Hello Readers,
I wanted to try my hand at an ATLA fanfiction, so here it is.
I'm going to try and world build as I write. Expanding on thoughts and emotions and relationships here and there, possibly delving into the governments of the different nations, adding in some adult themes, giving the OC things that people might find a bit too cliché and overdone because I'm the author and I can do that and you'll just have to suck it up buttercup, etc. You know, the usual. (I'm feeling kinda edgy as I write this. :P)
Anyway, let me know how you like it and I'll see you in the next chapter when I get around to writing it.
(I'm kinda busy with school and possibly depression but I haven't gotten round to confronting that at the moment, btw, so like all the other stories I write and post the updates won't be regular. Sorry about that. I'm just not the kind of person who can stick to a schedule. Even one that I've set up myself unfortunately.)
Thank you for the support!
Bye~
"Water…Earth…Fire…Air…My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
Only the Avatar mastered all four elements. Only he could stop the ruthless firebenders. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.
A hundred years have passed, and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe.
Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken, but I haven't lost hope. I still believe that somehow the Avatar will return to save the world."
Drifting slowly alongside small chunks of ice was a canoe, carrying two passengers wearing blue overcoats that protected them from the biting cold of the South Pole.
One a teenaged boy with the sides of his head shaven and a ponytail in the back, standing in the canoe, spear at the ready to catch the prey he's spotted. The sun was still rising, making it the perfect time to hunt for the fish that would be their meals for the day. "It's not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish."
The other occupant of the canoe, Katara, was the boy's younger sister. As he boasted his fish spearing skills to her, she was busy leaning over the edge of the canoe, watching a fish swimming just beneath the surface of the water.
Taking a deep, apprehensive breath, she removes her left glove and begins to motion the exposed hand back and forth. An unsteady orb of water, containing the fish she'd been targeting, floats into the air. And while not the most controlled water construct she'd ever made, she's proud of her successful attempt, nonetheless. "Sokka, look!"
But her brother silences her with a gentle shushing, too occupied with his own catch at that moment to pay her any mind. "Shhh, Katara, you're gonna scare it away. Mmmm…I can already smell it cookin'!" As usual, Sokka had a one-track mind when it came to food.
The longer she struggled to keep her hold over it, the less control she felt she had. In her attempts to keep it from falling apart it slowly floats over to Sokka, who raises his spear at just the right moment to get drenched in below freezing temperature water. As a result, the fish he'd been tracking darts away from them in surprise and the fish Katara had caught falls back into the ocean and escapes as well.
"Hey!" Katara finds herself less than pleased with her waterbending efforts being hindered.
To which Sokka sighs in exasperation. "Ugh! Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked!"
She rolls her eyes before attempting to correct him. "It's not magic. It's waterbending, and it's-" He cuts her off. "Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, blah blah blah. Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself."
At that, she puts on an amused smirk. "You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water."
Sokka, who is in the middle of flexing his "muscles" and admiring himself in the water's reflection, pauses his admiration and turns to give Katara a look. Suddenly, the canoe is bumped by a nearby chunk of ice, snapping the two out of their conversation and towards the water ahead of them.
During the course of their argument, they had unknowingly drifted into an ice packed area where a fast-moving current was forcing them to move at dangerous speeds. Frantically, they begin trying to maneuver themselves away from the nearby icebergs. Should they get caught between any of them, they would no doubt be crushed.
""AHHH!"" Both teens scream in terror before Katara calls out to Sokka, trying to gain some semblance of control over their predicament. "Watch out! Go left! Left!" All around them, icebergs collide into one another with several coming close to crushing them before last second maneuvers twist and turn them out of harm's way. With each nearly fatal escape, their lucky streak steadily dwindles until one last encounter with two intercepting icebergs forces them to, with no other options available, jump ship to relative safety.
They were stranded without their boat and at the mercy of an ice field that was caught in the current, but at least they were still alive.
Unfortunately, all the two can seem to get out of the situation was that it was the other's fault. Katara blamed Sokka for his poor steering skills and Sokka blamed Katara for both being a girl, and thus the root of all his problems, and not using her waterbending to guide them to safety.
"You call that left?" She questioned judgingly.
Sokka rolls his eyes. "You don't like my steering? Well, maybe you should have waterbended us out of the ice."
Behind them, a towering iceberg rears up into the sky. Its original position, deep beneath the water, disturbed by current.
"Oh, so it's my fault?"
Ignoring her, he scoffs to himself. "I knew I should have left you home. Leave it to a girl to screw things up."
She felt her heart starting to race, the indignant rage she felt towards her brother's insulting comment overtaking her usually gentle disposition. "You are the most sexist, immature, nut brained…" Her arm flings out, pointing accusingly at Sokka. "Ugh, I'm embarrassed to be related to you! Ever since mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!"
She ends her sentence with a swing of her arms, a loud cracking sound grabbing Sokka's attention. Looking over her heaving shoulder and towards the iceberg that neither had noticed until now, he could see a large fissure making it way across its surface. Even the patch of ice they're standing on starts to waver unsteadily in the water. None of which Katara seems to notice in her rant.
"Uh…Katara?"
"I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks!? Let me tell you, not pleasant!"
"Katara! Settle down!"
"No, that's it! I am done helping you. From now on, you're on your own!"
She's screaming at the end of all this, having let out everything she'd been keeping in for as long as she can remember. It felt better than she could have imagined saying all of those things out loud for once. And directly to Sokka, too.
The feeling of relief, however, was short-live as she finally registers the sounds of ice splitting open and breaking apart behind her. Katara turns around to see what was happening, only to be forced to hold on for dear life as the impact waves caused by the falling ice pushed back the platform they were standing on.
Already disturbed by the hundred near-death experiences that morning, he looks to who he recognizes as the source of most of his life's problems. "Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara."
But she was still caught up in the sight of what she was capable of. "You mean I did that?"
"Yup. Congratulations." The sarcasm in his voice was palpable.
Leaning over the edge, nervously yet patiently waiting for the waters to calm and the platform to stop swaying, they watch as the water ahead of them starts to glow faintly. They've never seen anything like this before and are unable to take their eyes away from such an unprecedented sight. Each passing second sees the mysterious light growing brighter and brighter until finally its source bursts through the ocean's surface.
A second iceberg, really a sphere of ice smaller than what was previously there, had revealed itself. The mesmerizing blue light emanating from within drew Katara's curiosity, pushing her to walk further to the edge of the platform. Sokka, being the much more cautious of the two, was reluctant to get anywhere near the mysterious light. Only doing so in order to keep his sister safe from whatever dangers the ball of ice posed to them.
As she approaches to get a better look, the figure of a small body in a meditation pose comes into view. She sees glowing white arrows trailing along the fists and down across the forehead. As she stares, its eyes snap open, revealing that they have the same white glow as the three arrows.
It hits her that the boy in the ice, she assumes he's a boy, isn't merely frozen. "He's alive! We have to help." Grabbing Sokka's club, she pulls down her hood and runs to help the trapped boy.
Momentarily taken aback by his sister's sudden decision, it takes Sokka a second to call after her. "Katara, get back here! We don't know what that thing is!" Seeing that she ignores his calls, he grabs his spear and starts to make his way over in the hopes of stopping her from doing something that could get the both of them killed.
She swiftly jumps across a conveniently placed bridge, made of floating chunks of ice connecting them to the sphere, and begins her attempts to free the trapped boy. It takes five good swings to break through the surprisingly fragile shell, all of which lead to deep fractures forming at its base and shooting upwards. The siblings are blown backwards by the escaping air, forced to stay low to the ground and hold on to each other in order to not get pushed into the ocean.
Following the escaping air is a blinding beam of light that shoots straight up into the air, creating an Aurora Australis effect and causing a nearby herd of Tiger-Seals sit themselves up and roar at the phenomenon.
From the foredeck of an iron hulled, steam-powered battleship, a young man with a deep scar on his left eye wearing red clothing and dress armor stares intently at the beam of light in anticipation until it dissipates. "Finally." He turns to address the older man sitting carefree behind him, playing a game with hand-carved wooden pieces. "Uncle, do you realize what this means?"
The boy's uncle looks at him. "That I won't get to finish my game?"
Rolling his eyes at his uncle, he pushes on. "It means that my search is about to come to an end." The older man groans at his nephew's statement. "That light came from an incredibly powerful source. It has to be him!"
"Or," His uncle offers. "it's just the celestial lights. We've down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing. Please, sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming jasmine tea?"
Zuko reacts poorly to his Uncle's suggestion. "I don't need any calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar." He looks up to the man standing atop the ship's bridge. Helmsman, head a course for the light!"
Standing in front of the exploded iceberg, Sokka holds his spear forward and acts as a shield between whatever might have been inside the ice and Katara. They for several moments before a young boy appears, standing on the edge of the broken sphere. His arrow tattoos and his eyes still glowing white, make him seem otherworldly and dangerous. Enough so for Sokka to stand firmer and grip his spear tighter. "Stop!"
However, the white glow recedes, his tattoos returning to their normal blue color and his eyes closing from what looks to be exhaustion. His tired body leans back ever so slightly and then decisively forward, sliding down the side of the ruined iceberg and into Katara's arms, who had lunged from her position behind Sokka to catch him.
As she holds him, Sokka walks over to them and curiously pokes the unconscious boy in the head with the blunt end of his spear. He manages several before Katara shoos him away. "Stop it!"
She turns the boy in her arms over so that he's laying on his back and studies his face as she waits for him to wake up. Once he does, the sight he's greeted to is Katara looking down at him with a smile relieved smile. Though, he's much more focused on how she looks with the wind gently blowing through her hanging braids.
He whispers to her weakly. "I need to ask you something."
"What?" She leans in.
He whispers slightly fainter. "Please…come closer."
Leaning in closer to his face, she tries hard to hear what he has to say. "What is it?"
Suddenly, the exhaustion disappears from him and he speaks to her in an excited, slightly louder than normal volume voice. "Will you go penguin sledding with me?"
Surprised by both the random question and his sudden burst of energy, she nods. "Uh…sure. I guess."
Without warning, the boy rises to his feet with the help of some unseen force and rubs the back of his head to help soothe the small headache he has. Hopefully the bruising he could feel would be gone in the next few days.
Sokka, unaware of the boy's thoughts, recoils from his sudden movement. "Ahh!"
Turning his head to looks around him in different directions, the boy questions the two of them. "What's going on here?"
"You tell us! How'd you get in the ice?" He begins to poke at the strange boy again. "And why aren't you frozen?"
His spear gets swatted away again. "I'm not sure."
There's a low, grumbling noise heard from inside the iceberg. Gasping, the boy's face lights up as he suddenly remembers something. Or rather someone. He turns around and frantically climbs back up the ice he'd slid down just a minute ago and jumps down into what is now more akin to a large crater. Fast asleep and taking up most of the space within the crater is a large Sky-Bison.
Landing on the Sky-Bison's head, the boy gives his friend a hug. "Appa! Are you alright? Wake up, buddy." From his position on Appa's head he reaches an arm down and lifts up one of the animal's eyelids, revealing a massive brown colored eye, before letting it drop back into place.
Trying a different approach, he hops off of Appa and onto the ice in front of his head to try his hand at lifting his very large head off the ground. As he struggles, Katara and Sokka come around the corner and drop their jaws at the sight of Appa finally waking up and licking the boy hard enough to lift him off of the ground.
"Haha! You're okay!" Hugging Appa, he's oblivious to the two people watching him treat a horned, six legged monstrosity of a Sky-Bison as if he were a pet.
Sokka can't help but ask, "What is that thing?"
"This is Appa, my flying bison." He happily supplies.
The doubtful teen responds with a scoff. "Right. And this is Katara, my flying sister."
Before the boy can reply, Appa begins to sneeze. The boy narrowly escapes being covered by snot, ducking out of the way just in time. Sokka was not so lucky having been standing right him and thus directly in the sneeze's path, forcing him to wipe away what he could with his hands and by rolling his body against the ice and snow. "Ewww! Aahh!"
"Don't worry. It'll wash out." He spoke as if that would solve the immediate issue of being covered in bison snot.
"Ugh!" Sokka moves his hand away from his face, much to his and Katara's horror. Connecting the two of them was a wad of green snot.
"So," Moving past Sokka's attempts to clean himself. "do you guys live around here?"
"Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy." His suspicion of the boy had only increased after getting to know a little more about him. Even then it only led to more questions than there were answers.
Katara, however, found no reason not to trust him. "Oh, yeah, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in his eye." Katara's sarcasm was accompanied by a lopsided smile and a look of innocence from the boy. "The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. You never told us your name."
He looked as though he'd only just now realized that very same thing. "I'm A…aaaahhhh…aaah aaah aaah AAAAAAACHOOOO!" His sneeze sends him over a dozen feet into the air.
After landing, he finishes answering her question. "I'm Aang." He sniffles and rubs his nose.
"You just sneezed…and flew ten feet in the air!"
"Really? It felt higher than that."
Gasping as she finishes connecting the many dots, Katara finally puts two and two together. "You're an Airbender!"
The newly identified Airbender nods. "Sure am."
Sokka, on the other hand, is not so willing to believe it. "Giant light beams…flying bison…airbenders…I think I've got Midnight Sun Madness. I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." He turns around to walk away but stops at the realization that there's no way to get back to the village. They were all still stuck in the middle of nowhere.
"Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift." He airbends onto Appa's head and then settles himself into the crook of the bison's neck, where the reigns attached to his horns are resting.
"We'd love a ride! Thanks!" Katara accepts Aang's offer as she climbs up Appa's side and into his saddle. Her brother not so much. "Oh, no! I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster." She rolls her eyes. "Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come and give you a ride home? You know…before you freeze to death?"
He opens his mouth to say something, pauses, and settles for sighing in defeat. Climbing up into the saddle and taking a seat towards the back, he sits with a scowl on his face and his arms crossed petulantly.
However, his silent tantrum is interrupted by a pained groan. And before he can even turn around to see what it was behind him, a heavy hand clamps over his mouth. "Please stop yelling…you're all being so very loud and it's absolutely killing me."
The hand lets go as Sokka makes his way over to Katara, who only just then notices the stranger climbing and then falling sluggishly into the saddle, before picking up his spear and pointing the lethal end at the newcomer. "Who are you!?"
Another groan of pain leaves the him as he holds a hand up placatingly; the other covering his eyes. "Oh, man…you're still being so incredibly loud. Just…just take it down a notch will you? My head is one slightly loud whisper away from exploding."
"KUZON!" Aang's excited voice pierces the air, forcing the older teen in question to automatically stand up and brace himself for "Oof!" the yellow blur that shoots past Katara and Sokka and slams directly into him.
"…hey, Aang. It's good to see you safe and sound." In order to avoid falling, Kuzon had to use every ounce of exhausted muscle he had to keep himself standing upright. Which gave his already throbbing headache a boost in the 'Fuckin' oww~uh' department. "I wasn't sure what would happen after we hit the water, but things didn't turn out all that bad considering we didn't die…so that's a plus." He shivered and rubbed his hands together. "Though, I could do with some warmer weather. Where are we, anyway?"
Curious, but smiling at the sight of the Aang and Kuzon, Katara waits for the two to separate before introducing herself. "Hello. It's nice to meet you. I'm-"
"Katara. I heard you guys earlier." He then nodded to Sokka. "And he's your brother Sokka, right? I assume you're the one Appa sneezed on?" He received a cautious but firm grunt. "Sorry about that. He's probably getting a little sick from the cold temp…" He felt himself sway a bit. He probably had a concussion. Thankfully the cold temperatures were helping him stay focused.
"…temperature here." The headache was seriously starting to mess with him. At that, he wondered how Aang was feeling. They'd both slammed into the water pretty hard when Appa went down.
"So, not to break up our lovely little reunion or anything," He said clapping his hands together. "but I do believe we were in the middle of leaving this floating island paradise of ours?" Aang laughed, hopping back into his spot at the reigns. Kuzon quickly settles himself down in the saddle, not feeling anywhere near strong enough to handle a takeoff while standing.
"Okay. First time flyers hold on tight! Appa, yip yip!" He shakes the reigns, causing Appa to make a low rumble. Flapping his tail a few times, he takes a second to bend his knees and then launches himself forward with his legs spread wide…only to land with a large splash in the water.
Aang, confused as to why they weren't flying, tries the reigns again. "Come on, Appa. Yip-yip!"
Sokka comments with as much sarcasm as he can muster, "Wow. That was truly amazing." But Aang doesn't take it to heart. "Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see." His animated movements put a smile on Kuzon's face. But not nearly as much as when he gets caught staring at Katara.
"Why are you smiling at me like that?" She asks, more curious than anything else.
Aang tries his hand at being casually cluelessness, "Oh…I was smiling?" only to fail at it completely.
"Uuuuugh…" Sokka certainly noticed. And Kuzon can't help but snort and then immediately look away as Aang snaps his head irritably in his direction. This was almost routine for them by this point.
Enjoying Aang's initial transition into an awkward tween had been something of a new favorite pastime for Kuzon. He'd found great amusement in watching Aang do this very same thing several times in the last few months. When nuns from the Eastern and Western Temples came to do whatever task it was that had brought them to the Southern Temple, Aang turned into a very interesting person.
The usual outgoing charm that had earned him so many friends when he was younger, before he and the rest of the Air Nomads found out he was the Avatar that is, disappeared without a trace, leaving behind the almost habitually self-humiliating mess that was currently glaring at him with all of the fire a twelve year old monk could muster.
Zuko stands on the spotting deck of his ship, looking in the direction the beam of light came from and thinking of what he was going to do once he confronts the Avatar and, hopefully, captures him. He couldn't help but worry that the skills he had wouldn't be enough to capture the aging man, even if he was over a hundred years old. A master of all four elements was still a master no matter how old they were.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice his uncle's approach until he'd spoken. "I'm going to bed now." He stretches his arms and makes an exaggerated yawn. "Yep. A man needs his rest." Not seeing a response from his nephew, the older man dropped the act. "Prince Zuko, you need some sleep. Even if you're right and the Avatar is alive, you won't find him. Your father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all tried and failed."
"Because their honor didn't hinge on the Avatar's capture. Mine does. This coward's hundred years in hiding are over." At the prince's words, his uncle let out a quiet sigh and bids Zuko goodnight.
Katara, unable to sleep as easily as Sokka and Kuzon seem to be able to, quietly crawls towards Appa's head and looks down at Aang from the saddle. It looks as though he's just as unable to sleep as she is.
"Hey."
At the whisper, Aang turns to look at her. "Hey. Watcha thinkin' about?"
She hums. "I guess I was wondering, you being an airbender and all, if you had any idea what happened to the Avatar." Unbeknownst to either of them, Kuzon's eyes open at the mention of the Avatar. If either Sokka or Katara asks him something later on, he wanted to be able to match whatever Aang had said.
Kuzon could practically feel the tension in his voice. "Uhh…no. I didn't know him…I mean, I knew people that knew him, but I didn't. Sorry."
"Okay. Just curious. Goodnight."
"Sleep tight."
Again, his not-at-all convincing words, Kuzon couldn't help but wonder if it was just him who could hear it, were taken at face value. Although, he found it refreshing to see so much trust being given from one stranger to another. It reminded him of something Gyatso would do. Gyatso, who was most likely a hundred years dead alongside the other friends he'd made at the Air Temples.
But it wasn't like he didn't know the Great War was coming to the Air Nomads first in the form of a surprise genocide. In fact, he believed he was reborn in this universe because of what he knew about it and how he could influence the various outcomes of it all.
Before Katara could so much as look in his direction, a small wave of his hand was all it took for some of the water surrounding them to make its way to the back of his head and under his clothes to any severe areas of bruising to heal the damage. The glow from the healing water was gone as fast as it came, the only evidence it was there at all being the lack of a concussion.
Closing his eyes again once Katara began to crawl back to her original spot, he settled down for actual sleep. Maybe he'd be able to get a few hours of shuteye in before they made it to the village now that he didn't feel like crap.
Aang on the other hand wouldn't have nearly as easy a time falling asleep. The guilt and fear of his recent actions weighing heavily on him.
A storm rages all around them as Appa struggles to stay in the air, Aang desperately trying to use the reigns to get him back to a safe height and Kuzon holding onto the back saddle and securing their supplies as best he can. As low as they were flying, a big enough wave could easily overwhelm them.
"Aaaahhh!" However, it's not the waves that gets them but a sudden gust of powerful winds that force Appa to crash directly into the water. Rather than scream as Aang does, Kuzon merely tightens his hold on the saddle's straps. Though neither actions do anything to prevent them from slamming full force into the cold water.
After regaining their senses, all three struggle to come up for a breath of air only to be immediately overwhelmed by an incoming wave that plunges them back down into a current strong enough to pull them further downwards.
Watching as Aang lets go of the reigns, Kuzon braces himself for what's about to happen. He's never been frozen alive before. Hell, he's not even sure if he was going to be able to survive it; being frozen for a hundred years sounded awfully life threatening.
On the verge of losing consciousness, Aang suddenly goes into the Avatar State with his legs crossed and his fists pressed against each other. The water around them freezes into a sphere, its shell solidifying until one could only just barely see inside. The mystical light coming from inside the ice was visible above the surface of the water for mere seconds before it was blocked out by the dark depths of the ocean surrounding it.
Though being underwater meant that they were hidden from sight and safe from the dangers of the storm, they would remain frozen for the next hundred years.
…
"Aang!" A distant voice breaks through the memory. "Aang, wake up!" It's closer now, and much more recognizable. Katara. Which means that he wasn't-
He sits upright, lightly gasping for air. "It's okay." He looks up at her, dazed, while she looks down at him in mild concern. "We're in the village now. Come on, get ready. Everyone's waiting to meet you."
Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, Aang brushed away the guilt and got up out of the bed he'd somehow ended up in. Realizing he was half-naked, wearing only his pants, he looked around for the rest of his clothes before moving to put them on.
As he did, Katara waited for him to finish while studying his tattoos. It was an oddly alluring sight, one that made led her to trace the arrows travelling along his entire body with her eyes. She hadn't seen many tattoos before, except for when the occasional trader came by every few months for local fish, but wondered if they were all like Aang's.
Perhaps all airbenders wore those arrow tattoos before they went extinct? She wondered whether or not they could mean something. Would it be rude to ask?
Kuzon didn't look like he had any, but she supposed that was because she hadn't been paying attention to every little detail about him beyond the robes he wore. Not like she did with Aang, who was so visually different to just about everything in her life it was all she could really focus on.
Aang was bald, had white skin, tattoos, wore yellow and orange robes, could airbend, and had such a loud personality that even Sokka was mildly drowned out. Kuzon, on the other hand, had a full head of thick, black hair, an equally light skin tone if not a bit darker, no visible tattoos, and no apparent bending abilities since he only smiled and steered the conversation elsewhere when asked. Only the robes gave away that he and Aang were both from the same group of nomads.
And now that she was reflecting on how he looked in her mind, she wondered what color his eyes were behind the goggles he wore. Wondered if they were gray like Aang's. Wondered if Kuzon wore those goggles because he needed because of Aang's tendency to subconsciously airbend to or because he thought they looked cool.
She was betting on the former. But she wouldn't be surprised if it was a bit of both.
"Whaaaa!" The second he finishes dressing Katara is already dragging him out of the tent and towards the people who were waiting for an introduction. The small crowd consisted of women and young children of varying ages with Sokka and Kuzon sticking out like sore thumbs in the front. Especially Kuzon in his Air Nomad clothing and with his comparatively much lighter skin tone.
"Aang, this is the entire village. Entire village, Aang." At Katara's introduction, he takes a step forward to greet them only for them to take a collective step back. Puzzled, he wondered if he had any of Appa's snot on him.
"Uh…why are they all looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?" He did a quick self-evaluation to check for anything gross.
An old woman with a humorless expression walks up to them. "Well, no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct until my granddaughter and grandson found you." If anyone was looking, they would see Kuzon's face fall at the news. It wasn't a good feeling, knowing that even with all his warnings to them there was no real guarantee that they managed to survive the genocide.
He'd thought up a list of potential places for the Airbenders to retreat to when the time came and called for it; he was sure that Earth Kingdoms and the Water Tribes would take them in should they hear of their plight. He'd even gone as far as to inform them of the Sun Warriors. If they could remain hidden from the rest of the world, then maybe they could help the nomads do the same. He didn't imagine anyone, except maybe the Fire Nation, would try to do anything but help them in their time of need.
That is, if any were left.
And in the months before he'd left with Aang he made sure to explain the situation, the incoming genocide of their peoples, in depth to each of the four Air Temples' Council of Elders. Most of the elders were hesitant to believe, mostly because of the fact that Kuzon hadn't been introduced to Air Nomad culture until he was picked up as a child, but some did take him at his word.
Those monks and nuns who travelled the world, specifically the Fire Nation, and recognized the subtle shifts and changes taking place. The budding aggression and ultranationalist ideals slowly but surely making its way towards the lowest and easily influenced echelons of the nation's citizens.
Kuzon just hoped that they made it to safety in time. Temples could be rebuilt, but the people they house…not so much. At least, not as easily.
"Extinct?" Aang didn't believe he heard that right. Why would people think that the Air Nomads were extinct? Oblivious to his confusion, Katara pushed the conversation forward. "Aang, this is my grandmother."
"Call me Gran-Gran." Not a single change in her expression.
Absorbed in studying Gran-Gran's stony demeanor, one which was mildly intimidating to him, Aang wasn't able to react fast enough to Sokka grabbing his staff. Inspecting it, he couldn't see the point of having such a useless looking tool instead of a real weapon. "What is this, a weapon? You can't stab anything with this?"
"It's not for stabbing." A jet of air rips the staff out of Sokka's hand and back into his. "It's for Airbending." The staff opens into a red-winged glider with a flick of his wrist; something that absolutely astounds a little girl in the watching crowd. "Magic trick! Do it again!"
"Not magic," He corrected. "Airbending. It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly."
"You know, last time I checked, humans can't fly." Kuzon simply smiled as his friend got that 'I'm about to prove you wrong' glint in his eyes. "Check again!" Aang then launches himself into the air with his glider, soaring back and forth and doing impressive loops just above their heads.
"Whoa…!"
"It's flying…!"
"It's amazing…!"
Each villager points and whispers to him in wonderment, never having seen a person fly before. The smaller children try to run after him, doing their best to keep up with his fast-moving shadow.
Meanwhile, Aang's attention shifts from the laughing children to the bright smile on Katara's face as she watches him fly. So much so that he slams directly into Sokka's guard tower, "Oof!" needing to pull his head out from its side, causing it to fall apart and him to fall to the ground with his glider.
Sokka and Katara have two very different feelings on this turn of events.
"My watchtower!" In distress, he runs his gloved hand through his hair.
"That was amazing!" She helps Aang to his feet.
Twirling his glider in hand and then closing it with a snap, he, Katara, and Kuzon watch as Sokka inspects what remains of his watchtower for all of two seconds before unexpectedly getting buried under a large bank of snow.
Kicking away the snow to unbury himself, "Great! You're an Airbender," he points at Aang. "Katara's a Waterbender," And then to his sister. "and together you can just waste time all day long." But Aang had long since tuned out after hearing 'Waterbender.'
"You're a Waterbender!"
"Well…sort of. Not yet." She could Waterbend, sure. But with no formal training or Waterbending master/mentor to speak of, she was hesitant to call herself as such.
Gran-Gran, having enough of the Waterbending talk, takes Katara by the arm and begins leading her away. "All right. No more playing. Come on, Katara, you have chores."
Once they were out of earshot, Katara turns to her grandmother in excitement. As far as she was concerned, this was the closest she'd ever get to a Waterbending teacher. She wasn't going to miss out on her once in a lifetime opportunity. "I told you! He's the real thing, Gran-Gran! I finally found a bender to teach me."
"Katara, try not to put all your hopes in this boy."
"But he's special, I can tell. I sense he's filled with much wisdom." They turn to look at the boy in question, watching as a group of children gather around him as he sticks his tongue to his glider. "Sthee? Now mah tongue ith thick to mah sthaff." Katara half expected Kuzon to stop him, but the way he was on his knees in laughter as one of the smaller children reached out and tugged on Aang's glider told her just how unlikely that was.
It's late afternoon as Zuko's ship cuts through the arctic waves. Two Fire Navy soldiers face off against Zuko as his uncle sits off to the side, watching as his nephew holds consecutive wins.
"Again."
At his uncle's words Zuko blasts fire from his hands at the soldiers but misses them. The soldiers retaliate, sending flame of their own at him only to miss as he dodges them. He backflips over them and in one fluid motion takes the two of them down one more time.
Sighing, the older man gets up to correct him. "No! Power in Firebending comes from the breath. Not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire." He finishes the demonstration with a plume of flame that extends towards Zuko but expertly dissipates before it hits him. "Get it right this time."
But the prince was through with practicing the basics. "Enough, uncle Iroh. I've been drilling this sequence all day. Teach me the next set. I'm more than ready."
Iroh shook his head. "No, you are impatient. You have yet to master your basics." His voice turned forceful. "Drill it again!"
"Grrraaahh! Huh!" Zuko angrily fires at the soldiers, not even bothering to look their way as he does. "The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last Airbender. He must be over a hundred years old by now. He's had a century to master the four elements. I'll need more than basic Firebending to defeat him. You will teach me the advanced set!"
They have a short, but intense, stare-down before Iroh reluctantly gives in. "Very well. But first," He goes back to his previous spot off to the side and picks up a bowl filled with meat and his chopsticks. "I must finish my roast duck. Om num…num…"
Zuko makes a face at his uncle's eating habits before turning away.
Sokka paces before and speaks authoritatively to a small group of six young boys…plus Kuzon who's listening attentively from off to the side.
"Now, men," To which Kuzon found himself looking at the boys, raising a brow, and then looking back to Sokka. "it's important that you show no fear when you face a Firebender. In the Water Tribe, we fight to the last man standing. For without courage, how can we call ourselves men?"
One of the boys raises his hands, the other in what Kuzon like to think of as the 'potty dance position'. "I gotta pee!"
Sokka sigh. "Listen! Until your fathers return from the war, they're counting on you to be the men of this tribe. And that means no potty breaks." Both hands now in the potty dance position, the little boy manages to squirm out, "But I really gotta go!"
Another resigned sigh. "Okay…who else has to go?" Immediately there are six tiny hands in the air, belonging to bodies eager to escape Sokka's training to go to the bathroom, and then the sound of tiny feet crunching the snow to get away. To which Sokka replies with a muffled slap to the forehead with his gloved hand.
Katara walks towards them in the opposite direction of where the kids just left. "Sokka, have you- Oh! Hey Kuzon." She receives a nod. "Hey yourself, Katara. You finished with those chores yet?"
She shrugs her shoulders. "Yeah, all that really needed to be done was to finish hanging up the dry clothes we have and to prepare the fish for our lunch." Turning to Sokka, "Have either of you seen Aang? Gran-Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago."
The amused smirk on Kuzon's face couldn't help but make an appearance. Her interest in Aang was just as immediate as he remembered it being in the show. Even if it was simply because he was something new and exciting in what must be an otherwise dull and tired life in the middle of nowhere, the specific interest in Aang was alive. So much so that Kuzon didn't get half the glances Aang got from her.
However, it was as surreal as it was refreshing to see something he was familiar with. Before waking up in the iceberg he had dealt with mostly unknowns. A history filled with various cultures, customs, social norms, and a list of other variables that didn't fully make their way into the cartoon. But now he was getting to the parts he recognized. Aang and Katara falling for each other being one of the first.
On cue, Aang emerges from a small igloo to their right. Seeing the approaching group of six boys, he looks back over his shoulder in amazement. "Wow! Everything freezes in there!" As the children laugh, Sokka turns to his sister and groans in annoyance.
"Ugh! Katara, get him out of here. This lesson is for warriors only." He crosses his arms in finality. Kuzon and Katara share a look before Katara opens her mouth to ask why Sokka considers Kuzon to be a warrior and not Aang when one of the children breaks out in screeching laughter.
All three teens turn to where Appa and Aang are standing, Appa's tail propped up with a makeshift sawhorse. The children who had claimed to have gone to the bathroom had instead found themselves sliding down the sky bison's tail and into a close by pile of snow. Their laughter proved to be infectious as Katara began to laugh at their antics and Kuzon chuckled at the perpetual scowl Sokka seemed to be sporting.
"Stop! Stop it right now!" He looks at Aang. "What is wrong with you? We don't have time for fun and games with a war going on." Feeling the ever present weight in his chest shift at the way Aang looked at Sokka with confusion, Kuzon had to turn away. The less amount of time he spent watching Aang's innocence being stripped away by the war-torn world they now lived in the better.
"What war?" He hops off of Appa's back. "What are you talking about?"
Sokka looks at him strangely. "You're kidding, right?" Before anyone can say anything else, Aang's gaze shifts to the area past Sokka's right side.
"PENGUIIIIN!"
Off in the distance, the penguin in question looks in their direction. It lets out a surprised, or perhaps excited, noise before turning to waddle away. Only Kuzon is able to anticipate Aang using his airbending to go speeding towards the animal.
Left in his wake, the three of them stare at his shrinking form until Sokka looks at the two of them and asks once again, "He's kidding, right?"
Katara gives her brother an unimpressed look before walking off. "I'm going to go find him."
Kuzon, decides to go stand next to him, clapping a hand on his shoulder and gesturing to the six boys playing on Appa; the giant bison not seeming to mind their antics at all. "It's alright, Sokka. They're just kids, man. Why not just let them be kids while they still can be? They don't need to deal with whatever war it is you're talking about. At least, not at such a young age."
Turning fully to the teen, Kuzon pushes for information he already knows. "Which brings up the question Aang asked earlier. What war are you talking about? Because last I checked, the world was in an era of peace."
Sokka simply looks at him, the strange look from before returning.
Not too far away from the village Katara approaches a waddling and squawking Aang. She calls out to him. "Aang?"
He doesn't seem to hear her, however. "Haha! Hey, come on little guy. Wanna go sledding?" He tries to catch one with a lunge, only to fall flat on his face. "Oof!" Katara watches him pick himself back up and reaches him before he can airbend his way over to another one.
Noticing her, he shows off a toothy smile. "Haha, I have a way with animals." He proceeds to add slapping his arms together and mimicking their cries as a way to prove his point. Something that she finds both ridiculous and funny. Recently a rare find in the village.
She giggles at his yarps, but abruptly stops as an idea comes to mind. One that she hopes with everything she has that will work out. "Aang, I'll help you catch a penguin of you teach me waterbending."
Nodding, he excitedly proclaims, "You have a deal!" But his excitement only lasts for a few seconds before wearing off. "Just one little problem. I'm an airbender, not a waterbender. Isn't there someone in your tribe who can teach you?"
Looking away, she can't help the sigh that leaves her. "No. You're looking at the only waterbender on the whole South Pole."
He frowned. "This isn't right. A waterbender needs to master water." He opened his mouth to offer a rather convenient alternative, but quickly remembered that he wasn't supposed to say anything to anyone about it without asking his friend first. "What, uh, what about the North Pole? There's another Water Tribe up there, right? Maybe they have waterbenders who could teach you?"
"Maybe. But we haven't had contact with out sister tribe in a long time. It's not exactly 'turn right at the second glacier.' It's on the other side of the world."
His smile returns full force. "But you forget: I have a flying bison. Appa, Kuzon, and I can personally fly you to the North Pole. Katara, we're gonna find you a master!"
At first, she's happy, happier then she can remember being in recent history. "That's…" Then uncertainty hits. "…I mean, I don't know. I've never left home before." Leaving the only place she'd ever known to venture out into a world that she'd grown up learning was in the middle of a war was honestly scary. Even scarier when you're leaving to learn more about something that no one, not even your brother or your grandmother, understands or really even cares for despite your insistence that it's your passion in life.
The one thing that makes you special.
"Well, you think about it. But in the meantime, can you teach me to catch one of these penguins?"
Pushing past the internal conflict she's facing, Katara speaks out in a mocking, teacher voice. "Okay, listen closely my young pupil. Catching penguins is an ancient and sacred art. Observe." From inside her coat, a fish is taken out and tossed towards the young airbender.
He's immediately flanked on all sides by a swarm of penguins eager to eat the fish in his hands. Looking at Katara, who is waiting expectantly off to the side in anticipation, he chooses his penguin and quickly tosses the fish back to her. He has every expectation that she'll choose one too. She promised earlier to penguin sled with him, after all. So, why wouldn't she?
It's not long after that the sun begins to set, marking the arrival of late afternoon.
But Aang and Katara hardly seem to notice as they both rocket off of one ice bank and land hard on the other bank below them at faster and faster speeds. Making use of a naturally formed ramp, Aang angles his penguin to just the right position that launches him over Katara's head and lands him in front of her. It's not long before another jump is made, but this time Katara goes through the air and lands beside Aang.
Whooping and cheering, Katara shouts out over the sounds of the wind int heir ears and the two penguins' stomachs sliding across the ice. "I haven't done this since I was a kid!"
Aang laughs and retorts, "You still are a kid!"
They continue to speed across the South Pole's frozen landscape, admiring the open landscape as they fly by until they suddenly enter a system of tunnels under the ground's surface. The periodic gaps in the ice allow sunlight to come through, lighting up the tunnels and giving both of them a spectacular light show.
They eventually emerge from the tunnels, the upwards slope of their exit causing their four-flippered rides to slow to a stop not long after. Lightheaded from their rides, they giggle tiredly as they stand up and move away from their rides; who themselves wander away dizzily.
Their good mood soon dies off, however, as they both see a large, tilted metal ship stuck in the ice.
"Whoa…what is that?" He'd heard of ships before and had even seen drawings of them on the scrolls Gyatso used to show him, but Aang hadn't ever seen a ship like this before. Let alone in person.
All the humor and joy leave Katara, her voice becoming serious. "A Fire Navy ship, and a very bad memory for my people." Hearing her, but not noticing nor understanding the emotions behind her words, Aang begins to walk towards it. "Aang, stop! We're not allowed to go near it. The ship could be booby trapped."
Without looking back, he calls out. "If you wanna be a bender, you have to let go of fear."
His words made sense, but everything inside her was practically screaming at her to just go back to the village and to forget about even thinking of going inside the ship. But that small part of her, the one that went against her usually compliant self, whispered to her irresistibly. To go with Aang. To let go of the fear. To become someone who was meant for something more than just living in her small village and ignoring the fact that she could bend water.
And she couldn't help herself. Not when her legs had decided to move on their own while she was making up her mind in an attempt to catch up to Aang. She wondered just how he was able to move so fast before remembering that he was an airbender. And airbenders were known once for being quite the agile people.
Climbing up the ship, they slip inside through a gaping hole in one of the forward compartments just below the water line. Inside, they walk around the unlit corridors. It's hard to see, so they miss a good portion of the doors they pass. But the ones they do see are even darker inside than the hallway.
"This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran-Gran was a little girl. It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks." She spoke softly, as if she were afraid of anyone hearing her.
Aang had no such reservations. "Okay, back up. I have friends all over the world, including the Fir Nation. Kuzon even has family there. I've never seen any war."
Eventually, they come to the end of a hallway where an open door to a room that wasn't pitch black lay in wait. Inside, they stop walking, choosing to discuss the circumstances of Aang's awakening and the changed world he has yet to realize he's in.
"…Aang, how long were you guys in that iceberg?" She had a sneaking suspicion.
He shrugged, uncomfortable thinking about being frozen alive. "I don't know…a few days, maybe?"
Furrowing her brows, Katara shook her head. "I think it was more like a hundred years!"
He looks at her in surprise. "What? That's impossible!" He gives her a flat look. "Do I look like a one hundred and twelve year old man to you? Does Kuzon look any older than seventeen?"
"Think about it. The war is a century old. Neither of you know about it because, somehow, you were in there that whole time. It's the only explanation I can think of."
Aang backs into a wall, his head in his hands, and sinks to the floor in shock. "A hundred years! I can't believe it…" Katara kneels down next to him, putting a comforting hand on his back. "I'm sorry, Aang. Maybe…somehow…there's a bright side to all this?"
He lifts his head up, looking around the room in consideration before turning back to her. "Well, I did get to meet you."
At that, Katara smiles. "Come on. Let's get out of here."
Unfortunately, the ship wasn't as easy as she thought it would be to reverse-navigate. Several wrong turns led them to a room that gave her an even worse sense of dread than the others. Before she knew it, and before she had a chance to voice her concerns, Aang had already crossed halfway into the room. It looked like it was the ship's bridge.
"Aang? Let's head back. This place is creepy." It's too late.
One final step and his foot drags an unseen trip wire as far as it can go. "Huh?" The door behind them is blocked as a metal grate drops into place from the ceiling. They reach it mere seconds after it falls, but they're unable to get past it.
"What was that you said about booby traps?"
All around them the machinery in the room begins to wake up. Gauges show the steam pressures shooting to dangerous levels, still wheels begin turning without so much as a fight despite having been frozen solid for what was probably several years, and steam pours out of trembling pipes in a matter of seconds.
Aang and Katara look at each other in shock, unsure of what to do. But it hardly matters as a bright flare explodes out of the top of the ship and soars high into the sky, a trail of smoke behind it.
"Uh oh." Maybe Katara was right to not want to search the ship.
Looking out the window, Aang and Katara watch as the flare reaches its peak before detonating into a small shower of sparks. He looks at the hole in the roof of the bridge and swiftly moves to pick up Katara who cries out in surprise. "Hold on tight!" He launches into the air and out of the bridge, before landing softly on the top.
Miles away, unbeknownst to either Aang or Katara, Prince Zuko watches the two unidentifiable figures jump out of the decrepit ship and down its side through a telescope.
"The last airbender…He's quite agile for his old age." Turning to a soldier behind him. "Wake my uncle! Tell him I found the Avatar…"
He'd seen the flare and used its smoke trail to track it back to the ship it came from. Whoever it was that triggered it, he had to thank them whether they meant to ignite it or not. For a moment, he wondered if it was a way to lure him in, perhaps the Avatar had known he was coming, but quickly brushed it aside.
Having doubts when he was so close to achieving his goal wouldn't help him win this fight. It would only serve to distract him and cost him everything he's suffered over for the last two and a half years.
The telescope couldn't give him an accurate visual of what the man looked like, but it was reliable enough to help him track where he was going. Further along in the direction he was running, was a small village.
The perfect place to hide from the rest of the world. From him. But not any longer.
"…as well as his hiding place."
For the first time in a long time, almost three years in fact, Zuko felt the rare urge to smile. But quickly forced it down and replaced it with a look of determination. There would be time for smiles and celebrations after he returned home.
And only after his honor had been restored to him.