/+\ Katara's Adventures in Wonderland /+\

Arc 1: Two Cats, One Smile

Prologue: A Hole in the Ice

"Sokka! We've been fishing for hours and we still haven't caught a thing," the girl, Katara complained to her brother.

He briefly narrowed his eyes at her before returning his concentration to the water, "I don't see you doing anything useful, sis."

She stuck her nose in the air while crossing her arms, "I would have caught that fish if you didn't make me lose my focus!"

"You were doing that thing with the water!" he said, moving his arms around in demonstration. "You didn't give the fish a chance to defend itself! That's cheating! And that's why girls are not supposed to hunt."

As Katara bended some water at her brother's head, one of the two figures that were watching them sighed. "Are you sure that they are the ones who are supposed to stop us?" he asked his companion, skeptic as to whether these two "otherworlders" were going to be able to foil their plans.

"Positive. Although you are right, brother, they don't seem like much. But underestimating them may prove to be a fatal mistake," the second one said, clawed hands ripping through the mirror that allowed the two to see into the otherworld.

"Did you have to rip it so early?" the first one groaned. "I worked hard on that mirror."

"Oh please, dear brother, if only you were more focused then the task would come to be much simpler," she said, her lips curling up into long grin.

He sat up, yawning loudly, "I guess you're right, but my focus from now on will be set on getting rid of those two."

The other looked down at her twin brother and laughed, "Precisely, and once we have finished them off, the Avatar Spirit shall be ours to feast!"

"Hey!" Sokka shouted at his sister. "What was that for?"

"I cannot believe you! All I do is try to help and you push me away just because I'm a girl! Ever since Mom died I've been doing everything! I even wash all the clothes! Have you smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you… NOT PLEASANT!" Sokka held the sides of the canoe as his sister dangerously bended the water underneath. "Uh… Ka-Katara?" he sheepishly said.

"All you do all day is make muscles at yourself and play soldier! You never have to deal with the pressures of being the only girl in the tribe! You never have to be careful to not accidentally freeze someone! You have no idea what it's like to be me! So don't you dare tell me what I can and can't do because I'm a girl!" The iceberg behind them began to crack, and the girl became aware of what she had done.

Sokka pulled his sister down when the boat lurched and they were thrown onto a floating ice raft. A blue beam of light shot from the water, causing the a whirlpool to form. The siblings held on to each other when they found themselves moving closer and closer to the menacing hole. "Get us out of here!" Sokka shouted to his sister. "Tell the water to leave us alone!"

She resisted the urge to hit him upside the head, "What made you think I could talk to water?"

"Mere observation, I guess?" he said, trying to revoke her wrath. The watercraft was pulled from under them and they were thrown into the freezing water. The speed that they were moving at was causing them to slowly lose their grip on the other. "Sokka," Katara said to her brother. "If we don't make it, I just want you to know that I love you!"

"I love you too!" he replied before their hands lost contact with another and Katara was lost in a world of blue.

Cold.

The freezing coldness of the water was all Katara could comprehend. She didn't know how long she was under, but it seemed like hours. She succumbed to the feeling, letting herself fall into a cold slumber. She forgot everything. About being separated from Sokka, her father fighting in the war, and even of her mother. It was so soft and kind, the cold… No longer did it burn her with it's icy sword, it instead lulled her to sleep with it's melancholy dreariness. Her senses nearly fell numb to it before she felt the unwavering…

Warmth.

The soft feeling inside her began to awaken her senses. She deeply sighed with content, she had never had such a blissful sleep in years. She was lying on a soft fabric, an alien object to a girl who lived at the bottom of the world. She breathed in, the scent of lavender and ashes filling her nostrils with each inhale. She smiled; Katara would always associate the smell of lavender to her mother, but the smell of ashes reminded her of the man who took her mother away. How could something possibly smell of both? She felt the item in her hands, it was a different texture than what she was lying on—almost as if it weren't a fabric at all. She opened her eyes to examine the strange-smelling thing, it was softer than the floor and a frightening ebony. With some more observation she noticed that the thing in her hand was attached to a body of sorts. At first glance it would look like a life-size doll, sitting cross-legged on the ground with its head in one hand. So it was very startling for Katara to find that it was alive. As Katara annunciated her sudden discovery with an "Oh," the two, pointed ears on the thing's head turned at the sound.

A soft laugh was heard from the creature, "I see that you have finished playing with my tail, little girl."

She stood up, feeling hurt to be called a little girl by a creature she'd never seen before. "As a matter of fact, I only recently turned twelve winters old."

The creature then stood to face her, the girl marveling at his height, and was impressed at her strength to speak her mind, before saying with a slight bow, "My apologies, milady. For twelve winters is indeed an important age."

"That's what I've been telling Sokka!" She said. Sokka… She looked around the room for any sign of her brother, finding none. "Excuse me, mister, but have you seen my brother?"

His golden eyes looked at the ceiling while his right foot tapped on the ground, "Is he a little taller than you? Lighter eyes? A ponytail?"

Katara nodded vigorously, awaiting his reply. A moment later, he sighed, replying, "Haven't seen him in these parts."

The girl looked to the ground, now feeling remorseful for not clutching her brother tighter. She sniffed, trying to hold back tears. The creature, who did not want a crying little girl on his conscious, bent down and wiped a tear from her eye, "Don't fret, we'll find your brother yet."

She looked at him with wide eyes, now realizing something, "You said that you have not seen him in these parts, right?"

"Right," he said, worrying whether or not he had accidentally let something slip.

"So that means that you've seen him before, right?" she noted out, which flushed all the blood out of the creature's face.

"I didn't say I did," he pointed out as well.

"But you didn't say you didn't, Mr. Cat," she had a toothy grin on her face, enjoying seeing the creature blink in defeat.

He smirked, "Mr. Cat?"

"Why of course! You call me 'Little Girl' and I'll call you 'Mr. Cat'," she replied, happy at her skills of deduction.

"But that isn't my real name," he groaned, the feeling of being defeated by a girl seven years younger than he stinging still.

"And neither is 'Little Girl' my name."

"All right," he said, "Since both of us would prefer to be called by our real names, allow me to introduce myself." He gave a low bow and removed his tall hat, "My name is Zuko. Zuko Mao."

She giggled at his formality. "And I'm Katara. It is very nice to meet you Zuko."

This story takes place about three years before they met Aang.