Chapter One

The Girl in the Iceberg

" When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: admit it, learn from it, and don't repeat it. "

- Paul Bear Bryant

It was a calm morning at the South Pole. The summer had brought in many fish from warmer waters, providing the Southern Water Tribe with plenty of food to catch. They sent canoes out every day to catch as many fish as possible—they would need it in case of a freak snowstorm or a Fire Nation attack.

A pair of siblings sat in one such canoe, the boy concentrating studiously on the water, his eyes following the movements of a fish while the girl faced away from him, well-versed with her brother's routine.

"It's not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish," the boy said smugly, his spear raised and his tongue sticking out a bit.

Katara rolled her eyes disbelievingly before the fish moved in front of her and caught her eye. Slowly, she removed her glove and breathed out, concentrating on the water.

She twisted her hands gracefully and a blob of water appeared from the ocean, containing the wriggling fish inside. "Sokka, look!" Katara exclaimed with a delighted smile on her face as she manipulated the water around the fish, trying to bring it into the canoe.

Sokka shushed her irritably. "Katara, you're gonna scare it away. Mm, I can already smell it cookin'!" He licked his lips in anticipation, oblivious to his sister's attempts.

"But Sokka! I caught one!" Katara said, trying desperately to control the sphere of water. But she had manipulated the water too far—it approached Sokka just as he raised his spear and the blob exploded, drenching him completely. The fish escaped, arching over Katara and landing into the ocean with a splash.

"Ugh! Why is it that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?" Sokka asked, shaking his soaked gloves and glaring at his sister.

"It's not magic, it's waterbending and it's—" Katara began, annoyed with her brother.

Sokka cut her off, waving his hands dismissively, "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." He shrugged and turned towards the front of the canoe, wringing his ponytail to get the water out and grabbing an oar.

"You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water," Katara taunted her brother, sticking her tongue out at him when he turned back to give her an irate look.

Sokka was just about to say something when the boat bumped against a piece of ice and the siblings turned their attention towards the water. Their eyes widened when they realised that they'd floated into an icefield and both of them screamed, trying frantically to navigate through currents.

Katara yelled instructions at Sokka, but he was panicked and he did exactly the opposite of what his sister was trying to tell him. They were headed straight for a huge iceberg and each time they maneuvered the current, Katara knew that there was very little hope they'd get out of this unscathed.

Finally, after a few minutes of evading the dangerous landscape, their canoe got crushed between three floes of ice. Sokka and Katara jumped out just in time before they could meet a cold death in the middle of nowhere.

Katara scrambled to her feet and sent a resentful glare towards her brother. "You call that left?" she deadpanned.

Sokka immediately defended himself. "Hey, you don't like my steering? Well then, maybe you should have waterbended us out of the ice." He showed his obvious disdain for his sister's abilities with wiggling fingers, oblivious to her angry expression as she stood up.

"So it's my fault?" Katara asked in a deadly voice.

Sokka, as insensitive as ever, went on. "I knew I should have left you home. Leave it to a girl to screw things up," he lamented.

At this, Katara's face took on a furious expression and her mouth twitched. Suddenly, she exploded. "You are the most sexist, immature, nut-brained.." she ranted, unaware of the waves she was creating in the water by her enraged hand gestures. The huge iceberg behind them started to crack ominously, much to Sokka's dawning apprehension.

However, Katara continued, having had enough of her brother's antics. "Ugh, I'm embarrassed to be related to you! Ever since Mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!" Another crack rose up the towering ice and Sokka hid his face in his hands.

"Uh… Katara?"

"I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, not pleasant!"

"Katara! Settle down!" The iceberg had begun to groan. Not a good sign…

"No, that's it. I'm done helping you. From now on, you're on your own!" And with a final yell, Katara brought her hands back again. The iceberg cracked completely—falling apart and sending a huge wave towards the siblings' ice floe which was thrust away by several feet due to the force.

The siblings looked up as the wave calmed, still lying flat on the ice, their gloved hands clutching the edge of the ice floe. Sokka glanced at his sister disbelievingly. "Oh, okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara," he exclaimed, shaking his head.

Katara looked down at the water, frowning a bit. "You mean… I did that?"

"Yup. Congratulations," Sokka drawled.

Suddenly, the water began bubbling an eerie blue, lighting up the two faces. They stood up slowly as another, smaller iceberg erupted from the water, still emitting the glow. It bobbed on the water for a while before coming to a rest. Katara and Sokka looked at each other apprehensively before turning towards the iceberg.

There's someone in there… a girl… is she meditating? Katara stepped forward a bit. And there's someone else, too, is it? Katara could just make out the figure of a girl, emitting a strange glow and another humanoid figure beside her. Above them was a much larger silhouette, too big to be a human. Katara wondered what that could be.

Suddenly, the figure within the iceberg opened her eyes, which were glowing a strange white-blue. Katara's eyes widened.

"She's alive! We have to help." She grabbed her brother's whalebone sword before running towards the iceberg, despite Sokka's protests.

"Katara! Get back here! We don't know what that thing is!" Sokka's warnings were lost on her as she nimbly jumped towards the iceberg, a determined expression on her face.

She tried to pry open the iceberg by hitting the fragile wall. Sokka joined her, grumbling under his breath about how women spoil everything. Suddenly, the ice gave way and a huge blast of air was released. The siblings ducked, Sokka shielding Katara as a bright beam of the eerie blue light shot into the sky.

It lasted for a few seconds before it faded into the blue of the sky. Katara pulled away from Sokka, gasping as a person climbed out of the iceberg. It was a girl, as Katara had suspected, her dark brown hair pulled into a high ponytail except for a few strands tucked beneath her ears. She had tattoos resembling arrows on her hands and forehead, which were still glowing, along with her eyes.

"Stop!" Sokka shouted, pointing his spear at the glowing girl.

But the girl did not prove to be any threat to the siblings at all as she closed her eyes and fell head-first towards the siblings. Her fall was somewhat graceful, and Katara caught her head before it could hit the ground.

Sokka immediately began to poke around her with his spear, before Katara shooed him away. She gently rested the girl against the iceberg, before she heard someone's voice from inside the ice.

"Ugh… Alya? Are you there? Where are we?" The voice belonged to a young boy, a little cracked and rough from disuse. Sokka was instantly on his guard. Another shorter figure appeared on the edge of the iceberg just as the girl had and Sokka charged towards him with a battle cry, causing the figure to yelp and overbalance, falling on the ground in an undignified mess.

"Sokka, cut it out!" Katara glared at her brother, as she rushed to the boy and cradled him in her arms.

He groaned and Katara asked, "Are you okay?"

He whispered, "I will be soon, but you must tell me something." Katara raised a questioning eyebrow. "Please, come closer," he requested. Katara obliged his request, a little warily. "Will you go penguin sledding with me?" He asked, a sudden bright smile gracing his face as he leapt out of Katara's arms and stood up.

Katara looked at him as if he'd hit himself in the head. "Uh, okay, sure."

Suddenly, the unconscious girl caught his eye and he rushed over to her.

"Alya!" He exclaimed, shaking the girl's shoulder. "Alya, are you alright? Please be alright."

Alya groaned and sat up. "Aang?"

"Yeah, it's me!"

"Monkey-feathers, this is one terrible headache. How long have we been flying?"

"Uh… I don't think we were flying, Alya. These people found us in… ice?" He told questioningly, looking at the Water Tribe siblings and Katara shrugged in answer to his unspoken question.

"What? Who found us? Is it the Monks? Oh goodness, we're in so much trouble!" Alya's eyes wandered over to their saviours and she relaxed, noticing their clothes. "Oh, we reached the South Pole, then. That's something."

She got up and walked over to the opening in the ice, her brother hot on her heels, and suddenly exclaimed, "Appa, buddy, you're okay! Wake up!"

There was a huge rumble in answer and Sokka's jaw dropped as he rounded the corner and saw the spectacle happening within the iceberg. Inside the iceberg was a huge bison, getting to his feet and licking Aang with a huge tongue.

"Ah!" Sokka screamed.

Alya turned to him and blinked. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not!" He hollered, waving his arms around himself in an expansive gesture. "You have a huge—monster! And how did you get in the ice?" Sokka looked as if he was going crazy as he pointed his spear to the siblings in front of him.

"First of all, Appa's not a monster. He's our flying bison. And secondly, I don't know." Alya shrugged, turning back to face Appa.

"Right, flying bison. And this is Katara, my flying sister," Sokka deadpanned as Katara rolled her eyes.

Aang began to reply but was cut short when Appa began to sneeze. The airbenders looked at each other before ducking down to avoid the snot, and Sokka got drenched in it.

Sokka made disgusted noises as Aang earnestly informed him that it would wash out. Alya turned to Katara, who'd been silent till now and asked her with a friendly smile, "So, are you from around here? I'm guessing you are if I can tell by your clothes."

Sokka stopped writhing on the ground and said urgently, "Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy bolt of light? She was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy." Alya rolled her eyes at his paranoia.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure she's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in her eye," Katara said sarcastically, giggling as Alya made dramatic impersonations of a Fire Navy spy, pretending to be stealthy and cunning. Sokka humphed at the two girls.

"And who's the lovely guy with you, Katara?" Alya asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Oh, the paranoid one is Sokka. We never got your names, though."

"I'm Alya, and this is…"

Aang took over. "I'm A-a-a-a—" He didn't complete his statement because he sneezed and shot straight into the air.

Katara and Sokka gaped at Aang as he landed and rubbed his nose. "I'm Aang."

Sokka looked at Aang as if he'd grown a third head. "You just sneezed… and flew ten feet into the air."

Alya rubbed her chin. "Really? It seemed higher than that."

Katara gave a gasp of realisation. "You're airbenders, aren't you?"

Alya shot a charming smile towards Katara as she twirled gracefully in the air and landed next to her. "We sure are!"

Sokka scoffed derisively before getting up and turning around. "Giant light beams... flying bison... airbenders... I think I've got Midnight Sun Madness. I'm going home to where stuff makes sense."

He stopped when he saw the deserted ice field—there was no way they could go back home without a canoe.

"Well, it seems you guys are stuck. Aang and I would love to give you a ride on Appa—we were headed for the South Pole anyway." Alya offered cheerfully, smirking slightly at Sokka.

"Oh, we'd love a ride!" Katara said, before rushing towards the bison and taking Aang's hand to get into the saddle.

"Oh, no, no, no. There's no way I'm getting on that snot monster," Sokka said, sticking his nose in the air.

"Well, there are three options, like I see it. Either you get on Appa, the snot-monster, and we can go home or you wait here and get eaten by a sea-serpent or some other more unpleasant kind of monster or you freeze to death," Alya said, tapping her feet impatiently on the ice.

Sokka opened his mouth but closed it before saying anything and dragged his feet towards Appa, muttering the whole way. Aang shifted to the saddle with the Water Tribe siblings while Alya sat in the driver's seat and flicked the reins.

"Okay, first time fliers, hold on tight!" Alya exclaimed. "Appa, yip yip!"

Appa just groaned and flapped his tail, trying to take off but failed due to sheer exhaustion. He jumped a few feet in the air before landing in the water with a big splash. Alya patted his fur sympathetically, understanding his exhaustion.

"Wow, that was truly amazing," Sokka deadpanned, leaning back into the saddle.

"Appa's tired, alright?" Alya defended the bison.

"Yeah, he just needs a little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see," Aang says, making a swooping motion with his hand, his eyes fixed on Katara the entire time. Alya looked back, her eyes moving back and forth between her brother and the Water Tribe girl and smirked, thinking it was the beginning of Aang's first crush.

Katara noticed the idiotic smile on his face and asked, "Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"Huh, I was smiling?" Aang laughed nervously and Alya rolled her eyes.

This is going to be painful to watch.

Sokka apparently thought the same thing, because he groaned and threw his head back in disgust, causing Alya to snicker delightedly.

A few hours passed before anyone spoke. Katara had a contemplative expression on her face as she crawled forward and addressed the airbender siblings. "Hey, Aang, Alya?"

"Yeah?" They both asked in unison. Alya twirled in her seat to face the waterbender, her expression questioning.

"I guess I was wondering—your being an airbender and all—if you had any idea what happened to the Avatar." She asked, a genuinely curious expression on her face.

A cold shiver ran down Alya's spine. Aang looked at her concernedly, opening his mouth to reply before Alya shook her head. Let me handle this.

"We don't know, Katara. We never met him, we only knew of him. The Monks used to talk about the Avatar all the time. I don't know much about him though…. I'm sorry to disappoint you." I'm sorrier than you'll ever know.

"Oh, no it's okay, just curious," Katara said, a slightly disappointed expression on her face.

"Well, I'm going to take a nap now. Good night!" Aang chirped, a little awkwardly, before promptly falling asleep within seconds, cuddled up against one corner of the saddle. Alya sometimes swore that he had some supernatural power to fall asleep at lightning speed in any kind of uncomfortable place.

A few minutes passed in silence. Alya had turned back to guide Appa, but seeing that they were swimming in clear waters, she decided to continue the conversation with Katara. "Hey, Katara? Can I ask you something?" She nodded her head.

"Do you know anyone called Sobrek from your tribe?" Sobrek was a traitor, a murderer! The monk's words echoed in Alya's ears.

"Sobrek? No. Why do you ask?"

"Oh… he was just someone I knew… or at least I was supposed to." Suddenly a thought struck her. "Do you know Kanna? She must be about your age. Looks a lot like you, actually." Alya frowned. She'd been to the South Pole loads of times but she'd never seen Katara or Sokka, now that she thought of it.

"Alya, Kanna is the name of my grandmother," Katara said slowly. "There's no one else named Kanna in our tribe."

Alya's insides froze with shock. "Your… grandmother," she said weakly.

"Uh-huh. Do you—do you know how long you were in that iceberg?" Katara asked.

Alya shook her head. "Maybe a few days? Hours? It certainly didn't feel more than a week, at least."

"Alya… I think it was more like a hundred years," Katara said gently as she placed a hand on Alya's arm.

A hundred years.

"Has the war stopped?" She asked, faintly, hoping the answer was positive. She couldn't bear the guilt if it weren't. The war had just begun during Alya's time. Surely, the combined forces of the Earth Kingdom would've been enough to stop the Fire Nation fairly quickly, right?

"No, Alya. It has been raging on for a hundred years now. And the way things are… the Fire Nation is probably going to win."

The war has been going on for a hundred years. I could've stopped it if I hadn't run away… Oh, what have I done?!

Alya shivered as she stepped out into the frigid air, feeling the loss of her warm blanket as she did so. They'd travelled on Appa for hours, and had finally landed in a tiny silent village in the wee hours of the morning. Katara had suggested that they get some rest before they met the villagers and the village elder—her grandmother, Kanna. Katara had glanced worriedly at Alya as she spoke to Aang, but Alya was too caught up in her own thoughts to pay much attention to Katara.

Katara had provided them with a small, unused tent that she said belonged to a man named Bato. A sad look had come over her when she said his name, and Alya wondered about it, but she was too tired to question Katara. She'd fallen asleep between the soft furs and warm blankets within minutes, but her peace was only short lived.

Alya shivered as she remembered the nightmare that had caused her to wake up in a cold sweat in the wee hours of the morning. She recalled the dreadful storm in the dream and the way she'd saved Aang, Appa and herself by encasing themselves in the ice. It was a horrible memory, but at least it filled the gaps and everything made more sense now.

"C'mon, Alya, I gotta introduce you to the village!" Katara exclaimed, pulling Alya by the arm and interrupting her reverie. Aang was already standing near the fire pit, smiling cheekily at the kids while he pulled faces at Sokka's back. Alya smiled and shook her head. Her little brother hadn't changed at all.

"Alya, Aang, this is the entire village," Katara said, beaming. "Entire village, this is Alya and Aang." Alya smiled weakly and gave a faltering wave while Aang bowed to them.

However, the villagers pulled back warily from the siblings, except for the oldest woman who was watching Alya with a curious expression on her face. "It can't be…" she whispered under her breath.

"Um… why are they all looking at us like that? Did Appa sneeze on me? Did he sneeze on you, Alya?" Aang thoroughly inspected his clothes, but Kanna interrupted.

"Well, no one has seen airbenders in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct until my granddaughter and grandson found you. And I haven't seen you since my marriage, Alya. You don't look a day older than you did then." Kanna smiled at her old friend, amused by her expression of disbelief.

"Kanna? Is that really you? Wow, you're old." Alya said, giggling a little. She went forward hesitantly and whispered, "Has it really been that long?"

Kanna could detect the note of guilt in Alya's voice and gestured for her to follow her into one of the tents, thinking it was time they had a long talk. "Come. Why don't we discuss this over some food? I might be old, but I do remember that you loved my stewed sea-prunes!" Kanna chuckled quietly as she and Alya made their way into the tent, Alya's face deep in thought while Kanna looked slightly bemused by the proceedings.

"My watchtower!" Sokka cried, just as Alya entered the tent, as said structure came crashing down due to Aang's gliding. The children giggled quietly as Sokka stomped off in fury, mumbling about Midnight Sun Madness as he went.

Kanna's tent was cozy and warm, filled with the aroma of herbs found in the tundra during summer. Alya remembered the times as a child when she would pick the herbs with Kanna and dry them out in the pleasantly warm sun.

She sighed. "All those times I came here, I used to think that it was only to visit you… but it was only after the monks told me about… about my family that I realised that this place was my home, too." Alya sighed and leaned forward, her unusually unkempt hair falling into her eyes.

"I know."

Alya looked up to see Kanna, who had a wise smile on her face. "You know? You know about, about Sobrek? And-and me being the Avatar?" Alya questioned, blinking at the old woman.

"Well, yes, I do." Kanna chuckled slightly, ladling some stew into a bowl. "The day after you ran away, the monks came looking for you. They told us that this was most likely the place you would come to and when I asked them the reason, they narrated the whole story to me. And no, before you ask, I don't blame you for what you did. Yes, I was angry at first, angry and betrayed, but I knew you had your reasons. So don't drown yourself in guilt, Alya." Kanna handed her the steaming bowl and smiled at her sympathetically.

"How can I not feel guilty? I ran away from my responsibilities for my own selfish reasons and the whole world paid the price! The war has been going on for a hundred years now, Kanna! How much has everyone lost? How much has your tribe lost? Katara told me about the Fire Nation attacks, about the men aiding the Earth Kingdom. How can you say you're not angry with me when I caused all of this?" Alya had stood up and begun pacing, agitatedly. When Katara had narrated the events of the past hundred years when they were travelling on Appa, Alya had become choked with guilt. And now, everything was bursting forth, her pain, her anger and her utter shame at abandoning those innocent people to the hands of the Fire Nation.

"Do you remember what Monk Gyatso used to say to us? Whatever can happen, will happen. Remember that, Alya. This was written in your fate. There was no way you could avoid it. Yes, what you did was wrong. You have to accept that and move on. You can amend your mistakes—you can still save the world from the clutches of the Fire Lord. You are a good person, Alya. I am sure you will find the right path, if only you believe in yourself and let go of the past."

Alya blinked slowly, looking into her stew before sighing deeply. Kanna watched her old friend as a myriad of emotions flitted past her face before a mischievous smile graced her lips. "You still haven't lost your touch at inspirational speeches, Kanna. It seems that Katara has inherited her unnecessary eloquence from you," Alya teased.

"Keep quiet, you rabbit-monkey!" Kanna said a surprisingly youthful smile etched in the lines of her face. "Come on then, let's join your brother and my silly grandkids. I swear by Tui and La that one day, they'll get into a mess that they can't get out of using sheer luck and I will have to go after them and drag them back home." Kanna shook her head and gestured for Alya to finish her stew faster so that they could go outside.

Alya stepped out into the village centre, studying the scene around her. The women were attending to their chores while the children played with their carved toys and the snow happily, with innocent grins on their faces. Alya smiled for a moment before it faltered. It was because of her selfishness that these kids had lost their fathers to the war. It was because of her that their childhood was scarred before it had even begun.

I shouldn't have left.

Suddenly, she realised that her brother was missing. And Katara was nowhere to be seen, too.

"Huh, Aang and Katara are missing. I wonder what they're up to," Alya commented casually to Kanna, who narrowed her eyes. Aang spelt trouble for her impressionable granddaughter, even though he was clueless about it. She only hoped that they didn't get into too much trouble.

"So… your grandmother and Alya know each other, huh? That's kinda weird," Aang said as he poked and peeped into the Fire Navy's ship, oblivious to Katara's discomfort.

"Yeah, well…" Katara trailed off, not sure how to tell Aang that it hadn't actually been a few days that they spent in the iceberg, but a whole hundred years. Aang seemed unaware of the war, unlike Alya and Katara felt sorry for the cheerful guy, so innocent and happy. She had to tell him about him being in the iceberg for a century and the war soon.

Katara shivered as a few weapons caught her eye. "This ship has haunted my tribe ever since Gran-Gran was young. It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks."

"Katara… you keep talking about the war, but I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation. I've never seen any war."

Katara sighed, knowing that it was time she told Aang about their disappearance. "Aang, how long were you in that iceberg?"

"I don't know... a few days, maybe?" Aang shook his head confusedly.

"I think it was more like a hundred years," said Katara, a sad and understanding look on her face. Alya and Gran-Gran's interaction in the morning had pretty much confirmed it for her. There was no way that the siblings were born in this decade if one of them knew Gran-Gran as a young girl and the other had no clue about the war.

"What? That's impossible. Do Alya and I look like we're a hundred years old to you?" Aang demanded, refusing to believe Katara's words.

"Aang, I'm sorry… but, you don't know about the war. And the war is a century old. Alya knew Gran-Gran when she was younger, and Gran-Gran is almost a hundred now. The facts all add up, Aang." Katara placed a hand on Aang's shoulder, soothing him as best she could.

Aang was in a turmoil. A hundred years! He couldn't believe it. They'd been missing for a hundred years. Everyone they knew was probably dead. And Alya was the Avatar. Where had she been when the world was at war? In an iceberg? She could've stopped the war, but we ran away!

"A hundred years!" Aang whispered, falling back towards the wall.

"I'm sorry, Aang. Maybe, somehow, there's a bright side to all of this."

Aang smiled up at Katara. "I did get to meet you."

Katara smiled back at Aang sweetly, before dragging him up to his feet. "Come on, let's get out of here."

They'd only walked a little while when Katara felt a chill run down her back. "Aang? Let's get out of here, this place is creepy," she said.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, there was a clatter of movements when Aang tripped over an almost invisible wire. The mechanism still worked perfectly and trapped the two in the room, the iron trap door falling down with a definite clang. Katara stared at it with dread.

Aang stared at Katara sheepishly. "What's that you said about booby traps?"

A mechanism set off, steam coming out of the machines and causing a chain reaction which set off a flare high in the frigid air of the South Pole.

"Uh oh," Aang said quietly. He thought furiously about a quick escape plan from the place. Suddenly, he spotted a hole in the ship's ceiling and an idea formed in his mind.

"Hold on tight!" he warned Katara, before picking her up and airbending gracefully out of the hole and into the icy plains that surrounded the ship.

Katara gave a yelp as he jumped high into the air before setting her down gently on an ice shelf. "Phew, close call," she said, hoping fervently that there were no Fire Navy ships around to see the flare.

"Yeah," Aang agreed, but his eyes were glassy as if his mind was on something else.

We've made a mess of things, Alya.

15.08.18

I have a holiday today, so I'm writing the third chapter. I'm halfway through, already! Okay, now, I think you guys need to know a few (minor) changes I've made to the original AtLA universe.

1. Kanna is at least thirty years older than in canon. I think in canon, she was about seventy-ish. Here, she is obviously over a hundred. I thought about shortening the whole timeline to accommodate her age, but that's just too much trouble than it's worth.

2. Alya is 16, Aang is 12. I have altered canon so that Alya was informed of the war (which had started to take root a month or so before the run-away stunt) and the whole Avatar thing (and the mystery about her family) just before she left. Quite obviously, such heavy news would have a great emotional impact on her and she ran away. Aang was not informed of the war by either the monks or Alya. In the absence of the responsibility of the Avatar, the monks would probably consider him to be too young, just like the rest of the Air Nomad children, to be informed of the war just yet. Even in canon, the monks didn't actually tell Aang why they informed him that he was the Avatar four years before they were supposed to. I hope this clears up the confusion about Alya knowing about the war and Aang's ignorance. I simply think that as a more mature Avatar and person, the monks saw it fit to inform Alya of the war. (Not that it turned out well, but...)

If you have any more suggestions or something along those lines, please leave a review! I'd love to hear from you guys!

16.08.18

I've edited a few bits of the chapter to make it flow better and cover a few inconsistencies. I hope it's better now! Thank you to Arianna Le Fay and stkichi for their wonderful reviews and suggestions.

~noelle

p.s.: A Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Indians! And to the rest of the world, have a great Wednesday! :)