Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days: a time of peace when the Avatar and the Elemental Lions kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements and the Elemental Lions masters of fire, air,water, earth and forest; only they could stop the ruthless firebenders. But when the world needed them most, they vanished. A hundred years have passed, and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken. Others believe that the Elemental Lions were killed or that they never even existed, but I haven't lost hope. I still believe that, somehow, the Avatar and the Elemental Lions will return to save the world.

Deep in the arctic of the Southern Water Tribe, a boy and a girl were in a canoe rowing through the icy water. The boy was holding a spear, looking for any fish to catch while the girl was staring at the water.

"It's not getting away from me this time," the boy said to the girl as he grins confidently over his shoulder in the direction of the girl. "Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish."

Katara seems indifferent to his claim and turns back to her side of the boat again. Her expression changes to surprise; as the shot jumps behind her, looking down into the water over her shoulder, another fish quickly swims by her, close to where she sits. She shoots a quick glance toward her brother, removing the glove from her left hand. She stretches her arm out in the direction of the fish, taking a deep breath. Her look is a mixture of concentration and apprehension as she starts making a wavy motion with her wrist, moving her hand up and down.

Sokka, still focused wholly on the fish in front of him, is completely unaware of what is happening behind his back. As Katara continues to move her hand, the water in front of Katara starts to ripple. Suddenly, a bubble of water rises up from the ocean containing the newly trapped fish.

"Sokka, look!" Katara exclaimed in happy surprise at what she had been able to do.

Sokka whispered, "Sshh! Katara, you're going to scare it away." A look of bliss adorns his face. He licks his lips and wiggles his fingers, not taking his eyes off the fish. "Mmmm ... I can already smell it cookin'."

Behind Sokka, Katara is still making circular movements with both her arms, suspending the bubble of water that holds the fish in the air and moving back and forth. Her face is contorted slightly by the focus it takes to control the water.

Struggling with the water that passes right in front of her. Katara says, "But, Sokka! I caught one!"

The bubble containing her fish slowly drifts around her to hang over Sokka, who is still oblivious. As the bubble hovers over his head, Sokka raises his spear to strike the fish he was following. He bursts the bubble of water with the blunt end of his weapon, causing Katara to lose control of the water; it rains down on Sokka, soaking him.

Sokka exclaims indignantly, "Hey!"

As Sokka lets out a gasp of discomfort, the fish tumbles through the air and Katara follows its arc with her eyes as it flies over her head and splashes back into the sea. Sokka rounds on his sister, placing his spear perpendicular to the rim of the boat as he yells irately.

"Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?" Sokka clenches his fists and a few drops of water fall from his soaked gloves.

She sighs lightly before answering in slight annoyance. "It's not "magic", it's waterbending! And it's …"

"Yeah, yeah, "an ancient art unique to our culture", blah, blah, blah. Look, I'm just saying" Sokka was saying as he grabbed his warrior's wolf knot with his left hand as he turns away from her, wringing the water out of it. Meanwhile, Katara has crossed her arms, "that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself."

Katara raises an eyebrow skeptically, arms still crossed. "You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water!"

Near the end of her response, Katara smiles smugly at her brother; as the shot cuts to him, he is flexing at his reflection in the water and grinning confidently. His happy look vanishes upon hearing his sister's remark and he turns around slowly, meaning to face her. Before he can say anything, however, the canoe suddenly shudders. As they both try to keep from falling over, Sokka whirls around toward his end of the canoe, a frantic look on his face.

The boat is caught in a rapid current, which is pulling it swiftly toward a jumble of large icebergs which block the end of the narrow passage formed by the towering walls of ice. Sokka paddles the boat in an attempt to stay clear of any floating chunks of ice. He manages to gain just enough speed to keep the boat from being crushed by two icebergs which slam together behind the boat. The canoe moving through the water as Sokka rows furiously; the canoe is nearly pinned by a number of smaller chunks of ice. Both her face and voice full of panic as she yells commands to Sokka.

"Watch out! Go left! Go left!" Katara commands.

The ice floes move closer together in front of the boat, narrowing their path. The boat manages to stay clear of some of the icebergs, but it veers to the right with the current and becomes pinned by three large chunks of ice. As the canoe is completely crushed by the ice, Katara and Sokka throw themselves from the canoe and onto one of the floes; Katara nearly slides off the other side into the water, but comes to a halt at the floe's very edge. As she raises her head, looking around, the siblings are floating on one floe among dozens.

Katara, shuffling on her hands and knees, moves away from the rim toward the middle of the floe, sitting next to her brother. His spear is embedded point-first in the ice just behind him.

A touch of bitterness in her voice, Katara says "You call that left?"

"You don't like my steering? Well, maybe you should've," He waves his hands, mockingly imitating waterbending, "waterbended us out of the ice."

Among the large icebergs and tiny floes surrounding them stands a massive, towering shard of ice, its craggy peak rising high above the siblings. Katara gets on her feet again, facing Sokka so that the pointed iceberg is behind her.

Indignantly, Katara asks, "So it's my fault?"

Annoyed, Sokka says, "I knew I should've left you home!" Katara is staring down at her brother in anger while he rants calmly. "Leave it to a girl to screw things up!"

Katara's face contorts with fury. Katara points accusingly at her brother, who makes no movement as she screams her disgust at him, the floe bobbing lightly up and down.

"You are the most sexist," She brings her hands up to her head and swings them back down and behind her in her rage; the movement creates a small wave of water behind her. "immature," Hands raised back to her head. "nut brained …" Swings her arms back down again, creating a slightly larger wave; she raises her hands back to her head during a brief loss for words. "I'm embarrassed" Throwing a hand upward, a short jet of water shoots upward as well. "to be related to you!"

She swings both her hands back forcefully once again and her unconscious waterbending hurls a wave directly into the towering iceberg behind her; with a loud, splitting crack, a hooklike fissure arcs up its surface and out its side, leaving a spray of ice where it ends. Sokka, who wears a somewhat disinterested expression, glances briefly in his sister's direction and sees the iceberg; after a short moment, he does a double-take, his expression morphing into one of terror. As Katara continues with her verbal outburst and arm movements, little chunks of ice from the iceberg splash into the water, unheard and unnoticed by Katara.

"Ever since mom died," Points to herself. "I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!"

She emphasizes the last words with a strong swing of her hand, waterbending and deepening the crack in the iceberg. Sokka's terror deepens.

Pointing to the iceberg behind her, his voice subdued by fright. "Uh ... Katara …"

Katara continues her outburst, a finger pointed in Sokka's face. "I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, not pleasant!"

As she yells out that last word, she unconsciously waterbends once again, causing two new splits in the chunk of ice.

In a screeching voice, his eyes open wide in fear. Sokka cries out "Katara, settle down!"

"No that's it! I'm done helping you! From now on, you're on your own!" Katara yells out.

Her last movement is her most agitated and it creates a huge wave which, when it impacts the iceberg, sends a number of fissures to snake their way up the iceberg; one of them reaches the top of the iceberg, splitting it completely in half. Petrified, Sokka gasps for air, and it is only now that Katara turns to look behind her. She gasps and the two halves of the iceberg begin to fall away from each other and the siblings can be seen through the widening space between them. The iceberg's two halves collapse into the water; a wave larger than any Katara cast at it radiates outward toward them and they are thrown to the ice as it pushes their floe backward.

As the waves subside, the shot cuts to a head-on close-up of the siblings, their heads slightly over the edge of the ice. Sokka, holding a protective arm over Katara, turns his head toward her.

"Okay, you've gone from "weird" to "freakish"", He releases her. "Katara."

Astonished. "You mean I did that?"

Sarcastically, glancing at her and smirking, Sokka says "Yep." Nudging her with his elbow. "Congratulations."

Several small bubbles appear on the surface of the water directly in front of them and a small spot of water begins to glow with a bright bluish hue. The iceberg has a spread of the brilliant glow and the bubbles within. The two siblings scramble back in renewed terror from the edge, just as a large, roughly spherical iceberg breaks the surface of the water.

The iceberg rises above the surface, revealing its massive form to be the source of the glow. The crashing waves generated by the iceberg's rising push the floe backward as the berg itself rocks to one side, before coming to rest with its rounded dome exposed above the water. Mesmerized by the iceberg, Katara strays closer and stares at the iceberg; behind her, Sokka halfheartedly stretches out his hand, as if to hold her back. The iceberg has a human shape within below a larger, indistinguishable mass. The human figure, perched in lotus, has glowing arrows on its head and hands. Katara raises an eyebrow in confusion. The shot cuts to a closer view of the figure in the ice, its features accentuated by reflected light, revealing it to be a boy. Suddenly, the boy opens his eyes, the same brilliant light emanating from them, eliciting shocked gasps from both of the siblings.

"He's alive! We have to help!"

Before Sokka can grab it, Katara grabs Sokka's club out of its sheath on his back and pulls her hood over her head, heading in the direction of the strange boy sealed in the iceberg. Sokka again reaches out his hand in an attempt to hold Katara back, though she is already running across the ice.

"Katara, get back here!" Sokka says cautiously. He grabs his spear from the ice and runs after Katara, who is already at the ice's edge. "We don't know what that thing is!"

Katara hops across the short distance between her floe and the iceberg on five tiny chinks of ice; Sokka, close behind her, does the same. Reaching the iceberg first, Katara repeatedly strikes the iceberg with Sokka's club. On her fifth strike, the club breaks through the surface and a great gust of wind, which escapes from within the iceberg, throws her and her brother back from the side of the dome. Fissures quickly snake their way over the whole iceberg and, in a massive outward explosion, the entire orb of ice destroys itself. A beam of light bursts from the core of the iceberg and rockets into the sky. The camera shows the iceberg from the shallow sea bottom as it emits ripples of light. There is a group of tiger seals, who erect themselves to growl at the distant beam of light.

A Fire Nation ship, where a boy in a Fire Nation military uniform stands on the deck, gazing at the light. His ponytail flutters in the wind.

"Finally!" He turns around to face another person in uniform, who sits at a small table. "Uncle, do you realize what this means?!"

The man is playing some sort of card game with a young teen wearing oven mitts and being bound by chains. He answers calmly while looking over the tile he's holding toward his nephew. "I won't get to finish my game?"

"You got to see the sun?" The bound teen snarkily asked.

Turning around again to face the light, Zuko says, "Not that kind of light! It means my search is about to come to an end."

Iroh sighs uninterestedly and places his tile on the table.

"Wait, does this mean you win or lose?" Keith asked out of curiosity.

Zuko then says, gesturing at the light while facing his uncle again. "That light came from an incredibly powerful source!" The light dwindles and disappears. "It has to be him!"

With continuing disinterest and an air of skepticism, Iroh guesses "Or it's just the celestial lights. We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko." He looks at the tile in his hand, depicting the symbol of airbending. "I don't want you to get too excited over nothing." He places it on a tile carrying the symbol of firebending and gestures toward the open place at the other side of the table while continuing in a relaxed voice. "Please, sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming Jasmine tea?"

Furiously, still facing Iroh, Zuko yells "I don't need any calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar! Helmsman, head a course for the light!"

Zuko points in the direction of where the light once was. Iroh calmly continues with his game, placing another tile bearing the airbending symbol on the previous one. As he does, a gust of wind washes over him, shaking his tiles.

Back at the iceberg, where the gale has begun to settle. Sokka had protectively clutched Katara, but he now releases her as he looks around. Light still encircles the remains of the former mountain of ice, now reduced to a hollowed-out crater. Sokka looks at his sister and they both get to their feet, Katara holding onto her brother. He points his spear at the crater, ready to defend them, though lowers it in shock as a figure emerges slowly from the depression in the iceberg.

Brandishing his spear in defense once again, Sokka yells, "Stop!"

Now standing atop the crater, the figure slowly erects himself and looks down at them, and the two siblings stare back in wonder and fear.

The circles of light finally dissipate as the boy stops glowing. The figure is revealed to be nothing more than a young boy, who gives a moan of exhaustion and suddenly faints. Katara gasps and runs forward to catch him before he hits the ground and Sokka begins to poke at the boy's head with the blunt end of his spear.

Waves the spear away. Annoyed, Katara yells "Stop it!"

Katara places the boy gently against the base of the crater. Close-up of the boy as he slowly opens his gray eyes. He gasps in awe as he beholds the Southern Water Tribe girl, who stares at him, in relief, with deep blue eyes. Her hair loopies sway in the wind.

In a weak voice, the boy mutters "I need to ask you something …"

"What?" Katara asks

"Please ... come closer."

Curiously, Katara does just that "What is it?"

In a clear, happy, hopeful tone, the boy asks 'Will you go penguin sledding with me?"

Awkwardly. Katara answers "Uh, sure ... I-I guess."

The boy elegantly rises to his feet in one swift motion, surprising the other two. Katara looks at him in awe while Sokka backs away in shock, aiming his spear at him again. Katara glances at him in disbelief.

Suddenly, before anyone could say anything, another teen appeared from behind part of the ice. "So, how is everyone doing here? Everyone doing okay? Nothing broken? What is going on here anyway?" The teen asked.

Looking around and rubbing his head, while Katara scrambles on her feet. "What's going on here?" the boy asks.

Aggressively, Sokka demands, "You tell us! Both of you!" Points at the top of the crater. "How did you two get in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?" He pokes the boy in his side with his spear. He also prepared to point the spear at the teen.

Lazily pushing the spear away, the boy answers, "I'm ... not sure."

"Well, technically, I never got frozen in the ice," the teen answered.

"What?! How could you have not gotten frozen," Sokka demanded.

A low, gruff noise suddenly fills the air, coming from within the crater of the iceberg. Quickly, the boy scrambles up the ridge of ice and happily jumps on the head of a large, furry creature that has the same arrow-shaped marking on his forehead as the boy.

Exclaims happily, the boy cheers, "Appa! Are you all right?" He hangs down the side of the beast to look at its eyes, which are still closed. "Wake up, buddy."

He opens an eyelid that immediately closes again once it is released. He jumps down to the front of the bison and tries to lift its enormous head. Sokka and Katara appear around the corner as Appa finally starts to react to Aang, opening his mouth and licking Aang with his giant tongue. Sokka's jaw drops upon seeing the beast. "And you two have a giant creature with you too?!"

Laughing cheerfully. "Ha, ha! You're okay!"

Aang hugs the bison's nose. The creature stands up on his six legs and stretches itself. When the picture moves closer again, Aang is petting the bison's nose.

"What is that thing?" Sokka questions.

"This is Appa, my flying bison."

Sarcastically, Sokka responds, "Right, and this is Katara, my flying sister." Katara shoots him an odd look.

"Trust me, you guys. This creature really can fly," the teen snarked.

Aang looks questioningly at Sokka for a moment as well as to the teen in confusion, but his attention is diverted back toward his bison when Appa starts to inhale deeply. Realizing what is about to happen, Aang ducks before Appa sneezes, sending a large blast of green flying directly onto Sokka, who becomes completely covered in it. He squeals in disgust and begins to frantically try to clean it off, rubbing his face in the snow under the amused gaze of his sister.

Cheerfully, Aang reassures "Don't worry, it'll wash out." Green slime is hanging from Sokka's face to his glove, dripping down as he retracts his hand. Katara covers her mouth in disgust. "So do you guys live around here?"

Pointing his spear accusingly again at Aang who is surprised to see the thing, Sokka says, "Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy bolt of light?! He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy! And the other guy is his accomplice!"

Katara pushes Sokka's spear away again and addresses him sarcastically. "Oh yeah, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in his eye. Besides, if they were our enemies, why haven't they attacked us yet? Also, why would the teen be dressed in Water Tribe garb?" Aang shoots the two an earnest grin and the teen gave an awkward smile. "The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. You never told us your names."

"I'm A ... a-a-a-Achoo!" The boy sneezes, creating an air blast that sends him soaring into the air. He lands on the ground, unharmed. "I'm Aang." He sniffles a bit.

Sokka says in total disbelief, "You just sneezed …" Points to the sky. "and flew ten feet in the air!"

Aang looks questioningly toward the sky. "Really? It felt higher than that."

Katara gasps for air in comprehension. "You're an airbender!'

"Sure am!"

"Oh, and my name is Lance," the teen revealed.

"Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders …" Sokka walks away. "I think I got midnight sun madness. I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." He realizes, however, that he is stranded in the middle of the ocean with no way home.

"Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift." Aang airbends himself onto Appa.

"We'd love a ride! Thanks!" Katara runs to the side of the bison.

"Oh no! I'm not getting on that fluffy snot monster!" Sokka denies the help.

While climbing on top of Appa with the help of Aang. "Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home? You know, before you freeze to death?" Katara snarkily questions.

Sokka opens his mouth in defiance and points at Katara, ready to retaliate, but he cannot think of anything. He sighs and bows his head in consent and defeat.

Both siblings are sitting on Appa's saddle. Lance also gets onto the saddle with them, full of anticipation as he does. Sokka has his arms crossed in front of him with a sulking expression on his face while Katara is full of excitement and anticipation.

"Okay, first time flyers, hold on tight! Appa, yip-yip!"

Aang whips the reins and Appa growls in response. He moves his tail up and down and takes a huge jump into the air. He soars through the air for mere few seconds, making it appear as though he would fly, before belly-flopping into the water with a splash. The bison begins trudging through the water slowly. Katara crawls to the front of the saddle while Aang tries to get Appa flying, whipping the reins again.

"Come on, Appa. Yip-yip!"

Sokka says sarcastically. "Wow, that was truly amazing …"

Katara shoots her brother an angry glance. "Appa's just a little tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see." Aang reassures.

"Yeah. We may not be able to see it now, but this bison can fly," Lance reassured.

Katara smiles at Aang, who returns this gesture. When she wants to move back, she realizes that he is still smiling at her.

Uncomfortably, Katara asks "Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"Oh, I was smiling?" Aang questions. Surprised, Katara smiles back.

Sokka throws his head back and sticks his tongue out in disgust while groaning loudly. Katara glares at him while Appa continues to make his way through the icy sea, flapping his tail in the water.

Zuko is standing on the helm of his ship, staring into the distance. The young man is approached by his uncle.

"I'm going to bed now." Yawns and stretches. "Yep, a man needs his rest." After a short pause, he abandons his try at a veiled suggestion and delivers his request more clearly, his tone tired. "Prince Zuko, you need some sleep. Even if you're right, and the Avatar is alive, you won't find him. Your father, grandfather and great-grandfather all tried and failed."

"Because their honor didn't hinge on the Avatar's capture. Mine does. This coward's hundred years in hiding are over. And besides they didn't have an Avatar tracker like I do. If only he would actually do his job!"

"Yeah, because I would totally help you to find the Avatar," the teen sarcastically muttered.

Prince Zuko was enraged upon hearing this. "Remember Keith, the deal was your freedom for the Avatar's capture. Unless you want to spend another hundred years locked away from the world."

Prince Zuko went back to staring out at the sea, while Keith went back to thinking about the deal he had no intention of keeping.

Meanwhile, Appa is still swimming in the water. Aang now lies lazily on his back, his arms tucked under his head. Katara crawls to the front of the saddle again to have a better look at the boy. Meanwhile, Lance was pretending to sleep as he listened in on Katara and Aang's conversation. She leans on the front of the saddle and rests her head on her arm.

"Hey." Katara simply said.

"Hey. What'cha thinkin' about?" Aang asked.

"I guess I was wondering, your being an airbender and all, if you had any idea what happened to the Avatar?" Katara asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, no. I didn't know him. I mean, I knew people that knew him, but I didn't. Sorry." He smiles weakly at Katara.

"Okay. Just curious." She slants her eyes in disappointment for a second before smiling again at Aang. "Good night."

"Sleep tight." Aang wishes for the young girl.