Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, and make no profit from any of this.
Chapter One: The North Pole
O
"Chief Hakoda!" Arnook greeted warmly, clasping the other man's hand and forearm with both of his own in welcome. "And Master Katara." He did not shake Katara's hand, but bowed his head in a show of respect. "Welcome to our fair city."
"Chief Arnook," Hakoda said, returning the greeting with a wide smile. "It is good to see you well, my brother of the North."
"It is good to be well!" Arnook said, laughing.
Katara grinned easily along with the men as Arnook clapped a hand on Hakoda's shoulder and led them further into the city. Life in the Water Tribes, both Northern and Southern branches, was flourishing in these early days of peace, and their two leaders were both still young and strong. It was a good time to be a Water Tribesman.
The two chiefs conversed amiably as they walked, but when their discussion turned to the finer points of tiger-seal hunting, Katara found her attention drifting to her surroundings. The city was almost exactly as she remembered it; any damage sustained during Admiral Zhao's siege on the North had long since been repaired. The air was crisp and clear, and the icy capital sparkled in the dying light of the setting sun.
A grand feast would be held the following night, Arnook informed them, to celebrate the renewed union between their two tribes. For the present, the Southern delegation was invited to share a simple meal in Arnook's personal dwelling before retiring early to rest after their long journey. In the morning there would be an extensive tour of the city for Chief Hakoda and his men, most of whom had never been to the North Pole.
The food was simple, but fresh, and tasted all the more delicious after several weeks of nothing but sea rations. In spite of her best efforts to stay alert, Katara found herself nodding off more than once in the flickering firelight, and when the time came to retire to their accommodations, she was asleep almost before the door had closed behind her.
O
Strong female benders, Katara quickly discovered, were still something of a novelty at the North Pole. She had only gotten through the first quarter of her standard morning routine when she realized she was being watched. She faltered in her movements, and the water she had been directing splashed to the ground. There was a burst of giggling from behind the column to her left. Katara gritted her teeth and summoned the puddle of water back into the air with a sharp upward flick of her wrist. It coiled around her arm like a living snake, and using a move she half made up on the spot, she clenched her hand into a fist and then flung it skyward, fingers spread wide, so the water mimicked her actions and fanned out above her in a giant arc. It hovered briefly, paper thin and glistening against the sun, until she made another sharp movement and it separated into hundreds of tiny icy shards, as sharp and deadly as fractured glass.
Katara began to move her arms in a slow circle, and then faster, guiding the ice and picking up speed until it resembled a miniature tornado. It surrounded her completely, blocking out the buildings and sky until everything was just a blur. Wind stirred up from the swirling ice pulled at her hair and clothes, but she kept the momentum going until finally sweeping her arms outward in one gigantic movement. The ice whistled through the air, surging forward in every direction. Katara had chosen an enclosed square to practice in with buildings on all four sides, broken only by arched doorways leading out to the streets and waterways. Just before her deadly projectiles collided with the surrounding walls, Katara flung her arms wide and halted their progress.
Several loud gasps echoed in the ensuing silence. Katara's lips pulled upwards into a satisfied smile, and she began to move her hands once more, liquefying the ice and gathering it back into one orb of water. Giving it a spin, she smoothly moved into the next set of forms in her sequence.
She finished up more quickly than usual, acutely aware of her audience although she was determined not to let their effect on her show. As she finished up the last set of forms and returned her water to the fountain she had initially drawn it from, applause broke out behind her. She turned in surprise, and found that it came not from her small group of spectators lurking in the shadows, but from the open archway at the other side of the courtyard. Several rather austere-looking northern tribesmen gazed back at her with politely neutral expressions, but a few of Hakoda's men mingled with them, and they were applauding her enthusiastically.
"How come you never put on a show like that for us?" Ikiaq, one of the younger and more outspoken southern tribesmen, demanded.
Katara blushed, realizing they must have witnessed her early dramatics. "I – "
"Leave the girl alone," one of the other men said firmly, but he winked at Katara before turning back to Ikiaq. "You, of all people, know perfectly well what Katara is capable of. I seem to recall one evening in particular when she froze your – "
"Well, we should be going!" Ikiaq interrupted loudly.
The rest of the men laughed, and even some of the northerners who didn't get the joke looked amused at Ikiaq's obvious discomfort. Still laughing, they continued on their way.
One of the men from the North Pole hung back. "Your father was looking for you, Master Katara," he called out to her. "He is in the main meeting hall, with Chief Arnook." He bowed to her, and left.
Katara opened her mouth to thank him, but he was already gone. Frowning to herself, she brushed a stray curl out of her face and turned to take her own leave. She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and spun around quickly, completely forgetting about her other spectators. They had fully emerged from hiding now, and several of the younger children were staring at her with wide blue eyes. Katara paused, suddenly unsure.
"Um, hi?" she said when the awkward silence became too much to bear. Everyone seemed to come out of a stupor.
"All right, show's over," one of the older girls snapped suddenly, rounding on the youngsters and beginning to herd them away. "Go on, scram!"
Most of the children dispersed quickly at her harsh words, but some of the older teens were slower to leave.
"Where'd you learn all that?" a boy demanded, arms crossed in front of his chest. He looked about fourteen or fifteen.
"Well, here," Katara said, the question surprising her. "And a lot I picked up while I was traveling with the Avatar."
"But you're a girl," the boy said, frowning deeply. "None of the masters teach girls how to fight."
Katara raised an eyebrow. "Master Pakku did. He didn't want to at first, but I convinced him."
"It's against tradition," the boy muttered, kicking at the snow by his feet.
"Not in the south," Katara said firmly, pressing her lips into a thin, angry line. She felt heat rising in her face, but willed herself not to lose her temper at this young, stupid boy. "In the south, we fight as equals. Why should sex matter when it comes to defense against your enemies?"
"The war's over," another boy said doubtfully.
"Idiot," the girl from before scoffed. "Don't you know who she is? She's the Avatar's teacher! You saw what she can do – she's probably the strongest waterbender in the world!"
"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Katara said, suddenly embarrassed.
"They say you defeated the Fire Princess," the girl continued, addressing Katara directly.
"Zu – Fire Lord Zuko and I fought her together," Katara corrected. "Neither of us could have defeated her alone. And it was Aang who –"
"You're friends with the Fire Lord?" the first boy interrupted.
"Yes, we –"
"You've been to the Fire Nation?" the second boy pressed.
"Obviously she's been to the Fire Nation, Massak," the girl huffed. "Don't ask stupid questions!"
Katara felt her eyebrows steadily climbing. While she agreed with the sentiment, this girl was giving Toph a run for her money on the bluntness front. She decided to intervene.
"It's okay, I don't mind," she half-lied, choosing to ignore the fact that she had been the one starting to get worked up just a few moments before. "Yes, I've been to the Fire Nation. I've been to all the nations, and my closest friends all bend different elements. One isn't any stronger, or better, than the others – we need all four to survive." Here she narrowed her eyes. "Just like men aren't better benders than women."
The second boy, Massak, opened his mouth again, but the girl stomped on his foot to shut him up.
"Are you benders?" Katara asked, suddenly curious.
The boy called Massak nodded, but the other two children shook their heads.
"Oh." Katara thought about this for a moment, and then had an idea. "You should try healing."
Massak made a face. "That's girl stuff."
"You probably couldn't, anyways," Katara agreed.
"I could, too!" Massak said. "If I wanted to."
Katara shrugged. "It's a rare talent. Even a lot of women aren't very good at it."
"I can do anything a girl can do!" Massak argued hotly. "But men aren't healers."
"If that's what you think, then I will always be a better bender than you," Katara asserted proudly. "I can fight and heal. I don't ignore half of my abilities just because someone told me I should. If I had, I would be dead." She suddenly felt exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with her exercises. She was tired of arguing. "Would one of you point me in the direction of the main meeting hall?"
They stared at her silently for several long seconds before the girl whose name she still didn't know snapped back to attention and nodded, pointing to the archway the men had stood in earlier.
"Thank you," Katara said sincerely. They continued watching her in silence, so she simply bowed and then left to find her father.
O
That evening, Katara took particular care in her choice of wardrobe. She still felt grimy after weeks spent on her father's ship and she wanted to make a good impression on these chilly Northerners. Katara had always practiced good personal hygiene, but after that morning's episode in the courtyard, she felt like some kind of southern barbarian in the eyes of her northern contemporaries.
She chose a set of dark blue formal robes, and twisted her hair up into a slightly more elaborate style than she would normally wear. Make up wasn't really all that fashionable in the Water Tribes, but she added a light touch of rouge to her lips and instantly felt emboldened.
When she entered the Great Hall and saw what had to be the entire population of the city crammed inside, she was glad she had spent so much time on her appearance. In a way she hadn't been at fourteen, she was now acutely aware of her position as the only Southern Tribeswoman most of these people had ever seen. Not to mention, the only woman in a hundred years who dared question their bending traditions.
Katara exhaled a puff of icy breath, and squared her shoulders proudly. She would not allow her own self-consciousness to get the better of her.
She was pleasantly surprised to find that instead of a formal meal, the large banquet tables had been pushed to the sides of the hall buffet-style, allowing people to mill about in between. She supposed it had been necessary, given the staggering amount of people who had shown up.
She smiled and nodded to the few familiar faces she passed as she made her way through the crowd, but was content to keep to herself for the time being. She was offered a drink by a passing server, and accepted the steaming cup gratefully. It was tangy and sweet, and faintly alcoholic.
She took another sip of the hot brew and surveyed the crowd. Chief Arnook was conversing a little ways away, and he suddenly looked up, spotting her. He smiled warmly and waved her over.
Katara approached, and bowed carefully, drink still in hand. "Chief Arnook."
Arnook turned to the man he had been speaking to. "Yahto, I don't think you've met Hakoda's daughter. May I introduce Master Katara? Katara, this is Master Yahto."
Master Yahto bowed, hands clasped together in front of him. Katara bowed again, and then looked at him properly. He had a strong face, and the top half of his long dark hair was secured at the back of his head by a whale-bone clasp.
"It is an honor to meet you," he said. Katara realized with a start that this was the man who had stayed behind to speak to her that morning.
"Master Yahto is also a former student of Master Pakku," Arnook said conversationally.
"A long, long time ago," Yahto said with all the self-deprecating humor of the aging warrior, although he couldn't have been more than thirty-five by Katara's estimation. But then he grinned. "Pakku got fiercer with age, I think."
"I had noticed," Katara said dryly. "But I think the South has mellowed him. Or should I say, Gran Gran has him completely wrapped around her little finger." Both men laughed at this, and she founder herself relaxing.
"I am glad to hear that he has found happiness," Yahto said sincerely. "There was always something…missing."
"I don't think my grandmother ever meant to break his heart," Katara said quietly. "She never knew how much he was in love with her. But even if she had…she would have gone anyways. Her freedom meant everything to her." Realizing she was driving the conversation in a much more serious and perhaps culturally touchy direction, she added, "Plus, if Gran Gran hadn't left the North Pole, I would never have been born!"
"If there is any truth to the stories, we should all be grateful that you were," Yahto said, laughing again. Katara fought down a blush. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Master Katara. I hope we may speak again before you leave." He clasped her hand and forearm like she was a warrior of the tribe, and nodded to Arnook, before disappearing into the crowd.
"Master Yahto is a good man," Arnook said with satisfaction, watching the younger man go. "And a very accomplished bender. He was Master Pakku's prized student, and the standard against which he held all subsequent pupils." He looked sideways at Katara. "Until you arrived, I suspect."
Katara looked after Yahto with newfound interest. She wondered if he might like to spar with her one day. Her thoughts drifted back to her workout that morning, and wondered how she could develop some of her improvisational moves into a more practical application. Belatedly, she realized that Arnook was speaking to her again.
"…was surprised to see you still wear that old necklace," he was saying, gesturing to her neck. "I would have thought by now that some fine young waterbender would have replaced it with his own!"
Katara's hand went automatically to her mother's necklace, and she couldn't help the frown that tugged at her lips.
"Your father tells me that you will soon be celebrating your nineteenth birthday," Arnook continued, oblivious to her discomfort. "I know the typical paths of life have been disrupted of late by war and rebuilding, but now that we have all found our firm footing again, I would be most graciously honored to assist your father in determining a suitable match."
Katara stared at him in disbelief. "What?"
"I mean no disrespect to your family," Arnook said quickly, misinterpreting her alarm. "Of course it is your father's place, but given the circumstances in the South, it is only logical that you will find a match here in the North."
"In the North?" Katara repeated faintly.
"Not only logical, but politically sensible," Arnook continued, warming to the subject. "Already many of my people have moved to the South Pole, to help rebuild our sister tribe, but if you, Katara, as Princess of the Southern Water Tribe, were to marry a warrior here in the North, such a union could only serve to bring our two tribes closer together."
"Princess?" Katara repeated, unable to come up with any of her own words.
"Oh, I know the honorifics have all but been abandoned in the South – it's understandable given the conditions of war – but as Chief Hakoda's daughter, you would have been considered my Yue's contemporary here at the North Pole."
"We elect our leaders," Katara said stiffly. "We always have. My father –"
"Chief Arnook," another voice interrupted them. It was Ikiaq. "I apologize for my interruption, but it seems that a slight problem has arisen with the evening's entertainment. If you don't mind…?"
"Of course," Arnook said at once. He turned back to Katara to make his excuses. Over Arnook's shoulder, Ikiaq winked broadly at Katara, and then he led the chief away.
Belatedly, Katara realized that Ikiaq was trying to make up for teasing her that morning by rescuing her from what he had perceived as an awkward conversation. She rolled her eyes. Eavesdropper. But his assumption hadn't been wrong or unwelcome. Discussing marriage with Arnook was one of the last things she felt like doing that evening. Or ever, really. She shivered suddenly, and took a long drink from her cup. A slow warmth pooled comfortably in her belly from the alcohol, but she had a feeling she was going to need something a hell of a lot stronger if thattopic was brought up again anytime soon.
O
"Arnook wants to arrange my marriage," Katara said bluntly, the moment she caught her father alone. She had successfully located several more cups of spiced ale, and had rethought her position on never bringing up her conversation again.
Hakoda sighed and sat back in his chair, placing his hands on his thighs. "He has already implied the same intentions to me," he admitted.
"Dad!"
"I didn't accept," Hakoda said, holding up his hands in defense. Katara sighed in relief. "But I didn't decline, either."
"What?!" Katara screeched, drawing the attention of several people nearby. "How could – why not?"
Hakoda observed his daughter calmly. "I told Arnook that it is your decision to make. It would have been rude to refuse his offer without appearing to give it proper consideration. And to be honest, Katara, I didn't know what your own opinion on the matter was."
Katara stared at her father in disbelief. "You think I want to be married off to some stranger?" she demanded.
"I didn't say that," Hakoda argued. "I know things are different at home, but now we live in peaceful times again and everything is changing. There are many young people who wish to settle down and start a family, but do not know where to begin. They look to their elders for guidance." He sighed. "And I am all too aware of the losses our tribe has faced over the last hundred years. We are growing in numbers, yes, but most of our people are very young or very old. Though I wish with all my heart that you return to the South with me, you are unlikely to meet a match for your heart there. If you…if you would prefer to stay here at the North Pole…"
"I'm not looking for a husband, Dad," Katara said, shaking her head.
Hakoda smiled wearily. "Not yet. But one day you will want a family of your own." He rose, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Just think about it, Katara. You don't have to decide anything now. But whatever you do decide, know that you will have my support."
O
Katara fumed silently to herself as she closed the door to her bedroom later that evening. The feast was still winding down, but she had had enough.
She had managed to avoid Chief Arnook for the remainder of the evening, and thankfully no one else felt the need to bring up her nuptials – or lack-there-of – to her face, but the conversation with her father had bothered her for the rest of the night. That, and the stilted reaction she garnered from most of the Northern Water Tribe.
The North Pole was breathtakingly beautiful, but it was still so stiff with tradition it was impossible to relax. The Northerners treated her with respect, but distance. She had been looking forward to this trip for a long time, but after two days, she already wished her father had brought Sokka instead.
She paused, and looked out the window at the moon. No, she decided, I am glad I came in place of Sokka.
Sokka was truly happy with Suki, but Katara knew that returning to the North Pole would always hurt. She understood. The war had been over for three years, but the ghosts still lingered. It struck her suddenly that perhaps Chief Arnook had only been so forward with her because he was still missing his daughter. Katara closed her eyes sadly. She was no princess, but even if she was, she could never hope to replace Yue. It would be an insult to her memory to even try, after all Yue had sacrificed for her people. These were not Katara's people. This was not her home.
That thought struck an unexpected chord within her. Home. What did that mean anymore? The South Pole? She was Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. How many times had she identified herself as such? The South Pole was her home – had been her home? She thought of Gran Gran, and Sokka, and her dad, and felt warmed, but when her mind conjured images of the newly built ice city with its carved spires and winding river channels, so like its Northern sister, Katara felt only a distant sense of interest. Even the outlying snowdrifts and ice flows, untouched and unchanged from her childhood, seemed little more than distant memories. Fond memories, but very much in her past. Her stay had the South Pole prior to travelling north with her father had felt more like a visit than a homecoming.
She closed her eyes, and the furry pelt beneath her hands became the fluffy coat of a sky bison. She sighed, thinking of the cool, packed earth, the shifting sands and sunbaked clay of the Earth Kingdom. The whistling wind over the mountain peaks of the air temples, the hot breeze that rippled the water on the shores of the Fire Nation, where the waves that lapped at the rocks were so similar yet different from the water here.
She looked out over the ice and snow, and although the alcohol-warmth in her belly had all but faded, the tears that ran silently down her cheeks were hot on her skin. She breathed in shakily, angry at herself for crying, angry at her father for bringing her here, angry at the frozen world that stretched out around her.
The emotion was misplaced and harmful, but she clung to it fiercely because the heat of anger was better than the bone-aching chill of despair. She felt trapped, like a stream frozen over in winter that yearned for nothing more than to course and flow and rejoin the sea. She felt the push and pull of the moon against her skin, calling to her blood, but the returning ocean song eluded her, dampened by the great barrier walls at the entrance to the city harbor. It was like half of her being had been stripped away, muffled and repressed, and it hurt like the ache of a lost lover. She couldn't understand how the benders of the north could stand it – didn't they feel the ache like she did? Didn't they miss the connection to the outside world?
At a hundred feet above sea level, ensconced in ice and snow and beauty, Katara had never felt so lonely in her entire life.
O