The golden flying boar. That had been the clue the young man with the braided pigtail in the green tunic had given them after the Blind Bandit stormed out of the arena. Aang had put two and two together and knew she had to be the girl from his vision in the swamp. After poking around the market in Gaoling for information the trio ran into the two boys from the Earthbending school. It didn't take much for the two to be persuaded to tell the kids what they knew. The golden flying boar was the symbol of the Bei Fong family. However, all they knew was that the Bei Fongs only had a son and no daughter. According to the boys everyone in Gaoling knew about Ranma Bei Fong heir to the Bei Fong fortune.
With a solid lead the kids tried the direct approach and asked to speak with Lao Bei Fong at the front gates to the Bei Fong estate. However, the guard at the gates turned them away stating that the head of the Bei Fong family accepted no visitors. As much as the kids insisted that they needed to see Lao Bei Fong the guard denied their request and slammed the window in the gates in their faces.
That was how the trio came to find themselves sneaking into the back wall of the Bei Fong estate. Climbing over the wall of the estate the kids landed in the yard of the Bei Fong estate thinking they were alone. However, the kids were far from being alone in the yard of the Bei Fong estate.
"What're you doing here, Twinkle Toes?" a familiar voice asked Aang.
Turning to the sound of the voice Aang saw the Blind Bandit standing before him but she was dressed exactly as he saw her in his vision from the swamp. Aang was now certain she was the one who would teach him Earthbending. There was no question in his mind his vision was right.
"How'd you know it was me?" Aang wondered in response to her question.
Sokka winced when he heard Aang reply to being called Twinkle Toes. To him it was a completely unmanly thing to do and Aang was going to hear an earful because of it. "Don't answer to twinkle toes, its not manly!" Sokka admonished Aang.
"You're the one whose bag matches his belt!" Katara quipped reminding Sokka of his earlier comment about the championship belt matching the bag he purchased that morning.
"Look, take one step closer to me and I'll have the guards and my big brother on you," the blind girl added threatening the kids.
Aang and Katara took a few steps closer to the blind girl not realizing she would know they had moved towards her. The pair learned real quickly that the blind girl was not fooling around when she threatened to call for her brother and the guards.
"Guards guards help help!! Ranma Ranma help help!!" The girl called out sounding completely helpless and innocent.
In what felt like a flash Aang, Katara, and Sokka were grabbed by the personal guards of the Bei Fong family. The head of the guards stood behind the blind girl with a hand on her shoulder ready to lead her away into the house. As he was about to a masculine voice called out.
"Toph are you okay?" a slightly older boy wanted to know.
Everything made sense when the trio saw who this Ranma was. It was the pigtailed young man in the green tunic from the rumble. It made perfect sense he would know who the Blind Bandit was and where to find her, she was his little sister.
"I'm fine now that you're here Ranma," the girl now known as Toph replied to her brother.
The main dining room of the Bei Fong manor was unlike anything Katara and Sokka had ever seen. The two water siblings watched as they saw how the host family interacted. Lao sat at the head of the table with his wife to his right. On his left sat his son Ranma and next to him, across from Aang, sat Toph the youngest member of the Bei Fong Family. That would normally be how the Bei Fong family would sit at the dinning room table. However, in honor of the Avatar's visit to Gaoling and the Bei Fong manor Master Yu had been invited to sit in on the special dinner sitting between Ranma and his father.
"Avatar Aang it is indeed an honor to have you here in our home," Lao said initiating the dinner conversation.
"It's an honor to be seated at your table with your family," Aang replied dispensing with the pleasantries.
Sokka, from his seat at the dining room table, kept an eye on Ranma studying his body language. He could tell the nobleman's son was quite protective of his younger sister and that he was hiding something from their father. He could also tell that Ranma was very critical of the way their father treated Toph.
"So Aang, what brings you here to Gaoling?" Ranma asked wanting to know why the Avatar and his friends were at the Earth Rumble earlier.
"I'm search of someone to teach me Earthbending," Aang replied, "I believe Toph here is the one who can be my Earthbending teacher."
Bingo, Ranma thought to himself, it's exactly as I thought earlier. Across the table Sokka could tell that Ranma was perfectly fine with the idea of Toph teaching Aang how to Earthbend. Ranma and Toph's father, on the other hand, thought very differently of his only daughter.
"Avatar Aang I think you must be mistaken," Lao remarked, "my daughter is blind and helpless. She can barely do anything for herself and must be cared for by my staff. Master Yu has taught her some Earthbending but only the basic forms."
The kitchen staff placed bowls of hot soup in front of the dinner guests and family and Lao motioned for Toph's private nurse to blow on her soup. Aang saw what was about to happen and stepped in to cool Toph's soup himself.
"Let me cool your soup Toph," Aang said as he sent a small blast of wind towards her soup.
The soup flew from the bowl and splashed into Toph's face. Aang had caused the accident on purpose in order to get Toph to show off her bending at the dinner table. However, instead of the fight he was hoping for Toph returned the favor by stomping her foot on the floor, which caused Aang's chair to tip forward sending his face right into his own bowl of soup. Katara, Sokka, and Ranma stifled their laughter by holding their hands in front of their mouths. The sight of the Avatar with soup all over his face was just too much for the three diners.
"That will be quite enough of that. A proper Bei Fong man does not laugh at the misfortunes of others my son," Lao admonished stopping the giggle fest before it could begin.
"I'm sorry father," Ranma replied a bit dejected over the sudden serious tone the dinner had taken.
From his place at the table Sokka could tell that Toph wasn't the only one who needed to be free of Lao Bei Fong's strict overprotective grip. Ranma was just as much a prisoner in his own home as his sister was.
"Sokka we shouldn't be wandering through another man's home it's rude," Katara admonished her brother.
"Don't tell me you didn't sense too that Ranma is just as much a prisoner of their father's overprotective nature like Toph is," Sokka replied.
Katara had to admit to herself that she did sense a household run with an iron fist. Ranma was strictly handled and overprotected just as much as his little sister was and yet Lao Bei Fong let the world know about his perfectly able bodied heir. However, as Katara had seen being the son of the infamous Lao Bei Fong came at a great price.
The water siblings found Ranma sitting in a small room filled with scrolls and books of all sorts and sizes. He was seated in an elaborate lounge chair sighing over a small painted portrait. Sitting down next to Ranma Katara could see that the portrait was of a young girl no older than Toph was with her long dark hair pulled back into a loose low pony tail. From the way Ranma was looking at the portrait Katara could tell the girl was someone special to him.
"Who is she?" Katara asked getting Ranma's attention.
Ranma sighed softly and turned to face the water siblings in order to answer Katara's question, "She's my best friend Akane. Actually, she's the only friend my father ever let me have. Her father's a nobleman under King Bumi in Omashu and for a while she stayed with us along with her father and two older sisters."
Sokka's stomach sank when he heard Ranma mention Omashu. The nobleman's son had not heard the news of the Fire Nation takeover of Omashu. He wasn't certain what the governor or his men had done with the high ranking officials in King Bumi's court. Staring at the portrait over Ranma's shoulder Sokka noticed something familiar about the girl's face and eyes. With a few years on her the girl in the picture was a dead ringer for the female bodyguard loyal to the governor's daughter. It was something Sokka hoped Ranma would never have to find out.
"Ranma we really need your sister to be Aang's Earthbending teacher," Katara said turning the conversation to the reason for their visit, "Aang has to master the elements if the war is to end and your sister is the only one who can teach him Earthbending."
Ranma locked eyes with Katara showing her that he understood the gravity of the situation. It was his father that was the obstacle. He would never allow Toph to leave the house much less Gaoling. Something was going to have to happen in order for their father to come to his senses and see reason.
"I know you do but our father just won't let Toph out of the estate. You saw how strict he was. He barely lets me go anywhere as it is. What Master Yu does with Toph is a sham. She's far more talented than he is yet she won't let him or dad know about it. She's afraid of what he'll think of her. Sure we sneak out and go to rumble matches but that's it. If dad knew I was taking her there he'd have my hide for it and I think Toph is trying to protect me from what our dad might do," Ranma replied showing the two just how well he understood their situation.
Sokka, understanding just how much Toph's situation affected Ranma, made the pigtailed boy an offer he hoped he wouldn't be able to refuse, "Look maybe we can convince your dad to let Toph come with us if you came too. You need to get away from here just as much as she does and we can take you all over the world on our bison."
Aang knew he had to talk to Toph. He knew there had to be a way to convince the female Earthbender to join their little group. Even if it meant her brother had to come with them Aang would do whatever it took to get Toph to be his teacher. The young Avatar did not have to go far to find the blind girl. Toph was waiting for Aang, dressed in her night clothes, outside of the guest room.
"Spill it Twinkle Toes. What's the real reason you tracked me down," Toph wanted to know.
Aang sighed softly before answering Toph's request, "You might not believe this but I had a vision that told me you were supposed to be my Earthbending teacher. A wise but crazy old friend of mine told me that I had to find someone who waited before striking. Then when I saw what you did at the Rumble I knew you were going to be my Earthbending teacher. How do you do it?"
Toph let out a small huffing sigh in frustration. She didn't like telling people her secret. She could trust her brother with it after he promised not to tell their father but she wasn't so sure about Aang. The staff and her father saw Toph as helpless and that was the face she put on for them. However, when it was just her and Ranma Toph was free to be her true self. She could tell that would be the case with Aang if she went with him but she knew her father would never let her leave the estate.
"Let's take a walk Twinkle Toes," Toph said as she led Aang out to the gardens.
Under the night sky Toph and Aang stood in the garden. The soft sounds of the chirping crickets could be heard in the background as a colony of ants went about their nightly duty.
"I was born blind and yet I can get around just fine. I see differently than you. I see with my Earthbending by feeling the vibrations of everything moving around me. The trees, the flowers, the wall, you, the ants, all of it I can see with my feet," Toph explained, "My parents don't believe I'm able to do what I can do and they treat me like I'm helpless. However, my brother knows just what I can do. He believes in me he always had but our dad is just too strict and even Ranma can't stand up to him."
Aang felt bad for the blind girl before him. She was trapped in her own home with only her older brother for companionship. Toph had an amazing gift and yet it was being put to waste because she had to hide it.
"Look, if I can talk to your father maybe he'll let you come with us and you can teach me Earthbending. I can even see if he'll let your brother come too," Aang offered.
Toph was about to shoot down the idea and tell Aang it was too soon for her to come clean to her father but something drew her attention away from the subject at hand. Placing a hand on the ground Toph knew right away that someone or something was about to get them.
"Something's coming," Toph said with urgency in her voice.
The two young benders never got the chance to escape as they were instantly encased in two metal boxes.
"You two cheated me out of a lot of money," a familiar voice said to the pair of benders.
"Xin Fu," Toph spat back at the man.
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(Posted Wed, 30 Jun 2010 23:30)
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