I know I said I'd post more towards the end of the month, but I couldn't resist posting the next chapter. I've had it sitting on my flashdrive for almost a month now. I had to put it up to be seen. Please bear with me on the fact that I will have little dialogue matching the episode(s) this happens. I was unable to watch the first two episodes at the time I wrote this. It still turned out pretty decent, though, because I found out what happened. Anyway, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA or any of the characters. I only own Kala and any random OCs that are thrown in.


It had been two and a half years since then and I was sixteen years old. Zuko was fifteen. We had had no luck finding any trace of an Avatar, if one existed. I still believed it was all a myth, that he'd merely been sent on this hunt in the hopes that he would perish in search. It was something I expected the Fire Lord to do. I'd always resented Ozai, and would only use his title when in the Fire Nation. Otherwise, his name was a foul word to me. He'd been the one who ordered the Southern Water Tribe be attacked. The only grace he'd given was in making me Zuko's servant. Of course, now that we weren't in the Fire Nation anymore, I was technically free. I could have left if I wanted, but I preferred to stay with Prince Zuko and General Iroh.

Zuko had learned of my Waterbending early on. Needless to say, he was surprised, but didn't appear to think much of the knowledge. If anything, it made me able to help him train himself. Being on a ship through much of our searching, I was able to practice with my Waterbending, teaching myself a few simple maneuvers. I was currently standing on the deck of Zuko's warship, bending a bit of water I'd gathered from the many snowdrifts surrounding us. We were headed to the South Pole, my old home. Needless to say, I was wearing a heavy coat over my clothes. I could not for the life of me understand how Zuko and his guards were able to keep warm with only their armor. Must have been a Firebender thing. Zuko had seen a strange beam of light and tried to find the source, thinking it may have been from the Avatar. Nothing came up and we were back where we had started. Suddenly, a loud explosion could be heard and I jumped, dropping the water I had been bending. Zuko pulled out his telescope and I saw him smirk. He had seen something he liked. He quickly gave an order to his guards.

"Zuko, what did you see?" I asked, walking to stand beside him.

"I found something that may lead me to the Avatar. We're going down to a Water Tribe village," he answered and my eyes widened. I shook my head slowly and looked out at the icy sea.

"I can't go into the village with you."

"You won't need to. I can handle this."

"I know you can."

Soon, we landed in front of the Southern Water Tribe's village and Zuko exited the ship with his soldiers. I returned to my room aboard the ship, unwilling to go down. I couldn't bring myself to go to the place I called home when I was a small child. When I was young, I'd dreamed of returning. Now, I only wished to avoid it. It would only cause trouble if I went down. Besides, as Zuko had said, it wasn't necessary for me to join him on the snow-laden ground. He'd entered my room to tell me the news.

"The Avatar surrendered and is being locked up now. I can finally return home," he told me.

Though Zuko rarely smiled anymore, I could see the happiness in his eyes. It was a look I hadn't seen in years. I smiled softly and gave my congratulations. It seemed as though there was only one Avatar after all, and the Fire Lord's notion of 'two halves to the same whole' had been incorrect. I hated the idea of killing the Avatar, whoever he may be, but I knew how much this meant to Zuko. The Prince left, presumably to his own quarters, and I lay down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling.

I began drifting off to sleep, only to have an alarm sound. I jumped out of bed, my heart racing and ran into the hallway to see what was happening. In a second, someone flew past me and I could see a boy who appeared to be younger than me by a few years. His head was bald and he wore the pale yellow and orange said to be from the Air Nomads. That was impossible, though. The Air Nomads had been extinct for a hundred years. As this boy passed by me, he glanced back and I stared into his deep brown eyes. In an instant, it felt as though a shockwave passed through me. I gasped and stumbled backwards, unable to do anything else. The boy disappeared behind the corner and I could only stare after him in shock. I was unsure what had happened to me in that instant, but I clutched my hand over my heart, trembling. Who was that boy? Why did I feel this strange connection to him? And what was this name that kept passing through my mind: Aang? When I could finally move again, I followed the sounds of fighting up to the main deck. I'd arrived just in time to see the bald boy fall over the edge of the ship and into the frigid water below. I ran to the side of the ship and looked over, trying to see what had happened to the boy.

Suddenly, light began pouring from the sea, where I had seen him fall. I was struck by that strange sensation again and gripped the railing tightly. My whole body shook, though not from the freezing air around me. I suddenly felt very weak and my legs felt as though they would buckle underneath me at any moment. The boy rose from the sea, a whirling column of water forcing him upward. He seemed to be bending it. Perhaps this boy truly was the Avatar that Prince Zuko had been searching for. The Avatar sent a wave of water at the ship, knocking everyone on it back. The water felt like a thousand needles being driven into my body. It was so cold. The air was taken from my lungs in a second and I could only count myself as fortunate when the wave finished passing over the ship. The bald boy fell onto the deck, clearly exhausted. I still felt weak and tried to force my body to stand.

Once on shaky legs again, I could see another boy, one from the Water Tribe with a warrior's wolf tail in his hair, push Prince Zuko down, where he'd been trying to get back on the ship. As the soldiers aboard the ship advanced on the Avatar, I ran over to where Zuko was, my knees threatening to give out at any moment. He was barely hanging onto the chain to the anchor. I reached down to try and use my Waterbending to help him, but my body began trembling once more. I could hear a girl yelling and glanced behind me to see a Water Tribe girl. She was Waterbending and freezing the soldiers in their tracks onboard the ship. I could only stare in shock as I watched her work. She was a Waterbender, just like I was, and she was from the Southern Water Tribe. Both of them seemed vaguely familiar to me, but I couldn't place how I'd known them. It was obviously from my childhood, but I didn't remember who they were.

The girl and two boys quickly boarded what looked to be a Flying Bison and began flying away. I had thought those were extinct as well! General Iroh came on-deck just as they were leaving. He helped me to pull Prince Zuko back onto the ship. I stepped back as the two of them launched a combined fire blast in an attempt to shoot the Avatar out of the sky. The boy used an air blast of his own to knock the fire ball into a wall of ice next to our ship. An avalanche resulted, covering the front half of the ship with snow and allowing the Avatar to escape. As they began leaving our sight, I could slowly feel my strength returning to me.

"Follow the Avatar!" Zuko yelled, ordering his crew. Glancing around the ship, I could only see the soldiers who were frozen, and the few that were trying to thaw them.

"That may have to wait, Prince Zuko," I answered quietly before bending some of the snow off of the deck.

Zuko growled in anger and punched the air, sending flames shooting from his hand and melting much of the remaining snow. I shook my head slowly, only to feel that my hair was stiff as it hit my face and back. Looking at a few strands, I could see the ice crystals that had formed in my hair and I realized that I had forgotten to wear my coat when I'd gone back on-deck. A shudder rippled through me and I wrapped my arms around myself.

"You should go back inside, Kala," General Iroh said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"So should you and Prince Zuko," I answered. Grabbing both of them by the arm, I led them inside the ship, where it would be much warmer. Less than an hour later, I had both of them in Zuko's room with blankets over their shoulders and hot tea being prepared.

"This is unnecessary," Zuko said, his temper beginning to flare again. I shook my head with a chuckle and poured the tea for both of them, as well as a cup for myself. After handing them their drinks, I took a sip of my own.

"You aren't a penguin-otter, Prince Zuko. You can't handle the weather like this. You'll catch a cold or possibly something worse."

"She's right, Prince Zuko. You can only face the Avatar if your health is at its best," General Iroh said, taking a sip from his ginseng tea. It was his favorite, as I well knew.

"We're going to lose track of the Avatar if we don't keep on his trail," Zuko protested.

"We will find him again. Don't worry."

I nodded, keeping my thoughts of the Avatar to myself. I knew we'd find him again, but I was unsure if Zuko would be able to capture him again. After the Waterbending display he'd shown earlier that day, it was clear to see defeating the Avatar would be difficult. I was still curious as to how I'd been drained of my energy before, yet perfectly fine now, as though nothing had happened. Perhaps it was just another mystery to solve about the Avatar.


Yeah, some fun stuff. lol. Please R&R.