This is my first fanfic writing so I hope it goes well. X3
Prologue: The Shifting of Tides
A young girl, dressed in deep blue robes, stared out towards the frozen land on which the Southern Water tribe lay. The tribe had grown in the five hundred years since the Fire Nation had tried to take over the world. With the help given from the Northern Water Tribe, the south had grown from a measly village of simple huts, to a city, grand as the North itself. The first act of rebuilding had gone to protective walls. Legend Master Pakku and a team of highly skilled waterbenders rose the ice from within the icecaps to form a wall several stories high, casting a great shadow and yet, shone with light rebounding off its surface. A great feat indeed.
It was on this wall, where the girl stood. Her head turned and glanced at the city that lay behind her, her shimmering blue eyes capturing the light given from the white snow upon which the buildings were built. It was a wonder how those structures could rise so high and yet be made of the same snow/ice of the ground. But then, a master waterbender could do almost anything with all the forms of water. With waterfalls and trenches full of water for roads, the Southern City of the Water Tribes had been made in design of the Northern City.
The terracing of the city made easy defending, as had been explained to the young girl by her father. If an opposing force had somehow gotten past the outer wall, the waterbenders would escape into the upper reaches of the city, where it could be easily defended as they would have the advantage of upper ground. The waterbenders would also be able to collapse the buildings below them while remaining safe above. If the city was lost and overwhelmed, there would be an escape passage at the top of the city, a hole miles deep and then branching out in all directions to various safe havens. It would only be accessible to the water tribe. To get down would mean having to waterbend platforms. There were no ladders or stairs. The perfect escape.
The city, in essence, was a pyramid. However, as foolproof as the planning of the city was, the girl feared for her people and the city. Katara, she was named, after the legendary waterbender who had helped the Avatar Aang destroy the Fire Nation's attempt at conquering the entire world. Such glory and significance in a name and the girl felt she did not deserve it. Shaking her blondish hair and her head of such thoughts, again she viewed out across the barren wasteland that was the artic.
Recent events had been troubling her parents of late. Her parents were members of the council that resided and looked over the city, now named Hirin. Reports indicated that the Fire Nation was once again on the move again, building up its armies with its various machines of late. A startling proclamation had been issued within the Fire Nation.
"All firebenders are to report to the nearest military station. All those that do not will be taken in with force necessary."
The Fire Nation was once again preparing for war. Over what, no one knew. Fire Lord Zenen had been one leaning for peace. For this proclamation to be issued was indeed surprising. The Elemental Gathering Pact would no longer hold if the Fire Nation continued to build up its armies so.
In response to the Fire's built-up armies, the Earth Kingdom had begun building up their armies as well. They had not gone so far as to take in every earthbender. Even if they had done so, the Earth's land was far too vast to be able to search for every one. No, even in just Ba Sing Sei, there were enough volunteers to build up a formidable army, benders or not.
The tension was rising fast and even the renewed and spiritual Air Nomads seemed shaken by the events. The Nomads had been reborn from the last Airbender, doubled as the Avatar, five centuries since the stop of the Fire Nation's quest for the world. While still a relatively small group, they repopulated the four Air temples and established themselves so that genocide among them would never happen again. With the tension of recent events, the Air's had begun shifting. Barriers had been built, extending from the mountains upon which they lay so that none could cross, even the versatile tanks of the Fire Nation. Only traders and ambassadors had been allowed to enter their domains, guarded by more skilled airbenders at all times. The Air's were cautious with good reason.
Even, Hirin had taken precautions. An increase of guards at the wall. A curfew now initiated at night. The tension was rising and Katara feared it would burst soon. A small skirmish between villagers to an assassination of a high place officer could set the war in motion. Only, it would not be so lopsided, with the Fire Nation taking over. Rather, all nations would be at their best with not one overpowering the other. It would be a bloody, seemingly never-ending war. Perhaps even the new avatar, this Sibus of the North would not be able to stop it.
Katara shivered at the thought. A war an Avatar could not stop. The Avatar, the peacekeeper of the nations, the bringer of prosperity and calm, the bridge between the real and spirit worlds. If he could not stop it…
"Katara, you know better than to come up here without your fur overcoat."
Katara looked up to see the smiling, reassuring figure that was her father. Her father, Idin, put his arms around her, holding her close. Katara smiled. Although he was holding her for the wrong reason, it was still comforting to know someone loved and protected her. His sparkling blue eyes met her own as he looked down on her.
"How did you know I was here?"
"Please, Katara. I know you better than you know yourself. You're my daughter."
"Or…you've been following me…," Katara said, looking at her father skeptically.
Idin winced and tugged at his coat. "Do you really not trust me?...Teenagers…"
"Dad…"
"Ok, ok…I was following you. But that's only because you've just looked scared these past few days and I was worried. What's been on your mind?"
Katara looked deeply into her father's eyes. The exact shade of blue as hers.
"It's just all this…tension between the nations. I suppose it's getting to me. I'm afraid dad. I'm afraid a war between all the nations is about to start and the ocean protect and shelter us when it does."
Idin patted Katara on the back to comfort her. His dark, brown hair was tied into a ponytail and whipped in the wind against his back
"Katara, don't worry. I'm sure the nations will not go to war. The Fire Nation doesn't want another incident like the fall of Fire Lord Ozai those five hundred years past. The Earth Kingdom has its hands full just keeping its nation in order due to its vast size and the Air Nomads would never go to war. As for us, well…," Idin chuckled, "let's just say if any of the other Council members decided to declare for war, they'd get a personal badgering from me. The pact will hold."
Katara smiled, pressing into Idin's coat. She hoped he was right.
"And there's also the Avatar, Katara. I forgot to tell you this morning. He's coming to Hirin sometime next week. I'm sure Sibus will straighten things out with the nations. He has to, he's the Avatar."
Katara gaped. The Avatar? Coming here? She had only seen the Avatar twice before. Once when she was barely old enough to remember and once when she was six years of age. Nine years had passed since that last visit. Suddenly, Katara realized what her father was wearing. He wore the ceremonial robes of the Council.
Idin noticed the slight widening of his daughter's eyes. "We're having a meeting soon. We've called in all the ambassadors we've sent to each nation. It'll be a gathering like that of nine years ago when the Avatar last came."
Katara nodded. It was Water Tribe custom to wear ceremonial robes to each official gather of all delegates of the Council including ambassadors.
"The last ambassador should be arriving shortly from the Northern Tribe. We are to discuss recent events and then how to confront the Avatar while he tells of his news and intake on the events," Idin said.
Katara frowned and worry plastered over her face. Idin shook his head.
"I told you not to worry, Katara. Honestly, you act like your mother so much sometimes. Now come, you have a waterbending lesson soon from Master Shida and you know how he dislikes pupils who are late."
Idin turned swiftly and began to walk to the stairs leading down from the wall. It was Katara's turn to wince. The last time she had been late to Master Shida's waterbending lesson had left her walking back home with every inch of her covered in frozen fish droppings. To "make her wish she was a fish dropping the next time she was late" he had said. Katara shivered again and looked back at the frozen artic and then at the horizon where the unfrozen water lay. The sea. She could feel every wave using the sense of a waterbender. The tides were shifting. A storm was coming.
Prologue complete. Reviews anyone? It'd help my writing a lot.
