Chapter One: Pilot
Hello, CarbineExE here with my first fic. I decided to retell the entire story of the Aang simply because I can lol. I wasn't going to post chapters until I finished the story because I know I get lazy, but I couldn't help myself. I will be eventually covering all three books that will have similar circumstances, circumstances I add because I feel it goes toward character and friendship development, and it won't be in the regular order either. I'm not a Kataang fan, so you know where this is going towards the end of it all hehe.
But enjoy, praise and criticism are welcome as long as it is not bashful. But any review will suffice. =)
Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA or any of the characters, with the exception of a few OCs.
Four nations, air, water, earth and fire, all lived together in peace and harmony. They thrived, traded goods and experiences, war strategies, and each other's lives. This all came to an end when the Fire Nation had begun seeking dominance over all the nations with the Coronation of Fire Lord Sozin to the throne. The nations then became divided as the Fire Nation began to base their troops in other lands, controlling who could leave and enter a country, and controlling what goods and services were allowed. It tore communication apart and set a worldwide hatred of the Fire Nation over all the nations. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, and Sozin's former friend could stop him, however, he vanished.
My brother and I used to sit and listen to our father read these stories to us past curfew so that the guards never knew we were learning. Father used to read us stories of the Northern Water Tribe, the Air Nomads, and all the spiriLal creatures that we couldn't see, but that the avatar could. It fascinated me to read so much that I used to sneak into Father's room to read the waterbending scrolls so that I could learn how to control my waterbending and maybe one day, free us from the Fire Nation. Sokka says it's wishful thinking, but I believe I can save this nation.
Katara gasped as she felt her diary being snatched out of her hands by her older brother.
"'Oh, Sokka says it's wishful thinking'," Sokka dramatically recited from his younger sister's diary. "'But I believe I can save this nation'. You should put an exclamation mark at the end, it'd be more fitting," Sokka teased.
"Sokka! Give it back, that's not funny!" Katara cried out angrily, attempting to snatch the book out of his hand, knowing her efforts were futile since she was at least a foot shorter than him.
"Say please," Sokka continued to tease. Katara groaned inwardly and outwardly.
"For the love of La, how old are you?"
"I'm 20, but that won't stop me from messing with you," Sokka chuckled as he brought his arm low enough for Katara to reach, then raised it back up when she jumped for it.
"Sok-KA!" Katara yelled, almost immediately, causing both of them to freeze. Sokka looked Katara in her eyes and put a finger to his lips, indicating for her to remain silent. Katara slowed her breathing, and waited to make sure that they weren't by any passing soldiers. When they thought the cost was clear, Sokka sighed heavily and gave Katara her diary back.
"You should be more careful with how loud you yell," Sokka scolded. Katara frowned.
"It was your fault, you took my diary and read it," Katara nagged.
Suddenly Fire Nation soldiers invaded the house and seized the siblings by the arms. "You two are causing a ruckus again," one of the soldiers scolded, striking fear into Sokka and Katara as to what they were going to do with them. This wasn't the first time they had gotten in trouble, yet the level of punishment always seemed to increase with every infraction.
The Fire Nation soldiers had taken over the Southern Water Tribe back when they were children, taking the men to fight in their wars, and killing anyone who was a bender in the village. They had killed Katara and Sokka's mother believing that she was the only waterbender left in the village, not knowing that it was truly Katara.
The Water Tribe were a peaceful people, and typically kept things quiet for the sake of their safety, and the keep things simple while the Fire Nation soldiers were in control. However, to keep the intimidation levels high, and to remain fearful, the Fire Nation soldiers had often punished them heavily for small things, such as making too much noise, or having gatherings. Sokka and Katara had been the liveliest bunch since they had arrived and usually took the bulk of the punishment for the other villagers. They often would intervene whenever they caught one of the other villagers being punished or reprimanded. Sometimes they would be refused the right to eat or drink water for a day. Sometimes they would be held in confinement separate from one another.
This particular incident seemed to be a last straw with the soldiers as Katara and Sokka were roughly handled and taken to the Fire Nation commander of the village, Commander Ji Huong.
"Sir!" Sokka and Katara were thrown roughly into the center of the room before the commander. "We found these two causing a ruckus again," the soldier who had Sokka snitched.
The Commander Ji turned around from his position in front of his window. "You know," he began, "I had high hopes for you two. I had hoped that you would conform to the rules like everyone else has. Sokka, you are almost at the age to where you will be trained and sent off to fight in the war."
He looked down at the siblings in disdain. "You just don't fucking learn!" He shoved his foot into Sokka's gut with a swift kick, eliciting a loud groan from Sokka as he spat out blood.
"Sokka!" Katara jumped to move to her brother's side, but was grabbed by her arms by two other soldiers. The urge to turn the snow into ice and kill them all was strong within her, but she couldn't risk losing and them finding out that she was a waterbender.
"Hold the wench back," Commander Ji instructed his soldiers about Katara. "10 strikes with the whip." They all nodded and dragged Katara outside to be whipped publicly. This had only happened once before in the past, with a man who refused to be dragged to fight in the war. He was killed after he was whipped.
Katara struggled against the soldiers as they dragged her to the center of the village, Water Tribe women and children gathering around to watch the commotion, none moving to help Katara. They often wondered why Katara and Sokka rebelled so much, and why they wouldn't just do as they were told. Perhaps they had lost sympathy for the pair who had lost both of their parents despite the fact that they had defended them on several occasions.
The soldiers tied Katara up to a wooden pole that was stationed at the center of the village, and proceeded to remove her coat, clothing and bindings, slightly hesitant at the sickening thought of undressing a woman in public in the cold. Katara was immediately covered in goosebumps as the cold air slapped her bare skin. She closed her eyes and resolved not to give them the satisfaction of crying or screaming, regardless of the pain. She wanted to show the soldiers and the people just how strong she was, and that nothing they did would ever break her spirit.
The first whip sliced across her bare back, and she held back a whimper. She never expected this type of pain, and didn't know how much she could take. The second whip came and she jumped, but didn't utter a sound. The third. The fourth. The fifth. She stopped counting as her body went limp. She didn't even know that she had been tensing. She prayed that they didn't notice that she wasn't a frail girl beneath her clothes, but that she was quite toned from practicing her bending without their knowledge.
The last whip sliced through her back and cut the deepest of them all, making her whimper slightly, showing that she truly was in pain. She could tell that the soldiers were in awe of her strength and didn't even notice her cry at the end. The first man who had been whipped in the village screamed even when they had stopped whipping him. They cut the ropes and she fell to her knees, not worried about herself, but what the commander was doing to Sokka. She gathered her clothes and put them on, ignoring the sympathetic stares that she was receiving from the other Water Tribe people. She couldn't stand to look at them. As many times as she had defended them when she saw injustice being done to them, she had expected someone to at least speak up for her. But none stepped forward.
Katara began to walk with all her strength back to her home, praying that Sokka had made it back alive. He wasn't back yet. She sighed heavily and walked to her grandmother's house. The village was small compared to what it had been before the Fire Nation soldiers arrived. Each family had their own tent, constructed of wood and wool that the men had hunted out, and each of them was constructed the same in a circle around the well of the village. But since the Fire Nation had arrived, the tents were done away with by red and grey metallic structures that looked more like large cubes for each family to live in. Each "cube" had three separate rooms, two rooms with hard beds, a kitchen, and the main room with a vent at the top for whenever the villagers wanted to light a fire for the evening. Off to the side, outside of the village circle was the Commander's large, red base building with several room and accommodations to keep him and his soldiers comfortable and well-rested.
Gran-Gran was old and sickly and could hardly move from her bed without aid. Katara stepped into the tent and beheld her grandmother, who was being tended to by one of the nurses. Gran-Gran saw Katara enter the tent and motioned for her nurse to leave. The nurse silently bowed and exited the tent without so much as a glance at Katara.
"What have you done, my child?" Gran-Gran asked weakly. Katara sighed, tears threatening to break the threshold of her eyes.
"Nothing Gran-Gran," Katara said, "I was just messing with Sokka. Is that so wrong?"
"Child, you and Sokka are so full of life and energy, this village cannot hold you," Gran-Gran coughed. "It will be the death of you two."
"What are we supposed to do?" Katara asked desperately. "It isn't fair for us to live this way!" The tears began to fall at this point.
"I know my child, but the time will come to make a difference, and when it does, you will know immediately. But until then, silence yourself, and be like the waters, calm and flowing. Water never attacks, unless the dam has been broken."
Katara gave Gran-Gran a confused look. "What does that even mean?"
"You will know in time, Katara. Now let an old lady rest." Katara smiled weakly and gave her grandmother a kiss on her cheek before rising and leaving the tent.
When she reached her own tent, she found Sokka lying on the floor in a pool of blood, and she flew to his side. "Sokka," she muttered weakly, as tears began to fall. She knew she wouldn't be able to do anything about his condition until a few hours later. "Just hold in there for me, Sokka. You can't die on me." She laid beside her brother, not caring about the blood until she fell asleep, hoping she'd wake in a few hours to tend to her brother's wounds.
Katara woke to her grandmother's nurse leaning over her, shaking her awake. She knew the girl's name, only that she watched over and took over her grandmother.
"It's is a few hours before dawn, hurry, I put all of the guarding soldiers to sleep," the nurse motioned Katara to get up as she began to lift Sokka. He became sticky due to the hardened blood in the cold. Katara jumped up despite her sore back and helped lift Sokka.
The nurse and Katara peaked outside of the tent for signs of any awoken guards, but found them all asleep around the village. Katara and the nurse hurried carried Sokka, with both of his arms around either girls' necks as they raced to a snowy area a few miles outside of the camp.
The pair placed Sokka in the snow and Katara began to frantically remove his winter coating and his shirt. When she assessed his wounds, she found several red, brown and purple bruises all over his torso. His own skin color was no where to be found. Realizing that she had no time to lose, she quickly gathered up some snow via her waterbending and melted it into warm water before pressing her water-covered hands to her brother's chest to heal him. As the water began to glow and Sokka's wounds slowly began to heal, he began heaving and thrashing around in pain unconsciously.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Sokka screamed in pain.
"Hold him down!" Katara yelled at the nurse who immediately ran to his other side to pin his arms down with her own frail arms. She and Katara were instantly thrown away as Sokka awoke and scrambled back in fear, breathing heavily. He was healed slightly, but not enough for him to continue moving on his own. Katara knew that he still wasn't in his right state of mind, so she looked over at the nurse and nodded at her. The nurse uncertainly nodded back.
"Leave me alone!" Sokka yelled frantically, looking back and forth between Katara and the nurse.
"Sokka, it's me, Katara," Katara tried to calm him down. "You're still hurt pretty bad, and I need to finish healing your wounds." He was focused on what Katara was saying so he didn't notice the nurse approach him until she was right up on him. He was about to fling her away when Katara tackled him, giving the nurse time to stick him with a tranquilized twig.
He kicked around under the weight of his sister and the nurse but evenLally fell under the sedation. Katara let out a heavy relieved sigh before continuing to heal him. The nurse did her best to keep his arms down until Katara finished just in case he miraculously woke himself out of the tranquilizer.
"I think that about does it," Katara said, wiping a bit of sweat off her brow. She didn't want to heal his face too much for fear that the Fire Nation would be suspicious of his healed face. She healed it enough to where he would not be discomforted. The nurse admired Katara's work.
"You are truly as wonderful as your grandmother says you are," the nurse said, absentmindedly. Katara looked up at the nurse in curiosity. She never gave the girl much attention, and didn't even care enough to know her name. She was young, maybe three years older than Katara, with short brown hair that was cropped around her face, most likely due to her profession and not needing long hair. Her small eyes donned the deep Water Tribe blue, but hers had a pure nature about them, unlike Katara's, which were fierce, defiant and knew pain. She had a small, frail frame that looked like it could use a good meal, but that wasn't very unusual. Katara and Sokka's body shape differed from most of the Water Tribe due to their intense training.
"What does she say about me?" Katara asked curiously.
"Only that you will do great things, and make a fine wife," the nurse smiled. Katara blushed. She hadn't even been thinking of marriage since there were no men in the village besides Sokka and the Fire Nation soldiers, and they were all completely out of the question. Katara sighed.
"I don't know where she gets all of that information from," she shrugged. "But we should start heading back before anyone notices that we are gone."
The nurse nodded and proceeded to help lift Sokka.
"By the way, I never got your name," Katara looked over at the kind nurse as they made their way back to the village.
"Miko," the nurse answered with a blush. Katara wondered why the girl got so flustered around her when she was older than her. "You know, you're really a princess here amongst the Water Tribe people, despite your brash nature."
Katara's eyes widened as she looked over at the nurse, almost tripping over Sokka's dragging feet. She couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "How so?"
"Well, you and Sokka are the children of Chief Hakoda. Technically, since Chief is gone, that would make Sokka the Chief, and you the Chieftain." Katara continued her gaze forward and thought about her position, and why her and Sokka got the worst treatment of everyone in the village. If that was true, then it was time she showed her position.
Silence yourself … be like the waters. Calm and flowing.
Right, she thought. When the time is right, the dam will break.
"Commander Ji!"
Ji looked up from his war table at his second-in-command solder, whom he had whip Katara, Suko. "What is it?"
"Well sir, how do I put this…" Suko stammered, scratching the back of his head. "I know this might be a strange observation, but Katara was rather … well …"
"Out with it!" Commander Ji bellowed.
"She was rather toned for a girl," Suko spat out. "Most of the ladies – no, people of this Water Tribe are frail and weak, but Katara had muscles, meaning either she's somehow eating well, or… "
"Or working out," Ji finished his statement, settling back in his seat. This was rather interesting. Katara was of marrying age, and although interracial marriage was frowned upon at this time, this Tribe needed to breed more soldiers for the Fire Nation Army. That was part of the reason for them being there. Her and her brother were of age to start making additions. "Very well, have the men keep a very close eye on her and her brother."
"Yes sir."
"Ahhhhhhahahahaha!" General Iroh laughed heartily as he won yet another game of Pai Sho with one of the soldiers on board the steamboat. "I win again."
"I don't know how he does it!" the soldier huffed in defeat as he rose to allow another soldier to play and be at the mercy of the general. "I'll beat him for sure," he grinned with confidence, only to be beaten in four moves. Iroh let out another laugh and rose from the table.
"That will be enough for today gentlemen, you all have much to learn!"
Another soldier took Iroh's seat as Iroh walked to bow of the ship where his nephew was stationed.
"Uncle!" Prince Zuko yelled as Iroh approached the stern. "I have been searching for you all morning, where have you been?"
"Only enjoying a game of Pai Sho and a drink of tea with your crew," Iroh answered innocently.
Zuko rubbed his eyes and drug his hand down his face. "How many times do I have to tell you that we don't have time for that? That catching the Avatar is top priority?" Iroh sighed.
"Nephew, there has been no sign of the Avatar in at least a century. I'm sure taking some time off to bond with your crew will not delay your search."
"And what if the Avatar flies right over our heads while we're all below decks playing with tiles?" Zuko asks incredulously. "We have to be aware and alert at all times!"
"Nephew, how long as it been since you've had any enjoyment? Even so much as a lady in your quarters?"
Zuko blushed. "I've had no such thing!" he exclaimed, flustered. "Whatever, do want you want!"
Zuko stormed off and continued to watch the seas in hopes of the Avatar maybe showing up and releasing him from his obsession. Iroh made note of his nephew's appearance. He'd grown rugged since they first set out. He was beginning to look less like a prince and more like a savage with every passing year. He had stopped shaving his head, and eventually let it grow out, matted and unkempt. Occasionally, he would put it up into a man-ponytail whenever they stopped at a village or city at his uncle's instruction. His build was kept strong through his intense firebending sessions. He occasionally sparred with his men, and held mini tournaments on board his ship for the sake of keeping up everyone's strength.
Iroh was amazed at his nephew's dedication, however, he wished that his dedication was directed towards the right things, instead of for a false sense of honor. He shook his head and continued down to his own quarters.
A few minutes later, he heard a knock at his door. Surprised, Iroh granted the knocker permission to enter. Zuko stepped in with a soft look in his eye, much to Iroh's surprise.
"Spar with me, Uncle," Zuko invited. Iroh smiled widely.
"It would be my pleasure."
Sokka awoke in his room, feeling much better than he did when he entered the tent. He didn't even remember entering his room. He sat up and immediately regretted it as a splitting headache cut its way through his head.
"Ahh," he hissed as he laid back down on his side, and saw a bowl of water with some medicine lying next to it. He decided they were there to ease the headache and immediate took the medicine, gulping the water down after it. It was at that moment that he remembered his sister was whipped the night before and immediately jumped out of his bed despite the headache.
He rushed to his sister's room and found her being tended to by the nurse, who's name he didn't remember. The nurse turned around and saw him standing there and immediately frowned.
"Privacy, sir! Your sister isn't dressed!"
Sokka flew out of the room as several items were flown his way.
"Sheesh, women!" Sokka exclaimed as he sat in the main room of their home, waiting for his sister to be finished. When they finally walked out, he stood and ran to hug Katara, earning a hiss.
"I'm not as healed as you are, Sokka," Katara muttered.
"Sorry," he apologized, letting go. "I'm just glad you're okay. What happened to you?"
"I'd rather not talk about it. Besides, you look like you've seen your fair share of trouble. I had to heal you last night."
Sokka's color drained. "You didn't get caught?"
"No, Miko made sure of that." Miko bowed in acknowledgement.
"It's always an honor to help anyone in your family," Miko quipped. "However, seeing how you two keep up strength, one can only assume that you've been breaking some major rules by training yourselves how to fight."
Sokka's eyes narrowed, not knowing if he should trust Miko.
"Oh, don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Miko laughed nervously. "But I think you guys should keep it up, just in case. Your grandmother is already aware of it, but I always thought she meant it metaphorically. You guys are really some people to look up to here in the village."
Sokka chuckled sarcastically as he turned around to straighten up their house. "Who looks up to us? You? No one else here in the village gives a damn about us. We defend them, they leave us in the dust whenever something goes down. Their scared, and they don't realize that there are so many of us, that if we all worked together, we could rid this village of the Fire Nation."
Miko's eyes widened at this crazy thought. "You're strong-willed, but that is impossible. The people in this village are under-fed and weak. There's no way they would ever lead a revolt. But you and Katara hold this village together."
"You mean we keep the attention of the soldiers away from them, right?" Sokka asked, getting angry.
"Sokka... calm down," Katara put a calming hand on his arm. Sokka sighed, realizing he got carried away.
"I'm just tired of living in subjection like this, it isn't right."
Katara smiled at him. "Let's go blow off some steam."
A few minutes later after sneaking out of the village to their usual place, Katara set her coat down and laid in the snow so she could heal her back the way she needed to. Sokka waited patiently, putting on his father's Water Tribe armor and wrapping his hands. The chest plate was grey and blue with the symbol of the Southern Water tribe inscribed on either side of the shoulder plates. The armor was thick, yet light and flexible, which gave Sokka the movement he needed to fight with without being stiff
Katara sat up, feeling much more agile and mobile. She, too, wrapped her hands and ankles, and put on some light regular Water Tribe armor. It wasn't as fancy as Sokka's, as it was only grey, and didn't even have the Water Tribe inscription on it, but it was effective enough for Katara. She braided her hair up so that it wouldn't be in the way during the fight.
"You won't win this time," Katara boasted, as she raised her fists and took a defensive fighting stance.
"Yeah, yeah, as long as you don't splash me with that water voodoo stuff, we're good," Sokka quipped as he took a more offensive fighting stance.
Katara charged and as soon as she saw her brother's fist coming, she dropped into a slide, and swept his feet with her right leg. She immediately stood back up in time to dodge a swirl kick from Sokka as he twist-kicked to get back up.
"It's not voodoo water stuff!" Katara laughed as she repeatedly dodged incoming swings from her brother before dipping and delivering an uppercut to his chin, sending him flying back and into the soft, yet cold snow.
"It's waterbending," She quipped as she stood over him, flipping her braided from in front of her shoulder. Sokka immediate took her pause to his advantage and swiped her legs with his arm. They both stood, and Katara switched to the offensive and began delivered forward punches, all which were parried and dodged by Sokka, until she threw a side kick with her right leg, which he caught and twisted until she fell over into the snow.
"I really don't care what you call it, it's creepy," Sokka chuckled at his sister struggling to get up. Katara sat up with a sly grin as she sent snow flying into his face, and while he was blinded she stood and threw another kick which Sokka still caught with both of his hands, even in his blinded state. Katara gasped as she found herself twisted into the snow again. They continued their fight, each getting a few good licks in, but neither really trying to hurt the other.
Toward the end of their session, Sokka removed his sword from its sheath as Katara crafted her own ice sword. They both charged at each other, but before their swords could clash, Katara grinned and solidified the snow beneath Sokka's feet and made him slip and fall on his behind.
Katara burst out into laughter, falling back into the snow, holding her sides.
"What'd I say about –"
Suddenly, the ice beneath Sokka cracked and Sokka found himself sinking under the water due to his heavy armor. He heard his sister scream his name as he scrambled beneath the water in a futile attempt to resurface. He held his breath and tried to undo the armor so that he could properly swim but failed.
Is this it? Is this how I die? Sokka thought to himself as he sank farther and farther into the freezing abyss beneath the snow. He could hardly see the hole he fell through anymore. He was sinking too fast. As soon as he closed his eyes, his back came into contact with a hard rock that sent a shock through his entire body. There was a glow behind him, and he was sure that he was in the afterlife.
He suddenly saw a young boy before him with his eyes closed, bald with blue arrows all over his body.
"You are the Avatar."
Suddenly the boy's eyes opened, and they glowed bright along with his arrows.
Next thing Sokka knew, he was being slapped in the face by a concerned sister. "Ugh, you idiot!" Katara scolded. "You could have died!"
"Well you shouldn't have used your creepy water voodoo!"
"It's not voodoo! But you shouldn't have drawn your sword, you know I can't sword-fight!"
"Wait!"
"And you shouldn't have – huh?" Katara stopped arguing due to the serious look on Sokka's face.
"There's something down there, a rock, or something, we have to go get it," Sokka said, looking back down in the hole he fell through.
"Are you insane? Do you know how far I had to swim to get you, not to mention, you're most likely going to be sick since you just got out of some freezing cold water," Katara scolded.
"Yes, mother dearest, but seriously, whatever is down there is important… I just feel it," Sokka looked at Katara sincerely. Sokka hardly ever came close to saying please about anything, so Katara found it hard not to comply. Katara sighed. "Alright, fine!" she finally conceded. "But you're staying here."
Katara dove beneath the water, using her bending to propel her further and further beneath the surface until she reached the rock Sokka spoke of, which turned out to be a ball of ice. She couldn't see it very well, but she could tell it was very large. Larger than she was able to bend out. Katara made a waterbending motion beneath the water and attempted to raise the ball out of the water, but it was much too large and her waterbending wasn't that advanced. She looked around and decided that she would have to break it open. She realized she was running out of breath and needed to work fast.
Katara formed a large ice sword in her hands, raised her arms above her head, and with the strength of her waterbending, struck the ice as hard as she could, splitting the ice in half as it began to glow. Katara stared at the ice in awe as a large beam shot out from the ice, above the surface, and into the sky. Uh oh.
Katara swam to the surface and was assisted by Sokka in getting out of the water.
"What the hell did you do?" Sokka asked, worried that they would be found out.
"I don't know, I don't know!" Katara cradled her head, frantically. She was already cold from being in the freezing water. "We should head back to the village in case we're missed." Sokka nodded in agreement, but paused as he saw a boy trying to climb out of the water.
"Katara!" Katara looked back and ran with Sokka to help the boy out of the water.
Sokka took off his coat and wrapped it around the boy, who was shivering uncontrollably. He was bald with blue arrows that came across the top of his head, and down the length of his arms. He was also clad in orange and yellow garments that were unfamiliar to Katara and Sokka.
"Who are you?" Katara asked as she helped to warm the boy.
He looked up at her and Sokka with large grey eyes.
"I don't know," was the boy's solemn response.
Neither Sokka nor Katara noticed the Fire Nation soldier watching the entire ordeal from afar.
Fire met fire as the two firebending masters carried out their bout. Several soldiers were lined up on the balcony of the sparring chambers, placing their bets on who they believed would win. Most placed bets on the General, the Dragon of the West. Others believed Zuko had a chance. But none of them would get their answer, because before the fight was over, a soldier from the deck ran below and announced the sighting of a large beam.
"Could it be the return of the Avatar?" Several of the soldiers muttered amongst themselves.
Zuko and Iroh stopped fighting, and ran to the bow on high alert to see the phenomena for themselves.
The green beam shined bright against their eyes and left the clouds in ringlets in its wake.
"It's beautiful," one of the soldiers admitted. Zuko scoffed. It was strange enough. Strange enough to be a sign from the Avatar.
"Change our course to follow that beam," Zuko ordered.
"Aye, sir."
"Sir, it seems to be near the Southern Water Tribe," another soldier reported.
Zuko smiled, raising concerned among Iroh and the crew. The Southern Water Tribe has already been taken over by the Fire Nation, Zuko thought happily to himself, extraction should be simple, especially if they're already on the case.
"Why is he smiling?" one soldier whispered to another, who shrugged.
"I don't know, but it's creepy."