(A/N)- I have been severely procrastinating on all of my writing projects for like two months, and I apologize.

I did manage to write this fun little chapter so I'm going to go ahead and throw it out.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Avatar. Bummer.

To The North

Departing the Northern Air Temple was bittersweet.

Though they'd won quite the encouraging victory over the Fire Nation in the skirmish—hopefully one that meant they wouldn't be back to harass the new Temple dwellers—Angka found herself almost reluctant to leave.

Being around remnants of Air Nomad culture, even as modified and repurposed as it was, had been comforting, in a way. Téa had a gentle, free-spirited personality that made her think of her old friends. Even the Mechanist—(Seriously, he had to have an actual name, right?)—with his tinkering and his passionate enthusiasm, had something irresistibly magnetic about him, an unhindered kind of lightness and spark of airbender spirit.

But of course she couldn't stay. She couldn't lead Zuka or Zhao to these people, and she had a mission and a purpose she had to return to.

So after one last glider race around the mountain with Téa and many farewells, she, Sokki, Katar, and Momo loaded up on a well-supplied Appa and began making their way, inexorably, towards their goal.

-ATLA-

They struck the ocean around mid-afternoon and stopped briefly to rest, stretch, and take bathroom breaks.

"There'll be nowhere to land once we leave this shore," Sokki pointed out, tracing a finger across the map, slightly concerned.

"That's okay," Angka said, patting Appa's nose. "If Appa gets tired he can just float for a bit on the water."

"I meant there won't be anywhere convenient for us to stop if we... you know..." Sokki said, trailing off awkwardly.

Katar had already thought of that. With maybe a little more showboating and flair than was usual for him he demonstrated his ice-making skills, raising up a little floating iceberg with an enclosed space with his bending in the shallow arctic water before them.

"It's not much, but it'll give us some privacy," he said.

Sokki had already moved on to another logistical question. "And it looks like most of the food they packed us can be eaten unheated, so we won't need to make any campfires," she announced.

"Great!" Angka said brightly, twirling her staff a little. "Then let's get started!"

She flipped one more mouthful of grass into Appa's mouth with a swish of her staff and a puff of airbending.

"Eat up, buddy," she told her mount gently. "It's a long way and you need the energy."

Appa huffed into her face, large brown eyes seeming to smile.

In another few moments they were loaded back up. Appa kicked off and they turned their faces north.

-ATLA-

They navigated a bit of cloud cover for the first hour, and then the sky cleared up and there was nothing but frigid clear blue sky and sloshing ocean for a while.

A long while.

The sun crawled across the sky inch by inch, no warmth coming from it, only a steady haze of light. The waves sloshed and churned beneath them, an ever-shifting pattern of hills and valleys in the water.

A gull occasionally called.

Other than that, it was quiet.

The three of them fidgeted and idled for a bit. Momo ran in circles around the saddle.

Eventually there was an attempt at conversation, nothing too deep or dramatic, Katar just telling stories from growing up, with occasional interruptions from Sokki, Angka talking about the Air Nomads and how things used to be.

They got tired of sitting still after a while and she and Katar got up to practice bending, while Sokki took a turn on Appa's head to guide him.

"All right, so... what do I do again?" Angka asked, trying to form her hands with the same motions as Katar.

"Elbows in, curl your wrists just like so," he explained patiently, moving to demonstrate for her, a glob of water rising up from the waves below them and rolling into a wobbly levitating ball between his hands. "It doesn't need a big gesture."

Angka's eyes had been fixed on his arms as he showed her the move. Furrowing her eyes and biting her lip in concentration she mimicked the move.

She was rewarded with her own, slightly more wobbly, blob of water floating in front of her.

She grinned broadly at Katar, chest thrilling with pride, heart skipping slightly when he smiled and nodded in approval. She looked down at her stretching, rolling ball of captured water, adjusting her hands gently to keep hold of it. "It's like... holding an air ball except... squishier," she said.

That got a short laugh from Katar. "I guess it does feel a little squishy," he agreed.

With just the faintest tug, he pulled her ball towards his and merged them, then sent the water back in the form of a short tendril, curling towards her left side. Nervously, Angka reached out her hands and felt the telekinetic hold of her bending grasping onto the tendril, losing a little of it on the saddle but keeping most of it together and bringing it in front of her.

"Perfect!" Katar complimented. "Now pass it back to me."

Angka wasn't sure whether to extend her arms or curl them at first, send the water forward or to the side. Her hesitation lost her another drop or two. Eventually she swept the tendril right, in a slow arc that bent towards Katar's left side.

"See, I knew you could do it," Katar said, encouraging and proud.

She felt her cheeks warming to a faint pink. "Well I do have a great teacher," she replied shyly.

Katar didn't seem to have heard her, for he just passed her the water tendril again. And she passed it back.

Around and around and around it went, its path getting smoother and cleaner each time. The steady motion almost lulled her into a bit of trance. Push, pull. Tug, release. They were in sync, attuned to each other like swirling pools of energy.

The magic eventually wore off and they grew bored, switching to a few different techniques, Katar even pulling out the waterbending scroll for them to study. Sokki complained at them to pause and let her have a "rest stop"—she and Katar relieved themselves as well—and the sun slowly sank beneath the horizon and gave way to a chilly, moonlit night.

Sokki switched places with her, giving her the reins before curling up at the back of the saddle. Katar dropped off not too long afterwards.

Alone with her thoughts for a while in the blue darkness, Angka let her mind run in circles, considering the path ahead, the past, their mission, her friends sleeping behind her.

When she felt herself blinking upright more often, she leaned down, giving Appa's head a scratch.

"Hey, you gonna be okay on your own for a bit, buddy?" she asked. "I kind of need a little shut eye."

Appa gave a low bellow, huffing and reassurant, great golden eyes blinking slowly.

Angka smiled, stood and stretched, tied the ends of the reins off to one of Appa's horns, and then climbed up into the saddle with the others. Self-conscious, she peeked around as if someone could see her before settling herself close to Katar's side, curling up as close to him as she dared.

Her nose was level with his chin. She could feel his warmth, and it made her heart pound inside her chest, so loud she was sure he could hear it.

But he slept soundly, chest rising and falling with his soft breath, the fur on one of his gloves tickling his cheek, looking so serene. The faint moonlight outlined and softened his features and her heart clenched.

He's beautiful... she thought.

She lay there staring, achingly aware of him, before rolling over with heated cheeks so that her back was to him.

This was slightly less mortifying, and she found her drowsiness overtaking her and pulling her eyelids down.

Eventually, the sloshing ocean and gentle rocking of the saddle lulled her to sleep.

-ATLA-

Katar woke up a little stiff, and a bit embarrassed at the sleeping Ankga's proximity—she didn't stir when he carefully moved back from her, though, which relieved him—but refreshed. He took his turn at Appa's reins until the airbender woke, at which point she slid down to Appa's head, right next to him, smiling with a casual ease. He returned both the gesture and the reins, and climbed back up to take a center seat in the saddle.

And that was when Sokki woke up cranky. And while Katar was used to his sister's bad mood mornings, Angka was not, and the girls wound up getting a bit... snippy with each other.

Katar mediated as best he could, but as the sun dragged across the sky, turning to noontime and then afternoon again, even his patience was wearing thin.

"I'm not one to complain," Sokki said, and Katar had to hold back a snort, "but can't Appa fly any higher?"

The bison had been drifting lower and lower for the past hour, tired but soldiering on determinedly, not yet willing to dip his paws and fur into the frigid arctic water.

Angka turned around in her seat to shoot an annoyed look at the other girl. "I have an idea," she shot back, voice laced with irritation. "Why don't we all get on your back and you can fly us to the North Pole?"

Sokki waggled her rear sarcastically. "Fine by me! Everyone climb on!"

"Girls," Katar chided, tired and weary. "Let's not get at each other's throats. We're all just a little tired and cranky because we've been flying for two days straight."

Appa gave a low bellow of agreement and Momo chittered.

"See? Appa and Momo agree with me," Katar pointed out.

Sokki gave an exaggerated sigh, flopping arms over the back of the saddle. "And for what?" she moaned. "We can't even find the Northern Water Tribe. There's nothing up here."

This coming from the girl who had meticulously checked their map and direction before they had actually started off. Katar was ready to point that out to her, but then several things happened very suddenly all at once.

Spikes of ice erupted from the water. Angka jerked Appa's reins to turn him; he and Sokki were flung around the saddle and clung for dear life as the bison rolled and spun, flailing and startled from the ice obstacles. They hit the water, ice forming all around Appa's partially submerged body. And then—

Canoes paddling out to them from all sides. Sides painted in shades of blue and white, matching the parkas worn by those driving them.

Katar gasped, his heart beating with the thrill. "They're waterbenders!" he told the other two. "We found the Water Tribe!"

Angka raised her head with a glimmer of excitement, sharing a look with him.

Whatever happened now, at least they finally safe.

The Fire Nation wouldn't dare attack a fortified city.

(A/N)- Our intrepid crew make the long, long trek across the final stretch of ocean to the North Pole, and Angka and Katar are adorable at each other throughout.

Bit of a lull chapter, I'll admit, but I wanted to insert a few cute bits between our couple to show their developing feelings and the gap between "The Northern Air Temple" and "The Waterbending Master" seemed like a good place to add them in. After all, their signature yin-yang water move had to come from somewhere.

Next chapter is fixing to be a long one, so don't know when that'll be done. Hopefully I find more motivation this month to write. Got a lot planned.