Update: Here's Book 1, Chapter 1: The boy in the iceberg. I used Katara's perspective again, using first person. I had to go out of state for work and I need some rest, but I'll continue the story tomorrow! Thanks again and stay tuned!

--

Ever since my mother died, I don't think I've ever felt like a girl. I look at my Gran-Gran and she looks at me and I have a feeling she suspects I feel older than she does. I don't know much, my water bending is enough to perform a couple tricks for the younger kids in the water tribe. Maybe enough to make chores a bit easier. But nothing special.

I've always respected my brother, Sokka, for being a soldier and protector of our tribe, our family, before he became a man. Most of the time he's an idiot, but it's not like any of us know what we're doing. We're just glad to get by everyday. I might sound like a cynic, but inside, I know something is going to happen. I refuse to believe that there's nothing out there.

We were foraging for food among the icebergs, hoping to catch some of the striped seals. Sokka is trying to teach me how to catch a fish. I'm trying hard not to snort, he may be two years older chronologically but he's two years younger in mental aptitude. I know, I'm grumpy today but can you imagine the disappointment in the faces of everyone when we come back without any food? To forgo that, I'm willing to forgo a week of food.

Sokka leans in and tells me, "It's not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish." I'm trying to catch a fish myself, my way. It's worth a shot. I remove my glove and reach my hand out. It's hard to describe what waterbending is, it's like you're touching the water even though physically there's something in between you, like the air. It's like the water is connected to the nerve synapses in your brain. It's like your body is the water and the water is you and you don't understand why everyone else isn't like this. I breathe in and I try to take a ball of water out of the ocean with my bending. It's still a difficult task for me, using all of my concentration to bend the water, bending it to my will. Even controlling it with the finest muscles I didn't even know existed before, like the fine muscles in my forehead, is a constant frustration. Suddenly, I feel contact with the water and I manage to pull out a ball of water with a fish! I'm elated and I tell Sokka to look at what I've done.

He just shushes me, "Shh, Katara, you're gonna scare it away. Mmm, I can already smell it cookin'!" Oh, great, all he can think of is food. Sometimes I wonder if he'll eat me when he's forced to resort to cannibalism. This is disgusting, my own thoughts disgust me, and I'm starting to lose control of the water. I want my brother to see my accomplishment, so I tell him, "But Sokka, I caught one!" It's getting wobbly and I equate the feeling to running down a hill and knowing you're about to fall, but you only have two choices: to keep on running and gain momentum or to give up and fall down. The water ball floats closer to Sokka and he raises his spear to pierce a fish, but he strikes too far up. Dolt. The ball is burst and the fish escapes its doom in Sokka's stomach. Maybe like the reverse Jonah and the whale? Sokka gets wet and it's bust.

"Hey!," I exclaim.

"Ugh, why is it that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?"

Oh, of course, now it's my fault. It's not magic. It's waterbending, and it's—

"Yeah, yeah. An ancient art unique to our culture, blah blah blah. Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself."

Look at him! He looks down on me. He's not even listening to me me, he's just looking at himself in the water, a regular Narcissus. If only magic was real. "You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water."

TO BE CONTINUED SOON! I will complete the story tomorrow.