The Boy in the Iceberg part 1(katara)

by Im Bill Curtis

This story, and only this story will be a two parter. This is part 1 of Katara’s perspective in ‘The boy in the Iceberg’. More stories will come with only her POV.

(Katara's POV)

It was so beautiful and open.

The white towering icy glaciers in different shapes and forms all around us. The calm navy blue sea just sitting patiently below us while we sat in a small wooden boat. But our boat you could hardly pay attention to as there was so much ice and water.

It was an amazing sight to see.

Oh I forgot something that looked pretty cool too.

There was these two pathways on each side of us that of puddle sized ice disks that were jagged at the sides but smooth on the top. I should know I felt one by us in our little canoe. You can just reach out and feel all of the beautiful water within the ice and the water that was surrounding us.

Now I'm not just interested in the water since I'm a waterbender, and being surrounded by my natural element makes me feel ecstatic and I can use the waters power to help me fight, but my brother doesn't need to know yet that I'm a girl who would love to use her bending to fight in the war, even if I'm a simple beginner who barely knows any water bending stances or any powerful or just useful moves, but anyway I also love the water and ice since I grew up with it and I just think it's beautifully designed to have my element in a towering form of spikes of ice or just in any shape.

It's just me and my brother in this water tribe crafted canoe.

It was water tribe with a symbol of the south, as where my brother and I live. My brothers name was Sokka by the way. And I'm Katara.

It had bones of animals sticking out of the edges, pointing upwards at the front and back. But even though there was a point at the back of the canoe, the bones of sea animals making it pointed, it had a a little curve to it, like a wave does. The water is not straight like a wall, but just curves and moves like water. Sorry, couldn't think of a good explanation.

But now, it was so peaceful with the sound of little waves splashing against the icy structures, and the water moving gently and soft as our canoe was moving through these waters.

Underneath these waters however, not that much sea life. Just a few fishes here and there.

One in particular was swimming freely towards me and Sokka, it was on my right side while sokka was behind my back with his back facing mine so it was on his left, so he was seated in the front while I was sitting in the back. In short summarization, we were facing away from each of the other, the fish that was moving away from me towards Sokka, was on different sides of us, and the only thing facing each other was our backs. Not really a short summarization.

"It's not getting away from me this time"

Sokka's voice spoke out abruptly but just as clear as the water I was still staring at. What? Even if I've grew up with the ice and the sea, I swear I'll never lose interest. I can promise you that.

"Watch and learn, Katara"

Watch and learn what exactly? Is my brother gonna be all cocky with his lack of fishing skills and try to be all happy with nothing but an empty weapon?

"This is how you catch a fish"

Poor fish, it's gonna get attacked by a weapon that doesn't know what it's doing, and it might get hurt by it if it doesn't swim away fast enough.

I look at him not amused, at the fact that he thinks he's gonna just get the defenseless fish on the first try, acting all cocky and all that. He's gonna say 'watch and learn?' Come on, Sokka, be reasonable.

A movement underwater catches my eye.

It's a fish. It's either the same one as before or a new one has swam to the top. If so, it will only be the second fish we saw on this little trip on our water triban canoe.

Not taking my eyes off of the little sea creature, I look away only to take off one of my gloves, then back at the little fish now farther away in the water, but the water was clear for me to see, helping me find the fish and where it swam off to.

I take a deep breath, face set in being unsure of whether this is gonna work, but I'm not giving up. My bending was given to me for a reason, I have to use it. Not all the time, but I still do. Like how we're in a place filled with ice and the sea, this is an opportunity to catch a fish, with some help of Waterbending of course.

I lift my hand, while the other hand is holding on to the glove I have taken off, and the water responds to the motions of my hand.

A ripple, bigger than the puddle sized ice disks combined in two, has formed when my hand has reached out and started messing with the water. I felt the water surrounding the fish in a circle, so once I lifted my hand up to see the fish into the circular watery substance, it was a bubble of water, the fish still freely swimming despite being lifted up into the air. But at least my bending is making the fish still breathe without any problems with how I'm moving the water.

"Sokka, look!"

He's not looking. The only thing he's looking at is the water tribe weapon in his hand, and the other fish swimming around in front of him, the fish being oblivious to what's gonna happen to it.

I continued to press him with trying to hold the fish in the watery bubble at the same time. It was difficult to concentrate on bending the water and talking simultaneously.

Then sokka shushed me up.

"Ssh, Katara, you're gonna scare it away"

Oh, you think I will terrify it and make it swim away?

You're the one who has the pointy weapon here, dear brother.

"I can already smell it cooking"

Pushing aside his comment of hunger, I continue to give him sayings of turn around and see what I caught.

"But Sokka, I caught one!"

I sway the large fish contained bubble around me, steadily moving side to side, as the bubble passed by my face as my hands commanded the water bubble to go to the other side, as it was on my left, and as it went to my other side, I saw my face reflected in the transparent watery bubble.

It wasn't so difficult to get the hang of pushing the water forwards and pulling it backwards with this good sized bubble, and as I moved the water with my hands commanding it to, it came closer to Sokka's top end of the weapon.

Which in fact, as my watery bubble with the fish I caught seeing in the water, and caught with it in water but still swimming as if it wasn't being held up in the air, anyways, my watery bubble came and went away. What I mean, is that my brother, who couldn't see the bubble contained fish, moved his weapon backwards at first, in preparation to strike the other fish, and his weapon hit my bubble, and I definitely wasn't strong enough to keep the water together, so I watched as the edge of the weapon hit my bubble, but not the fish. The fish was free from me and Sokka and it jumped back into the water without a care in its little mind.

I also saw the bubble pop, it landing on my brothers head, as it was directly above him, and it soaking into his hair, clothes and gloves.

But I did shout a 'hey' of displeasure.

Sokka gave a growl and a groan, exasperated at the fact that I'm 'playing with magic water'. He says that to a great deal of extent every time he gets hit with my water bending. It's like not I do it on purpose! Most of my bending is accidental and caused by emotions pushing to be released. I do have a temper as well, having strong believing opinions and a no nonsense attitude to people with sexist views on girls. My brother can be one at times.

Sokka spoke up after shaking his head to get some water out that hasn't been soaked into his hair.

"Why is it, that everything you play with magic water, I get soaked?"

To prove his point, he clenched his gloved fists and drops of water came out of his gloves, coating a wooden part of our boat, dark with wetness. Wood can be light at first, then dark once wet. But that's not really important right now.

In fact, I wasn't even paying any mind to the droplets of water still dripping out of his water tribe gloves. I was most certainly annoyed with him saying once again 'that I'm playing with magic water'. It's not magic, and it certainly isn't playing.

"It's not magic, it's waterbending, and it's—"

But sokka cut me off.

"Yea, yea. It's an ancient unique thing to our culture, bla, bla, bla"

His voice echoed around the serene appearance of the icy seas, and icy structures. While once quiet with occasional gusts of gentle wind and small waves slapping against the icebergs, was now broken by my brothers voice.

"Look, I'm just saying"

My arms were crossed with a look of annoyance on my face. Sokka reached up to his hair, squeezed his little ponytail, and while still not looking at me once since we left, and the water in his hair with a squeeze from his hand gave a squirting noise as he pulled on it as he continued to speak, filling me up with more annoyed irritation.

"If I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself"

I raise an eyebrow at that statement. My voice raises as I speak up with some words to defend myself and annoy him even greater than I was feeling.

"You're calling me weird?"

Seeing him roll up his coat sleeve, leaving his arm bare, he begins to flex his nonexistent muscles.

Choosing my words, I say to him "I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water"

That got him alright. I saw his reflected face in the water change from a smug smirk to just annoyance written all over it.

Turning to face me, his annoyance deepens, with an ugly look crossing his face. Eyes a darkened blue with no happy emotion shown, lips pouting as I insulted his 'muscles', and body tense with a mouth ready to insult me back. You wanna have a throwdown with words? Alright then. Whoever wins gets to tease the other sibling with no holding back the rest of the way back to home. The South Pole. Without telling on each other.

I was ready to set out the rules of our little game, but suddenly ... something collided with our canoe.

Something big, something obviously icy, as whatever else could be floating on the vast sea, and something with sharp edges almost cutting our boats front.

It was a circular piece of ice, much bigger than those puddle sized disks, and not just one, but several filling my vision and sokkas vision too.

The water, once gentle and slow moving, was now straightforward with rapid water currents throwing our canoe off course.

Up ahead, on both sides were dozens more of circular floating ice of either an iceberg as icebergs can sometimes be hidden underneath all the water with only a little visibility or just ice that has been broken off from these ice structures towering on each side of us, and is now resting, floating around the water.

More up ahead, directly in front of us, but far from us, even as we were moving at a speedy pace with the water directing us this way, was jagged pieces of ice, not straight or smooth surfaced, but with little ice spikes already formed and ready to hurt anything that comes on it. Only a few, like 3 were shaped that way.

The rest of them were just not straightened and one side higher than the other. And finally, all of them were moving together, brushing against one another, not having any space for even something small as a fish to go through. Were we gonna get trapped? I'm definitely not strong enough to rip them open with my waterbending, I even struggled holding a bubble of water. Granted there was a living thing in that bubble, but my bending is weak, not from a lack of practicing, but without somebody masterful to teach me.

I tried so hard to make everything right, with my bending to my family. I've been practicing my bending more often ever since dad left our tribe to go fight the fire nation. That is a lump in my throat I feel. I miss dad so much. Just like mom as she died by the hands of a firebender to protect our tribe, to protect me. She wouldn't have wanted the real last waterbender to die, her only daughter.

Looking up from my thinking of the painful past, I see Sokka wildly paddle the canoe on one side, then frantically switching to the other at a fast pace.

Sokka's frantic steering of back and forth on each side with the paddle, has almost cost our canoe to destroy as it is wood, while the big circular forms of ice are stronger than our boats fragility. When he steered to the left though, the big clumps of ice on his right lifted up our boat slightly and I yell at him to watch out as the large jagged ice formations are almost making our boat damaged and done for.

More icy things are coming our way. It's like an obstacle course with the ice and the now rough sea as our problem. The waves were getting bigger, but not covering our heads, which is a huge relief, just swiftly moving us along closer to the next source of our problem. Those jagged pieces of ice still directly in front of us. It hasn't moved once as we're coming closer to it, and closer to the end of our canoe. I just know our boat will be destroyed. I even hear a piercing crack of wood as all signs point to one of the ice things that have demolished a short piece of our canoe.

"Go left! Go left!"

But my brother doesn't listen. He goes to the right, which I specifically yelled go to the left side, as there was more open spaced water with less water currents and blocks of ice not blocking the left side, just blocking the pathway of the right, which he decides to do. But why?

Our canoe finally breaking, and cracking under pressure from all the ice surrounding it, gave away and broke completely as all ice crushed it, but it didn't crush us. Somehow we slid on top of the ice blocks as our canoe got destroyed, it's existence now gone, but thankfully we weren't.

To top it off, we landed on our stomachs, me closing my eyes as I thought I was gonna slide in the water and drown, I'm not a good swimmer despite all the chances I could've had in the South Pole. But the water is too frozen in temperature to even put a foot in its icy presence. But as I prepare to fall in the negative degreed water, and feel the water wrap around me, soaking me whole, nothing happened. But that's good for me. It means I'm not gonna die by my own element.

Getting off my stomach to scramble to my feet to sit down, I do, and I take a deep breather before calling out on the only person next to me who doesn't know his directions.

Glaring at him a little, I say to him irked "you call that left?"

My brother turns his head from me, looking just as annoyed as me or possibly even more so.

I don't know why, I should feel more angry than he should, but it's not seeming to be that way. I guess my anger doesn't seem to want to blow up on him for making him go the wrong way. He deserves to get some yelling after not listening to my instruction of just to turn left.

"You don't like my steering"

No I don't, as you don't know right from left, but he's still going on.

"Maybe you should've waterbended us out of the ice"

Oh? You're gonna mock me and my bending? You know sokka, you really ought to consider changing those words, say something to release tension and to get my anger back sealed inside instead of you badmouthing me. But he's just getting started it seems.

"So it's my fault?" I question offended, needing to mock him even more then he mocked my weak waterbending. He knows that my bending isn't that great and useful, just uncontrolled and weak.

"I knew I should've left you home. Leave it to a girl to screw things up!"

That had done it. One of his traits I can't stand is his sexism. I don't know how he got sexist towards girls, is it because while he's the one playing warrior with the toddler boys, while us girls and women do the work of making fires, putting up tents and cooking, or is it just because my brothers an idiot.

Probably both.

But enough thinking about him. It's time to yell at him, like I should've done beforehand. I needed now to give him a piece or, even better, a few more pieces of my mind. So I did. And my anger didn't stop as I continued with every word of raging irritation I have felt for every since mom died, and ever since dad left to go fight.

"You are the most sexist, immature, nutbrained!.."

Giving an angered growl, I grab my head with both hands, grunting now in frustrated rage. I was throwing both of my arms back as I called him insulting names. Was he gonna say that girls can't insult boys? God I hope not. If so he's gonna pay hard, and I don't care how bad my waterbending is, he will get a wave that will wash him away and he could be on his own for now on. But I'm not there yet.

"I'm embarrassed to be related to you!"

Oh, not gonna say anything? Just gonna sit there, with an emotionless mask covering up your real emotions? Just be a little afraid of me while I continue to be at a boiling point with you.

A crack is what I hear, a faint one really, only thing I could hear is the anger boiling over so it's hard to really listen when I'm this angered over.

Sokka's mask of blank emotion transforms into slight curiosity and fear.

But I'm not acknowledging that.

"Ever since mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp, while you've been off playing soldier!"

He's still not looking at me! He's looking at whatever upwards behind me. I wave my arms more backwards as I rant on with another piece of my mind.

"I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks?! Let me tell you, not pleasant!"

I throw my arms up in the air in a swiping motion, I'm still so angry. I was ready to throw him off this ice with a big wave. If it doesn't work with height, I'll make sure it does. Sokka points behind me looking up at whatever, telling me to turn around. As if I'd listen to him, after I had to listen to him make an offhanded comment about girls screwing everything up!

"Katara settle down!"

Did he just tell me to settle down?! No way am I doing that! I have officially reached the end of my limit with him and his ridiculous behavior towards me, and probably more other girls in our little tribe.

"No! That's it, I'm done helping you! For now on, you're on your own!!"

I bring my arms backwards once more, but now it's to bring Sokka a good sized wave that will wash him away, to wherever that will allow sexist immature nutbrains like him, away from me. Our grandmother might miss him, actually will, not might, but I need some serious time away from my brother.

Sokka looks up at the sound of ice, big ice cracking, and gives a fearful gasp. Finally turning around to see what he's so afraid of, also putting my not so high wave down, I imagined it would be how I pictured but I'm not a master, just a mediocre beginner, and there was an iceberg behind us, one all on its lonesome.

What was important here and now, was the fact that cracks were actually forming, water spurting out of all of its huge sides, the pressure from all the cracks opening the iceberg about to split it in half or maybe more pieces, the pieces of the iceberg were already starting to come down, the large ice falling in the water, making waves, and eventually the whole thing was falling apart, breaking everything up as it got divided into three enormous pieces, it sinking into the ocean, which made a terrible wave. Terrible in height, it was like a tidal wave.

It pushed us away, so fast and abrupt I almost felt sick to my stomach of getting pulled backwards posthaste, and now with the iceberg broken, I wanted to know how it broke so quickly. I mean ... I couldn't have caused that right?

It stopped. The water that has been edging us on, pushing us away, has ended. Sokka and I have fallen on our stomachs again from the waters strength forcing us away.

"Ok, you've gone from weird to freakish Katara"

My brother, who has been keeping an arm on my back, maybe for protection, has taken it off, but he's saying that I did this. Me. The waterbender who's bending is best at mediocre or even worse, below it.

But yet, I managed to break a whole iceberg accidentally. With all that moving my arms backwards, with every exclamation at my brother, was making all those cracks on the iceberg. I used to make waves all the time at home in my younger years because of the way my brother provokes my temper, but that was long ago. Just like when dad left us, but for good reason.

Now, as I'm reflecting on everything in the last past minutes, with all the anger that was fueling me and giving my brother a good enough tongue lashing, the actions moving along with the anger, and the accidental bending that has caused an iceberg to break and land us where we are now.

I question more genuinely surprised then incredulously "you mean I did that?"

"Yep" my brother says, giving me a sarcastic clap to the back, and a sarcastic congratulatory on my unintentional bending.

Even if he was giving me sarcasm, I'm not in a mood to throw a wave at him. You know how that turned out when I wanted to upraise a wave and wash him off and send him away to another piece of ice where he will be on his own, but now the anger has left me, and I feel just a little bit tired. Just a little.

The water, once it's normal color, was now a shimmering glowing light blue. Just a small piece of glowing water, now a rapidly growing watery circle with small bubbles forming as the circle was not done growing in width.

Sokka and I got to our feet at the same time, gasping frequently at what our eyes were seeing. As the circle is now done expanding in width, it was now rising in height.

It was pretty fast, as the strange glowing light was shaped in the form of an iceberg, and icebergs don't take that much time to rise above as they're so big and expansive.

It done rocking to the side as it settled down from bursting out of the water, it was now still, rooted to its spot in the water, and I got to take a closer look at this iceberg that gave us a big surprise when it just showed itself, and we definitely weren't expecting an iceberg completely underwater. Or any iceberg at all.

Inside were 2 forms, almost shadow like as the thickened crystallized ice was blocking the show of their real forms. One was much bigger than the other one, while the smaller form had the shape of a, let me look a little closer, a human. Sitting in the lotus position, legs folded, hands with glowing shaped arrows, there's no mistake that those were arrows on this person's body, in fact there was a glowing arrow also on this person's head, the arrows that glowed along on this strange person's body were bluish white, standing out even more than the glowing light of the ice.

Raising an eyebrow skeptic at this person, I really couldn't believe that there was a a person in there, if so, then I'll lose all doubt and feel bad for this person. In fact, I still was despite the doubtful disbelief coursing through my body.

Looking closer, squinting my eyes, I saw it was a body of a child's. Oh no. What a horrible way to die, especially a child. Stuck in an iceberg, unmovable, still with the ice making the child having no air.

And then something amazing, something that made me gasp in shock, and something that made my disbelieving attitude evaporate.

Eyes that I thought would be closed forever, opened up as normal as somebody would do alive, which consisted of two glowing bluish white eyes as bright as the arrows formed on the child's arms and forehead.

My brother and I reacted with absolute surprise. But I had an idea. I had to get the child out of the ice! If he is alive, I can tell just now by the way the body is formed, then he deserves to be letten out. I'm not letting him die, when he's young, deserves to live, not in enclosed ice but in the open world.

"He's alive! We have to help!"

Grabbing Sokka's club out of its sheath on his back, I rush over to safe the child's life. There obviously can't be that much air in there right? Or really any air since the ice is so thick, but his life is still standing by him opening his eyes. That's a sign.

"Katara, get back here! We don't know what that thing is!"

Ignoring him, I jump on, hop on, on five puddle sized pieces of ice, until the distance between me and the child who's in the iceberg, is close for me to strike the iceberg. How I'll actually break it, I have no idea, it looks so thick that my negative side is telling me to give up since so thickened ice can be impossible to break, but I hope that looks can be deceiving. There's no way I'm gonna be negative when there's a living boy inside the iceberg. I have to get him out before the little remaining oxygen he has left, leaves him.

One club to the iceberg gets me nowhere, not that I'd expect it to.

Two, three, four, five—.

I would've gotten to six, but then a miracle happened.

The club in my hands apparently found the icebergs weak spot, whatever it may be, and a great gust of wind explodes out of the spot where I have hit, it almost knocks me and Sokka off our feet and blown us into the water, it was that strong.

Fissures and cracks snake their way to the top of the iceberg. What once was just a small hole of where the club hit, and where the wind has came out, was now multiple fractures of the ice, the cracks rapidly coming out, until it all burst and a giant neon blue light has come out of the remains of the iceberg. It shot up into the sky, creating the works of all shimmering blue northern lights.

Once the mist had began to settle, the wind had only begun with its blowing, more of gentle breezes then the gale that has been unleashed from the hole I created with Sokka's club. Sokka and I were huddled close together, his arm wrapped me while his other was holding the weapon he was gonna use on the fish earlier.

I give an unsettled look to my brother, and he hugs me closer with his arm while grasping tightly the weapon he has brought with him from our tribe. He brought two, the club back in its sheath after he picked it up and found it after all the gusts of wind blocking the water tribe weapon from his vision, it was just lying unharmed on the ice, and the weapon he looks like he will use to protect me from what I have released from the broken iceberg. The young boy with the glowing eyes and arrows.

The blue northern lights were still lighting up the sky with an illuminated glow, so the sun is not the only thing lighting up the sky.

The young boy with his glowing presence has showed himself. Eyes still glowing that beautiful blueish white, I couldn't help or stop myself from looking at the young boy, with his eyes showing no pupils, just an empty white that looked soulless and pitiless on us. And the child's brows were furrowed down, showing a look of such anger that shouldn't be on a young child's face.

I was looking fearfully at on what I unleashed from this iceberg, even though a kid, he was sure not looking like one. Kids are supposed to look joyful, playful, mischievous, whatever the word may be, but the strange glowing boy had no such emotion. His body was shaking, I didnt know from whether anger at seeing us, or from the freezing wind and the cold atmosphere of the South Pole.

"Stop!" Yelled Sokka, pointing his weapon in defense, commanding the boy to not move a step closer.

I didn't think that would work against the strange glowing boy, and it actually didn't. The strange boy didn't move ahead and challenge us, but stood still as the glow slowly vanished all over his body, and so did the cerulean blue lights above him.

Then, his body swayed and had his eyes rolling in the back of his head, falling forward from his standing spot on the icy wall.

Gasping for fear of him hitting the ground, I realized he was fainting, and I had to catch him.

I caught him as I ran over in short quick steps, I obviously didn't want his head connecting harshly with the ice, even if I don't know him, I don't need this young boy getting hurt.

Now I got to take a good look at him, without his glowing arrows shining through his body.

Clothes of red and yellow, with the red coloring a shortened cape looking thing on his back and front. It covered most of his breathing chest. That's a another sign. He's still alive, but appears to be relaxing, resting deeply, from his break out of the iceberg. Not that I'd expect him to just walk out of the iceberg, totally alive, refreshed, and not exhausted. He needs time to wake up, and I want to see him wake up, because even though a stranger, I'm not turning my back on people who need my help.

The yellow was coloring his long sleeves, the rest of his stomach, and his baggy pants. His feet to his lower thighs had brown boots covering them. His head was bald, with a pale blue arrow tattoo printed on his forehead. His hands were included with the arrow tattoos, just stopping in the middle on his back hand, just pretty much smaller. Whoever tattooed this boy, did a job right with the arrows. So blue, and a good job resembling arrows.

The boy makes a little exhausted groan, maybe he'll wake up, and I'd like to see it, to see him look better and more refreshed. Maybe if I waterbend a short amount of water to his throat, he'll wake up without feeling parched. I'm just worrying a lot for this young boy.

Poke. Poke-poke-poke-poke-poke.

Sokka, being careless, was poking the boys bald head with the unsharpened edge of his weapon, I guess trying to wake him up.

But not like that! You have to be gentle and careful to wake somebody up, you never know how somebody will react with other strangers.

Getting tired of him poking the boys head, I reach out with my hand, my mouth telling him to stop, and with my hand symbolizing the way of telling him to back off.

Glaring at him with a look that says 'don't come any closer', I soften it once turning to face the boy who was giving more little moaning groans of drowsiness, and then... and then he opened his eyes as somebody would after a deep sleep.

His eyes were half lidded but were colored as a mysterious gray. It wasn't a piercing gray like metal, but it held soft kindness in that gaze as it fixed its gaze on me.

His eyes were no longer half lidded, but as open and widened as they took in upon seeing me. He gives a little gasp of an emotion I can't put my finger on, but it's no way negative.

I look on at him, giving a smile of wonder at seeing somebody with different clothing and eye color, not the occasional blue, and water tribe parkas, and a smile of relief that he looks and sounds okay.

"I need to ask you something"

His voice was hoarse, weak in speaking, but still strong enough for me to hear.

"What?" I questioned gently.

"Please, come closer" he says just as quiet as the first time I got to hear his voice.

I lean forward gently at a safe distance away from him, I didn't want to evade his space, and I ask him softly again "What is it?"

The look in his face is one of somebody who didn't get enough rest, but he wasn't bothered by that, but if he didn't want to tell me what he had in question, I'm fine with that, it could wait but his body can't for sleep.

Him throwing all tiredness to the side, makes me wonder if he was really tired in the first place and was just acting, he asks me his question. I gotta say, it was very random and strange.

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" He sounded so excited, so hopeful that he will get to ride a penguin, especially with someone else, like namely me.

My face morphed into awkward confusion. I mean, generally I was surprised that this young boy's whole mannered appearance changed from a drowsed weariness to an energetic joy, so to be fair-

I was down right confused at this boy. But I had to say something to answer him, he looked like he wanted an answer from me now. But thankfully, he wasn't pushing the question and pushing me to answer. So this kid was patient. Don't see much of those.

"Uh, sure, I-I guess"

I almost rubbed the back of my neck as it grew hot and as this situation grew kinda awkward.

I was still sitting on my knees as I was still close to the boy, I haven't moved from my spot once after since I caught him from connecting his bald head to the very thickened icy floor, and Sokka was still standing next to me displaying his weapon to the young stranger sitting down in front of me.

The young stranger boy instead of standing up like everyone else I've seen, got up in a different way.

He actually levitated himself to his feet. I was amazed at how this kid kept surprising me, in more ways than one, but Sokka had a different reaction to the boy.

He reacted with a negative surprise. Negative as in brandishing his weapon and pointing it at him again.

I give a look of annoyance at Sokka. Can't he just stay still without waving his weapon around at the boy?

"What's going on here?" He asks raising a hand to his head. His question I would've liked to answer nicely but Sokka's already starting to be aggressive with the kid, pointing his weapon even closer but the kid shrugs it off easily, batting it away casually as if he's not getting a weapon right where his stomach is, where his heart is, cause it looks like sokka is gonna go overboard and pierce through the kids clothing, and through the kids flesh.

"You tell us!" Sokka yells exaggeratedly loud, but the kid isn't fazed by my brothers overreacting screaming habits.

"How'd you get in the ice?"

Sokka points to the fractured iceberg, and pokes the kids stomach with a forceful question.

"And why aren't you frozen?"

Sokka, quit it with these interrogating questions. The boy has been just trapped in ice and you greet him with questions he doesn't even know the answer to! Give him some time.

But to be fair, I was wondering the same thing. But I wasn't gonna press with the questions and demand an answer from him like Sokka was.

Suddenly, all of us heard a noise. It sounded something like a low growl to whatever is behind this broken iceberg, but very high in volume to us.

The boy at first is just as surprised as us to be hearing something great and roaring to the ears, if not even more so, but his whole expression changed from a shocker to exhilaration.

Scrambling up the ice to go who ever it was, he was in a rush to go who uttered that growling roar, and he jumped down, but we didn't hear the thudding sound of feet hitting the frozen ground, he must have levitated to the ground just as well as he did to standing on his feet.

Sokka and I looked at each other, nodded our heads upon reading the same facial expression, and was ready to go face what's on the other side of the damaged iceberg. I think it was that larger form in the iceberg. It was big, really big even, and I had to of released everything in their icy cage.

Walking around the wide amount of ice, it was more width then height now as it was broken by me, and what I saw made my mouth open in astonishment, and Sokka's jaw drop comically.

There was the boy from earlier, struggling to open the mouth of a large furry animal. The beast opens its mouth without the boy doing it for him. Again, just by the look of the animal, I can tell it's gender. I guess it's a somewhat nice gift to have, to be able to tell the gender, besides waterbending of course. I'll pick my chosen element over just telling whether which gender an animal is supposedly any time.

The boy laughs heartily and is elated that the animal is okay. My heart however warmed up at the sight of the two of them, my open mouth closed slowly and curved into a smile, as I watched as the young boy

hugged the large animals nose. I'm considering that the animal that we're staring at is his pet. Well at lest they're both out of their icy prison. I call it a prison as they shouldn't be trapped in ice, they shouldn't be trapped at all, they should just be out in the open world. But I bet it won't be too happy for them with the war going on.

The animal had a brown arrow on his head I forgot to remind you, and now that he was standing up on his six feet, his head was easily above over our heads.

"What is that thing?" Sokka asks not too kindly at the boy smiling at us so happily that he's being with his pet again. It was so nice with the way that despite the fact that Sokka was being rude to him, and intentionally insulting the boy's bison by calling it a thing, it has a name Sokka, the boy was just smiling as nothing hurtful my brother was saying could bother him or his animal. Maybe his animal could be bothered, as it didn't look too happy, but the boy himself looked like he wouldn't let Sokka's comments put his animal down.

"This is Appa. My flying bison" the young boy answered my brother, unperturbed with Sokka calling his bison a thing, instead of sokka asking what's his name or something like that.

But hold up, Flying? That bison could fly? That would be so cool to see! Never really get to see anything unusual in the South Pole. Except the ships that used to come to our homeland, importing things from the Earth kingdom. But that was long ago, so I'd look to see something that can make my eyes and face feel like they can't believe what they're seeing. A flying bison would definitely fit in that category.

"Right" my brother breaks me out of my thoughts with his disbelieving, sarcastic voice.

"And this is Katara, my flying sister"

Sokka, you are one of the most sarcastic guys I've met, and that's saying something considering most of the guys have either gone to fight in the war, or just little kids.

The boy and I each give him a look of question, mine an odd look with a raised brow at his sarcastic

retort, and the strangers face was a simple confusion. I think he wanted to ask what's wrong with him, but Appa was making noises with his nose, so his unasked question got cut short.

Appa eventually let it all out of his nose, it was all green snot, and covered my brother head to toe in it's disgusting, nasty smelling yuckiness.

The stranger ducked to avoid getting hit and knocked off his feet with lime green snot, while I prepared myself and moved my feet some steps while also covering my face so I don't get splashed with the green stuff, just in case some lands on me even if I moved away.

Sokka begins to frantically, desperately, wipe off the

the snot has covered him with. He even goes to drastic measures and begins to wipe it off his face by smushing his face in the ice, hoping for a chance that the frozen crystalline water will clean it off of him. It does somewhat, but it's still as messed up as it was before. The snot I mean, not his face.

Everybody is looking at Sokka amused, even the bison who has caused this funny mess.

"Don't worry, it'll wash out" says the boy patting his bison's nose which was clean on the outside, with that same cheerful smile still on his face. This kid couldn't be happy because my brother got a shooting load of snot in his face and body right? He looked too nice. But just because of somebody's appearance on the outside, doesn't mean it's the same on the inside. But I had a good feeling about him, he looked like he wouldn't want to hurt anybody's feelings or at least he might accidentally do it but then apologize afterwards. That's the kind of person he looks like. I really want to trust him more, and if he continues to be like he is now, even if we just met him, then I'm thinking we could be friends.

I also wonder if this kid is a bender, I mean that would be really awesome, not just for meeting a kid close to my age since I'm the only waterbender in my tribe, always have been, and that he maybe could teach me. I'd love and appreciate that very much if he could do something that generous. What if he is a waterbender? Just in different bright colored clothing I've never seen before.

"So, do you guys live around here?" The kid asks in genuine curiosity.

Sokka, once done cleaning up all the snot all over him, points his weapon almost in anger at the kids authentic curious question.

"Don't answer that!" He yells at me, before I could open my mouth, he must've sensed me about to answer. Maybe some bizarre sibling thing we have.

The kid looks startled at the weapon close to his nose, and even though his expression was laughable, the situation he was in with the weapon wasn't.

"Did you see that crazy bolt of light?" Sokka points at the sky, gets up after kneeling down to startle the kid with his weapon, and says aside to me not that quietly, "he was probably trying to signal the Fire navy"

Playing along kind of, but totally being sarcastic, I push my brothers weapon away from the boy, who was holding his hands in surrender as if telling us 'I didn't mean it' or 'I didn't do it', and I give him a run for his sarcastic money.

"Oh yea, I'm sure he's a spy for the fire navy"

My sarcasm was on point in my opinion, cutting close to my brothers. Putting my hands on my parka covered hips, I say mockingly to Sokka but not to the strange boy, " you can tell by that evil look in his eye"

The boy gave us a totally unexpected cute grin that almost had me laughing. There Sokka, now do you believe that he's a fire navy spy? He looks so innocent and lovable as a friend to have.

"The paranoid one is my brother Sokka" I introduce the young boy to the other boy. My brother as I've said a lot of times. Sokka waves a hand of saying 'hey' halfheartedly.

Now that this is a chance to stop calling him names of 'stranger or young boy', I would like to know his name.

"You never told us your name" I turn back to the boy who's name is hanging in the air, and I just have to catch it, and see what it is.

"I'm A .. aaa .. aaa ... aaaAAACHOOO!!!"

He was making the most strangest faces, his nose twitching, his teeth showing as his mouth was wide open, his fingers clenching and being held up, and finally he let out a great thunderous sneeze that sent him rocketing in the sky.

That sneeze was the strongest I've ever encountered, and usually Sokka is the one who lets out those types of sneezes, but Sokka's pale in comparison to the boy whose name starts with an A.

The boy lets out his sneeze so powerfully, he not just soars into the sky, but it creates a whopping amount of wind that blows even us some inches in the air, and it dishevels up a lot of Appa's fur. Appa doesn't seem to mind all the air that has been created, or the fact that the boy is coming back down, falling down, at a fast speed. He seems to think that he knows his master will come back unharmed. But I don't know how at the speed he was falling at.

The boy does a side turn, and flips backwards, landing on his feet as he slides down the fractured iceberg, and lands back to his spot as if nothing ever happened. As if he didn't just produce a whole amount of cool wind, that almost took us with him in the air, it was that strong of winds.

But he introduced himself at last after that whole powerful sneeze went by.

"I'm Aang"

Aang. Even though it took a bit of time to get to know each other, at least we do now. Aang, Sokka and me, Katara.

I was too surprised over of what Aang did. Sokka took his surprise into words.

"You just sneezed, and flew 10 feet in the air!"

While his sneeze was an almost startling one as he flew into the air, but it was definitely more than 10 feet. Maybe like 100 feet. Even Aang seemed to not believe my dramatic brother.

"Really?" He looks up at the vast sky, and feels it was higher than the number Sokka has said in his surprised state.

"It felt higher than that"

No way. But it all makes sense when you put the pieces together into a big connection.

Levitation, the huge gusts of wind that shot out of his body as he rocketed in the air, and that sneeze that happened before all the cool temperatured air exploded around us... he's an air bender. I thought they were extinct! Not just me, but the whole world has thought of the air nation dead as the fire nation wiped out the air nation firsthand. Now, we're seeing a bender of one of the nations that has been slaughtered with fire! This is phenomenal!

Seeing Aang, an airbender of course, not the fact that the air nation is dead, that part is terrible, tragic.

Gasping in amazement as I'm taking in information of him being an airbender, I say to him with a fact he already knows "You're an airbender!"

Wait, since he's a bender, that means he could be a teacher for me, for my waterbending. I finally have somebody to teach me! Well, I have to ask him first.

"Sure am!" He nods his head in approved agreement, and then Sokka gets his sarcastic attitude back with saying everything that's been going on inside his mind. He sounded so disbelieving with the events that have occurred and he got to watch all of it.

"Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders, I think I've got midnight sun madness" he shakes his head way too many times at Aang and I, and turns and walks to the edge of the ice we were standing on.

"I'm going home to where stuff makes sense"

Looks like you can't go anywhere as our canoe got destroyed. Do you remember that Sokka? It happened before my screaming tantrum at you, which broke an iceberg, landing us to where a new iceberg has risen, then I broke it with your club, which then gave you your first sign of 'midnight sun madness' with the giant light beam. Then we met an airbender named Aang and a flying bison named Appa, completing the rest of your pretend midnight sun madness.

"Well if you guys are stuck, Appa and I could give you a lift" Aang offers kindly. I shouldn't have any sneaking suspicions about this boy. I mean, he's been nothing but nice, funny with his facial expressions, and now he's being thoughtful and is offering we go with him on his bison who Aang says he can fly. I'm not saying no, so of course I'm going with Aang, but I don't know about my brother.

Aang twirls himself in the air, his natural element, with help from his bending, and lands on his animals head, where I could see there are steering reins.

"We'd love a ride. Thanks!" He gives me a smile with bright happiness, I'm sure he would like to get to know us, as well as I wanna do to him. He walks on Appa's back as I ran over to Appa's side. I guess he wanted to help me climb up. I'd love some help Aang, your bison doesn't look so easy to climb onto.

"Oh no. I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster" Sokka protests and stares hard at the bison as if telling it to not give him another round of huge snot.

"Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home?"

Aang finishes holding my hand, and finishes helping me. I got a good balance now on standing on the edge of the saddle.

"You know, before you freeze to death"

That got him. Looks like I got him mentally cornered with that throw down of words we never had.

He struggles with his mouth making noises, signifying that he wants to retaliate and come up with something probably rebellious, but he gets it now that it's futile, useless even and climbs aboard, but first he gives a sigh of defeat and bows his head beaten, knowing for this little battle he can't win.

So he climbs aboard with me helping him, he muttering stuff about 'bending magic' and 'flying bison'.

Ignoring him, I clasp my hands together in excitement, ready for the journey to home to begin. I mean, me and Sokka were on a flying bison, with an airbender, how many people get to do what we're doing? None. We meet two special things from the air nation, which were supposed to be gone from this world, wiped out as you could say, but I would never say that to Aang. He looked so happy, and frankly so was I.

I still couldn't believe it. An airbender! This was so surreal, and it feels like a dream I don't want to wake up from, as I feel like it could be with all the stories our grandmother told us about the air nation, but I close my eyes tightly once, and reopen them to find I'm still sitting in the bisons saddle with Aang looking at us, happy to see me so excited and even my brother the absolute opposite. He had his arms across his chest, crossing them tightly with a look of sulkiness.

But no matter with sokka, it's time for a special trip with Aang and his flying bison. Special as in, we get to make conversation, or maybe just small talk. We'll see.

"Ok, first time flyers, hold on tight!"

Aang commands the bison to fly by exclaiming "Appa, Yip yip!"

Aang whips the reins and Appa lets out a growling roar like the one he did before we met him.

A slap of the tail to the icy ground, gets me more excited. We're gonna be able to fly on the back of a bison, all the way to home, and I'm ready for it.

Sokka might be ready to, if he wasn't being so moody.

Appa leaps up, high in the air with a big jump, stays up in the air as if preparing to fly in midair, but he doesn't. He doesn't fly.

That jump he did, led us away with a big splash in the water.

"Come on Appa. Yip yip"

Despite the slight change of mood, with me feeling little grasps of disappointment as I was so ready to go soaring through the air with Aang and Sokka, I can't help but feel it's okay. I'm not gonna cry over the fact that something I was so excited for, didn't come true. I have still have hope that Appa can fly, but just not now as he is very tired, but the person he belongs to didn't seem tired at all, just energetic.

"Wow" Sokka's voice sounds deathly sarcastic. Again. I move closer to Aang on the other side of the saddle, closer to where Appa's head is then Sokka is.

"That was truly amazing"

I glare at sokka even harder than the words he threw at Aang with his mockery of his bison.

"Appa's just tired, a little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky"

Giving me a reassuring smile, he tells me and sokka to have no worries.

Well, I did say I had hope for Appa instead of worry he won't fly for us, so I'm fine. But Sokka, didn't look fine as he was looked as moody and angry as he did as soon as he sat down on the saddle.

I'm not worrying about him, I just give Aang a smile that reassures him that we'll be fine. Maybe he'll see something more in the gentle smile I'm giving him. Like how I'm saying that Appa needs all the rest he can get. I would be exhausted if I was trapped in an iceberg for an unknown time. I feel like though that Aang and Appa were imprisoned in that iceberg, for more than a few days or so. It's just a suspicion that I can't get out.

I still look at him, my eyes can't seem to focus on something else, but I move my body sideways with my gloved hand outstretched as if I was getting something, but I notice he's stuck in that smiling position. He seems to smile for a long time even after I reassured him with a soft look that me and even Sokka will be fine.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" I asked a little uneasily, uncomfortable.

"O-oh, I was smiling?" Was aangs confused answer.

It's okay, Aang. I'm not gonna... roll my head back and groan in disgust with my tongue for extra effect like Sokka had just done.

Glaring at him hard, even though he can't see since his head is laying on the back end of the saddle, I decide that this is a long way back to the place we call home. Maybe Aang could call it home too as he needs to rest, despite being so energetic and cool about it, I feel inside that he feels tired as well as his bison, just playing it off. See what's inside, as the inside should matter more than the outside, as that's where your true feelings lie.

Without the feeling of flying in the air, it took much longer for us to go through all these vast waters. In fact, we were a lot farther than we were a few hours ago, but I think we have another hour or two to go despite the fact that Appa is a strong swimmer. And I bet Appa must be exhausted while the people on his back get to rest, in fact, my brother was already asleep laying sprawled out on the other end of the saddle. He looked almost vulnerable as he had no biting words to tell Aang or Appa. Good thing my brother isn't snoring his head off as he does that frequently in our tent.

I couldn't sleep. I had a question for Aang. I wanted to know what happened to the avatar. The avatar was born in the air nation, at first just an airbender, but I hear stories that the avatar disappeared, no trace of him as the fire nation attacked, and since Aang is a bender of air, maybe he knows the avatar that has vanished from the world, maybe he knows some facts about the avatar, and maybe the avatar was born in a air temple and Aang would know him.

So many questions to ask, and much unanswered.

I crawl over to Aang, who had his hands behind his head casually, laying on Appa's head with a staff lying horizontally behind his head, and I have a chance to ask Aang about what happened to the avatar. So I did. But I didn't just say it and throw Aang off guard, catching him by surprise, not yet, we just said hey to each other at first and then I speak up what's on my mind.

"I was just wondering, you being an airbender and all, if you had any idea what happened to the avatar?"

Aang wasn't expecting that when he asked me what I was thinking about.

His smile, once carefree and casual, was wiped off his face in an instant.

"Uh, no. I didn't know him. I mean I knew people that knew him, but I didn't"

Oh. That's even more upsetting. He even gave me a little smile apologizing for not knowing about the Avatar. But Aang, you don't have to apologize. You just don't know, and it's okay.

"Ok, just curious" I respond, despite the fact that I was little downhearted with the fact that he didn't know. But I told him it was ok, and it was. Just, I can't help but wonder...

I was too busy thinking and gazing back at the other two boys on the bison. Aang was in a peaceful sleep, quiet and slow with his breathing, while Sokka was being obnoxiously loud. Swallowing droll, slurping it up, I'm not going into more details: I think I used enough, and snoring heavily.

Today's afternoon has been interesting, and enthralling. I mean without sokka screwing around with my emotions, we never would have found the iceberg, I never would have broken an iceberg which led us to an important iceberg, important in finding and freeing Aang and Appa, and we wouldn't have discovered Aang being a long lost airbender. It's interesting to meet somebody who doesn't have to use gravity, like we have to use it without question or complaint.

Putting my arms snuggled in my parka so they won't get too chilly despite the long furry sleeves, I needed more warmth, and with the wind as cold as the air Aang produces, I just wanted to get warm enough with my body tucked in the parka, and have a good nap. I didn't realize that we traveled so far, or perhaps Appa is taking us a different way home, a longer way home. But the supposed flying bison is doing a fine job with swimming in the glacial waters.

What once was a deep peaceful nap, was now cut off as my eyes opened and found the gaze of sokka smirking at me, for a reason unknown.

"I was gonna wake you up since you slept way over due ... we're home"

Home? It took that long to get home? We actually are here? Turning around and almost falling off the saddle I was that close to it, I take in the small village that is soaked with darkness as night time has fallen.

The full moon was lighting our little village with a dim but bright enough light for us to see, as it was above in the sky, and we were below it on a ground of only ice, with the darkened sea as cold as the ice surrounding our very home, the waves decreasing in its height and power as it formed into little waves and slapped against the frozen water, putting more frozen water on top of the ice, a liquid on a solid, and the water was shimmering as the liquid was darkened from the night, but illuminated by the moon.

Our one remaining igloo had shadows on the ground by the full moons light, our light brown tents were sinking a little to the ground as the pegs weren't that sturdy holding up the tent, and our fire pit had the smoke blowing to the side softly with the howl of the gentle wind.

"Come on, Aang's still sleeping, we need to put him in a tent, a tent of ours" I say keeping my voice to a quiet minimum to Sokka.

Sokka's eyes bulge, one is aching to twitch, and his teeth have to bite his lip from yelling and to wake up Aang.

His voice is just as whisper as my own, and harshly replies "You're serious? We're putting him in our tent, come on Katara, be thoughtful of your actions. He's just a stranger. What if he—"

That was as far as he got as I gave him a cold angered look that shut his mouth. That was the point of the look.

Successfully shutting him up every time he protests with carrying Aang, and we can't wake anybody in our tribe as it's the night time, Aang, despite looking skinny, was pretty heavy to carry as his body mass was proving to be rougher as I thought. But no matter, I want Aang to sleep on a mat now, with a blanket despite him not shivering. Stranger or not, I wanted to help this young boy in any way. Aang is already proving himself to be a person worth friendship.

Well here's our tent, it's flaps blowing with every light howling blow of wind, and our muscles were wishing to put this young boy down. I bet Sokka's mind was also wishing to just get out of here totally, to just end the day and just rest in Gran Gran's tent. That's what we call our grandmother.

I, on the other hand, didn't want to leave Aang so quickly. It's like something is keeping me attached to him, and I can't figure out what it is. But, Aang needs comfort and proper bedding. Mats and tents might not suit his tastes, but it's all we have.

Sokka and I walked in softly without making too much noise with the tent, we put Aang down on the mat that was laying there with nobody on it.

Sokka gave a yawn so big and obnoxious that it caused Aang to stir in his sleep, and before sokka could let another one, I shooed him off with my hand, my hand symbolizing for him to leave and my other hand puts my index finger to my lips as he's starting to get on my nerves with him almost purposely awaken Aang.

I give him my famous aggravated stare, and he backs off with hands raised in surrender, and leaves me alone.

Brothers. They could be so irritatingly annoying, but a bright side is they could and will love you and protect you. Even though I can take care of myself, as I'm 14, Sokka can get me out of hard times and also be a caring older sibling.

Looking back towards Aang, whose chest steadily breathed in and out, as sleep was stilll overtaking him, I put the blanket on him slowly and he didn't exactly resist, as in not stirring and showing that he could not feel a soft object as he was too into his deep rest.

Walking out of the tent, I sit by a log, facing the fireless pit. I couldn't sleep as it was a full moon, just thinking about how things can change. I mean, think about it with us. Today, me and my brother were just fishing, albeit not that good. You heard what happened. But then everything changed, when we found the boy in the iceberg. He was an airbender, a bender we thought were extinct, but he proved himself well with his bending, showing us who he was, and now, here he is with us. I wonder how the rest of our tribe will react to Aang. I have hope that they will, that our grandmother will, react with positivity. You can only hope and see what happens the next day.