Last Time…
The iceberg began to crack and it burst open like an explosion. A huge beam of blue light shot into the sky for a few seconds. The fog settled and we regained our footing. A small boy climbed up to the side of the collapsed iceberg. Sokka brandished his spear threateningly and demanded, "Stop!"
The boy in the iceberg suddenly just stopped glowing and fell over.
Katara gasped as the boy fell down the side of the ice. She ran forward and caught him in her arms. I noticed the curious, but maybe a little more look in her eye. It was starting! Awww! I was such a Kataang fan! Sokka was still suspicious and poked him with the end of the spear. Katara protested, "Stop it!" She pushed her brother away. I stayed back, so Aang and Katara could have their moment.
Aang opened his eyes and gasped, "I need to ask you something."
"What?" Katara said curiously.
"Please, come closer," Aang whispered softly.
Katara leaned down and imitated Aang's soft voice, "What is it?"
Aang closed his eyes for a second, then opened them with a huge grin on his face.
"Will you go penguin-sledding with me?" He asked excitedly.
Katara drew back really confused and said, "Uh… sure. I guess."
Aang got up off the ground. Sokka jumped back at his subtle airbending.
"What's going on here?" Aang asked and scratched his head. Sokka started going at it and demanded, "You tell us! How'd you get trapped in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?"
He poked Aang in the side with his spear, but Aang didn't even appear to notice. He was too busy taking in his surroundings. He said, "I'm not sure."
A growling came from behind the icy wall. Aang scrambled up it and jumped off into the center of the iceberg. The siblings and I went around to an opening and saw Aang fighting to wake up a huge buffalo creature. Sokka's mouth dropped wide open. Appa licked Aang and got up onto his feet. We approached the situation carefully. Sokka stood in front of us like he was trying to protect us. Like he could compete with Appa. Ha! Appa would crush him.
"What is that thing?" Sokka demanded.
"This is Appa, my flying bison," Aang answered.
Sokka deadpanned and retorted, "Right. And this is Katara, my flying sister."
Appa growled at Sokka, then sneezed snot all over him. Sokka froze, then started scrambling to get it off, even trying to scrap it off on the ground. Aang giggled, "Don't worry. It'll wash out."
Sokka tried to pull it off with his glove which just stretched it out. Aang looked at us girls and asked, "Do, do you guys live around here?"
Sokka grabbed his spear again, held it up to Aang and declared, "Don't answer that. Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy."
Katara brushed him off and went over to Aang's side. She teased, "Oh, yeah. I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by the evil look in his eye."
Aang put on an innocent face and a wide smile. Sokka groaned. Katara introduced us, "The paranoid one is my brother Sokka. That's our friend Rei. You never told us your name."
"I'm -," Aang started, but he started to sneeze. He tried to keep it in, but he sneezed himself right into the air and slid back down the ice to us. Sokka and Katara were dumbfounded.
"I'm Aang."
He rubbed his nose and smiled. Sokka spoke first, though he was completely shell shocked. "You just sneezed and flew ten feet in the air."
Aang looked up and stated, "Really? It felt higher than that."
"Oh! You're an airbender." Brilliant deduction Katara. Maybe we should call you Katara Holmes.
"Sure am," Aang boasted giving the girl a wide smile.
"Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders - I think I got midnight sun madness," Sokka groaned and started to walk away. "I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." He walked right up to the edge of the iceberg before he noticed our situation. I let my face fall into my hands once more.
Aang offered, "Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift."
Katara grinned and exclaimed, "We'd love a ride. Thanks."
Katara ran up to Appa's side and quickly got on the saddle. I followed behind.
"Oh no. I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster," Sokka insisted.
Aang came to help Katara who was having a bit of trouble actually getting on the saddle. Katara teased, "Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home? You know, before you freeze to death."
Sokka grumbled but got into the saddle. Aang got back into the driver's seat and called, "Ok. First time flyers, hold on tight. Appa, yip yip."
He flicked the reins and Appa jumped into the air before falling and landing on the water.
"Come on Appa. Yip yip," Aang encouraged.
"Wow, that was truly amazing," Sokka snarked and I slapped his arm.
"Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see," Aang reasoned.
I laid down and tuned out what they were saying. Eventually it got dark and I fell asleep. When I woke up, we were back in the village. Katara and Sokka were already up and were talking with Gran. I waved to them. Aang hadn't woken up yet, so I carried him into my tent that I had woken up in too three weeks prior. I went to go for my morning run.
Ever since I got there, I realized that if I was going to be a part of the story, I needed to be in better shape, so every morning, I ran around the edge of the entire glacier we were on. I tried not to think about how this was probably the last day I'd be able to do that.
When I got back, Aang was showing off his airbending tricks and I just smirked and chuckled at his antics. I grabbed Katara and said, "Come on, we need to do our chores." We walked off to the sewing tent.
"Is everything on schedule here? We'll need those extra blankets for the winter. Gran says it's going to be a cold one this year," I asked. One of the elders, Yorina, lifted her head from her work. She was one of the oldest besides Gran. Yorina was amazing.
The first week that I came here, I was really hesitant to talk to anyone or go anywhere that wasn't my tent (which was still Katara's as well at that point. I got my own tent in the second week.) or the fire pit that we all ate around for dinner. I went out at nights wrapped in my blanket and sat looking at the moon. Sleeping with all the knowledge I had was hard in the early days. Especially when Katara was snoring one meter away from me.
Yorina just started sitting with me in complete silence. Eventually I cracked and started crying openly. After that, I just kept talking. I pretended like I remembered my previous life when I slept and it was hard watching memories that I still couldn't remember. She comforted me about my 'lost' life and encouraged me to make friends with the siblings.
We didn't have moonlit talks anymore. Not that we didn't talk, we just moved them to dinnertime. I couldn't stay up every night. Sleep was very necessary for someone my age. At least, that was her argument and I couldn't very well deny that. Sometimes others joined in during our dinnertime talks and it wasn't as private, but I still loved talking with Yorina. The old woman was currently smiling brightly at me, wrinkling around her eyes.
"Everything's going great Rei. We'll be done by the end of the week. We'll have time to make a couple extra tents in case of storms," Yorina answered.
"Good good. That's really great. Thanks Yorina. Is there anything we can do to help? Do you need any extra string or fabric? Or dolphin whale blubber?" I had been initially disgusted when I heard that they used blubber in all their heavy clothes, blankets and tents, but I couldn't deny that it was so much warmer with it then without it.
Yorina shook her head and I bowed my head to her respectfully. I didn't turn, but I assume Katara did the same. She returned the gesture and went back to her work. We left the tent and walked directly into the next one. Vata's.
"Vata, how's Rikam?" I asked the healer. The boy in question was sitting cross legged on a pelt with his wrappings laying next to him. Vata was moving his arm about in different ways.
"Is his arm any better?" Katara added. Vata placed down the Rikam's arm and
"He's doing much better. After making sure he wouldn't move it, his recovery has taken a miraculous turn. His shoulder is almost completely better. It's all thanks to you Rei." Vata explained, while ruffling the hair of said boy.
"It's nothing. Dislocated shoulders are usually very easy to fix. And he's been such a good boy about it. Though, hopefully, this will teach him not to run on the wall," I mused and Rikam looked down abashed. Vata laughed slightly.
"I'm sure it will. He'll be ready to get out of here and cause more trouble tomorrow. Thank you for checking up on us Rei. All my supplies are sufficiently filled. I have no work for you girls. Gran should let you kids rest once in a while. I've told her so," Vata clucked. I smiled.
"It helps her nerves. And we're happy to help," I said before giving her the same head bow that I gave Yorina. She responded in kind and Katara and I left the tent.
We walked outside the village and checked up on the strength of the wall. Katara bent water onto the sides and I piled snow up to the top. I slid down and asked, "What do you think Katara? Do you think the wall's fine?" Katara threw a bit more icy water up on the top and froze it.
"There. It's good now. So, Rei, what do you think of Aang?" Katara asked. We headed back to the village entrance.
"Honestly, I haven't had the time to create an impression. From what I can see, he's very carefree and a little childish, but that's to be expected. He is just a little kid," I answered. At this point, he was just a little kid who ran away from responsibility. That's nothing new in children. In time, both Katara and he would grow into the brave and extraordinary people that would save the world.
"I think he's so much more than that. I can tell." Katara looked into the distance. I chuckled.
"Sure Katara. Sure," I teased.
"Shut up Rei. Not like that," Katara protested, but I saw the small smile that lit her face as we walked the rest of the way back to Gran's tent. Ah, to be young and feel love's keen sting. I giggled to myself.
"Hey Gran. The extra blankets are well on their way and there'll be time to sew some extra tents. Rikam's arm is almost healed and he'll be able to get back to warrior training tomorrow. Vata's supplies are completely filled," I reported.
"The wall is very stable and it would take a Fire Nation ship ramming into it to break it down," Katara added. I flinched. Shoot. I forgot about that. Well, all our hard work was going to waste then.
"Good job girls. Katara, go check on our food supplies. I don't trust your brother to keep out of the stores. Rei, I don't have a specific job for you. If you're exhausted for the day, you can go rest, but we can always use more food and the elders can always use some help with sewing," Gran explained.
"Yes Gran," Katara and I chorused. Then we went our separate ways.
I took a canoe and fished a bit right outside the village. It was slim pickings, but I was good at spotting the silvery creatures. I took them back to the food stores. Katara wasn't there so she probably went looking for Aang. I salted the fish and put them with the others.
I went back to my tent and gathered my things into a ready and available pack. I needed something that I could grab at a moment's notice.
I heard gasps outside and went out to see the flare go up. The red light was extremely visible against the white and grey sky. Zuko would be on his way. No doubt about that.
I grabbed my sword and scabbard. Sokka had given it to me since he only ever used his boomerang. One of the water tribe men had accidentally left it and the rest of the tribe had just kept it in case he came back and wanted it. It was kinda short, but it was easy enough to learn how to use since it was so light.
I took off my fur coat and pinned my braid into a bun. I put on the lipstick that was the only thing in my pockets when I arrived here. I strapped my sword and scabbard tightly to my person. I said a small prayer to the spirits of this world and psyched myself up for the impending battle.