Toph didn't feed coal into Silap Inua's boilers anymore, they had Professor Zei's manservant for that, but she still preferred to stick to the engine room. Coal was the closest earth you could find on an airship, especially one crossing an ocean. So when Sokka came to fetch her, there was only one place to check.
"You gotta see this!" he gushed from the doorway.
"That's gonna be kinda difficult, Boss."
"...oh!" Sokka snapped his fingers. "Blind."
"Toph!" She heard a clamor of footsteps. Again, Katara cried out, "Toph! You need to see this! It's amazing!"
Haughtily, Sokka said, "She's blind, sis. Could you be any less considerate, asking a question like that?"
"So we'll be her eyes. How often do you get to see a lost city, blind or not?"
A lost city actually sounded pretty cool, and Katara's soft arm felt nice to hold on deck. Tossing a "See ya" to the professor's manservant, Long Feng, she headed up to the deck with the siblings. Sokka found a clue and drifted back to the captain's wheel.
The air was thin and cold. Katara guided her off the hand-railing to the prow, and she was man enough to admit that she huddled so close to the waterbender for reasons other than her being stacked. If they hit turbulence and Toph fell over the edge, there was nothing stopping her from splattering somewhere far below.
Just thinking about it made her nauseous. Sokka had bought some gliders from apostate airbenders in case they needed to abandon ship mid-flight, but she'd sooner trust in the Abominable Rockman or in firebenders that weren't bugfuck crazy tribals.
Toph clenched the thin railing, felt it vibrate in sympathy with the boilers and whirling screw.
"So what am I 'seeing'?"
Katara pressed against her. "There's earth at the bottom of the sea. It was South Chung-Ling in the Old World. You can see it, just beneath the ocean's skin."
"So?" There was tons of earth under the sea, put there almost a century ago by the Avatar. People said there had been a whole country out here in the western sea. The Fire Nation, they used to call it, back before Aang the Warbender had played skipped stones using the archipelago. "If anyone can see it, then it's probably all picked over already. There won't be anything for us to sell."
"I'm not talking about lost technology. It's just pretty, all those shades of blue and green."
"Want to know what else is pretty? The stuff I found between my toes. That was pretty... pretty slimy."
Katara patted her on the shoulder. "I think that's enough sharing for today."
Despite that proclamation, Toph didn't let go of the waterbender's arm, Katara didn't take it back, and so they stood there for a while, huddled against the rail.
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branchandroot
Katara/Toph; Old World Blues [1/1]
Date: 2011-08-11 11:24 pm (UTC)"You gotta see this!" he gushed from the doorway.
"That's gonna be kinda difficult, Boss."
"...oh!" Sokka snapped his fingers. "Blind."
"Toph!" She heard a clamor of footsteps. Again, Katara cried out, "Toph! You need to see this! It's amazing!"
Haughtily, Sokka said, "She's blind, sis. Could you be any less considerate, asking a question like that?"
"So we'll be her eyes. How often do you get to see a lost city, blind or not?"
A lost city actually sounded pretty cool, and Katara's soft arm felt nice to hold on deck. Tossing a "See ya" to the professor's manservant, Long Feng, she headed up to the deck with the siblings. Sokka found a clue and drifted back to the captain's wheel.
The air was thin and cold. Katara guided her off the hand-railing to the prow, and she was man enough to admit that she huddled so close to the waterbender for reasons other than her being stacked. If they hit turbulence and Toph fell over the edge, there was nothing stopping her from splattering somewhere far below.
Just thinking about it made her nauseous. Sokka had bought some gliders from apostate airbenders in case they needed to abandon ship mid-flight, but she'd sooner trust in the Abominable Rockman or in firebenders that weren't bugfuck crazy tribals.
Toph clenched the thin railing, felt it vibrate in sympathy with the boilers and whirling screw.
"So what am I 'seeing'?"
Katara pressed against her. "There's earth at the bottom of the sea. It was South Chung-Ling in the Old World. You can see it, just beneath the ocean's skin."
"So?" There was tons of earth under the sea, put there almost a century ago by the Avatar. People said there had been a whole country out here in the western sea. The Fire Nation, they used to call it, back before Aang the Warbender had played skipped stones using the archipelago. "If anyone can see it, then it's probably all picked over already. There won't be anything for us to sell."
"I'm not talking about lost technology. It's just pretty, all those shades of blue and green."
"Want to know what else is pretty? The stuff I found between my toes. That was pretty... pretty slimy."
Katara patted her on the shoulder. "I think that's enough sharing for today."
Despite that proclamation, Toph didn't let go of the waterbender's arm, Katara didn't take it back, and so they stood there for a while, huddled against the rail.