Hahn

It would only be a few years, they said. Defending the Ice Wall was the greatest honor, they said. To keep the vile things in the Land of the Ice That Never Melts away from the tribe was a duty to take great pride in.

The people who said that, Hahn decided, were liars.

The land outside of the Northern Water Tribe capital was cold, colder than Hahn had expected. He pulled his cloak closer to him, tucking his arms under his armpits and exhaling, watching as his breath drifted away in visible white clouds.

Hahn balanced on the edge of the wagon and watched as the great capital of the Northern Water Tribe grew smaller. The ice tiers began to shrink and become dark dots against the unending white snow. Hahn felt a bit homesick already, though it had only been an hour since they departed for the Ice Wall.

"I heard it snows all day," a boy said beside him. Hahn hadn't taken the time to learn his name, but he knew that the boy was going to serve permanently on the Wall. Hahn thought he was stupid, who would want to spend their whole life away from people? "And even waterbenders can die frozen in their beds."

Hahn made a face. His father had convinced- no, commanded- him to serve on the Ice Wall. His older brothers were all esteemed warriors and had married women of good standing. Hahn didn't expect much, being the third son, but he remembered that once his mother had told him he would marry a princess. She had told him that his princess wife would see him as a great hero when he returned.

His mother was a liar.

The wagon went over a small bump and Hahn jolted, nearly smashing into the boy beside him. "Y'not scared of bein' frozen?" The boy asked, "and getting lost in the snow?"

Hahn rolled his eyes. "I'm competent enough to know how to find my way back," he answered. "I can do my duty and get back home." He suddenly imagined that fighting foul-things and barbarians would get more respect than simply guarding ships. This might work out, he thought.

The boy studied him and Hahn returned his stare. He appeared to be about fifteen, younger than Hahn, and of lower economic standing. His eyes were brown, a trait that some Tribe people had depending on what clan their ancestors came from. The boy grinned, "I bet the ladies are gonna miss ya."

Despite himself, Hahn smirked. He was handsome, he always had been and people knew it. "I suppose," he said, "they'll have to learn to live without me." He was sure his mother would also have to get used to him being gone, he may have been the youngest but he was his mother's favorite and his father's greatest pupil. Hasook and Nilu, his brothers, had been prodigies. Hahn had taken his talent and excelled.

A man riding a buffalo-yak came up the side of the wagon. He was a large, scarred man with aged eyes and half of his left ear was missing. "Save ya breath, boys," he said, "the cold at the wall will make you breathless."

Hahn blinked. He wondered what had caused the man's injury. Everyone knew there were foul-things beyond the Wall, angry abominations and barbarians. Hahn had heard tales of times before the Wall was built, when things from the Land of the Ice That Never Melts would plague the city and only the bravest warriors and a mystical being known as the Avatar could keep them away.

Hahn wasn't sure if the Avatar was even real anymore, but if he was, he wasn't doing his job very well.

"I once knew a man who kept watch on the Wall, and a spirit flew down and nearly stole his soul," the man went on, "the only reason he lived was because someone gave him a sip of water from the Spirit Oasis."

Hahn knew of the Spirit Oasis. It lay on the edge of the city, a place of warmness and a small pool that held the physical forms of the Moon and Ocean spirits Tui and La, two Koi fish. Hahn knew that the Princess of the Northern Water Tribe had been granted life by the Moon spirit as a baby. Hahn figured that there were a lot of perks to that.

"Why did the spirit try to steal his soul?" The boy beside Hahn asked. "And why was there no one to help him?"

The man seemed agitated. "Because," he drawled, "That's what some spirits do. They steal souls. And the man was alone because he was on sentry duty at night. Night is a dangerous time. Especially a full moon."

Hahn looked back, only to see that even the tallest tower in the capital had disappeared from view, leaving only an empty expanse of white snow and pale blue ice. It felt odd, he thought, to be so far from the city, his home, yet still be in the north. It felt alien to be plodding along an empty road of ice and crushed snow.

"There ain't no girls at the Wall," someone drawled at the front of the wagon, "but the spirits just as pretty, there ain't no girls at the Wall, they got left back in the city." He laughed and some others joined him, repeating the words and making a song out of them.

"Here we are, going to keep the capital safe while the chief is up in his ice palace, feasting. And the prince probably has his nose in a book." The man on the buffalo-yak pulled a face.

Kuruk, the chief's son and heir, was a chubby six year old boy. Hahn had only seen him once, when Hasook had been recognized as an established warrior. He had hid between his father, the chief, and his mother, holding his elder sister's hand. Princess Yue was beautiful, Hahn remembered that, and he remembered that he wouldn't mind courting her. Perhaps she'd been his princess.

There was an excited shout and Hahn craned his neck to see the men on the supply wagon ahead of theirs shouting and pumping their fists on the air. Beyond that, he could see a massive wall of ice. It was taller than the highest tier in the capital and though Hahn could not see it all, he figured it must've gone on for miles.

"The only thing keeping the foul-things out," the man on the buffalo-yak said quietly, "the great wall of ice. Between two mountains, a hundred and fifty feet high, and about as thick as five men standing shoulder to shoulder. Home."

As the wagons drew closer, Hahn saw stations set up along the wall and men in pairs of two scaling it with the help of some type of rig. They stood on a thin platform, one holding it steady while the other used waterbending.

"That's how we make repairs," the man said and spurred his buffalo-yak, pulling away from the wagons and disappearing from view.

The wagons followed the well- traveled path along the wall and Hahn smelled smoke and animals. He heard the familiar sound of northern made steel and the crunch of a thousand feet on snow.

The wagon pulled to a halt.

An average looking man leaped down from the front seat as a group of men approached. They wore dark blue cloaks and cowls, noses tinged red from the cold. "Get out!" The average looking man shouted and the boys clammered from the wagon, shoving each other to stand before the men. "Get out and stand up!"

Hahn took his time.

One of the men detached himself from the group and walked along the line of boys. "You brought a sorry lot," he said and wrinkled his red nose.

"Sorry?!" Hahn couldn't help but argue, "I'm a great warrior."

The man stopped and looked back at Hahn. "Oh are ya now?" He smiled. "Are you a first son?"

Hahn rolled his eyes. "No."

"Second?"

"No."

The man laughed loudly. "Oh! So this great warrior is a third son! A merchant's son probably. Let me tell you, boy, if you were so great of a warrior, you would be guarding the chief." He clapped a hand heavily on Hahn's shoulder, expecting him to flinch "I like this one," he said, "he won't make it a month on the wall."

Hahn narrowed his eyes and the man crooked his finger, beckoning him forward. Hahn followed and he heard the wagon driver snicker. Hahn tried to mask the chill that cut through his clothes with a shrug. The man led him away from the others.

They trudged across the snow and onto an empty platform. The man stepped on it first and as Hahn stepped up, the mechanism began to rise. The man operated the pulley, grunting with the effort. Hahn saw the people on the ground getting smaller as they went up the side of the wall. He noticed the minute intricacies in the ice, tiny designs that could only be seen up close.

"Do you know who I am, boy?" The man asked as he pulled. In one swift movement, he pulled back his hood. He wasn't an old man, but Hahn saw streaks of gray in his dark hair. He did not seem familiar.

When Hahn told him so, the man smiled darkly. "I had figured as much," he continued to pull, "I'm the chief's nephew."

Hahn's eyes widened.

"It's true," the man nodded, "the lone son of his eldest sister. You won't hear him claim we're related, though. I doubt he knows I'm alive." He gave the rope a heavy tug, "We're the same age, his sister was a woman grown by the time he was born."

"Like his own children," Hahn said, "the princess and the prince are ten years apart." He looked down, they were perhaps a quarter of the way up the wall.

"My mother and Arnook were nineteen years apart," the man replied and let go of the rope. The platform stayed suspended in place and then the man raised his hands, making a pushing motion. A waterbender. There was a grinding noise and the ice beneath the platform rippled. The platform began to move upward once more, without without the effort of the man's pulling. "What's your name, boy?"

"Hahn," he replied. The platform was rising faster now. "Why did you choose me?"

The man smiled softly to himself.

The platform clinked and stopped and Hahn felt a cold wind cut through him. They were at the top of the wall, one hundred and fifty feet above the ground and Hahn could see the open land on either side of the wall. On one side there were things that were familiar, there was his home. On the other was the unknown, the Land of the Ice That Never Melts and foul-things and spirits and barbarians.

The man stepped onto the ice at the top of the wall, his steps sure and measured. Hahn followed, breathing in the frigid air of the north.

"It's beautiful," the man said beside him. "Lovely and deadly." He watched Hahn and Hahn watched him. "As unforgiving as a woman scorned. They say the north was created by an angry female spirit."

Without warning, the man in the dark blue cloak grabbed Hahn by the throat. As the younger man gasped for breath, he pushed him backwards, bending over the edge of the wall. Hahn gripped the man's arms and the chief's nephew smiled. "Not so great of a warrior up here on your own, are ya?" He hissed and pushed down. "You're just a pitiful little boy, aren't ya?"

Hahn cried out as the man pulled him back to safety, wheezing as he tried to regain his breath. "What was that for?!"

The man chuckled. "I can see you're a cocky one," he said, "you take pride in what you can do. But listen to me, boy, this wall is unforgiving. We will not coddle you, we will not stroke your ego. You either work for you keep, or you die. Understood?"

Hahn rubbed his throat. "You threatened to kill me just for that?"

The man seemed amused. "I did," he said, "and I would do it again. How will you know what you're going to face, if you've never seen death in the eye?"

"The other new boys haven't," Hahn said and he felt a heavy drop in his stomach.

Again, the man chuckled. "Get back on the platform," he ordered, "And those other boys, little hero, are criminals."

You know what you should do? Read and review!