Meeting the ice harvesters.
The next morning, Aang was still on his snowmobile ridding up the snow covered mountains looking for his sister. He was wearing his jacket but still had his tuxedo. The young Avatar kept shouting his sister's name,
"Korra! Korra!"
He briefly stopped his vehicle. "Korra it's me, Aang. Your brother who didn't mean to make you freeze the summer….I'm sorry It-It's all my fault!", he the lowered his voice, he was mostly talking to himself at this point, "Of corse, none of this would have happened if she'd had just told me her secret. Her and my other friends….and now I'm talking to myself."
He then heard a sound from afar. He jumped out of his snowmobile and got into a defensive stance.
"Who's there? Show yourself!"
Right on cue, two more snowmobiles appeared in front of him. One was driven by Mako with Toph ridding behind him. The second was driven by Asami with Bolin ridding behind her. Aang lowered his defenses.
"What are you guys doing here?"
"We're here to help you look for Korra." Toph said.
"I appreciate it but, I've got it covered." said the avatar. Mako stepped off of his vehicle, "No offense Aang but, you don't exactly know your way around these mountains."
"Yeah but, we kind of don't either." said Bolin. His older brother narrowed his eyes at him, "Not helping bro!"
"Look, I know what you guys are doing: you three wanna tag along because you feel you owe it to me for lying and keeping Korra's secret all these years. And Mako wants to come because he's got the hots for my sister."
"That's not true!" Mako exclaimed defensively while blushing. They all arced their eyebrows at him, "Okay, so what if it kind of is?" he asked.
"You guys go back to Republic City. I'll be fine", Aang got back on his snowmobile but before he could turn it back on, Mako placed his hand on his shoulder,
"Aang, I'm sorry we never told you. We wanted to but your parents thought it was best to keep it secret until Korra was able to control her powers and you were old enough to understand."
"Wait a sec…" Aang turned to look at his older friend, "Is that why she's always shut me out?"
"….Yeah." Mako sadly answered, "She didn't do it because she never loved you. Quite the opposite actually, it was because she does love you. She was scared of hurting you again. Of hurting any of us."
Aang lowered his gaze in sadness, he had no idea his sister was actually doing all of that because she cared about him. Not the other way around. "All these years I thought she was just sick of me."
"No. Korra would never grow sick of you." Mako said in reassurance, "I'm starting to think that's the real reason she left so quickly. She didn't want to hurt anyone else."
Aang looked up at Mako once more. As a guard it was Mako's responsibility to protect and serve the avatars. But right now, Aang didn't just need a guard to be by his side on this crazy journey.
"Look, I'm not coming with you as your guard….but as your friend. We all want Korra back just as much as you do."
"Some more than others." Bolin whispered to Asami,
"I heard that!" Mako shouted angrily. Bolin slumped down in embarrassment and the firebender turned to look at Aang. "So what do ya say?" he said with much hope in his voice.
Aang thought for a few seconds before smiling to his friends.
Before long, they were all heading up the mountain to search for Korra.
(~)
A few hours passed and there was still no sign of Korra. They all stopped their vehicles for a moment, Asami and Toph were still wearing their formal gowns just as Bolin was still wearing his tuxedo. They were only wearing jackets, which really didn't help with much. The two girls began to shiver.
"I, k-k-k-knew we should have-ve-taken warmer cloths!", Toph shivered as she spoke,
"It was in the middle of summer," said Asami while hugging her jacket tightly, she too was shivering, "where were we going to find snow cloths that this time?"
Bolin was almost just about ready to give up, "We've been looking up this hill for hours and still no sign of Korra"
"Quiet" said Mako.
"What? I'm just saying, we-"
"Guys, this part of the mountain is sensitive to sound." the firebender spoke in a lower tone, "If we don't keep our voices down, we could cause and avalanche."
Aang's eyes widen, "What?!"
"Sush!"
"Sorry. what?"
"It won't be large but still powerful. I suggest we keep moving."
They did as the guard said and kept their voices down, luckily their high tech snowmobile didn't give out too much loud sound.
*I hope that makes sense*
Just then, Bolin's nose began to twitch, "a-a-AAAAAA-CCCHOOOOO!"
The sneeze echoed in the air. The teens eyes widened when they saw a high amount of snow coming down from the hillside at rapid speed.
"Nice job, Bo!" Toph exclaimed sarcastically.
"Don't worry I know what to do, just hang upside-down and drink a cup of warm water."
"Baby, that's for hiccups!" Asami said.
"Oh…sorry."
"Everybody out of the way!" Mako shouted.
The teens accelerated their snowmobiles but the snow was moving too fast for them. Aang's eyes widened in horror as the giant mass of snow covered them all.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
Once it stopped, Aang popped his head out of the snow. Toph popped out too, "Well, that wasn't so bad."
The second to pop out was Mako, "Everybody okay?" he asked, just as Asami and Bolin both stuck their heads out of the snow. Asami looked at the firebender with a serious/annoyed expression,
"I'm covered up to my neck in snow wearing an evening gown. What do you think?!"
They all managed to get themselves out of the snow and dusted themselves up. Aang looked around and found something was missing, "Wait, where are the snowmobiles?"
"Uh. Found them." Toph pointed to down the side of the hill….where they all see that their vehicles were a few feet down bellow them…and they had hit two trees. The machines were smashed.
Aang kneeled to the ground, his mouth hung open, "Aw man!"
"We should consider ourselves lucky," said Mako "that could have been us."
"I'll say." Asami agreed as she removed the last bit of snow from her dress.
"No point in staying here. Guess we'll have to keep going on foot." Mako said as he led the way.
"On foot?" Toph asked in disbelief, "Now I like a good hike as much as the next girl but not in the freezing cold snow!"
"We got no other choice." said Aang. "Let's move."
Toph groaned in annoyance. And so the teens decided to go on foot. As they continue to walk up the mountain, Asami accidentally slide down a small slope and crashed into a tree. The other's winced at the scene. Asami was fine, but then snow from the branches of the tree fell on top of her, covering her completely, minus her hands.
"Really?"
(~)
Night had fallen, and the friends were now up to their knees in snow. They kept on dragging their feet across the snowy plane, it was so deep Aang could barely move across.
"Snow. It just had to be snow." he complained, "Korra couldn't have had tropical magic that covered the whole place in white sand and warm-" just then, in the distance, he spotted smoke rising up to the sky. The avatar smiled in relief,
"Fire!"
"What?" Mako asked. Aang pointed towards the smoke, "Look, fire! Or smoke to be more specific."
Toph's face lit up with glee, "Oh my gosh, he's right!"
"Where there's smoke there's heat." said Bolin excitedly, "And where there's heat-"
"There's possibly a warm place for me to shower!" his girlfriend finished, "Hallelujah!-WHOA!"
Then, Asami slipped down the hill and landed in the icy cold water bellow.
"Asami!"
Bolin slide down the hill along with the others. His girlfriend was sitting there, shaking.
"You okay?" Bolin asked as he helped her up. The woman was shivering, "Y-Y-Y-Yeah. S-S-S-Sure."
"Let's get you inside." Aang said as he also helped her up.
With every step Asami kept saying: "Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold…." the bottom of her dress was frozen.
They finally reached to where the source of the smoke was coming from: a small cottage in the wilderness. Once they reached it, Aang touched the sign hanging from the entrance as the snow from it fell off. He read what it said;
" 'Wandering Gommu's trading post….oh, and sauna!'"
Asami's face lit up, "Sauna? Thank the spirits!"
"Maybe now we can travel without these fancy get ups." said Toph.
The friends all walked inside the shop. The place had a very nice humble and retro vibe to it. It had all kinds of materials needed for all times of the yeas; hammers, screws, carpets, medicines even clothing.
"Hu-ho!"
The teens turned around to see a middle aged man with grey hair and beard, and a happy expression on his face. This was Gommu.
"Welcome travelers to Wandering Gommu's trading post! You're just in time for our big summer blowout!"
Mako looked around the story and notices there was no one working besides him, " 'Our?' "
"Okay, just me. We've got half off swim suites, trunks, and a special sunblock made from my own secret family formula!"
"Oh…great." Aang said, "Well, for now all we're looking for are boots, winter boots, coats-"
"And pants." Asami added, "For women, preferably."
"Oh, well you can easily find those in our winter department right over there!"
He pointed to his left to the winter department….where they only had two women's coats and two pairs of pants and boots.
"Uh, anything for us guys?" Bolin asked.
"Oh, sorry that's the winter department for women. I've got the men's winter stuff out back. BRB. Meanwhile, who don't you ladies try on those outfits in our dressing rooms."
"Great, thanks." said Toph.
The two girls took the coats and headed to the dressing rooms while Gommu went to the back and returned a few moments latter with extra jackets and boots for the boys. Mako began asking Gommu some questions,
"Okay, so um, mister Gommu sir, we were wondering if by any chance you've seen someone else pass through here. Like say, a young woman?"
"You're gonna have to be more specific my friend."
Aang began explaining to the man the person they were looking for, "Well, she's a few inches taller than me, she has blue eyes, tan skin, brown and white hair."
"Brown and white?" Mako asked "I always saw it more light or pale brown."
"Actually, it's really silvery grey with only a tint of pale brown.", Asami called from inside the dressing room.
"Well I was half right."
Gommu sadly shook his head, "No, I'm sorry to say I haven't."
"You sure?" Bolin asked.
"Only people crazy enough to be out in this weather are you kids."
The teens all turned their heads and the entrance door opened. Two figured entered the cabin. One taller and one a bit shorter. They were both wearing hoods, scarfs covering their mouths, and were completely covered in snow. They also looked at the teens with very, unfriendly looks in their matching dark blue eyes.
"You kids plus these two." said Gommu when he saw the two new costumers.
Asami and Toph both exited the dressing rooms now wearing the proper winter attire. Asami had a lovely violet winter goat with black pants and matching boots. Toph was wearing a long lime green high collar coat with a long green sleeved sweater and black pants with matching snow boots.
*Asami is wearing her book two winter outfit*
"What we miss?" Toph asked. She and Asami then noticed the two strangers. Toph arced an eyebrow at them, "Hello?"
The shortest of the two approached the counter near the boys. The person spoke in a slight deepen voice due to the scarf on the face and stood right in front of the avatar, as if waiting for something.
"Do you mind?"
"Mind what?" Aang asked.
"Move." the stranger said sternly. The Avatar didn't' appreciate his tone at all, "Why would I move just because you-ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"
To his surprise, the person covered in snow pinched his shoulder and the young avatar kneeled to the ground crying in pain. The person released him and grabbed the carrots that were behind the avatar. Aang rubbed his sore shoulder as he stood up.
"Ya know you could have just asked, pal!"
The person narrow's it's blue eyes at Aang and started removing the scarf and the hood as a braid of dark hair fell down the left shoulder. Aang's eyes widen in shock.
"Oh….you're a….girl."
Katara arced her eyebrow, "And you must be captain obvious." she said sarcastically. The second person removed the hood and scarf to reveal a young man with a resemblance to the girl. It was Sokka. He smiled at Asami and Toph.
"Sup ladies. The name's Sokka, and what are two fine looking ladies such as yourselves doing all the way out here?" he aked flirtatiously. Toph and Asami both narrowed their eyes and crossed their arms.
"Back off!" Toph said in a fierce/threatening voice and Sokka slowly backed away, "Okay."
Katara rolled her eyes, "While you make people feel uncomfortable, I'm gonna go get the supplies."
Katara walked over to the winter section of the store and grabbed a rope and a pick axe (or whatever you call those hammer things).
"Oh, a real howler in July aint it?" Gommu said. "Where do you think it came from?"
"From the north mountain." Katara answered as she approached the counter, no carrying her supplies. Aang's eyes widen, "The north mountain." he repeated. Mako then tried to speak to the young lady,
"Uh, excuse me miss-"
"Katara. My friends call me Kat"
"Okay, um Kat, did you by chance-"
"I said myfriends call me Kat."
"Note taken."
Mako slightly backed away, for a short girl she was kind of scary. Katara placed the items on the counter.
"That will be forty." Gommu said.
"What?" Katara asked in disbelief. Her brother stood next to her and glared at the salesman, "Forty? No way man, ten!"
"Oh, dear that won't do." said Gommu, "You see this is from our winter stock, so the supply in demand are kind of a problem here at the moment."
"Hey, you wanna talk about a supply and demand problem?" Sokka asked the salesman, "Me and my sister sell ice for a living.", Sokka nodded his head to the window where they see a sled with blocks of ice tied to the back.
"Woah, that is a rough business to be in right now," Aang said, "I mean that is really-"
He quickly stopped when he saw Katara's annoyed face. For a girl she sure did look intimidating when she raised an eyebrow.
"That's unfortunate." the avatar said while shyly backing away a few feet.
However, Gommu wasn't going to cooperate with the two ice harvesters, "Still forty. But I feel for you kids, so I'll throw in a visit to our sauna. It's currently occupied by my brother and his wife and kids but I'm sure we can find a spot for ya. Say hello family!"
His family waved hello from the window of the sauna.
"Hello!"
The teens waved back at them but Mako simply arced an eyebrow.
"But ten is all we got." Katara confessed, "Can you help us out? Please?" she asked in the kindest, most sweetest voice she could. Her eyes shimmered and Gommu's heart began to melt at her big adorable blue eyes.
"Well alright. I'll fix this."
Katara sighed in relief, "Oh, thank you."
"You can take the rope and pick axe and leave the carrots."
And there went Katara's relief, "What?!"
"That's a rip off!" Sokka exclaimed furiously.
This whole thing was taking too long, Aang tapped on Katara's shoulder, "Hey um, just one question: what was happening in the north mountain?" he asked.
Katara groaned in annoyance. She really didn't what to deaa with some rich boy's problems.
"Did it seem…magical, by any chance?"
Katara raised her hand to his face, "I'm sorry to be rude but, we're kind of busy here."
"Yeah, we're trying to deal with this crook!." her brother added. Gommu gasped at this remark, "What did you call me?"
"A crook! That's right, I said it. What you gonna do about it?" Sokka smiled and crossed his arms cockily, but he was about to figure out, the joke was on him.
"Bolder!" Gommu called out.
Sokka arced an eyebrow in curiosity, "Who?"
The teens slightly backed away in horror as a big muscular man walked out and sneered at Sokka.
"Bolder, please show our friend here out." Gommu said politely.
Bolder pounded his fists and spoke in a third person, "The Bolder would be more than happy to."
Sokka gulped.
(~)
The Bolder carried Sokka out the door and threw him in the snow.
"AHHHHHHH…Ow."
"And don't come back!"
Just then, out of nowhere, the Bolder passed out. Katara had knocked him out with a single jab at the neck. She turned to look at a surprised Gommu and some shocked teens. They all had their mouths wide open.
"That was for my brother. And keep your merchandise.", with that she slammed the door behind her leaving the others to wince at the loud slam.
Toph crossed her arms and smiled, "I don't know about you, but I like her!"
(~)
As Sokka dusted himself up, their cat dear Mula came over and nuzzled his face, "Sorry girl, no carrots." he said.
His sister tapped his shoulder, "Don't worry guys, I found us a place to sleep. And it's free."
(~)
Back inside.
"Woah. Did you see what she did to that guy?" Aang still couldn't believe that one girl, only a bit shorter than him, managed to take down a man twice her size.
"The kid's not without skills." Mako said, equally impressed, "Kind of reminds me of Korra."
Gommu arranged the rest of his things on the counter and returned to his original quirky self, "Okay, now that that's over. Will you kids be paying in full for the winter outfits only?"
Aang looked at the carrots, rope and pick axe on the counter and then looked out the window. He knew they needed to get up the north mountain…and they needed help.
(~)
After buying their winter cloths, the friends followed footprints to a nearby cabin, which was really an empty stable.
"You sure about this?" Bolin asked.
"Hey, their the only people who know where Korra is" said Mako "and they know how to get by around here….plus we don't have that manny options at this point"
Then, they heard a sound coming from inside the cabin.
"Is that-" Toph began to ask, Aang answered her question,
"Singing."
Aang sneaked a peak through the slightly open door as sees the girl and her brother laying down on top of a pile of hey with their cat dear. The girl was strumming a little guitar and was singing a beautiful song.
Katara: Oooooooh….I've seen the world, with these very eyes.
Don't come any closer, don't even try.
I've felt all the pain.
And heard all the lies.
But in my world there's no compromise.
Sokka: "Your world?"
Katara slapped him upside the head! That's what he gets for interrupting her song.
Katara: Like every tree, stands on it's own.
Reaching for the sky I stand on my own.
I share my world, with no one else
Sokka: "Hey!"
Katara: "Except you two."
Sokka: "Thank you."
Katara: With my own strength, I stand my own ground.
With my own strength, I stand my ground.
With myyyyyyyy own strength.
I stand my own ground.
Sokka and Katara both lovingly pet the cat dear.
"Nice song."
Katara gasped when she saw Aang walk in.
(~)
Outside, the others watched cassually when Aang was suddenly waterbended right out the door and landed head first in the snow.
"Ow!"
"What do you want?", Katara said as she bended the water back into her water skin.
"Well for starters, stop throwing water at the avatar!" the firebneder demanded. Katara looked at him surprised, "Wait…the avatar?"
Aang walked in dusting the snow off of him, "Yeah, the avatar."
Katara crossed her arms, even though this guy was the avatar, she was not all that impressed, "Okay, so what does "the avatar" want?"
Aang cleared his throat and fixed his jacket, "We need you to take us up the north mountain." he spoke in a somewhat dignified voice.
Katara and Sokka both looked at each other and then back at the group of friends. Sokka shook his head "Yeah, we don't think so." and he went back to lunging on the hey stack. Mako looked at the man annoyed, but maintained his composure, "Okay. Let's try this again."
The firebender, tossed a bag at Sokka's head, nearly knocking him off where he was sitting. He opened the bag and sees that they had bought them the rope and pick axe. Katara looked at the group suspiciously.
"Now will you please take us up the north mountain?" Mako asked politely. Katara was still not impressed.
"You think you can bribe us into helping you?" she asked while crossing her arms.
"It's not a bribe, it's more like a peace offering. To show you can truest us."
Katara arced an eyebrow at him. The two siblings looked at each other again and then back at the group. They answered in union: "No!"
"Why not?" Toph asked, she was already getting sick of their stubbornness.
"Well, for one:" Katara began, "we don't take people places. And two: even if we did, we would need a good enough reason to do so."
"Yeah, what do you think we are? Tour guides?" said her brother.
Mako looked at the two siblings and pleaded to them, "Look, we really need your help. You two are the only ones who know the mountain and we need to get there fast."
Sokka just lounged on top of the hey stack with his hands behind his back, "Not a good enough reason, pal."
Toph was already getting sick of his attitude, "Okay, listen here you lazy bum!"
Katara then shoved Toph aside, "Hey! Nobody talks to my brother like that!"
"Thank you, Katara." Sokka said happily.
"Nobody but me!"
The young man narrowed his eyes, "I take back my "thank you""
"Watch it sugar queen! I'm one of the best earthbenders around." Toph said with much confidence. Katara looked at her ready to take her on, "Is that a challenge?"
The two female benders glared at each other until Asami came in between them, "Okay, okay let's not get to hasty. Why don't we start over and try being friends?"
The two girls continued to glare at each other.
"Or frienemies, whichever works for ya"
"Stay out of this, princess." said Katara.
"Hey, you back off my cousin!"
"Or what?"
"QUIT IT!"
Everybody stayed silent and looked at Aang, "Would it help if I said I know how to stop this winter?"
Katara's eyes widen in surprise but Sokka laughed at this, "AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Yeah, right! You?!"
Without warning, Katara grabbed Aang's arm and fiercely dragged him outside.
"Ow, ow, arm, arm, pain, pain!"
The others stayed behind watching the strong waterbender lead the avatar outside.
"I think she likes him." Bolin said.
(~)
Once they were a few feet away, Katara released Aang and he began rubbing his sore arm, "Man, and I thought my sister had muscle."
"You really know how to stop this winter? And don't' you dare lie." Katara said strongly.
"Yeah I really do."Aang said while still rubbing his arm.
"And do you know what caused it?"
"It wasn't a "what"…it was a "who""
Katara look at Aang curiously before he answered, "It was my sister."
"Avatar Korra? She did this? Why?!"
"She didn't mean to. It's kind of a long story and I'll explain everything, I promise."
"Good. You can explain on the way."
"Wait, so you're helping us?"
"If this winter doesn't stop soon, a lot more than my ice business will suffer. Everybody will, and I'm not the kind of person who would just sit back and let that happen. So I'm in."
Aang smiled at this, finally they were going to find his sister!
"That's great! My name's Aang by the way.", he offered his hand to her, but Katara simply arced her eyebrow. Aang awkwardly lowered his hand.
"Ooooookay not much of a hand shaker. Noted."
"Come on, pretty boy let's move." she said while walking pass him to the shed. Aang smirked,
"You think I'm pretty?"
"I said move!"
"Moving! I'm moving. Oh, one more thing."
"What?"
Aang tossed her a bag, once she caught it she looked inside…she saw Mula's carrots.
The young avatar smiled smugly, "You're welcome."
Katara looked at him skeptically. This was going to be one interesting trip.
(~)
