An Erred Exchange

Katara slept alone in her tent on the cold winter's night. She had had a particularly nasty fight with Sokka that night, over a particular odor he had dawned over the past several days without bathing. He referred to it as "a manly pungence", but Katara simply called it "disgusting". After she couldn't take any more, of both the arguing and the scent, Katara stormed off into the woods away from the campsite, carrying her tent under her arm with her. She walked at least a hundred yards out into the forest, found a small clearing where the trees were not growing and the leaves were soft, and pitched her tent. She found a nearby stream and bathed, then dawned a long nightgown and went to bed. That had been several hours ago. It was now in the early hours of the morning, while everyone was still fast asleep.

*snap*

Katara's eyes flicked open to the sound of a twig breaking beneath a boot. 'Ugh, what now?' She grumbled to herself as she rolled out of her sleeping bag. Lazily, she poked her head outside her tent flap and took a quick look around. The frigid morning air stung her eyes as she attempted to peer through the darkness, but it was still pitch black outside. It would be several hours before even dawn would break. "I guess I'm just jumpy from all the commotion last night..." She said to herself with a yawn. With that she laid her head back down onto her pillow and closed her eyes once more.

*snap* *thump*

She heard it again! Now the noise was directly outside her tent. She rubbed her eyes once more and crawled out the flap of the tent. Again, she turned her head back and forth, yet saw nothing making the noise. There were quiet birds chirping and bugs creaking, but that loud noise never repeated itself. With another exasperated sigh, she withdrew into her tent another time. "Well, I know I'm not going crazy..." She mumbled to herself, "I bet it's Sokka trying to pull some childish prank for our fight last night." She laid her head down on her pillow and with a loud yawn yelled out, "Alright Sokka, I know you're out there. Goodnight!" And, with a feeling of satisfaction, she returned to sleeping.


*snap* *thump*.......*flap*

'Flap?' Katara thought to herself. Her eyes shot open. She sat up in her sleeping bag, only to be shoved back down by a gigantic hand. Some gargantuan figure clad in black clothing was now leaning over her with a damp cloth in his hand.
"Y...You're not Sokka...!" Katara fumbled as she looked up at the huge man in fear.

He was giant! The kind of man that she could imagine pile-driving an angry Moose-Bear. Before she could utter another sentence or call out to Aang, the assailant shoved the rag into Katara's face. Half of it pressed tightly against her nose, while the other half was jammed into her mouth, dripping in bitter liquid. "MMNNnn!!" Katara screamed as the drug took effect. In a few moments, she was out cold. "Mmmmmn...nnn..." She mumbled. She felt herself get hoisted up onto the man's shoulder, and then nothing, as she faded back to sleep one last time.

**********

"Wake up, cutie-pie!" She heard a voice from the blackness jeer at her. What was going on? Where was she? How did this happen? All the memories of that night slowly crept back to her, inching her to consciousness. Her eyes slowly creaked open. Katara was still unsure of what had happened, and she was still dazed, but she could see around now.

She was in a tent still, but not the one that she had been sleeping in. This was a huge tent, the size of an entire building. She had been laying flat on her back, atop a dull green tarp. Several lanterns were hanging from the ceiling, illuminating the area. In the very center of the tent was a large ordinary dining table, surrounded by shabby wooden chairs. Save for a few curtains and dressers and such, that was all of the furniture in the tent.

"W-wh-what's going on?!" Katara stumbled over her words, putting her hand to her head as a massive headache exploded from the adrenaline in her body now fighting with her foggy thoughts. Still in a turning to the voice that had awoken her. She met eye contact with a thin man. His hair was brown, or at least probably, she couldn't quite tell from the amount of dirt it was caked in. The dirty hair was matched by a scruffy looking beard and a crooked smile. He was dressed in shabby brown rags. "I know what you are, you're a woodland bandit!" Katara gasped, as the nasty smirk on the man's face spread wider. "What do you want with me?" She said shakily as she slowly backed away from the dirty outlaw.

"Ye' ain't one teh be askin' questions, missie!" He rasped, the look in his eye frowing wilder as Katara continued to back away from him. "Now now, cutie-pie, I woul'nt wanna try anythin' funny. Er else yur gonna have teh have a word wit the boss!" He said as he slowly approached her. "An' trus' me, yuh don't wanna do that! Yer lucky yeh ain't trussed up like a rhinoturkey righ' now! Cuz we don't like hurtin' our cargo, but we have a differnt rule fer troublema'ers!"

Katara didn't respond to the thief, she didn't have time to, she had to escape! Without a second thought, she turned and bolted for the nearby exit flap.

*Thump*

Katara fell back onto her rear as she collided face first into the chest of a rather large man. She rubbed her head, his chest felt like a brick wall! She looked up at the man. Her eyes met with a pair of dull thoughtless ones, his face was blank, almost as if he was unable to comprehend anything that had happened in the past few hours (or week). "YOU!" Katara clamored, "Y- You're the creep that attacked me last night!" She said as she got shot up to her feet again, pointing a finger at him, and stood eye to eye with the man. Or at least, she thought she was. "Listen up, jerk! If you know what's good for you-!" It took her a moment to snap back out of rage mode. It was then that she realized that her eyes were more lined up just below his chest than at his face, even on tiptoe!
"Oh...my goodness!.... You're a big boy.." She uttered as she stumbled backwards once more, landing back on her behind again with a thump.

"Alright, alright! Fine!" Katara said, looking back and forth between the large man and the dirty one, trying to figure out which one was less uncomfortable. "I won't cause any trouble! Just don't hurt me." Katara sighed. She figured it was best to save her energy and make them think she was some sort of sweet princess. In a few minutes, she would start crying for a glass of water. Since she was sure that she could outlast them in a battle of willpower, they would comply. Then, that's when they would regret ever getting on her bad side.

"Good, I'm glad ya see the light, Cutie! If you had taken a step outside that tent door, well, I would have ended up having to do some very unpleasant things to you." He said, disturbingly casually. "Now, c'mon little lady, please get up offa the floor!" He offered, pulling up a chair from the dining table. "Ya musn't get yerself durty while we wait fer the Boss to show up!"

Katara took the offer awkwardly. 'Well, I guess I might as well try and get some answers while I'm trapped here.' She thought to herself. "So, you guys are being strangely nice to me, you know, besides the whole kidnapping me three hours ago. Who exactly are you guys?" She said in her most adorably curious voice.

"Well," The dirty thief muttered, "By yer terms, we're outlaws of a sort, but we gots our own reazins fer what we do." He paused to take a breath, signifying an upcoming story. "Ya see, Cutie-Pie, we're earth benders. We'z lived in peace all our lives, jus' out here livin' off the land. But, one day, while all us men was out on a huntin' trip, our village was attacked by the Fire Nation!" The man's voice began to shake a bit as he let out an upset wheez. "The soljurs...ransacked the entire village! The monsters! They took away everey sangle pozession we've ever owned! They dun forced us to live out in the forest! Us and our families av been starving fer months! And now, the soljurs are forcing us to work for them! In order teh earn our village back!" He finished, turning his head to let out a sob.

"We've had it rough! All our families be dyin' of sikness an' hunger! There ain't nothin' to eat durin' the Winter. Brong, Me, and the Boss are the only capable men left in our entire village! We're out here bein' put teh work while our families be sufferin'! Tis a fate werse than death'!" He cried now, in thin piteous tears.

Katara actually felt a ping of sadness in her heart for these men. Even the gigantic Brong, was now crying his eyes out too.
"Oh my gosh! That's terrible!" Katara sympathized with the poor man. "But you don't have to sell me for money to get your family back! Me and my friends that I'm travelling with have plenty of money that we would be happy to give you!"

"I'm afraid ye don't understand lass," He said as his face suddenly hardened, "They don't want none of our money. The Fire Nation soljurs are giving the town back to us in exchange for people on their wanted lists. In exchange...for the Avatar."

Katara gasped in horror.

"That's terrible!" She yelled, "You aren't honestly going to obey their demands, are you?"

"Well, missie, I'm afraid we don't have much choice in the matter-" He began, but was suddenly interrupted as a third figure walked through the flap of the tent. Katara turned to see their new guest. He was tall, not as tall as Brong, but about a head taller than Katara. He was dressed in traditional earthbender dress, a dull yellow and green tunic His head was shaved completely bald, as well as no facial hair. However, his eyebrows were turned down over his brown eyes in a terrible scowl.

"Brong! Cidd!" He shouted angrily, "What's going on here? Why is our captive loose?" He said,

"Well, you see Boss-" Cidd, the smaller man, began.

"I don't want to hear your excuses! Either of you!" He shouted, "I have already spoken with the Avatar and he has agreed to meet us here. I want to have this girl all packaged up for his arrival within the hour! And interrogate her too! I want to make sure that the Avatar doesn't have any tricks up his sleeve!"

"Aang isn't like that! He would never abandon someone in need!" Katara shouted at her captor standing straight up out of her seat and staring him in the face.

"Well then, let's just hope that he doesn't run off for ANOTHER hundred years!" He shouted back at her as he shoved her onto the ground. Without another word, he turned and stormed out of the tent, still enraged.

'Geez! He reminds me of Zuko!' Katara thought to herself as she got up and dusted herself off. Her thoughts were interrupted by a tap on her shoulder.

"Alright, Cutie-Pie, sorry for Boss' behavior, but we need to get this over with." Cidd said, motioning to the wooden chair. "Have a seat, missie. Don't struggle and it'll be much easier on ya!"

"Don't do this, Cidd!" Katara cried out as Brong carried in a bundle of ropes. "You're better than this! I can help you! We're friends!"

"Sweetie, all I did was tell you that you were our bait." Cidd almost laughed, "We ain't no best friends by any means! You're a bargainin' chip, and that's all you is to me. Now, unless you want Brong to get rough with you again, you'll sit yer little fanny down in this chair!"

Not having a choice in the matter, Katara sighed in sadness and sat down in the seat.
"Do your worst." She said blankly.

"Oh, don't you worry, Cutie-Pie. We know you're a waterbender. We's is gonna tie you up so tight, you ain't gonna be able to twitch a finger to bend yer tears!" Cidd grinned, straining a piece of rope in his hands.

Cidd started by grabbing Katara's arms and pulling them tightly up behind her head. He forced Katara's arms into two closed V shapes, making her elbows point towards the ceiling. The awkward position also slightly forced her to arch her back over the chair. Cidd ignored her grunts from the uncomfortable position and continued the cruel bindings. He carefully took a long wooden pole with iron loops at each end, and slid it inside Katara's closed elbows. Brong then held Katara while she squirmed, keeping her still as Cidd tied tight loops around her elbows and the wooden bars, forcing her arms to stay pulled apart above her head. He then bound a small coil of ropes around her wrists, wrapping back around her lower arm, forcing her arms into a sort of frogtie. However, he was not quite finished yet. Taking two short pieces of rope, Cidd bound a tight knot around each of Katara's wrists, leaving a long tail hanging off of each. Then, he pulled the two tails down and tied them tightly to the bottom rungs of the chair Katara was sitting on, making it so that she could no longer sit forward or move her elbows forward. It also worsened the arch that her back was forced into by the tightness of the small ropes Cidd used.

"Like I said," Cidd sighed as he replenished his rope supplies, "We're gonna make sure that you can't bend a thing." He continued Katara's bindings, ignoring her struggles, and kneeled down next to her legs. He grabbed each leg and forced them against their repective chair leg, spreading her legs apart. Then, taking a very long strand of rope, he bound each ankle to the bottom of its respective chair leg. He repeated the process a bit further up her legs, in the middle of her shins, and also just below her knees, attaching them all immovably to the chair legs and keeping them spread wide apart, giving them an easy view up her skirt. A new set of ropes crossed over Katara's lap and beneath her chair seat, forcing her to stay seated.
Cidd continued to move upwards, taking another line of rope and coiling it tightly around Katara's waist, wrapping it around the back of the chair to keep her sitting back. He coiled the bindings around several times, until Katara was covered in ropes to just at her bellybutton. The bandits continued moving up, and began wrapping a rope just below Katara's breasts. After several passes around and some twists in the knots behind her back, they again wrapped the rope around her, this time above her breasts. After it was tied off tightly behind her, Cidd tucked the rope inbetween Katara's breasts, forming an X like shape with the ropes. This bind not only forced her back and shoulders to stay pressed against the back of the chair, it also drew attention to her modest bust.

Cidd and Brong stopped a moment to admire their work. Katara was attempting to wriggle in discomfort as she struggled against her tight bonds, but to no avail. Her arms were bound in an inescapable and painful way, pulled back behind her head and tied to the chair rungs, a spreader bar keeping her elbows spread apart. The ropes' tightness forced Katara to lean back further over the chair, paining her back, in order to keep stress off of her shoulders. Her bosom was bound tightly against the back of the chair, and Katara wasn't sure, but the tight ropes seemed to make her look larger. There were more ropes around her stomach and lap, forcing her into her seat, and finally her legs were spread apart, tied tightly at every major area to the chair legs.

"Uugh!" Katara groaned as she struggled against the rope, "You guys are crazy!" She screamed, "Let me go!"

"Alright, finish her up, Brong." Cidd said with a laugh, completely ignoring her. "Make sure that I don't hear her open that loud mouth of hers for the rest of her time here!" He said as he tossed a small sack to his partner.

Brong responded with a slow and deliberate nod as he caught the bag, "What's...in there?" Katara gulped as she saw Brong fishing through its contents. Brong did not respond, although Katara was not particularly surprised about that. But, with a grunt, he grabbed Katara's hair and yanked. Katara screeched as her head was forced back to look up at the ceiling. Brong took advantage of Katara's shock and grabbed a handfull of cloths from his sack. Before she had time to close her mouth, he had stuffed in the handful into her mouth, filling it to the brim with dirty wadded rags. Katara would have tried to spit out the rags, but Brong's other hand never let go of her hair, keeping her head from leaning back up.

"Mmmnng!" Katara mumbled as Brong took care to tuck in all of the frayed extra cloth back into her mouth. Still holding Katara's hair in one hand, he gave a nod over to Cidd.

"Gotcha." Cidd replied. He took what resembled a long old scarf and pulled it tightly between Katara's teeth. The scarf was long enough to wrap around her lips twice before he knotted it off behind her head.

"Mmmmmnnhh!" She garbled as the gagging continued.
Cidd pulled out a few more materials from the bag! While the gigantic Brong held Katara's head and her gag packing in place, Cidd approached her slowly. He took a large roll of adhesive medical bandaging and smeared an anchoring piece on over Katara's cloth-gagged lips, then wrapped the entire roll of bandages over her mouth. After countless turns around Katara's head, the roll ran out. Cidd spent about a minute smoothing the sticky material out over Katara's cheeks and her lips, making sure that it was plastered tightly over the gags, ensuring that she would stay silent.

Cidd pulled the finishing touches out of his gag-bag.

"Nmm Mnn! Nmm Mnn!" Katara cried out, seeing that they still were not done! She screamed, trying to shake her head "no", but of course the two bandits paid no attention to her. Cidd continued gagging her, taking a wide sheet of cloth and folding it over itself like a panel of cloth. He then wrapped the material over Katara's cleave-gag, muting her pleas further.

"There!" He exhaled, dusting his hands off as Katara squirmed in her tight bonds, unable to lift a muscle from the chair she was bound to. Even her cries of anger and sadness had been reduced to soft mmphs by the layers of cloth over her mouth. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it, Cutie-Pie?" He mocked her. Katara did not respond to him, she knew he was trying to get her angry. She was more intent on how on earth she could escape from such relentlessly tight bondage! She could not feel a single appendage of her body that was not bound in place some way or another! "Alright, Brong, let's leave her to squirm for a little while. The Boss is gonna come in in a while and interrogate her. Make sure our plans are fool-proof. You know he's good at that kind of stuff!" Cidd laughed as he and Brong walked out the tent flap, leaving Katara alone in the semi-darkness.

"MMNNNNN! HMMPPPHH!!!!" She shouted after them, wiggling in fury, knowing it was pointless. 'Geez! Does this guy know how to tie knots!' She thought to herself as the arch in her back began to get uncomfortable from the strain on her arms and elbows. 'Thank La that I'm flexible! Because I have a feeling that I'll be stuck here for a good while'. She sighed sadly to herself as she awaited the return of her captors.

***one hour later***

The tent flap opened, letting a quick burst of light into the room, drawing Katara out of her trance. One hour had passed by so slowly in that painful pose! It felt more like ten! Katara's eyes flicked over to who had just walked into the tent. She recognized a muscular man with a bald head. It was the guy they all just referred to as "Boss".

"Alright Katara," The Boss said casually as he strolled over to her. "We're going to go through a simple exercise here. I'm going to ask you some questions about the Avatar, and you're going to answer them. Blink once and it means yes, Blink twice and it means no. Got it? You'd better, because I'm not a patient man." He said sternly as he casually stomped the ground, letting a large bowling ball sized stone float into his hand.

"Question number one, is the Avatar a selfless person? The kind of person who would go to any lengths to save you?" Katara thought about the question. She blushed a bit, thinking of Aang storming into the camp, going to any length to rescue her. But, she didn't have time to fantasize. Now was serious. What would the Boss want to learn from this question?
He wanted to see if Aang really was the kind of person who would trade himself for her. Katara couldn't afford to give Boss any information. She stared at him, unblinking, refusing to answer his question.

"Holding your tongue, eh? I'll go ahead and give you a warning to watch what you do to disrespect me." Boss said casually as he began chopping off edges from the orb of stone in his hand. "Question number two, is the Avatar bold or daring? Would they be willing to try some sort of risky plan to rescue you?"

Once again, Katara refused to answer. She simply stared at the Boss with cold angry eyes.

"That's two strikes, Katara." Boss muttered, shaking his head. "I don't think you realize what you're doing." He said as he continued shaving down the boulder in his palm.
"Question three, is the Avatar arrogant or self-absorbed. Do you even think that she will even bother coming to save you?"

'Wait a minute...' Katara thought to herself 'If' SHE would bother coming to save me?' Katara was confused. 'I must have misheard him."

"Time's up, Katara. That's three strikes!" The Boss mused, shaking his head as he finished sharpening his boulder. It was now a perfectly shaped and deadly sharp dagger. "Time to get to the tough interrogating! No more mister nice guy." He said as he placed the dagger against Katara's waist letting her feel the cold stone as he slowly paced around her. Of course, he was careful to avoid putting the knife too close to her ropes. "Since you won't answer my questions, I must resort to a form of persuasion." He said, gripping the fabric of her skirt. "For every question of mine that you do not answer," Boss grunted, "You lose a piece of clothing!" With a sudden jerk of Katara's skirt, the fabric tore in half and flew off of her skin, exposing very small pair of light blue panties, which bore the same Water Tribe insignia as her necklace.

"MNNNN!!!" Katara wailed through the countless layers of wadded packaging and adhesice as her face shot up in a vivid cherry red. She tried to pull her legs together to hide her underwear, but they were fastened immovably to the chair legs! She closed tightly her eyes and let out a groan as the Boss continued to circle around her.

"Very nice, Katara! Very nice!" He laughed, mocking her as he hooked his finger into the spandex around her waist. Katara gasped in shock from the sudden sting and the *snap* noise behind her.

"Mnnn! Phmmggh!!!!" Katara moaned as her face grew hotter by the second.

"Now, that you see where I'm coming from," Boss said slowly, sounding more intense than ever, "Answer my questions about the Avatar!" he demanded, grabbing Katara by the collar of her shirt. "Does the Avatar care about the civilians? About slaves and captives of the Fire Nation?!"

Katara knew what was coming, but she also knew that she couldn't afford to give away any information that might lead to Aang's harm! "Mmmmm...." She groaned, half in shame half in anger, as she watched her interrogater's knife slowly approach her bosom.

"Alright, you asked for it." Boss said casually as he carefully slid the razor sharp knife through her shirt material and traced it down her stomach, avoiding the areas covered by ropes. Then, he grabbed her shirt on the collar and tore it down the middle, exposing a bright blue brassiere, matching her panties, as they were also marked with her Water insignia on each breast.

Katara squeezed her eyes shut while her blushing suddenly shot back through the roof. She was tightly bound and gagged, kidnapped by outlaws, and stripped down to her underwear in public sight! What else could possibly happen to her?! She thought all these things to herself as she felt the cold blade trace across her bare skin, and the ropes grow even tighter as the Boss pulled the knots further. However, she knew the answer to that question, much to her regret.

"Still nothing, huh? Fine. You give me no choice." Katara cringed as she felt the blade of the knife slide between her cleavage and begin pressuring her brastrap. Her eyes squeezed shut more tightly than ever as tears began to roll down and her face turned redder than a balloon. The strap was giving way.

The buttons began to snap. At that very moment, the tent door flung itself open and a gigantic ray of sunlight flooded the tent. The sudden action stopped the knife in its tracks an instant before it popped her underwear materials! Cidd came sprinting into the room, panting for air.
"It's the Avatar!!! She's here!!!" He shouted in excitement, and a tinge of fear.

'She?!' Katara thought to herself again as she felt the knife slip out from between her cleavage. 'Now I KNOW I didn't mishear that. What's going on?' She thought to herself as the Boss stood up and turned away from her.

"Is everything prepared?" He said to Cidd, almost as if it were an order.

"Yes, it's all just as yeh planned." He said with a smirk.

"Excellent. Great job, Cidd. The town'll be ours again soon." He said, walking past him with a pat on the shoulder, heading towards the tent entrance. "And bring our little guest out here too. It's time for the exchange." He smirked as he stepped through the tent opening and into the bright day.

With a heave, Cidd, lifted Katara, chair and all, and quickly followed the Boss, through to the outside. At first when the sunlight hit her face, Katara throught it was a dream, some sort of spasm of her imagination, but as she felt it warming her skin, she knew that it was real. She was in a small campsite, but not tiny. There were three tents pitched all around her, all dull yellow in color, like the one she had been kept in all day. There was also a smoldering fire in the center of the campsite.

"Alright Avatar, just like we discussed. It's her for you." Katara heard the Boss' voice say just as she was set down on the ground. She turned her head to watch the events.

"Very well then." Katara heard a young feminine voice respond! With a jolt, Katara turned her head to see Toph, standing in front of her captors with a blue arrow painted on her forehead and down wrists! Aang was standing off to the side, wearing his red bandanna and black hair, covering up his tattoo. He had a cloth tied over his eyes and he was trying to look as Earthbender-like as possible. The cloth prevented him from seeing, but he could hear everything just fine. Sokka was standing on Toph's other side, dressed the same as usual. He had nothing to hide.
"I am Avatar Aang." Toph said proudly, "These are my associates, Toph, the blind earthbender," She said pointing to Aang, "And Sokka." She said, pointing to her other side. "They will be here to guide Katara back to our camp, and that is all." Toph and Boss seemed to stare each other down for a moment. Katara could tell that Toph was wearing a pair of color contacts, which is why the men couldn't tell that she was blind.

"Very well then, let us trade." Boss declared. "Brong? Will you please do the honors?" He motioned to Katara. Without a word, the gorilla of a man grabbed Katara's chair in one hand, and lazily lifted her off of the ground and set her down next to Aang.

Without a word, Toph then stepped up next to Brong. He closed a hand around her shoulder, clenching her in what could have been a death grip. Toph grimaced in a bit of pain as they trudged into a tent on the far side of where Katara had been held.
"Don't forget, she can bend every element. Keep her completely restrained!" Boss whispered to Brong as he walked by. He acknowledged with a nod.
"Don't worry guys, I'll be okay!" She called back as the tent door closed behind her.

"Then our work here is done. Good day to you." The Boss said with a bow as he and Cidd turned and followed into the tent Toph had just been taken to.

As soon as they were gone, Aang and Sokka leapt to Katara's side.
"MMNNNPPHHHH!! HMMMGGG!!!" She cried, tears running down her face as Aang began unwrapping the adhesive bandages from her lips and Sokka began cutting through her ropes with his sword. After several minutes, they finally freed her. Katara would have a crick in her back from her position for the next day, but other than that she was fine.

"BLECK!!" Katara coughed as she spat out the old dirty rags, soaked in her saliva. It would take days for the bulge in her cheeks to go back to normal from being stuffed so full!
"Aang!" She cried, throwing her arms around him in a huge hug. "Thank you so much for saving me!" Aang, however, was frozen solid. His face was bright red and his body was stuck in a stick looking pose. He had still been in 'Toph' uniform, and had only just then taken off his blindfold. "Oops!" Katara gasped, suddenly realizing that she was in her underwear.

"Here, Katara." Sokka said, offering her a fresh blue and white water tribe robe. Katara put it on without hesitation.

"Thanks, Sokka." She said, hugging him as well.

Katara turned around to the group. " This is bad, guys. I was really scared in there. As you could see, they did some cruel things to me in there. I don't even want to imagine what they'll do to Toph thinking that she's the Avatar! Please tell me that you've got a plan!" Katara shouted.

"Don't worry, Katara." Aang said soothingly, "We already have a plan. We're going to wait until nightfall, when the Firebenders come to pick up 'The Avatar'. When the trade is about to be made, we swoop in, free Toph, defeat the Soldiers, and get the mens' village back. We kill two birds with one stone by waiting out the day."

"Are you sure Toph will be okay with that?" Katara asked worriedly. She had been there for only an hour and it felt like a day. She didn't even want to imagine several!

"Oh yeah, it was her idea!" Aang explained, "Originally, Sokka volunteered to be the bait, but Toph thought it would be better for her to go, since she's not as much of a wimp as he is." He finished with a grin.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Sokka interrupted, "You know very well that is NOT what happened!"

"Alright, alright, guys." Katara mediated. "We need to get some rest. It will be a few hours before the firebenders arrive, and we'll want to get well hidden." The others agreed and they rushed off into the nearby woods.

****Five Hours Later****



Cidd, Brong, and Boss sat warily around a now burning bonfire. They were waiting for something. However, they were all unaware of the three sets of eyes, steadily watching them just a few dozen yards into the forest behind them. As if destiny herself had timed it, a group of torches suddenly became visible a little bit up the path. In just a minute or two, the entire platoon of soldiers was there, numbering twenty altogether. One leader stepped forward from the others and engaged in conversation with Boss.

"We received your message, young one." The Firebender boomed. "We are very impressed."

"So, you'll release our village from captivity?" Boss asked, waiting to hear the blessed words himself.

"Of course! Why, when we got word of your achievement, we immediately unlocked the village's barricade and made our way here with all your possessions! The FireLord will reward us richly for such a find!" The Leader proclaimed.

The three hiding in the woods heard it. "Did you hear that? They've released the village!" Aang whispered. "That's your queue, Sokka!"
"Gotcha!" He whispered back, and slowly crawled his way, through the shadows of night, towards the tent they were holding Toph in.

"Alright Aang, ready?" Katara smiled, opening her water flask. He returned the smile with a nod. "Alright then, let's do this!" The two launched themselves out of the woods and into the campsite, Aang crushing the first soldier with a boulder, while Katara froze one inside a block of ice. Instinctively, the Firebenders began shooting fireballs in all directions amidst the chaos. Aang and Katara continued fighting the soldiers, creating a distraction for Sokka, who had just snuck into Toph's tent.


It was nearly pitch black in the tent, as it was night time and no lanterns were lit.
"Toph!" He whispered as he carefully crept through the dark room. "Toph, can you hear me?!" There was no response. He couldn't see a thing in this dark room! Sokka began crawling around on his hands and knees on the floor, trying to find Toph. She was probably unconscious. After a minute or so of searching, his hand suddenly landed on cloth material. He felt it with both hands, examining it. He gasped, "Oh geez, these are Toph's clothes! At least I don't feel her underwear here!" Sokka almost sighed in relief.

He continued patting the floor and calling out her name, ignoring the sounds of raging battle outside. Five minutes of looking and still nothing! "What is this? We know that they never moved tents!" He pondered for a second. "I know, I'll light a lantern!" He said, grabbing a matchbook from his pocket. He stood up to where he saw the fixture hanging from the rafters and reached out for it. However, he was shocked when he did not feel cold metal, but something much odder! Sokka began patting the object, trying to figure out what it was.

After a few seconds of the patting, Sokka heard a strange noise. Like a sort of whimpering or gurgling sound. Suddenly, the object he was feeling began to wiggle! Sokka gasped, "TOPH!"

Without hesitation, he lit a match and ran to a different lantern fixture, allowing light to flood into the room. "Geez, Toph! They seriously did a number on you!" Sokka exclaimed, startled by what he saw.

Thinking that Toph was the Avatar, they needed to ensure that she could not bend any of the elements, and that's exactly what they did! The first thing they did was strip Toph down to a dark green undershirt and panties. Toph 's legs were folded closed and tied in a tight frogtie to keep them that way. Ropes were then wrapped around both of her thighs, as well as her calves, her ankles, and even her big toes, binding her legs together and ensuring they couldn't seperate. Her arms were pulled back behind her, so that her elbows were touching one another. They were then tightly bound to ensure they would not seperate a bit, as were her wrists. There was a labrynth of ropes wrapping around, above, and below her chest, keeping her arms trapped behind her back. To keep Toph from wiggling too much, a very short taught line of rope connected her ankles to her wrists, holding her in a tight hogtie. Her hands were behind her back and pressed palm to palm, wrapped up tightly in the same adhesive tape they had used to gag Katara. Sokka continued to examine her bonds as she struggled and mmphed weakly. To prevent proper Airbending, they had taken small pieces of material and plugged her nose with it. Of course, to keep her alive, She had been gagged with what looked like a wiffle-ball, which allowed airflow, although a large amount of drool had gathered around Toph's lips from angry shouting during her first few hours of captivity. A small rope had been tied from the straps of her gag to the knots on her back, forcing her head to constantly title backwards.
As Sokka continued examining Toph, he noticed that her ears had been plugged, which is why she had only responded to Sokka's touch. To top it all off, she was blindfolded and suspended several feet above the ground.

"Mmmnngghhgnn!!" Toph garbled through her gag as she realized that someone was there! She wiggled furiously in her bonds, obviously trying to bend, although that didn't do much of anything at all.

"Don't worry, Toph! It's me!" Sokka whispered, taking the plug out of her ear and rubbing her back to soothe her.

"Mmmnnnphhhgggm!" He took out his sword and gently began sawing away at her bindings as the sounds of battle slowly died away outside. "It's alright now, Toph. You're safe, and we won." Toph began to breathe much less heavily after that through her holed ball-gag.

****Later That Night****



"We can't thank you enough for all that you did for us, Avatar!" The Boss exclaimed, shaking his hand vigorously.

"Yeh, Avatar! Ya truly got us out of a bind der!" Cidd praised, "Who knows what other terrible things we woulda done without yer help!"

Brong, as always, remained silent, although his eyes were welling with tears.
"We're so sorry we had to do that! Please keep in mind that we did it for our families! We have no quarrell against the Great Aang!" The Boss said with a bow of appreciation.

Amidst all the commotion, Cidd walked up over to Aang. "So, okay....you sure ya ain't a girl?" He whispered, quite seriously.

"Umm, yeah! Pretty sure!" Aang responded happily. "I guess we were lucky that out here in the wilderness, you guys don't hear much news. We were hoping that you didn't really know the specifics of The Avatar. And we were lucky as anything!"

Cidd smacked his head in shame. "So yer seriously the Avitar?" He asked sheepishly, as if to double check that he was not getting tricked.

"Yep! I seriously am!" He concluded.

As Aang said that, he watched Cidd droop down and slowly approach Katara and Toph. Aang heard them muttering, and then the three embraced, although Toph looked as if she still wanted to drop a boulder on his head. After about an hour of more conversation, the two groups prepared to leave.
"Safe travels, Avatar!" Boss said with a wave and a smile.

"Oh, don't worry about me!" Aang said simply. "I'm not the one who will be having to deal with rope burns for the rest of the week." He said loudly, motioning towards Toph and Katara. The two of them heard this, both turning around and glaring at Aang, faces turning bright red.

"Oh yeah, girls." Sokka intercepted the glares. "You both would be screwed right now if it weren't for us guys! Right, Aang?" He said with a high five.

"Shut up, Sokka! We both know I could have escaped whenever I felt like it!" Toph screamed.

"Mmhmm. Yeah, sure Toph." Sokka mocked her, stretching his arms in the air and closing his eyes. Without a word, Toph stomped on the ground beneath her. A few seconds later, a large pit opened up just where Sokka's foot was about to land.

"I hate you so much." He said with a glare as he fell face forward into the ditch, the entire group holding back laughter.