Chapter 11: The Waterbending Master

"At long last!" Kaiden yelled.

They had finally made it to the Northern Water Tribe at the North Pole. A waterbender motioned them forward and Appa swam in. The waterbenders opened gates along the three walls to raise the water level. The wall opposite the main city wall began to lower itself, ultimately freeing a path for Appa to continue through.

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

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

There were a few boats waiting in the channel beyond as Appa swam out. All of the kids on Appa smiled and looked around in wonder. An older man and a young boy watched as Appa followed a Water Tribe skiff through the canals. Soon more people joined them. In fact, as they went, small crowds of people began to gawk at them from houses and foot bridges. Aang waved at them as they pass. The city was loaded with beautiful streams, waterfalls and fountains.

They passed another boat with a waterbender and a beautiful young Water Tribe woman with white, elaborately styled hair and a slightly purplish coat rather than the normal blue. Sokka focused on her, blushed, and tried to follow her by running down Appa's tail.

"This place is beautiful," Katara said.

Sokka looked dreamily at the girl as the boat moved away, "Yeh, she is."

Kaiden rolled his eyes. Only Sokka...

Three Water Tribe men began playing huge kettle drums in unison. A huge fountain dominates the rear of the plaza. On either side, huge pews made out of ice provided seating for many onlookers. The closest side of the plaza showed the backs of the city's rulers, as well as the guests of honor, Aang and his friends. Sokka was on the far side of a table and down below Appa could be seen. A couple of attendants brung him a huge pallet of food. He roared and then they ran away screaming, with Sokka smiling at this. Appa began to eat and four attendants lowered some sort of huge steaming platter of food or something onto a stage in front of them.

Chief Arnook stood to address the crowd, "Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brothers and sister from the Southern Tribe, and they have brought with them someone very special, someone whom many of us believed disappeared from the world until now. The Avatar!"

The crowd went wild and Kaiden grumbled, "Sure. Don't announce the Image or anything..."

He wondered if past Images got annoyed with this stuff too... Most likely.

"We also celebrate my daughter's 16th birthday," the chief backs up out of the frame to reveal the beautiful girl with the white hair, flanked by two attendants, walking up to the table and they all bowed, smiling, "Princess Yue is now of marrying age."

Sokka looks at her with wide eyes and Kaiden rolled his eyes at him.

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

"Now, Master Pakku and his students will perform!" the Chief announced

As the waterbenders performed, Kaiden started eating and Sokka began stuffing his face full of food. Then Princess Yue herself walked behind him and sat in between the two male Water Tribesmen. Sokka gulped down his mouthful and tried to strike a cool pose next to her. The key word was tried.

"Hi, there," Sokka said in a cheesy voice, "Sokka, Southern Water Tribe."

Princess Yue smiled and bowed slightly, "Very nice to meet you."

"So... uh... you're a Princess!" Sokka said, trying to spark conversation, "You know, back in my tribe, I'm kinda like a prince myself!"

Kaiden snorted, unable to laugh with his mouth full. Thankfully, Katara did it for him.

"Ha!" Katara scoffed, "Prince of what? Tyler here is more of a prince than you are!"

"A lot of things!" Sokka argued, "And no he isn't! Do you mind? I'm trying to have a conversation here!"

Katara responded with a mock bow, "My apologies, Prince Sokka."

Sokka turned back to Yue, trying to recover, "So it looks like I'm gonna be in town for awhile. I'm thinking maybe we could... do an activity together?"

Princess Yue giggled a bit, "Do an 'activity'?"

Sokka began sweating, then paused to stuff his mouth with some food on the table. Katara and Tyler just grinned at each other, obviously enjoying this display.

"Very smooth," Kaiden mocked, earning himself a glare from Sokka and a high five from Katara.

One would like to say things went smoothly for finding a waterbending teacher, but of course, things didn't. Pakku, the Northern Tribe's waterbending master, agreed to train Aang and Kaiden, but when Katara showed up, he refused to teach her, saying something along the lines of 'Women don't use waterbending to fight. Only to heal.', greatly angering Katara, as well as Kaiden.

So, after that little revelation, the Image came up with the idea of going behind the master's back and teaching Katara what he and Aang learned that day in training. But... that experience was short-lived. They didn't even train an hour before Pakku caught them.

It also probably didn't help that Kaiden called him a sexist bigot...

Pakku forbade the Image from getting teaching from him. Katara, feeling guilty, tried to fix the problem, but the only possible way to do that was to apologize to Master Pakku. But, being stubborn, Katara not only refused, she challenged him to a fight. The rest of the Gaang tried to talk her out of it, but to no avail.

"Are you crazy, Katara?" Sokka exclaimed, "You're not going to win this fight!"

Katara took off her coat, "I know! I don't care!"

"You don't have to do this for me," Kaiden said, "Aang could teach us once he's mastered waterbending."

"He's right!" Aang agreed, "I would!"

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

Then, Master Pakku came down and Katara glared at him, "So, you decided to show up?"

But Pakku ignored her and walked past them, angering her more, "Aren't you going to fight?!"

"Go back to the healing huts with the other women where you belong," Pakku stated.

'Oh...' Kaiden bit his lip, 'I don't care how good at bending he is now. He's gonna get hurt. Badly.'

Katara growled and make a water whip, hitting Pakku in the back. Pakku turned back, now annoyed.

"Fine," he said, "You want to learn to fight so bad? Study closely!"

The battle was a sight to behold, Katara's hair even came undone and flowed freely during it. Though Pakku was holding back, it looked like Katara was giving him a run for his money.

"Well, I'm impressed," Pakku admitted, "You are an excellent waterbender."

"But you still won't teach me, will you?" Katara glared.

"No."

The battle continued, fiercer than before. At some point, Katara's necklace was knocked off her neck and fell to the ground. Kaiden considered going to get it, but at the same time, he didn't want to get between a waterbending master and an angry Katara. So the Image stayed put.

But the battle finally stopped when Pakku trapped Katara within giant ice shards. She struggled, but couldn't get free.

"This fight is over," he stated, turning his back to her.

"Come back here!" Katara yelled, "I'm not finished yet!"

"Yes, you are," Pakku began walking away, but then noticed the necklace and picked it up, "This is my necklace..."

"No, it's not!" Katara said, "It's mine! Give it back!"

"I made this sixty years ago for the love of my life... for Kanna."

The ice unfroze, freeing Katara, as well as surprising her, "My Gran-Gran was supposed to marry you?"

Kaiden's eyes and mouth widened, "Wait, what?"

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

"But she didn't love you, did she?" Katara replied, "It was an arranged marriage. Gran-Gran wouldn't let your tribe's stupid customs run her life. That's why she left. It must have taken a lot of courage."

Suddenly, Princess Yue began crying and ran away. Kaiden and Aang turned to Sokka.

"Go get her," Kaiden smiled.

And Sokka ran off.

The next morning, both Aang and Kaiden were training with Pakku, who was in a bit better of a mood than the previous day. Unfortunately, things were still going a bit rusty.

"Not bad, not bad," Pakku laughed, "Keep practicing and maybe you'll get it by the time you're my age!"

Aang turned around, annoyed, but quickly smiled when he noticed Katara coming up, "Hey, Katara!"

"What do you think you're doing?" Pakku asked, pausing a bit before smiling, "It's past sunrise. You're late."

Katana grinned and got into position between her two friends.

"Good to see you here," Kaiden smiled.

"You too, Kai," Katara replied.

OH MY GOSH, I'M FINALLY DONE! I've had serious writer's block with this story, but hopefully it's gone now. After all, I did just finish half of this chapter today. Just one more chapter! Till next time guys!