Chapter 2:
His name was Aang, they had learned that much. And he supposedly had a flying bison and a strange obsession with penguins. And on the ride back on the "flying bison" Appa, Kana automatically knew that the kid had something for Katara. Whether she was being nice and pretending not to notice it or was actually completely oblivious was unknown at the moment. So they had traveled off of the ice block for a few hours mostly in silence after Aang had fallen asleep and Appa continued to swim through the waters. Now the two girls had set Aang down in a tent adjacent to their own. Once they were sure he was still asleep they had traveled to their shared tent.
"Well what do you think?" Katara asked Kana quietly as they put the lights out. Sokka had gone to explain earlier to Katara's gran why they had been so late when getting home. The two could now hear his snores coming from a few tents over.
"I'm not sure Katara, I mean he's just an innocent kid who has lost his whole people and froze himself in an giant ball of ice. By the way who freezes themselves in a ice ball to survive? Maybe he's not too bright." Kana laughed as Katara threw a pillow at her. "Well I'm just saying..."
"You're hilarious Kana, but I mean seriously, do you think he knows he is the last air bender in the world." The young girl's eyes grew solemn at the thought and even Kana felt bad for him.
" I'm not sure Katara, he seems so happy, you'd almost have to think he doesn't." Kana sighed as she pulled her hair out of it's usual high ponytail. She then slipped on her heavy coat and boots before opening up the flap of the tent. The full moon shown as brightly as ever tonight.
"Whatever you do Katara, it can wait until morning. Get some rest and then tomorrow we can introduce him to the village." Kana turned o see Katara snuggling in the sleeping bag on the far side of the tent.
"You going out again then?" she asked quietly looking at her. Kana smiled and nodded. The night was young and she could feel the pull of the water from here. She desperately wanted to go out and practice her bending.
"Yeah you know me, I love long walked at night in the middle of the this ice block." she said jokingly while Katara laughed as well. She then pushed the flap back completely and went out. "I'll be back before morning I promise." was the last thing she said before taking off into the night.
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With her abilities, Kana was miles from the village on the broken pieces of ice within the hour. This way she knew there was no chance of a random villager spotting her practicing, after all, the entire South pole was supposed to be extinct of their water benders. If anyone was to discover her it would only mean trouble for her and possibly Katara. The only reason Katara was safe was because she couldn't even do the most basic moves of water bending, so she would be no threat to the enemy.
As always Kana started with simply breathing along with the rhythm of the waves hitting against her block of ice. They were faster than usual and Kana summed that up to perhaps a storm was coming soon. She would warn the village of this when she returned. Right now was Kana time and the sky was clear so the weather wouldn't turn bad until at least mid-afternoon.
After her breathing Kana started to get into the more difficult techniques. Her favorite to practice was creating a waterfall in the middle of the ocean. The sound of the roaring water always soothed her, though it at frightened her when she was younger. She calmly looked at a giant iceberg twenty feet away and after a few moves she had created a running waterfall flowing out of it.
Kana now focused on creating a small whirlpool next to her block of ice. Once she had created it she grabbed her pack on her back and collected the few good sized fish stuck in it. "Sorry guys..." she whispered as she pulled them out of the water and set the sack on the ground. This way she could contribute to her villages needs, which made her feel more a part of the South Pole.
Kana had been out on the ice for a few hours now and had gone through any techniques she had been rusty on. After water bending her sack dry she turned to start freezing the water to and ice path only to freeze up herself. The waves had become much more violent then when she had started. Moving her head ever so slightly she turned to see, fully illuminated by the full moon, a fire nation ship no more than one hundred feet away. Immediately she knew that the moon was illuminating her completely as well, for on the deck a soldier with a scar on his face was staring directly at her, trapping her in the middle of nowhere.
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Zuko had seen her before she had noticed them. It was kind of hard to miss her standing in the middle of nothing but white. When she had seen his ship though he watched as her face turned to complete look of terror. This brought pride to him, knowing that his mighty vessel was still sending the same fear as a whole fleet. He called up to the helmsman to slow the ship down until it had stopped completely. He did it without any questions and the young prince felt the slow jolt of the engines stopping. His uncle didn't need to help him with this, and knowing his uncle he was probably still sleeping even with the slight jolt of the ship.
Zuko looked to see that the girl was now staring up at him, the ice block she was on was perfectly aligned with the side of the ship, the terror in her eyes more evident now but determination had also started to flicker in them too. He smirked to himself as he realized she was trying to be brave. Quickly he grabbed a ladder and climbed down until she was eye level with him and he merely walked across the ice toward her.
"Hello there," he said with a Prince's authority in his voice. "Who are you?"
Her head tilted to the side as she studied him, most of the fear was now gone. She then started to walk toward him, which surprised Zuko, since most people didn't walk up to a fire nation citizen. She stopped merely inches away from him, with the same quizzical look on her face as she stare right into his eyes.
"Yes what is it?" he asked impatiently. "I asked you a question and I demand an answer right now." her eyes widened as if she had just come to a realization before all her features turned dark.
"I don't take orders from a banished and scarred prince."
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Kana had barely any time to react. As soon as the words had left her mouth a fireball came flying towards her head. Without thinking she dropped her pack and created a wave of water in front of her for protection. Both attack and defense disappeared upon collision leaving the fear creeping back up on her as his surprised face became clearer as through the steam.
"You-you're a water bender..." he said quietly as she started backing up. This was not good. She knew his name was prince Zuko just because of his description from the rumors she had heard throughout the world. She also knew what had happened to him from those same rumors. So why her big mouth and temper had gotten the best of her had now probably doomed her for life.
"And what would be your point?" she asked trying to remain calm.
"Everyone said that in the last few raids all the Waterbenders were taken into custody and put in prison from the South Pole. There are supposed to be none left down here." he replied taking a step toward her.
"Well I'm not from down here, I'm from the north. I came down here to help my... Sister and brother who left with my grandmother years ago..." she sputtered out a lie quickly. 'and I do consider Katara and Sokka family so is it really a lie?' she thought to herself.
"Are there anymore of your kind down here?" Zuko asked with no trace of surprise left in his voice. Kana quickly shook her head.
"What do you want down here anyway? Even for a banished Prince the South Pole is not a normal place to come to." She asked quietly praying that he wouldn't attack her again. Instead he just glared at her through his one good eye.
"I'm searching for the Avatar, so I can restore my honor. I'm surprised you didn't know that seeing as you know everything else about me. And yet I still have yet to learn your name." he took another step forward and suddenly grabbed her arm roughly. She fought back a scream only to look at his eyes again, the fear taking complete control.
"Kana...my name's Kana." she shivered a little under his intense stare and he smiled at her reaction. He was actually enjoying this! "So what's this about the Avatar? Everyone knows he disappeared all those years ago."
"That is true but I just saw earlier a great beam of light coming from that direction..." he jutted his chin behind Kana, " And that beam came from a very powerful source. They say that the Avatar is to be the Last Airbender. You don't happen to know any airbenders now do you Kana?" he asked as his grip tightened. Kana quickly shook her head and his smirk faltered a little before he shrugged.
"Fine by me, but still I'm afraid we must take you prisoner, seeing as you are an enemy of the Fire nation." he went to drag her back to the ladder only for her to use her one free hand to cause a wave to come and knock his hand away.
"Yeah right!" she screamed before diving into the water and bending herself away from the ship. Zuko glared at her fading form before turning and climbing back up onto the ship.
"Should we go after her sir?" a soldier asked him as he walked back on deck.
"That will not be necessary. She is obviously lying about knowing the Avatar and most likely has gone to warn her village and him about our arrival. Let's make sure we get there first. That way we can return her pack that she forgot." the young prince smiled as he looked down at the Waterbenders pack.
Several hundred yards away kana was hiding behind an iceberg until she saw the ship start again and continue it's path toward her home. The sun was starting to rise and she knew she had a limited time until they reached their destination and possibly attacked it. She also knew that now she was not alone in the Avatar cycle, for he had said the last Airbender not waterbender. This could only mean one thing.
There were two Avatars, the second being Aang, who was now in big trouble. She was going to have to help him seeing as she was his next life...even though he was several years younger than she was.
What kind of screwed up cycle was this?
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Ok so yes it took me forever to update...sorry about that I just lost motivation. Well anyway hope you guys enjoy it and I would really love it if you pushed that little button and left a review telling me what you think. Thank you and I promise next update will be faster as long as I get reviews.
