I do not own Avatar, characters or content.
Those belong to Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. I only own my OC, Princess Soza.
I started this story but I ended up not liking where it was going and made some revisions.
I recently finished it and decided to post it.
So apologies for those that read it the first time.
Soza was on the deck of a large medal ship as it sailed in the ocean.
It was her older brother's ship.
She was sitting across from her beloved Uncle Iroh as they played a game of Pai Sho between them.
She was staring at the board with her gold colored eyes, trying to make her next move.
Their games would always last long but she enjoyed the quality time between them.
The fourteen year old was huddled in her red kimono since they were at the South Pole.
Her straight black hair was up in a Fire Nation headpiece.
It was a red Fire Nation insignia with a bronze base.
Not a hair out of place.
She subconsciously rubbed her scar on her right wrist that was covered by one of her gold cuffs that were above her hand wraps.
It was a deep charred red around her wrist with a lighter shade of red that covered top of her hand up to her knuckles.
She was ashamed and embarrassed by it.
She always had it covered up so others excluding her brother and Uncle wouldn't know about it or see it.
A permanent reminder of her troubled past.
The past she left behind.
She made her move on the board and Iroh raised an eyebrow.
"Very interesting move Princess Soza. Very interesting…" he pondered while rubbing his chin and she smiled faintly.
"Playing this game every day has finally paid off." she joked.
They smiled at each other when her brother walked out on deck carrying a scope.
"Hey Zuko wanna play winner?" she offered.
"Not now Soza! I'm looking for any clues on the Avatar!" he looked through it with his eye that wasn't covered in a scar and she sighed.
She never agreed with the war her namesake started 100 years ago.
Not believing the propaganda that was taught at the academy.
But she didn't blame her brother for wanting to capture him.
Not like she could speak out without fear of retribution.
And the Fire Nation was near victory anyway.
"Zuko there is nothing out there but icebergs and ocean!" she exclaimed while pointing at one that was 1larger than the ship itself floated past.
"He could be Soza. He thinks the Fire Nation wouldn't look for him out here. But he'd be wrong." he said confidentially and she sighed while shaking her head.
She still loved her brother but their relationship had become strained over the years because of this.
Meanwhile, a teenaged Water Tribe boy and his sister were fishing nearby in a canoe.
"It's not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish." he said confidently while aiming his spear at one.
She leaned over the edge of the canoe and saw another one.
She removed her left glove and took a deep breath.
She took off her glove and began gesturing her hand up and down.
Suddenly, a globe of water containing the fish emerged out of the ocean.
"Sokka, look!" she tried getting his attention.
"Shh. Katara, you're gonna scare it away. Mm… I can already smell it cookin." he drooled.
"But Sokka I caught one." she struggled with the blob of water while bending it close to Sokka.
He raised his spear to strike the other one but the butt of it popped the bubble, causing it to pop and the fish to drop back into the water.
"Hey!" Katara said annoyed.
"Ugh! Why is it that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?" he asked while flicking water off of his coat.
"It's not magic. It's waterbending, and it's…" she began to explain but he interrupted her.
"Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, blah blah blah. Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself." he insulted.
"You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water." she joked as he was doing just that.
The canoe suddenly bumped against a current and they looked to see they sailed into a ice packed area.
Sokka began to paddle frantically to thread between the colliding icebergs around them.
"Watch out! Go left! Go left!" she yelled.
The icebergs were colliding around them closer and closer, decreasing their chances of escape.
Finally the canoe was crushed when three collided into them, stranding the siblings onto one.
"You call that left?" Katara asked angrily.
"You don't like my steering. Well, maybe you should have waterbended us out of the ice." he mocked.
"So it's my fault?" she asked.
"I knew I should have left you home. Leave it to a girl to screw things up." he snapped her anger.
"You are the most sexist, immature, nut brained…" as she got angrier she began flailing her arms back and forth, causing cracks to emerge in a large iceberg behind her.
"Ugh, I'm embarrassed to be related to you! Ever since Mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!" she shouted.
"Uh… Katara?" Sokka noticed the ever growing cracks.
"I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, not pleasant!" she continued to yell.
"Katara! Settle down!" he shouted back.
"No, that's it. I'm done helping you. From now on, you're on your own!" at the end of her screaming the iceberg split into two.
It disintegrated and the major pieces fell into the water, pushing their iceberg backwards and they held on until it settled.
"Ok, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara." Sokka said unimpressed.
"You mean I did that?" she asked surprised.
"Yup. Congratulations." he joked.
They both looked over the edge and the water underneath began to glow.
They moved backwards when another iceberg broke the surface.
Deep in it a boy in mediation pose with white arrows on his fists and bald head glowed white.
"He's alive! We have to help." she grabbed Sokka's club and ran to him.
"Katara get back here! We don't know what that thing is!" he followed her over a few small chunks of ice and she began to whack at the iceberg the boy was trapped in.
After a few whacks, she cracked the wall, releasing air from the hollow chamber within it. It then cracked from top to bottom, exploding it open.
That released a tall shaft of light, getting Soza, Zuko's and Iroh's attention.
"Finally. Soza, Uncle, do you realize what this means?" he asked them.
"We won't be able to finish our game?" Iroh answered.
"You'll get your hopes up for nothing like last time." she added sarcastically.
"It means my search… it's about to come to an end." he said confidentially and both of them groaned.
"That light came from an incredibly powerful source. It has to be him!" he argued.
"We've been down this road before Zuko…" Soza reminded him.
"Princess Soza is right Prince Zuko. It's probably just the celestial lights. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing. Please sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of jasmine tea?" he tried calming him down while Soza drank from her steaming cup.
It being her favorite.
"I don't need any calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar. Helmsman, head a course for the light!"
Back on the iceberg, Sokka was shielding his sister while the light dissipated.
The boy got up with his eyes and arrow marking still glowing.
"Stop!" Sokka aimed his spear at him.
The tattoo's stopped glowing and he passed out.
He collapsed but Katara caught him.
Sokka began poking his head with the butt of it but she swiped it away.
"Stop it!" she turned the boy over and his eyes slowly opened.
"I need to ask you something." he whispered in a weak voice.
"What?" she asked.
"Please… come closer." he whispered.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" he asked in a normal voice.
"Uh… sure. I guess." she said confused and he got up.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
"You tell us! How'd you get in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?" Sokka demanded while poking him with his spear.
"I'm not sure." he swatted it away but heard a groan.
He gasped and climbed back up the ice wall behind him frantically.
He jumped into the crater and landed on a large furry animal.
"Appa! Are you all right? Wake up, buddy." he tried opening up his eyelid.
"He hoped down and tried lifting up it's large head without any effect.
Sokka and Katara walked around and dropped their mouths in shock at the scene.
The creature opened his mouth and licked the boy.
"Ha ha! You're ok!" he hugged him. He got up, occupying most of the crater itself.
"What is that thing?" Sokka asked incredulously.
"This is Appa, my flying bison." he introduced casually.
"Right. And this is Katara, my flying sister." he joked sarcastically and she gave him a look.
The boy was about to respond but ducked from a sneeze from Appa.
The snot got all over Sokka and he began to frantically rub it off in the snow.
"Don't worry. It'll wash out." he reassured him and he cringed.
"So, do you guys live around here?" he asked.
Katara was about to answer but Sokka stopped him.
"Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy." he accused.
"Oh, yeah, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in his eye." she said sarcastically and he smiled innocently.
"The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. You never told us your name." she asked.
"I'm…" he sneezed which caused him to be launched high into the air, shocking her and Sokka as he landed back down.
"I'm Aang."
"You just sneezed... and flew ten feet in the air." Sokka stated a fact.
"Really? It felt higher than that." he said nonchalantly.
"You're an airbender!" Katara realized.
"Sure am." he confirmed.
"Giant light beams... flying bison... airbenders... I think I've got Midnight Sun Madness. I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." Sokka turned around but stopped, seeing they were still stranded in the ocean.
"Well, if you guys are stuck Appa and I can give you a lift." Aang offered and bended himself onto his head where reigns were attached to his horns.
"We'd love a ride. Thanks." Katara climbed onto the saddle on his back.
"Oh, no... I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster." Sokka said firmly.
"Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home? You know... before you freeze to death?" she asked smugly.
He was about to respond but stopped, not having another choice. He was mopping on the saddle while Aang grabbed the reigns.
"Ok. First time flyers, hold on tight! Appa, yip yip!" he shook the reigns and Appa flapped his large tail.
He spread his legs and launched himself into the air but splashed back down into the water and began to swim.
"Come on, Appa. Yip yip." Aang shook the reigns again but he continued to swim forwards.
"Wow. That was truly amazing." Sokka said sarcastically.
"Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see." Aang said but looked back at Katara while smiling.
"Why are you smiling at me like that?" she asked.
"Oh… I was smiling?" he asked back and Sokka groaned.
Later that night, Soza was in her room on the ship, sleeping on her bed.
A large red poster hanged on the wall behind her that had the Fire Nation insignia on it.
Her hair was down while she tossed and turned in the blankets, clearly having a nightmare.
"Wake up Soso." she heard her twin's voice using her awful nickname for her.
"There's no where you can run from me!" she taunted her while sending a large blast of blue fire at her, engulfing her vision.
She woke up gasping while looking around frantically but sighed.
"It's just a dream. It's just a dream." she sighed.
She was more terrified of her sister more than anyone.
And for very good reason.
Their shared past being one of hatred, rivalry, and a lifelong feud with irreconcilable differences.
She laid back down and stared at a painting of her eleven year old self and her mother who's hand was on her shoulder on a side table.
She frowned and rolled over bitterly.
She pulled the thick blankets over her head, trying to get back to sleep.
The next day she and Iroh were sitting on the deck side by side, watching her brother train with two of his men.
She was reading from her book, half paying attention to it.
She herself was considered to be a prodigy master firebender.
That was another thing she and her twin had in common.
And Iroh had completed her training when she was twelve.
"Again." Iroh asked.
Zuko blasted fire at the guards but missed.
They then attacked him with blasts from their fists which he dodged while backflipping over them.
She sighed, knowing what he did wrong.
"No! Power in firebending comes from the breath. Not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire." he explained while breathing fire from his mouth.
"Get it right this time." he asked.
"Enough. I've been drilling this sequence all day. Teach me the next set. I'm more than ready." he ordered.
"No, you are impatient. You have yet to master your basics. Drill it again." Iroh repeated and he blasted one of the guards down angrily.
The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last airbender. He must be over a hundred years old by now. He's had a century to master the four elements. I'll need more than basic firebending to defeat him. You will teach me the advanced set!" he ended the argument.
"Very well. But first let us finish our roast duck." a servant brought out a bowl for him and Soza. They began eating it eagerly and Zuko cringed.
"What?" she asked with her mouth full and chopsticks in her fingers.
"You know it's my favorite."
After dinner, Soza was walking down the main hall of the ship to Zuko's room.
She was carrying two steaming cups of Jasmine tea, one of them being for him.
She had seen him agitated and obsessed with the Avatar before but this was a whole new level.
Even for him.
She walked up to his room to see the door open and it empty.
She groaned, knowing where'd he be.
She walked up the stairs to the bridge and saw him out on the deck with the scope.
"Zuko you're going to catch your death out here. It's freezing." she shivered while breathing fire out of her mouth.
"We past the source of the light Soza. There must be Water Tribe villages nearby where he's hiding." he said confidentially.
"Zuko. Fire Lord Azulon's raids decimated the Southern Water Tribe. And he along with Fire Lord Sozin already searched there." she reminded him sarcastically.
"There honor didn't depend on his capture. Mine does." he argued.
She walked up to him and took a sip of her tea.
She stared out at the South Pole itself, seeing the icy tundra stretch out to the horizon.
They saw an ancient Fire Navy ship encased in ice and Zuko moved his scope over to it.
"See what I mean? They taught this in school." she said smugly.
He rolled his eyes but they saw a flare shoot high into the sky from it.
She raised an eyebrow and he saw something coming out of a hole in the ceiling of the bridge.
He saw a man carrying a woman hopping down the balconies.
"The last airbender. Quiet agile for his old age." he narrowed his eyes at him.
Soza took the scope from him and gasped while dropping the cups in shock.
She saw him jump to the ground, more than any normal man could and Zuko took it back from her.
"Wake Uncle. Tell him. I found the Avatar…" he moved the scope over and spotted the village.
"As well as his hiding place." she walked back inside and her hands began to tremble.
She never thought they'd actually find the Avatar.
He was supposed to have disappeared with all of the other airbenders 100 years ago.
She couldn't let his brother and nation capture him.
If it came down to it she'd knew what she'd have to do.