WARNING: LANGUAGE, GORE, AND GRAPHIC SCENES.
"You what?!" She cried with hurt and anger in her voice. The volume of her shrill turned a few more heads in their direction.
"Katara, Nuka's a good man. Everything will be alright," her father said as he tried to soothe her panic. In his mind, he was trying to figure out why his daughter was holding onto the Avatar's arm like a vice. She hadn't done that since... Then, it hit him like he had jumped head first into the frigid ocean. Aang was her solution, and he had jumped the gun. Gilt overtook him.
To be honest, Hakoda didn't believe that his kids would find a way to stop Katara from marrying Nuka. Frankly, he didn't care either. Nuka was a bright, young man that was interested in the well being of the tribe. He was handsome and well spoken. He would make an excellent right hand man to Sokka one day.
Katara peered around her father and stared down Nuka. "I'm sorry, Nuka. I'm rejecting your proposal." Her voice was sweet, but her face and words suggested otherwise.
"Can she do that?" Nuka asked Hakoda defensively. His hands were flying everywhere in a desperate attempt to gain control of the situation.
How misogynistic, Katara scoffed to herself as she frowned. Why was he asking her father for approval after she had told him no. She silently fumed as she waited to hear her father's answer. He better not mess this up.
"Um," Hakoda said to try to buy himself more time. "Katara, what is your proposition?"
She put her free hand on top of Aang's arm that was still connected to hers. "I'm already betrothed to the Avatar."
"What?" Hakoda and Nuka said in unison, confusion painted on their tan faces.
"If that's okay with you, sir," Aang quickly added to respect Hakoda. He was convinced that his face was going to be permanently red when all of this was over.
"When did this happen?" Hakoda asked the pair with wide eyes. He had only learned that Aang still had feelings for Katara the day before from Sokka. It took Aang almost an entire year to make a move the first time... This was all moving too fast for Hakoda, and he silently cursed Nuka for rushing everything.
"It had to have been today," Nuka butted in. "The Avatar told me last night that he had always been in love with Princess Katara."
Aang cursed under his breath. In all of their excitement, Aang had forgotten to tell the others that he had a little talk with Nuka. Aang could feel Katara's gaze shift to him, so he gave her a small shrug and an innocent smile.
With their eyes still connected, Katara told them, "He asked me earlier today." There was no sign of regret in her voice.
"Really?" Nuka said in a questioning tone. He was very skeptical of them and did not want to give up. "Where's your necklace?"
"Where's your necklace?" Katara spat back at him. He had asked to marry her, but didn't offer her a necklace either.
Before Nuka or Katara could bicker anymore, Aang surprised them both. "Oh! I forgot about that." He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a blue ribbon.
For the millionth time that week, Katara was speechless. She was absolutely shocked, stunned, bewildered, etc. She couldn't find a word to fit what she was feeling. "Aang," she said wonderstruck. "When did you have time to make that?"
Aang shrugged as if it was no big deal. "About three years ago."
Tears pricked at Katara's eyes when she heard his confession. He had kept it all those years?
Gently, she reached out and took it from him to inspect it. A white, iridescent stone sat perfectly in the middle of a dark blue ribbon. From a far, it almost resembled her mother's necklace. Instead of their being a water tribe symbol in the center, there was a mixture of the air and water symbols. It represented both of them.
It was perfect.
"It's beautiful," she told him with love in her eyes. She handed it back to him and turned around. Gathering all of her hair from her neck, she allowed Aang to tie it to her. Now, it was official.
"Well Nuka," Hakoda told the man in a strong voice. There was a hint of pride in it. "I guess I was mistaken. My daughter cannot marry you because she is promised to another man."
Nuka's face and neck turned red, and he looked like he wanted to punch someone. Then, he remembered his manners and swiftly bowed to the three of them. He stiffly turned and walked away in the opposite direction.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the the Southern Water Tribe," Hakoda boasted in his chief voice. "Thank you for gathering here today. As you may recall, a dark spirit stalked our tribe a week ago and injured many. Since then, our very own team of spirit hunters have made contact with the spirit and found a solution. I would like to take this moment to personally thank Avatar Aang, Firelord Zuko, Firelady Mai, Prince Sokka, and Princess Katara."
Hakoda motioned to the group who were standing at the opposite end of the buffalo yak. They were by the feet and not interested in watching the animal be slaughtered. A loud round of applause rang out for them.
Once they died down, Hakoda continued. "The solution comes from an ancient tradition called the Glacier Spirits Festival. It is a festival where we honor the spirits of the South Pole by eating traditional foods, wearing traditional clothing, and dancing under the night sky. Doing this will help the Southern Lights return to their natural beauty. The only problem is that the festival must take place around the time of the Winter Solstice.
"In the meantime, the spirit has offered us a solution with instant gratification- the sacrifice of a large buffalo yak. It's blood is to be drained and pour into the heart of the South Pole. I would like to thank Nuka for bringing us the largest buffalo yak in tribe history."
Again, a loud applause was rewarded to Nuka. He waved from the base of the palace steps. Katara caught his eye once he had returned his focus on her father's speech. She could have sworn his blue eyes looked black.
A small gasp escaped her lips, and Aang took notice. He turned his head to look at her, but she didn't meet his gaze. She couldn't tell him. What if she was seeing things or imagining something that wasn't true?
Something about Nuka had never sat right with her. Ever since his arrival in the South Pole, Katara felt as if the balance had been thrown off. She seemed to be the only one that noticed he was strange. Everyone else liked him... Well, everyone except Aang. He had told her that he didn't like Nuka from the start.
Then, there was Sokka. He had always seemed to like Nuka. Apparently, he liked him so much that he wanted Katara to marry him. Then, when the opportunity presented itself, he seemed to oppose it. What changed his mind? Was it something Nuka did, or was it seeing his sister so distressed?
Whatever it was, Katara knew there was something really strange about Nuka. Actually, there was something strange about his whole family. His mother was a recluse, and his father only attended mandatory tribe meetings and events. Other than that, they stayed away and didn't talk to a lot of people. Nuka seemed to the be the social butterfly of the family.
Once her father's speech was over, a few members of the Council stepped forward to perform the sacrifice. Katara could see Aang's discomfort in his face, and she reached out to hold his hand. She didn't care if the rest of the tribe could see it. Their engagement would be announced at the feast soon after.
She squeezed his had as she heard the ripping of flesh. Nuka did the honor, but her eyes were locked on Aang's pale face. His eyes were closed, and she knew that he was mediating to ignore the scene in front of them.
Bato collected the blood in a large, decorative cup.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake a little. It felt like it did when Aang and Katara had to dismantle the drill at Ba Sing Se. The crowd gasped in surprise, and something caught Katara's eye. She could see the edge of the tribe from where she was standing. There, a large black shadow was approaching them rather quickly.
She instantly knew that it was the spirit.
Katara tugged lightly on Aang's arm, and he opened his eyes again. After a few blinks, Aang was aware of the situation at hand. "Hakoda," he called out. His voice was shaking and nervous. "Do you think we could speed this process up?"
Hakoda understood what the Avatar was asking and quickly gave orders to the other men. Bato removed the cup, and another man stepped forward to collect more in a similar cup. Then, the Bato and Hakoda ran inside the palace to perform the final steps.
The people of the tribe ran behind the walls of the palace for shelter. Their huts were too far and too unsafe.
The group held their ground on the top step of the palace and assumed their fighting stances.
All of them except Aang.
Aang turned his body to the side and held out his arm. His palm was displayed, and it looked like he was telling the spirit to stop.
Moving at an incredible pace, the spirit set its sights on the palace. It easily dodged all the huts and managed to not destroy anything. Once it made it to the palace, it abruptly stopped. It's forehead was centimeters from Aang's palm, and it snarled at him with its long, pointy teeth.
Aang's eyes and arrows began to glow, signaling that he had entered the Avatar State. With the voices of a thousand Avatar's, Aang told it, "We have done as you asked. Knowledge of the Glacier Spirits Festival has been found and will be implemented next year. The sacrifice that you asked for is taking place right now. The people of the Southern Water Tribe are good people. They may have lost touch with their spiritual side, but I can assure you that they will do everything they can to restore it. Please, do not cause them anymore harm."
The spirit's head twisted a bit to the left as if it was considering what Aang had to say. Then, it's eyes caught movement behind him as Hakoda and Bato stepped out. The sacrifice was complete.
Just like Hei Bai, the spirit morphed into it a twelve foot tall arctic reindeer. It's fur was brown and had luxurious texture. It's antlers easily had twenty points and were larger than most women in the tribe. It's body stretched out in a flawless pose.
Everyone was in awe of the beautiful beast. With a final nod, it turned and gracefully leapt away before disappearing into the tundra.
For several moments, everyone just stood there. Aang was proudly smiling to himself because he had done it once again. He had been the bridge between the two worlds and peacefully (kind of) settled the conflict at hand.
After many more moments, members of the tribe began to slowly come out of hiding. They reassembled in front of the palace and cheered in victory. After some strong men removed the dead caucus, they began to file into the palace for the feast and dancing.
The royal group was the last to enter the palace. For a long time, they stood on the top step and congratulated each other on their victory. Sokka even said, "Team Avatar does it again!"
Once the last of the crowd had entered, they finally entered. In the decorative foyer, Nuka was waiting for them. His eyes were indeed black now. His usually tan skin and gone as pale as Aang's, and he looked visibly ill with sweats.
"Nuka," Sokka called out to him as he stepped in front of a very pregnant Suki to protect her. "Everything okay in here?"
"No," Nuka hissed in odd voice. It wasn't his own. It was deeper and darker. "I will not be made a fool of. Chief Hakoda cannot announce the wedding of Princess Katara and Avatar Aang."
Katara's blood boiled and her hands balled into fists. She was so tired of being treated like a bargaining tool. She was person too. She scoffed and told him, "It's over, Nuka."
In the same offbeat voice, he replied, "No, it's not, or I'll kill you."
Mai's knives had never rolled out of her sleeves so fast before. Aang, Zuko, and Sokka took a few steps forward. They were standing to attention and were undoubtedly the superiors in this fight.
"You'll what?" Sokka asked in a dangerous voice of his own. No one messes with his sister.
"The spirit's claws penetrated Katara's skin, it left thousands of tiny germs that are like a slow poison. All I have to do is activate it."
"I personally healed Katara," Aang said stepping closer to the man. Aang was easily five inches taller than Nuka, so maybe he could scare him into submission. "I didn't find any poison."
Nuka gave him a devious smirk. "You didn't heal her. One of your past lives did."
His words made the hairs on the back of Aang's neck stand up. How did he know that? Katara and Aang had only told their friends that Aang healed her using the Avatar State to heal Katara's wounds. Even her father wasn't told about the extraordinary measures.
"What?" Nuka chuckled at Aang's lack of response. "Don't you know anything about a poison called the Spirit's Bomb?"
Zuko's mind was racing as he was trying to recall all that he had read and been taught about spirits. The Fire Nation's library was extensive thanks to the soldiers that stole from the other nations. After making copies for a Four Nations Library, he returned them to their rightful places. Yet, in this situation, he was drawing a blank. He couldn't remember anything about a delayed poison used by spirits. "Why would anyone or anything want to do that?"
Nuka ticked his tongue at the all- knowing ruler. "For reasons like this." It was like he was explaining why the earth rotated. It just did, and it just made sense.
But nothing about this situation was making sense to Katara. She was unaware of any poison within her, and the thought of it terrified her more than anything. Then, a thought occurred to her. More than three people had healed her, and not one said anything was out of the norm. Livid at his desperate attempt, she told him, "I was healed by a healer and by myself. We didn't find anything unusual."
"You didn't know what you were looking for. Even if you did, you wouldn't have been able to heal it."
"How do you know all of this?" Aang demanded. He was done playing Nuka's games. He wanted to know what was going on. More importantly, he wanted to know how to save Katara.
Nuka's white teeth slowly morphed from perfect rectangles to spikes. "I told it to."
