Path Ahead

Scar and Moon

The next day was a little strange. Aang had a couple of early lessons with Toph and Zuko, but after that, he went to get some sleep in anticipation of the night's travel. Sokka and Katara also retired for the afternoon because the three of them were going to stay awake during the night - Aang to guide Appa, Sokka to keep a lookout for a good place to land, and Katara to be ready to provide camouflage if it was needed.

Since the other three could sleep during the journey (and Toph honestly preferred to spend as many airborne hours unconscious as possible), they could remain awake and do as they wished. Of course, this left them somewhat at loose ends. After all, their main purpose for being part of the group was to train the Avatar, and when he wasn't available, there wasn't much to do. For a while, they gathered food and packed for the journey. When they were finished with that, they sat by a pool trying to get to know each other better. Well, obviously, Zuko and Iroh knew each other pretty well, but they were still new to Toph.

"You know, I don't really care whether it's day or night," Toph remarked as she dangled her feet in the water. That much felt good, but it was as far as she liked to go into that particular element. She braced her hands on the ground behind her so that she could still see. "But it does get hard to sleep at different times every day."

"Oh, I don't know," Iroh answered her. "I can sleep just about any time."

"A man needs his rest," Zuko commented, and Iroh chuckled.

"Am I missing something?" demanded Toph.

"Just a little family joke," Iroh replied. "I like my food and my sleep. The creature comforts, one might say."

"No objections here," Toph shrugged.

"When I lived on a ship, I got used to sleeping short shifts," Zuko added. "I was in charge, so I didn't like to leave the deck for too long."

That seemed to have exhausted the possibilities of this topic, so Toph broached another one.

"I've heard the others talk about you having a scar," she addressed Zuko. "Where is it? What's it like?"

There was a silence after this, and Toph wondered if she'd said something wrong. She had a habit of doing that; since she'd decided a long time ago not to let things get under her skin, she often forgot that other people weren't the same. When Zuko finally answered, he did so slowly and deliberately.

"You're probably the first person I've met in three years who hasn't noticed that first," he said. "Because you can't see me the way other people can."

"So it's on your face," Toph guessed, knowing that face and hands were the only things almost always not covered by clothing.

"Yeah," Zuko confirmed. "It covers most of the left side of my face, including my ear."

"Wow. Can you still hear okay?"

"Yes. It's just on the outside."

"That's good. I guess I could still get around without my hearing, but I'm sure glad I have it." She paused. "Are you gonna tell me how you got it?"

"I don't really like talking about it."

"Didn't you tell Aang how you got burned?" Iroh interrupted, at least informing Toph of the cause of the scar. Still, it was kind of weird for a firebender to get burned. Toph couldn't imagine accidentally crushing herself with a rock.