Author's Note: Oh my gosh, so many pwettiful reviews! I must have read each one at least three times! You guys are so nice! So, as promised, here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: Avatar doesn't belong to me. If it did, this story would have been an episode.

Chapter 4: Almika

The girl sat sprawled out on her stomach, lazily bending water from the bowl in front of her into curving forms. She frowned, and the water crackled into gleaming ice. She stood up and walked onto the balcony. The girl looked down wistfully at the boys in the courtyard, playing games and practicing their bending.

"Gyatso..."

"Yes, little one?" The monk answered, walking over and standing next to the six year old.

"Why can't I learn to bend like that?" She asked, pointing to a boy who was currently in the process of creating a gust of wind.

"That type of bending is for battle." Gyatso explained. "If war ever came to the temple, it would be up to them to defend us."

"Why can't I learn to defend the temple?" The girl asked, huffily. "I could do it just fine."

"I'm sure that you could, but it's against tradition." He sighed. "The monks are blind, their eyes are trained so intently on the past, they cannot see the present."

"But... I can waterbend! Is there an airbender tradition against girls waterbending?" The girl pressed.

The monk looked over at the young girl's face, beaming in youthful excitement, and smiled.

"No, I don't believe there is."

"Will you teach me, Gyatso? Please?" She asked, clasping her hands together.

The monk gave in. "Of course I will." He smiled.

The girl smiled back. Suddenly, her small nose wrinkled in thought.

"What is it?" Gyatso asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"The boys down there are airbenders... but I airbend and waterbend... what am I?"

"Well... you're both. You are like half of an Avatar." Gyatso smiled, "Why, you're a Halvatar of course."

"Halvatar..." The girl repeated, grinning. "I like that name." She skipped beside Gyatso, who was walking out from the balcony. "I hope the baby likes it. I'm going to teach it to waterbend too!"

Gyatso laughed. "It will be a while before he can bend, my dear. And I'm afraid that I don't think you'll be able to teach it to waterbend." He smiled and ruffled her hair. "But I'm sure you're going to have lots of fun together none the less."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The girl felt herself slowly returning to consciousness, regaining feeling in her body. She was surprised to feel a cold sensation run through her.

Snow?

Why was she outside? Suddenly, the memories came flooding back to her. Walking along the outer wall, the sudden feeling that something was wrong, then falling, someone catching her, looking up into the face of a boy, she didn't know who he was, but he had caught her before her headlong fall.

Thank you...

The girl slowly, groggily opened her eyes, groaning as her light-deprived eyes were suddenly met with the harsh glare of the morning sun, magnified by the ice. She waited patiently for her vision to focus, and found herself looking at the very place she remembered standing before she blacked out. She stood up slowly and with some degree of difficulty, and walked over to an impression in the ice. She ran her hand along the impression, then outside of it, feeling the smooth texture of melted ice.

"Firebending."

The girl turned around to find the source of the voice. She saw the boy that had caught her, sitting on the ground preparing a small fire.

She turned back to the impression. "Who was in here?" She asked, already fearing the answer.

Zuko looked at her dubiously. "You were."

The girl nodded distantly. "I was afraid of that."

"How did you get in there anyway?" He asked, lighting the fire with his hand.

"Waterbending accident." She answered, semi-truthfully.

Zuko nodded, attempting to light the fire again, after the first attempt failed.

"The wood's too wet." The girl said, walking over and crouching down next to Zuko. She made a few flowing motions with her fingertips and the water quickly drained from the wood, and into a floating stream of water which was quickly discarded into the ocean. "It should work now."

Zuko quickly lit the fire. The girl watched him, examining his face. His features seemed very drawn and sullen for a boy of his age. He wore armour, so he was obviously a fighter.

"How did you get that scar?" The girl questioned, her eyes quickly drawn to the obvious injury.

"Firebending accident." He answered, mocking her earlier answer.

The girl sighed. Zuko looked at her over his shoulder, paying attention to her appearance for the first time. She had long dark hair, fair skin, and stormy blue eyes. Her outfit was composed mainly of traditional waterbender garments but there were also some foreign influences to it, ones who's origin Zuko did not know. Perhaps the most peculiar thing, were the blue arrows on her forehead and the backs of her hands. He found it odd, that the girl had made no move or attempt at escape. In fact, she seemed almost cordial, like they could have been fellow waterbenders.

"What is your name?" The girl asked, attempting to break the uncomfortable silence.

Zuko considered. "Zuko. And..."

"...and I'm his uncle, Iroh." Iroh interceded, interrupting his nephew.

"I didn't know you were awake already, uncle."

"I didn't know you two were." He replied good-naturedly. "Especially you... what was your name?"

"Almika." She smiled.

His expression suddenly became slightly more perplexed as he looked at her. "Tell me... where did you get that tattoo?"

Almika touched the arrow on her forehead. She looked into the man's eyes, and somehow she knew in the pit of her stomach that he knew about where they came from. She felt her spirit sink.

"The Air Nomads. I went there with my brother as missionaries. They gave me the tattoo as a symbol of their respect for my tribe." She answered, biting her lip. "My brother stayed with the airbenders."

Zuko and Iroh shared a glance. Zuko gave his uncle a questioning look, but his uncle shook his head.

"How long exactly were you in that ice?"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Aang, this is crazy!" Sokka exclaimed. "We've already been to every shop keeper in the tribe! She's gone!"

"No, she's alive. I'm sure of it now. We just have to find her." Aang said, ignoring Sokka's scepticism.

"Aang, maybe Sokka's right... what makes you so sure she's alive now?" Katara asked, running to keep up with Aang.

"I just know. We share half of the Avatar spirit, we're a part of each other." Aang answered, running out into the morning sunlight.

Katara and Sokka looked at each other helplessly, then raced to catch up with the young airbender.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Aang, we've looked everywhere." Katara called to her friend, who was perched on top of a fairly large carved boulder, taking one last look around. He jumped down, landing beside Katara and sighed.

"This doesn't make any sense." He murmured, disbelieving.

"Aang, your sister was an airbender... maybe... maybe she went back and... the firebenders..." Katara stopped there, not wanting to mention what would have happened to his sister.

"No, she didn't go back. She can't go back." Aang said quietly.

"Why? Why couldn't she come home?" Katara questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Aang looked up and met Katara's gaze.

"She was banished from the air temple."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"She's been frozen since the time of the airbenders?" Zuko whispered to his uncle in disbelief.

"Yes. It explains why she's been so natural toward us. She doesn't know of the war." Iroh explained.

"If that's true, she has been frozen for at least one hundred years. Which means she'll have one hundred year old memories..." Zuko said, partially to himself.

"What are you thinking, Zuko?" Iroh asked his nephew, knitting his eyebrows together.

"She said herself that she visited the air temple as a missionary. She would know their traditions, techniques... possibly even the Avatar himself."

"Zuko, not again..." His uncle began, ready to launch into another lecture.

"Uncle, this is one of the only chances I'll get to learn more about how to capture the Avatar." He looked into his uncle's eyes. "I need to take it."

His uncle sighed. "As you wish." He looked over at Almika, who was currently sitting, hugging her knees and staring at the impression in the ice. Iroh turned back to his nephew. "She's had a very hard day, I think the realization of everything is starting to sink in. Try to be kind to her. Get her to open up to you. Then she'll tell you what you want to know."

Zuko nodded and started walking over to the girl, but his uncle grabbed is arm, stopping him.

"One more thing." Iroh said quickly. "Don't mention anything about the airbenders, or how long she's been frozen."

"I won't." Zuko responded, then continued walking over to Almika.

Iroh watched him, then moved his gaze over to Almika and sighed, shaking his head.

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Ooh, Iroh seems to know a lot more than he's letting on. Sorry, for the chapter shortness (again) I've been having some serious writers block lately... Hopefully it clears up soon... Keep reviewing!