Frozen Flowers
An ATLA fanfiction
Obligatory Disclaimer: You know the drill. I own nothing. Just the idea.
Written for the order of the lotus fic exchange. My recipient was lunatique.
I.
Kanna can't take her eyes off of him. He's amazing to watch, with the way he commands water. He's so young, so handsome, and is one of the tribe's most promising benders. All the girls jostle to watch him practice, giggling sighing and whispering among themselves, talking about what a fine husband he would make.
However, he does not look at them.
He has eyes only for her.
They are to be married.
II.
She is twenty, four years past marrying age. It is not that she is undesirable by any means, and others whisper that the lovely young woman has been holding herself back. They shake their heads over her unusually indulgent father, who seems content to allow her to choose her own husband. Many men have asked for her hand in marriage, offering generous dowries and beautifully carved necklaces-some carved by hand, others by the intricate skill of benders, only for her to turn every single one of them away.
To the surprise of many Pakku, who is far above her station, offers his hand in marriage. He comes from one of the most powerful and prestigious families in the Tribe.
She, of course, readily accepts, with a giggle and a blush.
III.
It's like a game for Kanna, her taking her favorite bear skin cloak and going to meet her lover, her heart pounding furiously in her chest. It's exciting and secret and forbidden and she feels a little thrill when she goes to meet him. They steal away to their secret spot and together they discover each others bodies and lose themselves in one another. Their wedding is months away, and to them, it's far too long to wait. They are young and in love and they will give no regard to consequences.
IV.
Her moon blood does not come.
She gives little thought to it, thinking that it's late, or her body's rhythm is a little off. She's been told by the tribe's healers that can happen.
However, when it doesn't come during the second month, and she begins being sick in the mornings, a terrible, sneaking suspicion creeps into her, becoming cold, hard, dreadful knot in her stomach.
She goes to her friend Yugoda to confirm it.
Pregnant.
She is unmarried, and she is pregnant with Pakku's child.
She has brought shame on her family. Her parents don't know, but she knows that they'll figure it out in a few months when her belly begins to swell.
And then she and her baby will be outcasts, dishonored and disgraced.
Placing a hand on her abdomen, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
She knows what she must do. She has no other choice.
Though her expression is resolute, her heart is shattering.
V.
She steals away in the night, taking a few possessions with her, smuggling onto the boats that are leaving for the South, to start a new life elsewhere, one that is free from the strict rules of this tribe. She has left a letter saying her good byes to her parents, not telling them of the child she carries.
She will not get to say goodbye to Pakku, and the thought is like a blade slicing into her soul.
She touches the blue choker at her throat.
It will be one of only two mementos she has left of him, she thinks as she places a hand on her not yet swollen stomach out of habit, and the shame burns deep inside her.
VI.
When he finds Kanna gone, something deep inside him breaks.
He doesn't understand. What made her leave him?
He is stung by her betrayal. Whispers, rumors, and speculation arise. She has left with the other malcontents to start a new tribe elsewhere.
He feels his heart turn to ice.
He throws himself into the mastery of his art, taking on promising young students and teaching them how to wield water whips, freeze the blood of Fire Nation soldiers or run ice spikes through their ships.
He vows that he will never love again.
VIII.
They sail for months, and Kanna's condition becomes more apparent to the others. She tells them that her fisherman husband went away to sea, and never returned, likely the victim of the Fire Nation Navy. She is a widow, and she left so that she could raise their child with peace, far away from the war, so that he may never know horror and bloodshed.
The lie feels like the most natural thing in the world to her.
Her son is born on the ship.
When she holds him in her arms, she names him Hakoda, whispering it in his ear as he cries and fusses, balling his hands into tiny fists.
IX.
At long last, they arrive at their destination. Hakoda is teething, and has started on solid foods. He's a healthy, hardy child, and he watches in awe and delighted wonderment as the benders of the tribe begin sculpting a city out of the mighty glaciers that dominate the land, turning a bleak, desolate, spirits-forsaken place into a magnificent palace of ice.
This place, the leaders vow, will be a place of equality, where men and women alike can learn the bending combat arts, and will no longer be confined to the healing huts.
Although she herself was not born a bender, Kanna can't help but smile. Here, she is not judged. Here, she and her son are accepted. She is free of the rules and strict traditions of her home tribe.
Still, she is melancholy that Pakku will never get to know his son. She finds a good, loving husband who accepts and treats her son as his own.
As the walls are erected around her, she feels a sense of safety. It seems like nothing can penetrate them. The war will not be able to touch them here.
As Hakoda babbles and wiggles in her arms, she doesn't realize how wrong she is.
X.
One by one they come.
The first sign is the falling snow turning black from the soot.
They take away the benders, dragging them away in nets like struggling animals.
They remind Kanna of trapped seals, and the thought makes her ill.
She should have known better. Their numbers could never match the strength of their home tribe.
Hakoda wails, unable to comprehend, and she does her best to soothe him, and shield him.
She bears witness as the city slowly crumbles and falls to ruin, without the benders to maintain its upkeep.
XI.
When the last bender is gone, a girl named Hama, finally, there is peace.
However, it has come at terrible cost.
Their numbers have been left severely depleted. Many good warriors died in trying to fight off the Fire Nation's forces, only leaving a quarter of their original number.
However, they pull together and make do with what they have. Eventually, where once stood a beautiful, glittering city there are now only a few scattered settlements that are little more than a collection of seal skin huts and igloos.
If there is one thing that the Water Tribe people know how to do, it's survive, adapt, and pull through even the worst of situations.
XII.
The seasons change, and the years pass. There is joy and sorrow. Hakoda passes through boyhood into manhood. He becomes strong and kind and level-headed. He marries Kaya, and ties Kanna's betrothal necklace about her neck. Eventually, there is grandchildren, and Kanna dotes on them. Her husband passes away peacefully in his sleep, and she is left a widow. Kya is murdered by the Fire Nation, and Katara is forced to become an adult nearly overnight, her childhood ending in the blink of an eye.
Before the funeral, the necklace is passed to her.
Sokka and Katara make an extraordinary discovery in the form of the last of the Airbenders. Aang is a cheerful child who has laid dormant beneath the ocean all this time, like a seed of hope waiting for discovery.
Hope.
That is something her weary heart has not had in a long time.
Far too long.
XIII.
With her grandchildren guiding the young Avatar on his journey and her son away on the front lines of the war Kanna is left alone. All she can do is pray to the spirits Tui and La for their safety, that her family will come back whole.
She thinks often about Pakku, her long ago first love.
Though she loved her husband well, she wishes that it was him that she'd grown old with instead.
XIV.
Fall is coming, and she and the others must prepare for the harsh winter ahead. She mends holes in tents, smokes fish, and tans new hides.
Someone shouts that there are ships on the horizon.
Fire Nation ships?
No. Water Tribe ships.
Her heart skips a beat when she sees who stands at the helm of the lead ship.
He is old, he is weathered, and he has grown bald, but she knows who it is.
Pakku.
XV.
He drops down on bended knee and presents her with a new betrothal necklace, asking for her hand in marriage.
Without hesitation, she readily accepts.
FIN.
A/N: I've got to be honest. I hate this fic. Hate it, hate it. It's a disaster, I know. I wrote it for a deadline, and argh. It did not turn out the way I had hoped it would. But I'm posting it here because, why not? Review if you're so inclined to do so. But I don't think I'm ever going to attempt Pakku/Kanna ever again. Please no constructive criticism, because I already know it wasn't very good. It's just one of those fics that I'm unsatisfied with. I just had to get that off my chest. I had a much better idea in my head for this rather than what became the final product. Oh, well.