Toph had come a long way. When she ran away from home to join Aang and the others, she only knew two extremes for herself: complete independence and strength as The Blind Bandit, and coerced helplessness under her parents' thumbs. Any perceived order was a threat to her newfound freedom. Any attempt to help was a potential signal her companions didn't think her capable.

Iroh was the first one to open her mind to the reality that most people were not like her parents. Most people wanted to do things for others as gestures of kindness, not as assumptions of helplessness. She got to know her friends better, and became comfortable with the idea of being part of a group rather than a collection of individuals. They showed her a happy middle where it was okay to help others and to be helped yourself, and no one would think less of you for it.

It was the only thing that made it bearable to be literally out of her element here. This wasn't a comfortable place for her, but it beat the alternative. Besides, even if she couldn't see Sokka's and Katara's hometown her usual way, she was still curious about it, and there was no better teacher than experience itself.

"So you got to know the locals better," she surmised. "Is it different there? The Earth Kingdom is big, but it's all one continent. The two water tribes are literally a world apart."