During the fifteen years after the Avatar's assassination, nothing at all was heard from the Mist Union. Trade continued, but only through the outlying islands that had become protectorates of the Union, whose residents knew little about what went on in the closer islands and the capital itself. The enforced borders of the Union began to be more and more heavily patrolled, with new ships that bore little in common with the ragtag combination of wooden raiding boats and imported, obsolete warships that had comprised the South Pole Defense Fleet.
If some Southern hero of the Fire Nation War had been catapulted forward in time to see the South Pole today, he would undoubtedly fail to recognize it. He would be expecting, at most, a few dozen tents and igloos. Instead, he would see a sight more akin to a Fire Nation city. Dozens of wooden, brick, or even occasionally metal buildings now dotted the icy landscape. Between them lay miles of paved road, lit by countless gas lamps.
What was once referred to as simply "the South Pole" was now Hakoda City, the capital of a country that now exceeded the Fire Nation in size, if not yet in population. And at the center of the improbable metropolis lay the Hall of the Chief, one of the few waterbended ice structures in the city. It was not meant to be overly large or imposing, like the palaces that housed the chiefs of state of the other nations, but nonetheless was a sight to behold.
In the innermost chamber of the Hall, Chief Nanulak sat at his desk, contemplating the latest reports from the Grand Union Council. With the latest commission, the MUS Kyoshi, the South Pole Defense Fleet now possessed forty-two full-size battleships, along with over two hundred smaller ships (though not all were fully modernized) and ten of the new Hakoda-class carriers. It was as large as the Fire Nation's navy had been in its prime.
It was time. Nanulak did not smile as he put brush to paper. He knew that he could never undo what he was about to put into motion, and that many lives on both sides would be lost as a result. But, ultimately, he had no choice.
On the other side of the world, the Northern Water Tribe's city of ice was sleeping.
A few small candles remained lit in an open area on the outskirts of the city. If one were to approach this tiny island of illumination, one would be able to make out a young girl practicing waterbending in the dim candlelight.
If one knew her story, one would expect to see someone exceptional. Perhaps she would be some incredible paragon of beauty, like the moon spirit she was named for. Or perhaps she would be a tall, strong superwoman as she had been in a past life.
Yet one would see none of these things. Instead, the girl moving through the forms of Northern waterbending appeared...well, normal. Her unkempt, curly brown hair was tied behind her head, keeping it out of her eyes. Despite the freezing night air, beads of sweat ran down her dark skin as she twisted her slight fifteen-year-old frame through move after carefully rehearsed move. The water around her followed her movements; it twisted and turned as if alive, and shifted from solid to liquid to vapor and back with impossible speed.
She mentally prepared herself for the final move in the form. I'll get it right this time. I have to. She pulled her hand back, then quickly pushed it forward as she shifted her stance in the same direction. The hovering stream of water next to her followed, lashing forward like a whip. Even as it returned to her, she spun and waved her hand across it, freezing it into icy daggers. She moved to slash her other hand across, which would send the spikes flying forward—
And stumbled, as the complex footwork got the best of her. The ice spikes fell to the ground and shattered, and she barely managed to catch herself before her head suffered a similar fate. She suppressed the urge to scream in frustration—it wouldn't do any good to wake someone up at this hour. Instead, she just gritted her teeth and pounded a fist into the ice, cracking it slightly.
She suddenly became acutely aware of how cold it was out there...and how late it was, and how tired she was. You know what? Forget it. I'm not going to get any better at this if I'm completely sleep-deprived. This can wait until tomorrow. With a loud yawn, she stood up and blew out the candles.
By the time she made it home, she could barely keep her eyes open. She flopped onto her bed without even bothering to change. Just before she closed her eyes, she remembered why she had been training so late and sleeping so little. For her, sleep brought little rest and no relief. Sleep only brought the nightmares.
They always began the same way. She's standing on the deck of a ship, looking forward. Someone comes up next to her and says, "A storm is coming." Nonsense, she says, there's not a cloud in the sky. Even as she says it, though, pitch-black clouds begin to appear into the sky. She looks on as the storm clouds begin to grow, extending as far as she can see, and slowly engulfing the entire world. And then the lightning begins. Bolts of energy hurtle down from the sky, striking all over the world. Wherever they strike, war engulfs the land. She stands frozen in horror and despair as entire cities are destroyed and families are torn apart. Nothing can stop it, she says.
"Except you." The figure at her side puts a hand on her shoulder. She turns around to face it. Sometimes it's her mother or her father. Sometimes it's her waterbending master, Sifu Sekkono. Sometimes it's the moon spirit whose name she carries. Sometimes it's an old man in monk's robes with an arrow tattooed on his forehead. Whoever it is, they all say the same thing.
"A storm is coming, Yue. A storm is coming, and only you can stop it."
A/N: Wow. After about seven months of writing this, posting it, editing it, removing it, editing it more, posting it again, removing it again, and...well, you get the point, it looks like the first full chapter in this story is finally complete. Some changes I've made include: The Mist Union chief was originally a very old Sokka, but I decided him starting a new war--even over Aang's death--was just way too out-of-character, so we have yet another original character there instead. I added more information about what, exactly, the Union was doing during the fifteen years (after some Wikipedia research on exactly how big a navy should be). And I almost changed Avatar Yue's name to prevent confusion with her namesake, but I decided that that's staying for now. (Let me know in your reviews whether or not that's a good idea.) Also, the next chapter should be quite a bit longer...assuming it ever gets done.