Chapter 1: The Strangers in the Iceberg
The first thing she registered as she awoke was that it was cold, incredibly so, and her yellow and orange robes didn't do much to keep the icy chill out. She wrapped them tighter around herself as she sat up, rubbing her head.
"Appa!" she heard a younger boy call. "Wake up, buddy!"
Rolling her eyes, she climbed to her feet. "That's right, Aang, check on your bison before your sister."
Aang flushed as he turned to her. "Sorry, Rin. You okay?"
Rinzen's lips curved up into a small smile and she shrugged a little. "Yeah, but it still would've been nice if you'd asked without a prompt." She rubbed his bald head affectionately as she passed him, her eyes roaming over the remains of the large iceberg they were standing in. She heard Appa groan as he stirred, licking Aang as the boy laughed in relief, and her eyes landed on the two Water Tribe siblings - for how could they be anything but siblings, with how similar they looked? - standing in disbelief at the edge of the iceberg. "And you are?" she asked wryly.
"I'm Katara," the girl introduced herself promptly. She was maybe two years younger than Rinzen, with wide pretty blue eyes and wavy brown hair braided back with two loops of hair pinned to her fringe.
"Why would you say that?! They might be Fire Nation spies!" the boy argued immediately, glowering at his sister, who rolled her eyes and tugged at the tiny wolf-tail he sported. His head on either side of the wolf-tail was shaved and he held a spear tightly.
"Uh, no, not Fire Nation," Rinzen pointed out, gesturing vaguely to her clothes. "Air Nomad. Same as my brother. I'm Rinzen, but everyone just calls me Rin."
"And I'm-" Aang was cut off from his own introduction by his own loud sneeze. He jolted into the air, sliding back down the side of the iceberg and stumbling to a halt. "I'm Aang," he finished cheerfully, sniffling.
"How many times have I told you to cover your mouth?" Rinzen sighed and Aang grinned sheepishly at ler.
"You're an airbender!" Katara gasped.
"Sure am!" Aang beamed back at her.
"Okay, back up. Where are we?" Rinzen turned to Aang. "Did you get us lost?"
Aang blinked at her innocently. "Lost? Us? No way! We're near the Southern Water Tribe like I said we were before that storm hit."
"What storm?" Katara interrupted. "The sky's perfectly clear."
"So it is." Rinzen eyed the pale sky in disbelief. "It was storming heavily when we crash-landed. And why were we in an iceberg when we woke up?"
"Exactly! See? This girl's asking the real questions!" the Water Tribe boy snapped at Katara.
Aang gulped. "Uh, funny story about that." He was saved from explaining when Appa sneezed and green phlegm landed all over the Water Tribe boy. As he yelped in disgust and collapsed to the ground in an attempt to get it off, Rinzen snorted as Aang said hurriedly, "Don't worry, it'll wash out." The other boy's nose wrinkled as he examined the state of his blue parka.
Rinzen rolled her eyes as she rubbed Appa's nose gently. "So what now? You two need a lift home? I'm sure Aang and I can give you a ride before we head back home." She gave Aang a pointed look and he nodded sheepishly.
"Yeah. Okay."
"Sure, we'd love a ride, thanks!" Katara was already climbing onto Appa's back as Aang hopped easily onto Appa's head.
"No way, I'm not getting on that fuzzy snot-monster," Katara's brother grumbled.
"You hoping some other monster will give you a ride home before you freeze to death, Sokka?" Katara bit back and Sokka scowled before grudgingly climbing on as well. Rinzen rolled her eyes as she settled in beside Aang, taking the reins.
"Appa, yip-yip!" She snapped the reins lightly and Appa took off - and then promptly crash-landed back into the water.
"Wow, that was truly amazing," Sokka deadpanned.
"Come on, Appa, yip-yip!" Aang tried again and Appa groaned in response.
"He's probably exhausted," Rinzen reassured Aang, rubbing Appa's head. "Give him a day to rest up and he'll be soaring again, don't worry." She caught him glancing back over his shoulder at Katara, who blinked at him.
"What are you smiling at?"
"Oh, I was smiling?"
Rinzen snorted as she turned back to steering Appa through the icy waters, her smile fading as she watched Katara and Sokka settle down to rest and Aang recline against Appa's saddle to start snoozing. The Southern Water Tribe knew exactly what Air Nomads looked like. So why had Sokka assumed she and Aang were from the Fire Nation? And spies, at that? Something was off about this whole situation and she intended to find out what.
Appa ground to a halt when they reached the icy shores of the Southern Water Tribe village. Katara and Sokka had awoken by then and they climbed off Appa's saddle, sliding to the ground and heading straight into the village.
Rinzen scooped Aang up before sliding off the bison's head, glad that he was incredibly light. "I'll be back in a little while, buddy." Appa grumbled in response as Rinzen settled Aang closer so that his head rested against her shoulder before carrying her sleeping brother into the village. He was a light sleeper and she was surprised he hadn't awoken yet.
Katara came out of a small tent, smiling. "You can put him down here and get some sleep yourself, if you want."
Rinzen shook her head as she went inside, resting Aang on a fur pelt and covering him up with a blanket once she'd removed his shoes for him. "I'm okay. I've gone longer without sleep." She got to her feet and came back outside, smiling back at Katara tiredly. "You have a lovely village."
"It used to be bigger," Katara admitted with an equally tired smile, closing the tent flap to let Aang sleep in peace. "But a lot of things have changed since the war."
"War?" Rinzen echoed, taken aback.
Katara's eyebrows furrowed. "You don't know about the war?"
"That's ridiculous, how does she not know about the war?" Sokka demanded as he approached, food in hand. He passed a steaming bowl to Katara and then one to Rinzen.
Grimacing inwardly at the sight of stewed sea prunes, Rinzen took a bite. She bit back a shudder, figuring she wasn't going to get much better food and she ought to be grateful for getting food at all from strangers. "Well, clearly I don't, so there has to be a reason for it. What war and against whom?"
"The Fire Nation. They started a war against the rest of the world a hundred years ago." Sokka frowned at her now. "You have to know about that."
"A hundred years ago?" Rinzen repeated, bewildered. "Last I heard, the world was at peace. Aang's got friends all over the world, including the Fire Nation."
"How long were you in that iceberg?" Rinzen couldn't respond, stunned speechless at the possibility of being in an iceberg for a hundred years, and Sokka shook his head before walking away. "I'm gonna go tell Gran-Gran about our guests. We can introduce them to the village after the kid wakes up."
Katara watched him go before turning back to Rinzen. "You really didn't know?"
Numbly, Rinzen shook her head as she took a seat in the snow outside the tent. "Not a clue. You said it's been going on a hundred years?" Katara nodded and Rinzen stared at the bowl in her hands, taking another bite absently just to distract herself. "I didn't even know we were in an iceberg until I woke up in the remnants of one," she added wryly.
"How'd that happen, anyway?" Katara prompted and Rinzen had to banish away the memory of Aang's eyes glowing eerily underwater, the vision shimmering as she'd lost consciousness.
"I can't remember," she lied. If there really was a war going on, the last thing she needed was someone going after Aang for who he was.
An awkward silence fell between the two girls, and Katara hesitated before saying brightly, "So, um, airbenders. Wow. We haven't ever seen those around here before."
"What are you talking about? The Southern Air Temple's right nearby. Aang and I travel around these parts all the time. I'm sure the other monks do, too." Katara's expression crumpled a little and Rinzen frowned. "Right? They do, don't they?"
"We've never seen any Air Nomads around here before," Katara repeated quietly, as if hesitant to say something. A chill that didn't have to do with the cold settled deep in Rinzen's stomach and she didn't dare push Katara further, afraid of what she might learn.
"Right." Doing her best to not think about the horrible taste, Rinzen drained the last of her sea prunes and put the bowl down beside Katara. "Thank you for the food, but I'd better go check on Aang." She pushed herself up with a burst of air from her hands against the snow beneath her and, ignoring Katara's gasp of awe, disappeared into the tent. She dropped down beside the pelt Aang lay on, stroking his head absently. "What've we gotten into?" she murmured worriedly. She lay down beside him, soon drifting into an uneasy sleep.
"I told you flying in a storm was a bad idea! Give me the reins!" Aang tossed the reins to her and she yanked on them hard, steering Appa towards the large glacier. "We've got to find shelter!" she shouted over the crashing thunder.
Aang pointed. "Up there!" Rinzen found the niche in the large glacier he was aiming at and guided Appa up towards it. If they could reach it before the large wave crashed into them, they could wait out the storm there. Just as she thought they'd cleared the wave, a large force crashed into Appa, yanking him down below the surface of the ocean.
Lightning flashed somewhere above her and two glowing eyes appeared right in front of her in the pitch black water. She screamed, but only a bubble left her lips. Freezing water filled her lungs and she squirmed, struggling to reach the ocean surface and find air.
Rinzen jolted awake and saw that Aang was gone, the blanket tossed haphazardly over her. With a faint smile at her brother's attempt at thoughtfulness, she climbed to her feet and left the tent.
Aang was waiting right outside, giving her a bright smile. "Hey. Sleep well?"
"In a manner of speaking."
He didn't seem perturbed by her dull tone as he grabbed her hand. "Come on, Katara wants to introduce us to the village!" He dragged her over to where Katara was standing in front of a small group of older women and young children.
"Aang, Rinzen, this is the entire village. Entire village, Aang and Rinzen." There was silence as the group stared at the two airbenders and they stared back.
"Why're they staring?" Aang asked, bewildered. "Did Appa sneeze on us or something?"
"Well, nobody's seen an airbender in the last hundred years," a wizened old woman said. "We all thought they were extinct."
Rinzen's stomach dropped even as Aang repeated, "Extinct?"
"Aang, this is my grandmother," Katara said, trying to ease the tension.
"Call me Gran-Gran," the old woman said with a tiny smile and Rinzen felt marginally better as she touched Aang's shoulder to get his attention.
"We appreciate your hospitality, but we really should get going," she told Gran-Gran even as Aang glanced at her tentatively.
"Should we?"
"Yes, we should." Rinzen's tone became slightly more stern, but Aang frowned stubbornly.
"But Katara said we can go penguin-sledding."
Rinzen raised an eyebrow at Katara, who flushed a little. "It's kind of the first question he asked me when he woke up from the ice."
The older girl sighed. "I guess one penguin ride can't hurt." Before she knew it, Aang was opening his glider and taking off. The children in the small group gasped and giggled as they watched Aang soar away, clearly in search of penguins to sled on. Rinzen shook her head wryly before picking up her own staff where she'd abandoned it outside the tent.
"What is that, a weapon? You can't stab anybody with that." Sokka snatched the staff away and Rinzen summoned it back with a swift air current, her lips pursing at his rudeness.
"It's not a weapon. It's for gliding." She snapped it open to reveal the glider before snapping it shut again easily.
"Gliding? You mean you and Aang can fly?" Katara asked as she watched Aang disappear beyond the village walls.
"Sort of. We control air currents around us and let the gliders do the actual work." Rinzen nodded.
"All right, that's enough playing, Katara. You have chores," Gran-Gran scolded, ushering Katara away as the other girl shrugged a little at Rinzen. Rinzen watched her go with a small smile before turning back to watch Sokka gather the young boys in the village and sit them down near a makeshift watchtower built of snow. She followed them over, taking a seat well away from the group.
"Hey, scram, this training is for warriors only," Sokka snapped when he saw her sitting near the boys.
"I bet I could beat you with one hand behind my back, no bending required," Rinzen deadpanned.
"Oh, yeah? Let's see what you got!" Sokka yanked out his spear and Rinzen climbed to her feet lazily. As he rushed her, she side-stepped him easily, grabbing his spear and tossing it to the ground before knocking his feet out from under him.
"Your grip on your weapon was too loose and you rushed me without even assessing your opponent. So now that you've seen what I've got, can I sit in on your warrior training?" she asked as she held out her hand. The tips of Sokka's ears flushed red as he sputtered for a minute before he scrambled to his feet, ignoring her hand as he grabbed his spear again and turned to the group of boys. Smirking, Rinzen sat down again and leaned back against a small pile of snow to listen in. She was an Air Nomad, sure, but her primary objective was protecting the Avatar. She'd learned early on in her training how to use offensive fighting techniques.
She was only distracted when Sokka turned away from reprimanding the little boys for wanting a potty break, his eyes widening in the direction of the setting sun. She turned as well, only years of training keeping her from showing any shock at the sight of the large flare against the orange sky.
"Look what your brother did! He's signaled the Fire Navy!" Sokka yelled at her as she shot to her feet.
"Don't you blame him. You don't even know what happened."
"I know that you and your brother are nothing but trouble and you need to leave!"
"Gladly." Rinzen grabbed her staff, glad Appa was close by and hoping Aang would return soon. Sure enough, he soon did with Katara at his side and a sheepish expression on hs face. "Aang!" Rinzen crossed the distance between them, cuffing him gently on the head. "You had me worried, what's going on?"
"We kinda went on this big Fire Nation ship and it was booby-trapped." Rinzen glowered at him and he shrunk in on himself slightly. "Sorry. It was my fault, though," he added hurriedly as Sokka approached them, glaring. "I made Katara come with me."
"Nevertheless, Katara, you should have known better," Gran-Gran added as she stood beside Sokka, frowning. "I think it's best the young airbenders leave."
Rinzen's lips pursed before she nodded stiffly. "I think that's best as well. Let's go, Aang. Appa's waiting outside the walls."
"Well, if they're banished, then I am, too!" Katara snapped.
"What are you talking about?" Sokka demanded. "Where are you going?"
"To find a waterbending teacher. Aang's taking me to the North Pole." Rinzen raised an eyebrow at Aang, who looked nonplussed.
"I am? Great!"
"No, not great, we gotta go home," Rinzen scolded him and he looked abashed.
"Katara! Would you really choose a total stranger over your own family?!" Sokka yelled after Katara and Aang hesitated, turning back to the younger girl.
"Katara, I don't want to come between you and your family." He gave her a small smile. "Maybe we'll see each other someday."
"I hope so." Katara looked miserable as she backed away and Rinzen nodded to her politely before leading Aang to Appa. She let Aang clamber onto Appa's head as she rubbed the bison's nose before joining him.
"Yip-yip," Aang tried and Appa got to his feet before groaning and lumbering away. He was clearly still too tired to fly yet.
"Yeah, I didn't think so," Sokka snipped, still probably bitter about Rinzen beating him in training along with Aang's trouble on the Fire Nation ship. Rinzen ignored him as she guided Appa with a gentle tug of his reins away from the village even as she heard a little girl crying after them not to go. Aang's expression fell as he glanced behind him, catching Katara's teary eyes.
Rinzen touched his shoulder gently. "This is for the best. We need to go home. We can rest somewhere away from the village until Appa's strong enough to fly and then head back to the temple."
Aang nodded. "You know we were in that iceberg for a hundred years?"
"Yeah. I'm aware." Rinzen frowned, fingers tightening on Appa's reins. She wasn't looking forward to seeing what had happened to their home in their time away.
I've honestly had this idea in my head for years now, literally since Avatar began. The main issue was that I didn't trust myself to write a semi-decent OC then - especially since this idea's been done to death - and have a decent writing style. Recently I've been rewatching all the episodes and my love for the show rekindled itself, so I thought I'd give it a try and see what people would have by way of suggestions on improvement.
This will follow general canon and I'll do my best to diverge so that it's not an episode recap in every chapter. Please let me know what I can do to improve in a review whenever possible. Hope you enjoy!