Chapter 3: A Wonder In the Works

Ahnah adjusted the warm fur covers wrapped over her sleeping daughter and placed a kiss on her forehead. Uttering yet another prayer to the Spirits, the chieftess then stepped out of the girl's bedchamber, wearing her anxiety back on her face. As she walked into the throne chamber, Arnook and the village shaman turned expectantly in her direction.

"How is she?" the chief asked.

"Her eyes haven't started glowing again," Ahnah sat beside her husband and sighed, "And she's still sleeping."

"It has been thirteen hours—"

"Because that glow has drained her," the shaman explained to the worried chieftain. "She has channeled unparalleled power of all of her past lives all at once. And at such a young age, too. She is bound to be exhausted. Let her sleep and regain her energy."

But that explanation was only detrimental to the parents' anxious states.

"Don't worry. Tradition has it that exhaustion is normal the first couple of times the Avatar enters that glowing state," the shaman assured. "Over time, it gets better."

"What even caused it to happen, Shaman Kirqut?" Ahnah demanded helplessly. "What triggered that glow?"

"That, I can't tell—"

"Then is there a way to prevent it from happening? There has to be!"

Kirqut took a deep breath before eyeing the Northern Water Tribe leaders with firm resolution, "We have discussed before that you cannot prevent something of this nature. You cannot deprive your daughter of a significant part of who she is."

"She's a child—"

"She's the Avatar, and no matter how hard you try, you cannot stop her from realizing her destiny. The Avatar is the Spirit of the planet, and the purpose of its incarnation is to bring balance during a time of great imbalance. That Spirit will act as it sees fit to fulfill this purpose." His hand brushing over the chief's shoulder, "Chief Arnook, I know you don't want anything happening to her, but do you know how many lives are being lost, how many people are dying as we speak?"

Ahnah bit her lip, "If you ask us whether the world should burn for the sake of our daughter's safety, we won't have an answer, but we do know that if anything happens to her, we will lay down our lives the next second."

"Humble yourselves for a moment and think," Kirqut urged. "You think you're the only ones with a daughter? So many daughters out there are being sold into the Fire Nation as slaves. Our waterbending daughters from the South were no exceptions when the Fire Nation took them away. Those raids had been so horrible, so merciless. In fact, we should consider ourselves lucky; the Fire Nation is hesitating to touch the North right now and is distracted by Ba Sing Se, and because of that, the daughter of this household is still safe."

And that did not at all indicate that the North was to escape from danger forever. The Water Tribe civilization in the South is barely alive, but the North was bound to be next. Terror raided the Northern leaders' faces, for they recognized this truth. They may be spared for now, but there will come a time when the Fire Nation will strengthen its army and industry. And one day, it will accumulate enough resources to raid the North next. They will be wiped off of the face of the earth like the Air Nomads."

"By no means does Yue accepting her Avatarhood mean she has to be harmed. She will have to take every risk she can, but you're forgetting that she's powerful. The Avatar has all the power in the world. And not to mention she's also touched by Tui. It's no question how powerful Tui is as well. If anything, your daughter will wield unbelievable power more often than run into danger.

"You don't understand," Arnook shook his head, his stubbornness supported by a confession he and Ahnah had long hidden from the shaman. "Ahnah and I have been having visions."

"Visions? What visions?"

"A single vision, actually, but it keeps repeating," Ahnah swallowed.

They then described their shared vision of a beautiful, fierce, white-haired young woman floating in the moonless night sky. She was clad in sweeping white silks, her eyes— and every part of her, really— lit aglow with the same glow they saw in their daughter's eyes several hours before. The woman in the vision would light up the entire world as if having taken the place of the Moon Spirit. As if the moon was a human instead of a cratered rock in space.

"I don't want a day like that to come," Arnook said, horror lining his eyes, "I don't want her tangled up in complex Avatar duties."

"It's not fair, Shaman Kirqut," Ahnah's voice shook, "Why Yue? She could've been born free of any kind of indebtedness. Instead, she's stuck between two great Spirits. The Avatar and Tui…"

And it went without saying that their resolution was unshaken; they were not going to put their daughter at risk. Even if it meant the entire world would spit in their faces. Even if it meant the world would come burning down.

"This is a fight we'll all fight," Ahnah brushed at her damp eyes. "We're not throwing my daughter into the battlefield."

But Shaman Kirqut knew that no matter their persistence, fate's drama would inevitably play out the way it was intended, and the Avatar Spirit's yearning for balance could never be overridden. Speaking to the Northern leaders directly about this was not going to work; if they weren't going to recognize the theoretical part of it, then they would realize it through practical experience.

And what was required on his part was to incentivize the Northern leaders into letting their daughter achieve mastery over her home element in the very least.

"Fine, I will not say anything more about this. But you are worried about her safety, so I will suggest this," Kirqut said. "Instead of having the princess curb her abilities, have her learn waterbending. So she can protect herself. A raid on the North is inevitable, and if you really recognize that and want your daughter to be safe, then the least that can be done is to equip her as best you can with self-defense and combat. She's a bender, besides, and touched by the Moon Spirit. She is bound to be a powerful waterbender in the very least."

It was not a bad idea by any means. In fact, it was marvelous and gave them so much hope. "But…women are forbidden from learning waterbending," Arnook pointed out. "It's ancient tradition—"

"Surely Pakku can make an exception in this case," Kirqut said. "Even if you are adamant about never telling her who she really is, at least let Pakku know. He can be trusted. If he still doesn't listen, then I will personally speak with him." Muttering with a frown, "That man needs to mend his ways, I swear. And they call me old."

"We will speak with Pakku, then," Ahnah acquiesced, earning a supportive nod from her husband, "But what if Yue starts bending other elements accidentally? She had made a tiny cloud several days ago. Clouds are water and air."

"Or worse, what if she starts firebending—?"

"Oh, Spirits!"

"Firebending will not be as easy for her as you think," Kirqut reassured them. "Fire is her opposite element. I'm very sure she's not going to be breathing fire or anything like that without a proper teacher invoking that response from her."

"Then if we're lucky, she'll never have to face that possibility," Arnook murmured to himself, "Yes, she will never have to do anything like that. And airbending, who can possibly teach her airbending? There are no airbenders…"

But Kirqut was a believer of many possibilities. There has to be a way. The Avatar Spirit will make sure of it.

"She will be married off to a nice man, and once she's crowned the chieftess of the North, she won't leave the North ever," Arnook tried to calm himself.

Kirqut, needless to say, was not pleased. "I will not force you into making certain decisions, but I do want to let you both know that you are depriving the world of its savior and your daughter of her destiny. They're both impossible tasks to fulfill. So just keep that in mind."

Lingering inside the so-called powerful Southern Raiders' retreating cruiser— which held merely four survivors following the traumatic skirmish in the South— was an air of shared shock, shame, grief, and curiosity. Yon Rha, who had been blinded by whatever weird "stone" those "Water savages" worshipped, was eventually thrown overboard by the enraged Chief Hakoda, and several warriors had overthrown eighty percent of the Raiders' crew as if rejuvenated by the display of mercy they attributed to their "moon goddess."

It was a humiliating defeat for the Southern Raiders; the clearly-outnumbered tribal warriors had torn up their crew and would have destroyed the cruiser, no doubt, had the surviving four not literally fled from the scene.

"Fire Lord Azulon would've incinerated us on the spot had he known of this," one of the crewmen by the name of Rozhur muttered. "Thank Agni there were no other witnesses to send the word."

Two other crewmen hummed in acknowledgment save for the last survivor, who was merely lost in thought. He scooted closer to the small fire they were all huddling around. "That tapestry seemed to be old."

"What tapestry?"

"Of that glowing woman," the fourth soldier turned to his comrades, "It was probably a courtesy of the North. When the two tribes were in contact with each other."

"Why does it matter?" another soldier by the name of Mirsu sighed. "At least we're away from that hellhole—"

"What are you saying? Of course it matters! Don't tell me you're going to disregard that glowing woman!" the fourth man insisted, drawing all of their attention. "That woman is no goddess. That glow is very similar to how the Fire Sages describe the Avatar's glow."

"We don't know for sure, Azimaz. Maybe she really is a local goddess or whatever, who knows?" said a soldier named Immuz.

"For all we know, this 'deity' might not even be real," Azimaz argued. "She's a product of Water Tribe myth. They're just saying the Avatar is actually a goddess so she won't be ratted out—"

"Well my grandpappy always said there are Spirits watchin' us from somewhere," Immuz said. "Even if we don't know 'em. He believed in a river spirit who watched over his village. Maybe these savages have their own guardian spirit that watches over them, and maybe that's why the glowing happened—"

"That woman is the Avatar, she has to be!" Azimaz insisted. "The cycle has passed. She's the waterbender we've been looking for. And she's likely in the North Pole. A woman like her is nowhere in the South. We've searched the South ourselves over the years—"

"But Yon Rha's source specifically said there's one last waterbender in the South—"

"His source must've been referring to that tapestry. Or at least that rock."

Rozhur, shaking his head, "I'd rather believe a rock can be an earthbender than a waterbender."

"She's not physically here, but her Avatar Spirit is probably connected to that rock," Azimaz theorized. "She has to be connected to that stone, I tell ya! Even though it's not like we can do away with it. We can't even lift the Agni-damn thing. Heck, the savages themselves cant lift it."

"Except for those kids," Rozhur pointed out. "The stone favors them somehow."

"I dunno, all this seems like a stretch," Immuz turned to Azimaz, "You even sure about this?"

"And doesn't it seem a little too convenient that their goddess or whatever is also the Avatar?" Mirsu asked.

"There's no telling what happened to the Air Nomad. He was useless, to say the least."

"Maybe they're trying to keep the real Avatar hidden," Rozhur said. "By directing us to the wrong person."

"If she was the wrong person, then why would her tapestry glow?"

"Cause she's the damn moon goddess, probably."

"Well if she really does turn out to be a moon goddess, you know who'd really take an interest in her?" Mirsu nearly smirked, "Commander Zhao."

"Yeah, good point," Rozhur chuckled, "Him and his crazy theories. Thinks he can 'wipe out the moon.'"

"What on earth?" Azimaz frowned.

"The guy apparently went to an underground library and came back a couple of weeks ago," Mirsu explained. "He claims he found the Water Tribe's greatest weakness. That he has some kind of grand plan to get rid of the Spirit of the Moon. He's goin' around calling himself the 'Moon Slayer' 'cause it's his destiny to kill the moon."

The other two crewmen absentmindedly looked up at the starry night, catching a glimpse of the glowing crescent in the sky.

"All that desert heat must've gotten into his thick head, but whatever," Azimaz spat, turning to Immuz, "If she really was a spirit like the one your grandpappy believes in, why didn't she just show up? Why was there just a glow?"

"I dunno, maybe she didn't need to show up—?"

"It's because the return of the Avatar is marked by a glow exhibited by all other incarnations! The Fire Sages drilled this into my head!"

The other three gawked at Azimaz as he stood up, a determined look on his face, his fist clenched with tenacity, "She's the Avatar, I know it."

"So… you really believe the cycle passed on, huh?" Rozhur asked.

"Yes. It's more than likely."

"Well even if she is the Avatar, we don't know for sure if she's still in the North," Immuz pointed out. "For all we know, she could be traveling and training."

"Exactly. She could be anywhere in the world," Azimaz nodded.

"We don't know her age to tell if she's able to receive actual training," Mirsu said, "but if we went by the image on that tapestry, she's probably at least sixteen."

"Or maybe that's just a coincidental image of their goddess," Immuz said. "She could actually be relatively young—"

"Which would mean that Air Nomad was alive for at least a hundred years, but we know nothing about him," Rozhur said. "We couldn't say he was killed off in the genocide, either. Even in his last days, Fire Lord Sozin had lamented over not finding him—"

"Who knows what he'd been up to? He's long gone if the new Avatar's here," Azimaz said. "My only hesitation now is that it would be a waste of money and resources to plan a trip all the way to the North if the Avatar turns out to not be there. It will take years just to acquire the machinery we need to sustain ourselves in the ice. It'll take several months just to travel across the globe in this thing," he slapped his hand against the wall of their cruiser chamber. "And not to mention securing supplies from the Fire Nation colonies. The burden of travel is great, and the Fire Lord himself told us not to mess with the North just yet."

"He will not be happy with such a large failure of an expedition, that's for sure," Mirsu nodded. "And especially not now when most of our forces are being used for the upcoming siege at Ba Sing Se. That's why even Zhao with his stupid theories hasn't been able to launch a full-scale invasion of the North, and he won't be doing so anytime soon."

"That's why we need to exercise great patience," Azimaz said. "We need to see where she really is, search harder, look for any confirmation of her being in the North or anywhere else in the world." Eyeing his three comrades, "And no one has to know about the new Avatar. Since only we know who the real Avatar is, only we'll find her. We will capture her ourselves. We will hand her over to the Fire Lord and be revered all over the Fire Nation."

Indeed, they could accomplish what even the Fire Lord's best soldiers never could. They could earn more reputation and honor than Prince Iroh probably would. Well, at least to a degree.

"Prince Iroh and his son may lay siege at Ba Sing Se for years on end, but even then, they won't have tasted a victory of this magnitude," Azimaz's eyes lit up. "It will take years! A great deal of patience. But the payoff will be more than worth it. We will be war heroes. Our families will forever be honored. The reward for detaining the Avatar is unparalleled by any other reward in global history, comrades, don't you see this?!"

And the soldier was pleased that his comrades were now being more attentive to the rare possibility blossoming in their hands.

"Let Zhao keep his idiotic theories to himself. Let the world believe it's looking for the last airbender. We'll have our hands on the real Avatar soon enough," Mirsu said.

"Excellent!"

"What should we do first, then?" Immuz asked.

"Send word to the Fire Lord and tell him we annihilated the last Southern waterbender," Rozhur said. "We can always find some random tribesman as a casualty. Turn him over and say Yon Rha killed him before his death. We will then be free to continue the search for the Avatar, and we will take advantage of that funding."

"We will primarily have to scour the Earth Kingdom, then," Immuz said. "It's the only other possibility other than the North. There is no way she's coming down to the South. There's no way she will be hiding in the Fire Nation of all places. And there is no use hiding in an incinerated Air Temple."

Azimaz leered into the fire as his comrades took the reins of planning out their most ambitious mission yet. "Air Nomad, my ass. Who knew the true Avatar was actually a white-haired Water savage all along?"

"And as soon as she reaches sixteen, she will be married to a worthy tribesman and will assume her duties as the chieftess," Arnook said. "This is only a matter of self-defense, nothing more. Nothing that will break tradition or relieve her from her proper duties."

Master Pakku did not say anything, still processing the chief's revelation. The Avatar— the world's greatest hope— was none other than the Tui-touched princess, of all people. Simultaneously, the return of the world's greatest hope was not to be given serious weight, for Chief Arnook and Chieftess Ahnah were wishing to drown the truth of her identity deep in the North's ocean instead of allowing her to fulfill her destiny of ending this war and saving the world. And to that…Pakku honestly did not know how to react. On the one hand, there was the dismay that the Avatar was being prevented from saving the world, but on the other hand, there was the fact that she was a girl.

And this was where the traditions in which Pakku was raised— sexist traditions which only seemed to preach the inadequacy of women in battle and in society apart from the wonders of their wombs— came into play the most. When was the last time the Water Tribe had a female waterbender Avatar? And that, too, from the North? Way before their current traditions, most likely. Certainly during a time when even Pakku's ancestors weren't yet born.

Perhaps the princess had it in her to end this century-long suffering. Perhaps her contributions wouldn't be immediately needed (at least for the purposes of the North) so long as the Fire Nation decided to keep its distance. Or perhaps they were all doomed from the start.

The almighty Avatar just had to be born as a woman, oh Tui and La, Pakku huffed. What would a woman do anyway?

"I have never asked you to compromise our rules and traditions for anything, but my daughter is born an exception," Arnook insisted.

"But tradition does not account for exceptions, Chief. Even the most extraordinary," Pakku said, unnerved. "If she's not out to save the world, then what's the point? She will have security around her at all times, will she not?"

"Are you saying she should rely on others her entire life?" Kirqut chimed in, his eyebrows raised at the old waterbending master. "She will be the chieftess of the tribe one day. She cannot lead a nation if she herself has no capacity to ward off danger."

"It has been done before," Pakku pointed out. "Chieftesses never traditionally fought. They took care of their heirs and left the men to handle other matters—"

"In the event that she finds herself alone in a helpless situation, which is not a far fetch given the many powerful communities and leaders who were torn apart by the Fire Nation throughout the years, these traditions of yours will not help her," the shaman said with great vehemence.

"He's right," Arnook held his head high, command jolting through his words, "If you believe it will interfere with your public image, you may teach her in secret, but you will be teaching her regardless. You will teach her waterbending, and you will teach her how to protect herself."

"And you will make her become a greater master than you," Kirqut added. "Keep in mind that she is also touched by the Moon Spirit. If anyone is worthy of being a great master, it is she."

"Remember," Arnook's voice turned incredibly stern, "This secret will go with us to our graves, you understand? It will stay with us even if we become nothing but ash."

Pakku grumbled to himself, rubbing his forehead and nodding. "Fine. But she is the only exception. This is under special emergency circumstances only—"

"Look what I can do, Mother!"

The child-like voice interrupted the trio's conversation as it rang from outside of the meeting tent.

"Be careful, sweetheart…" Ahnah's voice followed.

Pakku, Arnook, and Kirqut stepped out, and beneath the pleasant rays of the late crescent moon, they spotted Ahnah walking along the sidewalk adjacent to the meeting tent, her eyes transfixed on the princess. The child, bundled up in thick, overbearing coats over which her long milken hair was sprawled across, walked across the water in the canal with squares of ice freezing beneath her moccasins, supporting her every step. She giggled and clapped at her own accomplishment by the time they reached the intersecting canal, not heeding any of her mother's warnings.

Pakku, though a man of perpetually grim demeanor, softened his eyes for a split moment, realizing that the girl really was the spitting image of the Moon Spirit as the tribefolk often gossipped.

"No, no, don't go over there," Ahnah ran after the laughing girl, who was now sprinting across the water, bending more ice squares beneath her feet, her arms outstretched. "Yue, listen to me. Your father is waiting for us!"

"That child needs to be taught what discipline is," Pakku said, his voice tight. "If she's left to be a rebel like this, she will disobey her elders."

"A rebel? She's just playing, for Spirits' sake, that's what children do—"

"Training," Pakku shot a look at the shaman, shutting down the man's defense, "begins at moonset, and this is final."