Prologue
One second there was an iceberg and the next a glowing light appeared revealing a floating boy. This boy, I would later find out, was the very last Airbender in the entire world. Until now, air benders were thought to be extinct when Fire Lord Sozin had them all murdered because he was afraid of the next Avatar. But somehow Aang, the Avatar and the last airbender, was frozen in an iceberg and released thanks to a combination of my short temper and inability to control my own water bending. Sokka, my brother, and I brought Aang back to our village in the Southern Water Tribe and introduced him to everyone in the village. I hoped that the villagers would embrace him because he was the long lost Avatar, but instead, they wanted him gone. Fear makes people do strange things and that includes shutting out the only person who could put a stop to this terrible war that had been going on for over a hundred years. I however knew that Aang could save the world; he only needed a bit more training to master the four elements. But how was he going to do that? How was he was he going to travel the world with nothing except his flying bison named Appa who couldn't even fly because he was trapped in an iceberg for a century with Aang?
I was barely awake and I could hardly move. Every muscle in my body ached from practicing my water-bending the day before so I decided that my brother could live without his fried penguin meat for breakfast as I rested for a few more minutes. The past few days were blissful and exciting because Aang brought so much energy into the sleepy village that was predominantly women and children because the men were fighting in the war. As I laid in my sleeping bag and stared at the ceiling of our family Igloo, I thought about the world that stretched far beyond the South Pole. Oh how I hoped that Aang would ask me to join him on his worldly adventures as he sought out to perfect bending all of the elements. Gran Gran would never approve of a young girl like me traipsing around the world with a 112 year-old child and an idiotic meat-obsessed brother. But I had to try to leave this block of ice; I had to do my duty to help end the war by helping the Avatar.
I let out a loud yawn when I finally decided to climb out of my warm and safe sleeping bag when I heard a loud bang and several screams from outside. I jumped out of my bed and ran out of the door to see what was going on. There were several dark metal Fire Navy ships surrounding our village and soldiers attacking, chasing, and roughly restraining people I had known my entire life.
I stood frozen in front of my Igloo unable to assess the chaos that was taking place and unable to help anyone. I couldn't do anything. I knew that if I tried to fight using my knowledge of the very basics of water bending the Fire Nation soldiers would capture me. Instead of taking action and fighting for my family and my village, I simply watched the Fire Nation hurt everything that was dear to me. I stood on the cold, freshly snow covered ground too afraid to help my own village. I was ashamed of myself.
I saw Sokka and Aang run towards the ships. They were outnumbered and had no way of winning against the Fire Nation soldiers unless they had back-up. Sokka and Aang gave the soldiers blow after blow but every time a row of soldiers were defeated, a fresh row of soldiers would bombard them with fire punches and fire blasts. I had to do something and stop worrying about my poor waterbending fighting skills; I ran towards the danger, ready to fight alongside my brother and my new friend Aang.
Once I joined my brother and Aang I realized that I was too late to be of any help. The soldiers had stopped attacking us but they had us surrounded. "Sokka," I turned my head and whispered in his ear. "You and Aang need to take Appa and fly out of here as fast as you can."
"I can't let you do that Katara. You are my baby sister and I am responsible for you," he whispered back. "You take Aang and fly way from this place." I tore my eyes away from the numerous Fire Nation soldiers and looked at my brother. My brother could die today I thought as a hot tear rolled down my cheek. I nodded slightly letting my brother know that I was ready to grab Aang and run. Sokka elbowed me in the ribs, a sign of his brotherly affection that he did ever since we were kids, and I pushed Aang to the icy ground and the soldiers started attacking again.
I threw myself on the ground landing right next to Aang. I motioned to Appa, who was rearing on his hind two legs behind my family's igloo. Aang and I crawled on our elbows towards Appa as Sokka kept nearly a dozen soldiers at bay assuring our escape…or at least that was what I thought. All of sudden I felt a pair of strong meaty hands grab my ankles and drag me away from Aang. I let out a yell of terror as I tried to dig my nails into the ice. The slightly heavy Fire Nation soldier picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. I saw Aang on a ball of rolling air coming towards me in an attempt to save me but I couldn't risk the Fire Nation capturing the Avatar because I was in trouble.
"Aang!" I yelled trying to stop him from rescuing me. " You have to find Sokka and get out of here!" I could tell Aang was fighting with himself to decide whether or not to listen or to ignore my request. I knew that the Fire Nation would not stop hurting my village until they had a prisoner. I had to help my village and I had to help Aang fulfill his destiny as the Avatar. I made the decision that I would suffer in Aang's place if it meant helping to end the war. It was the least I could for my friend and for the world.
The Fire Nation solider whose shoulder I was flung over was nearly to the ships when Aang seemed to cut his losses and let me go. Still on top of his rolling ball of hair, Aang changed his course in pursuit of finding Sokka. I wasn't sure what condition Aang would find him in and the thought of it made me sob uncontrollably into the sweat covered uniform of the immense body that was carrying me. Trying to keep my sights on Aang through my sobs as he whizzed through the village, the soldier started walking up a ramp to one of the ships.
"SOKKA!" I screamed desperately trying to get one last look of my brother before I would leave forever. There was no sight of Sokka. I screamed, sobbed, and punched the back of the soldier. Then, my world went dark.