So we’re all in agreement that making Toph a cop was a pretty bad move in hindsight. That leaves us with the question, ‘What should Toph have done instead?’ Well, I have an idea.
One day, Toph travels to one of the mountain ranges near the center of the world and then completely levels an entire mountain. She spends weeks, months, digging into the earth, shoving boulders thrice her size, meeting everything head on. Once she has a large enough chunk of land, she begins to build. Walls climb towards the clouds. Furniture is carved from stone. The detail is immaculate. When she invites the others to come help her, they can only gape, because she’s single-handedly built an entire multi-room mansion.
Sokka is able to set up a lighting system, reminding Toph that other people will need to see in the hallways. He’s also in charge of stocking the large kitchen, at least for the first wave of arrivals. Katara sews together fabrics for things like curtains, rugs, blankets. She also makes sure that the drawers are filled with various healing ointments. Suki checks to make sure that everything is safe for bodies of all heights. Zuko and Aang travel the world and use their influence to spread the word that this place exists.
What is this place exactly? Well, it has a name, but it can best be described as a combination of a halfway house and a foster home. A place that exists for any child who, like Toph, has to escape their abusive parents but don’t have anywhere else to go. Toph will take them in. She’ll make sure that they get ‘toughened up’ and that they’re not a bunch of ‘weak fuddy duddies’ from the things their parents did to them. And if an abusive parent comes along to try to take their kid back…I mean, really, do you expect anyone to get past Toph? Come on! Not that she’s the only one who fights them off. One by one, the other kids become confident enough to stand at her side, fighting away the abusive parents, fighting away the abuse. She raises them to be strong. She raises them to be confident. She raises them.
Some leave, of course. She’s Aang’s best friend. She knows that some people are just destined to travel the world. That’s why it’s also a halfway house. Any child can stay with her for as long or as little as they need. And of course that includes children who are escaping the law. What does she look like, a cop?
So, yes, some leave, but some stay. Some call her ‘Mom’. She calls two, ‘daughters’. The eldest daughter tells her that she wants to go be the Police Chief of Republic City. (”You’re going against everything that your parent taught you? I am so proud of you!”) The younger daughter tells her that she wants to do what Toph did, only to a new extreme, building an entire city. Toph is proud of her, as well. She’s proud of all of the kids who come and go, who stay and leave, who learn and grow.
Aang stops by to tell them all stories of his adventures. Zuko stops by to offer genuinely good advice about how they can grow into someone new, someone who isn’t defined by their past or the abuse they faced. Katara is everyone’s surrogate aunt and often stops by to heal the children with the worst injuries. Suki and Sokka teach all of the nonbender children. Iroh travels there several times a year to brew tea for everyone and offer his own advice. He always leaves after a few days, to travel back to Ba Sing Se, but that’s okay. For some, it’s a place to visit. For others, it’s a home.
And what does Toph name that home?
