Chapter 120 - Chapter 122 (1/2)
Outside the town of Gaoling, Amell was walking, thinking about what to do about Aang. He had this strange feeling that he was alive, but he had no idea where to start. He couldn't get a read on Aang's energy signature, so he couldn't do much other than waiting around for Aang to show a sign that he was alive. And Amell felt he had to be alive. But if he wasn't he swore he would find and train the new Avatar, as a service to Gyatso and the air nomads.
He stood on a sharp cliff overlooking the town. He had a perfect view of everything going on inside the town. His look was stern, cold and calculative as he scanned the town for traces of the Fire Nation. This was all until his eyes swept over Toph's house and saw her sitting beside the pond in her backyard with an aura of sadness around her. She was using her bending to make three tiny rock circle around ontop of palm, but her motivation for bending seemed to have dwindled slightly since he left.
”What have I done to you, Toph. With your family situation, I should have realized that you would attach yourself to the first sign of a real father figure. So I can't abandon you, can I?” Amell smiled while the guilt inside of him only increased.
”Toph. inside now, time for bed.” Toph's mother stuck her head outside of the door and yelled before going inside again. They were so overprotective of Toph to the point that they stopped being parents for her. She became more like an item that they were just proud of owning, and feelings rarely got involved in their interactions with Toph.
”Okay, mom!” Toph said, and stood up and walked inside while making it look like she couldn't see anything, but Amell, of course, knew she now most likely had better sight than her own parents. Toph looked towards the west with a longing gaze before walking inside again.
”What will you do, Toph. Will you leave on an adventure, or will you stay here inside this small and suffocating lifestyle?” Amell said.
Amell stood there watching the moonlight bounce off the water of the pond inside Toph's garden. He suddenly sensed movement inside Toph's room, and a quick look revealed Toph escaping out a window of her house. She was dressed in her nightgown dress that was clearly not made for night exploration, but she didn't seem to care.
She started running, and she didn't stop until she stood outside the entrance to the cave where she met Amell. She breathed out nervously and walked inside. She didn't need eyes inside her, her seismic sene gave her perfect vision inside these dark tunnels.
”This was certainly not something I was expecting her to do,” Amell said as he stood on the clifftop and his cloak moved with the wind. He lightly pushed off against the ground and disappeared.
Inside the cliff Toph was walking with careful steps, ”Amell, are you here?” She whispered and looked around despite her not being able to see anything with her eyes. She kept calling out his name, and she eventually reached the scene where he had trained her. She used seismic sense, but only saw stones and a slightly bigger rock.
'No, be here! You have to be!” She said to herself and used her seismic sense again, but picking up nothing. 'Be here!' She kept using it, but it always came back with the same result, nothing. After a few seconds Toph just stared at nothing, and she felt like breaking apart. She wanted to meet Amell more than anything, she wanted someone that really cared for her, since none at her house did that for her.