Author's Note: Wow, I've been getting a lot of good reviews! I haven't even gotten one flame yet! Thanks guys! Luv ya!
Disclaimer: Avatar belongs to Nick, additional characters belong to Fishmeister.
Chapter 5: Snowballs and Fire
"Are you ready for this one, Aang?" The girl asked, bending water out of a large urn and letting it flow between her hands.
"You bet!" The six year old chirped, waiting in anticipation.
The girl nodded at her brother and swirled the water between her hands into a spherical shape, then hardened it into snow. "Alright, here it comes!"
She threw the snowball directly at Aang, who instantly bended the air in front of him into a gust of wind, sending the snowball flying back at his sister. He crossed his arms and gave her a cocky grin.
"Not bad." She said, bending the snowball harmlessly around behind her. "Try this one."
The snowball flew out from behind her back and sped toward Aang. Aang's smug expression was instantly discarded for one of panic, as he tried to uncross his arms and create a suitable air current before the snowball got to him. He had barely begun to create a small breeze, when the snowball came up and smacked him on the side of his head. He looked over at his sister, who was smirking back at him. The longer they looked at each other, the harder it was to contain their laughter and the two siblings soon burst into a fit of giggles.
"Why does Gyatso say not to play this game with the others?" Aang questioned, still vibrating with laughter. "I'm sure they would like it."
His sister's laughter ceased. "The other monks don't like it when I use waterbending, or even airbending for games like this. And they wouldn't want me to practice it with the others."
"That's silly." Aang huffed. "What's the difference between me practicing with the others, and you practicing with the others?"
She frowned. "Because I'm a girl."
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"Your sister was banished?" Katara gasped. "Why? What did she do?"
"Nothing that deserved banishing." Aang responded, clenching his fists.
Seeing the impact this conversation was having on her friend, Katara decided to dismiss the subject. "We should find Sokka and go get some sleep, it's getting late..." She smiled, "we're going to need our rest if we want to get an early start finding your sister tomorrow."
Aang smiled gratefully. "Thanks Katara."
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Almika woke early. She smiled at the comforting sensation of a cool breeze on her face. She looked, bright eyed, at the morning sunlight dancing on the ice, like old friends who had gone separate ways and found each other again. Glancing over at Zuko and Iroh, she saw they were still sleeping soundly. Good. She slowly got up and crept silently toward the firebenders, aware that the ocean waves crashing to shore drowned out most of the noise she made, but wanting to be careful nonetheless. She looked down at Zuko's sleeping form with curiosity. His armour was obviously that of a firebender, but it seemed different from the regulation armour that she remembered seeing. She shrugged it off and crouched down on her knees in front of the boy's face. She cocked her head to one side, examining the scar on his left eye. She had already dismissed the possibility that it had been caused by an accident, or friendly fire from a battle. The harshness of the scar indicated the flame would have had great intensity behind it, an intensity that could not be reached by accident. Perhaps it was given to him in combat with another firebender. Almika carefully extended her hand and gently touched the scar with her finger. Her head was instantly filled with anger, fear, hate, sadness... then an ear-splitting scream of pain and heartbreak unimaginable to her before. She quickly took her finger off the scar and clutched her hand. She looked at the boy, still sleeping soundly and whispered in a cracked voice,
"What happened to you?"
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Aang looked out the window, staring at the icy land below. He sat on the windowsill, hugging his knees.
"What's wrong?" Katara asked, sitting beside him.
"I felt something... horible." Aang whispered.
"You think something happened to your sister?"
"I'm not sure." Aang replied, still staring out the window. "I know she was feeling it, but... it was like the feelings... the memories weren't hers." Aang felt a hand on his own, delicate fingers curling around his and giving a comforting squeeze. He looked up into the eyes of Katara.
"Don't worry Aang, we'll find her." She squeezed his hand tighter. "I promise."
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Zuko's eyes blinked open. The air had a familiar smell to it, the faint smell of smoke. He turned his head and saw a fire crackling in the middle of their makeshift camp. Iroh was sitting beside it. The girl was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's the waterbender?" Zuko asked, standing beside him.
"She made the fire and left. She seems to be in a very cheerful mood today." Iroh said, poking the fire with a stick.
Zuko opened his mouth to scold his uncle for letting the girl go, but was struck silent as the sound of humming reached his ears, announcing the waterbender's return to the camp. The girl entered, humming and swinging her body gracefully in time to the tune. She was bending a somewhat stable orb of water, in which two fish were swimming about. Puttinh the orb on the ground, she bended the water away, leaving the fish flopping on the snowy ground.
"Eat up," she said, grinning. "I want to show you something." She walked off to a small tidal pool to wait, still swaying to her humming.
"Very cheerful." Zuko agreed, watching her walk off.
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Aang hopped from stone to stone, humming to himself. A small smile was spread across his face.
"Well, you seem to be feeling better." Katara laughed.
Aang stopped his humming long enough to smile back at her. "I am. I feel like we're getting closer." He then turned his head back to see where he was going and continued his humming.
"What are you humming?" Katara asked, fascinated by the cheerful melody.
"An old airbender song, I learned it at the temple. I just can't get it out of my head this morning."
"Ah." Katara responded. She looked around at the snowy, rocky ground. "Do you really think your sister would be here? I mean... why would she be here instead of in the city?"
"I don't know, but we've already looked everywhere in the city. This is the last place I can think of." Aang replied, shielding his eyes from the sun's glare. "If she's not here, I don't know where else to look."
"Maybe a cemetery? Ow! Hey!" Sokka winced, as his sister elbowed him viciously in the ribs.
"Hey, guys..." Aang said, breaking up the battle between the two siblings. "...is that smoke?"
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"She's there! I'm sure of it!" Aang exclaimed, jumping from rock to rock with such speed that Katara and Sokka had to run just to keep up with him. Aang finally jumped down to the ground and ran to the spot the smoke was coming from. He ran into the small area and looked around. A small fire lay in the middle, already put out. There were a few imprints in the snow, like someone had slept there, and a few footprints, but those were the only signs of life to be found. Aang's shoulders slumped in disappointment.
Sokka and Katara rushed into the camp and looked around. Katara sighed.
"I know you were really hoping she would be here Aang, but there are still other places to look." Katara said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, look at this." Sokka said, bending over a set of footprints.
"What is it?" Katara asked walking over beside him, Aang following at her heels.
"These footprints were made by a firebender." Sokka explained, frowning.
"Firebenders? Here?" Katara exclaimed.
"Yes, two of them." Sokka nodded, pointing to another set of footprints, similar to the ones he was crouching in front of. "And one more person, probably a hostage."
"My sister!" Aang exclaimed. "We have to find them!"
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"This way!" Almika called back to the two firebenders, who were having some difficulty crossing the unfamiliar terrain. "We're almost there!"
"It's a good thing, too." Iroh puffed.
Zuko resisted the urge to smile at his uncle and instead concentrated on not slipping over the icy rocks.
"Here it is!" The girl said excitedly, leading them over an outcropping of rocks and onto a fairly flat bit of land, a large frozen over pool of water in it's center.
Zuko regarded it with interest. It was strange how a body of water roughly the size of a fire nation ship could so easily go undetected. Almika walked over to the ice and began bending it into water.
"What is this place used for?" Zuko asked.
"A breathing hole." Almika replied. She smiled, satisfied with her accomplishment of melting the ice, and took Zuko's hand, leading him down to the side of the water.
"I want you to meet someone." She said. The girl then made a few large motions with her arms and the water began to swirl into a small, thin whirlpool. She then stopped and the water flowed back to it's natural state.
"What was that for?" Zuko asked dubiously.
"Calling him." Almika smiled.
A low groan, reminiscent of two iron ships sliding against each other, filled the air. The girl chuckled to herself quietly. "Here he comes."
The smooth surface of the water was suddenly punctured by a large shape, moving with such power and force that it sent a spray of water flying at the three bystanders and created waves large enough to sink a small ship. The beast's head alone was about the size of a large fishing boat with large clear blue eyes that held within them the power and strength of the sea. It's nostrils flared and it shook it's head, waving around two long strands of webbing, one under each nostril. The firebenders stood gaping at the animal towering out of the water before them. The beast looked at them, almost questioningly.
A shrill whistle pierced the air, making the beast turn it's head toward Almika. It stared at the girl for a moment, then it's eyes softened in recognition. It bent it's head down beside the girl, who joyfully wrapped her arms around the creature's muzzle, stroking it lovingly. The beast emitted a low rumbling sound from it's throat. Almika looked back at Iroh and Zuko with a smile.
"This is Kahn. Come on, he won't bite!" Almika laughed.
The firebenders regarded the large animal before them and hoped upon hope the girl's last statement was true. Zuko walked over and laid an unsure hand on the creature's muzzle.
"They are very wise creatures. They live for hundreds of years." Almika explained to the boy.
"How did you tame him?" Zuko asked, feeling the unusual texture of the creature's scales on his palm.
"I didn't." The girl responded promptly. "Three years ago I found him with a harpoon in his back, I guess a fishing boat mistook him for a whale." She climbed up onto the animal's head and inched her way down along his back. "I was able to heal him, and he learned to trust me. The scar from the harpoon is still here though, faint, but still here." Almika looked down at Kahn's scaly skin and ran her hand along it, eyes searching for what should have been there. She looked at Zuko in disbelief.
"It's gone. The scar is gone." She said, hardly believing the words coming out of her own mouth.
"Perhaps it healed in the time that you were frozen." Iroh interjected. "Scars can sometimes heal quickly."
Almika didn't respond. Then she looked back at Zuko and Iroh.
"A small thing like that doesn't really matter. I almost forgot why I brought you here." Almika smiled.
"Wasn't it to see Kahn?" Zuko asked.
"Yes, but also to take you two for a ride." Almika grinned.
"Not me, thank you." Iroh said quickly. "I'm sure Zuko will join you though."
Zuko shot his uncle a fiery look, to which Iroh shrugged and grinned. The girl held out her hand to him to help him up, and he grudgingly took it, climbing up the side of the creature and onto it's back.
"Hold onto this." Almika told him, pointing to one of the spiky ridges running along the beast's back.
Zuko put his hand around one of the spikes and waited. The girl was crouched down near the head, cooing to the creature as if it were no more than a kitten. She then stood up and walked over beside Zuko, grabbing on to a spike near him.
"Are you ready?"
Zuko nodded in response. Almika smiled and pursed her lips, blowing two short, clear whistles. Kahn raised his monstrous head and dove into the water, taking his two passengers along with him. Zuko uttered a startled yell before he was dragged under the water by the mighty beast. He held his breath and closed his eyes tightly. Suddenly, a hand was laid on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and met the eyes of the waterbender, smiling at him. He let out his breath and was surprised to find that he was not in water, but encased in a bubble of air that surrounded the full length of the creature.
"You handled the dive pretty well for a first timer." The girl grinned, eyes sparkling in the blue tinted light.
"How can we breath under here?" Zuko asked in wonder.
"Kahn's scales filter out air from water as he moves." Almika explained.
Zuko looked around at the aquatic scenery. The area seemed strangely devoid of life.
"Why are there no other animals?"
"Aquatic dragons like Kahn are very solitary creatures." She sighed. "They do not truly belong to the air, nor do they truly belong to the sea." She said quietly, stroking the creature's scales.
Zuko sensed some hidden meaning in her last statement, but soon shrugged it off.
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Kahn's head broke out of the water, bringing along the waterbender and the firebender, clutching to the spikes on the beast's back. The creature lowered it's head to the ground, allowing the two passengers off, then dove back into the sea. Almika looked around for Iroh, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is your uncle?" Almika asked Zuko.
"He's probably gone back to the camp by now." Zuko commented, judging by the sun that it was now late afternoon.
"Alright." The girl responded as they began walking in the direction of their camp.
The two walked in silence for a short time. Zuko looked over at the girl and finally decided that now was as good a time as any to question her about the airbenders.
"What did you learn about the airbenders when you were with them?"
"The airbenders?" Almika asked, surprised by his sudden willingness to start a conversation. "They go by many old traditions, but are usually very fun-loving people. They love games." She gave Zuko a mischievous smile. "I'm going to teach you something that has never been seen by an outsider."
"What? Airbender attacks? Defense tactics..." Zuko was cut off as a snowball came sailing at him and smacked him on the side of the head. Zuko brushed the snow off and looked at the girl, bewildered. "What was that for?"
"The object is to hit the other person with snow, while not getting hit yourself." Almika grinned, bending a ball of snow between her hands.
"I don't..." Zuko quickly spotted the next snowball coming and made a burst of fire in his hands, melting the snow before it got to him.
"You catch on pretty quickly." Almika laughed. "Now let's see if you can throw a..." She was cut off by a snowball hitting her directly in the face. She wiped the snow off her face with the back of her sleeve, and looked at the firebender standing across from her, a triumphant smile spread across his face. Almika smiled back and laughed. She did not realize it, but she had made the boy do something he hadn't done in years.
For a moment, he forgot about the Avatar.
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Poor Aang, so close, and yet so far. Alright, sorry for the delay on this chapter, my cousins are here and I've barely had five minutes to write... The ending wasn't quite how I wanted it, but I hope you like it anyway. Oh, and the snowball thing does in fact have a purpose, I'm not just being weird. I don't think my writing was as good this chapter, probably because it was rushed. Well, I made it a couple extra pages longer than I usually do to make up for it so... just review and I'll be happy : )