A/N: So, some explanation on how our favorite prince became the Avatar.

Aang, when is this going to end?

The spirits were getting restless. Their new reincarnation had seemed especially promising - he was creative, kind, and full of life. He was certainly the exemplar Avatar. But they had been with him for almost a hundred years now, and he had not woken. The spirits, though hesitant to leave, were beginning to think they had no other choice. Each year they waited, the world tipped farther and farther out of balance.

The truth, they knew, was that the world needed the Avatar. But they couldn't exist without a body.

And without them, the airbender wouldn't be much better off.

This was the main reason that the spirits were swirling around in the pool of chakra, their thoughts resonating to each other - or rather, arguments.

We need to accept that he is not going to wake up. Roku said to the others. We cannot sacrifice the fate of the world for one little boy. We should leave, and choose another child.

No! Yangchen snarled. You will not leave one of mine in a block of ice to freeze to death!

One of yours? Roku shot back. He is one of us, Yangchen, not one of yours. He is the Avatar, not just an airbender, and he is responsible for the well-being of the world! He would have made the choice himself if presented with it, you know he would have.

Yangchen smiled the dark smile of one who has set an inescapable trap. He was in the Avatar State when he was sealed into this iceberg, Roku. What do you think would happen if we left and let him die?

Roku paused. His hesitation was all the answer she needed. Her smugness could be felt throughout the ball of energy.

But, if we can find another body to inhabit before he dies... Roku said, but it sounded feeble even to him.

Yangchen. Avatar Kuruk spoke up firmly. We cannot simply allow whatever happens to happen. It is what causes us to lose things very dear to us.

Yangchen turned to him. Kuruk, the loss of your betrothed was tragic, but you must move on. Koh will not relinquish her face, and it is pointless to-

That as may be, he interrupted, my irresponsibility allowed her to be taken in the first place. I know that action must be taken - to sit by is not only to do nothing, but to do something horribly wrong.

Yangchen was silent.

You are all thinking of this the wrong way, a new voice spoke up. Remember - many eons ago, there was no Avatar at all. You keep assuming that there are only two options: to stay with Aang, or to leave and find another body.

The other Avatars were puzzled in the wake of her silence. Finally Roku spoke up. And I suppose you have another option, Kyoshi?

Why not both?

This was followed by heavy silence. It stretched for so long, that Kyoshi eventually continued.

Say that one of us from each nation went to search their women for one bearing a child, and that spirit alone inhabited the infant. That way, Aang would not die - and in the process kill us all - but neither would he be the only Avatar.

There has never been more than one Avatar. Roku said, sounding confused. Kyoshi snarled.

But there has been a time without an Avatar. If there can be none, or one, why not more? There is a first for everything.

It took time for the spirits to deliberate on this new prospect, though how much passed to the spirits was relative. Finally, Yangchen addressed the others. I suppose that we should try, she said wearily. Kuruk and Roku nodded, and Kyoshi smiled.

I will stay here with Aang, Yangchen said. But I think it would be best if you only left one at a time, to keep the reincarnation cycle in order. Two Avatars at once, might work. But I am hesitant to attempt four. Kuruk, the Water Tribes are next in line. I say we give you the first chance.

Kuruk seemed excited by the prospect of being the first. Yes, the Southern Tribe is where I will go first. Perhaps I will find one of Ummi's descendants... he voice trailed away as he left Aang's body. The others convulsed as he disappeared, feeling - for the first time - a break in the chain.

Kuruk went among the people of his dead betrothed for many months until he found a suitable option. The mother was strong, well respected by the tribe, and the birth of her child was highly anticipated by all in the community. Kuruk slipped into the spirit of the unborn infant and hovered there, until at long last the child was born.

Kuruk knew at once that it was a girl, and there was something wrong with her. She was weak, he could tell. But the living tribe didn't seem to notice, even the young mother. The girl was instantly wrapped to protect her tender new skin from the biting cold, and the mother carried her inside to the relative warmth of the fire-heated tent. The tribe left gifts outside her door and let her sleep, taking their party to the other side of the village.

To Kuruk's surprise, the girl survived the winter. Her name was Nini, and when she could walk on her own she spent nearly every minute with Kya, another girl of the tribe. Kuruk made himself wait for the child to show any sign of readiness, holding back his urge to give her some hint of her abilities. The Southern Water Tribe, in their relative poverty, had stopped testing their children, so for now Nini's status remained unknown by her people.

Eventually, when the child was hardly over three, Kuruk could hold himself back no longer. Nini had been more active lately, Kya coaxing long conversations and adventures out of the withdrawn girl. So, on one particular outing, Nini's bending make its first appearance - and Kuruk had hardly anything to do with it.

"Nini, come on! I want to go ice hopping!"

Nini looked up from the bone carving she had in her lap to see Kya's panting, grinning face leaning over her. Nini calmly set it aside and offered the older girl her hand, allowing herself to be dragged to her feet and pulled away.

"Kya," she said eventually, "I think we're still too little to go ice hopping."

"We're not little!" Kya cried as though insulted. "Nini, ice hopping is fun. Or that's what everyone sais, anyway. And we're big girls now, we can do it."

Nini didn't reply. Finally, the two girls made it a considerable distance from the village and leaned over the edge of the ice sheet, staring at the floating pancake ice on the surface of the dark water. Nini stared at it with apprehension, Kya an excited hunger. She turned to Nini.

"Are you ready?"

Nini shook her head quickly, shoulder-length black hair shifting over her face. Kya sighed.

"Well, if you want you can stay here on shore and watch me. That doesn't sound very fun, though."

Nini looked up. "That sounds like plenty of fun, Kya. You go on, I'll watch."

Kya smiled. Then she pulled on a very determined look, stared at the chunk of ice closest to her, and got ready to pounce. Like a cat, she squatted down, licked her lips, and leaped. She reached the ice, her feet hitting it with a thud, and the next moment the ice flipped over her and she was plunged into the water.

"KYA!" Nini shrieked. Her friend didn't resurface. Nini ran to the edge of the water and leaned over the edge, but it was too dark to see anything. Nini stuck her face and her hands in the water, blinking away the instant headache, and looked around. Kya was there, her struggles already starting to diminish as the cold set in. Nini reached for her, but she was too far away. She clenched her hands in frustration, and just like that, a sudden current dragged Kya into her arms. Nini heaved her out of the water and onto the ice, dragging the heavier child away from the edge.

"Kya!" she cried again. "Are you okay?"

Kya coughed and tried to speak, but her teeth were chattering too much. Nini pulled her into a tight hug, and didn't let her go, hoping that she would be warm enough to help her friend.

"Nini..." Kya croaked after a few minutes. "Nini, you're skin feels like it's on fire."

Nini hugged her tighter. "Is it warming you up?"

Kya pulled away, patting her fur parka. "I'm all dry," she said with wonder. "Nini, how did you do that?"

"I don't know." Nini looked at her hands. "I don't know."

Kya grinned, memories of her near-death experience fading in the wake of this new discovery. "Can you do it again?" she asked.

Nini, seeing the effect this was having on her friend, nodded. "I'll try." She focused very hard on her hands, holding her breath to see if it would work. Kuruk shifted a little.

Breathe, he suggested.

Nini, thinking only that her mind had gotten hungry for air, took a deep breath, and focused again. Kya pulled off her mitten and touched one of her outstretched hands, yanking her fingers away immediately.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, drawing back. A second later she was back though, grinning like wild. "Nini, you're hands really do feel like fire!"

Be a candle, Kuruk ordered. Make a flame.

Nini looked up at Kya. "Like fire?" Then she looked back at her small hands, took another deep breath, and willed the fire to leave her skin and hover above it. "Kya, look!" Nini cried, without looking away from the flame hovering in her cupped hand. There was no reply. "Kya?"

When she looked up, Kya had backed away several steps and was looking at her with wide eyes.

"Kya? What's-" but the older girl had turned and all Nini saw was her retreating form.

The next few weeks, before winter set in, Nini and Kya saw hardly any of each other. There were several times when Nini would walk up to Kya with a smile, and her friend would see her and run the other way.

Finally, Nini couldn't stand it any longer. It was dark, though in the dead of winter it was almost impossible to say if it was night or day. She looked at her mother, soundly sleeping a few feet away, and silently got to her feet. She slipped out of the tent, shivering at the cruelly cold wind that whipped through her parka, and started stumbling in the direction of Kya's tent. Suddenly, snow was dumping all around her, and Nini had trouble seeing. She squinted where she thought she had seen a flash of blue.

"Hello?" she called out, and the something in the darkness turned. It was Kya, she realized suddenly. But just as Nini was about to say something, she turned away and started walking into the wind.

"Kya? Where are you going?" But Nini's small voice was immediately whipped away by the cruel storm.

Oh, no. Kuruk knew what Nini did not – that what she saw in the storm was not her friend. He would know that particular spirit anywhere. No, Nini. Go back home. Go home NOW.

Nini paused, but shook her head. She would not let fear get the better of her when her friendship was at stake. She started walking again.

Eventually, Nini's voice left her after hours of shouting into the wind. She made her skin as hot as a blazing fire, but in time she was too tired to keep it up. Eventually, Kuruk knew he had no choice. He activated the Avatar State, pulling himself out of the tiny child's body. He built a hut around her to keep away the wind, but there was nothing else to do. He couldn't tell the way back to the village. He wouldn't be able to see anything from the sky. Kuruk set a fire in the middle of the igloo, and tried to keep it going. But finally, Nini fell asleep from sheer exhaustion, and Kuruk couldn't stay outside of her body while she was unconscious.

Nini never walked back into the village, except as a lonely, blue spirit. She returned to her home to find her family missing. Nini, knowing nothing else to do, sat in her old hut and cried. Kuruk, now beside her, and not inside, lit a fire. Kya came in, with some others, but she was the only one who seemed to see her old friend.

It's so cold, and I can't get warm, Nini whimpered. Kya staggered back a step. Kuruk walked up to her.

You, child. He stared down at her with sadness and anger. You never should have turned your back on Nini. She died looking for you, to beg your forgiveness for something she could not control. What you saw that day was not a horror, but a blessing. You should have helped her. You should have protected a bender of your tribe.

Kya ran out of the tent in tears. Kuruk felt a twinge of guilt, but did not regret what he said. He turned to Nini.

I'm leaving now, child. I hope that one day you find the strength to leave in peace as well.

The girl didn't seem to hear. She just sat and cried staring at the half-finished bone carving abandoned on the rug.

Kuruk sighed, returning to Aang's body and the other spirits. He didn't have to tell his tale, because they already knew all. The spirits waited some time in mourning for their newest life, and eventually, Kyoshi took her leave for the Earth Kingdom.

A/N: Well, please tell me what you think! I know this one was short, but it was fast, so... happy medium. The next one should also be pretty short. I hope all of you that asked me to continue are still reading, so you can tell me if this is what you were hoping for!

And yes, Nini was the girl Katara told the scary story about in "The Puppetmaster," for those of you wondering.

Review! I order you! :D