Slight disclaimer before the story starts. This story takes place about 1300 years after Aang's time. The characters that are named Katara, Sokka, and Zuko are just people who happened to have the same names as those heroes. This is not Zuko, Sokka, or Katara from the show. That said, enjoy the series.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"When the amount of a person's concentrated power is too great for them to handle...

...it becomes their greatest weakness."

CHAPTER 1

The Story of Katara Altina II and her family is not necessarily a happy one. Her parents, Zuko Altina and Katara Altina [formerly Katara Montoya] were an average family for the most part and already had had their first child, a healthy baby boy named Sokka, who judging from some of his chi patterns was going to be a waterbender. He was already 3 years old when this story picks up, because it was around this time that the lives of these three individuals changed forever; and all because of the birth of their 2nd child.

These three were all named after famous figures from a war nearly 1300 years ago called the 100-Year War, but the marriage between their parents who happened to bear those names was entirely coincidental. They were deciding on a name for their 2nd child, but little did they know that whatever name they chose for the little girl would become famous worldwide.

"She's beautiful," said Zuko, "she sort of looks like you, honey."

Katara smiled, "she sort of does," she remarked, "but I don't think she's a waterbender. Maybe it's just because our little Sokka is a waterbender that I predict this, but I'm not sure."

The doctor stepped in a second later, having heard this.

"The child is a firebender," he remarked, "and destined to be a very powerful one at that."

Both Zuko and Katara looked at him like he was crazy.

"She's only a few hours old," Katara exclaimed, knowing that signs of a bender usually did not show until around the ages of 2 or 3, "how in the Water Tribe's name do you know that this early?"

Katara was generally prone to heat exhaustion, and so living in the hotter parts of the Fire Nation was not very good for her. Zuko, who didn't mind the cold, was fine with her wanting to live in the Southern Water Tribe, and therefore that was where they lived, and where both Sokka and this little girl child were both born.

"She shows signs of large amounts of chi energy," the doctor replied, "in fact, I advise you to be very careful with her, as she is already a capable firebender."

"Capable firebender," Zuko exclaimed, "what in spirits does that mean?" Both of them looked and sounded frightened; "speak, Enik."

"It means," said the doctor [named Enik], "that she is already capable of firebending. When a bender is born, they are capable of bending, but usually lack the chi energy to do so. As they grow, they gain more chi energy until they reach a certain point, usually in their late teen years, where it peaks, and stops, and remains that way for the rest of their lives. Prodigies usually have more chi energy than other benders, but of course, raw chi energy does not equal skill, but merely capability."

"So what does this have to do with our little Katara," Zuko asked, naming the child on the spot [he had planned to name the child after his wife anyways after seeing the little girl's face, and so that girl's name became Katara Altina II]

"She is not a normal case," Enik replied bluntly, "she has excessive amounts of chi energy, and it is growing at an alarming rate. It's nothing dangerous now, but it might cause her trouble in the future if it is not controlled. If she can control it, she should lead a normal life, but controlling power as great as we predicted that it will become is going to be a very difficult task for her."

"That is what I'm here for;" Said Zuko steadfastly, mostly to Katara, "I will ensure that she grows up and remains in control of that power."

"There is one more thing," he said, "actually two; I think I need to end this on a positive note,"

"What is it," said Katara urgently, realizing that his initial "one thing" had to be bad if he decided to tack on another one to 'end on a positive note'; "what's wrong with my baby?"

"You may have noted that I said a bender's chi energy peaks at a certain age," said Enik, "it is because of a certain mechanism inside of a bender that makes it stop. Your child lacks that mechanism."

"What does that mean," said Zuko, slightly agitated, mostly because of the harsh, but true things being said about his newborn child,

"It means," said Enik, "that her bending energy will know no limits. It will be increasing, presumably at this same alarming rate—most likely until the end of her life. As a result, I do not think she will live long, and if those predictions of the comet's return in 16 years are true, she won't stand a chance. It will consume her alive."

"The Avatar," was Zuko's natural response, as he had heard the legends of the avatar being capable of giving or removing bending energy from a person; unfortunately, there was another catch.

"If the next avatar really is born when the last one dies," he said, "then unfortunately, the avatar is a 7-year-old child at the moment, and probably doesn't even realize that he or she is the avatar."

"Then WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO," Zuko yelled, and it startled baby Katara, causing her to fling her hand, which emitted a small fireball. Enik, shocked by Zuko's sudden yelling, actually jumped back.

"I am deeply sorry Master and Mistress Altina," he said, bowing his head, "I do not control the fate of children. Oh, and about my positive note: not only is the child very pretty, but other than that disorder, she is completely healthy, and will likely have a very high mental capacity. "Overpowered" benders, as we like to call them, generally are very smart thinkers. They are also very rare. I do believe this is only the 2nd case of one that I've ran into in my lifetime."

"I'm sorry," said Zuko, "I... I lost control."
"I understand what it is like," said Enik, "in my travels, I met an amazingly beautiful young woman named Zuki Meisha. She was mentally challenged, and I found that it was very easy to confuse her, or to get her to do things. That poor woman would have been exploited to death if Cho Ling hadn't run into her. It's such a beautiful story.

Anyways, my point is; is that usually when people are challenged in one area, they make up for it in other areas. For example, everyone knows about the legendary Blind Bandit, am I correct? blind, obviously, but one of the greatest earthbenders to ever live, though I think young Zakura Ishiko might have been able to give her a run for the money."

Zakura was known also as an earthbender whose parents disapproved of her actions. At this point in time, she was too young to be recognized as the avatar, which is how she survived her parents, both of whom were and are Order Extremists.

"Other than that, Mistress Altina, "you should be able to leave here tomorrow. Farewell." And he left the room.

Katara and Zuko [and Sokka] were able to leave the next day, and upon their return, treated little Katara with care. Naturally, Sokka, who had never seen a baby before this close in his young age, wanted to hold her, and ironically, with her sporadic firebending bursts, baby Katara always seemed so calm in the little arms of her brother.

These two grew up happily, and life was good until Katara II [the young Katara] was about 4 years old. During this time, Zuko had been relatively effective for teaching the 4-year-old child how to control her energy. She would hurt herself often, but she was gaining some control over it.

"Her spirit wants her to continue," He said to his wife after a long training session with the now exhausted little girl, "but her body can't handle it. She literally has more chi energy than physical energy."

"That's why she has a good teacher like you," she smiled, kissing his lips, "she'll be able to keep it under control as long as she has you."

Unfortunately, Katara's statement was true. Shortly before Katara's 5th birthday, a raid from The Order left Zuko dead. Apparently Katara's reputation had spread into the wrong ears, and people figured that they could take the child and raise her to become a powerful warrior. Naturally, when Katara saw people after her, the first person she ran to was daddy.

"DADDY, DADDY," the little girl screamed, "there's mean people out there who want to take me away!"

They had let her run because they wanted to find her family, and sure enough, their plan succeeded.

"Don't you lay a finger on my little girl," said Zuko, ready to defend little Katara and his household. He was outnumbered, but a quick glance around told him that his friends and neighbors were coming to his aid.

"Take the kids and run," Zuko said to Katara, and she did, seeking shelter. Sokka was fast enough that he was able to keep up, and Katara was kicking and screaming in her arms.

"NO," she screamed, "I WANT DADDY TO COME WITH US! WHY ISN'T DADDY COMING; DADDY!!!"

It was the last time she ever saw her father. This tore her apart, and the little girl became wild and fierce. Additionally the stress from losing her husband was weighing down on Katara Sr.; luckily Sokka, who was maturing quickly, seemed to know how to handle her. He had had a close bond with their mother, being a waterbender, so it was almost like Katara was supposed to have a bond with her father for being a firebender, and while he was alive, she had had that bond. Now with it gone, she was lacking something in her life.

With bending power like the type she had, combined with the loss of the person she had loved the most, the mind of Katara Jr. was riddled with stress, anger, and sorrow. She grew into a strong, healthy, rather attractive young woman, but as her body matured, this only made Katara's emotions even less predictable and harder to control. Her mother, who even the now 16-year-old Sokka noticed this, was stressing to the point where she would die if she kept it up.

"Mom," he said, "please; you've got to stop stressing over Katara."

"I fail as a parent," she said, "I can no longer control her. She doesn't listen to anything I say."

"It takes a miracle for her to listen to what I say," Sokka reasoned, "and I usually have to get forceful with her physically. You're a good parent for not wanting to let loose on her for how she acts. I unfortunately lack that self-control."

"What do we do about her, son?" Katara asked, shaking her head, "I've tried everything. I can't take her anywhere, because she attacks people. She's just too powerful, and trying to contain her is like... ooh..."

"I understand, mom," Sokka replied, "What I think needs to happen: is that I need to move out with her. I seem to be the only one she'll ever listen to, and I don't want her stressing you out. I promise you that you will see her again; I promise."

It took a lot of convincing, but eventually Katara I realized that it was her only choice. The stress of her uncontrollable child was getting beyond her control, and the loss of her husband, though some years ago by now, was still on her mind.

Despite Katara Sr. being convinced that this was right, it took a little more than that [force, to be exact] to convince Katara Jr. of the situation. She was thrashing and screaming when her mother told her that they would be separated. However, in the 13 years that Sokka had dealt with Katara [Katara II was 13]; he had learned where her weak point was. He dove on top of her, seizing her by the scruff of her neck. For some reason, every time he did this, Katara would go completely limp. It only worked when Sokka did it, and it only worked when he grabbed it tightly and quickly.

"On your feet, Katara," he said, "we're going."

Katara didn't say anything, but like she usually did when she faced defeat, she was crying. Sokka closed his eyes as he led her away, knowing that they both were in for some rough times again, but he was happy knowing that their mother would not kill herself from the stress of Katara II's malicious attitude. Many times during their voyage to the Earth Kingdom, where they planned to live, Sokka had to grab Katara by the scruff of her neck, and this was the only reason she didn't attack anyone during the trip.

Eventually, they got settled into what was once Zuko's summer house. It was a decent place, and that was all they needed. Now, Sokka's goal for the next several years would be to try and tame his sister.