Chapter 3:
"This time. I'm going to catch all the fish." Sokka was sharpening a staff within his tent. "No girl's going to upstage me…" he grumbled to himself.
Sokka was now fifteen years old, his water tribe outfit having been adjusted to his height. His hair was still shaved at the sides and tied back into a ponytail like it used to be. His hands were gloved and he looked at his spear with pride before standing and grabbing a basket.
"Sokka are you ready yet?" Katara appeared at the entrance of the tent, her hair was tied back and braided, now much longer than before as she had grown to fourteen years. Her blue eyes still shined and she grinned as she taunted her brother, she was curvier below the thick coat. "We're not waiting all day." she crossed her arms and her brother looked at her annoyed
"I'm coming." he assured and he walked out beside her and onto the snow.
"Done doing your hair now are we?" Freya grinned. She was now fifteen, taller, curvier, her hair longer just like Katara. Her skin was paler than the two siblings, but her eyes shined slightly closer to the ocean than the two of them.
"Ha. Ha." Sokka answered "Let's go get some fish." and he stalked past them
"Eye-eye captain." Katara saluted. The two girls giggled as they followed the boy.
"You three be careful now." they turned to see Kanna, she had some clothes in one hand and a needle in the other.
"We will." Katara smiled
"Yeah, Sokka will look after us." Freya clapped the boy on the back and he groaned before glaring at her. She grinned back.
The three turned and began to make their way out of the village. It was a lot smaller now and the only men were Sokka and the children, none older than seven. Katara and Freya were the oldest girls in the tribe amongst the children, both took on as many and all jobs as they could to help out.
The three walked across the snow in silence, Sokka's face seemed to be in full determination mode as Katara watched him with a raised eyebrow.
Freya was looking out across the ice, she'd been with the southern water tribe for five years. They'd accepted her kindly, Katara and Kanna had accepted her whole heartedly into their home, Sokka had taken some time to be convinced that Freya could be trusted but he warmed up to her and now considered her an important family member.
Despite her fortunes however, Freya was still unsure as to what had happened to her and how she'd ended up in a block of ice and in the water that day the two siblings had found her. When she tried to remember, she saw black, flashes of light, loud rumbles and thrashing waters. She had already guessed she had been in a storm in the middle of the ocean, but she urged to remember why she was there in the first place. And no amount of concentrating or meditating had helped her remember that fact.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" Freya's voice was calm as she sat on the snow and looked out towards the ocean, the sun was just rising beyond and it lit up her slightly pale skin. Kanna believed that her naturally tanned Water Tribe skin had been effected by the cold of the water from being frozen and had not totally healed to darken again.
"It looks like you're sitting there doing nothing." Sokka said as he scrutinised the child. He was ten years old and held his usual boomerang in his hand. He had his arms crossed as he watched the child do nothing but sit, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths.
"You're close." Freya said "Only this takes great concentration. It's mental energy instead of physical."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I work my mind instead of my body." Freya answered, a slightly irritated expression growing on her face.
"What do you need to work your mind for?" Sokka glanced over to Katara a few paces away who was trying to waterbend, her movements slightly edgy and forced instead of flowing easily through the motions like Freya had.
"Well I'm missing my memories and mediation should help to regain them." Freya answered
"Why? You already remembered you were caught in a storm?" Sokka said with a raised eyebrow
"How did I get there Sokka? What was I doing? Why was I there?" Freya wondered turning her head slightly annoyed towards him and Sokka looked puzzled and slightly surprised by the girl's tone.
"That is why I need to concentrate. I have unanswered questions." Freya turned away and back towards the sun. Sokka watched her for a minute before the silence was broke again.
"Sokka! Freya! Look!" both turned to Katara in time to see a rather decent stream of water before her. Freya's eyes widened slightly as it bent and then with a flick of Katara's wrist the water went flying towards Sokka. The boy gasped and turned around in time to be hit in the back and sent flying.
Katara and Freya both stared shocked, their hands over their mouths.
"Sokka I'm sorry!" Katara worried
"That was rather good." Freya thought
"I was trying to make it swirl around me…" Katara muttered
"Well you made it move somewhere so that's something." Freya smiled and Katara returned it
"Again!? Katara!" Sokka looked down at his wet clothes, shaking his arms to try and rid them of the water as he stood up. "How is it I always end up wet!?" Sokka complained and the two girl's laughed
"Cause you can't bend the water away." Freya chuckled, only to earn a scowl. The girl wove her arms and the water pulled away from Sokka leaving him dry.
The three children came to a small stream between the ice where a canoe waited. Sokka placed his spear and basket inside before the two girls climbed in and Sokka undid the ore to allow it to move down the stream. Sokka paddled to move the canoe along as the two girls looked into the water for any signs of fish.
"So, how many fish do you bet Sokka will catch today?" Katara asked Freya, causing her brother to slump and scowl before them.
"You never know, he might surprise us." Freya admitted with a shrug.
"I can hear you." Sokka snapped
"Really?" Freya asked with a shocked look and Katara chuckled.
Sokka turned back to where he was going, scanning the waters as he steered them through the bits of ice.
"Look Sokka!" Freya pointed to the water and they saw a few fish. Sokka dug his paddle into the water as Freya waved her hands, the canoe came to a stop and Sokka switched the ore for the spear.
"It's not getting away from me this time." he said, his voice echoing as he leaned over the edge of the canoe with the spear raised, his eyes solely focused on the fish below him. "Watch and learn, Freya, Katara. This is how you catch a fish." he said smugly and Freya rolled her eyes as Katara turned from her brother and to the water. She saw another fish within the water and glanced at her brother subtly as Freya looked around them on the either side.
The younger girl removed the mitten from one of her hands and took a deep breath. Katara began to move her hand in motions and before her eyes the fish rose from the water within a bubble. Freya noticed something move within the water a little ways off and stood up. She removed her own mitten and flared her fingers, the water before her froze solid and she jumped off onto it, moving across the ever growing ice. She saw a few fish before her, swimming in a small school.
Freya grinned and took a stance before she rose her arms. One by one small balls of water left the water, the fish all coming with them as Katara had done. The balls all merged together and Freya began to step carefully backwards, the water all moving with her towards the canoe.
"Sokka, look!" Katara called as she moved her hands and held her fish filled sphere now above her head.
"Shhh. Katara, you're gonna scare it away." Sokka whispered not turning around as he stared at the fish. "Mmmm... I can already smell it cookin'!" he drooled.
Freya glanced backwards and saw Katara with her water orb of fish and smiled as she turned around, her fish swirling around her to move towards the canoe ahead of her.
"But Sokka! I caught one!" Katara explained, her face scrunching up slightly as she attempted to keep control of the water orb which floated in front and around her.
Katara's orb began to move over towards Sokka, above their heads just as Freya reached them and held her own fish above them.
"I got some too." she smiled and Katara looked as amazed and impressed as she always did at Freya's bending talent. Sokka however wasn't interested as he raised his spear slightly. The fish moved into position and Sokka rose the spear, drawing back to strike. However the end of his spear went straight into Katara's water bubble.
"Hey!" Katara complained as her water bubble burst and her fish flew into the air. It smashed into Freya's bubble and the girl moved her hands quickly to keep the large water mass from bursting like Katara's had, but the disruption caused a few fish to fall with some water, all of which fell into the boat and onto Sokka who got drenched by the two benders' water. A few fish hit the waters while others fell into the boat.
"Ugh!" Sokka complained as he shook his head "Why is it that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?" he turned to them
"It's not magic. It's waterbending, and it's—" Katara corrected before Sokka interrupted her.
"Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, blah blah blah."
"It's historical." Freya added and she moved one of her hands to point at him. She forgot about her water mass hovering above the two still and it splashed down on both children, fish flying everywhere. Sokka just looked irritated as Katara spluttered.
"Opps…" Freya muttered "Sorry," she smiled guiltily. Sokka glanced at her as the girl moved her hands and the water was removed from both children and thrown back into the water
"Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself." Sokka rung the water out of his pony tail as he turned towards the front of the boat.
"It's not weird." Freya rolled her eyes
"You're calling me weird?" Katara questioned smugly as she crossed her arms "I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water." Freya hopped into the canoe again as Sokka stared at his reflection in some ice beside them, his sleeve rolled up and a grin on his face as he flexed his bicep.
He turned to the two girls who chuckled before their canoe was bumped by something, causing them to jerk. The three children turned to see the current had picked up and they were about to head straight into a maze of blocks of ice.
The three cried out as Sokka grabbed his paddle and began to furiously work through the current to steer them through the mass of ice, two blocks crashing behind them as they moved across the waters.
"Watch out!" Katara called as they bumped another ice block, two beginning to collide before them. "Go left! Go left!" the two girls hung onto the canoe as they rushed over the water and Sokka continued to paddle.
They managed to manoeuvre through the ice, bashing the sides of the canoe as the blocks of ice collided with one another, luckily crashed together behind them. Freya released the canoe to wave her hand and moved one of the threatening blocks out of the way from beside them. She turned back forwards however and gasped as three icebergs began to move threateningly and the canoe ran right in between them.
"Look out!" she called as they were easily surrounded.
Grabbing the two siblings' hands she yanked them from the canoe and onto one of the icebergs just as their canoe was smashed to pieces. Katara slid along the ice block, pushing some snow off the other end and into the water, she luckily skidded to a stop before falling into the icy liquid. Freya kneeled on the snow as Sokka sat, his spear stabbed into the ice.
Their boat was gone and their ice platform was moving with the current, with all the other pieces of ice, away from any path back to the snow.
"You call that left?" Katara complained as she sat up and shuffled back beside her brother.
"You don't like my steering. Well, maybe you should have waterbended us out of the ice."
"Dire situations." Freya muttered as she looked around for the best route to the shore. She looked at the trail of ice not to far off which travelled with the current through the giant glaciers and the pointed tower of ice beside them jutting out of the water.
"So it's my fault?" Katara questioned with frustration as she got to her feet.
"I knew I should have left you home. Leave it to a girl to screw things up." Sokka blamed
Katara ground her teeth together as she glared at her brother before she pointed at him, her anger seething.
"You are the most sexist, immature, nut brained…" Freya watched as the iceberg below them moved slightly, the water having ripples created through it. Katara flung her arms around and the iceberg that had appeared behind them began to crack. The fifteen year old girl's eyes widened slightly.
"Ugh, I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" The water rose as Katara rose her hand and then slashed back through the water and to the pointed iceberg behind them, sending a large crack up and to the left. Sokka, who'd been ignoring his sister's rants looked up at her for a second before noticing the cracks and his eyes widened slightly. "Ever since Mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!" Katara continued as pieces of ice began to fall behind her.
"Uh... Katara?" he began, pointing, slightly worried as Freya watched surprised
"I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, NOT PLEASANT!" Katara shouted flinging both her hands back and causing a second crack to run up the right side of the glacier and the left one to deepen even more.
"Katara! Settle down!" Sokka cried in worry as he watched the iceberg.
"No, that's it. I'm done helping you. From now on, you're on your own!" Katara flung her hands once more and the water sprang up from the surface and ran up in several cracks through the iceberg, blowing out through the top. Sokka looked worried and Katara finally turned around with a gasp. The ice broke open in half and then the two halves crumbled as Freya steadied her feet, the two siblings fell forwards and grabbed the ice as it angled from the waves. Freya wove her hands and their ice block rose, the water pushing them up and keeping the ice flat as a wave shot past below them. The ice block was sent backwards, a harsh spray moving with them as the three closed their eyes.
It quickly all settled down and Freya dropped her hands as their ice block came to a stop and floated over the calming waters.
"Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara." Sokka decided, moving one of his arms from over Katara to hold her to the ice, as Freya sighed
"You mean I did that?" Katara looked at where the glacier had been standing
"Yup. Congratulations." Sokka said sarcastically
"Shows how much potential you've got." Freya muttered as she stared at the open piece of water before them.
The three of them stopped as the waters began to glow just before their ice block. Their faces were lit up blue as the light began to grow, bubbles rising to the surface. The two siblings got to their feet and stood beside Freya.
"Uh… what's that…?" Freya began as they watched it, the older girl slightly worried.
"Freya…!" Katara began. The girl waved her hands and their ice block shot back several more paces, making Sokka stumble and slip over to land on his backside. Out of the water before them shot another glacier, sending water everywhere and their ice block rocked some more, causing gasps to irrupt from the three. They stared at the glowing ice, circular and with grooves carved into it, Freya looked at the swirling motion of the ice with confusion.
Ice doesn't freeze like that? she believed as it tipped slightly to sit upright on the water. Freya was intrigued by the glowing ice. She couldn't help but walk forwards as she stared at the bright luminescent ice in interest. As she stared she saw a figure sitting within the ice. It seemed to be a person, an arrow shone out through the ice on top of it's head, and two near it's chest on what looked like it's fists as well.
"There's a person inside…" Freya muttered as Katara stood beside her, the both of them surprised. They looked confused at the person, clearly a boy, bald and sitting crosslegged. The girls suddenly gasped when the figure opened their eyes, both glowing like the arrows.
"He's alive!" Katara exclaimed in surprise "We have to help."
Katara suddenly reached to Sokka and grabbed his ball tipped spear, pulling up her hood and moving towards the glowing iceberg. Freya flared her fingers and froze a path for them which the two girls ran across.
"Katara! Get back here! We don't know what that thing is!" Sokka complained from behind as the girl reached the iceberg. Katara moved quickly to the ice as Sokka followed, grabbing his spear as he did. Freya reached the ice first before Katara began to whack it with Sokka's club. Freya wiped a hand on the ice to see inside but the glow made everything else besides the boy look dark.
"It wont…" Katara complained "Open!"
"Hang on Katara, let me try." Freya offered and Katara nodded before stepping back. Freya took a deep breath and then swung her hand. The entire iceberg cracked and the three children were blown backwards with a cry and across the ice, the two girls being blown into Sokka behind them. They looked up as the air ran in a crack up the circular ice and branched out before the top of the ice blew open. A bright white light burst out through the top and up into the sky, surrounded by the southern lights. Freya squinted her eyes at the sudden light and held her mittened hand up to block the light.
