I fight back my panic as I'm shoved down the snow covered land of the island.

Running is probably the worst idea…these girls took me down in seconds. I wouldn't make it three feet away even if by some miracle I managed to somehow free myself.

I try to steady my breathing and try not to trip over my own feet as the road begins to steepen. I can hear Sokka grunting and fighting with every step of the way, but even blindfolded I can tell his attempts are feeble.

Stumbling and panting, we arrive at what I can only assume is the town square, judging by the rather loud murmurs and calls for someone named Oyaji.

I suppress a squeak as I'm shoved roughly against something rough and made of wood. Ropes are secured around us and pulled extremely tight, cutting through the layers of clothes shielding my body from the cold and make it hard to breathe.

"You three have some explaining to do," a gruff, grandfatherly voice addresses us from a distance.

"And if you don't answer all our questions, we're throwing you back in the water with the Unagi," another, slightly bossy female voice adds.

"Show yourselves you cowards!" Sokka stupidly yells.

I sigh and roll my eyes under the blindfold. We're not really in the position to make demands. But nevertheless, my blindfold is soon pulled away from my face with slightly more force than necessary.

In front of us are a small group of girls in white geisha-looking face paint and green and gold billowy dresses accented by heavy looking armor.

I'm almost sure they're the ones who ambushed us, but Sokka has to go ahead and question them anyways.

"Who are you?" he demands. "Where are the men who ambushed us?!"

"There were no men," a woman with short coppery brown hair snaps. "We ambushed you. Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Ten bucks says she's the leader," I mutter to Katara.

"What are bucks?" she asks with a confused lilt to her voice.

But she doesn't even wait for me to answer. She just turns around just in time to watch Sokka make an even bigger fool of himself.

"Wait a second," he scoffs. "There's no way a bunch of girls took us down."

"A bunch of girls huh?" the warrior asks in a menacing voice as she fists a hand in Sokka's heavy snow jacket. "The Unagi's going to eat well tonight."

"Wait! Don't hurt him!" Katara yells. "He didn't mean it! My brother is just an idiot sometimes."

"More like all the time," I drawl as I roll my eyes.

"Ohhhh!" a voice from the crowd yells. "Need some ice for that burn?!"

I snort and make eye contact with a girl in the front row. She looks around my age, with bright blue eyes and a wide grin, but her ebony hair is streaked with white like an elderly lady.

"Not bad," I say with a smirk that she mirrors.

"Lien!" an elderly man, whom I'm assuming is the 'Oyaji' everyone kept talking about, scolds.

"I expect better behavior from the headman's daughter," the warrior woman says with a disapproving glance at the girl. "Look at that girl's eyes! She's obviously Fire Nation."

"Eh hehe…sorry Suki," the girl, Lien, says with a sheepish smile before stepping closer to Oyaji.

"But Rena's not Fire Nation," Aang finally speaks up. "And it's my fault we came here; I wanted to ride the elephant koi."

"How do we know that for sure?" Oyaji asks as he fixes me with a hard stare. "Kiyoshi has stayed out of the war so far, and we intend to keep it that way."

I bite back my nervousness and attempt to hide myself behind Katara, but Aang diverts the attention of the crowd with his sudden reaction to Oyaji's statement.

"This Island is named for Kiyoshi?" he asks excitedly. "I know Kiyoshi!"

"How could you possibly know her?!" Oyaji spits. "Avatar Kiyoshi was born here over four hundred years ago. She's been dead for centuries!"

He gestures upwards, and I crane my neck to see that the pole we're tied to supports a large, weather beaten wood carving of a beautiful woman holding a pair of ornate gold fans. She wears a uniform that closely resembles the warrior women standing in front of us.

I tear my gaze away from it to see Aang carefully mulling over his thought before looking up to face Oyaji.

"I know her because I'm the Avatar," he says confidently.

The crowd stands shock still for a minute before the warrior woman breaks the silence.

"That's impossible!" Suki yells. "The last Avatar was an air bender that disappeared a hundred years ago!"

"That's me!" Aang says cheerily.

I groan and repeatedly smack the back my head against the wooden pole. This isn't good, and Aang just made it worse.

"Throw the imposter to the Unagi!" Oyaji commands.

"Oh but they seem nice!" Lien says happily. "Let's be nice to them!"

"Silence yourself Lien!" Oyaji barks before giving the signal for the warrior woman to advance on us.

"Uh guys…?" I whimper. "Killer women…with killer fans…coming towards us…an escape plan would be nice right about now."

"Hey!" Lien shouts from behind the wall of warrior women. "Why don't you use your air bending?"

"Aang, I don't think I'm experienced enough for this situation," I shout from the other side of the pole. "So why don't you get cracken'?"

"Sure," he responds before catapulting himself into the air.

The ropes snap quickly, and I can breathe again. I rub my sore wrists as Aang gently floats down in front of the crowd. They're all bug eyed and jaw dropped as he lands in front of us.

"It's true," Oyaji gasps. "You are the Avatar!"

"And now check this out!" Aang yells as he pulls out his marbles from earlier and begins his little trick.

The crowd goes completely wild. One guy even stars doing the wave and foaming at the mouth, eventually collapsing in a heap on the dirt floor. No one seems to notice or care.

"Oh! Oh! What do I win?!" Lien yells as she bounces up and down from her spot beside him and Suki. "I was the one who said we should be nice to them."

Oyaji steps forward and bows his head deeply.

"You have my sincerest apologies," he says as he raises his head again. "We'd be honored if you would stay here on Kiyoshi with us."

Aang exchanges a quick glance with Katara and Sokka. I walk up to them, still rubbing my wrists as I walk up to them.

"Should we?" Katara mumbles. "There's still a lot of ground to cover between here and the North Pole."

"Why not?" I respond as I flip my ponytail over my shoulder. "If anything we might be able to stock up more convenient supplies here. Specifically a map that someone can actually read."

Sokka shots me a glare before crossing his arms over his chest like a defensive child.

"Fine," he growls. "But only for a few days."

Aang nods happily before turning back to Oyaji.

"We'd love to stay here," he says before bowing.

"Very well," Oyaji responds before turning to the girl with the white streaks in her hair. "Lien, go take our gusts to our house and set them up in the guest rooms."

"Uhhhh…The good ones or the bad ones?" the girl asks in what I assume she thinks is a whisper. "I'm guessing the good ones right?"

"Of course put them in the good ones!" Oyaji hisses as he rubs his temples. "Where else would you put them?"

"Ummmm…the chicken coop?" she mutters dreamily.

Oyaji gives her a look that makes her lose all her pervious joy. Her shoulders slump forward and she turns away from him and starts walking away.

"Alright, I'll just give them the whole second floor," she sighs. "You four just follow me."

It wasn't a really long walk to the house, but by the time it was over, this Lien girl was talking about how the hallways in this house were slippery enough to go sock skating. I am only half ashamed to say that I was finding the idea very tempting. I wonder if my air bending would make me go faster…it sounds like cheating but who cares so long as I win.

Lien led us up to a large and spacious room on the second floor. She pulled out some extra futons and handed them to us before saying someone would be up with dinner later. Then she turned on her heel and walked away, muttering something about elephant koi breeding.

This is more than enough excitement for one day, so as soon as I'm fed; I collapse in a heap on my futon.

~Time Skip~

I woke up in the morning with a really stiff neck.

Wincing, I roll it to try to relieve the tension in my neck and shoulders. There's a large crack and pop and I instantly feel better.

Once I actually open my eyes I can see Aang and Katara sitting around a small table overflowing with small pastry looking treats. My stomach growls, and since Sokka doesn't seem to be up yet I'm going to get some food while I still can.

Straightening out my hair, I stumble over to the table still half asleep. Yawing, I slump down across from Aang and Katara, reaching for something that looks like a frosted bun. Only a small furry hand reaches out and snatches it fright out from under me.

Great. Now I'm competing with Sokka and Momo for food.

Scowling, I reach for another bun farther down the table, only to see Sokka sulking in the corner of the room.

I'm a bit shocked that he's being all gloomy in a corner when there's food here. But I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. So I grab a few pastries and begin scarfing them down as quick as I can without getting sick.

"Sokka, what's your problem?" Aang asks as I pull a cup of sweet smelling tea towards me. "EAT!"

"I'm not hungry," Sokka grumbles from his corner.

"But you're always hungry," Aang presses.

"He's just upset because a bunch of girls kicked his butt yesterday," Katara says smugly.

"They snuck up on me!" Sokka shouts.

"Right," Katara says with a smirk. "And then they kicked your butt."

"Sneak attacks don't count!" Sokka insists as he jumps to his feet.

"That's karma," I say with a smirk of my own. "What did you expect with your whole 'me man you woman' way of thinking. I'm just glad I was around to see it."

"I'll prove it was just a fluke!" Sokka growls at me.

"Sure you will honey," I giggle as I pick up another pastry.

"Tie me up with ropes," Sokka grumbles under his breath as he marches over to the table. "I'll show them a thing or two. I'm not scared of any girls! Who do they think they are anyways?"

"Is he talking to himself?" I ask Katara as Sokka piles pastries into his arms.

"Hmmmm, this is tasty," is the only reply I get form Sokka as he marches out of the room.

"I should probably make sure he doesn't go get himself killed. Or thrown off the island," I mumble as I get to my feet. "Will you guys still be here later?"

"I was going to do some shopping for supplies," Katara says as I pile a few pastries into my arms.

"Ok, I'll meet up with you later then," I say before turning to leave.

When I get to the bottom floor of the house, it's empty and makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. So I step out onto the back porch. From the stairs there are two sets of footprints in the shallow snow banks.

One I can tell without a doubt belongs to Sokka since the area around them is littered with pastry crumbs. The other I'm guessing belongs to Lien, since they are smaller and less deep. I sigh as I survey the area they both lead off to.

I don't really feel like going after Sokka. Besides, the worst that could happen to him is his body and ego will bruise like a summer peach. So I follow Lien's footprints instead. They look older, and if I'm not mistaken, look like they were made last night, and have no indication of her ever coming back.

Trudging alongside them, they lead into the forest at the base of the mountain range. The farther in I go the thicker the trees get, and the more the canopy blocks out the sunlight. I shiver unconsciously, wishing I had a jacket.

Snow crunches under my boots as I continue deeper into the forest, wondering just what the hell the crazy girl was doing out here. Then I start to wonder if she's actually crazy.

But my debate is cut off as I stumble across a small clearing. I step in cautiously, trying to see if I still have tracks to follow. And sure enough they stop here.

My eyes wander over the expanse of white powder until I see half a body sticking out of it.

My first instinct is to run screaming in the other direction. But I decide to use up my good deed for the day and go see if the person is ok. That way I don't need to be nice to Sokka when I finally find him.

Running up to the body, I brush some snow away from their face. My heart almost stops when a familiar face looks up at me with their eyes rolled back in their head.

Lien.