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Team "Get-Away-From-Sylar-No-Really-This-Time" has made good progress, but even they need to sleep occasionally. Toph makes rock tents for all of them, because it's easier than looting, and even though she makes four, she knows perfectly well that right now, only two are being slept in.

It must be awfully stuffy in that one, but at least they're not doing anything other than sleeping with their hands together.

Toph - doesn't have any one to hold her hand. Not, she'll tell anyone who bothers to ask, that she needs to, it's just...

...just that she has to be there for Sokka, who's just buried his sister, and for Claire, who's terrified of this murderer, and - no one's really there for her, the little girl who just buried the closest thng she had to a sister, who had begun to take the place of a mother.

So as the others sleep, she creeps out and crouches a way away from the tents, feeling the movements of the forest around her, and silently crying. So she can be strong in the morning.

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Claire is warm and safe and makes everything -- not better, but bearable. But she's sleeping, and Sokka's -- well, not. Surprisingly enough.

He slides his hand free gently, after staring at the ceiling of the tent for forever and a day, and checks to make sure she's ~~breathing~~ sleeping before heading out. He just -- needs air.

He's trying so hard to be strong for Claire, who needs someone to protect her from the murderer, and for Toph, who's just buried her closest friend, and for Penance even though they're not really sure how much she understands -- she understands pain. It's just -- hard.

It's mostly just coincidence that he walks in Toph's direction.

Toph doesn't say anything, or even move, as he comes over. All she does is stop crying, and let the last few tears fall or stay on her cheeks, whatever they want to do.

She's trying not to think of anything water-y.

Sokka sits down beside her, quietly, and puts his arm over her shoulder.

Claire's nice, but Toph's -- Toph. Claire's different and special and wonderful but she didn't know Katara at all.

After a second, Toph leans her head to rest on his shoulder. It's not much of a movement, but it says a lot.

"How're you doing?"

Apart from the obvious.

From Toph? It's like a full-bodied bear hug. It gets a little uptwitch at the corner of lips that have been down for days.

"I have to tell the other me."

That's gonna be fun.

"Yeah."

Toph would offer, but - Sokka's going to have to do it.

"Does that mean going back to the farm?"

Claire's not going to like that.

"Yeah."

Claire's not going to like it.

He wraps his arms around his knees and stares at the sky. The constellations are all unfamiliar.

"...will you ... will you take care of Claire? While I go?"

Toph nods.

She's silent for a little while, then adds, perhaps as a non-sequitor;

"I like her."

That's approval, permission and acknowledgement of defeat. It's also a confession.

Sokka glances down at her, and then back to the sky.

"I'm glad."

He needs his family to approve.

Perhaps unnecessarily, he adds "...me, too."

Yeah, that was unneccessary.

"She's a self centred brat," Toph adds. "But so was I when I met you guys."

Sokka smiles a little more, at that.

"You got better."

Toph smirks proudly.

"Yeah, now I'm a productive member of society. She'll get better, too."

"She's fine," Sokka says, looking back towards the tents. "She ... had a shock. That ... the guy. He was after her."

"Ah," says Toph.

"Is that why you didn't tell her?"

He shrugs, a little helplessly. "I don't know, Toph."

If he knew why any of this was happening, it would make so much more sense.

Toph rests her hand on his knee, and squeezes, hopefully ressuringly.

"Why was he after her?"

She can understand why bad people would want to kill Katara: she's close personal friends with the Avatar. But Claire's... not.

"She has powers. That's what he does. To get powers."

Sokka frowns slightly, obviously not having thought this through. (To be fair, he's a little bit in shock.)

"That's ... he ..."

Oh.

See the lightbulb! Well -- not, because, y'know, blind. But she could hear it, prob'ly.

She gets something, even if she doesn't know what a lightbulb is.

"Does that mean he's a waterbender, now?"

"I need to ask Claire," Sokka says uncertainly. "Yeah. Yeah, I think so."

His stomach twists again.

Katara.

Toph leans on him again, this time because she's crying again.

Soon she's hugging him properly.

Sokka's okay with that.

He pats her shoulder, awkwardly, and then gives up on that for just holding her tight. She's so small, Toph. When she's not building mountains or throwing boulders, anyway. He forgets she needs human things too.

He can be strong for her. He's only got the one sister left.

There is a rustle high up in the tree beside her, random and soft. Probably just an animal.

Until, at least, what's up there decides it would be rude not to let the other girl know she's there.

Quiet tapping of something hard and metal against the tree branch.

A second while Toph ensures her voice won't crack.

"Hey, Spike. You coming down?"

There is no answer, of course - there never is. But after a couple of minutes, long minutes, the scraping and rustling signals Penance's arrival. She doesn't touch Toph, but crouches beside her with several inches between them.

A leaf is set down on top of Toph's hand.

(there's a hole in it, from where Penance's fingertip had punctured it, but it's still a nice leaf.)

"Hey, thanks."

Toph smiles faintly, and with her other hand reaches into her pocket (Claire told her about this things called 'combat pants'. She likes these. There are pockets) and pulls out her space rock.

Stretching out her fingers, she bends the rock so it melts over her palm, encasing her hand in a meteorite glove.

This she extends towards Penance.

"How are you?"

Tap tap tap.

Once reassured that she won't be putting holes in her friends, Penance rests her hand gently on top of Toph's glove. There are, of course, no words offered, but a sentiment is clear nonetheless.

She's more concerned about you.

"Eh," Toph lies without even making a real word. Her fingers curl briefly to lace between Penance's, then relax.

Toph likes to think she's too hardcore to be emotionally dependant, but she knows that she's wrong.

"Can't say I never thought I'd bury a friend. And it's only the past few months I've even had them,"

Penance's head tilts to the side, regarding their laced hands. Carefully, she curls her fingers around Toph's. Practice has taught her how to recognize what substances are safe around her, and while Toph's gloves will protect her, if Penance isn't careful, they might still get cracked.

It doesn't stop her from hand-holding, though.

Hand-holding is wussy and Toph will only do it if there's a risk she might lose a finger.

Not that Toph would lose a finger. She's too awesome for that.

"Have you?"

Better than talking about herself, anyway.

There's another tilt of the head, Penance's too-blue eyes searching for Toph's too-pale.

But the hand isn't going anywhere.

Toph doesn't turn her head in Penance's direction. She doesn't even react to the searching.

"Just wondering. I mean, we don't know anything about you. What your world was like, whether everyone's like you, or if you're special. i don't even know if you had friends like Katara."

It's hard to tell exactly what sort of answer Toph is expecting here. By now, they all know that Penance either can't, or won't, speak. But it's become a habit to talk to her, to let her listen, to take comfort in what's offered rather than worry about what isn't.

And what is offered is closeness and touch, an escape from being alone if nothing else.

Toph's not really used to people listening to her. Her parents certainly never did. Aang listened when it was about Earthbending, but he was just there to learn. Katara - she looked after Toph, but she didn't listen a whole lot. The only person that ever has listened to Toph is Sokka, and he...

...he has Claire now.

"..she was liek a sister to me," Toph explains. "A bossy older sister who wanted to be my Mom, but... she was better at it than my actual Mom."

Penance doesn't show any sign of moving. Not now, not with Toph sitting so small and quiet beside her.

She nods, for whatever reason, and her hair clicks with the movement.

Hair clicking makes Toph smile, a little.

"She tried to take acre of everyone. No matter who they were - even Fire Nation."

There's a bigger smile now.

"She and Sokka had a massive fight over that."

A small sound is made, a shuffling that sounds almost amused. Even if all that's really happening is Penance making herself more comfortable with crouching on the ground.

"We were traveling undercover in the Fire Nation," Toph explains, "Cause we had to find the Fire Lord and defeat him before this comet comes and makes his bending really powerful. And Sokka had the whole trip planned out - even down to bathroom breaks - but then we found this village that was starving."

Her voice is natural now, though she doesn't usually talk this much, it feels comfortable.

Penance's hand slips from hers as she speaks, but it's only for further shifting. Her arm brushes Toph's as she settles.

"Katara wouldn't go without helping them, but Sokka wouldn;t stay 'cause it'd mess up our schedule, so she feed Appa purple tongue berries to make him look too sick to fly, and snuck around while we were asleep helping them. She even dressed up as a spirit so they wouldn't know it was her."

That soft clicking could be anything - animals running around the forest, a leaf falling from a tree. But it could also be taken as a response, if looked at the right way.

"Of course, we caught her. Because I can feel people moving even at night. She and Sokka had this big argument about saving the world or helping people, and she... she said she wouldn't leave while people needed her. 'Cause that's what she was like."

Penance doesn't move again, sitting quietly beside Toph, almost touching.

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