I never expect to wake up, which is why I'm surprised when I find myself snuggled under blankets with a girl, a couple of years younger than me. She's warm, and the blankets are warm as well. I look around and see that this is a tent, and underneath the furs and blankets is a bed of ice.

Because of my fidgeting, the girl wakes up. She blinks at me, then her eyes widen. "Oh, you're awake, good." She smiles at me. "My brother and I found you floating out on the ocean. We thought that you'd died, but somehow, you were still alive. So we brought you here and tended to you. You mostly just needed warming up."

I sit up, to find that my clothes have been changed. "Thank you. I actually did think that I was going to die out there." I get out of the bed and find that my own clothes have been washed, dried, and are folded neatly in a corner. So I start stripping off the new clothes and I change back into mine, despite the fact that they're travel-worn and the colors are fading.

The girl watches me carefully, her gaze gentle and kind. "So how did you end up floating out on a piece of ice? Your clothes don't look like ours, so you're obviously not from around here."

I glance back at her. "I was running away from someone who was trying to pry answers out of me. Thankfully, he probably thinks that I'm dead now. I mean, I did jump off the side of his ship right into the ocean."

"I see, that must have been hard." Her voice is soft and kind. "I'm Katara, and my brother Sokka helped to rescue you. What's your name?"

I finish with my clothes and stretch a little, finding that my cold joints are a bit stiff. "My name is Ciara. I've been traveling around the Earth Kingdom for the last few years. Well, until that Fire Nation boy caught me and tried to interrogate me. But I'll probably never see him again, so it's nothing to worry about. He probably thinks that I died trying to swim away from his ship, and that my body is at the bottom of the ocean."

"Wow, that sounds horrible." She gets up and puts on an outer layer of clothes that looks really warm. "So Ciara, where do you plan to go now?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I've been looking for somewhere safe for a long time. But I haven't found a place that's safe enough for me to stop for a while. The most I've ever stayed in one place is probably about two weeks."

"Then why don't you stay here?" She smiles as she slips a warm coat around me and fastens it. "The South Pole is probably one of the safest places there is. The Fire Nation hasn't been here in a long time. And no one is going to turn you in, we all hate them here."

I tilt my head and my gaze softens. "I see. Then maybe I will stay a while, if your people will allow it."

"You may stay as long as you like, young one." An elderly woman comes into the tent and looks at me kindly. "If you have nowhere to go, then you may stay. But where is your family? They must be worried."

My gaze drops to the ground. "I'm an orphan. My family was killed by Fire Nation soldiers a long time ago. I've been on my own ever since. I was the only one they left alive, probably because they thought that I was dead." I barely suppress a bitter laugh. "Seems like I'm pretty good at playing dead."

"Now, now, let's get you acquainted with the village. If you're going to stay here, then you should at least see the rest of the village."

Katara eagerly takes me by the hand and pulls me out of the tent. She takes me all around the village and introduces me to her brother, Sokka, as well as all of the village children, and the women. The men are all off fighting in the war, or so Sokka has told me. And I find out that the old lady is the village elder, Katara and Sokka's grandmother.

So, since they've been so kind as to give me a place to stay, I help out with the chores and looking after the children. They all love my stories about my travels. And I regale them with legends from all over the Earth Kingdom.


About two weeks into my stay with the tribe, Katara and Sokka go out for a day-long fishing trip, and come back with a boy. He has strange tattoos, and a flying bison. That can only mean one thing, that the boy is an airbender. And that means that despite the legends and stories, there is still one airbender left. And it pleases me to know that that bastard Sozin didn't manage to completely annihilate the airbenders. And I have the sneaking suspicion that the boy is more than he appears to be.

Katara comes in with blankets as I watch the boy. "Thanks for watching him, Ciara. He and his bison brought us here after our canoe was wrecked. He's the reason that we didn't freeze to death out there."

"What's his name?" My curiosity is starting to get the better of me, despite my ingrained sense of caution.

Katara looks at him fondly. "Aang. He's an airbender."

I nod. "I figured that he was, judging by his tattoos. They're like nothing I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot during my travels."

Katara steps out for a minute to talk to her grandmother. But when Aang starts to have a nightmare, I call Katara back in and she shakes him awake. "Aang…Aang! Wake up!" He jolts awake and sits up. So Katara tries to keep him calm. "It's okay, we're in the village now. Come on, get ready, everyone's waiting to meet you."

Katara gets up and leaves the tent as Aang gets out of bed and starts pulling his clothes back on. He looks at me curiously. "Hi there. Are you friends with Katara?"

I shrug. "Sort of. She and her brother found me floating on a piece of ice, almost dead. Sounds like we both has some issues with ice recently. They brought me back here and nursed me back to health. I've been here for a couple of weeks."

His eyes glitter at me, and he looks so cute and innocent that I wonder how much he knows about what happened to his people. "So what's your name?"

I smile gently. "My name is Ciara. And it's good to meet you Aang."

Once he's done getting dressed, Katara drags him off to meet the village, and I go out to sit on the ice wall around the village and look out at the ocean and the rising sun. I've always like watching the sun rise, as though the world is becoming pure and new as the new day begins. Though I do make sure to duck when Aang comes swooping over my head with his weird glider.


Over the next few days, Aang drags Katara out on a bunch of little adventures, including penguin sledding. I don't really understand the appeal, but I don't say anything about it, and I turn him down when he invites me along as well.

But one of their adventures goes badly wrong when a Fire Nation flare shoots into the sky. It's probably visible for at least fifty miles around. That could be very dangerous, especially seeing as I'm a rogue firebender, and I'm trying to hide it. If any Fire Nation ships saw that flare, then I need to leave, and soon.

Aang and Katara make their way back a while later, and the whole village is agitated. The kids are happy to see them, but Sokka isn't. He points accusingly at Aang. "I knew it! You signaled the Fire Navy with that flare! You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?"

"Aang didn't do anything. It was an accident!" Katara steps up to defend him from her older brother, looking fairly unhappy with the accusation against her new friend.

"Yeah. We were on the ship, and there was this booby trap, and we…boobied right into it." Such a master of eloquence…

Katara's grandmother chastises her. "Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now, we could all be in danger."

"Don't blame Katara, I brought her there." Aang takes the blame, and looks a little ashamed of himself. "It's my fault."

Sokka jumps right onto that confession. "Aha! The traitor confesses! Warriors, away from the enemy. The foreigner is banished from our village."

Katara's temper flares. "Sokka, you're making a mistake."

"No, I'm keeping my promise to Dad, I'm protecting you from threats like him!"

"Aang is not our enemy!" Katara starts to calm down a little. "Don't you see? Aang's brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun!"

"Fun? We can't fight firebenders with fun!"

"You should try it sometime." Aang's argument is pointless, and it sounds even less convincing with a smile on his face.

Sokka isn't buying it. "Get out of our village. Now."

Katara appeals to her grandmother. "Grandmother please, don't let Sokka do this."

"Katara, you knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right. I think it best if the airbender leaves." She says it in a tone that leaves no room for dissent.

But that only enrages Katara. "Fine! Then I'm banished too!" She grabs Aang and drags him towards Appa. "Come on Aang, let's go."

"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka is astonished and outraged with his sister's actions.

"To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole." Well, on the bright side, at least Katara has a plan, and priorities.

"Katara! Would you really choose him over your own tribe? Your own family?"

Katara stops in her tracks, and Aang says something quietly to her. She answers him, and he looks happy, then he looks a little weird, like he remembered something that he forgot to do, and he's not looking forward to it much. Then he hops up onto Appa's head and waves. "It was nice meeting everyone." It looks like everyone is fine with staying here while Aang goes off on his own.

But the same won't be said of me. "Hey Aang, wait up a sec." I jump off the wall and land perfectly in the snow. I take off the coat that Katara gave me and throw it onto Sokka's head. "I'm going to go with you. If there's even the slightest chance that Fire Nation soldiers are going to show up here, I can't stay. And besides, it's probably going to be harder for them to find me if I'm traveling with a guy with a flying bison."

He smiles at me. "Okay then, do you want to see the air temple?"

I grin excitedly. "You know it. I've never seen any of the air temples, so it should be a good adventure. And as you can see, I'm the type who really likes adventure."

"Then hop on!" He swirls into the air and lands on the bison, Appa's, head. So I run around to the back and climb up Appa's tail as Aang has his big friend turn around, and a few little goodbyes are said. But despite Appa being a flying bison, he walks off instead of flying.

I lie down in the large saddle, which is big enough to fit at least half a dozen people, and I watch the sky. Appa carries the two of us around for a while, and I can tell that Aang is feeling sad, so I don't press any conversation on him. I just make myself content with watching the changing and shifting colors of the sky.

But once we get a good distance away, Aang spots a Fire Navy ship headed towards the village. He glances at me briefly. "You stay here with Appa." And he takes off without explaining. But he doesn't need to explain, I know what he's planning to do.


I stay with Appa, but when Aang doesn't come back, I know what's happened. So I climb onto Appa's head and take the reins. "Alright boy, you and I have to go find your friend. And we have a couple of people to pick up on the way. Can you go back to the village?" He brays in response and starts moving back towards the village.

Appa and I come up on Katara and Sokka talking with their grandmother. I whistle lightly at them. "Hey, you two! I don't think you're going to get very far in that canoe!"

Katara spins around and looks at me, stunned. "Ciara! And Appa!"

I grin at them. "Come on, let's go." I watch carefully as the two of them climb up Appa's tail with their supplies. Then I smile and turn back to the direction Appa is pointed in. "Now, I think that Aang said something to get you to move. Um…" Then it clicks in my head. "Right! Yip yip!"

That sure gets him up, and he readily takes to the sky, slapping his tail on the water and soaring into the sky. We fly through the air, Sokka and Katara freaking out about Appa flying, and heading straight for the ship that took Aang, because somehow, Appa seems to know exactly where to go to find his missing friend. Must be some kind of airbender and pet bison bond.

I spot him on the deck of the ship and Appa steers us right towards the ship. But before we can get to him, Aang falls off the ship and into the water. Katara, of course, freaks out. But her panic is unneeded, as Aang rises out of the water, his eyes and tattoos glowing, and his body is supported by a huge column of water.

He crashes onto the deck of the ship and sends all of the crew flying over the sides and into the ocean. So with the danger having passed, I take Appa down to the deck and watch as Katara and Sokka go down to retrieve Aang.

Aang's staff is lying on the deck, so I jump off Appa and run over for it. But when I pick it up, I find that stubborn prince hanging onto the end of it. His eyes widen as he lays eyes on me. "It can't be, you died!"

I smirk at him. "Obviously not. I'm a lot tougher than you seem to think." Then my gaze hardens. "You don't want to get anywhere near me again, I promise you. It won't be pretty if you do." Then I smack his head with the staff and send him falling down towards the water, and I watch him grab onto the chain of the boat. "Pray that we don't see each other again, Prince Zuko."

I turn around and see that Sokka and Katara are finished with the guards, so I jump onto Appa's back, throw Aang his staff, and brace myself as he deflects a fireball that Zuko manages to get aimed at us. I turn back to the ship and glare down at them. Then I slink down into the saddle and curl up to go to sleep while Aang does all of his trip planning.