The Northern Water Tribe, covered in white soft snow, was filled with the normal flurry of activity that usually occurs around daybreak. The icy buildings stood tall, gleaming and reflecting sunlight all over the vast city. Many large buildings were connected by white roads and a river system, where many waterbenders and nonbenders alike enjoyed to float upon. Mer looked upon this all from her high perch up at the balcony of the chief's lovely home. She observed the people, watching their thick coats bounce around the clearing where many festivals take place. Mer was content - for now. Don't get her wrong, she's not some stuck up Tribal Princess that can't handle boredom and lack of comfort. She was just the adopted daughter of Chieftain Silas, who was the leader of their tribal community. Her origins were unknown to most of the tribe, they didn't even know she was adopted. To her, she was the twin sister of Tribal Princess Sorella, who was the real daughter of Silas, and the one who would succeed him as Chieftainess.

Sorella and Mer shared the same birthday, and they were the same age, which made it very easy to pull off the twin act. But they were not identical twins, and they did not act or look the same. Sorella had dark brown hair and black eyes that twinkled with intelligence. She was always focused and determined, and she was a natural leader, taking after her father. Mer had pale skin, like the snow, and white hair that helped her blend in with her white surroundings. Her white hair was quite unnatural, and it was never truly explainable. The one thing that stood out from her pale, slender figure was her green-blue eyes that were like deep pools of whirling sea water flecked with gold. Her beautiful eyes were never focused on one thing, she had a rather free (although still intelligent) mind that liked to flit about. She could never concentrate on something for too long... unless it was waterbending.

Mer and waterbending, the two went together like peanut butter and jelly! To her, waterbending was the world, and there was nothing she was better at. However, she liked to practice it in secret, in the light of the moon where her powers were strongest. For waterbenders, their skills were enhanced in the moonlight. Much of the tribe didn't think that Mer could waterbend well, that she could only fiddle about with the puddles of melted snow. It pleased Mer, and brought a smile to her face, to know just how wrong her people were! She was a master of waterbending, developing techniques in the middle of the night that many other benders had never even dreamed of!

Only one person knew of her true powers, and that was Sorella.

In the beginning, the sisters had gotten off on the wrong foot, and they weren't as close as their parents had hoped. But one night, Sorella snuck out of her room and out for some fresh air, where she met none other than Mer! Mer had been practicing waterbending in the moonlight, just as she had done for several years. This particular night, she was just fiddling about with the water, trying to form a new defensive technique, but she looked so graceful that Sorella couldn't help but interrupt and ask just how she had come to be so advanced without a teacher of her own. Mer had confessed about practicing each night, and Sorella had also confessed about having a secret interest in healing, which she had practiced in her room. The two sisters agreed to keep each other's secrets, as well as practice with each other every night. Since then, a bond had developed and strengthened over the years. Now, Mer and Sorella were close to their sixteenth birthday, and they had been training together for nearly five years.

There was one time where Chieftain Silas had been severely injured by a polar bear-dog during a hunting expedition. Sorella had no choice but to reveal her master healing abilities. Mer had tried to help, but she had just begun learning how to heal and she could only assist with the basics.

In the end, Sorella had been praised as a hero. Mer was not jealous. In fact, she was more than happy. Happy for her sister, as well as happy because if Sorella would be praised like this for healing, then whenever Mer revealed her waterbending abilities, she would also be treated like a hero. However, Mer could sense that it was not the time to reveal her true skills.

"Mer? Are you thinking about wild things again?" Sorella teased as she walked out onto the balcony next to her sister. Sorella's hair was in a braid, as it always was, while Mer's white hair was flowing out behind her like a river.

"Of course I am, you know me." Mer smiled as she tied her hair up in a bun.

"Well come on, your wild ideas are needed for our birthday party planning!" Sorella started walking off, obviously meaning to lead Mer to the meeting room, but Mer just stared after Sorella with wide eyes as if she had never heard of a birthday party in her life.

"Birthday party? No. It would be a waste of time." Mer's attention flitted out over the wall of their tribe, and when Sorella spoke, Mer didn't hear.

"Hello, Mer? I said that this is our sixteenth birthday! It's important, and everyone will be expecting a party."

"Okay, Sorella," Mer sighed. Sorella smiled and grabbed Mer's wrist before she could wander off again and dragged her to the meeting room. Hidden behind a beautiful waterfall of cascading water and ice, the secret location was vital to the importance of meetings. Most meetings were about war and other concerns, but the tribe was in an era of peace so the place could be spared for trivial matters.

During the party planning, Mer's mind began to wander off once again, thinking about a new technique she wanted to try that night. It was the full moon, and she'd have enough strength to perfect the attack move.

"I think we should let Mer have a say in this!" Sorella growled. Apparently, the meeting had escalated into a full-blown argument while Mer was zoned out.

"A say in what?" Mer asked quietly.

"You see? Why should we even hold a party for a girl who doesn't know what's going on around her?" One of the waterbending masters was also on his feet, Master Leiko.

Sorella was absolutely outraged at this insult towards her sister, and was about to defend her, but Mer stood up at motioned for quiet.

"Yes, it is true I am unaware of much that is going on around me, but that should not be a cause for trouble. Something is on your mind. Something much more troubling than two Tribal Princess's birthday parties." Mer glared at Master Leiko, who nodded reluctantly, admitting this.

"Yes, it's about the new Avatar. It has been a long time since Avatar Kuzon died."

"The new... Avatar?" Sorella whispered. Everyone around the meeting table began muttering uneasily about the new master of the elements. Mer looked around calmly, but was suddenly struck with a vision. She suddenly stepped outside her body, and witnessed a true horror. She was standing rigid and straight, her eyes glowing, her white hair out of her bun whipping around her face as if an invisible wind was pushing it around.

She looked like she was in the Avatar State.

She could hear Sorella and the other party planners screaming in fear. Why was she in the Avatar State? The next Avatar was supposed to be an Air Nomad. What was going on?

An invisible force began pulling Mer away from everyone, out from under the waterfall, and up into the sky. She didn't try to fight it. She was a go-with-the-flow kind of girl. She kept going higher and higher, until the world beneath her was nothing more than land masses. The cold and lack of air didn't affect her, she just kept going up. Mer observed that she was going above the clouds and up towards the moon. Once she was way up in what she presumed to be outer space, she stopped flying upwards. She took this opportunity to look around. Mer was probably the only one to have ever made it this far, and she was not going to forget it in a hurry.

A figure began to float towards her, with the same white hair as her. She had wide sky blue eyes and a beautiful flowing dress that rippled around her like waves. Mer had seen this woman so many times in her dreams, but she had never spoken to her before. It was the Moon Spirit, Yue.

"Oh Yue, why have you called me here? You are causing a great disturbance down on Earth." Mer tried to bow down low in respect, but as this was in space, she just began to slowly spin around. "Haha, this is fun!" Mer laughed as she got distracted by her inability to stop spinning.

"As much as I admire your carefree and wild behavior, which is so much like the sea, I have urgent information to tell you." Yue grabbed onto Mer's shoulder and stopped her from spinning. "I am your mother."

Mer wanted to protest, but some part of her knew it was true.

"You were born from the sea on the day that Sorella was born from Chieftainess Reine. You were washed ashore and Chieftain Silas picked you up and adopted you."

"Born from the sea...?" Mer looked up at her real mother in wonder.

"Yes. The spirit of the ocean itself dwells within you, and you can talk to sea animals and breathe underwater." Yue smiled. Her eyes were filled with sadness, however.

"Awesome!" Mer cheered. "But there's something else, something really... sad?" Mer guessed as she looked into her mother's eyes.

"You are destined to die when the Avatar fights the final battle," Yue told her solemnly.

"Like... I'll be killed in battle? How? Will it be an awesome death?"

"Er... no. I'm not sure yet, the future is unclear, you may not even die, since it's a final battle, and, well, battles for the Avatar never end until his dying breath, you know?" Yue looked uncertain, as if she knew that Mer would die prematurely but she was trying, for her own sake as well as her daughter's, to find an excuse.

"Yeah, that's true. I'll keep it in mind, thanks mom! I've got to go now." Mer grinned. Yue looked taken aback at the familiarity in which Mer treated her, but smiled.

"One last thing. The Avatar is coming. You and Sorella must both teach her how to waterbend. Sorella knows a special ability that she hasn't told anyone about, not even you. She wasn't just in her room to practice healing, there's something else. Find out what it is, for it is a skill that the Avatar will need one day. Goodbye, daughter." Yue sent her back down into her body. When Mer reached her body, she opened her eyes and immediately fell over, feeling weak and tired, as if she had run a thousand miles.

"MER! Are you okay?!" Sorella screamed, kneeling down beside Mer, stroking her sweaty forehead. "We have to get you back home!"

Mer's eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she tried to speak.

"SHUT UP! Mer is trying to say something!" Sorella glared at everyone. They fell silent. Mer smiled and opened her mouth, her words coming out in a low and gravelly whisper.

"Get... Eau..." After those two words, Mer simply fainted.

Now, Eau was Mer's animal companion. It was back when the sisters were twelve. They had followed their father on a hunting expedition and they had been attacked by a huge wolf. Mer bended the snow to cover the wolf and freeze it in the air. But Mer and Sorella had soon realized that the wolf was only an orphan cub, and Mer had convinced Sorella to help smuggle it back home. Mer and the wolf cub had developed a strong bond, and she had named him Eau. She brought out Eau after training him extensively not to kill anyone, and introduced him to the world as her animal companion.

Over the next four years, Eau had grown up to a humongous wolf that Mer liked to ride around the city.

This time, Eau was needed to carry Mer back home.

Sorella nodded and grabbed the wolf whistle necklace that Mer had carved herself and blew on it. Sorella couldn't hear the very high pitched noise but she knew that it would grab Eau's attention and call him to the meeting room. All the party planners began pacing around nervously, muttering to each other about how Mer had gone into the Avatar State and how she might be the new Avatar. While they were waiting, Sorella tried to use her healing powers to help Mer, but nothing was working so Sorella was just left sitting there next to what seemed like her sister's dead body.

Finally, after what seemed like decades, Eau loped into the room, shaking the snow from his thick white pelt, a layer over his thick muscles. He looked like any other ferocious arctic wolf, with a low bushy tail, wise amber eyes, and a black nose, but ten times bigger, almost the size of an average walk-in closet. He had a broad back that was perfect for carrying several people as well as some equipment if necessary. A handmade saddle, a perfect fit for Eau and Mer, was resting on his shoulders. This time, he would only be carrying his unconscious waterbending companion. At a sharp command from an agitated Sorella, two of the strongest men lifted her body and placed her gently on the saddle. Eau looked distraught when he couldn't reach into his companion's mind to communicate. Sorella quickly strapped Mer's legs onto the saddle, and whispered into Eau's large ear.

"Don't let her fall." Sorella stroked Eau's head before sending him off. Eau nodded and ran back out the way he came from. His running strides were smooth and long, he covered the distance between the waterfall and the Chief's home in only a couple of minutes. There, many frantic healers began running around Mer's body, afraid to move her, confused about what had happened.

"She is just unconscious, we have dealt with this before!" An old healer muttered in spite before taking on Mer's dead weight onto her shoulders. The healer seemed frail, but he was still strong enough to half carry, half drag Mer's body into her room and onto her bed.

The healers worked day and night trying to bring Mer back to the conscious world, but to no avail. However, in the middle of the next night, the moonlight shone into Mer's soul, causing her eyes to flutter open.

"The Avatar is coming!" Mer shouted as her mind cleared under the silver light. The sleeping healers around her woke up with a jolt as Mer jumped out of her bed and ran down the hallways.

"Where are you going, Princess Mer?" A healer called out after her.

"To find Sorella and Eau!" Mer answered before disappearing down a turn in the maze of hallways. Mer was only wearing a thin nightgown, she wasn't even wearing shoes, but she still pattered on through her home. The cold could not touch her. She ran outside, where a gust of wind ruffled her white messy hair, but she did not stop until she reached Eau's stable.

"Eau! Help me find Sorella!" Mer jumped onto her wolf companion's bare back and held on to the fur around his neck. Eau, still drowsy from being awakened, sniffed the ground and led the way outside and towards the ocean that surrounded the west side of the tribal place.

Are you alright, Mer? Eau asked in his deep, gravelly voice.

I'm fine, but I have to tell Sorella something. You can listen in on our conversation if you'd like, Mer stopped talking as they neared the shoreline. There, Sorella was sitting on the shore, looking up at the moon and pushing the waves away from her to prevent her coat from getting wet.

"Sorella! I'm not the Avatar! The new Avatar is coming from the Northern Air Temple and we have to teach him how to waterbend!" Mer jumped off Eau's back and ran up to Sorella, who stood up looking surprised. Eau, still sleepy, rolled onto the white sand and began to snore.

"Mer! You must be freezing! Slow down, what are you talking about?" Sorella rushed towards Mer and wrapped her coat around her pale shoulders. It was only then that Mer realized how cold she really was.

"The Moon Spirit, Yue, she took me on a spiritual trip to the moon, and she talked to me! She told me that we were the ones destined to teach the Avatar how to waterbend, because I was the best and because you knew some kind of power that no one else did, besides healing!" Mer blurted out. Sorella's eyes shot open wider, filled with worry. She obviously knew what this other power was.

"Mer, I will tell you what this power is, but I must promise you you that I do not use it for evil purposes," Sorella sighed.

"Sorella... can you bloodbend?" Mer guessed. Only the most powerful waterbenders could bloodbend, and only at the full moon, where their power was strongest. They could bend the water that was inside the blood of other organisms, force them to bend to their will.

"Yes, I can, and not just at the full moon." Sorella hung her head in shame, probably expecting Mer to pull away in disgust.

"That's cool, and useful. My mom said that -"

"Your mom?! Your mom is Yue, the Moon Spirit?" Sorella exclaimed.

"Yeah, and she said that you'd need to teach the Avatar bloodbending 'cause he'd need it later on and stuff!" Mer said excitedly. Sorella took a few minutes to digest all of this new information before opening her mouth to speak.

"But there's only one problem. We won't be allowed to teach the Avatar how to waterbend. Most people don't even know you can waterbend. We're the Tribal Princesses. How are we going to convince everyone we're capable and worthy of teaching waterbending?"