(A/N) This is my first ever attempt at writing, so any reviews and constructive criticism are very welcome! I know the writing will be very rough around the edges until I solidify my skills, but I am very proud of the core story, and I think that you will all love it. Note that Kai is an OC character. He is very similar to Kai from LoK (which is actually coincidental) but I just really liked the name so I used it anyway.
The war ended on Kai's thirteenth birthday. The news first came in by way of a military messenger hawk, around noon, and the streets were flooded in celebration within the hour. The people of Yu Dao had never lived in a peaceful world, and they were excited to try it out. Kai, however, didn't really know how to react. His birthday, and now the ending of the war, shared a date with the anniversary of his father's death.
Kai knew that despite the ending of the war, his life wouldn't really change all that much. He would still be an orphan, he would still live on the streets, and he would still work with his best friend to survive. As he sat there pondering, Kai heard a familiar voice.
"Kai, you gotta get out here! The streets are flooded with excited people and our stash is running low. Its prime picking time!" Rio yelled as he jumped down from a rooftop overhanging the alleyway that they both called home. Kai sighed as he pulled himself off his little perch and met up with his friend. He hated stealing from people, especially on a day like this, but they were careful to never take from anybody who really needed it, and it was the only alternative to joining one of Yu Dao's feared street gangs.
It was a quiet morning in the Southern Water Tribe. Like any other morning, Kanna and Katara woke up early to prepare breakfast for the village, and the warriors drowsily walked over to the training fields outside of the wall to train with Sokka and Pakku. The South Pole had fallen into a consistent, quiet rhythm since the end of the war, and nobody was complaining. The Southern Tribe were hit extremely hard by the war, second only to the Air Nomads, and a return to normalcy was very welcome. This day, however, would be anything but normal.
A few hours after dawn, a loud "Woo hoo!" echoed through the village, and Katara smiled harder than she ever had before. They were back.
"Twinkletoes, if you ever do anything like that again, I swear I will metalbend you to the underside of a boat," Toph yelled as Appa approached the landing site. Zuko and Aang both laughed, as they had very much enjoyed Appa's aerial acrobatics. Even Mai was smirking.
"Fine, but I thought Sifu Toph liked fun," Aang mumbled as he jumped off of Appa. As soon as he hit the ground, he ran off to find Katara.
Zuko laughed again, remarking that he had never seen Aang run that fast in battle as he helped Mai and Toph off the giant Sky Bison. In the three years, since the war ended, Aang had never been apart from Katara for more than a couple days. Now, it was their first time seeing each other in 3 months, and he didn't blame Aang for being excited.
Aang ran around the village in a near panic, unable to find his girlfriend. He paused next to a snowman, wondering where Katara was. He heard a chuckle next to him as the snowman violently exploded, revealing a grinning Katara. Aang flew backward in shock, but quickly enveloped the former snowman in a warm embrace.
Katara returned the embrace, but soon pulled away. "I really got you there," she half-bragged through tears of happiness. Aang, who was similarly teared up, just smiled broadly as he moved in for a kiss.
Sokka heard the commotion and ran back into the village to greet everybody. He ran up to Zuko and gave him a hug.
"What are you guys doing here? I thought that Aang was gonna drop you guys back off at the palace before he came back?" Sokka asked, happy to see his friends but confused as to why they were here. "I thought that the Fire Lord didn't have time for visits to the frozen lands down under."
Zuko smiled at first, happy to see his friend, but then became serious. "There are some serious problems brewing in one of the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom. It might become a fully-fledged rebellion soon."
"A rebellion against what?" Sokka replied, confused. "I thought that most of the colonies were independent already."
"They are. That's the scary part. We don't know who's leading this or what they want, but they have full control of the city's gangs and thugs, and they're building an army for something. Aang wanted to the get the gang back together to investigate. We're leaving tomorrow."
Sokka nodded in agreement. "What's the colony called? I can ask around with the warriors and try to get some intel."
"Yu Dao."
