Sokka held the spear tightly in his grip, staring into the crystal blue waters. He could almost see straight through to the bottom, but that wasn't his focus. He stared at the fish weaving back and forth through the water. He stabbed the spear into the water only managing to splash himself in the process. He sputtered, spitting out the salty sea water, only to hear his sister struggling to suppress her laughter.
"Think you could do any better?" He spat, tossing the spear towards her. She caught it with both hands, but made no moves to fish herself. Instead taking a deep breath to calm herself.
"Maybe, if you would let me try. Why don't you hand me the spear and you can try waterbending!" She suggested eagerly.
Sokka rolled his eyes, "Katara, waterbending is a dangerous weapon! I'm not going to use it to catch a stupid fish," Sokka answered, turning his attention to the water again.
"It's not just a weapon-" Katara began, starting to argue, but Sokka cut her off.
"I know, I know- It's waterbending, an ancient art unique to our culture. I know, but Dad couldn't waterbend and he could fish just fine." He answered, but his focus on the fish had distracted him from the ice they were quickly approaching. They both grunted as the boat ground against the ice. They were pulled forward roughly by a rip current into more chunks of ice.
Sokka grabbed the oar and struggled to steer the boat away from any ice, but with each passing second the icebergs seemed to close in on them and it wasn't long before the boat crashed into more ice. "Go left, go left!" Katara yelled. Sokka ignored her, instead attempting to avoid the ice right in front of them. Eventually he ran out of luck and their boat was caught between two icebergs, throwing them onto the ice as the wood was crushed between them.
Katara scrambled away from the edge of the ice and climbed up next to him, "You call that left?" She asked.
"You're blaming me for this? Maybe if you hadn't been nagging me, I would've been able to catch some fish and be home by now!" Sokka snapped, getting to his feet.
"I told you to let me have the spear and if you had, maybe you could've waterbended us out!" Katara countered.
Sokka felt anger boiling in his stomach, threatening to explode if he didn't let it out, "You're just a girl of course you wouldn't get it! The warrior waterbenders don't use it for fishing, they hone their skills to defend against the Fire Nation!" Sokka yelled.
"Sokka-" Katara began, her eyes were wide in surprise.
"No, I'm tired of listening to you-"
A loud crack sound from the iceberg behind him and large pieces of ice fell into the water, creating a huge wave that knocked Sokka off his feet and pushed the ice back.
"Sokka, that was amazing! Maybe you could use that to get back!" Katara exclaimed, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"You mean I did that? I mean, of course I did, I meant to," Sokka said confidently.
His moment of triumph was cut short, by the water beginning to glow and bubble just beneath them. The source of the light became clear as a gigantic iceberg surfaced right in front of them. Katara stared up at the iceberg with awe. Some kind of animal and person were inside, he was sitting with his fists connected and his legs crossed, and some kind of symbol on their head. Suddenly, the person opened their eyes.
Sokka reached for his club, but Katara had already pulled it from its sheath and was rushing towards the iceberg. "He's alive, we have to help!"
Sokka groaned and followed after her hopping across the ice. She hammered the club against the ice, and Sokka stood warily by preparing his spear to attack. A blast of air came from the crack she created, blowing them both back. The crack spread up the ice and the top of the sphere blew apart and blue light pierced the air.
Sokka raised his spear as the light began to fade, "Stop!" He ordered in the most intimidating voice he could muster. As the light faded from her eyes he realized that she was a girl. A pretty one at that.
She fell forward and Katara rushed from his side to catch her. Sokka softened his grip on his spear, stepping a little closer. She was wearing strange shades of orange, unlike the Fire Nation or any other nation he knew of. Katara turned her over and let her lean against the ice.
She groaned, slowly opening her eyes. They were grayish-brown, nothing like in the tribe. "Hi!" She greeted them brightly, "What's going on here?" She asked, seeming to levitate off the ground and to her feet.
"You tell us," Sokka lowered his spear, stabbing the point into the ice and leaning on it. "How'd you get into the ice and why aren't you frozen?" Sokka asked.
"Good question!" She chirped, "I'm not entirely sure."
Suddenly a low growl came from behind the wall of ice, and the girl scrambled up the wall of ice to the other side. "Diki! Are you alright?"
Sokka met Katara's gaze and shrugged, pulling his spear from the ice and walking around the edge of the iceberg. "You think she's cute don't you?" Katara teased. Sokka froze in place, attempting to make a thousand excuses, but the words came out jumbled and incoherent. Katara giggled, dragging him along the rest of the way, "I'll take that as a yes."
They turned the corner to see Mystery Girl sitting on the tongue of what Sokka could only describe as a giant cow. It was gigantic and fluffy, with brown arrows to match her blue ones. The cow stood up, shaking out its fur.
"What is that thing?" He asked incredulously.
"This is Diki, my flying bison!" She answered, petting the bison's fur.
"Right, and this is Katara, my flying sister." Sokka replied sarcastically.
"So, um do you guys live around here?" Mystery Girl asked.
"Maybe, but how do we know you're not a Fire Navy spy?" Sokka asked.
"Seriously Sokka? Oh, I'm sure she's Fire Navy, you can tell by that evil look in her eye," Katara said sarcastically. She turned to the girl with a warm smile, "I'm Katara and this my brother Sokka, what's your name?"
"I'm Ty Lee," Ty Lee answered and leapt, twirling through the air and landed on top of the bison.
Sokka's jaw dropped and Katara gasped, "You're an airbender," She exclaimed.
"Sure am!" She confirmed, patting her bison on the head.
Sokka shook his head, clearing it of thoughts of airbenders and sky bison, he looked out across the huge empty sea. "Well, none of this is going to matter if he can't get off this iceberg."
"If you need a ride, I can help!" Ty Lee interjected, patting her bison's saddle.
"We'd love a ride," Katara answered for the both of them and approached the bison, allowing Ty Lee to pull her up to the saddle. Sokka hesitated, but eventually followed after her, climbing up into the saddle.
"Alright guys, hold on tight." Ty Lee warned, grabbing hold of the reins. "Alright Diki, Yip-Yip!"
At her words the bison leapt off of the iceberg, only getting a few feet into the air, before splashing into the ocean. Sokka raised an eyebrow, only growing more skeptical of the flying bison things. Ty Lee frowned, "Wow, I guess she must be tired. That's alright Diki."
"Right, I'm sure it'll be flying in no time," Sokka sighed, leaning against the edge of the saddle.
"Of course, I can't wait for you guys to see!" Ty Lee chirped, smiling back at him from the bison's head.
Azula hated visiting the South Pole, her chi had to work triple time to keep her warm in the icy air. She didn't know how her mother stood it. She had to admit, as boring as it was, there was something peaceful about it and it was one of the only places she could visit without worrying about being caught in Fire Nation lands. Every year she watched the list of places she could hide shrink with the Earth Kingdom. The Fire Nation's hungry fingers spread across the map, snatching up land along the coasts and outside of Ba Sing Se, only a few cities remained untouched.
Turning the tide of the war now seemed hopeless, but that was just what the Fire Nation wanted everyone to think. There had to be a way, and she was thinking that light she'd seen in the sky may be it. The door creaked open, interrupting her thoughts. "Mother, you know not to interrupt me when I'm working," She snapped.
Her mother closed the distance between them, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders, "Azula, you need your rest. I've found you asleep at this desk too many times to count," Ursa lamented, running a hand over Azula's hair.
Azula gritted her teeth, "I'm not going to waste time staring at the ceiling when I could be working," She snapped and shrugged off the blanket, getting to her feet. Her mother still looked down on her which was infinitely infuriating.
"Will you at least have something to eat?" Ursa asked, more like pleaded.
Azula brushed past her, already heading up the stairs, "I'm going to see how close we are," She answered, slamming the door shut behind her. She took a bit of satisfaction in leaving her behind and for once the freezing air of the southern seas felt refreshing.
Azula felt the warmth of her chi flowing through her veins, and fell in the beginning pose for the advanced firebending set. Sapphire flames came to life at her fingertips and warmed her to her core. Each step, leap, and kick landed perfectly. Each one ended in a blue flame lighting up the night.
It wasn't enough. She ran through each set she could remember, over and over again until dark spots popped up in her vision and her lungs burned as hot as her flames. She collapsed to her knees, catching her breath. She still didn't feel ready, it wouldn't be enough to beat Lu Ten.
"That was excellent," Ursa's voice came from behind her. She offered Azula a full ladle of water, and this time Azula was too exhausted to refuse. She drained the ladled thirstily, careful not to spill a single drop.
A few hours passed in silence, and the Katara leaned over the saddle. "Hey, I was just wondering since you're an airbender. Do you know what happened to the Avatar?" Katara asked hopefully. He wished she wouldn't get so worked up over this stuff, this could just be another deadend. It probably was.
"Well, I am the Avatar!" Ty Lee announced, still bubbly with excitement.
"You've got to be kidding me," Sokka began. His sister on the other looked ready to burst with excitement. "You're kidding right? No way she's the Avatar."
"What do you mean?" Ty Lee pouted, "I have no reason to lie," She replied, folding her arms over each other.
"Then why don't you waterbend right now?" Sokka asked, gesturing towards the ocean all around them.
"Sokka we already saw her airbend, isn't that enough?" Katara whined.
Ty Lee blushed and looked away sheepishly. "It's not that simple! I haven't learned yet," She replied.
Sokka rolled his eyes, "Yeah, that's what I thought," Sokka rolled his eyes, relaxing back into the saddle.
Ty Lee huffed, focusing her attention on the water. With a little work she brought a globule of water into the air and slowly lifted it over Sokka's head. "Hey Sokka," She drew out his name, and her tone let him know something was up. He looked up just in time for the water to splash onto his face, leaving him sputtering.
"Hey!" Sokka snapped, shaking the excess water off as best he could.
"I told you I was the Avatar!" Ty Lee exclaimed, leaping from the bison's head into the saddle, cushioning her landing with a pocket of air. A gust of wind similar blew him dry.
Sokka's jaw dropped and he looked between Katara and Ty Lee, both looking at him as if he'd been an idiot for being skeptical. Sokka shook his head, "So you were really in that ice for a hundred years?" He asked finally.
"A hundred years?" Ty Lee asked, "I- I don't know, I don't think so," She faltered.
"The Avatar vanished a hundred years ago," Katara explained gently, drawing Ty Lee's attention, "Some people thought that the next Avatar had never been born,"
Ty Lee looked down, pondering Katara's words. "What about the Air Nomads? They know I'm alive," Ty Lee inquired, looking up at Katara.
"Well, you're the first one we've ever met," Katara admitted.
"Mom says the others were wiped out when the Fire Nation attacked," Sokka added, seeing that she needed more context. The extra information only seemed to make her more confused.
"Wait, just- please start at the beginning," Ty Lee begged, "What's going on?"
It was still dark outside, the only light came from the moon and snow reflecting it back up into the sky. Katara took her hand, snapping her out of her thoughts, "Hey, are you alright?" She asked.
Ty Lee nodded and answered without thinking, "Yeah, I just have a lot to think about."
"Come on, we should get inside," Katara sighed, letting go of her hands and leading her towards the village.
Ty Lee caught Sokka's eye. He'd been little more than cordial with her since they'd met, but now he looked guilty, or maybe concerned. He looked away before she could guess anymore and a blush lit up his cheeks. It was cute, maybe on another day she would've teased him about it.
It didn't take long for them to find their village. A set of igloos that blended in with the ice except then tendrils of smoke that floated up into the night sky. It didn't look war torn at a glance, but if you paid attention you'd notice the details. They're structures were small and handmade, no waterbenders. There were no real ships, only small boats and definitely not a dock. She may not have noticed before, but now it came into sharp focus.
Their home was near the center of town. They ducked inside the igloo and waved her in after them. A fire burned in the center of the room with a pit hanging over it, the smell of a stew cooking spread through the igloo. Smoke escaped through a small chimney just above it. The woman tending the fire got to her feet, pulling Sokka and Katara into a hug before she could react.
"Where have you two been?" She demanded, "I've been up all night worrying about you," She admitted. She wore a similar blue coat to Katara, lined with fur. She could see where Sokka had gotten his looks, but her features were softer and her dark hair was streaked with gray.
"Sorry Mom," Sokka apologized, stepping aside to reveal Ty Lee, "We ran into the Avatar," He answered.
Katara rolled her eyes, "Mom, this is Ty Lee. Ty Lee this is our Mother," Katara introduced the two of them.
"You can call me Kya," Kya breathed, barely audibly. She examined Ty Lee with an unreadable expression.
Ty Lee bowed, "Nice to meet you Kya," Ty Lee replied, bringing her hands together to bow and forcing a smile.
"We saw her bend air and water!" Katara explained, as if she knew her mother wasn't believing them.
"I didn't believe it at first either, but I saw her airbend and waterbend!" Sokka elaborated.
Ty Lee fumbled with the pocket at her waist, pulling out a marble and bringing it up to eye level. She manipulated the air near her hands and spun the marble in a circle between them, "See? I'm really an airbender!" Ty Lee said, meeting Kya's eyes.
Kya snapped out of her shock and shook her head, "I'm so glad you've returned," Her voice caught slightly, and Ty Lee could identify the emotion in her eyes this time.
Hope.
Ty Lee woke on the back of Diki, her clothes had been soaked through with rain and there was no sign of the other nuns. She didn't know the way to the Southern Air Temple without them, and she definitely couldn't find her way in the storm. She hopped from the saddle to Diki's head, and grabbed her reins. She searched the ocean all around them for land to no avail.
Diki was being pelted by wind and rain and was beginning to sink, she tried to urge her upwards, but she kept falling, eventually plunging them both into the water. She swam back up to the surface and a wave pushed them back down into the depths. She couldn't see, she couldn't hear, and she was running out of air. She was going to die here, alone.
No. She wasn't alone. Something- no, a lot of someone's were guiding her hands. The water around her began to glow and swirl around her. Creating a sphere of ice around her and Diki.
"Rise and shine, Avatar!" Sokka whispered, shaking Ty Lee's shoulders.
Ty Lee groaned, rubbing her eyes. "Sokka? What are you-"
Sokka hushed her, pressing a finger against her lips, "I want to take your mind off of things, get dressed." Sokka whispered, and disappeared from the tent.
Ty Lee was a little curious, even if this was way too early in the morning for an adventure. She pulled on her boots and grabbed her glider before she slipped out of the igloo without waking another soul.
Sokka was holding his spear, smirking slightly as he turned to leave the village. Ty Lee had to jog after him to catch up. "Where are we going? And why does it have to be so early?" Ty Lee asked.
"It doesn't, but later the village will want to meet you," Sokka answered.
"Well I'd love to meet them if they're as nice as your mother," Ty Lee admitted.
Sokka rolled his eyes, "Of course they'll be nice to you," Sokka replied, waving off her concern. He paused and they walked in silence for a moment. "What are you going to do?" He asked, she could feel his icy blue gaze without even looking.
Ty Lee hesitated, she'd tried to avoid thinking about it really. "Well, I need to master the elements, so I guess I'll go to the Northern Water Tribe." Ty Lee answered, twirling the end of her braid between her fingers.
"Will you take me with you?" Sokka asked, attempting to appear casual.
"What? What about Katara and Kya?" Ty Lee asked, her eyes going wide.
"I can't protect, not well enough. If I could learn how to waterbend I could come back and protect the tribe," Sokka reasoned, "I could even go to the frontlines to fight the Fire Nation!"
Ty Lee hesitated. She didn't want to travel alone at all and Sokka was pretty funny. "Well, if you wan-"
"Here we are!" Sokka announced, before she could finish her sentence. They crested the hill and below them were dozens of otter penguins in the field below them.
Ty Lee's eyes widened, and a grin crossed her face, "We're going penguin sledding?" She asked, looking up at Sokka.
Sokka smiled, "Wait, penguin sledding? I just thought we could feed one..." Sokka answered, looking down at the penguins.
Ty Lee slid down the hill, no longer listening and dived after the nearest penguin, and only succeeding in sliding across the ice. She hopped to her feet, shaking off the ice and snow that accumulated on her clothes. She heard Sokka's raucous laughter coming closer and turned to see him wiping a single tear from his eye as he caught his breath.
Before he had the chance to make any comments about it, she pushed him into a snowbank with a gust of wind. "Hey!" Sokka shouted, causing Ty Lee to burst into laughter herself. She laughed so hard, she didn't even notice Sokka packing the snow into his hands.
Sokka launched the snowball and hit Ty Lee square in the face. Ty Lee cried out in surprise and wiped the snow from her face just in time to see the second snowball soaring towards her. She ducked under it just in time, but it was too late a battle had begun.
Ty Lee ducked behind a penguin, packing together her own snowball, but when she peaked around the penguin she didn't see Sokka anywhere. She scanned the icy landscape, but was unable to see much among the sea of penguins. Finally, she spotted the bright blue of Sokka's coat, barely visible behind a wall of penguins. Ty Lee launched her snowball and was alerted to her success by Sokka's surprised yelp.
Soon enough he counterattacked with a flurry of snowballs, that managed to hit the surrounding penguins. The otterpenguins near her began to panic and as they waddled around in their effort the panic began to spread until the penguins were doing their own weird version of a stampede. The penguins slid off down another set of hills and weaved in and out of tunnels. Ty Lee realized this was an opportune time to try penguin sledding, and jumped onto the back of one of the larger penguins.
"Ty Lee wait-!" Sokka called, then cursed. She looked back to see him following suit, climbing onto the back of a penguin. Ty Lee giggled, turning her attention back to the path forward as they slid into a tunnel. Her laughter echoed the same as Sokka's nervous babbling. The tunnel twisted and turned, picking up speed with every descent and slowing with each turn.
When the tunnel leveled out, the burst back out into open air. Ty Lee hopped off the penguin still smiling and bowed, "Thank you for the ride!" She giggled. Sokka emerged from the tunnel moments later, having somehow lost his penguin in the tunnel. He let out a shaky groan and slowly pulled himself to his feet. "See? That was fun!" Ty Lee exclaimed.
Sokka didn't answer, looking past her at the horizon. Ty Lee followed his gaze to the hunk of black metal caught between pillars of ice. A lone flag swung from it, but from this distance she couldn't make out the symbol on it. "Whoa, what is that?" Ty Lee asked.
"It's a Fire Navy ship. From a long time ago, when there were enough waterbenders to do this to one." Sokka answered, looking up at the ship with disdain.
Ty Lee frowned, looking up at the ship. It was no wonder they were so powerful if they had ships like these. She moved towards the ship, determined to get a look inside.
"Stop Ty Lee. We don't go near it, the ship could be booby-trapped." Sokka warned, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"We'll be careful," Ty Lee assured him, "Besides, we've got to know what we're up against right?"
Sokka held her gaze, for a moment. She could see his resolve fading before her eyes. "Fine, five minutes then we're gone," He conceded.
Ty Lee nodded, "Deal," Ty Lee agreed.
Ty Lee and Sokka walked forward together, climbing the ice until they reached a hole in the ship where they could enter. It was haunting, empty like this. Most of the rooms had accumulated plenty of snow and ice, making it impossible to see what the contents could have been.
Eventually they reached an armory, filled with weapons she didn't recognize. They were all brittle now, and could barely be held without crumbling to dust. Ty Lee bit the inside of her cheeks, "I don't understand why they would do this," She admitted, stepping away from the armory.
Sokka looked away from her at the ground, "I don't understand it either. Let's get out of here, this place sucks." He replied.
Ty Lee nodded and followed Sokka down the hallway. Suddenly a gate fell shut behind them and the ship began to whir and steam. Sokka cursed under his breath going to the window, "We set off a flare!" He shouted. Sure enough, Ty Lee recognized the whistling sound from Fire Nation light shows.
Ty Lee scanned the room, quickly spotting the hole in the roof. "Sokka, grab on to me!" She ordered, wrapping an arm around his waist and barely waiting for him to the same before she leapt up onto the roof. Sokka's grip around her tightened with each subsequent leap, until they landed safely on the ground, looking up into the sky.
"Do you think anyone saw that?" Ty Lee asked nervously.
"Yes, I think someone saw that!" Sokka snapped, "We don't have anything to offer them so let's hope they just leave us alone." Sokka grabbed her hand, running back towards the village.
Katara woke to her mother shaking her shoulders, "Katara, wake up! Sokka and Ty Lee are gone." She fretted, already dressed. Katara sat up, scanning their home and finding it empty. Her brother was off doing something stupid to impress Ty Lee, but she didn't say that to their mother though. Katara hurried to get up and pull
The village was slowly waking up, tendrils of smoke drifted up from the chimneys and the women of the village were venturing out of their homes to get started on the chores that made the village run. Her mother had gone to speak with the other women, but Katara had spotted the Avatar and her brother returning from somewhere hand in hand.
"Katara, me and Ty Lee accidentally set off a flair-" Sokka paused looking up towards the sky. Little pieces of soot rained down from the sky, turning the igloos an ashen gray.
"They're coming," Katara finished for him.