Hello everyone ~ So I've come back after a year or so, and this is the story! I've been rewatching ATLA and have just fallen in love with the story all over again. So please enjoy, and forgive any errors! Thank you!
"Anahi, we're going to be late!"
"I'll be there!" I groaned angrily, turning over underneath the mass of blankets and animal skins I had burrowed under. The winter season was the worst of all, and I constantly had the feeling that I could never shake the cold. I sighed, knowing my father would never let me hear the end of it if we were late, and dragged myself out of bed and hurriedly dressed in my warmest clothes.
"There you are," My brother was standing outside. "We have to get to the docks or Dad will leave without us."
Grudgingly, I followed him, shivering in the icy cold as we walked through the streets. This weather never seemed to bother Naheel, nor anyone else in our village, for that matter.
We reached the docks, and I already felt my stomach pang with the hunger from missing breakfast. Naheel hurried over to our father's boat and jumped inside, I quickly following him. "There you are," My father looked up from untangling a net. He set it down and stood up to greet us. "Come on. We have to go check the nets before noon."
Naheel and I helped our father get the boat out of the dock, and the familiar routine began again. Arise early, get to the docks, help father with the day's fishing, and bring the haul to market the following day to sell. It's what I had grown up doing, and although it was repetitive, there was a comforting peace in the work. There were no surprises, no changes. It was peace, out on the ocean water, with only my brother and father.
Between pulling up nets and returning the daily catch to harbor, Naheel would practice waterbending, rocking the boat with gentle waves, or playing with a small puddle of seawater that had been splashed aboard, turning it over in his hands and making it float above his head before it disintegrated. Naheel could waterbend, but he needed a teacher. Our parents always spoke of taking him to the North Pole, but with every year, that proved to be an empty promise. I wished I was gifted like he was, and when I was alone, I'd try to emulate his movements, practicing waterbending to fruitless results.
Even though Naheel was younger than me by two years, I wished that I could be more like him sometimes. Naheel was the most level-headed person I knew, and rarely got angry about anything. Even when I would find some problem or complaint with him, Naheel never grew angry back. Sometimes it was frustrating, Naheel's constant sense of calm, and with my fiery temper, we were polar opposites.
"Hey, Anahi!" I looked up from gazing wearily out of the boat over to my brother, who had a seam of water and was making it flex and dance around in a wobbly circle. "Look at this!"
"It's great," I muttered, looking out over the helm of the ship and watching as we drew nearer and nearer to the docks. It was now late afternoon, and after spending the whole day out at sea, I was tired. I heard a splash of water on deck, and Naheel stood up, walking over to me and standing beside me. As we reached the dock, we worked in tandem, taking rope and fastening them to the sides of the boat to secure it.
"When I've mastered waterbending, I'll use it to make this whole process much easier," Naheel grunted as he jumped onto the dock, pulling a large section of the net with fish inside. My father did the same with his own section of the net, and I stood behind it, lifting and pushing the load of fish carefully so it would go over the side of the boat and onto the dock.
"If we can find you a good teacher, that is," My father added, pulling hard on the net. "There's no one around here, but if we can take you to the North Pole, I'm sure that there would be someone."
"There has to be!" Naheel added cheerfully, and with a final heave, got the rest of the net onto the dock. "The North Pole is huge!"
"Maybe next year we shall go and see," My father sighed, as I jumped out of the boat and helped them carry the large net brimming with fish down the dock, careful not to let it drag. A good thing, I supposed, about having terribly cold winters was that it took much longer for the fish to go bad.
"Wouldn't that be great, Anahi?" Naheel grinned, as we deposited the load of fish onto the back of a cart. He got in front of it and began to push. I jumped on the back, avoiding the fish, and grinned as he grunted with the added weight.
"So great," I grinned, as he began to pull the both of us to the market to meet our mother. Our father had stayed behind with the boat. "You'll be everyone's hero. Our village's own professional water bender!"
Naheel chuckled and rolled his eyes, still walking slowly and steadily ahead. "I'm sensing your sarcasm, Anahi," He remarked.
"O Wise One, teach me your ways!" I cried, rolling my eyes. I couldn't hide the edge of ice to my tone. Naheel's smile slightly fell, and I sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get annoyed."
"It's nothing," He replied, stopping before our family's stand. Our mother was waiting, and I jumped off of the cart to help her unload the fish.
"Naheel," I said, dropping my voice so that my mother wouldn't hear. "After this...would you - would you mind showing me some moves?"
"You want to try?" My brother's face lit up excitedly, and then he quickly composed himself. "I mean, of course. We can go just outside the village to practice. We won't be disturbed there."
I gave a small smile, and turned back to helping Mom. Truthfully, this wasn't the first time I had asked Naheel to try and teach me to waterbend. I was just ashamed of being the child without the special skill, the average, normal one, even though there were hundreds like me out there.
After supper, Naheel caught my eye as we finished eating, and we hurriedly excused ourselves and left our house. I walked with excited steps, following my brother quickly down the quiet streets. My heartbeat quickened, and although I knew what we were doing wasn't illegal, I still had the strange feeling that it was wrong.
Naheel and I stopped by the water's edge. We were just out of sight of the village, and backed by a large hill covered by snow and ice. It provided enough protection to barely be seen, and I knew that was why Naheel had picked this spot.
"Okay," He stood close to the water's edge, one foot in front of the other in a firm stance. I copied him exactly. "Just go slowly. Watch my hands. I'm just pulling and pushing the water."
I watched him rock back and forth, shifting his weight between each foot. He rolled his wrists to the rhythm of his motion, and surely enough, the water lolled gently back and forth, against the tide of the waves.
"You try it," Naheel smiled at me, and I envied how easy he made it look. I readjusted my stance, and tried pushing against the water, moving my hands, but to no effect. "Move your wrists back as you lean back," He tried, and I awkwardly tried to copy him. Already, I was frustrated, and exhaled loudly through my teeth.
"Breathe out as you lean forward," Naheel swayed forward, creating a much larger wave that he pushed back into the sea. I pushed angrily out towards the water, getting nothing again. "Soften the motions of your hands, don't push so hard."
"I'm not pushing..." I muttered, trying to relax my body like he was. Still, the water did nothing, and even Naheel's own waves had stopped as he was watching me.
"Move!" I cried, shouting at the sea. I charged towards it, getting wet up to my boots, and splashed angrily at the water, dragging my arms through it. "Agh!"
"Anahi, you're going to freeze!" He cried, coming in after me and grabbing me around the chest with both arms.
"Stop it!" I cried, turning around and pushing him off.
"I'm just trying to help you!" Naheel exclaimed, following me out of the shallow water.
"You can't!" I exclaimed, feeling tears rising and a knot forming in my throat. I was already humiliated, and I didn't need to be crying now on top of it. "You're the special one, I'm not!" I flung my hands, angry and upset. "You're the waterbender, I'm just average! I'm nobody!"
"Anahi," Naheel's voice softened. "You aren't average..."
"That's easy for you to say," I muttered, turning my back to him. "You're the one with the future. I'm the one who's going to be stuck in this tiny town for the rest of my life."
"We should go home," Naheel said quietly.
"You go," I said bitterly. "I want to be left alone."
"I think talking to Mom and Dad might really help - " He reached out, touching my arm, and I shook him off.
"Naheel!" I cried...as a stream of fire came from my hands, scorching the ground where my brother was standing only moments before.
My mouth fell open in complete shock, and my eyes widened, staring at the flame that still burned around my hand. I could feel the heat, but there was no searing pain, no burning of flesh. I stared at the fire in my hands, and slowly looked up at Naheel, my eyes wide in fear.
My brother backed up slowly, watching the flame with a face of pure terror. "Anahi," He breathed, and when opened my fist, the fire disappeared. "What...what have you done?"
"I'm sorry," I breathed, feeling the blood drain from my face. "I'm sorry, I don't know...I don't know how I did that - "
"Anahi," Naheel shook his head in disbelief. "You're a firebender."