The Beginning
The snow fell gently blanketing the south pole in layers. Sokka watched in awe like he did every time the snow came down slowly and calmly. "Katara, if you don't get going, we're not going to make it home in time. And, then I'm gonna have to listen to you about how we should've been home when Gran Gran gets upset." he yelled over his shoulder at his sister. He hated when she did this. She was constantly complaining about how they were always late. But when it came down to it. She was, generally, the cause for it all.
"I'm coming, Sokka, just give me some time, okay?: Katara grabbed her pouch and ran out from behind the iceberg where she was getting her bearings together. She lightly touched her throat out of habit, checking for her mother's necklace.
The only thing she had of her moms. The only thing she had that made her mom feel real and alive. She wanted her mom back so much so that at times the pain of it all was too much for her to handle. But she knew she had to be strong for Sokka. So she tried to never let it faze her too much when he was around.
Trying to lighten her mood, she ran up behind him and threw a snow ball at the back of his head. It made contact with a thud and slush everywhere. Hahah.
He turned around and in his eyes was a desire. A desire to retaliate. And retaliate he did. But he missed on several accounts. Katara ran left and right but it didn't matter, even if she stood still, he'd miss then too. Not that he had bad aim or anything. No it wasn't that at all, it was because all she had to do was bend the water from the snow to her favor. He would never win and he knew it. But still the snowballs continued to fly.
She finally grew bored. She stopped the snow from hurtling toward her face. Instead they hit the iceberg she was behind. They hit it hard. Too hard.
It cracked.
She froze.
Sokka came closer to her.
It burst open.
Light fled out in blinding rays.
The iceberg exploded.
Katara and Sokka were forced off they're feet and back, falling through the sky only to collide with the snow bank.
Katara lifted her head up. From the iceberg came a creature of monstrous proportions and a child no older than 12. He had no hair at all. Instead a beautifully made blue arrowed graced his head. The sign of the air nomads. Katara's eyes wandered the rest of his body. The tattooed arrows also laid on both arms and ran down to his hands. The same went for his legs and feet. She couldn't see anything else. His body was covered in orange and yellow clothing.
Katara felt a pull toward him, like she knew that their lives were going to be intertwined and they would need one another so much. She was lost in his grey eyes. Like the ocean during a storm. But they weren't angry. No not at all, just confused. Like he needed to be found and here she was. She and Sokka found him. He looked like he was in real need of a family and she felt that now, because they had broken him from his ice prison, that by default he was now theirs
She kneeled down beside him. He watched her movements intensely. "Hi, my name is Katara. And this is my brother Sokka. We're from the Southern Water Tribe."
"I'm Aang of the Southern Air Temple. Oh and I love penguin sledding. Wanna come?" the confusion was gone now replaced by joy. Pure, whole. She couldn't say no.
But that didn't mean Sokka couldn't. "Uh, yeah, no, I don't think so Katara. We need to get back to the village before Gran Gran thinks something is wrong." he grabbed Katara's hand and pulled her to her feet. But she pulled herself away from him and went back to Aang and helped him up.
"Wait, hang on a second? You said you were from the Air Temple? Does that mean you're an air bender? Do you know the Avatar?" Katara's eyes filled with something she'd always had. Hope.
"Yes I'm an Airbender. No I uh don't know the Avatar. Sorry." Aang looked away unable to meet her eyes.
"Oh, well, that's okay I guess. Come on, Aang, you can come back to the village with us." Aang's face lit up and his cheeks turned a deep color of embarrassment.
"Uh, yeah sure, that'd be, uh, that'd be really great. But we can take Appa, my sky bison, instead." they all piled inside ready to fly, only to be let down when Appa fell into the water. "Yip, yip, Appa." nothing. "Come on, boy." nothing. "Okay, maybe we'll walk." The three children trekked through the snow and back to where the water tribe kids lived.
§¨©ª
"Gran Gran, we're back. And we brought someone with us. I hope you don't mind." Katara pulled Aang through the hut where her grandmother lived. She swept her eyes over the small interior but couldn't find her anywhere. She ran back outside where her eyes clashed with Sokka's. He didn't know where she was either. They searched for her some more and eventually found her sitting by a small pond of water. Lately she seemed to be getting more and more distant. "Gran Gran, I want you to meet someone." she reached behind her and pulled Aang up front and center. "This is Aang. We found him in …uh… well we found him."
Gran Gran looked over her shoulder at the stranger. He was a young thing with no hair and eyes grey as steel. Why had Katara brought this child here, she wandered. She reached her hand out to him and took his in hers. "Hello, child, I am Kanna, the eldest who resides here. What might we help you with?"
She had a bad feeling about this boy, but she would keep her opinions to herself. At least for now she would.
"I actually don't know what I need right now. I would just like to get myself together and relax. But uh what I really want to do is look around if that's okay?" Aang looked away bashfully, he wanted to tell them, he really did, but he just couldn't. Not yet.
"Well, you are welcome to stay as long as you want or need to. Katara, I'm sure, will help you in anyway you need." Kanna's smile seemed genuine, but Aang couldn't help but feel like she was pretending her kindness toward him.
Aang, Katara and Sokka left the pond and walked to the other side of the village. As they came closer the cliff slide where a group of penguins preside, Sokka broke off from them, "I'm gonna go check on the soldiers-in-training. See ya." he waved a goodbye and left..
Aang and Katara continued on. "I haven't done this in so long. I don't even think I remember how." she blushed slightly. "So, I um, have a question for you. Do you think you could teach me Water Bending?"
He looked over at her, "Katara, I would love to, but I'm not a Waterbender. Don't you have a master here to show you?"
She turned away in shame, "No, you're looking at the only Waterbender in the whole Southern Water Tribe."
"Really? I had no idea, obviously. What about in the Northern Tribe?"
"I'm sure there is, but I can't exactly get there easily or without feeling bad for leaving." she twisted her fingers in anxiety.
"Well, I'll take you."
"What? You would do that?" Katara's face lit up, only to fall again. "Even if you did do it, I couldn't ever leave."
"Let's not think about this right now, okay?"
"Yeah, of course. So I haven't done any of this since I was younger. I don't think I could do it." she quickly changed subjects to less pressing matters.
"It's okay, all it takes is one try then it will all come back to you." Aang grabbed her hand and
pulled her over the cliff.
Three things happened all at once. One: she felt her face flaming. Two: she didn't fall over the cliff. Oh no, she was flying over it. Three: she realized something big was going to happen. All because of Aang.
"Aang, I don't know if I can do this." but Katara didn't have a choice. Aang lightly tossed her onto a penguin's back then jumped on one himself. Before Katara had a chance to clamber off or collect herself for the ride, the penguins took off at high speeds taking turns sharp and fast curve after curve seemed to be going by faster than the last.
Katara finally relaxed herself enough so she could feel the air move around her like she was a bender and the air her element. She urged her penguin to go faster trying to beat Aang down the hill. Unfortunately, she was not successful. It seemed that no matter how fast she went or how hard the wind seemed to move around her she was never as fast as Aang.
By the time they had made it down the hill she was ecstatic and bursting with laughter. She hadn't laughed like that in years nor had she had so much fun. "Aang, that was amazing, thank you." she hugged him briefly before retreating back as her face grew warm.
"No problem, Katara. I had fun too," his eyes glanced past her and fell on a ship. Not just any ship. A Fire Nation ship. "Hey, what's that over there?"
Katara's eyes followed the direction his finger was pointing, it led to one of the fire nation ships. It was held up on wave of ice, like a prized trophy, made by the last water benders of the tribe back when her grandmother was her age. She had heard the stories countless times and loved it more each time it was told.
"Oh, that's one of the ships from the first raids by the Fire Nation. They tried several times to destroy our village." Katara's eyes clouded over. But Aang didn't understand, why would the Fire Nation be doing that?
"Uh, Katara, are you sure you have that right? Last time I remember the nations lived together peacefully." Aang was not going to like where all this was heading.
"We've all been at war with the Fire Nation for almost 100 years now. Does that mean you were in that ice cube for a hundred years?"
"I can't believe this." Aang grabbed Katara's hand and leaped toward the ship. Up close the ship was menacing and evil. Nothing like the fire nation things he was used to. He started to walk toward it.
Katara stopped him, "Aang, we aren't allowed in there. There could be traps."
He looked back at her, "if you want to be a bender, then you have to let go of fear."
Aang disappeared into the ship, it took Katara less than a second to follow right behind him. Aang was in already and she noticed his curiosity for everything. Just wanting to touch everything he could.
"Aang, do you know anything about the war or the evils of the fire nation?" Katara came up behind Aang and put her hand on his shoulder.
"No, I don't. Before I was trapped I had friends in all nations. Including the fire nation. I never thought that this would happen." he shook off Katara's hand and looked away.
"Well, maybe we should leave, before something happens." Katara's voice seemed to be getting heavy with worry.
Aang turned around and tripped over something. At first it didn't seem like anything, but it turned out to be a booby trap. He should've listen to Katara. Now something bad was gonna happen. And she was gonna get hurt. Just what he needed.
"Yeah, alright, let's go." he didn't want to wait for her to climb out. He snatched her off her feet and jumped by bounds out the ship. He was out of the ship faster than Katara could have thought possible.
Just as their feet hit the snow bank a huge red flare shot through the sky and landed in places unknown.
§¨©ª
Zuko pushed hard and moved fast. His exercises were getting easier and easier every time he did them and it frustrated him. So he did it all harder and faster, trying to make more of a challenge.
His uncle, who was forever thinking he was wise and knew it all, thought that he needed to know how to relax, breathe and calm down. Zuko disagreed.
To him, it wasn't a matter of relaxing, breathing or calming down. It was more. To him this was all a punishment. Punishment for losing, for being a bad son, for his stupidity. And that above all else made him the most angry, the fact that his father would challenge a 13 year old child was pathetic, but that wasn't the issue at hand. The issue was in fact his honor. And in order for him to redeem that he had to capture the Avatar.
Once he had that air bending, cowardly, old man he'd be home free. Literally. Zuko could feel the joy that would inflate his chest. He would finally be where he belonged. It'd be the greatest day of his life. Going back to his home and his father…even his…sister. But he had to find the Avatar before any of that was possible.
Zuko looked up in time to see his uncle walking toward him, "Prince Zuko, we have seen a flare coming from the Southern Water Tribe. We're not sure what it is, what would you like to do?"
He didn't have to think about this for very long. If there was any hope any at all that this could be the Avatar, he'd take it and consequences. "Set a course for the light. It could be him."
He stood up from his lower level stance and looked out over the ship. This was it. His honor was going to be restored.
§¨©ª
Aang and Katara ran back to village as fast as Aang's air bending could take him. "I knew it! You signaled the fire nation, you led them right to us!" Sokka's spittle could be seen from the few feet away that they were. And his shouting could be heard from further.
"Sokka, calmed down! It was just an accident. Aang didn't mean to." she stood in front of Aang to shield him from her brother's rant.
"It doesn't matter. He needs to leave, now." Sokka was angry, obviously, but that didn't meant he had to be a pig headed dunce, who just didn't think clearly.
"Sokka, you're being irrational. Gran Gran, tell him." Katara waited silently for her grandmother to back her up in her time of need. She never came.
"I think Sokka's right, Katara, we can't trust this child, we don't know where he came from or what he's doing in this tribe. He must leave." her face said she wasn't budging. Katara believed it.
"Fine, then I'm going with him. He's gonna take me to a master in the Northern Tribe." Katara stormed off to Appa, the flying sky bison they had yet to see fly.
"Katara, you don't really mean that. Are you saying you'd rather go with a stranger than stay here and help defend your tribe?' Sokka's face was full of shock and dismay.
Aang walked up beside Katara, "I think I'm gonna go now." he moved away from her and climbed on Appa. "Thank you, everyone, for letting me stay here. Have a good life." with that final goodbye Aang was gone, forever. Katara would miss him.
"Katara, come on dear, it was for the best." Gran Gran came up and grabbed hold of her arms.
Katara ripped away from the old woman. "Are you happy now? There goes my one and only chance at becoming a water bender. But now, I have to stay here and do nothing with my life. Are you happy?" she stormed off leaving her grandmother crying alone.
§¨©ª
"Alright, men, the fire nation is coming for us, we need to ready ourselves and prepare for battle." Sokka looked over his soldiers. No, that wasn't exactly the right word for them. They were more like… well, children. And they looked scared, but if they wanted to be warriors then they would just have to deal with it all. Whether that meant dying or fighting they would have to do it all and grow up sometime and that time was now.
Some of the children whined until it was too much for Sokka. He finally dismissed them all and suited up himself. A noise came from the outside. The fire nation had arrived. He left the hut and took his stance on the snow bank.
He watched in silence as the ship came closer and closer and closer still. Was it ever gonna stop? He thought to himself.
§¨©ª
Katara saw the ship. Saw her brother. Saw children and older folk just standing about. She got them all in one hut. "Sokka, come on, it's too dangerous. But her brother, ever the soldier, stood his ground. Well, he did until the till of the ship came too close to his heart, only then did he back up and landed on his ass.
The ship opened and Sokka rushed forward only to be thrown back by a man leading soldiers out. No not a man. But a boy about the age of 16. She didn't know for sure but she thought she was quite right in thinking that he was the banished prince exiled to look for the Avatar and capture him. What a rotten sea prune. Kidnapping the only chance at hope the rest of the world had. She was getting angrier by the second. What gave him the right to do this to world.?
He came front and center, like the entire village was his crowd of eager listeners. When he spoke, it startled Katara, his voice was rich and intoxicating. She loved the sound of it. How wrong. "Where is he? I know you're hiding him here." the stranger was animated now. "Come out you old coward."
Out of now where his hand shot out. It grabbed the back of Katara's coat and pulled her close to his side. Oddly, instead of feeling disgusted at being this close to the enemy all she felt was comfort. Warmth. Joy. She felt the cool sleek armor against her parka. There was something about him that she wanted to get to know. Something she wanted to explore. Something she wanted to touch. She had never felt like this before. And she didn't understand it. He was bad, whole and unadulterated evil. How could she feel this for someone like him? "Water Tribe girl, where are you hiding the Avatar?"
Katara couldn't respond to him for she was looking at his face. Eyes the color of a tiger's. beautiful and deadly. His face was marred by a scar that covered his left eye and ear. "Girl, where is he?"
"He…he…he's not here. He hasn't been around in 100 years." she tried and failed in sounding brave to the young man.
"You're lying! We saw him here only minutes ago." he pushed Katara away from him and she felt empty. Like she'd just lost the only person who would truly understand her.
"Looking for me?" Katara thought she was hallucinating when she saw Aang sliding in on a penguin of all things.
"You're the Avatar? You're the person I spent the last three years of my life looking for? A child?" the prince was disgusted.
"Yep, that's me." Aang took a stance staff in both hands and aimed at the prince.
"Then let's get this over with." fire benders were ruthless when fighting. The stance said it all.
Katara watched in wonderment as a battle rang out. Bender against bender. Fire against Air. Suddenly Aang stopped, looked behind and met Katara's eyes then looked back at the prince. "If I come with you will you leave here?" the prince nodded his word.
With that, they disappeared onto the fire nation ship. Not even minutes later Katara was running around trying to find Sokka so they could go find Aang and save him. But lucky her, Sokka was already go to go. But the canoe wouldn't do against a fire nation ship.
"Sokka, what are we going to do? This canoe is pathetic." Katara's hope faded.
"I don't know, I'm sorry, Katara, I tried." Sokka hung his head.
A loud noise came from across the river. "Is that… is that Appa?" Katara jumped up to get a better look. Sure enough the giant sky bison came tromping up the snow. Ready to get Aang.
"Yes!" Katara started to gather their things from the canoe when someone caught her attention. Her Gran Gran was staring at them waiting for them to notice her.
"I'm sorry, Gran, about what I said earlier. And I'm sorry about now, but we have to leave." Katara looked away unable to see, what she was sure were accusations in her grandmother's eyes
"Katara, Sokka, I know you must leave. I just wanted to give you these." she held up two sleeping bags. "You'll need these. You have a long journey ahead of you. You're destinies are now tied with that of the Avatar. Good luck." she hugged her only grandchildren one last time.
"Goodbye and thank you, Gran Gran." Katara and Sokka hopped up into Appa's saddle. Appa took long strides to the water's edge only to fall into it. They swam like that for seconds. "What was it that Aang said?"
"Wasn't it like 'yip yip'?" as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Appa rose gently into the air. They were flying. "Katara! We're flying we're actually flying. I knew the little guy was capable of it!" Katara smirked at him. "I mean, whoo flying. Such a big deal." he turned away from her and grinned from ear to ear like an idiot.
They finally made it to the fire navy ship that held Aang. The banished prince was going to take him to the Firelord. Aang, the Avatar. Katara still couldn't believe it. The Avatar had returned. Returned to restore balance in the world. Returned to restore peace to the people of the world. It was a dream come true for her.
And in order for this dream to really come to life they needed to get Aang out and alive. The feeling that today was the beginning of the rest of her life expanded.
Appa plummeted down toward the ship on his own accord, Aang needed him and he knew it. The bond between Appa and Aang was astounding.
As they landed on the ship deck, Aang came bursting out of the door with his staff. "Hey, guys, I thought you would show up." his face didn't scream that he had just escaped the clutches of the nasty fire benders who wanted him as their prisoner. Oddly, he just grinned the way children did when they won their favorite game.
She laughed, Aang was a special kid. Well, of course he was. "What? Did you think we were gonna let the last chance the world has for survival to fight an entire fire naval fleet?"
Sokka jumped from the saddle Appa was wearing and Katara followed him down. Without hesitation from the guards they had fire flying from all their able limbs. Sokka dodged fire blasts and ran straight toward the fire benders. Knocking two on the head, he sent them reeling into the frigid water.
Katara froze, she'd never done anything like this before. Suddenly, she was frightened and wanted to do nothing but jump on Appa's back and fly, fly right up to the heavens. "Katara, I kinda need your help here. You're the one with the magic water, remember?" she looked to her right and saw Sokka. He was fighting with half a dozen men. She had to help. She looked to her left and saw Aang. He was fighting with more than a dozen men. She really had to help.
Katara closed her eyes and felt the water below them. She could feel the water coming into her hands. Felt her element rushing into to give her the power she'd been born with. Her hands twitched with needing to feel the water coursing through them. Yeah, this was what being a water bender was all about. Though it could have been stronger. For all she knew this was either the best it got or it would get better the stronger she got. At the moment she didn't care. The water shifting through her now was enough to get her by. But it's not like she knew how to use the water to her advantage anyway.
She pushed her hands out in front of her and instead of freezing the men in front of her she froze something behind her. Or by the sound of it, someone. "KATARA! You're not supposed to be firing at me!" Of course, Sokka got in the way.
"Sorry!." she faced Sokka and threw her hands out again and this time she did freeze the men. She turned back around and saw that if she had hesitated any longer, she would have been captured. Thanking whoever was out there, she searched for Aang. Where was he? A noise caught her attention, it was Aang and the exiled prince fighting.
It was a frightening sight, but also electrifying. She had never seen two benders fight. Let alone two strong and powerful bender fight. Wind and fire moved together almost as one but also against one another. The combination sent chills up her back and had the hair on he arms standing on end.
Katara didn't know how much longer the fight was going to continue until Aang threw him over and into the ocean. Aang was jumping onto Appa in no time encouraging them to come with him. Katara jumped right up and was waiting for Sokka. But he was still stuck in the ice she had accidentally made. "Sokka, come on, this is no time to be messing around. We gotta go!"
He mumbled something unintelligent and started to beat the ice with his club. "You know, it's not as easy as it looks. If someone had been able to aim better, we wouldn't be in this situation, would we?" he finally broke the ice and hopped onto Appa's back just before the Exiled grabbed the back of his clothes.
"Hahahahah, now we gotta get out of here before we're caught for sure." Aang's laughter rang out high and loud.
"What are we gonna do now?" Katara asked in a small voice.
"Well, we're gonna go to the North Pole where we can both learn water bending from a master. But before we make it up there, we have a few stops to make. The first being to my home. The Southern Air Temple. Thanks, guys, for coming with me. It means a lot." his smile was infectious.
"You're welcome, Aang. I know this was how it was meant to be." Katara looked at him with eyes filled of appreciation.
"Yeah, I guess, you're welcome, Aang." Sokka laid back and just relaxed like he didn't have care in the world.
As they ascended into the air and away from her home, she couldn't help but notice that the Exiled was looking up at her. He truly was a magnificent specimen of man. But those thoughts were silly. She looked away and thought of her last goodbye to the woman who was there for her and Sokka for the past two years. She would miss her.
She couldn't stop herself from thinking about how much she would miss home. But the other half of her knew that the three of them and possibly the Exiled were going to be intertwined for years to come. The thought of it scared her because she didn't know what to expect. And for the same reason it intrigued her.
Katara wanted to ask Aang why he didn't tell them he was the Avatar, but thought better of it. If he wanted to tell them then he would have. Maybe he didn't want to be the Avatar, but that thought was just ridiculous. Why wouldn't he want to be? Yes, it was an awesome responsibility, but there's no way he wouldn't want it.
Finally, Katara just sat back and followed Sokka's example and relaxed. She didn't worry about anything at all right now. Just wanted to feel the wind flowing around her and Appa. It was like she was really flying but safer. She closed her eyes and fell asleep to the howling wind.