She's setting down a zebra-leopard skin filled with water in front of the fire when she sees it in the distance: canoes. They're too far away for her the make out how many, but close enough to tell her which way they're going: towards the village.

Katara nearly drops the water. "Sokka!"

"What? I'm busy, Katara." Her brother's aggravated voice drifts from behind the flap of their hut. She runs inside and grabs his arm, tugging him off where he sits on the floor.

"What are you doing? I was just—"

"Just look," she demands, leading him outside.

He mumbles a few exaggerated complaints before scanning the horizon, his eyes widening when they spot the incoming party. "Canoes?" His voice cracks, in the way it has been for the past year. "Why?"

It couldn't be the Fire Navy. Their ships are big, strong, ugly. But she certainly isn't ruling anything out yet.

The way her life's gone, what her village has been through…the war has left the once great Southern Water Tribe isolated, and bitter. The distant objects rowing towards them represent what the entire rest of the world has become to her family: an unknown threat.

She turns, her voice shaking. "I'm going to find Gran Gran."


The village stands in a semi circle, everyone looking over the horizon with trepidation. Katara holds onto her grandmother's arm like a raft as the canoes come closer to shore. There are six of them. And they almost look…

"Are those Water Tribe?" She asks aloud.

"Kanna," Tenka, another elderly woman in the village, speaks harshly. "These are from the North."

"I know." Katara's grandmother narrows her eyes in distrust.

Our sister tribe? We haven't made contact with them in over thirty years.

Distrust among the villagers quickly turns to disbelief, when proximity allows them to see that they are water tribe canoes. And the intruders aren't using paddles…they're water bending.

Tenka moves to Gran's other side, taking her arm. "I don't believe it…is that—"

"Pakku."

Her grandmother looks speechless, for lack of a better word. Katara's head moves from between her and the water benders and back again before effectively giving up trying to figure it out on her own. "Who's Pakku?"

"My cousin." Tenka states in awe. "And your grandmother's first love."

"He was not my first love," Gran Gran says, uncharacteristically miffed. Her lifelong friend smacks her shoulder. "Don't start that again."

Katara stares open mouthed as the canoes gracefully pull up to shore with the help of the tides. Despite her confusion, for the first time in a long time, she feels something she thought she'd never gain back after her mother died.

Hope.


Pakku becomes her water bending teacher in less than a month. He's stubborn, uncompromising, and blunt. But he's a master.

Katara might feel like pulling her hair out some days, but for the majority of the time she spends with him, reverence for her people's element just makes her want to learn. And hearing more and more about the war makes her want to fight.

It's not long before she's sparring with the Northern water benders, meeting them move for move. After that, it's not long before she's consistently beating them.

Thirty people come to the Southern Water Tribe that year, twenty-four of them benders, and over the course of eight months Katara gets to see her home rebuilt, and her brother become friends with people his own age. She gets to hear laughter again and stories of how great the tribes were before the war. She even shares her first kiss with a boy named Tiro, which is awkward and rushed but at least she feels normal. Standing front row at Gran Gran and Pakku's wedding ceremony is kind of surreal, but she's never seen Gran so happy.

She masters water bending, finally able to bend on the full moon, not feel out of place with that surge of power coursing through her blood. She discovers a part of herself and her culture that the Fire Nation almost took away.

In more ways than one, she learns how to heal.

The stories brought to them aren't just ancient tales of the Water Tribes, either. Katara listens raptly as the benders bring them up to date on the war, and Pakku shares about their recent experience with the Avatar: a twelve year old boy who traveled North by himself to master water bending, arriving on the back a giant flying bison. He helped the Tribe win against a Fire Nation attack, and—

"Became the ocean spirit?" Katara asks in awe.

Sokka snorts. "Yeah, right. He's twelve year old. He can barely spell."

Sokka acts skeptical, but even he can't hide the look of disbelief. The rumors are true. The Avatar has returned...and he's only twelve.

Katara lies in her bed that night and thinks long and hard about the war. She thinks about her father. The confusion and anger about why it swept him away is replaced with tentative understanding.

She's starting to get the same feeling.


"No." Gran Gran speaks sharply, something she's never once done, not even when they were kids. "I don't want to lose another one of my family to this war."

Katara sits on her knees across from her, intensely patient. "Gran Gran, I'm almost fifteen years old. I know I'm meant to help—I'm a good fighter. My healing abilities are the strongest Pakku's seen in years." She bows her head in respect. "Please. I want to do my part to stop the Fire Nation, to help the Avatar. I want redemption for dad…for my mom."

Katara feels a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"I'm going to tell you a secret, Katara. And I want you to listen." Her grandmother's eyes are deep, and sad. "I left the Northern Tribe because I was restless, and naïve. I left with the young chief of the Southern Tribe, who was only visiting. The young man was your grandfather.

"I left, and I hurt too many of those I loved. It was selfish of me."

Katara opens her mouth, but Gran shushes her. "I know. You're not doing this for selfish reasons. I wouldn't change what I did for the world, because it gave me your father. But do you know that saying—ice always melts quicker on the other side of the glacier?"

Katara has always had a problem with that saying, and for stupid reasons, but she nods.

"We need you here more than the war ever will." Conversation over.

Sokka is leaning against a wall when she leaves the hut. He smiles arrogantly. "I—"

"I know. You told me." Katara snaps. "I need to be alone." She strides away, leaving her brother silent.

She spends a good two hours sitting on the edge of a snowy cliff, watching her legs dangle over the side. What was she thinking? That she'd be able to just waltz out of camp, travel to the Earth Kingdom? Join the first fight she sees? Sometimes it's so easy to forget others when she gets caught up in her own head. Leaving would hurt Gran Gran. Hurt Sokka. She'd been selfish for thinking otherwise.

She hangs her head in embarrassment. Delusions of grandeur would be an understatement here.

Steady footsteps approach her that evening, Pakku joining her on the cliff that overlooks the vast expanse of her home. She doesn't look up.

"Kanna told me what you asked of her."

Katara's expression turns sour. "You don't need to lecture me. I won't ask again."

"I wasn't going to lecture you." Pakku states matter-of-factly, standing above her. "I was only going to ask you something."

Katara braces for a "what were you thinking" or perhaps a "don't you know how pitifully long a way you have to go before you're ready for war?" Instead, Pakku tilts his head to study the moon and asks, "Have you heard of Ba Sing Se?"


Water Tribe custom dictates that goodbyes should never be brief.

Four days later, the women prepare a feast to see off Pakku, Katara and Sokka. Katara receives over forty hugs throughout the night, the tightest one from Gran Gran, whose attitude about her granddaughter joining the fight has somehow shifted. Most likely because Pakku and her brother will be going with her.

"You have a long journey ahead of you, my little water bender."

Katara smiles. "Thank you, Gran Gran." For everything.

Gran moves onto Sokka. "And you, my brave warrior. Be nice to your sister."

The three of them depart early in the morning, Pakku and Katara moving the canoe through the water at a fast pace. Katara looks back and watches her village disappear, becoming a dot on the horizon. It makes her want to touch her mother's necklace.

"How long will it take to get there, Pakku?"

"Normally it takes four weeks. We have to be there in three."

"Three weeks?" Her brother grips the canoe. "How is that possible?"

"You forget you're traveling with a master water bender."

"What, and we'll be traveling by canoe the whole way there?"

"Who do you think you're dealing with, an amateur? I have connections."

She keeps up the rhythmic motions of her arms, speaking between breaths, "Your friends sure are anxious to see you."

"Really? How surprising, considering there's a war going on."

No one in the boat appreciates the sarcasm.


Their journey really begins once they leave Kyoshi Island.

Pakku's schedule doesn't allow for deviation. The three rise early and travel late into the afternoon. Katara is about ready to use Sokka's boomerang and hit them both over the head by the end of the first day. At the same time, she's never been more excited in her life.

The Earth Kingdom is just as vibrant as she thought it would be, and after a few days of traveling she grows used to seeing shades of jade every where she turns. It's even thrilling to see grass. Sokka eyes the first patch they come across suspiciously, plucking a blade from the ground and putting it in his mouth. He spits it out. "This tastes nothing like seaweed." Katara smacks him on the head.

When she asks who exactly it is they'll be meeting in Ba Sing Se for what seems like the twelfth time, Pakku gives a canon cryptic response. "They're trusted friends, and each is going to do their part to end the war." He smirks good-naturedly. "As will you."

"What about me?" Sokka calls.

"You're here for moral support."

"Great."

She purses her lips in concentration, choosing a different route of questions. "What is he like? The Avatar."

"Irreverent. Much too light on his feet. Childish. Easily distracted. He was also the most powerful water bender I've ever seen."

"Seems...kind of contradictory."

Pakku smiles to himself. "Indeed."

Pride swells up in her chest, which doesn't make sense because she's never even met the guy. Still, she feels hopeful. He could be the one to save the world. "What's his name?"

"Aang."

Aang.


The train deposits them at Dandaan, much to Katara's disappointment. Ba Sing Se is still miles away.

"We have one more stop."

They march on with their packs hung over their shoulders for what seems like hours. Sokka and Katara find something to argue about every few minutes, while Pakku remains quiet and removed, a few paces ahead. They've already passed the village of Dandaan, and now nothing pans before them but open space.

"So...where exactly are we going?" She doesn't want to be a skeptic, but it really is the middle of nowhere.

"You'll find out in a few minutes."

Sure enough, they don't get far before a rumbling shakes the ground beneath their feet. Birds tear from the trees in the distance, a path of uprooted earth emerging from the ground and headed straight for them. Katara yelps, grabbing onto Sokka. "What is-?"

"Eahh!" A very muscular, very shirtless old man springs from the earth at their feet like a weed, his body looking for all intensive purposes like a screw unscrewing from the ground. Sokka and Katara stare openly, mouths agape. He brushes the dirt off his chest with a maniac chortle, gripping Pakku's shoulder in a gesture of familiarity. "Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe. It's been a long, long time."

"Ten years, it would seem." They bow to each other.

"Bumi, these are Katara and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. They're here to help."

The man, Bumi, turns on them with his lips twisted in an austere pout. He looks a little...loopy. "Hmm. When you told me you were bringing along two comrades from back home, I didn't think they would be so...not old."

"I figured we could do with some lively company."

Bumi's intense glare transforms into a high-spirited beam. "Nice to meet you, children. I'm King Bumi. You can call me King Bumi for short."

Katara has the grace to ignore his slip up, but Sokka cocks an eyebrow. "You mean just Bumi for short?"

"What?"

"You mean you want us to call you Bumi for short."

The old man hops into Sokka's personal space, eyeing him suspiciously. "How do you know my name?" Then he snorts in laughter and slaps him on the back so hard he doubles over before turning to Pakku. Sokka rubs his back and winces.


Katara doesn't have to be well educated to know important people when she meets them. Pakku introduces her to Jeong Jeong, a once honored admiral of the Fire Navy, Piandao, a skilled swordsman, and Iroh. Bowing to the Firelord's brother is by far the strangest things she's ever done, but the man has an ora of kindness and wisdom. Things she'd always thought the Fire Nation didn't have.

The whole situation is a little...overwhelming, to say the least. Immediately, she and her brother sense they're becoming a part of something important.

When they've settled down for dinner, Master Piandao gestures at her with his spoon. "So, Katara. Pakku tells us you're practically a master waterbender."

"Almost." Katara's cheeks redden, insecure under the gaze of the four very experienced, very perceptive benders. "I've got a lot to learn."

"She's mastered it." Pakku says. "If we're speaking truthfully, I believe she's ready."

"Ready for what, exactly? If you don't mind us asking," Sokka screws up his lips. "I mean, we still kinda don't know what we're doing here. Or who you guys are."

Jeong Jeong's seemingly permanent grim expression somehow becomes more severe. "You didn't tell them, Pakku?"

"They know we're here to 'discourage' the Fire Nation in Ba Sing Se. I just held off on telling who we are, because I thought we should do it together."

"How considerate." Piandao rolls his eyes.

So they tell her.

They're called the White Lotus Society, and they've been around for a long, long time. Truth and honor is their creed, and the only way to pursue it is through ensuring harmony.

"But isn't that the Avatar's job?" Katara asks.

"We like to think of ourselves as the Avatar's sidekicks. Just kidding, not really." Bumi laughs. "The Avatar is a spiritual being whose destiny is to the world. Our destiny is to the pursuit of truth. Right now, the Fire Nation occupation of Ba Sing Se is neither honorable nor truthful."

"He's usually not this eloquent." Pakku deadpans.

"Only exceptionally talented and wise masters of their craft are allowed in, so to speak." Jeong Jeong nods at her. "The fact that Pakku brought you with him means you are a master."

Katara feels the beginnings of tears swell behind her eyes. She blinks them back. "I'm honored."

"So...why was I brought here?" Sokka's head swivels between Pakku and Piandao insecurely. "I'm not a bender."

Pakku points to Piandao. "He's a sword master."

"So?" Katara resists the urge to hang her head in embarrassment when her brother raises his voice in front of the four elders. "What does that have to do with me?" Said voice rises in pitch by the end of the sentence, as if he's just realizing his own foolishness as well. He jumps back when a sword lands at his knees, clattering on the earth.

"You've got two days to practice with him. I suggest you use them wisely."

By the time dinner's over, Katara and Sokka take a moment to look at each other, as if to say, can you believe this is happening? She's overwhelmed, confused, and nervous, but more than than, she feels...ready. Needed.


A/N: Hope you liked it! Lots of things that we love about the show are missing in this AU, and that's the risk of switching out a major part of the plot. Hopefully it'll be more interesting than it is a turn off. This will be a multichapter fic.