Originally, this chapter was going to be an angsty, deeper look into Tora's thoughts about how she's not as strong as she wants people to believe. You know, how with canon characters, people write oneshots based on angsty thoughts of characters that are normally upbeat and happy most of the time? It would have been like that.

Well, that didn't work, so I'm trashing that idea and moving on to the actual episode, The Waterbending Master.

Also, the main reason I'm moving on to the actual episode is because I watched the last three episodes of Book One for the first time in what feels like FOREVER, and I got really inspired for the last few chapters! It's been a shamefully long time since I've watched anything for Avatar that wasn't LoK or one of those Chibi Shorts on Youtube. You know, the Bender Battle, School Time Shipping, Swamp Skiin' Throwdown things? Those are basically the only non-Korra Avatar related things I've watched in ages… Spirits, what's wrong with me?

If all it takes for me to get out chapters is to watch the episodes, I should watch the episodes more often than I do… know what, I'm gonna do an entire marathon as soon as I get a chance. Watch the entire show, from start to finish, if I can. Not in one day, but at least in one weekend.

We're beginning to get close to the ending of the story! I'm gonna try and finish sometime before December 18th, 'cause, if you didn't know, that was the day I published this story in 2012, and I want to have finished this story in less than two years, even if the last chapter of the story is published dangerously close to that day. And if I can't get it finished before then, I'm going to be updating (hopefully the last chapter) on December 18th.

Anyways.

Oh! Has anyone else seen season 4 of Korra yet? (by the time I post this we'll have been about four episodes in or so…) I think I'm in love with Kuvira… XD But she's seriously awesome. I'm kinda hoping that they don't make her a total villain. Like, I hope they make her like Amon, who had a point with all of his "evil-ness". If I'm being totally honest, I didn't like Korra in season 1 just because she seemed like a total anti-hero who wasn't looking at both sides of the argument. Amon totally had a point! If only they had ended it better… and by better, I mean, "Amon not turning out to be a waterbender/bloodbender, brother to Tarlok, blah blah blah…"

Yeah, I have a serious problem with Korra right up until she loses her memory and finds out about Avatar Wan. Then she becomes a lot more likeable.

Last thing, not including the disclaimer:

Okay. So here's the thing.

I've sort of changed the course of Tora's character development in the story… you know how she thinks, "My father sent me away, there's something wrong with me, I have to change myself"? Well, that's gone. Replaced by something else. You'll have to reread the chapters I edited, unfortunately… most of it is just a little passage, so not too much to worry about.

Also, I fixed some things that I reread over the past couple of days and didn't like.

Chapters edited, in order:

Prologue

The Air Creatures

Tora's Adventures in the Spirit World

Meeting Jet

An Argument

Zuko is Called Names

The Masked Traitors

The Bounty Hunter

The Real Truth Comes Out

I swear to GOD/AGNI/SPIRITS/WHOEVER THE HELL IS LISTENING, this is the LAST GODDAMN TIME I'm going to edit any past chapter of this story. Just because I'm getting tired of changing everything to fit some minor edit in a chapter that came before it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or any characters thereof. Nickelodeon, and Mike and Bryan the proud owners of the fantastic show, while I am just a High School student and am writing this for my own amusement. I only own my own characters, and/or any plot twists that are caused because of them.

The Northern Water Tribe

"I'm not one to complain, but can't Appa fly any higher?"

"Ah-"

"I have an idea - how about we get on your back and you fly us to the North Pole?!"

"Ah-"

"Great idea. Hop on, everyone! Sokka's ready for takeoff!"

"AH-CHOO!"

An explosion of fire shot out of my nose as I sneezed violently. It dissipated into the air quickly, and I let out a small cough into my glove, before shuddering and drawing my legs closer to my chest, hugging myself to keep warm. Note to self: Never come to the North Pole ever again, as it is even colder than the South Pole. As a firebender, I was even more affected by the cold than the others were - and they didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. Most likely because they were even more used to the freezing cold than I was (Sokka and Katara living in the South Pole for their entire lives, while I had only lived there for two years, and Aang spending a hundred years in an iceberg), and also because they weren't firebenders and therefore didn't rely on heat to keep themselves powered. My skin was always slightly warmer than my friends bodies were (due to, you guessed it, me being a firebender), and the cold affected me more than it affected them. At the moment, Sokka was looking irritated with Momo, who had leapt onto his back as soon as the boy had said he was 'ready for takeoff', Katara had her chin in the palms of her hands and her elbows leaning against the right side of the saddle, looking out across the open ocean, and Aang was sitting in his regular seat on Appa's head, glaring at Sokka, and I had huddled into a ball against the side of the saddle, knees pressed against my chest and arms wrapped around myself in an attempt to keep warm. I was wearing my dark blue, white fur-lined parka, thick fur-lined boots, and thick black pants that I had borrowed from Katara (considering the fact that under my parka I was only wearing a knee-length dress that wasn't exactly the warmest thing ever), and I had even borrowed a long-sleeved shirt from Katara to wear in place of my ragged white shirt, and I was still freezing!

Spending all that time in the moderately-warm Earth Kingdom really lowered my already low tolerance for the cold. Those two years spent getting used to the cold climate of the Water Tribe - down the drain in the course of just around two or three months.

I sneezed again, sending more flames out, and I rubbed my slightly-dripping nose with my sleeve. The only part of my body that were showing were my hands and my face. Believe me, if my Mononoke mask had had the slightest ability to keep my face warm, I would have put it on in a heartbeat. The only reason I wasn't wearing gloves was because every so often I would blow a small fireball out of my mouth to warm myself up, and I didn't feel the need to wear gloves because if I had been wearing gloves, they would have ended up being scorched by my fire and essentially useless.

"Look, I think we're all just a little tired and cranky because we've been flying for two days straight." Katara sighed, trying to calm her brother and Aang down.

"And for what?" Sokka demanded, gesturing to our surroundings - nothing but the big blue open ocean and the occasional icebergs we would fly past. "We haven't found the Northern Water Tribe! There's nothing up here!"

"Well, there has to be something here." I pointed out, stifling another sneeze. "If we keep flying we'll have to find something, even if it's just another Southern Tribe."

There was a pause. "What do you mean, just another Southern Tribe?" Katara demanded, rolling onto her side, leaning on her arm from the elbow down and staring at me with one eye quirked. It was the same expression that she got whenever Sokka used to say something about girls being good at "girly" stuff and guys being good at "guy" stuff.

"I mean, no offence, because I get why it is what it is, but your Tribe isn't that impressive." I shrugged. "It's a miracle it's still there."

By now I was on the receiving end on a glare from both Katara and Sokka.

"Hey, it's actually pretty cool it's still existing." I said, raising my hands in innocence before quickly bringing them to my face and blowing a small fireball into my hands to warm them. "It must mean the men of your tribe are awesome, non-bending fighters if they can hold their own against a bunch of firebending soldiers." I felt no sense of home towards the Southern Water Tribe whatsoever, so I was in no way uncomfortable with insulting it. If I was being totally honest, I had forgotten what home felt like. I mean, a stable home that never changes. I know that your home is wherever your family is, and my small group of friends was like a family to me, but still. It would have been nice to have an actual place to live - to know you were going to be in the same place tomorrow, and the day after. At the moment, I had forgotten what that felt like. If I had ever felt it for the Water Tribe, it was ruined the moment Zuko's ship landed, and I only vaguely remembered what home felt like in the Fire Nation.

The two continued to glare at me, apparently ignoring my praise of their warriors. How rude of them to only focus on the negative of what I said… ah, forget it…

As it so happened, everyone really did forget what I said right after I said it, because right after I said it, a small wall of ice suddenly shot out of the ocean, Appa nearly smashing into it as it had appeared so suddenly. The next thing we all knew, Aang was pulling at the reins quickly, trying to get back into control, while those of us sitting in the saddle had to hang on for dear life and pray to the Spirits that we didn't fall off, all the while screaming hysterically. As soon as Aang had gotten Appa somewhat back on track, another sheet of ice shot out of the water, this time catching Appa by one of his six legs, and sending him flying even more off balance. At one point I sneezed, rather violently, sending fire flying out of my mouth, which, due to us spinning in circles, naturally had to singe Appa's fur (thank you so much, universe), more specifically his tail. This caused him to let out a groan of pain and to slap the air violently with his now injured tail, which came back to haunt us as it then caused Appa to start spinning head over tail, nearly causing us to fall off and into the water. Poor Aang, in the mean time, was still clinging to the reins for dear life, and was being flung around through the air.

Finally, it ended, and Appa landed in the water with a giant splash.

We all moaned and groaned and rubbed our sore spots, and I crawled forward to Appa's head, where Aang was lying and rubbing his head. "You alright, Aang?" I said, coughing a bit into my fist.

Aang winced and looked towards me. "Fine... but…"

"But what?"

"Why are there three of you?" He asked, rubbing his eyes with his fists and attempting to regain focus.

Now that he mentioned it, I was seeing three of everything - and it did not serve to make my already present nausea any better. I groaned, dropping my head over the saddle. "Ugh… I'm gonna puke…"

It was then that I noticed that ice had begun to form around Appa's body in the water, spreading across the water from at least five different directions. Ice did not naturally do that.

Clearly, we were surrounded by waterbenders.

Who appeared two seconds later, riding on five or six different wooden boats, all ornately carved out of wood with an almost wing-shaped bow, painted an almost purple-ish grey colour. Blue designs were painted onto the head and around the sides of the boats, and the front of each boats bore a lighter blue crescent moon. On each of these contraptions were more than six men, all of them with dark skin and hair, and dressed in blue fur coats.

"They're waterbenders!" Katara exclaimed, standing up - swaying a bit because of her dizziness - and looking around in amazement, while Sokka pulled out his boomerang and held it up in a threatening position. "We've found the Water Tribe!"

And so we had.

~~Water~~

"He's heading north." Zhao stated firmly. The admiral's hands were locked together behind his back as he gazed at a map of the world. Behind him, all sitting cross-legged on the floor, dressed in full battle armor like himself, were six of his finest officers, all waiting silently for him to continue."The Northern Water Tribe. The Avatar is looking for a master waterbender to teach him.

"Then why are we just sitting around?" One of the officers burst out. "Let's go and get him!"

"Patience, Captain Li." Zhao said coolly. "This is not just some Earth Kingdom village we can march into. There is a reason, after all, why the Water Tribe have survived a hundred years of war. Their non-bending warriors are formidable, their waterbending warriors are even worse, the frozen tundra is treacherous, and the landscape itself is an icy fortress. For a firebender, it would be a nightmare come true." A cruel smirk flickered across the admiral's lips briefly. "We will need a massive invasion force."

~~Water~~

To put it simply, the Northern Water Tribe looked absolutely nothing at all like the Southern Water Tribe.

At least, I assumed so, if the expertly crafted gigantic wall of snow, complete with turrets and towers, stretching from one side of a canyon entirely made of ice to the other, with the symbol of the Water Tribe carved into it was anything to go by. We hadn't even seen the actual Tribe yet, and I was already impressed.

"We've finally made it." Katara breathed, just as amazed by the sight as I was.

"The Northern Water Tribe." Sokka said softly.

The waterbenders, who had become much less life-threatening once they had discovered Aang was the Avatar and Katara and Sokka were from the Southern Tribe - completely ignoring me, which pissed me off quite a bit - lead us to the base of the middle of the wall. They waterbended themselves past us, and the men on each of the three boats began to move their arms in slow movements. So that's what master waterbending looks like... I thought, watching them carefully. A semicircle became carved into the snow and lowered itself into the water, making us a tunnel to pass through. A man with greying hair who appeared to be the leader again gestured for us to move forwards, and Aang snapped the reins, steering Appa forwards. A sneeze began to work itself up inside of me, but I stifled it as best I could. As soon as the waterbenders had appeared, I had been attempting to keep my sneezes under control. They hadn't said anything, but I got the feeling firebending in their presence wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do - because the way they had looked at me when Aang had introduced me as a firebender and a waterbender (and here I was under the impression that we had all agreed to keep my dual-bending a secret) gave me a clear idea of what might happen should even a small flame come out of any part of my body, be it my hands, foot, mouth or nose.

We sailed through the tunnels, eventually ending up in a chamber with walls that towered over us. Waterbenders stood along the tops of the walls began to raise the water levels of the chamber by opening up grates in the walls and letting water drain out into the chamber, rising us up to the top.

It was at that point that we became stunned into silence.

The Northern Water Tribe was nestled in a canyon carved out from between towering icy walls, with canals and rivers flowing from the wall towards a city at the very back. Every building we saw appeared to be made out of snow and ice, with canals ran throughout the city, with walkways on either side. Bridges were arched over the rivers, connecting buildings that were on separate sides of the canals, imprinted with the symbol of the Water Tribe on either side. People everywhere stopped what they were doing to watch us float past, and eventually began forming mobs to watch us in excitement.

In short, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen before. It was actually what I thought the Southern Tribe had looked like before I arrived there and was bitterly disappointed. If I hadn't known any better, I would have said that my father was from the Northern Tribe from the way he had described the place he grew up. He had claimed it was the "most beautiful place in existence", which I was now severely doubting.

But as beautiful as it appeared to be, it seemed… cold. Not temperature wise, though I was still curled into myself to preserve body heat, but the feel it gave off was chilly. The people of the Tribe seemed warm and welcoming, but the city seemed the exact opposite to me. Maybe it was just me who seemed to think that way, because the other three seemed to not think that way.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a long, thin boat floating past us in the opposite direction. I turned my head and stared at the girl it carried. She had the same tan skin and blue eyes of the Water Tribe, but her hair was pure white, with braids framing either side of her face and the rest of her hair held up at the crown of her head and looping around to tuck nicely into the hair ornament keeping her hair up. She wore a thick purple, almost dress-like parka instead of the usual blue shorter parka, and circular hair ornaments keeping her braids in place. She was very pretty, and it appeared I wasn't the only person who noticed, because Sokka was openly gaping at her as she passed by - not that she noticed. As her boat kept going, Sokka ran down Appa's tail to stare after her.

"It's so beautiful here!" Katara exclaimed.

"Yeah, she really is…" Sokka said dreamily, and I noticed with some amusement that his cheeks had turned a faint shade of red.

"Sokka's in looovveee…" I cooed, pressing the palms of my hand against my cheeks. Sokka then proceeded to turn around and glare at me, before he began to babble about how "ridiculous" the idea was. In the end, he wound up back in his seat, arms crossed, and face still red.

~~Water~~

As evening fell, my friends and I found ourselves in the palace of the Northern Water Tribe, sitting at the head table among the Chief, Arnook, and the elderly members of the council. It appeared that everyone in the Tribe who had some importance were there, sitting in pew's on either side of the center of the room. An assortment of Water Tribe food, some delicious looking and some… not, was laid out on the table in front of us. The entire room was, for the most part, rather dark, except for a few torches and the moonlight that streamed through open windows. Totem poles created from waterbending, carved with symbols of animals and Gods and Spirits and such, were positioned around the room. On the opposite side of the room from where we were sitting was a waterfall, falling down from the ceiling of the palace down to the floor, where it flowed into a canal that then flowed into a fountain. In the center of the room was some sort of stage, where servants were placing steaming platters of food.

I sat at the far end of the table, on the left side of Sokka. Now that I was in the presence of the Chief and his advisors, I wanted to appear my best, so I was sitting up straight, my legs crossed, hands folded nicely in my lap, doing my best to resist the urge to curl up into a ball to preserve my body heat. I was also restraining myself from sneezing, coughing, or shivering. Appa was on the ground below the head table, being brought giant trays of hay by servants who ran off screaming the moment Appa groaned at them. Sokka and I, both resisting the urge to break out into snickers at the sight, smiled widely at the crowd of people.

Chief Arnook appeared to be a kind man, with shoulder length dark brown hair that was partially held in a ponytail at the back, with longer hair danglies on either side of his face. Around his neck was a choker made of whale bone, similar to Sokka's but slightly more regal looking. He wore a dark blue parka that showed off most of his neck, the fur-lined hood down. In addition to his choker, he wore a long pendant with the symbol of the Water Tribe, the same one that was on the wall that hid the Water Tribe from view, with wolf teeth and light blue beads, almost like my own wolf-fang necklace that was hidden from view due to my parka. Fingerless gloves covered his hands, and white bandages wrapped around his arms from the wrist up.

He stood up, beginning a speech. "Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sister from the Southern Tribe!" The crowd quietly cheered at this, clapping their hands politely as Sokka and Katara waved. "With them, they have brought along someone very special. Someone who we believed to have disappeared from the earth a hundred years ago, but who has returned now! The Avatar!" Aang waved at the crowd, looking somewhat awkward and strained, while the crowd cheered again and everyone, including me and my friends, clapped. "But that's not all." Chief Arnook continued, a smile appearing on his face. "While most of us would consider her an enemy because of her heritage, she has not only abandoned her Nation to help the Avatar," I resisted the urge to flinch at this. "But is also the daughter of a man from our sister Tribe and a woman of the Fire Nation! She is proof that not everyone of the Fire Nation wishes for our people to be conquered, and gives us hope that not all firebenders are what we think they are! Tora of the Fire Nation has come to us!" He threw out his arm, gesturing to me. I smiled, slightly nervous, and waved a bit to the crowd as they cheered once again. I noticed some members of the council were either glaring at me, or looking strained as the smiled. I ignored them. Part of me was wondering whether or not the person who had sent me the letter, Umi or San or whatever her name was, was present.

Arnook continued. "We are also celebrating my daughter's sixteenth birthday. Princess Yue is now of marrying age!" He stepped to the side, allowing the girl with white hair from earlier to step forward. I looked at Sokka, and saw that he was once again openly staring at her.

"Thank you, father. May the great Spirits of the Ocean and Moon watch over us in these troubled times." Princess Yue said. Her expression was kind, her voice equally so. I noticed that she called her dad 'father' like I did for my own father, but her voice held none of the malice that mine held as she said it. Most likely because she had no real reason to hate or be angry at her father. I no longer had any idea where my feelings for my father fell. On one hand, if Jeong Jeong was to be believed, he had been trying to protect me when he sent me away. On the other, he had never told me what he was doing. Then again, he had done it so I wouldn't try to stay, because if I had stayed I would have ended up as a weapon of destruction for the Fire Lord. Then again, he hadn't told me what he was doing.

"Now, Master Pakku and his students shall perform for us!"

I choked on the hot drink that I had been drinking, splashing my face with the liquid. It was quite nice, actually, to feel some warmth on my cold face. But I paid no attention to either of these things, as I was too busy staring in shock at the old, grey-haired man who had appeared on the other side of the room with two younger men behind him.

Pakku.

As in, the Pakku.

The Pakku that Jeong Jeong had told me about.

Well, that was a surprise, to say the least. I supposed it didn't matter who he was, because it wasn't like he was important to me. The only thing that mattered at the moment was finding this Umi/San person, and finding out how I can control my elements better.

Which reminded me of what had happened at the Northern Air Temple… upon discovering that Ela was a dual-bender like myself, I had hurriedly told Miyabi that I really had no idea what to do about it, only giving her the advice to not tell anyone unless she was sure that she could trust that person. Then I had hurried away as fast as I could, ignoring Miyabi's calls for me to come back. But my thoughts had been consumed by one crucial fact - I really wasn't alone with my strange abilities. There were others out there who could do the same things I could. While that had certainly been implied by Jeong Jeong's brief explanation of how dual-benders supposedly could access powers that rivalled the Avatar's, and the letter that stated Umi/San was both an earthbender and a waterbender, I really had had no proof until then that it was true that other's like me existed.

But…

There was still the fact that Ela could earthbend and firebend. She shouldn't have been able to do that unless one of her parents was Fire Nation, and Miyabi was clearly Earth Kingdom and her husband had been an earthbender before he died. So it shouldn't have been possible for her to firebend.

Maybe now that I was in the Northern Tribe, I could finally get some answers. Not just on my dual-bending, but on the odd moments that had happened in the past. When I had been fighting Zuko, I had heard the roar of waves in my ears. When I had killed those soldiers in the massacred village, I hadn't realized it until later, but I had experienced a brief moment where fire had… had appeared in my vision, though none of the soldiers I killed had been benders and I hadn't been firebending at all. And then there was the more obvious moment when I had been saving Aang from Zhao with Zuko, when Aang and Zuko had been using the ladders to walk across the courtyard and left me on the wall. I had leapt over the side of the wall, and then… I couldn't remember what I had been doing, but I had heard and seen water and fire clashing against each other. I had heard the crackle of the flames and the roar of the ocean.

I needed answers.

I was brought out of my thoughts as Sokka suddenly spoke to me. "Tora, would you mind switching places with me?"

I gave him a questioning look, but then saw he wasn't even looking at me. He was looking to my left, and when I turned my head in that direction, I saw Princess Yue sitting there, glancing at us out of the corner of her eye and smiling. I couldn't help but smirk, before turning back to the food, picking up what appeared to be some kind of sea urchin, I think. "Nah, I'm good here." I gave him a big - fake - smile and patted his shoulder as I bit into the supposed sea urchin. "Thanks for worrying about my comfort though, Sokka."

"Well, I wasn't worried about your comfort, I just wanted to sit closer to - not that I wanted to sit closer to her, per se, but I just wanted-"

I interrupted Sokka's attempts to make it clear he wanted to sit closer to the princess and not make it sound like he wanted to sit closer to the princess by turning next to said princess and smiling widely at her. "Hi! Have you met Sokka?" I gestured to Sokka using my left hand, my smile growing wider when I heard his ramblings slow.

"No." Yue smiled again, now turning her head in our direction entirely. "I haven't had the pleasure." I moved backwards slightly, letting the two of them see each other without me blocking the way.

"Uh…" Sokka blinked a few times, looking like he was trying to find something to say. Katara and I caught each other's eye and smirked at the expense of her brother. Finally he seemed to regain his swagger, and he put one elbow against the table and leaned towards Yue, raising one eybrow and smiling and basically trying to look cool. "Hi. Sokka of the Southern Tribe."

"It's very nice to meet you." Yue said, bowing her head slightly to Sokka.

I patiently waited for them to strike up a conversation and hit it off so I could have something to brag about later ("Oh, yeah, I'm responsible for setting Ponytail over there up with a Princess, no big deal.") but they both seemed to hit a lull. I stared in disbelief at the two of them, my eyes becoming half-open, my shoulders slumping, and my previous triumphant smirk becoming a flat line. I swear I felt one eye twitch slightly as the awkward silence filled the air.

"So… you're a princess!" Sokka suddenly exclaimed, making it sound as if he had discovered something incredible. Yue nodded, still smiling, and I noticed that her smile didn't seem to be fake. So she wasn't some snobby princess. That was good. Sokka didn't need that. "You know, back in the South Pole, I'm kinda a prince myself."

Two loud "Ha!"'s came from both me and Katara, though Katara took it one step further than me and challenged Sokka by asking him just what exactly he was the prince of. Sokka snapped back that he was 'trying to have a conversation', and Katara mock bowed to him, apologizing to 'prince Sokka'.

Turning back to Yue, Sokka attempted to salvage his chance with the princess, while I continued to watch, resting my chin in the palm of my hand and placing my elbow against my knee, watching them with one raised eyebrow and half-closed eyes. "So, since I'll probably be in town for a while, you know, with Aang trying to master waterbending an' all… I was thinking that maybe we could…" I straightened a bit, waiting eagerly to see where this was going. "Do… an activity… together."

Ah, right. This was Sokka. Forgot that.

Then again, the guy had grown up around only two girls his age, with one being his sister and the other being… well, me.

"Do an 'activity'?" Yue asked, sounding amused. Sokka, ever the gentleman, grabbed a handful of some squid-ish looking food on a plate in front of him, and stuffed it into his mouth. I sighed, pushing myself forward and back to where I had been sitting before I had foolishly decided to become a matchmaker.

"Very smooth." Katara and I both said at the same time, though I said it in a very dry tone while Katara sounded like she was clearly enjoying her brother's discomfort.

I followed Aang with my eyes as he followed Chief Arnook over to Pakku, where they had a brief conversation. "So, your name is Tora, right?" I blinked and looked over at Yue, who was smiling kindly at me. Is she ever not smiling? I couldn't help but wonder. It seemed like that was what she did most of the time.

"Yeah, it is."

"It's very nice to meet you." She said.

"Likewise." I tipped my head slightly in her direction. "Don't expect me to ask you to do an activity together."

"Shut up!" Sokka hissed at me, while Yue put a hand to her mouth and gave a giggle.

"So, are your parents really from two opposite Nations?" Yue asked me, tilting her head slightly as she looked at me. I nodded, a bit stiffly. "That's amazing. I could never imagine going against what I was taught, just for love."

"What do you mean, what you were taught?" I asked, frowning a bit.

Yue shrugged a bit. Spirits, even her shrugs are delicate. She acts like a glass figure that will shatter and break if it falls. "Oh, you know," She waved her hand, a bit vaguely. "I just assume that your mother was raised to believe… well." She shrugged again, smiling awkwardly. She didn't continue, but I knew what she was trying to say. She had assumed my mother was raised to believe that the Fire Nation and firebenders should rule over the rest of the world and stamp out all of the other Nations. My father had once told me himself that he had spent most of his life believing that firebenders were nothing more than bloodthirsty savages bent on world domination, but once he met my mother… all of that had disappeared from his mind.

Love was truly a powerful thing, if it had the ability to destroy hatred.

~~Water~~

The door to Zuko's room cracked open, giving the dark space some light from the hallway. Although his back was to the door, Zuko knew it was Uncle Iroh. Who else would come visit the prince on Music Night, of all nights? "For the last time, I am not playing the tsungi horn." He said flatly, not even looking towards the door.

"No, it isn't that." Iroh said, sounding slightly nervous for some reason. "It's about our plans. There may be a slight problem."

The sound of heavy footfalls reached Zuko's ears, and then - "I'm taking your crew." Zhao stated calmly, as though taking away Zuko's only chance of finding the Avatar and going home wasn't anything to think twice about.

"What?!" Zuko yelled, turning around and doing his best to make sure he didn't look as horrified as he felt on the inside.

Zhao kept both arms crossed behind his back as he calmly stated he was bringing the prince's crew on a journey to the north.

North - what was north? They were almost literally in the middle of nowhere, just on a little island off the coast of former Air Nomad territory, what was north of nowhere-

The Northern Water Tribe.

Of course. The Avatar had to master waterbending… clearly neither Tora or that Water Tribe girl were masters at bending, so he must have been looking for a teacher…

Zuko wasn't even aware that he had asked his uncle if what Zhao said was true until Iroh stated that it was, saying that Zhao had taken everyone - even the cook, which Iroh mourned by putting his head in his hands. The admiral stepped towards Zuko, but the prince didn't flinch as he might have when he was a thirteen year old boy, scar free and terrified of the ape-faced then-lieutenant. Three years at sea had hardened him, and it took quite a lot to scare him.

"I'm sorry you can't be there to see me capture the Avatar." Zhao sneered. "But I can't afford you getting in my way again."

Three years at sea had hardened him, but they had done nothing to calm his fiery attitude, as Zhao himself had once pointed out. So Zuko didn't care that had his uncle not held him back from lunging at Zhao, he probably would have handed up with another scar. But Zhao ignored him completely, which didn't do anything to make his attitude better, and approached the wall, eyeing the dual dao swords crossed and hanging on his wall. After the night he and Tora had freed the Avatar from Zhao's prison, Zuko had taken to keeping his older swords on the wall, and the new ones he had mysteriously received the day before the prison break were kept in a small chest next to his bed. It was only when Zhao reached for one did Zuko realize what was going through the admiral's mind.

Agni, help me.

"I was unaware that you were skilled with broadswords, Prince Zuko." Zhao muttered, giving the sword a few practice twirls.

"I'm not." Zuko stated flatly, crossing his arms. "They're antiques. Decorative. They're useless."

Zhao would obviously see through his lie. You didn't get to be an admiral for the Fire Nation without figuring out things for yourself, even if it was only because of the Fire Lord that you became an admiral in the first place. The broadswords were made of metal clearly forged to be used in battle, and they had some marks on them from the fights he had fought with them. How would Zhao be able to tell old marks from recent ones? The fact that they looked exactly like the ones he had used as the Blue Spirit did nothing to help him.

In short, he was screwed.

"General Iroh, have you heard of the Blue Spirit and the Mononoke?"

Yes, he was screwed.

"Just rumors." Iroh said. "I don't believe either of them exist."

"Oh, the exist alright." Zhao stated humorlessly, walking over to the prince and the retired general, still holding the one dual dao sword. "I personally saw the Mononoke cut one of my soldiers throats, and then hold a knife to the Avatar's chest. She's nothing short of a monster. The Blue Spirit helped her free the Avatar, and he fought like a demon. They're both criminals, and enemies of the Fire Nation." Zhao smirked. "But I believe that justice will catch up with them soon. Or at least, one of them."

He helped the Mononoke?! If anything, she was helping him!

Zhao calmly put the the dual dao sword into Iroh's hands, stated the offer for Iroh to join his mission still stood should the general change his mind, and without another word, left the room.

~~Water~~

I stood in front of large double doors made entirely of ice, trying to mentally prepare myself for what I was about to do. Had the temperature been more normal, I probably would have been sweating I was so nervous.

Behind the doors was the Chief Arnook, and I was trying to get my courage up to go and ask him if he knew who Umi/San was.

Though it may seem like it wasn't any big deal, try being in my place, feeling very small when compared to the size of the ornately carved double doors. Not only that, but I was a firebender and half Fire Nation, one of the people trying to push the Water Tribe to extinction.

So to say I was nervous was a bit of an understatement.

Okay… just relax… I let out a sigh, before bringing my hands up to my face. I had finally agreed to wear a pair of gloves, due to the fact that I did not want my hand to freeze off, although I had insisted that they be fingerless so I could firebend without too much of a problem. I blew a bit of fire out of my mouth and into my hands, where it levitated just about a centimetre above my hands, forming a little fireball. I smiled softly, feeling the heat of the fire warm my cold hands instantly, sighing in bliss when I felt the fire pulse every time the flame moved. Like a little heartbeat. Though most of the time I might not have noticed the deeper feelings that my bending gave me, it was times like these, when I had a moment alone to myself and wasn't using my bending to fight, that I allowed myself the luxury of truly connecting with my element.

Sighing again, I closed my eyes and extinguished the flame by closing my hand over it. Alright. I'm ready. Summoning as much courage as I could muster, I shoved the doors open, revealing Chief Arnook's workroom. The Chief himself sat behind a desk created from snow and waterbending - Spirits, was everything in this place made of snow? It certainly seemed so - and appeared to be signing some documents. He looked up when he heard the doors open, and straightened up in his seat when he saw me. "Ah, Miss Tora."

"Hello." I moved further into his study, keeping my arms crossed over my chest. I made sure to keep my hands in sight, just in case he thought that me having my hands behind my back meant I was creating a fireball to assassinate him or something.

"Is there something I can do for you?" Arnook asked, raising one eyebrow slightly.

"Yes, actually, there is." I absentmindedly tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear, beginning to stroke one of my shell earrings. Stroking the smooth shell calmed me, for some reason. "You see, I recieved a letter about two weeks ago. The person who sent the letter said that they would be in the Northern Water Tribe, and that they could help me with… uh, something, and now I'm here." I spread my hands, shrugging my shoulders. "And I'd really like some help on how to find her."

"Of course." Arnook smiled, and I inwardly sighed in relief, thanking the Spirits that he didn't outwardly show any hostility to me for my heritage/bending abilities. "I'd be happy to help you. Who sent the letter?"

"Someone named Umi." I paused, tapping a finger against my chin. "But they also signed the letter as 'San', so I'm not sure if it's two people or one person with two names."

"Well, I don't know about any 'San' in my Tribe, but we do have someone named Umi. She's our Wise Woman." He leaned against his elbows, which he placed on his desk, and rested his chin on his interlocking fingers. "A very interesting woman, she is. She gives us knowledge on the Spirits in the otherworld, and has claimed to have gone there many, many times. She also is the only woman in our Tribe who openly uses her waterbending for fighting, though she is not originally from here and did not learn waterbending here, so I have no say in what she uses her bending for."

"Wait, what?" I interrupted, frowning. "She's the only woman in the entire Tribe who uses waterbending for fighting?"

"Yes." Arnook looked rather surprised that I didn't know this beforehand - how on earth could I? "Women are forbidden to use waterbending to fight - they are taught how to heal by Ugoda."

Katara's not gonna be happy to learn that… Shaking my head free of these thoughts, I said, "Anyway, what else about Umi?"

"Ah, right. Umi also uses an assortment of stones and animal bones to tell the futures of our children when they're born, or our lives after we wed, and she interprets our dreams for us."

"She sounds…" I paused. "Interesting. Where does she live?"

"When she arrived here in the north, she refused to live in any of our huts. Instead, she chose to use her waterbending to carve a cave out of one of the ice walls that surrounds our city, and she spends most of her time there. For a while, she appeared to have gone missing, but just about two or three weeks ago she returned, and reassured me that she had just been taking care of business in the Earth Kingdom." He paused. "I was not exactly sure of what she had been doing, but she's a private person. Doesn't like to share much of herself with anybody, really."

"Uh huh… Could you give me directions to her… cave?"

Arnook smiled. "My daughter, Princess Yue, just took off in a boat heading in that direction. If you caught up with her, I'm certain she would give you a ride."

"Alright! Thank you!" I beamed, doing a quick Fire Nation bow, before running out of the room, slightly glad to be out of the rather uncomfortable setting of the Chief's study.

~~Water~~

I followed the only canal leading away from the palace, which took me to the city. I chased the river as fast as I could, along the walkways on the sides of the canals. Soon, I spotted a familiar head of white hair. I broke into a faster run, running underneath a bridge -

"ACK!"

-and nearly crashing into Sokka, who apparently had been looking for Yue as well, though most likely for a different reason than mine. I skidded to a halt just seconds before I would have crashed into him, but he appeared to take no notice of me, choosing instead to begin walking along the walkway next to Yue's boat and bidding her 'good morning'. Staring after him in disbelief, I quickly followed him, shoving him out of the way just as he was complimenting the party the Chief had thrown the night before. "Good morning, Princess Yue." I greeted, raising my hand to my forehead and giving her a salute.

"Good morning to you too, Tora." Yue said, smiling at me.

"What are you doing?" Sokka hissed to me.

"Trying to get somewhere." I whispered out of the corner of my mouth, before smiling wider at Yue. "So, your dad told me you were heading in the direction of, uh, Umi's cave, right?"

"Why, yes, I am! I'm actually going to her to get a reading of a dream I had last night - why? Do you need to see her too?"

"Yeah, so, I was hoping… that maybe you could…"

"Give you a ride?"

"And show me where it is, but yes."

"I'd love to." Yue twisted around in her seat, giving the man waterbending the boat along the canal an order to stop the boat. Once it had stopped completely, I stepped in and sat down in the seat next to her, folding my hands in my lap. I looked up at Sokka, who was looking a little shocked at my calmness in the face of Yue. Raising my eyebrow a little bit, I mouthed, 'an activity' to him.

As the boat began to move again, Sokka continued to walk along us. "So… maybe - when Tora is gone," I shot him a glare. "We could - maybe - spend more time… together?" He rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Do an 'activity' together, you mean?" Yue asked teasingly.

"Yes!" Sokka practically shouted, before noticeably calming down a bit. "At a place - for… some time?"

"I'd love to!" Yue said, before pointing up at a bridge connecting the buildings that were coming up. "I'll meet you on that bridge tonight, alright?"

"Alright!" Sokka agreed, grinning widely. I noticed that his cheeks were a little red. "See you-" He was cut off as he unexpectedly walked right off the walkway and landed in the water with a splash.

I broke off in loud, un-ladylike laughter, while Yue gave a small, feminine chuckle, and waved back at Sokka as we floated away. "Sorry!"

"It's okay!" Sokka yelled after us, pulling himself out of the water before flopping down on his back on the walkway.

"Men." I sighed, shaking my head a bit in fond exasperation. "Can't live with them, can't live without them."

Yue and I both lapsed into silence shortly after this. An incredibly awkward silence, at that.

An incredibly awkward silence that was broken by me suddenly saying, "So… Sokka really likes you."

"You think so?" Yue asked, turning her upper body slightly to face me.

I resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow at her question - was this girl clueless? - choosing instead to shrug. "Well, yeah. I mean," I glanced backwards - I could still make out Sokka lying on the walkway, staring up at the sky. "He was too focussed on you to realize that he was about to fall into the canal, he's all blushy around you and stuff, and he was pretty awkward with you last night at the party." I snorted slightly. Do an activity together. Classic Sokka. "Trust me, he's head over heels for you. You'd have to be completely blind not to see stuff like that."

When I glanced at Yue out of the corner of my eye, I saw that her cheeks had turned slightly red.

"Do you… like him back?"

"Yes." Yue bit her bottom lip, looking down at her folded hands. "A lot."

"Well, that's great!" I smiled, patting her on the back. "Sokka deserves a nice girl like you, what with all the crap the universe has put him through." I noticed Yue looked a little startled all of a sudden. "Something wrong?"

"Oh, no." Yue said quickly. "It's just that most people, when they're around me, they usually refrain from using… vulgar words."

"You mean, like damn, crap, ass, shit, bitch-"

"Yes, like those." She said, just as quickly as before.

"Oh." I paused, considering this new information. On one hand, it could be rude for me to continue to use such words in front of her. On the other hand, it would be going against who I was to refrain from speaking however I wanted to whomever I pleased. "Alright then." I shrugged, leaving it vague to both Yue and to me whether or not I'd use swear words when around her from now on.

Another long silence. "So, are we there yet?"

"No, we still have a few more minutes left."

…

"So…" I coughed into my fist. "What do you like to… do? For fun?"

"Well, most of the time I'm walking around the city and talking to my people." Yue smiled, looking down. "Father wants me to know the people I'm going to rule someday, even if I won't be the main ruler."

"Hmm?" I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? You're the princess, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. But in our Tribe, women have to get married by a certain age, and since I'm the princess, my husband will be the one ruling the people."

"Well, what are you gonna do then? What's your job?"

"I don't have one." Yue smiled softly, but she looked a bit sad. "I'm a figurehead, that's all. My husband is the one who will control the Tribe, and I'm just the one that links him to the throne."

Well, that was blunt.

Spirits, I think my feeling about the Tribe being 'cold' was right. This place seemed so backwards, compared to the Fire Nation. There, women had just as many rights to become the Fire Lord as a man did, and they could fight in the army as well. True, it was rare for a woman to actually rise in rank in the army, but they were at least allowed to take part in the fighting. And honestly, I hadn't seen too many female warriors in the Earth Kingdom, and not too many earthbending women either.

So, if my thoughts were correct, then, while the Fire Nation was worldly known as the "evil" Nation, it was also the most forwards out of all three of them when it came to womens rights.

"That's stupid." I stated. Yue looked a little startled by my bluntness, but I continued. "You shouldn't have to get married to become the Chieftess, if you don't have any real job other than being a figurehead. It's dumb. Women can rule just as well as men, and they can fight as good as any man. Women can do anything as well as a man can."

"I wish that it could be seen like that." Yue said sadly. "But our Tribe has customs and traditions. It would be disrespectful to change them so suddenly."

"Yeah, well, sometimes, things have to change." I said flatly. "So the stuffy old guys on the Tribe council or whoever created those customs can suck it."

I suddenly realized that Yue was glaring at me. "What?"

"You disrespect my people." She said flatly, eyes narrowed.

"Ah." What I had said was my own opinion, and I wasn't one to stifle my opinion if I was around someone who thought it was offensive. It only made me want to say it more. But I liked Yue, and she was the princess, so of course she'd take immense offence to me insulting her Tribe's customs. "Sorry." I wasn't really, but she didn't know that. "Are we there yet?" I asked, sitting up as I not-so-subtly changed the subject.

"It's just around the corner." Yue said, her glare vanishing after a moment.

"Hey, Princess Yue!"

I turned my head in the direction of the new voice, and saw a teenage boy, probably Sokka's age or at least one year older than him. His hair fell to around his chin, with a small partial ponytail, and I couldn't see many more physical features that particularly stood out.

"Oh, Hahn." Yue said, giving a small smile. I noticed that the smile seemed strained, even though it was practically an invisible smile. "Good morning. How are you?"

"Oh, fine, just fine." Hahn said, sticking his hands in his pockets as he swaggered up to the boat, which had stopped very abruptly. When I glanced behind us, looking at the waterbender, he gave a small shrug, as though he had no choice but to stop the boat when Hahn had come up. "So, who's your friend?" He asked, raising an eyebrow and giving me a look that I really did not like at all.

"Tora of the Fire Nation." I said coolly. I got the same air of arrogance that I had gotten from Jet when we first met - an air that told me not to like this guy. "Master Firebender." That was a lie, but it wasn't like this guy could do anything about it - like Jet had tried to - considering I was being treated as a formal guest in the Water Tribe. And I was friends with the Avatar, so if something happened to me, there was the possibility of Aang going into the Avatar State and destroying everything in his path. Plus, he also didn't know it was a lie. So, points for me!

"Nice." Hahn nodded at me, smirking. Did NOT make a difference to me. I still did not like him.

"Is there something you needed, Hahn?" Yue asked politely, but to me she sounded as if she was desperately wishing for Hahn to not need something from her.

"Well, yeah, actually." He tilted his head to the side slightly, as if in thought. "I wanted to talk to you about something - alone." He added, with a pointed glare at me.

Oh, I get it. I thought, narrowing my eyes at him. "Yue, I can walk the rest of the way from here." I said, getting up and stepping out of the boat onto the walkway. "See you later." I added, intentionally shoving into Hahn as I walked past him.

"I can come back and give you a ride back to your quarters after you're done with her, if you want!" Yue called after me.

"Alright, that'd be great!" I yelled over my shoulder, waving my hand in the air. "I shouldn't be more than at least a few hours."

It took me about two minutes to get to Umi's cave, because it was located a short distance away from the canal and the rest of the city. And it was on the opposite side of the canal that I stood on, and the canal was about three metres wide, so I had to really concentrate on waterbending myself across, or else I would have fallen right into the freezing cold water and then the Water Tribe would have a freezing, wet, and angry Tora on their hands. A freezing, wet, angry, firebending, waterbending and sword-wielding Tora.

It appeared that Umi did not like socialising with people on a regular basis, if the location of her home was anything to go by. The entrance of the cave was, as Arnook has said, at the base of the ice wall surrounding the city, at the top of a small hill that lead from the edge of the city to the ice wall. The entrance to her home was shaped like a circle, about an adult's arms-width across and tall enough for a taller than average adult to walk through without any problem. Two flaming torches were positioned on either side of the entrance, and, to my surprise, a white wolf was curled up next to one of the torches, its nose touching its hind left leg and its tail curled around it.

I stopped and stared at the wolf for a full two minutes, trying to figure out if the wolf was potentially dangerous or not. Apparently, it sensed me or smelled me or something, and the wolf lifted its head and stared directly into my golden eyes with its piercing amber ones. The wolfs eyes were just a shade or two darker than my own, which I found slightly interesting.

When the wolfs lip curled back, revealing sharp, yellowish fangs, I took a step back. When it let out a loud howl, I was already turning around and heading down the hill. Yes, I wanted answers, but I was not going to charge up to a wolf and try and walk past it when I wasn't sure whether or not it would bite my head off. I was impulsive, not a moron.

Yes, first I would find myself someone to explain the wolf to me.

At least, that was what I had been planning to do, and would have done -

If I hadn't had heard a rough, but feminine, voice in the midst of the wolf howl, saying, Umi! It is time!

I stopped walking down the hill, and looked back over my shoulder, mouth falling open a bit and eyes narrowing. Did that wolf just…

I didn't have time to finish my thought, as a wave of water came rushing out of the cave.

Reason for princesses of the Northern Tribe not having any real power when they have the throne: It's a sexist tribe. Well, it's laws are sexist, anyway. So I assume that there is that rule that says 'women can't rule the tribe until they have a husband to take over, and then the woman is just a figurehead'. It makes sense, to me at least.

And then of course, Desna and Eska become the Chief's of the Northern Tribe, so I'm assuming that either they abolished that rule, or Desna refused to rule without Eska, or there were no other people to rule or some other reason.

AN - Otherwise known as the point in the story where I just converse with those who actually bother to read this long pile of words.

Did anyone else know that Zuko actually is good at playing the tsungi horn? I didn't just make that up. It's on Avatar Wiki's page for the Tsungi Horn, under 'Musicians'.

Discovery of the day: Check out the manga series "Arata Kangatari" or "Arata the Legend" by Yuu Watase. It's very, very, very good. A word of the wise - DO NOT watch the anime version. It's nowhere even close to being as good as the manga is. I think it's also been discontinued, and it wasn't put into English, so if you do want to watch it, then you'll have to live with the English subs.

Bottom line, READ THE MANGA ONLY, AND DON'T WATCH THE ANIME. Or if you want to both read the manga and watch the anime, read the manga first and don't watch the anime until you've read at least thirteen volumes of the manga. Or not. Watch the anime if you want, but you should read the manga too. At some point. Just because it's better.

Also, if any of my readers like Percy Jackson/The Heroes of Olympus, and like the pairing Percy/Piper, then I recommend my sister's story, "Aphrodite's Coffee House", by Airbender123. Here's the summary:

AU: Percy's life was falling apart. Annabeth broke up with him, he barely had enough money and he was working at a coffee house. On his first day, he meets his bosses half-sister, Piper. They soon fall in love and he feels his life rebuilding itself. AU! NO GODS!

So, yeah. Even if you don't like the pairing, if you like the summary, check it out and review it if you get the chance? It would mean a lot to her.

Oh, right, and before I forget, I got an idea the other day: What would you guys think if the remainder of this book and Book 2 were both in Tora's (first person) Point of View, and then Book 3 was in Third Person point of view? Because I feel like, in the last book, it's going to be important to know what other people are thinking. I know that certain scenes in Book 2 are going to be in third person, but for the most part it's going to be in first person, so I was thinking about making Book 3 be entirely in third person. Give me your thoughts about this, please? I'll have to see if it works out, though, so it might not happen, but I've been thinking about it.

The only thing I can guarantee is that my future books/stories are going to be better. Naturally, as the writer of this story, I'm inclined to be slightly more critical of my story than my readers (even my most critical readers - Nerdania, this includes you, if you're still reading this), but I feel like I haven't really given this story my fullest potential. Or maybe it's just me, but I still feel that way. Either way, next two books are going to be better. Or at least, I'll try to make them better.

Look at my new Fanfiction avatar, and tell me whether or not you recognize the character in the picture. Please? It's alright if you don't, but it'd be awesome if you do.

If any of you recall the weird Chapter 19, "In the Moonlight I Felt Your Heart", wherein Zuko and Tora were telling each other stories to pass the time, and Zuko was telling the story of the Diviners and Oracle's and such, and I said at the end that I was thinking of a Legend of Korra fanfiction for it, well, if you liked the idea, you're in luck, because lately I've been getting pretty inspired for it, so I think I'm gonna do it. When I'm done with this book, though. Which should be soon… hopefully.

LAST - AND MOST IMPORTANT.

First of all, three days ago - the 26th of October - is the two year anniversary of the day I joined fanfiction. My sister too, but who cares about her, let's focus on ME! XD

Second of all, there is a reason I decided to post this chapter on Today - which, here in Vancouver, is the 29th of October. The reason is this: IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY! :D So i decided to update all of my ongoing stories - on Fanfiction anyway, I've got a few Reader insert stories on dA that I haven't updated for a while - today, because of the fact that it's my birthday! Happy birthday to me!

And I worked my ass of to make sure this was finished by my birthday, so you all better be grateful for it!