In the isolated reaches of the North Pole, any changes were met with fascinated whispers. The family had migrated down to the capital city on the water from one of the settlements up in the mountains, for reasons unknown. Though many of the young men in Agna Qel'a were quite taken with the family's eldest daughter, Tapeesa, Pakku only had eyes for the younger of the pair. Rail thin with a hawkish gaze, Kanna was a sharp contrast to her voluptuous older sister. There was something about her that drew Pakku in, and he found himself intently watching the curve of her mouth when she talked, the way her nimble fingers manipulated her eating utensils at supper.
The meal was almost over, and Pakku had done little more than stare. Many others in the city, men and women alike, had already made their way over to the newcomers to welcome them. The healer's apprentice, Yugoda, had even joined the family at the table, and was now chatting easily with Kanna. Pakku found himself wishing he were so socially confident.
"Just go over and introduce yourself," a voice at his elbow piped up, far too loud. Pakku turned to fix his friend with a stern glare.
"I will," Pakku grumbled. "Soon."
"Now." Clearly tired of Pakku's reluctance, Ikiaq wrapped his hand around Pakku's bicep and yanked him to his feet, marching him over to the table of newcomers. Kanna's parents introduced themselves, though Pakku didn't hear a word of what they said. This close, he could see that Kanna had deep blue eyes, almost black. She had a small mole on her cheek. His stomach was doing some interesting flips.
"I'm Ikiaq, and this is Pakku," his friend was saying, a rakish grin on his face. Pakku sourly noted that both Tapeesa and Yugoda were blushing. "We're students of Master Tulimaq."
"You're a waterbender?" It took a second for Pakku to understand that Kanna had spoken, and, more importantly, was speaking to him. Her expression was impossible to read.
"I am." Pakku's tongue felt like it had turned to ice in his mouth, which was strange because the rest of his body was weirdly hot. "The best waterbender in the city."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. Kanna's brow furrowed into a frown at his boast, and a frosty silence descended upon the group. Even after Ikiaq broke the tension, Kanna did not speak to him again.
"You're an idiot," Ikiaq told him as they walked back to their table. Pakku couldn't argue with that.
Pakku loved walking around the city at night. The cold, crisp air and silvery moonlight filled him with a feral energy that he couldn't ever channel during the day. Most people had been driven into their homes by the night chill, and he had the harbor to himself.
Or so he thought. A small figure was standing at the edge of the water, looking out across the northern sea. Curiosity piqued, Pakku approached, and realized far too late that it was Kanna. He dithered on the walk, unsure if he should slip away, but before he could move she saw him.
"I've never seen it before," she said by way of explanation, gesturing to the water. He was grateful she was talking to him at all after his unprompted bragging, and he risked stepping closer until they were side by side.
"The ocean?" Pakku asked stupidly. Kanna's family had come from deep in the mountains, it made sense that she would never have been this close to the sea before.
"Yes. I didn't know it was so big." Kanna's breath plumed in front of her face, but she didn't shiver in the cold. "It's beautiful."
Without thinking, Pakku removed his gloves and pulled up a globe of water to hover in between them. His form, as usual, was flawless; the water settled into a perfect sphere, floating just above his palm. Kanna gasped and leaned forward, her clever features distorted by the water's surface.
"Watch this." Holding the ball of water in the air with one hand, he poked his other hand into the globe. As his fingers moved through the water, hundreds of tiny specks flashed and glowed, matching the swirl of the stars above them. Emboldened by Kanna's unguarded amazement, he held the water closer to her. Reverently, Kanna took one of her gloves off and ran her own hand through the sphere. The water rippled and sparkled with light.
"What is that?"
"It's called bioluminescence," Pakku explained, careful to hold the water steady as Kanna put her fingers in it again and again. "Tiny plankton in the water glow when they're disturbed."
"Plankton?" Kanna echoed, still entranced by the glittering water.
Pakku scrambled to remember what he had learned about the ocean in his childhood classes. "They're little plants that float around in the water. Then little animals eat them, then bigger animals, all the way up to fish and whales."
"Why do they do it?"
He shrugged. "I don't know."
Kanna laughed, a husky sound that scrambled Pakku's brain. "You don't know?"
"I, uh, guess I didn't think to ask a lot of questions." Pakku was a far more serious student, who accepted what his instructors told him with little argument. Up until now, he thought that worked in his favor.
She extracted her hand from the water and met his eyes. She was so intense and focused, it disoriented him. "Did you mean what you said earlier? About being the best waterbender in the city?"
Pakku flushed at the reminder of his earlier blunder, letting the water in his hands return to the sea. "Yes."
"How do you know?"
"What?"
"How do you know you're the best waterbender in the city?"
The line of questioning made him uncomfortable. "That's what Master Tulimaq told me, and the rest of the class."
"And you didn't think to ask a lot of questions." Her mouth curled into a smirk, and Pakku had the uneasy feeling that she was toying with him. It should have made her unattractive, but somehow Pakku was more captivated by her than ever.
He was struggling to think of something to say, if only to keep a dialogue going so she wouldn't get bored and slip away, when she winced. She held up her hand, where the leftover drops of seawater had frozen solid in the freezing night air. "Should have put my glove back on."
"Here, let me." With a flick of his wrist, Pakku bent the ice away from her hand, leaving it dry. He had the crazy idea that if he folded her hand between his, he could help warm her up faster. She put her glove back on before he could act on such an inappropriate impulse.
"Thank you." Kanna tilted her head, studying him. "You're not as bad as I thought."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Pakku bristled.
"Back at dinner. You seemed all serious and arrogant."
"I get that a lot," he grumbled self-consciously.
That, of all things, seemed to amuse Kanna, and she giggled. After a moment, Pakku joined in. The stiffness between them crumbled, and the conversation flowed much more easily between them. Kanna talked about her village across the arctic plain, how much her sister complained on the journey over, how strange it was to be in the city of ice. At one point, she brought up the bioluminescent plankton again.
"The best way to see it is on a kayak," he elaborated. They were both sitting down now, perilously close to each other. "The movement of the paddle in the water and the wake from the boat makes it look like you're floating on stars."
"I've never been in a kayak. Can we go tomorrow night?" Kanna's eyes were shining, and Pakku's heart stilled at the word 'we.'
"Okay."
It was only later that night, bundled up in his furs, replaying their exchange over and over in his head, that Pakku realized that he had already fallen in love with Kanna .