Last of Our Kind
In response to the review by Wiechcheu1925, I mentioned in the opening of the first chapter that this will include Zutara and Taang. I do not apologize if you disagree with my ships, as I like them; I just want all shippers to get along. Please. I do not intend to pair Aang with my OC, but I do plan on making it so that Aang has a crush on her instead of Katara. I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or any of the quotes I will use to open my chapters.
"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
Being the Oldest is Tough
Sometimes, Wenona wished she could just turn back time until they were all kids again. Sixteen, a few weeks shy of seventeen, was too young an age for her to be looking out for an entire tribe. Granted, the tribe consisted of a bunch of old folks, kids, and matrons, but that still didn't mean she had to enjoy being in charge. Wenona considered herself to be just a 'simple girl with simple needs', it's not like she asked her dad to leave her behind to babysit everyone. And the worst part of it all was that Sokka kept acting like he was the boss. Now, Wenona loved her brother, she loved all three of her little siblings, but sometimes he just got on her nerves.
"What did you just say, Sokka?"
"I said that as a man I am clearly the one in charge. Why don't you go and help Katara with her sewing or something?"
Wenona's eye twitched, and she snapped. Within seconds, Sokka found himself buried waist-deep in the ice.
"Nona! Nona, I'm sorry! Please unfreeze me!"
"Only once you admit that girls are just as strong and smart as guys, and that I'm in charge because I'm the eldest."
"Fine." Sokka grumbled. "Girls are just as strong and smart as guys. And you're in charge because you're the eldest."
"Very good." Wenona then made the ice dissolve around Sokka, leaving him standing in a small hole full of icy water.
"Nona!"
"What? You said 'unfreeze'. You're unfrozen. Now quit bugging me, Meat-head."
Wenona walked back to the tent and found Katara washing some clothes. Keng was doing some sewing because, unlike Sokka, he didn't consider it to be 'women's work' and enjoyed helping his sisters with their chores.
"Ugh." Wenona groaned. "Don't tell me we have to wash out Meat-head's socks again."
"Unfortunately, yes." Katara replied as she handed her sister a scrubbing board. Wenona winced as she picked up the article of clothing that made her want to gag at the stench.
"How does he get these things to smell so bad?" Wenona asked.
"I don't know, and I don't think I wanna know."
Sokka came in a few minutes later, grumbling and shooting Wenona a dirty look which she returned with a snarky grin.
"What did you two fight about this time?" Katara asked her sister.
"He was being his usual, stupid, sexist, pig-headed self." Wenona made sure she was just loud enough for Sokka to hear. He gave her another irritated look and then stormed into the back of the tent to change into a dry parka. "He just can't stand the thought of a girl telling him what to do."
"Pssh. Just ignore him. He's our brother so we have to love him."
A few moments later, Sokka rushed back out and went right over to Keng.
"Keng! What are you doing?!"
"Uh, sewing." The twelve-year-old replied.
"What have I told you about sewing? It's not manly!"
"Shut up, Meat-head." Wenona snapped. "Let him help us if he wants. You're just jealous because you can't do anything that requires skillful hands."
"I can to do stuff. In fact, we're going fishing. Right now."
"Sokka, is this really going to prove anything?"
"Yes. It'll prove that I can so do something skillful. Besides, I'm hungry."
"Fine. I'll get some seal-jerky and the first-aid kit for the trip. Knowing you we'll need both if we don't want to listen to you complaining every few minutes if you get hungry or get a fish-hook in your thumb again."
"It was two fish-hooks and you know it."
The four siblings clambered into the small canoe and set off. It was starting to get late into the day and they still hadn't caught anything. Wenona was certain that Sokka would keep them out all night until he caught something. As more hours passed, the others were starting to get really bored. Wenona had become so desperate for something to do that she undid her hair and began restyling it. Wenona was the only one of her siblings to have black hair like their mom, the other three all had dark brown hair like their dad; winding the midnight-black locks through her fingers to comb out any tangles, Wenona then pulled the topmost part of her hair back and loosely braided the end, letting the braid hang over the rest of her hair which was straight. Sometimes Wenona liked to wear her hair like Katara, or even like their mom used to wear hers, once she had even styled it in a warrior's wolf-tail in order to annoy Sokka. Wenona often felt that she looked different from her siblings; she got more of her looks from her mother's side while the others either took after their dad or even Gran-Gran. There was even a difference between the eyes of the four siblings; Katara had their mother's Cerulean eyes that made you think you were looking at the sky, Keng had deep ocean-blue eyes like their father and grandmother, and the two eldest siblings had icy-blue eyes like the tips of polar ice-caps, neither of the siblings knew from where they had gotten their shade of eyes as none of them knew their paternal grandfather or either of their maternal grandparents so the color could've come from anywhere.
Eventually, Sokka broke the silence.
"It's not getting away from me this time." Sokka stated as he looked down at a large fish.
"That's what you said the last twenty times you tried to catch it." Wenona pointed out.
"Watch and learn, guys." He continued as he raised his spear. "This is how you catch a fish."
Wenona looked into the water and saw another large fish swim by and pointed it out to her other two siblings. Katara immediately began to Waterbend it above them.
"Sokka! Look!" Katara exclaimed.
"Shh. Katara, you're gonna scare it away." Sokka whispered. "Mmm. I can already smell it cookin'."
Wenona rubbed her own stomach as it growled and glared at Sokka.
"But, Sokka," Katara continued, "I caught one!"
"Yeah, Meat-head. Turn around and show a little respect." Wenona snapped.
Sokka didn't turn around, and instead raised his spear which punctured the water bubble as Katara Bended it higher, allowing the fish to escape.
"Hey!" Katara yelped.
"Ah!" Sokka cried out as water dropped onto his head, making Wenona laugh. He turned around and glared at his siblings. "Why is it that every time one of you three plays with magic water I get soaked?"
The girls crossed their arms while Keng just watched anxiously; he hated it when his siblings argued.
"It's not magic, you Meat-head." Wenona scoffed.
"It's Waterbending." Katara added. "And it's-"
"Yeah, yeah." Sokka interrupted. "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."
"Hey, Meat-head," Wenona growled, "maybe we're not the weird ones. You're the only one of us who can't Waterbend. And you're calling us weird? We're not the ones who make muscles at ourselves whenever we see our reflections in the water."
Sokka, who had been doing just what his sister had said, was about to retort when the boat suddenly knocked into an ice-block, alerting the passengers that they were headed right for a powerful current. Sokka instantly began rowing to try and keep the boat steady, they were rapidly picking up speed and started bumping into more ice-blocks.
"Go left! Go left!" Katara yelled.
However, Sokka didn't listen and the boat crashed, forcing the four Water Tribe kids to jump onto an ice-block to avoid getting crushed.
"You call that left?" Katara snapped.
"Great going, Meat-head." Wenona said. "Now we're stranded out here and probably going to freeze to death."
"You don't like my steering?" Sokka retorted. "Well, maybe one of you should've just Waterbended us out of the ice."
"Guys," Keng spoke up, "please stop fighting."
"Oh, so you're saying it's our fault?" Wenona continued to snap at Sokka.
"I knew I should've left you two at home." Sokka sniped. "Leave it to girls to screw things up."
"You are the most sexist, immature, nut-brained…I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" Katara began to yell and flail her arms, making the large iceberg behind her crack.
"Uh, Katara?" Keng said as he pointed behind her.
Wenona stood up and began to rage as well.
"Ever since Mom died, Katara, Keng, and I have been doing all the work around camp, while you've done nothing but play Mr. Soldier!" She screamed. "And I have twice as much warrior training as you!"
"Uh, Wenona, Katara." Sokka tried to get their attention to the iceberg they were cracking.
"We even wash all the clothes!" Katara added. "Have you ever smelled your dirty socks?"
"They're NOT PLEASANT!" Wenona shrieked in answer to her sister's rhetorical question.
"Wenona! Katara! Settle down!" Sokka and Keng pleaded.
"No, I won't settle down!" Wenona yelled.
"Me either!" Katara agreed. "We're done helping you!"
"From now on…"
"You're ON YOUR OWN!" The two girls screamed at the same time, finally shattering the iceberg behind them.
Katara and Wenona finally realized what they had been doing and, along with their brothers, held onto the edge of their little ice raft when a wave came up as a result of the ice crashing down.
"Alright." Sokka said once the water calmed down. "You two have gone from weird to freakish."
"You mean Nona and I did that?" Katara inquired.
"Yep. Congratulations."
"Uh, guys, what's that?" Keng asked nervously as an ethereal, aquamarine light began to rise beneath them.
The light got bigger and the four backed up to the other end of the ice raft, letting out nervous gasps. Then, suddenly, an enormous iceberg arose before them. They all knew at once that there was something odd about this particular iceberg. They saw that there was a figure inside of the ice that opened its eyes to reveal glowing lights in the sockets.
"He's alive." Katara gasped. She then grabbed Sokka's club and started rushing over to the iceberg. "We have to help!"
"Katara! Get back here!" Sokka yelled after her. "We don't know what that thing is!"
Katara ignored him, and Wenona just grabbed her own warrior's club and followed after her sister, Sokka pursued them with Keng in tow. Katara and Wenona immediately set to work hacking away at the ice, which unexpectedly burst with a blast of air and ice that forced the four to fall back. Then, a flash of powerful, bluish light erupted in the form of a beam from the top of the shattering iceberg. Sokka and Wenona shielded their younger siblings as the mist suddenly cleared away. Then, a figure emerged. Sokka raised his spear defensively.
"Stop!" The Water Tribe teen warned.
"Yeah, Meat-head," Wenona mocked him, "I'm sure some weird, glowing thing is going to be so scared of a guy with a spear."
Then, the light went out, and the figure turned out to be a bald boy in yellow and orange robes with a blue arrow tattooed on his forehead. The boy collapsed forward and tumbled down to where they were. Katara and Wenona darted forward to catch him as Sokka pushed Keng behind him protectively. Sokka then started to prod the unconscious boy's head with the dull end of the spear.
"Cut it out, Meat-head." Wenona snapped as she swatted the weapon away.
The two girls laid the boy against the slope and he gave a light moan as his eyes started to open slowly and he let out a gasp.
"I need to ask you something." The boy murmured.
"What?" Wenona asked.
"Please. Come closer."
"What is it?"
There was a pause as Wenona began to lean in towards the boy and he suddenly shot wide awake.
"Will you go penguin-sledding with me?"
"Uhh. Sure, I guess."
The boy then got to his feet, moving so quickly it made Sokka startle back and raise his spear.
"What's going on here?"
"You tell us?!" Sokka demanded. "How'd you get in the ice?! And why aren't you frozen?!" Sokka lightly jabbed the boy with the spear.
"I'm not sure."
Just then, they all heard a loud growling sound, causing the boy to race back over the ice wall.
Wenona began to walk around to the other side when Sokka put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Uh, going to see what that was all about. Duh."
She brushed his hand off and led the other three around to where they saw the mysterious boy hugging a giant, fuzzy creature with horns and six legs and a patch of brown fur on its head that formed the shape of an arrow. When Sokka saw the creature, he let out a disbelieving gasp and his eyes went wide.
"Whoa." Wenona said. "That's one big…whatever the heck that is."
"Cool!" Keng exclaimed as he rushed over to see the strange animal up close.
"What is that thing?" Sokka asked as he and the others advanced more slowly.
"This is Appa, my flying-bison." The boy explained.
"Right." Sokka replied sarcastically. "And these two are my flying sisters."
Suddenly, Appa started to sniffle and was about to sneeze.
"Duck and cover!" Wenona shouted as she yanked Katara out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit by the disgusting goo that shot out of the animal's nose. Sokka, however, wasn't so fortunate.
"Ahahaha!" Wenona laughed as Sokka began to spazz out. "Oh man, you totally had that coming, Meat-head!"
"Don't worry." The boy said. "It'll wash out. So, do you guys live around here?"
Before any of them could answer, Sokka pointed his spear at the boy again.
"Don't answer that." He warned his siblings. "Did you all see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy."
"Oh, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy." Katara said sarcastically. "You can tell by that evil look in his eye." The boy gave a look of total innocence.
"Come on, Sokka." Wenona said. "Why in the name of the Great Spirit Mother would the Fire Navy have anything to report about us right now? What, do they need to know if we've gotten any new snow-drifts or what the latest turtle-seal population is?"
"Hardy-har-har." Sokka replied.
"Ignore him." Wenona said to the boy. "Our brother is just a little paranoid. I'm Wenona by the way, but everyone just calls me Nona." She offered him a handshake that he happily accepted. "This is my sister Katara and the boy trying to climb onto your flying-bison is our younger brother Keng."
"What's your name?" Katara asked.
"I'm Aaaaaa-" The boy was cut off as a sneeze began to rise in him. "ACHOOOO!" He shot straight up into the air only to land a few seconds later. "I'm Aang."
"You just sneezed," Sokka pointed out, "and flew ten feet in the air."
"Really? It felt higher than that."
"You're an Airbender." Katara gasped.
"No, really," Wenona joked, "what was your first clue?"
"Giant light beams, flying-bison, Airbenders. I think I got Midnight Sun Madness." Sokka stated.
"Maybe if you did you would be less irritating." Wenona said with a smirk.
"I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." He turned only to see that they were all stranded.
"Yeah, Sokka, you just do that." Wenona's voice was dripping with irony. "You'll just prance across the water and send someone to get us."
"Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift." Aang offered as he Airbended himself onto the bison's head.
"Really?" Keng asked enthusiastically. "Awesome!"
"We'd love a ride. Thanks!" Katara said as she and Wenona moved to get onto the bison.
"Oh-no." Sokka protested. "I am not getting on that fluffy snot-monster."
"Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home?" Katara asked jokingly as Wenona began to chuckle quietly. "You know, before you freeze to death?"
Sokka opened his mouth to protest, then sighed and slumped when he saw there was no use arguing. Sokka drudged irately over to the side of the bison and Wenona pulled him up into the large saddle where the Water Tribe siblings all sat down.
"Okay." Aang said from his seat on Appa's head. "First time flyers hold on tight! Appa, yip-yip!"
Appa leapt into the air, but instead of flying he belly-flopped into the water, almost throwing Keng from the saddle, luckily Wenona caught him.
"Come on, Appa, yip-yip!" Aang declared again as he shook the reins.
"Wow." Sokka stated sarcastically. "That was truly amazing."
"Shut up, Meat-head." Wenona snapped.
"Maybe Appa's just tired." Keng suggested.
"Yeah." Aang agreed. "A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see."
Wenona was about to turn away when she noticed that Aang was still looking at her with a big smile on his face.
"Why are you smiling at me like that?" She asked.
"Oh, I was smiling?" Aang asked.
Sokka let out a disgusted groan and rolled his eyes.
"Sokka," Wenona said in the sweetest voice she could bring herself to make, "if you promise not to annoy me for the rest of the ride home, I'll give you the whole bag of seal jerky." She waved the bag temptingly in front of him, only for him to snatch it moments later.
"Deal!" He declared and instantly began scarfing down the contents.
It was getting dark, and the bison was steadily making its way through the water in the direction of the village. Wenona was staring up at the sky; she heard Aang and Katara talking but didn't really pay attention. That is, of course, until she heard the word 'Avatar'.
"I was just wondering," Katara said, "your being an Airbender and all, if you had any idea what happened to the Avatar?"
"Uh, no." Aang replied. "I didn't know him. I mean, I knew people that knew him, but I didn't. Sorry."
"Okay. Just curious. Goodnight."
"Sleep tight."
After Katara had settled down, Wenona got up and tiptoed over to the edge of the saddle where Katara had been.
"You really expect us to buy that?" She said to the young Airbender.
"Oh, hi, Nona." Aang greeted nervously, rubbing the back of his head.
"Aang, Katara might be naïve enough to believe you, and Sokka is dim enough that stuff just goes straight through what little brain he has, but I'm not that gullible. You know something that you're not telling us."
"What?" Aang tried to sound convincing. "Of course not. You're crazy. Crazy talk is coming out of your mouth right now. Heh. Well, I'm tired." He gave an exaggerated yawn. "G'night." And then lay down to go to sleep.
Wenona rolled her eyes and turned back, lying down to get some rest herself. She woke up a few hours later and the village was in sight. A crowd of their fellow tribe-members was waiting there anxiously. Wenona woke up her siblings and together they moved the sleeping Airbender into a tent so he could finish sleeping. A couple hours before midday, Katara decided to wake Aang up and led him out to meet the village.
"Why are they all looking at me like that?" Aang asked. "Did Appa sneeze on me?"
"Well, no one has seen an Airbender in a hundred years." Gran-Gran said. "We thought they were extinct, until my grandchildren found you."
"Extinct?"
"Aang," Wenona stepped over to him, "this is our grandmother."
"Call me Gran-Gran." The old woman stated.
Sokka walked over to Aang and snatched his staff.
"What is this, a weapon?" He asked. "You can't stab anything with this."
Wenona swiped it away from him and handed it back to Aang.
"Ya know, Meat-head, it's rude to take other people's stuff without permission."
"It's not for stabbing." Aang explained. "It's for Airbending." Aang made the staff open into a glider.
"Magic trick!" One of the younger children exclaimed. "Do it again!"
"Not magic. Airbending." Aang continued. "It lets me control the air-currents around my glider and fly."
"Ya know, last time I checked, humans can't fly." Sokka snarked.
"Check again." Aang zoomed straight up into the air and started flying around with his glider.
"Whoa. Pretty awesome." Keng gasped.
"Ya gotta admit, Sokka, that is really neat." Wenona remarked.
Aang got so caught up in putting on a show for the villagers that he didn't pay attention to where he was going and crashed into Sokka's watchtower.
Sokka let out a pained gasp.
"My watchtower." He whined.
Wenona rolled her eyes and went over to help Aang.
"That was amazing." Katara told him.
"Amazing? More like the awesomest thing we've ever seen!" Keng exclaimed.
Sokka tried to steady the crumbling structure only to find himself buried underneath a mound of snow.
"Great." Sokka said with annoyance. "You're an Airbender, those three are Waterbenders." He pointed to his siblings. "Together, you four can just waste time all day long." He stood up and shook off the snow and stormed off.
"You guys are Waterbenders?" Aang asked.
"Well, sort of." Katara replied. "Not yet."
"Alright." Gran-Gran interrupted them. "No more playing. Come on, Katara, Keng, you two have chores. Wenona, you need to help Sokka with the children. Make sure he doesn't hurt himself."
"Sure, Gran-Gran." Wenona responded. "See ya later, Aang. Try not to cause too much trouble. Okay?"
"Sure thing!" Aang exclaimed.
Hope you liked this first 'official' chapter in the series. I'll be posting the next one soon, so stay tuned.
