Cold. Cold was everywhere, like a constant companion that you could always rely on to try to kill you. Cold crept up on you without warning, numbing your mind and body so that you forgot that you were even in danger.

Last night the cold had killed Kida. From all that anyone was able to tell she had gone outside in the middle of the night during a blizzard. Her twin sister, Kopa, hadn't even noticed that she had gone outside. They had found her body beneath the layer of fresh soft snow that morning. She hadn't even made it out of the village.

Now Sokka and I were dragging the sled with her body on it out to bury. Tradition dictated that the body be burned and the ashes scattered in the sea, but the days were just beginning to lengthen and there wasn't any fuel to spare. There had been a few hours of light every day for the last few weeks, but there were still wild blizzards that would spring up out of nowhere, making it impossible to go very far from the village. Kida would have to wait for a proper sending off.

Sokka shouldered most of the weight as we trudged up the hill. He was more than capable of doing it by himself, and maybe I should have stayed with Kopa and all the other women, like I was expected to. But Sokka was quiet. He hadn't said anything when Kopa had called upon every spirit to curse him and said that he was responsible. That he, as the only man and the acting chief of the village, should have somehow prevented it. She was hurting and didn't mean it.

Hakoda, Sokka's father, had left nearly three years ago, not long after my mother died, leaving Sokka as the only man and the acting chief in the village. He said that the only way to truly be able to protect our village was to help end the war fighting alongside the Earth Kingdom troops. I missed him. My own father had died before I could remember him. I remember when my mother first asked me what I thought of her marrying him. I was only eight. That was a long time ago. It had been a long winter. A long cold winter.

When we reached the top of the hill he looked out at the ocean for a moment. He was scanning for Fire Nations ships even though they knew better than to start on raids this early in the year by now. There was nothing. Even the sky was perfectly clear in all directions. The air was still, so there was no danger of another storm coming up at least for now.

"We'll bury her on the south east side, that way it'll be protected from most of the winds" he said at last and kept moving.

"This should be far enough." he said when we got to the base of the hill. It was already starting to get dark and there wouldn't be any moon. Caution kept you alive.

"Do you think that you could bend the snow?"

"I'll try."

"You don't have to."

But I had already planted my feet firmly. Ice didn't like to move as much as liquid water, but snow still took a fairly gentle approach. I breathed in and raised my hands slowly. The top layer rose and I moved it aside. I did it again reaching deeper pulling at the snow that had been packed and frozen together. I swayed, coaxing it along. It was hard. Only a few weeks ago I had almost effortlessly done this. It moved reluctantly, but not enough. I needed to do this. It was like my will was wrestling against it and was losing. I breathed deeply and flung my arms out, hoping for the snow to end up on each side of the whole. Instead it flew everywhere. Bits of ice stung my face.

I turned towards Sokka ready to apologize, but he didn't say anything. Instead he grabbed the shovel and stepped into the hole to make it deep enough so that there would be no chance of wolves getting to the body before we were able to give it a proper sending off.

I began to untie the rawhide thongs that Sokka had used to lash Kida's hide wrapped body. The knots were tight and I had to take off my mittens to untie it. I put them back on as soon as I finished and waited for Sokka to finnish the hole. He acted completely absorbed in the work.

"It's not your fault. There's nothing you could have done, Sokka." I said.

"Then you obviously didn't hear a single thing that Kopa said." He replied.

I ignored the harshness in his voice. "Kopa is just hurting."

Sokka threw the shovel and climbed out of the hole. "I'm a terrible chief."

He kicked a pile of snow, then he walked past me and gently picked up Kida's body like it was a child. He stepped down into the hole and set her down gently. I helped him cover it up. Then the sun disappeared below the horizon that we couldn't see and it seemed like all the stars came out at once.

Kopa was probably the only one who actually liked Kida. Kida was always shrewd and conniving which was useful, but didn't make her someone that you wanted to spend time with her. She was an elder of the village though, and thus was given a begrudging amount of respect in spite of everything.

He stood over the grave with his head bowed. I moved closer to him, and grabbed his mittened hand with my own even though it didn't cover it at all. He sighed. His eyes were closed.

"You are a good chief, Sokka, but you can't control everything that happens." I whispered and leaned my head against his arm.

We stood there for a while. I began to watch the stars unfold their maps and stories. Then he turned and grabbed both of my shoulders, turning me to face them. There was a look in his eyes that I had never seen before.

"Katara... I…" He broke off. He looked away for a moment like he decided whatever he had been going to say was a bad idea. Then he stepped forward with his face only a couple of inches away from mine. I couldn't breathe.

"Katara, I...I…"

A flash of light lit up his eyes with blue. I suddenly turned to the sky without realizing why. It was covered with light. Blue light in ribbons, in bands...in rivers. Something in me stirred, woke up.

"Sokka…" I gasped without looking at him. I broke out of his hands which were now loosely holding my shoulders and had lost its desperateness. The sky was a river. The sky was an ocean. I ran up the hill trying to get closer. I could hear Sokka behind me yelling out for me to wait up. My eyes were fixed on the lights. I tripped and landed face first in the snow, but I was up again. Then reached the top of the hill. Breathless. These were the spirit lights. I had never seen them before. Even the elders hadn't seen them since they were children.

But here they were calling me without words. They flashed and moved. Blue, red, green. Bleeding colors into the darkness. Bleeding light into the world. I felt them. I pulled back my hood to feel it rush fully across my face. This was happening. They were getting closer.

"Katara!" Sokka called out from behind me, like a tied to a canoe to keep it from going out with the tides. Except I wanted to go.

The river of light was closer. My hair began to move around my shoulders, but there wasn't any wind. Sokka put his hand on my shoulder, but I didn't notice. The light threaded down in front of me, like a stream. I reached out my hand and touched it.

Suddenly we were in the dark and I was on the ground in Sokka's arms. His forehead was resting on the top of my head.

"What happened?" I asked trying to piece together what could have happened

"You touched it. You touched the spirit light."

He sounded like he was gasping for breath.
"Where did they go?"

"They disappeared when you touched them. Then you fell back."

Suddenly I started to laugh.

"What?" Sokka pulled back so our eyes could meet and smiled.

"Do you know what this means?" I almost shouted in my excitement.

Sokka laughed quietly and shook his head. "The spirit lights only appear when there is harmony in the world, and I wouldn't say that the world is currently in that state."

"But maybe, maybe there is hope." I whispered. "I felt… Sokka, I felt it."

Then I realized that I was in his arms still, practically on his lap, and he hadn't let go of me. I smiled awkwardly. I was glad that it was dark because I could feel my face redden. What was he going to say when the spirit lights appeared? I almost asked, but somehow my mouth wasn't moving right.

Sokka made a sort of cough. "We should probably get going. Everyone is going to be wondering where we are."

He was right. We couldn't have been the only ones to see the spirit lights and there was supposed to be a feast, or some semblance of a feast in Kida's honor. She was one of the village elders. I stood up.

Sokka had dragged the sled along when he had come running after me. He pulled it so that it was pointed the right direction and stepped on. I got on behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He pushed off and we went flying down the hill.