Chapter 3

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Chapter 3 We're camped in a rock quarry, which is turning out to be the perfect location to begin Aang's training. After a good night's sleep last night, I woke up early this morning—but not as early as Aang—who was already wide awake and raring to go hours before me. "So, what move are you going to teach me first?" he asked anxiously. "Rock-a-lanche? The Trembler? Ooh, maybe I could learn to make a whirlpool out of land?" "Let's start with Move-a-Rock." This kid has no clue how hard this is. Time to see what he makes of these two boulders. "The key to Earthbending is your stance. You've got to be steady and strong. Rock is a stubborn element—if you're going to move it, you've got to be like a rock yourself." A little demonstration: just a quick thrust of the arms and WHAM! Right into the wall! "Okay, you ready to give it a try?" "I'm ready," he said without hesitation. Okay, his feet feel set, and he's mimicking my movement. That's good. Ready, set, and—WHAT!? Great, instead of the rock moving, Aang just flew

backward across the quarry. He's not firm, not thinking like an Earthbender. "Maybe if I came at it from another angle—" "No! You've got to stop thinking like an Airbender. There's no clever trick, no different angle to approach the problem. You've got to face it head on! Be rocklike. I see we've got a lot of work to do, Twinkle Toes!" This is not good. He's still fancy dancing, tiptoeing his way around the rock. He'll never move it that way. Being light on his feet may be great for Airbending, but it's never going to help him become an Earthbender. Feels like Katara is coming over to tell me something. I wonder what she wants.… "Toph, I've been training Aang for a while now. He responds to a positive teaching experience—lots of encouragement and praise." Here she goes, bossing me around again. And this time it's about something I know and she doesn't— Earthbending! I don't want to start arguing again, but how could treating him like a baby and encouraging his whining possibly help his Earthbending at all? "Thanks, Katara. I'll try that." Whatever, I'm just going to humor her. That is, until she's gone. Then I'm going to ride Aang hard until he learns what he needs to know.

For Aang's next series of exercises, I set up an obstacle course. I had him lift heavy boulders and move them through the course. Then I covered myself in rock armor and told him to try to stop me from pushing him. With Aang balanced on two rock pillars, I had him bend some smaller rocks from hand to hand. Then I suddenly slammed a section out of each of the pillars to see if he could balance… and he hasn't fallen, which means he's actually holding his stance! Finally he's taking a step forward. Okay, now it's time for a more challenging test. Instead of moving a rock, I think I'll make him try to stop a rock. Yeah, stop it or be crushed by it. Simple but effective motivation. "Okay, Aang, I'm going to roll that boulder down at you. If you have the attitude of an Earthbender, you'll stop the rock." Just then Katara butt in again. "Sorry, Toph, but are you sure this is best way to teach Earthbending to Aang?" Hmm, I have an idea. Sorry, Aang, but your good friend just made things a little harder for you. She's gonna love this.… "I'm glad you said something, Katara. Actually there is a better way." Better, not easier. I put a blindfold on Aang. Now he'll have to feel

the vibrations of the boulder to stop it. Welcome to my world! "Thank you, Katara." "Yeah," Aang said, obviously unhappy with Little Miss Buttinski. "Thanks, Katara." Okay, the boulder is on its journey down the hill, and Aang is getting into his horse stance. Good. His form feels perfect, his stance feels good. Now it's time to see whether or not he has the courage to stand his ground. Here we go.… That's good, just keep sticking your ground, be rocklike and sense the vibration. Come on Aang, you can do this.… It's getting closer, I can feel it, it's time to—What happened? Either it flattened him or he pulled a fancy-dancer move and jumped out of the way.… Well, he didn't get flattened because I can feel him coming toward me. "I guess I just panicked… I don't know what to say." "There's nothing TO say. You blew it. You had perfect stance and perfect form." What am I going to do with him? How can I teach him Earthbending if he's scared to Earthbend? How can the Avatar, who's supposed to save everyone, be such a wimp? "When it came right down to it you didn't have the guts. Do you have what it takes to face that rock like an Earthbender?"

"No. I don't think I do." Great. Now I'm supposed to feel bad about hurting his feelings? HE messed up, and HE should feel bad about that. I'm not Katara, I'm not going to console him and let him cry on my shoulder. But here comes the Sugar Queen to make it all better. No wonder he can't learn anything. He's so used to being treated like a little baby by Katara that he doesn't know what it's like to not always get everything right the first time around. The minute things get hard he gives up, and she rewards him for it. She thinks working on Waterbending is going to make him feel better. Well, it might do that, but it won't make him any better at Earthbending. I can't teach him if he doesn't have the courage to stand up to that rock. Hmm. That gives me an idea. Maybe if I can get him to stand up to me, standing up to the rock won't seem so tough. Maybe if I get him mad enough… this ought to bug him. "Hey, Aang, I found these nuts in your bag. I figured you wouldn't mind, and if you did, you're too much of a pushover to say anything." He doesn't mind? He's happy to share? Blah, blah, blah, all this nicey-nice Avatar stuff is starting to get to me. Well, this next part will definitely bug him.