied the hollows in Haru's cheeks, the way his mother's hands shook as she served bitter tea.
"We'll be careful," Zale promised. "But we can't leave you like this."
At dawn, Haru led them to the forest's edge for making plans in seclusion but then they saw an elderly man lay trapped under a fallen log. His face lit up at the sight of them. "You, please help me…"
Toph freed him with a flick of her wrist. "Watch your step, Gramps."
The man gripped Zale's arm. "They took my son. For a joke. A joke about the Fire Lord."
Zale's healing hands glowed faintly as he checked for injuries but said nothing. He just said some kind words to calm him down and told him to be careful when the old man left.
Back at camp, Haru practiced bending under Toph's brutal tutelage. "Stop babying the rocks! They're not gonna cry!"
Aang sighed, his own earth pile crumbling. "Why is this so hard?"
"Because you're trying to fly," Toph said. "Earth doesn't fly. It stays."
Zale tossed Aang a waterskin. "Maybe you're not meant to bend it like air. Maybe… it's a conversation."
Katara watched Haru's progress, her earlier jealousy cooled to resolve. "We'll train harder. For them."
That night, Zale carved a map of the village into birch bark, Sokka strategizing raids on supply carts. "Hit and run. No bending. Just… chaos."
Toph snorted. "My favorite."
Aang traced the wooden pendant Haru had gifted him—a crude Earth Kingdom symbol. "We'll free them. All of them."
***A the night fall***
The prison ship loomed like a blackened tooth against the starless sky, its hull groaning against the icy waves. Toph cracked her knuckles, her feet buried in the earth. "Ready to make some noise, Chef?"
Zale nodded, water skins strapped to his hips. "Haru, stick close. We're the distraction—not the main course."
Haru swallowed hard, his trembling hands clenching into fists. "For my father."
Toph smirked. "Attaboy." She stomped, and the docks exploded.
Aang airbent himself and Katara onto the deck, silent as shadows. Sokka followed, grappling hook snagging the rail. "Remind me why I'm here?"
"Because you're loud," Katara whispered, freezing a guard's boots to the deck.
Inside, the stench of despair choked the air. Cells lined the hull, prisoners huddled like ghosts. Aang's tattoos glowed faintly as he airbent the locks. "You're free!"
A gaunt man recoiled. "They'll kill our families!"
Katara's voice cut through the dark. "Then fight with us. Or let your children grow up in chains. THE CHOICE IS YOURS!"
The warden descended like a wildfire, his armor etched with dragon's teeth. "You think children can break my ship?!"
Zale's water hissed into steam, shrouding the deck. "Toph—now!"
She earthbent the ship's planks into shackles, but the warden melted them with a wave of blue flame. Aang and Katara countered with a whirlwind of water and air, but he shrugged it off, lunging for Haru.
Sokka's boomerang struck the warden's helmet—clang!—buying Zale a heartbeat. "Steam's not enough! Think!"
Zale's hands trembled. Listen. Adapt. He funneled steam into the warden's visor, scalding his eyes. The man roared, blind and thrashing.
Toph's stone fist slammed him into the mast. "Stay. Down."
The prisoners surged, disarming guards with rusted tools and rage. Haru earthbent a fallen soldier's cuffs, his voice raw. "This is our home! WE ARE TAKING IT BACK!"
By dawn, Fire Nation banners burned in the harbor. Aang stared at the ashes. "We did it… right?"
Zale bandaged a prisoner's wrist, his steam long cooled. "It's a start."
Haru's village erupted in song, makeshift feasts spread across shattered streets. Taiyo hugged her son, tears etching paths through soot, while holding on to her husband's arm, "I'm so proud of you."
Haru's father joined, "We, We are both proud of you."
Toph nudged Zale. "Not bad for a chef."
Katara watched villagers practice bending with stolen staves. "They're not hiding anymore."
Sokka grinned, biting into a stolen Fire Nation ration. "Rebellion's tasty."