I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender
She walked back to the village. The sound of crunching snow under her feet had long faded from her attention as it does for those who grew up in the snow covered wasteland of the south pole. The meager amount of fish she caught on her trip swung beside her on a length of rope. She hoped Sokka and Katara were having more luck fishing in the canoe. The winter season was slowing receding, bringing in more food to their shore.
But still not much, she thought, staring at the small fish.
She sighed.
The winter's bitter weather was cruel and grueling, sending flurries their way and making finding food near impossible, yet their village managed to survive with only two tragedies this year, which much less than last winter.
The deaths of a child and his mother due to pneumonia weighed heavily on her heart. She wasn't the oldest young adult in their small tribe, but over the last two years since the men of their tribe left to fight in the war, she had become something like the unofficial provider for the small village of women, children…and Sokka.
Sokka wanted her position in the tribe and she would have gladly given him the weight of it, but being a year younger and having a personality that is, well, more comedic than mature, she had become the Woman Warrior, main protector and provider of their tribe.
Woman Warrior... she thought of the title sadly as she carefully picked her way up over an icy ridge to see the village lying in the distance. Women weren't warriors in her culture, but she managed to convince her father to teach her the ways of the warrior when she was young, even though he knew it would mean that she would be ostracized by the culturally ridged tribe and that there would be less of a chance to find her a willing husband.
Yet he still taught her how to handle a spear, throw a boomerang, hunt, and anything else that young warriors learned, despite many people in the tribe disagreeing about whether it was right to teach it to a young girl. However, with a few words of the chief, her father's friend, the tribe begrudgingly stepped aside. Narra believed her father broke tradition and put up with all the arguments because warrior training pulled her out of a sad place after her mother died giving birth to her sister.
Walking through the break in the compacted snow wall, she handed off the fish to an older women, whose job was to prepare and preserve the tribe's pitifully small stockpile. She nodded her a greeting before moving on through the animal skin covered tents that stood to a few feet above her head.
All of a sudden, a small figure raced around the corner of a tent and would have rushed past her if she had not reacted quickly. Moving to scoop up the little form, she tossed her sister high in the air hearing her squeal with joy.
"You're back!"
"I am, and it's time for dinner."
"Aw, I was going to eat with Nilna and Dalan!" Her sister exclaimed, puffing out her cheeks in in protest.
"I have been gone for two days and my own sister doesn't want to eat with me!" She said tickling her sister as she ducked through their tent flap. She was only half kidding as the truth stung her.
"Your sister is right," said a woman popping her head into their tent. "Nilna and Dalan will understand that you will come to dinner another day."
Even though her back was turned away from the tent flap, she could tell the gentle motherly voice came from one of her only close friends in the tribe.
Close enough for her to come into my tent without calling a greeting from outside, Narra mused smiling.
"That's right." Narra said setting her sister down and bending to stare her into her big blue eyes. "You can go over another time. You practically live in their tent as it is. Let's eat together tonight." She smiled, ruffling her sister's hair, ignoring the seal pup eyes that she was trying to give her. "Now go wash up for dinner."
She watched her sister walk past Marina out the flap door before she straightened.
"I brought you some stew," Marina said brightly gesturing to a large steaming bowl in her hands. "You have impeccable timing because it just got done right before you walked into the village."
"Thanks," she said, tossing her bag of gear to the side.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
Marina moved to place the bowl on a low stool before wrapping a warm hand on her shoulder. "You are upset with yourself because you think that your sister spends too much time at my tent and not enough in your own."
"No, its not that," Narra said placing a hand over her friend's. "Okay…so maybe it is, but she loves you and you are always taking care of her when I am gone-"
"Yes, and you are gone taking care of the village. You do too much for this village even while having to listen to rambling grandmothers talk about women's 'good and right' work. If you would have listened to them, we would have ran out of food a little time ago!" She interrupted, shaking her arm a little and rolling her eyes. "So don't be upset. Leave the boring child herding to the old ones like me."
"Marina," Narra exclaimed smiling and shaking her head at the antics her friend was using to try and cheer her up, which was working pretty well. "You are only 21 years of age."
"Which is five years older than you, so hush young child! Don't talk back to your elders!"
Narra laugh heartily as jumped away from Marina's hand, which came back as if to swat her behind.
Narra's laughter died as an older woman called out her name frantically before pushing her way into the tent before Narra could open the flap.
"Narra!" A middle aged woman gasped out of breath as if she just ran a mile in the snow…or if she just saw something deathly frightening. "I saw…I saw a seal on the edge of the village…about a half a mile in the distance."
Quickly, Narra walked over to the women, her face becoming serious. "What did it look like?"
"It was big and…and gold like a winter's setting sun."
Narra didn't let her face react to the news so as not to alarm the woman even more that her worry was well placed, but on the inside she let out a shuddering breath. Some seals are friendly, but there were a few that matched the woman's description, and well, they weren't the friendly kind.
She sighed, turning to stare in the corner of her home before replying. "Do not worry much. Tomorrow I will see to it."
"See to what?" a small voice asked from the tent flap.
"Nothing much, Daira. I just have to go on another trip tomorrow, and I am not sure how long I will be gone." Narra said to her sister trying her best to keep her voice light, not wanting her to be worried about whether or not she was going to come back... though it was a valid worry.
"Aw, wolves' breath," Daria muttered, shuffling towards the stew.
"Daria!" Her sister gasped angrily. "Watch your language. Where in the waters did you learn that?"
"Ah…," her sister stuttered looking at the old woman who was still in the tent looking horrified at the rowdy little girl. Quickly, the little girl backed out of the tent and Narra could hear snow crunching as her sister raced away, probably to the wolf dog team's pin.
She better run! Narra thought.
Growing up surrounded by warriors in training, she learned much more about the name of seals and how to read the direction in the stars, but she had always been careful to watch her language in front of her sister.
She wished even more that she could present more often to watch over her sister, but someone also needed to watch over the tribe. The dilemma warred within her for a moment, but when she turned back to the two women, she had made her decision to choose her duty to village over her desire to be with family, reasoning that if something hurt the village it would hurt her family. She could not let that happen.
"Thank you for letting me know. Please, I beg you to watch your words carefully as you tell others lest they become riled up." Narra said carefully, remembering an old lesson from her father about how the warrior's job didn't just involve protection but also dispelling the worry of people in the face of danger. She had to do much to control the worry during the last two years since the threat of starvation and dangerous animals was never far off.
"I understand." The woman nodded, bowing her head to the fur covered floor in respect to her wishes, just like she would do if her words carried the weight of chief's.
Narra sucked in a breath, realizing that the woman had given her the honor of a chief.
I knew that despite the fact they don't accept me, everyone still looks to me to fulfill the roles of a chief but to see someone acknowledge me as their leader... She sighed as she felt a mantel of weight settle around her already burdened shoulders, as if the chief's necklace had been place there. She felt her resolve steeling as she knew what she must do, no matter what her outcome was. It was said by her tribe that a man,...or now a woman, was not a true warrior until they choose protect others over themselves. Tomorrow she guessed she would become a true warrior because she knew that to protect those she loved, she must be willing to give up everything, even her life