Avataress, The Last Airbender Maiden
Chapter 1: The Girl in the Ice
By: Storychan
Earth. Water. Fire. Air.
Long ago, the 4 nations lived in harmony. Everything changed when the Fire Queen's army attacked. Only one woman, the Avataress, she who could master all 4 elements, could save us. But when the world needed her most?
She vanished. 100 years passed and my sister Sonna and I discovered an Airbender maiden named Aan. Aaan's going to need a lot of training before she can save anyone. I'm just one guy….but I believe Aan can save the world.
"Guys are great at fishing". That was a well-perpetuated stereotype in the Southern Water Tribe. "Girls aren't." That was another one. Neither were true for the two children on a small boat dodging icebergs in a small corner of the South Pole.
The boy, his dark hair tied up in a braid ponytail because he was "too busy being the man of the house" to cut it, with blue eyes portraying a startling amount of sensitivity for a tribal teen of his gender, and blue shorts and a blue sleeveless kimono-style top that was his uniform in these summer months, sat quietly in the back of the boat, propelling it with his Waterbending skills. It came more naturally to him than fishing.
The girl, her hair, a similar shade of darkness to her brother's, tied up in a spiky ponytail, and a tan deeper than his from her frequent sojourns into the outdoors, wore a sporty sleeveless blue dress with a kimono-style neck and was manipulating the fishing spear just fine, thank you very much!
"Kataro," she sighed. "Can't you make the boat go any faster? I'm huuuuuuungry."
"Whining isn't an attractive trait for a girl, Sonna," the boy, Kataro, scolded teasingly. "Just focus on your fishing, OK?"
"I'm TRYING to!" cried Sonna. "But we've been at this for hours!"
"Getting angry will only make you get wrinkled faster," Kataro kidded. "Relax."
"Did you just call me 'wrinkled'?" Sonna huffed, wildly spearing at an elusive fish. "Well, at least I'm not a girly boy!"
"WHAT?" cried Kataro. "That's not even funny, Sonna! I'm technically the leader of the tribe since Mom is away. People made fun of Mom when she took over tribal leadership after Dad was taken away from us, saying she was too soft and feminine to be boss in wartime. What do you think people are going to say about ME if my own sister is mocking me like that?" The waves around the boat began to undulate with an alarming ferocity of pace as Kataro spoke.
"Chill, Kataro!" cried Sonna. "You're rocking the boat!"
"Take it back!" Kataro growled. The boat began rushing over the waves at a dangerous pace. "Now!"
"OK! Whatever! I take it back, Kataro! Just slow this boat down or we're going to-" Sonna's eyes go wide. They were headed straight for a huge iceberg! "-CRASH!"
Kataro rapidly tried to turn the boat around, but he just couldn't do it. The iceberg loomed closer. "Sonna, hold on!" he cried. Sonna whipped out the boomerang she kept for her own defense and dug into the boat's floor.
CRASH! Their boat struck the iceberg so hard that Sonna's boomerang was ripped from its hold on the boat, and she and Kataro tumbled into the deep.
Sonna reached the surface first. "Kataro!" she cried. "Bro, are you OK?"
Kataro breached the surface in that instant, choking on salty seawater. "I'm fine," he coughed.
Sonna began to swim towards him. "Kataro, I'm sorry that I- Are you even listening to me?"
Kataro wasn't. "Come here, Sonna!" he called.
"What is it, Kataro?" Sonna cried. She swam towards where he was, and then she saw it. Her eyes widened in shock. Before them was a perfect sphere ofcrystalline ice…..and within it was a shadowy form…
"A girl!" cried Kataro. "There's a girl trapped in that iceberg!"
"No way," said Sonna, shocked. She'd lived in the South Pole all her life, and she'd NEVER seen something like that! "What the heck? Is she…..even alive, Kataro?"
"I think she is," said Kataro. "We have to dig her out!"
"I'll do it myself," said Sonna, smirking. She rushed the iceberg with her boomerang in a surge of feminism and adrenaline. "I'll crack this thing open without anybody's help!"
The boomerang bounced off, flying back into Sonna's hands. "Aargh," she sighed, feeling as useless as the frozen damsel.
The siblings' ears perked up when they heard a gigantic CRACK! The iceberg was falling apart!
"Sonna, get out of the way!" Kataro cried. Sonna threw herself on a shelf of ice just as splinters of the sphere slammed into the water she'd been swimming in moments ago.
"Are you alright?" Kotaro cried, standing on the ice himself.
"I'm fine," sniffed Sonna. "Hey, look at that!"
Kataro looked. His blue eyes widened with surprise. The girl who'd been trapped in the ice was lying on the ground, inches from Kataro's furry boot. Now that Kataro got a look at her, she was kind of….cute.
She was small and childlike, and wore an orange dress with a yellow Mandarin collar. Her eyes were closed, and Kataro couldn't see what color her hair was because it was covered by a pale orange headdress….no, not a headdress, Kataro thought. A habit. The girl wore the habit of a nun on her round, sweet, sleeping head. In her hands she clutched a delicate paper fan.
Kataro kneeled next to her, raising a shaking hand to check her pulse. His hand snapped back as the girl blinked up at him, revealing curious, cute grey eyes.
The girl stared up at Kataro for almost a full minute before he managed to untie his tongue.
"Are you alright?" he asked timidly, wrapping his arms around the girl's shaking body for warmth. She'd been trapped in an iceberg…she was shaking with cold.
"Hey!" Sonna cried, stomping over to them. "Who are you? K-keep away from my brother." She pointed her boomerang at the girl warningly.
The girl spoke. "My name is Aan," she said in a soft voice.
She stood, and Kataro noticed blue arrow markings on her tiny arms. He also spotted the end of a blue arrow peeking out from under her habit on her forehead. "I'm Kataro," he said nervously. "This is my sister, Sonna."
"Are you Waterbenders?" asked Aan weakly.
"I am," said Kataro. "My sister is not."
"That's cool," Aan said. "I am…..an Airbender." Then, she fainted, her small form landing softly on the ice. She was only a little girl, after all.
