Katara couldn't focus on the matter at hand right now, the nerve of that man!

She stomped around in the room that the Chief had generously given them and mumbled to herself. Her temper fuming as she paced around the tiny room, rubbing her forearms to preoccupy her hands to something that wouldn't end up in a broken vase or a bruised hand later.

What made that man think that she couldn't be trained to use her waterbending? She could attack someone just as much as she could heal someone too!

She huffed as she plopped herself onto the cot and buried her face into her palms, feeling her nails digging just above her eyebrows as she tried to calm down.

Everything had been driving her to the point of madness it seemed. And last night's sudden reunion certainly didn't help anything but reopen old wounds.

"It's me! Nereus' mother, Urumi!" Urumi smiled brightly, thinking this should be a good thing.

Katara stared at her in a sudden dream-like state, she certainly remembered her. She was the one who made her friend cry when they suddenly up and moved away in the middle of the night.

"Who's Nereus?" the boy had asked while shifting his attention to each of the three for an answer.

Sokka blinked before rubbing the back of his neck as a nervous tick, "Oh.. heh heh.."

Katara's blood ran cold as she tried to understand that question. He didn't know of his own sister? Adopted or not, she was still a part of their family for Spirit's sake!

The mother blinked in confusion before she looked toward her son and patted his shoulder, "Kuli, why don't you go help your father with the rest of the others? We have some personal business to discuss."

The boy pouted before nodding and running off, Katara swallowed thickly as she watched the boy run into the crowd. She viewed him in another light now that she knew who his parents were. Sokka seemed to appear the same way as they both looked toward the woman again then waited... and waited.

Urumi sighed heavily in somewhat content before she smiled softly, "How have you two been?" She decided to play safe for now.

Sokka shrugged, "We've been better." he answered curtly, crossing his arms and looked rather annoyed. Katara couldn't blame him, he was old enough to understand when Nereus moved in with them. When she was little she always thought that Nereus was just allowed to spend the night over and over again...

Urumi could sense his annoyance with her and rubbed her eyes again, "How... " She looked around the crowds to find someone that they both knew who she was looking for, they shared a brief glance before Katara placed a hand on the mother's shoulder to catch her attention again.

"Maybe we should go somewhere more private to talk about this?" she requested, Urumi frowned slightly in worry before nodding and leading them to her home.

Katara shook herself out of that memory for now, she didn't need to get her blood boiling again after it finally decided to cool down. She sighed heavily before getting up and walking out. Maybe she could try to find Aang to see how his training was doing.

As she was about to exit the room, she was face to face with the one person that she didn't want to see so soon already.

Urumi froze in surprise with her knuckles just bare inches away from the door, the mother smiled sadly as she lowered the raised hand and rubbed it against its mate, she chuckled nervously.

"H-Hello sweetie... I hope I'm not bothering you..." she said sweetly, too sweet for her in fact.

"I was just about to go see a friend of mine." She said coldly, crossing her arms and leaning her shoulder against the doorframe, waiting for the mother to get on with the point of already bothering her.

The tanned woman sighed softly as she turned her gaze toward the floor, "W-well... since you're doing tha-"

"What do you want?" She snapped.

The mother jerked softly before locking eye contact with her, in those shiny eyes were a presence of regret, "I... I just wanted to know if you could tell me a little about... her."

Katara inhaled deeply, quietly to not give the mother any satisfaction of knowing she caused a reaction out of her, she averted her eyes to look down the hallway. This woman didn't deserve to know what her daughter was, she didn't deserve to know how the girl was always so cheerful and selfless.

She didn't deserve the happy memories.

"I can't tell you much." She said softly, "Considering what I told you last night, I don't even know what she's like now... I'm sure she's been dead anyway. Maybe it's for the best, after all even Kuli doesn't know he had a sister to begin with." A sharp pang of fear rose in her chest as she spoke, she didn't like thinking about it herself but she was trying to give the mother a realistic reason. Something to make the woman think about her actions a little harder.

Urumi frowned as she hugged herself, "I know that you know we had abandoned her... and I know you're mad that we've never spoke about her to Kuli. But you don't know how much I wanted to see her after we moved here... it just wasn't the same I suppose... but her ability... it terrified us... and we didn't want Kuli to be treated differently because of her..."

"You don't think that she wasn't treated differently, being as she was the actual Firebender and not just the sibling to one?" Katara snapped before sighing loudly while raising a hand up, "I'm not going to put up with this today, I didn't come here to give you the run down of what happened after you left. And I'm certainly not here to tell you of who she was when you left her alone." with that, she shoved her way past the mother and sprinted out of the building to meet up with Aang.

She didn't need to turn around to know that she had hit a couple of soft spots with the mother, her sudden muffled sobs were evident enough.

After a few hours Katara had finally calmed down enough to where she could relax and play around with Aang. After their little spat earlier that day, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of the mother, and she was glad for it.

"Hey Katara?" came Aang's voice, once again lulling her out of those dark thoughts again, she turned her gaze to him and arched a brow, "hm?"

"I was wondering... maybe we could do our own training lessons? What ever Master Poophead teaches me I can teach it to you?" he offered, she smiled warmly as she thought about it.

"That would be great." she grinned, suddenly feeling very giddy as she stretched, "Should we start now?"

The boy shrugged as he looked around the plaza for any strangers, once he was content with his search he turned his attention back to her and nodded with a grin, "Yep."

Katara laughed before watching Aang get into a stance and started to mimic him. He looked her way before forming a water whip, "Master Pakku said this move is all about sinking and floating." he started, sending the water her way.

Katara was quick to catch and was quick to start bending it, she grinned brightly, "I got it!"

Suddenly she felt something else start to control the water, she tried to contain her control over it but whatever was tugging was strong and it soon took control of the water to whip around her very fast then disapear before she could figure out where it went. Beside her Aang glows with excitement as he pointed at her.

"That was amazing!"

"That wasn't me." She said in dawning horror, feeling like someone was glaring at the back of her skull, she looks around quickly to find the culprit and noticed Master Pakku on a bridge just above them, the water that was in her control now bended to his will. He was quick to freeze it then let it fall to break and shatter into pieces.

Aang pales as he gulps, "I... I was just showing Katara a few moves..."

Yet Pakku was having none of it, he crosses his arms and held back a sneer as best he could.

"I- I'm-"

"You have disrespected me, my teaching, and my entire culture. You are no longer welcomed as my student."

To this, Katara's blood ran cold with guilt as she and Aang watched the man walk out into the city.

While the city slept, Katara was staring at the ceiling trying to calm down her running mind. So many things happened today. She managed to kick Pakku's ass into letting her train with them, however only after she mentioned why her Gran Gran could come from a place like this. Turns out that the man was supposed to be her Gran Gran's arranged husband, what a delight.

Not to mention that he immediately gotten soft on her, he didn't put up much of a fight after they spoke about his culture and of other things. She couldn't remember it all.

Then the accursed mother of Nereus had decided to bother her own last time, a last ditch effort to at least to give her one little happy thing about the tanned Firebender. But she wouldn't budge, no not for something like this.

Speaking of the woman... she could still remember how last night's conversation with her, and she couldn't help but enjoy in the way she was so guilt ridden.

After they had arrived to the house, Urumi was quick to ask questions, "How come we needed to be in a more private area? Is she alright? Is she with yo-."

"Whoa! Calm down for a second." Sokka spoke up as he sat down, Katara was quick to sit beside him. The mother nodded as she moved a few strands of her dreadlocks away from her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, it's just that it's been so many years and I always wanted to know how she's been."

Katara clenched her hands in an effort to keep herself calm, this woman had abandoned her friend, she had made her feel unwanted by her family. She didn't deser-

Sokka held her hand in his and gave it a tight squeeze, she smiles tightly before forcing herself to sigh, "She's been gone for years, so we don't know how she's been." she said too coldly for her own liking.

Urumi froze before relaxing her shoulders and entwined her fingers together, "So she's left the South Pole to explore or something?"

Katara was almost ready to snap at her again but luckily Sokka sensed it and gave her hand another tight squeeze, "The Southern Raiders came back after a few years... they kidnapped Nereus when we were children."

To this, Katara watched intensly and wasn't dissapointed when the woman gasped in horror and covered her mouth. Tears brimming her eyes.

"No..."

Katara sighed heavily as she leaned against her brother's shoulder, "There wasn't anything we could do... they came all of a sudden and without much warning."

Urumi had by that time broke down and sobbed into her hands, both the siblings decided now was the time to take their leave, being as they didn't know how to comfort the mother much.

While in a normal situation she would've been telling her of how Nereus was before she was kidnapped, but being as this wasn't a normal situation she wasn't going to treat it as one. The woman didn't need to know Nereus, she left her and that was that.

She was sure that her brother shared in her views.

Finally sleep was beginning to drag her into the darkness she so longed to have for hours now. She sighed as she snuggled up into her cot and closed her eyes. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.

Damn those Fire Nation Hetherens!

Of all the times that they decided to bother them, it was when she was starting to get a somewhat peaceful day.

And from what Sokka and Yue told her, there was a whole damn fleet of them. Just perfect.

And what was even worst then that? Sokka's decided to fight with the Tribe to defend the place. Not a completely stupid idea if she had to admit, but it was a stupidly dangerous one.

And she couldn't help but feel somewhat proud of him at that moment.

The stillness before the battle was too eerie for her to think about as she paced. She was just hoping that nothing happened to Aang while he was out there.

She wasn't even paying attention to the men bickering about those ancient Fire Nation armor that they were going to where. She was just worried for her friend.

"How do we know we can trust this guy? Such bold talk for a new recruit." a man named Hahn decided to challenge her brother. She could tell that her brother was on edge because he was about ready to snap back at the man before Arnook interrupted them.

"Sokka is from our sister Tribe, Hahn, he is a capable warrior and I value his input."

At least not all the men here were meatheads.

"Why is he sitting like that?" Yue tried to whisper, not wanting to disturb the boy.

Katara also tried to whisper, but with as much yelling she's done for the past few days had proven that it was nearly impossible right now, "He's meditating, trying to cross over into the Spirit World. It takes all his concentration so-" She rose her index to her lips to mimic the 'be quite' sign, Yue gave a voiceless 'oh' before nodding and watching the boy.

After a few minutes Yue had leaned over to hear ear to whisper even quieter, "Should we get help?"

Katara shook her head as she looked toward her friend, her voice once again refusing to whisper, "No, he's my friend. I'm perfectly capable of protecting him."

"Well, aren't you a big girl now?"

Both girls' blood ran cold as they quickly spin around to glare at the new intruder, Yue subconsiouly started to hide behind Katara while said waterbender growled at the boy.

"Not you again!"

And by him, she couldn't remember his name for the life of her. Who was he again, Zuck? Zukuku? Zuko? Eh, oh well. He was the one who tried to get Aang last time at the South Pole. Not to mention that burn on his face made him pretty much easy to remember.

"Aw, I'm insulted, I thought you missed me." He teased as before he gestures to Aang, "Hand him over, and I won't have to hurt you."

"The hell you are!" Finally! Something to take her frustrations out on. She quickly got into a stance and glared dangerously at the Firebender.

The Firebender launched forward, firing blast after blast of fire toward her and with each attempt failed to impact as she brought out the pond's water to block them. Once he was close enough to be effected, she bended the water to hurl him backwards and almost across the cave.

The boy gets up and chuckles, "I see you've learned a new trick. But I didn't come this far to lose to someone like you."

Katara smirked as she readied herself again, "Sadly it looks like that someone has found you."

He fires another blast of fire toward her, in which she blocks again and responds by launching another stream of water at him, hurling him backwards again. She doesn't even let him regain his balance before she's frozen the water beneath him, trapping him to the floor. Then with a massive put of effort, she commands a churning sphere of water to encase him, it obeys immediately. It quickly rushed him and in a last stage she had frozen the water into an icy tomb for him. she grins brightly in satisfaction as she glares at the boy encased in ice.

"You filthy little peasant!" He growled out, "you've found a master, haven't you?"

Suddenly the ground shakes and she noticed that her ice sphere is starting to glow from yellow to orange, with an explosion she quickly covered herself from the ice shards that flew into random areas of the cave. Yue had even yelped just as she narrowly ducked one herself.

Damn... she had forgotten she was here.

But right now she couldn't be dealt with her because that stupid little boy was charging at her again, he tries to land blows and she managed to dodge them with ease. However as much as she was either blocking or dodging, her own attempts of impact was returned in the same favor.

How did he suddenly get behind her!? Her blood boiled as she went after him, sending a gush of water to knock him away from her friend. Knocking him off the ledge and into the water, it gave her all the more ammo to use as she created a wave and slammed him against the wall, immediantly freezing the water in place and once again encasing the enraged firebender.

"Now stay there!" she barked out angrily.

Dammit! Dammit! how could she be so stupid!?

She had lost Aang to that damnable Firebender, and now all she could do was blame herself.

She should've stayed by his side no matter what. But curse her damn eyes for being so tired.

"I can't believe I lost him..." She sighed heavily into her hands and let her fingers curl into her hair. Slightly tugging on them in her self loathing.

Sokka was quick to bat her hands away from harming her hair anymore then kneeled in front of her to make her look at him, he squeezed her hands, "You did everything you could, and now we need to do everything we can to get him back."

She sniffles she looks her brother in the eyes, her bottom lip threatening to quiver, he dabbed at the lip before offering a small smile of determination, "Zuko couldn't have gotten far. We'll find him. Aang's going to be fine. Okay?"

She sighed heavily before nodding and getting up, "Okay..."

Finally they had managed to find them hiding in a cave. A strange glowing comet had led them here, and now here they were. Aang was still bound and on the floor, maybe he was trying to wiggle his way to freedom?

Either way, they found him and she couldn't wait for a another chance to freeze that Zuko boy.

Katara jumps off Appa in a minute of excitement and had luckily landed in a firm, yet soft, patch of snow then gotten into a waterbending stance, she sent a smirk to the boy who had gotten into his own style.

"Here for a rematch, peasant? Or do you need another nap?"

She growled, "Not much of rematch, but I'm sure you'll be the one taking that nap."

Immediately she blocks a fireball aimed at her head and retaliates but sending a shock wave of ice hurling toward him, one it reaches him she bends it so that it once again encases him in a pillar of ice and raises it high. Once she's content with the height, she drops him.

Soon after the boy had hit the ground he was already unconscious.

She would've laughed if she wasn't so worried about Aang at the moment, she runs over to meet her brother who was at the moment, untying the ropes and studying them, "This is some quality rope!" he whistles, she rolled her eyes and let a small relieved laugh escape her.

Once the small Air Normad was freed, he quickly ran and jumped onto Appa's saddle, a look of unease was evident.

"We need to get back to the oasis! The spirits are in danger!" he urged, suddenly a pit of despair settled in the pit of her stomach as she quickly climbed into the saddle, Sokka not far behind her.

"Wait, we can't just leave him. He's going to die if we left him here." Aang frowned, looking at the tied up boy in the snow.

"I vote to let him." Katara crossed her arms.

Sokka raised his hand to vouch for her side as well, "Me too, let's go."

Much to their despair that Aang and went to retrieve him. She couldn't help but sigh dramatically, sometimes she didn't want to admit it but Aang seriously had a too big enough heart to be doing this for his kidnapper.

"Yeah this makes sense," Sokka scoffed with a pout, "Let's just bring the guy who's been trying to kidnap you along for the ride!"

The siblings had stared at the pond in a dream-like state. They had won the Siege but they had lost a dear friend to them.

Sokka tried to put up a good front, like he did many times before, but Katara could always tell when he needed comfort. This was one of those times.

They had arrived too late to save the Moon spirit, and Yue had sacrificed her life for it to live again.

"I guess we should get going, huh?" he asked softly, staring at the fish that was constantly dancing. Katara frowned before pulling him into a hug and ruffles his wolf's tail, "We can stay a little longer if we need to."

Sokka sighed before shaking his head, "I've already told her goodbye... and it wouldn't do good to postpone us leaving."

Katara frowned but nodded as she walked out to meet up with Aang and Chief Arnook.

"Katara!" came that damned voice again, why won't that woman ever give up?

Everyone had already said their goodbyes and were ready to leave, Katara looked down toward the crowd and saw Urumi run toward them with something wrapped up in her arm, she arched a brow before motioning for Aang to give her a few seconds then started to climb down the saddle.

Once the mother wa close enough, the woman had brought Katara into a bear hug and sniffled, "don't worry, I won't take much time." as she pulled away she gestured to the bundled up object in her arms.

Katara frowned in confusion as she pointed to said object, "What's this?"

"It was Nereus'..." Urumi said sadly, causing the Waterbender to tense up suddenly, "Well... it was for her... I was hoping I'd see her again so I could give this to her..." as she unbundled the object, a knot started to form in the back of Katara's throat.

She's already lost one thing of Nereus', she didn't want to lose another.

"If you ever find her... in this world or the next... " Urumi tried to sound even as she held out a small dagger, it's hilt was sewn with skill and the leather on it felt like velvet. The blade itself was made of bone and slightly serated at the tip.

"Janik and I made this in an effort to show her that we still loved her... just... could you please give this to her?"

Katara stared at the weapon in amazement, it must've taken them years to finish this blade alone to be that smooth. She gently touched it before taking it from Urumi, she swallowed as best she could as she nodded.

Urumi smiled in relief as she nodded back and started to back away.

Katara then climbed back onto the saddle with the boys before looking down at the mother again.

Against her better judgement, she yelled out to her, "She saved our mother that day! The last day she was with us... she saved our mother because she sacrificed herself..."

She could tell that the woman was proud, and not because of her watery grin that was plastered on her face, she nodded as she held a hand to her heart.

"Thank you..." she replied back.

And with that, Aang had yelled 'yip! yip' to his furry friend and they were soon in the air.

Aang decided to let the siblings have their moment, he could tell that they need to talk to each other.

For Sokka it was Yue.

And for Katara it was for that woman.

Katara sighed heavily as she flopped against the saddle and stared at the clouds in the sky again. Sokka scooted over to poke at her cheek with a small grin plastered on his face.

"That was pretty big of you back there."

She tiredly looked to him and yawned, "It was so hard... to forgive her like that."

"And that's why it was pretty big."

She laughed tiredly before laying down, "Yeah, so now I need a pretty big nap."

(A/N: Oh my god that was the longest chapter I've ever written I think! Anyway this is the end to Book One, the next one will start in this story that way it's all connected. The next chapter will probably get started sometime this week or weekend, depending on my schedule. I hope you've enjoyed this story!)

(Edit A/N: After rereading this a couple of times, I've noticed that I'm a bit rusty when it came to writing again, not to mention all the errors in this. So I'm going to see if I can find a Proof Reader to help along because not this many should've been able to get past me. If there is anyone interested in being my Proof Reader, please private message me about it. I will answer as quick as I can.)