Avatar: The Legend of Aang-Chapter 1-The Boy In The Iceberg
AN: I don't own any of this stuff... yet...
40 years later...
A 16-year-old boy adjusted his light blue tunic and stared nervously into the mirror in front of him. He cleared his throat.
"Ahem... Umm... Good morning, Kanna. I suppose your family has told you about... Umm... Our engagement? So... umm, in light of that, I made you an engagement necklace...?"
Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe frowned and shook his head. "No, no, no, no! Aargh! How do I do this?" Taking a deep breath, he stared determinedly into the mirror.
"Good morning, Kanna. How are you? ...I'm well, thank you. ...You know, Kanna, we've both turned 16 recently, and I'm sure you know about our families making, ummm... arrangements for us... So I made you this engagement necklace!" He finished quickly, smiling widely.
"Pakku! Hurry up! You don't have all day!" His father boomed from the next room.
Pakku shrugged. "I guess that's good enough..." He pulled on his coat, boots, and gloves, and ran out of the house in search of his future wife.
Kanna was at least three miles away from the village when she heard the sound of boots behind her.
"Kanna!" Oh, great. It was Pakku. She quickened her step and pretended not to have heard him.
"Kanna! Wait! Wh... where are you go... going?" He was getting tired. Good. Hopefully he'd turn back soon.
"Kanna? It's me, Pakku! Wa...wait! Ka...kanna!" He sounded so pathetic that Kanna almost pitied him. Almost.
But she kept walking. Nothing was going to stop her today, especially not him. And with luck, he'd stop following her soon and she could leave for the South Pole in peace.
"Kanna... please... wait... I have... something... for you..." Pakku wheezed, still sprinting after his soon-to-be fiance.
She was getting increasingly frustrated with him. If he didn't give up soon, she'd have to take matters into her own hands.
"Go away... Please go away..." She muttered through gritted teeth.
"Kaaaaannnaaaa!"
Scowling, she whirled around to face her pursuer. "Will you leave me alone for once!" Turning her back on the boy, she took off running.
Pakku sped up. Kanna was not going to get away from him today.
To Kanna, it seemed like she had been running forever, and she wasn't getting anywhere. The landscape had barely seemed to change. And to make matters worse, Pakku was still following her.
To Pakku, it seemed like he had been running forever, and Kanna was still as far away as before. On a normal day, he might have given up. But today, he had an engagement necklace in his coat pocket, and by the spirits, he was going to give it to Kanna today. Vaguely, he wondered where exactly she was going, and why...
And then he crashed into her.
The two Water Tribe teens skidded across the ice and toppled down in a heap.
"Ugh! Pakku, would you watch where you're going?" Kanna snapped as she struggled to her feet.
"I was watching! But then you decided to stop all of a sudden!" Pakku whined, brushing himself off.
"You'd stop, too, if you saw a giant iceberg in your way." Kanna replied, pointing to said chunk of ice.
Pakku gaped at the thing. It was without a doubt the strangest iceberg he had ever seen. It was smooth and rounded, and there seemed to be something in the center.
Or someone.
Kanna's jaw dropped. "Spirits! There's a boy in there! Pakku, we have to get him out!"
A lightbulb went off in Pakku's head. (Or it would have, if the Northern Water Tribe had knowledge of things like lightbulbs.) He sensed an opportunity to impress Kanna and get back on her good side, and perhaps an opening to present the necklace...
"Alright, I'll try... Since you asked me, Kanna." He said, flashing the girl his most dazzling smile. As he turned his attention to the iceberg, Kanna rolled her eyes.
Pakku let out a battle cry. A small crack appeared in the iceberg. Kanna raised an eyebrow.
"And here I thought you were a powerful waterbender."
Pakku frowned. "I am! That was just my first wave. Stand back, I'm about to break this thing open."
Two more attacks later, the iceberg finally started to split open.
"Um, Kanna? I think maybe we should get a little further back..." Pakku said quietly.
Kanna took off running. Pakku once again found himself literally chasing after his love.
Once at a safe distance, the two gaped back at the remains of the iceberg. There was a large crater in the center of the debris, and there appeared to be a large furry creature in said crater. The boy was nowhere to be seen, but Pakku assumed that he was to be found in the crater as well
"Come on!" And Kanna took off running again. Sighing, Pakku followed at a slightly slower pace.
Sure enough, there was a boy lying unconscious in the ice crater. He was wearing strange clothes, Pakku noted, and had odd tattoos.
The boy groaned, and his eyelids fluttered. Kanna gasped and knelt beside him.
"Oh, I hope he's okay... Wake up, wake up..." Kanna said, tenderly putting a gloved hand on the boy's tattooed brow.
Pakku briefly wondered why Kanna had never given him this much attention.
The boy's eyes blinked open slowly, resting on Kanna's worried face. He opened his mouth to speak.
"Where...am...I?"
Pakku knelt down beside Kanna. "You're in the North Pole. I'm Pakku. This is Kanna. What's your name?" He asked with a comforting smile.
The boy sat up to face the two Water Tribe teens. "I'm Aang. This is Appa!" He said, indicating the large mound of fur behind him. "He's my flying bison. Could you give us directions to Kyoshi Island, please?"
Kanna giggled. "A flying bison? And I suppose you fly, too."
Aang smiled back at her, seemingly unaware of Kanna's sarcasm. "Actually, I do!" He scrambled to his feet and hurried over to Appa, with Pakku and Kanna following suit.
He retrieved a strange-looking staff from Appa's saddle, which unfurled into a glider. Grinning at his new friends, he took off running. With one leap, he was airborne. Kanna quickly took off after him, with Pakku again following suit.
"I've been doing waaaay too much running today..." Pakku grumbled as he raced after his intended and the strange newcomer.
AN: Reviews are love. Flames will be used to help defrost Appa.
