Chapter 1

A stream of freezing water flashed right past my ear, nearly taking off a bit of hair. Another stream followed it, this time aimed right at my chest. I swiftly dodged it before it knocked me ten feet backwards onto my butt. Before my opponent could attack me again, I bended a stream of water from a nearby pool and slashed out at the man I was battling. It collided with his side, and swept him clear off the ice arena.

Win! ...Again. For as long as I could remember, I fought in these friendly waterbending competitions on the arena. I was the only female waterbender in the entire north to battle and, come to think of it, I was pretty much the best waterbender, too.

I slid off the arena to meet the man I had just knocked off. He smiled at me.

"Hey, Kya," he said. "You look very beautiful today."

I rolled my eyes. Hyo had been flirting with me since we were eleven. Though he was a skilled waterbender, he was very self centered and only really cared about what he looked like.

"You look very cold today," I remarked back. "I know I wouldn't want to be knocked off the arena into the cold, cold snow."

"Very funny," he said, a grin plastered on his face. I rolled my eyes. I knew the very next thing he was going to do was to ask me out, so I avoided the topic in advance to prevent awkwardness on my part.

"I'm meeting my sister by the spirit pool this evening."

"Oh," he said, showing obvious disappointment. "See you around then, I guess."

A sliver of pity worked its way into me.

"Though I know of a great seafood place if you want to meet me tomorrow."

Hyo brightened greatly at this.

"Okay, then!" He said, practically prancing off. I rolled my eyes again and watched him leave. Sometimes I just wished my life were a bit less ordinary. I looked up at the sky, and to my surprise, saw something drifting down towards me. Something big.

I ran to get out of the way before a huge flying six-legged monster crushed me flat. The beast let out a low groan, and landed in the middle of the arena, spraying snow everywhere. Only then did I notice that there was something on the monster's back. It couldn't be… was that a saddle? With PEOPLE on it? Before I could investigate, however, my shoulder was tapped on. I spun around. A short, skinny boy was looking at his feet.

"What?" I asked.

"P-p-princess Yue r-r-requested for you to meet her at the spirit pond."

I groaned. So much for a more interesting life. As I turned to leave, I caught a glimpse of my father stepping onto the arena to meet the strange people on the monster. Ugh.