Oh boy, we're at the North Pole and the next chapter is the finale. The finale where things will be learned. But I'm gonna have to make you guys wait because I'm working on my Maleficent chapter next. Mwahahah! But you guys can wait, especially since I'll be combining two episodes into one chapter. But we need to get to this chapter first. Anyway, I don't own anything, Avatar the Last Airbender belongs to Nick. Enjoy!


The Waterbending Master

They'd been flying for days, the longest they'd flown without taking a break and everyone was feeling the toll. Celina at first tried to pass time by sleeping but her nightmares were becoming more aggressive. The slashing of her skin, his voice sending shivers down her spine, her screams to no one. It instantly killed her desire to sleep. So instead she played with the water as they passed by, smiling when she saw koala otters coming up to sneak a peek at Appa.

"I'm not one to complain, but can't Appa fly any higher?" Sokka complained. Appa flew a bit lower in response, brushing his feet against the icy ocean water.

"I have an idea, why don't we all get on your back and you can fly us to the North Pole," Aang snapped at him.

"I'd love to! Climb on everyone, Sokka's ready for takeoff!" Sokka replied, wiggling his butt at them. Celina giggled when Momo jumped up onto Sokka's back.

"Look, we're all just a little tired and cranky because we've been flying for two days straight," Katara tried to calm Sokka and Aang down.

"I can take over driving if you want to take a break, Aang," Celina offered.

"I don't see the point. We can't even find the Northern Water Tribe. There's nothing up here," Sokka exclaimed annoyed.

Suddenly ice shot up towards Appa. The bison avoided the ice as best as he could but one slammed into his side, sending Appa into the water. The water around Appa froze, trapping him in place. Men in ornate wooden skiffs stood next to them, controlling the ice.

"They're waterbenders! We found the Water Tribe!" Katara smiled brightly.

"And you said that there was nothing up here," Celina smirked at Sokka. He glared at her in response. After a bit of an explanation, the waterbenders released Appa from the ice and lead them to a tall ice wall with towers and turrets.

"The Northern Water Tribe…" Katara said in wonder.

"We're finally here," Sokka smiled. Celina hugged her siblings close. They finally made it after all their journeying. Waterbenders on the wall opened up part of the wall, allowing the gang entrance into the city. Appa swam through, too tired to fly.

"I can't believe how many waterbenders live up here!" Katara gushed.

"We'll find a master to teach us, no problem!" Aang replied.

The gang looked around in wonder as Appa swam through the city's canals. Everything looked to be made out of ice and was breathtaking. Celina could see some sort of citadel or temple towards the back of the city, towering over the buildings. People walking stopped and watched Appa. Soon everyone was coming out of buildings to gawk at Appa and the people riding him. Aang waved to them as they passed by. Fountains and waterfall were everywhere.

"This is nothing like home," Celina thought to herself. As they passed by a boat Celina noticed her brother's attention fall on the white-haired girl in the boat. He even ran down Appa's tail so that he could get a longer look at her. He was smitten.

"This place is beautiful," Katara commented.

"Yeah, she is," Sokka replied, looking at the girl dreamily. Celina would have to tease him about that later.

o

A celebration was set up in a plaza near the citadel when the Northern Water Tribe learned of not only their sister Tribe's arrival but the Avatar's as well. Water Tribe men played huge kettles of drums as citizens looked up at the main table where the gang sat with the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe. Several attendants brought them large plates of food much to Sokka's delight. Over to the side, attendants brought Appa some food as well and ran away screaming when he roared before digging in.

Chief Arnook stood to address the crowd. "Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sisters from the Southern Water Tribe, and they have brought with them someone very special. Someone whom many of us believed disappeared from the world until now. The Avatar! We also celebrate my daughter's 16th birthday. Princess Yue is now of marrying age," he spoke. The girl with the white hair from before walked up to the table and smiled.

Sokka stared at Yue while Celina shuddered, being reminded that sixteen was the marrying age. If the Northern Water Tribe citizens learned that she wasn't betrothed or married and that she'd be turning seventeen in the spring they'd start forcing suitors onto her. And seeing how she was the daughter of the Southern Cheif they just might try to set up an arranged marriage. Another shudder. She'd have to keep her age a secret for now.

"Thank you, father. May the great Ocean and Moon Spirits watch over us during these troubled times," Yue spoke like a true princess.

"Now, Master Pakku and his students will perform!" Chief Arnook announced, motioning to three men standing on a dais in front of the fountain.

It was clear the older man in the center was Master Pakku. He and his two students began to waterbend water from three enormous jars in front of them. The crowd began to cheer and Katara and Aang watched them in delight. From the corner of her eye, Celina saw Princess Yue sit down next to Sokka who straightened his posture in response. This was going to be interesting.

"Hi, there. Sokka, Southern Water Tribe," he said introducing himself to Yue.

"Very nice to meet you," Yue smiled.

"So… uh… you're a Princess! You know, back in my tribe, I'm kinda like a Prince myself," Sokka said to her.

"Ha! Prince of what?" Katara laughed, having heard him.

"A lot of things!" Sokka replied angrily.

"Actually, we are the Chief's children so technically we would be royalty in a sense," Celina said coming to her brother's defense. She turned and whispered to Sokka next. "I got you, bro."

Sokka smiled at her before turning back to Yue. "So it looks like I'm gonna be in town for a while. I'm thinking maybe we could… do an activity together?" Sokka said to her.

"Do an 'activity'?" Yue giggled slightly.

"Very smooth," Katara sassed Sokka. Celina put a comforting hand on Sokka's shoulder as he sulked over his awkward courting abilities.

o

The next day Celina walked with Katara and Aang towards the citadel where Master Pakku would teach his class. She couldn't help but smile at Katara who was bouncing with excitement.

"I've waited for this day my whole life! I finally get to learn from a real waterbending master!" Katara said excited. They came upon the fountain outside the citadel to see Master Pakku manipulating a blob of water.

"Good morning, Master Pakku!" Aang exclaimed, causing Pakku to drop the blob.

"No, please, march right in. I'm not concentrating or anything," Pakku grimaced.

"Uhh… these are my friends, Celina and Katara, the ones I told you about," Aang said, introducing the girls. Katara bowed while Celina gave him a smile and a small wave.

"It's nice to meet you," she said.

"I'm sorry. I think there's been a misunderstanding. You didn't tell me your friends were girls. In our tribe, it is forbidden for women to learn waterbending," Pakku told them as he made a chair for himself to sit down in.

Celina and Katara glared at him. "What do you mean you won't teach us?" Celina questioned.

"We didn't travel across the entire world so you could tell us no," Katara snapped.

"No," Pakku replied monotone.

"But there must be other female waterbenders in your tribe!" Katara protested.

"Here the women learn from Yugoda to use their waterbending to heal. I'm sure she would be happy to take you two as her students despite your bad attitude," Pakku told them.

"I don't want to heal, I want to fight!" Katara shouted.

"I can see that. But our tribe has customs, rules," Pakku said.

"Well your rules are archaic," Celina glared.

"Yeah! That's not fair," Aang said, agreeing with the girls. "If you won't teach them then…"

"Then what?" Pakku challenged.

"Then I won't learn from you!" Aang replied and began to walk away.

"Wait! Aang didn't mean that," Katara said and then she and Celina ran after Aang. "You can't risk your training for us. You have to learn from Master Pakku. Even if he is a big jerk."

"But what about you two?" Aang asked.

"I'll continue teaching Katara everything I know and we'll go learn healing from Yugoda. Healing is still new to the both of us and is something that can come in handy for the future," Celina answered. "You focus on your training."

Aang nodded his head, feeling guilty that he got to learn from a master while his friends couldn't, and walked back over to Pakku who had a smug look on his face. Both Celina and Katara couldn't help but glare at the old man before heading to find the healing hut.

o

Katara ranted angrily at Celina as they walked to the hut. The older girl let her. Katara was always more aggressive with her anger and if ranting would help her calm down then she'd let her continue. Celina herself was angry as well but chose to stew on it silently, hoping a couple deep breaths would help her calm down.

"I just can't believe…"

"Katara, we're here," Celina told her sister as they approached the healing hut. Katara stopped her ranting.

"You think this is for the best?" Katara asked, calmer.

"I think so. Who knows what could happen with this war. Healing could really help save some lives," Celina answered.

"Fighting against bad guys could too," Katara muttered.

"We'll get to that later," Celina assured her sister. "Right now let's tackle this." Katara sighed but nodded. The two walked into the healing hut and looked around. There was a man-sized dummy laying on a stone bed, pathways and channels etched into its surface. A woman, who Celina presumed to be Yugoda, bended shining water through the channels.

"Um, hi. Are you Yugoda?" Celina asked.

"Are you here for the healing lesson?" she asked back. Celina and Katara looked around once more. Her students were young, way younger than Katara was.

"I guess we are," Katara answered glumly.

"Welcome! Welcome!" Yugoda smiled.

The two sat down and listened to Yugoda's lesson. She showed them the pathways in the body and how to heal certain injuries and ailments. After a few hours the lesson ended and the little girls took the dummy out on a stretcher. Celina and Katara walked up to Yugoda.

"Thanks for the lesson," Katara thanked her.

"So, who's the lucky boy?" Yugoda asked.

Celina and Katara exchanged a confused look. "Huh?"

"Your betrothal necklace. You're getting married right?" Yugoda explained.

"No, I don't think I'm ready for that yet," Katara smiled. "Our grandmother gave our mother this necklace. She passed it down to Celina…"

"But then I gave it to Katara," Celina finished the story. "Looks better on her anyway."

"I recognize this carving! I don't know why I didn't realize it sooner! You're the spitting image of Kana!" Yugoda exclaimed after looking closely at the necklace.

"Wait, how do you know our Gran Gran's name?" Katara asked shocked.

"When I was your age I was friends with Kana. She was born here, in the Northern Tribe," Yugoda explained.

"She never told us," Celina said.

"Your grandmother had an arranged marriage with a young waterbender. He carved that necklace for her," she told them.

"If Gran Gran was engaged, why did she leave?" Katara asked.

"I don't know. That's always been a mystery to me. She left without saying goodbye," Yugoda answered.

Celina had a feeling of why their Gran Gran left but she wasn't about to say that in front of her grandmother's old friend. "Well, thank you again for the lesson," she said and led Katara out of the healing hut and towards where they were staying.

o

Annoyance seemed to be the feeling of choice as the gang met up again in the small house they'd been given. With tension filling the room Celina tried to make conversation to calm it down.

"How's warrior training going?" she asked Sokka. He kicked a bag on the floor out of anger before falling on to his sleeping bag.

"That bad?" Aang asked.

"No, it's Princess Yue. I don't get it. One minute she wants to go out with me and the next she's telling me to get lost!" Sokka complained. "So how's waterbending training?"

Katara flopped onto Celina's lap, depressed. "Master Poophead won't teach them because they're girls," Aang explained.

"We don't need Pakku," Celina tried to tell Katara.

"Why don't you just teach them, Aang?" Sokka suggested.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Katara said, brightening instantly. "At night you can teach whatever moves you learned from Master Pakku. That way you have someone to practice with and we get to learn waterbending. Everyone's happy!"

"I'm not happy," Sokka commented.

"But you're never happy. Come on guys," Katara said and grabbed Celina and Aang's hand.

She proceeded to drag them out of the house and towards a canal. Katara let go of their hands and waited for Aang to show them what he learned. Aang raised a whip of water out of the canal, moving it around himself.

"Master Pakku said this move is all about sinking and floating," Aang told them.

"Huh," Celina said a bit unimpressed.

"Is something wrong?" Aang asked confused.

"No, it's just… I've known that move for years. I was going to teach you and Katara how to do that next," Celina explained. She raised some water out of the canal and performed the move herself, moving the water around her quickly and elegantly.

"Wow," Katara smiled. "Let me try!" Celina handed off her water to Katara who quickly got the move down better than Aang had. She held the water between her hands with a triumphant smile. "I got it!"

Suddenly the water began to whip around her very fast before shooting up above them. Aang was seriously impressed while Celina was confused. Katara couldn't have done that.

"That was amazing! You did it exactly like Celina did. You two really are the ultimate waterbending sisters," Aang gushed.

"That wasn't me," Katara told them, confirming Celina's suspicions.

The trio looked up to see Pakku standing on the bridge above them, the water that Katara was using floating in his hands. He froze the orb and shattered it, causing pieces of ice to embed themselves into the bridge.

"I… I…" Aang tried to explain.

"I was teaching Katara some waterbending when Aang noticed that it was the same move that he learned today. Looks like Katara's at the same level he's at in his training," Celina said, coming up with an excuse.

But Pakku wasn't buying it. "You have disrespected me, my teachings, and my entire culture. You are no longer welcome as my student," Pakku told Aang before walking away, leaving Katara and Aang astonished while Celina just fumed.

o

Celina, Sokka, Katara, and Aang stood in front of the tribe's council in the citadel, trying to get Pakku to take Aang back as his student. Although at this point Celina didn't know if he needed Pakku with all the things that she could teach him. After seeing the move that he learned the other day Celina realized she was way more advanced in waterbending than she originally thought.

"What do you want me to do? Force Master Pakku to take Aang back as his student?" Chief Arnook asked almost sarcastically.

"Yes! Please," Katara demanded nicely.

"He's refusing to teach the Avatar – you know, the one who is going to stop the war – waterbending just because my sister also wants to learn. It's a pretty stupid move in my book," Celina said.

"You don't want to learn from him anymore?" Katara asked her sister surprised.

"I've done fine on my own for the past couple years," Celina told her sister before muttering under her breath. "I doubt he could teach me anything I don't already know."

"Respect your elders, young lady," Pakku advised Celina.

"Then give me something to respect," Celina shot back. "But this isn't about me, this is about Aang."

"I suspect he might change his mind if you swallow your pride and apologize to him," Chief Arnook told the girls.

"It's not us who needs to swallow their pride," Celina snapped.

"There is no way I am apologizing to a sour old man like you!" Katara shouted, causing the massive water pots on both sides of the council table to crack. Her anger was getting released and Celina didn't mind. "I'll be outside if you're man enough to fight me!"

Yue gasped and the men stiffened at Katara's challenge as she walked out of the building. "I'm sure she didn't mean that," Aang tried to assure the council.

"Yes, she did," Celina told them and followed after her sister.

If Katara was going to do this than she needed to give her sister some advice. Katara wouldn't win the fight, Pakku wasn't a Master for nothing, but that didn't mean she couldn't give him a run for his money, thinking girls couldn't fight at all. So Celina talked strategy which Katara greatly accepted. When they started heading down the steps of the citadel Sokka and Aang caught up to them.

"Are you crazy, Katara? You're not gonna win this fight!" Sokka said to her sister.

"I know! I don't care!" Katara replied, taking off her coat and throwing it at Sokka.

"You don't have to do this for me. I can find another teacher. Celina can teach me," Aang told her.

"I'm not doing it for you! Someone needs to slap some sense into that guy!" Katara exclaimed.

"Just remember to keep your balance and make sure your movements are fluid," Celina told her. "Don't forget, you can freeze your feet to the ground if you need to re-stabilize."

When they made it to the bottom of the stairs the gang looked up to see that Pakku finally exited the building and was making his way down. "So, you decided to show up?" she smirked at him but became confused when Pakku walked past her. "Aren't you gonna fight?"

"Go back to the healing huts with the other women where you belong," he replied, not even turning to face her. Incredibly angry Katara drew a water whip from the ground and whipped the back of Pakku's head. He stopped and turned to Katara.

"Fine. You want to learn to fight so bad, study closely!" Pakku said and quickly grabbed water from two pools and bended it around himself.

Katara ran at him but was flung back when she hit the water. She stood back up and Pakku bended a wall of water around the both of them. The water spun faster and faster creating a whirlpool effect. Katara was having a bit of a difficult time as the water started pushing her inward.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you!" Pakku said mockingly.

The whirlpool constricted but Katara swung her arm, deflecting the water off in a different direction which just so happened to be Sokka's direction, knocking him back. A crowd of spectators had arrived to watch the fight. Katara ran at Pakku with a water whip to have him respond by creating a ramp out of ice. She was sent flying in the air and back flipped, landing on a guardrail of the citadel steps. Pakku turned the ramp back into water and sent it towards Katara.

"Katara, your feet!" Celina shouted at her sister. Remembering Celina's advice, Katara froze her feet to the guardrail to keep her balance and then broke the oncoming wave, bending it around her.

"You can't knock me down!" Katara told Pakku. The crowd behind her cheered.

"Go Katara!" Aang cheered his friend on.

Katara ran at Pakku once again, bending away his shield of ice and engaging in hand to hand which Pakku easily dodged. He used a burst of water to send her flying into one of the nearby pools. Pakku thought he won but Katara emerged from the water, creating a thick pillar of ice. She sent blade after blade of ice at Pakku, the last one barely missing him. Katara got out of the pool of water and continued on, sending a steam of water around her before throwing it at Pakku. He caught it and used the water to wash Katara backward, sending her on all fours.

Sokka and Aang were worried and looked over at Celina who'd been closely studying the fight. "How's she doing?" Sokka asked.

"She isn't gonna last much longer. Katara probably has a few bursts in her but it's clear she's become more reckless with her attacks," Celina told her friends.

Katara got up from the ground, her hair disheveled and breathing heavily, and got into stance. Throwing her hands up she caused the segmented pillars of ice behind Pakku to collapse down. Pakku turned them into snow before they could fall on top of him.

"Well, I'm impressed. You are an excellent waterbender. Your sister must know her stuff," Pakku admitted.

"But you still won't teach me will you?" Katara asked, already knowing his answer.

"No."

Katara raised the water near her feet and froze it, sending it in a rolling wave of ice towards Pakku. He raised himself on top of a pillar to avoid her attack and turned it into a wave of snow which he rode towards Katara. Katara sent a bit of water at him but Pakku dodged, knocking her down in the process. Celina noticed that Katara's necklace was sent flying off as her hair became completely undone. Before Katara had time to react Pakku trapped her in a prison of icy shards. The people were surprised to see that Katara had lost as she struggled to get out of the ice, her arms and hands trapped. Celina was quick to go over to Katara and free her from the ice by turning it back into water and returning it to the pool.

"This fight is over," Pakku declared and walked away from her.

"Come back here! I'm not finished yet!" Katara exclaimed. She went to pounce at Pakku but Celina held her back.

"No, Katara, you lost. Be honorable and respect that," Celina told her sister.

"Then you fight him! I know you can take him, Celina," Katara urged her sister.

"Enough," Celina said. Sure Celina was interested in fighting Pakku after seeing how her sister fared against him but that was for another day.

Pakku stopped walking away when he noticed Katara's necklace on the ground and picked it up. "This is my necklace!" he said in surprise after looking at it.

"No it's not it's mine! Give it back!" Katara demanded.

"I made this sixty years ago for the love of my life. Kana," Pakku said.

"Our Gran Gran was supposed to marry you?" Katara asked in shock.

"I carved this necklace for your grandmother when we got engaged. I thought we would have a long and happy life together. I loved her," Pakku explained.

"But she didn't love you, did she?" Celina asked. "Yugoda told us that it was an arranged marriage and those aren't always happy. Gran Gran wouldn't let your tribe's sexist customs ruin her life. So she left."

"It must have taken a lot of courage," Katara commented. People were surprised when Yue burst into tears and ran away. Celina motioned for Sokka to go after the girl which he promptly did. She'd ask him about things later.

o

The next day Celina accompanied Katara to her lesson with Master Pakku. After talking with them about Gran Gran he agreed that he'd teach Katara along with Aang. Sokka urged Celina to go with her as he wanted to stick around the room and sulk. He told her everything about him and Yue and Celina couldn't help but feel bad for her brother. Katara ran as fast as she could to the lesson which Celina chuckled at.

"What do you think you're doing? It's past sunrise. You're late," Pakku scolded Katara before smiling at her.

"Good to see you here," Aang told Katara.

"You too," Katara smiled at Aang.

"Now, before we get further into the lesson I'd like to show you all what a fight between two waterbending teachers looks like," Pakku told his class and then turned to Celina. "Celina, would you care to join me in showing them."

"What?" Celina asked confused.

"You taught Aang and Katara before they became my students. And from what I saw with my fight with Katara I'm impressed with what you taught her. I'm interested to see how far along you are. So what do you say to a little sparring session?" Pakku asked.

Celina looked over at Katara and Aang who nodded vigorously. "I… I guess," Celina accepted.

The two bowed at each other and Celina waited for Pakku to make the first move, preparing a defensive stance. Pakku grabbed two water whips from the ground and shot them at Celina's legs, hoping to disrupt her stance and throw her off balance. She responded by twisting the water around her legs into a vortex in order to lift her up. Having a height advantage over Pakku, Celina used half of the water holding her up and slashed it at Pakku who rolled to dodge her attack.

Celina used her remaining water to cushion her landing. Pakku grabbed water from nearby pools and sent a large wave at her. Taking a deep breath Celina blew out her frosty air, freezing the wave before it reached her, creating a barrier between her and Pakku. She purposely left the ice cloudy so that Pakku wouldn't know what she'd do next. It gave a disadvantage to the both of them but Celina had the upper hand since she created it.

Pakku tackled the wall of ice by bursting through the middle of it to try and get at Celina. Taking the two remaining sides of the wall Celina turned them into water and began to twist them around Pakku into a sphere. She tightened the water of the sphere as much as she could, treating Pakku like she would a fish she'd catch for the tribe. Once Pakku was trapped tight enough in the sphere of water Celina froze it. Pakku's student's cheered, seeing that she defeated their master. Katara and Aang ran up to a slightly panting Celina and hugged her.

"I knew you could do it!" Aang told her.

"You gotta teach me that move," Katara begged.

"How about I release Master Pakku first," Celina laughed and then turned the sphere of ice back into water, freeing Pakku. She returned the water back to the pools. Pakku smiled at Celina once he was freed.

"It appears that your sister and friend didn't give you enough credit. I didn't know I would be facing against another master waterbender," Pakku said and bowed to Celina out of respect. Celina's eyes widened and Katara and Aang looked at her with gaping mouths hearing that she was master level. Pakku's students bowed to her in response. "Class, I expect you to address Celina as Master Celina from now on."

"Yes, Master Pakku," his students replied, minus Katara and Aang.

"Would you care to join me in teaching? Perhaps with two masters, these students can advance quicker," Pakku offered.

"I… uh… Thank you for the offer Master Pakku but I think I have to pass it up," Celina answered. "I want to learn all aspects of my waterbending and I still have some things to learn from Yugoda. But I'll be happy to stop by if you need someone to help demonstrate some things."

Pakku smiled at her and bowed once again. "Spoken like a true master of their craft. Very well, I respect your decision. I wish you luck in your studies," he said.

Celina bowed as well. "Thank you," she said and then turned to Katara and Aang who were looking at her in wonder. "Enjoy your lesson guys." She walked away with a smile on her face, heading towards the healing huts for her lesson.


Check out my profile for the link to Celina's character design or go to DeviantArt and look up "BOWB: Northern Water Tribe Coat" by DrawMeLikeYourOC.


Thanks for reading. Be sure to leave me a review and a crazy "So Tell Me About Yourself" answer.

"So Tell Me About Yourself" is an inside joke between me and my friends which started from my one friend's hatred for the typical getting-to-know-you question "So tell me about yourself". She, being so annoyed with the phrase, gave a silly answer that she murdered people in their sleep. When she brought it back to me and my other friend we both gave a silly answer. That is where the idea for my account name came from.