Author's note: Hello peeps! This is my First Fan fiction story thingy for Avatar: The Last Airbender. I've been thinking of this story for quite some time and now that I finally have a place to write it, I can wait to start. I hope you guys all enjoy it. The best thing with Avatar is that as the show goes on, it gets better and better. With the occasional crappy episode that pops up rarely…but those don't happen very often on this show.
Just a heads up on a little of what going on in this fic…
Of coarse, this is an Aang/Katara fic. I know it displeases some people but hey, If you don't like it start your own fic. Starting to E-mail me about your displeasure won't help either. My mind is made up already.
There is a new character.
This fic comes with everything you read here and is part of this complete website, The original Mai, That one girl who flips and likes poking people, and Toph not included…. Ok I'm still making my mind up about it, don't rush me…
As for spelling mistakes, don't be a butt. Nobody likes getting "that 'where' should be 'were' don't you have spell check?" I am a speedy typist. I don't look at my hands but type sentences I read off in my head. Nobody likes butts.
Oh wait, "I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender and all the crap that comes with it including characters and …. I can't think of anything else….Anyway…All that stuff that I just mentioned is property of nickalodeon (sp?) or Viacom or whoever owns it... not me…and uh…yeah : )"
Before I start, I just wanted to share something extraordinary with you. As you have probably heard on the news, Israel is attacking Lebanon. In early June, we arrived in Lebanon to see my grandparents. A while before the attacks started, My two-year-old brother began singing 'London Bridge is Falling Down' over and over and we couldn't get him to stop. He sang it all day every day. After three days of singing it, Israel began bombing and five major bridges were destroyed. This is very creepy beyond all reason. I think because babies and toddlers are so little and can't talk right; God lets them in on secrets and sometimes they let them out. I hope that didn't creep you out too much.
Anyways…Happy Reading!
Chapter One
Aang shuddered. It was a clear night and the only remains of the hot fog that haunted the air previously was the dew that now beaded the leaves. The night was cool, the skies were clear and the moon floated in the sky and the stars appeared in ripples across the sky. This was starting to happen a lot, the third time this week. It would be the perfect night to sleep under the stars when he'd wake up. He wouldn't gradually float away from dreamland and eventually open up to the day the way he did in the morning. His awakening was anything but gradual. It was like his body was trying to warn his about something. Like it was telling him to 'get up and expect danger' or 'stay on your toes'.
Regardless of what it could be from, Aang couldn't live on like this. Three nights in a row with no sleep could really take its toll on a person. He was drowsy all day and his eyes shut by themselves. They would shut at the worst times, like when he had to be paying attention, when he was steering Appa or walking into a new village where there could be bandits trying to capture him.
He got up and stretched. He wouldn't be back to bed in a while so he decided to take a walk, explore the place they were camping out for the night. He weaved in between trees and made his way to a stream with tiny waterfalls that fell stilly. One of the trees caught his eye though. It wasn't really a tree, but a stone statue of a striped winged cat. To a normal person, it would've looked like an ordinary statue, but to him it glowed with life. Its whole body was poised and seemed to stare deep into the onlooker's thoughts. What really took Aang over was the cat's eyes. It looked like they were made out of jasper stones and they looked depthless, like looking at water in the ocean but with a cloudier creamier sensation. Aang lost himself in the cat's eyes. They seemed to take him far away and he felt himself rip in half. Suddenly he felt himself leaving the crowd of his physical body as he crept out of his body and felt the cool airy sensation fly through his spiritual self. Aang was in the spirit world.
Avatar Roku and Aang flew through the air on the dragon's back.
"I see you've mastered three of the four elements. I'm very pleased. But there is still something very important you need to know, Aang." Aang shifted in his seat.
"As you know, on the day of the solar eclipse, you will be fighting the fire lord, Ozai. You will need the skills of all four elements to defeat him combined with one other skill. "
"What skill is that?" Aang asked. Roku thought for a moment then looked back up at Aang.
"I think you would understand it better if I told you the story from the beginning. Many years ago, there was a family of scholars. They were known throughout all four nations for their wisdom and extensive knowledge of bending, fighting techniques but most importantly, the human body in relation to bending. This family was very secretive and few things are known about the secrets in their fighting techniques. What people did notice however were their eyes. In most people in their village, the color of everyone's eyes were darkly colored. In their family however, their eyes are a different color. Difficult to describe but what most people depict as jade. Which is the symbol and the last name of this family. Their last name is Yu, or 'jade'"
"Ok…well that's great and all but what does that have anything to do with me or this...'New skill'"
"After many years, their land expanded and they got more and more secretive. Their family grew and grew until only the main trunk of their family tree could remain living in their large estate. They were very wealthy and could've expanded their land to fit the rest of the branches, but they decided to spread their clan to all parts of the Earth Kingdom. Soon their blood became too mixed and only members of the main trunk of their family had the remaining pure blood that hadn't mixed with any other family. Soon though, a large number of members from the trunk were killed in Fire Nation raids and only a few survived. Only a few are alive today. There was one other branch of the Yu family that remained pure besides the main family. They are here in the earth kingdom and you must find them. "Roku paused. Aang still looked up at him confused.
"But Avatar Roku, why do I need to find them? Do they have the skill I need to learn? How?"
"No one besides the Avatar knows that the secret of the Yu family is the skill they possess. Please allow me to finish. The secret of their family was their unique fighting style that came from seeing into the soul of their opponents. This skill is necessary to the Avatar. The Avatar needs to see past deception and look hard to find his enemy's weakness. Their style confuses the enemy and hurts him on the inside rather than trying to burn or drown them as bending usually does. This brings down the opponent with deathly results in the end."
"Oh…I see. So they weaken their opponent from the inside so their bending is effected and they can't fight effectively…but where am I supposed to find this family?"
"Sadly, the whole family doesn't possess this skill. Only one person in this branch possesses it. They live around this same area. You will find them." Roku's dragon swooped down back toward the statue as he started to fade.
"But wait! How do I find them! How will I know!"
Time was standing still. The entire world had been reduced to the surface of Appa's back. Traveling for three days in a row had defiantly taken its toll on Aang, Katara and Sokka. Their supplies were starting to run out and they needed to land somewhere soon. Aang hadn't told them about his venture to the spirit world and was still wondering if he should.
"Ugh! Where does that map say we are, Aang?" Sokka asked.
"Hmm… It says… We're somewhere about twenty miles from Ba Sing Sei. We're getting pretty close to the rest stop we planned on staying in." Sokka rolled is eyes.
"At this rate we're never going to get there. Can't we just land here?"
"Well…I guess we could. I don't think we should though. We haven't seen those bandits for a while and I think we're going to run in to them soon."
"Well if we're all dying of hunger, we're not going to be able to fight them anyway. We might as well just land here. I already see a little village down there, there's no way they could be looking for us down there." Aang looked down and paused for a moment before turning to Katara.
"What do you think? Should we land?"
"I'm going to have to side with Sokka on this one. We have no drinking water, barely any food, and I'm sure Appa is tired." Appa groaned.
"Well…Ok. I guess it wouldn't hurt. Yip Yip!" They soared down to a small clearing in the trees, quickly feeling the air get warmer and moister until they were walking in a huge thick foggy mist. It was the end of June and the sun was a mass of heat that burned right through the sky. They stretched out and began walking through the village as the village people talked in whispers about the avatar and that talk of his return was true after all.
They came to a small market place filled with stalls and people talking and laughing. Katara pulled out the money they had gotten from the resistance in Omashu. They quickly visited each stall and soon they had restocked their supplies. Aang felt nervous though. He felt the bandits were there and they were just waiting for the right minute to make an ambush. Sokka was at a fruit stand and Katara was talking to an old herb seller woman. He made his way to her stand and Katara introduced him.
"Oh, This is my friend, Aang. Aang this is Mrs. Ying."
"Very nice to meet you avatar." Her voice sounded old and raspy as if it had never been used before,
"As I was saying, this the village of Hyuga. It's mostly made out of mixed families, you know, fire nation families and people from the water tribe. They came from other places but they've learned to call this place home even if it's in the earth kingdom." Aang felt the pressure in his chest rise to tell Katara what had happened last night. The feeling that they were going to be attacked grew more and more urgent until he felt too tense to bear it anymore.
"Katara…. can I talk to you for a-"
"Just a second Aang, Mrs. Ying is showing me a dragon snap root. It's supposed to cure burns and poison from plants…" She chattered on.
"It's really important…"
"Wow! Does it really cure Cat's fever?" She wasn't paying attention. He had to say something to get her attention.
"Katara I don't think we're safe here! -" She turned to him. He felt relief but it was short lived.
"What? What are you talking about Aang?" She looked at his face. His eyes were full of worry and he looked awfully nervous. "Mrs. Ying, I'll be back in a second." They walked back to Appa.
"Ah. Now what was it Aang?"
"I- well last night-Agh! Katara look out!" Two men sprung out of the bushes, one grabbed Katara and the other went for Aang. They were both obviously bandits. They were both wearing masks and only their eyes and nose were visible. They wore wrapped linen around their arms and the rest of their clothing was brown and green. The man holding Katara had a rolled piece of parchment in his pocket. A section of it was ripped and it hung open. There was a picture of Aang; it was a 'wanted' notice.
He had to act fast, and the first thing he had to do was to free Katara. He threw a blast of wind in the direction of the second bandit. He slid backwards and slammed into an empty stall. Aang ran towards the first bandit holding Katara. He threw another blast at that one only this time it was filled with dust. The bandit fell to the ground, still hanging on to the back of Katara's robe. Dust and sand flew into the air making it even harder to see and breath combined with the misty fog. She opened her water canteen and froze the bandit's arms and ankles to the ground. The second bandit rose to his feet from under the broken wood and reached into a sack tied to his left side. Out from it he pulled out a giant blade.